So pretty much something that some fans are against regarding the Transformers Cinematic Universe is that there are no more A-List Decepticons moving foward (Expect for Megatron) and few have used this as an example as to why it should be rebooted. but do we really need the A-List Decepticons to move foward?.

For me the awnser is no, we dont need the A-List Decepticons for the Cinematic Universe to work, look we have plenty of Decepticons and Evil Cybertronians in the Transformers lore that they could chose from to be the antagonist of future movies, we've had stories that didnt focused on Starscream, Soundwave, Shockwave or Megatron for that matter and they have worked. you can make a good story or arc without the A-List Decepticons, lesser known Decepticons can be as good as the A-List Decepticons if written well.

Sure if they had known they would've made more movies after DOTM, theres no doubt they would've survived, but what is done is done (unless they find a way to bring them back), but again the cinematic universe dont need them. its like saying Spider-Man or Batman movies cant work if the A-List villains were not front and center of the franchise or had a huge presence.

 

I think the argument as to whether they should be top-tier or lower-tier Decepticon characters isn't even relevant at this point, frankly. You'll get what you get.

 

Of course not. They aren't exactly a big part of pop culture. I mean, when the films did have them, they were barely anything like their original selves, they barely had any personality or memorable moments at all, yet the films were successful anyway. The franchise will be just fine without them, and I'm personally looking forwards to seeing something new. They can't be disrespectful to original characters, for starters.

 

Amen, why does any TF fiction need them? Fans will plead recognisability, but to kids that is a non-issue. Give them a movie or two with Scoop and Quickswitch as the top Autobots and Overlord and Triggerhappy as the main Decepticons and it'll be how its supposed to be for them.
Plus with how easily the "top tier" Decepticons have been beaten you can hardly claim lesser known Decepticons wont be believable as big threats  
Give us some variety i say: Deszarus as Decepticon leader in 2019 and Thunderwing as his second in command.

 

you're not going to recognize them anyway, so why would it matter?

 

They certainly need something.

 

They need their own 'A-list' decepticons doesn't matter if it's the ones from the cartoons etc just massively interesting and unique characters

 

I remember someone else saying that the movies have done better with their own villains, or reinventing someone else's villains. Sentinel and Lockdown are perfect examples of this.

 

Megatron is as recognizable as a name you are going to get, and he's around still.

Barricade has survived in one way or another. With a new design full of character and having been seen in plenty of production photos and videos one hopes he will get a little more focus than he did in the pass.

Onslaught could be built up to be a formidable foe.

In my mind the best two villains in the films were a bounty hunter from Animated and a traitorous Autobot leader. Far more important than fame is execution. I would rather see a well executed but not well known Decepticon or evil Transformer be the villain than a poorly executed famous one.

 

I would say let the Decepticon A-listers take a seat for a while, but then my Optimus Prime-loving ass would sound like a hypocrite.

I don't think we NEED the popular Decepticons alive to have good movies with good villains. However, I understand why the fans of those characters are upset. I know I'll be salty once the inevitable death of Optimus Prime eventually happens so that Bumblebee will replace him as leader. *grumble grumble*

 

It's less needing A-list Decepticons to me in so much it's needing Decepticons who bring their A-game.

 

Yep. If we get Cons who are as good as Sentinel and Lockdown, we're in good shape.

 

The first movie definitely needed an A-list Decepticon in order to bring in viewers.

After that in my view they didn't really need to rely on well known characters. They still had a few granted, but AOE to me proved that they no longer needed A-List Decepticons.

Lockdown to me proves they can do villains who are not too well known and still end up making them intimidating and bring in a good audience. Primarily at this stage i feel Optimus and potentially Bumblebee draw the crowds so they can now experiment a bit with different villains (hence why i feel they introduced the Creator to expand the universe and bring in new threats)

 

变形金刚5：最后的骑士 - 维基百科，自由的百科全书
Don't know this chinese wiki site accurate or not, but it's mentioned will got Tidal Wave and Predacons as the 3 headed Mechanical Dragon..Plus we got onslaught on board this meant we definitely got the A-List Decepticons this time.

 

Fake.... Fake.... FAKE!

Anyone can edit this.

 

I'd definitely say hell no. Having just watched AOE today, having A-list NAMES, which is pretty much what some people are complaining about, isnt necessary nor should it be required. Hell, we still have Megatron, and in the last movie it was freaking Galvatron! Like who would think the name would actually make it to these films!? Let's be real, even if Starscream, Soundwave and Shockwave were alive people would still bitch and moan about how those characters end up being nothing like what they grew up with/how they are portrayed in other versions of themselves. I'd say Lockdown, Megatron, Soundwave, and heck even Galvatron are closest at portraying their cartoon counterparts, be it personality, faction placement, their job or even simply their origin...none of which, might I add, would mean a slick of a damn given that the only one out of those 4 to actually get even so much as decent screen time was Lockdown.

 

This is a valid discussion. I think we are all disappointed that some of the big names (shockwave for sure) have not been brought to life to their full potential. However, moving forward I do not believe they necessarily need to worry about that. Lockdown and Sentinel are the strongest villains in the series (as I've said many times).

However, with Megatron still in play I'd like him to finally get some real development.

If the dragon turns out to be a TF Prime based Predaking (or such a character) he could potentially be very interesting.

But since there are literally hundreds of Transformers characters and many different stories to draw inspiration from; they shouldn't run out of ideas for the live action films any time soon.

 

Why ?!!! Thats what bothers me about this concept. Why after your favorite character has shone through every iteration of the fiction would you think you are justified in feeling anger when in one of those fictions he for one reason or other "doesnt make it" and that iteration of the franchise continues without him ?
Numerous of characters who have their much smaller following have had much less effort from writers dedicated to them, have not been portrayed as ubercool guys or girls who get through everything unscathed, yet somehow that doesnt matter to the people who are not part of that following.
But when their popular character gets portrayed as anything but a supercool unbeatable superhero or villain and/or dies it is an outrage and the producers of said fiction should be ashamed.
I still dont see how this is justified and i still fail to see how this can ever result in creative, entertaining fiction.

 

Yes they do IMO.

These aren't superheroes with a revolving roster of rogues, these are characters with clearly defined roles of hero/villain who play off against each other.

Megatron asked Optimus who he'd be without him in DOTM, and we saw the answer in AOE: a mere alien robot who can be hunted down. It took Megatron's return for the Autobots to prove who they were and why they are needed.

Lockdown made a refreshing change from the Autobot-Decepticon cycle. But that's all he provided, he was just a bounty hunter doing a job and there was nothing much beyond that.


Ideally what I'd have liked is for Megatron and Optimus to act as generals, sending in Autobot/Decepticon troops to fight each other and give lesser known characters the spotlight, and they enter the battlefield only when things get really bad for either side. Sort of like in the Star Wars and LOTR films, where there were big fantasy battles.

 

It's a bit like sports. When you have a big well known team it's a bigger draw when they take on another big name team instead of a team no one ever heard of. Or how the pay-per-view wrestling event will feature one of the biggest face wrestlers against the biggest heel wrestler instead of the face going up against some jobber from the bottom of the company card. Hulk Hogan vs Andre the Giant is a draw, Hulk Hogan vs the Repo Man is yawn.

Big name hero vs big name villain is almost instant excitement. If things ever get too bad for Warner/DC all they have to do is announce a movie of Batman vs the Joker and boom crazy buzz. When it's bigger than life hero vs nobody then it's a harder sell people on why you should pay to see the overpowered hero squish an opponent with no name recognition.