Opinion: Optimus Prime Is The Worst Part of Netflix's TRANSFORMERS: WAR FOR CYBERTRON

I understand that saying that the main character and easily the most beloved character of the Transformers universe is the worst part of the show is a pretty strong statement. But let me explain why. We are going to hit all of the spoilers and talk in depth about his choices and why they are terrible.

Let’s begin with his leadership. He is a terrible leader in this show. As often as he swoops in to save the day, never gives up on the “freedom for Cybertron,“ or has the same desires to make “all [of Cybertron] one”, he never goes into depth about what that is and it feels like he’s going to force everybody to be Autobots just like Megatron is making everyone Decepticons. Maybe some people like serving Megatron and enjoy a more militaristic government, who says that Optimus is the boss and the king of everything and how does he know what’s best for everyone? We don’t get much backstory other than he was close with Alpha Trion which I guess gives him the liberty to create a rebellion, causing people lives and fighting for “freedom.” I understand that this is a little more in depth with the problems of the politics of the show, but it is something to note.

Also, as a leader Optimus Prime should listen to other people’s advice and respect the ideas of his subordinates and advisers, and yet at about every turn he just rejects people's ideas and says for them to trust him for no reason other than thinking he is right. Especially his relationship with Elita One. Time and time again from the beginning of the show, she has pointed out various concerns, problems, issues and suggested her own ideas and Optimus just ignores her or tells her to “trust him.“ It’s pretty annoying to see one of the three or four female characters in the show be reduced to basically nothing as Optimus overpowers her with his “authority” and inability to take anybody else’s advice. 

And another thing, just a side note, but why are the women in this TV show clearly made to look like female humans with curves and media standard body shapes? The male characters don’t look like human men. The males in the show are all sorts of weird blocky shapes and sizes, and yet the women are all smaller with slender and curvy bodies. It is just weird and I understand that is how it was in the original shows and designs, but it stands out like a sore thumb now.

Now, back to Optimus. He is so obsessed with the AllSpark and thinking he knows best that he gets people killed, he puts countless allies in danger and in the end takes the AllSpark away from CyberTron which more or less, from legend, could kill all of CyberTron. I understand that giving into Megatron would be enslavement for him and his people, but is possibly killing all life on CyberTron really any better than a couple hundred people living under an authoritative rule? He says that it is....but it isn’t. He even willingly leaves a number of his allies on the planet to fend for themselves while Megatron clearly rules the planet or it is just blown up and kills everyone. Is Optimus planning on taking the AllSpark off planet, creating an army or becoming super powerful and then going back to CyberTron to fight and kill all of the Deceptacons? What is his major plan? How would any of that be any better than just becoming a prisoner of war until things could change?

I know that his character has to be the inspiration and motivation for the Autobots to fight Megatron, but to see him make so many decisions based on only what he thinks is best is pretty ridiculous. Between Ultra Magnus trying to be peaceful and Elita One trying to convince him to be more cautious, hopefully Optimus would have tried to be more sensible, but nope, he just always did what “he thought was right.” I think if his character was more reasonable and relied more on his advisers for help and his subordinates to come up with good ideas, things could’ve been a little bit better for the show as a whole and given the side character more to do. But as of now we just have to hope that his radical idea of taking the AllSpark off planet won’t kill everyone and maybe he’ll be more open next Chapter.