Dissecting the exact moment Bayverse Optimus became a psycho

As he lay dying, Optimus could only think of all the ways this could have been avoided.

Music is Do You Realize? by Ursine Vulpine

[ButchersNailsEnjoyer]

In all honesty, the fact he’s been fighting centuries on cybertron and the fact that the humans or decepticons wont learn anything he tells them, it’s a miracle he kept his cool for that long

[etam]

Something cool to note is that Nemesis Prime on the Bayverse, ain't some bad guy like it may appear, but literally someone fighting to save his own dying planet, like Megs and Sentinel, Nemesis is just Prime without his morals, morals that began to change already on AOE, he always cared about his planet, but not by killing another one, that was part of his morals...

[fraydizs]

Im so glad you pointed out that Optimus really only changed after he died and came back. He was legitimately just sick of getting screwed over because he played by the rules. Imagine you have to protect someone with your life and you know if you fail, if you die, then the ENTIRE WORLD will be destroyed. Then imagine you lose and you know youre about to die, and because you lost, the world will end. But then you come back to life. Youre not going to be the same person that died. Youre gonna play by your own rules. Optimus wasnt about to let himself make the same mistake again.

[ShadowRosea]

Bayverse Optimus is a more realistic version with losing his friends his colleagues and his home all because he held back against his enemies in the war and at the forest he realized “oh shit I gotta stop holding back or not just me but everyone will die”

[CrimsonKnight]

For a Alien Robot veteran of a endless war, it does make sense that he would be tired of the Deceptacons bullshit and would go berserker on them, he’s practically a victim of war at this point of the Bayformers, so him going full on Kratos on them is just a normal day for him

[PK-Radio]

The moment Megs said “is the survival of our race not worth a single human life” was the moment Optimus was done putting up with the decepticons

[capnbingbong]

The way I always saw it was that he wasn't so much becoming psychotic as he was reverting to his older ways. The way he's unleashing brutality and almost never getting seriously injured (AFTER the forest fight, of course, and with the exception of losing an arm in DotM) seems to come from a great warrior rather than a madman. He's not chaotic, he's precise, and he flows with a savage sort of grace. He was a warrior before he was a peacekeeper, and now he is in more of an equilibrium between the two; a Peacemaker

[MarvinzWrld]

What people forget about the bayverse is that is highlighted the fact that they were in a war. Optimus was a pacifist caught in that war, in the first two films he tries to stick to that but we see him realise that the decepticons will not show mercy. So he becomes a person who fights them on their terms, flawed as it was, for someone who’s been beaten, betrayed, and watched countless friends die for no good reason, the fact that he stayed true to his morals for so long is the most impressive thing.

[Soloong_Gaybowzer]

He never abandoned his principles, he just got a hard dose of reality and realized that dead Deceptions don't re-offend.

[sethtfp]

I’ve always though Optimus’ “descent” was never really a descent, but an acceptance of the reality of his situation. He’s in a war, and him realising that what he’s fighting for is more valuable than his moral code is a really interesting idea that I wish they did a lot more with.

[thatonedrainedplatter]

I’m glad there’s someone who isn’t just calling him a psycho without going into more detail, never understood why he acted the way he did until now and it’s very understandable.

I definitely like the idea of the other autobots reacting to his shift in behavior.

[kingbash]

I think Optimus' slow decent into cyncism and ruthless violence vould make an interesting, even great arc. The issue with the Bayverse is the lack of time they give to Optimus and the other Cybertronians. I think the tragedy behind Optimus having to kill both his "brother" in Megatron and his mentor, Sentinel, would have hit harder if the movies built on their relationship rather than focusing on human shenanigansso much. Even in AOE, Optimus's change in viewpoint of humans gets pushed aside for shit like Cade worrying about his underraged daughter being in an relationship with a grown adult or Chinese propaganda, and by TLK, where the character arc should have reached its climax, he only shares a scene or 2 with Quintessa before turning evil, then disappears for most of the movie and only comes in at the beginning of the third act to first Bee and turn good again after just hearing him speak. The underwritten potential of the story really harms the characters overall, and I don't blame people for thinking these movies are brianless junk food.

[ginger_jesus]

I always saw bay-verse in a sort of more realistic 'not everyone is going home' type deal, and primes decent into ruthlessness was just bay's way of saying "We all know you'd do it if you were him"

[vwjkid]

Love these videos going more in depth to stuff like this to give it a more concise story. When in reality Bay just wanted “Big robot kill other big robots”

[Vengeful_Wyvern]

I genuinely NEVER realized, despite seeing ROTF multiple times, that Optimus wasn't actually trying until around 2:30. Definitely one of the weaker ones, but does a great job of showing how much he cares for all life that he would hold back so much.

[uberschnilthegreat]

This honestly makes the forest fight just that much more of an impactful event in the Bayverse films. In a way, it was the end of the story for the Optimus we knew from the first movie, and the beginning of a new story for the Optimus we know immediate post-revival and onwards.

[kennethsatria]

Really makes you wish you didn't need to theorize and that Optimus could have actually slowly become more desperate and jaded and grows aware of it and his experiences as a story arc in the movies.

Its kind of like the role of Nemesis Prime in the Netflix show where he is revealed to become a herald of Unicron in some not so distant future that haunts his older self.

[lightbulbproductions]

This is honestly a really well done look into how Prime just dipped in mental health and became the psycho we know him as today

[drakeford]

Honestly, I've got no beaf with this version of Optimus.

Bayverse Prime is a protector. Everything he does, for good or ill, is driven by his desire to safeguard that which he cares for. He doesn’t desire death or destruction, and we see him actively avoiding it wherever possible, especially earlier on in the timeline.

The Autobots' enemies in this continuity are essentially irredeemable. Whatever they were before, they're too far gone now to ever recover. They _won't_ stop at one. They won't stop _ever._

At a certain point (and I do think his revival is as good a peg as any) Prime realises the half measures won't work anymore. His enemies can't be reasoned with, satiated, or redeemed, and any mercy he gives them will only be forged into a sword pointed at his back.

Even then, look how he responded to the KSI labs situation. Despite his rage, he went in, saved his people, and limited harm solely to equipment and machinery. That's remarkable forbearance (which he was once again punished for, might I add).

I don’t think Optimus ever went "psycho." I don’t even think that he took Megatron's word or philosophy to heart. I think he just came to realize the truth of his situation and accepted it.

Optimus fought monsters, and wooden swords wouldn't do.

[Daniel-The-Researcher]

Great video, loved the idea you explored!

Also, a line that always resonated with me was: “who would you be without me, Prime?”

Something that, coming from Megatron, makes me think that he is aware of the fact that Optimus became as violent and capable as he is in response to the abuse and brutality of the Decepticons. Even as a kid I just accepted the idea of him being done with everything