Just finished reading Regenerations #98, and it got me thinking. Why is Rodimus Prime always portrayed as an ineffective leader? Is it because he got the unfortunate luck of being the Prime that followed after Optimus Prime, generally regarded as the greatest of all time? His Doubts as a leader that always seem to be part of his character? Or maybe, is it because he never was suppose to be the leader? I think that his role in life is to be THE ONE that takes down Unicron once and for all. Not to be a great leader, but the one to slay Unicron. Lets look at the cartoon and movie. Hot Rod has no leadership qualities, completely undisciplined, with a healthy dose of adrenaline junkie mixed in. Optimus was a military leader for 4 Millions years, lets just say he knew how to lead an army. All of a sudden, he gets transformed into Rodimus Prime. He gets all the knowledge from the previous Primes with the Matrix, but no exprerience on how to use it. He then takes down Galvatron and their version of Satan. How do you follow up on that? You just took down the Decepticons new leader and the devil and ended the 4 million year war, then what? He tried to broker universal peace a few times, hosted intergalactic Olympics, but he was still a warrior leader in peace time. At least Optimus came back and took leadership of the Autobots again, Rodimus didnt seem to mind that. Im not familiar with the UK comics where Rodimus was a major character, but in the US (G1, not IDW) he just now made his appearance. He wasnt the one to take down Unicron, so he missied out on his destined role. How would you feel if you were meant for one thing in life, and you missed it. You probably spend a lot of time spinning your wheels going nowhere too or trying to make up for lost time like he seems to be doing now. At least he did beat the Decepticon leader, seemingly ending the 4 million year war. Of course we dont know what will happen in issue #99 and 100 yet... So thats what I make of it. Rodimus Prime is a great character, just not a great leader. Hes the Autobots Giant Slayer. Hes better than Optimus Prime in some areas, but apparently leadership isnt one of them. Rodimus is the Autobots Protector while Optimus is the Autobots Commander. I guess Hasbro had it right from the start.
Posted on: Sat, 01 Feb 2014 02:16:03 +0000