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Megatron (G1)

2010-06-15T09:22:25Z

125.237.57.83: /* Beast Wars II cartoon */

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:''Megatron is a [[Decepticon]] from the [[Generation 1 (franchise)|Generation 1]] [[continuity family]]. He is also known as Lord Megatron and sometimes nicknamed the Slag Maker.''

[[Image:Megatronguido.jpg|right|350px|thumb|Baby, why you make me gotta hurt you?]]
'''Megatron''' is the founder of the Decepticon uprising, and their most well-known and feared [[Decepticon leader|leader]]. As a young, charismatic leader forged in battle and the heritage of war, he began to believe in a grand purpose for his race—it is the [[Transformer|Transformers]]' glorious destiny to rule an [[Decepticon Empire|empire]] which will span the universe. The opposite of his mortal enemy [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], he feels great contempt for other Transformers who, he feels, betray their proud heritage by demanding peace and cooperation with weaker life forms. It is the destiny of the Decepticons to bring order to the universe through conquest, though in the millions of years since coining this purpose it remains to be seen how much of his mission statement is altruistic... and how much of it is mere words built to fuel warriors to further his desire for personal power.

Megatron will attempt almost anything to achieve his goals, but his schemes are rarely in any way subtle. This is perhaps due to his arrogance, but his pride is not so strong as to dissuade him from abandoning a battle he is losing. Some would question his sanity, though these few are mostly now dead by his hands... or his [[fusion cannon]], depending on his mood. Sometimes he uses his [[energon mace]] to strike them down. It does not matter how they die. Death by the hands of Megatron is an honor.

His Earth [[Alternate mode]] is usually a modified [[wikipedia:Walther P38|Walther P38]]. His [[fusion cannon]] becomes the scope.

Sometimes, Megatron is later [[Renaming|reborn as]] [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]].

{{quote|You destroy everything you touch, Megatron!|Optimus Prime, "[[More than Meets the Eye, Part 2]]"}}

{{quote|That's because everything I touch is food for my hunger. My hunger for ''power''!|Megatron, "[[More than Meets the Eye, Part 2]]"}}

:''Portugese name (Portugal comics)'': '''Megatrão'''
:''Chinese name (Taiwan):'' '''Měi-jīa Wáng''' (美加王, "King Mega" or "Mega [[Wiktionary:tron|Throne]]") / '''Jǜ Wú Bà''' (巨無霸, "Extremely huge" or "Extremely Gigantic")
:''Chinese name (China):'' '''Wei Zhen Tian''' (威震天, "Extremely prestigious", literally "Heaven-shaking Might")
:''Cantonese name:'' '''Megaton''' (麥加登 ''Mak Gaa Dang'', literally "Wheat Garden" or "Wheat Adding Climbing")

==Fiction==
===Marvel Comics continuity===
====Generation 1====
{{noteukonly}}
[[Image:Megatrong1marvelarmy.jpg|left|250px|thumb|No, not fascist at all.]]
Four million years ago, ''rising from his beginnings as a gladiator for the city-state of [[Tarn]],'' Megatron and the Decepticons developed the ability of transformation, using it to begin the war against the Autobots, who fought back by mimicking the technology. Megatron declared his intent to transform [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]] into a "cosmic dreadnought" to conquer the universe. {{storylink|The Transformers (issue)|The Transformers}} ''However, he would only get as far as building massive engines deep beneath the planet's surface.'' {{storylink|Legion of the Lost!}}

Megatron also vowed to possess the planet's superdatabase, the [[Underbase]], for himself, so he followed a young [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Optimus Prime]] on his quest into the [[Temple of Knowledge]], where he destroyed the temple's curator, [[Boltax (G1)|Boltax]]. In order to keep the Underbase out of Megatron's hands, Optimus Prime destroyed the temple and launched the Underbase into space. {{storylink|The Flames of Boltax!}}

[[Image:Megatrong1earlymarvel.jpg|right|150px|thumb|Check out my awesome preproduction model!]]
''After the death of [[Sentinel Prime (G1)|Sentinel Prime]], Megatron's troops poised themselves around the Autobot capital city of [[Iacon]], slowly disintegrating its defenses. [[Emirate Xaaron]] chose Optimus Prime, a warrior, to take the [[Council of Autobot Elders]]' place as leader of the Autobot forces. Optimus Prime and Megatron's armies then met in battle, and Megatron's forces were defeated—with help from an exploding bridge.'' {{storylink|And There Shall Come...a Leader!}}

In time, the war grew so fierce that Cybertron itself was shaken from its orbit, and set adrift in the cosmos. Eventually, over a thousand years after Megatron's war had begun,<ref>The length of the war is given as "over a thousand years" in [[The Transformers (issue)|Marvel Comics #1]], but it's said to be just a hundred years in Marvel UK's [[Legion of the Lost!|Legion of the Lost!, Part 1]].</ref> the planet fell into the path of an asteroid cluster in the Sol system that threatened to destroy it, and so Optimus Prime led a contingent of his troops in the [[Ark (G1)|Ark]] to reduce the asteroids to rubble, saving Cybertron. The plan was a success, but immediately afterwards, Megatron and his troops attacked, forcing Optimus Prime to crash the Ark into prehistoric Earth.

Four million years later, in 1984, the Transformers were reawakened, and Megatron immediately set about trying to locate a source of fuel for the Decepticons. Unable to ingest common Earth gasoline, the Decepticons kidnapped [[Sparkplug Witwicky]] and forced him to develop a conversion process. Megatron soon found his Decepticons and his base of operations under siege by the Autobot [[Gears (G1)|Gears]] and a strange super-powered human named [[Spider-Man]]. The pair escaped with Sparkplug, but not before he had managed to convert Earth fuel into usable energy. {{storylink|Prisoner of War!}}

[[Image:Megatrong1marvelblackhole.jpg|left|250px|thumb|In early Marvel UK stories, Megatron's colors were blinged up to match his box art.]]
''After an argument with Megatron, [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]] left their headquarters and set about on a plan to position himself above Megatron in the eyes of his comrades. [[Ravage (G1)|Ravage]], sent by Megatron to spy on Starscream, was discovered overhearing Starscream's treachery, and so Starscream tried to eliminate the elusive jaguar. This enraged Megatron, who punished Starscream by having him duel the Autobot [[Brawn (G1)|Brawn]].'' {{storylink|The Enemy Within!}} ''Soon, Megatron and the full fury of the Decepticons under his command laid siege to the Ark itself, but his attack was stopped short by a malfunctioning [[Auntie]], the Ark's computer system. Captured with Optimus Prime in a stasis field, Auntie's fatal intentions towards them prompted Megatron to activate his rarely-used ability to tap into the power of a black hole. This proved unnecessary after [[Ravage (G1)|Ravage]] and [[Windcharger (G1)|Windcharger]] saved them, so Megatron moved to use his cosmic power on Prime—until Windcharger magnetically launched him out of the Ark and into the stratosphere.'' {{storylink|Raiders of the Last Ark}}

While Sparkplug was kidnapped, this had only afforded him the chance to poison their fuel, and the Decepticons were forcibly deactivated at the end of a climactic fight between the two factions. The Autobots were not saved, however, as [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] suddenly arrived and defeated the Autobots with a single blast. He brought the Decepticons back online to serve him—including Megatron. {{storylink|The New Order}} Chafing under his command, Megatron battled Shockwave, but was soundly defeated. {{storylink|The Worse of Two Evils!}}

[[Image:Megatrong1marvelhumiliation.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Get used to this, Megatron.]]
Repeat Performance!
This forced Megatron into an alliance with [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]], who located and reactivated the [[Dinobot (G1)|Dinobots]], who had defeated Shockwave in the past. However, Ratchet loosed them on Megatron, and was willing to sacrifice himself to knock Megatron off a cliff. While Ratchet survived, Megatron disappeared for some time. {{storylink|Repeat Performance!}}

Soon, however, Megatron re-emerged, trapped in pistol mode, his higher brain functions disconnected. Used as a weapon by wannabe gangster, [[Joey Slick]], Megatron eventually restored himself, and was impressed enough with Slick for standing up to him that he allowed him to live. {{storylink|Shooting Star!}} At this point, Megatron was desperately low on fuel and attacked a coal mine, attempting to locate some, when he eventually completely ran out and froze in place. He was soon located by [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]], who brought him back online, and they subsequently entered into an alliance with the human [[Donny Finkleberg]], who used the alias of "Robot-Master" to con humankind into thinking the Transformers worked for him. {{storylink|I, Robot-Master!}}

Shockwave and Megatron entered into a period of shared leadership, but when a two-pronged attack by the Autobots saw Megatron defeated by [[Omega Supreme (G1)|Omega Supreme]], and Shockwave allowing the Autobots to capture the secrets of [[Devastator (G1)|Devastator]], Megatron was able to spin the situation and reclaim his leadership. {{storylink|Command Performances!}}

[[Image:Megatrong1marveltarget2006.jpg|left|250px|thumb|SPOILERS!]]
''A mysterious Decepticon called [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]], along with his henchmen [[Cyclonus (G1)|Cyclonus]] and [[Scourge (G1)|Scourge]], entered the Decepticon camp and claimed he was the future Decepticon leader from the year 2006. Megatron found this preposterous, but though he tried to destroy the alleged impostor, he and Soundwave were buried under rubble by the powerful newcomers. Megatron was retrieved from the rubble by [[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide]], and he and the Autobots forged an uneasy alliance against Galvatron. This was still not enough, as Galvatron (who was revealed to be Megatron himself from the future) easily disposed of all of them, and was only deterred when he was tricked into believing he had traveled back in time to a past that would not become his own future.'' {{storylink|Target: 2006}}

