I do not follow IDW as closely as others but the Warriors Elite concept has interested me for a while. How do the various Sixers, or Elite as a whole, stack up?

In terms of strength, firepower, durability, endurance?

*Black Shadow was evidently taken down by the DJD easily but in flashbacks and references it seems he took down a whole army and kicked the crap out of both Optimus and Magnus at once.

*Sixshot while defeated still survived being stepped on by Metroplex who has been described as miles tall. Megatron in his older body was crippled by having a city block dropped on him, shattering his cog. Sixshot has also held the upper hand against Optimus in combat and blows from Prime's fist barely cracked his armor.

*Overlord I know little about in IDW lore despite the hype. I know he fought even after being reduced to a skeletonish state but I know that he was still killed off. I think at some point I read that Megatron and he were comparable in hand to hand/gladiatorial combat or skill with it being debatable who would come out on top.

The Phase-Sixers and Warriors Elite are coated by the nigh-adamantium substance Ununtrium making them *seemingly* indestructible but there are limits to this impregnable defense as shown. I know that Sixers are basically world-razers meant to destroy civilizations during the Infiltration process. In fiction this can be referred to as life-wiping. But there's still room within this designation for different rankings, yes?

By lore and/or feats, how do the elites stack up? Strength, durability, stamina, firepower, speed, etc.?

 

When the opening post listed powerful and dangerous traits to measure them by I would say it missed out the most dangerous trait of them all which is intellect. Both Overlord and Megatron have demonstrated a talent for manipulation and ambition to use the whole universe as canvas for their agendas whilst many of the others never really held any real power.

 

Doesnt mean they cannot achieve real power or dont posses cunning.
Just means the writer who featured them in his stories never portrayed them as such because it wasnt needed for the stories.
As evidenced by Overlord all that is needed is a reason.
Before Garrus 9 Overlord was just a superpowered grunt just like Sixshot.

 

I think it's important to think about what type of combat Phase Sixers and the DJD are specialized for.

Phase Sixers are meant to decimate and mop up civilizations crippled by the first 5 stages of infiltration. They may be one man armies, but they are intended to fight an already weakened from within enemy. Their job is firepower and mass destruction, not attrition or defense in any way.

On the other hand, the DJD are a specific and well-prepared hit squad. They take their time and know their targets well. They're definitely powerful physically, but their true power is in planning, ambushing, and intimidation. They fall under the "Batman can take out anyone with enough prep time" clause.


So comparing the two is a bit like trying to ask if a nuclear missile-armed submarine or James Bond is more powerful - they're different tools for different jobs.

 

Black Shadow didn't just beat Prime and Magnus, he defeated the entire 113th battalion of Autobots (whose rank included bots like Hardhead, Kup, Nightbeat, and Pyro) He also once beat the Wreckers in combat.

 

Intellect or rather Sixshot's lack of was relevant to his story and intrinsic to him being defeated. He attempted a rebellion against Megatron without pausing to question whether Megatron would have put something in place to counter his power and how he might overcome said countermeasure.

You could also say thunderwing's lack of intellect was his downfall as the second he hit a problem he had no thinking ability to find a solution.

 

Black Shadow obviously wasn't all that to fall to the DJD. I'm thinking Sixshot might be on top, though. He is the only one who hasn't been taken down physically save for an encounter with Metroplex. Though I do agree that Overlord has a talent for manipulation and planning, but he too has the same emotional and motivational weaknesses that can put him at risk. I think its possible that Sixshot would be capable of much of the same Overlord has, though lacks the motivation to actually do anything about it.

 

That wasn't Blackshadow being destroyed by the DJD, its was Blackshadow's shadow/clone/drone.
With the rumored new toy in the works, I think he'll be back.

 

I think from what we have seen, it's Overlord at number 1 and six shot at number 2 and black shadow number 3, not enough info for the other members like heretech and was kill master considered a phase sixer?

The DJD don't compare to phase sixers imo, maybe tarn, but we never really see what tarn can do on his own, and we don't know if the DJD just simply gor the jump on black shadow, we only see the end result, same as with overlord on the alternate LL, they killed him but he was already strung up.

 

Yep, just like how Trailbreaker and Hardhead's new toys brought them back to life.

Wait...

 

I don't think Heretech and Killmaster ever made the leap from Warriors Elite to Phase Sixer.

Might mean that the two were considered the "weakest" of the Warriors Elite.

 

I know that the power levels fluctuate with what the writer is trying to convey. It always sat a little strange with me that Prime tussled quite admirably with Sixshot and yet him and an entire battalion got their arses kicked by Blackshadow. I fully get that the DJD work on knowing weaknesses and prep time but to shrug off Prime, Magnus AND an entire battalion? Things just don't quite stack up IMHO. To me it's a bit like street level heroes like Daredevil, Punisher, and maybe a bigger hitter like Cage going up and beating the Hulk when the Avengers just got stomped by him.

