lalalabot:

megarowboat:

iaconlibrary:

mylovelyrainblog:

It just occurred to me a lot of people look at TFA Optimus and go What A Cinnamon Roll lol. I do enjoy those posts but that’s someone who was ambitious to meet “the enemy,” was a trained soldier, handled danger stoically, and pretty much was ready to kill

Watch the first episode and you will see.

And last episode when he told Megatron he didn’t deserve death. (Death on the battlefield would at least be an honor wouldn’t it. He’s just as ferocious as Megatron.)

TFA is a very interesting show.

#as much as i enjoy those posts #it is the canonly conflicted and complex Optimus that i like #he is a perfect match to tfa megs #sweet sometimes but dry and stern most of the times #has a heart but far from a sweet summer child  #ambitious #transformers: animated #optimus prime #He bought into the agenda wholeheartedly most of the times. Even when he was himself a victim of the system. (via mylovelyrainblog)

my favourite example for “hardcore straight to business things” op does is during transwarped. sari is at their base, recovering from her deadly upgrades as megatron-controlled omega supreme is attacking detroit.

well, megatron’s going to freaking kill them, so optimus tells ratchet to get ready to use this child—this small human child that they have been protecting and caring for for a whole season—and to turn her back into a weapon.

they don’t end up doing this of course, because ratchet is all about his morals, but optimus went right for that. the fact that she was a friend or he would be putting a child into danger had no apparent bearing on his decision at that time. you have no choice but to fight dirty when you’re faced with impossible odds.

and there was that one time bulkhead brought in the constructicons. optimus remarked that he didn’t think that the constructicons were capable of learning anything but pounding more motor oil. there’s that initial distrust and discrimination. he later remarks that they still have a chance to become autobots, but what a contradiction, when he didn’t believe in them in the first place?

you are so right with the way megatron contrasts with optimus in tfa. that’s a thing i didn’t even think about. like… when optimus reaches out to people, it’s genuine, but ultimately stilted and awkward. he means to help with all his spark, but he doesn’t know how to express it. megatron, meanwhile, reaches out perfectly. he tells people exactly what they want to hear as smoothly as silk. but, ultimately, it’s artificial. he doesn’t mean a word.

That’s totally it! Optimus has this autobot commonwealth mindset “every bot is a cog in the great Autobot machine.” He was trained in the elite guard academy to be a leader, actually on a fast track up to the top. That combined with his honorable and compassionate nature created the unique, conflicted bot that he is. He’s not all sunshine. He’s got ambitions, painful regrets, elitism and a hive mind in him as well. (I’d say more about the commonwealth but that’s another topic.)

That contrast you mentioned is so on point! Megatron is definitely better at reading people than Optimus. He’s a master manipulator. I’d add that as “the enemy” we didn’t get to see as much of Megatron, but there still is a decency underneath all that using people. Like when he (not so nicely) gave a chance of surrendering to the meagerly repair crew? Didn’t hurt Sari when she was trying to defend the Allspark? Asked for death instead of cussing or begging in that last episode? Things like that.

But in spite of that decency tho, he indeed smoothly tell others what they want to hear and uses them without a second thought, without genuineness. However as I’m trying to squint for positivities here, lets see under what conditions he’d use that tactic:

Situation 1: in Dr. Sumdac’s lab, he tricked Sumdac to repair his body and hide him from the Autobots

Situation 2: Played up his vulnerability to prevent Omega Supreme from killing him immediately.

Situation 3: Give the Constructions fine oil and praise their worthiness in order to employ them for his spacebridge construction.

(And just for fun, situations 4: catfished that poor scientist pretending to be a human lady in some choose your adventure book.)

In contrast, he’s pretty straightforward with his Decepticons. He seemed a bit sad even, when he mused that he had been betrayed by “one of his own.” It seems Megatron mostly uses this kind of underhanded manipulation on “others”, especially when he’s in absolute disadvantage, under someone else’s power, and trying to get out of a dangerous situation.

In situation 3 with the constructions tho, I think he did mean what he said. He used the constructicons because he did see their value, unlike Blitzwing who took one look and disregarded them as brainless brutes.

The Decepticons are chaotic evil, Megatron still trashed a human city, but the Autobots aren’t great either. I’d even say they are an ordered evil. And regular bots like Bumblebee and Optimus are pretty much brainwashed in their lies and rhetorics. There’re tons of subtext in TFA, which make it a truly great show, in my opinion!

P. S. I think the reason Optimus obsessedly reminded the Decepticons, especially Megatron his name: he was hammering home his worthiness. It’s a statement to the world that he had it in his programming.