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Every two weeks, Seibertron.com brings you a Top 5 list related to all things Transformers. This list is written by Mindmaster with some help from D-Maximus Primal and Kurona and edited by Seibertron and myself.and I would like to thank him for having taken the time. These are his opinions (just like movie or game reviews hosted by sites are still just the opinion of one person) so what matters most is what you guys think of the topic or list, and I hope to see your own lists or comments on omissions and ranking. Let's have fun! All previous lists can be found here.


Top Five Rivalries in Transformers Fiction

A franchise rich with characters isn't complete if it didn't have intense rivalries. After all, who doesn't like watching two characters with an intense hatred for each other fight to the death? Mindmaster here (Seibertron staff allumni and fellow board member) and this week on our "Top Five" list, we're taking a look at the fiercest rivalries seen in the history of the brand!


5. Star Saber and Deathsaurus

For Star Saber and Deathsaurus, nothing says "bitter rivalry" like two childhood friends who swore themselves to differing factions (or at least, that's what happened in the Victory manga). Star Saber and Deathsaurus were kids with a friendship, but that changed many years later, as they became the leaders of their respective factions. While the "childhood friends" part was never explored in the anime, their rivalry was clear one. -Mindmaster


Transformers Victory Deathsaurus (Deszaras) Gallery


4. Arcee and Jhiaxus

If your robo-junk got cut off and you were forcibly experimented on to introduce gender to your species, you'd be pretty miffed yourself. Bent on gaining her vengeance, the being who would call herself Arcee devoted herself into hunting down ancient mad-scientist Jhiaxus, who was also responsible for IDW's equivalent of Micromasters and this universe's first combiner, the destructive Monstructor. This rivalry ended with Arcee finally getting the enjoyment of killing Jhiaxus (who was close enough to the Dead Universe to come back to life) again... and again... and again... and again... and again...
-Mindmaster




3. Animated Ratchet and Lockdown

Lockdown and Ratchet became rivals in the Transformers Animated Cartoon (which is also where Lockdown originates from). The way the story goes, Lockdown permanently scarred Ratchet during the war, both physically and psychologically. He also took his best medical tool, and then when they met again, Ratchet beat the scrap out of him out of Revenge, going so far as to rip the EMP right off Lockdown, along with Prime's grapplers. And then the Revenge of the Fallen line made their rivalry known in the toy bios and how weapons from one are compatible with the other, just like animated. And then Lockdown was the one to kill Ratchet in the live action movies, keeping their rivalry going into movies.
Not to mention the initial rivals were a war weary old medic against a ruthless spiky bounty hunter with no allegiance.
-D-Maximus




2. Depthcharge and Rampage

The rivalry of Depthcharge and Rampage is an intense one: after Rampage killed all save Depthcharge on Omicron Colony, Depthcharge became dangerously hellbent on tracking down the criminally insane murderer, apprehending him after killing and apparently eating Starbase Rugby's inhabitants. Fast forward (or rewind, technically speaking) to their debut in the Beast Wars cartoon, where while Rampage and Depthcharge nominally belonged Predacon and Maximal respectively, both tended to disobey their orders and go after each other. This bitter rivalry ended in the crossfire of the battle to stop Megatron from destroying the dormant Autobots, with Depthcharge piercing unstable Energon into Rampage's exposed spark, with the fiend cackling all the while, either embracing oblivion to end his tortuous life or because he was bat-s*** insane.
-Mindmaster


Transformers Beast Wars Metals Rampage Gallery


1. Optimus Prime and Megatron

Alright, you knew this was coming, and of course it would. This is not only the most iconic rivalry in Transformers lore but also one of the most iconic rivalries in pop culture. Optimus and Megatron have been at each other's throats for over thirty years since their debut in 1984, whether one was a fan of the other (Generation One's episode "War Dawn"), a librarian and a miner who shared views on the oppressive caste system (Prime's "One Shall Stand, Part One"), or even blood brothers (as established by the live-action films). This is a rivalry that will brew for many, many more years to come. -Mindmaster and William-James88


