The Energon Pub

In the movie, one thing I wasnt completely clear on as my friend debated this with me after the movie. Was the Fallen trapped in the device he was sitting in when he was first shown with megatron on the nemesis. I kind of assumed he was, since he was locked there till last prime was killed. Why demolisher said the fallen will rise again cause he couldnt leave it. I just took as the Fallen was sealed in there, and got carted around in the Nemesis till he was freed. Why starscream and megatron were the active field commanders, and see as leaders by most.

My friend just said was a throne or repair device of sorts, and that the fallen wa sjust hanging back till Prime was dead so there d be no risk of him being killed during it all. But then seems odd he wouldnt hunted down the matrix sooner if he could have. Or the All spark. I mean they said remaining primes defeated him, so Id figured they did something to keep him from meddling. Just kicking his butt didnt same like a very good punishment to deter him.

I didnt read the novel, so may be they made more clear there. I thought Id ask as Id thought about it a bit and see what others take on it was.

That was just a chair of sorts he was sitting in. Previously, he had been sealed away in a fiery dimension trapped inside his sarcophagus, a large triangular stone tablet with his visage engraved on it.

Yes good question, for those who are not in the know, I would of assumed they were back on cybertron instead of a 'con ship since if memory serves they never showed the ship. Also when demolisher proclaimed that the fallen would return it lead "me" to believe that he was dead...not sitting on a transformer wheelchair. how could he return if he never even left you-know-what-I-mean?

Yeah, that's definitely the biggest plot hole, as far as continuity goes. In the Defiance comic (which takes place during the war on Cybertron just before the cube is launched into space) it's revealed that he was entombed by his brothers in a sarcophagus, trapped in a pocket dimension. Megatron unearths him and The Fallen promises Megs the power of a Prime if he can find the Matrix and recharge the Allspark (by destroying a sun), which I guess would free him - it's never fully explained what needs to happen for him to become free again, but simply having the cube wouldn't do it, since they actually had it on Cybertron before it was lost and didn't bother using it (apparently it was low on energy, not enough to free him I guess?). When the cube is launched into space, The Fallen stays aboard the Nemesis in his tomb with Soundwave keeping guard and tells Megs to go retrieve the cube. The Nemesis then goes on to search for a planet with a sun I guess...although this doesn't make since given the fact that he'd already found Earth once before (he had built the sun destroyer there).

Anyway, on to Reign of Starscream, which takes place right after the first movie. In this, the whole Nemesis thing is totally thrown out - it's parked on Mars, being guarded by Thundercracker and a handful of decepticons. Starscream flies there immediately after the first movie ends, taking command of the Nemesis and flying it back to Cybertron to build a new army. This was written before Defiance, but it's irritating that the contradiction is so glaring. It's possible that The Fallen & Soundwave were at the back of the ship during this comic and simply weren't shown, but highly unlikely.

Then there's the prequel novel, The Veiled Threat. In this, Starscream is enemy #1 on Earth, and is leader of the decepticons. Meanwhile, behind his back, a rogue faction of decepticons is working to revive Megatron, and although they never reveal who is behind this faction, it sounds an awful lot like Soundwave (a smaller robot is ejected from a larger one & steals info from NEST HQ...and no, it's not Barricade because he's working for Starscream in the novel). The novel ends with Starscream still head of the decepticon army & unaware of the plot to revive Megs, and NEST rolls out to Shanghai in the final scene. So at the very beginning of the movie, in Shanghai, Starscream is still answering only to himself and has no plans to revive Megatron. This is confusing as hell because the first time we see him in the movie, he's cowering under The Fallen. The Fallen must have shown up right after Shanghai and put Starscream in his place - otherwise, why was Starscream allowed to go out on his own all this time? If The Fallen were free from his prison, why wouldn't he simply bitchslap Starscream and make him go find the Matrix and whatnot? None of it makes sense.

So there you have it - plot holes galore with The Fallen, the Nemesis, and Starscream's reign. It's understandable that Bay might have changed things to make the movie more coherent for the masses, but it's still irritating when the 'official' backstory isn't possibly canon when compared with the movie. It can be seen as canon, I guess, if fans choose to explain things their own way - I've gone with the theory that The Fallen showed up at the beginning of the movie to back up Soundwave and put Starscream's ass back on track looking for the Matrix, and that The Fallen was never really trapped per se, just conserving his energy until the cube could be recharged (at which point he would probably become a god). Eh, it works.

that was good and thanks....HUH???

In Defiance it says that the Fallen was trapped in his sarcophagus until the "star harvester" or machine was found. When the Allspark was sent out into space, the Fallen sends Megatron to find it because it would lead them to the star havester. The Fallen was on the Nemesis to search for the star havester, actually I think the Nemesis was built for that purpose. In Defiance, I never see the Fallen promise Megatron the power of a Prime, only that he will rule Cybertron. In the movie, the Fallen is not in his sarcophagus (not really), and he is free when the last Prime dies?

Im just go on assuming the Fallen was trapped in that thing, and why the decepticons had a ship to cart him around in. Plus would make sense why hes been out of action till Prime dies heh. Thanks for answering to best of your ability as they really could made this all more clear.