For all the talk of human characters I'm surprised Meltdown wasn't on here honestly. He's a serious threat and clearly handled 3 cybertronians when he had run of dinobot island, and he wasn't just a frankenstein for them, his acid was a rather unique threat among human villains
I agree. I'm always a little disapointed when people think of Animated human villains and the first ones that come to mind are the more goofy characters. Meltdown was a legitimate threat and I loved every episode he was in. He also had henchmen that could stand toe to toe with the Autobots including Cyrus "Colossus" Rhodes who was kind of based on Bane with the way his powers worked and was just as strong as an Autobot when taking his serum. Then there were the two characters who weren't really ever named but their designs were based on the pretender shells for Bomb-Burst and Submarader. In Animated they were fully organic mutant characters Meltdown had genetically engineered, they weren't Transformers. I wander if other Decepticon pretenders could have been reimagined that way if they hadn't completely abandoned the human villains by season 3.
People put way too much focus on the goofier villains when talking about the human villains in Animated. In most of their appearances they're literally only there for the opening scene of the episode before the actual conflict kicks in. The only time the likes of Angry Archer and Professor Princess were treated seriously was in the episode where they teamed up with Nanosec and that lady with the time-stop device, and had their strings pulled by Swindle. Going over the other human villains who actually got episodes focused on just them as threats, you have the already discussed Meltdown, Nanosec who works considering the source of conflict for him was that his suit let him out-run the Autobots, and The Headmaster who acts goofy but is actually a huge threat to the Autobots considering what his Headmaster Unit could do to them. All in all I'd say Animated genuinely made great use of its human villains.
@@Andyjoe522 Headmaster had good potential to be a better villain than he was but the way he was portrayed did actually ruin that. Slo-Mo was actually a good villain and I really wish she had more than her 1 episode appearance which was a team up, I feel like she needed at least one other solo episode. There was another villain who was really good but also only had 1 episode. I was also surprised to find out who the voice actor was considering I only knew him as 2 other characters who both have the exact same voice. Patrick Star and Animated Bulkhead pretty much the same, you can tell they're voiced by the same actor, Master Disaster completly different, had no idea till I looked at the voice credits that was the same actor. Anyway Master Disaster had the RC controller he was using to remote controll Blurr durring his first appearance. He also had a stunticons reference in that episode as the racers cars were based on the Stunticon cars while the truck Blurr was stored in between races was based on Motormaster. Considering there were actual Stunticon designs for Animated maybe if Master Disaster had gotten a second appearance the Stunticons could have been revealed as actual transformers as well instead of only Blurr getting revealed after that episode. Also because he uses an RC controller to control transformers I think it'd be funny if he some how got control over Arcee. How do you not make Arcee a literal RC car?
Seconded. Between his sociopathy and his acid power he was menacing and a very credible threat for the Transformers. Also he's the one with the best potential for a toy; he was trying to create an organic Transformer, and if his last appearance is any indication, might've become one himself. Can you imagine a Core class Meltdown that could shift between his cartoon form and a Hedorah-esque acid slime beast?
I can appreciate not using unicron or his heralds as a cop out for this list, and the result is very interesting collection of characters that don't get as much attention as they deserve in media. Like not just factionless characters but also humans and even autobot villians. That's pretty cool.
I feel like Nova Prime is such a criminally underutilized character. The egotistical, imperialist xenophobe that despises both the ideals of the Autobots and the weaknesses of the Decepticons, who can harness the dark energy of an alternate dimension. He is such a perfect “neutral” villain and I’m so mad he’s been completely underused aside from a Devastation credits teaser.
Devastation imo also presented a neat alternate interpretation: a good-natured explorer corrupted to conquest by dark powers of Probably Unicron. Underused character for sure
I do feel like Mandroid was a better execution of the same idea and I know she wasn't 100% villainous, but I want to give a shout-out to Circuit Breaker, the original augmented human who became disabled due to Cybertronians and then wanted to wipe them off the face of the planet. I like her a lot, though I feel like she was more of an anti-hero, and I REALLY felt like G.B. Blackrock (a character I despise) kept dragging down her story and potential arc. I also liked Agent Croft from Earthspark because her scenes with the human Maltos especially felt dangerous in a real-world way, not in a sci-fi fantasy way. I felt actual dread when she was in the car with Dot.
@@Rabbitlord108even then, she pretty much is only a Transformers character. At this point it feels more like Circuit Breaker should just be given to Hasbro because Marvel’s never gonna use her and she was only used for the one series.
Nightbird would have been a good one for this list, a robot built by a human scientist. Airachnid from Prime is a good one too, she was a Decepticon technically but like Lockdown she was more of a rogue agent, especially when she ended up the vampire queen of the insecticons (did that EVER get followed up? Like in a comic adaptation or anything?) The Scraplets are a good "force of nature" type enemy. Plus I'd just like to give a shout out to all the human villains from Animated as a whole, not often you get a rogues' gallery in a transformers fiction.
Honorable mention (in my opinion) would have to be Nova Prime. Nova's ideals in IDW was to colonize inhibited planets to spread Cybertronian Supremacy, cuz in his eyes, sentient robots are the superior & dominant species of the universe and not indigenous organic species. While on this crusade, the whole discovering the Dead Universe thing happened. No one knows what happened to him since then.
As someone who grew up on G1, I never liked the idea of the Quintessons as the creators. Given how loose the continuity was maintained in the cartoon, I always imagined them as having enslaved the planet in the past. Doesn't lessen them as villains, I just think it makes more sense that they like taking credit for more than they actually did. Also, Marvel comics Circuit Breaker was def a villain, even though she came around at the end of the G1 run.
