Has there been an Optimus death from any universe that has actually come as a surprise to you or someone you know? Why was it so shocking?

For me it was when Optimus sacrificed himself at the end of Transformers Prime: Predacons Rising due to the fact that it was a death truly befitting an Optimus. He sacrificed himself in order to allow Cybertrons core to regenerate rather than risk saving himself and loosing the Allspark.

 

Back when I was a kid seeing Optimus Primal explode shocked me. I just expected him to shoot the stasis pod glass and escape in time. But since then I've been unfazed by such moments.

It's like Starscream betraying Megatron, I just expect it.

 

No. Its never shocking.

 

The first death surprised me. Because up until that point, the cartoon had been completely banal.

 

The first time and Animated, it was only the third episode (hence why they brought him back before you had the chance to moan at yet another death) and I wasn't expecting death from a show that looked like that.

 

I mean, the first death was surprising in the way it would be if there was a Sesame Street movie, and Ernie died.

 

When I first saw Optimus Prime die, it was in Dark Awakening. I wondered when he died before (as he was resurrected here) and was sad that he sacrificed himself   I wasn't aware of the Movie until the mid-2000s.

But at least this is a better ending than the one in the movie. While I like the Movie, you really have to suspense your misbelief how Megatron and Optimus beat the crap out of each other that one of them dies like that. When everybody else can be repaired and rebuild.

 

Beast Wars and beyond help there when the concept of the Spark is introduced. In the Movie, Optimus's spark was damaged and was extinguishing.

 

Nope. (Any) Optimus Prime dying is as expected as G1 Megatron saying "Decepticons retreat!".

What would be unexpected is if Prime actually stayed dead. You can pretty much set your watch to his resurrections.

 

Even Optimus' original death in TFTM never shocked me. Of course, the commercials for the toy line at the time were touting this new character named Rodimus PRIME who happened to look an awful lot like that Hot Rod fella, so even as a kid I didn't find too much to be shocked about on that front.

To me it's more shocking if Optimus either DOESN'T die, actually STAYS dead, or is ALREADY dead when the story starts.

 

When I was younger it shocked me twice!

First when I saw Revenge of the Fallen, that was the first time I ever saw Optimus Prime die I think. Then later on when I rented the 86 movie from Netflix it shocked me again seeing him die!

But after those two times I've come to expect it... Except in the Season Two finale of Transformers Prime! I kept on mouthing WTF at my TV when the Autobot base was destroyed and all we saw was Prime's hand sticking out of the rubble. Yeah I know he didn't die but still that shocked me.

 

just the first time in the 1986 movie. When they revived him in season three it took out the punch of any further prime deaths.

 

Shocked? Nope, never. Not even the very first death.

But then I was a much more of a comic fan where TF got ripped apart and blown up, and often were absent due to repairs for a long time (one reason why I didn't care much for the cartoon where nobody ever got really injured). And at first I didn't know there was an animated movie (I doubt it was shown in local theatres) and the local Publisher just integrated the movie adaption in the regular comic run. And reading the movie in comic book shape wasn't any different than reading the regular comics in which TF got dismembered, ripped apart or blown up.

After that, it became one of the overused staples of Transformers cartoon.


But in a way, Beast Wars surprised me in that Primal died and was gone the next episode and didn't come back until the end of the third after his death.

 

Probably Animated since it was so fucking soon to do that and then have him come back to life in a few seconds later.

the 86 movie could have been this if I wasn't spoiled on that eons ago.

Optimus Primal and Armada Optimus Prime's first deaths were shocking to me as a kid.

 

The first death shocked me because it seemed final and it was supposed to be. All of the others after that were meh.

 

The first time I saw his death which was back in Armada. I came home from school, did my homework, and sat down in front of the TV to watch Transformers like I always did before. Optimus was (and still is) my favorite character, and to see him just crack and evaporate.....I just remember sitting in front of the TV, jaw dropped.

Since then, the only thing that actually shocked/surprised me regarding Optimus' death was in Season 3 of Prime when he came back all armored up and flying. I guess I was just so absorbed into the show that I wasn't expecting that to be him (and I temporarily forgot this was the Prime series where nothing really lasts forever lol). I mean the Decepticons said they were picking up an airborne Autobot signal, and it was Starscream who said "I know that color scheme" so low-key I thought it was going to be Jetfire.   But I actually left out an excited gasp when they revealed it to be Prime himself.

 

BW, because it was the first time I ever saw Optimus die and didn't know it was a trend yet. And TFA, because I didn't expect it to happen so damn early.  

 

Only the first time and that would be when I saw Revenge of the Fallen. I was shocked but not much cause I was used to the "main character gets killed and revived" trope. But when I saw his death in Animated I quickly learned about the pattern and Optimus' death no longer had an affect on me.

Now every time I see Optimus die I go "Meh, he'll be back."

My brother on the other hand is a different story. Even with the knowledge of Optimus' constant revivals, my brother hates seeing Optimus die and gets upset over his death. This is because my brother is a huge Optimus Prime fanboy.

It's actually quite interesting when our feelings clash. An example would be when we saw "Predacons Rising." I forgot when we watched it but I had already heard the announcement for Robots in Disguise back when it was originally going to air on the Hub before the name change.

Brother - Noooooo!!!!!!! They can't possibly end the Prime series like this! They can't end it with Optimus' death! Why did they kill him off?!

Me - Why are you upset about this? They already announced a sequel series and obviously they'll revive Optimus there.

Brother - They shouldn't have killed him! He should have stayed alive! But they stupidly killed him off and makes me both sad and angry.

Me - Again, he's obviously coming back. He's going to be in a series where Bumblebee is going to be the leader.

Brother - Bumblebee?! Leader?! That should have been Optimus' spot! Now I wish Bumblebee stayed dead in the last episode, then he wouldn't be able to steal Optimus' spot!

Me - ... Rude much?

Like I said, huge Optimus fanboy. But I guess our differing views help give people two different sides of reactions to Optimus Prime's many deaths.

 

G1 probably surprised me but I don't really remember...

Beast Wars was the first time I can actually remember seeing an Optimus die... and I was kind of surprised but at the same time I was in denial that they would ever really kill him. I was already use to watching reruns of the Adam West Batman at that point so I knew how cliffhangers work. They make you think that the hero is going to die and then in the next episode they escape some how... except in the first episode of season 2 everyone was so sad an depressed and talking about Optimus like he was actually dead and then I was like. Wait a minute, what happen to Optimus, they can't kill Optimus, he's the leader! I just kept waiting rather impatiently for them to finally show that Optimus was still around until Rhinox brought him back from the dead. After that nothing really surprised me anymore. It's been done to death, excuse the pun. They always bring him back.

At this point the only way an Optimus death could surprise me is if it happened in Rescue Bots. I don't think they'd do that in a show targeted at kids 4 and under. I don't think death is a topic they really want to teach to kids that young. In any other series I'm only surprised when he doesn't die at some point.

Same goes for Starscream. I'm surprised he didn't die in Prime. There were so many opportunities to do it and he's still running around alive and well. He died in G1, then came back as a Ghost/Immortal Spark. He died in Armada and then was revived in Energon with no memory of who he was. He died in Animated and then was revived by an AllSpark fragment which kept reviving him after being killed multiple other times in a montage of Megatron killing him repeatedly. Then he died in Dark of the Moon in the dumbest way possible. This latest version is really the only one that hasn't been killed at some point.

 

Lol... if I may ask, how old is your brother?