If I was able to make an ending for Transformers: Dark of the Moon, I would have done this. For starters, I would have made shockwave the actual main villian. So for the ending battle, this is how I would put it - after bringing cybertron to earth, megatron would thank sentinel for his work, turn around, beat him a few times and kill him by stabbing him, and blasting his head off with his own gun. Then, with optimus witnessing, I would have starscream say that megatron is crazy and have megatron slap him around while starscream fights back, then have megatron kill starscream by shooting a hole through his body and crushing his head. While crushing his head, optimus shoots megatron and they start to battle. Then shockwave arrives. Megatron orders for him to help him kill prime but shockwave says that megatron is weak and it is logical for him to lead. So all three of them fight each other. Shockwave gets injured a little bit by megatron and recovers some while prime and megatron are going at it. So after an epic fight, optimus has megatron barley living and shockwave comes up behind prime and stabs him. Shockwave thanks the two for fighting and weakening each other and helping him out. So right when he almost kills him, megatron (laying down due to damage) shoots shockwave in the head, and optimus gets up and starts shooting him to hell with megatron. So optimus throws him across the street and kills him by kicking him into the beam that was shot into the sky to deliver cybertron, which destroys the planet and shockwave. So to finish it off, optimus walks over and sees megatron crawling. He says "I wish there could have been another way" and puts his axe in his head and rips it off (like in the movie). Well that's it guys. Tell me what you think!!
Ok. I like how you want Shockwave to be the original source of the villainy. I like how there was a triple threat match at the end. I like how Megatron and Prime disposed of Shockwave and ultimately Cybertron. I like Megatron betraying Sentinel. That is very much like Megatron. I like that you put a lot of thought into the action packed ending. In fact... it's a LOT of action which can be good. I didn't like Starscream attempting to fight Megatron head on because he killed Sentinel and thought Megatron was crazy. I don't see how Megatron's sanity or Sentinel's death would spur on Starscream's bravery unless he undoubtedly had some upper hand to claim leadership... which isn't this situation. Starscream is power hungry, but he doesn't have a death wish. He plays his cards better than being cannon fodder (well should anyway). I didn't like how Sentinel still plays the same role as Autobot traitor in this stint. If anything it would sound better if it were re-written to have him being manipulated to summon Cybertron by the main villain, who is now Megatron according to the way this sounds. You suggest making Shockwave the main villain but this ending just makes him sound like he just changed his mind. He could have still played the same role as he did the entire DOTM and still did the same thing you suggested in this ending. The fact that Megatron is present busting Sentinel and Starscream, still doesn't give Shockwave much authority as primary antagonist. It would work better if Shockwave replaced Megatron as leader of the Decepticons at some point. Megatron should've be incapacitated maybe imprisoned by Shockwave or left for dead somewhere giving Shockwave more than enough authoritative motivation to betray Megatron. Which brings me to Shockwave's motivation. So ok, he suddenly thinks that Megatron is weaker and decides at that point to betray him. Still doesn't make him primary antagonist material if everything lead up to Megatron making the decisive move to out Sentinel and bring Cybertron. Megatron actually succeeded in bringing Cybertron not Shockwave! All Shockwave did was betray Megatron. I didn't like Optimus killing Megatron. Megatron is down. Super weakened in fact. If this ending is being shoe horned into the already existent plot it would mean that all the Decepticons are dead but Megatron. Prime doesn't HAVE to kill him. He is weak enough to be imprisoned for a sequel or something. Plus it works in favor of Optimus being a heroic character to spare the life of even his most mortal enemy. It would make for a powerful ending than just killing him off which was kind of a pussy move to me. PLUS Megatron SAVED PRIME'S LIFE according to your ending by shooting Shockwave. I mean... seriously? Sure his evil agenda ways hasn't changed but even after THIS it shouldn't have to lead to his death... AGAIN. Enough had already been done. Megatron doesn't even have a strong army anymore. Plus he can be imprisoned, answering for war crimes against humanity. He was even held for years by Sector 7 AS NBE-1! He would be very angry re-entering his cell with no one for years to rescue him this time... AGAIN. In effect you didn't really change the ending. Sentinel and Starscream are killed by Megatron instead of by Optimus and Sam respectively. Cybertron is still summoned to Earth. Shockwave still dies by Optimus' hand but this time the method has changed. Cybertron is STILL destroyed but this time by Shockwave being thrown into the beam by Optimus instead of NEST and the Autobots destroying the primary beacon. Finally, Optimus STILL kills Megatron only this time with more emotion. Everything still ends pretty much the same way if this was shoe horned in. All that changes is HOW it reaches the same conclusion really. Anyway my thoughts.
I just want to add. If Shockwave would have really worked as the primary antagonist, he should have fully replaced Sentinel's role with some other changes. Edit* Hehe.. I just thought of it! Because of Sentinel's presence in DOTM, the film went into character overload and Shockwave was left with only one line of dialogue hehehe.
Because (1) it would keep true to the original concept of Optimus Prime being heroic through deed and action and (2) it would make the ending fresh and different. Isn't that the point of making new endings?
