#I can see optimus getting on a box or something to reprimand smokescreen and bumblebee when out of his suit

[lets-try-some-writing]

Random Crack Idea

Alright so in IDW (i think) Ultra Magnus actually has a little bot called Minimus inside him and Ultra Magnus is basically just the giant mech suit Minimus wears so he can do his job and get some respect. With that in mind I wondered, what if TFP Optimus (in some alternate universe) is actually just a giant mech suit that Orion Pax (or the Pax sized Optimus) is operating from the inside?

He still has the Matrix and all that, but perhaps due to an injury effectively crippling him in combat or maybe just out of a desire to not be shredded by Megatron, Orion Pax operates the giant Optimus suit and no bot knows about it. How he gets away with no bot knowing? No idea. Maybe Alpha Trion hooked him up or something, or perhaps Shockwave got involved somehow. Whatever the case, I think the chaos that would come from this when his true status is eventually revealed would be hilarious.

I mean, think about it. The great and glorious Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots, last of the Primes, and absolute unit... is actually travel sized when compared to his big body. He is certainly no minibot, but Optimus being roughly the same height as Ratchet underneath all that armor would be great.

The hilarity would be even better if Optimus's secret wasn't discovered during some great emotional moment, but instead at like 3am when he got out of his suit for a cube of energon. Or better yet, Smokescreen is just chilling at night, maybe coming back from night shift and then finds Optimus taking off his suit and hopping around on one pede trying to get his giant boot off. Smokescreen would be completely flabbergasted and Optimus would just look at him and say "No one will believe you" before gathering up his suit and hurrying off.

The team would be let in on the secret eventually, but I can see Optimus just freaking leaving one of his boots laying around just to scare the scrap out of whoever stumbles upon it. Poor Bumblebee thinking his dad has lost a leg and then seeing Optimus out of his suit chuckling around the corner. Or Optimus gets himself stuck in a part of his suit and looks super disproportionate until somebot helps him free himself of his suit.

And imagine Megatron finally figuring out that he has been fighting the same little Archivist throughout the entirety of the war. At some point Optimus just yeets one of his gloves at Megatron as a distraction and goes to save somebot from getting killed and Megatron just stands there watching Optimus run off with one itty bitty arm like: "What the fRAG!?!" And then just kinda stares at the arm/glove on the ground in front of him wondering if Prime just cut off his own arm or something because he is a self sacrificial idiot or what.

He would be emotionally scarred and stuck having an existential crisis until during a team up, Optimus just takes off his suit and casually goes to collect some energon or something. Every single Decepticon would be left questioning their life choices once the news of Optimus's true size reaches them.

The best part of all (at least to me) about this crack idea is the thought that Optimus, the Pax sized, only slightly taller than Bumblebee, Prime becomes an absolute beast the moment he gets suited up. He goes from this regular sized bot to a terrifying force in under a few minutes and it scares his whole team.

Like, imagine him putting on his big mech suit: