Transformers Debuts A New Prime As Optimus No Longer Leads The Autobots
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Skybound's best-selling "Transformers" comic has taken big swings with Autobot leader Optimus Prime while staying true to the character. In the second issue of the series (by Daniel Warren Johnson), Optimus took in the beauty of Earth ... and then accidentally stepped on and crushed a deer underfoot, showing how he values all life and teaching him Earth life is fragile. For most of Johnson's run, Optimus replaced his damaged right arm with the stolen fusion cannon of Decepticon leader Megatron, reflecting how he must resist war corrupting his kind spirit.
The latest issue, "Transformers" #30 (written by Robert Kirkman, drawn by Dan Mora), takes another big swing with Optimus Prime ... because he's no longer Optimus Prime. The Matrix of Leadership has chosen a new carrier, Elita One, who now rises as the winged Elita Prime.
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As for Optimus? He's just plain Optimus now.
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Elita One debuted in the comic's second arc, "Transport to Oblivion," where the Decepticons brought Cybertron into Earth's orbit via Space Bridge. Elita briefly journeyed to Earth, trying to convince Optimus to return to Cybertron and help the desperate Autobots there. She failed, and since then, the comic has cut back and forth between Optimus' Autobots on Earth and Elita's on Cybertron.
In #30, Elita returns to again make that request. "Through our actions, we have brought about a means of utter destruction to this world," Optimus says, so the Autobots must defend Earth from the Decepticons. This time, Elita strikes Optimus (who won't hit back) and tries to rip the Matrix from his chest.
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Optimus, saying Autobot leadership can't be taken, releases the Matrix so it might make its choice — and it picks Elita.
The Transformers history of Elita One and the Matrix of Leadership
Unlike most "Transformers" characters, Elita One did not originate as a toy; she's an original cartoon character. In "The Transformers" season 2 "The Search for Alpha Trion," she was depicted as Optimus Prime's beloved, who stayed behind on Cybertron to lead Autobot rebels. She's since become a recurring "Transformers" character and was played by Scarlett Johansson in the animated prequel film "Transformers One." The comic has run with Elita leading the Autobots on Cybertron while Optimus fights on Earth, but made her relationship with Optimus more tense.
This isn't the first time Optimus has been replaced as Prime, though. The original Optimus Prime famously died (and traumatized kids) in 1986's "The Transformers: The Movie," which introduced The Matrix of Leadership as a way for young Autobot Hot Rod (Judd Nelson) to ascend as Rodimus Prime. (The Matrix is a nebulous MacGuffin in that movie, but later stories suggest it carries the essence of the Transformers' godly creator, Primus; each Prime is essentially chosen by God to lead.)
Optimus and Elita's leadership conflict also helps mirror the Autobots and Decepticons. In Daniel Warren Johnson's preceding run, Megatron was MIA. Starscream led the Decepticons in the first arc, then Soundwave usurped him in the second. The third arc, "Combiner Chaos," was a full-on Decepticon civil war that saw Seattle laid to ruin by the mechanical titans. That is, until Megatron finally returned.
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Unlike the Decepticons, the Autobots resolve the dispute peacefully and part as friends. About half the Autobots choose to return with Elita to Cybertron and about half stay with Optimus on Earth (including Thundercracker, who recently defected from the Decepticons).
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Where does Skybound's Transformers comic go after Elita Prime?
Since Elita Prime is the official, Matrix-chosen Autobot leader, Optimus' team strikes out their Autobot insignias to show they technically aren't part of that faction anymore. Robert Kirkman's first arc of "Transformers" brought in several new Autobots such as Bulkhead, Mirage, Sideswipe, etc. This risked making the cast too big, so dividing the team now is a good way to keep it manageable.
Moreover, this restores Optimus' Autobots as the underdogs against the Decepticons. Back in issues #28-29, the Cons rescued three of their offline comrades (Dirge, Slipstream, and Blitzwing) from the Autobots' base, the Ark. Megatron also mercilessly killed the Autobot Trailbreaker by devouring his spark (read: soul), claiming he would bestow "permanent death" upon the Autobots. (Since the Transformers are robots, dead ones can sometimes be revived with the right tune-up, but not if their spark is extinguished.) If Optimus doesn't have the power or wisdom of the Matrix anymore, how can he hope to stand against Megatron?
The Autobots might need some muscle. Notably, one of the Autobots who stayed behind with Optimus is Wheeljack, the Autobots' inventor. Back in issue #25, he explored the cave system underneath the mountain that the Ark is buried in and came across a fossilized T. Rex skeleton. That seems like some pretty clear foreshadowing for Wheeljack creating the Dinobots, as he did in the original "Transformers" cartoons.
As for Elita's team, they'll face a familiar foe on Cybertron: Shockwave, the Decepticons' twisted scientist and guardian of Cybertron. Shockwave was seemingly killed by Optimus crushing his head back in issue #12, but issue #27 revealed he still lives. Against Shockwave, will Elita Prime prove to be the leader the Autobots need?