Remember guys, millions of years of warfare weren't enough to turn Optimus into a raging psycho, but 5 years with humans did.

Take a shot every time he said "I'll kill you." That line somehow got used way more than his iconic catchphrase.

The forest fight is like the only time in ROTF where Prime ISN’T psycho. Things get pretty violent, but I can see the escalation. He starts out very classic Optimus and as the fight gets more desperate, he invokes more brutal tactics. I do really like the idea that Prime can get fucking B R U T A L, but only when he deems it necessary, when the situation has escalated to the point that it has become necessary.

I imagine if regular Optimus met this Optimus, he wouldn't be disappointed, he'd tell him to rest, to take a break, that he's been fighting for too long.

I can kinda understand with how optimus was like in the 4th film because of the humans turning on him that he was angry at them and had enough protecting them, problem was it was poorly executed.

Well said. Optimus killing Decepticons was never the problem given his status as a battlefield commander in a brutal, seemingly forever war. It's that he kept sounding like he was genuinely thrilled and and having a blast at all the killing instead of doing it because he had to, just listen to how his GIVE ME YOUR FACE, YOU DIE, etc. Sounds more 'murder maniac' than 'reluctant warrior fighting for greater good'.

Some say the Forest Fight changed him. What can near death experience do to a man who so often holds back from killing his enemies? Perhaps adopt a more ruthless approach he will.

You wanna know what version of Optimus was innovative yet incredibly familiar? Animated, he is not as wise, and sometimes even mistreated his small group of autobots, yet you can see him as the Optimus he's always been, he's humble, kind and a protector, Bayverse Optimus on the other hand, is just a product of the people behind those movies not respecting anything about who this characters are, like they do with every other cybertronian in those movies lol

Optimus had flames to be a compromise as they couldn't use red since it messed with the cameras afterwards they kept it for convenience and continuity

My problem with bayverse prime is that he is not a hero anymore

The decepticons in the bayverse movies are not as jolly or forgiving compared to the cartoons. They are murderous and ruthless. You cant expect the leader of the autobots to be soft on them when they are trying to tear the autobots apart.

I think the primary issue stems from how the Decepticons are written, Bayverse was my introduction into transformers and it honestly surprised me when glancing at the comics and shows how much less monstrous and savage the decepticons were in those stories, at least relatively so, some of them and honestly some of the Autobots from the comics could've probably fit right in with the Bayverse Decepticons. With how they were portrayed though, I think it makes a bit more sense how Optimus started to see it more as just a situation where they need to be wiped out, especially with the only Decepticons who seemed to have any real independance were Megatron, Starscreem, the 2 mini cons (forgot their names), and Jetfire to an extent if you still call him that, at least if I remember right. None of the Decepticons seemed to have any real life, not even Megatron felt any grief or sorrow it seemed for them either, just savage beasts that Megatron bossed around.

The Michael Bay Transformers films definitely tears down at the core of who Optimus Prime is as a character with each movie from revenge of the fallen to the last knight.

Cullen did say he had a great time working on ROTB and is happy with the film, so fingers crossed we finally get the real Optimus prime

Mistake: the reason the truck had flames was not because it looked cool. It’s because red (for whatever reason) is a really hard colour to film with cars. It’s why ironhide isn’t red in the bayverse. Although I definitely would try to find ways to make it work and thankfully, ROTB seems to be doing that. But that was why the flames were present

7:10 I heard about a theory that Optimus waking up and immediately threatening Kade was actually him panicking because the last thing he remembered was cemetery wind and lockdown fighting him. And he didn't know where he was. He even mentioned the ambush. Another thing that backs this up is that when he's trying to stand he's shouting "Sam run!"

