If you follow any G1 continuity to its conclusion, Optimus Prime is alive.

After "rebirth", he rules a golden Cybertron. If you follow Japanese continuity, he is reborn as Star Convoy. If you follow the Marvel comics, he lives on at the end of G2 #12. Even DW and IDW comics do not see the death of OP.

But in Beast Wars, 300 years in the future of G1, Optimus Prime is dead, replaced instead by a Prime Council. And where did all of these other Primes come from in that 300 year span? They look like this:



Here is my theory:

Optimus Prime leads an Armada of ships against Decepticons near a wormhole. Optimus battles Galvatron aboard his ship. He and his ship are critically injured. Galvatron abandons the ship just before it is sucked into the wormhole, exploding in the process. Many believe that Galvatron killed Prime, but some are not convinced.

Perceptor theorizes that Optimus may be alive in another dimension. Similar to the Armada comic plot, he sends out a dimensional tracker to search for Optimus Prime and bring him home. The tracker never finds the original Optimus, but instead finds 8 other Primes from others dimensions torn asunder by Unicron. These Primes form the Prime council, and unite Cybertron. One of the Primes is even a Decepticon! They vow to protect this universe from the threat of Unicron at all costs.

-OR-

Here is another story:

The Constructicons invent a new weapon called a "spark splitter", which is capable of directly targeting a TFs spark. During a battle, the spark splitter is fired. Optimus Prime sacrifices himself for another Autobot and takes the blast head on. His spark is split into 8 pieces. The spark splitter is destroyed and the Constructicons captured. The Autobots manage to preserve the 8 pieces of Prime's spark. Although they cannot be merged, they can be used to give life to 8 new Primes, who all inherit a piece of Prime's personality.

What do you think?

 

out of the 2 i like the first one more.
i thought grand convoy was g1 convoy, do you know the names of all 8?
here is an odd theory that kinda goes with your first one...

you know the story of the 13? vector prime was one, the story says each of the 13 was designated a prime... so each of them could have went to a different universe, and the 8 in the council are the ones left out of the 13.
then i mix this into a 'universe' story, and say that the universes are the different cartoon series' and that there is only one unicron, but different cybertrons

 

I like your theory... i didnt know Prime ever die(besides the cartoon movie).

 

I favour the "I'm going out for a walk, I might be some time" approach.
Optimus leaves, muttering something about "returning in the time of darkest need" and leaves.

 

Ah, the King Arthur approach. That would make sense. I always figured he retired somewhere, or left exploring like Sunstreaker, Sideswipe and Trailbreaker. I suppose exploring would be the more logical explanation, since if he was retired when the Vehicons arrived you'd bet he rally the troops and show the Vehicons who's the legendary hero.

 

That was interesting indeed. I didn't know Prime died after that, despite the first movie.

 

I don't think in BW they ever said that Galvatron or Prime was killed. Also I believe in the concepts for Transtech that they had art for Megatron, Galvatron and Prime. So in that sense they may be still alive.

 

There was a very short comic from the UK convention Transforce set between G1 and Beast Wars which dealt with this issue, and was titled "The Last Days of Optimus Prime" (done by classic TF UK staff Simon Furman and Jeff Anderson). It is quite a beautiful story. Prime laments how out of place he is in the age of the Maximals and Predacons, and quietly slips away entering the Cybertronian equivelent of Valhalla, where he meets Megatron who warmly greets his former rival.

A flash version of it can be downloaded at the Transforce official site. Here

 

Prime council? Are those made up of dead Primes? Just how many Primes are there for Pete's sake? The cape looks good though.

 

If we add this to canon, then we add that Optimus Prime did not die in battle or go missing, but rather faded away into the matrix.

But that not withstanding, it still doesn't explain the Prime Council of look-alikes, which have no mention or existence until the Beast Wars era. Theory #1 could still have taken place, only this time Prime returns with the other, more experienced Primes from the other universes... some that did not sleep for 4 million years on Earth, that actually RULED Cybertron for millions of years after defeating the Decepticons. This is how I see "Great Convoy." And some that are just learning how to lead (Animated Optimus Prime).

Theory #2 could still happen as well, only with one of the sparks being attributed to a form that is truer to the original Optimus Prime.

The emergence of the other Primes could have added to the reason why, as depicted in this comic, Optimus Prime felt unneeded and redundant. Although the comic does not specify exactly when Optimus dies, I estimate that it was after Galvatron and Unicron had finally perished at the end of Beast Wars Neo (as Optimus meets Megatron in the afterlife).

