Dreamwave, Revenge of the Fallen, RID15, Prime Wars, is The Fallen unlucky to just so happen to be in these stories or does he just suck? If you were to give The Fallen a chance to be an actual cool villain, how would you use him?
I mean? I fucking love DW’s the Fallen….in fact I’ll be real, he is the only villain I’ve liked since DeathSaurus or Armada Megs? Real talk, when you have him show up like a fiery robot Satan who bodies Grimlock? After Grimlock has already shown to be stronger than Prime, Magnus and Shockwave? It was very much my Vader showing up and putting his power on display and I loved it.
There wasn't anything wrong with his Dreamwave iteration? He just lost, but I assume he was going to continue being relevant had the story gotten to continue since it was apparently his essence that caused Sunstorm to become so powerful (and so unhinged). But then the creatively bankrupt movies made him the original Decepticon, something orignally belonging to The Liege Maximo... and ever since he's basically just been proto-Megatron, rather than his own being with his own lore. I think the guy described in his Titanium figure description is still the best iteration of the character. "Fallen forgot his real name long ago. It didn't matter. It was a name given to him by his creator - the one he betrayed. It was a relic of the time before he had some to see the truth. The truth of Unicron. Created as one of the original 13 Transformers to serve as a protector of Cybertron, Fallen has always been a creature of chaos and degradation. His original purpose was to oversee the stately running down of the universal clock, the ordered tick of universal balance from energy to entropy, the slow and total collapse that heralds a new creation - for what are creation and life without dissolution and death? He knew his purpose only too well, and became obsessed with the end of all things. Intrigued by the dark sciences, he came in contact with Unicron, and fell under the evil planet's thrall. He exists now for one purpose alone: the destruction of the Seal of Primus and the release of Unicron into the universe. He lives only so that one day he might witness the last star in the universe wink out, and eternal ending fall."
There's not much to work with stories involving demons and devils. As agents of doom, you can either beat them or reform them. The Fallen, Liege Maximo (who has become a Loki lookalike), Unicron... they're all doomsday-level villains who can last an event or two, but no more.
I think the Fallen could be taken down a lot of interesting paths (at least backstory-wise) with a little creativity. My own idea for a version of the Fallen would have their real name as "Victorious Prime" to give them a faux-heroic feel, this great magenta-and-gold warrior with a mighty arsenal who turned to evil when he was consumed by his thirst for battle. I think it would also be a neat touch that, if they're going down the "Megatron Progenitor" route... just name them Megatron. (I was inspired by the apocryphal figure mentioned in the Covenant Of Primus in Beast Wars, though I'm 60% sure that the Megatron in that story is Beast Wars Megatron by way of prophetic fuckery).
I mean the Dreamwave version is the only good one. The basically invincible robotic demigod who walks through everything anyone has to throw at him? Who is so ancient that his history is completely unknown, that even he has forgotten most of it? Who, even though his body is destroyed in the end, ultimately still achieved his goal? The brief awakening of Primus did draw Unicron's attention, setting the stage for a Unicron storyline (that never materialized since Dreamwave went under, but still). And was apparently going to be revealed to be the reason for Sunstorm's power boost? The actual execution can be a little spotty I suppose, but all of that is a lot better than the ROTF and Aligned stories.
I am also partial to the original Dreamwave iteration. He's got so much more presence than any of the others, and leaves a stronger impression. As to how I would use The Fallen, there isn’t much I would change in terms of characterization from the DW version. But since I don’t have the 13 Primes in my universe, his backstory would be different: The Fallen’s true name has been wiped from history. Originally, he was Lord Commander of the greatest army on Cybertron, and the star protégé of Alpha Trion. After Prima abdicated, The Fallen was appointed to leadership of the Autobots, and began a reign of terror, enforced by his elite Infernocons. By now, The Fallen had modified his body into a finely-tuned war machine, and his anti-matter power core afforded him immense energy output, making him nigh-unbeatable in single combat. Nevertheless, The Fallen was hated and feared by many, and before long, he and his followers were defeated by a coalition force led by the nascent Nova Prime. The Fallen was exiled from Cybertron forevermore and his name expunged from the list of Primes. But the damage had already been done. Feeling responsible for his student’s misdeeds, Alpha Trion retreated from public life into self-imposed exile.
This!!! The Fallen was so much better as this enigma who is/was a Chikd of Primus who decided to go rouge. The allegory with Satan was so good, he was so strong it was like he was the true chosen of Primus yet told him to get fucked. So much cool potential and then they just had to tie him to Megatron and the goddess awful Solus storyline buried any hope for the character.
Talk about the biggest fucking down grade of all time. Satan: Badass that challenged God and was so powerful that he had to be banished. judas: a bitch boi that snitches and no one likes
I don't consider the Fallen a cursed character...but that's really only because personally he just doesn't do anything for me. Were I to re-imagine him, I'm guessing it would not be to the liking of most fans of the character. He WOULD probably be my Giant Space Robot Satan analogue since for me Unicron would exist only in myth - but I'd be tempted to go less in the direction of the "Super-Scary Embodiment Of All Evil" version of Satan and more in the direction of the "Corruptive Con Artist Who Can Bring Out The Dark Side In Anyone" version of Satan. The kind of character who probably would have been voiced by the likes of Tim Curry in his prime. Also, the whole "fire coming out of everywhere on his body" thing, while cool, doesn't really fit the approach I'd take either. And since his Covenant of Primus design doesn't really appeal to me all that much, I'd probably go with something closer to his RID '15 design...because, 1) I'm a sucker for the horns, and 2) with a voice like Curry's, I could easily imagine him constantly brandishing, twirling, leaning on his staff like it were a cane, in addition to whatever destructive properties it has. The character would have a level of theatricality that would make him fun even as he's doing really dark, gruesome and generally nasty sh** or more often than not seducing others into doing it for him.
It really is sad that after Dreamwave, each iteration of The Fallen is worse than the last. And then for good measure, The Liege Maximo got caught in the crossfire of that shitshow! For my part, my take on The Fallen hews close to Dreamwave except he was never separated from Unicron. For billions of years, The Fallen (he has no other name, none of the Thirteen had names in those times) serves as Unicron's herald. He scours the stars searching for suitable planets for his master to devour. After these planets are devoured, The Fallen tracks down and exterminates any survivors as well as anyone harboring them. Just as he himself was once corrupted by Unicron, he in turn corrupts others into doing his bidding.
His Dreamwave version was fine, and that's what they should stick with. Also if his upcoming toy is not a walking furnace, I'm not gonna bother with the entire 13. He's my make or break for that wave of toys. Bayformers design was if anything, interesting. But after that? It's funny how much effort Hasbro put to turn him into generic villain, both visually and in story.
I like the Fallen a lot, especially the Dreamwave and movie versions. Designwise I prefer the ROTF look, although the only design of his that I dislike is the Aligned / Covenant of Primus one. I'm not a fan of the romantic and tragic angles that some versions, like the Covenant and, to a lesser extent, Prime Wars versions have gone for. The Fallen, to me, just fits as one of those totally evil kind of characters. I'm not saying that he needs to be one note, but in my mind he fits more as a genuinely pure evil villain.
It's neither of those things, curses aren't a thing and he doesn't suck, Dreamwave was just poor timing but that's the way the character should be used, big bad from the past returns to fuck shit up, Autobots and Decepticons forced to work together to overcome him. Personally I think they should lose against him first time around and have to heavily plan to finally put him down for good
Since I'm not a "13 Primes" fan, I'd just roll with DW's villain from the past back to kill everyone for reasons he barely remembers himself...