I'd like to think that the death of Jazz was the beginning of his unhingement towards the decepticons. Optimus realised that he can't just take them down, but out. And truely believed it after he died thus him becoming a murderous psychopath

Bayverse Optimus is so misunderstood. He was never meant to BE G1 Prime. He was his own thing. He was a more realistic take on a robot alien forced to take the leadership role in a universe scale war that spanned for millions of years. Unlike G1 Prime who was in stasis for that whole time. He’s portrayed as a battle hardened and weary soldier. And Bayverse Prime DOES have the core traits of Optimus. He IS kind, noble, and wise. He just has the added realism of knowing when to take names and not take shit from anyone. People love to complain about Bayverse Optimus’ flaws, but they never praise his good traits. Let’s not forget he would always place human lives first, even using his own body as a shield at times to block incoming attacks and stuff to protect the humans. And he literally sacrificed himself for Sam and was willing to use his own spark to destroy the Cube so that the war wouldn’t start again on Earth. On a few occasions he tries to talk reason or negotiate as well. The government wanted to get rid of them multiple times when all they wanted was a place to call home. The Autobots saved humanity three times by AoE and how did they repay them? They hunted them all down and used them to build drones out of his friends. Literally walking corpses. He was even told they weren’t “needed” anymore. So yeah, Prime has a right to be pissed and more cynical. And EVEN after all that, he still comes around and decides to protect humanity again. Not to mention in DOTM, Sentinel, his mentor and friend, betrayed them and killed Ironhide and was planning to enslave all of humanity. His execution was justified. Plus, Optimus tried to talk Sentinel out of it and even pleaded with him last second before Sentinel was LITERALLY going to stab him in the back. There’s a lot more reasons why Bayverse Prime is misunderstood but that’s what I could think of off the top of my head. He HAS the core traits. People just see the flaws which may I add, makes him more relatable and human that the cookie cutter perfect role model, almost no flaws type. He may not be for everyone, he may not be YOUR Optimus, but he’s still Optimus through and through.

there’s a fine line between making a character darker and more brutal, and making them a murderous psychopath. it’s fine to make Optimus more violent but the movies took things way too far. “I’LL KILL YOU” and “GIVE ME YOUR FACE” are not things that any version of Optimus should say, ever.

To be fair killing sentinel wasn’t bad he deserved that for ironhide

Well to be fair he does also kills the decepticons to avenge his comrades when the decepticons kill them so sometimes his rage is understandable I’m not defending bayverse prime I’m just saying sometimes his rage is reasonable.

The Decepticons were actual terrorists compared to their cartoon counterparts from the 80s. If anything, it’s a wonder that Optimus kept his cool that long with them for both the first movie and half of the 2nd film.

Optimus on Google : Freedom is the right of all sentient beings. Optimus on Bing : GIVE ME YOUR FACE..! 💀

I can defend when Optimus kills Demolisher, he could have killed many of the humans on the highway by his giant wheels. Another in AOE is because Optimus was hunted, damaged, almost killed, so he had to go murderous.

I saw someone make a video on him becoming more merciless in 2 onward, and they made a pretty good point, he died, and the Fallen, who is a massive threat to humanity, essentially was able to run free, and that fear made him more ruthless. Also, I feel like with Megatron and Sentinel, him killing them was somewhat justified, as Megatron has repeatedly been a major threat to humans, and he can’t trust Sentinel. Essentially a “too dangerous to leave alive” situation. In the rest of 3, I feel like his anger at the Deceptions is justified to a degree. And in 4, he was pretty justifiably angry, as the people he sought to protect for years suddenly started killing their protectors, so I can see why he’d be angry. That being said it is poorly executed

the snyder comparison is apt because what bay did with Optimus is pretty much what Snyder did with Superman and Batman, all born out a lack of understanding (and probably contempt) for who those characters are

Actually someone made a good point about why prime is the way he is, tho I don’t think it was the intention, it’s one of those things you can infer about. There was this video I saw, that says during the forest battle, he was going all out bc he has a duty to protect Sam, and the way he was fighting wasn’t enough as shown by him losing, and after he dies the last thing he saw was a scared Sam, and him losing not knowing if Sam was safe. So after that fight he realized you can’t always be the strong gentle leader, sometimes you need to be ruthless to win

Optimus Executing Sentinel Prime Is Still Amusing to this day. And in Optimus Prime's Defense He's at his breaking point.

