Greetings from Marvelous Videos again! Today, we will be discussing a subject that will figuratively blow your motors away! That is correct! We are discussing Nemesis Prime! He is such a villain that he not only managed to destroy Optimus Prime’s life and beat him, but also used deception to turn Optimus’ allies against him.
Nevertheless, he also attracted such a sizable fan base that they produced other iterations of him with the same nefarious intention to eliminate Optimus Prime and rule the entire universe under the control of Unicron.
He was first introduced in the Transformers series under many titles, including MotoMaster and Evil Optimus Prime. We would highly recommend that you hit the like button and subscribe to our channel by jamming the bell icon to watch more incredible videos before we begin this one! Grab your popcorn and settle down because you are about to experience an incredible ride!
Nemesis Prime and how he came to be!
The Transformers are a collection of extinct extraterrestrial species that discovered their planet was being destroyed by years of war and fled to Earth in search of safety. The Autobots, who fought for Earth and sought to prevent humans from meeting the same fate as themselves, and the Decepticons, who still held the belief that Cybertron could be rebuilt on Earth, were divided into two main groups.
The Decepticons were prepared to do whatever it took to achieve their objective. The Decepticons have tried everything, from fighting alongside the Autobots to forming alliances with like-minded people. They also attempted to create clones of other Autobots, but excluding Nemesis Prime, none of them appear to stand out.
The idea of an evil Optimus Prime was first used in Transformers: Armada, where Nemesis Prime was initially presented. His original form was a dark-colored Optimus Prime with all of his skills plus a few more. His character has still had substantial depths to his body and his drive for destruction thanks to improvements in the subsequent several translations.
In addition to the darkly potent Vorpal Saber, this Unicron construct known as Nemesis Prime also boasted the abilities of shape-shifting and quick healing. He was designed specifically to kill everything and anything in his way, starting with the transformers, his one and only foe.
Nemesis Prime from the animated universe
Nemesis prime has had many adaptations, so let’s look into some of them and see what made him so dangerous!
A Prime Problem
Transformers: Generation 1, Season 2 Episode 8 was named “A Prime Problem,” where they first showed Nemesis Prime in an animated form. Though they didn’t really give him any proper name and referred to him as the perfect clone of Optimus Prime, this was the first essential adaptation of what was to be called Nemesis Prime. In this episode, we are shown a vast crevice, and above it are standing Megatron and his fellow Decepticons, when he first mentions how Optimus Prime would never fall for the trap which they were making, at least not the ‘real’ one. This episode was the first foreshadowing of Nemesis Prime.
Later on, when the Autobots came to the crevice, they were ambushed by Decepticons, where Optimus Prime was cornered and defeated by Laserbeak, who was ordered to scan Optimus Prime but not harm him. This evasive action taken by Megatron confused all the viewers at first. Later on, when they saw that an identical clone replaced the actual Optimus Prime, it blew their brains out, because nobody had expected such a turn of events.
When the original Optimus Prime first returned to the base, the Autobots were given the order to shoot him down by the Optimus Prime clone disguising as the original. They were ready to do so until one Autobot decided to put both of them to test. Both Optimus Primes were tested on numerous things, such as the way they were transforming, their overall speed, and even their accuracy and skill at laser shooting. Surprisingly, all of the results came back equal.
Soon they received a signal detailing the numerous reactions happening in the crevice, which had the potential to destroy anything electrical in contact with it. They all rushed to the place, and while one Optimus Prime asked them to be careful as there could be a trap, the other one declared they would destroy any traps laid forward for them.
Without any proper guidance and being confused as to listen to which Optimus Prime, they fell out and were again ambushed by a group of Decepticons. Megatron had laid down the trap to make the Cloned Optimus Prime make all the Autobots follow him into the crevice.
However, there was still one problem, the clone was yet to gain their trust, so Megatron decided that if the cloned Optimus Prime were to destroy such a Decepticon who is ranked high in their order, he would surely gain the trust of the Autobots. Hence, Starscream was chosen to be the sacrifice that would make all the Autobots believe he was the real Optimus Prime. At first, upon hearing the plan, Starscream tried fleeing but was later assured by Megatron that it was his clone that would be destroyed and not him.