''Megatron summoned the [[Predacon (G1)|Predacons]] to Earth with the intention of having them hunt down Optimus Prime, but Shockwave used the opportunity to try and remove Megatron from the picture. After trailing Prime through a forest and bringing him to his knees, the Predacons turned on Megatron, blindsiding him, stealing his fusion cannon, and absconding.'' {{storylink|Prey!}} ''When Megatron came to, he continued hunting Prime, but when the Autobot leader attacked him, he summoned the [[space bridge]] in hopes of escaping to Cybertron, only for Prime to be transported with him. On Cybertron, Megatron established contact with local Decepticon commander Lord [[Straxus (G1)|Straxus]], whose body had been destroyed by [[Blaster (G1)|Blaster]], leaving him a head floating in a jar.'' {{storylink|The Harder They Die!}}

''Straxus soon came to consider the irrational Megatron a liability and sought to dispose of him by transplanting his mind into Megatron's body, giving him mobility again while trapping Megatron in his remains. Megatron resisted the transfer, however, and the process went awry, leaving both Straxus and Megatron's minds trapped in Megatron's body together. Outwardly, Megatron seemed to become more and more unstable as the two personalities inside him battled for control; when attacked by Prime and [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]], he even proved desperate enough to use his [[antimatter]] manipulation powers, nearly destroying the entire Decepticon complex, until [[Ratbat (G1)|Ratbat]] activated the space bridge and sent him back to Earth. Straxus's consciousness fled Megatron's body, and Megatron himself was left with no memory of the whole affair.'' {{storylink|Resurrection!}}

[[Image:Megatrong1marveltooclever.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Yes, you're very smart. Shut up.]]
In order to attain possession of a new energy-generating device, the hydrothermocline, Megatron battled Optimus Prime in a video game duel, using a cheat code to continue the fight after he had lost. Prime defeated him again, but at the expense of some of the game's characters, and ruled himself the loser because he would not have committed such an act in real life. {{storylink|Afterdeath!}} Prime was destroyed, and Megatron's elation soon turned into paranoia, as he had not killed Prime with his own hands, and believed he could still be alive. Bringing the Predacons ''back'' to Earth, Shockwave had them pose as Autobots and attack Megatron in another attempt to remove his threat, but the plan failed when the deranged Megatron defeated even [[Predaking]]. Believing (correctly, as it would turn out) that Prime's mind could have been preserved on computer disk, Megatron descended into outright insanity, and boarded the space bridge, vowing to go where Prime could not follow - right before he blew it up with his fusion cannon, apparently killing himself. {{storylink|Gone but Not Forgotten!}} However, the explosion had merely deposited him in [[Dead End (place)|the Dead End]] region of Cybertron, where he wandered as an [[empties|empty]], with no recollection of who he was. {{storylink|The Resurrection Gambit!}}

[[Image:Megatrong1marveltwomegatrons.jpg|left|200px|thumb|buggabuggaWHA?]]
''Megatron's absence allowed a contingency plan arranged by Lord Straxus to be put into motion. In the event that his attempt to seize Megatron's body failed, Straxus had had a clone of Megatron created, complete with a copy of his brain patterns, into which his consciousness retreated following the previous debacle. Straxus lay dormant within the clone, which was activated following Megatron's seeming demise, and sent to Earth, to the sewers beneath [[London]]. There, the clone—believing itself to be the genuine article—battled the Autobots, [[G.I. Joe (team)|Action Force]], and the mechanoid [[Centurion (Marvel)|Centurion]], and wound up submerged in the Thames river.'' {{storylink|Ancient Relics!}}

''Some time later, it was salvaged by Shockwave, who brainwashed it and unleashed it on [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]], a recreated future version of Megatron who had traveled back in time from the year 2006 and posed a threat to Shockwave's leadership. The clone Megatron, however, saw a possible partner in Galvatron, and the two teamed up to battle Autobots and Decepticons from both present and future in the apocalyptic [[Time Wars]]. Subsequently, the clone returned to Cybertron, where it defeated the ruling Decepticon [[Triumverate]], {{storylink|The Fall and Rise of the Decepticon Empire}} but was then confronted with the ''real'' Megatron—''who was still wandering incoherently through Dead End until he had saved [[Blackjack|a Decepticon]] from Autobots and regained his memories. {{storylink|The Resurrection Gambit!}}'' The clone Megatron subsequently destroyed itself to prevent Straxus, buried inside its mind, from taking over.'' {{storylink|Two Megatrons!}}

[[Image:Megs ratch.jpg|right|200px|thumb|As you can tell, the Marvel Comics weren't very good to Megatron. Or Ratchet for that matter...]]
While Megatron's [[Micromaster]] [[Air Strike Patrol]] created a diversion which pitted Optimus Prime's forces against [[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]]'s, Megatron sent his Micromaster [[Sports Car Patrol]] to capture Ratchet from the Ark, bringing him to [[Megatron's base|his base]] on [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]]. {{storylink|Back from the Dead}} Threatening Ratchet with the destruction of the Ark and all of his patients aboard, Megatron forced him to recreate Starscream as a [[Pretender]]. Ratchet did so, but also restored [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]], [[Jazz (G1)|Jazz]] and [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] in the same manner, thwarting Megatron's scheme, and also bringing the explosives on board the Ark through a [[Trans-Time Dimensional Portal|trans-time dimensional portal]] into Megatron's base. When Megatron then attempted to flee through the portal, Ratchet tackled him as the Decepticon's base exploded around them, apparently killing them both. {{storylink|Skin Deep}}

Soon after, however, Autobot detective [[Nightbeat (G1)|Nightbeat]] discovered that the explosion had actually blown them through the portal, and he dispatched a probe to pull them back from the gaps between reality. However, when they rematerialized, it was revealed that the explosion had fused the two enemies together, into a hideous, twisted mockery of a being, which ran rampant through the Ark. The half that was Ratchet begged Optimus Prime to kill them, but Prime could not, and had the Micromaster [[Fixit (G1)|Fixit]] separate their bodies. Unfortunately, Fixit could not separate their minds, as they were bonded at a molecular level; one could not survive without the other. {{storylink|The Pri¢e of Life!}}

Their separated bodies lay in the Ark's medbay until Grimlock pumped them full of [[Nucleon]], though the revitalizing effect took some time to help Ratchet and Megatron come to. Megatron awoke to find [[Galvatron II]], another version of him from the future, wandering the halls of the Ark as it returned to Earth. Galvatron II, driven to insanity, initially tried to kill Megatron to purge the memory of him that haunted his mind. Megatron was in no state to comprehend what was going on around him, and began interpreting Galvatron II's blows as coming from Ratchet.

Though Galvatron II and Megatron eventually came to terms with each other while beating up Shockwave (he and Starscream had stolen the ship), vowing to join forces and take over the galaxy, Ratchet doomed them all by igniting the Ark's engines and spiraling the Autobot spacecraft into the Earth below. Megatron was presumed dead among the remains that constituted the crash site in northern [[Canada]]. {{storylink|A Savage Circle}}

=====Marvel UK future timelines=====
''In an alternate 1990, Megatron was in control of Decepticon forces on Cybertron, including [[Bludgeon (G1)|Bludgeon]], [[Stranglehold]], [[Octopunch]], and [[Warmonger]]. After they captured a trio of Autobots, the heroes somehow managed to escape custody. They were recaptured, but Megatron realized there must be a traitor in his midst. Accusing Bludgeon of the crime, he attempted to beat the [[Pretender]] into confessing. Instead, Bludgeon demanded a trial by combat, as was his right as a Decepticon. Megatron agreed, and sent him out into the wreckage surrounding the base, with his three fellow Decepticons chasing after him, eager for the kill. Octopunch and Stranglehold both tried and failed to destroy Bludgeon, but Warmonger managed to get the drop on him. When Warmonger hesitated to kill a helpless foe, however, Megatron executed him as the REAL traitor. He then revealed this was his plan all along, to draw out the traitor by trusting in the sickeningly honorable Autobot code to make the spy reveal himself. Megatron also made it clear he would have had no regrets if Bludgeon had died in the "testing" process.'' {{storylink|Aspects of Evil!}}

{{note|The above story is the earliest known account from the Marvel UK alternate "Movie" timeline. The split between the main comic and the future stories almost certainly took place in 1989, either due to the Time Wars, the events of [[Primal Scream (issue)|Primal Scream]] where Primus alerted Unicron to his location 15 years early, or both.}}

=====Earthforce=====
{{earthforcefiction}}
[[Image:Megs earthforce.jpg|left|200px|thumb|The real culprit behind global warming.]]
''In an offshoot of the Marvel timeline following the restoration of the Autobots aboard the Ark with Nucleon, but before... uh ... (okay, see [[Earthforce]] for continuity notes, it's pretty complicated...)''

''Somewhere in the Arizona desert, Megatron and the [[Constructicon (G1)|Constructicons]] built a rocket that would launch into Earth's atmosphere and detonate, converting the atmosphere into [[Energon (fuel)|energon]]. The Decepticons were interrupted by [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]] and [[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]], and though Megatron insisted they were too late to stop the rocket,'' {{storylink|Starting Over!}} ''Prowl rode the rocket into the atmosphere, and was able to destroy the satellite the rocket carried before it released its gas canisters.'' {{storylink|Desert Island Risks!}}

''Now that [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]]'s [[Earthforce]] had installed itself to counter Megatron and [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]]'s Decepticons on Earth, the two leaders decided to hold an [[Enclave]] to foster unity. This event was sabotaged by the Earthforce by staging an assassination attempt on Megatron, and once again, Megatron and Shockwave's respective groups were at each other's throats.'' {{storylink|The Bad Guy's Ball!}}

''After being ambushed at a secret energon drop by Shockwave and the [[Triple Changer|Triple Changers]], an enraged Megatron demanded that [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]] use his mind-reading powers to find the traitor who betrayed his location to the enemy. Of course, Soundwave WAS the traitor, so this proved difficult. He managed to satisfy Megatron, though, by framing the [[Stunticon (G1)|Stunticon]] named [[Wildrider]] for leaking the information, knowing Megatron would destroy Wildrider before he could explain himself. {{storylink|Secrets}} When Megatron gained information as to Shockwave's whereabouts, Megatron ambushed him, unaware the information had been deliberately leaked by [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]]. Starscream and Soundwave subsequently deposed their respective leaders and when they came under attack from the Autobots (who had been alerted to their position by Starscream) Megatron and Shockwave were forced to join forces to escape.'' {{storylink|Internal Affairs!}}

''Megatron and Shockwave soon hired a group of inept assassins to attack Starscream, knowing he would believe Soundwave had sent them and thus initiate a confrontation between the pair. They then hired the surviving members of the [[Mayhem Attack Squad]] - Bludgeon, Octopunch and Stranglehold - to kill whichever one of the two survived. The plan failed thanks to the intervention of the Autobots, who needed Starscream's help to save [[Snarl (G1)|Snarl]], and Megatron and Shockwave were forced to retreat again.'' {{storylink|Assassins}} {{storylink|External Forces!}} {{storylink|The Lesser Evil}}
{{-}}
=====''Another Time And Place''=====
[[Image:TFAnnual1991rip.JPG|right|100px|thumb|Prime and Grimlock disapprove of Megatron's Bludgeon cosplay.]]
:''"Another Time and Place" was retconned out of continuity a few years later by the Generation 2 comic books.''

