Optimus Prime (RID)


 * Optimus Prime is the Autobot leader from the Robots in Disguise continuity family.



Optimus Prime is a stern and serious commander, devoted to protecting freedom and innocent life. He has seen the galactic path of conquest and destruction already burned by Megatron and swears it will not include Earth. Optimus Prime often finds himself in the role of "straight man" to the more comic stylings of the other Autobots and Predacons, and tends to treat their humorous exaggerations or personality quirks as statements of straightforward fact. His subordinates view him as a great leader, if stubborn and much too prone to long speeches. Optimus Prime's greatest weakness is his sense of nobility. If an adversary claims to have had a change of heart and discovered inner goodness, Prime will fall for it every single time.


 * Japanese name: Fire Convoy

Robots in Disguise

 * Voice actor: Neil Kaplan (English), Satoshi Hashimoto (Japanese), Guilherme Briggs (Portuguese)

Optimus Prime was created, along with Ultra Magnus, by Alpha Trion. The two of them were raised together, and thus, saw each other as brothers. However, this relationship was torn apart after the Cybertron Civil Wars, whereupon the Matrix chose Optimus Prime to command the Autobots in stopping the Predacon leader Megatron from ravaging the universe in his quest for energy. Ultra Magnus left Cybertron that same day, bitter and spiteful of his brother.

Prime soon struck up command on Earth, where he took the form of a fire truck. Operating out of a secret base in Metro City, he and his fellow Autobots were more than ready to face Megatron and his Predacons. The conflict began when Megatron appeared in New York, attempting to kidnap the famous scientist Doctor Onishi. Optimus struck up a friendship with Onishi's son, Koji, and despite not being able to save the boy's father, vowed that he would help rescue him.

In the events that followed, Prime was forced to deal with the Predacons' many energy-grabbing schemes, either personally, or indirectly by way of helping T-AI coordinate the movement of his troops by way of the Global Space Bridge.

However, Prime soon found another threat, in the form of the Decepticons - namely, one named Scourge. Scourge was a corrupted Autobot protoform, who, in addition to being infused with Megatron's evil, scanned Optimus Prime and a tanker truck at the same time, resulting in his looking like a twisted clone of the Autobot leader. Prime hoped that Scourge and his fellow Decepticons would one day be restored to their true Autobot selves, but after the Decepticons themselves tried to use this to trick him, he decided he should not allow this to cloud his judgement.

Matters escalated when Ultra Magnus appeared on Earth, making his desire to take the Matrix from Optimus Prime known to his "brother." Optimus refused to fight Magnus, and was thus, mercilessly fired upon, until Side Burn, Prowl, and X-Brawn arrived to carry him away. Prime took refuge on a deserted island, but the Decepticons, Megatron, and Magnus both tracked him there. In the midst of the battle, Magnus forcibly activated their ability to combine into Omega Prime, intending to use it to drain Prime of his energy so he could take the Matrix, but Optimus managed to take control and use their combination to stop the Decepticons. This fusion apparently resulted in both Autobots sharing the Matrix's power, which led to Magnus's attitude softening towards his brother.

Eventually, it was revealed that Megatron's true purpose on Earth was to take control of the massive Autobot, Fortress Maximus. These events led to Megatron becoming the more powerful Galvatron, who eventually devastated the Autobot forces. In his final battle with the evil leader, Prime and Magnus combined into Omega Prime to face Galvatron at the Earth's core. They were seemingly no match for him, until Fortress Maximus sent them his power, which energized the Matrix, forming the giant weapon, the Matrix Blade. Galvatron was defeated, and with that, the Autobots' mission on Earth was finished, and Prime resolved to return to Cybertron - but not before "one last look around" with Koji and the rest of his team.

Dreamwave comic
The Robots in Disguise short story seemed intent on being part of the cartoon's continuity, but its exact placement between episodes is unclear.

With the other Autobots all engaged in other fights around the world, Optimus Prime alone was available to answer TAI's battle protocol at an experimental nuclear generator in Arizona. His opening plan was to lure the Predacons and Decepticons away from the humans to battle them at a safe distance, but his wayward brother Ultra Magnus intervened, confronting the villains head on in the middle of the generator plant. As Prime chastised Magnus for his rash action, Scourge overheard and seized on the idea to threaten the humans if the Autobots didn't stand down. Despite his anger at Optimus, Ultra Magnus remembered his Autobot training and reluctantly laid down his weapon. At the proper moment, though, the brothers managed to attack a distracted Scourge and save the humans. The Predacons and Decepticons escaped with the generator, but the humans were safe.

Fun Publications Cybertron comics
During the final battle with the Minions of Unicron in the Pit, Optimus Prime and Ultra Magnus (as Omega Prime) were fighting alongside the Children of Primus when the corrupt pocket universe began to collapse around them. Omega Prime and the others fled through a dimensional portal, but the powerlinxed brothers were diverted by the former Mini-Con Over-Run into another reality, just in time to stop Nemesis Prime from unleashing the Dead Matrix inside the Spark Chamber of Primus. The evil clone was vanquished, and the brothers hooked up with Sentinel Maximus and his comrades as they attempted to fortify Cybertron against the Unicron Singularity.

