How critical was the first death of Optimus Prime?

[liegeprime]

They should've gotten Bay to direct the movie.

haha, only for the scenes with Explosions!!! if he did the whole thing there wouldn't be any memorable dialogues or plot (as simple as it may be) just Explosions!!!!

[Sinnertwin]

These days I rarely watch the movie past Starscream's Coronation.

[Sam]

I really liked the fact that they decided to kill Optimus Prime off in a fight with Megatron.

I wasn't so keen on them bringing him back - I felt it made his death lose some of its significance.

As a kid, his death for me was one of those "sad but interesting / important" events that I enjoyed, because I felt that for once, finally, there was a sense of change in the Transformers series, something that I had been longing for (it just felt that at the end of each episode in the US cartoon, nobody really died and things stayed the same).

[GoktimusPrime]

haha, only for the scenes with Explosions!!! if he did the whole thing there wouldn't be any memorable dialogues or plot (as simple as it may be) just Explosions!!!!

And the Transformers would get much less screen time and dialogue. Most of it would be focused on humans^'Muricans! Autobot City would be a big NEST base, and it'd mostly be US soldiers (with a small handful of UK soldiers as a token "international" minority ) fighting the Decepticons, most of whom we wouldn't recognise in a pink fit, and the Autobots would be the Americans' sidekicks. Hoo-rah! Oh, and when Optimus Prime lifts off as he transforms to robot mode and spins in the air shooting Decepticons -- before he lands he'll get tangled up and spend the next twenty minutes being upside down before getting to Megatron. Devastator would come in like a pair of wrecking balls, and we would see at least one of the following actions from the Transformers:
+ lewd acts
+ urinating
+ farting
...and this would happen during really crucial moments too. "Springer <farts>, you and Arcee transform Autobot city. Perceptor, stop lubricating on that man and tell Blaster to radio Prime for reinforcements. Blurr..." <lewd.act> "...never mind."

Oh, and instead of becoming Galvatron, Megatron would be restored as... Megatron! Oh, and Daniel would be a good 8-10 years older, and naturally his mundane life would become a focal point of the story. And in the ending credits, Cyclonus would be called "Pointy," and in the actual film, Blaster would be called "Billy."

[Megatron]

Oh, and instead of becoming Galvatron, Megatron would be restored as... Megatron!

And this alone would have made me want to watch the movie beyond the first 20 minutes.

[Sinnertwin]

We did get to see the Decepticons lagered up in the G1 episode Microbots. That was different

[GoktimusPrime]

We did get to see the Decepticons lagered up in the G1 episode Microbots. That was different

That was relatively subtle. Bay is about as subtle as a slap to the face with a live trout!

[BigTransformerTrev]

It set the precedent of Optimus 'dying' and coming back to life a couple of years later, letting the heroic spotlight fall on someone more fallible and therefore story-wise more interesting during that time. Imagine how happy all the different TF comic writers over the past 28 years have been to know they could do that! Hell, Prime has risen from the grave more times than Zombies, Jesus & Shannen Doherty's career combined

[DELTAprime]

That was relatively subtle. Bay is about as subtle as a slap to the face with a live trout!

No matter how much I hate ROTF and how many holes I can poke in DOTM I'm still going to see the very first showing of AOE in 3D.

[GoktimusPrime]

It set the precedent of Optimus 'dying' and coming back to life a couple of years later, letting the heroic spotlight fall on someone more fallible and therefore story-wise more interesting during that time. Imagine how happy all the different TF comic writers over the past 28 years have been to know they could do that! Hell, Prime has risen from the grave more times than Zombies, Jesus & Shannen Doherty's career combined

TF comics frequently showed leaders other than Optimus Prime and Megatron. Often those who were quite flawed, which made for some interesting story telling. Take Grimlock's first reign of the Autobots. He was initially reluctant to lead the Autobots, but they all insisted that he lead them - so in essence he was unanimously elected into the position. But absolutely power corrupts absolutely, and Grimlock became a horrible tyrant oppressing those under his rule who soon grew to resent the self-proclaimed king (who even had a crown and throne fashioned for himself). Except for his fellow Dinobots - they all thought Grimlock was brilliant. On the Decepticon side you had Ratbat leading the Decepticons, a fuel auditor. During this time it was as if the Decepticons were under the corporate control of a CEO, who ran their organisation in some ways like a business. Heck, the Decepticons even turned their headquarters into a thriving part of the hospitality industry!

No matter how much I hate ROTF and how many holes I can poke in DOTM I'm still going to see the very first showing of AOE in 3D.

Same here! (only in 2D, I'm personally not the biggest fan of 3D moofies )