Inspiration Point: Optimus Prime asks the tough question

[icon_uk]

Though they weren't his originally...




 

Comments

[scorntx]

Only Orion Pax would wade through an army of professional killing machines, carrying an unconscious Whirl with him, just to scold the Senate.

And this is part of the reason the modern depiction of Optimus "Perpetually Stoic, Non-Contraction Using, Piece of Cardboard" Prime in any non-comics media is so terribly boring. Could you really see the Optimus of Transformers: Prime being this animated?

That, and Hasbro's idiotic mandate that he's the Super Special Chosen One, rather than Just Some Guy who happened to wind up being in charge and turned out to be pretty damn good at it.

[locuatico]

I swear, if it wasn't for Cullen's wonderful VA, most optimus depiction world be pretty forgettable.

[icon_uk]

I confess I've thought Mr Cullen's more recent efforts have sounded very tired, perhaps related to Mr Cullen now being in his 70's, or perhaps related to the scripts in Michael Bay movies (though I've felt the same was true in Robots in Disguise and even Rescue Bots).

[dragontail]

You have, good sir, hit upon the very thing. Peter discussed this in 2014 when he was a guest at our local comic convention, and when I interviewed him for the newspaper. He has, by his own admission, been locked into "epic movie trailer Prime voice" for the past few years at the request of directors - first Bay, then everyone else following on from the success of the films. The only time he's been able to shake that off was for Transformers: Devastation, which was a targeted return to his classic Optimus voice.

(And yeah, he differentiates the vocal stylings as "Optimus" and "Prime", which amuses me no end.)

I'm with everyone else, BTW. "Epic movie trailer Prime" voice and "he's the super-special chosen one Prime" are my least favourite interpretations. I'm especially partial to "just an archivist thrust into a bigger role Optimus" from The War Within above all others, but early IDW's "just a cop who winds up as something more while still kicking tonnes of skidplate Optimus" is pretty great, too.

[janegray]

That, and Hasbro's idiotic mandate that he's the Super Special Chosen One, rather than Just Some Guy who happened to wind up being in charge and turned out to be pretty damn good at it.

Oh my God THIS THIS *THIS!!!* I wish I could engrave this on the surface on the moon and shine a perennial beacon on it!

The two of us may have VERY different taste in stories and characters, and I do overall enjoy Transformers Prime a lot, but I couldn't agree more with you here. Hasbro's decision to turn Aligned Continuity!Optimus into LITERAL ROBOT!JESUS completely ruined the character for me. The whole "he is literally the son of God, but not just any son of God, no he is the most specialest son of god of them all whose spark was closest in frequency to God because he is just that flawlessly perfect and all the other Gods instinctively looked up to him with awe because he was eternally The Best Thing To Ever Happen To The Universe" makes me facepalm so hard it may leave a scar.

All I hope for is that the IDW comics never, ever adopt that take on the character. I got very, very nervous when Alpha Trion started getting all foreshadowing about the 13 Original Prime and how coincidental it is that the same names keep popping up.

[starwolf_oakley]

An issue that had Megatron and Optimus Prime talking covered some of this. Don't recall the exact issue. Megatron asked Prime if he hated him and Prime asked Megatron what he really wanted.

"Freedom is the right of all sentient beings. Where was that when we had to serve the council because that's what we were made for?"

[scorntx]

That was the issue just before this one.

"Where the hell were you when people like me were made to work in the mines simply because we were made that way?"

[starwolf_oakley]

What issues were those?

[scorntx]

Issues 21 and 22, of the ongoing series.

[stubbleupdate]

I don't think anything in comics has fascinated me quite like post-war Megatron

[laughing_tree]

Worth pointing out the real world inspiration behind the inspiration: Tony Benn and his five questions

[icon_uk]

Dammit, I should have remembered that!

Ah, Tony Benn, now THERE was a politician worth admiring!

I may not have agreed with all of his policies, but I could never ever fault his commitment, brilliance and dedication.

[bradygirl_12]

Can he go to Trump Tower with these questions?