Quote Originally Posted by Sinnertwin View Post
I would've done the same & I'm glad we're seeing this side of Optimus, it's about time.
The days of letting the Decepticons retreat only to come back the following week with another Ultimate Weapon/Plot for World Domination are looooong gone
They are a technologically advanced race... I'm sure there were humane methods at their disposal to put prisoners into stasis-lock or hybernation, and store their sparks until such time that they could be re-educated or re-programmed to be non-violent.

And what about Optimus enslaving the Dinobots in TF4? He only "frees" them from Lockdown's captivity when he needed them, not as soon as he was free... and then instead of pleading with his "fellow knights" for their help, he starts bashing up Grimlock and holding a sword to his throat stating, "help my friends or die".
That, and the execution of prisoners, is why I would really hope they decide a reboot before starting the "expanded Universe" series of movies, as the first four don't give a solid foundation for future movies to build on. There are just way too many contradictions between them, and character flaws, for a Marvel-style universe to be created.
At least for Marvel and DC, they set out a rough framework to follow BEFORE starting the series of movies... so that they don't have to retcon too much later or leave fans with glaringly obvious contradictions.... something that won't be possible if they look at other avenues of Transformers like prequels, when we have three different origins of Transformers and three different "first contact" scenarios in just four movies.