Marvel's G1 run was both interesting and frustrating. Circuit Breaker was anti- all transformers, but she only ever seemed to brutalize Autobots. Prowl and Grimlock were both unlikeable characters (Ratchet wasn't much better). The Autobots were always left in hopeless situations, right up to the very end. There was a lot of brilliant writing, but so polar opposite to the G1 cartoon.
If you dig deep enough, I think this could become a Here’s 20. You could add G1 Nightbird, Marvel comics Circuit Breaker, IDW Sunder, VENOM’s Miles Mayhem, & the Dead Universe as well.
I feel for Animated, Meltdown and The Headmaster were pretty dangerous threats, which is wild knowing how The Headmaster is. I do feel Meltdown would've been a great foe had he interacted with both factions
Headmasters toxic gamer personality makes him being a legit menace better imo. You wouldn't expect the kid from the MW2 lobby be so successful with his plans.
He's got legacy, but I wouldn't consider him anywhere near the top. Headmaster, Meltdown, & Circuit Breaker are all interesting villains I personally prefer over Dr. Arkeville; though that's just me.
Great episode, and I love your choices, though I do wish Dr. Morocco from Transformers Rescue Bots was on the list since he is a really good villain. That and Pharma since you can't go wrong with a creepy Doctor villain.
I'm not surprised about Silas being on the list, or Dr. Morocco being left off. I am surprised about the first human to oppose all Cybertronians - Josie "Circuit Breaker" Beller being left out.
BAM! Out of all the villains in this list the Fallen, Lockdown, Man-Droid, and the Quintessons are my favs. Also, spoilers below! I was so happy when Man-Droid became a Quintesson in the season finale.
One that I feel should have been on the list is Sunder (the IDW version) If we're talking "villains who aren't Decepticons," I personally feel that an insane Autobot serial killer and former mnemosurgeon who has the ability to literally turn his victims inside out and who speaks in creepy black speech bubbles with white lettering takes some beating.
A few really good IDW villains to add to the list would be Nova Prime, Adaptus, the Functionist Council, and Judge Tyrest (although he is technically an Autobot, I believe). Also, Getaway, although again, Autobot.
Y'know TJ you'd love that Return of the Primes podcast here on TH-cam, what you're wanting the Fallen to be portrayed as again is exactly how he's portrayed in that series and everything I'd want out of a robot Lucifer
I still think Mandroid might be one of the most terrifying human villains in transformers shows for the fact he would have won had there not been a literal deus ex machina (deus est machina) at the last second. Sure, earthspark is a kid show, but every scene with mandroid shows him to be menacing, intelligent, and most importantly, effective. He rarely has his schemes foiled in a substantial way, and even when they are, he comes out of it with something even more dangerous.
When you mentioned that we haven't had SG cross over into main universe, we DID but it was only a highly-restricted Botcon plot. But yeah, we need a mainline story with SG crossing over into the main universe. I'd give the Quintesson arc in Cyberverse more credit if it wasn't a Matrix clone. Like it is literally just The Matrix with a copout ending. It is good up until the ending though, sans being a ripoff.
Meltdown was an intimidating villain he was a guy who could actually injure transformers and he got the best of all the dinobots Optimus prime and bumblebee and blackarachnia
After hearing your list I realized how many more were contenders. I do think Morocco, circuit breaker or even Arkeville should have been on the list instead of Mandroid. Mandoid feels like a mish mash of what came before with a name Marvel had already used for decades.
Lockdown, the Fallen, and Jhaxius I don't think belong on this list. People always put Lockdown in lists like this because in the show he isn't loyal to Megatron and never actually wears a Decepticon insignia. However it's not loyalty to Megatron that makes someone a Decepticon. The Autobots have been known to brand any criminal as a Decepticon like what they did to Wasp, a character who never had any true alliegence to the Decepticons. Hasbro themselves also still market the toys as a Decepticon. Same thing with Jhiaxus, I don't know anything about the character so I can't really agure anything from those comics but Hasbro has still marketed and sold his toys as a Decepticon. The Fallen is literally written in fiction to be the first Decepticon. I don't think that really make sense cause technically according to the Covenant of Primus Liege Maximo was created first and the Fallen was never even really evil, everything he did was because Liege Maximo lied to both Megatronus and Solus to turn them against each other which I think technically makes Liege Maximo the first Decepticon not the Fallen but still every fiction has literally given the title of the first Decepticon to Megatronus Prime/The Fallen. I completly agree with everything you said about the original depiction being the best version I just don't agree with his inclusion on a list of villains who aren't Decepticons cause he is. I personally don't like when other lists include Unicron either but that's also for the same reason that Hasbro still markets the toys as a Decepticon even if he's never really been one in fiction. There are 3 characters I'd like to substitute in who are truely not Decepticons and aren't already on this list. 1. Meltdown/Prometheus Black. The only human villain from Animated who was actually a legitimate threat. This is a guy who was on par with Issac Sumdac in terms of intelligence but specialized in genetics rather than robotics. And his powers as the name suggests allowed him to damage any Transformer he came into contact with. The Autobots couldn't even touch him because he burned through and melted their metal. I freaking loved every episode this character was in. 2. Dr. Morrocco from Rescue Bots who created his own Transformers called the Morbots. This might technically be cheating cause the Morbots were kind of a Decepticon replacement as no real Decepticons ever appeared in the show. But Doctor Morocco did appear as a villain more times that the robotic drones he created so I think he still kind of counts. 3. Scrapletts, these things have appeared in a few different continuities now, they're just metal eating little robots. I actually really like the design of these things being these little cute unassuming robots that are totally safe and friendly twards humans cause we aren't made if metal but are freaking terrifying to Transformers as they're kind of like the Cybertronian equivelent of paranah. Honorable mention for Doctor Arkenvile who is kind of a G1 predesessor to Dr. Mandriod.
