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It has dawned on me that it's been a while since we saw an objective thread of this caliber. In your opinion, which is the strongest\most powerful transformer in each continuity\cartoon, along with some runner ups?

Generation 1 cartoon[encompassing S1-2-3, movie and rebirth]:
Probably Rodimus Prime, for the sole reason of actually destroying Unicron single-handedly, even with some help from the matrix. Optimus Prime comes a close second, maybe equal in that he could probably do the exact same thing if he hadn't taken down the entire decepticon force on his own back on earth and died for that. Galvatron, whilst being sane, is also a good candidate, capable of killing Starscream in a single blow. Though about an hour later into the movie, those same blasts merely make Rodimus lose grip of the matrix.

Beast Wars [not machines], S1-S3: Tigerhawk, easily. The guy managed to hold on his own against a warship three hundred times his size, and obliterated the predacon force on his own with no effort. Runner up is Megatronin his transmetal dragon body. He swept the floor with Optimal Optimus inside the Nemesis and pretty much had no other equal. Rampage does not get a mention because seldom did he actually accomplish anything besides being hailed as indestructible. Honorable mention goes to Depth Charge, the toughest mother there is.

Beast Machines, S1-2: Fairly limited cast, most powerful form easily goes to Megatron who kept his body from BW. Primal\Cheetor\Silverbolt are the runner ups, but Primal may actually be weaker than the other two. He definitely put up a fantastic fight at the end against his old body, which could have been #2 from BW if he could use it as well as Megatron did.

Car Robots\RID: Not a clue, hadn't watched the entire series. Magnus seemed strong.

Armada\Energon\Cybertron: If we count them as one continuity, then Optimus Prime. By Cybertron, he's the first Prime to actually kill his opposing Megatron. Megatron\Galvatron is insanely powerful though by Cybertron, only falling due to "the power of love and friendship and otherwordly ghosts". Starscream gets an honorable mention. Nobody peaked that much to be memorable in Armada\Energon.

Animated: Tough one, since the autobots aren't really fighters. Prowl and Optimus Prime take top tier for the Autobots. The decepticons are all elite warriors but none proved as powerful as Megatron. Shockwave is not as good, because for every second he beat up Magnus, he was ridiculed by Ratchet, BB and Bulkhead. Magnus is not leader-type strong. If we go by the allspark almanacs, Rodimus Prime counts too.

Movie Universe: Hmmm...based on all three films, I'd give Sentinel Prime top tier due to how he manhandled Optimus in their final battle. Optimus Prime and Megatron are probably tied, Megatron appeared stronger in the first film, Prime in the second, and Megatron was too wounded and low on power on the third to count. Bumblebee crapped energon on whomever he fought against, be it Barricade, Brawl, Soundwave or Constructicons. Honorable mentions go to Sideswipe and Ironhide for their skill.

Any contributions\counter arguments you may have are definitely welcome!

Surely The Fallen is the most powerful Transformer in the Movieverse?

Oh... wait... No. He's pantomime villains.

For RID, I think it's hands down Brave Maximus. No surprises there.

Yeh, RiD it's Max, though it's Prime to scale - one episode he just beats everyone.

I'd say not much between Sentinel and Op in the films (remember, Sentinel calls in the air support when Prime's walloping him one-on-one), with Sentinel just ahead.

Then a gap to Megatron (Segue: watching the three films, it's pretty clear that Megatron is less powerful after being revived, which sort-of makes sense... Given that he's not shown to be a fast healer in DotM, you could theorise he's still carrying a lot of injuries from the first film in RotF; though that said, again taking all three films the most obvious conclusion is that Optimus isn't willing to let loose with so many civilians in Mission City), then probably a big gap to basically anyone else - the likes of Devastator and Demolishor might be physically strong, but they both go down fairly easily. But I wouldn't fancy Ironhide, Bumblebee, Starscream or anyone else in a straight fight against the big three.

The Fallen is nowhere without his magic power stick.

I'll bite:

For the G1 Cartoon I'm going to have to go with Optimus. While Rodimus did assist the Matrix in blowing the crap out of Unicron, all he really did was open it so that it could do all the work. All he had to do was get it from Galvatron and not die. For a runner up, I'm going to have to give it to Galvatron. He's like Megatron, only bigger, faster, and stronger. Oh, and crazier. A lot crazier.

For the G1 comic, I'm going to have to give it a tie between Optimus and Grimlock. Cartoon Grimlock was entierly too stupid for his own good. Comic Grimlock was strong, smart, and willing to do what it took to win. Yea, raw physical power mixed with a nice, strong drive to rule and win.

Animated I'm going to have to give it to Megatron. Again, he's physically powerful combined with a keen mind and a drive to kick everyone else down and seize what he wants.

