Who are you?

My name is Optimus Prime and I am the leader of the Autobots, part of a race of machines who were banished from our home planet Cybertron after we blew up big parts of it up during a long war with the evil Decepticons. Unlike the Decepticons, we believe in freedom from tyranny and like to enforce that freedom with the barrel of our guns. We get to do this  frequently when running shadow opps for the US military.

What do you do for fun?

In my spare time I like to “transform” into a Mac truck and cruise around America. When I’m taking a break from that, I usually will park on a grassy knoll because nothing’s better from an Autobot’s perspective than being a “robot in disguise”.

What is your favourite community? Why?

My favorite community is the the US special forces. Like them, I see myself as a small cog in a giant machine. Working with US commandos gives me an opportunity to fight tyranny – because my bosses in the Department of Defense frequently tell me that I’m fighting for freedom when I attack poorly defended outposts in the Middle East and I believe them.

What is your superpower?

I’m a freaking transformer. I change from robot into a mac truck in under 5 seconds. How much more “super-powerful” can you get?

How do you use it to build community?

Being a transformer allows me to sneak up on communities and people who my superiors dislike and destroy them. Once destroyed, new “good” communities may rise up. It’s sort of elementary logic, but that’s how I roll (pun intended). While some may question whether this black and white perspective has much of a place in the grey shaded world in which we all live, I don’t ask questions because that’s not how I’ve been designed.

My Three Favourite Things About Optimus Prime Are…

Singularity of vision. For Optimus its simple. Decpticons are bad. Humanity is good. It’s his job to protect humanity, whether or not it a) wants his help or b) appreciates it. This protection frequently requires him to slay countless of his own robot kind. Quite the commitment. While some robots (aka the Cylons in Battlestar Galactica) might question their human masters and their orders. Optimus doesn’t do that. He like to follow orders. To paraphrase Tennyson: “It is not for him to question why, it’s for him to do or die.”

He transforms into a Mac truck and can still take on Megatron. Megatron, the evil leader of the Decepticons can turn into a space jet (at least in the new movies; in the old shows he turned into a giant gun…) and can fly around and launch rockets. Skyscream, one of his minions can turn into a fighter jet. Blackout transforms into an Sikorsky MH-53 Pave Low. Optimus can transform into a Mac truck. It’s a Mac truck that pretty much maneuvers like you’d think a Mac truck would maneuver and it carries no armaments to defend itself when in disguise. Despite this huge handicap, Optimus still manages to defeat Megatron and his posse in multiple battles in multiple movies and TV shows. Impressive.

His sociopathic nature teaches us about ourselves. One of the most interesting things about Optimus Prime is how his ideals and singular vision transform him from good-natured protector in a murdering psychopath. As one blogger commented of the most recent Transformers movie – as Prime pays lip service to saving humanity, his actions gradually reveal and bloodthirsty and ruthless robot killer. By the end of the film, Optimus actually rips the spine and head off one enemy and kills his former teacher due to a difference of opinion. His fall from moral greatness of protector helps highlight our own perilous challenge of avoiding bloodshed in the name of  the “moral high ground”.