I pose this question for everyone: In how many continuities are Optimus and Magnus brothers (including comics)? I think the only one that has been comfirmed is RID. Help me out with this one.
I would argue that only in RiD were Prime and Magnus brothers. In Dreamwave's G1 continuity, I always interpreted it as they were "bother's in arms," not actual bothers. Same with Prime's comment to Megatron at the end of the '07 movie.
Just RiD and Dreamwve's comics. And I think I might err towards agreeing with Crazy Collector - it is an implied relationship and never explicitly stated, even in the Profile books. However, the physical resemblance does make you wonder...
Actually, the way it was presented in Dreamwave's canon, it's rather obvious that they intended to portray Optimus and Magnus as brothers... especially with the way that coincides with Magnus' dramatic revelation of his core robot form... something that was really not done in the canon before that. One of the only twists from Dreamwave I thought was cool. Personally, I sort of like the idea. Not sure why. Though as to their being actual "brothers" like Sideswipe/Sunstreaker or Rumble/Frenzy, I'm not sure... maybe Magnus is some kind of clone? Perhaps that's why he has such an inferiority complex... he feels like just a "copy" of the real thing? Until some writer actually picks up the idea and fleshes it out some more in the official canon, it's just a vague speculation at this point, bait for these kinds of discussions and MOSAIC fanfics. zmog
Er... no, of course not. Facetious much? Shared molds have never made figures brothers by default. Sideswipe/Sunstreaker (who of course did not share molds) and Rumble/Frenzy are simply characters whose original profiles explicitly specify that they have a fraternal bond (whatever that means in Cybertronian terms). In the case of Magnus/Optimus, naturally there was never any mention of their being brothers in the original media, and we know that Magnus has an incorporated white Prime because of his originally being a Powered Convoy toy in Japan. However, Prime being such a pivotal, unique character, it's rather difficult to freely repaint that mold without creating issues. What Dreamwave did was cool... they took some detail from the toys that always left a jagged question mark in our minds as kids (so why is this White Optimus here anyway?), and integrated it into the canon. It's kind of a neat idea, and that's one of the reasons why the Prime/Magnus brother connection has become largely accepted by Hasbro and the fandom at large. I mean, obviously the REAL reason we have Scourge/Nemesis Prime and White Magnus is simply because Prime molds are often some of the most impressive/expensive in any line, and Has/Tak likes to have an excuse to consistently offer repaints of these figures. zmog
The nifty thing is, the first time Prime and Megatron were ever referred to as brothers was actually in the "Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers" manga, waaaay back in '86, when Tracks told the Spike-proxy that Prime thought of Magnus as his "kid brother".