Trapped in non-transforming Action Master bodies, Grimlock and the Dinobots snuck a shuttle to [[Hydrus Four]], where rumor had it a new, less destructive brand of [[Nucleon]] had been developed. However, the allegedly defeated Decepticons were waiting for just such a trip, and followed the Dinobots to the planet's surface, where they were ambushed and captured. Grimlock woke up to hear endless chants of "Megatron! Megatron! Megatron!" as technicians had strung up the late Decepticon leader's body, culled from his supposed doom on Earth, for repairs. Bludgeon would revive him and revive their fallen, and then the war would begin anew.

But Bludgeon wouldn't get the chance. The cavalry arrived, and Optimus Prime's Autobots quickly quelled the Decepticons' would-be resurgence. As Bludgeon was taken to pieces by a vicious repair spider, a partially-restored Megatron, a visual monstrosity, lunged half-alive at Grimlock and Optimus Prime. With a double-teamed punch, Megatron's undead corpse was easily defeated. The war was truly over. {{storylink|Another Time and Place}}

====Generation 2====
[[Image:Megatrong2cobra.jpg|left|200px|thumb|Green with evil!]]
Although thought dead for a year or two, Megatron had actually survived the Ark crash (though his mental link with Ratchet was forgotten), and had quietly worked to repair it, concealing it beneath the ground. From there, Megatron tracked a signal, mistakenly believing it was another Transformer, but instead he found the shape-shifting castle of the terrorist organization, [[Cobra]]. He entered into a bargain with its leader, [[Cobra Commander]], offering him the technology of the Ark in exchange for the new weapons his organization was developing. {{storylink|Realignments}} Reconstructed into a new tank body with a powerful rail gun, Megatron defeated a squad of Autobots sent to stop him, and then turned on Cobra, capturing the scientist who had developed his gun, [[Dr. Sidney Biggles-Jones]] and escaping in the Ark. {{storylink|Final Transformations}}

Both [[Skydive (G1 Aerialbot)|Skydive]] and [[Spike Witwicky (G1)|Spike Witwicky]] had snuck on board, and following a clearly one-sided battle with Spike's [[Headmaster (technology)|Headmaster partner]], [[Fortress Maximus (G1)|Fortress Maximus]], Megatron was seemingly killed again when Fortress Maximus threw himself into the Ark's power core, destroying it once and for all. {{storylink|All or Nothing!}} But Megatron (and a repaired Starscream) rejoined the Decepticons on Earth to challenge the current Decepticon leader, Bludgeon. {{storylink|The Power and the Glory}} Bludgeon was deposed, fatally, though Megatron continued many of the Pretender's ongoing projects, such as calling the attentions of Optimus Prime to Earth by indiscriminately rampaging across it. When Prime finally showed up, Megatron's old foe at first attempted to talk and join forces against the new threat of [[Jhiaxus (G2)|Jhiaxus]] and his [[Cybertronian (faction)|Advanced-Decepticons]], but Megatron ignored him, ripped the [[Creation Matrix]] from his chest, and left to infuse a new generation of warriors with life. {{storylink|The Gathering Darkness}} His warriors proved to be highly successful, and helped Megatron secure the galvanizing additive known as [[Rheanimum]]. Immediately thereafter, however, Megatron's Decepticons came into conflict with Jhiaxus's forces. Many of Megatron's troops were killed in the resulting battle, and Megatron himself was humbled brutally in battle against Jhiaxus, getting knocked out of space and crashing with immense force into the planet below. {{storylink|New Dawn}}

[[Image:Megatrong2idiot.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Megatron's getting a little too self-aware.]]
In order to gain revenge, Megatron entered into an alliance with the Autobots to "put their house in order". He was forced to deal with Prime's more altruistic streak, but toughed it out for the sake of the alliance. {{storylink|Escalation!}} But, of course, they were betrayed by Starscream, who joined forces with Jhiaxus' troops, alerted Jhiaxus to the location of the Autobot/Decepticon camp on Earth, and then again betrayed both sides by using the opportunity to steal the Creation Matrix and Megatron's [[Warworld]]. {{storylink|Total War!}} Starscream, using the powers of the Matrix, fused himself with the Warworld, which gave Megatron and Optimus Prime great difficulty as they fought their way through its shifting insides. {{storylink|Dark Shadows!}} Ultimately, Starscream relinquished the Creation Matrix to Optimus Prime when it was discovered that the artifact was making him nice, allowing Megatron to load a ship with canisters of [[Rheanimum]] gas and head back to Earth, where the [[Swarm (G2)|Swarm]] was beginning its attack. Megatron arrived just in time to coat the remaining Transformers with the gas, which protected them from the Swarm long enough for Optimus Prime to defeat the Swarm with the Matrix. The Swarm departed, changed into a force for good, leaving both Autobot and Decepticon seemingly united for good. {{storylink|A Rage in Heaven!}}

====Fun Publications ''Classics'' comics====
{{note|The Classics comic takes place after the end of the original Marvel Comic, but in a [[splinter timeline]] that does not include the events of the Marvel UK-exclusive stories or Generation 2.}}

[[Image:Megatronclassicscrossingover.jpg|left|175px|thumb|I got your child safety right here pal!]]
Fifteen years had passed since Megatron supposedly died along with Shockwave, Starscream, and Ratchet when the Ark crashed violently into the Yukon. The defeated Decepticon army scattered, and the Autobots were able to return to a peaceful Cybertron.

Inexplicably, Megatron returned (in a new body) and once again stalked the Earth, rallying the remaining Decepticons to him. Megatron rebuilt many of these Decepticons using altered specifications created by [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]], shortly before Megatron presumably had Shockwave decommissioned in an unspecified way. Eventually, Megatron, roaming free, stumbled across [[Skyfall (Cybertron)|Skyfall]] and [[Landquake (Timelines)|Landquake]], who had travelled from [[Unicron Trilogy|their universe]] in a fantastic energon/forcefield explosion, but his evil intentions for them were interrupted by human-piloted [[Armored Robot Hunters]] (or RUNTs) and subsequently a small team of Autobots led by Optimus Prime. {{storylink|Crossing Over, Part 1}}

Megatron managed to escape with Landquake and return with him to the Decepticons' base of operations, where he had Landquake restrained, interrogated, and inspected. Megatron was intrigued by Landquake's claims of being from another dimension. He was further intrigued by a radiation wavelength signature detected in South America that exactly matched Landquake's readouts, and so Megatron led his Decepticons to the source of the signature. {{storylink|Crossing Over, Part 2}} There, he encountered not only a fleet of jet-piloting RUNTs, but also the Autobots again. This time, with the might of his Decepticons behind him, he eagerly engaged in battle. {{storylink|Crossing Over: Part 3}}

{{-}}

===Generation 1 cartoon continuity===
{{main|Megatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity}}

[[Image:Mtmte1 megatron throne.jpg|right|thumb|250px|FOOL! Pass me the TP!]]

Megatron was responsible for bringing Cybertron out of its [[Golden Age]] when he re-started the Autobot/Decepticon civil war nine million years ago. Among his first actions was the fatal wounding of a young dock worker named Orion Pax, who was rebuilt to become Megatron's mortal enemy, [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]].

Megatron's forces boarded the Autobots' spacecraft when it was on a mission to search for new sources of energy on other planets, and was knocked offline like all the other Transformers when the craft crashed on prehistoric Earth. When both factions reawakened in 1984, Megatron made it his mission to pillage all of Earth's natural resources and enslave its populace, with the goal of revitalizing Cybertron and dominating the entire universe. His plans were by turns cunning, wicked, outrageous, and often, utterly, utterly ludicrous.

In 2005, Megatron faced off with Optimus Prime in a battle at [[Autobot City]], during which he fatally wounded the Autobot leader, but not without taking severe damage himself. Cast adrift into space, Megatron was found by the planet-eater, [[Unicron]], and recreated as [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]].

In other timelines which branch out of this one, Megatron became a [[Transmetal]], ordered the [[murdered puppy|murder of a puppy]], and years after his transformation into Galvatron, became Megatron once again, in various powered-up forms.
{{--}}

===Kid Stuff Talking Story Books continuity===
:''Voice actor:'' [[Earl Hammond]]

Megatron calls Soundwave a "blundering tape-filled idiot." {{storylink|When Continents Collide}}

{{charstubfiction}}

{{note|This is notable because it is hilarious. Also, Megatron totally sounds like "Mumm-Ra" from ''Thundercats''. Megatron had an odd obsession with drills, mole machines, and other burrowing devices, as he used them frequently in his plans for energy gathering and conquest.}}

===Big Looker Storybook continuity===
[[Image:KidsCliff1.jpg|right|150px|thumb|MTV pimps Megatron's ride.]]
A bunch of humans set up a race for charity, and the victor would receive a year's supply of oil and gasoline. Well, the Decepticons desperately wanted that bounty, so rather than just steal it, they decided to sneak into the race. [[Cliffjumper (G1)|Cliffjumper]] was one of the Autobots driving in the rally and was unaware that the scary black Cadillac was actually being driven by Megatron! Megatron dogged Cliffjumper for quite a while but ended up losing to the Minibot. Cliffjumper won the race and everybody smiled, even Optimus Prime. {{storylink|The Great Car Rally}}

Frighteningly.

