Some things I've noticed about G1 Optimus Prime that might be more subtle since I've already done one on Megatron and Starscream.
Optimus is the Prime, and he knows it. As much as I love him giving into what his troops wants, in the show he is very firm (and stubborn) on his decisions. The troops have to do what he says. Except for Ironhide and Ratchet, who will complain to his face about it like his very unhappy wives. (And get away with it!)
He's is also very lawful to a fault. He doesn't question the laws set in place until it's too late. The times that Megatron has gotten the closest to defeating Optimus (pre movie) were the times when he took advantage of this.
Optimus Prime is stronger than Megatron.
This does fluctuate because well, it's the cartoons. But generally, Optimus will overpower him. I actually really like that he is here. The Autobots are generally weaker than the Decepticons, so having their leader be stronger than the Decepticon leader is a very good layup to them over relying on Optimus Prime. The Decepticons theme of backstabbing each other to get to the top is all the more feasible like this too.
Another reason why Hasboro making Megatron so much bigger and stronger sucks imo
Something he likes to do, which I think is great, is refer to Megatron and Starscream as one entity. They're both brats to him and he ragebaits the two like the way you call a toddler a baby. He seems to not even respect Megatron much, a trait that he and Starscream share, and so the two aren't scared of Megatron the way most mechs are.
Optimus has some sass too! This is mostly used on Megatron when Optimus isn't threatening him or on his Autobots when they're being unruly. Sometimes when reading the scripts there will be lines of his that will say "smirks if possible" (OK this one was the only one I can find and this line was cut but there was for one of them!)
There was this one scene where they come across a locked door, Optimus says "fortunately, I have a delicate lock picking technique" before BLASTING THE DOOR. Another time Ratchet was actually using a delicate lock picking technique for 2 seconds before Optimus got tired of waiting, grabbed him by the waist to move him aside, and ripped the steel panel off.
He doesn't mind beating his foes around a little bit. A notable example is how PISSED he got at Lord Chumly. He was making tons of threats throughout the entire episode until he got his hands on him. One of those threats he made his voice super deep, like whoa- He really does not play about his Autobots getting captured!
Optimus is really good at recognizing Decepticon shenanigans. Sometimes it will be the most mundane thing that's off and immediately he will jump to the Decepticons. But also knows when something is off with them or just in general. Like when saw through Chumlys booby trap. He has 10 points in intelligence for a reason!
The thing that makes this Optimus really special is that he's just having a good time. :) He seems to enjoy leading his Autobots here. As opposed to his Marvel version, which started off his suffering as the leader characterization, although I don't really have a problem with that either. Optimus does have fun infamously with basketball, and at the end of an episode where the group got into some trouble m because of, he's offered a bit more fun with that casino and this is probably one of my favorite lines from him.
(I wanted to include a clip of that here, but there was just so many voiceless I wanted to include, I decided to put it in a compilation at the end)
I love his goofiness so much. When Spike was explaining to Optimus that there were two Optimus Primes now, Optimus (who was the real Optimus) said, "So that means that I'm the imposter!"
Why did he say that 😭 even at the end Optimus says, "Don't worry this is definitely me. Or I." In the most suspicious way. I know he's technically 3 parts but he would so lose at among us.
You can really tell that Optimus genuinely loves his Autobots, even with Blaster, they always have a laugh together afterward. Unless he's alone out there in danger so his Autobots aren't, you always see him surrounded by Autobots. He does fun stuff with them, he works alongside them, and the thing he really gets with them about is if they're fighting with each other. Unless you're Blaster.
I'm gonna gush about his character design for a bit. Wow, is it good. I remember a video of someone having an Optimus Prime skin on roblox and they can use the skin itself to transform into truck mode. Peak. I love him being built like a brick sm. If he was shielding me I would be the safest guy in the world. I would not trust an Ozempic Prime to shield me. The missiles would just go around his itty bitty waist and I would get decimated.
But yeah, G1 Optimus is great. He really does have such a good father feel to him. I often think of Transformers as being gender neutral but wow. Whatta man. He's so gentle and patient with his Autobots even when they mess up, he just sighs and has to help clean it up, which is probably an important thing to see for young boys in the 80s. He makes his mistakes here and there. However, he always keeps things fairly under control, and you trust him. If I were in Optimus Primes' arms for 10 minutes, I think all of my mental problems would be solved.
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