Something I appreciated about the show was that the characters' power levels were fairly consistent during the show's run, bar the Eradicons and Insecticons of course. When a character was introduced, their strength stayed the same for the rest of their appearances. Megatron and Optimus were established to be very close in terms of fighting power, and whoever won, it was really just up to the writers and how they wanted the episode to end. For example, the fact that the Star Saber had to be immediately taken out because status quo; thus Optimus loses against Megatron. Shockwave remained an iron hardass; the only person he ever fought that brought him down was Ultra Magnus. I kinda thought about it like a hierarchy of strength. Unicron won't be here because he's a god. Guns and firearms aren't being considered here either; this is just martial ability and strength. 1. Predaking 2. Darksteel and Skylynx. 3. Beast Hunters Optimus; Apex Starscream 4. Megatron, Optimus, Dreadwing, Skyquake, and the Insecticon from Crossfire. 5. Ultra Magnus 6. Shockwave 7. Soundwave 8. Hardshell 9. Bulkhead, Wheeljack, Breakdown, Airachnid, Cliffjumper 10. Ratchet, Knock Out, Smokescreen, Bumblebee, and Apex Miko 11. Arcee 12. Starscream 13. The Eradicons and Insecticons. Some anomalies remain, however. This is a rough estimate of the cast's strength. I list Knock Out as being less powerful than the Bulkhead class, but we've seen him fight evenly with Optimus at one point. Optimus is for all purposes equal with Megatron, but Megatron could easily take Dreadwing and Skyquake, so the twins may need to go in a new level below the leader class, though maybe not Ultra Magnus. Starscream is definitely the weakest named character in the series in a robot mode fight, since he is an Air Commander, and that's what he's best at; fighting from the skies. Cliffjumper is admittedly a guess since he was only seen really fighting Shockwave and the actually competent pilot Eradicons. Please do weigh in on this and my rough chart of strength in the show.
Seems logical to me; I really can't offer much more to say on this other than impressment. Good show, Chopperface!
I think Chopperface is referring to physical strength. Arcee is tough, and her superior speed and agility puts her on equal terms with larger and stronger opponents, but if she had to arm-wrestle Bee I imagine she'd lose. Know what I mean, Puck? Her skill and speed makes up for her lack of raw force, thus she's lower on the strength tier than the bigger cars despite being a better fighter.
Yeah, but while we're not including guns and firepower, martial ability is being considered. I mean, no big deal either way. The list is pretty accurate all around.
Yeah, pretty much, though admittedly I wrote this as I went along and may have contradicted myself along the way.
I don't know about how I feel about Arcee being that low. If only measuring strength then maybe, but her skill places her at a level equal to Wheeljack in my opinion. Miko (even with the apex armor) being above her though? If you're measuring strength I don't know about Soundwave being that high; above Bulkhead and Breakdown?
I think he's measuring generally by how hard they each are to defeat. Yes, Bulkhead and Breakdown would be physically stronger than Soundwave, but with his Ground Bridge abilities, he's hard to take out. Still, I would say bump Starscream and Arcee to be up there with Bee and Knock Out and the rest.
I put Soundwave above Bulkhead's class because at the end of Minus One, he effortlessly threw him and Smokescreen aside. This is another anomaly, since in Triage, Wheeljack gives him one hell of a fight. But since Soundwave came out on top without the use of combat Groundbridging in both scenarios I mention, I placed him above Bulkhead and Wheeljack's class.
Starscream being at the bottom makes sense actually. He's really just a toothpick that turns in to a jet.
Soundwave and Starscream dont use brute strength, i think Starscream is stronger than the car bots because physically he is bigger but there is not a single instance he uses strength as power. Soundwave threw Bulkhead across the room because Soundwave is a ninja and knows technic. Wheeljack is not as strong as Bulkhead but he is fighter through and through and is better at it than Bulkhead, i think Wheeljack was fighting as wrecker probably since before the war. I need to check the covenant again, lol. Anyway, there are some instances when fights are made easy or harder for convenience but for the most part i found the fight outcomes in any given scenario really interesting because of alllll the factors at play in each scene. All the stat sheets of our toys are not for nothing they really come to play in Prime. Momentum, confidence, character, anger and you name it could decide an outcome in one instance or another.
The Covenant a rough, not entirely accurate retelling of the entire Aligned continuity family. Not very helpful here. Soundwave is not a ninja; he's a gladiator. And yes, he employed brute force pretty generously when fighting Wheeljack. Starscream got his ass kicked by a wounded Arcee and is pretty helpless if it comes to strength and fighting skills in robot mode, unless he stops fucking around and uses his brains and cunning as he did in Inside Job.
I said stat sheets but meant tech specs lol doh... Um to me the Covenant is aligned continuity and fits quite well against Prime, being a following chapter, for most intents and purposes. The Wheeljack in Prime is the same one in the Covenant unless you can tell me why not. Ive not read exodus or exiles but really is not a big deal to me if a few details are off from Prime or the covenant. Soundwave is a not a ninja of course but imagine most people know what i meant. I think you help make my main point concerning someone being stronger or better than someone with your last sentence anyway. The point was that it depends.
Power levels are a bad idea I think that mind set is a current plague set by anime. Anime uses power levels. OFTEN....i'm hard pressed to think of an anime that doesn't use them in some fashion. I'm familiar with power levels. Back in high school I thought it was the coolest think ever for DBZ to introduce in writing. My veiws have changed since then. Power levels are a terrible story telling crutch. Makes fighting unrealistic often, uninteresting and kills most dramatic tension in most fights. See: Any fight with Vehicons or Terrorcons in the series. Don't get my wrong. Overwhelming odds can be using well in story. Having Predaking being unstoppable when he first showed up was amazing. But a fight shouldn't be: 'Oh no, i can not beat him, he is so much stronger than I' More things go into a fight, like tactics, tricks, distracting, faints, knowing your opponent is strong and a better fighter and play to your streghts, etc... And what do you mean by Powerlevels? Actual energy power, over all power in a fight, weapon power, strenght power, combat skill, combat skill and energy power? And my gripe of power levels aside TFPrime, have some really power creep in it. Predaking came in STRONG! And even though he always stayed close to the top of the list. I think he went down a bit through the series. Insecticons, Airachnid, Knock-Out & Breakdown all had MUCH stronger in their intos than later in the series. Ultra Magnus (even before the hand thing) Seemed to very in level. Darksteel and Skylynx Is don't know where'd they be. But i don't think their that high on the list. Apex Miko, how do you measure that? She was strong sure not the strongest. but she was invincible; meaning she may not be able to win, but she won't ever lose.
I think the list is pretty much perfect, but did you purposely miss out pre-BW Optimus? Having said that I guess he fights the same way he does as BW Optimus..!