When you're at war there's no time for sympathy. It's kill or be killed Optimus tried being nice and got murdered This was live action not a cartoon Cons murdered Autobots without a second thought

In defense of Optimus. -With Scavenger in the opening of TF2 he's too big, and can't be contained without causing more harm and destruction not to mention just like with Bonecrusher in TF1 he was killing innocent bystanders on the freeway. And it was mentioned at their base that was the 6th decepticon attack that year in a row, making Optimus unease with this one being the biggest yet. -He revival from death and beyond made him see what needs to be done, if he hadn't the fallen would've found a way to turn the harvester cause Optimus let him live if people wanted. -His master sentinel prime killed his friends, and he lost the peoples trust that he worked SO HARD to maintain between humans and autobots but to see their lack of care for alien diplomacy shown to Optimus "why should I try anymore". -Sentinel just like the fallen, would've gotten back up and try to kill humanity again so Optimus ended it there right after he pleaded for Sentinel to stop after his arm was cut off and being dragged. -He did killed Megatron cause originally they didnt know if this was going to be past a triology, and before you mention the supposed alliance they were going to have Bay did what was best and made Megatron karma catch up to him. In a way Megatron would've gotten bored with peace and cause more death through power. -Optimus yelling "I'll kill you" when awakening before cade is because they were ambushed and he went into hiding in TF4. -Optimus becoming Nemesis was Micheal Bays take on everyone critizing Optimus being a murderer yet want more fan service they ask he gives. Michel Bay isn't the best director nor a good one but he knows what the majority of audience wants, the most complaints about this live action franchise i get are actually from the fans themselves, not the majority of the public, no one wants to watch a giant alien robot shake hands and hug with the meany decepticons, when the whole premise of this brand is to sell action toys, its even mention by Fox's character "Oh really they just had a giant toy deathmatch" I'm an TF fan G1-TF Prime was my show years and I love how michel bay includes refernces to all the shows, I don't hate the Bumblebee movie, but don't think I'm any less of a TF fan because I'm not a genwunner, or I like hot actresses running from random explosions. -Besides bayverse autobots really dont care for us Optimus actually vouches for us. TF1 Ironhide=Why are we protecting them their a primitive and violent race. TF2 Ratchet=Ironhide we should just leave this planet. TF3 Sentinel=I am a prime I do not take orders from the likes of you. TF4 Hound=Prime, we're surrounded can I squish all the humans. and Optimus is not the only autobot who does death sprees. TF2Sideswipe=Damn I'm good! TF3Ironhide=Class dismissed TF3Sentinel=I here by discharge you from duty. to be fair we all enjoy Transformers I think its more appealing than Marvel IMO. But I will admit Bay should've collab with Peter and Frank on how the characters of Optimus and Megatron should be more appropriate to the big screen like Optimus forgiveness, and Megatrons terror influence on his decepticons.

Tbf, this is probably the most realistic version of prime. He started of as idealistic and preferred diplomacy and knew when to get violent when necessary. Then in revenge of the fallen he gets his shit rocked in the forest by megaton after not killing any of the Cons when he had the chance. After megaton kick to primes face, he gets real because he could loose everything. Then he dies because he never went all out and let his guard down. Then megaton calls him weak just before killing him. Prime basically thinks he's doomed the world by not taking out the Cons when he had the chance and paid the price. So when he gets another chance to save the world when he's revived, he's taking no chances because last time he did.. he died. That development after his death remains in his character in dark of the moon. He doesn't hold back at all because the world is at stake. He kills megaton because he's a liar and a war criminal who slaughter countless of his friends, then sentinel was a traitor who was willing to enslave a race and work with megaton (plus he executed ironhide, so that wound is still fresh) Then age of extension he basically gets attacked and almost killed because humans sould him out to lock down. Sam's dead (you can hear him tell Sam to run when transforming in cades shed) so he's being attacked and gets taken out of commission because he was betrayed. Then he finds out his friends are being melted down by humans. After all that... honestly it makes sense for prime to be as he is. Friends die. Friends betray him. His own ideology of him not killing until necessary gets him killed and he thinks hes doomed the world. The people he sworn to protect, betrayed and melted his friends down. Prime is just a normal dude in a metal body in the bay verse

If there's any consolation to this, Bayverse basically served as a "what NOT to do" guide for the portrayal of Optimus in TFP and the Cybertron games. Even if Bayformers overstayed its welcome by 2 more movies after that.

Regarding Sentile Prime's death, the original script had him and Megatron double-team him. During the fight Sentinel would still have his rust cannon and try to use it on the duo, with Optimus managing to disarm him and fire a shot at sentinel instead. Effectively it meant that Sentinel never yielded at any point, and it also would've given Optimus's "You betrayed yourself" line more relevance. IIRC the scrip changed because of a leak from IDW, which infuriated Michael Bay at the time. I don't know the details off the top of my head though.

