MediaWiki - User contributions [en]

File:Cyber city statues.jpg

2025-09-16T12:18:31Z

Mochitachi70: {{Cyberworldcap|Optimus Prime, Bumblebee and Elita-1 use Mirage's holograms to camouflage themselves as Starscream st...

{{Cyberworldcap|[[Optimus Prime (Cyberworld)|Optimus Prime]], [[Bumblebee (Cyberworld)|Bumblebee]] and [[Elita-1 (Cyberworld)|Elita-1]] use [[Mirage (Cyberworld)|Mirage]]'s holograms to camouflage themselves as [[Starscream (Cyberworld)|Starscream]] statues in [[Cyber City (Cyberworld)|Cyber City]].|Screamer City Arena|5}}

Optimus Prime (WFC)

2025-09-06T22:10:43Z

Mochitachi70:

{{factions|autobot|decepticon|{{factions/icons|custom=PotP-Thirteenth.png|cSize=30px|cLink=Thirteenth Prime}}|primusvanguard|hofsilver}}
{{disambigm|Optimus Prime (disambiguation)|Orion Pax (disambiguation)|Optimus Primal (disambiguation)}}
{{suite}}
:''Optimus Prime is an [[Autobot]] from the [[Aligned continuity family]].''
[[File:Optimus Prime-Prime-stock-render-alternate.jpg|thumb|upright=1.66|Megatron awakened within him a secret yearning. The slashfic writes itself.]]
'''Optimus Prime''' was the last born of the original [[Thirteen]] Transformers. His spark was the most like their progenitor [[Primus]], its frequency nearly identical. He was the mediator and visionary of the group, passing among them all as a calm, inspiring, thoughtful, unifying and well-liked friend. It was his unique spark and his inspiring reassurance that "All are One" that allowed the Primes to rally and succeed in their battle against the Chaos Bringer [[Unicron]]. When tragedy at last ended the era of the Primes and brought forth the new race of lesser descendant Transformers, he alone chose to be reborn in the [[Well of All Sparks]] as one of them, that he might know them and their needs more completely.

All memory of his past life gone, he took the name '''Orion Pax''' and sought his way like any other robot on the new world. Eventually, he found his place as a simple data clerk, satisfied with his job. He was always anxious of the inequality amongst Cybertronians and thus, after gaining inspiration from an outspoken gladiator named [[Megatron (WFC)|Megatron]]'s call for an upheaval of [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]]'s society, took a stand to rid the oppressive [[Functionism|caste system]] which hindered the freedom of all the sentient beings on Cybertron. Little did he realize that his instructor, the master archivist [[Alpha Trion]], was also one of the Thirteen and knew of the secret within the data clerk. Once Pax and Megatron discovered they did not have as much in common as they once believed, the lowly data clerk was promoted by the [[Autobot High Council|High Council]] to be the next [[Prime (rank)|Prime]]. With the claiming of the [[Matrix of Leadership]], Orion Pax became Optimus Prime once more, regaining his memory and rising to lead his people.

Over the centuries, loss and war have led Optimus to appear stern and serious to most. But scratch the surface, and you'll find an individual who greatly cares for his fellow living beings, with a warmth and kindness his closest friends can rely on. You'll also find regret over the loss of a comrade to darkness, and the faintest glimmer of hope that he can be saved.

When adopting a [[beast mode]], he is sometimes known as '''Optimus Primal'''.

{{bigquote|We will [[Theme song|wage our battle to destroy the evil forces of the Decepticons]] wherever it may take us. And one day, we will go home.|Optimus Prime|''[[Transformers: Exodus|Exodus]]''}}

==Fiction==
===''The Covenant of Primus''===
[[File:TheVisionary.jpg|left||thumb|I used to be a god!]]
Optimus Prime was created as the last of the [[Thirteen]], the first generation of Transformers, each created directly by Primus as a band of unique warriors to combat and defeat Unicron. Upon his creation, Optimus united the Thirteen by his greeting: "All are one." While all of the other members of the Thirteen each possessed unique abilities and artifacts, Optimus wielded no special powers or weapons. It was only through his vision and encouraging words that allowed the Thirteen to finally defeat Unicron.

In the era that followed, Optimus served as the mediator and voice of reason among the increasingly argumentative group of Primes. When these conflicts and power plays finally boiled over after the death of [[Solus Prime]], the Primes descended into full-on conflict against one another. Optimus emerged mostly unharmed from the final conflict that split the Thirteen. However, upon the activation of the [[Well of All Sparks]], Optimus chose to enter into the Well and be reborn as a lesser Cybertronian, in order to know them and their needs better. Before doing so, he asked [[Alpha Trion]] to remove all references to his name from the [[Covenant of Primus]], so that he could not be found unless in the most dire of circumstances.

[[File:COP-OrionPax.jpg|right|upright=0.8|thumb]]
Carrying the damaged body of [[Onyx Prime]] and accompanied by [[Micronus Prime]], Optimus bid farewell to his brothers, and announced that the era of the Primes had ended. The three of them entered and activated the Well, which began producing new mechanical life. Among the many humanoid Cybertronians that emerged from the Well was Orion Pax, a humble bot with no memories of his previous life. Alpha Trion recognized what had once been his fellow Prime, and made a note to keep an eye on him later.

Orion Pax was implied to have originally lived out in the wilds of Cybertron, before eventually moving to the city of [[Iacon (polity)|Iacon]]. Orion found work as an archivist in the newly established [[Hall of Records]], under Alpha Trion's watchful eye. During the [[Age of Wrath]], Orion Pax became Alpha Trion's aide. Orion eventually became friends with [[Jazz (WFC)|Jazz]], a member of the underground resistance movement that had formed against the [[Quintesson]]s. When the Cybertronians finally rebelled against the Quintessons, Orion confided to Alpha Trion that there may be more than one variety of Quintesson. Alpha Trion told him that he needed to keep this knowledge a secret to aid the war effort, and that he needed to pass on these orders to every officer in person. [[Ultra Magnus (WFC)|Ultra Magnus]] served as his bodyguard. Although the duo faced many hardships along the way, Orion Pax eventually fulfilled his mission.

When the Quintessons were finally routed from the system, Orion was present to witness the activation of the first [[Space bridge|Space Bridge]]s, which heralded the arrival of Cybertron's [[Golden Age]].

After the Golden Age, [[Sentinel Zeta Prime]]'s [[Functionism|caste system]] became increasingly oppressive and stifling. Orion developed a friendship with a [[Kaon (polity)|Kaon]]ian gladiator named [[Megatron (WFC)|Megatron]]. The two sought to revitalize Cybertron's rigid caste system, although they differed in their ideals. They remained friends until a fateful meeting with the High Council, in which Orion was named the next Prime- "Optimus Prime". Consumed by jealousy, Megatron and his "[[Decepticon]]s" declared war on Optimus and his "[[Autobot]]" followers.

Over the course of the war, Optimus eventually discovered the [[Matrix of Leadership]] after Megatron poisoned Cybertron with [[Dark Energon]]. The Matrix cast all doubt from Optimus's mind about his worthiness as a Prime, and once on the surface he asked Alpha Trion to help build a starship- the ''[[Ark (WFC)|Ark]]'' so that the Autobots could evacuate the planet while it recovered. They were pursued by Megatron aboard his own ship, and the two factions traveled through the last working space bridge, scattering them across the galaxy.

Over the course of the journey, Optimus's crew visited several lost Cybertronian colonies and ran afoul of the Quintessons once again. They also encountered a tribe of nomadic Cybertronian mutants named [[Mutacon]]s; their leader [[Mercury (COP)|Mercury]] temporarily aided the Autobots in battle against both the Decepticons and the [[Star Seeker]]s.

Eventually, the ''Ark'' reached an organic planet known as [[Earth]], where Optimus and a small group of Autobots took up residence. The Autobots secretly allied themselves with the [[United States of America|United States]] government and set up a permanent base in [[Nevada]]. {{storylink|Transformers: The Covenant of Primus|The Covenant of Primus}}

===Aligned novels===

Orion Pax was put to work in the [[Hall of Records]] soon after emerging from the Well of All Sparks. {{storylink|Transformers: Exodus|Exodus}} At some point in the distant past, the first Quintessons arrived in gigantic silver ships, the first alien life-forms ever to contact Cybertron. Orion Pax was present to see the first Quintessons emerge from these ships and give the gift of [[transformation]] to the assembled Cybertronians by reactivating their dormant [[transformation cog]]s. Throughout the [[Age of Wrath]], Orion Pax continued to work in the Hall of Records, but like many other Cybertronians he chafed under the Quintesson's increasingly oppressive rule and their vicious, circus-like courts that dispensed a twisted brand of justice. The Quintessons were eventually defeated by the incumbent [[Sentinel Zeta Prime]] of the [[Elite Guard]] and an energon miner named D-16, and Orion—who had no part in the revolution—eventually suppressed his traumatic memories of the alien invasion. {{storylink|Transformers: Retribution|Retribution}}

During the era of the [[Functionism|caste system]], Orion would read and index information in the [[Hall of Records]] from the [[Communication Grid]], but was forbidden to analyze it. That was [[Jazz (WFC)|Jazz]]'s job, and the two became friends. Orion began monitoring Megatron's transmissions, and began a secret correspondence with him because he agreed with his beliefs. They had intense but friendly debates over the nature of free will and the dangerousness of their ideals, and Megatron suggested Orion learn how to fight for his beliefs. Orion began training with Jazz, learning to fire an [[ion blaster|ion-cannon]] and to fashion his arms into an [[energon-axe|axe]] and a [[Dual Energon Swords|sword]].

Orion made his first trip to Kaon to meet Megatron in person at his base. Megatron was the only gladiator who gave Orion a warm welcome. Terrorists began bombings in Megatron's name, and he made his first public announcement on the Grid, stating he was not responsible for the attacks and would bring the perpetrators to justice. Orion followed him up with a speech of his own. Orion trusted Megatron, believing if he were responsible for the attacks, he would have wanted to be associated with them. Later, when [[Shockwave (WFC)|Shockwave]] took him to meet Megatron at an arena beneath the [[Observatory of Iacon]], Orion was shocked to see Jazz in attendance, and that Megatron had heard rumors about the bombings but did nothing to prevent them.

[[File:War for Cybertron comic - Orion testimony.jpg|left|thumb|upright=1.66|Lookin' awful buff and armored for an insignificant young library clerk. One has to wonder if the [[Guilds of Cybertron|Guilds]] may have dropped the ball on this one.]]
When "Decepticons" kidnapped [[Sentinel Zeta Prime|Sentinel Prime]], Orion requested Alpha Trion arrange an audience with [[Autobot High Council|High Council]] for him and Megatron. During their hearing in the [[High Council Tower]], Orion rigorously defended their ideals, even reviving the ancient philosophical phrase "Autobots" to describe the autonomy his brethren sought. It was then Councilor [[Halogen (WFC)|Halogen]] declared Orion the new [[Prime (rank)|Prime]]: Optimus Prime. An outraged Megatron accused his brother of treachery, and then murdered Halogen. When Optimus ordered the [[Elite Guard]] to not harm Megatron, Megatron declared Optimus had fallen into the trappings of power the High Council had foisted upon him, and those in attendance dispersed, with the planet forever divided into Autobots and Decepticons.

Optimus forgoed the first engagement of the war, allowing the Decepticons to take [[Fort Scyk]] so he would gain time to recruit more Autobots. Optimus learned from Jazz after the fall of Scyk that he would have to learn to not mourn every soldier. Optimus fought for the first time during the next battle, the siege of the [[Hydrax Plateau]]. The first Cybertronian he ever killed was a former industrial drone named [[Drixco]]. Afterwards, Optimus confided to Alpha Trion that the act of killing alone made him feel he was on the wrong side. Despite the efforts of Optimus and [[Ultra Magnus (WFC)|Ultra Magnus]] the Decepticons conquered the Hydrax Plateau. It was at the stalemate of [[Praxus]] that Optimus gained the indispensable allies [[Prowl (WFC)|Prowl]] and [[Ironhide (WFC)|Ironhide]]. The first Autobot victory was at [[Kalis]], a vital area due to its fusion reactor that powered Iacon. Optimus, Jazz and [[Sideswipe (WFC)|Sideswipe]] worked together to bring down the monstrous [[Bruticus (WFC)|Bruticus Maximus]], but the battle was mostly won due to the [[Seeker (body-type)|Seeker]]s' absence. As Energon depleted, the war descended into a mere siege of Iacon lasting millions of cycles, and Optimus opted to eject the [[AllSpark]] itself into space: during this battle, Optimus gained another great friend in [[Bumblebee (WFC)|Bumblebee]].

Following a lull in the war, the Decepticons began using [[Dark Energon]] and routed the Autobots, but Optimus wisely predicted it was an inefficient resource that would run out soon. To his horror, Megatron and Starscream infiltrated [[Teletraan-1 (WFC)|Teletraan-1]] to steal the [[Plasma energy|Plasma Energy Chamber]], and although Teletraan-1 awakened the legendary [[Omega Supreme (WFC)|Omega Supreme]] to ferry the Chamber to safety, the Dark Energon-powered Decepticons overpowered the Autobots and used the Chamber to corrupt the [[Core]] of Cybertron and infested the planet with Dark Energon. During the battle, Megatron revealed he had killed Sentinel Prime below the High Council Tower to gain access to the Chamber. Afterwards, Prowl picked up a message from Sentinel on the Grid, and Optimus, realizing he had not found Sentinel's body in Iacon, deduced Sentinel was alive. When Optimus, Jazz, and Prowl rescued him from Kaon Prison, they found the city strangely deserted. Optimus believed Dark Energon was having a severe effect on Decepticon morale. When they found Sentinel, he was dying. He regretted his overlong reign as Prime, and that the High Council had made the right decision in appointing Optimus a Prime. He finally told him he had to go to the Core and purge its corruption of Dark Energon.

After Sentinel's funeral in Iacon, where Optimus was officially appointed Prime after holding the de facto position for so long, he journeyed to the Core with Bumblebee and [[Jetfire (WFC)|Jetfire]] and removed the Plasma Energy Chamber. It was there that a voice from the Core told Optimus he was too late, and the Autobots would have to leave Cybertron as the planet healed itself. But it finally bestowed upon him the [[Matrix of Leadership]], the essence of [[Primus]], explaining that while Sentinel lived, he was still Prime and that he had been unworthy of the Matrix. It told him that when the day came that they would return to Cybertron, the Core and the Matrix would restore the planet and Optimus would lead the Autobots in an "age of unimagined wonders". Afterwards, Optimus launched [[Ark (WFC)|Project Generation One]], to build a ship—that Jazz dubbed the ''Ark''—to take them to the stars, a plan some Autobots objected to.

But before their exodus, Optimus planned to fool Megatron by gathering every spaceworthy vessel and having them rendezvous at what was apparently the last remaining [[space bridge]] in orbit. Megatron ordered [[Trypticon (WFC)|Trypticon]] fire on the ships, but Optimus ordered a fallback as he, Jetfire, Jazz, Ironhide, Prowl, Sideswipe, and Bumblebee flew the ''[[Eight Track (WFC)|Eight Track]]'' to board the monster and knocked him from orbit by blasting his [[Spark]] containment field. Optimus's team returned to find the ''Ark'' ready at the Well of All Sparks, and bid goodbye to those—including Jetfire, Magnus and Omega—who stayed to fend off Trypticon as he transformed to attack. Optimus also bade farewell to Alpha Trion, who believed [[Vector Sigma]] would protect him when the rest of the planet would be unable to sustain life: it was then Optimus realized Alpha Trion was one of the [[Thirteen|thirteen original Transformers]].

Yet as the ''Ark'' took off the Decepticons overran Iacon and Megatron and his elite boarded Trypticon, who transformed into a ''Nemesis''-class cruiser and pursued the Autobots. Megatron used his and Orion's old frequency to inform Optimus that he would pursue him across the stars and eventually kill him. The ''Ark'' entered the last space bridge and emerged with the ''Nemesis'' gone. They were near a [[Milky Way|spiral galaxy]] and Prowl detected the AllSpark. Knowing the Matrix within would help them find a way home, Optimus vowed that the Autobots would continue to wage their battle across the stars. {{storylink|Transformers: Exodus|Exodus}}

{{note|Orion Pax/Optimus Prime's involvement in the preceding events, or events mostly similar, were also chronicled in the comic "[[Transformers: War for Cybertron (comic)|Transformers: War for Cybertron]]."}}

After passing through the unstable Space Bridge, Optimus Prime and his crew found themselves in the vicinity of the lost Cybertronian colony world of [[Velocitron]], and with the help of a starmap projected by the Matrix, the Autobots entered orbit above the planet. Optimus Prime led a small exploratory team to the planet's surface, where they met [[Blurr (Prime)|Blurr]], [[Override (Prime)|Override]] and [[Ransack (Prime)|Ransack]]. It was a time of great stress between Velocitron's rulers, and the Autobots' arrival from mythical Cybertron only exacerbated the situation. Worse still, active acts of sabotage on the Ark led the Autobots to the conclusion that one of their crew was actually a Decepticon agent. Optimus concluded there was little they could do at the moment other than remain on guard. Later, Optimus traveled with a young Velocitronian named [[Clocker (Prime)|Clocker]] to Velocitron's south pole, where he discovered a fragment of metal that he thought might belong to the mythical [[Star Saber (Prima)|Star Saber]]. His investigations were cut short by an attack of rebel Velocitronians, forcing him to return to the city of [[Delta]], where he discovered what he thought was another fragment. Although the Autobots secured an ally in Override, they left Velocitron on the brink of civil war during their departure, as Ransack's followers had been corrupted by the Decepticon rhetoric of "peace through tyranny" spread by the Ark's traitor.

The next leg of their journey through the Space Bridge brought the Autobots to fabled Junkion, a world composed entirely of space junk. Optimus Prime made contact with the leader of the planet's inhabitants, a scatterbrained robot named [[Wreck-Gar (Prime)|Wreck-Gar]], who was spurred to action by the appearance of the Matrix. The Autobots went to work repairing the Ark, with the relative assistance of the Junkions. Prime discovered another fragment in a forge, and barely managed to rescue it. When Prowl discovered the traitorous [[Makeshift (Prime)|Makeshift]] was aboard, Optimus and Jazz managed to identify and trap the shifter in a stasis field, ending his threat to the Autobots. However, Optimus Prime's Matrix-induced visions led him on a quest through one of the four Space Bridge nodes surrounding Junkion, and he selected Bumblebee and Silverbolt to accompany him. Through the Bridge, they came across the lonely tomb of Solus Prime, fabled artificer of the Thirteen. Her holographic spirit was called forth by the Matrix and informed the Autobots that the Requiem Blaster, most deadly of her creations, rested on Junkion and must be kept out of Decepticon hands. When the group returned to Junkion with Chaindrive in tow, Optimus assembled his findings, the [[Blades of Time]], and contacted the reclusive [[Vector Prime]].

The Decepticons eventually arrived on Junkion in force, and the two sides warred over a hidden treasure at the planet's core...the Requiem Blaster. A weapon capable of drawing infinite power from nearby stellar sources, the Requiem Blaster had its own gravity field and had literally been the core around which Junkion's "junk" had formed. Optimus and Megatron dueled once more as the planet tore itself apart, but the arrival of the mythical hero [[Nexus Prime]] helped to turn the tide. From him, Optimus received the [[Cyber Caliber]], a powerful sword that he used to fight Megatron to a standstill. The fighting over the Requiem Blaster ripped the planet apart, but both sides eventually called off the melee and abandoned the Blaster after learning the location of the Allspark itself. Optimus Prime and the Autobots boarded the Ark and began the long race to reach their civilization's greatest prize before Megatron could. {{storylink|Transformers: Exiles|Exiles}}

Sometime after the battle over Junkion, the Matrix of Leadership began to behave erratically, transmitting strange visions the further the ''Ark'' traveled into deep space and causing Optimus Prime to doubt his own leadership capabilities. The ''Ark'' eventually discovered the world of [[Aquatron]], rich with Energon. Prime ordered an away party to land and investigate the planet's surface. The friendly Aquatronians eventually invited Optimus himself to one of their cities, where he met the [[Inquirata (Prime)|Curator]], who claimed to speak on the behalf of all Aquatronians. Before Optimus could explore any further, he was struck with another vision of himself, in his Orion Pax state, being menaced by a sinister figure. Crying out Megatron's name, Optimus collapsed and was rushed to the nearest Aquatronian medical center for diagnostic investigations. Doctor [[Xeros]] took a particular interest in his Matrix and scanned it, clandestinely transmitting its schematics back to the Curator to further their own plan.

Later that evening, at yet another welcome celebration, Ratchet privately confided in Optimus that Optimus may be suppressing traumatic memories from his days as Orion Pax. Ironhide interrupted the conversation to tell him that [[Rodimus (WFC)|Rodimus]], [[Kup (WFC)|Kup]], and Bumblebee had gone missing somewhere beneath Aquatron's deep oceanic trenches. Optimus immediately ordered a search party to find the missing Autobots, even though the Curator warned Optimus that Aquatron's deepest depths were inhabited by vicious, less-evolved creatures. Before the search party could begin its task, Sideswipe warned Optimus of the approaching ''Nemesis'', who had been trailing the Ark and also chanced upon Aquatron. Optimus asked the Curator for help, worrying that the ''Ark'' would be shot down, and the Curator responded by cutting power to both ships, angered that the Cybertronians had chosen to fight their war over a neutral planet. He invited both Optimus and Megatron—forced into a temporary truce—to a peace talk, apparently in the hopes of forging a true peace treaty to permanently ending the war. When both sides had arrived and temporarily disarmed, the Curator revealed his true allegiance... that he was, in fact, a Quintesson. A skeptical Optimus, who had studied the Quintesson occupation of Cybertron (although he did not personally remember his own time under Quintesson rule) found it hard to trust the Curator, even when the Quintesson claimed that his formerly violent race had reformed into a peaceful federation. Even so, Optimus decided to play along until he could find some way to escape.

The Curator visited Prime that night, promising him the current location of the Allspark if he cooperated the next morning, and also mentioning that the Aquatronians could subliminally influence Megatron's mind to make the Decepticon leader more suggestible and easier to manipulate—although Prime steadfastly refused the latter option. Optimus and Megatron prepared to negotiate the next morning. However, Megatron took the opportunity to backstab Prime by siccing six Vehicon troopers on him. Before either side could finish their fight, Skywarp—acting on Starscream's orders—detonated a bomb beneath the building, flooding it. Optimus—who had to shut off his Matrix to quell the tide of Quintesson visions—and Megatron temporarily put aside their differences and helped one another to escape from the rapidly sinking building... only to be met with a horde of angry [[Sharkticon (species)|Sharkticon]]s and their general [[Tyrannicon]], who placed Optimus, Megatron, and all the other Autobots and Decepticons under arrest for public mayhem and blasphemy.

Transported underwater and by rail, the defeated party of Cybertronians eventually arrived at Aquatron's capital of Hydratron. Once there, the Quintessons sent Optimus to stand trial for his numerous crimes against the Quintesson Imperium, including treachery and blasphemy against his creators. The Quintessons claimed that they had colonized Cybertron long ago and built the first Transformers, who subsequently revolted against them. Optimus, initially swayed by the stories—and partially remembering his own time spent under Quintesson rule—sadly pleaded guilty to his imagined crimes. However, he suddenly recalled ''more'' memories, including his life before the Quintesson invasion, and denounced the Quintessons as self-serving and manipulative egotists. Even though his brainwashed troops decried him as a maniac and a warmonger, Megatron, his memories also jogged, corroborated Optimus's testimony. The Quintesson judges considered this, and eventually declared Optimus and the assembled Cybertronians innocent. Being Quintessons, they immediately began executing the Cybertronians by pushing them into a Pirhanacon pit, while forcing Optimus and Megatron to fight one another in hand-to-hand gladiatorial combat.

Unbeknownst to either party, the Quintessons harvested the energy exerted by Optimus to power up an abandoned space bridge located beneath Aquatron, from which they eventually launched a Sharkticon invasion force to retake Cybertron, intending to re-colonize it and enslave its inhabitants once more. With Optimus and Megatron no longer needed, they too were plunged into the execution pit. In the fight for survival, Optimus reactivated his Matrix, giving both him and Megatron additional power, even though the Quintessons once again launched a stream of propaganda to further destabilize him. The two managed to escape and came face-to-face with the [[Gamekeeper]] and a mysterious set of carvings depicting a Megatron-like being surrounded by Sharkticons. Megatron killed the Gamekeeper, but Optimus had doubts about the carving's veracity. The temporary alliance fractured as soon as Megatron discovered the decoy Matrix hidden in Xeros' inner sanctum. He plunged the [[Sharkticon Matrix of Leadership]] into his chest, transformed into a Sharkticon-like form, and hurled Optimus down the elevator shaft.

