Optimus Prime (Michael Bay pentalogy, ROTF-TLK)

Optimus Prime "Why Michael Bay? Why!?" - Optimus Prime's reaction to Michael Bay flanderizing him in the Michael Bay pentalogy Gender: Male Type: Michael Bay's Dark Side of Optimus Prime Unicron trilogy Optimus Prime and Armored Adventures Tony Stark Done Worse Another Generic Doomsday Villain (As Nemesis Prime) Age: Immortal Species: Cybertronian Portrayed by: Peter Cullen Chris Hemsworth (Transformers One) Status: Alive (revived) Media of origin: Transformers (film series)

"Give me your face!"

— Optimus Prime against The Fallen.

Optimus Prime is the main protagonist of the Transformers franchise. Sadly, he was badly flanderized in the Michael Bay Transformers pentalogy, particularly in the sequels. He is voiced by Peter Cullen.

Bad Qualities

1. He has very little in common with the original Optimus Prime, or any of his other prior incarnations except being red and blue, transforming into a truck, having a mouth plate, a window-style chest, and his voice actor reprising the role.
2. 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!" by ripping The Fallen's face off 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.
   • During the forest battle, he also taunts Megatron and Grindor after he killed the latter.
   • He also "died" way too early in Revenge of the Fallen for it to be impactful.
3. In Dark of The Moon, it was his fault that Sentinel Prime lived on to become a god-wannabe after he revived him in hopes that he would defeat the Decepticons (though this can be justified, as he didn't know about Sentinel's treachery).
   • Also in Dark of the Moon, when Sentinel about to kill him, Megatron saves him just in time, and offers a truce to Optimus. Rather than accept it, he murders Megatron in cold blood instead, though whetever it was wrong for him to do this depends on your view.
   • Let's also not forgot that he caused Cybertron to be fully obliterated.
4. 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 looking nothing more than a stereotypical knight with smokestacks on his back. In fact, we never get to find out how he was one of the Knights of Iacon.
5. 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.
6. He was also the reason why the Autobots were being hunted down by Cemetery Wind and caused Megatron to turn into Galvatron because of his brutal murder from the third film. What is worse is that he caused him to destroy civilians in their cars and try to cyberform Hong Kong with a seed to build a new Decepticon army.
7. When he was brainwashed by Quintessa, he acted practically identical to who he was before being brainwashed; in other words, he's still the same but on a different side and much worse when intends to commit ecocide again this time on Earth and not just the planet but also willing to help murder the entire human race which is a crime against humanity as well as not caring for the destruction of the human race at all. What is worth noted that it makes him a worse generic doomsday villain for that moment.
8. While also brainwashed, he actually attempts to stab Bumblebee and only snaps out of it just by hearing Bumblebee's voice even though he talked before.
9. After he was snapped out of Quintessa's control, he gets nerfed again after he got himself 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. (though to be fair, he was weakened after he was freed by Quintessas's control and he did solo the Infernocons after he recovered).
10. He can be compared to his Unicron Trilogy version. Both are based on the same character, both transform into semi-trucks, both are red and blue, both are the leader of the Autobots, 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.

Good Qualities

1. He was a much better character in Transformers (2007), the video game adaptation of the same first film including its mods and the tie-in material for the first three films.
   • He's also better in the video game adaptations of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Transformers: Dark of the Moon.
   • Speaking of which, while the video game adaption of Transformers: Dark of the Moon takes 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.
   • In the same game although he couldn't defeat Megatron in a fair fight, he was a great boss fight for Megatron and was able to have another fair fight this time against Shockwave and the Driller being both the final bosses in it.
   • He was also far more competent as a fighter in the first three films as well.
   • His portrayal in Transformers: Prime also brought back his lovable and inspirational personality in Transformers (2007), since the series did take some elements from it.
   • He massively redeemed himself in the prequel films, starting with Bumblebee (2018), because he's more accurate and in line to his G1 incarnation. He's also likable in Rise of the Beasts despite his aggression due to his grief and lack of trust in humanity, which are the reasons for his attitude, while in previous films, this attitude was due to inconsistent characterization.
   • On that topic, Optimus Prime's next CGI-animated counterpart, his Transformers One counterpart, is much closer to his original counterpart and is a massive counterpart over his Michael Bay movie counterpart.
2. This version is at least far more tolerable and competent than his War for Cybertron trilogy counterpart. Not to mention he's far more stronger than him.
3. He is still amazingly voiced by talented voice-over artist, Peter Cullen, who voiced him in the G1 series, the 1986 film, the prequel films, and nearly every series afterward.
4. His design in the original trilogy wasn't bad at all. In fact, it was considered one of the best redesigns in the Bay films as it captures the feel and spirit of the original Optimus Prime while also caring about the new generation of fans.
5. "Give me your FACE!" due to its meme status.
6. Three words: "Punk ass Decepticon"
7. He's the main inspiration for the character's Transformers Prime version, but he lacks the sociopathic aspect of his personality, which makes him divisive. Though this version isn't everyone's favorite, it is fairly well-liked and popular.
8. To be fair, he kept getting betrayed by humans in these movies, hence why he became more irritable as they went on.
   • His anger to humans in the 4th film is justified because humans only think of them as machines and sacrifice his friends for nothing. He and the Autobots leaving shows that they intended to abandon humanity to whatever fate they brought to themselves.
     • He went to his principles with the Dinobots, desperate to save his remaining friends. Plus in the end, he freed them and let them join the Autobots anytime.
9. He still spawned a lot of cool action figures of himself, especially the Revenge of the Fallen Leader Class Optimus Prime (which to this day has been considered by many as one of the best Optimus Prime figures ever made).

Trivia

• 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.
• The line "Give me your FACE!" became an internet meme among the Transformers fandom.
• 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.
• There were rumors that this incarnation of Optimus became the film's antagonist, Scourge in Transformers: Rise of The Beasts. However, that was later proven false as Scourge turned out to be a completely separate character.

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