The Many Faces of Optimus Prime
"The Many Faces of Optimus Prime" was a two-part poster, available in issue 17 of Titan's movie-based comic and the first issue of the new Animated title to promote extra sales in the latter. (It didn't work) Later issues carried a "Many Faces of Megatron" companion poster, existing in the same continuities.
It summarizes the history of all the various Optimuses and Megatrons and their timelines, with information written by Simon Furman. Learn the history of your favorite characters, kids!
Generation 1
[edit]Pre-War Within
[edit]The first of the mighty Primes appears to have been a figure called Primus, who was a military leader of a faction called the Light Gods (presumably the Autobots had not been formed yet). He opposed an unknown evil leader. He was followed by another figure called Prima, of which nothing is known.
Prima's first two successors have murky history. Nova Prime was corrupted by an evil version of the Autobot Matrix of Leadership and renamed himself Nemesis Prime before, by means unknown, he was stopped. Little is known about his successor Sentinel Prime, but there were rumors of corruption in high places during his reign.
War Within
[edit]Megatron was a former mine-worker who dreamed of conquest and hated society with a vengeance, and began organizing vicious underground blood-sports to find like-minded psychotic bastards. Once he found enough of them, he declared war on Cybertron, devastating the planet and murdering Sentinel Prime!
The humble archivist Optronix was chosen by the Matrix to become the new Prime. Transformed into a mighty and wise leader, Optimus Prime led the Autobots on Cybertron in many unknown battles.
This conflict was known as the "War Within"—we do not know why.
Hundreds of thousands of years in our past, the Autobot spaceship the Ark crash-landed on Earth—the circumstances in which it did are unknown. As Optimus was on the Ark and Megatron was known to have been there too, we assume the War Within had ended and Megatron was a prisoner
Beast Wars/Machines
[edit]In prehistory, the scientific commander Optimus Primal and his crew were stranded on Earth; they had a long-running war against a second Megatron, a nasty sort who had taken the name to gain reflected terror, and both sides took the forms of animals to protect themselves from atmospheric energon. In their battle, they actually found the lost Ark on Earth and when Megatron II tried to kill the original Optimus, Primal briefly became the guardian of the Matrix!
Megatron II stole the spark of the original and returned to Cybertron, conquering it with a transformation virus. As nothing more is known of Primal and the Ark remained dormant, it is likely (though not explicitly stated) that Megatron killed Primal and his crew before they could inform Cybertron about the Ark's whereabouts.
This Megatron actually ruled Cybertron for a time, making him more successful than his namesake. However, he was eventually deposed by unknown forces and the original Megatron's spark found a new body!
G1 proper
[edit]In 1984, the Ark's computers reactivated and the Autobots were reborn with new Earth-based alternate modes. It was convenient that this happened, because the Decepticons had turned up on Earth! Optimus was given the form of a truck and appointed himself Earth's protector against Megatron, who took the form of a small handgun (God knows why).
Post-Megatron II, the Decepticons were a far more fragmented force than before, with Megatron constantly fighting off leadership challenges from Straxus, Scorponok and Shockwave.
Eventually the battle shifted away from Earth to the planet Nebulos. Optimus decided to upload his mind into a new "Powermaster" form, which had extra power thanks to the scientist/engine HiQ. Megatron remained back on Earth and gained a new body (labelled "G2") from his new allies, Cobra, but the mutual threat of the Cybertronian Empire and the Swarm forced both leaders to work together.
Eventually Optimus defeated Megatron, who survived death after he was salvaged and rebuilt as Galvatron by the monstrous Unicron. Optimus Prime sacrificed himself to save Cybertron from this monster, leaving HiQ behind and passing the Matrix to Hot Rod before he did so. Both Unicron and Galvatron remained active until the new Rodimus Prime destroyed them, and brought in a new golden age.
Clearly, this Hot Rod/Rodimus was a noble and wise figure to be given the Matrix and achieve such feats. Someday we may learn more about this mysterious Rodimus.
Robots in Disguise
[edit]In another reality, in 2001, an Optimus Prime led a secret war on Earth against Megatron and his Predacons, a covert and clandestine force. Despite the secrecy of this shadowy war, a single human was aware and assisted the Autobots: a boy named Yuki Onishi.
Little else is known about the Autobots except Optimus was co-leader with his brother Ultra Magnus; we assume they must be close and loving siblings to be doing this. We know Megatron was transformed into a Galvatron here too, but it is unrecorded as to whether this was also caused by a Unicron.
Armada
[edit]In this world, a third group of Transformers exists; known as Mini-Cons, they can unlock powers in larger Transformers and partnered with them. Optimus Prime was guardian of Cyber-City, a Cybertronian metropolis, and befriended a group of humans on Earth. For some reason, he upgraded himself a lot; this is odd as there are no recorded conflicts involving him. He named one of his upgrades 'Cybertron' Optimus Prime, a worryingly egotistical act.
Megatron, meanwhile, began raiding Earth in 2010 to gain more Mini-Cons. He also enjoyed upgrading himself a lot, and wielded the mighty Star Saber, combined form of some Mini-Con allies. We don't know why Optimus is not recorded as fighting this Megatron; did Cyber-City duties prevent him?
Notes
[edit]The posters offered a brief description for each of the characters, with the G1 cast having information taken from multiple continuities. Despite this, there was no mention of the multiple canon. Some vital data, like how the Maximals are time-travelers and that Primus was a god, is left out, while some things are heavily simplified (like the 'secrecy' in Robots in Disguise). The result is that if you only had the posters to work with, you were at something of a disadvantage.