|
This article pertains to a Pure Good with more than one version who is Pure Good! |
| “ | Well, that's just prime. | „ |
| ~ Optimus Primal's famous catchphrase. |
| “ | We don't have to do this, Megatron. There has been peace between the Maximals and Predacons for centuries. Why start this up again? | „ |
| ~ Optimus trying to prevent the inevitable conflict between him and Megatron from occurring. |
| “ | The Great Transformation awaits Megatron. Prepare to be... reformatted. | „ |
| ~ Optimus Primal's last words (in Beast Machines) |
Optimus Primal is the main protagonist of the Beast Wars Era of Transformers Generation One, serving as the main protagonist of both Beast Wars: Transformers and Beast Machines: Transformers. He is a science officer who is assigned to track down the Predacon criminal Megatron and becomes his arch-nemesis.
He is voiced by Garry Chalk, who would later voice Optimus Prime in the Unicorn Trilogy.
What Makes Him Pure Good?[]
In General[]
- Despite having realistic flaws, making some mistakes and even having harbored some worldviews the original Optimus would not condone in good conscience, he makes up for them and ultimately lives up to being the pure-hearted paragon his namesake was.
- In deep contrast to Megatron who treats his team as pawns, he's a benevolent boss that greatly cares about his team.
- He learns to be more patient and understanding with Cheetor despite his mistakes, even apologizing for being so rough on at least one occasion. This plays a big role in Cheetor’s maturation and becoming a PG himself.
Background[]
- He agrees to have Protoform X disposed of non lethally when Depth Charge demanded his execution.
- As captain of the Axalon, he led his crew on deep space exploration of the universe.
- Realizing his non-combat ship was the only ship in range to intercept the rogue Megatron and his crew, he pursued them in order to bring the rogue Predacons to justice and recover the legendary Golden Disk Megatron stole.
Beast Wars[]
Season 1[]
- He ejects all of the Axalon's stasis pods into safe orbit once it was assured the Axalon would crash.
- He tries to initially settle his differences with Megatron peacefully, only resorting to violence when that fails
- He rescues Cheetor from the Predacons when Rattrap refused to, later remarking that he doesn’t give an order that he cannot do himself.
- He tries to convince Dinobot to join the Maximals, and only fights him when he refuses, he refuses to kill Dinobot when he beats him and risks his own life to save Dinobot once again from the Predacons, eventually motivating Dinobot to join the Maximals.
- He teleports a bomb into the Predacon base to destroy it when his ship briefly gains the ability to, but he puts a timer to allow the Predacons to escape, proving he values the lives of his enemies, even PE ones like Megatron and Tarantulas much to Dinobot’s chagrin.
- He rescues Rattrap from Terrorsaur and carries him to safety.
- He saves a Protoform and successfully reformats him into Tigatron who joins the Maximals
- He fakes Rattraps defection in order to infiltrate the Predacons, later sticking up for him and letting the other Maximals out of the dark, saying he wanted the defection to be believable which is why he didn’t tell them originally
- When infected with a virus that causes him to become increasingly uncontrollably aggressive, he orders that the Maximals lock him up until they can find a cure.
- He throws away his only chance of returning to Cybertron in order to rescue Dinobot, leaving no man behind.
- He leads a rescue mission to free Rhinox from the Predacon base.
- He was disgusted by Dinobot eating a fake clone of Dinobot, even though this clone was a Predacon and tried to kill them all.
- He single-handily defeats a Starscream possessed Waspinator and recaptures the Maximal base.
- He convinces Tigatron not to abandon the Maximals after his animal friend/love interest dies.
- He saves Earth from the Vok by destroying their planet buster, at the cost of his body due to Megatron’s betrayal.
Season 2[]
- He saves the Maximals from the Predacons in his new Transmetal body.
- He let Dinobot back into the Maximals despite his brief defection back to the Predacons.
- He warns Megatron not to mess with the Vok ship and potentially lead the Vok to discovering Cybertron, later destroying the control chair with Rattrap to foil Megatron's plan to conquer Cybertron.
- He and Cheetor found Silverbolt almost get crush by Rampage so He and Cheetor got team up with Blackarachnia to defeat Rampage from harm anyones
- He congratulates Dinobot for his sacrifice to save humanity and eulogizes him.
- He comforts Silverbolt over Transmutate's death and honors his request to leave Rampage alone to grieve.
- He agrees to help Ravage arrest Megatron as he didn’t hate Predacons in of themselves, but just criminals like Megatron.
- He correctly suspected Blackarachnia was going for the Ark and threatened to jeopardize not only his plan to end the Beast Wars, but threaten the timestream itself (especially once Megatron escaped custody)
- As a result, he was understandably frustrated with Silverbolt for letting her go. However, he still sympathized and recognized Silverbolt was only doing what he thought was right.
- Once Blackarachnia redeems herself and helps Primal save the timestream from Megatron, he lets her join the Maximals.
Season 3[]
- He takes Optimus Prime’s spark to save history and prevent Megatron from killing him, making Primal indirectly responsible for Prime’s actions in G1.
