Many heroes gain their powers from a mystical or magical source.
Prince Adam's Power Sword can draw from the mystical powers within Castle Grayskull
"By the power of Grayskull!"
to transform him into the most powerful man in the universe, He-Man.
I have the power!
Billy Batson can be transformed into a Superman like Captain Marvel by shouting Shazam!
In the world of the Transformers, Hot Rod was upgraded by the
power of the Matrix into Rodimus Prime.
Till All Are One!
But without the Matrix,
Rodimus will revert back to his former self.
Alright Hot Rod is back! Let's party!
However many have wondered why his
predecessor Optimus Prime does not revert to his former self,
Orion Pax.
Alpha Trion that makes no sense!
As I have covered in previous videos, the Matrix of Leadership is, in most
continuities, a mystical talisman that contains the essence of Primus, the
Creator God of all Transformers,
and contains the collected wisdom of previous Primes.
Do not forget what you've learned of our past Rodimus.
From its lessons the future is forged!
As the Matrix has passed from one leader to the next the new
Autobot leaders body responds by creating a space to carry the artifact
in their chest.
It's mystical power transformed Hot Rod into Rodimus Prime
in Transformers The Movie. From there his increase in strength allowed him to
toss Galvatron across the galaxy.
But the Matrix didn't start this way.
In the G1 Marvel Comics, as penned by writer Bob Budiansky,
Optimus Prime was encoded with the Creation Matrix,
as new leaders were every 10,000 millenia.
Harnessing its power from Optimus,
Shockwave was able to give life to the Constructicons.
But when Simon Furman took over the comic,
he changed the Creation Matrix to be a
physical talisman much like its cartoon counterpart.
But in the G1 cartoon,
Rodimus Prime had, more than once, lost the power of the Matrix.
This would revert him back to his younger and more carefree self, Hot Rod.
What are you all staring at? You look like you've seen a ghost.
We have. Hot Rod!
In the episode, Dark Awakening, Rodimus gave the Matrix back to a
Quintesson controlled zombie Optimus Prime.
Forgive me!
What have I done?
Once learning that his predecessor was leading the Autobots into a trap,
If you lose, Autobots all destroyed!
Thanks for the tip.
he battled his former leader until Optimus regained his sanity.
Until...All....Are....One!
Rodimus Prime would lose the Matrix again in the Burden Hardest to Bear.
The Decepticon, Scourge would end up using its power to overthrow Galvatron
Bow down to Scourge, annihilator of Autobots, and leader of the Decepticons!
And lead the Decepticons to assault Japan.
Seeing how the Matrix warped the Unicron-altered Decepticon's body,
The Matrix did this to you? Then I have to take it back.
Hot Rod battled Scourge to reclaim the Matrix
and become Rodimus Prime once again.
Scourge's body would then be restored,
at least until Galvatron came to put his minion back in place.
The Matrix.
And this too is the fault of the Matrix!
It was not only in the G1 cartoon but
Rodimus Prime would also lose the Matrix.
In the Marvel UK comics, a Quintesson
troop took over Autobot City on Earth.
Rodimus Prime attempted to use the power
of the Matrix to heal Arcee, when the Quintesson general Ghyrik, had a few of
his troops steal the Matrix from Rodimus Prime, changing him back into Hot Rod.
Arcee and Hot Rod would manage to escape the Quintesson trap,
and eventually, Hot Rod would face off against Ghyrik. Hot Rod was able to
activate Metroplex, who quickly made short work of the Quintesson troops.
However Ghyrik was able to harness the power of the Matrix,
but Hot Rod refused to give up.
Using ventriloquism, Hot Rod tricked Ghyrik to looking away,
allowed Hot Rod to reclaim the Matrix.
Once again becoming Rodimus Prime, the
Autobot leader defeated the evil Quintesson general.
This led to a lot of fan speculation as to why Optimus Prime
does not revert back to his former self when he no longer possesses the Matrix.
Especially considering that,
without the Matrix, Rodimus Prime is just Hot Rod.
But it did not alter Ultra Magnus in Transformers the Movie
even though he carried it in his chest.
Prime, you said the Matrix would light our darkest hour!
Nor did it alter Galvatron when he carried it on the chain in the Movie,
or when he inserted it into his arm cannon in the Burden Hardest to Bear.
You dropped it didn't you?!
You broke the Matrix, didn't you?!!
However, it did cause the ancient Autobot leaders to appear to the Decepticons
ordering them to return the Matrix.
But Optimus Prime was once known by a different name,
Orion Pax,
as seen in the episode, War Dawn.
Well, it all began about 9 million years ago.
Oh, great. It's gonna be one of those long stories...
This young Autobot was oblivious to the current events during the Golden Age of
Cybertron as he lived his life working at a warehouse along with his best
friend Dion and his girlfriend Ariel.
And this is Ariel. Keep away from her. She's my girlfriend.
Don't listen to him. He's just the jealous type.
This would come to an end the day he met Megatron.
Uh, Orion. Orion Pax.
After learning that the warehouse stored energy
the leader of the Decepticons blasted Ariel and Orion Pax.
He then ordered his Decepticons to attack everyone else. thanks to the
Thanks to the Aerialbots,
who had been sent back through time earlier in the episode,
Orion Pax was brought to a much younger Alpha Trion.
Years earlier, Megatron had killed the current Autobot commander, Sentinel Prime,
who passed the Matrix to Alpha Trion
as seen in the episode, Five Faces of Darkness part 4.