{{-}}

===''Transformer PD Type'' comic===

[[Image:PDtype-Matrixattack.jpg|left|thumb|250px|This is how the movie ''should've'' gone.]]

With the discovery of a new super energy source known as the [[Blackball]]s, Megatron found himself joined by numerous Decepticons from all across the timestream, all hoping to obtain the ebony spheres. Naturally, oposing him were a team of Autobots, also gathered from all across the timestream.

In one confrontation with his eternal foe, Optimus Prime, Megatron got to relive their battle at Autobot City. Except this time around, Megatron was defeated when Prime launched his "Matrix Attack" (''literally'' launching the Matrix from his chest, bonking Megatron on the noggin). {{storylink|Transformer PD Type##1 "You're Great! Optimus Prime!"|You're Great! Optimus Prime!}}

Later, [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]] managed to find what he ''thought'' was a Blackball. He presented it to Megatron and received much praise...until the Blackball turned out to be a cartoon bomb which exloded in their faces. As the Autobots stood astonished that their crude strategy succeeded, a badly singed Megatron was left in a smoking crater, strangling Starscream. {{storylink|Transformer PD Type##3 "Don't Cry! Megatron!!"|Don't Cry! Megatron!!}}

During battle with [[Victory Leo]], Megatron found himself horribly outmatched. Thinking quickly, he launched a special weapon from his fusion cannon: a ball of yarn. The giant robot kitty immediately began playing with the yarn, giving Megatron the distraction he needed to escape. {{storylink|Transformer PD Type##6 "Tough as Nails! Victory Leo!"|Tough as Nails! Victory Leo!}}

After that, he had to snap a pensive [[Overlord (Masterforce)|Overlord]] out of a trance and order him to return to a battle he had walked away from in order to look at clouds. {{storylink|Transformer PD Type##9 "Oh Overlord."|Oh Overlord.}}

Some time later, Starscream located yet another Blackball. This time, though, he decided to keep it's power for himself and use it to overthrow Megatron. Then it exploded in his hands because it was ''another'' cartoon bomb. Megatron watched the explosion from a distance, unaware of what was going on. {{storylink|Transformer PD Type##10 "Good Luck! Starscream!!"|Good Luck! Starscream!!}}

===Comic Bom Bom ''G-2'' manga===
In the year 199X, the Decepticons had learned of a powerful new energy source known as [[forestonite]] which just happened to be located (surprise surprise) on [[Earth]]. Megatron sent his trio of [[Cyberjet|Cyberjets]] to Earth first to draw out the enemy Autobots. The Cyberjets made quick work of [[Electro]] but were soon halted by the appearance of Optimus Prime.

Megatron then entered the fray and fired his Black Hole Burn attack from his fusion cannon, narrowly missing Optimus Prime but vaporizing [[Hooligan (G2)|Hooligan]] in the process. Prime fought fiercely but Megatron began to take the upper hand in battle.

However, Prime was encouraged to keep fighting by the cheers of a human boy named [[Junpei]]. Megatron, surprised at Prime's resilience, attempted to finish his foe off with his Tornado Axe attack. Prime countered with his Double Wheel-Torque Mega-Ton, which trumped Megatron's attack and injured the Decepticon badly. Megatron teleported back to his ship and left Earth's atmosphere, vowing to return. {{storylink|The New Battle!!|Generation 2: The New Battle!!}}

===''Beast Wars''===
:''Voice actor:'' [[Garry Chalk]] (English)

[[Image:G1Megatron MasterBlaster stasislock.jpg|left|150px|thumb|Sure, we all need our beauty sleep, but 4 million years, now that's taking the pee.]]
After the Autobot/Decepticon war moved to Earth, Megatron hunted down the [[Voyager probe]] as it traveled through the [[Solar System]] and encoded a message on its disc. Should his efforts fail, he left detailed instructions to any Decepticon descendants who recovered the disc, instructions which apparently condoned use of [[transwarp]] technology to alter history in his favor by locating the [[Ark (G1)|Ark]] before it was reactivated, with access codes to the Ark stored in the disk, and killing Optimus Prime before the Autobots and Decepticons reawaken. {{storylink|The Agenda (Part 2)}}

[[Image:G1Megatron Disc Agenda part2.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Now that's what we call a smile.]]
The disk (dubbed the [[Golden Disk (Voyager)|Golden Disk]]) eventually fell into Cybertronian hands and was stolen by a [[Predacon (BW)|Predacon]] who shared Megatron's name. {{storylink|Beast Wars (Part 1)}} This new [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]], later stranded in Earth's past, was able to use a recording of the original Megatron to sway one of the original Megatron's most loyal troops, [[Ravage (G1)|Ravage]], to his cause. {{storylink|The Agenda (Part 2)}}

[[Image:G1Megs Nemesis part2 deletedclip.jpg|left|150px|thumb|I was cut out?! This is Starscream's doing!]]
The original Megatron himself was stranded in Earth's past on board the Ark, offline. Before long, Predacon Megatron was able to approach the comatose body of his namesake and steal his [[spark]], integrating it into his own system. Almost immediately, however, during Predacon Megatron's painful reaction to this integration, he was thrown into a pool of lava by his treacherous underlings. In spite of—or perhaps because of—this, Predacon Megatron emerged from the lava, with a new body that could now transform into a fire-breathing dragon. It is unknown how much influence the original Megatron's Spark had in this metamorphosis. {{storylink|Master Blaster}} At the end of the ''Beast Wars'', after Predacon Megatron was overcome, the original Megatron's Spark was returned to his body, restoring the flow of history. <ref>This scene was cut out of "[[Nemesis Part 2]]" for air-time reasons, but its occurrence is still implied by [[Optimus Primal]]'s note that all was as it should be. The clip was added as a special feature to [[Kid Rhino]]'s and [[Madman Entertainment]]'s ''Beast Wars'' season 3 DVD box sets.</ref>

A Megatron is mentioned in the [[Covenant of Primus]], an ancient sacred text which claims to prophesize future events, including the Beast Wars. It is implied that both Megatrons took their name from here. {{storylink|Nemesis Part 2}}
{{-}}

===''Beast Wars II cartoon''===
[[Galvatron (BWII)|Galvatron]] tried to summon a Megatron. He may have meant this one [[Megatron (BW)|rather than the other one]], but his brother, [[Megastorm| Gigastorm]], screwed up the calculations and summoned [[Majin Zarak]] instead.

Galvatron said he was happy with the outcome, as Majin Zarak was far superior to Megatron. {{storylink|Lio Convoy in Imminent Danger!}}

===Dreamwave comics continuity===
[[Image:Megatrong1gladiator.jpg|left|150px|thumb|Gladiators can afford extra paint applications.]]
Young Megatron was a rising star in gladiatorial combat in the depths of [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]]. As victory upon victory mounted, he began to realize that the games were nothing more than an elaborate conspiracy by the [[Council of Ancients]] to divert the attentions of the masses from the dangerous truth of Cybertron’s history. When Megatron began to show interest in Cybertron's buried past through exploration and research, the Council of Ancients attempted to have him assassinated - a plan that only resulted in stirring up even more discontent among Cybertronians, allowing Megatron to begin recruiting for the Decepticon movement.

First his "inner circle," then many of the gladiators, and then finally disgruntled civilians answered his call to action. The Decepticons were born. {{storylink|The Route of All Evil}}

[[Image:Fledglingcause.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Megatron is so grass-roots.]]
In search of the [[Matrix of Leadership|Autobot Matrix]], Megatron personally killed [[Sentinel Prime (G1)|Sentinel Prime]], only to find that the Autobot leader was not even carrying the Matrix of Leadership. He then sent an assassination squad to the inauguration of the new [[Prime (rank)|Prime]], [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus]], only for the whole squad to be killed. {{storylink|The War Within issue 1}} Refusing to give up, Megatron paid a visit to one of the huge planetary engines which the [[Constructicon (G1)|Constructicon]]s were reactivating, using it to orchestrate a disaster in the destruction of the [[Forum of Enlightenment]], all in order to lure Optimus underground. Megatron sent [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]] and the [[Insecticon (G1)|Insecticon]]s to kill Prime and bring him the Matrix {{storylink|The War Within issue 2}} As Megatron explained to [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]] his plan to transform [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]] into a massive warworld that would cut a swathe of destruction through the galaxy, Optimus again defeated the Decepticons sent against him.

Megatron finally opted to confront the new Prime personally, but Starscream blasted the bridge they were standing on, plunging them both into an abyss. {{storylink|The War Within issue 3}} Megatron continued to press his attack, explaining to Optimus exactly why he needed the Matrix and urging Prime to join him. When Megatron drove his fist into his opponent's chest, the Matrix enveloped them both in light, and they found themselves on [[Earth|an alien world]]. {{storylink|The War Within issue 4}} Visions of the future, spawned by the Matrix, played out before the two warriors, even as they continued to fight. Finally they were returned to subterranean Cybertron, but were quickly separated. {{storylink|The War Within issue 5}} Optimus returned with [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]]'s sword and a new resolve, defeating Megatron. Meanwhile, Starscream had activated the planet mechaforming process too soon, resulting in the destruction of the machinery. Some time later, Megatron, his memory of the battle and Matrix visions erased, found Soundwave while stumbling through the Cybertron underground. {{storylink|The War Within issue 6}}

Roughly 7.4 million years BCE, Megatron and Optimus Prime disappeared in an early test of the then-unstable [[Space Bridge]] matter-transport system. {{storylink|Fragmentation}} Spending an undisclosed time on the planet [[Quintessa]], Megatron returned with an overwhelming army of lifeless [[Air Warrior|seeker clones]], arriving as the planet was on the verge of peace. {{storylink|The Age of Wrath issue 1}} He quickly subjugated the planet, though he kept secret the fact that he was working with the Quintessons. He took great delight in sealing Starscream in a tank of piranacons and placing the Autobots in internment camps, while working on a plan to access Cybertron's core. {{storylink|The Age of Wrath issue 2}}

{{note|This story was never finished due to the closure of Dreamwave, though the seekers and presumably Megatron as well were eventually defeated.}}

Four million years BCE, Cybertron was threatened by a massive approaching asteroid, so Optimus Prime led a contingent of Autobots aboard the [[Ark (G1)|Ark]] to blow the rock to fragments, which were transported away by an orbital Space Bridge network. When this task was completed, Megatron chose this moment to strike, attacking the Ark with his troops. Crippled, the craft flew through one of the Space Bridge portals, and was transported to prehistoric Earth, where it crashed, entombing the occupants in stasis for four million years.