As Prime fell to certain death, he was briefly visited by [[Thirteen|thirteen mysterious figures]], who informed him that it was not yet his time to depart from this realm. Indeed, Optimus's fall was broken by a recently freed [[Leviacon]], who carried him to the Curator's fortified command bubble hidden deep beneath the surface. Optimus arrived to find Megatron —who had usurped control over the Sharkticons—fighting Tyrannicon over control of the Matrix. Although Tyrannicon soon gained the upperhand and stole Megatron's new Matrix, he was eaten by Hydratron, who had transformed into a monstrous beast that the Curator intended to unleash on Cybertron. Even as the Curator attacked him with its powerful control wand, Optimus managed to ignite the Energon beneath the space bridge and cause a colossal explosion. Despite the Leviacon's misgivings, Optimus stopped to rescue the unconscious Megatron from the explosion as well, and the three of them headed up to the surface of the planet. With the Matrix free of Quintesson interference, Optimus and the Autobots departed to resume their search for the AllSpark. {{storylink|Transformers: Retribution|Retribution}}

===Ask Vector Prime===
In [[Uniend 610.23 Zeta]], {{storylink|Ask Vector Prime}} after the Autobots barely emerged victorious in a battle at [[Kalis]], Optimus visited Alpha Trion. Within the Iacon archives, he expected to find a more hopeful atmosphere than on the battlefield. Instead, he learned that the Covenant of Primus foretold of a dire threat looming towards the AllSpark. Alpha Trion suggested launching the AllSpark from Cybertron to protect it, and Optimus reluctantly agreed to do so.

Optimus then called a meeting of his most trusted lieutenants: Jazz, Ratchet, Ironhide, Ultra Magnus, and the young Bumblebee, and laid out his plan to keep the AllSpark out of Megatron's reach for the duration of their war. When the group, accompanied by the Wreckers and Jetfire, approached the Well of AllSparks, they learned that the Decepticons were moving in on their position much earlier than anticipated. Optimus modified his plan accordingly, having Jetfire provide his grounded soldiers with a distraction, while the Wreckers were posted as their first line of defense against Megatron's troops. At Bumblebee's insistence, he and Cliffjumper were granted permission to back up the Wreckers.

Within the Well, Optimus had Arcee activate the mechanisms needed to launch the AllSpark, as it could not be activated by a Prime. She did so, and with the AllSpark now away, the Decepticons fell back. Optimus and his troops were then set out to finding Bumblebee out on the battlefield after he had been left crippled and mute by his encounter with Megatron. {{storylink|Bumblebee at Tyger Pax}}

Optimus Prime and the [[Earth Protection Taskforce]] unsuccessfully attempted to capture [[Famine|Starquest]] and [[Thundertron]]. {{Storylink|Ask Vector Prime}}

===IDW Aligned comics===
[[File:GoodIntentions-GrimlockOptimus.jpg|left|thumb|upright=1.66|The possibility of the Dinobots reacting negatively was a factor I allowed for in my planning.]]
During the war for Cybertron, Optimus Prime and the [[Lightning Strike Coalition]] leader [[Grimlock (WFC)|Grimlock]] didn't see eye to eye. Optimus preferred playing the long game, but Grimlock felt that caution would hinder their attempts at quick victory. Optimus attempted to rein in Grimlock when the latter attempted to defend Autobot City by himself. {{storylink|Fall}} On another one of the Lightning Strike Coalition's reckless missions, Optimus Prime ordered them to return to base and abandon their battle, lest they waste precious energon. Grimlock reluctantly obeyed. However, when it was discovered that [[Swoop (WFC)|Swoop]] was in Decepticon custody, the Lightning Strike Coalition ignored Optimus Prime's orders, broke ranks, and went after him on their own. {{storylink|Good Intentions}}

[[File:PrimeComicOptimus.jpg|thumb|Manga is the right of all sentient beings.]]
In the modern day, Optimus sent an encrypted message from [[Earth]] directing the Autobots to their new world. When [[Cliffjumper (WFC)|Cliffjumper]] and [[Arcee (WFC)|Arcee]] landed, Optimus and Bumblebee detected them and came to retrieve them. For Optimus to find them under attack from [[Starscream (WFC)|Starscream]] and [[Breakdown (WFC)|Breakdown]] was no matter, for Optimus crushed the air commander and sent his brawny accomplice running. Optimus picked up the wounded Arcee, and took her through a [[GroundBridge]] to his base for [[Ratchet (WFC)|Ratchet]] to repair her, while informing Cliffjumper that while his journey was over, their battle was just beginning. {{storylink|Transformers: Prime (graphic novel)|Transformers: Prime}}
{{--}}

===''Prime'' cartoon===
{{voiceactor|[[Peter Cullen]] (English), [[Toshiyuki Morikawa]] (Japanese)|[[Wang Wei]] (Chinese), [[Alexander Kovrizhnykh]] (Russian), [[Alfredo Martínez]] (Spain-Spanish), [[Wan-gyeong Seong]] (Korean), [[Ki-hyeon Kim]] (Korean, "Predacons Rising"), [[Marco Balzarotti]] (Italian), [[Erwin Grunspan]] (French), [[Reiner Schöne]] (German, Season One), [[Klaus-Dieter Klebsch]] (German, Season 2), [[Blas Garcia]] (Latin American Spanish), [[Dariusz Odija]] (Polish), [[César Marchetti]] (Brazilian Portuguese), [[Pekka Lehtosaari]] (Finnish), [[Jukka Pihlajaniemi]] (Finnish, as Orion Pax, Season 2)}}
[[File:OneShallRise3-corresponding.jpg|left|thumb|upright=1.66|''He was a jock, he was a nerd, can I make it any more obvious?'']]

In the waning years of the [[Golden Age]] of [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]], Orion Pax was a clerk in the [[Iacon (polity)|Iacon]] [[Hall of Records]], {{storylink|One Shall Rise, Part 3}} mentored by Alpha Trion. {{storylink|New Recruit}} His interests lay with the tales of ancient Cybertronian history, but the more he learned about the past, the more he grew concerned about the present. There was a disparity in freedom among the classes of his race, and the ruling class was corrupt and all-powerful. In seeking a solution to this inequity, he found inspiration in the words of a gladiator named [[Megatron (WFC)|Megatronus]], and the two joined forces to end corruption and bring equality to the masses. {{storylink|One Shall Rise, Part 3}} Orion and Megatronus became close allies, almost like brothers. {{storylink|Darkness Rising, Part 1}} But soon Megatronus' ideals would become corrupted, and the two would become bitter enemies. {{storylink|Masters & Students}}

[[File:OneShallRise3-cametobe.jpg|thumb||If you squint, I look sort of like this in ''[[Transformers: Fall of Cybertron (video game)|Fall of Cybertron]]''. Okay, that's a lie.]]
Both Megatronus—now "Megatron"—and Orion Pax appeared before the [[Autobot High Council|High Council]], and Megatron stated it was his intention to overthrow the High Council by force and instate himself as the next [[Prime (rank)|Prime]]. But it was Orion's speech that drew their attention. Jealous, Megatron left angrily and began his [[Great War (Prime)|conquest]], which resulted in countless casualties and left the [[Core]] of Cybertron itself [[Dark Energon|poisoned]]. It was Orion's subsequent search for the Core that completed his transformation into Optimus Prime. The Core, the essence of their creator [[Primus]], relinquished the [[Matrix of Leadership]] into his chassis. {{storylink|One Shall Rise, Part 3}}

During the war, Optimus encountered [[Skyquake (Prime)|Skyquake]] at the [[Battle of Technahar]] when the Decepticon was sent by Megatron to kill him. {{storylink|Masters & Students}} With the help of Alpha Trion, Optimus fired the [[AllSpark]] into space to hide it from Megatron. {{storylink|Predacons Rising (Prime)|Predacons Rising}} After Cybertron was abandoned, Optimus Prime's [[Team Prime|elite team]] of Autobots eventually made their way to Earth, where they allied themselves with the [[United States of America|United States]] government. The Autobots were assigned [[William Fowler]] as their liaison, and provided an [[Autobot Outpost Omega One|abandoned missile silo]] as a base in exchange for keeping the Decepticon threat contained. {{storylink|Darkness Rising, Part 2}} Optimus then sent a message into space, calling any Autobot survivors to Earth. {{storylink|Out of the Past}}

[[File:DarknessRising1-fairquestion.jpg|left|thumb|upright=1.4|Do you have your grandfather's glasses—er, wait.]]

After three years of Decepticon absence, Prime was out on the road when word reached him that [[Cliffjumper (WFC)|Cliffjumper]] was facing down an entire contingent of Decepticons. Arriving to the battlefield too late, Prime delivered a eulogy for their fallen comrade. Soon after, some humans were caught up in a battle between the Autobots and Decepticons, and Optimus, knowing that they would now be targeted by the Decepticons, had them brought to the Autobot base. There, he told them about the Transformer war and assigned the Autobots to be their individual guardians. {{storylink|Darkness Rising, Part 1}} Presently, the apparent reactivation of Cliffjumper's lifesigns was detected by the Autobots, and they tracked it to a Decepticon [[Energon]] mine, where they discovered that Megatron had returned to Earth with Dark Energon, used to revive Cliffjumper as a zombie [[Terrorcon (Prime)|Terrorcon]]. {{storylink|Darkness Rising, Part 2}}

Realizing that Megatron's goal was to create an undead army, Optimus and [[Ratchet (WFC)|Ratchet]] headed to the site of an ancient Transformer battleground on Earth, arriving just as Megatron used a sliver of Dark Energon to reanimate the corpses buried there into a Terrorcon legion. {{storylink|Darkness Rising, Part 3}} Struggling against the detrimental effects of Dark Energon, the pair cut their way through the Terrorcons, but Megatron escaped before Optimus could get his hands on him. Returning to base, Optimus was disappointed to find that [[Bulkhead (Prime)|Bulkhead]] had let the kids go out into battle in his absence, but disturbing intel had been recovered in the process: the Decepticons were planning to use a [[space bridge]] to revive the dead of Cybertron with Dark Energon. {{storylink|Darkness Rising, Part 4}} [[GroundBridge|GroundBridging]] to the Decepticon's space bridge in Earth orbit, Optimus faced Megatron down in a one-on-one battle while the other Autobots sabotage the bridge, causing it to explode and destroy the Terrorcons, and apparently, Megatron himself. {{storylink|Darkness Rising, Part 5}}

[[File:DarknessRising5-OptimusPrimeguns.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|Pssst, Prime, your barrel openings are just painted detail.]]

Despite the victory, Optimus regretted not having been able to turn Megatron to the path of peace, and Ratchet consoled the Autobot leader. When Decepticon activity was detected in an area of the desert, Optimus and Bumblebee went to investigate, discovering that Starscream had located and reactivated Skyquake from stasis. Optimus tried to appeal to the two Decepticons to consider a truce now that Megatron had gone, but Starscream merely mocked his request and Skyquake was determined to carry out his late master's wishes and terminate Prime. Optimus and Bumblebee found themselves forced to battle and destroy Skyquake, with some assistance from Fowler, but they respectfully buried their fallen foe and Prime lamented the circumstances. {{storylink|Masters & Students}}

[[File:Scrapheap-cloudsbreak.jpg|left|thumb|upright=1.4|"Okay, ''now'' I'm ready to call Bulkhead fat."]]
After Bulkhead and Bumblebee found a pod in the [[Arctic]] and brought it back to base, Optimus and Arcee went back to the Arctic to check for clues as to the pod's origin. After some time searching, the temperature sensors Ratchet had given them went off, so Optimus attempted to contact base, only to find the comms were down. The pair sought shelter, but as their temperatures slowly dropped, things looked grim. Just as they were losing hope, the GroundBridge opened and ejected Bulkhead and the swarm of [[Scraplet]]s that had been causing havoc at base. The three Autobots were subsequently able to return home, and Optimus paid tribute to their human friends who had helped eliminate the Scraplets. {{storylink|Scrapheap (episode)|Scrapheap}}

[[File:Convoy-Optimustrailer.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|"This here's [[Rubber Ducky|Rubber Duck]] and I'm about to put the hammer down."]]
When Bulkhead's old buddy [[Wheeljack (Prime)|Wheeljack]] arrived on Earth, Optimus excused himself from the welcome party and went out on patrol, since "Primes don't party". As such, he missed all the fun when Wheeljack turned out to be a [[Makeshift (Prime)|Decepticon spy]], but he stuck around for the second part to welcome the real Wheeljack, telling the visiting Autobot that he'd always be welcome on Earth. {{storylink|Con Job}} Not long after, when the Autobots were contracted by Fowler to help transport the experimental [[Dynamic Nuclear Generation System]], Optimus carried the device in a [[trailer]] to the rendezvous point, where it was transferred to a train. Unfortunately, the D.N.G.S. became a target for both the Decepticons and the human terrorist organization [[MECH]], and Prime was forced to have his Autobots break cover to fight [[Vehicon (Prime)|Vehicons]] while he dispatched MECH's leader [[Silas]]. A poor loser, Silas took out the train track ahead and Optimus went into maximum overdrive, grabbing the train and physically halting it. {{storylink|Convoy (episode)|Convoy}}

[[File:Optimuselectrocuted.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|left|[[Ratchet (Movie)|Ratchet]] and [[Ironhide (Movie)|Ironhide]] were right, I should've gone for this earlier!]]
Tracking an [[Energon Harvester]] to a museum, Optimus Prime and the Autobots were attacked by new Decepticons arrivals [[Knock Out (Prime)|Knock Out]] and [[Breakdown (WFC)|Breakdown]], and Prime got the business end of Knock Out's [[Energon prod]], taking him out of the fight long enough for Soundwave to make off with the Harvester. Optimus led the Autobots in following the villains to Greece, and stopped their attempts to harvest an Energon seam there. {{storylink|Deus ex Machina}} Prime had another clash with Knock Out soon after: when he discovered that Arcee and [[Jack Darby|Jack]] had disobeyed his orders against using powers for personal gain by participating in illegal street races, Optimus intervened, and helped rescue a [[Vince|captive human]] from Knock Out's clutches by ripping the Decepticon's door off. {{storylink|Speed Metal}}

[[File:SickMind-OPinfected.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|I woke up late one morning with a black eye. Why the heck does everyone think I'm sick? I could've just been punched in the face. Really hard.]]
While investigating a [[Autobot plague ship|crashed Autobot spacecraft]], Optimus Prime's hopes of helping any survivors were dashed when the craft turned out to be a corpse-strewn plague ship from which he contracted [[Cybonic plague]], a pathogen engineered by Megatron himself. Arcee and Bumblebee boarded the ''[[Trypticon (WFC)|Nemesis]]'' in search of a cure, and, discovering that Megatron was still alive and in stasis, Bumblebee entered his mind via a [[cortical psychic patch]]. In his dreamworld, Megatron was constantly killing imaginary Optimus Primes, and Bumblebee played on Megatron's desire to kill Optimus himself, rather than have him succumb to the plague, to convince him to hand over the cure. {{storylink|Sick Mind}} After getting back up to full health, Optimus led the Autobots to the Arctic, where Starscream was using a heat ray to melt a glacier in order to access an energon deposit. Prime boldly plowed through the weapon's beam in order to get close enough to destroy it, but the resultant explosion left him helpless before Starscream—until he was saved at the last moment when the resurrected Megatron arrived to haul Starscream away for punishment. {{Storylink|Out of His Head}}

[[File:Shadowzone HappymusPrime.jpg|left|thumb|upright=1.4|:D]]

Optimus Prime led the Autobots in investigating a Dark Energon energy signature, and found Starscream using the substance to resurrect Skyquake. Fortunately, the additional power conveyed upon Starscream by the Dark Energon was not enough to prevent Optimus Prime from blasting his arm clean off. Presently, a GroundBridge accident catapulted Jack, [[Miko Nakadai|Miko]] and [[Raf Esquivel|Raf]] into an alternate dimension, and when the Autobots opened a portal to bring them back, Prime took the Autobots back to the battlefield to protect them from Starscream. {{storylink|Shadowzone (episode)|Shadowzone}} Optimus's inimitable compassion even extended to Breakdown, when he was captured by the forces of MECH and Optimus determined they would rescue him. {{storylink|Operation: Breakdown}} Later, Optimus was at the Autobot base when Jack and Arcee brought [[June Darby|Jack's mom]] in to introduce her to everyone. {{storylink|Crisscross (episode)|Crisscross}} He was out on a scouting mission with Bumblebee when Ratchet detected a strange magnetic signature that turned out to be a [[Polarity gauntlet]], {{storylink|Metal Attraction}} and also missed out on an adventure in a collapsed mine, but when he heard that Jack had shown mercy to an immobilized Megatron, he was proud of the boy. {{storylink|Raf's Notes#Note15|Raf's Notes}}


[[File:Partners-StiffOptimus.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|We've replaced Optimus with a statue. Think anyone will notice?]]

Exploring the wreck of a crashed [[Harbinger|Decepticon ship]], Optimus Prime and his team fell victim to [[Airachnid (Prime)|Airachnid]], who paralyzed Prime and Bulkhead with the ship's cargo: an experimental [[Immobilizer]]. Prime would have wound up handed over to Megatron and mounted on the bow of the ''Nemesis'' if not for Bumblebee, who saw the villainess off, and Ratchet, who repaired the damaged device and unfroze the pair. {{storylink|Partners (Prime)|Partners}}

[[File:StrongerFaster-RatchetPrime.jpg|left|thumb|upright=1.4|Who will join me? Who will become stronger, faster, more insubordinate?]]

Lost Cybertronian technology continued to cause problems for Prime and the Autobots when a formula for [[Synthetic Energon]] was beamed from a [[Cybertronian data cylinder]] into Bulkhead's mind, putting his life at risk. Refusing to sacrifice Bulkhead despite the advantage the formula would give the Autobots, Prime petitioned Megatron for the return of the cylinder so they could extract the data. In exchange, he would hand it over to the Decepticons, but Megatron refused and destroyed the device after a battle. The formula was subsequently beamed out of Bulkhead's mind into space, {{storylink|T.M.I.}} but when Ratchet proceeded to generate a batch of "SynthEn" and was driven mentally unstable after testing it on himself, he and Optimus came to blows, and Optimus confined him to base. Ratchet instead took off to face Megatron, forcing Prime to lead a team into a Decepticon mine to rescue him. Cured of the SynthEn's effects, Optimus reminded Ratchet that he was a vital member of the team. {{storylink|Stronger, Faster}}

[[File:PrimeEp23-PrimeMegatron.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|Slap slap.]]

Believing that a prophecy in the [[Covenant of Primus]] was soon to come true and that Megatron could regard it as his destiny, Optimus Prime was finally forced to abandon any illusions of turning his old foe to the path of good after the Decepticon leader grievously wounded Raf during a battle over a power source for the villain's new space bridge. Optimus boarded the ''Nemesis'' and called Megatron out for a one-on-one battle that he vowed would be their last. The two ancient enemies fought before a volcano, and Optimus managed to fell Megatron, but just before he could deliver the killing blow, the volcano erupted with Dark Energon. Megatron experienced an increase in power, and turned the tide, {{storylink|One Shall Fall}} but thankfully, the intervention of the other Autobots saved Optimus's life. Retreating to base to review this new nightmare scenario, Optimus recounting the tale of [[Primus]], [[Unicron]] and the [[Thirteen]] to the gathered humans and told them he believed that Earth had formed around the slumbering form of Unicron, who was now in the process of awakening. Examining areas of the planet struck by earthquakes at the moment of the eruption, Optimus soon found himself confronted by Unicron himself, in an avatar formed from rock and stone. He prostrated himself before the Chaos Bringer and tried to plead for the lives of the billions of [[human]]s who dwelt on Earth, but Unicron considered them parasites and attacked Prime with wave after wave of avatars. {{storylink|One Shall Rise, Part 1}}

[[File:OneShallRise2-shake.jpg|left|thumb|upright=1.66|Kiss kiss.]]

He ordered the other Autobots ''not'' to come to his aid, so naturally they came anyway. After fighting increasingly larger Unicrons, they came up against one that was too much for them. Just as it was about to step on Optimus, help came in the unlikely form of Megatron, who offered his services in eliminating Unicron and revealed that only the [[Matrix of Leadership]] held by Optimus could achieve that aim. The Autobots returned to base, where the others were horrified that Prime was intending to take up Megatron's offer, but he was resolute that all care would be taken to make sure it was a safe as possible. When Megatron stepped into the base, Optimus and the other Autobots welcomed him appropriately. Before they left on their mission, Optimus presented Jack with the key to the GroundBridge power supply. Optimus, Megatron and the Autobots were soon stepping through the GroundBridge to [[Earth's core]], Unicron himself. {{storylink|One Shall Rise, Part 2}}

As they moved through Unicron's internal structure, they came under attack from [[Unicron's antibodies|anti-bots]]. Optimus and Megatron fought back to back, though Optimus took time out to rescue Bulkhead from falling. When they reach Unicron's spark chamber, Optimus and Megatron went inside, and, though the dark god possessed Megatron, Optimus unleashed the Matrix, apparently extinguishing Unicron's spark. However the price was high—Optimus's memory was lost and he believed himself to be Orion Pax. Megatron played along, and took him back to the ''Nemesis''. {{storylink|One Shall Rise, Part 3}}

[[File:Orion-Pax-Part-1-OP-Megatron.jpg|thumb|upright=1.66|"You mean I can't just go [[Super Mode]] and kick your ass in this show? Crap."]]

Megatron wasted no time in convincing Orion that black was white and up was down. Branded with the Decepticon insignia by Knock Out, Orion was shown false history of Cybertron's destruction, and convinced that the Autobots were the aggressors. Angered at Cybertron's loss, Orion promised Megatron he would do his part to help. He was put to work decoding information stolen from the [[Iacon (polity)|Iacon]] archives, and told Megatron they were of locations of Earth and feared that they could be weapons of mass destruction. Later, there was a commotion in the corridors, and Orion decided to investigate despite being ordered to remain in his lab, however, Soundwave managed to prevent him from seeing Arcee when the Autobot managed to get on board. Not long after, the long-absent Starscream sneaked onto the ship to steal [[energon cube]]s and ended up blundering into Orion's work room. {{storylink|Orion Pax, Part 1}}

Surprised to see Starscream, not least because Megatron had said he was dead, Orion's suspicions became aroused as Starscream noted Megatron would likely have told him many lies. Despite asking what he knew, Starscream was quick to depart when more Vehicon guards arrived and in spite of Orion attempting to convince them to hold their fire. After Megatron's subsequent covering of the incident, Orion decided to poke through the Decepticon database and learned that he was Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots. {{storylink|Orion Pax, Part 2}}

[[File:OrionPax3 Optimus Decepticon insignia.jpg|left|thumb|upright=1.66|What did I do last night?]]

Megatron, as it turned out, already knew he knew since his work was being monitored. Orion decided to delete his discoveries so that Megatron could not use then. However, Megatron revealed he was also having his work copied. As Soundwave reported activity on Cybertron, Megatron had more Vehicon guards put at his back while he dealt with the matter, and threatened to kill him if he didn't continue his work. Orion tried to appeal to the guards to help him warn the Autobots, but they responded with a beating until he discovered he was armed and stopped them. Having realized he was meant to be an Autobot, Orion went to confront Megatron at the space bridge. However, he found he was no match for the Decepticon leader and was quickly overpowered. Just then, Arcee leapt through the space bridge from Cybertron and tackled Megatron. Behind her was Jack with the [[Key to Vector Sigma]], loaded with the information from the Matrix of Leadership. Orion questioned whether he was worthy, and Jack assured him he was. When his memory was restored, albeit minus his time as Orion, Optimus prevented Megatron from exterminating his comrades, and they returned to the Autobot base for a big reunion. {{storylink|Orion Pax, Part 3}}

Optimus and Ratchet followed an ancient signal, and found Megatron and his forces unearthing a Cybertronian artifact, the [[spark extractor|Spark Extractor]]. While the two Autobots fought the other Decepticons, Bumblebee snatched the extractor from Megatron inside the GroundBridge. Later at base, Optimus theorized that the Spark Extractor was among the many Decepticon weapons confiscated during the Great War, and worried that he couldn't remember what he had revealed to Megatron when he was suffering amnesia. To compound matters, a short time later, MECH stole Bumblebee's [[transformation cog|T-cog]], causing Prime more worry. {{storylink|Operation Bumblebee, Part 1}} Despite Optimus's misgivings, Ratchet talked him into approving a T-cog transplant between Ratchet and Bumblebee. When a signal indicating an artifact was detected, he cut the operation short to take Arcee and Bulkhead to secure it. Unfortunately, he and Arcee were unable to penetrate Knock Out's force field, and the Decepticons got away with the [[Forge of Solus Prime]]. {{storylink|Operation Bumblebee, Part 2}}

[[File:LooseCannons Optimus and Wheeljack in Jackhammer.jpg|thumb|upright=1.66|This scene is even funnier if you imagine "Mahna Mahna" playing on the radio.]]

