Is Transformers Leading Optimus Prime Down a Dark Path With Its New Continuity? We Think So.

WARNING! Spoilers for Transformers #15Optimus Prime may be headed down a dark path in the Energon Universe, as Transformers' new continuity keeps hinting that something is going on with the Autobot leader. The latest issue of Skybound’s reboot shows Prime going on a violent rampage, before stopping himself before he goes too far.

Coming from the creative team of Daniel Warren Johnson, Jorge Corona, Sarah Stern and Rus Wooton, Transformers #15 sees the Decepticons attacking the city of Tacoma to draw the Autobots out of hiding and into an attack.

The Decepticons’ gamble works, as Optimus Prime, Wheeljack, and Jazz arrive in the city to help out, but find themselves under attack by the scared humans who can’t tell the difference between Autobot and Decepticon. Prime’s eyes briefly turn purple, and the Autobot leader attacks a nearby tank with a rage that is completely out of character.

What Is Going On with Optimus Prime in the Energon Universe?

The Autobot Leader Has Gotten Darker

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Jazz is able to stop Optimus before he goes too far and completely demolishes the tank, but the Autobot leader is still shaken by his own outburst. Interestingly, Optimus’ violent act occurs after he receives another strange vision, this one showing what appears to be Spike Witwicky engulfed in a strange mass of horrifying technology. Optimus confides to Wheeljack that he’s been experiencing these strange visions after Sparkplug Witwicky sacrificed his life-force to the Matrix of Leadership, reviving a battered and beaten Optimus Prime in the first arc of Transformers.

Don't forget to check out the other essential books in the Energon Universe, like G.I. Joe and Void Rivals, all available now from Skybound Entertainment.

Ever since Sparky’s sacrifice, Optimus has been receiving strange visions that seem to be merging his own memories with those of the human Witwicky. Wheeljack suspects that the combination of organic and technological materials within the Matrix could be contributing to some kind of breakdown in Prime’s neural net. Fellow Energon Universe title Void Rivals has been making connections between organic life and the technological life-forms of Cybertron, as the Agorrians and the Zertonians were recently revealed to be derived from Transformers’ biology.

However the organic/technological connections play out in the Energon Universe, whatever is going on with Optimus Prime is having a direct effect on current events. Optimus previously let his anger get carried away in the second arc of Transformers, which eventually culminated in the Autobot leader killing Shockwave by crushing his head in. Following his attack on the human tank, Optimus again confides in Wheeljack that he feels like the older version of himself, when he was “full of anger and blind with vengeance.” Wheeljack promises to do more scans on Optimus to uncover what is causing these uncontrollable fits of rage.

Optimus Prime Keeps Having Disturbing Visions in Transformers

Sparkplug Witwicky’s Sacrifice Could Have Adverse Effects

Optimus’ comments about his dark past reflect the PTSD that Sparkplug Witwicky was shown to exhibit in the first arc of Transformers. When readers first encounter him, Sparky is barely holding it together, dealing with the trauma of his time embroiled in warfare in addition to the loss of his oldest son. Although the elder Witwicky was slow to trust these new transforming alien robots, Optimus and Sparky wind up bonding over their status as war veterans. Optimus reflects on his own version of PTSD left over from his early days in the Autobot / Decepticon war, again hinting that the Autobot leader has a dark past that he isn’t proud of.

By stepping into the Matrix of Leadership to give Optimus Prime a super-charge of power, Sparky has apparently merged a part of his human soul to Prime’s spark. This merge would explain the visions Optimus has been experiencing since Sparky’s death, which seemingly blend the elder Witwicky’s memories of watching his son Spike grow up with Optimus’ own memories. Given that each of Optimus’ violent outbursts were accompanied by these visions, it’s clear that this is somehow related to whatever is contributing to the Autobot leader’s current condition.

Whatever is going on with Optimus Prime, it’s clear the story isn’t over yet.

There is also the possibility that taking Megatron’s arm could be having adverse effects on the Autobot leader. Transformers recently revealed that Megatron had the ability to control those who held his alt-mode as a pistol, as the Decepticon leader forced Starscream to make his first kill while holding Megatron’s gun mode in his hands. Knowing this, it would be easy to see how Megatron might be exhibiting some kind of control over Prime, even though the Decepticon leader has been laying low ever since breaking free from his imprisonment in the hidden society of Cobra-La.

Is Megatron’s Arm Infecting Optimus Prime in the Energon Universe?

The Decepticon Leader Could Be Behind Prime’s Dark Turn

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Whatever is going on with Optimus Prime, it’s clear that the story isn’t over yet. It’s one more enticing subplot playing itself out in the larger story of the Energon Universe, and Prime’s dark turn could set up even more consequential storylines to come. Codename: G.I. Joe has recently formed with the express purpose of dealing with dangerous, emergent technologies, with the arrival of the Transformers being the entire reason the elite strike team was formed. It’s easy to see how Optimus attacking the human tank could bring the G.I. Joe team into play, as they don’t know that the Autobots are on their side.

Optimus Prime has a lot to work through in the coming months, but with a new faction of bots led by Starscream entering the fray, the Autobot leader is going to have his hands full. And now that Arcee and Beachcomber have left to find the missing Ultra Magnus, the Autobots are even further outnumbered and behind the gun of the Decepticons. There’s also several other looming threats waiting in the wings: Cobra-La has officially declared war on the Cybertronians, which will likely factor into upcoming storylines not just in Transfomers, but across the entire Energon Universe.

Related At Last, Transformers Brings a Movie Icon Into Continuity With a Clever Cameo An iconic character from 1986's Transformers: The Movie shows up in the latest issue of Void Rivals, and they should be a major character.

There is also the looming threat of Megatron, who will be looking for a rematch following his confrontation with Optimus Prime millennia ago when the Ark crashed on Earth. Readers learned in the Energon Universe Special #1 that Prime was the one responsible for slicing off Megatron’s arm with his Energon Ax, so the Decepticon leader coming after Prime to retrieve his cannon arm feels like an epic storyline in the making. However Optimus Prime’s dark turn plays out, Energon Universe fans will have to keep reading Transformers to find out.

Transformers #15 is available now from Skybound Entertainment.