[Snowflakian]

Like others said it varies per continuity. Like DC, Marvel, and other properties, Transformers is a multiverse.

There's Orion Pax for G1 cartoon, which was really only "War Dawn" in season 2, and made a cameo in Five Faces of Darkness in season 3. And he's also used in the aligned continuity of books to game. At least his progression of Orion to Optimus, and then later becoming a Prime. Games are self-contained. Prime series is more from the novels. Though really, continuity is only maintained to the medium itself. Movie is movie. Toon is toon. Comic is comic. There's some overlap, but rarely any consistency to those overlaps.

Optomitrix which was various continuities also.

And then the always was Optimus.

So it really depends on which universe you adhere too.

I stick to a more head cannon version that's an aligned G1-animes-beast wars, with expanded IDW material like Windblade/city speakers etc.

It's really all in how you, the fan/purchaser of the material, decides what works for your collection or how you play. If you're not talking confined continuity, which each medium has to have because of the very nature of the medium it is, there really is no limits to how you can head cannon whatever your collection is.

Hasbro tries to nod all mediums and forays. Combiner Wars & Titans Return especially is scattered nods of IDW influenced but heavy on the Season 2, season 3/4 and TFTM with some added anime nods too like Scramble City and Headmasters, with probably Masterforce coming next too.

Hasbro's main goal right now as a character company is to get merchandise out of eventually every character, and that's a long list of characters.