Rodimus Prime

The more mature (relatively) and more powerful version of Hot Rod transformed by the power of the Matrix. Rodimus is a complex character. He was chosen to lead whereas Optimus was (in the show at least) rebuilt by Alpha Trion to lead. Rodimus had confidence and tremendous power, but in his mind he simply didn't measure up to Optimus. The interesting fact is Rodimus was the one viewing himself as inferior to Optimus as opposed to anyone else. Sure he was new and inexperienced as a leader, but he had been able to use the power of the Matrix to defeat Unicron. Rodimus got results. The Autobots reclaimed Cybertron and Optimus held Rodimus in high esteem.

Pisses me off. In Transformers: Call of the Future (tataki), for the PS2 (import), Rodimus and a few movie characters like Blur, Arcee, and others, travel to the past while chasing down Galvatron. Rodimus meets up with Optimus, and though Rodimus cannot tell Optimus of his future fate, he tries at every attempt to get advice on leadership from Optimus. Cool stuff; which ends off with Optimus saying just enough to let Rod' know he A- Doesn't care what happens in the future as long as the autobots continue to fight for peace, and B- let's Rod' know he is more than capable of leading the autobots. Ends off with Prime and Rodimus squaring off against Megatron and Galvatron in an electrical cage. (In which I finished the by having Optimus pick up Megatrons beaten body, and hurled it into the electrical cage.)

BTW, if anybody wants to import this game, it's really hard, but it's also entirely in english, with text and english only voice overs.

I think my biggest beef with Rodimus was his whinyness and his endless attempts to give up leadership. I mean what does he say in the very first episode of "Five Faces of Darkness"? "Why did I have to be the chosen one?" Plus everytime he loses the matrix or finds a reason to give it away he doesn't hesitate to celebrate.

He could have been a decent leader if he had just accepted his position and stopped worrieing about the consequences.

Optimus having faith in Rodimus was more than evident in "Dark Awakening". Optimus's dialogue to his successor was very well written in that episode. It was something like "Monsters. They made me into a weapon against those I loved in life, but you shall save them."

Rodimus felt he didn't measure up to Optimus, but Optimus felt the same in regards to Sentinel.

Besides, I'm sure both Autobots and Decepticons preferred the self doubt of Rodimus to the insanity of Galvatron.

Not really. I don't think they ever said who was the first leader. Sentinel Was just Optimuses predicessor. So he would only be the original leader if Optimus is the second and Rodimus is the third. Which I don't think would be quite right since the original leader was mentioned in Rebirth... Though I forget the name at the monent.

The original was Prima and was the very first of the Transformers. The earliest generation of Transformers were a group of 13 of which The Fallen and the Liege Maximo were part of. The propietor of Maccadam's is rumored to also be one of the original 13.

A3 (later Alpha Trion) and Beta came later.

Keep in mind that Rodimus was the Chosen One and bears a striking resemblance to Primus's astral form.

Optimus Primal from Beast Wars is NOT Optimus Prime. He's merely a fan/descendant of Prime's.