When Wheeljack returned to Earth in pursuit of [[Dreadwing (Prime)|Dreadwing]], Optimus attempted to convince him to join the Autobot team. Wheeljack instead took Bulkhead to try and trap Dreadwing, only to fall into a trap themselves. Prime had to dig Wheeljack out of the resulting rubble, and joined him to rescue Bulkhead, who was strapped to one of Dreadwing's explosives. When Optimus managed to defeat the Decepticon and pin him, his gambit to make Dreadwing defuse the bomb worked, and Wheeljack gained a new respect for the Autobot leader. {{Storylink|Loose Cannons}}

After obtaining information on Airachnid's whereabouts from Starscream, Optimus led a mission to an abandoned energon mine in [[South America]], where they found Megatron fighting an [[Insecticon (WFC)|Insecticon]] under Airachnid's control. When the fight was finished, the Autobots surrounded the exhausted Megatron, but were prevented from finishing him off by the arrival of Dreadwing. Outnumbered, Optimus offered to allow Megatron go if Dreadwing extended the same courtesy. Though Dreadwing kept his word, Megatron ordered the Vehicons to attack while he and Dreadwing escaped, but luckily the Autobots trashed them. {{storylink|Crossfire (Prime)|Crossfire}}

[[File:NemesisPrime Nemesis vs Optimus.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.66|"Optimus Prime, slavery is the right of all sentient beings!" "Wow, am I really that annoying?"]]
Optimus returned to base from an energon mine to find that MECH had created a clone of him and were using it to attack the military. He and the Autobots attempted to stop [[Nemesis Prime (Prime)|Nemesis Prime]] from attacking [[Alden Military Base]], but had to retreat under fire from the military. They began scouring the area, and located the MECH base, where Optimus fought one-on-one with Nemesis Prime, until a distraction by Fowler allowed him to finish off the Silas-controlled machine, dropping it on Silas himself. Optimus returned to base for repairs, and Fowler gave them the news that Silas had disappeared. {{storylink|Nemesis Prime (episode)|Nemesis Prime}} During Fowler's debriefing by [[Bryce|General Bryce]], Optimus revealed himself to the general to prove he was still alive and on the military's side. {{storylink|Grill (episode)|Grill}}

Optimus took Bumblebee and Arcee to investigate some activity and found Airachnid sending out a swarm of Insecticons to attack the ''Nemesis''. He and Bumblebee ended up having to fight a bunch of them and won. They got to return to base with Airachnid, whom Arcee had trapped in stasis-lock. {{storylink|Armada (episode)|Armada}} After the ''Nemesis'' crashed, and was reactivated with Dark Energon, Optimus took a team with the [[spark extractor|Spark Extractor]] to attack the warship, only for them to all be knocked into stasis lock by the ship's weapons. Ratchet took them back to base, where they recovered after the conscious ship was disabled by the kids. {{storylink|Flying Mind}}

[[File:TriangulationPrimeAndScream.jpg|thumb|upright=1.66]]
With the locations of four relics now in their possession, Optimus dispatched Arcee and Bumblebee to [[New York City]] to find the first {{storylink|Tunnel Vision (episode)|Tunnel Vision}} and warned Bulkhead to be careful in obtaining another near the equator. {{storylink|Toxicity}} Optimus himself went to [[Antarctica]], where he found the relic had already been taken, and Dreadwing had Starscream a prisoner. During the ensuing fight, Optimus brought tons of ice down on Dreadwing, before forcing Starscream to lead him to a human base where the relic was being kept. Dreadwing caught up with them, and while Optimus fought the Decepticon, Starscream obtained the [[Apex Armor (Prime)|Apex Armor]], forcing Optimus and Dreadwing to team up to defeat him. Though Dreadwing intended to fight him again, Optimus convinced him that there would be no point in continuing their fight, so Dreadwing left. {{storylink|Triangulation}}

Back at base, Prime found that Bulkhead had been critically wounded during the relic missions. Optimus refused to tell Wheeljack who was responsible, but the Wrecker rushed off anyway. When Wheeljack and Miko later returned having killed [[Hardshell]], Optimus stopped Ratchet from preventing Miko from running to Bulkhead's side. {{storylink|Hurt}} Optimus began attempting to decode the Iacon database, though it was hard going with the Earth technology he was forced to use. {{storylink|Out of the Past}}

[[File:Legacy-PrimeStarSaber.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.66|By the power of Iacon, I HAVE THE POWER!]]
During a mission to investigate a crashed escape pod, the team encountered [[Smokescreen (Prime)|Smokescreen]] whose tales of guarding Alpha Trion convinced Optimus that he was on the level. Optimus still believed Smokescreen was too green to go into combat, so the new Autobot was left at base when Prime took a team to recover some [[Red Energon]]. When they encountered Starscream, still in possession of the Apex Armor, Optimus took the Decepticon on himself, kicking Starscream off a crane. After Smokescreen used the [[phase shifter]] to separate Starscream from the armor, Optimus officially welcomed the new Autobot to the team. {{storylink|New Recruit}} When Fowler notified them that a [[Project Damocles]] satellite had been stolen by Breakdown and Silas, Optimus took a team to a military base in the hope of securing the satellite control codes before the Decepticons could get them. Instead, they found themselves facing both Decepticon troopers and the orbital death ray itself, controlled by Soundwave. {{storylink|The Human Factor}} Optimus assigned Jack to help Smokescreen adapt to Earth. He had almost finished decoding another set of Iacon coordinates when a signal led him and his team on a wild goose chase. Despite this, they found the location of the real relic, the [[Star Saber (Prima)|Star Saber]], and Optimus managed to wrest control of it off the Decepticons. Through the sword's power, he received a message from Alpha Trion. {{storylink|Legacy (episode)|Legacy}}

[[File:AlphaOmega-ohmy.jpg|thumb|upright=1.66|"You must not sacrifice a piece of the future to bring back the past." "But you flung all of the artifacts from the past onto Earth!" "... right, right, sorry. [[Five Servos of Doom|Wrong script]].]]
Trion told him of the existence of the [[Omega Key]]s on Earth, and Prime immediately set about decoding the four final coordinates from the Iacon database. After Arcee returned from the first set of coordinates with news that Megatron had invited Prime to come get the first key, Optimus went to [[Egypt]] to find that Megatron had grafted the arm of a Prime onto himself and forged the [[Dark Star Saber]]. Though Megatron's new weapon shattered the Star Saber, with Smokescreen's help Prime returned to base with the first Omega Key and resumed his decoding work. {{storylink|Alpha/Omega}}

He soon decoded more coordinates decoded though in both cases the Autobots failed to secure the Omega Keys. Smokescreen was hit hard by the failure, and Optimus told the other Autobots to allow the upset rookie space. When the final coordinates he decoded turned out to be an image of Smokescreen, he took the team to find their comrade, only to arrive too late as Smokescreen was captured by Soundwave. {{storylink|Hard Knocks}} After Smokescreen escaped the ''Nemesis'' with two of the keys, the Autobots received a message from Starscream offering the final key in exchange for surgical help. Optimus took Bulkhead and Ratchet out to Starscream's location, only to realize too late that they'd been tricked, and Starscream got away with all three of the Autobots' three Omega Keys. {{storylink|Inside Job}}

After Dreadwing returned the Forge of Solus Prime to the Autobots, Optimus used it to modify the GroundBridge into a space bridge. Believing that Megatron would use the keys to restore Cybertron for political points, Optimus took the Autobots to their home world, and kept Megatron busy with the reforged Star Saber while the others took back the keys. Though they succeeded, and reached the [[Omega Lock]], Megatron revealed he had taken the Autobots' human friends hostage. {{storylink|Regeneration (Prime)|Regeneration}}

[[File:PrimeDarkestHourOPArm.jpg|left|thumb|upright=1.66|"...Nothing ever dies we will rise again."]]
With no other choice, Optimus had everyone hand over the Omega Keys in exchange for the kids, however when it turned out Megatron intended to use the Omega Lock on Earth as well, Optimus was compelled to use the Star Saber to destroy the lock. He and his team returned to Earth, only to find that the Omega Lock had created a [[Darkmount (Earth)|Decepticon fortress]] on their doorstep, and he ordered the others to evacuate. Prime himself stayed behind to destroy the GroundBridge, and was caught in the explosion as the Decepticons destroyed the base. {{storylink|Darkest Hour (episode)|Darkest Hour}}

Optimus was salvaged from the wreckage by Smokescreen, who sheltered Prime in an underground cavern. {{storylink|Darkmount, NV}} Though Smokescreen was unable to find any medical supplies for his badly-damaged leader, Optimus asked after the Forge of Solus Prime. {{storylink|Scattered}} Smokescreen retrieved the relic from the Decepticon warship, however Optimus refused to use it on himself, believing the power should be conserved for later use in repairing the Omega Lock, and that the Autobots needed a new leader—Smokescreen. {{storylink|Prey (episode)|Prey}}

[[File:Rebellion-prepunch.jpg|thumb|upright=1.66|Here's your damn beef!]]
As his life faded, Optimus had a vision of approaching Alpha Trion and the [[Transformer afterlife|Allspark]]. His journey to the afterlife was cut short, as Smokescreen used the Forge to revive him, bestowing on him a new, more powerful body. He flew to [[Darkmount (Earth)|Darkmount]], where he rescued [[Ultra Magnus (WFC)|Ultra Magnus]] from Megatron's tender mercies, and proceeded to throw the Decepticon leader into the power core for the fortress's [[fusion cannon]]s. His efforts allowed Fowler's squadron to destroy the fortress, and the Autobots reassembled at a military base. {{storylink|Rebellion (Prime)|Rebellion}}

After [[scanning]] a new [[alternate mode|vehicle mode]] provided by Fowler, Optimus scouted some Decepticon activity and found some Insecticons digging up a skull. He managed to secure the skull, which turned out to be [[Predacon (Prime)|Predacon]] remains, leading the Autobots to conclude [[Shockwave (WFC)|Shockwave]] was planning to clone more. After reports of Decepticon activity in [[Texas]], Optimus took Smokescreen and Bumblebee there, but faced with Shockwave and Soundwave, the trio proved unable to prevent the Decepticons obtaining more Predacon [[CNA]]. {{storylink|Project Predacon}}

A lull in Decepticon activity made Optimus suspect that their enemy had collected sufficient fossils. He and the others went on a mission to secure more energon, only for Ultra Magnus and Wheeljack to find and destroy the Decepticon cloning laboratory. When the pair were attacked by the newly-intelligent [[Predaking (Prime)|Predaking]], Optimus arrived in the nick of time to save them from termination and flew them back to base. {{storylink|Evolution}}

[[File:MinusOne-staredown.jpg|left|thumb|upright=1.66|Imagine waking up to this one day... *squeals with excitement*]]
When the Decepticons started raiding technology from the humans again, Optimus wondered what they were up to this time. He led a team to one of the thefts, and though they were unable to prevent the Vehicons from getting away, Optimus managed to shoot down Soundwave and take the Decepticon captive. Their attempts to interrogate Soundwave were unsuccessful, and Optimus took his team to the [[Solaris particle collider]] in response to another Decepticon attack. He found himself facing Predaking, and though he initially gained the upper hand, Predaking turned the tables and sent Prime plunging to the ground. {{storylink|Minus One}} Optimus continued to fight, but was only saved by the fact that Predaking was called away to rescue Shockwave. He and the rest of the team returned to base to find Ratchet had been abducted by Soundwave. {{storylink|Persuasion}}

The Autobots launched [[Chip|a probe]] containing Laserbeak's transponder and Optimus followed it in the hopes it would lead him to the Decepticon warship. Unfortunately, he was intercepted by Starscream and some Seekers along the way, and though he dealt with the Vehicons, Starscream destroyed the probe and escaped, leaving him none-the-wiser as to the warship's location. He continued to fly around until Ratchet contacted the Autobots to reveal the location of the warship, and Optimus ordered the others to storm the ''Nemesis''. {{storylink|Synthesis}}

[[File:PredaconsRisingOptimusPrimeFinalGlance.JPG|thumb|upright=1.66|Um, Luna? Do you have time to sing a 'Goodbye Song' before you go?]]
Optimus himself reached the ship by air, only to be immediately attacked by Megatron wielding the Dark Star Saber. With his [[jet pack]] damaged, Optimus still managed to climb onto the ship and eventually make his way to the Omega Lock on its underside, allowing him to briefly attack Shockwave before Megatron caught up with him to resume their duel. After Bumblebee's death, Optimus found himself dangling from the ship. Before Megatron could deal a final blow, the warlord was terminated by Bumblebee, who'd been resurrected by the Omega Lock's power. Optimus took command of the warship and flew it to Cybertron, where they used the Omega Lock to resurrect their home world.

After a final visit back to Earth, and a farewell to both their human friends and Ratchet, Optimus and his team finally departed back to Cybertron. {{storylink|Deadlock (episode)|Deadlock}} Optimus held a ceremony to promote Bumblebee to the rank of warrior, shortly before taking the [[Iron Will]] and heading off to find the AllSpark. He and Wheeljack located it near [[Theta Scorpii]], and managed to retrieve it, but arrived back on Cybertron to find Unicron had taken control of Megatron's body and was trying to destroy the planet. Optimus merged the AllSpark with the Matrix of Leadership, allowing him to use the container that had held it to trap Unicron's anti-spark. Unfortunately, this also meant that his own spark was inextricably merged with the AllSpark, and he was forced to sacrifice his own life to restore the AllSpark to Cybertron. {{storylink|Predacons Rising (Prime)|Predacons Rising}}

===Eaglemoss ''Prime'' comic===
After dealing with a Decepticon incursion, Prime contacted Raf at base to request a GroundBridge. Unfortunately the bridge collapsed as the Autobots went through, scattering them to the four corners of the Earth. {{storylink|On Thin Ice}} Optimus landed up in an Amazon jungle, where he stumbled on a Vehicon sinking in quicksand, having been left there by Starscream. After rescuing the Vehicon, Optimus found himself webbed to a tree by Airachnid. She was about to start cutting him when the Vehicon saved him, and leaving Airachnid in the quicksand, Optimus took a GroundBridge back to base. {{storylink|Friend or Foe?}} When the Decepticons hijacked [[COMSAT-1]] so they could broadcast warning worldwide and terrify the earthlings, Optimus and his team GroundBridged up to stop them. {{storylink|Horrible TV}} When Bulkhead was hit mid-transformation, trapping Miko inside, Optimus said cutting him open to get her out would be a last resort, as he had confidence Ratchet could fix the problem. {{storylink|Cell}}

===Titan ''Prime'' comic===
[[File:Titan4.2 Optimus and Miko.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.2|"Except when I'm making air-quotes."]]
As the Decepticons slowly conquered Cybertron, Optimus knew they'd try to attack [[Iacon (polity)|Iacon]] and set up defences at the [[Iacon Energon Refinery]]. Sure enough, Megatron attacked with a small team of Decepticons but the Autobot gunners managed to take out all but Megatron. To Optimus's surprise, Megatron didn't abandon his men, instead rescuing them under heavy fire. When Optimus had the opportunity to take a shot, he hesitated and Megatron's team escaped. For that, Optimus took the blame and was even regarded as a traitor by some. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 4.2|War Story}}

Many years later, Optimus's team had settled on [[Earth]]. After Ratchet somewhat apologetically unveiled the [[Safe]], Optimus told him to have more confidence in his work. When Bulkhead managed to uncover a hidden nuclear missile and a scouting party of Vehicons neared the base, Optimus, Arcee and Bumblebee went out to greet the Decepticons. While Bumblebee knocked the Vehicons into the air, Prime and Arcee blasted them. They reentered at the base in time to see Fowler arriving with some scientists, and Optimus had some stern words with their liaison about the mystery bomb and its intended purpose, insisting that Fowler take it with him when he left. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 4.1|The Safe and the Failsafe}}

During some downtime, Prime took the other Autobots and the kids to [[Valley of Fire State Park]]. At Miko's request, he told the story of his battle with Megatron in the Iacon Energon Refinery. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 4.2|War Story}}

[[File:Titan4.3 Optimus ready to roll out.jpg|thumb|upright=1.66|MUNKY ARMS! MUNKY ARMS!]]
On [[Christmas]], Fowler reported to Optimus that Megatron and Starscream had taken control of the [[Yamal|NS ''Yamal'']], a nuclear-powered Russian icebreaker. Leaving Arcee and Bulkhead in charge of the base, Optimus took the other Autobots to the ship and attacked Megatron. As Optimus fought Megatron, the Decepticon leader outlined his plan to detonate the ship's reactors with a [[static lance]]. Bumblebee managed to wrest the lance off Starscream and threw it to Optimus who used it to hit Megatron. Once the Decepticons had been dealt with, Optimus's team returned to the base, where they found it had been turned into an impromptu ice skating rink. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 4.3|Ice Breaker}}

Optimus was surprised to find the GroundBridge active and asked Bulkhead what the problem was. Bulkhead tried to cover for Raf, who had been temporarily hypnotised into opening the GroundBridge. But his denials were undermined by the Vehicons pouring into the base, and Optimus led the counter-attack. While Optimus and the others kept the Decepticons busy, Raf and Bumblebee managed to shut down the bridge. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 4.4|Tinker, Tailor, Gamer, Spy!}}

Upon hearing of several schools in Jasper County mysteriously exploding, Optimus shared Jack's suspicions about something being afoot. He had the Autobots check out the other schools in the area. Sure enough, the buildings came under attack by [[MECH]], and Optimus helped fend off the organization. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 4.5|School Is... Out!}}

After Starscream stole [[Air Force One]] and held the [[President of the United States]] ransom, demanding Optimus Prime be turned over bound and gagged, the Autobot leader worked out from the ransom note where Starscream was. While the other Autobots protected the plane and took on the Vehicons, Optimus rescued the President by cutting off Starscream's arm and catching her as she fell. After the Decepticon retreated, Optimus made sure the Autobots left before the aircraft's crew recovered consciousness. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 4.6|All the President's 'Bots!}}

[[File:Titan4.6 Optimus Prime.jpg|thumb|left|240px]]
Lured into a trap in a scrap-metal facility in [[Zhejiang Province]], [[China]], Optimus found his mind had been zapped into a human by [[Knock Out (Prime)|Knock Out]]'s [[neuron refractor]]. The Autobot leader mentally contacted the human, [[Lin-Che]], and guided him in fighting off the attacking Vehicons with the help of an [[The Claw|excavator]]. With the drones bested, they then returned to the refractor to reverse its effect. Back in his own body, Optimus broke out of the crusher he'd been stuffed into, and fought off Knock-Out and the remaining Decepticons. He later drove Lin-Che home, to return the favor. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 4.8|The Mind Trap!}} After Miko was kidnapped by MECH agent [[Novo]], Optimus joined the hunt to find her. When Novo, now in a mechanoid body thanks to a MECH experiment, returned Miko to them, Optimus offered him the help of Ratchet and the Autobots' technical expertise, but Novo turned him down. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 4.9|The Novo Incident}}

Optimus led a team to the [[Deep Driller]] oil platform, and found not the expected environmental terrorists, but human soldiers in [[robotic battle suit]]s. After finding dealing with the humans in a non-lethal matter difficult, Optimus took Jack's suggestion of surrendering, and once [[Rufus Madison|General Madison]] realized his opponents were alien robots, he stopped fighting. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 4.10|Mad Dogs & Autobots}} After it turned out that the missing Bulkhead had been imprisoned on the Decepticon warship, Optimus took a team, including the three kids, to the ship to mount a rescue. During the course of freeing Bulkhead, he trashed at least two Decepticons and blew a hole through the side of the ship. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 4.11|The Battle for Bulkhead}}

Optimus and his team took part in a battle against the Decepticons in [[The Wave]]. Unsurprisingly, they survived and returned to base to find Bumblebee and Raf had made a mess in their absence. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 4.12|The Evil Shred}} Optimus and Bumblebee went on a stealth mission to stop Megatron attacking the [[Statue of Liberty]], though they found the Decepticon forces there to be more than they expected. Optimus pursued Megatron up the side of the statue, and managed to defeat the Decepticon leader, but did substantial damage to the statue in the process. He later promised Fowler that the Autobots would fix it. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 4.13|Protecting the Lady}}

Knock Out and [[Breakdown (WFC)|Breakdown]] specifically demanded Optimus and Bulkhead come after the two Decepticons took over a TV studio. The Autobots found themselves forced to run the ''[[Down and Out]]'' course, lest the Decepticons' hostages be harmed. Though Optimus was confused by the inaccurate nature of the ''Down and Out'' set, he and Bulkhead managed to get through the course and rescue the hostages, leading to Knock Out and Breakdown's defeat at the hands of Arcee. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 4.14|It's a Knock-Out}}

Upon hearing of strange seismic movements throughout the Northen hemisphere, Optimus ordered a mission to a military base which had been hit by a quake, and contained a Particle Accelerator, and travelled there along with Wheeljack, Bulkhead and Arcee. Upon discovering the Decepticons' intent to use the Particle Aceelerator to open a permanent [[space bridge]] to Cybertron, Optimus changed into his Beast Hunters body for no readily apparent reason and ordered Arcee to clear the area of humans. After failing to stop [[Shockwave (WFC)|Shockwave]] from opening the space bridge and releasing [[Predaking (Prime)|Predaking]], Optimus flew up to the plant's reactor core with the intention of deactivating it, but Predaking blew it up instead. He, Bulkhead and Wheeljack then reflected on their chances of ever returning home. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 4.17|Collider-Scope}}
{{charstubfiction|{{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 4.18|Power Outage}}}}

===''Rescue Bots'' pack-in storybooks===
Optimus Prime sent a special message to the [[Rescue Bot]]s on [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]], calling on them to come to [[Earth]]. He met them on arrival with the news they would be working with [[human]]s to improve inter-species relations. He accompanied them to [[Griffin Rock]] where he introduced them to his friend [[Charlie Burns|Chief Charlie]], before leaving to help other Transformers. {{storylink|Rescue Bots Roll Out}} After [[Cody Burns]] helped [[Heatwave (RB)|Heatwave]] put out a fire that had threatened [[Fire Station Prime|Prime Fire Station]], Optimus Prime spoke to them through a screen, asking if Cody would join the Rescue Bots. Cody accepted. {{storylink|Prime Alert}} Once [[Blades (RB)|Blades]] and [[Sawyer Storm]] joined the team, Chief Charlie asked Optimus about the other two Rescue Bots, but only got an enigmatic response. {{storylink|Rescue Bots Respond}} Following another rescue conducted by [[Chase (RB)|Chase]] and [[Boulder (RB)|Boulder]], Optimus talked [[Walker Cleveland|Walker]] and [[Jack Tracker|Hunter]] into joining the team. {{storylink|Rapid Rescue}}

===''Rescue Bots'' cartoon===
{{voiceactor|[[Peter Cullen]] (English)|[[Klaus-Dieter Klebsch]] (German), [[Erwin Grunspan]] (French), [[Jung Goo Lee]] (Korean), [[Péter Barbinek]] (Hungarian), [[Jacek Mikołajczak]] (Polish), [[Blas Garcia]] (Latin American Spanish), [[Pekka Lehtosaari]] (Finnish), [[Wellington Lima]] (Brazilian Portuguese)}}
[[File:UnderPressure Optimus on monitor.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|[[Playskool]] is the right of all sentient beings.]]
Optimus Prime sent out a call to all Autobots to come to their new home on [[Earth]]. When a team of [[Rescue Bot]]s arrived at a military base, Optimus met them there and gave them their new mission: to team up with the Burns family and help them keep [[Griffin Rock]] safe. After presenting them with vehicles to [[scanning|scan]], he introduced them to [[Charlie Burns]] and left them to get acquainted. {{storylink|Family of Heroes}} The Rescue Bots had trouble learning to work with their new human friends, and they contacted Optimus to tell him as much, but he was confident that they and the humans would learn to work together. {{storylink|Under Pressure}}

After the Rescue Bots were fired by the Griffin Rock city council, [[Heatwave (RB)|Heatwave]] attempted, but failed, to contact Optimus Prime to request the reassignment of Rescue Force Sigma-17. The Rescue Bots were later reinstated. {{storylink|The Reign of Morocco}}