To be fair the depiction of The Fallen TJ Omega is focusing on here was the one from the Dream wave's war within fiction, and that came out before the whole idea of the Fallen being the first Decepticon, introduced in the movies. If you think about it even the idea that The Fallen was the first Decepticon doesn't really make sense in most fiction outside the movie, since the way it goes is either the Decepticons were built a certain way differnting themselves from the Autobots, which seems to be the case in G1 & The Unicron Trilogy; or The Decepticons were a revolutionary group who weren't content with the way Cybertron ruled, which is the case in the Aligned Continuity & IDW. Neither of these origins align with Megatronus Prime being the first Decepticon.
The Dreamwave version from War Within also held that title though. It wasn't invented for the movie. They even called him that on the back of the War Within toy bio. Technically the name has stuck around from his first depiction even though later depictions haven't really been villains. Well they have but he's gone from being a true evil character to more of a tragic anti-hero which does make the character a bit more interesting I just miss the original living furnace design.
@@RialVestro I don't recall him being referenced as the first Decepticon in the Dark Ages, can you identify the issue? If it was just a toy bio thing, well Toy Bios can at times be unreliable. A key example I would like to mention is G1 Galvatron, who's toy Bio mentions he's Determined to lead the Decepticons, and has no mention of Megatron at all. Even his tech spec only gives him a 9 in Rank opposed to Megatron's 10. All of this was probably done to avoid movie spoilers.
@@RialVestro I looked at Titanium Fallen's Bio and it says nothing about him being the first Decepticon "Fallen forgot his real name long ago. It didn't matter. It was a name given to him by his creator - the one he betrayed. It was a relic of the time before he had some to see the truth. The truth of Unicron. Created as one of the original 13 Transformers to serve as a protector of Cybertron, Fallen has always been a creature of chaos and degradation. His original purpose was to oversee the stately running down of the universal clock, the ordered tick of universal balance from energy to entropy, the slow and total collapse that heralds a new creation - for what are creation and life without dissolution and death? He knew his purpose only too well, and became obsessed with the end of all things. Intrigued by the dark sciences, he came in contact with Unicron, and fell under the evil planet's thrall. He exists now for one purpose alone: the destruction of the Seal of Primus and the release of Unicron into the universe. He lives only so that one day he might witness the last star in the universe wink out, and eternal ending fall."
Sure Nemesis Prime looks cool, Shattered Glass Prime is brutal, and ruthless, and Sential Prime is a jerk. But Nova Prime is on a whole another level, and he is an autobot so I was surprised he didn't make the list
Tbh, I'm a little disappointed by the lack of Star Seekers. I'm guessing they didn't qualify under the "no replacement faction" rule, but still, I love me some Space Pirates.
My personal favorite is Rhinox. While I do not agree with what he did, he was still a very smart villain. All of Rhinox's intelligence, none of his demeanor. And it was set up for in Season 1 or 2 of Beast Wars when Megatron forcefully changed his maximal programming to predacon programming.
I changed my patreon name then subbed to the patreon specifically to see if he would say it after he talked about the patreon loophole in a previous video.
I think the Quintessons as "creators of the Cybertronians" can still work without conflicting the Primus origin. It will require leaning into even more spiritual aspects, even religious lore, than before, but it works. Go Gnostic. If Primus is the True Creator, the Quintessons are the Demiurge. The fake Creator God that portrays itself as the real one. The Gnostics view this God as the one the Abrahamic faiths actually worship (so there's your spicy religious angle). In that sense, while Primus created the Thirteen as the "superior ancient lifeform" that is common in many mythologies, the Quintessons would have created the type of Cybertronians that would be the equivalent of us "inferior, flawed humans" in such myths. Ultimately, the Cybertronians that serve as the slave race revolt and drive them off for good. Fittingly, Gnosticism emphasizes "Sophia" or "wisdom" as a means for people to circumvent the Demiurge. And isn't there a trinket that acts as a font of wisdom and connection to Primus himself?
One could also rectify this by saying it was The Quintessons assembled the bodies of the Autobots & Decepticons, but it was Primus who gave themselves life. The idea is somewhat inspired by I-Robot with the character QT-1/Cutie who despite being assembled by humans views their true creator as the energy that brought them life rather than the people who put Cutie's body together.
6:10 the dark matrix really should’ve become a driving force behind Nemesis Prime instead of changing his origin every five seconds or doing the goofy corrupted Optimus thing
I'm not sure I'd count the Vok as villains; antagonistic, certainly, and many of their actions can be called evil, but I always felt they were more like Marvel's Celestials: too alien and mysterious to really be judged and understood. It's one of the reasons I don't like the Generations Selects retcon that made them generic universe-destroying entities. I'd also like to highlight another set of villains far too obscure to appear on this list, but that a recent interpretation I think made them more unique and noteworthy: the Destructons. Originally just a Decepticon-like faction from a cancelled Transformers 3D comic, the BW Uprising stories really expanded them in a bold direction: they're all mechanical lifeforms that rebelled against their oppressive creators, but are genocidal against Cybertronians as well due to misunderstanding a part of Transformers biology fans now take for granted: the spark. To them, sparks are energy parasites inhabiting mechanical shells, and the Destructons are "liberating" Cybertronians by extinguishing them. Their leader, Lord Imperious Delirious, is particularly interesting: he's a living repository of the minds of an entire dead species, and as such has all their knowledge and experience, like an artifical species-wide Matrix, and can weaponise all those experiences as a hallucinatory attack.
