Watching Masterforce, Victory, hell, even Headmasters, I've noticed one thing: Every Autobot leader in those shows is bland as hell. G1 Optimus Prime, Optimus Primal, Rodimus Prime, Animated Optimus, all of them had personalities that were more than just "I'm a leader. I kick Decepticon ass when you need me to. And then I combine with things later in the series as our enemies become more powerful which REALLY makes the rest of my team useless! Booya!" At least their Decepticon leaders were some what interesting. (A little bland too, but hey. They were still cool.) Does anyone else agree? Does anyone else find leaders like Fortress Maximus or Ginrai too bland?

To me, it's hard to say. If you're watching the Star TV english dubs, you can't get a good feel for it because the translation is so horrible. I don't think that the leaders are bland, I just think they're given the limelight most of the time. You don't get to learn terribly much about the supporting players.

I think Ginrai is a bloody AWESOME leader! He's so honourable and bold! His sense of altruism was amazing, to the point where he actually saw the Decepticon Headmaster Jrs. and Godmasters as peers; just fighting on opposing sides. When Devil Z betrayed them, it was Ginrai who rallied to their aide - impressing even Overlord (who himself is also quite an honourable warrior; the reason why he eventually turned on Devil Z is because he realised that his former master did not share in his sense of honour or loyalty - or any form of morality for that matter!). I was moved when Overlord later came and attacked Devil Z because he felt that he was honour-bound to repay his debt to Ginrai for having previously saved him - which nearly cost Giga and Mega their lives when Devil Z stripped them of their Master Bracelets and their Transtector.

 

Characterwise I agree that Fortress Maximus is bland, although I really love how they portrayed Senkan Maximus as an actually battlecruiser; it was cool seeing the Autobots having a flagship. :)

 

Star Sabre - not as bland as Fortress Maximus, but not as interesting as Ginrai. He does show exceptional compassion in that he actually adopted Jan after his parents were killed by Decepticons. He then tried to remove him from the war by sending him to boarding school, but then when the Decepticons targeted the school because of Jan he realised that he was safer with the Autobots. And come on, the final fight between him and Death Zaras was just KICK ARSE! :)

 

Dai Atlas I find to be quite an interesting character, even though he's widely disliked in Japan. He's a lot like movie Optimus Prime (especially in Revenge of the Fallen) - he realises that war is a dirty business and that the Decepticons are the enemy, and that it is a necessary evil that you _cannot_ show compassion or mercy to your foes. Like movie Prime, Dai Atlas takes no prisoners.

 

If you're watching the Star TV english dubs, you can't get a good feel for it because the translation is so horrible.

So go buy them on DVD with subtitles! :) Here!

G1 Optimus NOT bland. The dude started it all.

 

BW/BM Optimus Primal NOT bland. A good sensible leader who later struggled with his spirituality.

 

Animated Optimus NOT bland. He was a dropout flunkie who didn't believe in himself hardly at all.

 

G1 Megatron NOT bland. Ruthless and total ownage.

 

BW/BM Megatron NOT bland. Cunning and hilarious.

 

Animated Megatron NOT bland. Ruthless again, but in a new way.

 

Theres six of them for ya to argue with. The holy grail of leaders has to be BW Megatron though, the most interesting and entertaining of them all IMO.

Breaker: read the thread topic again mate. ;)

I definately loved the leaders in the japanese sagas. I bought the DVD set from Amazon.uk a year ago for $60 shipped. A little more expensive now but still available from Metrodome.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Transformers-Takar...ef=pd_cp_d_h__1

Animated Optimus NOT bland. He was a dropout flunkie who didn't believe in himself hardly at all.

 

 

Yet somehow Rodimus sucks for all the same reasons?

Animated Optimus NOT bland. He was a dropout flunkie who didn't believe in himself hardly at all.

 

 

Yet somehow Rodimus sucks for all the same reasons?

 

Because Animated Optimus learned to become an actual leader. Despite his lack of confidence in his (in reality uber l337) skills, he keeps on trucking and tries to organize his team and get things done. So he's more like Primal in that regard.

 

Rodimus never got out of his emo shell and actually handed the Matrix back to Optimus not once, but twice. He really didn't want to be a leader, and bailed on every available opportunity (3 times, IIRC). Rodimus is the best example of a leader reaching his level of incompetence.

 

As for the Japanese leaders, allegedly they did a good rendition of Rodimus, but I haven't seen the evidence myself. But boy that A/E/C Prime sucked munkky balls.

Breaker: read the thread topic again mate. ;)

 

Read the first posters post again. He was also talking about other Autobot leaders as well. Although, I did somehow miss "Japanese" in the title.

Breaker: read the thread topic again mate. ;)

 

Read the first posters post again. He was also talking about other Autobot leaders as well. Although, I did somehow miss "Japanese" in the title.

 

NO actually the first post is saying that Prime and ANimated Prime ect are GOOD leaders;. YOU need to read it again bro. No worries though just re read and you will see his point.

 

In reguards to the Autobot leaders being bland in Japan, i disagree, repetitive but not bland. And Fortress Maximus was called "Fortress" only in Japan ;)