“Freedom is the Right of all Sentient Beings”
Optimus Prime, the most well known character of the Transformers franchise, as been quite literally redesigned and re-imagined by people all over the world hundreds of times.
Different toys, cartoon series, comic books and even fan-made toys and characters have seen Prime go from look to look whilst keeping the core look and feel of the original Optimus Prime.
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Generation One & Two
It all started with the Generation One line of toys. The original Optimus Prime figure has been redesigned and released as more articulate versions of the first design, but also, alternative designs were made.
Figures such as Powermaster Prime, a truck that combines with the trailer to create a larger, more heavily armed Optimus Prime, and G2 Laser Prime and many others have been released, with other homages like the ‘Pepsi’ Optimus Prime pictured below.
The Toys that started it all…
Below I have some images of the older Optimus Prime figures for you to check out. There are way too many figures to show them all, but we have listed to most popular ones among them.
Because there are a number of images here, we’ve created a gallery. Click the thumbnail to view full size.
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Generation One Optius Prime
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Powermaster Prime
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Action Master Prime
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G2 Laser Prime
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'Pepsi' Prime
We won’t go over all of the figures, instead we’ll focus primarily on the cartoons and movies in this post. so let’s get into it!
Cartoon Series
The original Optimus Prime, as leader of the Autobots, Optimus transformed in a Red truck and trailer. The design from the original cartoon series would become Optimus’ iconic look and a constant point of reference for anyone designing a new look for Optimus Prime.
The original G1 cartoon series is the major point of reference for Optimus Prime’s character design as it is the original and most favoured among fans and the most influential of all the Transformers cartoons/movies
Japanese G1
Having continued on from the original American Transformers series, Japan created their own series known to fans as Japanese G1.
SPOILERS: In the first of the series Optimus Prime leads the Autobots briefly before being killed off a few episodes in. The next hint of Prime would be an almost identical character known as Ginrai in Transformers Masterforce.
Although a completely different character, the design of Powermaster Prime (as the figure was named in America) was used, with Japanese audiences getting a similar figure with the name of Ginrai, Super Ginrai and God Ginrai (Apex Prime).
But after all of the Japanese G1 series, Japan also resurrected Optims to become ‘Star Convoy’. You may recognize him in an older post I did on the G1 Autobot leaders.
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Beast Wars
OK, technically this isn’t Optimus Prime. But from a marketing perspectiv,e we can agree it this Optimus was suppose to carry his look.
A similar event to Masterforce occurred also in Beast Wars. In what was more than likely an attempt to bring familiarity to the series, the leaders of the warring factions the Maximals and Predacons were lead by Megatron and Optimus Primal.
Characters of same/similar names but completely different robots all together. Optimus Prime did make a cameo in Beast Wars though, as a deactivated Autobot aboard the Ark (from the continuity of the original cartoon), where the Autobots and Decepticons laid still for millions of years after crash landing on pre-historic Earth.
Robots in Disguise
The first of the new wave of Transformers cartoons from Japan, featured Optimus Prime once again as leader of the Autobots, with more modernised character design and alternate modes.
In this series Optimus Prime combines with his brother Ultra Magnus to become Omega Prime, another testament to the many faces of Optimus Prime.
Transformers Armada, Energon & Cybertron
The design for Optimus was toned back to a more classic approach in Armada. With Optimus once again transforming into a red truck, with ability to merge with his trailer, aswell as the Autobot Jetfire.
In Energon, (a seres of the same continuity) he merges with many others like Wing Saber. In Energon Optimus sports a new design yet again with another trailer design to combine with for battle mode.
Holy flying firetruck! Optimus Prime is almost as epic in the series Tranformers Cybertron as his transformation sequences are long! In this series the combining or ‘power-linking’ is unheard of, and later discovered as Prime combines with Leobreaker into ‘savage claw mode’ (from the music video further above).
Prime’s design in Cybertron is once again a more modern look, to match the level of 3D modellign and animation the series has to offer.
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Transformers Animated
The first series to feature Optimus Prime not as the leader of the Autobots, but a sub-commander under Ultra Magnus.
The design of Optimus in Animated was more ‘toonish’ and generally frowned upon by many fans. It did however gain popularity after time as the show got deeper into its storyline.
Transformers: The Live Action Movies
The first Transformers film, along with the following all carried the same (mostly) design of Optimus. The idea behind Optimus and most of the Transformers in the movie was to create a living, complex looking being, to pass off as a more believable character.
Optimus’ design went through some changes when these movies hit. The plain red truck was now pimped out, in blue and red with flames airbrushed up the side to really stand out. At the end of it all though, the trademark helmet, mouth guard and windscreen chest plates were back, to pay homage to the original G1 Optimus Prime
Transformers: Prime / Robots in Disguise
This series saw designs similar to the movies, only simplified for cartoon animation. Optimus’ look is very close to that of the movies, with a few differences such as more covering an less mechanical inner workings being shown.
Rescue Bots
So over time the original G1 look is returning. The kids show Rescue btos shows Optimus very much in his original form, altered to fit the animation style.
So it appears the original design is proving itself to have the most staying power. A good thing for G1 fans.
That’s… not all of them…
There are so many toys, versions in smaller comics, cartoons and video games that I cannot possibly list them all here. But hey, these are the main ones.
For a bit of fun, I had this video created years ago, a bit of music video show casing the various Optimus Primes, check it out if you’re interested.
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