[[File:ItsABotTime Optimus vehicle mode.jpg|thumb|left||Optimus drops by Griffin Rock whenever he's in the mood for G1.]]
When [[Bumblebee (WFC)|Bumblebee]] tracked a meteor to Griffin Rock, he used the Rescue Bots' comms screen to report in with Optimus, who commended [[Cody Burns]] on his work helping the Bots to acclimate. Three of the Rescue Bots were struck with a strange virus from the meteorite, and they consulted with Optimus and Ratchet on the best way to deal with it. Optimus was concerned that the virus could fall into [[Megatron (WFC)|evil]] [[Silas|hands]] and ordered they destroy the meteorite. {{storylink|Bumblebee to the Rescue (RB)|Bumblebee to the Rescue}}

[[File:BotToTheFuture Optimus steps forward.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Guest starring in an all new ''Tiny Titans'' comic book.]]
Notified that the Rescue Bots had been inadvertently sent back in time, Optimus and Bumblebee returned to Griffin Rock. Optimus deduced that [[energon]] would be enough to power the [[Temporal Station|time machine]], so he and Bumblebee went back to 1939, arriving in time to rescue the Rescue Bots from [[Doctor Morocco]]. The team returned to the present, only to find Griffin Rock overrun by [[MorBot]]s. {{storylink|It's a Bot Time}} Optimus and Bumblebee were kept busy trashing MorBots while the Rescue Bots worked out what was going on. By the time the pair ran out of MorBots to destroy, the team was ready to return to 1939 where they rescued [[Dither]] and returned the timeline to normal. Back in the present, Optimus congratulated the Rescue Bots team for their work. {{storylink|Bot to the Future}}

Alerted to the presence of energon beneath the island of Griffin Rock, Optimus journeyed there with a trailer to retrieve the substance. When Chief Burns's brother [[Woodrow Burns|Woodrow]] became trapped in a cavern deep underground with Cody, it turned into a rescue mission, and Optimus carried the team to the cavern on his trailer. {{storylink|What Lies Below}} Separated from the rest of the team, Optimus and Heatwave discovered the main shaft of [[Mount Magma]], and nearby, a sizable deposit of energon. When they were later reunited with the rest of the team, they were able to ignite the energon in a plan to blast themselves out of the top of the volcano. Optimus later farewelled the Rescue Bots, informing Heatwave that he should prepare for greater responsibility some time soon. {{storylink|What Rises Above}}

[[File:OddBotOut Optimus Matrix.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.8|Are we being flashed?]]
The time eventually came, when Optimus ordered Heatwave to the mainland. Rendezvousing at a military base, Optimus trained Heatwave on focusing his energies, so that Heatwave could take on a second [[alternate mode]]. {{storylink|Changes}}

On a relic-finding mission, Optimus and Bumblebee searched near Griffin Rock for a [[Liquefier|liquefying relic]]. Optimus enlisted [[Blades (RB)|Blades]]'s help to reach the relic at sea, and successfully used the Matrix of Leadership to shut it down before it could destroy the island. {{storylink|Odd Bot Out}}

When Doctor Morocco kidnapped the Rescue Bots, he showed them some photos of Optimus and claimed that Optimus had assigned him as the Rescue Bots liaison on Earth. {{storylink|Double Villainy}} The amnesiac Rescue Bots later tried to contact Optimus but received no response. {{storylink|Rise of the Heroes}}

[[File:BigGame Dinoptimus.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.67|Just imagine the look on [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]]'s face when he sees this coming at him.]]
Optimus made another routine inspection to Griffin Rock, and when a pterodactyl mysteriously appeared on the island, took the opportunity to observe the rescue team on an investigation mission to [[Wayward Island]]. When the Rescue Bots ran into trouble in the form of some [[dinosaur (dinosaur)|dinosaurs]], Optimus was forced to intervene and ended up scanning robo-dino [[Trex]] to gain a third ''tyrannosaurus rex'' mode. With this, he was able to earn the trust of the dinosaurs and discover they were merely protecting their young. {{storylink|Land Before Prime (episode)|Land Before Prime}} Staying on at Griffin Rock to acclimatise to his new dino-mode, a lack of [[energon]] resulted in Optimus becoming feral. The out-of-control Autobot was abducted by big game hunter [[Quint Quarry|Colonel Quint Quarry]], who spirited Optimus away to [[Quarry Safariland]] and began hunting him through the jungle. With the help of Cody, Optimus evaded Quarry long enough for [[Boulder (RB)|Boulder]] to manufacture a cure for his condition. Optimus was returned to normal, and helped Boulder rescue the rest of the rescue team from Quarry. {{storylink|Big Game}}

After capturing an [[Energon eater]], Chase and Boulder dropped it off with Optimus Prime. {{storylink|Unfinished Business}} Chief Burns again called in Optimus when Quarry kidnapped [[Anna Baranova|Professor Baranova]] and demanded five Dinobots as ransom. Optimus and the four Rescue Bots were turned over to Quarry, who took them back to his island and subjected them to physical tests, before imprisoning them ready to be sold. Blades was able to knock out the Q-Drone restraining Optimus and the others, and Quarry was swiftly arrested. {{storylink|Quarry's Quarry}} Optimus alerted the Rescue Bots to a faint energon signal on Wayward Island. {{storylink|Did You See What I Thaw?}}

[[File:ANewHero Optimus laser hand.jpg|thumb|left|290px]]
When some water rescues were imminent, Optimus called [[High Tide]] to Earth to train the Rescue Bots. Later, after High Tide and Heatwave had a fight, Heatwave contacted Optimus to inform him that he was dropping out. Optimus encouraged him to return and he did. After the mission was complete, High Tide contacted Optimus informing him of the mission's success and Optimus requested that High Tide stay on the island to help out, following the destruction of [[Ezra Greene|Doc Greene]]'s [[floating lab]]. {{storylink|Turning the Tide}}

When the Autobots [[Salvage (RB)|Salvage]] and [[Blurr (Prime)|Blurr]] were discovered on Wayward Island, Optimus visited Griffin Rock to welcome them to Earth and assign them to be trained by Heatwave's team. With Doc Greene's help, he uncovered the fact that Blurr had been less than truthful about his past. {{storylink|The New Recruits}} Optimus was disappointed to hear that Blurr had stolen the ''[[Sigma]]'' and tried to contact the ship. After Blurr saved the day in Griffin Rock, Prime presented him and Salvage with Rescue Bots insignias, announcing that they would be assigned to a location elsewhere on Earth. {{storylink|A New Hero}}

After being contacted by High Tide, {{storylink|Now and Then (RB)|Now and Then}} Optimus Prime rushed to the location where Griffin Rock had been and helped clear the crater so the island could be flown back from where it had teleported in the [[Arctic]]. He, Blurr and Salvage helped it fly the remaining distance after the rocket engine gave out, and Optimus later decided that the Rescue Bots could let the whole town know that they were Cybertronians. {{storylink|Today and Forever}}

At some point during the next several years, [[Madeline Pynch]]'s activities gained Optimus's attention, and he dispatched [[Quickshadow]] to spy on the tycoon. {{storylink|Cody's 11}}

Several years later, Optimus contacted Heatwave with plans for a [[Rescue Bot Training Center|new base]] on the mainland. When Heatwave admitted he still hadn't revealed the Rescue Bots' secret to the humans, Optimus said he'd know when it was time. {{storylink|New Normal}} Optimus also ordered Quickshadow to work with the Griffin Rock rescue team, {{storylink|Plus One (RB)|Plus One}} and she later recorded a report for Optimus on events at the training center. {{storylink|The More Things Stay the Same}}

Unknown to the Rescue Bots, Optimus had also been involved in the [[Scrubmite|Scrubber Initiative]]. When the project's lab in [[Faxian]] was imperiled by runaway [[Scrubmite|Scrubbers]], Optimus observed the Rescue Bots response, and subsequently appeared to them via hologram to give them new assignments protecting the project. {{storylink|Upgrades}} Following the defeat of the [[Morocco virus]], Optimus turned up at the Training Center and assigned the Bots all to separate missions around the world. {{storylink|Transformations}}

===''Tales of the Beast Hunters''===
As [[Bumblebee (WFC)|Bumblebee]] and [[Wheeljack (Prime)|Wheeljack]] hunted for weapons to combat [[Predaking (Prime)|Predaking]], they ran into trouble and sent a distress call. Optimus had [[Ratchet (WFC)|Ratchet]] GroundBridge him into a derelict starship in the [[asteroid belt]]. On arrival, he attacked Predaking. {{storylink|Tales of the Beast Hunters Chapter 5}} He managed to buy Bumblebee and Wheeljack the time they needed to get away with some of the weapons. {{storylink|Tales of the Beast Hunters Chapter 6}}

With the Autobot forces falling before the Predacons, Optimus took the [[Firebreath Cyclocannons]] and set out into the desert in search of Predaking. He found his target, just as Ratchet managed to unlock the power of their new weapons. {{storylink|Tales of the Beast Hunters Chapter 17}} With his newfound power, Optimus was able to instill fear into Predaking for the first time in millions of years. {{storylink|Tales of the Beast Hunters Chapter 18}} The battle ended in Optimus's victory. {{storylink|Tales of the Beast Hunters Chapter 23}}

===''Go!'' cartoon===
{{voiceactor|[[Toshiyuki Morikawa]] (Japanese)}}
[[File:Go ep 1 Optimus Prime.jpg|thumb|left|Hi, this is all of my frontal shots.]]
Optimus Prime was a warrior of justice who fought the Decepticons for many years. {{Storylink|Pursue! The Legendiscs!}} Somewhere off [[Earth]], Optimus Prime was alerted to the awakening of the [[Predacon (Prime)|Predacon]] [[Four Oni]]. He soon detected [[Swordbot|six individual signals]] that he recognized. {{storylink|Triple Combination! Swordbot - Samurai!}} {{storylink|Triple Combination! Swordbot - Ninja!}}

[[File:TFGoSamurai5 Optimus Exprime modes.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.4]]
Those six signals turned out to be the [[Swordbot]] [[Swordbot Samurai Team|Samurai]] and [[Swordbot Shinobi Team|Shinobi]] teams. Both teams came in contact with Optimus Prime, and the Autobot commander set to analyzing the [[Legendisc]]s. Optimus contacted both teams in their newly built bases and let them know of the Legendiscs' number, locations, and their ability to travel through time. He tasked [[Isami Tatewaki]] and [[Tobio Fūma]] with acquiring the Legendiscs and protecting Earth at all costs. {{Storylink|Pursue! The Legendiscs!}} {{storylink|Discover! The Legendiscs!}} He later warned the Samurai teams that it was only a matter of time before Dragotron awoke, and they needed to find all the Legendiscs. {{storylink|The Invincible Swordsman - Ryōma Sakamoto!?}}

When he detected Dragotron's awakening, he was spurred to adopt a new body with dragon and train alternate modes, and as '''Optimus Exprime''', head to Earth to help the Swordbots in battle against the Predacon leader. {{storylink|Depart! Optimus Exprime!}} {{storylink|Enter! The New Warrior!}} Even with him as added reinforcements, Dragotron proved too much for him. When the Predacon abducted Tobio Fūma and Isami Tatewaki, the young humans who had been helping the Swordbots, Optimus and the Swordbot teams pursued him to [[Mount Fuji]], only to find he had absorbed the boys and the Legendiscs, gaining the power to Cyberform the mountain. Though the two boys manage to resist and escape the Predacon, the power of the Legendisc and the Four Oni which Dragotron also absorbed meant Optimus and the Swordbots had no chance of beating him.

Until, that is, it turned out that Tobio and Isami had duplicated the power of the Legendiscs through their [[burning spirit]], empowering Optimus to combine with [[Kenzan]] and [[Gekisoumaru]]. The Autobots' new combined form was powerful enough to take down Dragotron and use the Legendiscs to once again seal the Predacons away. The de-combined Autobots promised that if the Predacons ever returned, they would be there to again defend the Earth. {{storylink|Final Battle! Link-Up Triple Combination DaiKenzan!}} {{storylink|Final Battle! Link-Up Triple Combination DaiGekisou!}}

{{note|The Samurai and Shinobi ''Go!'' series have near-identical finales, with differences such as Kenzan forming the top of the Optimus combiner in the Samurai Chapter and Gekisoumaru forming the top in the Shinobi Chapter. A generalized retelling of events is presented here for simplicity's sake.}}

===Full of Fire!===
[[File:FullOfFire Optimus Prime.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.4|I'm [[Batman]].]]
Optimus joined Ratchet, Bumblebee and Bulkhead who were testing new Beast Hunters weapons in a [[New Mexico]] desert. When they were attacked by Predacons, Optimus took the opportunity to test out his [[Firebreath Cyclocannons|Dragon Cannons]], and successfully countered Predaking's flame. But as the Predacons retreated, Optimus told the others he believed this was just a test so the Predacons would know the Autobots' comparative strength. {{storylink|Full of Fire!}}

===''Transformers: The Ultimate Pop-Up Universe''===
Once known as Orion Pax, Optimus is now inspirational leader and friend to the Autobots under his command. He carries within him the Autobot Matrix of Leadership. {{storylink|Transformers: The Ultimate Pop-Up Universe|The Ultimate Pop-Up Universe}}

{{--}}

===2015 ''Robots in Disguise'' cartoon===
{{voiceactor|[[Peter Cullen]] (English), [[Taitem Kusunoki]] (Japanese)|[[Alexander Kovrizhnykh]] (Russian), [[Seung-uk Jeong]] (Korean, Tooniverse dub), [[Ki-hyeon Kim]] (Korean, Daewon Broadcasting dub), [[Erwin Grunspan]] (French), [[Robert Dubois]] (French, ''Moon Breaker''), [[Klaus-Dieter Klebsch]] (German), [[Blas Garcia]] (Latin American Spanish), [[Marco Balzarotti]] (Italian), [[César Marchetti]] (Brazilian Portuguese, Seasons 1 and 2), [[Sérgio Fortuna]] (Brazilian Portuguese, Seasons 3), [[Jacek Mikołajczak]] (Polish)}}

During the great war, Optimus led an operation to capture the Decepticon spy [[Overload (RID)|Overload]]. {{storylink|Overloaded, Part 1}}

Before [[Predacons Rising (Prime)|he could join with the Allspark]], Optimus was saved from death by the Primes, {{storylink|Decepticon Island (Part 1)}} and brought to the [[Realm of the Primes]]. {{storylink|Out of Focus}} Some years after Cybertron's rebirth, a statue of Optimus was constructed in his honor, and he also had a bust of his head in the [[Cybertron History Museum]]. {{storylink|Pilot (Part 1)}} However, when the new [[Autobot High Council|High Council]] came to power, Optimus Prime was blamed for the destruction of the planet caused by the war {{storylink|Decepticon Island (Part 1)}} and, along with his [[Team Prime|team]], the [[Rescue Bot]]s, and countless other Autobots that supported him, Optimus was blacklisted by the council. {{storylink|Enemy of My Enemy (RID)|Enemy of My Enemy}}

[[File:OPS1EP01.jpeg|thumb|left|250px|I still exist.]]
One day, while Bumblebee and [[Strongarm (RID)|Strongarm]] were chasing down [[Sideswipe (RID 2015)|Sideswipe]], Optimus appeared to Bumblebee in a vision in an [[Energon]] pool pointing to a map of Earth inscribed at the nearby [[Cybertron History Museum]]. He later appeared again to Bumblebee, directing him to a decommissioned Space Bridge with Earth's coordinates already programmed in. {{storylink|Pilot (Part 1)}} When Bumblebee and his makeshift crew cornered the Decepticon [[Underbite]], they were forced to fall back after Underbite unwittingly took a hostage in the form of [[Denny Clay]]. Before Underbite could devour the truck that Denny was trapped in, Optimus Prime manifested himself to the entire group, then easily trounced the Decepticon and rescued Denny. After complimenting Bumblebee's team, Optimus admitted he wasn't sure whether he was alive or not, nor what fate had in store for him, and then disappeared. {{storylink|Pilot (Part 2)}}
[[File:RID2015Optimusreturns.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|He's gonna die and come back here too. I give it a week.]]
Bumblebee continued to worry about his inability to control his troops when compared to Optimus's own command style, and tried calling upon him for guidance- to no avail. Bumblebee later tried to emulate Optimus's authoritative leadership approach while his team tracked down the Decepticon [[Terrashock]], which failed to impress anyone. Eventually, Optimus appeared to Bumblebee in another vision, though Prime disappeared before he could clarify his statement that Bumblebee was not him. {{storylink|W.W.O.D.?}} [[Russell Clay]] bluffed a mind-controlled Grimlock into thinking Optimus Prime was about to turn up, resulting in Grimlock fleeing. {{storylink|True Colors}}

[[File:OptimusOutOfFocus.jpeg|thumb|left|250px|"Say Cheese!"]]
Optimus began training with the other Primes in the [[Realm of the Primes]], who began testing him in preparation for a new mission on Earth. In one such test, [[Micronus Prime|Micronus]] served as Optimus Prime's mentor, and Micronus challenged Optimus to climb a hill. At the same time, Micronus also manifested a group of humans and a threatening robot to attack them. Optimus tried to defend the humans and begged Micronus to help, although Micronus declined. Eventually, Optimus realized that he needed to climb the hill first, which would activate his [[Prime Decepticon Hunter]] and allow him to defeat the robot. At the end of the test, Micronus revealed that the humans were merely illusions, and the Minicon congratulated Optimus for his accomplishments. {{storylink|Out of Focus}}

When suffering nightmares as the result of [[Nightstrike]]'s abilities, Bumblebee saw Optimus Prime being disappointed in him. {{storylink|Even Robots Have Nightmares}} The real Optimus made a brief appearance to Bumblebee to warn him of an evil soon to appear. {{storylink|The Trouble with Fixit}}

[[File:Battlegrounds1 Optimus has arrived.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Guess who's back. Back again.]]
Optimus continued his training in the Realm of the Primes with Micronus but still wasn't meeting the skill level Micronus expected of him, to make matters worse the realm was shrouded in darkness which signaled that the threat he was training for was finally about to arrive and he was not ready. Regardless Micronus took Optimus to the ones who ordered his training, the [[Thirteen|Primes]], and Optimus was able to persuade them to allow him some of their power. Reformatted into a new body, he was sent to Earth, arriving in time to save Denny, Russell and Fixit from [[Fracture (RID)|Fracture]]. Informed of events, he headed to the [[Crown City Colossus]] when he tried to destroy the gateway [[Steeljaw (RID)|Steeljaw]]'s team had constructed, however he was too late to prevent [[The Fallen|Megatronus]]'s arrival on Earth. {{storylink|Battlegrounds, Part 1}}

[[File:Battlegrounds2 Optimus and Megatronus fight.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Prime is back. Tell a friend.]]
Optimus engaged Megatronus but the latter's nearly invincible armor and even telekinesis left him at a disadvantage. A blow from Megatronus left Optimus unconscious, and he Optimus eventually came around to see Megatronus using a [[spark fuser]] to attempt to combine the AllSpark with what remained of the Anti-Spark from Earth's core. Optimus returned to battle with Megatronus until Bumblebee tried to get him to move Megatronus in front of the statue. As the AllSpark neared them, Optimus destroyed Megatronus's spark fuser and, with Grimlock's help, got Megatronus into position so the others could drop the statue's arm on him. Following Megatronus's defeat, Optimus intended to leave Earth, but Bumblebee persuaded him otherwise; Optimus agreed to stay but as Bumblebee's equal rather than his leader. {{storylink|Battlegrounds, Part 2}}

[[File:TRID E 28 Optimus Prime Polar Stealth.jpg|thumb|right|250px|I just got done racing a polar bear down a mountain. Stepped on some weird orange bandicoot or something on the way, though.]]
Optimus spent several weeks in the scrapyard, recounting war stories to Strongarm to pass the downtime. The Primes reclaimed the additional power which they had bestowed upon Optimus, leaving him in a severely weakened state. Despite this, Optimus insisted on joining the "away team" Bumblebee assigned to hunt Decepticons far from the scrapyard. When going on a mission to the Arctic, Optimus's changed biology caused the GroundBridge to explode after he passed through it. Optimus and his team started tracking a Decepticon hiding on a mountain, but Optimus continued to have trouble, and was knocked off the patch by a chunk of ice. {{storylink|Overloaded, Part 1}} After his rescue by his teammates, Optimus taught the others a trick he'd learned from the Primes, allowing them all to take on the color scheme of a vehicle they scanned. He was also able to come up with a plan on the fly that enabled them to capture [[Polarclaw]] by luring him underwater, and they took the Decepticon to be safely stored away. {{storylink|Overloaded, Part 2}}

[[File:TRID E 31 Optimus Prime Desert Stealth.jpg|thumb|left|250px|What happened to you? I joined the Army.]]
Though he was still weakened, Optimus and his team went hunting a Decepticon in the desert. Optimus became aware that the Decepticons they were hunting were preying on the weakest, and so feigned being more injured than he was so that he could take [[Razorpaw]] unawares. Noting that Prime was apparently performing poorly in the field, Windblade began acting overly protective towards him, leading to her getting injured. When the Autobots wound up facing up against Razorpaw and his Mini-Con accomplices, Windblade became their opponents' primary target, yet still interfered with Optimus's attacks so that she could keep him out of harm's way. Prime pretended to be completely disabled during the battle so that the Decepticons' attentions would shift back to him, and managed to defeat all three of the Decepticons in quick succession. He then tasked himself with freeing Sideswipe, Drift, and the Mini-Cons, who had gotten trapped by the enemy during the fight... though Drift told him to take his time, as Sideswipe's blabbermouth had gotten covered up in the process. {{storylink|Cover Me}}

When [[Soundwave (WFC)|Soundwave]] escaped the [[Shadowzone (dimension)|Shadowzone]], Fixit tried to contact Optimus and the away team, but received no reply. {{storylink|Portals}} Investigating possible interference with one of Windblade's caches, Optimus's team found themselves up against [[Stockade (RID)|Stockade]] and his army of Mini-Cons. Optimus and Windblade were temporarily trapped in a bunker, but escaped with Sideswipe's help in time to take down the Decepticon. They subsequently GroundBridged back to the scrapyard with their new captives. {{storylink|Graduation Exercises}}

[[File:OPS2EP12.jpeg|thumb|lright|250px|I'm combat ready!]]
Once both teams were reunited, Optimus found himself increasingly questioning Bumblebee's orders and felt under the circumstances that he should take the lead. After a chance encounter reunited them with Ratchet, the Autobot medic tried to discuss the situation Optimus found himself with his former scout, only for Optimus to dodge the conversation. Soon after, the Autobots got help in the form of the Mini-Con [[Toolbox]], recent escapee from "Decepticon Island." The Autobots used a ruse to infiltrate the crash of the ''Alchemor,'' being used as a base by a group of Decepticons. Unfortunately, Optimus second guessed Bumblebee's leadership at a crucial stage of their infiltration; whereas Bumblebee wanted to press on to plant a stasis bomb as quickly as possible to disable their enemies, Optimus felt that they should instead pause to rescue several Mini-Cons being kept as slave. The Autobots were stalled while Optimus and Bumblebee argued, and were found out by the Decepticons. Steeljaw was alerted to the security breach, and Optimus and his team soon found themselves completely surrounded by the enemy. {{storylink|Decepticon Island (Part 1)}} [[File:OPS2EP15.jpeg|thumb|left|250px|It's only been two episodes...]] Optimus and Bumblebee began to agree once more, with Optimus wanting to willingly be taken prisoner to prepare a counter-strike. Windblade took the choice out of their hands by flying up and acting as a distraction, allowing the rest of the team to make a break for it and split up. Optimus accompanied Bumblebee and Toolbox to attach a [[cryo-gas]] bomb to the ship's ventilation hub. They were able to work out their leadership issues on the way and, after a fight with a [[Decepticon Hunter]] empowered Steeljaw, succeeded in freezing the Decepticons on the ship. With the Decepticon threat on Earth dealt with, Optimus announced he intended to return to Cybertron on the repaired ''Alchemor'' and investigate the new government there. He said his goodbyes to Bumblebee, telling him that he could always call on him should the need arise. {{storylink|Decepticon Island (Part 2)}}