Ha! Lockdown would make a good partsformer given your lore. I have the cybertron lockdown who looks like wheeljack but with lockdowns paint job. "Loose cannon cowboy" was already the vibe it gave off as a figure.
Would one consider Circut-Breaker a villian? She has the whole concept of seeing herself as a hero, while commiting what a cybertronian would see as cold blooded assualt and murder?
About the talk of human characters i know he's from an actual childrens show but I'm surprised that Dr. Morocco wasn't on here, he was a genuine threat which was over a hundred years old (also I know he's not human but he used to be one)
How bout "old snake?" I mean it's kinda cheating using someone else's villain. But he can turn transformers into humans and steal their bodies for weapons. Also HAIL COBRA
I'd love to put Getaway on the list, another autobot villain who also kinda thought he was doing the right thing, he just had a mania that made him believe he was a prime that needed to rise up through any means necessary
I like animated headmaster his outfit was cool and he had silly gamer lingo from that time his head master unit was a vehicle head he piloted that turned into a smaller robot that he piloted he was a human in 2 robots and he stole one of them a g1 headmaster is just another minion he was a funny human pilot they are both vehicle pilots but headmaster was funny
I'd give an honorable mention to Dr. Morocco. He's not particularly interesting in and of himself, but the fact that, in a show aimed at such a young audience that they weren't even allowed to use Decepticons, the fact that a human ended up being more or less the main villain is interesting.
While he’s part of the tired trend of IDW turning otherwise normal Autobots into full-on villains, IDW Getaway is one of my favorite non-Con baddies. He’s someone so dangerously convinced that he’s right (and to an extent, he is; Megatron was far too easily integrated into and accepted by the Lost Light crew) that he’s willing to do anything to prove he IS right. Not only that, but he’s a great foil to Rodimus- both are charismatic, self-aggrandizing captains with hero complexes, but where Rodders worked past many of his vices, Getaway gave into his… dare I say it, he couldn’t get away from them.
I think he started out interesting but devolved into mustache twirling when the writers realized people just liked hating him more than they liked his nuances.
To be completely honest, I was really expecting ROTB Scourge to be on this list, and I was hoping to see circuit breaker. Still a good list, despite it being a little surprising. And what about Nova Prime?
Some kids can handle dark moments. A show being mature doesn’t mean it can’t also be for kids. This idea that you must pull a kids show away from being a kids show to legitimize it is dumb to me and I hate that we let this creep into our culture. Prime was a kids show. Beast Wars was a kids show. The Unicron Battles were part of a kids show. Sorry to rant at you, this sort of thing just annoys me
For all the talk of human characters I'm surprised Meltdown wasn't on here honestly. He's a serious threat and clearly handled 3 cybertronians when he had run of dinobot island, and he wasn't just a frankenstein for them, his acid was a rather unique threat among human villains
Personally my favorite human villain in Transformers.
*Edit* the more I think about its tough between them and Silas
I agree. I'm always a little disapointed when people think of Animated human villains and the first ones that come to mind are the more goofy characters. Meltdown was a legitimate threat and I loved every episode he was in. He also had henchmen that could stand toe to toe with the Autobots including Cyrus "Colossus" Rhodes who was kind of based on Bane with the way his powers worked and was just as strong as an Autobot when taking his serum. Then there were the two characters who weren't really ever named but their designs were based on the pretender shells for Bomb-Burst and Submarader. In Animated they were fully organic mutant characters Meltdown had genetically engineered, they weren't Transformers. I wander if other Decepticon pretenders could have been reimagined that way if they hadn't completely abandoned the human villains by season 3.
People put way too much focus on the goofier villains when talking about the human villains in Animated. In most of their appearances they're literally only there for the opening scene of the episode before the actual conflict kicks in. The only time the likes of Angry Archer and Professor Princess were treated seriously was in the episode where they teamed up with Nanosec and that lady with the time-stop device, and had their strings pulled by Swindle.
Going over the other human villains who actually got episodes focused on just them as threats, you have the already discussed Meltdown, Nanosec who works considering the source of conflict for him was that his suit let him out-run the Autobots, and The Headmaster who acts goofy but is actually a huge threat to the Autobots considering what his Headmaster Unit could do to them. All in all I'd say Animated genuinely made great use of its human villains.
@@Andyjoe522 Headmaster had good potential to be a better villain than he was but the way he was portrayed did actually ruin that.
Slo-Mo was actually a good villain and I really wish she had more than her 1 episode appearance which was a team up, I feel like she needed at least one other solo episode.
There was another villain who was really good but also only had 1 episode. I was also surprised to find out who the voice actor was considering I only knew him as 2 other characters who both have the exact same voice. Patrick Star and Animated Bulkhead pretty much the same, you can tell they're voiced by the same actor, Master Disaster completly different, had no idea till I looked at the voice credits that was the same actor. Anyway Master Disaster had the RC controller he was using to remote controll Blurr durring his first appearance. He also had a stunticons reference in that episode as the racers cars were based on the Stunticon cars while the truck Blurr was stored in between races was based on Motormaster.
Considering there were actual Stunticon designs for Animated maybe if Master Disaster had gotten a second appearance the Stunticons could have been revealed as actual transformers as well instead of only Blurr getting revealed after that episode.
Also because he uses an RC controller to control transformers I think it'd be funny if he some how got control over Arcee. How do you not make Arcee a literal RC car?
Seconded. Between his sociopathy and his acid power he was menacing and a very credible threat for the Transformers.
Also he's the one with the best potential for a toy; he was trying to create an organic Transformer, and if his last appearance is any indication, might've become one himself. Can you imagine a Core class Meltdown that could shift between his cartoon form and a Hedorah-esque acid slime beast?
