1) remember how many bots and humans the cons killed? Killing Megs is a no brainer.

2) You are seriously over thinking this stuff man. Its a movie. The battles are savage to entertain us. Calm down.

 

Whenever this topic comes up, I always have to reference this.

SDCC 2012 Larry King Interview with Peter Cullen - Part 2 - YouTube

It's clear that Cullen is very uncomfortable with the line and that's almost all movie Optimus boils down to. When I read

"He is exactly who he was from the very original concept," Cullen says of Prime. "I've always felt a hero should have the qualities that are inspiring and helpful and fatherly and at the same time (be) courageous. I don't see those character traits changing at all."

I reluctantly but seriously disagree with him. The Optimus he describes is clearly the G1 cartoon version and it's painfully obvious that those traits don't carry over to movie Optimus and even if they do it's only in a few lines of dialogue that don't show in his actions. I wonder if Cullen's seen these movies because I know that before the 2007 movie he hasn't kept up with Transformers in general or voiced Optimus since 1986. I'd think if he saw Revenge of the Fallen or Dark of the Moon it would've been very jarring. I feel sorry for the kids that have movie Optimus as their first because while they might love the action he delivers it's at the cost of the character. Around 2:30 in the above video Cullen again says that every incarnation of Optimus is the same to him and I respect his opinion, I really do but I sadly just can't agree.

I understand that movie Optimus is just another take on the character but I feel this take lost sight of why people love Optimus Prime in the first place. For those who say that it's war and killing's the best way to end it, I will take "Decepticons, retreat!" at the end of every movie if it means more of the core Optimus traits get to shine. You know these movies can go on forever anyway so I'd rather the Decepticons run instead of Megatron coming back after "dying" over and over again. If Megatron actually stayed dead while the movies continued or we get Optimus's thought process on his actions maybe I'd rein it back a bit but that would require good writing and Optimus to be a main character and I feel neither will happen. If you like movie Optimus, fine but just realize that it is the only Optimus (and to some extent Prime) to deviate from how Cullen described him. Every time I hear him talk about Optimus and the story about his brother I can tell he really loves the character and what he represents. He knows what Optimus means to fans and that video really hits it home for me.

 

The irony of this statement.

 

Thank you mister Cullen for being a leaderly voice in many people childhoods, young AND old. I'm so glad that you enjoy being part of something that kids and fans love. We will always appreciate you voicing Optimus Prime. You got the touch!

Maybe he acts different in AOE? In the trailer he seems like he's venting his anger over the entire war and the lives it took by yelling at Grimlock. Poor Optimus.  

 

I don't see Optimus any less of a hero for what he did in the movies. I don't believe in hopeless idealism, or always going for the noble choice. For me, life and the real world, isn't like that. And I prefer movies that reflect that, rather than the feelgood endings normally associated with cartoons or children's shows.

If someone was hell bent on killing me or hurting my family, I would blow his brains out without hesitation. I won't beat him up, listen to him utter a few empty promises and let him walk away, just so he can attempt to kill me again in the future. Of course, he may or may not attempt to hurt me again, but it's not a risk I'm willing to take.

I would rather take a life, knowing that it guarantees the safety of the things I hold dear. Rather than sparing one, and regretting it later if another incident happens. Maybe I just don't have a moral compass. Whatever.

 

I don't think Prime personally enjoys ripping faces. I never even see him kill his enemies with glee or anything.

He doesn't even show that personality when he isn't fighting.

 

War is ugly. People get their limbs blown apart in a lot worse ways. Step on a land mine, get hit by an rpg, or even shredded by shrapnel, it's all a lot worse than anything you'll see in a Transformers movie. There are still nations that rip fingernails off prisoner's hands, burn them, along with a number of other graphic mutilations. There's quite a bit of ugliness in the word. It isn't right, and shouldn't be like that. But it's there nonetheless.

Movie Prime is much more "realistic" character than the far more idealistic animated iterations of the character. Their entire planet has been ravaged from centuries of war. Prime's tolerance of Decepticons has diminished from all that fighting. He still has morals, and that is evident throughout all three movies. He values the lives of the innocent, the helpless, and the powerless. He feels responsible for protecting the Earth from becoming another dead world like Cybertron has long since become. He's a flawed hero, because he knows he has to fight dirty, even mercilessly to stop an enemy that cares about nothing but gaining power at any cost. So Prime still have a lot of hero in him despite his fighting techniques.

Just my 2 cents. YMMV.

 

These quotes are all from the first two or so pages, I'm not going through the entire thread with all of it's back and forth, so...yeah.