- He rescues Depth Charge after got shot by Quickstrike taking him into base and explain everything
- He puts up with Depth Charge being a complete jerk and offers him a spot on his team, try reason with him stop revenge on Rampage he according to Depth Charge about Rampage is under Megatron control
- He saves two young early anthropoids and helps escort them back to their tribe.
- He confronted Depth Charge and asked him to reveal what had happened to Cheetor.
- After Depth Charge acts like a hardheaded jerk and refuses to answer twice, Primal tells him to talk or he'll rip out Depth Charge’s core processor to get the info, successfully convincing Depth Charge to reveal Cheetor had become the feral beast that the others had mistakenly thought had kidnapped him. His threat to Depth Charge was most likely a bluff and at worst a heating up moment done as a last resort to get him to reveal vital info about Cheetor.
- He reasons with Cheetor to successfully get him to overcome his feral Transmetal II beast mode.
- Contrary to Blackarachnia's assumptions, he never planned on forcibly removing her shell program, informing her it had always been her choice and thereby stopping her from permanently leaving the Maximals.
- Additionally, he informed Blackarachnia that the Maximals would've helped her become a transmetal if she asked, reminding her that she was part of his team regardless if she was a Predacon and thanked her for all her help.
- He takes no joy when the Vok seemingly kill the Predacons and hopes the G1 Megatron’s spark is still functioning.
- He defends Megatron from being executed by Tigerhawk, arguing that the timestream would be further damaged if he dies with the original Megatron’s spark still inside him.
- He tried to get a redeemed Dinobot II to save himself and was saddened by his demise.
- He defeats Megatron to end the Beast Wars.
- He put original Megatron's spark back from Megatron
- He eulogizes all the fallen Maximals that made their victory in the Beast Wars possible.
Beast Machines[]
Season 1[]
- He relearns the art of transformation and teaches it to the surviving Maximals.
- While having been enraged by Megatron’s actions to the point of angrily chewing out his troops twice in episode three, he most likely realized how they saw it as an early sign of Primal slowly but surely going off the deep end(especially with his fanatical behavior) when he was apologizing for his transgressions.
- He is able to briefly reach out to Tankor to get him to save the Maximals.
- After Nightscream was critically injured, he severely strains his own power to reformat him into a techno-organic to save him.
- He had a vision correctly predicting Rattrap was in danger and despite still being in a weakened state, he went back into the field to stop Megatron from corrupting him and the other Maximals from turning against Rattrap, reminding everyone of Rattrap's strength.
- He calms Blackarachnia down in order to allow her wayward spark to return back to her body.
- He tries to save Rhinox only for Rhinox to reveal that he willingly became a villain and agrees with Megatron's genocidal, anti-free will, and pure tech agenda.
- However, he stops Cheetor and the other Maximals from brainwashing Rhinox, correctly pointing out it would make them no better than Megatron whilst telling Rhinox that he hoped he would redeem himself (which he did albeit posthumously).
- He tries to resolve things peacefully Rhinox afterwards and when Rhinox appears to died (which he faked), he eulogizes him and hopes he found peace.
- While he and Cheetor clashed over spirituality and eventually leadership (especially in the latter half of the season), the conflict is portrayed as nuanced with both characters having their valid points and misguided actions whilst ultimately fully reconciling in the Season 2 opener.
- In episode 5, Cheetor fails training exercises due to not heeding Primal's spiritual advice and he later incorrectly suspects Nightscream of working for Megatron despite Nightscream saving the Maximals from the Vehicons. However, Optimus Primal was incorrect to eat the fruit from Nightscream's tree as it only worked for Nightscream's purely organic body whilst de-evolving the Maximals techno-organic ones. After Cheetor is forced to destroy Nightscream's tree to save the Maximals and Primal sacrifices much of his strength to reformat Nightscream into a techno-organic body, Cheetor and Primal reconcile at the end of the episode and Primal appoints Cheetor as leader until he can recover his strength.
- In episode 7, Primal resumes command despite not fully recovering after having to resolve the tension between Rattrap and the other Maximals in episode 6 while Cheetor was in command. Unfortunately, he is unable to lead the Maximals in combat effectively, first trying to save Blackarachnia by himself and then freezing up after learning that Megatron stole the sparks of Cybertronians and turned them into Vehicons. This leads to Cheetor reluctantly removing him from combat leadership for the time being.
- In episode 8, Primal's role is now as spiritual leader and using the Oracle to figure out Megatron's plan. While he gets upset at the Maximals accidentally disrupting his vision due to mistaking him for being in legitimate pain, he's apologetic and in episode 9, he ultimately uses his connection with the Oracle to save Blackarachnia's spark and expose the truth about Rhinox. He also correctly deduces that nature/organic is needed to stop Megatron and save all of Cybertron, but accidentally misinterprets the Oracle's visions to mean that pure nature is the key to saving Cybertron instead of the techno-organic.