The Autobots and Decepticons were reactivated in 1984, but specific details of their battles in the 1980s and 1990s are unrecorded. In 1999, a Autobot/Human military alliance succeeded in capturing and deactivating the Decepticons. However, the [[Ark II]] spaceship carrying them back to Cybertron exploded shortly after liftoff, and the Transformers were believed destroyed. In actuality, they had been scattered back to Earth, where they lay in [[stasis lock]] across the globe for three years.

This slumber was brought to an end when [[Lazarus|Adam Rook]] (aka Lazarus), a rogue military scientist who had devised a method of controlling Transformers, salvaged many of the fallen Cybertronians and reprogrammed them as mass killing machines, which he then attempted to sell on the black market. Megatron was used to attack and destroy a rebel encampment in South America. Lazarus later demonstrated his voice control of Megatron to a prospective client, however though Megatron obeyed the lesser commands, he would not move when commanded to kneel. {{storylink|Prime Directive issue 1}}

Having sufficiently raised interest, Lazarus held an auction, beginning with Megatron. He was unprepared when the Decepticon leader demonstrated his autonomy, blasting his way out of the bunker. {{storylink|Prime Directive issue 2}} Megatron swiftly put into action a plan to use a [[cyber-virus]] to reformat Earth into a new Cybertron, with Lazarus as its first casualty. As the Autobots arrived, Megatron outlined his plan to Optimus, suggesting that the Autobot leader simply let it happen. Prime declined, however as the two factions fought, the US Military decided to enact [[Operation Clean-Up]] and dropped a bomb on them. {{storylink|Prime Directive issue 3}}

The bomb's energy absorbed by the virus, the Decepticons left the area before the Autobots could recover. Megatron unleashed [[Devastator (G1)|Devastator]] on [[San Francisco]], resulting in mass slaughter and the devastation of the city. The Autobots arrived and engaged the Decepticons in battle, but [[Superion (G1)|Superion]]'s defeat turned the course of the battle towards Autobot defeat. {{storylink|Prime Directive issue 4}} Although Prime took down Devastator, he still fell before Megatron, who took the time to point out how worthless the humans around them were. He again suggested that Optimus join him. {{storylink|Prime Directive issue 5}} The actions of a group of humans, including ramming Megatron with fire engines, inspired the Autobots to fight back. Optimus slammed Megatron to the ground and delivered a beating, but Soundwave's news that the humans had launched a nuke at their battleground in a virtual repeat of the events in Canada, provoked a peal of laughter from Megatron. Though the nuke was stopped by [[Superion (G1)|Superion]], the Decepticons escaped in the ensuing chaos. {{storylink|Prime Directive issue 6}}

[[Image:Shockwavedwwarandpeace.jpg|left|250px|thumb|Megatron's a bottom.]]
Several months later. Megatron was subliminally summoned to a remote area in Alaska along with the other Earthbound Transformers. There they battled until Megatron's former second-in-command, [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]], arrived and revealed that in their absence the war on Cybertron had ended. He arrested Megatron, Prime, and their troops as war criminals. Megatron, weakened by battle, was quickly defeated by Shockwave and loaded aboard a shuttle for return to Cybertron, only to have Starscream seize the opportunity to jettison him into space on the return trip. {{storylink|New World Order}} Megatron used the time floating in space to contemplate his existence and the Decepticon goal. Realizing that he had wasted millennia in his feud with Prime, Megatron resolved to once again conquer Cybertron as a means of enhancing the Transformer race and strengthening it from outside threats. It seemed as through he would not live to accomplish this goal, however, as death closed in on him... only for him to be retrieved by the [[Junkion (species)|Junkion]] [[Wreck-Gar (G1)|Wreck-Gar]]. {{storylink|Revelation (War and Peace)|Revelation}} Wreck-Gar took Megatron to the planet [[Junkion (planet)|Junkion]] and repaired and re-armed him, as well as digging up and reactivating a number of seeker clones that had wound up there after being dumped through space bridge portals. {{storylink|Generation One issue 0}} Megatron returned the favor by stabbing him in the back with an energy dagger. {{storylink|Runnin' with the Devil}}

Traveling to the Planet [[Beast (planet) | Beest]], Megatron defeated the exiled Decepticon warlords, the [[Predacon (G1)|Predacons]], and rebuilt them into the mightiest of all combiners, [[Predaking]], to serve as his ace in the hole in his quest to reclaim leadership of the Decepticons. {{storylink|Welcome to the Jungle}} Moving in stealth on Cybertron, Megatron defeated Shockwave, severing his laser arm and forcing him into servitude. {{storylink|Lost and Found (issue)|Lost and Found}} He then returned to Earth to collect the remaining Decepticons under Starscream's command. With Soundwave's help, he blasted a good-sized hole through Starscream himself, before the Air Commander revealed the recent activities of [[Sunstorm (G1)|Sunstorm]], a figure Megatron believed was connected to the [[Covenant of Primus]]. {{storylink|The Route of All Evil}}

{{note|While it was alluded that Megatron had a grand goal in mind that also included the subjugation of the [[Quintesson]]s, the remainder of the story has yet to be told due to the closure of [[Dreamwave Productions|Dreamwave]]. However it has been stated by representatives of [[IDW Publishing]], the current holders of the Transformer comic license, that once Dreamwave has exited bankruptcy court, they intend to finish the story.}}

===''Transformers Legends'' anthology===
His spark within the body of [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]], Megatron was able to talk the [[Predacon (BW)|Predacon]] leader into a new plan. Once they had broken into the [[Ark (G1)|Ark]] and implanted a fragment of Megatron's spark into Starscream, he was able to use the air warrior to attempt to return his spark to its rightful place. Unfortunately the beast Megatron resisted and overcame Megatron in a war of wills, subsuming the older Megatron. After the [[Beast Wars (event)|Beast Wars]] ended, the [[Maximal]]s returned Megatron's spark to his body. {{storylink|A Meeting of Minds}}

Following yet another fight between Megatron and Starscream, the latter went missing. The discovery that Starscream appeared to be working with the Autobots drove Megatron into a rage, and he unsuccessfully tried to extract the Seeker from the clutches of his foes, only to be beaten off by the Autobots. Starscream later returned of his own accord, claiming to have been feigning amnesia in order to gain access to the Autobot base. The story appeared to placate the Decepticon leader. {{storylink|Redemption Center}}

Megatron was furious when Soundwave told him that [[Swindle (G1)|Swindle]] was selling Decepticon weapons on the black market. After chewing out [[Onslaught (G1)|Onslaught]], he commanded Skywarp to bring Swindle in, and he wasn't fussy about how many pieces the Combaticon was in. {{storylink|Two for the Price of One}}

Megatron, along with [[Megatron (Armada)|Megatron]] and two [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]]s, was waiting [[Maccadam's Old Oil House]] when [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]] emerged from a meeting with [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Optimus Prime]] and two [[Optimus Primal]]s. {{storylink|Prime Spark}}

During the gladiatorial matches in the depths of Cybertron, Megatron encountered [[Geosensus]], and mistook him for a potential recruit. When Geosensus revealed he had no offensive capability, Megatron concluded he was a worthless idiot. Megatron prepared to terminate Geosensus, but was interrupted by Shockwave's warning that security forces were incoming. The two Decepticons left to plan their attack on Kaon. {{storylink|Parts}}

{{-}}

===Devil's Due ''G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers'' continuity===
[[Image:Megatronddjoe.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Joey Slick > Cobra Commander]]
When [[Cobra]], a ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule the world, found a crashed spaceship full of Transformers in [[stasis lock]], Megatron proved to them that the machines weren't piloted vehicles when he briefly awoke and groaned that he still functioned. Cobra rebuilt the aliens into new vehicles and reprogrammed them to serve Cobra, with the exception of Megatron, who was rebuilt to transform into a Walther P38 handgun, but was only locked in this mode and not reprogrammed. Holstered by [[Cobra Commander]] at all times, the Decepticon mocked Cobra's decisions, such as deciding that [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]], Megatron's traitorous lieutenant, would serve as the Commander's choice of transport. {{storylink|G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers issue 1}}

Regardless of his complaints, Megatron's only chance to be released from his state was to follow Cobra Commander's orders, such as providing instructions on how to create [[Energon (fuel)|energon]]. Things weren't all bad, though, as he still got some enjoyment out of seeing his nemesis [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]] being forced to steal and destroy. {{storylink|G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers issue 2}} Megatron was also pleased when [[Destro]] showed up and started bossing Cobra Commander around. {{storylink|G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers issue 3}}

When the Transformers were cleared of their reprogramming thanks to [[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]], Cobra Commander found himself face to face with a very stern Optimus Prime, and tried to use Megatron to shoot the Autobot. However, Megatron was still had some control of his body and strictly refused to fire, instead bargaining with Cobra Commander to return him to normal. The human gave in, and Megatron transformed and clashed with his old enemy. With Prime low on energon, Megatron came out on top, but before he could finish Prime off, Starscream attacked him and tried to take leadership of the Decepticons. Megatron got rid of him, but the distraction had allowed several Autobots to come to Optimus Prime's rescue. {{storylink|G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers issue 4}}