I can appreciate not using unicron or his heralds as a cop out for this list, and the result is very interesting collection of characters that don't get as much attention as they deserve in media. Like not just factionless characters but also humans and even autobot villians. That's pretty cool.
I feel like Nova Prime is such a criminally underutilized character. The egotistical, imperialist xenophobe that despises both the ideals of the Autobots and the weaknesses of the Decepticons, who can harness the dark energy of an alternate dimension. He is such a perfect “neutral” villain and I’m so mad he’s been completely underused aside from a Devastation credits teaser.
Devastation imo also presented a neat alternate interpretation: a good-natured explorer corrupted to conquest by dark powers of Probably Unicron. Underused character for sure
Ayo what is that profile picture
I have this headcanon story where he succeeds in escaping from the Dead Universe and did the one thing Megatron failed to do on Earth.
The Uk marvel Autobot Flame who created an army of Zombie Transformers from both sides. He is the first ever evil Autobot in the franchise.
I do feel like Mandroid was a better execution of the same idea and I know she wasn't 100% villainous, but I want to give a shout-out to Circuit Breaker, the original augmented human who became disabled due to Cybertronians and then wanted to wipe them off the face of the planet. I like her a lot, though I feel like she was more of an anti-hero, and I REALLY felt like G.B. Blackrock (a character I despise) kept dragging down her story and potential arc. I also liked Agent Croft from Earthspark because her scenes with the human Maltos especially felt dangerous in a real-world way, not in a sci-fi fantasy way. I felt actual dread when she was in the car with Dot.
Kinda disappointed with the lack of circuitbreaker, but overall not a bad list
To be fair. Circuitbreaker and her civilian identity have different rights holders.
@@Rabbitlord108even then, she pretty much is only a Transformers character. At this point it feels more like Circuit Breaker should just be given to Hasbro because Marvel’s never gonna use her and she was only used for the one series.
@@Megamanlanprime Touche
Nightbird would have been a good one for this list, a robot built by a human scientist. Airachnid from Prime is a good one too, she was a Decepticon technically but like Lockdown she was more of a rogue agent, especially when she ended up the vampire queen of the insecticons (did that EVER get followed up? Like in a comic adaptation or anything?) The Scraplets are a good "force of nature" type enemy. Plus I'd just like to give a shout out to all the human villains from Animated as a whole, not often you get a rogues' gallery in a transformers fiction.
Since he brought it up, im generally suprised shatted glass optimus hasn't jumped to the main universes
Honorable mention (in my opinion) would have to be Nova Prime. Nova's ideals in IDW was to colonize inhibited planets to spread Cybertronian Supremacy, cuz in his eyes, sentient robots are the superior & dominant species of the universe and not indigenous organic species. While on this crusade, the whole discovering the Dead Universe thing happened. No one knows what happened to him since then.
I was always a fan of Circuit Breaker when she appeared in the G1 Marvel Comics
Man they should really bring back Dreamwave Fallen his design was awesome
Lucky guy right here
Totally agree 💯 with everything you said about no.1. The true origin of the Transformers and super interesting villains.
As someone who grew up on G1, I never liked the idea of the Quintessons as the creators. Given how loose the continuity was maintained in the cartoon, I always imagined them as having enslaved the planet in the past. Doesn't lessen them as villains, I just think it makes more sense that they like taking credit for more than they actually did. Also, Marvel comics Circuit Breaker was def a villain, even though she came around at the end of the G1 run.
Circuit breaker is an interesting choice.
I remember seeing a cameo of Circuit Breaker in Marvel's Secret Wars II as she appeared before The Beyonder
Yeah, and that's how she's legally a marvel character but hasn't been used since.
Marvel's G1 run was both interesting and frustrating. Circuit Breaker was anti- all transformers, but she only ever seemed to brutalize Autobots. Prowl and Grimlock were both unlikeable characters (Ratchet wasn't much better). The Autobots were always left in hopeless situations, right up to the very end. There was a lot of brilliant writing, but so polar opposite to the G1 cartoon.
@@shawnkarg3794 in her defence, she did have a good go at trying to kill Unicron.
Wait, The Fallen spoke in yellow work boxes?
Oh sweet Primus, he was DEADPOOL ALL ALONG!!!
If you dig deep enough, I think this could become a Here’s 20.
You could add G1 Nightbird, Marvel comics Circuit Breaker, IDW Sunder, VENOM’s Miles Mayhem, & the Dead Universe as well.
I feel for Animated, Meltdown and The Headmaster were pretty dangerous threats, which is wild knowing how The Headmaster is. I do feel Meltdown would've been a great foe had he interacted with both factions
He just straight up snubbed the show despite these two...didn't he? 😮💨
Headmasters toxic gamer personality makes him being a legit menace better imo. You wouldn't expect the kid from the MW2 lobby be so successful with his plans.
I’m surprised Dr Arkville wasn’t on the list seeing how he was the first human villain.
He's got legacy, but I wouldn't consider him anywhere near the top. Headmaster, Meltdown, & Circuit Breaker are all interesting villains I personally prefer over Dr. Arkeville; though that's just me.
Great episode, and I love your choices, though I do wish Dr. Morocco from Transformers Rescue Bots was on the list since he is a really good villain. That and Pharma since you can't go wrong with a creepy Doctor villain.
If I remember right, Shattered Glass Optimus Prime is the Reason Shattered Glass Bumblebee became Goldbug
I’m surprised Meltdown from animated wasn’t on this list.
