Good Lord I missed a lot. Thank God I joined the Marines and spent less time on a Board about transforming cars from space. I forgot just how heated these arguments can get, when at the absolute core of the argument is “blocky vs spiky!” Hahahaha ahhh. Never change TFW, never change. Still going with lockdown btw. I just like space cowboys/bounty hunters the most I guess.
Though Megatron performed somewhat shit in the subsequent films, he did impress me with his debut in 07 film.
In my opinion Sentinel is an example of a good TF villain and Leonard Nimoy was the perfect choice to voice him.
I chose Shatter and Dropkick really liked their dynamic and even used classic 80s cartoon villainy to betray the humans so points for nostalgia
2007 Megatron felt like an entirely different character than whatever the hell they pulled out for ROTF and DOTM. He barely got any characterization, but I felt like the build-up to his arrival was enough to generate the idea in the viewer that, oh shit, this guy is going to absolutely make shit go crazy, and he does. He just had this aura, I suppose, of pure destructive force compared to the “freedom is the right of all sentient beings” that Optimus was at that point (until he became Murder Prime). Even if the plot was simple enough - don’t let the big bad get the MacGuffin- it was simple enough that it couldn’t be fucked, which makes Megatron a serviceable villain, I think. The final battle also felt much more rewarding, and you really feel like Optimus can’t plot armor his way out of this, and it takes a MacGuffin to beat him. I will say I also enjoyed the energy the Lockdown brought, but the final battle to AOE was just.... weird. Also, despite being the “cool alien space cowboy”, other than dropping a few one liners, killing Ratchet with the help of a ton of Cemetery Wind Operatives, shooting Prime in the back, he didn’t really do much. I guess that fits the “opportunist” approach. Sentinel Prime was solid, but I just don’t like the massive, unexplained, midfilm characterization shift from “hero who makes an ethically horrifying decision to save his home” to “villain who believes in dominating an inferior species”. It felt more like they were trying to make him a clear villain in the eyes of the audience since Optimus was just so brutal and bloodthirsty at this point that it had to be super obvious Sentinel was pUrE eViL. I don’t like to talk about Cybertronian Gemma Chan and Spiky Senior Citizen. Shatter and Dropkick were solid, and refreshing. Good examples of actual “Decepticon Deception” and even though Dropkick was a “thug” I felt like his contrast was necessary to Shatter’s finesse. I just, again, feel like both end up victims of Bumblebee’s plot armor, as Dropkick’s death is stupid, which feels fitting for the character- “brains over brawn”, but Shatter’s death is arguably more “what just happened”. Good arc, absolutely shitty conclusion. That being said, I will admit 07 Megatron was extremely basic, and at best serviceable, but I feel like he was the least flawed.
If I may, the fact is Sentinel's characterization didn't change, if anything it was more like the mask was ripped off revealing who he really was all along. After all, isn't the whole reason he left Cybertron in the first place was specifically to go enslave some other alien species to rebuild Cybertron or something? He had a raging god complex where he saw Cybertronians as gods, saying as much in the movie itself, so dominating a "lesser" species into being slaves was simply in his views a given right of the Cybertronians.
Yeah, Sentinel Prime is the exact same character throughout the movie. He doesn't change or develop as a character; he merely reveals an aspect of himself that existed the whole time of the movie.
You could argue that, but it was much more impactful if Sentinel was participating in this plan because he didn’t have a choice but to save his people and his home, rather than him believing it was his right to do anyways, whether or not the future of his species was in the balance. Instead, they make him evil for the sake of being evil, instead of making him as captivating as he was before. Sentinel himself instilled “freedom is the right of all sentient beings” into Optimus, and while characters and people are often hypocritical, it would have been better if this was portrayed as desperation and necessity, not as a crusade of taking what they deserved. That’s why I felt there was a shift, as Sentinel’s betrayal would have been much more well written if he maintained the same characterization as he had before his turn. I think making him evil just to paint him as a more clear antagonist (the “mask” coming off idea) is cheap and lazy, and speaks to this movie, and franchise in general, cheating out of good writing by defaulting to very basic good v evil motifs. Arguably, if Sentinel maintained the wise and sagely personality from the beginning of the film, it could easily be a point of debate that he was the true protagonist over Optimus in the Cybertronian perspective, as Optimus is dooming his own people while Sentinel is trying to save his world. That would have made Sentinel by far and away the best villain in the series, instead, the “mask” of nobility comes off and you gets this insufferable old man that is the generic “mwuahaahhah I was evil all along” and the audience sees “oh he’s evil, time for Optimus to make him go boom-boom” instead of a more measured, and well written take that actually made you think. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, elementary good vs evil has crippled this franchise often in terms of character depth.
Very good points all around and I see where you're coming from. And maybe the original version of DOTM may have done just that, but IIRC the listing for the novelization actually leaked early and revealed Sentinel was the real villain and so the ending of the movie was hastily changed to something that comparatively wasn't as satisfying in the long term.
wouldve said sentinel at some point, but since i rewatched dotm again last week or so, i guess 07 megs. hes simple as shit for a villain but meh, works well enough sentinel is p much only good idea wise, execution wise his plan makes no sense and he does a bunch of really stupid shit, plus we dont see him enough as a good guy to care about his betrayal prolly the worst part about him is how they have to make everyone dumber for his plan to work
In terms of motivation and complexity of personality, Sentinel Prime. In terms of on screen menace, Lockdown, and in terms of being both intelligent AND effective its Shatter an Dropkick. Animated Unicron doesn't have much in way of motivation or personality but he makes up with it - or did at the time - with sheer majesty, and deity like disposition. Plus some of his lines, what few there are, are pretty cool.
Oh I thought I had missed something. I agree that 86 (or really any) Unicron doesnt really have any interesting motivation or characterization but is always a destructive force. Less of a villain but more of a threat.
I personally find IDW and Armada's (not Energon's) takes on both Unicron and his presence as a threat to be my favourite ones. The rest are just a bit boring to me.