As for the movies, Sentinel Prime without a doubt so far. he absolutely whips Optimus' rear during the final fight. The only reason he was killed was Megatron interfered. Had he left well enough alone he'd of killed Optimus and then owned Megatron. Megatron was obviously not on his power scale, seeing as he gets pushed around and tossed around like he's nothing more then a pile of scrap.

Thunderwave wrote: For the G1 comic, I'm going to have to give it a tie between Optimus and Grimlock. Cartoon Grimlock was entierly too stupid for his own good. Comic Grimlock was strong, smart, and willing to do what it took to win. Yea, raw physical power mixed with a nice, strong drive to rule and win.

I don't think Grimlock can be in the running given both Shockwave and Megatron took down all the Dinobots single handedly.

For the comics, in the "normal" size catagory, I'd go for Galvatron (who basically beat the crap out of everyone and was ultimately only defeated by an experimental weapon taking off his face, madness and space time itself attacking him). Ultra Magnus comes a close second for being the only bot to ever beat him in a one on one fight (twice), but who had to get really pissed off to do it.

For overall power, Metroplex. So super strong he can only be brought on on special occasions.

For most powerful in relation to their size, Ratbat. Who only ever got in one proper fight but still pussy whipped Fortress Maximus.

Though that does show up one problem with trying to come up with a consistent scale, there's a tendancy across all the fiction for new characters to be shown as having all that jazz before gradually getting less and less impressive until the new new characters are whupping them. Hello comic Omega Supreme and cartoon Stunticons.

I dunno - Dead End and Wildrider still knocked the shit out of Rodimus, let's not forget. In fact, let's just say that again - Dead End and Wildrider still knocked the shit out of Rodimus.

Cartoon Magnus was pretty hard, regularly matching Galvatron in Season 3 despite not having the Matrix or a plot desperate to tie up ASAP in his favour.

Comics-wise, G2 Megatron's worth a punt - tore Optimus a new one, and didn't die when facing Jhiaxus or the Swarm.

Plus of course there's Thunderwing. Heh.

IDW - Overlord sticks out as it takes some serious crap to stop him.

In the Japanese stuff, Star/Victory Saber is stupidly powerful (ref. the least suspenseful final episode of anything ever), culminating in him surviving standing on an exploding planet in Zone.

Incidentally, I'm contractually obliged to point out the Ideon would kill them all.

Cliffjumper wrote:
Incidentally, I'm contractually obliged to point out the Ideon would kill them all.

Heh. The Ideon is probably the most powerful mecha, *maybe* tied with some evangelions but still a beast on it's own.

Cliffjumper wrote:I dunno - Dead End and Wildrider still knocked the shit out of Rodimus, let's not forget. In fact, let's just say that again - Dead End and Wildrider still knocked the shit out of Rodimus.

Nah, it's a cliff that defeats Rodimus. No, not Cliffjumper, a cliff. Dead End and Wildrider just take advantage.

Having now finished season 3, it's amazing how, well not even crap or emo, but absent Rodimus feels most of the time. Hell, there's several episodes where Galvatron seems to be treating Ultra Magnus as main Autobot, especially Webworld. Try imagining a show from the first two seasons where Megatron goes mad and starts ranting and raving about how much he hates Prowl to see how wrong that is.

I'd actually forgive them doing Burden right before the return of Prime considering the probably outside constraints, if not for them already having dragged down the otherwise fun Ultimate Weapon with a "Rodimus learns his place" sub plot (though oddly Dark Awakening doesn't really feel like that despite being the most obvious place to do it. It's more a story about him having too much faith in Optimus rather than not enough in himself).

inflatable dalek wrote: Try imagining a show from the first two seasons where Megatron goes mad and starts ranting and raving about how much he hates Prowl to see how wrong that is.

Well, if Prowl did all the work it wouldn't seem so odd, would it?

Yeh, it'd seem less odd if the Season 1-2 Autobot cast wasn't Prime, Bumblebee and "the other guys", whereas Magnus is a fairly constant presence in Season 3.

There's a vague pattern in Season 3 of Rodimus as Autobot leader, with Magnus as a sort of... military commander. When you think about it it makes sense, as Rodimus is a wuss. Whereas pre-Movie the Autobots don't really have that option as they're all rubbish.

Cliffjumper wrote:There's a vague pattern in Season 3 of Rodimus as Autobot leader, with Magnus as a sort of... military commander. When you think about it it makes sense, as Rodimus is a wuss. Whereas pre-Movie the Autobots don't really have that option as they're all rubbish.

I assume that that jibe at the pre-Movie Autobots refers to the cartoon continuity rather than the comic (talk of "Season 3" and "the Movie" leads me to assume we are comparing like with like here), as the Marvel Autobots were less rubbish...yeah, admittedly, they still fell apart without Optimus Prime during Target: 2006, but that was against comics Galvatron, so that's understandable.

BWW 2000 wrote:I assume that that jibe at the pre-Movie Autobots refers to the cartoon continuity rather than the comic (talk of "Season 3" and "the Movie" leads me to assume we are comparing like with like here), as the Marvel Autobots were less rubbish...yeah, admittedly, they still fell apart without Optimus Prime during Target: 2006, but that was against comics Galvatron, so that's understandable.

