In AOE, they proclaim having a ship and that they can finally leave. However, it seems to be implied in the other films, they can leave Earth (or do interstellar travel) without a ship or maybe they had some other means. Any thoughts on this?

 

I could be wrong but I just don't think they put a lot of thought into it. I recall early on the idea for some was that they'd need a ship to leave, whereas some like Megatron and Starscream can fly through space, otherwise they'll have a secondary comet-like form so they can get through the atmosphere of different planets.

I just assume for many Cybes they need a ship of some kind (whether a non-sentient craft or a fellow Cybe) to travel in space, they can survive in space, but unless they have a method of moving about, they'd struggle, but then some of them are capable of traveling through space without a ship, such as Sky Lynx, Omega and so forth.

 

It would put their years-long hiding to waste. They’re scattered all over the place and on the chase from trained soldiers and a bounty hunter capable of defeating their Leader in a fight.

Assuming they can only leave through flight in Proto-form, they would expose themselves to our radars, which Lockdown could then intercept with his ship. Not even the Wreckers or Hound would stand a chance, especially if Lockdown had an army of F-22s on his side. This is why Optimus never used his flying shoes until the end. It’s not lazy writing (actually it is), he just needed to clear his obstacle beforehand.

Ironically, if Sentinel never defected, or at least gave Optimus instructions to operate his pillars, they could’ve set a stronghold on another planet, get themselves back in shape, then come back to fight Lockdown.

 

Yes: space bridge, ship building and in Megs, SS's, and even OP's case, they can fly through space thanks to powerful jetpacks.

 

The way I see it is they need a for long interstellar travel and the ship I suppose would have more armor and shielding against cosmic rays, background radiation, etc. the ship can also be a lot faster because it has the ability to travel at light speed.

Cybertronian fliers can survive and fly through space, but unless they are transplanted with a mode so they’ll be able to travel at the speed of light, they can travel above the average speed of sound through space typical of Cybertronian fliers but that steady source of energon is needed so they can keep going.

 

As both Megatron and Starscream turn into aircraft, I question if protoform comet modes are actually capable of reaching escape velocity. It's possible they need a ship or something to leave the atmosphere then can transform into comet form for the rest of their voyage.

 

I assume the comet forms are for interstellar travel and/or planetary entry. It's likely that they don't have enough fuel to escape a planet's gravitational pull. Once in space, they wouldn't need constant fuel to propel themselves forward. It's also possible they don't even have lightspeed travel, maybe they just jumped from a nearby spaceship into Earth's atmosphere.

 

Some presumably did, Starscream left earth to go to space, I think Megatron did as well in ROTF, and Soundwave must have gotten from earth (where he built a relationship with Dylan) to space (in ROTF) and then back in time for dotm.

In general? It might depend on the cybertronian, the first novel seemed to establish they could change alt modes on the fly without scanning, but maybe some just don't have the body type or training to reach escape velocity, or would be too drained afterwards to keep themselves safe.

 

megatron after rotf was a ground vehicle.

 

But when he was reactivated he flew out of the sea and into space where The Fallen and Starscream were based .

 

i see, he had his jetpack even when adopted the truck mode

 

I didn't like the idea of being able to travel through space on their own like that. I'm ok with select characters having that ability, but not all of them like in the first movie. It feels too OP to me.

 

Like many things in the original trilogy, AoE apparently completely forgot that Cybertronians have Transitional-Forms, as sorta meteorites. Heck, why couldn't they just fly off to Mars to regroup and recuperate? Humanity can barely make it to their own moon, let alone another world. On a sorta related note, why did Optimus give the stupid tactical decision to split-up? When sticking together, or again, just leaving the planet, would have increased their chance of survival.

 

In some instances, yes; however, in some of the remaining films, especially TLK, he still had the ability to fly.