| “ | A few humans lives are a small price to pay for a miracle of science like yourself. | „ |
| ~ Silas justifying his methods to Arcee. |
| “ | Thank you all for your dedication and a lifetime of service. But I now seem more suited to keep the exclusive company... of titans. | „ |
| ~ C.Y.L.A.S thanking his men for their loyalty, moments before callously betraying and executing them. |
Leland "Silas" Bishop, later known as "CY.L.A.S", is a major antagonist in the animated TV series Transformers: Prime, serving as a major antagonist in Season 1 and 2 as well as a minor antagonist in Season 3.
He was the callous leader of the terrorist group M.E.C.H who, upon discovering Cybertronians on Earth, quickly developed a lethal obsession with Cybertronian biology and technology. Proclaiming a desire of a new world order, Silas and his adherents targeted both the Autobots and the Decepticons to create "the perfect meld of man and machine".
He was voiced by Clancy Brown, who also played The Kurgan in Highlander and voiced Baron Praxis in Jak II, Lex Luthor in Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, the Evil Entity in Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated and Bloodwolf in The Adventures of Puss in Boots.
What Makes Him Pure Evil?[]
Background[]
- Before forming M.E.C.H, he illegally created the unauthorized targeted laser satellite known as Project: Damocles. Had the weapon not been confiscated, he likely would have used it for his own megalomaniac fantasies.
- Proclaiming a desire of a "New World Order," he and his supporters targeted both the Autobots and the Decepticons to further Project Chimera, their horrific campaign to create to create a new generation of weapons in the form of living machines.
Season 1[]
- Attempted to steal the Dynamic Nuclear Generation System (D.N.G.S) to repurpose it as a WMD, which is stated has the ability to destroy at least five states minimum through its detonation and fallout. In order to do so, he shot down Agent Fowler's plane and proceeded to attack Fowler's Autobot escort convoy.
- After Miko and Jack re-secured the D.N.G.S from M.E.C.H, a displeased Silas attempted to detonate the D.N.G.S by destroying the convoy's train tracks. Had it not been for Optimus Prime's intervention, the crash would have killed them both and the D.N.G.S' nuclear meltdown would have irradiated the area.
- Captured Breakdown and proceeded to callously conduct unethical torture, dissections, and experiments on the Decepticon, permanently damaging Breakdown's right optic.
- Formed a temporary alliance with Airachnid to help her kill Arcee while exacting revenge on Jack for destroying her ship and injuring her. It is shown that Silas only agreed because Airachnid had him restrained and threatened to kill him otherwise.
- Kidnapped Jack's mother June, an innocent human nurse and civilian, as leverage against Jack and Arcee.
- Lures Jack and Arcee into Airachnid's ambush under the false promise that he would not hurt June if they meet him.
- Shows complete indifference towards his fellow humankind. This is displayed in his argument with Arcee, where he considers human deaths as "a small price to pay for a miracle of science."
- Double crossed Airachnid by attempting to dissect and kill Arcee behind her back. Furthermore, he betrayed her not out of a sense of honor or morality, but only to secure his self-interests in acquiring Cybertronian biology for study.
Season 2[]
- Immobilized Bumblebee and stole his T-Cog to use it for their Cybertronian prototype.
- When Starscream sought a partnership with M.E.C.H, Silas only agreed to Starscream's terms for pragmatic reasons to obtain Starscream's information about Cybertronian biology. Armed with that knowledge, Silas intended to fulfill his plans of creating an army of Cybertronians.
- Even before his betrayal, Silas repeatedly disrespects Starscream and directly states he would only keep his end of the deal if M.E.C.H's plans are fulfilled first.
- After Bumblebee stole back his T-Cog from M.E.C.H and Starscream, Silas quickly betrayed the latter and stole his T-Cog.
- Even after Starscream mentioned his willingness to maintain their partnership and aid M.E.C.H prior to the betrayal, Silas still betrayed him out of a sense of frustration and impatience.
- Stole the remains of Breakdown's corpse to repurpose for later.
- Framed Optimus Prime for crimes he committed with his creation, Nemesis Prime (although said crimes were eventually cleared).
- Attempted to murder Agent Fowler with Nemesis Prime by ramming him off the road.
- Killed tens of army soldiers with Nemesis Prime during an attack on a military base.
- M.E.C.H's attacks manipulated human distrust against the Autobots, temporarily leading to the US Military to declare a KOS (Kill on sight) against all Cybertronians.
- Attempted to kill Agent Fowler and Optimus Prime with Nemesis Prime.
- When M.E.C.H saved his life by fusing him with Breakdown's body, Silas immediately believed himself to be superior to them. Despite initially being grateful to his soldiers for saving his life, Silas ultimately deemed them unfit to be kept in his company, and killed all of his human allies.
- Moreover, Megatron and Knockout were genuinely disgusted with Silas using Breakdown's corpse as his body. Although Silas did not choose his new body, he still showed no sympathy or gratitude for using Breakdown's corpse to save himself.
- Attacked an army base to steal back Project: Damocles and use it as a bargaining chip.
- Gave the Damocles to the Decepticons, allowing them to use it as a weapon against their enemies.
- Tried to kill Bulkhead, Smokescreen, Jack, Miko, Raf and Agent Fowler in a failed attempt to prevent Damocles' destruction.
- Turned on humanity as a whole in a failed attempt to join the Decepticons.
Season 3[]
- His punishment for failing Megatron, although horrific, was played for satisfaction, as Knock Out justified the experiments on Silas to be a form of karmic justice for Silas' crimes against the late Breakdown.
- While he turned into a zombie because of Dark Energon, he still has a clear moral agency to understand that what he was doing is wrong.
- Before being finally put down for good, he murdered many Vehicons so they could return to life as Terrorcons, causing an epidemic on the Nemesis.
- Released and infected Airachnid, being indirectly responsible for all the Insecticons she would kill to survive.
Trivia[]
- Silas is, alongside Starscream, Airachnid, Unicron and The Fallen, one of five villains from the Transformers Aligned Continuity to be Pure Evil. He is also, alongside Harold Attinger, one of two Transformers Pure Evils to be humans (not counting Prometheus Black/Meltdown and Dr. Meridian/Mandroid because they were no longer humans).
- Silas is arguably one of the most malevolent humans in all of Transformers media (even more so than Attinger), due to how he has slaughtered his own loyal men out of a sense of superiority and his willingness to kill and subject Cybertronians (both Autobots and Decepticons) to extreme torture to satisfy his ambitions of power. He was even willing to betray his fellow humankind in a failed attempt to join the Decepticons.
External Links[]
- Silas on the Villains Wiki
- Silas on the Transformers History Wiki
- Silas on TFWiki.net
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 Aligned Pure Evils
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War For Cybertron games: Megatron | ||