The Emperor of Destruction knows who he is...and everyone else had better know it, too! As for Rodmius... Latin Word Lookup Nope. Latin Word Lookup "Rod" has the same root as the modern word, "corrode". So "Rodimus Prime" can be read as "Corruptor of the Best". Works me me. - Coeloptera
We haven't touched on the movie continuity's use of the Prime title. Spoiler There is the Dynasty of Primes, but none of them individually possess the Matrix. It's seems to be jointly held by all of them. Aren't the first thirteen TFs, according to The Ultimate Guide anyway, all Primes? With that being the case, the Matrix can't have anything to do with their Prime-dom as they are all simultaneously Prime and couldn't all be Matrix Bearers.
The prime is only given because a prime is like a " super soldier" sorta, like the power of a prime, megatron wants the power of a prime.
From Koi Lungfish's site (emphasis mine): RODIMUS PRIME: Name of an individual, of complex origins. ROD + OPTIMUS + PRIME ROD in this instance is derived from HOT ROD, a term meaning a motor vehicle modified for extra power and speed. The particle ROD derives from the Old Norse rudda 'club.' OPTIMUS + PRIME - see OPTIMUS PRIME. Thus RODIMUS PRIME has a double meaning. Firstly, as a fusion of HOT ROD with OPTIMUS PRIME, it roughly means "Hot Rod, supreme and indivisible leader." Secondly, as a more literal interpretation, it roughly means "club-bearing supreme leader." RODIMUS + PRIME RODIMUS is Latin, roughly meaning "we corrode" or "we slander." PRIME - see OPTIMUS PRIME. Thus RODIMUS PRIME translates literally as "corruptor of the best." I prefer "supreme and indivisible leader" myself. As for the Japanese series, I haven't seen much past Headmasters so I can't say for sure, but I always assumed anyone like Fortress or Star Saber was just a temporary leader, while the Rodimus Prime who still had the Matrix was still off trying to find a new home after Cybertron blow up, until Op was revived (yet again) and became Prime again.
i was watchin tv land and after 11 pm it goes to TV land PRIME. so i guess that means that tv land is the nightshift leader of the autobots.
For G1 I always believed that the leaders received their names from a "reformatted" version of their name. So for example Optimus Prime cam from Orion Paxs..O.P. Same for Rodimus Prime from Hot ROD.
Of course, (outside of Animated) it's really just one of those things that wasn't preplanned and so results in inconsistency. Optimus Prime was not physically changed by the Matrix, but Hot Rod/Rodimus was, and in the G1 Cartoon so was Cyclonus. Other Matrix bearers seemed unaffected... Sometimes stuff's just done for dramatic impact and the deeper implications left to be dealt with when the time comes.
