I am sure a lot you will have your own opinions, but I would like to throw in a few opinions of my own regarding the heroic Autobots. What was their purpose and use in the movieverse? Let's take a second a see the humans: Starscream killed by Sam, Blackout killed by U.S Army, Megatron killed by Sam (in the 1st movie), Frenzy killed by U.S Army, Devastator killed by U.S Army, Pretender (the girl in ROTF who was in Sam's college) Killed by Mikaela. I mean the Autobots killed a few Decepticons, but throughout the whole three movies, it was mostly the humans that had the most screen time and the Autobots were just around in case things go wrong. And since when Optimus needs a humans aid? What kind of a leader is that. What do you guys think?
Optimus did kill The Fallen and in the process saved the planet. But yes there is way too much gushing over the US military which in ironic considering their poor track record especially with friendly fire incidents.
Frenzy killed himself. He decapitated himself while fighting humans... but yes, the military is quite skilled at killing Decepticons when the script calls for it. However, even without Prime, the Autobots had a few kills. Ironhide killed the 2 Suburbans. Sideswipe sliced in half the Audi, Bumblebee killed Soundwave, the "dog" suburban, Lazerbeak, Ravage, Constructicon, and Brawl. Jetfire killed Scorpinok and a mixmaster clone, and the wreckers tore apart a protoform pilot, Wheelie and Brains killed an entire transport ship filled with Decepticon Protoforms. The only truly useless character across the three films was Ratchet, who accomplished NOTHING on screen, other than to sniff Sam, and spout 5 lines or so. The reasons are simple, however... it costs millions to render seconds of battle between bots. It costs hundreds to film minutes of humans. That's why in Jurassic Park, there is only 9 minutes of dinosaurs in a 2 hour movie. Also, Bay has a special relationship with the military, allowing him to utilize vehicles seldom seen on movie screens (F22 Raptor, Bonecrusher's minesweeper, etc). He's not going to let that relationship sour by showing the military as inept fools. Also, I don't mind the human military helping the bots, but that's what they should be doing... HELPING, not leading. I have a problem with the Autobots reporting to Lennox. The Autobots are closer to a civilian militia. The Decepticons are hardened military soldiers and gladiators. As for Prime, I, and many others, have talked to death the inadequacies of Psycho-Much Prime. His brutality and lack of common sense judgement/ logic is over-abundant in all three films. Best to just think of the movies as mindless rollercoaster entertainment and save the thinking for better films.
How many times has Sam saved Optimus Prime's life? TF1: Oh crap I can't fight Megatrobn. Oh, Sam. You killed him. ROTF: Oh crap I'm dead. Sam? What the? You brought me back! DOTM: Wreckers, please untangle me before Sam saves me again.
Why do you think Sam wants to work with the Autobots so badly in DOTM... without him, Prime cannot function properly. Sam shoulda became a Power Master for Prime in DOTM. hehehe Ever wonder what would have happened if merging the Allspark with Megatron's spark super-powered Megatron instead of killing him in TF1? THAT woulda been an interesting scene... hehe Megatron: "Thank you boy, I am now a GOD!!!!!! Now I will kill you!" Sam: "You said you'd keep me as a pet!" Megatron: "I kill my pets. I'm a sadistic warlord, fool!" *squishes Sam* Optimus: "Awwwwwww F@#%!"
Optimus - Hey Sam wanna fix my arm for me? Since Humans need more screen time? and plus, Ratchet is usless as a medic I was honestly thinking in DOTM something about that when Optimus lost his arm after re-watching it a 3rd time.
Can we like decide if the Autobots are useless or overpowered already? It's been 3 movies and I still don't know what this fandom thinks about ANYTHING!
Just you watch... Transformers 4, Prime will transform into a truck with a chunk missing, bumblebee will be voiceless still, Q will be running around without a head, and all the while, Ratchet will be in the background sniffing humans to see if it is mating time. LOL Decepticon Universal Healthcare is ran by Nerd Spiders... Although... the spider WAS able to revive Megatron from the dead with a Allspark Shard... Ratchet didn't think to try that with Jazz. Decepticon Health Care took the severed head of a constructicon and created Igor. Has Ratchet turned Jetfire's head into a kitty cat? I think not! Bet you anything Megatron and Starscream return in TF4 with a headache and a sore back, but otherwise ok... and it's all thanks to Nerd Spiders.
