He's famous for his mouth mask in the old cartoons.

But now he isn't wearing it anymore in the newer cartoons and only puts it on during battle.

Whaddya think?

 

because it isn't the old cartoons anymore

 

QFT.


Be thankful he still has it, even if only for a third of the time. I think it gives him far more personality when you can se his mouth talking and expressing.

He does look a lot like G1 Prime with it on, though...

Atleast the voyager version has a retractable one.

 

A hero with a mask over his mouth goes against the grain of everything we know about heroes.

Prime only had it because his toy did. And his toy was yanked from one of half a dozen toy lines and shoe-horned into a character.

Primes since have shown mouth and only used the mask as a 'battle mode'. it makes him feel 'gooder' and less like he has something to hide.

 

Why the back and forth?

They read my fanfic where the mask could be extended and withdrawn as part of hostile environment anticorruption gear.

Yeah! Yeah! That's the ticket!

You nice people believe me, right? Would I lie?

 

I like it that way. It makes sense if the faceplate comes on during battle mode. It's just another nice effect.

 

I think I disagree with this... the concept of "hero" is tied up in all sorts of visual cues.

Whether it's the knight in shining armour, or the Lone Ranger, or Spider-Man, or every Japanese superhero ever... masks have a certain heroic power to them, a mystique. Obscuring a hero's identity can actually allow us to relate to them on a more immediate level. They can be anything or anyone behind the mask... they could even be you. It's a powerful subconscious effect.

Optimus Prime was another such hero with a mask. Perhaps an odd quirk of whichever toys Hasbro selected for it's new line (Megatron gets a face, Prime gets a mask), but it has persisted. Optimus Prime was no less a heroic icon for having his mask. Perhaps that mask made him even more enduring in many childrens' minds?

True, but considering how radically changed so many other Transformer faces were for the cartoon models, I think it's notable that Prime's face was not significantly changed. That facemask gave him that odd sort of heroic anonymity, but through his voice and eyes, the character could still emote on a "human" level. It's a good design.

Well, if you've seen MP Optimus without his faceplate, you know that he does have something to hide.  

But that raises a whole other issue. Does Prime have a face? Certainly the battle-mask versions do, but within the TF mythos we've seen artists portray it both ways. Do "faceplate" TFs have faces underneath? Wheeljack? Soundwave? Shockwave? Brawl?

What purpose to TF faces serve? I had always myself been of the opinion that a faceplate was the face. It's just a metal visage over internal workings. Nothing more. They're robots, not humans... so their faces can really take many forms.

I really don't like the take we've seen in the fandom in later years, where it's almost as if TFs are made of some soft silver skin, and all their armour is really just stuff stuck on top.

zmog

 

The voice I get, but eyes? His eyes didn't move at all. Practically none of the robot's did. When he wasn't talking, there wasn't much to him. Sure he looks cool, but he certainly doesn't evoke that warn goodness and familiarity that goodguys typically do. Atleast he wasn't Soundwave's head, that head just reeks bad guy.

Defffinately, not great but good. Though it's nice to have a G1 retread that's not just a G1 retread, if you know what I mean?

 

Thats what made him stand out. All other heroes showed their emotions very easy, but with the face mask, you really couldnt think what he was thinking. It brought some mystery to him. I think not having the face mask makes him more vulnerable which is what the writers are aiming for at least in the new cartoon. I miss the distinguishing faces like his and wheeljacks.

 

I liked how the mouth has been working in the past era with Prime, but Hasbro better be sure to never ever remove completely the mouthplate.

 

Perfectly stated.

That said, I don't mind Optimus having a mouth. He just looks that more badass when the faceplate does show up  

 

i personally like how he was not the only one to have a battle mask, in tfa, plus, it kind'a fits well with his "fire fighter" background and stuff, with his "mask" that he puts on when he fights "fires." to me it works well, kind'a like real fire fighters when they put on a mask to protect them from gasses and such. it works well in my opinion.

but yes i agree they shouldn't remove it completely... just have it removable. like it is, now.

 

I personally miss the mask because it really gave him a unique look among the Autobots (yeah a few others had it like Wheeljack but not many) and it is just part of what makes Prime a classic, iconic figure. Without it he just doesn't evoke the aura of wisdom and strength. Is part of that nostalgia talking? Probably but I know that even as a kid I would have liked the mask better than without. It is an aesthetic thing.

 

I thought maybe he couldn't stand the smell of his own breath anymore, constantly blowing back in his face with that faceplate on. Now it is time for everyone to feel the wrath of his breath.

 

Or maybe other Primes were drunks and had to hide their breath from the other bots. Twelve steps, Prime.

 

plus it fits well with Bay's take on transformers all having different faces, with any luck if Wheeljack appears in a future film they won't need to bugger about with it too much as it's already pretty alien

 

Prime = face plate Primal no face plate

 

Simple

Because it's hard to breath in that thing.

 

Well...Faceplate or no I'm just glad Animated Prime doesn't have the half-assed "faceplate with a mouth slit" like Energon and Cybertron had. It made Prime look like he always had a bandage on his nose.