Sorry if this's question's been posted before (remove or lock it if so). Why is Optimus Prime always omitted from those (or anybody's for that matter) [Pristigious] "Top 5/10/25/" or "100 Greatest Characters" list whenever they get made? I mean, does he not count as a enduring character worthy of anybody's lists besides Transformers Fans? Or is because he's a cartoon character, not potrayed by an actor besides vocally?
I'd say for two reasons: 1. Optimus Prime, honestly, is a bit of an obscure character. 2. Optimus Prime is relatively new, compared to most characters on lists who are older characters. 3. Transformers is a kids show, so it looses a lot of credit to most people who compile such lists, who compile it for other adults to read and instead choose characters from adult mediums. 4. Why should he? As I mentioned, Optimus Prime doesn't really have much character depth to him, as he's from a Childs Show where action is at a premium. He's good. He's a leader. He fights bad guys. That's pretty much all there is to him in all honesty. Sure, an arguement can be made, but it's not like he has a rich character background to him. I'm not saying he's not an interesting character or that it's wrong to see positive qualities in him as a role model, but let's face it, he's from a medium that's used solely to get children to ask someone to buy toys of that character, that's his real purpose.
There are loads better characters out there. If you were talking cartoon characters or Saturday Morning Heroes that would be one thing. But greatest characters also means you've got all the characters of literature, Movies and TV to contend with. That's an awful lot of characters, and quite frankly you'd be hard pressed to find any cartoon character other than maybe Homer Simpson on a list like that.
