Optimus personality

I actually like him in this show. It would be nice to see him act out of character once in awhile though.

Optimus does have a personality, people. I don't see why you have to complain about him NOT having one.

In case those complainers don't know, being a leader and the Last of the Primes is a VERY heavy burden to carry on your shoulders. You're forced to hide away your emotions so that you don't appear weak to your soldiers. You have to keep your team together and make tough calls, and you also have a guilty conscience because you were once friends with an enemy who is the leader of an opposite side.

Obviously you complainers don't see what it means to be a leader.

I love this Optimus Prime a lot better than his previous incarnations (minus his Movieverse one). For the first time ever, we have a Prime that is forced to carry a heavy burden on his shoulders.

That is my

They did that just fine with Movieverse Prime. And guess what? He showed emotion in his dialouge. People need to learn that being a leader IS NOT an excuse for being completely dull and void of life. If he has a personality, SHOW IT TO US.

THIS

Seconded. Well said.

Optimus Primal showed the "chains of commanding" as TV Tropes describes them, fairly often, particularly in The Agenda and in the first few episodes. Animated Optimus pretty clearly is stressed a lot of times, especially in the opening three-parter with the challenges of Starscream's ultimatum, what it means to be a hero, and coping with a young hotrod, a big clutz, a cranky veteran, and a disobedient loner. And Human Error touches on how Sari realizes what a challenge Optimus goes through daily being the leader.

This Optimus is not so different from his past incarnations. He's huge, brooding, and mournful of the war and Megatron; just like the movie Prime. Heck, he feels like a watered down "Sparknotes" kind of Movie Optimus in that he's so similar to him, yet his emotions are toned down a lot. Movie Optimus is very passionate, very human. Losing his temper, finally killing Megatron, showing genuine sadness and later fear at Sentinel's betrayal, having strong friendships with humans, very clearly being shaken by executing Sentinel.

Optimus was mostly out of focus during the first season, and even when he gets more focus later on, he doesn't get too much personality other than stoic, brooding leader. The fiction explains why he's like he is, as being a Prime and the leader obviously takes a toll on him. But instead of being epic, he comes across as bland 90% of the time. He does have a sense of humor rarely ("Our human friends would have been wise to stray from Ratchet's path"), and he will smile from time to time.

However, come Stronger, Faster, when the Autobots are really being driven into the ground by the Decepticons with their Energon dangerously low, Ratchet I think is right on, questioning Optimus' peaceful defensive approach which obviously has not been working too well. Optimus is often this perfect figure of goodness; no Decepticon can defeat him besides Dreadwing and Megatron himself, his word is always supposed to be final, and you have to accept his speeches. But in Stronger, Faster, he finally gets a "The Reason You Suck" speech from none other than his oldest and best friend, which clearly pains him, even if Ratchet's not in his right state of mind.

"You know what your problem is, Optimus? For such a big, strong 'bot... you're soft. You didn't POUND Megatron into scrap when you had the chance! MANY chances in fact!"

Optimus' face says it all here. In Masters & Students, Optimus confided in Ratchet that he had hopes of saving Megatron from his evil. But in One Shall Fall, that gets shot down in flames when he sees Raf nearly killed by Megatron. And here, Optimus flat out goes to wreck Megatron's shit. This is where some development finally happens, that is another similarity to his Movie counterpart - he finally decides that Autobots and Decepticons will never coexist in peace, and Megatron must die. Gone are his hopes for peace, he's out to kick ass. Even after Unicron's defeat and his stint as Orion Pax, Optimus does not go back on his declaration in One Shall Fall and tries to kill Megatron at least twice during the second season thus far, and is seen to not be taking anyone's shit during this season.

Optimus' resolution to kill Megatron is no doubt fueled by his blaming himself for the war and for countless lives lost, Raf's near-death, and for, as Ratchet said, not killing Megatron when he had all those chances. However, he noticeably is hesitant about potentially killing Megatron when the latter is defenseless and exhausted. Optimus expected to kill Megatron at the end of an epic battle like he nearly did in One Shall Fall. This is a very different scenario, and even though he pulls out his gun, he's clearly hesitating.

So Optimus is getting character development; he went from stoic, speech-making peacemaker who hopes for Megatron's redemtpion... to stoic, speech-making 'bot who wants to rip Megatron's spark out. His personality is one that is bland for the most part, but he sees that his ways aren't winning the war and saving people, so he changes for hopefully the better. Though Movie Optimus went through this as well, so this isn't particularly unique.

It would be nice if Optimus would be more than the brooding leader he is, and therefore Peter Cullen could be allowed to, I dunno, voice-ACT. I loved every second of Orion Pax, when Cullen portrayed EMOTION as Orion.

Originally Posted by TylerMirage "It is time for the slaves of Sunnyside to recognize their masters. ... Seal off the daycare."

Says.... who? Being a leader isn't an acceptable excuse. Movie Prime was the last of the Primes and had a decent personality at best.
Again, this isn't exclusive to TFP Optimus. What makes him so special? Oh, right. Nothing.
Because you obviously have experience?

Originally Posted by Fallout united states is best country.

I agree with those saying Optimus Prime has personality. You not liking it is another issue, but in my opinion it suits just fine for someone in his position and experience.

He is a little dull, I mean G1 optimus had personality....even though he worried about the decepticons all the time, he had an interest in earth sports, and hated pop music.

Prime Optimus has no interests or habits besides his role as leader of the Autobots. He may have gotten quite irate with Megs in One Shall Fall, and regreted how megs "died" in Masters and Students, but that's it

This completely and utterly sums it up for me. Optimus's alleged lack of personality pretty much is his personality, and it totally works in my opinion. As the last-standing leader of the autobots, it is his duty to stay one hundred percent collected at all times, which, in this case, warrants his tedious demeanor. And I love it.

Haters gonna hate.

I loved your interpretation and thinking process, and I hardly disagree with anything you said. For however much I love this incarnation of Optimus, I can't deny that his personality is, as you mentioned, bland. And perhaps his character could be better-written, but you touched on his new resolve to actually finish off Megatron and win this war once and for all, and this may be what the writers are trying to get at and what some people are missing. Optimus is slowly but surely developing. Now he's come to light that Megatron can not be the good buddy to Optimus that he once was. As wise and experienced as he is, he still has that dab of naivity that's only now starting to recede.

There's still time left, and I do think that Optimus's emotions can reach a level of exposure that should please at least some of the fanbase. At this rate, it'll be slow. But it could happen, and who knows how the season-break tragedy is going to effect everyone, including him. I suggest we all sit back and relax.