Where is Optimus Prime?

[liegeprime]

Well, I for one saw Optimus Prime during beast wars.... he was in the ark with Megatron trying to murder him... so there hehehehe okay okay so they went back in time but still he was there

and as for Rodimus, that good for nothing leader as far as I know, went "away" on self exile with kup in tow and didn't even bother to hand over the matrix for pete's sake! How Selfish! good thing the next autobot leaders didnt need the Matrix and were quite powerful and deadly on their own - Dai "killer" Atlas for example.

[Verno]

Whether Prime could enjoy the peace is an interesting question.

Orion Pax (or Optronix or whoever he was) was the Account Receivable Clerk or whatnot, or happened to get shot, then rebuilt, reprogrammed and given the Matrix by Alpha Trion and became Optimus Prime, a leader. I'd say whoever Orion Pax was is gone, and only the driven leader remains.

He was built to serve, and built for a purpose. Once that purpose is served, he has two options in my opinion, and neither is enjoying the peace on the planet.

1. Go on the mission Sharky described, and round up any stragglers who could cause trouble in the future. Basically, he keeps fighting.

2. Return to the Matrix, and be at peace after a long battle, knowing his job is done.

I don't think he'd wander down the streets high-5'ing Maximals for the rest of his days.

[GoktimusPrime]

and as for Rodimus, that good for nothing leader as far as I know, went "away" on self exile with kup in tow and didn't even bother to hand over the matrix for pete's sake! How Selfish! good thing the next autobot leaders didnt need the Matrix and were quite powerful and deadly on their own - Dai "killer" Atlas for example.

Rodimus was the leader of the Autobots at the end of the Great War, not Optimus. So Optimus must have stepped down for whatever reason (maybe he was off on some idealistic crusade ) and Rodimus became the leader. It was under Rodimus' leadership that the Autobots won the Great War and the Pax Cybertronia treaty was signed. Rodimus also paved the way for the Maximal Upgrade and was one of the first to have himself downsized (indeed the last G1 toy of Hot Rod was a Micromaster!). Rodimus would later become a member of the new Wreckers during the Beast Machines era.

Unless you consider Beast Wars a contiutation of the comic universe (I do, but it's debatable) its off topic.

I personally consider the comic universe out-of-continuity... too many conflicts with the Japanese cartoons. Unless you see the comics as rendering the Japanese cartoons out-of-continuity... depends on a certain point of view...

There are parallels between Beast Wars Japan and Beast Wars English, they are closely parallel but they are not identical. If you can't watch or read it in English (how many times, we don't speak Spanish) it's doesn't count.

I don't think it's accurate to say that simply because a story is in a language that one doesn't understand, therefore it's rendered non-canonical. I can understand that it may be inaccessible to audiences who don't speak that language, but I don't think it means it's non-canonical per se.

One of the stories quoted above wasfrom the UK convention. Don't know how closely Hasbro looked at that. They may look closer at the BotCon stuff nowadays but a decade ago? There's a point where "facts" from obscure comics of a couple thousand print run for hardcore fans and never intended to be seen by the mass audience can easily be waved away and discussions of what we might think is better fitting are valid.

I personally believe that technically whatever the latest officially approved explanation is, remains the "official" explanation and supercedes any contradictory fanon. I can accept that there are points of official canon which remains debatable (e.g. Beast Wars anime v. comics - since both are official sources even if contradictory) -- but up against an unauthorised conflicting source of canon, I'm going to disregard the unofficial source.

I can personally accept unofficial fansplanations if they don't conflict with official canon. For example, in Ichikawa Hirofumi's unofficial "Cybertron Chronicles" comic, it's explained that Chip Chase's real name is Christopher Chase and that "Chip" is a nickname. There's nothing in official canon to even remotely confirm this, but there's nothing in it to deny it either -- so I can accept it. And honestly I consider the best fan works to be the ones that work with official canon, and not against it. <---JMHO

Also reread TFUS #26 and GIJoe vs Transformers #3. Both stories have Optimus Prime's body blasted into space in a funeral barge. They were aiming at the sun, but still.

Heh, I was actually re-reading Reaching The Omega Point last night after posting on this thread. I'll get around to re-reading those issues later.

Orion Pax (or Optronix or whoever he was) was the Account Receivable Clerk or whatnot,

Dock worker.

or happened to get shot, then rebuilt, reprogrammed and given the Matrix by Alpha Trion and became Optimus Prime, a leader. I'd say whoever Orion Pax was is gone, and only the driven leader remains.