Ignoring Prime to focus on some more long-term plans, Megatron made [[Doctor Mindbender]] use the [[SPS Satellite]] to create large amounts of energon. However, his party was soon crashed when Optimus Prime attacked the facility and used the energon to power up. Finding the situation unsalvageable, Megatron tried to escape while Prime was busy with [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]] and [[Reflector (G1)|Reflector]]. {{storylink|G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers issue 5}} He ran right into [[G.I. Joe (team)|G.I. Joe]], but was unimpressed with their firepower and fought back with his [[energon mace]], possibly killing [[Mercer]]. Things quickly turned for the worse for Megatron; his arm was heavily damaged by a stray beam from the malfunctioning SPS Satellite, he was pounded by G.I. Joe's rockets, and Optimus Prime caught up to him and beat him to a pulp. Prime then stole his [[fusion cannon]] and used it to destroy the satellite and smack Megatron across the jaw, defeating him and ending the battle. The Decepticon was disassembled, but unbeknownst to the victors, his remains were seized and experimented upon by the United States government. {{storylink|G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers issue 6}}

A few years later, the human scientists had used Megatron's technology to create the [[Serpentor|Serpent Organic Robot]], a synthetic creature that combined the personalities of several of [[Earth]]'s most famous warmongers and Megatron. After being prematurely activated by Cobra Commander, Serpent O.R. flashbacked to a memory of Megatron's imprisonment and attacked the Cobra leader. He then plugged himself into Soundwave's deactivated head and learned the history of the Transformers, subsequently considering himself the son of Megatron. {{storylink|The Art of War issue 1}}

===Dreamwave ''Transformers/G.I. Joe'' continuity===
Megatron and his underlings lay buried and deactivated under a temple on the [[Fera Islands]] for some three million years, until one day in 1938 when they were somehow reactivated by [[Major Bludd]] touching the [[Matrix of Leadership]]. After learning that [[Cobra]], like the Decepticons, were ruthless conquerors in search of power, Megatron allied himself with the humans. However, this was merely a ruse so that he could get his hands on the Matrix, which proved hard as [[Cobra Commander]] kept on his person at all times. Megatron and his troops spent the following year helping Cobra ransack various European nations, stealing energy for themselves while leaving the useless "[[Gold|yellow metal]] and painted paper" for Cobra. In the summer of 1959, he took out the aerial defense of the English Channel alongside [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]] and [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]], clearing the way for an invasion of the [[United Kingdom]]. {{storylink|The Line}}

Hours later at the Fera Islands, Megatron was in the process of beating up Starscream for leaving his post when he spotted an Autobot [[Sky Spy|repair drone]] in the process of reactivating [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]] and his troops. This angered him slightly more than [[Destro]] eyeing his [[energon cube]]s. {{storylink|Transformed}} Deciding that he needed a safer place to store the energy, Megatron commandeered a submarine and forced Cobra troops to move the cubes into it, which did not please Cobra Commander. However, Megatron had decided their alliance had outlived its usefulness anyway, and prepared to squish the fleshling, only to learn the hard way that Cobra Commander could use the Matrix to cause him great pain. As Megatron collapsed, the Cobra leader warned him against ever rebelling again. {{storylink|Trial by Fire (issue)|Trial by Fire}}

The Decepticon commander decided to bide his time, and stood calmly by Cobra Commander's side as their enemies closed in on the Terrordrome. When [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] refused to follow Cobra Commander's orders, Megatron admonished him in order to further trick the commander that he had learned his lesson. {{storylink|Trenches}} As Cobra Commander's orders led to Shockwave breaking apart, Megatron suggested that he be given the Matrix so he could repair his underling. Unfortunately for him, Cobra Commander did not fall for it, but Megatron at least got to taunt him for wasting valuable troops like that. Shortly afterwards, [[Bruticus (G1)|Bruticus]] was unleashed, causing a rockslide that crushed Cobra Commander's legs, despite his orders for Megatron to shield him. Instead, Megatron "humbly" suggested that the commander use his gun mode as a means of ending his life. Cobra Commander could not go through with it, but Megatron was simply picked up by the [[Baroness]], who executed her former leader. Free at last, the Decepticon leader went after the Matrix, only to find it had been stolen by [[Snake-Eyes]]. Before he could kill the ninja, [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]] arrived and attacked him, keeping him at bay while Snake-Eyes destroyed the Matrix in an attempt to destroy Bruticus, killing all the Transformers in the process. {{storylink|The Iron Fist}}

=== IDW comics continuity ===
{{ongoing}}
{{quote|I don't care why you fight to protect these people, this place, the old way. It must change. ''I will make it change.''|Megatron to Sentinel Prime|"[[Megatron Origin issue 4]]"}}

[[Image:Apexthrone.JPG|right|250px|thumb|You should have gone to IKEA.]]
Long ago, before the war, Megatron was an [[Energon (fuel)|energon]] miner, a member of the lower class, in [[Mining Outpost C-12]]. One day [[Decimus|Senator Decimus]] arrived at the mine to announce that the mine was being closed immediately and the workers would be relocated. However, one of the Senator's guards killed a worker for insubordination and claims of Senate corruption, which spurred Megatron into action. He attacked Senator Decimus and killed the guard in self-defense, and was shocked to find he had done so. He and the other miners were en route to imprisonment when [[Rumble (G1)|Rumble]] and [[Frenzy (G1)|Frenzy]] broke free and started a riot aboard [[Longshot|their ship]]. They escaped and made their way to [[Kaon]]. {{storylink|Megatron Origin issue 1}}

After evading law enforcement, Megatron joined a team of underworld gladiators under the tutelage of [[Clench (G2)|Clench]]. Initially repulsed by killing his opponents, the games eventually turned him more brutal and excessive, and he took control of the entire operation from Clench. The opportunistic Senator [[Ratbat (G1)|Ratbat]], after seeing how much money there was in the underworld matches, sent his agent [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]] to offer Megatron weaponry and technology to upgrade himself and his comrades. {{storylink|Megatron Origin issue 2}} [[Sentinel Prime (G1)|Sentinel Prime]]'s Autobots were sent to investigate the gladiatorial games, but when two Autobots were personally killed by Megatron, Prime's forces stepped up their pursuit. Megatron used the gladiatorial games to drum up an army of violent malcontents and spread chaos throughout Cybertron. He then deliberately allowed Sentinel Prime's forces to capture his burgeoning army, {{storylink|Megatron Origin issue 3}} so that [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]] (pretending to defect) and Soundwave and his hidden cassette army could exterminate the Kaon Senate and then free every last prisoner. Megatron led the army of prisoners against the Autobots, beat Sentinel Prime nearly to death, and took control of Kaon. {{storylink|Megatron Origin issue 4}}

[[Image:Megatrong1idwpreearth.jpg|left|150px|thumb|450 years ago, his helmet was black, but now it's gray. The difference time makes, huh?]]
Over time, the war between Megatron's Decepticon army and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]]'s Autobots covered the entire planet and soon beyond to the rest of the galaxy. Optimus grew to respect and fear Megatron as a calm, calculating and measured opponent, while Megatron himself respected Prime's sheer power and his skill as a tactician and as a leader. {{storylink|Escalation issue 5}} Megatron also constructed [[Sixshot]], a living weapon with frightening amounts of power that only he had the "off-switch" for. {{storylink|Devastation issue 5}} Megatron would then go on to develop a six-stage [[infiltration protocol]] to be used for conquering targeted planets, and selected Sixshot and the similarly ultra-powerful Overlord and [[Black Shadow]] to be the agents who would strike the final blow in each battle. {{storylink|Last Stand of the Wreckers issue 2}} As the Autobot/Decepticon war progressed, the conflict became so great that it created an impending energy crisis and threatened the stability of [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]] itself. When [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] left Cybertron, secretly pursuing alternate energy sources, Megatron ordered [[Bludgeon (G1)|Bludgeon]] to investigate his files, secretly assigning Soundwave to investigate Bludgeon. {{storylink|Spotlight: Shockwave}}

Later, a Decepticon scientist, [[Thunderwing (G1)|Thunderwing]], came to Megatron with a revolutionary, controversial plan to stave off this energy death by [[Pretender|polydermal grafting]], a process where they encased themselves in "symbiotic carapaces," or shells created from living tissue. When Megatron dismissed him angrily and cut him down, Thunderwing did not abandon his research, but instead experimented on himself. {{storylink|Stormbringer issue 3}} As a result, Thunderwing became so powerful that Megatron had to join forces with Optimus Prime to stop him. This battle at [[Thunderhead Pass]] accelerated the apocalypse destined to befall Cybertron, leaving it an uninhabitable, radioactive husk and forcing both armies to continue their war on other worlds. Megatron advocated that they simply destroy Cybertron to ensure that Thunderwing was destroyed, but Prime refused, and threatened to stop Megatron if he tried. Megatron agreed not to destroy the planet, but warned Prime that whatever happened was on his head. Shortly after the last big push by the Decepticons, Cybertron was abandoned by both factions.

