The many deaths of Optimus Prime

2009-04-30T20:08:03Z

130.208.120.57: /* Movie continuity */

[[Image:Totaled-openingsplash.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Oh, he's gone and died again. Botheration! Most inconvenient.]]
Across all continuities (except for the [[Movie (franchise)|live-action-movie-verse]], ''so far'', and ''[[Robots in Disguise (cartoon)|Robots in Disguise]]'', though [[The Final Battle (RID)|only just]]), '''Optimus Prime dies a lot.''' This happens for various reasons:

* It allows for him to be replaced by [[Hot Rod (G1)|a new character]] (and thus [[To sell toys|a new toy]]).
* It allows for him to come back from the dead in a new body (again, a new toy).
* It's dramatic (in theory).
* It makes him into something of a [[Jesus|Christ]]-figure.

Some examples:

==Generation 1 cartoon continuity==
===''The Transformers: The Movie''===
[[Image:DeadPrime.gif|left|180px|thumb|"Either that wallpaper goes, or I do."]]
* The best-known example is from ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]'', in which [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]] dies of wounds from his battle with [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]]. Famously, his body turns gray as he dies. ([[Misconceptions and urban legends about Transformers|Urban legend]] says his body also ''crumbles,'' but no such footage is known to exist.) Being the first time he died, it was actually unexpected.
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===''Kiss Players''===
*Sometime between [[The Transformers: The Movie|2005]] and [[The Transformers (cartoon)|2010]], [[Marissa Faireborn]] revives Optimus using the Galvatron cells in her body. Ultimately, all the cells are put back into Galvatron, and without them, Optimus promptly dies again.

===Season 3===
[[Image:Optimusg1zombie.jpg|right|200px|thumb|"Mind if I smoke?"]]
* He returns from the dead twice; first as a zombie under [[Quintesson]] control in "[[Dark Awakening]]" as part of a plan to destroy the Autobots, only to die again when he overcomes the Quintesson control through the power of the [[Matrix of Leadership|Matrix]] and possibly the strength of his will, and sacrifices himself to save the Autobots.

* He then was brought to life again (for reals, yo) in "[[The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1]]".
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===''The Headmasters''===
* In ''[[The Headmasters (cartoon)|The Headmasters]]'', Optimus Prime died again—in another act of self sacrifice, of course—when he walked into [[Vector Sigma]] and tried to bring it back under control directly in "[[Birth of the Fantastic Double Prime]]". His body turned gray as he died, followed by a (likely only symbolic) scene of him telling [[Hot Rod (G1)|Rodimus Prime]] that it would be his responsibility to keep leading the Autobots and to continue his work, seen as a transparent, light-haloed figure against the sky and heard in third person narration as Rodimus stared into the sky. (Then again, given the [[Birth of the Fantastic Double Prime|proven]] existence of [[Starscream (G1)|gho]][[Alpha Trion (G1)|sts]]...)

===''Return of Convoy''===
*Optimus Prime returned as a zombie once again this time as [[False Convoy]] resurrected by [[Dark Nova]] in a plot against the Autobots, but this plan went awry when the other [[Battlestars]] managed to restore Optimus's spark with the power of the [[Zodiac]], evolving him into Star Convoy in "[[The Battlestars]]".

===''Generation 2''===
* In the Japanese version of ''Generation 2'', Optimus Prime was badly wounded by Megatron's [[fusion cannon]] and almost died, but was resurrected and evolved yet again, this time into [[Laser Rod]] Optimus Prime, by the power of the [[Matrix of Leadership|Matrix]].

==Marvel Comics continuity==
===Generation 1===
[[Image:Pmoptimusprimedeath.jpg|right|200px|thumb|"I swear, I was wearing my faceplate when I left the house this morning."]]