Not a criticism of the comics really, the world and concepts that have been created in the last 5 years have been amazing, it's just having some kind of explanation to a lot of world building would be excellent. I'm a sucker for all that stuff!

Oh, and I think the phase sixers go like this in power order:
Overlord
Black Shadow
Sixshot
Heretech
Tarn (if he is indeed a P6er)
Killmaster

 

This perfectly illustrates my point, allthough 'a rebellion' sound a bit grand for a guy who quit his job because someone made him a better offer: that whole episode was just contrived to make Starscream look mega-awesome because according to the story supposedly he had a longstanding rivalry with Sixshot (first time i ever heard of the like) obviously to underline the super-awesomness of Starscream "defeating" the scary worldraiser Sixshot. The fact that Sixshot in that story doesnt even consider Megatron might have installed a killswitch is so ignoring the obviously stupid it would only ever have been written like that to serve the story.
And i would argue that he later on was clever enough to trade Jiaxhus Combiner technology in return for being alowwed to quit his function as a phase sixer, thus achieving relative freedom without being labelled a traitor and getting the DJD on his ass.
Souns pretty cunning to me.
And i think his Spotlight amply showed he wasnt just a brutish killer thug.

As far as Thunderwing is concerned i dont really know what you are reffering to.
The guy was the first to aknowledge their world was dying because of their war and was brave and intelligent enough to reach out to the other scientists of Cybertron over the boundaries of factions in the hope of finding a solution together. When they declined to work together he felt forced
to implement his own invention on himself, an invention that didnt work according to his expectations and so rendered him a superpowerfull being seemingly with the intellect of an animal.
So yeah after his failed experiment on him self he wasnt so smart anymore tosay the least.

 

I'm sure either Overlord or Sixshot is stronger.

Black Shadow definitely wasn't the strongest since the DJD got to him.

 

I think you need to account for character weaknesses, here.

Sixshot hasn't really had enough exposure in current IDW comics- exRID and MTMTE, namely- to compare him to his counterparts as they're currently being depicted, and out of those currently shown, there's a lot of context-dependant stuff that surround them. Overlord likely could have slaughtered the Lost Light if not for Trepan's Trigger, but...that's not a lot of powerful bots. That's kind of like punching a room full of toddlers and managing to be cunning enough that you can kick a couple adults along the way, too. He's cunning, but...is that really it???

Overlord is too self-assured, imo. He held strong while being shot with the explodey-bullets in LSOTW (I forget what they're called. Boom-boom shooties.), but...he was still slow enough that he let himself GET SHOT and then GET TURNED INTO A GIANT FLAMING SKELETON. But then, he at least didn't ACTUALLY die. Black Shadow did. Again, the point I raised above makes a recurrence- the 'room full of toddlers' thing. Sure, Black Shadow killed organics. But they were organics. He held his own, but he got taken down by the DJD, as everyone else has discussed. You know who beat the living hell out of Tarn? Overlord.

TL;DR- Overlord then Black Shadow, due to the lack of evidence that might give Sixshot more of an advantage.

 

I would say Sixshot probably has more sheer firepower than Overlord, but Overlord is more dangerous in that he is a psychotic sociopath with an invulnerable skeleton. I don't know if Sixshot is completely invulnerable like Overlord (he did survive a Titan stomping on him, presumably) but Sixshot follows orders and doesn't seem to have much of an agenda of his own. While I'm guessing Sixshot's rather bland personality is a by-product of Furman's shitty writing (I thought McCarthy had written Devastation, Furman was usually decent), I'd still much rather have him chasing me than Overlord. Sixshot will kill you in an instant, Overlord will mutilate you in front of your family and laugh.

 

All of the Phase Sixers are invulnerable, and McCarthy never wrote Sixshot.

 

I could have sworn Devastation was written by McCarthy (because it was bad) but you are right, it was Furman.

 

I'd put Sixshot at the top, then Overlord, then Black Shadow (and if one included him, then Tarn).

I get the impression Black Shadow might've been the 'skilled and fast,' type, quickest but least brute strong of the three. In the flashbacks, he was showing high skill rather than tanking hits.

Sixshot was the brute strongest in firepower and toughness, had a special power core mentioned, and a six changer. In terms of special advantages he's the whole package.

Overlord's bigger and stronger than Black Shadow, the smartest of them, but likely not as quick. Double alt mode too.

Also it's noteworthy the DJD was 5 v 1 and drugged up when taking Black Shadow on.