Considering there is a connection with his brother, comments like this are pissing on a man's dreams. That's fucked up.

BINGO!

It's easier to live in the past and still believe in a badly written cartoon, with their heads buried in the sand, rather than facing the reality of it all.

Soldiers on all sides do far worse than Optimus ever has. Do a Google search on the atrocities of war. Rob Dyke's channel on YouTube has a video about a Japanese doctor who performed horrible experiments on people during WWII and we (yes, the US) let him slide on all of it. Soldiers will do the same or worse to their opposition. A giant robot in a war would do the same.

Optimus killed Sentinel for good reason. Several, actually.
-He killed Ironhide.
-He helped continue the slaughter of innocents in an unjust cause.
-He wanted to kill Optimus, but let him go. (For whatever reason.)
-He helped with the slaughter of the citizens of Chicago.
-The whole thing got to Optimus, like Sam said "It just makes you human for once." He might be a machine, but he has a soul, he's as flawed as any human, and just as human as us.

Every time, you just have to put a rabid dog down.

Neither do I. Even if they did... Off 'em.

Oh no, let's. I am so sick and tired of people twisting the events in a movie about giant alien robots to fit their crazy childhood driven view of the whole thing. It's ridiculous.

Yeah, some truce. Fucker needed to go.

Sentinel wasn't decapitated. Megatron was. Neither one deserved to live. Sentinel was a murderous coward, he killed CHILDREN.

Thank you! You've become my favorite person of the hour. Thank you. It's nice to see someone (outside of a handful of those already mentioned) actually paid attention to the film.

Exactly.

Damn sure did.

*sighs* Whether or not he deserves it IS the point. A monster got what he deserved. Another point is that G1 Optimus would never be that cruel. THIS is not G1 Optimus. This is a reboot, a different universe. This is as realistic an Optimus as you're going to get. Realism and fantasy do not fit with one another. That's what makes it escapism. This is nasty and gritty, just like a real war is. The G1 Optimus that you still pine for? Unrealistic and cartoonish. That's great for kids and when we were kids. We're adults now. It's time to let go of such fantasies and face the truth. Like a real soldier, Optimus is about self sacrifice. He jumped in the line of fire to keep Sam safe as much as possible, and he'll do so again with Cade and his family.

You go near Prime's people and friends, he's going to fuck you up. That makes him human, that makes him real. I'd much rather have a machine on the outside, human on the inside any day.

For example, one of the things about Star Trek: The Next Generation that was so connectable was Data's search for his humanity. Even without an emotion chip, he was more human than a lot of us. Had morals that many did not. A conscience. Optimus is already as human as can be and the audience connects with that. When need be, he's a gentle giant. Kind and pure. He can also speak softly and carry a big stick when need be, too.

Again, not realistic. That's not at all how the real world works. Take real world peace talks and initiatives for example. Tenuous. Very. Things look good, sound good, seems great, right? All it takes is one or two hotheads on both sides to ruin it for everyone. You'd be amazed how fast peace can take a hike when the reality comes out.

And how many times can one give peace a chance when he's not given that chance? Seriously. Megatron offering tyranny is an offer of peace? I don't want to live in your world. It scares me.

Good job twisting things.

I like you. You're good people.

You...have no problem with him killing, but you're opposed to how it's done. You do realize that sounds crazy, right? "Well, this guy killed an entire city of people. We should do the right thing and end his life as punishment, humanely. Let's put him to sleep and then fill him with toxins so he doesn't wake up. Just like putting a dog to sleep." "But...we're still KILLING him, right?" "Oh hell yeah."

Killing anything, humanely or otherwise, takes it to the next level. This isn't fantasy shit, this is a being taking another's life. A living, breathing, feeling entity is ended by the hands of another. The how doesn't matter in the end, the fact that it even happened is what does. Optimus isn't into perpetual war. He was willing to end it by destroying the cube in the first film, he wasn't given the chance. The Fallen wouldn't let peace stay, he had Megatron brought back from the dead to continue his incessant need to kill his brother. Then, Megatron wanted revenge and to have his planet rebuilt.

They had their chance and blew it. Why should we pay the price for their second chance? Why should we die to make way for them? It's not right and Optimus saw that. He stood up and said "No more." And he took the necessary steps to make sure we survived. Also, Optimus isn't a general, he's a soldier. Most generals ARE bloodthirsty killers bent on destruction, we just don't see it because they hide behind the shield of cannon fodder they call soldiers. They were once soldiers, too. They were told by the higher ups to pull those triggers, and then they climbed the ladder telling those beneath them to pull the trigger. Now, they just don't have to get their hands bloody or look their victim in the face. Soldiers do, all the time. Optimus is a soldier.