*In "[[Afterdeath!]]", Prime, after failing to live up to his moral principles while playing a video game, volunteers to be killed. The [[Autobot]]s launch his funeral bier into space. Fortunately, the creator of the video game, [[Ethan Zachary]], saves a backup copy of Prime's mind on a [[floppy disk]]. We first meet this virtual Prime sixteen issues later in "[[Pretender to the Throne!]]". He gets his new [[Powermaster]] body two issues thereafter, in "[[People Power!]]".

*A previous attempt was made at making virtual Prime a new body in "[[Totaled!]]". The body ''spontaneously blew up''.

*About thirty issues later, Prime sacrifices himself to defeat [[Unicron]], in "[[On the Edge of Extinction!]]". However, his Powermaster partner, [[Hi-Q]], survives, and almost immediately begins babbling about how he's ''really'' Optimus Prime. This turns out to be true, and the [[Last Autobot]] metamorphoses Hi-Q into Prime (with a new [[Action Master]] body) in [[End of the Road! (US)|the last issue of the original Marvel US series]].
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===''Generation 2''===
[[Image:Swarmoptimus.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Unleashing the light of the Matrix upon a great evil. Again.]]
*This Prime wasn't done dying yet. His adventures continued in the G2 comics, and he died defeating the [[Swarm (G2)|Swarm]] in the final issue of that series, "[[A Rage in Heaven!]]". The Swarm reconstituted him three pages later (in a body based on his then-current [[Combat Hero]] toy).
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==''Beast Wars'' cartoon continuity==
===''Beast Wars'' cartoon===
[[Image:Smelt Prime.JPG|right|200px|thumb|Actually, he's still alive, but dying.]]
In ''[[Beast Wars (cartoon)|Beast Wars]]'' and ''[[Beast Machines (cartoon)|Beast Machines]]'', you could mark the end of a season by the near-death experience of one [[Optimus Primal|Optimus]] or [[Optimus Prime (G1)|another]]...

*At [[Other Voices, Part 2|the end of the first season]] of ''Beast Wars'', [[Optimus Primal]] piloted a bomb-equipped stasis pod in an attempt to destroy the [[Planet Buster]]. Unfortunately, [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] had sealed the pod's hatch, and Optimus blew up with it. [[Coming of the Fuzors (Part 2)|Early in the second season]] (a few hours later as far as the characters were concerned), [[Rhinox (BW)|Rhinox]] managed to unite Optimus's drifting [[spark]] with a blank [[protoform]], thus bringing him back to life (and in a new [[Transmetal]] body, too).

*At [[The Agenda (Part III)|the end of second season]], the ''Beast Wars'' Megatron came very close to killing the original Optimus Prime. But [[Optimal Situation|Prime didn't ''quite'' die]], so we really shouldn't count it.

===''Beast Machines'' cartoon===
*At [[End of the Line|the end of the first season]] of ''Beast Machines'', Optimus and Megatron had a cataclysmic battle, using the energies of [[Vector Sigma]] and the [[Plasma Energy Chamber]]. This would have destroyed [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]], but Optimus took the warring energies into himself and disintegrated. However, his spark was trapped within the [[Oracle]], and the other [[Maximal]]s convinced him to return to the real world at [[Fallout|the start of second season]]. The Oracle kindly gave him a new body (which, believe it or not, was ''not'' a new toy).

*At [[Endgame Pt. III: Seeds of the Future|the end of the series]], Optimus gave his life to defeat Megatron once and for all, pushing him into the [[technorganic]] core of the planet. In assorted ancillary media ([[Universe (2003 comic)|convention comics]], [[Beast Wars Reborn|text]] [[Alternators (toyline)|stories]]), he comes back to life yet again.

(Strangely, the end of the third season of ''Beast Wars'' had no Optimus deaths whatsoever! A half-dozen ''[[Depth Charge|o]][[Tigerhawk|t]][[Dinobot II|h]][[Inferno (BW)|e]][[Quickstrike (BW)|r]][[Rampage (BW)|s]]'' died, but not Optimus.)

