A Texas man arrested for car theft has gone viral after police records revealed he has the same name as an iconic Transformers character.
Fox 7 in Austin reports police last week arrested 37-year-old Optimus Prime Blakely for allegedly stealing a car. On June 4, police stopped Optimus Prime after he was seen driving a vehicle that was previously reported stolen. Optimus has since been charged with unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.
He was taken to police headquarters for processing and later booked into Travis County Jail. Optimus Prime is currently being held on $8,000 bond.
The real Optimus Prime has held a place in pop culture since the early 1980s, when American toy company Hasbro joined forces with Japanese toy company Takara Tomy to launch the first line of Transformers action figures.
After producing several animated series in the 1980s and 1990s, Hasbro enlisted director Michael Bay to adapt a live-action film series in the 2000s. Since kicking things off with the Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox-starring Transformers in 2007, the franchise has released six more films: Revenge of the Fallen (2009), Dark of the Moon (2011), Age of Extinction (2014), The Last Knight (2017), Bumblebee (2018) and Rise of the Beasts (2023).