Transformers G1 1984 Megatron (Reissue) Gallery

Transformers Revenge of the Fallen Megatron Gallery

Transformers Prime: First Edition Megatron Gallery


Honorable mentions

Armada's Hot Shot and Wheeljack

The rivalry of Hot Shot and Wheeljack is similar to that of the manga version of Victory's Star Saber and Deathsaurus, but with differences: imagine having been friends for a long time, but an ill-fated mission separated the both of you. Your friend tells you that he will come back to help, but never returns. On the verge of losing hope, someone finally comes to help, but it's not your friend, but someone completely unexpected: it's your enemy faction's leader, Megatron, who convinces you that your friend abandoned you! Having been rescued by Megatron and sworn fealty to the Decepticons, Wheeljack was emotionally torn apart by Hot Shot's "betrayal" (technically not true, as Hot Shot was prevented by his senior officers from going back and helping him), and swore to hunt down the Autobot and gain vengeance. Years later, both parties met again on the battlefield on Earth, as the war for the Mini-Cons raged on. Having discovered the Hot Shot was mentoring an even younger Side Swipe, the embittered Decepticon took this personally. Thankfully, unlike the rivalries previously listed, this one took a turn to Happy Ending Avenue: after both factions united to fight Unicron, Wheeljack seemed to forgive Hot Shot for abandoning him. -Mindmaster




The Wreckers and Squadron X

Another bitter rivalry comes in the form of the Wreckers and their Decepticon counterparts, Squadron X, depicted as flashbacks in IDW's wildly-popular-to-this-day miniseries, "Last Stand of the Wreckers". During the war, Wrecker leader at-that-time Impactor became dangerously obsessed in bringing down the ruthless Decepticons, with both groups engaging in a final clash on the planet Pova. Having dealing a humiliating defeat to Squadron X, Impactor was told the unthinkable; to prevent a political incident between the Autobots and the planet's inhabitants who declared neutrality, Impactor had to free their prisoners. In response, Impactor promptly executed each member of Squadron X, earning him a cozy cell on the ill-fated penal colony of Garrus-9. Impactor would later blame his lieutenant-now-Springer, who testified against him in his court martial, for not agreeing with Squadron X'a demise. -Mindmaster




Rung vs. Froid

One of the many ways in which IDW separates itself from other series in the franchise is by having many other forms of warfare and rivalry than simply punching and firing lasers at each other; and no finer is that represented than in the rivalry between the two psychologists Rung and Froid in MTMTE. Their story coming in right before the comic's multi-part finale, ample time is devoted to their history together - including plagiarism; diverging views on psychiatry methods; and a dark spot in Rung's very long career. Very different to your typical Transformers story, but it is nonetheless a rivalry that gives way to many story paths and even sheds light on the past of a certain Theoretician. So while this list contains battlefield tales that no doubt make for some amazing action, never forget the much more subtle and down-to-Cybertron battles concerning the psychological health that is just as important as the physical. -Kurona

SWOOP AND DIVEBOMB!!

G2 Slingshot and time. Wait, fiction only? Didn't Breakdown and Bulkhead from TFP have a rivalry that spanned across multiple arcs? I haven't watched the show in a while so might be mistaken.

Terrsolpix wrote:G2 Slingshot and time.

Rachet and Lockdown are excellent, and you made good points without even bringing up Arcee. Wasn't Lockdown the one to injure her during the war? Depth Charge and Rampage were one of the best parts of Beast Wars Season 3. Bulkhead and Breakdown were pretty cool too.

