Why is Optimus Prime a hero?

Discussion in 'Transformers General Discussion' started by BAMC18, Jun 6, 2012.

  1. Bass X0

    Bass X0 Captain Commando

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    Not killing the enemy when you know they're going to kill your allies or innocent beings is also wrong.

    Leaders of an army shouldn't have the luxury of saying "killing the enemy is wrong". If killing an enemy makes the hero no better than the enemy, then thats a burden they have to carry.
     
  2. Aernaroth

    Aernaroth <b><font color=blue>I voted for Super_Megatron and Veteran

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    I can't believe how accurate this is.
     
  3. Spiderus Prime

    Spiderus Prime TFW SpongeBob and TTV's MS 2.0

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    Who's Movie Cap gonna be?
     
  4. Brave Convoy

    Brave Convoy Banned

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    Yes! And not only that, but they were both without a doubt the strongest, most intelligent and skilled fighters of their groups. They didn't have the luxury of chilling on the sidelines. Their direct involvement played a key role in how every battle went. I love that the '86 movie clearly expressed this idea. The tide turned by Prime's hand alone. And the loss of Megatron caused the entire invading army to retreat, because they knew exactly how weakened they had just become without not only their leader, but best soldier.
     
  5. Brave Convoy

    Brave Convoy Banned

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    Movie Human Torch. :) 
     
  6. Brave Convoy

    Brave Convoy Banned

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    In real life, sure.

    In a cartoon, not exactly the same. The cartoon world is an ideal setting, where heroes get to be all that they can potentially be. I always liked seeing Optimus show mercy on Megatron, even though everyone would say he deserved a blast through the head. I think Prime's course of action was to detain/imprison. It's not like he would let them roam free and continue to hurt and destroy. It's the same concept behind our law enforcement officers and courts. Sometimes people lose the right to their freedom, but not necessarily their lives. Cartoon Optimus never played God with people's lives. He just unfortunately couldn't keep the bad guys locked up indefinitely.
     
  7. Steevy Maximus

    Steevy Maximus Old School Snarkster

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    Optimus Prime is a hero because he usually has the most/biggest toys Hasbro needs to sell. And heroes sell better

    :p 
     
  8. Seeker

    Seeker Time Lord

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    ^ This


    I also think it's the ideals most incarnations believe in. The movie version believes these things in theory but the reality on the ground shapes his actions.
     
  9. Brave Convoy

    Brave Convoy Banned

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    I don't have an issue with movie Prime killing so much as I do with him being vocal about it and seemingly reveling in it. "Give me your face" and "We're going to kill them all" aren't things G1 Cartoon Prime would say. Maybe if the lives of many, many innocents was at stake, he'd take a life, but I just don't feel as if he'd spout a witty on-liner about it. I feel like he'd just sigh, maybe whisper "Dammit" to himself and feel remorseful over having to go to such an extreme. That Optimus would take a moment and try to atone for having to go so far. Movie Optimus is more of a "who's next?" type of guy. Different time and audience. People today are much more cynical, shallow and confrontational than they were years gone by, hence the change.
     
  10. Bumblebee765

    Bumblebee765 Wrecker

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    It's because he always does what's right, not what's easy. No matter how difficult it may be. He's my role model. :)  (Don't worry, I'm not talking about including Movieverse Prime! :lol )
     
  11. KnightHawkke

    KnightHawkke Flynn Lives

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    When exactly did Prime Optimus resort to mindless killing? Out of curiosity?

    I think your views on the Prime show might need some serious re-evaluation.
     
  12. PrimusVsUnicron

    PrimusVsUnicron Well-Known Member

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    I tell you Optimus is a hero..

    HE IS OPTIMUS MOTHERFUCKING PRIME
     
  13. SPLIT LIP

    SPLIT LIP Be strong enough to be gentle

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    Optimus Prime, in every incarnation, even if the character is bland or dumb, is a hero. He helps people. In the grand scheme this may mean fighting and beating Decepticons and putting an end to their threat like in the Movies, or it could be smaller like Animated Optimus helping repair trashed cities and putting out fires. Even the crummiest Optimus', like UT or some comics incarnations, are still heroes in their own crummy little universes.

