Of course not. He's Japanese. OPTIMUS is his surname. Which explains why Optimus Primal is not THE Optimus Prime. That's his son.

 

I always interpreted the "brother" line as having the same meaning as a bunch of monks, or something similar. They're higher ups in the Cybertronian social hierarchy, leading them to give each other titles. Hence, "Brother."

 

On a sidenote: Best family reunion EVER!

Course, Ops and Megs's parents don't want to send out the Christmas card and talk about how one son killed the other.

 

You are making an unwarranted assumption. The Fallen says "only a Pime can defeat me". He doesn't say "only Primes can kill Primes." He is only referring to himself. Jetfire also says "Only a Prime can beat the Fallen", not that ojnly Primes can beat Primes". You are expanding the statement to mean something it doesn't. That's why Megatron was able to kill Optimus. If that was the case Sam would not have been able to kill Megatron in the first one.

 

No, I'm remembered the line incorrectly. I've seen the film once, and thought Jetfire said specifically a Prime could only kill another Prime. With others reinforcing the "Only a Prime can kill a Prime" bit, I assumed that's what was said in the film and my memory wasn't betraying me. Clearly I was wrong, which I am glad, as it would have been one more plot hole that would bother me.  

 

Here's what I got out of it:

Prime's are by default more powerful than the other Transformers. Anybody could have killed The Fallen, technically, but nobody would really have much of a shot besides another Prime.

And then there's Megatron, who is some kind of freak of nature who got way bigger and stronger than he should have. Kind of like when you go to the pound and they sell you a cute little puppy and it's supposed to be a husky, but it ends up being half wolf and it gets 160 pounds and can jump out of the 7 foot tall fence around your dog run. (miss you Bob!)

Megatron is like a giant puppy armed with fusion cannons and rabies.

 

I don't think Megatron is a Prime, just that he and Prime regard themselves as honourary brothers. They both lead either side of the Autobot faction and both are incredibly strong, war-hardened and a bad-ass force to be reckoned with.
When Prime said "you left me no choice brother" at the end of TF1, he merely meant that they are of the same race and ultimately fighting for a future for Cybertron - they just go about it in completely different ways.
There is probably a lot of respect between them, only Megatron refuses to show this whereas Prime quite sensibly gives Megatron a wide berth until battle is necessary.

 

OMG... not this arguement again! Why must this be brought up time and time again?

If you guys are gonna keep arguing about 'Only a Prime can defeat a Prime' or 'Only a Prime can defeat the Fallen' theories, someone e-mail one of the writers or Bay to get some closer on this!


jD001

 

I didn't know that-that just blew my mind its hard to believe that Megatron was once a Prime I always thought of them as "brothers in arms  

 

janedoe001 take a chill pill. We can debate about whatever we want to thanks!  

 

I'm just saying everytime someone mentions these things (Fallen's Quote/Megatron + Optimus = Brothers/Megatron = Prime) there has to be an arguement other who is right. I'm saying lets settle it by asking the people who created the movie to comment.


jD001

 

They don't know no shit. They're complete cretins  

 

Awesome! Something COMPLETELY NEW to talk about for once!


//sarcasam

 

Hooray! Another sarcastic comment!

 

Better than just making up an argument.

 

LOL, yeah, why are we surprised? Megatron mopped the floor with Optimus in the first film, he's a monster. During the next round, Optimus was more intent on sending his nemesis back to the pit (contrast "I'm sorry it had to be this way" with "Junk yard scrap!")

To be honest, I am disappointed the "brother" bit was not cut from the first film, as it would have eliminated any notion of the old idea from the script: casual viewers do not take lines like that metaphorically in a fantasy film where the backstory is being established all the time. And I'm even more disappointed the end revelation Megatron was serving The Fallen based on a lie he would become a Prime was also cut out of the film: how awesome actually would've it been if Megs ganged up on his master too?

 

Yeah, I would've actually loved to have seen that...

But actually, Megatron just ditched him when he found out the Fallen lied.


jD001

 

I know, something like that could've been improvised by ILM and the recording studio though, instead of having Optimus slam The Fallen and Megs into walls and ripping off their faces.

 

That would have been awesome to see Megs turn on the Fallen as well.