Generation One
Optimus Prime is the leader of the heroic Autobots, and it is not hard to understand why he is so suited to the task. Had he been born a human, he could have been a doctor, a mechanic, a scientist or a warrior - but on Cybertron, there is no difference in these professions, and Prime puts all his talent to use to improve the world around him. Immensely kind and compassionate, Prime has dedicated himself to the protection of all life, particularly the inhabitants of Earth, and will battle his foes with unyielding resolve to uphold this belief. In power and intelligence, Optimus Prime has no equal.
Optimus Prime transforms into a 1980s style Cab-Over semi-trailer, comprising three components. The truck's cab transforms into the robot mode of Prime himself, with vast strength and armed with a laser rifle. Within his chest is contained the mystic talisman known as the Creation Matrix or Autobot Matrix of Leadership, carried by all Autobot leaders and passed down through the ages. The truck's trailer disconnects and transforms into the Combat Deck, a mobile battle-station/command headquarters with an "Auto-Launcher" robot armed with assorted artillery and beam weapons. It can also serve as a radio antennae for battlefield communications between the Autobots. The Combat Deck can launch Prime's third component, Roller, a mobile scout buggy that can easily slip behind enemy lines; when Roller is present somewhere, it is as if Prime is there himself. Injury to one component is felt by each of the others, and while Prime could survive the destruction of either, despite the slight degree of autonomy they possess, the Combat Deck and Roller would not be able to survive without him.
Additional powers included in the animated series (somewhat inconsistently) included short-range optic blasts and holographic map projections, and deployable hydro-foils designed by Wheeljack which allowed Prime and the other Autobots to traverse bodies of water with ease. Although used only once, one of Prime's more memorable abilities from the animated series was the ability to retract his right hand and replace it with a glowing energy axe, which has since been rendered in toy form for Super Collection Figures (including the Mega Super Collection Figure), the Transformers Collection #0 reissue of the original Convoy toy, and the Masterpiece Convoy and 20th Anniversary Optimus Prime toys.
Across the assorted continuities of the "Generation One" universe(s), there have been various interpretations of Optimus Prime; the cartoon leant towards Optimus Prime as a straightforward, wise and essentially upbeat battlefield general, while the Marvel Comics series, in addition to these more obvious characteristics, suggested a Prime secretly plagued by self-doubt and, more importantly, a conflicted sense of pacifism. One of Prime's most notable characteristics was his adamant commitment to leadership by example, and avoidance of any hypocrisy in his command.
The above mentioned pacifism was not always readily apparent, but Prime's craving for peace is generally palpable. He was an extremely reluctant warrior, and it was at times implied (particularly in the Movie, albeit in a subtle manner) that the conflict with the Decepticons lasted as long as it did primarily due to his unwillingness to take a more aggressive stance. Consistent with his appearance, he had an aura of tremendous size, strength, and authority, but which at the same time was overlaid with a sense of equally great compassion and benevolence, and at times, sorrow and fatigue. Archetypically speaking, Prime was a somewhat tragic paladin whose primary motivations were both his desire for peaceful existence, and his sacrificial concern for the welfare of those other than himself. Although his massive shoulders were able to carry it, the burden of his command weighed very heavily.
A tragic constant of the character is his predilection for self-sacrifice - across all continuities and depictions of him (and later, his modern namesakes), it is almost a certainty that Prime will meet his end and later return to life (sometimes to repeat the process).
The original toy that was to become Optimus Prime was originally released by Takara in October of 1983, and designed by Hiroyuki Obara as part of the Diaclone toyline, there named Battle Convoy. The figure's definitive mouth-plate has become a constant design element in most incarnations and variants of Prime down the years (bar a few exceptions, noted individually below), although a 1984 children's book omitted it to what is now considered humorous effect. Integrated into the first year of the Transformers toyline, the toy was given its new name, Optimus Prime, by comic book writer/editor Dennis O'Neil.
Animated series
Optimus Prime's robot mode in the animated series.
