Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye Is Bringing Back The Original Optimus Prime

Published Aug 26, 2026, 5:59 AM EDT Ewan is Deputy Editor for ScreenRant's gaming section. He still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase, and knows more about The Legend of Zelda and Doctor Who than is probably healthy. Ewan oversees the content operation of ScreenRant's gaming output, working with a talented team of writers and editors to cover everything from the latest GTA 6 news to the indie games you need on your radar. Former Editor of GAMINGbible, Ewan also has words at Kotaku, Den of Geek, NME, and UNILAD. He's appeared on various podcasts, including VGC's and BBC's Let's Talk About Tech. Over the years, we've seen countless adaptations of Transformers across movies, games, comics, and more. Despite this, there's no getting around the fact the G1 animated series from 1984 remains undefeated. While we have to recognize the brilliance that is Beast Wars, and underrated Transformers: Prime, that original cartoon hits different. A large part of that, of course, was Peter Cullen's performance as the iconic Optimus Prime, a role that no other actor has managed to inhabit in quite the same way. Cullen as Prime is, I would say, up there with Mark Hamill's Joker and Kevin Conroy's Batman as the definitive voice for the beloved character. While it's been decades since the original cartoon, a new release is coming that features vouce lines from Cullen himself, bringing back the original - and greatest - Optimus Prime. Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye was originally unveiled at San Diego Comic-Con 2026, and it's a love-letter to the original series in the form of a gorgeous new pinball machine. Developed by Stern Pinball in partnership with Hasbro, the machine is based on the 1984 cartoon and recreates the endless clash between Autobots and Decepticons via story-driven missions directly inspired by the first two seasons of the classic show. Optimus Prime is (obviously) the main character of this story-driven pinball experience, and we help him out as he fights to prevent Megatron's conquest of Earth and Cybertron. Familiar characters like Soundwave and the Dinobots also appear. As far as pinball tables go, this one is packed with stunning features. A fully animatronic Megatron that fires pinballs back at players is wildly impressive, as is the Soundwave cassette deck and Optimus Prime bash toy. However, the icing on the cake has to be the Optimus Prime Topper, which is sold as an optional extra. This topper features a mechanically animated bust of Optimus Prime that reacts to gameplay and is synchronized with actual dialogue from Peter Cullen. The LED lighting makes it feel like you're hanging out with your very own real Optimus Prime, and people who purchase the topper will have access to an upcoming, exclusive, challenge mode. Here's the unfortunate catch: The Optimus Prime Topper costs $1,499.99 USD. That's just for the topper, mind you. The cheapest version of the More Than Meets The Eye pinball machine is $6,999, so you'll have to really like Optimus Prime to justify this purchase. Still, if you're a hardcore Transformers fan and you're lucky enough to have the cash to splash, fill your boots. I'm not remotely jealous. First Film Transformers First TV Show The Transformers Cast Frank Welker, Peter Cullen, Corey Burton, John Stephenson, Jack Angel, Michael Bell, Dan Gilvezan, Casey Kasem, Christopher Collins, Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, John Turturro, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Mark Wahlberg, Hailee Steinfeld, Anthony Ramos Created by Hasbro Latest Film Transformers: Rise of the Beasts Upcoming Films Transformers One