![]() When Larry was told his younger brother was going to voice a truck, both Larry and Peter Cullen got a laugh out of it. Cullen was to audition for the part of Optimus Prime, he spoke to his older brother, Larry. ![]() Cullen says he based Optimus’ voice after the voice of his older brother, a veteran U.S. Peter Cullen, the voice actor for Optimus Prime in the original series as well as the new shows Transformers Prime, Transformers: Robots in Disguise, and Transformers: Rescue Bots likes to tell the story of how he became Optimus Prime. And not just Cybertronian life Optimus has always taken special interest in and care of the humans who interact with the Autobots and Decepticons in the franchise serials. He is a kind, compassionate leader who respects life. Just like Cap, Optimus values friends, freedom, and fidelity above all else. The only other character in a modern franchise that wears the same colors and is as popular is Captain America. His paint scheme is still red, white, and blue, after all. To some degree, the writers have left him that way. This tells me that Optimus was conceived as a ra-ra America kind of character. But his paint scheme has never shifted from his original red, white, and blue – even when the red dominates the other two colors. The truck model has varied – he was Freightliner in the original series, but over the years he has also transformed into firetrucks, Peterbuilts, and now a Western Star with six outrageous smoke stacks in Transformers: Age of Extinction. Since the 1984 series, Optimus Prime has transformed into a red, white, and blue truck. Once, he had no such trouble at all, but I will mention that in a bit. I do not know how others view Optimus Prime, but he seems to have the same sort of publicity problem these days that Cap does. That brings me to the point of this post. But my affection for Optimus was and is much deeper and warmer than it has been or ever will be for the Prof. I came to regard him rather like I regarded Professor X of the X-Men. Chalk’s performance as Optimus Prime, his calm, gentle, fatherly manner in Armada struck me deeply. The words blurred together and became meaningless as I simply sat and listened to the tone and resonance of their voices. I can remember, when I was five years old, listening to people on TV, on the radio, or in the room just because I liked the sound of their voices. Voices are something which has always enthralled me. Armada and Cybertron I watched from beginning to end.) (I lost interest in Energon after one episode, and so I stopped watching it. ![]() He voiced Optimus over three TV series that I watched almost regularly when they came out: Transformers: Armada, Transformers: Energon, and Transformers: Cybertron. Chalk because, as I said, he was the Optimus I knew and loved for – ooh, goodness, eight or so years. Since hearing Peter Cullen voice the character again, Mr. Chalk’s voice was the one that I thought fit Optimus best. The voice actor for Optimus Prime in the Armada series was Gary Chalk. The Japanese have created at least four TV series for the franchise (that I know of). Though Transformers is an American story idea, it is very popular in Japan as well. It came out around 2001, having been translated into English in Canada, much as the Zoids series were. I first got to know Optimus, really and truly, through the Japanese series Transformers: Armada. He was never my favorite Autobot, but I could not imagine any other leader for the Autobots than him. (This post is written about that character in part to please my friend.) I can relate to my friend’s love of the Autobot leader, in a small way. It makes the stories somewhat confusing.Īnyway, my friend’s favorite Transformer is the Autobot leader, Optimus Prime. The writers for Transformers, whether they are working on the TV shows or its other media, seem to be writing things higgledy-piggledy these days. I have not abandoned the franchise, though I must admit, I think my enthusiasm for it has cooled a fair bit. I would be remiss if I did not admit that part of this fascination is my fault I was – and remain – a fan of the Transformers mythos myself. A friend of mine is very into the Transformers franchise.
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