Optimus Prime began his life as a robot named Orion Pax, a simple dock worker during the Golden Age of Cybertron nine million years ago, with a girlfriend named Ariel, and a best friend named Dion. At the time, a new breed of robot had recently appeared on the planet - ones with new robot-mode flight powers that made Orion idolize them. Unfortunately for Orion, when Megatron, the leader of these robots, approached him with inquiries about using one of the dock warehouses, Orion fell for the deception and he and Ariel were fatally wounded when Megatron and his forces then attacked in order to claim the energy stored there. Searching for someone to help them, the time-displaced Aerialbots took Orion and Ariel to the ancient Autobot, Alpha Trion (known then as A3), who used them as the first subjects for the new reconstruction process he had developed - rebuilding the frail Autobot frames into battle-hardy configurations. With this reconstruction, Orion Pax became Optimus Prime, the first of the Autobot warriors, who took the mantle of leadership as the civil war against Megatron and Decepticons erupted, while Ariel was rebuilt into Elita One, the commander of the Autobot resistance on Cybertron.
Optimus Prime's truck mode in the animated series.
As leader of the Autobots, Prime headed up the Autobots' shuttle (known in the Marvel Comics as the Ark; fans commonly assign this shuttle with this name, although it was never actually named in the cartoon series) mission to search out new worlds with new sources of energy to revitalise the depleted Cybertron. However, shortly after its launch, the Autobots' craft was attacked by the Decepticon space cruiser (never named in the G1 cartoon but later named the Nemesis in the Beast Wars cartoon), and boarded by Megatron and the Decepticons. In the ensuing struggle, the g-forces of a nearby planet pulled both crafts down, and the Autobots' ship crashed into a volcano, thrusting all the occupants of the ship into emergency stasis. Four million years later, in the Earth year 1984C.E., a volcanic eruption jarred the ship's computer, Teletran One back to life, and it reactivated the Decepticons, programming them with new Earth-based disguise modes. As a petty parting gesture, Starscream fired upon the Autobot ship, creating a landslide that knocked Prime into the path of the computer's restoration beam, restoring him to life, and beginning the war anew on Earth.
Prime was perpetually at the forefront of the action throughout the early years of the war on Earth, usually confronting Megatron, and, in some rare instances, being forced to team up with him for the greater good (or the lesser evil). He has suffered his fair share of battlefield scrapes, almost meeting his end when his vital cosmotron component was critically damaged by the Decepticon jets and Laserbeak, and suffering a severe - though unfair - defeat when Megatron challenged him to one-on-one comabt while imbued with the different powers of all the Decepticons.
Generally, Prime acting in a commanding role as part of larger battles and event, but played prominent and solo roles in a few, also. In 1985, Megatron created a perfect duplicate of him, leaving the Autobots unable to differentiate between the two until the clone disregarded the safety of their human companion, Spike Witwicky, exposing the deception. Later in the same year, Prime's fame and prowess led him to become the target of the dementing big-game hunter, Lord Chumley, who sought his head to go along with his other rare trophies. Entering the hunter's estate alone, Prime defeated all the traps and beasts lying in wait and brought Chumley to justice. The same year also saw Elita One captured by the Decepticons on Cybertron and used to lure Prime there alone; although knowing it was a trap, he ventured in solo and was defeated by the Decepticons and nearly destroyed, until Elita's stasis-field powers froze time long enough for them to escape. Prime was forced to seek out Alpha Trion to save the wounded Elita's life, and in the process, rediscovered his forgotten connection to his creator.
Over the course of the next twenty years, the Decepticons succeeded in seizing control of all of Cybertron, forcing the Autobots to operate from their new city on Earth, and from two bases on Cybertron's moons. In the Earth year 2005C.E., Prime was stationed on Moonbase One, and dispatched troops to Earth to acquire energy for an upcoming strike on Cybertron. The Decepticons, however, got wind of the plan and used the shuttle run to attack Autobot City; a distress call summoned Prime and support troops to Earth, and in the ensuing battle with Megatron, Optimus Prime sustained fatal injuries, but not before turning the tide of battle and forcing the Decepticon to flee. Despite the efforts of Perceptor, Optimus Prime died. The Matrix, and with it leadership of the Autobots, fell into the hands of Ultra Magnus, and subsequently to Rodimus Prime.
