Parasites

Optimus Prime is an iconic figure of the American culture. He is portrayed as a brave leader leading the forces of the Autobots into battle against the potential destruction caused by the insidious Decepticons lead by Megatron. However, many times his victories were actually Megatron foiling his schemes himself by means of his greed and absolute need for power. It is not something that is often thought of when the topic of the epic war that was first witnessed in 1984 is brought up (The Transformers). With a personal history of viewing the original series and reading the extensive multiple continuities in the franchise, looking at both sides of the battle, it is visibly more than meets the eye.

When Hasbro released the first episode of their new series in 1984, titled The Transformers, it became an instant hit among the’80s generation kids alongside shows like G.I. Joe and Thundercats. All had the grainy animation that has become reminiscent of the era. Originally, the Hasbro Company was not expecting the show to be as big a success as it became (featurette). With robots from a not-so-distant alien world, half that came to Earth with the intention of draining the planet’s energy dry, the other half with the goal to protect the planet. Optimus Prime quickly became the hero in the first episode of the series when he saved the two characters that would be the Autobot’s future human allies from the burning remains of the Oil Refinery they worked on that had been raided by the Decepticons in their search for energy. Disregarding the obvious fact that 16-year-olds do not typically work in Oil Refineries in the middle of the ocean, as he was first seen in the introductory episodes, Spike Witwicky became a main human character throughout the series from the first episode to the last.

Spike Witwicky is a prime example of the follies of Optimus Prime. Often times Prime and the Autobots were forced to save Spike or his father from the various plots of the Decepticons. If they could not protect one mere human who lived within the borders of their base, what made them think they could possibly have what it takes to save all of humanity from the perils that were to be caused by the Decepticons in future episodes? An example of this is very well known throughout the Transformers Fan base in the three part episode named Megatron’s Master Plan in which Megatron manages to turn the entirety of the human race against the Autobots. Optimus Prime’s visage had in fact been used against the people to facilitate the change, therefore, it could be said that he had not in fact built any kind of trust with any other humans other than the Witwickys who swore up and down that they knew the truth.

Allies such as political leaders would have been a vital asset to have for the autobot leader with intentions to protect Earth. This problem extends not only from the Generation One continuity in the 1980s, but it is also seen directly in the new movies by Michael Bay. The most recent example of his neglect to form proper allies with the human race is the 2011 movie, The Dark of the Moon. It was reliving the same problem in the movies that the Autobots faced in the old series. It could almost be considered a formula to how the Autobots win against the Decepticons. The basic break down is that Megatron does something that is suddenly ‘shocking’ to the Autobots, Optimus Prime calls him insane, Megatron gets his hands on whatever he wanted, they fight with no one but the decepticons getting hurt, the Autobots never retrieve what was stolen or they destroy it, and the story goes on in a repetitive circle.

One would think that Optimus Prime’s directive when retrieving a human technology from the Decepticons would be to bring it back in one piece. In the episode, Cosmic Rust, the Decepticons get their hands on ancient human technology from a Mayan temple deep within the jungles of Central America. Considering this technology could have been brought to the humans for study on how the primitive people could have achieved such a futuristic technology, it would have been able to help the humans with their technological advancements without the need for the Autobot dependency that is visible in The Transformers: The Movie. Most of the technology seen in the movie and the following third and final season are provided by the Autobots. The Autobots, more importantly the Autobot Leader, do not seem to care for letting the humans advance in their own time or with the uses of their own tech. This is not broad leap when Optimus Prime throws a fit about when Autobot technology is found on Earth in the 2011 movie, and book, that they were not given privilege to.

“You lied to us!” he thundered, sounding angrier than Lennox had ever her him short of when he was squaring off against a Decepticon trying to kill him. To underscore his furry, he kicked over the pedestal, sending the fuel rod clattering to the ground. Mearing coolly glanced at the fallen pedestal. “Is that for effect?” she asked, not in the leas nonplussed. He pointed at it. “Everything the humans know of our planet, we were told all had been shared. So why was this found in Human Possession?” (David)

It could be considered a gap in trust when the humans are expected to share all of their knowledge and technology with the Autobots but in return, they refuse to share any technology or cosmic knowledge with the humans. Granted, they did share their information about their planet with the humans but it was very little concerning their planet. The humans, just like the autobots did, felt they had their rights to their secrets since the Autobots did not tell them everything either. It is the proverbial leg up on keeping their enemies and allies in check. This is far different than the reliance that the Autobots created in the original movie and third season.

