TF Beast Hunters episode 11 - Persuasion

[Gasaraki]

...G1 Megatron was pretty much the simple evil want-to-destroy/conquer it all bad guy. :/

Beast Wars Megatron was the more sophisticated villain, but in a different way from TFP Megatron in this ep. BW Megs was basically about divide and conquer -- he set his allies and enemies up against each other; similar to how the TFP Decepticons set up Predaking against the Autobots so that they would benefit no matter who won. Only that BW Megs was much more subtle about.

...

+ Megatron arranged to have the children abducted and brought to Cybertron in order to force the Autobots to surrender their Relics.

Yeah that's right, G1 Megatron was mostly not quite the type of character I respect... looking back at it several times over the years, it seems like he's really quite an idiot at times. Or he's not really really trying to beat the Autobots... perhaps because he knows deep down he won't know what to do with himself if OP is not there to fight So for me it comes down to 2 possibilities for G1 Megs - idiot or unmotivated... and since he's supposed to have Intelligence 10, it's the latter! There are some flashes of cunning brilliance now and then, as well as not so simple motivations, e.g. Megatron's Master Plan.

The 'vintages' of Megatron I particularly love are ones such as BW Megs (memory very hazy here, but that's what I remember) and more recent IDW Megs (e.g. during Chaos event). This is how, it would seem, Megatron was meant to be, and the only way he should be able to stay the leader over millions of years.

The utilitarian nature of the Decepticon way is very apparent, and this at least comes through in multiple continuities, not that it's a very hard concept to stick to for writers. I think the children thing was Starscream's initiative (but Megs had to approve of course)... I actually liked that moment as it showed Starscream at his best (and doesn't leave out the possibility of further plotting), but unfortunately only lasted that episode!!

...As "Philosophy and the Transformers" points out, if humans were to hypothetically discover a remote island inhabited by intelligent ants, and say if there was a way to benefit or save humanity that required harming or destroying the ants' backward civilisation -- we'd probably kill the ants.

That's quite a valid analogy... to save humanity, I'd have to agree. To benefit humanity?? I think we'd be surprised by the Protect the Sentient Ants lobby!

[GoktimusPrime]

#OccupyAntHill.

IMHO Beast Machines Megatron was the best embodiment of G1 Megatron's motto "peace through tyranny." I found he was actually a really interesting character in his own right -- the problem was that he was also an entirely different character from Beast Wars Megatron, even though he wasn't meant to be. But if we disregard Beast Wars, BM Megatron is a fairly interesting character IMO.

BM Megatron never saw himself as a villain (unlike BW Megs who revelled in it), but as Cybertron's salvation. He saw that Cybertron was plagued with endless millenia of conflict because people had differing opinions and independent free will. By removing free will and individuality, he would thus remove disagreeing opinions, and in doing so also remove the source of conflict and thus establish peace. Of course this peace came at the cost of liberty, replacing it with an absolute brutal singular dictatorship; but it's exactly what G1 Megatron claimed to believe in, "peace through tyranny."

[Gasaraki]

BM Megatron never saw himself as a villain (unlike BW Megs who revelled in it), but as Cybertron's salvation. He saw that Cybertron was plagued with endless millenia of conflict because people had differing opinions and independent free will. By removing free will and individuality, he would thus remove disagreeing opinions, and in doing so also remove the source of conflict and thus establish peace. Of course this peace came at the cost of liberty, replacing it with an absolute brutal singular dictatorship; but it's exactly what G1 Megatron claimed to believe in, "peace through tyranny."

I'm going to try to catch Beast Machines someday... I think the most interesting antagonists are often the ones who truly cannot see themselves as evil, but have some motive which they deem to be good. Frequently, the complexity then arrives at how such motives/ends are achieved, cf. Magneto.

This description of BM Megatron comes very close to Palpatine I think. One of the few moments in the new trilogy that gave me a spine-tingle was when he said 'At last, the Sith will rule the galaxy... and we shall have peace!'. It was like, whoa, this guy really thinks, in some ways, he's the good guy! Villains like this have it so screwed up in there it becomes fascinating!