When the two clones fought, the clone of Optimus Prime won easily, hence gaining the trust of all Autobots. Megatron’s plan seemed to work, and the Autobots soon followed the clone into the crevice… Until an Autobot confirmed that if they entered the crevice, they would perish within seconds! This sudden revelation caused the whole group of Autobots to retaliate and they ended up throwing the clone into the crater, destroying him instantly.
The episode highlighted that the right guidance is not always to charge forward but occasionally to stop and plan your moves ahead of time.
The Key To Vector Sigma
The Key To Vector Sigma was a two-part episode divided into episodes 39 and 40 of the animated series “Transformers: Generation 1.”
A Transformer might activate the antiquated super-computer by using The Key, an ancient gadget that was connected to the Vector Sigma.
In this episode, we are shown Megatron pursuing a super-fuel but is stopped midway by Optimus Prime and his fellow Autobots. After he fails, he makes his Decepticons steal vehicles similar to the style of the Autobots. We later realize that he is rebuilding Optimus Prime’s body with the darker black and grey shade and has made clones of other Autobots as well! Oh my, this is gonna be fun…
This was the first time the animated series actually gave a hint of the new character to be Nemesis Prime. Though he was called MotoMaster, we all knew secretly that Nemesis Prime was his about-to-be name.
When the Autobots leave Earth on a mission, we are shown Megatron trying to find the Key to Vector Sigma. Soon the Autobots get a whiff of it, but by the time they reach Cybertron, it’s too late as Megatron has already learned how to control other transformers guarding Vector Sigma using the Key. Once he gets his hands on it, he starts to devise different ways to defeat the Autobots.
Megatron soon learns how to use the Key and awaken Vector Sigma. He makes the Vector Sigma give the clones a consciousness and fills in the clones with hatred for the Autobots and everything they stand for.
At the end of the first part, it is shown that Megatron has sent all the evil clones, such as Dead End, Breakdown, Dragstrip, Wildrider, and MotoMaster, to take over the super-fuel and succeed.
Starting off the next episode, Optimus Prime uses his wisdom and convinces Vector Sigma to create more Autobots to fight the evil Decepticons. They fly to Earth to reach the compound where the super-fuel is kept, but are attacked by humans with heavy artillery, because they think that the Autobots are the ones who stole the super-fuel! Who would’ve seen this coming?
MotoMaster and the clones soon attack them too, and somehow, the Autobots make it out alive. While all this is going on, Megatron finds out that the Key works differently on Earth. The Key has the power to turn anything into metal, which gives him the idea of turning Earth into Cybertron.
He soon starts turning everything into metal. Optimus Prime is left confused and irritated because of the failure but calms himself down and goes to war. They fight against the Huge Decepticon, which was formed by all the clones merging together and this gives Prime the idea to do the same, and after a long, furious battle, the Autobots come out victorious. MotoMaster flees away, swearing to return and beat Prime in their next battle.
This is one of the episodes which was aired over 10 times because of its popularity!
Nemesis Prime G1
In the toy-line bio, the backstory remains the same, but here, Nemesis Prime was the result of a crazy scheme by Straxus, who torturously transformed a humble, unrecognized warrior into the likeness of Optimus Prime through a painful rebuilding procedure.
The Decepticon was endowed with memories and abilities drawn from a variety of sources through forced data uploads and indoctrination, giving him a lot of Optimus Prime’s expertise and fighting tactics.
He lost his sense of self as not only a result, but also all tools for accessing this information.
Nemesis Prime, whose creator had since died, posed a menace to everyone by hiding out in the shadows of Cybertron and murdering both Autobots and Decepticons as part of his murderous mania.
This was the darkest and most murderous form of Nemesis Prime, as he believed that nobody in this world deserved to live except him. He targeted everyone, and because of his super regenerative abilities, it was extremely hard for the Autobots or the Decepticons to defeat him alone. Hence, the two groups decided to work hand-in-hand to defeat him.
