Maybe it’s just me, but I thought that he was written in a very bipolar manner that made me hard to understand his motivations. In one instance he was a patriot of his country, willing to do whatever it takes to sweep his homeworld clean of all Transformers (he claimed it was “us or them” and didn’t care) – and then in another instance he was committing various unlawful deeds (alliance with Lockdown to acquire alien tech, slaughter of Autobots for Transformium, readiness to kill any humans who didn’t give him what he wanted) to make a profit from owning a new army of man-made Transformers.

It’s possible for a patriot to be a racist. Major William Stryker in X-MEN utilized mutants to enable a means to eliminate them, to say nothing of Magneto the embittered mutant revolutionary; General Zod in MAN OF STEEL killed his comrade Jor-El TWICE in order to acquire a means to save his race. Now Attinger, he did a lot of awful things (as above), but the problem from my POV is that these things were sort of separate from each other, and he never really did anything that crossed the line like Stryker or Zod did that made him both a patriotic and bigoted villain.

What I would say was crossing the line was the use of Galvatron (aka Megatron in a new body), but it didn’t go down as well as it could/should have. I mean, setting Galvatron upon Optimus Prime only to ensure Lockdown captured him was awful, but the problem is that Attinger thought Galvatron was controllable and had only a few bugs in his programming.

They never really went into Galvatron and Attinger interacting with each other, which not only formed a major plothole (how did Galvatron know about the deal for the Seed?) but also served as a missing point of development.
Had Attinger known that archenemy Megatron was actually alive, then what would he have done? Had he known and taken measures to maintain control (a deal or an inhibitor mechanism), then that may have worked out better. Had he knowingly resurrected Megatron as the KSI minion Galvatron and set him loose on Optimus Prime, knowing but not caring that it was their worst enemy returned, that would have made him more of a patriotic hypocritical villain AOE made him as.

As it is, Attinger came off as someone who veered between a profiteer who didn’t know what he’d done raising Megatron from the dead, and a ruthless paranoid agent who didn’t know or care about the difference between Autobots or Decepticons and wanted them all off his planet. Either way, he had no idea what he’d done and so his villainy was lessened and in a strange way compartmentalized between patriotism and profiteering.

 

I still find it strange that Attinger is willingly working with a member of a species he wants to eradicate from his home planet. I would love to see the formation of that alliance. How Attinger ended up trusting Lockdown. I also like how Lockdown is not really honorable, but he keeps his word. He was ready to leave Earth completely and never look back once he captured Optimus. I was kind of expecting more of a "I am the bad guy of this movie so I want to destroy Earth" type of character. I would love to get a well written prequel novel to AOE. Get on it Peter David!

 

Anyone remember that phrase, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend?"

Besides, Attinger is using Lockdown's association as a way to get the seed.

The problem in Attinger's mind, is the Transformers are weapons, but weapons that are fighting their own war on Earth.

If he can get rid of them, and he seed gives KSI enough resources to make human-drone-Transformers, then it's one last thing to worry about. And by the looks of it, Joyce is the only game in town that has synthesized Transformium into a viable substance for usage.

 

Military Industrial Complex

your welcome

 

I didn't find it strange. We just learnt about his true motivations as the film went on is all. It's all about the love of the green stuff.

 

He's evil.

That's why.

 

In his fight with Cade at the end, I believe he told him (paraphrasing) that it takes a certain type of man to defend his country without recognition (really rough paraphrase). I think Attinger is just a prideful individual at the heart of things. He has given himself to his duty and country for most of his life, but the Transformers were the one "problem" that he could never control and that he would always submit to. That's why he wanted to eradicate all of them and to create his own. Then, he would finally have an answer to the "threat." He probably also did not initially aim to destroy autobots, but he had to in order to help Lockdown, which would then help his own cause for getting the seed. At the same time, he probably wanted to finally get recognition (both money and fame from being a partner in KSI) for all his hard work and dedication.

