I got Sentinel Prime's toy in a trade this week, and it got me thinking extensively about the character. It made me wonder, for what he did, is he worse than any of the Decepticons from the 3 films? If we take all the main bad guys, and I'm counting Megatron 3 different times, because not only did he have 3 different appearances, he also had 3 different attitudes. Starscream was basically the same sniveling little punk every time, and Soundwave went through a major transformation (pun intended
) between RoTF and DotM. Shockwave? I'm not sure if we should even count him as a major villain, because his Bayverse version never lived up to G1, Super-Link, or even Animated.
To recap (and I may miss a few things):
2007 Megatron
- wasn't around much, but when he did wake up he was pretty much unstoppable. He berated Starscream, he destroyed anything in his way, and Optimus and the Air Force had nothing for him in a fight.
RoTF Megatron
- when he was revived, the first thing he did was smash a submarine on his way out of the ocean. He stabbed and shot Prime in the back, albeit after getting his ass kicked for a bit. He bitch slapped Starscream. He killed Sam, even if it became a moot point.
DotM Megatron
- wasn't very threatening physically, but just as demented mentally as before. Shot his alleged sworn partner in the back and tore him apart.
Starscream
- led the Decepticons at the beginning. Freed Megatron. Allegedly back-stabbed Megatron by shooting him along with the USAF Raptors. Then took out those Raptors in mid-air. Crippled Bumblebee by shooting off his legs. In RoTF he didn't really do much. In DotM, he shot down the Ark (in the book version, anyway. I don't think it was made clear in the movie) and the Xantium as well.
Soundwave
- was crucial in reviving Megatron in RoTF, as well as controlling communications. In DotM, he became a very real threat, terrorizing Carly as well as killing Que. He also controlled Ravage and Laserbeak who did a massive amount of damage.
Sentinel Prime
- not technically a Decepticon, but just as cruel. Betrayed the Autobots and humans, killed Ironhide, ordered Chicago destroyed, nearly crippled and killed Optimus, and even bitch slapped Megatron.
There are a few more honorable mentions, such as The Fallen, Shockwave, Barricade, Frenzy, Ravage, Laserbeak, even Dylan from DotM. The ones detailed above were the main guys, who were in control. So how would you rank them, from most effective/evil and down?