He's not drinking anything. His brother was a soldier and I'm sure he had to take a life in the line of duty. This Optimus is the true leader the original never was. A real leader goes into battle WITH his men, like Optimus does. Optimus is the living embodiment of talk the talk, walk the walk. He doesn't ask his soldiers to do anything he wouldn't do. G1 Optimus expected his soldiers to put down their weapons in the name of a fantastical peace that just wasn't realistic. This Optimus carries the weight and pain of his actions, just like a real soldier (such as Larry Cullen) does. That's not Kool-Aid drinking, that's respecting a man who's defended us by doing the things we ourselves couldn't bring ourselves to do. Sacrificed not only his time and life (both of which are precious and cannot ever be replaced), but possibly his soul. Soldiers have to do horrible things to make us safe, we forget that because we buy into bullshit like G1. Reality is scary and so much worse. If Peter Cullen wants to remember his brother and honor him by making Optimus like him, he has that right and you shouldn't piss all over it.

Any soldier who stands up for us, any soldier who truly sacrifices, should be honored and respected.

And that's the damn truth.

 

Threads like these remind me just how much of violent amoral sick psyhopaths the movie fanatics are and only further explains why they worship Bay as a god.

God no wonder I ignore everything movie related

 

Wow. You must be a very open-minded and intelligent individual. I don't think anyone here on this thread is a psychopath (which you misspelled) and truely feel sorry for you if you believe that. I also don't think anyone worships Bay in any way shape or form. I think he makes entertaining action sequences and nice explosions but thats about it. He's not the best filmmaker but that's ok. Don't be ignorant and make comments of which you know nothing about, especially since you stay pretty far away from everything movie-verse. Might try keeping that way.  

 

The movieverse is its own thing. I love G1 more than any other iteration of the franchise but I still dig the movies for their take on the concept. In fact, I really love the movie Prime as he's a pissed and tired soldier trying to do the right thing. It's actually a bit more realistic. He has seen countless friends and allies die over the years so it's fair to say he would have a little desensitivity to killing cons having seen what they have done to them.

Surprised people haven't said Optimus Primal wasn't truck enough  

G1 Prime is still my favourite because he was a hero to me as a kid. He was tough, looked after his friends, and even hugged them from time to time. He was the man, a bot you wanted to be your friend. But it was an kid-friendly idealistic cartoon version of a leader of an alien army.

 

This! ^
You sir, know what's up!

 

Prime could dry hump his enemies for all I care as long as Cullen's voice is there.

 

Enough with this "movie fans are the scum of he universe" bullshit. If we're psychopaths, then you guys are egotistical narcissists coming in here, a place where we movie fans can talk about a news story that interests us, and you say egotistical shit like this:

STOP IT! It's a fucking film! Boo-Hoo it ruined your childhood. The film doesn't need to cater to what YOUR almighty vision of what the TF lore is. Michael Bay, the writers, and Steven Spielberg HAVE EVERY RIGHT to change and "Ruin" (So to speak) your childhood! Hasbro, the OWNERS and CREATORS of Transformers, let him do whatever he wants. HASBRO has the final say of what a TF movie should be like, not you. Do you OWN the brand? NO! You worship and take the brand far more seriously then the creators of the brand. Far more seriously than we take the movies that you claim we "worship"!!!

Maybe if you visited the movie forums, where we joke and have a good time, (Until you guys come in) you'd actually see that there are more reasons we like this film. (NOT necessarily Michael Bay, as there are more people who work on these films that "Ruin" them) You might even see a well thought out post! Please stop going into a thread that involves something you hate and ruining our fun just because you want to shove it down our throats that the movies suck and your precious series is better. Yes we all (or most of us) know they are not the most well-made films and could be better. But that doesn't stop me from liking the first one. Welcome to the wide world of OPPINIONS.

People like you guys started this debate once again. Just because you can't stomach something that a man admiring his brother said something positive about something that you despise so much to the point were it's a mental and diagnosable obsession to pan and hate the movies and anyone who likes them!

 

I think you just trivialized war in a horrible way.

Ops was a bit sadistic and not nearly as compassionate a warrior he has been in any story arc. essentially Bay went for the homicidal flash to get the cool factor since he can't seem to direct emotion in his characters at all.

 

Yes! Thank you.

 

Some of you people are so bitter and hate filled about people liking stuff you dislike.

 

 

^truer words have never been spoken -.-