 

These are the only ones that I know of:

Great Convoy (the apparent Supreme Commander of all Convoys, died in battle with Unicron)
Crow Convoy (formerly a great hero, now trapped in a hideous mish-mash of beast modes)

I'm not sure exactly how many there were. I'll e-mail Benson Yee and see if I can find out.

 

Prostrate cancer.

 

You seem to forget G2.

Prime becomes Laser Rod, Megatron is a tank and Galvatron is dead in both American and Japanese continuities (since there is little or no G2 fiction portraying this time frame, we can only assume), so you should count between that and BW.

So Prime commands the autobots as a Laser Rod and Megatron as a tank; no Galvy anywhere...

 

Dark Starscream ... in the Japanese continuation of G1 didn't Cybertron get destroyed? That's what I've heard asserted.

If so then Beast Wars (where Cybertron still exist) should probably only be thought of with respect to The Rebirth which ended with the Decepticons floating off and Galvatron vowing: "There's much to do. We will attack other planets, we will suck them dry, we will rebuild a planet a hundred times more powerful that Cybertron!"

(Actually Galvy almost seems sane in that last bit of footage.)

If so then G1 Prime could possibly be off somewhere still fighting Decepticons during the whole Beast Wars era. In that light the Maximal-Predacon alliance could be seen as the home guard and industrial capability to support the real war going on elsewhere. It could also be used as an excuse as to why they are much smaller. Like the cassettes, they would be far from helpless while being more economical in a support role.

What may be termed: "Good enough for what they do."

As for the Maximal's mission, a colony or exploration force also works as a listening post or scout unit too.

 

The rise of the Prime council could have been attributed as a solution to prevent a repeat of the whole "Rodimus Incident" in the selection of a singular new Prime.

Separation of powers and whatnot.

 

Yeah, but it's not like they couldn't rebuild it.

I mean, Mars was destroyed too, but in Masterforce/Victory there was a line about science team "returning from Mars". Kinda hard to go someplace that was destroyed, no? Not to mention, I can see an enormous mechanism like Cybertron being rebuilt, but an actual planet?

...

 

 

My own thoughts that I had for fanfiction are as follows:

The war is over. The Decepticons beaten. Megatron has fled into the depths of Cybertron. Peace has returned.

But Prime is uneasy - he feels something in the Matrix. And with the downgrading and such, he feels more and more out of place. So Prime, and Prime alone, goes searching for his foe in the depths of Cybertron - knowing somehow that he is still alive.

And he finds him - or rather, Megatron finds Prime.

And he is ready.

For long ago, when in stasis lock, Megatron felt his usurpation. His spark being snatched - grabbed by another who dared use his name in an attempt to boost his power. Though the other won, he foolishly thought that the resistance was over. But Megatrons do not simply yield - they conquer...

Their link was twofold - whereas the former drew on the power of the extra spark, the original bided his time - and picked the brain of his host. Learning of the Beast Wars, the Predacons, the Golden Disk, and most importantly, his defeat.

Upon reactivation in 1984, Megatron knew much - and yet little. His host knew not many of the specifics necessary to change the timeline thoroughly at this stage due to the records being classified. And he knew that he had to resolve the paradox - so he could gain this knowledge in the first place. And such it was that the Golden Disk was created - Megatron knowing confidently that it would eventually be found and used.

And so it was that, knowing of the ambiguity of the knowledge of his descendant, he eventually took the only oppurtunity possible - faking his death, and not dying. Letting Prime come to him. So he could destroy his enemy once and for all.

And so Prime and Megatron fought - only this time, there was no Hot Rod to intervene, no Deus Ex Machina to save the day. And Megatron emerged - victorious. But not unscarred - though he had slain his archenemy and ripped the Matrix from his chest, his wounds forced him into stasis lock before he could savor victory.

Hundreds of years later... Cybertron was reformatted. And the tyrant was born... anew.

 

I may be wrong, but even though Beast Wars II and Beast Wars Neo are continuations of the original BWs, they are not official canon for Hasbro. Therefore, if your a Hasbro BW/BM person then Prime could still be alive somewhere, but if your a Takara BW/BWII/BWNEO/BM then some other explanation is needed I guess.

 

Where in Beast Wars was it ever mentioned that Optimus Prime was dead?

 

@General Tekno: Pretty cool idea, but wasn't Megs left as Galvatron at the end of G1? I don't know cause I never watched the original series lol

@smkspy: Hurray for US show canon =)