Predacon and Maximal official ranks

Whirlaway · Unread post by **Whirlaway** » Tue Nov 17, 2009 8:57 pm

I wrote this awhile ago for my own fanfic reference and recently posted it to another board that has the subject going on. It's some of my theories about how the BW characters might line up in an official rank structure. It's based on the USMC ranks since that's what I'm familiar with myself (I was an NCO). Tell me your thoughts.

Officers, Maximal
Optimus Primal- An O-3 Captain, barely. It seems the Axalon was his first solo deployment and he's a brand new commander (Rattrap even points this out). He's reeks of that 'just out of the Academy' bearing. [Some of the speeches he gives are almost verbatim the ones I've gotten from young officers.]
Rhinox- W-1 Warrant Officer (field specialist) for security systems engineering. Not really a unit officer, but does provide command in his field of specialty. Might be why he never took command of the Maximal unit himself when Primal was dead or absent.

Officers, Predacon
TriPredacus Council- O-8 or O-9s. A powerful part of the Predacon Alliance. They do refer to themselves as Generals and maybe they're the top guys in whatever's left of the Predacon military structure. Or maybe they're just in charge of one military unit (ie: warships) and there are other Generals of equal or greater ranks in charge of other units. Given the different specialities in Transformers' warfare, this seems the most likely.
Megatron- He's a "field commander" in one bio of him, so I'd guess he was an 0-5 Lt. Colonel in the Pred army. Depending on how many enemies he made, he might've been held back from advancing. Also, he seems to fall under the command of the TriPred Council since they know him well ("brilliant, but a rogue").
Tarantulas- We know he's a lt. in the Predacon secret police forces. Probably O-2.
Scorponok- he was second-in-command, but that could have been a field promotion by Megatron for their specific unit. I picture him more as an E-3/E-4, really.
Inferno- given a "sub commander" field promotion by season three. Obviously this means nothing in the actual rank structure of the Predacons overall, but to Megatron's unit he's officially a Lt.

Enlisted / NCOs, Maximal
Depth Charge- E-8 First Sergeant. I always wondered if the symbols on the front of his wings were his rank insignia... it seems to be a sort of chevron with 3 stripes. Anyway, he was in charge of security for an entire colony so he's high, probably a senior enlisted, assisting the officers with making decisions and in charge of the personnel and administration. This also makes sense in the power dynamic between him and Primal as DC has much more field experience, but since Primal is an officer, he technically has to answer to him. He even gives him a nasty little salute in 'Deep Metal.'

IDK if the rest of the Maximals really had ranks. They want to have a vote about electing a leader, so there's not really a chain of command until Optimus makes Rattrap his 2nd.

Enlisted / NCOs, Predacon
Dinobot- I see him as enlisted and definitely not an officer. After all, he wants to advance in the ranks through force, not politics. Maybe E-6 or E-7. He also has no respect for command by appointment and challenges... well, everyone at some point.
Ravage- Hard to say since he went on a solo mission and therefore doesn't seem to have his own unit. OTOH, he answers directly to the Generals.

The rest of the Predacons in the show are just grunts, though they always seem to expect some sort of "reward" for doing well which could be in the form of a field promotion. In fact the ones that show loyalty to Megatron are generally given acknowledgment in the form of rank.

Alak · Unread post by **Alak** » Wed Nov 18, 2009 12:06 am

Aside from Tarantulas, I'm not sure if any of the Predacons had a military rank. Megatron was a gangster on Cybertron, so I'd say it is safe to assume the rest of his crew are of the same nature. Depth Charge was an Imperial Peace Marshal, a rank high enough to have authority over his own colony. Back to the Predacons, though, maybe they had ranks among them that aren't officially recognized by the Tripredacus Council...

Whirlaway · Unread post by **Whirlaway** » Wed Nov 18, 2009 2:25 pm

Alak wrote: Megatron was a gangster on Cybertron,

What's the source for this? I've never seen him referred to as this before?

Alak wrote: Depth Charge was an Imperial Peace Marshal, a rank high enough to have authority over his own colony.

I took this to be his unit, not rank. Like saying someone is a police officer, they still have a command structure of some sort.

Alak · Unread post by **Alak** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 2:26 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIJVSjIuNYg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDRYFCO7fpo

Gangster, criminal, mob, etc. Whatever he was, it wasn't legal.

Kamikaze · Unread post by **Kamikaze** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 4:24 am

Megatron infrequently refers to Inferno as 'sub-commander'. There's something.

Alak · Unread post by **Alak** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 2:19 am

That's actually neat that you brought Inferno up since his personal jargon could be used to guess the Predacon ranks relative to that of an ant colony.

NaitoKage · Unread post by **NaitoKage** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 6:51 am

"Prior to the signing of the Pax Cybertronia, Megatron was a field commander in the Predacon army, where he learned much about strategy and tactics. Upon ratification of peace with the Maximal Imperium most Predacons laid down their arms. Megatron refused and went rogue. "

Or so the Wikis say on such things.

Sub-Commander is essentially what Scorponok became after Dinobot was dumped..which then Inferno gained. It's just a role of "second in command" to drones of intense loyalty to Megatron.

Strangely it was mentioned that Silverbolt was Blackarachnia's "Commanding officer" in season 3.

Kamikaze · Unread post by **Kamikaze** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 7:28 am

I presume that some tasks can only be performed by a certain member of the crew (E.g. if Optimus needed someplace in the ocean scanned for traces of Alien technology, his only choice would be Depthcharge) , so mostl ikely they'll have some sort of 'special' rank.

Alak · Unread post by **Alak** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 1:33 pm

Yeah that wiki quote that NK posted might be inspired from the 2006 BotCon toy: http://www.tfu.info/2006/Predacon/BCMeg ... gatron.htm

We've already debated on the toys' canon and that thread ended pretty inconclusive, so I guess it's up to the reader to decide. The Optimus Primal BotCon toy said that he was a veteran of the Great War which contradicts his depiction in the show imo.

Whirlaway · Unread post by **Whirlaway** » Sat Nov 21, 2009 9:00 pm

Alak wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIJVSjIuNYg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDRYFCO7fpo

Gangster, criminal, mob, etc. Whatever he was, it wasn't legal.

He stole the Disk, that's not in debate, but that doesn't tell anything about his function or 'job.' Plus we have discontinuity (Theft) that conflicts with other discontinuity (Dawn of Future's Past), which adds extra fun.
I *clearly* see military experience from him, especially in 'Coming of the Fuzors' when he actually has a chance to do some field maneuvers.

Alak · Unread post by **Alak** » Sat Nov 21, 2009 10:46 pm

The point of posting the video is not to tell you that he stole the Golden Disk, but to show you who Megatron was before the Beast Wars. Cryotek (the speaker at the beginning of Part 1) is "gangster in Cybertron's dangerous criminal underworld". Considering that Megatron is his protege, I'd highly doubt he holds any military rank on Cybertron...at that time. NaitoKage's reference to the wikia may be correct and pre-Pax Cybertonia Megatron could have had military experience.

However, even if he had military experience does not mean he had a military rank (there was no Pred military). It doesn't matter what he was in the past because he was just a criminal at the start of the Beast Wars. He wasn't even the legitimate captain of his ship since it was a stolen vessel. Any rank Megatron held during the Beast Wars was self-proclaimed. If you watch The Agenda (Part 1), the Tripredacus Council doesn't even recognize him as an individual of authority.