The Death of Optimus Prime

    And here we are, after weeks of teasing I’m finally going through with my Transformers review. Initially I was going to do a write-up not of the live action Transformers movie that I totally loathe (but I will give credit to Michael Bay for the two things he’s good at, explosions and interesting camera angles. The latter however gets ruined by the fact that the shot is either too cluttered or too sparse but I digress) but of the 1986 animated movie that I think was so much better than the live-action blockbuster that came out this century. However, I decided that instead of doing a straight up review I would do a compare and contrast of an event that occurs in both the animated movie and the live action trilogy. That event is The Death of Optimus Prime.

    A quick synopsis for the four or five people who may not know: Optimus Prime is the leader of the  He is the pinnacle of what the Autobots are supposed to be: brave, thoughtful, and honorable. If you ask someone about Transformers I guarantee you the first name that will pop up nine times out of ten will be Optimus Prime.

 Autobot faction of Transformers and the main character of the franchise; he has the ability to transform himself into a big red semi-truck which is one of the most iconic aspects of the character.

    The Death of Optimus Prime has been a watershed story in the cartoons, comics, and movies that have made up the franchise and the story has been told in several ways.

The Man...Bot!

   In the Transformers animated movie Prime’s end came to pass in his final battle with his arch rival, the Decepticon leader known as Megatron. Megatron and his crew launched an assault of Autobot City, the Autobots outpost on earth. Over the course of a day the city was ravaged and many Autobots were destroyed in spite of the efforts of the city’s inhabitants. It was when the Decepticons began to close in did Optimus Prime appear and began to mow down (literally in some cases) the Deception forces until he finally got to Megatron himself and the fight began.

     This fight was easily the most brutal fight in the then short history of the animated series; you could see the cracks forming in their bodies from the beating, Prime gets impaled by Megatron at one point in the fight but soon Optimus gets the upper hand. Megatron starts to beg for mercy but this is a ruse to get Prime closer to use a gun he finds under a piece of debris, but then Hot Rod, one of the new Autobots introduced in this movie, tries to intervene and gets used as a hostage as Megatron fires a few well place blasts into the same area where he had impaled Prime before.

    Megatron then stands over Optimus ready to deliever the coup de grace when Prime delievers the final blow and sends Megatron falling a few stories and the crashes to the ground. With Megatron defeated, the Decepticons retreat and the Autobots are left with an utter disaster on their hands; chief amongst the casualties is Prime himself who soon dies from his injuries. To do this review I had to re-watch the movie and the death scene is a lot tamer that I remember, there is a rate of decay when Prime passes but in my mind I remember quite a bit more desiccation than what was there. I guess it’s another example of a memory from long ago being built up more in one’s imagination, still a very heartbreaking moment for any fan of the show.

Now that's a main event!

    Now we come to Prime’s death in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, where Optimus is targeted for death by the Fallen, the founder of the Decepticons . Apparently Prime is the only one capable of destroying the Fallen and wants Optimus out of the way to prevent that and to prevent his interference in the capture of Sam Witwicky. The Decepticons, led by Megatron, attempt to kidnap Sam and get Optimus Prime out in the open. When Prime gives chase he’s attacked by Megatron, Starscream, and Grindor in a battle that’s just as brutal as the animated movie. You have Prime ripping Grindor apart and Megatron running a spike into Prime’s back (as much as Megatron likes his guns he also seems to like sharp and pointy things as well). Prime dies as a result of the battle, but he doesn’t get the kind of on his deathbed scene that he got in the animated movie.

    The aftermath of Prime’s death drives both stories, in the animated movie Prime’s death leaves a void and it takes the rest of the movie to not only fill that void but to deal with threats that threatens to wipe out all the Transformers. It has far reaching effects that change the dynamics of the show for years to come. In Revenge of the Fallen, the quest to resurrect Prime is one of the main plot lines that drive the rest of the movie to its conclusion. It’s only when Prime is resurrected that the threat gets resolved, the Fallen is destroyed, and the Decepticons retreat.

   I have to admit both movies make Optimus Prime look like a badass and it take a lot to send him packing to the afterlife. But which take was better? I obviously have my opinion but I think I’ll leave that decision to all of you, what do you think? Which was better?