What about an episode bringing back Optimus memories of his past relationship with Elita one? From the joy of young romance as Orion to the bitterness and sadness of breaking apart to become a Prime.

 

Gee I don't know, He never mentioned her in One Shall Rise Part 3.

Or Exodus for that matter.

 

I'm surprised he doesn't show emotion. Think about what has to go through:
Being the LAST Prime
Trying to make sure the team doesn't go insane(Arcee and to a lesser extent Bulkhead).
Fighting his former friend.
Killing others in a war.
Having the most powerful weapon in the Autobots' arsenal.
And that's just to name a few.I wonder what he does on his drives. Maybe singing or humming "It's a Wonderful World "?

 

He's not.

 

Agreed.

Personally, I thought it showed a lot about his character that, at the start of Season 1, when Megatron was seemingly killed, Optimus regretted that it came to that but, when Raf was injured by Megatron's wanton desire for carnage, Optimus made the decision that Megatron would never stop and Optimus himself had to kill him.

That shows so much more character than giving him some random flaw to play off of. It was him comprimising his ideals because of his emotions. He was willing to personally end Megatron because what he had done to a child.

 

I obviously expect Prime to be stoic and whatever else, but yeah, he IS pretty one-note boring in this series imo... and that pains me to say since I could listen to Cullen read a friggin phone book in Prime's voice. Having said that, in G1, we absolutely did get a little more personality. We would often hear his inflection change to better emote anger, praise, happiness, curiosity, etc., and there was even a bit of a smartass snark to the way he talked to Megatron and other Cons once in a while. By comparison in TFP, he does come off as constantly being on a soap box giving some sort of equality speech and being deadpan uber serious 99.9% of the time. It's almost drone like ala Soundwave, to be honest. And I know it's not Cullen's fault - it lays in the dialogue and characterization he's been given. But there needs to be something more imo.

 

He's Optimus Prime. He's not Batman or one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. On the other hand, it would've been kinda cool had he gotten all p'd off at Megatron once he got his memory back at the end of the Orion Pax trilogy. But that wouldn't have really made sense given that he didn't remember what happened during his time as Orion Pax.

 

And the B plot could be the Decepticons trying to make Soundwave talk.

 

I'd   very much if this happens.


Honestly we need more charecter based filler, you know fun stuff. We could all use a good chearing up in Prime.

 

Yep. I like him just fine. Optimus is just very, very subtle about showing his emotions. A lot of his emotion comes from moments of silence and facial expressions. Like that moment in "One Shall Rise" when they're asking him what's going to happen if Unicron wakes up. He doesn't say anything for a moment, but you can tell he's kind of dreading thinking about it.

 

my two cents

I'm satisfied with this explanation:

and also, maybe he's boring just because that IS what his character is suppose to and needs to be!

 

Jeez do you ever post anything positive?
Anyways, yeah I guess, but where barely on season 2, the way I see it heres how they are making the show:
season 1: Arcee and bulkhead
season 2: Bumblbee and ratchet so far
season 3: most likely will center around optimus.

 

Haven't seen any of the second season yet, but all throughout the first season, I always found Prime to be incredibly interesting because he was boring.

Simply because there were the few brief moments where that stoic, unyielding personality of his slipped, and other moments where his eyes and body language conveyed a sense that he was thinking far more than he was speaking.

It became very clear to me that this version of Prime had his own issues that he was keeping bottled up inside, and I was proven right when One Shall Fall aired. And even after that concluded, it was clear that there were still further complexities that had yet to be revealed.

 

Thoughtful and interesting.

 

I personally don't see Optimus as uncaring or without emotion. More that he is just really professional. He kind of has to be, being, supposedly, the last of the Primes.

I kind of think of this Optimus as the Transformers Batman.

 

He's boring.

 

You're boring.

 

yet another good point

well written and thoughtful insight. he's interesting because he is boring!

RIGHT ON!

just when I see him as "boring", Optimus Prime surprises me with his "all-too-human" reaction.

I think his reaction to Raf being injured by Megatron, his once close friend and confidant, proves this point.

 

qft

i think the whole "do u want to see something funny?" NO- with ratchet's explination that followed about how Orion Pax was never a fun loving, beer and smoke around teh campfire kind of guy, even before he became Prime is a big part of it.

If you want to take anything away from Autocracy (yes i recognize its not the same continuity, but personal i think the idea spans both medias and i think Hasbro is quite deliberate about that.)---in autocracy 1 we see Orion right after he has been upgraded to house the matrix (he doesnthave it yet though) - he talking about the work he got down adn says :

Its sort of like Prime feels like butter spread thin over too much bread. in TFP- the matrix as i see it kind of deadens your emotional responses so that you can deal with problems efficiently and serve your role as guardian of the Cybertronian race. The Matrix is supposed to be the symbol and tool carried by the one who's job it is to guide the Cybertronian race. With so much weighing on one person, the Matrix 'helps out' by tuning down your emotive, irrational behaviours and granting access to the wisdom of the Primes. In some sense- expecting Prime to be goofy sometimes like in TFA or John Wayne Optimus in g1 is like asking an ancient kungfu sensei in an epic kungfu movie to lighten up and crack a smile. He won't, he'll just hit you harder with the bamboo rod.

beyond that- as someone has already said - he fills his role in the team. We have Bee. bulkhead, and the kids providing comic relief, with Arcee filling in the straightface routine, and even Ratchet's drunken ramblings thanks to the last episode. I think it would detract from the show if Optimus was dropping character just for a gag or offhand fandom reference - let the other characters handle that stuff.

 

^^Really good observation there. Imo leaders aren't supposed to be all fun-loving they're there to get you through the shit and get you through it in one piece.

Good comparison. Batman comes off as cold and uncaring but you know deep down there's a lot of people he'd die for.