Prime's body was entombed in a massive deep-space mausoleum with the many other fallen Autobots, but his corpse was desecrated by the Quintessons in 2006, when they reanimated it as part of an attempt to destroy the Autobots by using Prime to lure their space fleet into a trap. However, the Matrix was able to purify Prime of the Quintesson influence, and he got the other Autobots clear while he piloted his flagship into the Quintessons' detonator, triggering the explosion of a nearby sun. Prime was believed to have been destroyed in the explosion, but in reality, before the flagship impacted with the detonator, his body was recovered from the craft by two human scientists, Jessica Morgan and Gregory Swofford. However, as their ship departed, it was coated in solar spores released by the explosion of the sun. Jessica's father, Mark Morgan, loathed the Autobots, and his hatred only grew when an attempt by the Decepticons to steal a heat-resistant alloy he had developed resulted in Jessica being paralysed. Swofford and Morgan reconstructed Optimus Prime's body in an attempt to use it as a delivery system for the spores, which induced hatred and madness, in order to destroy the Transformers. However, when they could not reanimate him, they used his body as a lure instead, bringing the Autobots to their lab, where they were infected. As this "Hate Plague" proceeded to spread across the galaxy, Sky Lynx retrieved a Quintesson, who fully restored Optimus Prime to life. Coating himself in Morgan's heat-resistant alloy, Prime reclaimed the Matrix from Rodimus and unleashed its concentrated wisdom to destroy the Hate Plague.
In 2007 - in the show's fourth season, consisting entirely of a three-part miniseries titled The Rebirth - Prime began to suffer visions following the release of the Matrix's energy, which foretold a great transformation for Cybertron. Events began with the Decepticons' theft of the key to the Plasma Energy Chamber, which forced Prime to consult Alpha Trion within Vector Sigma, learning that the mega-computer had orchestrated events in order to restore Cybertron's Golden Age. When the Plasma Energy Chamber was opened and threatened to drive Earth's Sun supernova, Spike Witwicky and the other organic Nebulans who had become involved in the conflict as a result of these events were able to drain off the excess solar energy and revitalize Cybertron.
Optimus Prime was voiced by Peter Cullen in America, and by Tesshō Genda in Japan.
Transformers: Headmasters
While the Transformers animated series came to an end in America with "The Rebirth" in 1987, across the Pacific, in Japan, it was decided to continue production of new, exclusive animated series to continue the story. The first of these series, Transformers: Headmasters, supplanted the events of "The Rebirth", picking up one year after the events that saw Optimus Prime's return to life.
In the interim year, with the Decepticons not having been heard from, the Autobots had entered into an even closer relationship with Earth, and begun the colonization of other worlds, the first of which was the planet Athenia, where Optimus Prime was stationed. It soon became apparent, however, that when Prime had released the energy of the Matrix to cure the Hate Plague, the consequences were more far-reaching than he had anticipated - without the energy of the Matrix to act as a balancing factor, Vector Sigma had become destabilized, and the Decepticons suddenly returned to exploit this, assaulting Cybertron in order to seize control of the mega-computer. Prime took a squad of troops to aid in the battle on the planet, and when the arrival of the Autobot Headmasters tipped the battle in their favor, Prime broke off from the main attack and headed down into the depths of the planet, planning on stabilizing Vector Sigma at any cost.
Guided through the dangers of the planet's catacombs by the spirit of Alpha Trion while the other Autobots searched for the Matrix on Earth, Prime eventually arrived at the computer, only to find his way barred by Cyclonus and Scourge. Hot Rod then arrived with the Matrix, with which Alpha Trion merged, re-energizing it and transforming Hot Rod back into Rodimus Prime; for the first time, the two Primes fought side-by-side and defeated Galvatron.
Before Rodimus could implement the Matrix to stabilize Vector Sigma, however, Optimus Prime sacrificed himself to perform the task, merging with the computer and restoring its balance to save the planet - dying again only a few short episodes after his rebirth.
Super-God Masterforce
The second of the Japanese-exclusive Transformers series, 1988's Super God Masterforce did not actually feature Optimus Prime himself, but it did feature one of his bodies. This series sees human truck driver Ginrai merge with and control a Transtector (a lifeless Transformer body) which bears a striking resemblance to Optimus Prime - although not revealed in the main 42 episodes of the series, an additional clips episode produced after the fact explained that this was because the body was intended to be used by Prime, only to be stolen and hidden on Earth by the series antagonist, Devil Z. Ginrai can merge with his trailer, becoming Super Ginrai, and can then merge again with his additional transforming drone trailer, Godbomber, becoming God Ginrai. This toy was released in America as Powermaster Optimus Prime, with appropriately different accompanying fiction in the pages of Marvel Comics (see below). Godbomber, however, was not released outside of Japan until Powermaster Prime was reissued in 2003, and Godbomber - renamed Apex Bomber - came included.