Working relatively behind the scenes while that reality's Optimus Prime and his crew searched for the Cyber Planet Keys, Optimus Prime and his brother found themselves moderating an internal dispute among the Mini-Con colonies in Cybertron's debris field, and were engaged with a Cybertronian-sized version of Unicron himself when Primus first transformed due to an infusion of Cyber Key Power. Some months later, after the final battle with the Cyber Key empowered Galvatron, Optimus Prime first met his local counterpart, and they exchanged information on their endeavors over the last few months. With the newly reformed Unicron on the loose after their last encounter, Optimus chose to join Ultra Magnus and Sentinel Maximus in hunting him down. The final fate of their mission, and whether the brothers ever returned to their home reality, remains to be seen.

Robots in Disguise

 * Optimus Prime (Super, 2000, 2001)
 * Japanese ID number: C-001




 * Robots in Disguise Optimus Prime transforms into a Japanese Hino Brandlier fire truck. Harkening back to Generation 1 toys, he features chromed wheels with rubber tires. The forward section of his truck detaches to become his standard robot mode. His 'trailer' can be reconfigured into a sort of battle station. The station can then be disassembled and attached around the robot to form his Battle Mode. His standard robot can combine with Ultra Magnus to form Omega Prime.


 * The original Japanese Car Robots release differs from the US version in that it has a darker, metallic-flake plastic, and has no Autobot symbols tampo-printed on the shoulder pads. Obviously, the voice clips used for the Japanese toy are also different, with the Hasbro toy proclaiming that Optimus Prime will Maximize, possible a mistake. Additionally, the US version has the unfortunately tendency for its rubber tires to split down its molding connection. Furthermore, Fire Convoy's missles are of a different mold on the Japanese toy, and he is able to fire (if by "Fire" you mean "have-them-fling-up-into-the-air-and-fall-to-the-ground-instantly") all of his missiles at once if the special trigger for his ladder missiles are hit, along with the ability to fire one missile at a time. The US version only allows for one missile to be fired at a time when they are activated.


 * Clear Super Fire Convoy (Super, 2000)


 * Released in a Toys R' Us Japanese-exclusive "God Fire Convoy" gift set with Clear God Magnus, Clear Super Fire Convoy is obviously constructed primarily of transluscent plastic. The gift set also contained an exclusive God Sword item to be used for God Fire Convoy.


 * Black Super Fire Convoy (Super, 2000)


 * Black Super Fire Convoy was a Lucky Draw prize version of Super Fire Convoy. Aside from being.. well, black, the chromed chest plate is now gold with red "windows", and the sirens on his back are now clear.


 * Optimus Prime (Basic, 2002)


 * This was a smaller, simplified version of Robots in Disguise Optimus Prime made for the Spy Changer/Basic class in the Robots In Disguise toyline. It has no standard robot mode and parts do not detach. Oddly, all promotional images of this figure depicted it colored in orange.

Universe

 * Optimus Prime (Supreme, 2003)




 * A Sam's Club exclusive, the Universe release of Robots In Disguise Optimus Prime basically swapped out all of his red plastic for a yellow-orange color. He came packed in robot mode in an upright display package with a sticker on the front of a hilariously mistransformed Omega Prime advertising the toy's combining ability with the slightly redecoed Universe release of Robots In Disguise Ultra Magnus.


 * For some reason, the Autobot symbol on his chest in Battle Mode is left unpainted.

Titanium Series

 * Optimus Prime (6" Cybertron Heroes, 2006)


 * This is a six-inch tall die-cast metal and plastic version of Robots in Disguise Optimus Prime. IN vehicle mode the ladder rotates at it's base and the nozzles flip out of the end of the ladder, but the ladder cannot extend. As he is much simplified compared to the larger toy, the (largely hollow) front of the vehicle cannot seperate and form the standard robot more, nor can the rear of the vehicle form the battlestation. Instead, the entire fire truck transforms into simplified version of the super robot Battle Mode.


 * He came with a display stand, with a removable Autobot plaque with his name on it.

Trivia

 * For this incarnation of Optimus, voice actor Neil Kaplan specifically impersonated the voice of the original Optimus Prime, Peter Cullen. Robots in Disguise Optimus Prime is one of the few Optimuses whose English voice actor isn't Cullen or Gary Chalk. At conventions, Kaplan refers to himself as "the George Lazenby of Optimus Primes".


 * Cybertron "Multi-Pack" Optimus Prime's on-package bio seems to indicate he's Unicron Trilogy Optimus Prime.  However, his (and Magnus') deco was later used in the Fun Publications Cybertron fan club magazine comic as Robots in Disguise Optimus Prime having traveled to the Unicron Trilogy universe.


 * Persistent net rumors abound about early or supplemental Japanese material establishing Optimus and his Autobots being part of a "Dimensional Patrol" that follows the Predacons either back in time or from another universe. This is not supported in-show and no solid evidence supporting it has ever surfaced elsewhere.... except in the 3H supplemental materials, which established the "Dimensional Patrol" as a post-cartoon organization.


 * Fans in Japan joke that Optimus Prime is an Autobot Emperor of Destruction rather than an Autobot Supreme Commander, due to his actions in the Car Robot anime.