I was gonna say Rodimus' "Till All Are One" line, but then I re-read the OP and changed my mind to Phase Sixers.

 

An additional thing on the Combiners: If you've got needs that don't involve mass concentrated power, they can split up into a usually-quite-elite team of 5/6 bots to do other stuff.

Devastator isn't just Devastator, he's also a team of some of the best builders in the war.

Menasor isn't just Menasor, but also a group of the fastest and deadliest drivers.

Superion, a squadron of the best dogfighters.

And so on, if the situational calls for it.

 

Protectobots, a team of fast responders and badass saviours of civilizations!

Predacons, predators of highest degree!

Combaticons, so combative combat is in their name!

Seacons, err.....terrorizing the seas!

Technobots, so techno they make Perceptor proud!

 

Prob Phase Sixer. Megatron handled Devastator reasonably well. and Devastator has never been unbeatable. Phase sixers wipe out highly advanced planets. On their own.

Still, all pale in comparison to Thunderwing who I WISH we could revisit.

 

Phase Sixer.

But how desired a weapon can be is also a matter of logistics.

Phase Sixers may be more powerful, but Combiners are easier to build.

 

When did Megatron handle Devastator?

 

"Easier to build"? The Decepticons were trying to build combiners for almost the entire war, I think their success ratio with building phase sixers was much higher.

 

IIRC in All Hail Megatron (it was at least by the guy who did the artwork for that) Starscream has Devastator turn on Megatron.

Devastator tries to punch Megatron into the ground. Doesn't work, Megatron catches the fist on his his back and the ground gives but he doesn't. Megatron then shoots Devastator's joints (or the areas of combination, more likely) which hurts Devastator pretty noticeably (drops him to his knees).

 

What's most powerful? "TOWARDS PEACE"

 

I interpreted that more as, 'Devastator shrugs off the fire and goes to grab Megatron.'

Megatron kept shooting and Devastator did get him in the next page, and Megs looked a lot more beat up than vice-versa. If they weren't interrupted, the victor was clear.


Optimus did at least as well vs Sixshot if not better, IMO.

 

I would imagine a combiner is more powerful than a phase sixer as a weapon of mass destruction, primarily because combiners are more dynamic and more theoretically readily available.

More Dynamic- You can have one super powerful robot that is nearly unstoppable or you can have six specialists that utilize the same resources and interchange them in seconds. A phase sixer is a super powerful robot sure, but that is all he is.

Readily available- assuming you have the resources to build a combiner (Enigma of combination, Jhaxius, Wheeljack and/or Shockwave), you can produce as many as your population pool has pairs of six likeminded people. On the other hand a phase Sixer requires two exceptionally rare natural occurrences; a Phase Sixer capable spark and ununtrium.

 

That was "then".

But once you finally have this technology at hand, you can build as many combiners as you fancy. All you need is six regular guys to combine.

Phase sixers are limited by how much miraculous metal you have to fuse into them, and then they all have to be POPs.

In current situation when Enigma makes combining people more approachable, combiners are much more easier to build.

So if Habro starts releasing more toys and all classic combiner teams will be back, sooner or later, Combiners will be more common than Phase Sixers.

 

Kick a combiner in the knee and its toast,

P6ers all the way

 

Perhaps it's worth thinking about the role that starships and their ordnance play as well?

The Lost Light managed to at the minimum incapacitate Overlord with a single salvo. When the same ship took on Monstructor, it had to ram it. Presumably this was called for because Mainframe or whoever didn't think the weapons would cut it, since ramming is a much riskier maneuver.

I just think the key to combiners is their energy level, not just the fact that they are as big as five bots. They can grow to massive size, so maybe their resilience can be attributed to some kind of deflector shield or internal magnetic reinforcement.

 

Has kicking a combiner in the knee ever taken one out...? Superion went for Menasor's legs in Windblade 1 and it got back up.

Sides, I'd think the only ones capable of kicking 'em in the knee would be another Combiner ^^

 

In one comic Metroplex flattens sixshot if I'm not mistaken, so while a combiner such as devastator is likely smaller than metroplex, my money is still going to be on a combiner doing the exact same thing to another phase sixer....or six shot...   

 

I said this in a similar thread once.

 

While I haven't read any of the available issues of Combiner Wars yet, from what's happened before hand, easily Phase Sixers. I mean, these guys wiped out all life on entire planets, admittedly after they'd already been weakened. From what I've seen, Combiners aren't nearly that powerful, often being beaten with much more ease than Phase6ers.

 

in MY universe…

Phase Sixers would stand a good chance against most combiners.