[[File:TRID E 43 Optimus Prime Signaute Red & Blue.jpg|thumb|right|250px|This better be an emergency...]]
The need arose and Bumblebee called Optimus to inform him about the new threat. Sporting a new paint job, Optimus told Bumblebee that he did the right thing by calling him and that he would be there soon. {{storylink|Strongarm's Big Score}} He eventually turned up in [[Prime Force One|a ship]] {{storylink|Mighty Big Trouble}} and found that Bumblebee had been abducted by [[Starscream (WFC)|Starscream]] along with the team's Mini-Cons. Optimus had the team split up to search and they found the seven Mini-Cons Starscream was hunting. As their leader, Aerobolt, recognized Optimus, the two groups joined forces, only to come up against a group of [[Scavengers (RID)|Scavengers]] who managed to get the better of the Optimus's group. {{storylink|Mini-Con Madness (RID)|Mini-Con Madness}}

[[File:TRID E 45 Optimus Prime Aerobolt Power Surge.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Oh sun, source of all life and energy, give me greater strength.]]
Despite the capture of the Mini-Cons by Starscream, Optimus's team was able to overcome the Scavengers and track down Starscream's ship. After Starscream merged with the Mini-Cons, Optimus linked with Aerobolt and gained enough power to go toe-to-toe with the super-powered Decepticon. Optimus then loaded the comatose Starscream, his bounty hunters, and the Scavengers onto his ship to take them back with him. {{storylink|Worthy}}

[[File:OPS3EP5.jpeg|thumb|right|250px|Have you tried turning it off and on again?]]
Bumblebee contacted Optimus to see if he knew anything about the odd sphere they'd found. Optimus thought it looked like the [[Sphere of Doradus]], something he believed was a myth. {{storylink|Sphere of Influence}}

Having gained enough information to know the council were up to something, Optimus returned to Earth to recruit Drift. As Drift was unwilling to leave the Bee Team until the conclusion of their current mission, Optimus opted to join them on a trip to the [[Moon (moon)|Moon]]. He and Fixit separated from the rest of the team to deal with a weapon-laden satellite which had been knock out of its orbit during their space battle with the Stunticons, and the pair were forced to disable its heat shield so it would explode before it hit anything on the ground. They rejoined the rest of the team to find that the Stunticons had been defeated, so Optimus and Drift took the Decepticons with them. {{storylink|Moon Breaker}}

[[File:CollateralDamageOptimusAndHiTest.jpeg|thumb|left|250px|Optimus gets hit by lightning a lot.]]
Ratchet's detection of Shadowzone readings again sent Optimus to Earth, this time by space bridge. Optimus and the Bee Team soon discovered that Soundwave was back and planning to try and contact Megatron, using a [[trans-galactic beacon generator]] which would also irradiate Earth as a side effect. Optimus ended up tangling with [[Laserbeak (WFC)|Laserbeak]] and, with the help of a power-up from [[Hi-Test (RID)|Hi-Test]], managed to defeat the Mini-Con. He later returned the defeated Soundwave and Laserbeak to Cybertron. {{storylink|Collateral Damage}} With more information gathered on the council, Optimus ordered [[Bulkhead (Prime)|Bulkhead]] to head to Earth. {{storylink|Sick as a Bot}}

[[File:OptimusPrimeFreedomFighters.jpeg|thumb|right|250px|"[[Mark Hamill|See you around, kid]]."]]
Intel gathered by Drift pointed Optimus to the conclusion that the council were mind-controlling the population of Cybertron. He and the team he had gathered traveled to Earth to enlist the help of Bumblebee's team—as Optimus's group were too well known on Cybertron, they would defend Earth while 'Bee's team exposed the council. Optimus and his team soon discovered council forces stealing tech from a warehouse that could be used to build a space bridge receiver, however before they could act on this, a bomb left in the warehouse exploded. {{storylink|Enemy of My Enemy (RID)|Enemy of My Enemy}} The team fortunately survived thanks to Ratchet's [[Triage Shield]] and tracked the council forces to the [[Crown City]] docks. Though they failed to prevent the council forces from opening a space bridge portal, Optimus was able to throw the receiver into the portal, causing a feedback loop that destroyed the space bridge.

Optimus and his team returned to Cybertron where Bumblebee's team had exposed the council as Decepticons. Optimus turned down the opportunity to be leader of the planet, opting to take a break for a while and instead appointing the other members of his team as a provisional council. {{storylink|Freedom Fighters}}

===Legends World===
[[File:LegendsBizTrip5 TFs of today.jpg|thumb|right]]

During [[Rhinox (BW)#Legends World|Tankor]]'s battle to revert the world back to how it was in the '80s, [[Rattrap (BW)|Rattrap]] attempted to stop him by singing the praises of modern-day Transformers such as Optimus Prime. {{storylink|Legends Comic: Bonus Edition Vol. 5|Bonus Edition Vol. 5}} Rattrap later had a dream in which he met Optimus Prime in the form of his [[Optimus Prime (WFC)/toys#TAV21|latest toy]]. Prime explained that he could play 200 different sounds and phrases, including the names of everyone in Bumblebee's team, though doing so dried out his throat and forced him to have a glass of water. He went on to show off his truck mode, get surprised yet intrigued by a third "base mode" Rattrap invented for him, and dance with the other Autobots to "[[Try☆Transformers Adventure↑↑↑]]". {{storylink|TAV21 Optimus Prime Now on Sale!}}

===2015 ''Robots in Disguise'' books===
As Bumblebee looked into the sea while at the docks, Optimus Prime momentarily appeared to give him an inspirational speech. After his team captured [[Slink]] and her gang, Optimus appeared briefly to give Bumblebee a proud smile. {{storylink|Sideswipe Versus Thunderhoof}}

During his training, Optimus found that the challenges were getting harder and harder, but hid some of the damage he sustained for fear it would impact his chances of returning to Earth. When it became obvious that Micronus was not behind the raising intensity, the pair investigated further. They determined that [[Liege Maximo]] was behind the trickery, and once Optimus was able to dismiss the apparitions of Bumblebee's team conjured by the rogue Prime, he and Micronus were able to overcome the foe. Optimus was then allowed to communicate with Bumblebee and gave his former scout some words of encouragement. {{storylink|The Trials of Optimus Prime}}

Optimus was at a disadvantage while hunting [[Shocksprocket]], being too big to use the trees to avoid the electrified ground. Likewise when the away team headed to [[Chomolungma|Mount Everest]] to hunt [[Abominus (RID)|Abominus]], Optimus's bulk did not do him any favors coping with an avalanche. He and the rest of the team fell afoul of one of Abominus's boobytraps, resulting in the Decepticon capturing them until Slipstream came to their rescue and the team was able to turn the tables on Abominus. {{storylink|Autobot World Tour}}

===IDW ''Robots in Disguise'' comic===
[[File:IDWRID5 Optimus Prime.jpg|thumb|280px|right|"I regret now I have the power of the Primes, I am unable to give a straight answer to any question you may pose."]]
While struggling to get his team to work together, Bumblebee recalled happier times under Optimus's leadership. {{storylink|Robots in Disguise issue 1|Robots in Disguise #1}} Optimus later appeared to Bumblebee in a vision to tell him to trust his instincts about the visit by Ultra Magnus. {{storylink|Robots in Disguise issue 2|Robots in Disguise #2}}

After joining Team Bee following the defeat of Megatronus, Optimus received a directive from the Primes which sent him with Windblade to the [[Sierra Ridge]] mountains. {{storylink|Robots in Disguise issue 5|Robots in Disguise #5}} The pair searched various caves until they stumbled on Predaking. The Predacon escaped, but left behind a piece of Starscream. Optimus and Windblade took the arm back with them and were able to use it to convince some Vehicons who'd teamed up with Steeljaw that Starscream was dead and the Decepticon army defeated. Though Optimus offered to allow the Vehicons to peacefully return to Cybertron, they turned down his offer and went back into hiding. {{storylink|Robots in Disguise issue 6|Robots in Disguise #6}}

===''Rescue Bots Academy'' cartoon===
{{voiceactor|[[Jake Foushee]], [[Hiro Diaz]] (Eps 1-2 only) (English)|[[Erwin Grunspan]] (French), [[Victor Covarrubias]] (Latin-American Spanish), [[Marco Balzarotti]] (Italian)}}
[[File:RBA - Recruits Part 1 - Recruitment Pitch.jpg|left|thumb|300px|"Keep your pants dry, your dreams wet, and remember, hugs not drugs."]]
Though [[Wedge (RBA)|Wedge]] was created as a Decepticon, Optimus found him and successfully encouraged him to become an Autobot. {{storylink|More Than Meets the Eye (RBA)|More Than Meets the Eye}} Looking for new recruits for the Rescue Bots, Optimus Prime approached [[Hot Shot (Prime)|Hot Shot]] while the young bot was playing [[Cube (sport)|Cube]]. Hot Shot agreed, so Optimus accompanied him on a space bridge journey to Earth and left him at the Rescue Bot Training Center. {{storylink|Recruits Part I}} Optimus later returned to find Hot Shot on the verge of giving up. Though he said Hot Shot was free to give up and return to Cybertron, he first presented the recruit with an ancient Cybertronian relic, the [[Mul-T-Cog|Mul-T-Cog Badge]], which gave Hot Shot the confidence to stick with training for a while longer. {{storylink|Recruits Part II}}

After calling Heatwave for a mission, Prime was invited to see the new recruitment video [[Whirl (RBA)|Whirl]] made, and gave her some advice when she came depressed with the results. Luckily, her fellow recruits made a miracle out of her footage, and an amused Optimus saw them off to complete the film.{{storylink|Rescue Promo}} Optimus was among the bots featured on the [[Heroes of Cybertron (cards)|Heroes of Cybertron]] trading cards which Wedge owned. {{storylink|Battle of the Bots}}

On the eve of the recruits' graduation from year one, Optimus paid them a visit and brought Hot Shot's old friend [[Scorch (RBA)|Scorch]] along. {{storylink|Best Bots Forever Part 1}} Optimus was later disappointed to learn that Hot Shot had abandoned his Rescue Bot training, and went to return to Cybertron to retrieve the Mul-T-Cog so it could be presented to another student. The space bridge malfunctioned as a result of tampering by the recruits, trapping Optimus and the other teachers in a slowly-expanding energon bubble until the recruits were able to free them. Optimus later attended the recruits' graduation. {{storylink|Best Bots Forever Part 2}}

Optimus paid the academy a visit at the start of year two, bringing [[Ratchet (WFC)|Ratchet]] with him to get the students matched with appropriate mentors. {{storylink|Back To School}} After the [[Sparksayer]] was recovered, Optimus approved the students to be the first to make use of its power. {{storylink|Power Up And Energize}} Optimus contacted Heatwave regarding the fact that Hot Shot had still not mastered use of his Mul-T-Cog enough to be able to use more than one form in a day. He later congratulated Hot Shot when the young Bot finally succeeded. {{storylink|Mul-T-Change of Pace}} Optimus visited the academy to give the recruits their reviews. {{storylink|Wizard of Botz}}

Optimus attended a party on [[Citadel Secundus]] to celebrate the end of the recruits' second year, and was rendered out-cold along with almost everyone else on board when the Titan was struck by an asteroid which created an anti-energon field. {{storylink|Space Party}} Wedge tried unsuccessfully to revive him with a shield emitter which turned out not to be powerful enough given Optimus's size. Those aboard Secundus were eventually revived after the danger was over, and Optimus presented the year two graduation, during which he invited the recruits friends to become a new class, even making Laserbeak an Autobot in the process. {{storylink|Crash of the Titan}}
{{--}}

===Precursor World===
[[File:Adventure Optimus Prime Selects.jpg|thumb|left|80px]]
A [[Primus Vanguard|Warrior of the Seven Lights]] resembling a scintillating Optimus Prime was a member of the [[Red Order]] of the [[Primus Vanguard]]. He cheered on [[Yokohama Convoy|the Order's dimunitive cannoneer]] when their commander [[Sentinel Prime (G1)#Precursor World|Red Sentinel Prime]] bade him fire the Order's holy [[Matrix Buster]] at the marauding [[G1 World|interdimensional]] [[Seacon (BW)|pirate]] [[Terrormander]] in defense of the [[Red Planet]]. {{storylink|God Neptune comic 1}}
{{-}}

==Commercial appearances==

{{voiceactor|[[Peter Cullen]]}}

*Bulkhead received a phone call from {{w|Strawberry Shortcake}}, juvenile provider of baked goods, inviting him to the Berryfest Princess Parade in which he would be extremely glittered. When Optimus asked who the caller was, Bulkhead stated that it was for Optimus. {{storylink|Commercial/Prime#Strawberry Shortcake|Strawberry Shortcake and Bulkhead}}

*Optimus was weirded out by [[Bulkhead (Prime)|Bulkhead]], [[Megatron (WFC)|Megatron]], [[My Little Pony|ponies]], and an {{w|Strawberry Shortcake|underage baker}} singing Christmas carols. {{storylink|Commercial/Prime#Carolers1|The Hub Carolers}}

*Optimus participated in a conference call with Fowler, who informed the Autobots that [[Batman]] was to backup the team for a mission. {{storylink|Commercial/Prime#Impossibly Awesome|Mission: Impossibly Awesome Marathon}}

*Optimus received some new secret weapons from Ratchet, and then proceeded to use his shoulder-mounted guns to mow down some Vehicons. {{storylink|Commercial/Prime#Weaponizers|Weaponizers commercial}}

*Optimus was lifted by an ant who had engaged in a proper nutrition regiment, yet eats Happy Meals. {{storylink|Commercial/Prime#Happy Meal|McDonald's Happy Meal}}

*Optimus, Bumblebee, [[Boulder (RB)|Boulder]], and Predaking attended a pool party with various entities from other universes. {{storylink|Commercial/Prime#Pool Party|Hub Network Summer Pool Party}}

*Toy versions of Optimus and Bumblebee came to life to duke it out against toy versions of Predaking and [[Lazerback (Prime)|Lazerback]] in a child's room. Bumblebee and Optimus came out victorious, and bumped fists while their restrained opponents dangled beneath them. {{storylink|Commercial/Prime#Beast Hunters toys|Beast Hunters toys commercial}}

*Optimus, [[Bumblebee (WFC)|Bumblebee]], [[Heatwave (RB)|Heatwave]], [[Chase (RB)|Chase]], [[Blades (RB)|Blades]], and [[Boulder (RB)|Boulder]] rushed out of [[Fire Station Prime]] in response to a nearby fire. They watched Heatwave put out the blaze, then all posed heroically in a v-formation. {{storylink|Commercial#Rescue Bots|Rescue Bots toys commercial}}

*Optimus and Bumblebee and the Rescue Bots responded to a fire emergency. Once on-scene, Optimus energized his saw weapon to better deal with the situation. {{storylink|Commercial#Rescue Bots|Energize figures commercial}}

*A child playing with the "Optimus Primal" Rescue Bots toy was turned into an animated version of himself and met with the Rescue Bots! He directed Optimus into rescuing Chase, who had been pinned under a boulder. {{storylink|Commercial#Rescue Bots|Rescue Bots Optimus Primal toy commercial}}

*Optimus came upon [[Fracture (RID)|Fracture]] and his two Mini-Cons in a parking lot. Though Fracture believe nothing could stop him, Optimus proved him wrong by first ramming the two smaller 'bots, then clobbering their boss in the jaw. {{storylink|Commercial#Robots in Disguise (2015)|Robots in Disguise Mega Optimus Prime toy commercial}}

*At a [[Toys"R"Us]] somewhere in a [[Quadwal]] universe, sentient versions of toy baby {{w|Baby Alive|Snackin' Sara}} and [[Optimus Prime (WFC)/toys#Robots in Disguise|toy Optimus]] have a discussion involving the store's Price Match guarantee that concludes with toy Optimus getting distraught at the existence of an entire shelf with clones of himself. {{storylink|Commercial#2015 2|Toys"R"Us Commercial}}

==Games==
===''Transformers: War for Cybertron'' (Xbox 360/PS3/PC)===
{{voiceactor|[[Peter Cullen]] (English)|[[Marco Balzarotti]] (Italian), [[Patrice Melennec]] (French), [[Andrei Yaroslavtsev]] (Russian), [[Alfredo Martínez]] (Spain-Spanish), [[Piotr Dobosz]] (Polish)}}
[[File:WFC-Opimus Prime-robot mode.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|Steroids are the right of all sentient beings.]]

In the waning days of the war for Cybertron, Optimus spotted a little yellow Autobot in trouble, and defeated the surrounding drone forces. [[Ratchet (WFC)|Ratchet]] arrived on the scene, and Optimus helped up the Autobot scout, who revealed his name was [[Bumblebee (WFC)|Bumblebee]]. Bumblebee informed Optimus that the Decepticons had taken control of communication relays, so that the only way to contact Optimus was by messenger. He also informed Optimus that their leader, [[Sentinel Zeta Prime]], was dead. Optimus suspected [[Megatron (WFC)|Megatron]]'s hand, and was informed by Bumblebee that the [[Autobot High Council|High Council]] had gone into hiding because of this. Optimus believed that the Council would emerge during a safer time, and formed a team with Bumblebee and Ratchet.

They drove to the [[Decagon]], where they found [[Ironhide (WFC)|Ironhide]] battling the forces of [[Starscream (WFC)|Starscream]]. After assisting him in defeating Starscream's army, they confronted Starscream himself within the Decagon. After the trio combated and drove off Starscream, a hologram of Zeta Prime's face appeared in the center of the room, stating that he is being held in the Kaon prison complex. Optimus took Bumblebee and Sideswipe to the Kaon prison, allowing themselves to be captured so that they could infiltrate the facility. The Decepticons prepared to execute them, but [[Air Raid (WFC)|Air Raid]] lent a hand so they could escape, though he himself was captured. While sneaking through the corridors, the three managed to free Air Raid, [[Arcee (WFC)|Arcee]], and others. They continued through the hallways, and finally located the room where Zeta is being held, only to face [[Soundwave (WFC)|Soundwave]]. The Decepticon cowered behind a force field, sending [[Frenzy (WFC)|Frenzy]], [[Rumble (WFC)|Rumble]], and [[Laserbeak (WFC)|Laserbeak]] out to fight for him, only venturing out to administer needed repairs to his minions. As Soundwave's energy became low, he attempted to drain Zeta Prime, only to be interrupted by Optimus, who took a shot meant for Zeta. Though Soundwave and his minions retreated, the damage was done, and Zeta Prime died before Optimus could free him.

Optimus brought Zeta's corpse to the site of the hiding High Council, where he lay the dead body in the center of the room. Optimus stated that the Autobots craved their guidance, but the Council stated that their mission was to choose the Primes, not to lead them. They then told him that Optimus himself is a Prime, and that he had changed the lives around him. Optimus was then told that Megatron had corrupted the core of Cybertron, and that he was the one that could remove this blight. He took this burden and responsibility, then was told by the Council that he was now Optimus ''Prime'', the last Prime.

[[File:WFC-OptimusPrimeAltmode.jpg|left|thumb||Welcome to the ''Twilight Zone'' Prime.]]
For a new mission, Optimus selected Ironhide and [[Warpath (WFC)|Warpath]], and the team ventured to the entrance of the core, where a corrupted [[Omega Supreme (WFC)|Omega Supreme]] was being tortured. After a prolonged battle, the Autobots defeated the torturers and freed Omega Supreme from the Dark Energon influence. Omega Supreme escaped, and the Autobots found some [[space slug]]s to use as steeds. One long journey later, they reached the core and defeated a corrupted slug. Unfortunately the core itself had become contaminated, and informed Optimus as much. The only solution was for the core to reboot, which would take millions of years, during which the planet would be unusable, and Optimus realized that the Autobots would have to leave their home. Before shutting down, the core revealed the [[Matrix of Leadership]], which it installed inside Optimus Prime's chest.

Optimus arrived back at Iacon, where he ordered all Autobots to evacuate the planet. Megatron announced that everyone must stay or face destruction, and fired a massive cannon installed in the Dark Energon space station. Optimus Prime ordered his Air Commander [[Silverbolt (WFC)|Silverbolt]] to shut down the cannon with his team. They succeeded, and the station crashed into Iacon. Optimus, Bumblebee, and Ironhide discovered that the "space station" wasn't a space station at all: it was the giant Decepticon, [[Trypticon (WFC)|Trypticon]]. They managed to defeat the heavily armed menace, who plunged into a pool of energon. The Autobots celebrated their victory, but noticed that ''they'' have to evacuate as well. Optimus revealed a massive starship they would use called the [[Ark (WFC)|Ark]], a ship still under construction that would allow them to take a part of Cybertron with them across the galaxy. {{storylink|Transformers: War for Cybertron (360/PS3/PC)|Transformers: War for Cybertron}}

===''Transformers: War for Cybertron'' (DS)===
{{voiceactor|[[Peter Cullen]] (English)}}
[[File:WFCDS Optimus Prime.jpg|thumb|124px|Origamimus Prime]]
Optimus was a dock worker who found himself caught up in the war against the Decepticons. With the Decepticons on the hunt for the Omega Key, Zeta Prime sent Optimus and his team to protect the library, knowing he could count on his old friend. When Zeta Prime was later captured by the Decepticons, he attempted to contact Optimus. The data links keeping him in contact with the Autobots were severed, so Bumblebee tracked down Optimus at an Autobot base. Optimus subsequently rescued an [[Autobot rookie]] from Starscream, chasing the Decepticon off before joining up with Jetfire and destroying other intruders at the base. Optimus was felled by a [[laser guard]], but revived with the help of Jetfire and Bumblebee. They completed clearing the base by defeating [[Dirge (WFC)|Dirge]], and Optimus announced that the next step was to retake Iacon.

He and his team entered Decepticon-occupied Iacon and destroyed the Dark Energon corruptors, allowing them to get the Decagon's defense systems back online. While they waited for Zeta Prime to make contact again, Optimus reminded Bumblebee that they couldn't let Megatron win just by giving up. Zeta let them know that he was being held in Kaon Prison, and Optimus's team infiltrated the prison in search of him. After an encounter with [[Onslaught (WFC)|Onslaught]], they ran into Megatron himself, who set more Decepticons on them. When they eventually found Zeta Prime, their leader expired. Optimus returned his body to the High Council, who appointed Optimus the new Prime.

Optimus Prime attempted to solicit [[Grimlock (WFC)|Grimlock]]'s help. Grimlock challenged him to a fight to decide whether to join up, but [[Swoop (WFC)|Swoop]]'s capture by Decepticons sent the Autobots off on a rescue mission instead. The Autobots tracked Swoop down to a Dark Energon laboratory on the outskirts of Iacon and freed him from Dark Energon contamination. Swoop's services were subsequently offered to the Autobots by Grimlock, who said he'd follow along to protect Swoop. Analysis of core samples by Jetfire and Ratchet indicated that they would need to disable to corrupters preventing it from repairing itself. To this end, Optimus's team traveled to the core and freed it after defeating [[Brawl (WFC)|Brawl]].

Realising that the core needed time to repair itself, Optimus ordered the Autobots to evacuate the planet in Arks. He and his team ascended the space bridge to attack the Trypticon space station and take out its main power core. They escaped during the station's plunge towards Cybertron, but as it fell, it transformed. Optimus rallied his men against this new threat, leading the way to the crash site, where the Autobots confronted Trypticon. After the titan's downfall, Optimus and his men left Cybertron in search of a new source of energy. {{storylink|Transformers: War for Cybertron (DS)|War for Cybertron - Autobots/Decepticons}}

===''Transformers: Cybertron Adventures''===
{{voiceactor|[[Peter Cullen]] (English)|[[Marco Balzarotti]] (Italian)}}

Optimus Prime coordinated many of the Autobot campaigns during the war. He dispatched Ironhide and Bumblebee to retrieve a datacore of information about Trypticon from Kaon. He later coordinated the evac measures for Cybertron, personally guarding a supply convoy while Bumblebee ran point and ensuring the safe launch of an airlift while the Aerialbots prevented Seekers from taking potshots at it. He also sent the Aerialbots up to Trypticon Station itself when its orbital weapon systems began annihilating the Autobot ranks.

