Time for another game of 'guess the bot!' (Hint: It's not Rodimus) If the Bot I chose (and you actually do have to guess this time, as I don't reveal it at the end like usual) actually died or otherwise became unavailable that I am not aware of, I sincerely apologize. This also applies to characterization, comic-verses and such, of which I have little knowledge. I am not terribly observant, so if something happened or was extrapolated on that is important to this character that blatantly contradicts this piece, I once again assume a mantle of innocence.
Holy Crow for run-on sentences, eh? I keep having to go back and shorten them so they're legible…
Perfect Leader
Optimus Prime was the perfect leader.
Or at least, to most he is. It seems to be a much-disputed factoid amongst many. Was he actually the greatest, or was the greatest leader to have ever functioned lost to the unforgiving winds of time like the undoubtedly many bots that served under him? I don't claim to know such things. But he was great. By Primus Optimus was very great, destined to go down in the history records with a fine repertoire of deeds of valour and other such significance.
Don't take my off-hand remarks as callous or sarcastic. I assure you I don't mean to be, but with such boastful remarks about this very topic I find myself both amused and disgusted.
What makes a great leader anyways?
Everything Optimus was, obviously, but what was he? Strong is the first word to come forward. Compassionate the second. Noble. Courageous. Naïve in an odd sort of way. The mech who always had a plan, and when he didn't, tended to have blind luck pull him through every time.
Well, nearly every time. And that's where we start having trouble.
People liked Optimus. That much is given; every bot is liked by at least somebody in some way. But Optimus seemed to be a special case. His troops performed flawlessly under him, respect him utterly, and are otherwise awed by his entire presence. Is it his position as leader? His sheer, commanding presence? Or just that he was the mech you knew could always get the job done, no matter what it was?
Again, I don't fancy myself to having known the answer.
Inevitably however, his luck ran out. It was the same day as a large number of other Autobots luck also ran out. One could take this symbolically, as a leader who's troops needed him, though I would rather see it as an awful coincidence.
An awful, awful coincidence.
The problem with having a so-called perfect leader is that they, like all mortal beings, must die. Optimus Prime is gone. There is nothing that can be done. Life, and war sadly, must go on, a new leader was picked, a different one from that again was chosen. Now that new leader finds himself lost and confused in a swirling sea of politics and responsibilities he never knew until those moments where he became Prime. He never wanted leadership. Never sought it out, never even considered it, hothead though he may have been.
He has those close to him, those who are trying to help him, leading him along the road of leadership. All things considered, he's doing quite well. Few are really sure how Optimus did when he first became Prime. None of us surviving were amongst the inner circle, so to speak. I fancy he did only marginally better.
After all, he was the perfect leader.
But Optimus is Gone. Nothing can change that. Rodimus leads us now, and though I recall all those lost in that battle and those before it with fond recollection, I know the cycle of all life. And that is all life must die, and something else must replace it.
Some have regarded me as cold for not grieving for the loss of so many a comrade after that battle. Outsiders I come across know it only as the battle in which we lost our glorious leader. Some of the more informed may also know of Ratchet, the most advanced medic in the field, and Prowl, a tactician with no equal, and perhaps a few others. Small cannon fodder like Huffer and Wheeljack are lost to history, and live only in their acquaintances.
But I digress.
I did grieve for their loss. I grieved for a long time. I imagine I am still grieving, but I cannot let it interfere with my duties. I lost my home once; I continue to serve in order to protect the one I have rebuilt. He may not be Optimus, but Rodimus has proven a capable leader, if an inexperienced one. Time will tell if he proves to be our salvation.
If nothing else, it is good to be on Cybertron again.