Just a few things I don't like/disagree with : Starscream cares about himself only. He would not get involved like that. Sentinel being an outright traitor and killed by Megatron. Personally I enjoy emotional rides, so what if Sentinel survives everything, but in the end, asks Optimus to execute for his misdeeds and ends up committing suicide when Optimus refuses ? Or something like that, whichever you want to play with Megatron STILL DIES. Have Optimus spare him, and let the humans decide what to do with him. If the trial is not publicly televised and Megatron is spared or killed for scientific purposes, whose to stop the Autobots from chucking him into an active volcano (if any still exist) or the Sun ? I think Shockwave's motivation should be that he knows how Megatron operates and deems him a waste of space because he's not efficient at what he does, being too animalistic and hardly a competent military officer. And Shockwave realizes that the whole war began was because of a jealousy row (going by the comics) or because Megatron's fiery ambition was self-serving and short-sighted (if we go by Shockwave being loyal to Cybertron as a whole), so he decides Megatron must go.
Ooo.. The Sentinel bit you proposed is juicy . But I still disagree about killing Megatron. He can still be useful! Imagine him imprisoned again and playing a sort of Decepticon version of Hannibal Lecter
huh. I guess I hated Movie Megatron more than I thought. Oh well, at this point I don't care if Bay resurrects him or not. Hannibal Lecter is not bad, we've seen Rampage from Beast Wars and that turned out well enough. For the Sentinel bit - imagine his last words being : "You are a good son, Optimus. You were bravest of us all. (lifts the gun, suicide in four seconds) But you could never make the hard decisions" BOOM
Glad you guys liked it : ) Wonder if I can use it as a quote...... The whole Shockwave thing is just backstory to why he would dare to fight Megatron. Your line about Megatron being weak, thus Shockwave will lead does work, but it sounds something Starscream would do. So I guess, taking it further and making Shockwave unique, Shockwave does it because he prefers brains and brawn and zero sentimentality.
What if Optimus refused to kill Megatron or got distracted, Starscream killed Megatron while he was weak, and Shockwave got pissed because Starscream would be a terrible leader so he killed Starscream?
Still... Starscream (movie continuity) is dead by that point of the movie. I love the use of using Shockwave as the ultimate hidden villian. But prefer the book ending where Megatron survives if not just barely. It's through Megatron that the attacking Decepticons (and Cybertronians) are fighting and destroying the city, thus it took Megatron to signal them ALL simultaneously to back down. It wasn't just because Megatron was killed and they outnumbered the Autobots 350,000,201 to 4 and decided to go vacation on Jupiter since Cybertron was gone... maybe tweak it a bit... yada yada yada, Carly tells Megatron he's Setinel's b1tch... then, Megatron goes to fight Sentinel. Megatron actually starts to LOSE, when Shockwave enters near the fray obviously Driller-less and and he puts his 'eye' back into place. "Oh, what comdey. We cannot allow this to continue." As he raises his cannon arm, and blasts Sentinel's side blasted previously opened by Megatron, and then targets S.Prime's face. Close up of Sentinel's face as he tries to yell to Prime for help and forgiveness. Megatron stands and crunches one of Sentinel's spasming wrists. "Thank you my old friend, Shockwave. You shall always be my equal among our ranks." Prime runs into the scene. (pause) as we endure an odd silence from Shockwave staring straight at Megatron. (starts off a bit of garbled Cybertronian until..) "Equal? EQUAL, MEGATRON? Among your ranks there is no equality, therefore it is only logical for one to rise up and take absolute control." Shoots an unsuspecting already battered Megatron to he ground. "That absoute control (garbled language here), shall be me. You shall be... the perfect fodder for our protoforms back on Cybertron..." Shockwave's eye glows bright violet as he barrages Megatron to a near pulp until Shockwave is knocked back by Optimus' axe. The battle ensues as Optimus begins blasting and chomping (literally) at the bit. "It was Sentinel's plan to bring you here, but it was you wasn't it, that was fully in control all along even before we ran into you in Russia?" Shockwave says nothing but blasts off Prime's left arm. Prime continues, "But you didn't like being pushed around by an Autobot, did you Soundwave?" Prime blasts Shockwave's right leg off, and he falls to the ground. Shockwave garbles a short Cybertronian word... and blasts Optimus's chest plate using his eye knocking Prime backwards, but this only gives Prime enough leverage to swing his axe one-armed into Shockwave's torso, as he remarks "Save your curse for the Pit!" and then Prime lobs Shockwave's head off with one last swing. Sam wins again Dylan, and Bumblebee destroys the main cylinder. From here we could either give Megatron a somewhat noble passing observed by Prime and the last of the Autobots about finally seeing Cybertron after all these millenia afterb he calls of his troops etc. etc. OR ... Optimus approaches Megatron splayed all over the street. His upper torso and head are still operational. Prime looks down into Megatron's optics, swings his main gun at his head. "Megatron, order your troops to stand down, or I swear I will end this war now." Megatron sends his signal and all the legions begin to retreat as we can see in the background and space bridges of various sizes start to appear as Decepticon and Cybertron troops step through back to their point of origin. Optimus whispers, "Thank you, brother" and blasts Megatron's head into oblivion.
Not bad, except the alternate ending with Optimus killing Megatron after the ceasefire is a golden idea : /