When Trypticon itself fell to Cybertron after the Aerialbot assault, it transformed into a tremendous warbot, and Optimus Prime raced out to meet it. Bumblebee and Ironhide accompanied Prime to the blast site, fighting through numerous Decepticon embankments to reach the monster. Trypticon himself proved to be an implaccable foe, and Optimus coordinated both ground-based flanking attacks and strafing runs by the Aerialbots. Eventually, the mighty menace went down, and Prime saluted Trypticon on his way to extinction. {{storylink|Transformers: Cybertron Adventures}}

===''Transformers: Fall of Cybertron''===
{{voiceactor|[[Peter Cullen]] (English)}}
[[File:FOC-GameInformerPrimeBumblebee.jpg|thumb|"No, not in the chest, you guys! The throat! The throat!"]]
As the Ark neared completion, Optimus was alerted to the fact that [[Grimlock (WFC)|Grimlock]]'s team had deserted their post and the Decepticons were consequently attacking with giant [[Warp Cannon]]s. He made haste back to Autobot City where he sent [[Sideswipe (WFC)|Sideswipe]], [[Jazz (WFC)|Jazz]], and [[Cliffjumper (WFC)|Cliffjumper]] off in search of the [[Lightning Strike Coalition]] before joining [[Warpath (WFC)|Warpath]] in fending off the Decepticons attacking the nerve center. When it turned out they didn't have enough energon for the defences, Optimus and [[Perceptor (Prime)|Perceptor]] decided to divert some of the energon from Ark. With Perceptor's help, Optimus got an old artillery piece working and reached the [[neutron cannon]] which he used to take out some of the attackers before running out of energon. At that point he was drawn to the city core, where he managed to awaken [[Metroplex (FOC)|Metroplex]]. Optimus guided the giant in destroying the Warp Cannons, but the last of them felled Metroplex, forcing Optimus to go inside it himself.

[[File:FOC-OptimusPrimetruckart.jpg|left|thumb||"WFC Optimus will be so jealous!"]]
He didn't get very far before encountering [[Starscream (WFC)|Starscream]] and the [[Combaticon (WFC)|Combaticons]] who took him prisoner. Dragged before Megatron, Optimus was only saved by the timely reactivation of Metroplex. Once Megatron was a messy stain on the ground, Prime strongly recommended Starscream and the others leave. Some time later, Jazz and Cliffjumper reported that they'd found a massive [[energon lake]], and Optimus organized a transport to pick it up. During a Decepticon attack on [[Trypticon (WFC)|Trypticon]]'s crash site, Optimus was contacted by Autobots guarding the site who said that Megatron was alive. His request for confirmation was given by none other than Megatron himself, who killed the Autobots who contacted Prime. Recognizing that the Decepticons would only try to retrieve Trypticon's power core if their energon levels were dangerously low, Optimus offered a ceasefire to share what was left, but Megatron rejected his offer, saying that Optimus and the Autobots were responsible for Cybertron's death.

When he was contacted by Grimlock's team who reported [[Shockwave (WFC)|Shockwave]]'s experiments, Optimus ordered them back to base, only for Grimlock to ignore him. The Ark was eventually launched thanks to a last-minute sacrifice by Metroplex, but didn't get far before the Decepticons caught up in the ''Nemesis'' and attacked it. Optimus headed to the engine room to assist with the defenses there, only to encounter Megatron himself. As the two fought, Bumblebee threw himself in front of a shot meant for Optimus, and the young bot's sacrifice sent an enraged Optimus back into battle against his nemesis. The pair's fight wasn't yet finished when both they and their ships were sucked into the space bridge portal. {{storylink|Transformers: Fall of Cybertron (video game)|Fall of Cybertron}}

{{note|Optimus Prime also appears in the game's 'Escalation' mode, on the 'Ignition' map. He fights alongside [[Ratchet (WFC)|Ratchet]], [[Bumblebee (WFC)|Bumblebee]], and [[Warpath (WFC)|Warpath]]. Optimus serves as the team's [[Tank (FOC)|Tank]].}}

===''Transformers Prime: Battle For Energon''===
Optimus sent Bulkhead on multiple missions within a Decepticon Dark Energon Mine, the Nemesis Battle Cruiser and back to Autobot Headquarters after it had been infiltrated by Megatron himself. He would warn Bulkhead before he would face off against a particularly dangerous Decepticon foe. {{storylink|Transformers Prime: Battle For Energon}}

===''Transformers Prime: Terrorcon Defense''===
Optimus Prime helped Arcee in stopping Starscream and his horde of Vehicons from escaping from an abandoned military outpost. Upon Megatron's arrival to the battlefield, he and Arcee defended Autobot headquarters. Though they were victorious, the Autobots swore to remain vigilant, as the future might bring innumerable threats yet!

Optimus Prime could deploy "Cannon Turrets," "Freeze Turrets," and "Missile Turrets" through the Ground Bridge to aid in destroying Vehicons. {{storylink|Transformers Prime: Terrorcon Defense}}

===''Transformers Prime: Decepticon Strike''===
In the aftermath of a devastating Decepticon attack, the Autobots' home base was destroyed and Optimus was left in critical condition. Thankfully, Alpha Trion intervened, healed Optimus and granted him new flight capabilities. With renewed strength and resolved, Optimus fought his way through Megatron's troops until finally squaring off against the Decepticon leader himself. Once he defeated Megatron, Optimus returned to the other Autobots, and together they rebuilt their base in anticipation to the next Decepticon attack. {{storylink|Transformers Prime: Decepticon Strike|Decepticon Strike}}

=== ''Transformers: Prime - The Game''===
[[File:Transformers prime the game optimus.jpg|thumb|left||Drop an' give me fifty. ''Now''.]]
{{voiceactor|[[Peter Cullen]] (English)|[[Patrice Melennec]] (French), [[Alfredo Martínez]] (Castilian Spanish)}}

Optimus Prime and the Autobots detected a massive asteroid of Dark Energon headed towards Earth, and used the GroundBridge to intercept the Decepticons aboard the ''Nemesis'' as they tried to retrieve the asteroid. During the battle, the asteroid broke up and Prime fell to Earth from orbit, and his team was scattered.

Optimus was located by Ratchet via the GroundBridge, where he lay buried beneath Dark Energon debris. The secret of the asteroid was revealed, as a powerful Cybertronian named [[Thunderwing (Prime)|Thunderwing]] emerged, ready to claim the Matrix and destroy it on behalf of his master, Unicron. Optimus and Ratchet evaded the giant's attacks until the ''Nemesis'' intervened. Stray blaster fire sent Optimus through a GroundBridge to his rescue, but Ratchet was inadvertently left behind.

Learning that the Decepticons planned to full repair Thunderwing, Optimus and the Autobots raced to stop the 'Cons from collecting Thunderwing's missing pieces. Optimus and Bulkhead battled Megatron and Starscream for one of the pieces, but Megatron escaped with the prize, leaving Prime buried alive.

Prime rescued himself, and GroundBridged to join the other Autobots in finale battle with the repaired Thunderwing. Optimus Prime succeeded in fending off Megatron and, with the help of one of Ratchet's inventions, defeated Thunderwing as well. {{storylink|Transformers: Prime - The Game}}

===''Transformers Online''===
{{charstubgame}}
{{storylink|Transformers Online}}
{{-}}

===''Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark''===
{{voiceactor|[[Peter Cullen]] (English)}}
====Console====
{{charstubgame}}
{{storylink|Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark (console)|Rise of the Dark Spark}}
====3DS====
{{Charstubgames}}
{{storylink|Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark (3DS)|Rise of the Dark Spark}}

===''Transformers Prime: Pulsar Defense''===
When the Decepticons constructed an [[Energon Drain]] in an asteroid field, Optimus had the Autobots counter it by building a [[Pulsar Dish]] from debris, and defended the construction using the Star Saber. {{storylink|Transformers Prime: Pulsar Defense}}
{{-}}

=== ''Transformers Universe'' ===
[[File:Tu-character-art optimus.jpg|upright=1.4|thumb|right]]
{{voiceactor|[[Peter Cullen]] (English)}}

During the journey back to Cybertron the ''[[Arclight (ship)|Arclight]]'' was ambushed by the Decepticons. Ultimately the ''Arclight'' was destroyed, but Optimus along with the Autobots escaped the destruction of the ship and took refuge on Earth. Optimus Prime called upon [[General Freeman]] to provide his fellow Autobots with a base of operations and to hide Optimus Prime himself, just as Megatron ordered the Decepticons to search Earth for Optimus Prime. {{storylink|Transformers Universe (Jagex)|Transformers Universe}}
<gallery widths=200px>
File:TFUniverseJagex-Optimus Prime hologram.jpg|This is probably the most you'll ever see of him in-game
File:TFUniverseJagex-OptimusPrimeVehicle.jpg|The Flameless 379. It won't just rock your logistics, it'll transform them.
</gallery>
{{-}}

===''Transformers: Robots in Disguise'' mobile game===
{{note|Due to one update, the original Power Surge Optimus Prime character is removed.}}
<center>
{|class="wikitable" border="5" style="width:65%"
|-
! scope="col" width="30%" | '''Version'''
! style="background: #00CCFF; color: black" scope="col" width="35%" | '''Unlock Cost (Energon)'''
! style="background: #BF00FF; color: white" scope="col" width="35%" | '''Unlock Cost (Ultra Sparks)'''
|-
|Starter
|500
|10
|-
|Pumpkin
|500
|10
|-
|Desert
|500
|10
|-
|Titan Guardian
|1000
|20
|-
|Legion
|1500
|30
|-
|Ultra Magnus
|1500
|30
|-
|Legion Clash
|1500
|30
|-
|Legion Blizzard
|1500
|30
|-
|One-Step
|2000
|40
|-
|One-Step Evolved
|2000
|40
|-
|Titan Hero
|3000
|60
|-
|Warrior
|4000
|80
|-
|Warrior Clash
|4000
|80
|-
|Warrior Blizzard
|4000
|80
|-
|<s>Warrior Power Surge</s>
|<s>4000</s>
|<s>80</s>
|-
|Warrior Power Surge Elite
|4000
|80
|-
|Battlepack
|4000
|80
|-
|Titan Changer
|4000
|80
|-
|Hero
|6000
|120
|-
|Hero Clash
|6000
|120
|-
|Mega
|8000
|140
|-
|Power Surge
|10000
|160
|-
|Combiner
|3800
|75
|}
</center>
<gallery>
TF-RID2015-Mobage-Starter-Pumpkin-Optimus-Prime.jpg
TF-RID2015-Mobage-Starter-Desert-Optimus-Prime.jpg
TF-RID2015-Mobage-Titan-Guardian-Optimus-Prime.jpg
TF-RID2015-Mobage-Legion-Optimus-Prime.jpg
TFRID-Game-Ultra-Magnus.jpg
TF-RID2015-Mobage-Legion-Optimus-Prime-(CotT).jpg
TF-RID2015-Mobage-Legion-Optimus-Prime-(Blizzard).jpg
TF-RID2015-Mobage-One-Step-Optimus-Prime.jpg
TF-RID2015-Mobage-One-Step-(Evolved)-Optimus-Prime.jpg
TF-RID2015-Mobage-Titan-Hero-Optimus-Prime.jpg
TF-RID2015-Mobage-Warrior-Optimus-Prime.jpg
TF-RID2015-Mobage-Warrior-Optimus-Prime-(CotT).jpg
TF-RID2015-Mobage-Warrior-Optimus-Prime-(Blizzard).jpg
TF-RID2015-Mobage-Warrior-Power-Surge-Optimus-Prime.jpg
TF-RID2015-Mobage-Warrior-Power-Surge-Optimus-Prime-(Elite).jpg
TF-RID2015-Mobage-Battle-Pack-Optimus-Prime.jpg
TF-RID2015-Mobage-Titan-Changer-Optimus-Prime.jpg
TF-RID2015-Mobage-Hyperchange-Heroes-3-step-Optimus-Prime.jpg
TF-RID2015-Mobage-Hyperchange-Heroes-3-step-Optimus-Prime-(CotT).jpg
TF-RID2015-Mobage-Mega-Optimus-Prime.jpg
TF-RID2015-Mobage-Power-Surge-Optimus-Prime.jpg
TF-RID2015-Mobage-Activator-Combiner-Optimus-Prime.jpg
</gallery>
When Crown City was overrun by Decepticons as a result of a stasis pod modified to clone an army, the Autobots were forced to battle them throughout the city and surrounding landscape. They eventually found that Steeljaw and another Decepticon had constructed a [[space bridge]] and defeated the pair. {{storylink|Transformers: Robots in Disguise (mobile game)|Robots in Disguise}}

===''Transformers Super Mini-Con Striker''===
Optimus Prime was a spectator for a soccer match between Autobots and Decepticons. {{storylink|Transformers Super Mini-Con Striker}}

===''Power Up for Battle''===
[[File:RID2015 Power Up for Battle gameplay.jpg|thumb|upright=1.44]]
Optimus Prime engaged in battle against Starscream using a selection of Weaponizer Mini-Cons provided by Bumblebee. {{storylink|Power Up for Battle}}
{{-}}

===''Transformers: Battle Tactics''===
[[File:Battle-Tactics-Optimus-Prime-(WFC).jpg|thumb|upright=2.2]]
[[File:Battle-Tactics-Optimus-Prime-(FOC).jpg|thumb|upright=2.2]]
Optimus Prime participated in battles against a variety of opponents, both Autobots and Decepticons. Sometimes there were many of him! He appeared in multiple different bodies:
*''Optimus Prime (WFC)'' — This Epic character could be recruited by collecting 500 units of Cybermetal, 250 units of Transmetal, and 50 cores of this character.
*''Optimus Prime (FOC)'' — This Epic character could be recruited by collecting 500 units of Cybermetal, 250 units of Transmetal, and 50 cores of this character.
{{storylink|Transformers: Battle Tactics}}
{{-}}

===''Splatoon''===
[[Squid Sisters|Callie]] considered herself an Autobot fan, declaring "Optimus Prime for life!" {{storylink|Splatoon}}

==Toys==
{{main|Optimus Prime (WFC)/toys}}

==Merchandise==
{{main|Optimus Prime (WFC)/merchandise}}

==Notes==
[[File:WFC-OptimusPrimeconcept.jpg|thumb|]]
[[File:TFPrimeOptimustruck.jpg|thumb||So, it hasn't got [[Optimus Prime (Movie)|flames]]. [[Ruined FOREVER|It's still not a flat nose truck.]]]]
[[File:VectorSigmaBotBuilderOptimusPrime.jpg|thumb||It am [[Optimus Prime (WFC)/toys#BHWeaponizer|BIZARRO OPTIMUS PRIME!]]]]
* ''Exodus'' and ''War for Cybertron'' are different interpretations of the same events. One could choose to view them as similar but different continuities within the same "continuity family" to explain their differences on Optimus Prime's pre-Prime name. Although, [[Hasbro]]'s [http://www.hasbro.com/transformers/en_US/play/details.cfm?guid=7fd5ecd9-19b9-f369-1041-a7635be83172 online timeline]—meant as prequel to ''War for Cybertron''—refers to Optimus's pre-Prime name as "Orion Pax" like ''Exodus''. Furthermore, in [[IDW Publishing]]'s ''[[Transformers: War for Cybertron (comic)|War for Cybertron]]'' comic, [[Alex Irvine]], in adapting scenes from his novel, still keeps the character's name as "Orion Pax", when it is also meant to occur prior the game's events. In ''Fall of Cybertron'', the sequel to ''War for Cybertron'', the name "Orion Pax" is actually even used in that game, so it is entirely possible that, via a slight [[retcon]], Optimus did indeed go by "Orion Pax" in the games prior his ever first going by "Optimus".
* Optimus is rather forgetful in ''Exodus''. Alpha Trion tells him twice that he had suggested to the High Council that Orion might be the Prime foretold in the [[Covenant of Primus]]. Then he tells Jetfire that the Core told him of Project Generation One, when it was a contingency plan Trion told him about, put in place since the Breaking of the Primes. Then again, leading an army for thousands or millions of years may place a strain on a bot's memory servers.
* Optimus's CG model in the ''Prime'' cartoon underwent modifications between "[[Darkness Rising]]" and the first season proper, with his chest windows lowered somewhat during scenes when he is not in battle.
* Optimus Prime's truck mode in ''Fall of Cybertron'' is described by [[High Moon Studios]] principal artist [[Mike Brown]] as a "fist with wheels attached to it."<ref>{{citesocial|quote=|link=https://web.archive.org/web/20240118173459/http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2011/10/10/fall-of-cybertron-the-new-optimus-prime.aspx|name=Ben Hanson|site=Game Informer|title=Fall Of Cybertron: The New Optimus Prime|year=2011|month=10|day=10}}</ref>
* At [[BotCon 2012]], High Moon Studios stated that [[Path Blaster|"Optimus Prime's weapon"]] was designed to look like an earlier version of the rifles he wields in the ''[[Transformers: Prime (cartoon)|Transformers: Prime]]'' television series.
* Optimus Prime's body parts are available to use in [[Hub Network|The Hub]] website's [[Vector Sigma Bot Builder]] online game. Normally, you cannot configure a generic 'bot using all Optimus Prime parts, but you can see what one would look like at right through the magic of Photoshop.
* Optimus' appearance after being repaired by the Forge of Solus Prime is fairly reminiscent of Optimus' "Super Mode" appearance in ''[[Transformers: Cybertron (cartoon)|Transformers: Cybertron]]'', especially in regards to the wings, and how he holds his blaster in the show, slung under his hand.
* The initial and final colorations of Prime's robot modes in ''RID'' strongly resemble the original [[Action Master]] Prime.

===Foreign names===
*''Japanese:'' '''Optimus Prime''' (オプティマス・プライム ''Oputimasu Puraimu''), '''Orion Pax''' (オライオンパックス ''Oraion Pakkusu''), '''Optimus Exprime''' (''Go!'', オプティマスエクスプライム ''Oputimasu Ekusupuraimu'')
*''Hungarian:'' '''Optimusz Fővezér''' ("Supreme Commander Optimus"),<ref>''Robots in Disguise'' game, ''Rescue Bots Academy'', his correct G1 name</ref> '''Optimusz Prime''',<ref>mainline cartoons</ref> '''Optimusz Vezér''' ("Leader Optimus"),<ref>''Rescue Bots'' intro</ref> '''Orion Pax'''
*''Korean:'' '''Optimus Prime''' (옵티머스 프라임 ''Optimeoseu Peuraim''), '''Orion Pax''' (오라이온 팩스 ''Oraion Paekseu'')
*''Mandarin:'' '''Kēbówén''' (Taiwan, 柯博文), '''Qíngtīanzhù''' (China, 擎天柱, "Pillar that Supports the Sky")

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

{{Thirteen}}
[[Category:Autobot leaders]]
[[Category:Fall of Cybertron Autobots]]
[[Category:Go! Autobots]]
[[Category:Go! combiners]]
[[Category:Hall of Fame characters]]
[[Category:Legends Autobots]]
[[Category:Matrix bearers]]
[[Category:Prime Autobots]]
[[Category:Prime Decepticons]]
[[Category:Primes]]
[[Category:Red Order]]
[[Category:Rescue Bots Autobots]]
[[Category:Rescue Bots Academy Autobots]]
[[Category:Robots in Disguise (2015) Autobots]]
[[Category:Thirteen]]
[[Category:Transformers Online Autobots]]
[[Category:Transformers Universe game Autobots]]
[[Category:Triple Changers]]
[[Category:War for Cybertron Autobots]]

Transformers: The Covenant of Primus

2025-08-31T22:20:14Z

Mochitachi70: Updated the Real World References with the origin of "Journeys end in lovers meeting" as Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. (I can't believe MegOp is canon)

{{disambig3.5|the real-world edition of the book|the scriptural Covenant of Primus|Covenant of Primus|Covenant}}

{{Comicstory|
|seriesissue=''Transformers: The Covenant of Primus''
|image=TransformersCovenantofPrimusCovers.jpg
|caption=
|publisher=[[Becker & Mayer]]
|written by=[[Justina Robson]]
|date=[[December 11]], [[2013]]
|illustrated by=[[Ken Christiansen]] [[Casey Coller]] [[Livio Ramondelli]] [[Emiliano Santalucia]]
|continuity=[[Aligned continuity family]]
|pagecount=176
|price=$99 USD
|next=
|ISBN=ISBN 1477805990 ISBN 978-1477805992
}}
'''''Transformers: The Covenant of Primus''''' is a hardcover book presenting the [[Covenant of Primus]] as written by [[Alpha Trion]], with 60 new lavish illustrations. The book itself is contained inside an [[Insignia|Autobrand]]-shaped casing, that plays the [[Transformation#The noise|transformation noise]] when opened. The book was exclusive to the [[Amazon (website)|Amazon]] publishing group 47North.

==Summary==
===Foreword===
Alpha Trion admits he does not know the origin of [[Primus]] or what happened before his own creation. There are pages for this "before time" (a great many, he later states) in the Covenant but he cannot read their symbols. Then he states that THIS volume will be an editing/arrangement of Covenant intended for a [[human]] audience, to help them learn about their galactic neighbors. To forward this purpose he has "translated" terms, concepts, and customs at times into forms easier for humans to relate to.

===Chapter 1: The [[Thirteen|Thirteen Primes]]===
Alpha Trion recalls the moment of his creation and then that of [[Solus Prime]] and the others following him, each appearing "ex nihilo" in repeating explosions of lighting and tremor. Immediately after their creation they feel Primus fade away into hypersleep. He leaves them with a last vision of how he and [[Unicron#Aligned continuity family|Unicron]] became a divided duality from a single original being and fell into eternal conflict and battle too evenly matched to ever end.

Primus sought to change that eternal stalemate by removing himself from the equation and substituting beings of much greater variety and unique varied potential to change the future: a group of Thirteen each with creative new approaches to the problem of Unicron. These Thirteen were formed to incorporate facets of both Primus and Unicron's natures, increasing the options for new direction far beyond the equally matched duality of the original combatants.

Alpha Trion then gives a brief several paragraph portrait of each Prime in the order of their creation: [[Prima]], [[Vector Prime]], Alpha Trion, Solus Prime (including a brief digression on the nature of Gender in Transformers), [[Micronus Prime]], [[Maccadam|Alchemist Prime]], [[Nexus Prime]], [[Onyx Prime]], [[Amalgamous Prime]], [[Quintus Prime]], [[Liege Maximo]], [[The Fallen|Megatronus]], and the [[Optimus Prime (WFC)|Thirteenth Prime]] (referred to by the book simply as "''Thirteen''" for in-story reasons).

===Chapter 2: The [[Expulsion of Unicron]]===
The newborn Primes quickly settle down to learn their own abilities, to train and to strategize for the coming conflict with Unicron. They split into three natural teams: Warriors (Prima, Vector, Megatronus, Onyx and Amalgamous), Strategists (Trion, Quintus, Maximo, and Micronus), and "Free Agents" capable of direct battle or more subtle/varied attacks (Alchemist, Solus, Nexus, and ''Thirteen''). Many strategies were discussed and abandoned.

Personality conflicts simmered between some of the Thirteen (between the very Primus-like Prima and strongly Unicron-influenced Megatronus particularly) but their unified purpose bound them together. It was in this period that Megatronus requested the construction of the [[Requiem Blaster (Megatronus)|Requiem Blaster]] from Solus, and though she was hesitant to make such a thing she decided that she trusted him and would do as he asked. The faith she put in him and the fine speech she made proclaiming it touched the often shunned Megatronus deeply and bound him to her in absolute loyalty and unswerving love, softening his hard edges, though inflating his great pride.

Training continued and friendships formed. Eventually they settled on a plan to battle and distract Unicron as a cover to opening a path for ''Thirteen'' to be inserted in close proximity to Unicron's core. Once there his uniquely Primus-like spark would react with Unicron's and both would be knocked into involuntary shutdown. The Primes would then retrieve and (hopefully) revive him.

When the time of battle came it proved far more hellish and terrible than they had imagined in all their training. Unicron assaulted them with defenses far beyond their expectations and, worse, the mere aura of his presence crushed all their hopes and dreams nearly drowning their sparks in despair and darkness. Only the comforting words "All are One" sent by ''Thirteen'' to reassure each and rekindle their hope let them continue fighting, eventually succeeding in their goal. Unicron was vanquished, knocked into unconsciousness, hopefully forever. This was not without cost. There were many grave injuries. But worse each of them had been tainted with a touch of darkness by their closeness to Unicron.

===Chapter 3: The [[War of the Primes]]===
The touch of Unicron was a contamination that festered silently as they tried to ignore it and pretend it would fade and it would likely play a part in the tragedies that were to come. Though it was the fertile ground they gave it, Alpha Trion now realizes, that let it grow.

In the long ages following Unicron's defeat the Primes each turned towards their own interests. [[Vector Sigma]] and the device that would much later become the [[Matrix of Leadership]] were among the projects of this era. Prima, Vector Prime, and Alpha Trion concerned themselves mostly with government and the planning of rules and order for a new community and civilization. The independently natured Megatronus, Maximo, and Amalgamous focused on Energon stores, mining, and refining, but were resentful of what they saw as the first group's bossy, controlling interference. Micronus, Onyx, Solus and Nexus lacked interest in the politics of either group and concerned themselves largely with their own creative tasks. While ''Thirteen'', Alchemist and Quintus traveled freely between cliques, the Liege Maximo was the true emissary, always traveling and communicating between all groups and individuals with his natural beguiling charm.

