

The real Optimus eventually resurfaced, returned the Matrix to Rodimus, once again gave him his blessing, and the Autobots retreated. Now without the Matrix, Hot Rod and his crew had managed to escape, and Hot Rod battled Optimus one-on-one in an attempt to reclaim the Matrix and get to the bottom of this deception. This was just what the Quintessons had orchestrated from the beginning, having reanimated the Autobots' former leader solely for the purpose of leading the entire faction into a deadly trap.

Upon Optimus' return to Cybertron, he claimed that Rodimus and his crew had died due to a cruel Quintesson trick, and commanded every single Autobot to help him strike back. However, things were not as they appeared, and Optimus immediately turned on them, left them to die in the funeral barge, and escaped in a ship he had built. After finding Optimus seemingly still alive, Rodimus happily handed over the Matrix of Leadership. Though most of the Autobots did not believe Daniel's story, Rodimus was obsessed with Optimus's memory, and tracked him down. While fleeing from Galvatron's Decepticons, Rodimus Prime and his Autobots find refuge inside an Autobot funeral barge, where Daniel Witwicky stumbled upon the reanimated form of Optimus Prime.