I think Optimus turned murderous because at the forest get got jumped and got killed holding back, so he figured he might as well even the odds by not holding back

Sentinel was gonna kill him once he was down and begging for help, it’s pretty fair to me at least with sentinel especially after straight up killing ironhide

My interpretation of Prime is he only kills as a last resort

I’m glad I’m not the only one who understands this. I grew up with these movies and I have a soft spot for them. It annoys me that so many defend this but would think other if captain America or spider man would say this. It’s like how people are tired of dark and edgy Superman, I’m tired of this Optimus. I want an Optimus to feel like he would never stoop down to be like megatron and be hopeful. I think transformers prime did him the best oversell. Still a caring leader but still has serious moments

Optimus in any other show,comic,game: honorable, heroic, caring. Bayverse Optimus: *WARCRIMES*

I mean…Primeverse Optimus was literally going to shoot a defenseless Megatron. I still like Bayverse and will defend him, but 4 and 5 was a very heavy decline of his character. Transformers 3 was just, his break point. Transformers 2 he rightly killed a Decepticon who killed several people. Killed a Decepticon who wasn’t going to stop fighting him and the biggest, and then Fallen. Someone who wouldn’t stop. Though IDW Optimus is kinda like Bayverse and I’m pretty sure Primeverse he also asked someone for final words…I think

Optimus was killed way more brutally then g1 prime literally gets stabbed through the back slowly and painfully and lifted up in the air and gets his chest blown out and the last thing he sees is his horrified human friend and yet people keep comparing him to g1 prime that died on a medical bed with his friends gathered around him and also had a different experience being on earth then him it makes no sense

You want bro to be… soft? I’m just not understanding. This universe (the bay verse) is a million times different than any other form of transformers media, you really think after everything Optimus went thru he’d just let them (deceptions) go like Batman??? Na bro’s getting it back in blood

The way I see it is this. During the forest battle Prime realizes that the Decepticons will never stop and he's going to die because his kindness was his weakness (instead of killing Megatron be just made it so he can't run) so he puts that weakness to the side and does a it's now or never moment. Once he gets revived he realizes that he has a second chance to not do the same mistake and be shelfs his kindness, his weakness so he won't be foolish again and go for the kill instead of stabbing a leg. (It took me over a decade to realize this)

As you said, everything started from the battle of the jungle. Optimus paid the highest price for not being reckless in killing enemies, and time is his life itself, leaving Sam alone for Megatron to get what he wants on a plate of gold. Those are his last thoughts before he died and when I revived him, he learned the price of leaving The living enemies and the exorbitant time that he paid is his price, so he will not hesitate and leave another opportunity to repeat what happened. As for the point of Optimus turning into evil, it is a wonderful point. Just imagine if Optimus lost his morals little by little because of all the losses he suffered, and since he is a leader, the loss will be heavier for him because he Part of it in each part falls apart more and more, becoming like his enemy Megatron and lost on the road like his mentor Sentel Prime. Just imagine if the consequences of all the losses were what shaped Nemesis Prime and led him to be indifferent to humans after he sacrificed so much for them. Better than being a washed-up idiot. brain for five minutes

If OP wasnt as brutal as he was in these movies, he loses to Bonecrusher, Megatron, the Fallen, Shockwave, Sentinal, “Galvatron” Lockdown and whatever that wierd combiner in TLK was. G1 OP is stoic, calm, almost like a dad. But for as bad as the Bayverse movies are Prime had to be a killer. The Decepticons easily win in every movie if he’s soft.

I'm getting tired of all these "Optimus is a psycho" allegations all because he isn't exactly like the G1 Optimus. I'm pretty sure G1 Optimus love battle more than Bayverse Prime. If anyone is the perfect depiction of Optimus when I think him it's TFP Optimus. I mean the G1 Optimus was soo soft he was gonna leave the Earth for the Decepticons to conquer because he "lost fair in square" like come on now. Edit: Letting the enemy live after threating mass extinction should be a dead trend especially since its not a children show.