[[Image:Infiltration6 takeyourpunishment.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Those librarians are getting really strict on late returns.]]
Seven hundred [[Units of time|stellar cycles]] later, in current times, it was discovered that as a result of digging through Shockwave's files, Bludgeon had resurrected Thunderwing's dangerous project, as well as Thunderwing himself. After being informed of Thunderwing's attack on [[Nebulos]], Megatron dispatched the [[Predacon (G1)|Predacons]] in the ''[[Thanatos]]'' to Cybertron, authorizing [[Razorclaw (G1)|Razorclaw]] to do whatever was necessary to destroy Thunderwing, including the destruction of Cybertron. {{storylink|Stormbringer issue 3}} However, Optimus Prime and the [[Wrecker|Wreckers]] were able to thwart both Bludgeon and Thunderwing, and so destruction of the planet was averted. {{storylink|Stormbringer issue 4}}

{{quote|You will stand down. If you fight, you ''die''. There is no room anymore for mercy. In the end, you are ''all'' expendable. Choose.|Megatron's ultimatum to Starscream's troops|"[[Infiltration issue 6]]"}}

Megatron, meanwhile, was on Earth, investigating Starscream's infiltration team. He discovered that Starscream had stumbled across [[Ore-13]], an incredible energy source which had been [[Spotlight: Shockwave|mysteriously seeded there]], and that the [[Air Commander]] was planning to use it to usurp Megatron's command — this annoyed him, as he had thought they were beyond such power games. {{storylink|Infiltration issue 4}} After seriously damaging the hesitantly rebellious [[Skywarp (G1)|Skywarp]] and [[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]], {{storylink|Infiltration issue 5}} Megatron ordered the AWOL team to stand down and then took on a super-powered Starscream. Though the Ore-13 made Starscream a formidable adversary, Megatron was still more deadly than he, and Starscream was destroyed. All throughout, he acted eerily calm & measured and made both Autobot and Decepticon wet themselves in fear. {{storylink|Infiltration issue 6}}

[[Image:Megatrong1idwgunbody.jpg|left|150px|thumb|I also wonder.]]
Megatron took stock of Starscream's progress on Earth in light of the discovery of Ore-13, repaired Skywarp and Blitzwing, and made Starscream's former troops aware, in no uncertain terms, that any further insurrections would be met with deadly force. {{storylink|Escalation issue 1}} But instead of leaving Earth in the hands of a new commander, Megatron stayed to guide the second stage of the Decepticons' plans, wishing to try out his new [[Size changing|mass-displacing]] handgun [[Alternate mode|altmode]] and the Ore-13 power. {{storylink|Escalation issue 2}} He personally took charge of the Decepticon subterfuge in [[Brasnya]], guiding the facsimile of [[Georgi Koska]] in an attempt to escalate an international incident into a full polarizing war, and acting as Koska's personal weapon. (His alt-mode only works when a human is holding and firing him, which left him at a disadvantage against the Autobots, who could simply pin him down in that form. Maybe Megs just wants to be held.) {{storylink|Escalation issue 3}}

When Optimus Prime arrived, Megatron transformed and started a full-blown to-the-death melee with his longtime foe for all the nuts and bolts - this surprised Optimus, who accused Megatron of letting the Ore-13 power go to his head and causing him to be "some raging braggart". Even with his fusion cannon disabled almost right away, Megatron gained the upper hand due to his Ore-13 high. Beating his foe down, he squeezed Prime's spark casing and seemingly killed him; {{storylink|Escalation issue 5}} aghast, the Autobots moved into a full but ineffective counterattack, their only edge being that Megatron had no long-range guns left. However, Prime's death was a desperate ruse, and the Autobot leader countered with a surprise attack on Megatron, able to exploit Ore-13's weakness — the more it's used, the faster it burns itself out. Megatron almost collapsed from power loss and was forced to have Skywarp take him to safety before the Autobots could kill him.

Upon returning to base and being refueled and repaired, Megatron was hopping mad. Mad enough to prematurely call in his ultimate living weapon—[[Sixshot]]—despite [[Astrotrain (G1)|Astrotrain]]'s panic attack on hearing that. {{storylink|Escalation issue 6}}

During this time, he discovered a plot by [[Ramjet (G1)|Ramjet]] to overthrow him. Without saying a word, he beat the living [[Slag (slang)|slag]] out of the attempted traitor. {{storylink|Spotlight: Ramjet}}

Upon Sixshot's arrival, Megatron ordered him to utterly destroy the Autobots, throwing out the methodical "Phase" strategy. The other Decepticons were worried that Megatron was losing his grip - and since they were too scared to tell him that, they decided to revive Starscream to do it for them. {{storylink|Devastation issue 1}} Before Sixshot could obliterate the Autobots, Megatron recalled him to deal with a new threat—the [[Reaper|Reapers]]. {{storylink|Devastation issue 4}} Megatron deduced that the other Decepticons betrayed him by awakening Starscream, but decided not to punish them '''yet''', due to the present task of destroying the Reapers. {{storylink|Devastation issue 5}} After these foes were dead, Megatron was forced to accept Starscream and the others when it became clear the humans were aware of them now. {{storylink|Devastation issue 6}}

[[Image:Bringingthehousedown.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Megatron's urban renewal program was off to a flying start.]]
Some time later, the Autobots were led into a trap; false information was planted by an [[Sunstreaker (G1)|Autobot traitor]], and they were badly smashed up by the 'Cons, who had created [[Devastator (G1)|Devastator]]. After personally ripping the [[Matrix of Leadership]] out of Optimus Prime's chest, Megatron planned to drop the Autobots into the midst of [[Insecticon swarm|three thousand horrendous things he had created]] on Cybertron. When all but Prime had gone through the space bridge, Prime grabbed Blitzwing's gun and somehow saved the other Autobots from certain death, closing the portal. Optimus was critically injured by the space bridge, which fried his circuits. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 7}} This caused Starscream's status among the Decepticons and their concern about Megatron to go ''way'' down, with former dissenters like [[Skywarp (G1)|Skywarp]] becoming Megatron fanboys. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 1}} By use of Sunstreaker's input with Starscream and Bombshell's experimentation on [[Hunter O'Nion]], Megatron was able to defeat [[Omega Supreme (G1)|almost]] all the Autobots in the galaxy...

A year after the defeat of Optimus, Megatron decided to take Earth and make it the new Decepticon homeworld. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 6}} Using Sunstreaker, he led the Autobots into an ambush, defeating Optimus' squad and banishing them to Cybertron to be food for the Swarm {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 8}}, three thousand failed experiments, born during an attempt to create the Insecticons. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 7}} He arrived on the front lines as the Decepticons attacked [[New York]], humiliating Starscream by outdoing him in destroying things with just one shot from his fusion cannon. When the US Air Force responded with an F-22 squad, as a show of force Megatron had Soundwave disable the human's missile targeting, followed by the Decepticons just standing there shrugging off bullets before making their attack. After one jet was damaged by Skywarp, [[DJ (G1)|its pilot]] attempted to take out Megatron with a suicide run, but the Decepticon leader calmly swatted the incoming plane, causing it to explode. As flames rose from the wreckage, Megatron emerged, completely undamaged, laughing maniacally. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 1}} Megatron continued to direct the Decepticon assault on New York, dispatching [[Frenzy (G1)|Frenzy]] to mop up the U.S. Army's ground forces and ordering the [[Constructicon (G1)|Constructicons]] to combine into [[Devastator (G1)|Devastator]] and destroy the underwater tunnels leading out of the city. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 2}}

His plan executed flawlessly, the Decepticons continued their assault on the major cities of the United States, disabling or nullifying any attempt by the army or navy to counterattack. As he surveyed his handiwork in New York, he ordered Hook and the Constructicons to begin building ''something'' in the once-great human city and appreciated their "sacrifice" in using "substandard" building materials. Soon thereafter he was joined by Starscream, with whom he had a heart to heart and revealed he believed Starscream to be the embodiment of the Decepticon cause, but that Starscream was blind to realizing this. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 3}}

When the humans had fallen, Megatron made a propaganda speech to his men in the ruins of New York. He heaped great praise on their efforts, both on Earth and across the galaxy, announcing they had finally crushed the Autobots for good. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 4}} After making this speech (and dispatching Ratbat to attack a small group of mercenaries led by [[Spike Witwicky (G1)|Commander Witwicky]]), Megatron entered one of the "buildings" to gaze at his newly prized possession... the Autobot Matrix of Leadership that he stole from Optimus. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 5}}

[[Image:AHM6MegatronVsIsrael.jpg|left|200px|thumb|]]

That praise turned out to be empty, as Starscream started noticing that Megatron didn't have a plan now victory had been achieved, and the smashy-smash fun on Earth was him trying to distract the troops - because now he had an army of evil sociopathic murderers with nothing to murder and a doctrine of taking power. Not even smashing up Israel made him feel better. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 6}} Eventually, Starscream made his move, revealing to Megatron that he had swayed the Insecticons to his side. Megatron easily swatted the insects aside, however, and explained to Starscream that he had known about his plans all along. Unfortunately, he hadn't anticipated Starscream to have rallied the Constructicons backing him up, and found himself having to fight the mighty Devastator. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 10}}

As the battle was interrupted by an attack from human jets, Megatron and Starscream put their differences aside momentarily to organize a defense. Megatron was not at all surprised by the attack, as he had planned the invasion—nay, the ''war''—down to the smallest detail. He explained to Starscream that while the Decepticon forces may have no real goal at the moment, he planned to remodel them into something greater after the war was done. Then he was suddenly interrupted by something he ''hadn't'' planned for: the return of the Autobots. After assuring Starscream that he'd be leader someday (just not right now), Megatron confronted Optimus Prime again, accusing the Autobot of coming for his Matrix rather than truly caring about Earth. He also revealed that Prime's supposedly "innocent" humans were planning to nuke New York, killing millions of their own just to get rid of the Decepticons. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 11}}

Prime retorted that it wasn't about the humans, it was about the difference between him and Megatron—the difference between Autobots and Decepticons. The two came to blows, and Megatron eventually came out on top by throwing Prime into a building. He ordered the Decepticons to leave Earth, leaving the Autobots to be killed by the humans' nuke... only to be shot in the face by [[Spike Witwicky (G1)|Spike Witwicky]], wielding a powerful weapon reverse-engineered from Cybertronian technology. Injured and disoriented by the blast, Megatron was finished off when Optimus Prime got back up and smashed his face in with his own fusion cannon. As he wanted to ''take'' leadership rather than just have it fall in his hands, Starscream picked up his damaged leader and took him off the planet. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 12}}

