I Am Optimus Prime (Robot Heroes)

The Transformers: Robot Heroes
I'm Japanese.
"I Am Optimus Prime"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	June 10, 2009
Written by	Chris Ryall
Illustrated by	Joe & Rob Sharp
Continuity	Robot Heroes
ISBN	ISBN 1600104401 ISBN 978-1600104404
Page count	32pp

The cute heroic Autobots fight against the cute evil Decepticons!

Synopsis

Optimus Prime narrates his story: In deep space, there is a planet called Cybertron, where he was created. He leads the Autobots and holds the Matrix of Leadership, which was created and given by Primus. Optimus and his friends go search for Energon, traveling to the planet Earth. They land on Earth, hide their ship underwater and take on disguises.

The Autobot family photo album left much to be desired.

The evil Decepticons also want the Energon for themselves. Optimus Prime and Megatron, the Decepticon leader, were once friends, but now Megatron wants to rule the Galaxy. The Decepticons follow the Autobots on their warship, the Nemesis. He brings along his own army and battles the Autobots. The Autobots are victorious with the help of their new human allies. They know their enemies will return, but they'll be waiting to defend the Earth from the evil Decepticons. Optimus then concludes that they are proud to be Autobots, to be Transformers.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Notes

• According to Marcelo Matere, who did a page test for the book but wasn't ultimately chosen to illustrate the book, the Robot Heroes branding was applied to the book later into its production.^[1] That would explain why Drift and Ratchet are present even though they didn't get Robot Heroes toys.
• Primus is stated to be the first Transformer who gave the Matrix of Leadership to Optimus Prime, rather than it being handed down through the Prime lineage. Such an idea would be somewhat revisited in the Aligned continuity family, where Optimus/Orion Pax got the Matrix straight from the Core of Cybertron, with previous Primes being "imposters".
  • The idea of Primus simply being "the first Transformer" rather than being the creator god of Transformers would be coincidentally used later on for his IDW incarnation.
• Bumblebee's robot form is based on his Generation 1 form, except he transforms into a vehicle mode quite similar to movie Bumblebee's, complete with racing stripes.
• Optimus Prime's vehicle mode is his original form, only now with a long nose.
• Soundwave is described as transforming into a boom-box, yet his alternate mode is still his original micro-cassette recorder form.
• The Autobots' three human allies are based on Verity Carlo, Hunter O'Nion, and Jimmy Pink, though Chris Ryall's "art direction" did not extend to saying which human male was supposed to be which.^[2] Maybe Jimmy Pink is the one in the pink shirt...?
• Drift's colors change abruptly from a blue base with yellow highlights to a gray base with red highlights.
• Drift defeats Starscream by shoving him over a tripwire held by the humans, sending him falling comically into a lake. This is adorably awesome.

Errors

• The Autobots' ship is said to be deep underwater—except that it's clearly shown in the side of a mountain on the next page.

References