I'm not surprised about Silas being on the list, or Dr. Morocco being left off. I am surprised about the first human to oppose all Cybertronians - Josie "Circuit Breaker" Beller being left out.
Surprised Death's Head wasn't in the list.
But, I guess he's not really a 'villain', just a Freelance Bounty Hunter who doesn't care for factions.
Lockdown is also fairly similar in concept, just with a greater association with Transformers thanks to being a cybertronian.
@@R0-83-RT hi dude how are you
Can't believe you forgot Autobot's greatest adversary Professor Princess
Truly the greatest threat the transformers have ever encountered.
BAM! Out of all the villains in this list the Fallen, Lockdown, Man-Droid, and the Quintessons are my favs. Also, spoilers below!
I was so happy when Man-Droid became a Quintesson in the season finale.
Horseradish isn't a loophole, either.
No Kremzeek? That little bugger could mess things up fast.
It would be cool to see Optimus battling his Shattered Glass counterpart.
Great list! One little note I will say, the Vok are more an antagonistic force rather than purely villainous
I believe there can be a syncretism between the Primus origin story and the Quintesson origin story.
How about rogue Autobot Flame? He’s the perfect example on how Autobots can do nasty stuff.
I’m glad that Silas and MECH were my introductions to human villains in Transformers. Thank you transformers prime.
One that I feel should have been on the list is Sunder (the IDW version) If we're talking "villains who aren't Decepticons," I personally feel that an insane Autobot serial killer and former mnemosurgeon who has the ability to literally turn his victims inside out and who speaks in creepy black speech bubbles with white lettering takes some beating.
As a comic guy, I was hoping for Death's Head and Circuit Breaker!
I am surprised Sideways did not make it to the list.
A few really good IDW villains to add to the list would be Nova Prime, Adaptus, the Functionist Council, and Judge Tyrest (although he is technically an Autobot, I believe). Also, Getaway, although again, Autobot.
Y'know TJ you'd love that Return of the Primes podcast here on TH-cam, what you're wanting the Fallen to be portrayed as again is exactly how he's portrayed in that series and everything I'd want out of a robot Lucifer
I still think Mandroid might be one of the most terrifying human villains in transformers shows for the fact he would have won had there not been a literal deus ex machina (deus est machina) at the last second.
Sure, earthspark is a kid show, but every scene with mandroid shows him to be menacing, intelligent, and most importantly, effective. He rarely has his schemes foiled in a substantial way, and even when they are, he comes out of it with something even more dangerous.
I hope we a toy of The Fallen In Transformers Legacy.
0:08 top 10 coldest villain speaches
I'm surprised Circuit Breaker or Flame, maybe early Death's Head, weren't on the list
When you mentioned that we haven't had SG cross over into main universe, we DID but it was only a highly-restricted Botcon plot. But yeah, we need a mainline story with SG crossing over into the main universe.
I'd give the Quintesson arc in Cyberverse more credit if it wasn't a Matrix clone. Like it is literally just The Matrix with a copout ending. It is good up until the ending though, sans being a ripoff.
Learned some new characters here that I didnt know about. Awesome videos as always
Meltdown was an intimidating villain he was a guy who could actually injure transformers and he got the best of all the dinobots Optimus prime and bumblebee and blackarachnia
After hearing your list I realized how many more were contenders. I do think Morocco, circuit breaker or even Arkeville should have been on the list instead of Mandroid. Mandoid feels like a mish mash of what came before with a name Marvel had already used for decades.
He was an intentional spiritual successor to Arkeville, apparently
Calling the movie version of the Fallen a "wet fart" had me LMAO...
Lockdown, the Fallen, and Jhaxius I don't think belong on this list.
People always put Lockdown in lists like this because in the show he isn't loyal to Megatron and never actually wears a Decepticon insignia. However it's not loyalty to Megatron that makes someone a Decepticon. The Autobots have been known to brand any criminal as a Decepticon like what they did to Wasp, a character who never had any true alliegence to the Decepticons. Hasbro themselves also still market the toys as a Decepticon.
Same thing with Jhiaxus, I don't know anything about the character so I can't really agure anything from those comics but Hasbro has still marketed and sold his toys as a Decepticon.
The Fallen is literally written in fiction to be the first Decepticon. I don't think that really make sense cause technically according to the Covenant of Primus Liege Maximo was created first and the Fallen was never even really evil, everything he did was because Liege Maximo lied to both Megatronus and Solus to turn them against each other which I think technically makes Liege Maximo the first Decepticon not the Fallen but still every fiction has literally given the title of the first Decepticon to Megatronus Prime/The Fallen. I completly agree with everything you said about the original depiction being the best version I just don't agree with his inclusion on a list of villains who aren't Decepticons cause he is.
I personally don't like when other lists include Unicron either but that's also for the same reason that Hasbro still markets the toys as a Decepticon even if he's never really been one in fiction.
There are 3 characters I'd like to substitute in who are truely not Decepticons and aren't already on this list.
1. Meltdown/Prometheus Black. The only human villain from Animated who was actually a legitimate threat. This is a guy who was on par with Issac Sumdac in terms of intelligence but specialized in genetics rather than robotics. And his powers as the name suggests allowed him to damage any Transformer he came into contact with. The Autobots couldn't even touch him because he burned through and melted their metal. I freaking loved every episode this character was in.
2. Dr. Morrocco from Rescue Bots who created his own Transformers called the Morbots. This might technically be cheating cause the Morbots were kind of a Decepticon replacement as no real Decepticons ever appeared in the show. But Doctor Morocco did appear as a villain more times that the robotic drones he created so I think he still kind of counts.