During this period the feelings between Megatronus and Solus deepened into true and mutual love. This surprised the more distant and insular Primes like Prima, Vector and Trion, but the later Primes (especially ''Thirteen'', Onyx and Micronus) smiled on the idea and enjoyed seeing their friend Solus happy. Megatronus was jealous of her by nature, but she was in large the hub that connected all the Primes into friendship and family.

Discord among the Primes began to build more strongly when Maximo discovered and revealed a chart where Prima had plotted which Primes were the most like Unicron and functioned as "Agents of Chaos." This enraged Megatronus (who had always been secretly ashamed of and at inner war with his own nature).

The cracks in their bonds began final disintegration when it was revealed that Liege Maximo, with the covert help of Quintus and Megatronus, had been experimenting with creating new robot beasts and requested an extremely powerful armor suit from Solus to deal with them. Though the creatures were yet nonliving and he presented them as small toys really, Solus and the other Primes felt something was off about these secret creations and his feeling that he needed such a powerful suit to deal with them. Maximo promised to reveal all in time and attempted to persuade Solus with the gift of a small robot pet that she soon grew to love. Prima on the other hand was sure their experiments were wrong. He ordered the secret "Farm" where they experimented shut down or he would shut it down. In following him to its location Alpha Trion accidentally learned that larger beasts were being pitted against one another in combat and that perhaps worse things still were occurring in secret underground caves. Maximo tried again to get his "needed" armor from Solus with words and charm and a promise that he would use it to shut things down safely but she did not believe him.

The conflict over Maximo's rights to experiment with nonliving robots in secret versus Prima's decree that it must stop came to a head when ''Thirteen'' demanded a full vote to decide the issue. The contentious match was evenly split with the deciding vote falling to Solus. Despite her dislike for Prima's actions and attitude ("Time rust you." she said to him as she voted) in the end her decision went against Maximo.

Maximo then convinced Megatronus to go and make a last attempt to get the armor from her. Shortly after this arguing and a blow was heard from the Forge and when the other Primes raced to investigate they found Solus Prime dead, killed by a blast from the Requiem Blaster. The Primes were shattered by this first loss among their number; Onyx driven nearly mad with grief, Micronus inconsolable, Nexus at a loss, the others angry and demanding Megatronus be found and made to pay. ''Thirteen'' did his best to calm them and prevent a lynch mob mentality.

Surprising them all Solus's dead body began to glow blue and melt away into the surface of Cybertron. On and on the reaction went as she melted down opening a channel to the deep core of Primus himself at the center of the world: The [[Well of All Sparks]].

Upon their finding him waiting Megatronus willingly revealed what had happened. He had found a device (apparently left out for him to find on purpose by Maximo) through which the Liege had monitored Solus through the "pet" he had given her. Megatronus heard her say that she thought Maximo was playing him for a fool. Hurt deeply by this "betrayal" of her faith in him he went to try and retrieve the armor. She refused to give it and suggested that he should perhaps return the Requiem Blaster as well. He reacted badly, imagining she never loved him and they all hated him for what he was, and the two begin to fight. Her pet attacked him and he blasted it, causing her (not knowing its nature as Maximo's spy) to swing the Forge at him in anger and he to fire the Requiem Blaster in blind unthinking response. Her last dying words to him were a profession of her love.

Upon confrontation at the "Farm" Maximo attempted to blame it all on Megatronus as the "true mastermind." Saying Megatronus's violent need to test himself battling the war beasts they were building in secret was behind it all, while Megatronus became enraged realizing that Maximo had indeed been manipulating and using them all this whole time and is setting him up to take the fall (and Quintus meanwhile just kinda squirms and whines and refuses to take personal responsibility for anything he did). All out battle breaks out among them and all the Primes fall into the caverns below, where they are set upon by three incredibly massive war beasts.

When Alpha Trion awoke a time later it was all over. He and ''Thirteen'' were largely unscathed. The beasts were destroyed. The Liege Maximo was torn to pieces, his head mostly destroyed by the Requiem Blaster that Trion could not remember being fired. Onyx, having suffered the brunt of the beasts attacks, was fatally wounded and would soon die.

A tomb was built for Solus and her forge placed with in it. Another tomb built for Maximo. Megatronus, in grief and shame and realization of his foolishness, renamed himself "the Fallen" and decided that he would leave forever, to honor Solus he would take a ship and travel far into distant space and help those beings he found there as best he could with his power.

Those that remained hatched a new plan. They would retire from active life on their world and leave it to descendants. Onyx Prime would travel to the bottom of the Well of All Sparks where the presence of Primus would sustain him forever despite his grave wounds. There he would use his [[Triptych Mask]] to recombine the designs of the Thirteen in a manner similar to what Primus had done with himself and Unicron when first making the Thirteen. Thus their descendants would have again orders more variation and uniqueness with which to shape the future. ''Thirteen'' decided to go into the Well himself so that he could be remade as one of these new robots and so know better how to help them. Quintus would go into space to experiment and seed life there and make them future allies. Prima and Alpha Trion would guide and protect the new life. At the last moment, Micronus chose to go with Onyx into the well to keep his closest remaining friend company in his eternal retreat.

Thus the [[Age of Primes]] came to an end.

===Chapter 4: The [[Age of Evolution]]===
After ''Thirteen'', Onyx and Micronus vanished into the Well a vast upheaval shook the world. A beam erupted from the Well of All Sparks and shot out across the stars. Alchemist Prime recognized it as the gaze of the Triptych Mask scanning all the way to the edge of the Universe and then transmitting back pattern information on all the varied lifeforms found amongst the stars to inform and shape the creation of Cybertron's new life.

When the beam cut off there came forth from the Well a great deluge of robotic life of every conceivable size and shape. Crawling, flying, walking, rolling, fluttering, slithering lifeforms swarmed forward, some as small as a rivet and others as big as an arm or leg. For three days these small creatures surged forth in uncountable numbers and variety, and then larger creatures began to follow them. Among these were biped humanoid forms. First among them the watching Primes recognized the vastly transformed, reduced, simplified form that had once stood among their number. Alpha Trion attuned himself to track this new robot, who would be known as Orion Pax. Despite Prima's misgivings Alpha Trion stood by the decision to keep their inherited [[Transformation cog (biology)|T-Cog]] and its abilities secret from the newborn lifeforms for the time being.

On the last day of this first burst of creation came a new breed of robot, towering gigantic and monstrous beasts: the Predacons, as they were dubbed by Prima, emerged from the Well. The first and most powerful among them was the [[Predaking (COP)|Predaking]] and his followers [[Lazerback (COP)|Lazerback]] and [[Twinstrike (COP)|Twinstrike]].

From then on the Well would send forth new life to replace the dead or occasionally to introduce new lifeforms until Cybertron was a lush rich living world covered completely in varied, complex and thriving ecosystems. The Covenant grew great with the chronicle of this new Age of Evolution.

During this time Prima faced the dominant Predaking in battle and won from him a promise to no longer prey on the humanoid Cybertronians in his domain.

Eventually though all things end. For Cybertron this ending would be known as "The [[Great Cataclysm|Cataclysm]]." The temporary pass of a swollen red star tugged free an armada of asteroids from the [[Trypticon Asteroid Belt|Debris Belt]] beyond the 5th planet of Cybertron's system and sent them hurling towards the unprotected world. Though the Primes deflected many they could not stop them all. Meteorfalls smashed into Cybertron and plunged it into the equivalent of a nuclear winter. Though this was not as fatal a blow as it would have been to organic life forms there was a second threat that was even more deadly. The pull of the second star caused vast solar flares to burst forth from their planet's star and scourge Cybertron in apocalyptic fire and radiation that no life form could survive.

The Primes did the only thing they could and gathered as many Cybertronians as possible into the deep underground caves there they might be shielded. They taught them how to activate a protective Stasis Lock that would let them survive there until the surface became habitable once more. Many life forms were extinguished forever during the Cataclysm. Left alone on the surface the barbaric Predacons at first fled from the flares under Predaking's command but soon realized there was no escape from these flames of extinction. Only in their last moments did Predaking recall some instinctual knowledge of stasis lock and attempt to protect himself and his race beneath the planet's surface. Whether any Predacons survived in the end was unknown to even Alpha Trion.

When the dying star in time passed them by the small and medium Transformers that survived, though greatly reduced in numbers, emerged at last and began to once more shape their world and civilization.

===Chapter 5: The [[Age of Origins]]===
As the Great Cataclysm faded into the past the Transformers once again took up the work of taming and terraforming their world. Across the planet discoveries were made, robots banded together in groups and a general sense of purpose and meaning born of their brush with planetary mortality infused all life. The most influential group in these early days were the [[Patterner]]s.

Formed of a group of friends who passed the dark times below the surface discussing the cause of the Cataclysm and how another might be prevented, the Patterners considered both supernatural and scientific meanings and causes. Under the guidance of a lifelong student of the stars named [[Azimuth (COP)|Azimuth]] they came to study the true, impartial movements of the cosmos in logic, mathematics and pattern. Upon emerging from the dark they began the work of inscribing those patterns upon the surface of the world so they could never be overlooked or forgotten by those on Cybertron or others among the stars. This movement spread across the world in the time to come and all of Cybertron's surface was soon carved and shaped with the geometric patterns that traced out the movements of the stars, galaxies and time itself. [[Perceptor (Prime)|Perceptor]] and [[Reflector (COP)|Reflector]] numbered among the prominent members of the Patterners.

The remaining original Primes spent the time of the Patterner rise gathering their scattered artifacts and ensuring what little memory of them survived the Cataclysm passed into the realm of blurry myth and legend. Many warlords and tribes of barbarian ravagers rose in this era as the Patterner states struggled for survival. Eventually as hundreds of stellar cycles passed [[Iacon (polity)|Iacon]] emerged as a refuge of learning and study. Alpha Trion took up residence there and inaugurated the [[Hall of Records]]. The Well slowly birthed more bipedal Transformers and less of the animalistic sorts, but in the barbaric wildernesses [[Insecticon (WFC)|Insecticons]] and other bestial bots still roamed. A band of warriors known as the [[Wreckers]] formed with the goal of protecting the weak and vulnerable from marauding and pillaging groups like the [[Vandal]]s, [[Breaker (COP)|Breakers]], and [[Ravager]]s. Through these wilds, from a primitive distant village, a young [[Ratchet (WFC)|Ratchet]] set out on a pilgrimage to the beacon of learning that was Iacon. There he apprenticed himself to the Chief of Surgery [[Remedy (COP)|Remedy]].

Over the long march of ages the Patterner movement eventually splintered into all sorts of forms, from mystic cults to social clubs, all with disparate purposes and goals. One splinter faction was a cult that dubbed itself [[Random]] and sought to foment chaos and erase all order in the world. They survived only a short time, but their mad leader [[Galvatron (COP)|Galvatron]] embodied everything Azimuth despised. Over time the Patterner movement faded to other ideas and newer creeds. Trade Kings and Queens rose and fell, as did many states and powers legal and illegal, and small conflicts and wars bloomed and ended.

In near space however the [[Quintesson]]s (whom Alpha Trion would recognize as the work of Quintus Prime and his [[Emberstone]]) watched and planned. Junior Medic Ratchet and his colleague Dr. [[Cogwheel]] found the first evidence of their movement: a probe implanted in a worker named [[Coldwelder]]. Soon the Quintessons descended on Cybertron in glory proclaiming their goal to "uplift" Cybertron into a great transcendent galactic community. To prove their word and good intent they "gifted" Cybertronians with the wondrous power of transformation (for they knew of the T-Cog that the Transformers did not, and how to activate it). Despite the caution of Alpha Trion to the ears that would listen, this seemingly magical gift of transformation won the day, and all Cybertron soon bowed to the power of their new "Benevolent saviors" from the stars.

===Chapter 6: The [[Age of Wrath]]===
The Quintessons quickly took over the planet under cover of benevolently guiding the Transformers toward galactic ascension. Transformer society underwent a complete transformation and globalization. The Quints guided the Transformers to fix roads, develop astrophysics, master spaceflight, open dimensional portals, systemize industry, create order, impose a planetary rule of law, establish the world-leading political office of [[Prime (rank)|Prime]], establish an electoral system, and regulate the orders of [[Functionism|Form and Function]]. It was a shame they were secretly doing it all as preparation for selling the entire population as worker slaves.

Some Transformers were taken into "partnership" and altered with cockpits to act as personal transportation for the Quintessons, the rest were organized into mandatory working "collectives." Half of the world's production was whisked away to space to "prepare for the future" and the other half went to secret Quintesson projects across the planet.

With the introduction of a planetary police force for the first time the clashing warrior bands of the past like the Razers and Wreckers became marginalized outlaws (something the traditionally "heroic" Wreckers took rather hard.)

The Quintessons also established a [[Supreme Court]] with a vicious circus-like atmosphere where anyone could charge anyone else without any particular need for evidence and the common verdict of "innocent" meant life imprisonment or death by [[Sharkticon (species)|Sharkticon]].

By far the worst symptom of the Quintesson occupation was that new Transformers were beginning to emerge from the Well without names or developed personalities. The process of ascent from the Well, that usually informed them of the world above and shaped them as individuals was altering under the new social conditions to instead turn out robots defined only by the positions they were meant to take in the labor collectives of the new order. Robots like [[Megatron (WFC)|D-16]]. The Quintessons were surprised by but quite content with this turn of events.

The resistance and dissent these things caused began to build, though the Quintessons seemed blithely unaware or unconcerned.

Over all this ruled the newly elected [[Sentinel Zeta Prime|Sentinel Zeta]], as the first planetary leader: Sentinel Prime, and his council of thirteen. A former mercenary and warrior, Sentinel was not about to allow himself to be a puppet. Luring a robot named [[Ultra Magnus (WFC)|Ultra Magnus]] away from the Wreckers he began to investigate the Quintesson's secret projects. A non-government underground resistance involving the Wreckers and others was at work as well and among them a robot known as [[Shockwave (WFC)|Shockwave]] was the first to crack the Quintesson codes. A member of Sentinel's council named [[Soundwave (WFC)|Soundwave]] then stole this breakthrough. Two friends, [[Prowl (WFC)|Prowl]] and [[Bluestreak (Prime)|Bluestreak]], analyzed the data and discovered the truth: The secret construction projects were massive [[Space bridge|Space Bridges]] (a technology the Quintessons had apparently stolen and did not fully understand themselves) intended to ship the population of Cybertron out into the Galaxy as slave labor.

It was during this period of covert resistance that Orion Pax first met another secret freedom fighter, [[Jazz (WFC)|Jazz]], and the two became best friends. The situation was dire, as along with their secret projects the Quintessons had also constructed a vast army of Sharkticons with which to control the population. The resistance needed to mobilize the populace. They intercepted the birth of a robot named [[Silverbolt (WFC)|Silverbolt]] at the Well of All Sparks and with the help of Ratchet and Cogwheel proved that the T-Cog was a preexisting piece of natural Transformer biology. Revealing this piece of Quintesson deception together with a broadcast of a Sharkticon force massacring Cybertronians was the last piece needed. With the planet behind him Sentinel launched a full-on war against the Quintesson oppressors.

The war raged for a period but the enraged population of Cybertron eventually overwhelmed their would-be masters and soon it was a full rout as the Quintessons retreated to their cloaked starship and abandoned the system all together. Cybertron was free.

Behind them the Qunitessons left lingering anger, an entrenched planetary bureaucracy, a stifling stratified social system based on Functionalism, and a Well of All Sparks still birthing more unnamed workers than individuals.

And a score of soon-to-be-completed Space Bridges set to open the doors to the stars.

===Chapter 7: The [[Golden Age]]===
With the Quintessons gone and the Space Bridges under their control Cybertron lauched into an age of prosperity, wealth and expansion such as it had never known before. The [[Golden Age]] of Cybertron had begun.

New Transformers emerged from the Well in large numbers. This was seen as a blessing from Primus and religious impulse grew, sparking new cults and churches. An entertainment industry, catering to the new prosperous classes and centered around the revival and reinterpretation of ancient myths and stories began to boom.

One of the few downsides of this boom time and period of growth was that there was little space for social change in the rush to meet the new economic and material demands of growth, and so the Quintesson's strict caste system grew entrenched. One's "proper place" in the world being definite and unchangeable was considered for all intents a physical law of the Universe.

For the next 8,000 Stellar Cycles Cybertron society pursued a destiny of galactic exploration and colonization. Over 200 distant uninhabited worlds were [[Cybertronian colonies|colonized]] by use of the Space Bridges and many of them [[cyberforming|cyberformed]] into miniature Cybertrons via the usage of a [[conversion beam]]. In order to relieve their growing energon drain on the homeworld it was decided that these new planets must be given their own Well of All Sparks to power them. This was first attempted on the already energy rich colony of [[Archon]]. Though doomsday cultists fearing the disruption of Primus attempted to interrupt the ceremony the intervention of the Wreckers and the sniper known as [[Moonracer (COP)|Moonracer]] ended their trouble. A "torch" was lit from the Well to be passed from Transformer to Transformer (Bluestreak first among them) across Cybertron and then across the Bridge where the head of the Archon colony, [[Metalhawk (COP)|Metalhawk]], at last dropped it into their smaller replica of the Well. After a tense handful of moments Archon's Well came to life in smaller echo of Cybertron's own.

Galactic expansion spread even quicker and farther. Cybertron prospered. New [[alien]] races were met and contact with new cultures opened nearly every stellar cycle. Sentinel Prime ruled with a steady, sure hand. For a long, long stretch of time everything was indeed "Golden."

And then, in the blink of an optic, it wasn't. The [[Keepers (COP)|Keepers]], guardians of Cybertron's physical structure, reported that Energon supplies, drained by the off-world colonies, had dropped to dangerously low levels and the Well was producing new Transformers at only a 10th of the previous rate. This fallowness was reported by all the smaller Wells on distant worlds as well.

This alone would have been a crisis perhaps. What followed turned it into something much worse. In deep space a Cybertronian transport ship discovered a terrible, virulent and unstoppable [[Cosmic Rust (disease)|Rust Plague]]. With apocalyptic swiftness it spread through the Space Bridge networks, killing every robot infected with terrifying speed. Whole worlds infected, entire populations dying horribly by the hour and the disease spreading unstoppably across the stars there was no choice but to destroy all the Space Bridges before Cybertron itself was reached by the plague.

Prowl broke orders and attempted to retrieve his dearest friend Bluestreak from Archon before destroying the Bridge, but Bluestreak refused. The Plague had reached Archon. Law and logic and duty said he could not endanger Cybertron by returning. Prowl pleaded desperately and Bluestreak attempted to console him that Metalhawk's teams might yet halt the Plague's spread on Archon with fire. With [[Ironhide (WFC)|Ironhide]] looking on a bereft and heartbroken Prowl had no choice but to destroy the Bridge and say goodbye to his dearest, closest friend.

The destruction worked. Cybertron was spared the Plague. But the Space Bridges were gone and with them the star spanning empire lost forever.
The [[Age of Rust]] had begun.

===Chapter 8: The [[Age of Rust]]===
The traumatic events at the end of the Golden Age shattered the Cybertronians' vision of the themselves, their future and their place in the universe. The population that was left was surprisingly small but the available Energon reserves were smaller still. Social stratification again re-entrenched itself for both security and rationing purposes. A sense of hopelessness, of the impossibility and purposeless of all pursuits suffused society.

In the city of Kaon dangerous criminally-owned extreme sports, including gladiatorial blood-sports, rose to thrill the dejected public. Though a temperance movement rose to counter this it did little to check the growth of vice. Suicide rates soared. New robots emerged from the Well in record low numbers and almost all without forming full personal identities or names.

Councillor Soundwave gave impassioned speeches against the repressive government by [[Functionism|Form and Function]] that was the social legacy of the Quintessons, the bloated bureaucracy that held it in place, and the uselessness and hypocrisy of Sentinel Prime in the face of these problems. When his words could not produce change Soundwave quit the council and cut all ties with them.

Alpha Trion knew the issues were grave and so sought audience with Vector Sigma, the sentient, perhaps even living, interface the Thirteen had built to communicate with the core of the planet. Alpha Trion was searching for the Matrix of Leadership to break the malaise that smothered the world and usher in a new age. Vector Sigma refused, as the Matrix's time was coming soon, but in its own way. The computer did grant him the [[Badge of Vector Prime]] as a token for Sentinel.

Before he could deliver it the badge reacted with Alpha's own artifacts, the Covenant and the Quill. They burned a strange and uncontrolled outpouring of largely indecipherable text into the future of the book: ''Thirteen'' needed to be awakened. To do so he needed an equal and opposite number, a cataclysmic reaction to jog his own heart into motion. Though Alpha Trion was at first unsure of how the future had been shaped by the artifacts that day, the rise of a certain Gladiator in the pits of Kaon shortly after stuck a chord of recognition...

D16 had taken to the pits and thrived. He had renamed himself Megatronus, and the crowds had soon shortened that to Megatron. Orion Pax became intrigued by his call for revolt and social equality. They became friends and compatriots. Megatron seemed to actually like Orion and Alpha Trion hoped Orion might temper Megatron's excesses as he once had for the original Megatronus.

Alas, Megatron could not stand to give any power to another, even someone he liked. Though they wished for the same thing, their differing inclinations led them to form separate opposing factions: the [[Decepticon]]s, aimed at violent forceful revolution, and the [[Autobot]]s, aimed at peaceful social change. All came to a head when Sentinel and his Council, at Alpha Trion's behest, gave the quest to recover the Matrix of Leadership to Orion Pax and named him the new Prime. Megatron saw this as the greatest affront and betrayal, and severed all ties with his former "brother." The [[Great War (Prime)|Great War]] had begun.

===Chapter 9: The [[Great War (Prime)|Great War]]===
At the start of the Great War many were forced to join the Decepticons at the end of a gun.

Security was assigned to the council, including [[Smokescreen (Prime)|Smokescreen]] to Alpha Trion. Sentinel Prime thought he was untouchable still, but Megatron's forces attacked him in the heart of the [[Altihex]] Casino during a comedy performance. His security for the night was Air Commander [[Starscream (WFC)|Starscream]]. Sentinel's cowardly reaction turned Starscream's mind on the spot and he captured his former charge for Megatron, buying himself into the 'Con elite. With Starscream went most of the [[Air Command]], a good portion of the planet's security information, and the secrets of [[Trypticon (WFC)|Trypticon]] station and the [[Dark Energon]] hidden within.

Starscream's former compatriot [[Jetfire (WFC)|Jetfire]] was one of the few of his type to join the Autobots and did what little he could to counter Starscream's actions. He attempted to rescue Sentinel together with Optimus Prime, but they were unsuccessful and Megatron killed Sentinel to claim the key to the [[Plasma Energy Chamber]] hidden in his chest.

To Megatron's regret these keys, instead of opening the planet's core to him awakened the giant Autobot [[Omega Supreme (WFC)|Omega Supreme]]. Alas Omega's contribution to the fight was short lived, as Starscream and the Seekers blew him from the sky. Megatron gained access to the core of the planet and attempted to transform it with Dark Energon. Desperate to counter this Optimus Prime called out to Iacon and the city itself transformed into a Transformer of unprecedented size: [[Metroplex (FOC)|Metroplex]]. This titan was able to hold back the Decepticon Army long enough for Prime to reach the planet core and destroy the Dark Energon poisoning the planet.

But Primus was wounded enough that he would need to shut down to regenerate. He placed a portion of his own spark in the Matrix of Leadership and gave it to Optimus Prime. It was this gift that restored Optimus Prime to his original Thirteen self.

While all this happened Alpha Trion struggled to find ships for an exodus to the stars and gather powerful artifacts such as the Star Saber, Blades of Time, Apex Armour, and the Omega Keys, hiding them in artificial meteor-ships and launching them off world to places like [[Velocitron]], [[Junkion (planet)|Junkion]] and [[Earth]] to keep them out of Decepticon hands.

Optimus Prime, after receiving the Matrix, ordered construction of the Ark so that the Autobots could leave their dormant world.

Metroplex died in the ensuing battles and returned his [[Spark]] and energy to the center of the world to bolster Primus.

It was in this era that one of the youngest Transformers, one of the last born before the Well went silent at the start of the war, came to prominence. Young [[Bumblebee (WFC)|Bumblebee]] distracted Megatron while Optimus and his team had attempted to rescue Sentinel Prime. It cost him his voice box, crushed by Megatron's own hands. Despite this loss, his spirit and heart caused him to become an important part of the Autobot team and a little brother and silent confidant to the others.

