Really? Starscream began as a selfish and amoral fiend to becoming, at the end of Predacon Rising, a selfish and amoral fiend. His alliances shifted as they suited him, but they've always been self motivated. Shifting allegiance is not the same as change in character.Originally Posted by MayzaPrime
Bumblebee's change in character was extrinsically induced (i.e. he fell into a Cosmic MacGuffin) rather than being intrinsically induced through the sum of his experiences. Smokescreen is probably one character in Prime who went through intrinsic character change. As far as the humans are concerned, Jack underwent the greatest change, followed by Raf and then Miko. But this change, especially for Miko, was very slow. She spent the first two seasons being a cheesy stereotype until finally in Season 3 she started showing signs of maturity.
Predaking had shifts in allegiances due to changes in circumstances, but his core persona never changed. He only served Megatron when he thought that it was in the best interest of the Predacon cause, but when he discovered that it wasn't (especially when he learnt that Megatron had ordered the genocide of his fellow Predacons), that is when Predaking left the Decepticons. It wasn't because he had a change of heart but because he realised that he had been deceived and fighting for Megatron under false pretenses.
I don't dislike Prime, I do quite like it. I see it as the G1 cartoon of our time, because the G1 cartoon was really full of caricatures rather than characters (the G1 comics on the other hand gave us proper characters). So TF Prime is really no worse than G1, and in all honesty, I think that Prime is actually much better written than the G1 cartoon. It's not nearly as camp (come on, G1 gave us an episode where the Decepticons turned the Autobots evil by recharging them with evil fuel!
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I would be inclined to agree with this ranking.
There are all sorts of way you can do it, but basically you need to give Optimus Prime some kind of flaw or imperfection for him to improve and grow upon as a character. When you make a character an essentially perfect Messiah-like archetype, then it becomes very one dimensional as there's no room for any character growth.
Let's look at G1 comic Optimus Prime. He was more rash in his youth as a lower ranking officer, with a poor decision resulting in the death of Boltax and the loss of the Underbase from Cybertron. The Underbase eventually super-powered Starscream who then slaughtered many, many Cybertronians, including lots of Autobots. Prowl died twice cos wibbly wobbly timey wimey.Optimus Prime also blames himself for bringing the Cybertronians' war to Earth (because he was the one who threw the switched that crashed the Ark onto Earth), resulting in further harm and destruction to the life forms of Earth - human, animals, plants and even environmental destruction. All of this weighed heavily on Prime's conscience, leaving him riddled with issues of guilt. Optimus Prime had become a very strong character by the time he assumed supreme executive command of the Autobots, but this strength would later prove to be a weakness. In the early stages of the war it was Prime's unwavering determination to never surrender that allowed him and his Autobots to do what the Council of Elders had long failed to do -- retake occupied/conquered City States back from the Decepticons. We know that Iacon would've fallen if not for Prime, and indeed after Prime left Cybertron, Iacon did fall to the Decepticon warlord Trannis (who was then succeeded by Straxus). The entire Council was executed except for Xaaron who managed to flee underground (leading the Autobot resistance and forming the Wreckers). But it was Powermaster Optimus Prime who realised that this indomitable will had become a liability. In order for the Cybertronians to survive the oncoming approach of Unicron he knew that he would have to swallow his pride and have himself and the Autobots under his command to surrender to the Decepticons. And this even prompted change in Scorponok's character, and the two former enemies became great allies as they fought side by side against the Chaos Bringer. Optimus Prime cradling a dying Scorponok and then mourning over his passing remains one of the single most powerful moments from G1. Just that long distance silhouette of Prime huddled over Scorponok's corpse in silent despair. The other Decepticons were busy fighting alongside the Autobots, Optimus Prime was the only one there to mourn the loss of a great and courageous Decepticon leader whom he considered a friend in the end. The G1 comics were cancelled by Hasbro shortly after this, so there wasn't much time for further character development as Marvel were pushed to introduce new toys (i.e. Action Masters) and quickly wrap things up. G2 saw a little more development in Optimus Prime, we see a first glance into how Prime laments over how he and Megatron are enemies and how great it could be if they could be allies. This demonstrated a substantial level of empathy for one's mortal enemy, continuing on from what Prime experienced with Scorponok. Optimus Prime's character has changed based on the sum of his experiences. G2 again was abruptly cancelled by Hasbro and Marvel again had to quickly wrap things up (and even joking about how it was happening again with the character name "Jhiaxus" = "gee, axe us").
I don't expect any new Optimus Prime to be a copy of G1 comic Optimus Prime, but simply to have some form of journey where his experiences shape his character. We've also seen this with IDW Optimus Prime and many other IDW Transformers. It's an entirely different journey from Generation 1, but it's still enjoyable because the journey is there and is still ongoing. It is this form of characterisation which gives a story substance and allows it to thrive. Bear in mind that the G1 comics (1984-92) outlasted the G1 cartoon (1984-87), and the IDW comics (2005-present) has now outrun the entire G1 franchise! (1984~early-1993)
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