The famous Autobot leader will next be seen in ‘Transformers One’ later this year.
The Big Picture
- Transformers celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2024 with new Optimus Prime figures inspired by classic designs and video game appearances.
- The upcoming animated film,
Transformers One
, will explore the origin story and relationship between Optimus Prime and Megatron. - The franchise’s rich history includes popular video games like
War For Cybertron
, which deeply explored Autobot and Decepticon lore.
Transformers is one of the many 80s franchises celebrating their huge 40th anniversary in 2024. Over the last few months, fans have received exciting new reveals, including fan events and toys. Now, Hasbro has just unveiled their latest versions of Autobot leaderOptimus Prime.
The figures include War for Cybertron: Earthrise Leader WFC-E11 Optimus Prime, based on the hero’s classic design from the recent Netflix trilogy, and Transformers Studio Series Voyager 03 Gamer Edition Optimus Prime. The latter of which is based on the character’s redesign from the modern cult classic video games War for Cybertron and Fall of Cybertron. Each piece comes with a handful of accessories, including Prime’s iconic blaster, a battleaxe, and the Matrix of Leadership. Both figures also transform into their own distinct version of Prime’s truck vehicle form.
The War Between the Autobots and Decepticons Rages on
In the franchise’s four decades of history, the Transformers have appeared in many forms of media. What started out as a cartoon to sell toys, quickly morphed into one of pop culture’s longest lasting brands. These robots in disguise are nowadays most known for the multi-billion dollar live-action film franchise, but the Transformers have been well represented in the video games space as well. There are no finer examples of that than with 2010’s Transformers: War For Cybertron and its 2012 follow-up Fall of Cybertron. These went back to the prime years of the battle between the Autobots and Decepticons, which led to events of the fractured species coming to Earth. Separate from the Michael Bay directed franchise of its time, these two games were allowed to tell their own unique stories within Transformers’ rich lore. This led to further exploration of things like Bumblebee and Optimus Prime’s friendship and the latter’s divide with the Decepticon leader, Magatron. These were the first games in the franchise that really made you feel a part of the universe while playing some of our favorite characters. This also included seamless vehicle transformations that enhanced the gameplay and traversal of the world. Even though these games are now locked away on an older generation of consoles, their impact on the universe and its fanbase lives on. These new Optimus Prime figures are another great example of that.
These two Optimus Prime figures are up for pre-order now on Hasbro’s website for $54.99 and $34.99 respectively. The figures can be previewed above. A similar story to the Cybertron video games will also play out in the upcoming animated film Transformers One, which hits theaters this September. This will be the first animated theatrical release in the franchise since the original The Transformers: The Movie in 1986.
Transformers One
An origin story set on Cybertron, home of both the Autobots and the Decepticons. The film is said to focus on the relationship between Optimus Prime and Megatron
- Release Date
- September 13, 2024
- Director
- Josh Cooley
- Cast
- Scarlett Johansson , Jon Hamm , keegan-michael key , Chris Hemsworth , Laurence Fishburne , Brian Tyree Henry
- Main Genre
- Animation
- Writers
- Andrew Barrer , Steve Desmond , Gabriel Ferrari , Michael Sherman
This article was originally published on collider.com