Wondering if barricade was in on megatrons scheme with sentinel prime? This could explain his absence from the end of tf1 and tf2. Ultimately though was he included to appease all the fans who were bitching?
It's entirely possible. He was seen ordering around protoform soldiers, so he apparently has some place in Megatrons favor. Plus during the prisoner scene, he was with Soundwave, whom we know was setting up the whole thing. That's probably the most likely answer.
barricade was just thrown in but when watching the prisoner scene a second time barricade says to bumblebee remember me so its him.
Oh man, I just watched the film, ant this was one of the many scenese I so loved. I'm sure story wise, Barricade chose to stay away from battle until the real war begun.