But we cannot forget the most important rivalry in all of Transformers, a rivalry of captains, Megatron and Rodimus in MTMTE/LL.

kriksix wrote:

Hell yes! Loved that. Marvel UK Swoop also had a rivalry of sorts with Professor Morris before becoming allies with Morris' later robot Centurion and then it gets kinda vague with Centurion seemingly existing without Morris... I find Swoop a bit of a non-entity in most other fictions like the cartoon but I liked him in those UK stories a lot. SHAME HIS TOY WASN'T RELEASED HERE!!! Same goes for Shockwave, Fortress Maximus and to a lesser extent Omega Supreme among others...

Thanks for including the movie Prime/Megatron pic as one of the many instances of their rivalry across the multiverse. And the part about movie Ratchets death by Lockdown in the Animated bit. That satisfies my movie continuity love for today.

I thought Ratchet and Megatron had a nice rivalry in the comics that cropped up a couple times near the beginning and near the end of the comics run. It's most memorable part when they were both caught in an explosion and melded together all freakydeek!

And I gonna mention Carnivac and Bludgeon cos of Bluddy's murder of Catilla. Always loved that one and one of the earliest examples of a TF character turning against his faction. In this case being an evil decepticon discovering he's actually got a sense of honour and felt guilty about the deaths of humans he abandoned.

While Bulkhead and Breakdown had a good rivalry, I feel we were cheated out of that one because we were never given a reason why, and it was never really explained why those 2 were always going at each other and calling each other their arch nemesis.

I love the Ratchet/Lockdown one though, which is why it made the list as my contribution. They finally gave Ratchet a good rival with plenty of reasons why they go at each other, and it spans cartoons, movies, and toylines with separate stories from the movie. it has worked out really well and is really cool.

Great idea for a top 5. I agree with your top 2 but am unfamiliar with the others. Here's two (totally biased ) rivalries that would have made my list:



Let's examine the Darksyde crew:
Scorponok - Idiot
Terrorsaur - Idiot
Waspinator - Idiot
Tarantulas - Brilliant, but insane(?), not a brute, and is alone with his own agenda.
Dinobot - Maybe not Megatron level genius, but definitely smart.
I would say that Dinobot was as close to an equal to Megatron as anyone there, and was the only one who really challenged him. And you know that in a way, this betrayal cut Megatron deep because of their mutual respect, and it was unexpected as opposed to the obvious snake(s) in the grass like Terrorsaur and Tarantulas. The proof in that, is even after Dinobot betrayed him he cloned him TWICE in an attempt to have him in his ranks but subservient. Their clashes in Beast Wars were more interesting than those between Primal and Megs (the two stars) to me because it was deeper than the simple "good vs evil" cliche.



Is it really a rivalry if they're actually friends? I dunno. I don't think rivalry necessarily means "enemy". Either way, their dynamic was a highlight of the series. So much so that I always felt really let down when Dinobot returned as a Transmetal 2. Not only was there no reaction from Rattrap, but there was little to no reaction from the Maximals in general. You would think, with "their" Dinobot being so pivotal that there would have been some incredible opportunities for stories between this new Dinobot and his past life friends. Such a shame.

Oh and how about these two?

Nice list, but com'on, nobody's going to mention this?



I consider Blaster and Soundwave to be right up there with Prime and Megatron. These two were practically made to not get along.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:Nice list, but com'on, nobody's going to mention this?



I consider Blaster and Soundwave to be right up there with Prime and Megatron. These two were practically made to not get along.

Emerje

I can see the rivalry purely being just about who gets retooled from who

Carnivius_Prime wrote:

Emerje wrote:Nice list, but com'on, nobody's going to mention this?



I consider Blaster and Soundwave to be right up there with Prime and Megatron. These two were practically made to not get along.

Emerje

I can see the rivalry purely being just about who gets retooled from who

But he did end up getting a sick shoulder cannon. Shame he has the same hyper drive gun.

Carnivius_Prime wrote:
I can see the rivalry purely being just about who gets retooled from who

This has been an editorial three years in the making, no joke.

I will admit my inclusion of Hot Shot and Wheeljack were biased due to my first series collecting was Armada.

