I was baffled when he was still able to rally the Decepticons in TLK. Over the course of five movies, he hasn’t really presented himself as a very competent leader. Or one with a plan that won’t kill his people (or himself) over and over. Do the cons ever sit around thinking “wtf are we doing? What are our goals in life?” His faction is so poorly run.

 

Well, bad writing for one, but honestly?

If my leader kept coming back from the dead, I ain't messin' around. He says jump, I'm going to say "How high?!"

 

The same reason why Injustice Superman had the WHOLE justice league played into helping him rule earth with an iron fist: they're dumbass sheeps.

If you see prime and the autobots randomly killing cons with zero care then that goes to show you that they're no longer "people" to them and are NEVER gonna come to their senses or wake up from this false idol. Least that can be done is putting them out of their misery.


Like Injustice Batman; Other incarnations of Optimus has been trying to reason with the cons and save them from the dark path Megatron was taking them. This one probably ran out of craps to give and was clearly as baffled as you are on the depths of their delusion.

 

Yep. You've got to remember, they started Armageddon on their world, and they kept going. No remorse, no regrets, no second thoughts. At most, they probably shifted the blame to the Autobots.

 

I don't think that's really how the Decepticon faction works but I also think what you're saying would theoretically make up for a great either a spin-off or just a regular transformers movie. I mean would you guys agree on this? Imagine a solo movie featuring the group of Cons questioning Megatron's leadership skills and trying to overthrow him. I mean yeah it sounds like a cliche but it'd also shine some new light on the Decepticons and their faction and what they trully believe of their cause. A lot of the transformers media is heavily focused on the dynamic within the Autobot team. I think we could benefit from a similar thing with the Decepticons. I would personally like to see more character dynamic. Learn about their ideals and motives. Maybe some of them really don't want to rule the galaxy but simply want their home planet saved. Perhaps some of their motives are really driven by patriotism?

 

Better question: why do the Autobots still follow Optimus Prime after he jettisoned and then destroyed their means of reproduction and actively imploded their home planet?

 

Those that stayed loyal to him probably realized that it was the only way to keep the Cons from winning. However, I'd be shocked if there weren't mass desertions after that.

 

Probably because they didn't want to jump on a quick and easy way of rebuilding what they'd lost if it meant seven billion civilians would be enslaved or killed in the process.

And also fear that he might RIP their faces off. I mean, Quintessa convinced him to lay the smackdown on Bumblebee with no effort, and Bumblebee convinced him to stop with even less.

 

You could ask that about most Megatrons in the franchise. It is surprisingly rare to find writers that realize "your villain who abuses an ideology to create an army to do his bidding should probably be charismatic and intelligent instead of a cliche angry shark."

 

Ha, that’s so true about the intelligence and charisma. Seriously, why would anyone follow him?? I don’t get it.

Bayverse Megs seems particularly bad. I feel like even the G1 cartoon Decepticons had more nuance. These ones are a bunch of goons following someone who isn’t really promising them anything other than him ruling everyone. Which is kind of funny because he was in a position of power on Cybertron pre war when things were okay(ish?). Since then he’s destroyed the whole planet and got most of his followers killed. Now they don’t have a home and they keep losing because of his really poorly thought out schemes. If there was ever a point to their cause, it’s long dead.

I guess kudos to Megatron for actually holding onto followers up till TLK. That’s quite a feat.

 

Perhaps he accomplished a lot more in all their time on Cybertron and they're still following him because of that, what he did before the movies...

 

because even Movie Megatron could beat Mohawk and 5 Minute Onslaught in a fight

 

Be hunted down by humans solo? Or hunted by Autobots as a group?
...
Well Megatron always comes back.

 

Megatrons would have so much more success if they were just a bit nicer, or even just better at pretending to be nicer. Instead they bully, belittle and butcher their underlings, often leading to outbursts of resentment and treachery that more often than not thwart their delicate Megatron plans.

But still, no denying he's a big guy who'd make things extremely painful (for you) so no surprise most other 'Cons just never have the nerve to say no.

 

He's a pretty cool guy. I'd probably follow him too if it meant I got to hunt these terrible human characters and the Autobot pussies that keep wasting war resources protecting them.

 

Because they don't want to end up on the business end of his fusion cannon...

 

Because if he ever comes back and they all deserted he'll make them pay horribly. Transformer toons have no nuance. The bad guys are programmed bad and the good guys are programmed good.

 

Perhaps it's like with Earth history where there will be some people that believe in whatever dream that leader instilled. Just look at say World War II that even when the outcome had become clear there were still some people that just couldn't accept that the leader was screwing up and leading their nation into destruction.

Or ancient Rome where the common people and the military were behind Caesar because they only saw his great deeds. It was the Senate that saw Caesar as a threat that had to be eliminated. Given that Megatron must have had some sort of victories in the past perhaps the Decepticons saw his defeats on Earth as just a small set back in the larger picture.

Okay and who would overthrow Megatron? Starscream? Heck Starscream had the drop on characters and still couldn't hit the broadside of Cybertron's moon.

 

To be fair, in Prime and Beast Wars, characters struggle with the choice between good and evil. Arcee comes close to killing out of revenge, Starscream struggles with his loyalty, Dinobot struggles with his honor, and Blackarachnia has to choose between her love and her own ambitions. Even in G1 and Armada, Blitzwing chose to help Rodimus save everyone above staying loyal to Galvatron and Starscream ended up becoming an Autobot for a short time, respectively. I think the Transformers cartoons, for being simplistic good VS evil narratives at heart, are a little more complex than they're given credit for.

At the very least, they're more complex than the Bay films where it's okay for Optimus Prime to beat Grimlock into submission and order him into battle, and execute Megatron as he offers a truce, because he's doing it to stop the bad guy.

Getting back on topic, the real reason that Megatron still has loyal troops is because with the exception of Revenge of the Fallen (where it's not explored at all), none of the movies are interested in the questions of honor, loyalty, and overcoming desire for revenge that cartoons for children happily dove into.

 

That's actually a great idea I'd love to see a prequel film set on Cybertron or a prequel film set in the knight verse and after the DECEPTICONS lose a giant battle maybe they lose the allspark a group of seekers decide to mutiny and remove Megatron from command the end of the film is them confronting Megatron in his throne room he kills all but one of the seekers who's voice box was slightly damaged in battle so he sounds more high pitch who says "please spare me master"
Then Megatron says "you're cunning and deceitful you will make a fine second in command arise Starscream" then the credits role wouldn't that just be awesome ?