hentropy said:
Still, how would you feel if a supposedly nostalgic geek expert said something like "That leader of the Transformers" when talking about Optimus Prime. And yes, I am saying Judy is just as if not more important than Optimus Prime.
Yeah, no. If any character in Doug is Optimus-important, it's Doug himself. And I'm not even sure Doug would hold his own as effectively.
In fact, the more I think about it, Optimus may be the most enduring single character from the golden age of Saturday morning cartoons. I say "single" because the Ninja Turtles are still around but they are recognized as a collective, and whatever reimaginings take place (e.g. the new Nick cartoon), it is still those four with the same names and basic personality types. The Power Rangers are the unbridled success that Voltron should have been, but there's like 30 different versions of the show, most of which feature none of the characters from the original series. There's nothing to tie them together other than the theme song and the ninjas-with-robots motif.
Optimus, and specifically a Peter-Cullen-voiced Optimus, is the Grand Unifying Force in Transformers lore. When second-gen Transformers floundered after they brutally murdered all of your childhood heroes, they revived the series by... resurrecting Optimus [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bq1_6D9QS9Y]. His peripheral presence in Beast Wars et al lent weight to them as well.
Many of the doubts people had about the live-action movies faded when the first film opened with Peter Cullen's narration. Of course most of it came right back when they started following around Shia LeBouf for half the film, but still, Optimus. Same thing goes with Cullen's voice in the new Prime series.
Even Rescue Bots, a show my preschoolers recently discovered, featuring Dora-level animation and no Transformer you've ever heard of before, features conference calls where they report back to the boss... Optimus. Voiced by Cullen.
Even my wife recognizes the voice and person of Optimus immediately, and she doesn't give half a toss about cartoon robots.
There may be a character from that era with as much reach and gravitas as Optimus, but I can't think of anyone it might be.