Optimus has come a very long way to be what he is now, but he still wears that gentle face that carries great wisdom…except for TFA where they made him rather…lame.

except for TFA where they made him rather…lame

Okay I have major issues with that.

First of all, TFA Optimus wasn’t meant to be like his other counterparts. He was created as a rookie, a nobody. Someone with zero experience but big dreams of being a hero and being respected. TFA Optimus aspired to be like his previous incarnations.

Which was a brilliant move because it gave us a new perspective on an old character. We were given a chance to see Optimus Prime before he became an all-knowing, wise and noble leader. We saw the beginning of Optimus Prime. It was a different setting, yes, but it made much more sense to start fresh than to rehash the story of OP being a dockworker and becoming Prime. But that’s not the point here. The point is that you called him lame. And for what?

For being inexperienced? For not having the unending patience and other qualities that define a leader? For not being a carbon copy of every single goddamn Optimus Prime?

Bullshit, I say.

He gained that patience, and he learned from his mistakes. You don’t wake up one day and find yourself with this wealth of knowledge. You go through life and make mistakes, and you learn from those mistakes.

TFA Optimus may have appeared lame, but he was in no way such a thing. He believed in the Autobot values, but he wasn’t so idealistic to where it blinded him from doing the right thing (unlike Sentinel, who was so stuck in his ways that he became a hazard). He lost his temper with his team, but then he realized that in order for a team to operate, the leader must keep his cool and get over his anger, lest his team suffer the consequences.

Throughout the three seasons of TFA, Optimus Prime went from a naïve, idealistic Academy washout to a confident, capable leader who certainly deserved the title Prime.

Oh, and let’s not forget that this “lame” Academy washout guy took on Megatron (someone who Autobots used in scary bedtime stories) not once but TWICE, and successfully disarmed and apprehended him, two of his lieutenants, partially restored the Allspark, found missing protoforms, and became the Big Damn Hero.

But hey, what a loser, right?

Longtime followers of mine will know I’m not exactly a huge TFA fan, but I do love and respect TFA!Optimus as a character a great deal, so I really must agree with cartoonfan on this one. 

Plus, woo! Optimus photo-set!

Ladies and gentleman, this.

*folds arms* okay i’ll admit it… he did one hell of a job

wait… 

I never posted this!

*Growls* DAMNIT! My brother!