Optimus Prime!!
Transformers Day was yesterday, and thanks to my wretched POS computer, I wasn't able to post this fan art in time, but here it is nontheless
I'm quite happy with how he turned out, and I hope y'all also like this take on the Autobot Commander
(edited cuz some stuff was buggin' me)
The anniversary of TF:One wasn’t too long ago, so I’m going to make a very long post about how much I love this movie and how it portrayed Orion and D-16 becoming Optimus and Megatron.
The long and the short of it is this: the moment of transformation at the climax of the movie was excellent. One of my favourite scenes if not my favourite overall. However, it is not the moment where either of them became Megatron or Optimus.
Starting with D. The movie, I think, portrays that D-16 could have always turned back. He wasn’t Megatron until he dropped Orion into the centre of the planet. He was angry and hurt and he let that control him but there was always the possibility that he chose different. He is not an innocent victim because ultimately his fall into darkness was something he chose, something he rushed towards blinded by his anger. D-16 was abrasive at times. The potential for Megatron was always there, but it did not have to be his future.
Orion, on the other hand, was always going to be Optimus Prime. His fate was set by more than the decades of history in the franchise that told what he would be.
All throughout the movie, from the very first time we meet him, it’s made clear that Orion Pax is Optimus Prime in a way that D-16 isn’t Megatron. We see him surrounded by the light of the holographic Primes in the archives as oor introduction. He is already trying to help, already facing what he will be. When the matrix first appears in that hologram it is in front of him as if teasing at who will be the next to hold it.
I also get the sense in the early part of the movie Orion knows something is wrong. When D pointed out that sentinel is out looking for the Matrix, Orion seems to tack on as an after thought that he was trying to help him. He was always convinced he was supposed to be able to transform. Even when they learn the truth about sentinel, what does Orion say? “My God I knew it. Deep down I always felt something was off.” Orion Pax questioned what D-16 accepted. He knew something was wrong and was unwilling to be convinced otherwise and even more unwilling to wait for someone else to figure it out.
Also throughout the movie, even before the scene where Elita gives him a pep-talk Orion consistently takes leadership roles. Yes, Elita is in charge of their mining crew but who takes control when shit hits the fan and the tunnel collapses?Orion does. Easily. He takes charge and gets everyone out and even Elita falls in behind him to support his plan even when she doesn’t want to break protocol. He steps up against unjust rules repeatedly. It’s like when D-16 kept getting up while Sentinel tortured him, but Orion does it not out of rage or in defiance, but simply, automatically, as if there is no other way for him to be. He leads when others won’t and always has. Orion is calm under pressure in a way the others aren’t. He saves Bee when they are hiding from the ship in the ruins. He talks to the high guard calmly (even though that doesn’t work).
Also, I think it is very significant that Orion finds Alpha Trion’s transmission. He recognizes it so quickly partially because he has spent so much time in the archives listening to that voice. Furthermore, who does Alpha Trion give their proof to? Orion. Does the Prime recognize himself in his future successor? Does he see the qualities that make Optimus Prime who he is?
And then there is what I argue is the most important scene in the movie: Orion recruiting the miners. If I had to pick a scene where Orion Pax became Optimus Prime, this would be it.
In contrast to everything Sentinels did and everything Megatron will do, he kneels. If you pay attention, Sentinel is almost always viewed from below by the people he supposedly leads. He stands on pedestals or projects his image on giant hanging screens. He is larger than life, untouchable. Megatron is much the same with his Decepticons in the end credits scene where he stands above them. Although sentinel did kneel to the quintessons it is entirely different. Sentinel kneels out of fear of those stronger than him, but Orion kneels out of respect for those weaker than him. Megatron also has an important moment with kneeling when he refuses to kneel to Sentinel (or indeed anyone) ever again. Optimus is a true leader because he knows when to kneel and never, for a moment, depicts himself as above the others. Even when he gets restarts the flow of energon or charges into battle at the end of the movie, he is on the same plane as the others.
When Orion goes to speak to the old miners, he walks amongst them. He speaks to them on their level, treating himself as just another member of the group (though a very tall one) and uses the wisdom of others (Alpha Trion’s quote) to show them that they can be more than what Sentinel told them they could be. He leads not with fear or deception, but with understanding and truth.
The scene where he falls physically while Megatron falls symbolically is iconic. It’s one of my favourite scenes in the film, but it is not the moment of transformation for either of them. For Megatron that moment was when he dropped Orion, but it was something that had been building the whole film. For Optimus, it was little more than a chance of his physical body to match what he had always been. Yes Orion is immature at times and selfish in this film, but he is young and he learns and, at spark, he was always everything that we love about Optimus Prime.
“Be strong enough to be gentle” indeed.
To quote myself: “I can imagine a world where Optimus Prime was never Orion Pax, but not one where Orion Pax never became Optimus Prime.” Because Orion Pax was Optimus where it mattered.
Bonus for sticking around this long:
This was based on a discord convo I had with my friend @supernovamain inspired by this picture I took captioned “He’ll grow into it.” She imediately got that I was referencing both how he would get physically bigger and how he would go from the kind and loyal D-16 to the sort of bot who would seat himself on a throne.