3. Scrapletts, these things have appeared in a few different continuities now, they're just metal eating little robots. I actually really like the design of these things being these little cute unassuming robots that are totally safe and friendly twards humans cause we aren't made if metal but are freaking terrifying to Transformers as they're kind of like the Cybertronian equivelent of paranah.
Honorable mention for Doctor Arkenvile who is kind of a G1 predesessor to Dr. Mandriod.
To be fair the depiction of The Fallen TJ Omega is focusing on here was the one from the Dream wave's war within fiction, and that came out before the whole idea of the Fallen being the first Decepticon, introduced in the movies. If you think about it even the idea that The Fallen was the first Decepticon doesn't really make sense in most fiction outside the movie, since the way it goes is either the Decepticons were built a certain way differnting themselves from the Autobots, which seems to be the case in G1 & The Unicron Trilogy; or The Decepticons were a revolutionary group who weren't content with the way Cybertron ruled, which is the case in the Aligned Continuity & IDW. Neither of these origins align with Megatronus Prime being the first Decepticon.
The Dreamwave version from War Within also held that title though. It wasn't invented for the movie. They even called him that on the back of the War Within toy bio.
Technically the name has stuck around from his first depiction even though later depictions haven't really been villains.
Well they have but he's gone from being a true evil character to more of a tragic anti-hero which does make the character a bit more interesting I just miss the original living furnace design.
@@RialVestro I don't recall him being referenced as the first Decepticon in the Dark Ages, can you identify the issue? If it was just a toy bio thing, well Toy Bios can at times be unreliable. A key example I would like to mention is G1 Galvatron, who's toy Bio mentions he's Determined to lead the Decepticons, and has no mention of Megatron at all. Even his tech spec only gives him a 9 in Rank opposed to Megatron's 10. All of this was probably done to avoid movie spoilers.
@@RialVestro I looked at Titanium Fallen's Bio and it says nothing about him being the first Decepticon
"Fallen forgot his real name long ago. It didn't matter. It was a name given to him by his creator - the one he betrayed. It was a relic of the time before he had some to see the truth. The truth of Unicron.
Created as one of the original 13 Transformers to serve as a protector of Cybertron, Fallen has always been a creature of chaos and degradation. His original purpose was to oversee the stately running down of the universal clock, the ordered tick of universal balance from energy to entropy, the slow and total collapse that heralds a new creation - for what are creation and life without dissolution and death? He knew his purpose only too well, and became obsessed with the end of all things. Intrigued by the dark sciences, he came in contact with Unicron, and fell under the evil planet's thrall.
He exists now for one purpose alone: the destruction of the Seal of Primus and the release of Unicron into the universe. He lives only so that one day he might witness the last star in the universe wink out, and eternal ending fall."
Solid response and picks for fill ins. I am definitely a Morocco fan, he was way better than I expected from a kids cartoons.
You know what will be a good movie a movie that goes deep into the 13 Primes
Sure Nemesis Prime looks cool, Shattered Glass Prime is brutal, and ruthless, and Sential Prime is a jerk. But Nova Prime is on a whole another level, and he is an autobot so I was surprised he didn't make the list
Tbh, I'm a little disappointed by the lack of Star Seekers. I'm guessing they didn't qualify under the "no replacement faction" rule, but still, I love me some Space Pirates.
My personal favorite is Rhinox. While I do not agree with what he did, he was still a very smart villain. All of Rhinox's intelligence, none of his demeanor. And it was set up for in Season 1 or 2 of Beast Wars when Megatron forcefully changed his maximal programming to predacon programming.
I think Transformers shattered glass Ultra Magnus is it pretty good villain
Power Rangers and transformers both like to take science, and strap, in this case, one of the wrecker’s explosives to it.
I changed my patreon name then subbed to the patreon specifically to see if he would say it after he talked about the patreon loophole in a previous video.
Wish he mentioned Nova Prime
The Cyberverse Quintesson story was awesome!
I knew the Quintessons were going to be # 1.
Fun fact: Lockdown's Hook is an Easter Egg in Ben 10 Omniverse
Circuit Breaker would be good for this list.
Don't ask me I voted for Circuit Breaker
I think the Quintessons as "creators of the Cybertronians" can still work without conflicting the Primus origin. It will require leaning into even more spiritual aspects, even religious lore, than before, but it works.
Go Gnostic.
If Primus is the True Creator, the Quintessons are the Demiurge. The fake Creator God that portrays itself as the real one. The Gnostics view this God as the one the Abrahamic faiths actually worship (so there's your spicy religious angle).
In that sense, while Primus created the Thirteen as the "superior ancient lifeform" that is common in many mythologies, the Quintessons would have created the type of Cybertronians that would be the equivalent of us "inferior, flawed humans" in such myths. Ultimately, the Cybertronians that serve as the slave race revolt and drive them off for good.
Fittingly, Gnosticism emphasizes "Sophia" or "wisdom" as a means for people to circumvent the Demiurge. And isn't there a trinket that acts as a font of wisdom and connection to Primus himself?
One could also rectify this by saying it was The Quintessons assembled the bodies of the Autobots & Decepticons, but it was Primus who gave themselves life.
The idea is somewhat inspired by I-Robot with the character QT-1/Cutie who despite being assembled by humans views their true creator as the energy that brought them life rather than the people who put Cutie's body together.
6:10 the dark matrix really should’ve become a driving force behind Nemesis Prime instead of changing his origin every five seconds or doing the goofy corrupted Optimus thing
I'm not sure I'd count the Vok as villains; antagonistic, certainly, and many of their actions can be called evil, but I always felt they were more like Marvel's Celestials: too alien and mysterious to really be judged and understood. It's one of the reasons I don't like the Generations Selects retcon that made them generic universe-destroying entities.
