So, here we are again, folks – a fifth Transformers movie is came out a little over 3 weeks ago,
Transformers: The Last Knight.
Clearly, we're running a tad behind.
Whether you love them or hate them, the series has legs, and a long, convoluted backstory.
But what if the series isn't what it seems?
The 1980s cartoon followed the efforts of
virtuous alien robots called Autobots as they defended
Earth against the deceitful Decepticons, and on the surface, the films do that too.
But what if Michael Bay's...
Well, I guess that makes sense, I mean...
If there's a lens flare everytime I say J.J.
Abrams... then an explosion everytime I say
Michael Bay... it makes sense,  it makes sense is all I'm saying.
Where was I?
Oh yeah...
What if this big, loud, noisy film series
has more going on than meets the eye?
See what I did there?
Huh?
Did you...
Did you see it?
My theory is this: the more the series progresses,
and the closer you look, the more it becomes
apparent that Optimus Prime was the real villain
all along, and Megatron is actually a tragic,
misunderstood hero.
Welcome to FANCY THEORY...
I mean...
Welcome to That Sci-Fi Show, I'm Jay and today
we're talking transformers.
Right after the bump.
Let's start at the beginning, with the first
Transformers film.
On the surface, based on what we're told by
Optimus and the other characters, the Autobots
are the good guys: the opening narration features
Optimus himself talking about the destructive
power of the film's MacGuffin the Allspark,
and how the Autobots are the good guys and
the Decepticons are the bad guys.
They're call Decepticons.
Surely, they can't be trusted, right?
Might as well as called them Hilterbots.
Hmmm... note to self... screen play... hitlerbots...
On the surface, this is pretty cut and dried,
but let's look at Optimus with a little more
skepticism - let's not assume he's a good
guy just because he says he is.
Despite the other side being named the "Decepticons,"
it's the Autobots who take on more explicitly
deceitful forms – from race cars to fire
trucks to ambulances, none of the Autobots'
disguises actually reflect what they do.
The Decepticons, meanwhile, take on forms
that more explicitly match their goals, and
in the case of Megatron, choose not to be
disguised at all.
Even in the first movie, the morality of the
Autobots is a little suspect – after Bumblebee
gets captured, the other Autobots talk about
how savage and violent humans are, and how
they'd never harm sentient beings.
What's more, Optimus is totally fine with
leaving Bumblebee to die, provided they can
get the Allspark back.
Also, Optimus seems all too willing to recruit
two impressionable human teenagers into this
dangerous battle for the fate of the universe,
which makes him seem more like a fanatical
cult leader than a virtuous hero.
There's also the way Optimus fights, which
is particularly fascinating: if you go back
through the series, watch for every time he
kills a Decepticon by destroying their face,
with all kinds of tearing metal and leaking
fluid as he tears his enemies apart.
Sure, they're just robots, but the way Bay
films it?
It's almost like a horror movie.
It's the second Transformers film, Revenge
of the Fallen, that starts to show the real
cracks in Optimus' facade.
Right away, we find out that the Autobots
and the US military have teamed up to create
a special task force called NEST that goes
around the world hunting down the remaining
Decepticons in hiding.
If you think about it, isn't that basically
genocide?
In the third one, Dark Side of the Moon...
I'm sorry...
Dark of the Moon, they make it even more clear
that the US military is using the Autobots
for extra firepower in the War on Terror,
which brings up all kinds of nasty political
implications when you think about it.
Optimus, it must be pointed out, is fine with
all this, since he sees the Decepticons, though
few in number and trying to stay hidden, as
worthy of extinction, and is willing to make
a deal with the devil to do it.
Optimus' true villainy is even more clear
once we learn about Megatron's backstory.
Remember the Allspark, the thing that Optimus
fought desperately to keep out of Megatron's
hands in the first one?
It turns out that, without the AllSpark, all
the babies on Cybertron will die – Prime
has doomed his people to extinction because
he doesn't like Megatron.
For all of Megatron's villainy, he's at least
consistent about what he wants – the restoration
of his people.
Optimus doesn't want to defend Earth as much
as he wants to defeat his political rival.
And what about Optimus?
Sure, he dies halfway through the films * spoliers
*, but once he returns from the dead thanks
to the cult-like dedication of his human convert
Sam (who follows him even into robot Heaven),
he straps on the body parts of his dead friend
Jetfire, who willingly tears out his own heart
so that Optimus can wear his skin – creepy
– in order to murder the Fallen.
Here's where the faces thing comes back in
a big way: Not only does he shoot half of
Megatron's face off, Prime sadistically shouts
"GIVE ME YOUR FACE" right before tearing the
Fallen's face right off his body.
Here, and in the next two films, Dark of the
Moon and Age of Extinction, Optimus starts
to look less like a noble hero defending the
Earth and more like a violent fanatic whose
lust for power puts Earth in constant danger
with no thought to the consequences.
In Dark of the Moon, we find out that Optimus
lied to the characters (and the audience)
all along: the Decepticons actually won the
war for Cybertron long ago, making the Autobots
a group of political radicals who simply want
to destroy the Decepticons out of spite for
their victory.
They're basically the robot equivalent of
people who still use the phrase "War of Northern
Aggression" unironically.
Plus, Optimus ends *that* film with even more
delicious face violence, committing mob-style
executions on Megatron and Prime's old mentor,
Sentinel Prime, with absolutely no remorse.
In Age of Extinction, Bay doesn't even pretend
Prime is anything but absolutely trucking
crazy.
(Eh?
Eh.)
When Mark Walhberg's ridiculously named Cade
Yeager reactivates Optimus, he's immediately
bitter at humanity for his self-appointed
position as their protector: "How many more
of my kind must be sacrificed, to atone for
YOUR mistakes?"
You could play a drinking game for every time
Optimus threatens someone or something with
death in that movie.
He ends that movie literally flying off into
space to blow up God: "I am Optimus Prime,
and this message is to my Creators: leave
planet Earth alone, 'cause I'm coming for
you!"
Sure, he started out as a cute toy robot who
could turn into a semi truck, but four films
later he's ready for robot genocide!
What's going to happen to Prime in the next
Transformers movie?
The trailers for The Last Knight seem to show
Optimus going full-on villain, complete with
a knock-down drag-out fight with Bumblebee.
I guess we'll find out whether Optimus finally
sees the error of his ways, or whether Mark
Wahlberg and crew finally see his true, flame-detailed
colors.
So what do think will happen in The Last Knight?
Will it be more than meets the eye?
eh?
eh?
Some other third thing?
That's all I've got for you guys today, until
next time, I'm Jay Parks.