Well, if the Autobots hadn't been there, we'd get fucked over pretty badly. I mean, humanity thought the attacks in the first film were done by other humans, giving the 'Cons all the time in the world to do their shit while we pointed fingers at each other. Good thing the Autobots arrived to stop their nonsense Both sides are giant alien robots with force, disguise and cool weapons, but the Autobots have both a home-turf advantage as well as quite literally millions of reinforcements.
Barricade and Frenzy kill Sam and Mikaela. They get glasses. They track the Allspark. Megatron is in the next room. Megatron gets the Allspark. Earth dies. Also, I firmly believe Ratchet is the best Autobot after Prime and Bee. He gets the most on-screen kills (he isn't a show-off and his fights are not staged) and the surviving bots are in pristine condition the next film.
Other than Prime to rip off the Fallen's face and Bumblebee to watch over Sam until Sam can become an unstoppable Decepticon killing one man army the Autobots really aren't needed for much. Most of the time the Decepticons could just be stopped by throwing a few more troops into the fight or pulling something like a rail gun out of nowhere. Don't get me wrong I really like military movies, but we get a lot of good military movies so on the rare occasion when we get a Transformers movie I want to see the bots getting the spot light.
All Autobots except for Optimus and Bee are useless. Really Ironhide, Sideswipe, Ratchet and them....if you took them out of the movie sadly they wouldn't be missed much.
This is why I wished they did the trilogy based on Orion Pax becoming Optimus and the beginning of the war, because then, we could only get awesome screen time of all the Bots/Cons, instead of them being secondary characters to untalented teens and other characters with no personality (exept Lennox and Epps guys)
Since 1984, roughly, according to my memory. And consistently since then too. Um, still a leader? Since when did having help suddenly nullify your leadership skills? I wouldn't call the Autobots "useless", but I would say that the military, Sam, 'Bee and Optimus alone make up 95% of the Autobot wins/fights. The other 5% consists of the Wreckers, Ironhide and Sideswipe. If you categorize the wins in these movies, it's actually a pretty even three-way balance between "HUMAN ONLY", "AUTOBOT ONLY" AND "AUTOBOT/HUMAN TEAM-UP".
This thread has fallen apart quickly... Autobots aren't worthless. I pointed out the other kills made by them. Non-Prime/non human Kills or positive contributions: TF 1: Jazz - broke off Brawl's missile launcher and distracted Megatron enough for the other bots to scramble. BB- killed Brawl, KO'd Barricade Ironhide - scared off Starscream & Blackout from catching Sam & did slowmotion flip to stare at woman's boobs. Ratchet - sniffed human TF2: Ironhide - helped bring down Constructicon Arcee - ate plasma so humans won't have to. Mudflap & Skids - played nice-nice with Devastator Jetfire - squashed scorpinok and Mixmaster clone Sideswipe - sliced Audi-con Jolt - Ratchet's nurse... and probably human pheromone dealer. Ratchet - pointed at Jetfire's carcass and made Jolt do all the work. BB - kills Ravage, constructicon, toasterbots TF3: Ironhide - killed Suburbancons Sideswipe - gets the assist. Dino/Mirage - annoys Iranians & US officials with italian accent and surfs dog-con BB - kills Soundwave, Lazerbeak, and messes up John Malkovich's hair. Wheelie & Brains - crash a decepticon troop ship Wreckers - pull apart protoform AND cut Pinocchio Prime's strings Ratchet - points out the obvious on the arc Wheeljack/Q - insults the memory of both G1 Wheeljack and Albert Einstein So as you can see, the Autobots are a valued commodity in the war against the Decepticons. Nuff Said, case dismissed.
the autobots weren't useless, we just didn't get to see the ones not named prime or bee enough, especially in the sequels
was reminded about TF1 ironhide's flip to look at screaming girl's boobs... edited to correct this horrible oversight. my apologies.