 

...it was all about power and the ability to use it. He used his position to control Cemetary Wind and Savoy. He worked the CIA angle to make it legal (when really ot wasn't) and worked for KSI to make acseven figure sum.

Lockdown was merely a means to an end, and really not much of a danger to Earth. He wanted his bounty and to leave. That was it.

Galvatron was a tool, Attinger thought. He would've never worked with him if he knew he had gained sentience and planned to use the seed against Earth.

Ultimately, Attinger was your run of the mill villain: helpless to stop injustice, a patriot who was ignored and never given any recognition, who wanted a nice fat payday.

The only reason he was such an imposing character is because of Kelsey Grammer's performance.

 

Comparing Simmons and Attinger Simmons comes out more of a real patriot as he is willing to die to save the planet despite being "betrayed by his own country". Sure Simmons got rich telling his story but he is addicted to the adventure that he joined Sam and Bumblebee again. He could've just say pass because he was rich.

Attinger disguises himself as a patriot yet is afraid of death. Note the reason he doesn't want witnesses is that he would be charged for treason and executed. My guess is that the Decepticon collaborators got purged by the US government. He wants money and recognition yet he still has his job in the CIA. Makes him really pathetic compared to Simmons who got fired without any benefits and got by selling meat.

Another difference between the two is that while Simmons had an ego with his Sector 7 authority he wont kill civilians. Attinger doesn't care if innocent people die because of him.

 

I think what he really wanted was money, but he put on the whole Patriot thing not just as a front, but also to somewhat lie to himself and convince himself he was doing a good thing. That's the vibe I got from him.

 

I think Attinger actually working with a Decepticon shows the flaw in a number of power-mad crazies, is they in a sense, have things going counter to what they claim:

Hitler preached of an Aryan race of blonde hair/blue eyes, yet he himself had black hair and brown eyes.

Voldemort preached of a pure-blood society, yet he himself was the product of a human father/witch mother.

Lord Farquaad preached of wanting a perfect world, yet he himself is imperfect given his stature.

 

THIS. I think everyone is over analyzing it.

 

actually Hitler had blue eyes and brown hair Adolf Hitler's eye color in a rare color photo

 

Attinger was a paranoid ultra-hardcore patriot who wanted to retire and live rich, while at the same time doing one last service for his country.

So he hires a bunch of mercs (Savoy is NOT a CIA agent, since when do CIA agents get paid per mission??) to form a death squad to kill all the Transformers.

 

He wasn't really a patriot. He was a xenophobe

 

Still if I was going to come up with a master race I would at least say it looked like me.

Attinger wanted money after his failed marriage, binge drinking, failed career in psychiatrist then loosing his radio show he had it with conventional means of earning a living.

 

You forgot that during an Autobot incursion a few months after Chicago, they interrupted his breakfast and got "scrambled eggs all over his face."

So what was a boy to do? Destroy all Transformers!!

 

Simmons. the more i remember him, I remember trusted bodyguard Dutch & his Scrotum moment with Devastator. hahaha

Seriously, IDW should make AoE comics. I wonder why they never bother to do one at least.
The 1st trilogy has it's own comics explaining the plotholes and the history of Simmons & Sector 7.

IDW guys, if you're reading here PLEASE make AoE comics.

 

I can hear it now:

"Dear reader,

Thank you for your interest in us making comics for Age of Extinction. However, we have heard word that our last comic stories for Transformer films confused a number of fans, who thought that our inclusion of side-stories were deleted scenes, or unused concepts for the films.

We sincerely apologize that this has led to such delusional thinking. As such, at the request of Michael Bay and Ehren Krueger, we have been told to not put out any tie-ins, out of concern that it may confuse viewers of the film, and take away from the true focus of the story: the human element, which is something Mr Bay and Mr Krueger believe is the driving force behind these stories.

Thank you once again for understanding, and we strongly urge you to see Age of Extinction at your nearest IMAX theater."

 

^ 
my hopes for a comic pre-quel AoE is now...