Scenario: what if IDW2 Megatron eats Autobots and Organics for fun? Not only is he intimidating with his weapons and army but he’ll also chow down on unfortunate Autobots that cross his path? And he takes pride in eating organics?
I'm thinking the same thing. If you want to make Megatron, or any villain scarier, you don't just tack on grotesque habits for shock value, you dive deep into their psyche and explore just what kind of monster they are, and the consequences of their actions. The Decepticons are people who started an apocalyptic war, then kept going, exporting that same horror to other worlds. They standardized Armageddon and inflicted it on the galaxy at large, turning it into the new status quo. And Megatron's the mind and will driving the Decepticon war machine onward. What does that say about him? That he's driven, dedicated, unfettered in achieving his goals, and unburdened by anything resembling a conscience or regard for other people. His universe is small, populated only by him. Everybody else is either a tool, a plaything, or an enemy. I'd take his "everything is fodder" motto and extrapolate from there, incorporating a lot of the IDW Decepticons' atrocities in the process. He'd be the kind of guy who has no compunctions about employing weapons of mass destruction at the drop of a hat, turning civilians into brainwashed, slavering thralls, raising child soldiers, smelting the dead down to make cloned soldiers, (the MTO process ought to have been Decepticon-exclusive. Screw IDW's attempts to drag the Autobots down), and driven countless sentient species to extinction - it's a wonder the IDW galaxy had any life in it after millions of years of the Decepticons ravaging the galaxy.
If you REALLY want to make Megatron scary, you don't have to make him eat people and all that over-the-top stuff. Just make him make sense. Show how easy it is to slide into evil when you are completely convinced of your righteousness. Pol Pot started off as a History professor. Stalin started off as a poet (which I think IDW was clearly trying to allude to in their previous continuity). How does a good person -- an idealist, an activist, someone trying to make the world a better place -- become a monster? That's scary. People generally don't eat other people "for the evulz" -- or do ANYTHING "for the evulz" for the most part. People DO do ACTUAL evil ALL THE TIME for "good reasons." Like for instance right now in the US we have children literally locked in cages, separated from their families, and dying of neglect for... reasons? In Germany in the 30s the same thing happened. We're sending people to prison for picking up dehydrated people who need medical aid without regard to their citizenship status, or for leaving water in the desert so people don't die of thirst. Thomas Jefferson denounced slavery as an evil institution -- but he still didn't free his slaves, and in fact made more by impregnating his sister-in-law (who was already his slave) and enslaving their children when they were born. This guy was one of the founding fathers of our country! Andrew Jackson, another former President, was openly gleeful about his propagation of Native genocide. Most people my age grew up watching that genocide glorified in "cowboys and Indians" movies where the real-life victims are portrayed as the villains. The real terror of evil is its banality. How accessible it is to any of us, simply through convenient, self-image-preserving denial and willful ignorance. Perhaps through uncomplicated assessments of self-interests: "I can't afford to lose this job," or "I'm too scared to speak up." And honestly? I kind of think we are gonna see that.
This thread reminds me of Freakazoid: By the transitive property of math, "Scary Megatron" should be voiced by actor/comedian Sinbad.
make him scary but like, in a casual way. maybe he's scary cuz he openly talks about weird anime all the time or has a well known weird fetish.
A Megatron than openly declares himself "otherkin" and hauls around a smelly body pillow would be pretty unsettling.
