TFtember: Optimus Prime

Optimus Prime  

Another big one, but again for brevity's sake I'll keep the focus to the Generation One toys, the Marvel Comic, and the Generation One cartoon. 

The toy, which was the pretty much the coolest thing ever, started out as the Diaclone Battle Convoy. The truck was cool, but the trailer that transformed into a base was also pretty nice, and included Roller, something I held an inordinate amount of fondness for. 

There were a few different models depending on the country of release, mostly painting differences, but for the most part the toy stayed the same. There were a few rereleases though, mostly packaged with Megatron. 

1985 saw the release of the first seriously different variant with the introduction of what a few fans dubbed Pepsi Prime (who would later become a seperate character in 2007). It was basically the exact same as the original, save for the Pepsi logos on the trailer. 

1986 saw Ultra Magnus. Now, technically Magnus was a different character, but the truck was a solid white repaint of Optimus. 

The biggest change came in 1988 with the release of the Powermasters. Basically, if you wanted to change Optimus from truck to robot, you had to attach a motor. Never cared for that feature, but I thought the figure looked cool. 

1990 and the Action Masters included Prime as part of the lineup. Overall good, but they made his gun a neon orange for some reason. He was just a straight action figure, although his truck transformed into a base and jet. 

That would be largely it, although the original mold would get reissued in multiple colors over the years starting in 2000. 

The file card was pretty close to what we saw in the cartoons, with him being the commander and ultimate good. It did mention that he was able to split his mind across his body, Roller, and the base although that was never brought up as best as I can tell. 

The comics give him the most characterization and yet also the most infamous moment. He's still in charge and a brave leader. Ine one issue he and Megatron fight it out in a digital landscape, with the loser swearing to blow themselves up.

Prime wins, but in the course of the fight he blows up some virtual people (i.e. NOT REAL/ALIVE) this declares himself the loser in spirit thus he blows himself up. Which causes some problem for the Autobots, as you would well imagine. He manages to get brought to life and even becomes a Powermaster, which he would stay until the end of the series. 

The cartoon was where I grew to know him. Voiced by Peter Cullen, he was there from the start and was one of the few to have a backstory. 

He started out as a laborer named Orion Pax (unlike the comic where he was always Optimus) who was rebuilt into Optimus by Alpha Trion. He was in every episode on seasons 1 and 2. He death in the movie, however, was a low point and brought more than a few kids to tears.

He came back briefly in season 3, first as a zombie but he got better. 

For season 5, Optimus was changed into a narrator, teaching a young human named Tommy about the Autobot's past adventures. 

I honestly thought Prime was the best character. He could play off nearly everyone, and Cullen's voice was the best casting.