Optimus Prime (Michael Bay pentalogy)

Optimus Prime is the main protagonist of the Transformers franchise. Sadly, he was badly flanderized in the Michael Bay Transformers pentalogy.

Why His Fellow Autobots Shouldn't Listen To Him

 * 1) He has nothing that the original Optimus Prime had, or even any of his other prior selves except being red and blue, transforming into a truck, having a mouth plate, having a window-style chest, and his actor reprising the role. Instead of being brave without killing millions, he is a completely hypocritical psychopath.
 * 2) His animated version was compassionate and entertaining. Now he's just boring and creepy.
 * 3) *Speaking of which, his action of going after Quintessa was pointless.
 * 4) In Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, he proved to be quite sadistic and mean, as opposed to wise and kind in the scene where he said "Give me your FACE!" at the end. He even killed Grindor by tearing his head apart. Before he did that however, he sliced off his right arm, used Starscream to almost kill Grindor by shooting him with a missile near the face (destroying his main rotors in the process), and threw one of his swords into his left leg. Even at the start, he murders Demolishor in cold blood while the Constructicon is injured. He and Ironhide cripple him by shooting him and loosening one of his wheels respectively. This causes him to crash into a warehouse.
 * 5) During the forest battle, he also taunts Megatron and Grindor after he killed the latter.
 * 6) He also dies way too early in Revenge of The Fallen too.
 * 7) In Transformers: Dark of The Moon, he allowed thousands of humans to die by the hands of the Decepticons, just to "Prove a point." To rub salt to that wound, he knew ahead of time that the Decepticons would do exactly that, although that depends on your view.
 * 8) In other words, it was his fault that Sentinel Prime lived on to become a god-wannabe after he revived him in hopes he would defeat the Decepticons (though this can be justified, as he didn't know about Sentinel's treachery).
 * 9) Also in Dark of The Moon, when Sentinel about to kill him, Megatron saves him just in time, and actually offers a truce to Optimus. Rather than accept it, he murders Megatron in cold blood instead, though this is again depending on your view.
 * 10) His redesign in Transformers: Age of Extinction doesn't look like something that actually transforms into a truck, due to the lack of truck parts and looks nothing more than a stereotypical knight with smokestacks on his back.
 * 11) In the same film, after freeing the Dinobots, he forces them to work for him under the threat of death, betraying what he said in the first film. In other words, he´s enslaving the Dinobots, depending on your view.
 * 12) We never get to find out how he was one of the Knights of Iacon.
 * 13) He had so much potential to bring the Seed against the Creators, but he irresponsibly and idiotically loses it somehow since the beginning of Transformers: The Last Knight.
 * 14) When he was brainwashed by Quintessa, he acted identical to who he was before being brainwashed; in other words, he's still the same but on a different side.
 * 15) After he was snapped out of Quintessa's control, he gets nerfed again after he was weakened yet by Megatron when he stole the staff from him and pathetically gets himself overpowered when beaten by the Knights of Iacon for his crimes for a moment. Though he deserved it but sadly it was short-lived when he was spared.
 * 16) He can be compared to his Unicron Trilogy version. Both transform into semi-trucks and both are bad incarnations, as the Unicron Trilogy Prime is too dimwitted while despite how this version is also dimwitted but is too bloodthirsty to be a good Optimus Prime.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) He was a much better character in the first film and the tie-in material for the first three films.
 * 2) *He's also better in the video game adaptations of Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen and Transformers: Dark of The Moon.
 * 3) *Speaking of which, while the video game adaption of Transformers: Dark of The Moon does take place between the the two movies, he's much more tolerable in it and despite being hypocritical in the movies for his destruction, he did warn Ironhide not to commit any collateral damage.
 * 4) *He was also far more competent as a fighter in the first three films as well.
 * 5) This version is at least far more tolerable and competent than his War for Cybertron trilogy counterpart.
 * 6) He is still amazingly voiced by talented voice-over artist, Peter Cullen, who voiced him in the G1 series, the 1986 film, and nearly every series afterward.
 * 7) There are a lot of people who root for him.
 * 8) His later live-action incarnation in Bumblebee (2018) is a likable character, who is more accurate and in-line to his G1 incarnation.
 * 9) His murders of Bonecrusher, The Fallen, Sentinel, Attinger, and Lockdown were all completely justifiable.
 * 10) He did spawn a lot of good toys based on him.
 * 11) His design in the original trilogy wasn't bad at all.
 * 12) He still cares for his fellow Autobots and several humans, especially for Sam Witwicky and Cade Yeager.
 * 13) He is still a great and very charismatic leader for the Autobots.
 * 14) His speeches at the end of every film are great.

Trivia

 * 1) Although not the first live-action character to be on this wiki, Optimus Prime from the Michael Bay Pentalogy is the first live-action character that is based on a cartoon character to be on this wiki.
 * 2) The line "Give me your FACE!" became an internet meme amongst the Transformers fandom.
 * 3) This version of Optimus (complete with his design from Transformers: Age of Extinction) was strangely used in commercials featuring him by both Paramount Pictures and Direct Line.