Name: Optimus Prime

Series: Generation One, Marvel Comics (US)

First Appearance: The Transformers #1, 08 May, 1984

Motto: Freedom is the right of all sentient beings

Bio: When Megatron started the Great War, only one Autobot could unite the scattered forces to oppose the Decepticon tyrant: Optimus Prime. Hailing from the city-state of Iacon, Optimus Prime is the wisest of the Autobots. When their rogue planet Cybertron became imperiled as it approached an asteroid belt, Optimus Prime volunteered to lead a group aboard The Ark to clear a path for their homeworld.

Once the task was completed and Cybertron’s path through the asteroid field was cleared, the Autobots prepared to return home. It was at that moment that the Decepticons, led by Megatron struck in a sneak attack. Weary and energy depleted, the Autobots were unable to repel the Decepticon boarding party. Optimus Prime made a fateful decision to crash the Ark, filled with his crew and his enemies, into a nearby world that they thought was uninhabited: Earth.

The Ark and its occupants lay dormant inside of a volcanic mountain (now known as Mt. St. Hilary) for four million years, until it erupted in 1984. The eruption reactivated the Ark’s computer and it set about repairing the damaged robots within its hull. Its memory circuits had been damaged in the crash and over the eons of dormancy, so it did not differentiate between its Autobot crew and the Decepticon invaders, repairing them each equally.