I'd say the Autobot cars are one of the few occasions where the cartoon's not too far off the comic, actually. The first series characters especially are steamrollered in the plot (what do Sunstreaker, Trailbreaker, Mirage, Sideswipe a/o contribute?), and the best moments for the likes of Prowl, Wheeljack and Jazz comes waaaaay down the line.

Conversely, the cartoon gives them all a bit more to do at the cost of levelling their personalities somewhat. The cartoon tends to do better when characters are bundled off in small numbers away from Prime and Bumblebee. If there's more than about three of them they blend into this sort-of "Yay Optimus!" mob of morons.

Both have a habit of rendering everyone stupid when Prime's out the way, it just happens less in the comic because the focus is often split to other groups of Autobots (Blaster's clique, for example).

I don't think the comic 'bots have that much more spine than their cartoon counterparts. They agree to follow Grimlock when he shows compassion for humans, then continue to follow him after he completely chanves his tune towards fleshlings.

With the movie its harder to call as they're not indestructible in the same way. Its more about skill. And I think Optimus, Sentinel and Megatron circa movie 1 are all on pretty level pegging.

Summerhayes wrote: With the movie its harder to call as they're not indestructible in the same way. Its more about skill. And I think Optimus, Sentinel and Megatron circa movie 1 are all on pretty level pegging.

I have to disagree there. Sentinel has Optimus on the ropes at the end of DotM and is only taken out after Megatron jumps him from behind. It wasn't like the end of TF1 where Megatron is only a little stronger. Sentinel wipes the floor with Optimus.

Sentinel needs air support from the Cons to stop Optimus taking him apart after the pillar's first blown out, and also runs off to the bridge. I'd say he has better endurance, but there's not much in it. Sentinel only really knocks Full Optimus (we don't honestly think he's going all-out in Washington, do we?) about once he loses an arm.

Cliffjumper wrote:Sentinel needs air support from the Cons to stop Optimus taking him apart after the pillar's first blown out, and also runs off to the bridge. I'd say he has better endurance, but there's not much in it. Sentinel only really knocks Full Optimus (we don't honestly think he's going all-out in Washington, do we?) about once he loses an arm.

And Sentinel also took on almost all the Autobots on his own and walked away. Neither of them where running on a full tank, as it where. However, in a fight, the one who wins is the one who wins. Endurance, skill, strength all factor in. In that case, I still give it to Sentinel, followed by TFTM Megatron, and then Optimus. I'm not counting the Fallen in this because he cheats.

I'd say that there's a huge, huge gap between the big hitters of the films (Optimus, Sentinel, Megatron, maybe Starscream) and the rest - Sentinel could probably handle Sideswipe, Bumblebee and the others until the cows came home. I think the Big 3 are pretty level-pegging with the rest of it dependant on circumstances.

Cliffjumper wrote:I dunno - Dead End and Wildrider still knocked the shit out of Rodimus, let's not forget. In fact, let's just say that again - Dead End and Wildrider still knocked the shit out of Rodimus.

Cartoon Magnus was pretty hard, regularly matching Galvatron in Season 3 despite not having the Matrix or a plot desperate to tie up ASAP in his favour.

Comics-wise, G2 Megatron's worth a punt - tore Optimus a new one, and didn't die when facing Jhiaxus or the Swarm.

Plus of course there's Thunderwing. Heh.

IDW - Overlord sticks out as it takes some serious crap to stop him.

In the Japanese stuff, Star/Victory Saber is stupidly powerful (ref. the least suspenseful final episode of anything ever), culminating in him surviving standing on an exploding planet in Zone.

Incidentally, I'm contractually obliged to point out the Ideon would kill them all.

Overlord?
I'm sure the reconstructed Megatron, along with his battle armor would be more than a match for Overlord.

IDW's megatron was pretty awesome to begin with. He endured a full on assult by Ore13 powered Starscream, continually kicked Optimus's butt on multiple occasions, Survived hits that could have rendered any other transformer dead and took on Dvoid by himself.

Thunderwave wrote:For the G1 Cartoon I'm going to have to go with Optimus. While Rodimus did assist the Matrix in blowing the crap out of Unicron, all he really did was open it so that it could do all the work. All he had to do was get it from Galvatron and not die.

Ignoring the obvious Unicron, Metroplex, Trypticon, combiners, etc., I'm going have to give Rodimus the top spot. You say "All he had to do was get it from Galvatron and not die" like it was an easy thing to do! After that, he does trounce Galvatron mano-y-mano a few times. Galvatron is #2, definately, with Prime and Megs showing up right after them.

For the G1 comic, I'm going to have to give it a tie between Optimus and Grimlock.

"Rythyms of Darkness" Galvtron, period. Powermaster Prime second.