Dude, the fact that you put Depthcharge and Rampage on there is the best ever.

One I was going to put in instead of Rung vs. Froid but ultimately didn't because I wasn't able to articulate my feelings and thoughts into words was IDW Starscream vs. pretty much everyone on a political level in ex-RiD and later Windblade/TAAO. He's a terrible backstabber of a person which pretty much every main character bar Metalhawk knew and knows and it's interesting to see the likes of Bumblebee, Ironhide, Windblade and Wheeljack try to work with him while still trying to work around him for the benefit of Cybertron, the Colonies and all their people. It's no secret that the political intrigue of pre-Dark Cybertron RiD made it such an enjoyable read and that's in large part thanks to Starscream butting heads with everyone while manipulating everything for his own gain.


I'm gonna sound like a really broken record to WJ here since I did deliberate with him over this, but I heavily disagree with Arcee vs. Jhiaxus on the list. It's no more a rivalry than a worm's rivalry with a bird - it's predator vs. prey with Arcee constantly hurting and mangling and killing Jhiaxus while the latter can really do nothing in defence. Not that I don't want to see him get his comeuppance, but yeesh. It was pretty much just Arcee getting revenge for Jhiaxus heavily modifying her body (and some sort of psychic field that makes everyone use different pronouns with her...? God Furman was reaching so hard with this) without consent and there's a thousand different rivalries across the many stories and continuities we've had in over 30 years of the franchise that all manage to be better than this one - especially when 'rivalry' is the hardly the word I'd use to describe their relationship. Hell, Arcee wasn't even involved in the slightest when it came to Jhiaxus' end in Dark Cybertron! If there was any rivalry going on here at all, it was Arcee wrestling with her own feelings and identity. Which flip-flopped from writer to writer and story to story with minor retcons and hand-waving and... gah. I'm fond of a lot of early IDW but Arcee is definitely one of the areas Furman fell short at.


Anyway, aside from that, good list!

Amelie wrote:I'm amazed that Galvatron with himself didn't make this list.

Or, Galvatron and literally EVERYONE

What, not even an honorable mention for Omega Supreme and Devastator? How about Skylinx and the Predacons, or Superion vs Menasor? Those should at least hit the HM list!

EunuchRon wrote:What, not even an honorable mention for Omega Supreme and Devastator? How about Skylinx and the Predacons, or Superion vs Menasor? Those should at least hit the HM list!

I certainly understand Omega Supreme and Devastator given their backstory in the cartoon (conflicting reports concerning the Constructions notwithstanding) and the fact that before Scramble City came in, they were the first two and for quite some time the only two Transformers that were that giant size - so that gives quite a bit of significance and I think it should be added to honourable mentions too, yeah.

But Sky Lynx vs. the Predacons and Superion vs. Menasor are rivalries that... exist, and there's not much more to say about them than that. Unless I'm missing something from Marvel or Dreamwave, there's no actual significance or personality or backstory to their rivalries and clash of characters and are generally only paired together due to size, similarities and being released around the same time. Every other rivalry on the list - much as I'm loath to admit it, even Arcee and Jhiaxus - have backstory and reasons and significance to them. The only thing you can really say about Menasor vs. Superion is that it's the bad guy Car combiner against the good guy Jet combiner.

Oooooooo whatabout this one?

My favorite rivalry would have to be between Fortress Maximus and Scorponok in the original Marvel comics.

Amelie wrote:I'm amazed that Galvatron with himself didn't make this list.

Galvatron and Ultra Magnus ... I mean that Marvel UK cover of Galvatron riding Magnus in alt mode is a freaking classic.

Something a little more obscure but Rodimus Prime and Deaths Head.


You could go through the entire run of Marvel UK and find a bunch of fun little rivalries.

As pointed out earlier, I'm really surprised Megatron and Starscream didn't make the list. The rivalry is so famous that there's a trope named for Starscream.

Also, Grimlock and Blaster?

Metroplex and Trypticon?