Actually, in G1, Autobots don't fly. They did for a few episodes in the 1st season, then later changed it, so that only Decepticons fly, with the occasional Autobot that flies via a jetpack, or they happen to have a flying alt mode, like Jetfire & Powerglide. The Dinobots do fly, though it's never explained why. They were made on earth, maybe didn't have true sparks...or maybe Prime's connection with the All Spark(inside of Vector Sigma) allowed them to fly. But, it's because of Autobots not being able to fly, that the Arielbots were such a big deal. Later, the only other time you ever see Autobots fly, is when in the middle of space, like when Blaster, Ramhorn, Rewind, Blurr, Wreck Gar, & Perceptor were flying to an asteroid where Quintessons were taking energon out of the past. I'd assume they were just able to project themselves thru space via some kind of thrusters. But they never have an flying ability in an atmosphere. Also, it's noted that all Autobots(that are Autobot of race, not faction) come from the worker race built by the Quintessons, with the Decepticons(Decepticon by race, not faction) coming from the warriors, which had natural flight ability.
Also, it wasn't space dust, it was the hate plague. Here's info on that:
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Station/6563/hateplague.htmlUltra Magnus never claimed to be a leader, he didn't even want to be a leader. He told Optimus that he's just a soldier, & he proved that, by getting blown up, relying too much on the matrix. As just a soldier, he thought it was the darkest hour, though, far from it. BTW, originally, Magnus was going to be an upgrade for Optimus, rather then a new character, but, they axed that. I forget if anyone explained their reasoning for killing Optimus & countless other Autobots & Decepticons. I'd assume just to have no reason to continue to sell those respective toys, & push the new one.
Also, I'll note that Rodimus was a brand new leader, he had ALOT of learning to do, which I thought was cool. Optimus had been the leader for millions of years, with Rodimus for a few years. I'm sure Orion Pax/Optimus Prime had plenty to learn back in the day, especially since Megatron was already leading the Decepticons quite awhile before Optimus Prime came to be(noted in War Dawn).
However, I cried when Optimus died, I was 10 years old, I still get teary eyed to this day when I see that seen, and I'm 29. I also get emotional watching Code of Hero, when Dinobot sacrifices his life, to save the (proto)humans & the Autobots fate, even though he was a descendant of Decepticons, he chose the honorable path.
