*trying to think of a real world military example that is really well equipped and thinks they're badass, but has never really seen any action.*

 

The big difference is that in the real world, we tend to have regular wars.

 

But imagine if we didn't for 50 years or so.

 

We'd still have Westpoint Graduates (Elite Guards) but the only living combat vets would be a bunch of 70-90 year old Gulf War/Iraq War vets.

 

The American Civil War was close to that though. The Generals had fought in the Mexican American War but the vast majority of soldiers had never fought before (and expected the war to over much more quickly, on both sides).

 

The Elite Guard seem almost like the Zouave of the American Civil War, which were often rich people with no combat experience and VERY fancy uniforms which they paid for out of pocket. The Zouave really got massacred pretty heavily for a good part of the war but, I think, eventually became noted fighters.

The Opium Wars is another example - at one stage, China considered themselves to be the greatest civilisation and initially rejected attempts from Europeans to establish relations, considering them to be uncivilised barbarians. Then Confucianism set in and Chinese progress stagnated allowing the Europeans to surpass them and eventually majorly pwn them.

 

The Mongolians also surprised many other civilisations when they created an empire that made the Greek and Roman Empires look pale by comparison.

 

Genghis :khaaan KHAAAAAN!

Elite Guard:

 

- Sentinel and Optimus were peers, equals, and Optimus never fought in the Great War, because it was before his time. Obviously, therefore, nether has Sentinel.

 

- Jazz refers back to Sentinel for info on procedures, and contact with organics. In other words, Jazz is of the opinion that Sentinel is the more experienced one. If he's less experienced than Sentinel, Jazz wouldn't have fought in the Great War either.

 

- Magnus was involved in the Great War. But, even then, he clearly had a supervisory role, not a frontline position. In other words: head-to-head combat is not Magnus' forte.

 

 

The Great War was years ago. The Autobots did not eradicate the Decepticons, they merely exiled them to the fringes of this galaxy. There they wait, ready to strike again when Megatron beckons them once more.

The way that the Decepticons are striking at the Autobots is similar to how the Sith toppled the Jedi Order and converted the Republic to an Empire in Star Wars.

 

(Rantage Engine: ON)

 

approx. 1000 years before the Star Wars movies, the Jedi thought that the Sith had become extinct. But for a millennium the Sith waited patiently for an opportune moment to strike - which began in the events of Episode I: The Phantom Menace. The Jedi, having never encountered Sith for over 1000 years had become lax and arrogant - so much so that a mighty Sith Lord like Darth Sidious (Palpatine) was able to infiltrate the very core of the Republic right under the nose of the Jedi Order without the Jedi Order being able to detect him, even diminishing the Jedi's ability to use the Force.

 

Many Jedi were ill-suited as warriors, focusing much of their training into becoming diplomats. This is why we saw so many Jedi fall relatively easily during the early stages of the Clone Wars.

 

Even though Coleman Trebor was a Jedi Master, because he focused so much on being a diplomat and negotiator that his diminished skill with a light sabre made him an all too easy prey for Jango Fett

 

IMO Episode II had the worst light sabre choreography of all the movies - and a retconned explanation that has been provided is that many of the Jedi during that time suffered from diminished lightsabre prowess because they had fallen into the role of being diplomatic negotiators, rather than fighters. A lot of Jedi who fell at Geonosis, like Master Trebor, had probably hardly ever wielded a light sabre in an actual fight (if at all).

 

When Emperor Palpatine executed Order 66, the Jedi were embarrassingly caught by complete surprise. We saw how easily Palpatine used the Clones to massacre the Jedi, topple the Jedi Order and bring the Jedi to the brink of extinction.

 

In Episode I when Qui-Gon Jinn reported his encounter with Darth Maul on Tattooine to the Jedi Council, informing them that he suspected Maul to be a Sith the Council was somewhat skeptical. It wasn't until after Qui-Gon Jinn was slain by Maul that the Council started taking the thought of the Sith returning a bit more seriously - but really, nothing much was done about it. The Jedi were taken by surprise when Dooku revealed himself to be a Sith convert then again, the Jedi became more concerned - especially as they continued to encounter more Dark Jedi such as Komari Vosa, Asajj Ventress, General Grievous (technically not a Dark Jedi nor Sith) etc.

 

The relationship between the Autobots and Decepticons in Animated is similar to Jedi and Sith for the majority of the prequel trilogy in Star Wars - like the Sith, the Decepticons were presumed eradicated long ago and they have now secretly returned and striking via a series of perimeter insurgent uprisings (something which Sidious/Palpatine did by manipulating the Separatists). The Autobots are like the Republic/Jedi - believing the Decepticons to be virtually extinct and incapable of presenting a serious threat... until now.

 

...full of good intentions but ultimately ineffectual

...like some religions

 

(Rantage Engine: OFF)

A Goki rant I enjoyed reading? NO!!!!!!!!!!!!

:nooo

 

Actually, you make a great point.