Hey In age of extinction Prime did say they will get the seed first before leaving humanity so they wont be turned into cybermatter So while brutal and more ruthless then his other counterparts....he always has a good spark and tries to do the right thing.

Why is it so funny to me when i hear Optimus Prime say, "i'll kill you, die, you die, gimme your face, i'll shred your face off."

I'm pretty sure the reason why prime from the bayverse became a psychopath is not because it felt cool but because he had no other choice In the forest battle he holds back and shows mercy but after Megatron boots him and sends him across the field he realizes its a do or die moment and enters a frenzy but after the harvester activates prime then goes "enough is enough" and decides to not hold back his punches

Prme was nerfed in the Bay movies. He losses almost every single one on one fight against all but cannon fodder Deceptacons. He only wins major fights by stabbing his opponents in the back.

Bruh why yall want some unrealistic hero bullshit. They are literally fighting a war xD This is my favourite Optimus not some childish I wIlL sAvE eVeRyOnE type shit

Bro bayverse decepticon don’t play games just like the cartoons Optimus had to get the job done

I really don’t get why people don’t get optimas and why he is the way he is. You can’t compare G1 optimas to bayverse, they weren’t aloud to even be violent, they almost didn’t give megaton his name because it sounded to scary. Yes he’s way more violent than he should be somtimes but this version lost so much and was betrayed so much. His own master betrayed him and shot down a close friend. Idk I get what people are talking about but yk? Also I love G1 optimas ofc I hope you get what I’m trying to say tho.

I understand why people don’t like Bay Prime, but I’ve never felt bad about how they took his story.

At least Michael Bay is honest about his immaturity

Optimus prime didn’t start as a murderer, the first movie he tried his best not to kill if he didn’t need to but after he realised the decepticons would never stop killing humans and never stop at all

I honestly don’t think Optimus is psycho.

Micheal bay maded his own doomslayer: 💪 🗿 💪

Bayverse Optimus has become Kratos (just joking)

i feel like Transformers prime Optimus prime was the best version

It’s funny how most of the clips of optimus was taken out of context to make a dumb point

Revenge is a good thing. If you are permissive people claim it is their right to kill kids. Weakness attracts challenge. Vlad Dracula was a very cruel ruler but there was no thieving in his country. What people like you hate about violent men is their ability to control. But we need someone to control the evil people of the world. Forgiveness is not a right, it is a gift and one that must be rarely given. That means that Optimus is not wrong for seeking revenge. If you dont want justice coming after you then dont do any evil.

I think IDW did it best when it comes to a violent Optimus Prime, cause theres a character arc that showed a naive but idealistic Orion, then the cold veteran with a hint of brutality after some centuries of war, and when he is finally made Optimus Prime, he becomes much more like G1 Prime though there's still that cold veteran that lingers from time to time, expressing a desire to kill only when its painfully clear his opponent is unwilling to change their ways or their too irredeemable and even then he still upholds the law over a summary execution. (Granted I still got my own grips with IDW iterations of other characters)

I see it as millions of years of war have made it like this and when jazz dies he decides to not be so kind but in the forest battle he does only try and incapacitate them (like when he was going for megetrons legs instead of going for the kill) but during that fight he realizes the decepticons will never stop and he needs to kill them to make sure nobody else he loves dies

The bayverse movies was really good in my opinion but the last knight had good movie concept but had poor execution

I don't like how's there's no context with any of this happening

I think everyone has to remember that Optimus probably thought the war was over once Megatron died in 2007. After Megatron came back and Prime realized that not only has nothing changed about him, but that he quite possibly had only gotten worse, Optimus decided that there was no saving his enemies from that point on. After all, the Decepticons would truly never stop at one.

I think this whole situation is just extremely unfortunate. Like some other people already described better than I can, there are so many details that could have been fleshed out more to make Optimus' descent into aggression and ruthlessness a really deep and well thought out story, but it the actual movies feel like a fight between the writers and Bay, with Bay insisting on his typical brainless badass action and the writers aiming for a more dramatic and emotional angle, which they have to sneak in or write around to fit Bay's vision. I actually really enjoy Bay's Optimus, but that's just because I went out of my way to think and see more about what he has gone through and what the stuff he went through would do to him. However most people will understandably not put their efforts into that, because Bay seems to have not put too much effort into the matter himself

To be fair everyone bayverse optimus killed kinda deserved it

It's in the forest battle where Optimus changed. After Megatron stabbed him through the chest. Megatron said "you're so weak.". I think those words haunted Optimus and forcing him to kill every thing that stands in his way

Flames on truck is cool and 100% an improvement. They make him faster obviously.

