Optimus Prime

Optimus Prime, also known in Japan as , is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Transformers franchise. The Transformers characters were developed for an American market after Hasbro representatives visited the 1983 Tokyo Toy Show. The characters were modified and the coloring was changed; notably, Optimus Prime was colored red, white, and blue. The popularity of the Transformers toys resulted in comics, movies, and a TV series. In the Transformers mythology, Optimus Prime is a Cybertronian, an extraterrestrial species of sentient self-configuring modular robotic lifeforms (e.g.: cars and other objects), a synergistic blend of biological evolution and technological engineering. In almost every version of the mythos, Optimus is the leader of the Autobots, a faction of Transformers who are rivals of the Decepticons, another faction. He is defined by his strong moral character and is almost always portrayed as the primary hero of the story, opposing the Decepticon leader Megatron. Over the history of the Transformers franchise, Optimus Prime has been portrayed by a variety of actors, such as Peter Cullen, Garry Chalk, Neil Kaplan, David Kaye and Jake Tillman. Animated character biography Optimus Prime (formerly known as Orion Pax) is constantly, if not always, depicted as having strong moral character, excellent leadership, and sound decision-making skills, and possesses brilliant military tactics, powerful martial arts, and advanced extraterrestrial weaponry. Optimus Prime has a strong sense of honor and justice, being dedicated to building peaceful and mutually beneficial co-existence with humans, the protection of life and liberty of all sentient species. As the current Matrix of Leadership bearer, Optimus Prime is the de facto leader of the Autobots, a faction of a transforming species of synthetic intelligence from the planet Cybertron. The Autobots are constantly waging civil war against a rival faction of transforming robots called Decepticons. According to Bob Budiansky, co-writer of the Transformers series, Dennis O'Neil was responsible for his name.