#tfpultima

[askvectorprime]

Dear Vector Prime, If Optimus was never made a Prime, Who do you think would've been given the title of 'Prime'?

Dear Interrogative Interregnum,

Across the multiverse, it is a quirk of fate that Optimus Prime is destined to take on his title—whether he is canonized in the Covenant as the Thirteenth of my brethren at Cybertron’s forging, or comes to bear the Matrix of Leadership in the modern era. But there are no true axioms to our existence, and there exist timelines where the laws of causality have prohibited this outcome—as well as those where other mortals have sought to deny Optimus.

One comes to mind: during a resource-scarce period of discord, General Traachon proposed that he himself become Prime instead of Optimus. At the time, he was military commander of Iacon's forces and believed his simulations and projections were more valuable than Optimus's experience on the battlefield. Though Optimus Prime already possessed the Matrix, Traachon’s motion went so far as to annul the status of Prime retroactively—as Traachon was a former Matrix-bearer, it would become as though he had never passed it on in the first place! He suggested that, should his former rank be restored, he be named "Liberatus Prime", as he believed that he was liberating Cybertron from war by refusing to intervene in the Vos/Tarn conflict.

Much to Optimus and Xaaron's frustration, this audacious revisionist reform was considered, and for a few cycles the title of "Prime" was suspended entirely pending Council hearings. Xaaron spoke fiercely in opposition to the proposal, and his speech "On the Suboptimal Considerations of Traachon" would become one of the most iconic works of rhetoric in Cybertronian history, with the motion thusly failing to gain traction. Eventually, after a series of poor strategic decisions brought the Decepticon army to Iacon’s doorstep, Traachon had to wholly concede military control over to Optimus Prime.

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