As so often happened in G1. There's no need to write character development -- this Cosmic MacGuffin will change you to a completely different person! Abra-cadabra!! I prefer Beast Wars where characters like Cheetor evolved into who he was at the end of Beast Machines -- maturing through experience and learning rather than some magic bauble.

He was built to serve, and built for a purpose. Once that purpose is served, he has two options in my opinion, and neither is enjoying the peace on the planet.

In the Marvel G1 comics he never started off as a civilian like in the cartoon - he was always a soldier. And in fact was the first military leader to assume supreme executive command of the Autobots. So what does a robot who was built for war do during peace time?

Perhaps he did find a purpose... maybe that's what he did at the end of the Great War... defeated the Decepticons, and all that was left was to do the diplomacy -- get the Pax Cybertronian drafted and signed etc., but he didn't want to do it so he passed the reigns onto Rodimus and appointed him to lead the Cybertronians into a new age of peace and happiness, while he stepped down from his role as leader to pursue his new role as Pepsi Convoy... delivering the taste (and kilojoules) of a new generation.

1. Go on the mission Sharky described, and round up any stragglers who could cause trouble in the future. Basically, he keeps fighting.

Or delivering Pepsi.

2. Return to the Matrix, and be at peace after a long battle, knowing his job is done.

That's kinda sad. It's almost like he can have no life after the fighting's done. One of my friends reckons that was the reason why Peter Jackson omitted the Scouring of the Shire from Return of the King -- as freakin' awesome as that story is (Hobbits fighting against Uruks in guerilla warfare?! YEAH!!!) -- there's the argument that cinema audiences might have felt that Frodo's entire quest was to save the Shire... he saw it being razed in Galadriel's water bowl, and was told that should he fail then this would be the fate of the Shire. Of course, in the books Frodo (or well, Gollum) succeeds in destroying the Ring, but the Shire is still destroyed (and the surviving Hobbits enslaved); while it's a great story, I guess a lot of movie goers might watch that and think, "Well what was the point of Frodo's quest if the Shire wasn't spared..."

I don't think he'd wander down the streets high-5'ing Maximals for the rest of his days.

I'd actually like to see him do that! Strongbad style!

"Ladies make a line to the left for kisses. Dudes make a line to the right for high-fives."

[Verno]

Rodimus was the leader of the Autobots at the end of the Great War, not Optimus. So Optimus must have stepped down for whatever reason (maybe he was off on some idealistic crusade ) and Rodimus became the leader. It was under Rodimus' leadership that the Autobots won the Great War and the Pax Cybertronia treaty was signed. Rodimus also paved the way for the Maximal Upgrade and was one of the first to have himself downsized (indeed the last G1 toy of Hot Rod was a Micromaster!). Rodimus would later become a member of the new Wreckers during the Beast Machines era.

Can you point me in the direction of which universe/story that happened? Cheers.

[GoktimusPrime]

Can you point me in the direction of which universe/story that happened? Cheers.

http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Hot_Rod_%28G1...g_the_Wreckers

[Verno]

http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Hot_Rod_%28G1...g_the_Wreckers

They don't skimp on the details huh.

After the Great Wars ended and the Pax Cybertronia was signed, he changed his name to simply "Rodimus" and decided to check out the new "Maximal Upgrade".

Full of detail...

[GoktimusPrime]

There are reference links there you can click on to read a more detailed synopsis about each individual issue. You can also read the issues online at 3H's web site (the link is provided at the bottom of the synopsis page).
http://www.botcon.com/archive/story/2001/index.html

[Quickstrike]

They don't skimp on the details huh.

Full of detail...

That's basically all the comic says. Edit: Didn't notice the post above me. You can read the comic yourself.

Man, I thought that comic was pretty good ten years ago.


Double Edit: Back to Convobat for a second. Everything I had read about him implied that he was released in that same period where Beast Wars hadn't quite established it's own identity yet. The wiki sort of backs me up:

Just what character this toy represents is up for debate. The toy's bio claims he used to turn into a tractor-trailer (indicating Optimus Prime), but considering the timeframe of when they were written and the whole lack of a stance on who Primal "was" before the show and bla bla bla... it's just easier to file this under the same iffiness as the original toy bios set on modern Earth and leave it at that.

But whatever.