Battlestars: Return of Convoy
Although this particular piece of Japanese-exclusive fiction was not actually an animated series, it remains part of the animated series continuity. Here, Optimus Prime is finally brought back to life through the use of Zone Energy, as the mighty Star Convoy. As another truck/trailer combination, Star Convoy transforms into a Micromaster base, and can combine with fellow Autobots Grandus and Sky Garry. Prime can combine with Grandus and Sky Garry in base mode. Grandus can also attach to the back of Prime's trailer while the two are in vehicle mode; Sky Garry can then land on Grandus. This combination, similar to the vehicle combination of Armada Optimus Prime, Overload and Jetfire, is called the Battlestars.
Marvel Comics
In Marvel Comics' comic series, before the Great War broke out on Cybertron, the robot who would be Optimus Prime (his name before becoming the Prime Autobot remains unknown) was a Transformer of note, displaying his skills in the Infraformers Sharpshooting Competition. Subsequently, when the war began, Prime quickly made a name for himself as a combat leader. On a mission with the Triggerbots to stop Megatron from claiming the Underbase, Prime was forced to jettison the massive databank into space to prevent anyone acquiring its power, but with this action, proved his wisdom and skill to the Autobot Council of Elders. The outbreak of the Great War saw Autobot territories falling under Decepticon dominion, one City-State at a time. The last City-State to be taken was the Autobot capital of Iacon. As Decepticons besieged Iacon, the Council of Elders prepared to surrender. Councillor Xaaron suggested that High Councillor Traachon step down and allow a military officer to assume Autobot leadership. Traachon then used his powers of veto and effectively elected himself out of office, allowing Optimus Prime to assume supreme command of the Autobots, becoming the first soldier to ever hold the mantle of Autobot leadership.
Four million years ago, Cybertron - shaken from its orbit and drifting through space - came under threat when it floated into the path of a massive asteroid swarm that could potentially devastate the planet. Prime led a group of his most powerful Autobot warriors on the Autobot starship, the Ark, on a mission to destroy the asteroids, and although successful, in the aftermath of this mission the Ark was attacked by Decepticons, hoping to overcome their weakened foes. Intent on keeping the secrets of the Ark's computer (A.U.N.T.I.E.) from the Decepticons, Prime set the craft on a suicide course, crashing it into the prehistoric planet Earth. Shortly after this crash, Shockwave arrived from Cybertron in search of the Ark and A.U.N.T.I.E. Shockwave landed in the Savage Land - an island whose prehistoric nature survived well into the modern age. A.U.N.T.I.E. managed to reactivate a special team of five Autobots who were dispatched to battle Shockwave in the Savage Land (see Dinobots).
In 1984C.E., a volcanic eruption reactivated A.U.N.T.I.E., which in turn brought the Transformers back on-line. Prime led the Autobots in their opening battles to prevent the Decepticons from plundering Earth's resources, but following their initial victory, the Autobots were all deactivated by Shockwave. Prime was decapitated by Shockwave, and had the energy of the Creation Matrix leeched from his mind to give life to Shockwave's creations, the Constructicons (although Shockwave was unaware that the Matrix was not merely a program in Prime's mind, but a physical object in his chest). Before Shockwave could give life to his next Decepticon, Jetfire, Prime transferred the Matrix energy into the mind of Buster Witwicky, who used the energy to turn Jetfire on Shockwave, allowing Prime to reclaim his body and retake leadership of the Autobots, giving Jetfire true life as a reward.
After a period of effective leadership which saw the activation of several new Autobots including the Aerialbots, who Prime infused with life using the Matrix, Prime engaged Megatron in a video game duel for possession of a super fuel. Prime was victorious, but Megatron implemented a cheat code, allowing him to re-enter the game. Prime was able to defeat him yet again, but in doing so, he also destroyed several of the game sprites, and refused to accept his victory, as he had performed an action that compromised his beliefs about the preservation of life, which he would never have done, had the duel been real. In accordance with the rules of the game, Prime's body exploded and he died. Autobot surgeon Ratchet's subsequent efforts to restore him were unsuccessful, and his body was launched into space. The funeral barge eventually crashed on giant moon where it lay for untold time. At one stage, an alien ship crashed near the barge. The dying alien reached out toward the Matrix, with the Matrix choosing to revive the being as Death Bringer. Much later, the Matrix would revive a small predatory animal which would prove instrumental to the conclusion of the Matrix Quest.
