A lot of people have given complaints to the Decepticons having little/no personality. I can understand the complaints and I think they deserve more screentime to show off some character. However, they seem to act more like professional soldiers, totally dedicated and determined to fulfill their job and utterly relentless in their carrying it out. In most continuities the Decepticons are squabbling with each other and backstab/bully each other around, whereas in this continuity there is little/none of that (maybe they should have noticed Sentinel had usurped control in DOTM); instead it’s the Autobots who are more dysfunctional and have trouble keeping it together. These Decepticons are far more strategic/competent in that they manage to secure an advantage over the Autobots in almost every film (except the first one I think). That also counts for something I think. It doesn’t sound like much admittedly, after all Stormtroopers are also professional but nobody knows what they're like. But it’s an interpretation worth thinking over.
I don't know if you could call them professionals when they are so inept at their job. Decepticons get to be competent for about one scene and that's pretty much it. Blackout is introduced with kicking some butt, only to get killed off by a handheld human weapon without contributing anything meaningful to the last fight. Starscream can take out the best human jets with ease in a scene from the first movie, by the second movie he's developed Stormtrooper aim, and he's so pathetically sad that Sam can kill him by the third film. We've seen human made cables give Prime more of a struggle than a squad of Decepticons. I hate to be mean but I don't think it was the production team planing out to make them some elite warriors that need no words. I think the production team was just lazy because they didn't want to put any character effort into robots who's only purpose was to be killed by the Autobot and human heroes.
Yes, they are professionals. They fight Autobots professionally but humans and Autobots morale ruin all their plans And Autobots were never dysfunctional. Seeing them bickering in Monument Valley doesn't mean that they will do the same in battle. And they actually didn't.
I agree however there was that one time when Barricade was berating Steve... and soundwave taking orders from a human though
Blackout actually got killed by an Airstrike after Epps marked him. Lennox just shot him in between the legs.
They are more a street gang than professional soldiers. They have no discipline, they are just a bunch of crazy a-holes given permission to run amok and destroy. There is nothing professional about how they carry themselves or go about their plans. To be fair, the autobots aren't much better. They aren't heroes so much as the decepticons rival gang. Just another bunch of loud mouth a-holes.
I think we saw the last of the Professional Decepticon soldiers in DOTM. Now we're down to creeps and serial killers.
the dick shot does look like it was the finisher to be fair but yes the airstrike hits him which makes lennox's slide even dumber i get what the op is saying..you dont see much infighting amongst the decepticons other than megatron chastising starscream or threatening an underling 1 you had every single autobot other than that goody little twoshoes bumblebee question prime 2 you had ratchet question ironhide & you also had the twins fighting one another & bee setting them straight...to be fair, you also had the decepticons murder one of their own for the sake of their leader (although when you look at the finale with jetfire, it's almost even id say) 3 yes, sentinel betrays the autobots but the decepticons have had multiple defections amongst them so that shouldn't be entirely overlooked neither 4 oh boy does drift & crosshairs eviscerate bumblebee's leadership skills...too funny...hound also has a hair trigger & is very confrontational as well...a lot of tension in this group to put it lightly 5 drift & crosshairs still hate bumblebee/daytrader is abused nonstop by the autobots so yes...the decepticons are kinda more professional in that they are more rank-in-file and know each others role where as the autobots, yes some are that way but more are dicks to one another...although it's mostly drift, hound, & crosshairs of course, that could be just a symptom of fearing for your life for ever speaking out of turn or questioning superiors?
they are characterized as 1 dimensional thugs and baddies, at least in THL, in the first trilogy there was more a semblance of militarism to them.
No, it wasn't. The killing shot was from multiple missiles exploding in his face. Lennox just shot him in the groin as a "fuck you" to the thing that killed all his buddies. It's incredible how people misinterperate/overinterperate that scene as anything more than what it was.
The missiles definitely weakened him but the killing shot was from Lennox. The reason Lennox shot him specifically in the groin wasn't because it was a "fuck you" to Blackout, it was because his armor was weaker under the chest, he was more vulnerable there. It doesn't matter anyway, the army was equipped with anti-transformer weapons after the Scorponok fight, it wasn't a normal grenade, nor were the F-22 missiles apparently normal missiles (since Lennox's team informed Pentagon on the TF armor's nature). It makes sense how the army couldn't stop TFs earlier (they never had much chance to attack Blackout in the base scene anyway).
Autobots AREN'T SOLDIERS. They are team of good loyal friends, tempered in battles. Did you see a team where people aren't bickering?
Decepticons in the movieverse si far sucked. They got pounded by the US military and despite they were like hundreds in dotm in the final battle, they still lost against a dozen of autobots and human ground soldiers. And while Megatron and Starscream kicked some butt in the first movie, they got weaker and weaker in the sequels.