Alpha Trion kept the Matrix hidden until the Aerialbots brought Orion Pax to him.
He then rebuilt the young warehouse worker into Optimus Prime
and passed the Matrix of Leadership to him.
Until the next Autobot leader appeared.
A gentle robot known as Orion Pax
Who was fated to become...
Optimus Prime!
From here, Optimus Prime began to fight against the Decepticons as the new
commander of the Autobots. Since he was rebuilt into a new and more powerful
form, Orion Pax was permanently upgraded into Optimus Prime.
You! Who are you?!
You're worst nightmare!
However, it was the power of the Matrix that granted him extra strength
and access to the wisdom that it stored.
When he was revived in The Return of Optimus Prime Part 2,
he knew that not having the Matrix would make the quest to stop the
Hate Plague impossible.
Without the Matrix of Leadership
I no longer possess the accumulated wisdom of our ancient leaders.
But fans became a lot more curious and a bit confused
about this thanks to continuities outside of G1.
In the live-action films,
Optimus Prime doesn't even have the Matrix of Leadership until he was
revived by it in Revenge of the Fallen.
Boy, you returned for me.
He uses it to restore his previous commander,
Sentinel Prime, in Dark of the Moon.
I am no longer your teacher, Optimus.
You are mine.
In the IDW comics,
Orion Pax was part of Zeta Prime's counterinsurgency unit.
Once he learned that Zeta was corrupt,
Orion teamed up with Megatron to confront him.
However after killing Zeta Prime,
Megatron turned on Orion Pax and blasted him in the back.
Left for dead deep beneath Iacon,
Orion discovered the Matrix of Leadership
which repaired him and infused him with power.
Dubbing himself Optimus Prime,
he would then begin to lead the Autobots in the fight against the
Decepticons for many years until Optimus Prime used the Matrix to purify
Cybertron within the core of Vector Sigma.
This act reformatted the planet along with all Cybertronians
and the Matrix crystal itself was split in two.
Optimus Prime gave the two halves to Bumblebee and Rodimus respectively.
Dropping his name of Optimus Prime, the former leader began calling himself
Orion Pax once again as he left Cybertron to begin adventures of his own.
But this only lasted for so long.
During the events of Dark Cybertron,
Rodimus gives Orion Pax a Prime pep-talk to encourage his former leader.
Orion Pax would then faced off against Nova Prime,
who uses the power of the Dead Universe
to reformat his body into that of Optimus Prime.
But at the end of the battle
Orion Pax defeats the dark Prime and
takes on the name of Optimus Prime once again.
In the Aligned Continuity, Optimus is one of the original 13 Primes.
After the defeat of Unicron, Optimus chose to enter the Well of All Sparks
in order to get to know the needs of the Cybertronians better.
Reborn as a Orion Pax,
he had Alpha Trion erase all memory of the 13th Prime,
as Orion lived as a data analyst in the Cybertronian Hall of Records.
He became friends with Megatron, and arrange a meeting with
the Decepticon leader and the Autobot High Council.
However the Council dubbed Orion Pax as the new Prime, Optimus.
This angered Megatron, who proceeded to murder the council and start the war between
the Autobots and Decepticons. After Sentinel Zeta Prime's death,
Optimus would eventually reach the core of Cybertron
and receive the Matrix of Leadership,
officially gaining the power of the Primes.
The war would eventually spill onto Earth
which was discovered to be Unicron himself.
Unicron, The Chaos Bringer.
GOOD!!
As Unicron began to awaken,
he created formations of rocks to attack both Autobot and Decepticon.
Optimus and Megatron were forced to team up
and they used a Ground Bridge to enter Unicron's core.
Using the power of the Matrix, Optimus Prime extinguished Unicron's spark.
However, the use of its power wiped Optimus Prime's memory.
Where are we, Megatronus?
Thinking he was still Orion Pax before the war,
he followed Megatron back to the Decepticon base
and was put to work helping the Decepticons decode information that was
stolen from the Autobot Hall of Records.
Eventually his memory was restored thanks to the key to Vector Sigma
Are you certain I am worthy?
You have no idea!
which Optimus bestowed upon Jack before they went into Unicron's core.
Megatron
Begone!
It was these examples that made people believe that the G1 cartoon Optimus Prime
could revert back to his former self as Orion Pax.
In fact, the Power of the Primes Optimus Prime toy showcases the
truck cab transforming into a cartoon accurate Orion Pax himself.
Merging with his trailer, Orion Pax can evolve into a leader scaled Optimus Prime.
But this toy was just meant to show the evolution of the character.
It was not meant to say that Optimus Prime could go back to being Orion Pax.
But many fans have questioned why this is the case
with Hot Rod and his evolution into Rodimus Prime.
The answer is simple. Hot Rod was transformed by the power of the Matrix
into Rodimus Prime.
But Alpha Trion completely rebuilt Orion into Optimus Prime.
I tell you what. I am going to attempt to rebuild him entirely.
Even without the Matrix, Optimus Prime can no longer go back to his
previous self. However, he can receive numerous upgrades because, after all,
Optimus Prime dies a lot.
So long, Prime!
But what do you think? How do you view the power of the Matrix
and whether or not Optimus Prime can be reverted back into Orion Pax?
Leave your thoughts in the comment section below.
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I'd like to thank my patrons for your support.
I have many more Transformers discussion videos like this coming soon.
so stay tuned! And as always, until next time! Till all are one!
But Mighty Galvatron, you agreed to return it!
I LIED!
If we can't have it, then no one shall!