Well, I've recently finished watching all of Season 2 on Netflix, and I have to say, I'm less than impressed with the characters they chose to kill off. It seems like they took the only 3 dimensional characters with any charisma or dynamic arch and chose to kill them in the most unfitting way plausible.

I never thought much of Cliffjumper at first, I immediately assumed he was a typical tough guy as usual, but in the flashback episode with Arcee, I became surprisingly entranced by the "conversationalist".   This badass is also light hearted and a chatter box, and was originally the one who wanted to follow Prime on Earth. Who would of thought that a single episode could make me miss a character so much.

Dreadwing and Breakdown? The only two honorable decepticons present in the series? The only ones who'd so much as considered that maybe they'd picked the wrong sides? Both fall victims to such anti-climatic deaths. Breakdown is a brutal grunt who questions his loyalty to the decepticons at times, so of course they kill of this Thundercracker-esque character by having him dismembered off screen by Airachnid. This fuels the fire for a single episode for Break-Silas. Was it worth it, Prime Writers?

Dreadwing? He attacks Starscream for perfectly legitimate reasons, something Megatron doesn't hesitate to do, and is put down with a single blast from Megatron with NO hesitation. Now they're down ANOTHER major con for no reason whatsoever.

I like Transformers Prime, I really do, but why they chose to kill off their only 3 dimensional characters with no true purpose in mind amazes me.

 

Because its still ultimately a kids show. Killing off hero characters is bad for business.

 

It is? Dammit, there goes my fan fic.

 

This isn't about my bloodlust for Autobots though, this is about the writers seemingly deliberately killing off any round character in an anti-climatic way. Wasted potential more than anything, you know?

Granted, the show still has Starscream and Ratchet.

 

Many (better) kids shows haven't been too afraid to kill off heroes.

 

A kid show hmm? Sorta dark isn't it?

 

Yes. Prime is undisputedly aimed towards kids first and foremost. Doesn't matter if it is sometimes dark or can be enjoyed by adults too, its not the first to do this.

 

I still can't get over Megatron choosing Starscream, who will inevitably betray him again someday, over Dreadwing...

 

All the characters are modeled and rendered in 3D. There's no non-3D character to kill off.

 

Out of all of Megatron's first lieutenants, Starscream is the only one who actually accomplished the missions. He also performed quite well on his own, managing to collect all the omega keys. Starscream also never directly confronts Megatron with his betrayals. He is to the greatest extent, the quintessential Decepticon. Megatron has always had a respect for Starscream's treachery, even if he does have to watch his own tail.

Meanwhile Dreadwing has his "honor" which often lead him to perform questionably in Megatron's eyes, such as teaming with Optimus in Triangulation. And other than the episode where he rescued Megatron, where he first became Megatron's new first lieutenant, has he ever succeeded in a mission? (answer = no). Then to top it all off, he blatently says "NO" to Megatron's face in defiance to a direct order.

Honestly there should be no question why Megatron chose Starscream over Dreadwing.

p.s. Starscream is probably the most "3D" character in the series, and he's still alive and kicking.

 

I agree with you OP.

Decepticons I actually start to like with good potential? Dead before they do anything important.

Autobots that are as exciting as a sack of potatoes with stale development? Alive 4ever.

 

Neither can I! As much as Megatron claims to be wise to all of Starscream's scheming and what not you think he'd have half a brain and not put a back stabbing, cowardly, suck up as his right-hand yet again. What's even worse is that he didn't HAVE to choose between the two of them. Why not keep them both around? Dreadwing is loyal enough. Maybe a good disciplinary beating would put him in his place? Sort of like what he did to Starscream in "Out of His head". Y'know nothing Knock Out couldn't repair. He could have just taught Dreadwing to deal with having someone around that he despises. Not that I wanted Dreadwing to suffer, but, almost anything would have been better than just killing him off. Though given how he felt in that episode (hating the 'cons yet refusing to join the Autobots) going rogue would have been his only other option. I sincerely doubt it would have happened given three character so far have been "I don't take orders from anyone! I do what I want!"

 

It does sort of seem like you shouldn't ever bother being a fan of any of the Decepticons on the show because if you are the least bit interesting and your name isn't Megatron or Starscream you are either going to get killed or forgotten about somewhere in the background.

The next series we get we definitely need some Decepticon fans on the production team instead of everything being an Autobot lovefest.

 

Don't forget about the ever-popular Knock Out! He's got his fanatical fanbase as well, which is why he probably sticks around. Or he's just a favorite among the writers. But I do I get the feeling that enough people like him that he'll be one of those characters that gets another version made of him in the next TF series.

 

Dreadwing should been killed by starscream in a dog fight, after all the bantering on how good he was, it also would of brought so dignatey to both of them

 

Starscream sells more toys than Dreadwing. Plus Starscream's agent got him a much better deal. I hear Dreadwing was holding out for more money, so they wrote his ass off the show.  

And who knows, maybe Starscream has some pictures of Megatron that are better left unrevealed.... 

 

The main problem with TFP is killing off all the potentially good characters too fast.

 

I'm biased because I like Dreadwing a lot, but yeah, to me Starscream would've been the one logically to kill.

 

Breakdown was around for while so I dunno if he counts. Problem with him is they took time building his character then just killed him off, I still wanna know what BD and Bulky's rivalry was about. Knock Out is no where near as interesting without BD. Their banter showed that there could be camaraderie with decepticons and it was interesting. Also as others have noted, BD hinted at having a soft spot which separated him from the "all Decepticons are selfish and evil" cliche.

But Dreadwing I agree. He shows up, we didn't see much of him, showed potential but then Megs puts a big hole in him and now he's gone   Dreadwing's death could have been better. If I was writing the show, Megs would have let Dreadwing and Screamer duke it out outside the Nemesis, maybe even make it last a whole episode (and cut out one of the relic hunting episodes to make room). Going out with way would have made Dreadwings (or Screamers) death more memorable and meaningful.

 

Breakdown was a 3D character?