Okay, raise your hand if you were one of the multitudes of children who broke down and
cried when the great Optimus Prime ceased functioning in
The Movie. Now, keep your hand up if you'd similarly shed a tear for any of the
other Prime substitutes to serve since. Still got your hand in the air? Thought not.
The
original incarnation of Optimus Prime is by far the best, hands down, no contention. He served as a quasi-patriarch for a generation of young boys (and a few girls too, I've been finding recently...), and there aren't too many cartoon characters who can genuinely claim such as an attribute. Show someone a picture of Optimus and they will instantly reply,
"Ah, Transformers!", whether they were a fan of the show or not. There's a reason he's become such an iconic ambassador for the franchise; he's a brilliantly concieved character. The design is perfect - strong, brave, noble. A leader robot that reconfigures into a truck, king of the road. The distinctive red and blue motif, catching the eye instantly and burning into the memory's eye. Peter Cullen's commanding yet compassionate voice resounding from his vocal synthesizer, echoing with the wisdom of a learned scholar, with a hint of the southern drawl typified by the heroes of the Wild West. An unforgettable character, who paved the way for all others who follow in his stead.
Mylian
The mistake was killing [Optimus Prime] off in the first place. Bringing him back was admission that they'd screwed up and shouldn't have done it, but it was too late; the damage to the storyline had already been done.
In all honesty, this is one of the most
ridiculous contentions I have ever heard! The Transformers are meant to be at
WAR, and in war soldiers inevitably
DIE. It's a simple equation, really. Removing Prime from the cast was an unbelievably
brave move of the producers, especially at this time, and one they should be commended for. The problem was not with the decission to replace Optimus, rather, it was with their
choice of replacement.
Rodimus Prime was just a whiny, self-depricating pessimist, in the worst possible way. He could have been an interesting character, but the delivery was all wrong, and many children were turned off by the darkness that ensued. I guess that's why Optimus made a return from the cyber-grave; a formular for reasurrection that would soon become tiresomely repetative. But one cannot hold this against the character, as it was simply the result of simplistic writing, which was the product of the day. Desperate backpeddling to save a floundering franchise.
Anything outside of the
Generation 1 universe isn't worth mentioning, quite frankly. Flat, two-demensional cardboard cut-outs with no character or presence to speak of. While the
RiD incarnation of Optimus Prime brought us one of the very best toys to be released as part of this line, nothing can be said of its narrative representation. Besides, the
Masterpiece figure is simply unbeatable.
Optimus Primal? In interesting character, but NOT an Optimus Prime. He was believable and true, to be sure, but didn't possess the inner strength of his idol. I did like the concept of a character who modelled his life around a forefather of the age-old Cybertronian conflict; too easy would it have been to simply make Primal a future incarnation of the same character with a self-parodying name change. Primal was possibly more
human than Prime, also, with all-too-familiar failings in his personal make-up. He was reasonable company, but probably the weakest presence in the Maximal line-up, all things considered. And that which he degenerated into c**
'Beast Machines' further sullied the character beyond redemption. No, for me, the original IS the best.
Oh, and by the way, I absolutely
HATE the whole insipid Scourge/Nemesis Prime thing... can we please just GET OVER IT?!
scream 