While the blame cannot be entirely placed on the Autobot leader of the third season of Generation One, Rodimus Prime, since he had enormous shoes to fill in the eyes, or optics really, of his fellow Autobots because he just simply was not Optimus Prime. They do not let the fact Rodimus Prime is not as great as Prime die either or Optimus Prime for that matter. In the third season, given up to the final four episodes, Optimus Prime had been revived and died about four times. He has what many fans have dubbed “The Jesus Syndrome.” The Jesus Syndrome is a character that could be considered perfect in almost every way and tends to die and be revived on multiple occasions like he is so perfect that he is too good even for death. The Michael Bay movies also show Optimus Prime having what could be considered an emotional problem. Each movie shows Prime having the desire to quickly sacrifice himself without a second thought. While some fans conclude that this could be Prime’s noble nature, from another view point he seems rather eager to die. Not just once, but in all three movies he displays that quick-to-die behavior, a red shirt in the original Star Trek series. In the 2007 Movie, Transformers, the finale for the movie started off with Optimus saying if there was no other resort, he would put the All-spark, a heavenly cube of untold potential and power, into his spark to destroy it. The spark of any transformer could be considered their heart, the equivalent to doing this being putting a live electrical wire into someone’s chest and shoving it right into the heart.

Immediately the Autobot Medic, Ratchet, declares that it would be suicide. Right there, right on screen, they said Optimus Prime had the intention to commit suicide. The illusion of a brave leader, for me anyway, shattered when he opted to commit suicide instead of finding an alternative solution. It takes his human companion, the now Infamous Sam Witwicky as played by Shia LeBeouf, to find the alternate solution of shoving the killing cube into Megatron’s spark instead of following Optimus’ order to shove it into his own (Transformers, 2007).

Even with the behavioral discrepancies of Optimus Prime, he is still the adversary to Megatron. Often described as a megalomaniac, Megatron is the ruthless and deadly leader of the Decepticons. “Some would question his sanity, though these few are mostly now dead by his hands... or his fusion cannon, depending on his mood (Megatron (G1)).” This is just Generation One Megatron, completely disregarding other continuities of him that are all similar in nature, but each one as deadly as the next. Even Optimus Prime prefers to stay clear of the maniac he is often trying to stop from destroying the Earth and conquering the entire universe.

Despite the desire to rule the universe with an iron fist, this is not considering the fact that Megatron and the rest of the Decepticons were meant for war. War is all any Decepticon has ever known.

As a young, charismatic leader forged in battle and the heritage of war, he began to believe in a grand purpose for his race—it is the Transformers' glorious destiny to rule an empire which will span the universe. The opposite of his mortal enemy Optimus Prime, he feels great contempt for other Transformers who, he feels, betray their proud heritage by demanding peace and cooperation with weaker life forms. It is the destiny of the Decepticons to bring order to the universe through conquest, though in the millions of years since coining this purpose it remains to be seen how much of his mission statement is altruistic... and how much of it is mere words built to fuel warriors to further his desire for personal power (Megatron (G1)).

Megatron rules over a group of misfits otherwise cast out from the society of their home world if it was not already under decepticon control in the first two Generation One seasons. They are outcasts the third season of the Generation One continuity after the 1986 movie that kicks them off Cybertron. After the closing the movie, the Decepticons are left on a dying planet instead of being allowed to live with the Autobots. Granted they are being allowed to live, they are still left to suffer for following orders given to them by Megatron after he is dead. They are left to suffer for their beliefs in a barren wasteland. While under Decepticon control, the Decepticons never tried to force the Autobots off of the planet. The only reason they were trying to kill the Autobots was because they would never leave the decepticons alone, often stealing energy reserves that the decepticons had worked to collect instead of the autobots trying to collect their own. The whole war would be over if the Autobots just went and got their own.

Facing the existence of a decepticon controlled Cybertron that actually unified the government under one rule, Megatron’s, Optimus Prime does not stand for the heroic deeds he is trying to portray. Looking at it from a different perspective, Optimus Prime and his followers could be considered traitors to their race. While the decepticons are trying to stay alive and actually collect what they were searching for in the first place, the Autobots do nothing but try to stop them. The Autobots are more parasites than they are heroes.

David, Peter. “Transformers: Dark of the Moon.” 2011. Del Rey/Random House. Print.

Megatron (G1). <http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Megatron_(G1)>

The Transformers. “More than Meets the Eye prts 1 - 3”. 1984. Video.

The Transformers. “Megatron’s Master Plan, Prts 1-3”. 1984. Video.

The Transformers. “The Transformers: The Movie.” 1986. Video.

Transformers. Directed by Michael Bay. 2007. Video

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Special Featurette, 2-disc special edition. Disc 2 2009.Video

Transformers: Dark of the Moon. Directed by Michael Bay. 2011. Video