As someone who never grew up with the Transformers cartoon, I thought Prime going brutal on his enemies was badass😅but I am beginning to understand that's how he is not supposed to be potrayed. I''ve seen the 1986 movie and I now understand why he didn't blast Megatron straight away after the fight, it's because he is not looking to go on the path of revenge, even after Megatron killed some of the Autobots. In the Bayverse, he progressively got even more vengeful and less merciful after the first movie. Heck, even in Rise of the Beasts (which is a reboot of the franchise) they went back to making him hate humans and be brutal again🤷‍♂️Even after they got him right in Bumblebee, according to die hard TF fans.

In bumblebee Optimus first scene was him shooting and flipping decepticon seekers and that is what war is, micheal bay gave creation to an Optimus who has to deal with even more twisted versions of the deceptions, his friends dying viciously from deceptions and even the humans, the species he chose to protect, also he died and got brought back to his hell. I see total justification for Micheal bays Optimus prime

Some people want to call Geewuners nostalf*gs, but honestly, Baytards are no different. They use the same overused attempt at defending their Optimus. "It's a serious continuity. War is cruel and blah blah blah" Buddy, Bayverse is just edgy oneliners, military propaganda and violent scenes with robots handcramped into a Disaster movie, where the giant robots are the disaster. Armada, for all it's flaws, is more serious when tackling shit like Optimus and Megatron's eternal rivalry, Prime gave us an Optimus that is willing to kill when the time calls, even if it means blowing a weakened Megatron's head off yet it's never screaming about griding you into dust with his bare hands of threatening to kill you, and he gives everyone but Megatron a chance to back off. Even Cyberverse is far more serious at times, with an Optimus that, while inexperienced, is a deep character that you can stand to be around for more than five minutes. Tell me one time, one fucking time, outside of 2007, where Optimus behaved like any other Optimus towards his own troops. Not fucking humans, but his very own troops, who quote-unquote "Have served him for thousands of years." Spoiler alert, there isn't one. There's little to no connection between Team Prime in the first three movies, outside of Bumblebee and Optimus themselves, the autobots are background extras, and that's being generous. We get exactly two scenes where the Autobots act like actual Characters, and have small dialogues that really shine a light on themselves. 2007's Observatory scene, and Optimus talking with Sentinel in Africa. Hound has more character than 70% of all character, and that's just Jonh Goodman being Robo-Jonh Goodman. There's no deconstrucion of the character in Bayverse Optimus, just a bland, unoriginal attempt to make a character "appealing" by reducing him into a massive, bitter and loud asshole as the plot goes on.

G1 Optimus: brave, kind, humble and strong. Bayverse: a killing machine: 💪 💀

I imagine this was the case of they were trying to make Optimus more cooler and badass with each movie, and in the mind of someone like Michael Bay, that meant making him into the robot equivalent of the Punisher.

Nothing went wrong

Unfortunately he's not any different in Rise of the Beasts. He acts prejudiced towards humans, almost never accepts their aid, would rather abandon Earth to return to Cybertron, and goes after Scourge fueled by revenge.

I hear you but, he isn't a Psychopath, or a murderer. Killing in defense of another is not considered straight up murder

8:56 Well according to Theorymus (Formerly Trans Theories) Bumblebee’s speaking voice at the end of the first movie isn’t his natural voice even the Autobots didn’t seem to have a shock or surprise reaction but Sam thinks he speaks for real

6:39, 7:15, & 7:21 To clarify, in the original ending Optimus does accept the truce but it was later changed because it got leaked through a comic or something like that. With why he said that to Cade was because it was a natural response to what happened in between the 3rd & 4th movie. Its implied the Autobots were ambushed by the people hunting them in the 4th movie. This also lead to Sam's death (you have to listen closely to hear him say "Sam run" when he awoken). So he was already on edge once he powered down but when it was distributed by that missle going off, he just assumed it was the same people. This is also why he was so mad at humans & gave up on them. Just wanted to make those 3 moments clear

Optimus had flames, not cause it looked cool but because red didn't film well on camera.

