Disney fired Optimus Prime?

This isn’t exactly news, but I found out recently that Peter Cullen — the voice actor best known as Optimus Prime in the TransFormers franchise — has been let go from his other iconic voice, that of Eeyore the Donkey from the Winnie the Pooh cartoons. Process that for a moment.

This voice?

And this voice?

Same dude.

At least until now. Disney is working on a new Winnie the Pooh movie for next year, and Cullen has been informed that he’s no longer Eeyore. Which sucks for several reasons.  Okay, he’s not hurting for work. With Optimus, between movies, cartoons, and video games, he’ll be able to pay the bills until the end of the universe. But no more Eeyore? He’s great in the role, he’s the man we all identify with the character (even if we didn’t know it was his voice coming out of the donkey’s mouth), and the worst of all? Now there’s no chance of him ever accidentally mixing up the the voices.

I just keep thinking of how awesome that would be if it happened just once. Picture it.

The Autobots are pinned down beneath a blanket of Decepticon fire.

Optimus charges the front, leaping into the air and transforming into a big rig.

He barrels through wave after wave of enemy robots, crushing them beneath his wheels.

He storms the Decepticon citadel. He transforms, dodging a hail of enemy fire. He tackles Megatron and points his ion cannon right in the Decepticon leader’s face. And then, in that proud, commanding voice we’ve always loved, he says the line:

“Thanks for noticin’ me.”

Awesome.