I'd also like to highlight another set of villains far too obscure to appear on this list, but that a recent interpretation I think made them more unique and noteworthy: the Destructons. Originally just a Decepticon-like faction from a cancelled Transformers 3D comic, the BW Uprising stories really expanded them in a bold direction: they're all mechanical lifeforms that rebelled against their oppressive creators, but are genocidal against Cybertronians as well due to misunderstanding a part of Transformers biology fans now take for granted: the spark. To them, sparks are energy parasites inhabiting mechanical shells, and the Destructons are "liberating" Cybertronians by extinguishing them. Their leader, Lord Imperious Delirious, is particularly interesting: he's a living repository of the minds of an entire dead species, and as such has all their knowledge and experience, like an artifical species-wide Matrix, and can weaponise all those experiences as a hallucinatory attack.
There are actually _two_ Spongebob jokes in this video. See if you can find the second one!
Lol i always thought the rotf movie fallen looked like the bionicle satan, makuta.
Ha! Lockdown would make a good partsformer given your lore.
I have the cybertron lockdown who looks like wheeljack but with lockdowns paint job. "Loose cannon cowboy" was already the vibe it gave off as a figure.
You might get your wish sooner than you think...
I think TF: Prime Predaking deserves an honorable mention.
I keep saying this, but I prefer to combine his human and robot names into one. Dr. Mandroid. Plus, that just sounds more like a villain name.
Darn I thought Hasbro would be number 1!
Would one consider Circut-Breaker a villian? She has the whole concept of seeing herself as a hero, while commiting what a cybertronian would see as cold blooded assualt and murder?
Transformers villans that aren’t decepticons.
10.megatron
9.megatron
Recall, if you ever did a video on it, but maybe he should do a video about the servants of unicron
He did, the video is named "A History of Unicorn's Heralds"
R.E.D Again Proving It's The Worst Thing Ever By not giving Us Good No Transforming Semi Possible Quintesons.
About the talk of human characters i know he's from an actual childrens show but I'm surprised that Dr. Morocco wasn't on here, he was a genuine threat which was over a hundred years old (also I know he's not human but he used to be one)
How bout "old snake?" I mean it's kinda cheating using someone else's villain. But he can turn transformers into humans and steal their bodies for weapons.
Also HAIL COBRA
17:50 He's basically Robo-Venger.
Should’ve put wheelie on the list. Creepy little dude
Yeah, Mandroid is the one guy who shook the entire status quo of Transformers forever, especially in regards to Earthspark. Crazy, huh?
I'd love to put Getaway on the list, another autobot villain who also kinda thought he was doing the right thing, he just had a mania that made him believe he was a prime that needed to rise up through any means necessary
You would’ve put Nova Prime in it, maybe even Pharma, but hey…it is what it is!!!
Don’t forget that shattered glass Optimus Prime is absolutely insane. Like schizophrenic insane
I just thought it was all interesting. I knew that number one would be the quintessons.
Another human villian that comes to mind is Circuit Breaker from the marvel comics and also Deathshead
I love Transformers earthspark
Honorable mention star seekers and mercenaries
I like animated headmaster his outfit was cool and he had silly gamer lingo from that time his head master unit was a vehicle head he piloted that turned into a smaller robot that he piloted he was a human in 2 robots and he stole one of them a g1 headmaster is just another minion he was a funny human pilot they are both vehicle pilots but headmaster was funny
No Death’s Head? No Circuit Breaker? No Sector Seven? No RAAT?
Powell from Animated.
I'd give an honorable mention to Dr. Morocco. He's not particularly interesting in and of himself, but the fact that, in a show aimed at such a young audience that they weren't even allowed to use Decepticons, the fact that a human ended up being more or less the main villain is interesting.
Flame from Marvel UK. An autobot who raised a zombie army of dead Cybertronians for his aim
Jhiaxus is the Darkseid of the Transformers. Sadly they nerfed him so hard in IDW.
21:00/21:02 Arcee knows this personally.
While he’s part of the tired trend of IDW turning otherwise normal Autobots into full-on villains, IDW Getaway is one of my favorite non-Con baddies. He’s someone so dangerously convinced that he’s right (and to an extent, he is; Megatron was far too easily integrated into and accepted by the Lost Light crew) that he’s willing to do anything to prove he IS right. Not only that, but he’s a great foil to Rodimus- both are charismatic, self-aggrandizing captains with hero complexes, but where Rodders worked past many of his vices, Getaway gave into his… dare I say it, he couldn’t get away from them.
I think he started out interesting but devolved into mustache twirling when the writers realized people just liked hating him more than they liked his nuances.
To be completely honest, I was really expecting ROTB Scourge to be on this list, and I was hoping to see circuit breaker. Still a good list, despite it being a little surprising. And what about Nova Prime?
Lord Imperious Delirious gets no mention even as a honorable mention.
Is mayonnaise an instrument?
It's a type of food kind of like marriage
Earthspark is definitely not just for Kids
It has some TRULY dark moments, but of course they don't show much of it
Some kids can handle dark moments. A show being mature doesn’t mean it can’t also be for kids. This idea that you must pull a kids show away from being a kids show to legitimize it is dumb to me and I hate that we let this creep into our culture. Prime was a kids show. Beast Wars was a kids show. The Unicron Battles were part of a kids show.
Sorry to rant at you, this sort of thing just annoys me
Kinda wish Nova prime was on the list but I could see how similar he would be to Sentinel as both are predecessors to Optimus who went bad.
Getaway was pretty dastardly from idw.
The movie fallen sucks, but damn that studio series figure is fire!
What about the Mechanic or curcuit breaker