Time for this week's Character Spot.
This week, take a look at one of the most beloved metalheads in cartoon history. If you were a child of the 80s, you might even have his toy laying around somewhere.
Optimus Prime is one of the most recognizable characters from the Transformers franchise. He's a member of the Cybertronian species - a race of robots from the planet Cybertron - and the leader of the heroic faction of Cybertronians called the Autobots, who wage a seemingly endless war against the evil Decepticons and their leader Megatron. In the final days of their home planet, fighters from the opposing tribes launched themselves into space, and one day found themselves on Earth, and brought their conflict with them.
The Cybertronians have a unique ability to transform their bodies into different forms - very often vehicles. Optimus and his fellow Autobots took the forms of different cars and trucks. Being one of the largest of his people, Optimus himself tends to take on the forms of larger rigs - most often a shipping truck or a fire engine.
Optimus is an impressive combatant, being able to turn face down the mightiest of foes with his incredible strength. Apart from his size and strength, has certain weapons and abilities at his disposal, depending on continuity. His weapons and equipment were usually pieces of advanced Cybertronian technology - both of the ranged and melee variety. He has been depicted using axes, swords, and energy blasters. With his arsenal and his incredible strength, he has tangled with the infamous Decepticon tyrant numerous times.
Cullen's voice only got better with age. Cullen departed from the role of Optimus after the 1986 Transformers movie. But two decades later, when Michael Bay made his live-action Transformers movies, Cullen once again stepped into the role of the Autobot commander, his voice deeper and more resonant. Since that time, Cullen has been a more consistent member of the cast for most Transformers projects - most recently having appeared as Optimus Prime in the movie Bumblebee and the animated series Transformers: Power of the Primes in 2018. It's been a while since then, but I can't help but wonder if he might voice Optimus again one day soon.
Optimus was portrayed in later cartoons by Garry Chalk, who, while not having as deep a voice as Cullen, did not make Optimus sound any less heroic. However, in truth, Chalk started out not really voicing Optimus at all. If you're a 90s child and watched Fox Kids, you probably remember him voicing Optimus Primal on Beast Wars, and again later on Beast Machines. Chalk's character in these shows was not in any way related to Optimus Prime apart from having taken the name of Optimus in order to honor him. Primal was the leader of the heroic faction of Cybertronians called the Maximals, who waged war against the villainous Predacons, who in turn had their own leader who had taken on the name of Megatron. Unlike the Autobots and Decepticons in the original cartoons, the Maximals and Predacons took on the forms of animals. When the two factions first landed on prehistoric Earth, Primal assumed the form of a gorilla. Primal would often be less cool-headed and at times more authoritative than his Autobot counterpart, losing his temper with his at times impulsive crew if they failed to follow an order or otherwise did something they shouldn't have.
Chalk would, however, go on to voice Optimus Prime himself in what is known as the Unicron Trilogy, a series of anime series based on the Transformers franchise. The cartoons in question were Transformers: Armada, Transformers: Energon, and Transformers: Cybertron. In each of these cartoons, Chalk gave optimus much the same voice pattern and mannerisms as his Maximal namesake. He also came close to the same voice that Peter Cullen had in the early days of the original cartoon.
Between Chalk's performances in Beast Machines and Transformers: Armada, the anime Transformers: Robots in Disguise hit Fox Kids, featuring a different actor for Optimus - Neil Kaplan.
In a small dose of irony, Optimus was at one point voiced by Transformers alumnus David Kaye, who has voiced various iterations of Megatron.
If you spend a lot of time on YouTube, you might also recognize one of Optimus' other actors - Jon Bailey, famous for his work on Screen Junkies' Honest Trailers. He does an incredible Optimus Prime as well.
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Several different pieces of the Transformers franchise can be found on Amazon.com
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