How Optimus Prime Got His Iconic ‘Gentleman’s’ Voice Instead Of Being A Yelling Drill Sergeant

Few animated characters and the voice actors behind them feel as inseparable as Optimus Prime and Peter Cullen. A few have similar claims to the title — the late, great Kevin Conroy with Batman, for example. But even though others have had brief tenures behind the mask of the Autobot leader, when you think of the Transformers franchise writ large, you likely think immediately of that stoic, measured, robotic tone.

Autobots, transform and roll out.

It’s the quiet gravitas, the almost sage-like quality of the voice, that made it instantly so iconic.But while we can all agree on the timeless quality of the result, accounts vary somewhat on how Cullen…