Bayverse prime is the best prime.

The movie is called dark of the moon because sentinels ship crashed on the dark of the moon

Optimus normally: "Freedom is the right of all sentient beings" Optimus here: "Fuck your freedom. Now perish"

Optimus changed when he died an came back to life because he knew the only way he can actually win and save the planet was if he was as ruthless as his enemies because they wouldn't stop at nothing to get what they want and him holding back wouldn't benefit anyone but cost more human lives. It's very subtle character development but definitely there

I feel like this series was 100% the reason why I was ok with Luke being bitter. Because he’s human and had lost a lot between the original and sequel series. Luke wasn’t ruined nearly as much as Optimus was. Optimus was supposed to be THE leader, the one who was strong enough to be gentle. Forceful when necessary. Ppl srsly needed to stfu about Luke and from now on I’ll bring up bayverse Optimus anytime Luke is mentioned.

For some reason you’re expecting the Autobot leader, who has to go up against thousands upon thousands of Decepticons who are out for BLOOD, to be gentle with them. That ship sailed at the beginning of the war, and he’s adamant about that throughout the Bayverse movies

I actually kind of like the Michael Bay Optimus way better than Rhys the Beast I've seen rise of the Beast and as somebody that grew up watching Transformers Armada and Transformers Cybertron and Energon I actually liked the Peterbilt flame truck Optimus versus the Western Star Optimus

He says I will kill you to Kate because lockdown and KSI attacked him, killing Sam and mortally wounded him, so he thought he was with KSI

It always felt so it if character for Optimus to treat the dinobots like that because of how he essentially forced them to do what he wanted which is something only a descepticon would do

Its funny because in the games of rotf especially the ps2 versions he was very humbled. After the fallen turned on the machine optimus realized he would not sacrifice earth for cybertron but will sacrifice the fallen to throw him into the machine from destroying the sun.

Ngl Movie Optimus is WAYYYYYYY more badass because of his angry mannerisms. I understand if people can find that bad if it's overused but with the right amount, it makes my absolute favorite characters in fiction. Guts from Berserk, Eren Jeager from Attack On Titan and so so many more, that I didn't mention because it would be way too long for this comment and because I find these my favorites ever

3:15 This one is VERY REASONABLE. He just learned that they killed Ratchet, one of his closest friend, in cold blood and then turn/scrapped him into one of their machines. In fact, Ratchet isn't the only one they killed. They've done so much to protect humanity and that is how they get paid back? It is very reasonable for him to be very upset. 7:27 There is a literal reason for that. He and his team was literally being hunted down and killed by the people they swore to protect.

Bayverse Optimus isn’t really a psychopath, more so he is a victim of a very horrific case of PTSD.

I kinda agree with your take but the comparison between Luke Skywalker and Optimus prime is waaay off. The Optimus you wanted him to be is from the cartoon or other continuity. but in Luke's case, its from the same continuity and from the same sequel so i don't think the comparison is justified. Even though optimus is a murder psychopath machine in the bayverse, he depicted that way since the second movie. So if you want to compare it with Luke, you should draw the comparison within said continuity, not from other title or series or cartoon or whatever.

I love bayverse prime

To be fair, optimus not having his morals in AOE I actually liked as if someone killed all your friends and exploited their body parts for money, you would lose your mind but in the other movies it makes no sense. Also I don’t mind it too much with sentinel but with everything else I don’t like it

I think the "I will kill you" etc is bad for the character until Age of Extinction. Before this, he is supposed to be a leader and not a hollywood hero but in AofE he loses it in my opinion. He has watched humans (his most trusted allies) turn on him and his kind for greed and he has watched recordings of his friends die unable to do anything. So in AofE the line "when I found out who did this, they are going to die" is justified because humans have turned on him and his friends in an instant and now there are only 5 autobots left alive from the large roster of previous movies. This also works well with the later line by Prime "Those were my friends" which is a big kicker for emotion in a movie which is not ranked the highest in terms of the Bayverse.

Basically, the narratives of the films are set up in a way it’s nearly impossible for prime to be consistent with his portrayals. Ultimately post TF1 bay prime stands for nothing, he’s not worthy of the title honestly.

idc what anyone says. i love bayverse optimus