I got the bad news on Thursday 8/27/26 that Peter Cullen had passed away sometime the previous day. The context was terrible - Dolly Parton on Tuesday, and then Tim Curry on Wednesday. A truly awful week for celebrity deaths.
I don't want to belabor this post for fear of not completing it, but obviously Cullen's death was a blow to me. His voice was one of the strongest on my childhood, and after spending years listening to Gary Chalk voice Optimus Primal and then Unicron Trilogy Optimus Prime (I never have watched Robots in Disguise - apologies to Neil Kaplan), Cullen returned to the role in grand fashion at the cusp of my adulthood in Jula 2007 in the live action movie, just weeks after I became a father. This, along with other roles like Optimus in Transformers Prime and Thaedus in Invincible, cemented his legacy for my children as well.
Not too long ago, we learned that Walmart would release an exclusive energon-themed capsule line, including clear repaints of Siege Optimus and Megatron, but also Seige Sixgun and Kingdom Slammer and the new Autobot Cybertread and Deception Cybertronic, respectively.
I was already intrigued in Megatron because he is a clear companion piece for translucent Kingdom Galvatron repaint to complete the reformatting sequence from the animated movie. Optimus I wasn't initially sold on; it's probably the weakest modern Optimus mold, can't use the Matrix accessories standardized beginning with Earthrise Prime, and so on. But then people noticed a vague similarity to the art of the Thirteenth Prime in the Covenant of Primus book, and it was pretty much over. This new Optimus repaint could be a figure to more "accurately" represent the Arisen, at least compared to Age of the Primes Star Convoy (who is amazing, but also aesthetically is himself and not some other version of Optimus).
Flash forward to the past week or so, and Walmart stores are beginning to stock these figures. I finally find some last night - 3 of the 4, with only Cybertread missing. I start playing around with Optimus today, and I'd had the Scepter of the Primes out for a few weeks. What happened next was pretty natural...
It's always been a loose fit, but the Matrix/Thirteen Primemaster from the Throne of the Primes set was the most recent Matrix toy when the Siege mold was released, and so some took to giving it (sans frame) to Siege Optimus. It feels much more appropriate in this version of the mold. In fact, it's made me think of the figure as a post-death "one with the Matrix" spirit of Optimus, such that in this image we are seeing the Matrix form Optimus's spirit around itself, even using energon to grant corporeality...
I'm finally getting the chance to wrap up this post over two weeks after Peter Cullen's passing. I did pick up Cybertread this week, so now this version of Optimus is complete with his companion. Even so, I'm enjoyed having just Optimus by himself for a while to focus on the spiritual side of this and to reflect on Cullen's legacy. In a twisted way, his death may have pushed me over the edge in deciding to go see the 1986 movie in theaters; they even announced a short CGI film at the end that includes Cullen's final performance as Optimus. I've never seen the movie in the theater, and I guess the chances are low that I'd see it again on an upcoming anniversary.
Either way, Peter Cullen will be missed. Optimus and the franchise wouldn't be the same without him, and that's also true for untold numbers of people who became fans of this franchise, at least in part, because of the presence of his voice. R.I.P.
