The Voice of Optimus Prime
Jul 2007I WISH I could have Optimus Prime do my voice mail. If you ever wondered what the real life face of Optimus looks like, here it is. Meet Peter Cullen.
After the jump is a bonus video. This clip teams him up with the original Megatron (Frank Welker). The voice of Megatron in the new movie is Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving), but I think he probably just punched Welker in the chest and made a cheap copy of himself. Silly program…
-ahku
FavoriteHero.com 
Sweet find. I always wanted to see what Peter Cullen and Frank Welker looked like in real life. Seeing that, though, I can see why Bay chose Hugo Weaving instead of Welker. I don’t know if he can do Megatron anymore; he Megatron voice sounded weak, and I was worried he might damage his vocal chords if he did the character for too long.
Yeah, you’ve got a good point there. I would love have seen them reinact their last scene together from the movie though.
one of the best cartoon voices ever. there’s got to be a way to get a recording of that for your cell.
i like how peter cullen’s other big voice work was for eeyore.
That is friggin’ hilarious, but absolutely true (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eeyore).
Nah I loved Welker’s voice and don’t think it sounded weak. Though I do agree it sounded so hoarse that it brought to mind the idea that it might actually injure Welker to do the voice for an extended time. The hoarse, screechy, shrill Megatron really worked for me… especially when he got pissed off at Starscream or screamed in anguish at his latest defeat at the hands of the autobots.