Soon it became clear that Megatron would take Iacon and the Well. The Allspark was jettisoned from the Well into space to keep it from Decepticon hands.

Alpha Trion, Smokescreen and the Wreckers among others would stay behind on Cybertron to preserve what they could there after the Ark launch. As the Ark launched, Megatron soon followed with the Nemesis, a ship formed from the brain-dead body of Trypticon.

On Cybertron the Decepticons had left behind Shockwave, a twisted scientist who passed the time experimenting on and reinventing any unfortunate robots who came into his hands. He fiddled with Insecticons and created altered Forged followers for himself. He was able to get a damaged Space Bridge to partially work and used it as a view port through time and space. Glimpsing Cretaceous Earth he altered a group of captured Autobots, the Lightning Strike Coalition, into robotic versions of the beasts he saw there. Thus Grimlock, Slug, Sludge, and Swoop became the Dinobots. When the Dinobots broke free and joined the Autobots as defenders of what remained of Cybertron Shockwave set out to create a new, more powerful Forged to bring them back to him.

And so the War in large part ended and the burnt out quiet plains of Cybertron became a mostly dead limbo of silent metal.

===Chapter 10: [[Great Exodus|Exodus]]===
Though the Ark had left the planet behind, the mystical Quill continued to follow its story beyond the Space Bridge, recording it all in the Covenant.

Their first port of call was Velocitron. It had been intended as a fun project world for racer enthusiasts, not a long term colony, but the Rust Plague had cut it off with all the others. Despite a dying sun that threatened to consume them, the Velocitrons had slipped deeper into their obsession with racing and simply waited for Cybertron and a Prime to save them. In interacting with the natives (especially Override, Blurr, and Ransack) the Autobots and later the Decepticons following them spread their conflict to a new world. Optimus also recovered several Thirteen artifacts and gained two new crew members, Clocker and Mainspring.

Next stop for the Ark was Junkion, where they made contact with the leader of the Junkions, Wreck-Gar. While there, Prowl and Jazz were able to trap a traitor among their number: the [[Shifter]] named Axer who had disguised himself as Hound. Optimus rediscovered the Tomb of Solus Prime and was visited and warned by her spirit. The last parts of the artifact they had found on Velocitron were recovered and revealed as Vector Prime's [[Blades of Time]].

When the Nemesis arrived at Junkion, it was revealed that the planetoid had formed around the ancient massive Requiem Blaster. The Decepticons retrieved it and mounted it on the underside of the Nemesis. In the battle that followed, the true identity of Clocker, Mainspring, Chaindrive, Pinion and Cannonspring was also revealed as they combined back into the original Nexus Prime. Together Optimus and Nexus, two of the Thirteen, and the Autobots stopped the Nemesis and returned the Blaster to the core of Junkion.

The chase was off again as the Nemesis followed the Ark away from Junkion and were themselves followed by a vengeful [[Thundertron|Captain Thundertron]] and his pirate band of [[Star Seeker]]s.

On Cybertron, Alpha Trion and the Dinobots continued to defy Shockwave's depredations.

In space, Autobots, Decepticons, and Star Seekers ran afoul of their ancient foes the Quintessons and had to join forces against them, but then resumed their chase through the stars.

Their next encounter was with the starship fleet of the amusingly fae and transmutable [[Mutacon]]s. Their outgoing, effervescent leader [[Mercury (COP)|Mercury]] explained that they were Transformers who had fled the colony of [[Neutronia]] in ships when the Plague hit. In space they had discovered the mystical artifact of Amalgamous Prime – the original [[Transformation Cog (Thirteen)|Transformation Cog]]. They had taken it with them for safe keeping and proximity to it had granted them strange new powers: infinite transformation and infinite combination. Their starships were now the combined bodies of hundreds of their crew. Unfortunately the process was slowly merging them into one being, causing them to lose their individual personalities and memories. Now they were on a quest for Amalgamous Prime, hoping he could reverse the process. When Mercury and Optimus met face to face, the Matrix downloaded to her the history of Cybertron after the Plague and she found Megatron's philosophy of "Peace through Tyranny" to be hilariously stupid. Though they could not help the Mutacons find Amalgamous, a friendship was struck and the jovial Mutacons happily delayed the pursuers so the Ark could escape ahead.

In the stellar cycles that followed, many more adventures were had as the Autobots and the Ark traveled ever outward across the stars, searching for the Allspark and trying to elude their hunters.

Eventually, Shockwave alone among the remaining Cybertronian Decepticons continued to cause much trouble. Encountering him, two Autobots, Arcee and Cliffjumper, were sent through a space bridge and met up with Optimus's team on the world where their star-flung Exodus at last came to an end: [[Earth]].

===Chapter 11: Earthfall===
Alpha Trion chooses to end this edit of the Covenant with excerpts from the personal Journals of Optimus Prime and Arcee to give the events some personal context.

Optimus Prime — Arriving on Earth, Optimus is surprised to find that Unicron's body has given birth to so much richness of life. Studying their signals on approach he is also surprised how very similar that human life is to Transformer life. There are many Cybertronian signals here to track down. He thinks on the saying that "Journeys end in lovers meeting" and wonders who the "lovers" are as his journey ends here on Earth. He decides that Arcee and Bumblebee are the most sympathetic so he will give them missions that bring them close to humans so that they will make the inevitable first contact.

Alpha Trion notes that Prime's team eventually joins forces with the US government after building their base in Jasper, NV.

Optimus Prime — Prime talks about how he and Ratchet fought an army of Dark Energon zombies raised by Megatron. He speculates that the ancient Transformers were on Earth as archeologists searching for artifacts of the Thirteen. He says that though Megatron appears to be dead he does not believe their fight is over. He worries about Megatron's obsession with Unicron and about involving humans in the fight. He thinks again "Journeys end in lovers meeting."

Alpha Trion recounts Megatron's return and reconciliation with Starscream and how all the Cybertronian artifacts found on Earth and the Dark Energon used by Megatron awoke the sleeping Unicron.

Arcee — Waiting to attack Unicron, Arcee updates her Journal for the first time since coming to Earth. She talks about how fragile humans are and making friends with Jack, Miko and Raf. At first she was overcompensating for losing Cliffjumper and Tailgate, but now she's past that and still wants to protect Jack and Earth.

Optimus Prime — Prime recounts assaulting Unicron alongside Megatron. Missing the original Thirteen from their first assault but being proud of how Megatron stood against Unicron. (Prime remembers the human saying again.) The Matrix, holding the essence of all the Thirteen and a part of Primus' own spark was able to render Unicron a non-corporeal being, ending the threat. Prime recounts how he lost his memory and became Orion again and then regained it once more.

Alpha Trion tells briefly how, despite his efforts, Megatron gained the Forge of Solus Prime and stole the arm of Liege Maximo to let him forge a [[Dark Star Saber]]. He recounts all that happened after, the Star Saber breaking, the Omega Keys, the cloning of a new Predaking by Shockwave, the final fight on the Nemesis, Bumblebee's rebirth leading to Megatron's death, and Megatron's final return as a puppet of the disembodied Unicron. And Prime recovering the Allspark at last.

Optimus Prime — Prime remembers his deep despair seeing Bumblebee die and his relief as his friend returned and ended Megatron's threat. Then Prime found the Allspark. Journeys end in lovers meeting. Unicron's could not end until he reintegrated with Primus. Since they could not arrange that he came up with a new plan to use the Allsparks container. He remembered his siblings in the Thirteen as he made his choice. Prime recounts the surprise of Unicron as he was trapped forever. And meeting the eyes of Megatron as he rose, free at last, and both of them knowing that "the Journey" was over.

Sector D-16 — Megatron remembers his beginnings. Being nameless and condemned to the mines and wanting more. Seeing robots go into the debasing gladiator pits because it was their only option, and seeing in it a way to escape the oppression [[Functionism|Form and Function]] government imposed. Choosing his name because what had Fallen might rise again. Meeting Orion Pax and feeling that they might balance one another and achieve their goals. Anger at "Optimus Prime" as only a new face of old oppression. The pleasure of righteous anger at being a victim. Seeing Pax being a "chosen one" meaning D16 was only a chosen miner. Falling for his own publicity, his ego growing beyond all bounds. Vanity supreme. And realizing, now, finally after being Unicron's puppet that he had fallen out of love with his own ego. His romantic vision of who he was had died. He wanted to be something more, new, better.

Back in the present Megatron denied Starscream's offer to escape and reform the Decepticons. He nodded to Optimus. "There is no peace through tyranny." he said quietly. Prime smiled and nodded back. Megatron and Starscream left in opposite directions.

At last Optimus explained to the remaining robots that his Spark was now joined to the Allspark and the only way to return it to the Well and revive Cybertron was for him to return it himself and his Spark with it. He told them that Megatron showed that there was hope for redemption for all and that this was not an end, but only a new transformation. Then he plunged into the Well.

The Well of All Sparks burst to life and light as thousands of Sparks of endless colors fountained up out of the Well and into the sky.

The gathered Transformers watched and decided that if it were up to them the Great War was now truly over at last. And they broadcast the news to the stars.

===Epilogue: Afterword===
Alpha Trion concludes the covenant's secrets, including the age of the Primes and the origins of Cybertron, but admits that not the whole story has been recorded and that it continues to write of time and space on Earth and all over the galaxy, giving the book to human hands so we would know more of our allies and enemies and how they came to be and to know that the Autobots would respond if we ever need them again.

He then bids us the last wish of the Thirteenth Prime, TILL ALL ARE ONE.

==Characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
*[[Optimus Prime (WFC)|Optimus Prime]]
*[[Perceptor (Prime)|Perceptor]]
*[[Ultra Magnus (WFC)|Ultra Magnus]]
*[[Prowl (WFC)|Prowl]]
*[[Jazz (WFC)|Jazz]]
*[[Silverbolt (WFC)|Silverbolt]]
*[[Ratchet (WFC)|Ratchet]]
*[[Smokescreen (Prime)|Smokescreen]]
*[[Bumblebee (WFC)|Bumblebee]]
*[[Bulkhead (Prime)|Bulkhead]]
*[[Makeshift (Prime)|Hound]]
*[[Ironhide (WFC)|Ironhide]]
*[[Wheeljack (Prime)|Wheeljack]]
*[[Impactor (Prime)|Impactor]]
*[[Springer (WFC)|Springer]]
*[[Roadbuster (Prime)|Roadbuster]]
*[[Rotorstorm (Prime)|Rotorstorm]]
*[[Sideswipe (WFC)|Sideswipe]]
*[[Omega Supreme (WFC)|Omega Supreme]]
*[[Metroplex (FOC)|Metroplex]]
*[[Jetfire (WFC)|Jetfire]]
*[[Arcee (WFC)|Arcee]]
*[[Cliffjumper (WFC)|Cliffjumper]]
*[[Knock Out (Prime)|Knock Out]]
|c2=
*[[Megatron (WFC)|Megatron]]
*[[Starscream (WFC)|Starscream]]
*[[Soundwave (WFC)|Soundwave]]
*[[Shockwave (WFC)|Shockwave]]
*[[Trypticon (WFC)|Trypticon]]
*[[Makeshift (Prime)|Makeshift]]
*[[Thundercracker (WFC)|Thundercracker]]
*[[Skywarp (WFC)|Skywarp]]
*[[Slipstream (WFC)|Slipstream]]
*[[Lugnut (WFC)|Lugnut]]
*[[Devastator (WFC)|Devastator]]
*[[Bruticus (WFC)|Bruticus]]
*[[Swindle (FOC)|Swindle]]
*[[Vortex (FOC)|Vortex]]
*[[Brawl (WFC)|Brawl]]
*[[Onslaught (WFC)|Onslaught]]
*[[Blast Off (FOC)|Blast Off]]
*[[Frenzy (WFC)|Frenzy]]
*[[Rumble (WFC)|Rumble]]
*[[Buzzsaw (FOC)|Buzzsaw]]

|h3=[[Thirteen]]|c3=
*[[Alpha Trion]]
*[[Solus Prime]]
*[[Vector Prime]]
*[[Prima]]
*[[Micronus Prime]]
*[[Maccadam|Alchemist Prime]]
*[[Nexus Prime]]
**[[Clocker (Prime)|Clocker]]
**[[Mainspring]]
**[[Pinion]]
**[[Chaindrive]]
**[[Cannonspring]]
*[[Onyx Prime]]
*[[Amalgamous Prime]]
*[[Quintus Prime]]
*[[Liege Maximo]]
*[[The Fallen|Megatronus]]
*[[Optimus Prime (WFC)|The Thirteenth Prime]]

|h4=Pre-War Cybertronians|c4=
*[[Azimuth (COP)|Azimuth]]
*[[Reflector (COP)|Reflector]]
*[[Remedy (COP)|Remedy]]
*[[Galvatron (COP)|Galvatron]]
*[[Crankhandle]]
*[[Coldwelder]]
*[[Cogwheel]]
*[[Sentinel Zeta Prime]]
*[[Bluestreak (Prime)|Bluestreak]]
*[[Elita One (COP)|Elita One]]
*[[Moonracer (COP)|Moonracer]]
*[[Metalhawk (COP)|Metalhawk]]
*[[Backburner]]
*[[Soaring]]
*[[Halogen (WFC)|Halogen]]
*[[Armorhide (WFC)|Armorhide]]

|h5=Others|c5=
*[[Primus]]
*[[Unicron#Aligned continuity family|Unicron]]
*[[Quintesson]]s
*[[Sharkticon (species)|Sharkticon]]s
*[[Wreck-Gar (Prime)|Wreck-Gar]]
*[[Shearbolt]]
*[[Mercury (COP)|Mercury]]

'''[[Velocitron]]ians'''
*[[Override (Prime)|Override]]
*[[Ransack (Prime)|Ransack]]
*[[Blurr (Prime)|Blurr]]

'''[[Predacon (Prime)|Predacons]]'''

'''Original'''
*[[Predaking (COP)|Predaking]]
*[[Lazerback (COP)|Lazerback]]
*[[Twinstrike (COP)|Twinstrike]]
*[[Skystalker (COP)|Skystalker]]
*[[Backlash (COP)|Backlash]]
*[[Fangblade]]
'''Cloned'''
*[[Predaking (Prime)|Predaking]]
*[[Darksteel (Prime)|Darksteel]]
*[[Skylynx (Prime)|Skylynx]]

'''[[Dinobot (FOC)|Dinobots]]'''
*[[Grimlock (WFC)|Grimlock]]
*[[Slug (FOC)|Slug]]
*[[Sludge (FOC)|Sludge]]
*[[Swoop (WFC)|Swoop]]

'''[[Star Seeker]]s'''
*[[Thundertron]]
*[[Axer (Prime)|Axer]]

|nonumbering=true
}}

==Notes==

===Continuity errors===
{{note|The Foreword notes that the book is an abridging and rearrangement of only small pieces of the 'real' Covenant, all of it edited and even, Alpha Trion admits, sometimes outright altered in ways to improve human comprehension and promote empathy between the species. Consequently, the book has a self-admitted potential for 'unreliable narration'.}}

*A conflict of continuity leaves the final fate of Alpha Trion rather uncertain. According to the DVD Commentary track for ''[[Transformers: Prime (cartoon)|Transformers: Prime]]'' Season 3, of the episode "[[Rebellion (Prime)|Rebellion]]", Alpha Trion's appearance in Optimus's vision is a sign that Alpha Trion is "well and truly dead." However, if this is the case, then it would be impossible for Alpha Trion to have annotated or translated any part of the Covenant's sections in the Earthfall chapter which take place post-"Rebellion", such as the annotation about Bumblebee killing Megatron, or the events of ''Predacons Rising'' (unless he somehow did so from ''beyond the grave'', if that's even possible). To make matters even worse, outside of the commentary track, there is no mention either in the show, or in the Covenant, detailing what, if anything, happened to Alpha Trion (other than the Covenant's general implicit implication of his continued existence).
*In accordance with the ''Prime'' cartoon, Alpha Trion notes on page 133 that he launched the Star Saber (among other relics) into space. However, on page 151, he refers to having disseminated the Saber's "broken parts." This is the only reference to the sword being broken in the entire book, with no explanation for how it wound up in this state, or how it was repaired. This seems to be an erroneous holdover from the novel ''[[Transformers: Exiles]]'', which was apparently written with the intent that the Saber had been shattered (a plot element taken from the [[Transformers Collectors' Club]] storyline that introduced the sword to Transformers fiction) but which was clumsily edited to remove this fact when the intact sword appeared in the ''Prime'' cartoon.
*Despite being left on Archon with no way of returning to Cybertron, a bot that somewhat resembles Bluestreak was present during the Great War, if the illustrations are anything to go by.
*The Exodus Chapter seems to conflate the two separate characters of Makeshift and Axer from the ''Exiles'' novel into a single being. As there's no real reason to do this it seems more likely to have been an error then an intentional retcon.
*The section describing Shockwave's creation of the Dinobots presents a rather...''unique'' interpretation of Shockwave than what we have been presented previously in ''Aligned'', especially in his relation to the Dinobots. Instead of the typical logic-obsessed emotionless mad-scientist, we get a Shockwave that is rather bubbly and disconnected from reality, something of a twisted father. He considers the Dinobots his children and is described as being "fond" of them, even calling Grimlock "my boy" as he excitedly explains to him the changes he is making to his body (while Grimlock snarls and writhes in pain). It's odd, to say the least.
*Prowl mysteriously appears in the final section of the Earthfall chapter, detailing the end of ''Predacons Rising''. The other characters react to his presence as if nothing is wrong with his sudden commentary, which would only make sense if Prowl was present for the entirety of the events of ''Predacons Rising'', which he clearly was not. Prowl's last appearance in the Covenant was during the Exodus chapter, after which he is never made reference to again. It's possible the text meant to refer to Knock Out or Smokescreen instead.

===Continuity notes===
*The events surrounding the end of the Thirteen's original era, as presented here, differ significantly in several major details from what was related (also by Alpha Trion) in the [[Alex Irvine]] novels. In the novels the betrayal of Megatronus seems to be closer to the fall of his Multiversal self and the scheme of the Liege Maximo is portrayed as a separate, later event. Even more divergent is the final fate of the Liege, who here is killed by his own monstrous creations and the Requiem Blaster, while in the novels Alpha talks about his escaping justice after his betrayal and fleeing into deep space. In that version Alchemist Prime later leaves Cybertron to hunt the Liege down among the stars. The difference might be explained as a result of the unreliable narrator here mentioned above or as purposeful misinformation presented there to hide/erase the truth of the Thirteen's story.
*Similarly, Chapter 8's scene of Soundwave speaking out against his fellow High Councilors before storming off and quitting the High Council is very clearly [[authorial intent|intended]] to be the moment that he decided to take his vow of silence that was first mentioned in the ''Prime'' episode "[[Scattered]]" as an explanation for why Soundwave usually does not speak in that cartoon when he did speak quite regularly in the three Aligned novels and the ''War for Cybertron'' and ''Fall of Cybertron'' video games. However, said scene in this book is set long ''before'' when the events of those novels and video games take place in the greater Aligned timeline. But, there is some wiggle room for this moment to ''not'' actually be when Soundwave decides to stop speaking for good after all since the scene is written from Alpha Trion's already-admitted stance as a potentially unreliable narrator and features the specific wording of "From that moment forward, '''to my knowledge''', he has not uttered a single word of his own." This would enable Soundwave to continue speaking during the events of the novels and video games without Alpha Trion, personally, ever knowing about it, and allows for Soundwave's vow of silence to instead come at a later point (whenever that would be is not known).
*The Chapter on the Great War conflates and reorders events from the ''[[Transformers: War for Cybertron (games)|War for Cybertron]]'' and ''[[Transformers: Fall of Cybertron|Fall of Cybertron]]'' games, as well as Alex Irvine's ''[[Transformers: Exodus|Exodus]]'' novel.
*The Covenant is surprisingly silent on the fates of the ''Ark'' and the rest of its crew beyond the cast of ''Transformers: Prime'', as well as how Optimus and his small remaining crew came to leave them and settle on Earth.

===Real-world references===
*The phrase "What have the Quintessons ever done for us?" after rattling off a long list of technological and sociological feats is a reference to a similar joke in ''[[w:Monty Python's Life of Brian|Monty Python's Life of Brian]]''.
* The phrase "Journeys end in lovers meeting" comes from [[William Shakespeare]]'s [[w:Twelfth Night|Twelfth Night]] Act II, Scene III.

==Covers==
The book comes in a series of boxes, including one shaped like a silver Autobot sigil:

<gallery>
File:TransformersCovenantofPrimusCovers.jpg
File:TransformersCovenantofPrimusBox.jpg|Box back
File:CovenantofPrimuscasing.jpg
File:TransformersCovenantofPrimusOpenCasing.jpg
</gallery>

==Images from ''The Covenant of Primus''==
<gallery>
TransformersVault-Prima.jpg|[[Prima]]
VectorPrime-CovenantOfPrimus.jpg|[[Vector Prime]]
COPAlphaTrion.jpg|[[Alpha Trion]]
Solusprime covenant profile.jpg|[[Solus Prime]]
11MicronusPrime.jpg|[[Micronus Prime]]
8AlchemistPrime.jpg|[[Maccadam|Alchemist Prime]]
5NexusPrime.jpg|[[Nexus Prime]]
10OnyxPrime.jpg|[[Onyx Prime]]
9AmalgamousPrime.jpg|[[Amalgamous Prime]]
12QuintusPrime.jpg|[[Quintus Prime]]
TFPLiegeMaximo.jpg|[[Liege Maximo]]
MegatronusPrime.jpg|[[The Fallen|Megatronus]]
TheVisionary.jpg|[[Thirteenth Prime]]
COP-OrionPax.jpg|[[Optimus Prime (WFC)|Orion Pax]]
Transformers Covenant of Primus Unicron.jpg|[[Unicron#Aligned continuity family|Unicron]]
COP Sentinel Zeta.jpg|[[Sentinel Zeta Prime|Sentinel Zeta Prime]]
TheForgeofSolusPrime-CovenantofPrimus.jpg|The [[Forge of Solus Prime]]
COP-TriptychMask.jpg|[[Triptych Mask]]
COP-Megatronusshootssolus.jpg|Megatronus kills Solus Prime with the [[Requiem Blaster (Megatronus)|Requiem Blaster]]
CoP war of the primes.jpg|The [[War of the Primes]]
COP-WellOfAllSparks.jpg|Onyx, Micronus, and ''Thirteen'' enter the [[Well of All Sparks]]
COP-predacons.jpg|[[Predacon (Prime)|Predacons]] during the [[Age of Evolution]]
CovenantOfPrimus-Cybertron.jpg|[[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]] during the [[Age of Origins]]
COP-coldwelderandratchet.jpg|[[Ratchet (WFC)|Ratchet]] uncovers evidence of the [[Quintesson|Quintessons]]' existence
Quintessons-CovenantofPrimus.jpg|The [[Quintesson|Quintessons]] during the [[Age of Wrath]]
OrionPaxSeesSpaceBridge-COP.jpg|Orion Pax sees a [[Space bridge|Space Bridge]] during the [[Age of Wrath]]
SentinelLightsNewWellinArchon-COP.jpg|Sentinel lights a new Well on [[Archon]] during the [[Golden Age]]
COP Soaring.jpg|The [[Cosmic Rust (disease)|Rust Plague]] claims [[Soaring]] as a victim
ProwlandIronhideBlowUpSpacebridge-COP.jpg|[[Prowl (WFC)|Prowl]] and [[Ironhide (WFC)|Ironhide]] destroy a space bridge, starting the [[Age of Rust]]
COP-VectorSigmaAlphaTrion.jpg|Alpha Trion communes with [[Vector Sigma]] during the Age of Rust
COP-HighCouncilMeeting.jpg|[[Megatron (WFC)|Megatron]] and [[Optimus Prime (WFC)|Orion Pax]] speak to the [[Autobot High Council|Council]]
AlignedDevastatorCOP.jpg|[[Devastator (WFC)|Devastator]] during the [[Great War (Prime)|Great War]]
AlignedLugnutCOP.jpg|[[Lugnut (WFC)|Lugnut]]
TheCovenantOfPrimus-Grimlock.jpg|[[Grimlock (WFC)|Grimlock]]
TheCovenantOfPrimus-mutacons.jpg|The [[Mutacon|Mutacons]]
</gallery>

==External links==
*''[http://www.amazon.com/Transformers-Covenant-Primus-Justina-Robson/dp/1477805990/ Transformers: The Covenant of Primus]'' at Amazon.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Covenant of Primus}}
[[Category:Aligned]]
[[Category:Amazon exclusives]]
[[Category:Prime books]]