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From all continuities in all media from 1984 to now, who is regarded as the single most powerful Decepticon of all time?

Weeeell, considering Unicron is sometimes considered a Decepticon...


That aside though, if we're going by pure power - for which it is extremely hard to judge between different continuities to the point of being pointless and futile - I'd say Galaxy Force's Galvatron and Starscream. They were both practically godlike by the end of the series -- it really demonstrates just how powerful they were when they had a fight against each other and none of the Autobots could really get involved; just having to deal with Sideways and Soundwave instead. Not even Optimus and Metroplex stood a chance against them.

^That.

Aside from that, IDW Megatron. I had a ton more written and it got eaten by the server problems or whatever the heck they are, so I'll just leave this here like this for now.

I'd have to go and say Alternity Megatron. Because Alternity is utterly **** bonkers in the worst best way possible.

Granted, I haven't read the IDW series since the transition between MTMTE and Lost Light . . .

. . . but I'm going to have to say Overlord.

Overlord pretty much dominated throughout Last Stand of the Wreckers, and the only thing that took him down were the combined efforts of the entire team.

Overlord also has no moral scruples whatsoever. NONE. This, for no other reason, makes Overlord a horrifying adversary. IDW Overlord is one part General George S. Patton and two parts Hannibal Lecter.

I'd agree with Kurona. GF/Cybertron Galvatron wipes the floor with most other Decepticons, in that not only did he nearly win but in doing so he nearly wiped out the entirety of creation. Likewise, Starscream in that series is a massive badass who stood his ground against Primus, NEARLY beat the afforementioned Galvatron, and (IIRC) it's heavily implied he transcended death itself and was waiting on the other side for Galvatron, presumably to make him his robo-b!tch.

If Predacons count, there's also BM Megatron who nearly succeeded in enslaving Cybertron itself to his will, along with the entire population, past and present, of Cybertron (bar Primal).

While I like Beast Wars Megatron quite a lot, one get the impression that outside of getting a major upgrade/new body (His Transmetal Dragon mode and his mimicry of Optimal Optimus) he was never really a 'powerhouse' type of character. In fact, come to think of it, few Beast Wars character were every really shown to hit/fire a whole lot stronger than others outside of some specific moments. Only times I can recall someone being clearly more powerful than the rest is Rhinox before nearly everyone else got a Transmetal upgrade, Rampage and Optimal Optimus until the finale gave us Tigerhawk and TM2 Megatron.

Raw power was never truly BW Meg's shtick, compared to other incarnations of Megatron who display some genuine ass-kicking, face-wrecking skill or overwhelming power like Animated or Prime Megatron. His mind, his manipulation and the sheer ballsyness and insanity to carry the plans worthy of a mad man are what generally got him through. In fact, he spent most of season 3 completely outmatched in raw power when Optimus got his upgrade, making him the rare Megatron who was simply no match in a direct fight to the Optimus of his serie. However, like I said, raw power is not always the key to victory and he proves that in his best moments being the ability to pull off incredibly crazy schemes, such as (nearly) rewriting history and absorbing functionally the Allspark and therefore, arguably, Primus itself.

Not all villains succeed through brute strength, after all.

Edit: I realized there is one aspect of BW Megatron where he uniquely outshine others bearing his name. The 'bot displayed a scientific genius generally reserved for the 'evil tech guy' of a show, if a show even has one. He did make two Dinobot clones and apparently altered the Transmetal driver not to mention knew how to surgically cut in half a spark. Then there is everything else in Beast Machine. This is a villain who didn't need to rely on his tech-guy but rather either outshined and outplotted at times (Tarantulas) him or worked with him (Scorponok). This implies a level of scientific knowledge generally unseen in most Megatrons who are generally more tactically-minded, whereas BW Megs was half schemer half mad scientist.

Three options comes to mind for each main series.

1) Full Power G1 Galvatron
Often noted (particularly by Simon Furman) as the Ultimate Decepticon, a virtually invincible powerhouse and before the Insanity often kicks in, he is without equal. Even in Sunbow, during The Rebirth, Ultra Magnus as well as a dozen Autobots were shooting him point blank. Which by Magnus' own words was only merely "weakening" him. Plot convenience was his only weakness

2. BW Rampage - with complete spark
Rampage was a virtual force of nature within BW and that was with half an "immortal" spark. Again he was only beaten at full strength by terrain/plot convenience. Given his nature, raw power and the overwhelming arsenal he commanded I think he was the most powerful in Beast Wars.

3. IDW Sixshot
The -Ations fight against Prime was BS. There is a reason the Six Changers are used so sparingly and with his noted feats as a Phase Sixer within IDWverse, Prime was going to lose an on-panel fight against such an opponent. I shouldn't really have to sell the power of a Six Changer here, especially when he was taken so seriously during the -Ations, he has been largely absent ever since. A little hard for an unstoppable Decepticon Army of One to fit in with the tone of either the humanising MTMTE or the political RiD.