The battle was long and tiring, and as viewers thought they had no hopes of winning, Megatron and Optimus Prime joined hands and shot a laser beam so powerful that it destroyed Nemesis Prime’s whole molecular structure, killing him instantly. Imagine just how strong Nemesis was, because he made the two groups work together and almost managed to defeat them all by himself! This event was one of the only few times the Autobots and Decepticons worked together.
Not only did Nemesis Prime take on the whole Transformers universe, but he also has time-traveled and has fought alongside Galvatron to destroy the universe, which makes him a true menace. Not only does he have all of Optimus Prime’s power, but he has a few additional ones which he can use as efficiently as he wants, and if he were to be shown as a separate character in the cinematic universe, Earth would surely be in ruins.
Story of Binaltech and creation of Nemesis Prime
In this storyline, Dr. Arkeville duplicated Optimus Prime using a subspace impulse cloner in an effort to produce a villain more powerful than Megatron.
To achieve this, Arkeville used a special type of rewriting software to turn Optimus Prime’s imported essence wicked, but the clone was still devoid of life. Just imagine! This variation of Nemesis Prime is quite literally the embodiment of Sinister! THE DESTRUCTION!
The effort to channel a life force through a subspace linkup was cut short when a mystery ball formed by a time warp contacted the clone’s body, activating it and making it disappear altogether.
After this incident, Dark Prime met the Autobots who were questioning him about his motives. At first, he was explaining that he was the last spark alive and kept referring to himself as “The Protector,” who was sent from the distant future, and his only motive was to save the Binaltechs, which were supposed to give rise to superior beings and protection and prosperity around the universe. But soon the clone’s A.I. activated and it started taunting the Autobots, telling them how they were defeated and even going to the lengths of manifesting a Decepticon symbol on his body.
The clone rejected his foreign spark and created a warp portal leading back to Arkeville’s laboratory using the last of the Protector’s strengths.
The clone, reduced to an automated state, managed to pass through the portal to its creator, despite this.
Another subspace Translink experiment was started there by the doctor, and this one successfully joined the clone to a primordial, malicious, selfish life force.
Finally, Arkeville’s invention evolved into Nemesis Prime
Just imagine how big a threat he is to everyone, because not only is he the strongest, but he can also leap through time itself! If this isn’t overbearing, we don’t know what is! The only reason our heroes have won against him is through sheer willpower and plot armor… no offense, haha!
After he disappeared, he stopped the Decepticon leader from taking over the solar system, as he wanted it all for himself. After this, Megatron was disgusted and decided to fight him. He attacked the clone with all his might, but their fight was cut short as all non-Binaltech transformers were shut down, and Nemesis Prime seized the opportunity to take over Megatron’s throne.
As he kept growing more and more powerful, he started seizing power all over the power system and became the leader of all Decepticons, with Shockwave complying with his orders. He ordered the Decepticons to collect essential materials which would grow his powers immensely. He decided to be a worthy opponent to Optimus Prime and challenged him to a duel. As their fight began, he started overpowering Optimus with ease, going to the extent of taunting him mid-fight! Sheesh!
After Optimus was thrown into a riverbank, awaiting defeat, the Protector’s spark flew to his aid and fused with Optimus, giving him enough strength to rebound Nemesis’s most potent attack back to himself, killing the clone in the process. The only thing more overpowering than Nemesis Prime is the plot armor behind Optimus Prime.
Renegade rhetoric Nemesis Prime
In this universe, Optimus Prime of Primax 085.0 Eta was abducted by Megatron’s minions to an alternate reality and was experimented on with a Brainwave Scanner, which corrupted his mind and turned him into Nemesis Prime, created to bring havoc and chaos among worlds. He did take up the role of leadership for the Decepticons, but soon, they realized that maybe it was not such a great idea to turn Optimus Prime into Nemesis after all, as he started treating the Decepticons as something not worth his time and patience, and would show no mercy or remorse upon killing a fellow Decepticon in cold blood…
Let’s just say he did make everyone’s life a living hell.
Other appearances of Nemesis Prime
War for Cybertron Trilogy marketing material
This storyline is based on the pre-ice-age era, where Nemesis Prime was a Ground Command Infantry General who was trans-scanned into an Earth vehicle. He served as the dark future of Optimus Prime in the Siege toy package.