    Those aren't witty one-liners. Those are bouts of anger. Especially after seeing a city ravaged and human corpses littering the ground like snowflakes in winter. Yeah, I'd be pretty pissed too. He doesn't revel in anything. He's always angry and upset when fighting. I don't think he's physically capable of enjoying anything, to be honest. And when he finished off Sentinel he tossed the gun away like it had herpes.
     
  14. Brave Convoy

    Brave Convoy Banned

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    Truth. The right thing is rarely easy. "Easy" and "comfort" are a cancer, keeping so many from fulfilling their incredible potential. Prime is a hero because he doesn't try to find an easy, fun or cool way to be a hero. He's waist-deep in the crap and he doesn't complain about the smell. He knows he's supposed to be there, it's supposed to stink, and it always will. He just does his job and it's something to be admired.
     
  15. Aernaroth

    Aernaroth <b><font color=blue>I voted for Super_Megatron and Veteran

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    At least for me, my issue with movie Prime wasn't that he killed in combat, but more that he killed afterwards. On more than one occassion he killed an opponent who was defeated, and essentially helpless. There weren't innocent lives at stake when he did that, and it was really jarring given the history of the character, and even the ideals he proposed to uphold in the movieverse.
     
  16. Brave Convoy

    Brave Convoy Banned

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    I thought that seemed out of character with the G1 cartoon version too. The point-blank execution at the beginning of ROTF in particular. It seems that Peter Cullen wasn't a bit fan of it either, from what I've heard at his Botcon panels, but he goes along with it, because it's there for a reason: to connect with a generation of people who have grown up on excessively violent video games and movies where mercy isn't "cool" and having the image of a "badass" is attractive. I'm glad to see a return to the character's merciful and benevolent roots in Transformers: Prime, and it sounds like Cullen's happy about it too.
     
  17. NEST SOLDIER

    NEST SOLDIER IRONHIDE'S DRIVER

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    Optimus Prime is great because he stepped up to the plate, and defied a tyrannical monster bent on destruction and conquest. He could have easily chosen to not fight Megatron, to surrender, or to run away; He did neither.

    Instead, he rose to the challenge of the hour, by rallying all Cybertronians whose values of freedom, justice, and peace were the center of their culture and existence. He made the difficult decisions, when no one else would.

    He was the first into every battle, and never asked any Autobots to do something that he had not done, or was not willing to do, himself. He never strayed from the mission, though at times within himself he may have been war weary, and tired.

    As the last Prime, Optimus not only is the rightful leader of all Cybertron, but he is also their only chance for survival. He alone holds the matrix of leadership, which now itself holds the knowledge of the All Spark.

    For me, personally, Optimus has always been a larger than life hero. Ever since I was a kid. I can remember my family not being able to afford the G1 Optimus, and every time I'd go into Roses I would go straight to the aisle where he was, and talk to him!

    I'd tell him not to worry, that I'd be back for him, and sure enough several months later, I didn't leave Roses without Optimus.

    His appearance, his voice, his words, all have meaning to me. Optimus Prime is the ultimate childhood hero, whose moral and ethical lessons applied to every facet of life.

    Today, I am still awed to look at his toys, because of what he symbolizes.
     
  18. FatalT 71

    FatalT 71 Mr. JazzHunter

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    Add me to that group - it was watching Optimus gun down the helpless and defeated in RotF and DotM that really got to me.
     
  19. Autovolt 127

    Autovolt 127 Get In The Titan, Prime!

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    My Ideal Optimus Prime is somehow who believes in justice but struggles to do the right thing when it comes to killing Decepticons. He'd be a veteran of countless battles but be given the task of leading his own team of Autobots and at first struggles to connect with them but as the series progresses he begins to gain the confidence to lead as the Chosen Hero.

    Also I wouldn't make him a bland goody two shoes, he'd intereact with the human kids and shoot a bit of B-Ball, he'd become a surrogate big brother figure too.
     
  20. AngryChad

    AngryChad Well-Known Member

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    I like to think that Optimus doesn't kill sometimes because he sees the long game. That the wisdom may not be immediately evident, and may even be a gamble, but he's an optimist so he takes that chance.

    Excluding Bay's crap version, of course.