I don’t know man, his fight with Bonecrusher was like a sneak peek into his blood lust.

 

Not really. Optimus’s fight with Bonecrusher wasn’t as ruthless as some might think. Bonecrusher had just got through killing a bunch innocent people so Optimus had to stop him. It was a quick fight in which Optimus took him out in just a few moves so he could catch up to the rest of his Autobot troops. It wasn’t drawn out in a ridiculous fashion like some of the later fights were.

 

Very true. Plus, I see it as one of the few times Optimus showed mercy to one of his enemies in this universe. Bonecrusher received a far quicker and less painful death than most of his comrades. The only other instances I can think of at the moment were in Bumblebee (assuming they are, in fact, set in the same universe). Hopefully, the ROTB crew are taking notes from those two films rather than any of the later ones.

 

It's amazing there still isn't universal consensus on this. And I bet the new movie just adds to the ambiguity.

 

There is because, and this is 100% fact I just decided, the sole purpose of Prime's battle mask is to hide his smile when killing!

 

I agree, he is just an asswhole. saying he has PTSD is almost insulting to the folks who have PTSD.

Bay Optimus is just Bay's warped view of what a hero is.

 

This 100%!

 

legit i dont think theres much to explain his bloodthirsty nature other than the simple fact he is a very poorly written character and this problem becomes worse the more the movies go on. i like to imagine it as him being very changed by the long war (he doesnt have ptsd. thats just stupid) and especially from the expiriences on earth. in the first movie i think optimus himself was fine minus that stupid suicide thing. i can excuse the bonecrusher battle as he really had no choise but to immobilize him to help against megatron because bonecrusher is portrayed in the media as extremely bloodthirsty. but then comes the question: why not just actually immobilize but taking him out without killing him? immidietly executing him (ripping his goddamn head in half) is clearly the most extreme option. was it as a punishment because he killed many civilians in the road? we will never know. as much fun as it is to think about the bayverse, shit gets more tangled and confusing the more you think about the details

 

Agreed, I think there are better quality media in Transformers that demonstrates POTENTIALLY (emphasis on potentially, I don't know if thats what they were going for).

IDW Megatron in the lost light regarding the Mnemosurgery memory comes to mind. Optimus phasing out as Prowl is briefing him during Prime's oneshot is another example of potential symptom of PTSD.

 

havent read idw yet but ive read about prowl on the wiki and its pretty interesting stuff so one day i will check it out.
i hope that in the future we actually get a transformers show or movie that actually takes the base ideas of these more sad primes and writes an on screen optimus like this well

 

Agreed, but I think that is pretty tough to do such concepts in a mainstream medium like a blockbuster movie.

To dive into the concepts of a war and it's ramifications, requires diving into politics and that is VERY tough. That is why most mainstream superhero/fantasy relies on MacGuffin (allspark, Thanos glove, etc.). Its safer than alienating half your auidence.

It is not impossible, The Boys and Watchmen come to mind, but those shows are pretty political. Both are giant nesting dolls of satires in satires.

 

and lets be real here after the dumpster that was the netflix series i doubt we are ever gonna get a proper adult show. atleast not in the near future

 

Oh that was so bad!

It could have been so good, but it just sucked so bad and the potential was rhere too.

 

Exactly! I think Optimus' barbarism in these movies is just another case of Hollywood making strong, optimistic, and moral heroes into murderous maniacs because they think killing is cool. Remember when Peter Cullen talked about his brother telling him not to play Optimus as a generic action hero but to be a real, kind, hero? Yeah, Optimus in the bay films is literally the anthesis of what Optimus stands for.

The fact that people are excusing Prime's actions as him having PTSD just shows how little people know of the condition and will fling to anything to defend his awful character and not admit that he is an awfully written character.

 

It also irritates me that some people actually think this is a legit good direction for the character when obviously it’s not. If this version of Optimus Prime is so great, than why’s it been upsetting people for over a decade now!? I wanted to like this version of Optimus Prime, but having him constantly disembowel or dismembering his enemies and then trying to “pretend” like he cares about all forms of life makes the whole scenario feel incredibly hypocritical.

 

Yeah Bay Optimus is such a shallow character. There is nothing there beyond the 'cool and gritty' aspect.

Bay Optimus is the type of character that gets everyone he is sworn to protect killed by virtue of his owm hubris.

 

Exactly the reason why I pin most of these movies problems on Michael Bay. He’s not a very good director and a very poor choice to do the Transformers series in live action to begin with. There’s a YouTube video about ROTF that came recently by a YouTuber named PointlessHub and he says that a lot of these movies have a really mean spirited vibe to them and that they only get worse the longer they go on.

In all honesty he’s not exactly wrong. Even the Autobots start to act like this were they start fights with each other over the smallest things.

 

i dont think bay is bad director at all. his movies work but like you said just not for transformers. he shouldve left after dark of moon but we know what happens next

 

I think he is a bad director and a bad Transformers director. To give some credit I will say he is good at selling a product, i.e. his trailer lpok good, but his movies are bad.

 

I'm kinda late to reply to this but yeah, I agree, it really irritates me that some fans think having Optimus be a barbaric murderer is a good direction for the character because "we already have moral characters like Captain America and Superman" like no kidding, somebody actually said that having Optimus be a barbaric killer is refreshing because we already have moral characters like Superman, Captain America, etc. Also, I saw someone say that making Optimus merciful is somehow making him soft, as if making a hero have a strict of code of honor and being willing to spare someone's life somehow makes them soft, because why have heroes be actual heroes when you can have them be barbaric assholes.