Yea, things did seem a bit crammed and in need of more time (or perceived time at least) deciding on it.

Ravage I get- The DJD is there, they'll kill every con with Megatron, period. And he's no coward, he fights pretty often, so he'd rather go down swinging- which is part of why Megatron's not was so disappointing to him.

The shield thing? Waiting til a more surprising time to strike would make sense, I'm with you there.