==''Armada'' cartoon==
[[Image:Sshot-arm-39-4.jpg|right|150px|thumb|Now Optimus, don't go all to pieces. You say you have to split? Well, you're a chip off the ol' block.]]
* In the ''[[Armada (cartoon)|Armada]]'' episode "[[Crisis]]", [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Optimus Prime]] used his body to block the blast of [[Megatron (Armada)|Megatron]]'s [[Hydra Cannon]], protecting the [[Earth]]. When the cannon's energy is spent, we see Optimus turn grayish-white, then ''actually'' crumble to bits. A bunch of [[Mini-Con]]s use the [[Matrix of Leadership|Matrix]] to resurrect him [[Miracle|three episodes later]].
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==''Armada ''comic==
* The corpse of an [[Optimus Prime (Worlds Collide)|Optimus Prime]] (killed by Unicron) from an alternate universe appeared in the ''[[Armada (comic)|Armada]]'' comic issue titled "[[Worlds Collide, Part 1 of 4]]". Yep, practically all we know about this Optimus is that he died. He doesn't turn gray, but his colors are faded.

==''Universe''==
[[Image:Nemesisprimetfuclone.jpg|right|180px|thumb|Technically, this is the clone.]]
* The corpse of an Optimus Prime (killed by [[Megazarak]]) from an alternate universe was cloned by Unicron to create [[Nemesis Prime (Universe 2003)|Nemesis Prime]]. The clone, before he became Nemesis, appeared in ''Cybertron'' comic issue "[[Balancing Act, Part 2]]". Once again, practically all we know about this Optimus is that he died.
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==Movie continuity==
===''Transformers The Game''===
In Decepticon mode storyline, [[Optimus Prime (Movie)|Optimus Prime]] is beaten to the ground, and as he crawls for the [[All Spark]], [[Megatron (Movie)|Megatron]] smashes his head with his flail ... poor Prime, he gets the most violent death.

===Titan Magazines===
In an alternate timeline, Optimus was left in a frozen, ''near''-death state. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 9|Twilight's Last Gleaming, Part: 1}}

(Though Prime doesn't die in the [[Transformers (2007)|movie itself]], he does consider fusing the [[Allspark]] into his own spark, an action that would destroy them both, if necessary to keep it out of Decepticon hands.)

==''Animated'' cartoon==
[[Image:TFAnimated transformandrollout DEATH.jpg|left|150px|thumb|Dead in the third episode for 75 seconds. It's a new record!]]
* In the third part of the ''[[Transformers Animated (cartoon)|Animated]]'' movie, "[[Transform and Roll Out]]", [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus Prime]] dies after his battle with [[Starscream (Animated)|Starscream]]. Like the Generation 1 Prime before him, he turns gray upon dying. Seventy-five seconds later, [[Sari Sumdac]] uses the mysterious [[Key]] to revive him. It's a new record, Primey!
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==See also==
*[[Prime Spark]]—The short story explores the question of where <s>all</s> [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|most]] of those Optimus-es go when they die. (Answer: someplace dull.)

* [[Dirge (G1)]] - The appropriately named, yet very unlucky guy who gets [[:Image:Dirge DeathSerpentor.jpg|killed]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathSwarm.jpg|off]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathTimelines.jpg|in]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathUnicron.jpg|many]] [[:Image:Dirge DeathArmada.jpg|continuities]] (but less than [[Optimus Prime (disambiguation)|Optimus Prime]]).

* [[Sentinel Prime (G1)]] - The [[Prime (rank)|Prime]] [[:Image:Sentinel prime lou.jpg|who]] [[:Image:Sentinel prime dw.jpg|must]] [[Megatron Origin issue 4|die]].

* [[Cy-Kill (disambiguation)|Cy-Kill]], who is repeatedly killed COS HE SUCKS LOLOLOLOL.

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The many deaths of Optimus Prime