Prime's personality had been copied onto a floppy disk by the technician running the game, Ethan Zachary, who employed him in various video game scenarios he developed. Prime's damaged mind led him to belive that he himself was a video game character, and in an attempt to bring him back to life, Goldbug, Joyride, Slapdash and Getaway took the disk to the planet Nebulos, where a new body was constructed for Prime. They built a new body for Optimus Prime, and even upgraded it with the ability to combine with the trailer to form a larger robot. In an effort to keep Transformers off their planet, however, the Nebulans had poisoned their fuel, and the sensation of dying convinced Prime that he was truly alive, and not a game character. To save his life, the Nebulan scientist Hi-Q bonded with him, creating Powermaster Optimus Prime.
Powermaster Prime and his Autobots later battled Death Bringer. Optimus Prime immediately senseed Matrix energies eminating from Death Bringer, and realised that the undead reaper was a creation of the Matrix. Proving invulnerable, Optimus Prime was finally able to defeat Death Bringer by convincing it to self-destruct in concordance with its primary function. Prime salvaged a sliver of Matrix energy from Death Bringer's remains, which he later used to restore a rainforest destroyed during a battle between the Autobot Rescue Patrol and the Decepticon Air Strike Patrol member Whisper. The battle with Death Bringer alerted Optimus Prime to the fact that his old body was still out there somewhere in space, and more importantly, that the Matrix that it carried was also with it. With a war to win, the location of the Matrix was not a high priority.
With the subsequent threat of Unicron looming, priorites quickly changed and Prime began a quest to locate his old body and the physical Matrix object within it. When the Matrix was successfully reacquired, Prime sacrificed his life one more time to destroy Unicron by plunging the Matrix into his maw. However, the Powermaster process had been working to fully bond Prime and Hi-Q, and with Prime now destroyed, the process completed itself in Hi-Q's body, and the two minds and souls became one. Hi-Q's biomechanical body was stripped down and reconstructed by the Last Autobot, creating a brand new Optimus Prime (visually based on his Action Master toy).
Dreamwave Comics
In the 21st century reimaging of the Generation One continuity by Dreamwave Productions, Optimus Prime started life as Optronix (Orion to his friends), a data archivist. After taking note of a battle in which the Autobot leader Sentinel Prime had been defeated by Megatron, he was summoned to the council of elders and informed that the Matrix had chosen him to be the next leader of the Autobots. He received the Matrix of Leadership shortly thereafter, and almost arranged for the Autobot evacuation of Cybertron, intending to leave the Decepticons to their own devices, until a battle with Megatron beneath the planet's surface, accompanied by visions from the Matrix, stirred him on to fight for the safety of his homeworld. It is interesting to note that in this reimagining, Optimus actually was physically changed in appearance and size by the Matrix during the events of the first volume of War Within. Some time into his role as leader, Prime disappeared in a spacebridge experiment along with Megatron, but returned some time later, having spent a period of time on Quintessa. Events during this period have gone unrecorded as a result of Dreamwave's closure.
Following the awakening of the Transformers on Earth, the Autobots allied with humankind and eventually defeated the Decepticons at the turn of the century. They planned to return to Cybertron aboard the newly constructed "Ark II," but the ship was destroyed as part of a military conspiracy to take control of the Transformers. However, a terrorist organization run by the enigmatic Lazarus was able to seize control of several of the Transformers that fell back to Earth, while the U.S. military located Prime's body. Before his departure, Prime had entrusted a small portion of the Matrix to Spike Witwicky, who was forced by the product chief, General Hallo, to use it to reactivate Prime. Functional again, Prime used the Matrix to reactivate more of his fallen comrades, and then faced off against Megatron in San Francisco.
Following this, Prime began to experience subconscious urgings, leading both the Autobots and the Decepticons to the Arctic Circle, where Shockwave arrived to greet them - and arrest them as war criminals. Shockwave had succeeded in ending the war on Cybertron, but Prime soon fell in with a rebel Autobot group that had discovered Shockwave had a greater agenda. Rallying Autobots across Cybertron to the cause, Prime faced Shockwave in battle but was defeated and had the Matrix ripped from him and used to activate Vector Sigma. Before Shockwave could make full use of the mega-computer's data, however, Ultra Magnus (in this continuity, Prime's brother) arrived and bested him. The injuries Prime took in this conflicted necessitated a prolonged restoration period in stasis but Dreamwave's closure meant that Prime never appeared in their pages again.