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mktoon@mktoon · Aug 27, 2026

Here’s a cool story: 🧵 When I first got a job at @Hasbro Studios as the development exec for the boy’s shows, one of…

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Summary

A Hasbro Studios executive shares how voice actor Peter Cullen initially hesitated to return as Optimus Prime for a new Transformers series, revealing he was deeply protective of the character because it was inspired by his brother. The commitment to respecting the character led to the successful Transformers Prime series, and the post honors Cullen's dedication, talent, and humility.

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  1. #1

    Here’s a cool story: 🧵 When I first got a job at @Hasbro Studios as the development exec for the boy’s shows, one of my first jobs was working with the team to launch a brand new Transformers animated series. Obviously we wanted #PeterCullen to voice Optimus.

  2. #2

    But we were told Peter wasn’t sure he wanted to do it! I thought maybe with the live action movies he didn’t want to do animation anymore? Or maybe he was tired of saying “Autobots, Roll Out”? My boss said I had to figure it out so I scheduled a call with Peter and his agent.

  3. #3

    So Peter gets on the phone and I tell him how honored I am to speak with him and that we’re doing a new series and would love him to be involved. I say I heard he wasn’t sure and wanted to know what we could do to convince him to be Optimus for us.

  4. #4

    And in a very humble voice Peter says “Optimus is very important to me. He’s inspired by my brother, and I don’t want to be involved unless I know the story and I know that it respects Optimus” And so we made damn sure to respect Optimus and that became #TransformersPrime

  5. #5

    Anyway, just want it out there that Peter was the real deal. Talented, kind, funny, humble, loved a glass of scotch and LOVED being Optimus. He took what Optimus meant to all of us very seriously. Hope Dolly and Tim are driving a giant red semi truck into heaven today.