- In episode 10 and 11, despite Cheetor's skepticism of the Oracle's visions and usage of the organic, Optimus Primal figures out that Cybertron did once support organic life and Cybertron had an organic core. Meanwhile, after realizing Primal was correct about that and Tankor infects Nightscream and an orchard with pure technomatter, Cheetor suggests taking control of a drill drone to awaken more of Cybertron's organic core in contrast to Primal's idea of tracking Tankor. This ultimately proves to be the right idea despite Primal's hesistance though they clash throughout the whole mission over Primal still treating Cheetor like a kid and Cheetor being impulsive/rash. Ultimately Primal is able to use the drill to restore Nightscream, Blackarachnia, and the orchard, and officially resumes command over the Maximals to Cheetor's reluctance.
- In the penultimate episode of the season, Rattrap discovers a catalyst program that can enlargen organic vines. Primal believes the catalyst program should be cautiously tested small scale first for peaceful purposes whilst Cheetor suggests weaponizing it now against Megatron and the Vehicons. After Nightscream tells Primal that he did make a mistake in eating his fruit from episode 5, Primal reconsiders and decides to consult the Oracle before making a decision about the catalyst. Primal makes Cheetor in charge again whilst telling him not to go through with any plan for the catalyst. After Rattrap reveals that Blackarachnia had gone after Thrust again, Cheetor rejects get help from Primal and decides to use the catalyst to rescue Blackarachnia. Meanwhile Primal discovers he's now been locked out of the Oracle and suspects tampering. The large vines of the catalyst help make the rescue is successful, but they become infected by techno-matter, which threatens to spread down to Cybertron's organic core. Luckily Primal is able to sever the vines and save the organic core.
- In the season 1 finale, Cheetor is able to succesfully field test small grenades armed with the catalyst to disable Vehicons. Meanwhile Primal seemingly regains access to the Oracle and receives a vision that he must activate the Plasma Energy Chamber and reformat Cybertron into pure nature in order to save Cybertron from extinction (only for this to secretly be a counterfeit vision created by Tankor to manipulate Primal). Cheetor and the other Maximals suspect (correctly) that this will not save Cybertron, but instead lead to armageddon. While Primal points out the plasma energy is their last hope/resort from Megatron's plan, Cheetor points out that Primal's previous suspicion that the Oracle had been tampered with and emphasizes the potential danger of unintentionally becoming like Megatron. This convinces Primal to back down and ask Cheetor for an alternative plan and once Cheetor presents one, Primal agrees to it.
- Primal confronts Megatron and tries to reason with him, explaining that Cybertron has an organic core and that destroying it would destroy Cybertron, only for Megatron to describe all other life as infestations and show Primal all the other Maximals including Cheetor becoming infected with techno-matter. With Cheetor's plan failing, Primal first tries to reformat Megatron from techno-organic to organic (the reverse of what he did with Nightscream) so that Megatron will give up his plan out of pure self-preservation. Unfortunately, Rhinox/Tankor reveals himself to be alive, infecting Primal with techno-matter, and tries to destroy Megatron only for Megatron to reveal that he had tricked Tankor into thinking he had been playing both sides when Megatron had really been using him all along
- It is only then when all other options had been exhausted and Megatron was about to succeed in gleefully exterminating life on Cybertron that Primal decided to use the Plasma Energy Chamber as a last resort, hoping it would save all of Cybertron.
Season 2[]
- Upon realizing that permanent apocalyptic damage would soon occur because of the clash between the Plasma Energy Chamber he controlled and the Key to Vector Sigma Megatron wielded and that he was the only one who could stop it, he took control of both energies and plunged into himself, sacrificing himself to save Cybertron.
- He apologizes immensely for his misguided fanaticism and any transgressions in the first season and is content to remain in the Matrix to atone for his actions, attempting to permanently entrust leadership over to Cheetor. He only decides to return after the Maximals remind him of the hero he was, and he realizes his true mission is to bring techno-organic balance.
- He shows Noble compassion and vows to help him control his violent side.
- After Megatron infects the Maximals with the Hate Plague, he figures out a solution to cure them all.
- after Megatron's spark remove from Noble left nothing but alien lab experiment come back life, He explains to Nightscream about Noble not his spark, he join with Maximals when Noble ready
- He restores Botanica's mental functions, allowing her to explain her origins and join his team.
- Additionally, he respects her wishes to be a pacifist.
- He eulogizes Noble for his sacrifice that helped the Maximals stop Megatron's first attempt at devouring the sparks of all Cybertronians to become a god.
- He (albeit briefly) was able to redeem Strika and Obsidian.
- He saves Cybertron and all Transformers by sacrificing himself and Megatron to restore balance and reformat Cybertron into a techno organic planet.
- Although he kills Megatron, it was necessary to save all Transformers from Megatron’s genocide and to restore balance to Cybertron.
Transformers Universe[]
- He is revived to fight Unicron’s forces in the Universe War and later requests Rhinox and Depth Charge to be revived as well, even if the latter didn't appreciate it at first.
External Links[]
- Optimus Primal on the Heroes Wiki
- Optimus Primal on the TFWiki.net
- Optimus Primal on the Transformers Wiki