The Origins of Optimus Prime
One shall rise, and one shall fall. Welcome to WatchMojo.com, and today we’ll be taking a look at the origin of Optimus Prime, the greatest leader of the Autobots.
Arguably the most popular and recognizable character in the franchise, he has gone on to star in several television, comic book and film iterations, and has been made into countless action figures.
Initially, the show’s creators and Hasbro didn’t recognize just how beloved the character had become to the show’s audience. However, Optimus’ popularity finally became recognized in a big way when he was killed off in the 1986 animated feature.
As the result of this unexpected and emotional fan uproar, the character soon returned, and has since remained a mainstay of the franchise.
Throughout the years, he has undergone several changes. These include receiving a descendant named Optimus Primal in the Beast Wars sequel series. However, in recent years the character has returned to his rootes, and has once again been brought to life by the iconic voice talent Peter Cullen.
Despite Optimus’ incredible popularity, and prominence in popular culture, many fans still do not know his true origins. Incidentally, these were shown in the episode “War Dawn”, which debuted in the second season of 1984’s Generation 1 cartoon series.
Within this original continuity, Optimus Prime was once a robot named “Orion Pax”, a worker robot created by an alien race called the Quintessons.
Taking place nine million years prior to the events of the 1980s cartoon series, he was a naive and defenseless dock worker that was amazed at the arrival of a new group of military robots that could fly. However, these robots, led by Megatron, rebelled against their creators, and declared war on the aliens and the Autobots alike.
Severely damaged upon his first encounter with Megatron, Orion Pax was re-built. This occurred through becoming the first test subject of a reconstruction process crafted by the Autobot elder Alpha Trion. Re-emerging as Optimus, he discovered that he had been given a battle-hardened reconfiguration and new sense of courage.
He was similarly recognized as the strongest Autobot. As such, he took the mantle as their leader in a civil war against the Decepticons, and was given possession of the Autobot Matrix of Leadership, a sacred artifact and power source that endowed him with the title of “Prime.”
With this battle raging on for millennia, Optimus Prime eventually headed up a mission to search out new worlds and energy sources. This was necessary to restore Cybertron, their mechanical home world, which had gone dark during the never-ending conflict.
Taking off with his forces in a spaceship called The Ark, Megatron and his Decepticons soon gave chase in their own battleship called the Nemesis.
Engaging and raiding the Ark, both ships were sent crashing into the planet Earth. As a result, the two warring factions were locked in stasis for several millennia, and would only awake to begin the Great War in 1984. This resulted from the Volcano quaking, activating the ship’s systems.
Soon after, Optimus Prime and his Autobots took on Earth vehicle forms, so that they could hide among the humans, and battle the evil forces of the Decepticons.
Optimus Prime himself adapted a red cab truck form, though this would change throughout the many reboots of the franchise. He eventually became redefined in Michael Bay’s films as a red flamed Peterbilt truck, and went on to retain that form in 2010’s computer animated series “Transformers Prime.”
