Price Moore 20

So, we have the final split between Orion and D-16, the bots who would become Optimus Prime and Megatron respectively. And what I love about the moment is not only how their ultimate change into those classic characters happens at the same time (furthering the parallels between them), but how their change ultimately came down to how they acted towards the exact same thing.

Sentinel was beaten, the truth of his betrayal known for all. Yet these two former friends have very different reactions now that the dust has settled. D-16 is angry, hurt and betrayed, and unrelentingly pursues his enemy until the transgressor is destroyed. As for Orion, he advocates for all to stand down, as no further violence is needed in his eyes, since Sentinel's actions are now public knowledge, and even puts himself in harms way rather than allow another killing to happen.

This one moment cements who these two are, both as people and as the leaders of their respective sides. One angry and choosing to destroy his enemies. The other, willingly sacrificing himself rather than choosing further harm. Both have been subjected to the same hardships and betrayals, but they both differ wildly in terms of how they react to it. Yet both are understandable in their feelings, even when those differences end their long friendship.

Optimus and Megatron having once been close, and splitting up due to ideological differences, has long been a backstory for the two of them in various continuities. But this moment right here was perhaps the most compelling that split has ever been. Not something just told to us in a flashback, but a divide happening right in front of us in the here and now, for very real and, for lack of a better term, human reasons.