That's an interesting interpretation of G1 Megatron. I like how similar your view of him is to Magneto from the X-Men comics.

Magneto was in a concentration camp during the second world war, where he couldn't control his powers well enough to save his family. So, when he's later ostracized for being a mutant, he takes up arms to defend his brother and sister mutants, as their only crime was simply that they were born. He embraces violence because inaction has failed him before. He accepts the mantle of villainy because in his mind, humanity is still worse than him. So, the only solution he sees is the killing and internment of all non-mutants, ironically enough.

Magneto is a very sympathetic villain, with great depth to his character because motivation makes sense: He's defending his people from oppression. He's reacting to an extreme situation in an extreme, but understandable, way. In a comic series all about the conflicts caused by prejudice, segregation, and bigotry Magneto is the perfect villain because he isn't simply the cause of the conflict between humans and mutants, he's the overreaction to it. He fights fire with fire, and left to his own devices would burn down everything in sight.

I like the parallels you're drawing between them, OP. But, all in all, Megatron didn't become anywhere near that deep of a character until much much later in the franchise. G1 Sunbow Megs is just another 80s cartoon villain to me. The only thing that sets Megatron apart is that he actually managed to kill the hero eventually. If only he knew how pointless the act of killing Optimus Prime would become.

 

I always thought that the original plot points of/motivations behind the 1984 series were more interesting than the series allowed them to seem, and that a future movie series could easily pull a Dark Knight and depict them with real gravitas and thoughtfulness.

 

So Prime is benevolent only as a farce to achieve a prolonged war against a boogeyman? I personally believe this, and it even works for describing the Bayformers universe. In the second movie the Decepticon's cause (At least in Starscream's case) was the repopulation and saving of the Cybertronian race. And while Megatronus WAS a bit of a dick, he was harvesting the sun for the purpose of doing that. The sun would provide power to Cybertron. His opinion of the humans is exynophobic but why should he care? He's older than all of them AND their world. Their shortsighted needs like sunlight fall on deaf ears.

Optimus and the Autobots, on the other hand, tried to help the humans as much as possible despite not seeming to have a cause other than the collection of everyone who wasn't an Autobots' face. They were never seeking a source of Cybertron's revival, and even when there was a lull in the war where the Decepticons went into hiding from the Autobots' extinction raids he was criticized for basically moving his entire army onto Earth unannounced and taking in refugees without any authority to do so. His Autobots always tended to outnumber the Decepticons in the movies until the end where they brought in the generics to be cannon fodder while they attempted to use the Macguffin to achieve their goal. Even by design the Autobots are more well-equipped and uniform while every Decepticon looks like either a beast, a lightly-armed thug, or a guerrilla.



And then by the fourth movie, the humans have had enough. They justifiably start targeting Cybertronians unbiasedly because their war had destroyed entire cities and achieved a grand fuck-all. What does Optimus do? Go on a temper tantrum because he doesn't get his free pass. Megatron is dead at this point, and the Decepticons are in shambles. By the fifth movie after changing from Galvatron to Megatron somehow, he takes a more diplomatic approach and offers to aid the humans by hunting down the remaining Autobots in exchange for the freedom of some of his more sane followers.

All in all, I think that both sides are wrong in their execution but the Decepticons at least have a reason to fight, be it survival or to achieve their goals. The Autobots get a pass because they "defend the humans".

 

In general, you make valid points, but they're better suited to another thread and actually have nothing to do with the topic at hand.

We're discussing Transformers Generation 1 from 1984, not the Michael Bay live action movie universe which is what your post is about. They're unconnected and fully separate universes, they are not one and the same, so your post doesn't work here, sorry.

 

My bad, I hadn't had my coffee and I was in a rambling mood. As for G1 I suppose the war has become normal for some of the cast because of how long it's been going on. Bots like Roadbuster and the Combaticons are described as living for a fight, and that they would be nothing without them.

 

I think the OP may have deserted the forums?

 

He might be older than the humans as a race but he’s not older then earth

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