His primary characteristics were malice, violence, desperation, and single-mindedness. His Dark Matrix and Dark Ion Blaster served as his powers and weapons.
Nemesis Prime’s message from the future warned that if Optimus Prime doesn’t battle his grim future, his whole existence would be in danger.
Games Including Nemesis prime
Nemesis Prime is a recurring central character in the Transformer games. He has been issued as an unlockable character in Angry Birds: Transformers, portrayed by Red. This game was super fun as it still kept the idea of the original Angry Birds, yet it did a fantastic job in portraying the specialty of each character and gave them similar pros and cons to play with.
In Transformers: Earth War, where he is the outcome of an experiment done by Shockwave, he uses his ion blaster to tear open Transformers, and his lowest rating goes up to 2 stars!! In this game, he possessed all powers of Optimus Prime but did not know how to process them, which made him go nuts.
As far as any adaptation goes, He has NEVER been portrayed as a good entity, like never! This is another reason why he is also known as the cold-blooded murderer in his universe. He doesn’t care about which group you belong to; all he wants to do is cause destruction. Like his master and creator Unicron, the STRONGEST character in the Transformers universe, he possesses the same evil intent, making him equally dangerous to all life forms, including humans.
Nemesis Prime in the film series – Transformers: The Last Knight!
The Transformers – when we hear these two words, the first thing which comes to our minds is the red and blue colored truck of Optimus Prime or the Yellow mustang with black stripes of our fan favorite, Bumblebee. We all have grown up watching The Movies or animated cartoons of it. The very first live-action movie was known as “Transformers”, released in the year 2007, where we saw Shia LeBeouf play the character of Sam Witwicky and most probably had our first crush on Megan Fox…
With each movie, the franchise kept on growing and improving, and honestly, we can all agree that every character in this series is unique in their own way. All that was told to us was that the Transformers belonged to Cybertron and were divided into two groups, The Autobots and The Decepticons, who were destined to fight till death. Still, the story kept on getting more depth in the upcoming movies.
One of these latest movies of the franchise, “Transformers: The Last Knight” was released in the year 2017, where they showed an Optimus Prime who was not really… himself. This was a homage to Nemesis Prime… but this one was different! Some may call it even better! In this movie, even though the character was still referred to as Optimus Prime, unlike Nemesis Prime’s original storyline where Unicron made him for the purpose of defeating Optimus Prime, Quintessa brainwashes him into turning into an evil version of himself, aka Nemesis Prime, and destroying Earth, which she believed to be the real form of Unicron, and to retrieve the Merlin’s Staff which she believed could restore Cybertron.
Later on, evil Optimus Prime aka ‘Nemesis Prime’ goes back to Earth in order to destroy it, but is successfully stopped by the Autobots and is returned to his original form, back to Optimus Prime, after he heard Bumblebee’s voice, which reactivated his own brain, subsiding Quintessa’s mind control.
The movie is full of action, mysteries that are yet to be solved, and questions yet to be answered. Not only did this movie portray two different Primes to be the antagonists, but they also made us think of the possibility of Optimus Prime becoming corrupted and what would be the mindset of the Autobots when they have to fight their beloved leader, who had guided them through every up and down in the entirety of their existence.
This movie also made us wonder if a prime can so easily brainwash the strongest known Autobot, are the Autobots truly safe and strong enough to defeat other foes who will come their way? Or should they start oiling their engines and reinforcing their bodies for more significant threats? I guess we’ll just have to wait and watch.
Conclusion
This character has sent chills down every viewer’s spine. Just describing him as such a potent killing machine is enough to make him badass, but words cannot convey his cold-heartedness. This character’s potential is unparalleled in the Transformers universe. In fact, his influence has made the Transformers series such a great hit that the series has partnered up with gaming studios and have even collabbed with the Angry bird’s games, which in itself is an accomplishment, as most comics try doing it and only a select few are ever lucky enough to work with them.
This antagonist is sure to be one of the greatest enemies our heroes will ever fight, and hopefully, we’ll get to see him even more, maybe stronger and better as well. Transformers better be ready, especially you…Optimus Prime.