Optimus Prime

> "One shall stand, one shall fall."
> ― Optimus Prime
>
>

**Optimus Prime** was a powerful and legendary Cybertronian male who led the Autobots in the Great War on Cybertron against the Decepticons. Originally an Iaconian data clerk known as **Orion Pax**, Alpha Trion — his mentor in the Iacon Hall of Records and secretly one of the original Thirteen Primes — believed Orion to be capable of becoming the next Prime, an event that came to pass when Orion was entrusted with the Matrix of Leadership by Primus himself and became "Optimus Prime."

After eons of war against his friend-turned-enemy Megatron turned the Cybertronian homeworld into a barren wasteland, Optimus was forced to enact the Great Exodus to ensure the survival of his race. As a part of this exodus himself, he and his team eventually arrived on the planet Earth, where Megatron and his forces soon followed. Continuing their struggle against the Decepticons, Optimus and the other Autobots were subject to many disadvantages on Earth, but managed to pull through every time in their various missions in order to stop Megatron's exploitation of the planet's vast Energon resources.

## **History**

### **Early life**

#### **The Thirteenth Prime**

Optimus Prime was created as the last of the Thirteen Primes, the first generation of Cybertronians, 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 courage that allowed the Thirteen to finally defeat Unicron. Furthermore, the plan concocted by the Primes involved Optimus using his Spark, which was very similar to Primus' own, to render Unicron comatose, with the other Primes attacking the Chaos Bringer as a distraction. Optimus emerged mostly unharmed from the final conflict that split the Thirteen.

#### **Rebirth as Orion Pax**

Upon activation of the Well of All Sparks, Optimus chose to enter it and be reborn as one of the lesser Cybertronians, in order to know them and their needs better. He did so, and was recreated as the simple **Orion Pax**, emerging as one of the first bipedal Cybertronians from the Well of All Sparks. Alpha Trion immediately realized there was something special about him and made sure to keep him close and suspecting who he was.

### **Golden Age**

#### **A young clerk**

During the Golden Age of Cybertron, Orion Pax originally operated as a young data clerk located in the Iacon Hall of Records where he was tutored by his mentor Alpha Trion. During his time there, Orion frequently studied about Cybertron's past upon where he grew increasingly concerned about the plague of corruption and inequality. Around this time he met a Cybertronian femme named Ariel, who would be later known as "Elita One," and began forming a close relationship with her, and two of them eventually became sparkmates. Orion also met and befriended Ratchet and Ironhide, whom became close friends and trusted confidantes to him.

#### **Friendship with Megatronus**

Orion became greatly inspired by the wisdom of a gladiator named Megatronus, who strove for equality amongst all Cybertronians. The two discussed their ideas together, and Megatronus became the equivalent of a mentor towards Orion, eventually becoming close friends as well.

Their friendship came to an end, however, when the pair presented their ideas towards the High Council, discovering that their ideologies were vastly different from each other. Whilst Megatron arrogantly sought to overthrow the High Council with force and demanded the title of Prime, Orion did not believe in violence as a means of achieving justice. His speech was warmly touched by the High Council, all of whom personally recommend to Orion that he should be named the next Prime. This caused Megatron to cut of all ties with Orion and the council, and in the process he formed his own cult of followers whom he named "Decepticons" before subsequently initiating the Great War.

### **The Great War**

#### **Becoming Optimus Prime**

During the Great War, Megatron infected Cybertron's core with Dark Energon―the very lifeblood of Unicron himself. Orion journeyed into the center of the planet in the hopes of fixing the problem, but instead he discovered the existence of Primus, his creator. Due to his valiant efforts, Orion was presented the Matrix of Leadership and thus was officially named "Optimus Prime," becoming the valiant leader of the Autobots.

#### **Fighting in the war**

Throughout the Great War, Optimus led the Autobots against the Decepticons for eons to come. Optimus personally fought in many battles, including the Battle of Technahar where he encountered Skyquake, a Decepticon seeker whom had been sent on behalf of Megatron to assassinate him. Optimus met and befriended many allies during the war, including Ultra Magnus, whom he personally trained and served as his commanding officer, as well as the young scout Bumblebee and the Wrecker Bulkhead, whom later became members of his elite group Team Prime.

At some point during the war, Optimus fell into a critically low point after the presumed death of Elita One at the hands of Onslaught―in reality, Elita One was trapped in stasis underneath an island on the planet Ahch-To, which resided in a completely different galaxy, and remained there for the next six thousand years.

#### **Exodus from Cybertron**

By the near conclusion of the war, Megatron's forces had become far superior to the Autobots. Optimus elected to launch the Allspark into deep space, where it eventually reached Theta Scorpieye, so as to prevent Megatron from gaining possession of the artifact. Eventually, when Cybertron ultimately became uninhabitable, Optimus ordered the evacuation of the planet in search of new worlds; he sent Bumblebee to the planet Earth to safeguard it until his arrival. By this point in time, Elita One's survival was discovered, an the pair were reunited.

#### **Arrival on Earth**

After arriving on Earth, Optimus and his team came into contact with the secret agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D., who gave them an abandoned missile silo, formerly owned by the United States government, to utilize as a base. They reconstructed the silo into Autobot Outpost Omega One and were assigned William Fowler and Charlie Watson to serve as personal liaisons to the United States and S.H.I.E.L.D. respectively. Some time later, Optimus transmitted a secret message across the galaxy advising any remaining Autobot refugees to travel to Earth and to join them; this message was later discovered by Arcee and Cliffjumper whom managed to journeyed to Earth via Space Bridge and joined Team Prime.

## **Appearances**

* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 2: The Clone Wars* — "Chapter 61: Destiny" (voice only)
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 4: A Jedi in Exile* — "Chapter 58: What Lies Beyond" (first mentioned)
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 5: Rebirth* — "Chapter 6: The Reawakening" (first appearance)
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 5: Rebirth* — "Chapter 7: A Little Problematic" (mentioned only)
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 5: Rebirth* — "Chapter 8: Steps into Shadow Pt 1" (mentioned only)
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 5: Rebirth* — "Chapter 13: The Extraction" (mentioned only)
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 5: Rebirth* — "Chapter 17: The Last Battle" (mentioned only)
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 5: Rebirth* — "Chapter 25: Anxiety Before the Storm" (mentioned only)
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 5: Rebirth* — "Chapter 28: Action at Coruscant" (mentioned only)
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 5: Rebirth* — "Chapter 32: Forest Battle" (mentioned only)
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 5: Rebirth* — "Chapter 39: His Mandalorian Past" (indirect mention only)
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 5: Rebirth* — "Chapter 53: Terror From beyond" (mentioned only)
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 5: Rebirth* — "Chapter 55: Zero Hour Pt 2" (mentioned only)
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 5: Rebirth* — "Chapter 56: Zero Hour Pt 3" (mentioned only)
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 5: Rebirth* — "Chapter 58: A Risky Confrontation" (mentioned only)
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 5: Rebirth* — "Chapter 59: Technical Difficulties" (mentioned only)
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 5: Rebirth* — "Chapter 72: World Between Worlds" (voice only)
* *A Bigger Universe* — "Chapter 1: Fall of Cybertron"
* *A Bigger Universe* — "Chapter 2: Darkness Rising Pt 1"
* *A Bigger Universe* — "Chapter 3: Darkness Rising Pt 2"
* *A Bigger Universe* — "Chapter 4: Darkness Rising Pt 3"
* *A Bigger Universe* — "Chapter 5: Darkness Rising Pt 4"
* *A Bigger Universe* — "Chapter 6: Darkness Rising Pt 5"
* *Destiny: A New Legacy* (will appear)