On board Astrotrain, Megatron was put on life support and was tended to by Soundwave and his cassettes. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 13|Uneasy Lies the Head}}

{{note|The events of ''Spotlight: Mirage'' possibly take place in an alternate/unknown continuity.}}

With most of the Autobots in the galaxy defeated, Megatron chafed to end the war quickly. He demanded [[Mirage (G1)|Mirage]] track the last pocket of Autobot resistance down for the Decepticons. The mercenary demanded a majority share in all energon mining operations, a deal which outraged Megatron, until Mirage pointed out it was a small price to pay to end the war. After Optimus Prime surrendered, Megatron demanded the prisoners be executed despite Mirage's promise to spare Autobot lives. Seeing Mirage's hesitation, Megatron appealed to his greed. {{storylink|Spotlight: Mirage}}

===IDW ''[[Hearts of Steel]]'' continuity===
Megatron is referred to as a leader [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]] wants to replace (big surprise), but does not appear. {{storylink|Hearts of Steel issue 2}}
{{note|Unused concept art for ''Hearts of Steel'' depicts Megatron with a variety of proposed alternate modes: a giant cannon (with big studded wheels that become shoulder-shields), a 19th-century Colt revolver, possibly a [[wikipedia:Colt 1851 Navy Revolver|Colt 1851 Navy]], and another very similar revolver, with an anachronistic scope and a bulkier muzzle.}}

===''Henkei! Henkei!'' pack-in comics===
{{charstubfiction}}
{{storylink|Henkei! Henkei! volume 1|#1}} {{storylink|Henkei! Henkei! volume 2|#2}} {{storylink|Henkei! Henkei! volume 3|#3}} {{storylink|Henkei! Henkei! volume 7|#7}}

===''Henkei! Henkei!'' Bun Bun manga===

[[Image:Henkei1 enter megatron.jpg|left|thumb|220px|]]

When the legendary [[Energon Cube]] was lost to the reaches of space, Megatron led a small team of Decepticons across the galaxy in pursuit. The cube crashed on Earth, in the Japanese town of [[Hoshinochō]], where it shattered into innumerable fragments that were scattered far and wide. To search for the cube shards, Megatron and his Decepticons took on the forms of local vehicles and devices, so they could operate in secret. [[Optimus Prime (G1)#Henkei! Henkei! Bun Bun manga|Optimus Prime]] and his Autobots had also followed the Cube to Earth, and so the Transformers' war continued in secret on this new world. {{storylink|Kingdom of Giants}}

Ten years later, Megatron discovered that the humans had a "secret weapon" of sorts in their quest: They had allied themselves with the human boy [[Akira Kihara]], who possessed the incredible powers of a "[[Booster]]", one of a small number of beings in the universe born with the power to detect and manipulate the energies of the Energon Cube. Seeking the boy's power for his own, Megatron struck, but was repelled when Akira used his powers to their fullest. Alas, Akira overloaded his body and died in the process, and Prime was consumed with guilt. {{storylink|Time of Resurrection}}

One year after the battle for Akira, Megatron received word from [[Astrotrain (G1)#Henkei! Henkei! Bun Bun manga|Astrotrain]] that [[Starscream (G1)#Henkei! Henkei! Bun Bun manga|Starscream]] and [[Ramjet (G1)#Henkei! Henkei! Bun Bun manga|Ramjet]] were battling Prime's Autobots at the human structure known as the [[Star Dome]]. {{storylink|Enter! The Transformers}} Joining the conflict, he berating Starscream for his failures, using the fallen Air Commander as a shield to protect himself from Optimus Prime's shots. Chastizing Prime for not going all-out in his attack, Megatron turned his Fusion Cannon on [[Bumblebee (G1)#Henkei! Henkei! Bun Bun manga|Bumblebee]] and the Autobots' newest human ally [[Wataru Hoshinoumi]]. At the last moment, Prime appeared to deflect Megatron's blast with a shot of his, and Megatron elected to retreat, transforming to gun mode and collapsing a large chunk of the Star Dome to cover the Decepticons' withdrawal. {{storylink|The Emperor of Destruction Appears!}} Starscream claimed Megatron's advanced age was making him weak, but Megatron suggested that he had another reason for calling retreat... {{storylink|Kingdom of Giants}}

[[Image:Henkei6_megatron_mace.jpg|right|thumb]]

When Starscream struck out on his own, attacking a power plant with the aid of the brainwashed Autobot [[Jetfire (G1)#Henkei! Henkei! Bun Bun manga|Skyfire]], Megatron observed the battle via a recording made by his spy, [[Ravage (G1)#Henkei! Henkei! Bun Bun manga|Ravage]]. The events that unfolded during the conflict confirmed Megatron's suspicions: Wataru was also a Booster! {{storylink|Wataru's Power}} Once again seeking to take the power of a Booster for himself, Megatron tracked Prime and Wataru when they went on a mission to investigate a local relic (in actuality, a cube shard), then struck hard. Taunting Prime with the memory of the last Booster that he had allowed to die, Megatron goaded the Autobot leader into a ferocious battle with their energon-axe and flail. Throughout the duel, Megatron challenged Prime's philosophy and beliefs, eventually striking home with the claim that Prime had hoped to use Wataru's power to defeat him. With Prime's focus broken by this sadly-true accusation, Megatron was able to lay Prime low and seize Wataru, informing the boy that he would not allow him to die like Akira had if he came with him willingly. Naturally, Wataru refused, and activated his powers, forcing Megatron back with a barrier shield; this, Megatron realized, was what had deflected his shot during his first encounter with Wataru, rather than Prime's blast. Wataru used his powers to heal Optimus and power-up his energon axe into a mighty sword, which Prime used to tear a massive gash in Megatron's armor. The explosion that resulted decimated the surrounding countryside, and when Prime and Wataru awoke, Megatron was gone. {{storylink|Optimus Prime's Secret}}

[[Image:Henkei8_megatron_energon_bath.jpg|left|250px|thumb]]

The injured Megatron had been spirited away by [[Cyclonus (G1)#Henkei! Henkei! Bun Bun manga|Cyclonus]], who took him to a network of caves beneath a volcano and placed him in a "bath" of molten [[energon cube]]s to heal him. {{storylink|Time of Resurrection}} While Megatron was recuperating, however, Starscream led Optimus Prime and Bumblebee to his location, in hopes that they would destroy him so that he could take his throne. As Starscream and Cyclonus battled in the air, Prime approached Megatron, and without hesitation, plunged his energon sword into the Decepticon leader's chest and broke the blade off within his body. Megatron howled in pain and fury, and the energon cubes around him began to react, rising to whirl around him and surround his body with their glow. The maddened Megatron seized one of the cubes and bit into it deeply, causing a huge energon explosion. As the light from the blast faded, Megatron stood restored, renewed and reformatted... now, he was [[Galvatron (G1)#Henkei! Henkei! Bun Bun manga|Galvatron]]! {{storylink|Creation! The New Emperor of Destruction!!}}
{{-}}

===''Alternity''===

[[Image:Alternity_megatron_black_boxart.jpg|right|thumb|220px]]

Numerous incarnations of Megatron from throughout the [[multiverse]] were gathered together as the "[[Megatron Aggregate]]" under the leadership of [[Megatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity#Alternity|one particular incarnation]] who hailed from a universe where the Autobots had evolved into the hyperdimensional race known as the [[Alternity (species)|Alternity]]. Shackling the power of the trans-time god-beast [[Hytherion]], this Megatron conveyed time-and-space-manipulating powers similar to those of the Alternity upon himself as his different iterations, forging them into one cross-dimensional gestalt-consciousness entity. To battle the Alternity across time and space, the Megatrons copied their methods, projecting their consciousnesses into [[auto-avatar]]s. The Megatron responsible for the scheme took control of a "Premium Le Mans Blue" style auto-avatar, while his first known ally (from an unidentified dimension) possessed a "Silver Blade" body.

The third identified member of the Megatron Aggregate hailed from [[universal stream]] [[Transformers: Mystery of Convoy|Primax 1286:3 Kappa]]. In a "Diamond Black" auto-avatar body, he engaged in battle with "Ultimate Silver" Optimus Prime across two [[universal stream]]s, striking at him from the year 2009. This Megatron was amused when Prime deduced that he had an ulterior motive for operating in that year, and so made him a wager: if he could defeat him in a game of his own choosing, he would answer a question honestly. Megatron proposed manipulating the inhabitants of his home universe in a "game full of death and suffering", and infused a portion of his power through a legion of Decepticons (including his own past self) to be pitted against Prime's lone chosen champion, [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]]. {{storylink|To Die Game!}}
{{note|Alternity beings are both individuals and a collective of separate entities. More fiction about Megatron's Alternity collective can be found [[Megatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity#Alternity|here]].}}
{{-}}

==="Universe" cartoon===
[[Image:FfE Megatron.JPG|left|thumb|250px]]
Megatron and [[Cyclonus (G1)|Cyclonus]] set up a mining operation near an abandoned [[Rock-It Fuel|gas station]] to extract Earth's natural resources and convert them to [[Energon (fuel)|Energon]]. They were discovered by [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], who created a diversion and knocked Cyclonus out. Metatron then blew the mining operation up with his double-barreled arm cannon and retreated with Cyclonus. {{storylink|Fight for Energon}}

{{--}}

==Commercial appearances==
Megatron featured in quite a few [[commercial]]s, mostly advertising other toys:

* He appears in the very first Transformers animation, a commercial announcing the upcoming 1984 comic book. He lands amid a battle on Earth and fires his cannon at incoming Autobots. This appearance uses his pre-cartoon design, with the black helmet and triggered cannon.

* Footage from that commercial, as well as the show's opening credits, was recycled into an early ad for the toyline.

* In the ad for [[Coleco]]'s [[Power Cycle]], Megatron and the Decepticons are raiding a <s>jungle gym</s> power plant. This footage is recycled from the advertisement for the first issue of the comic, and features Megatron's early "black helmet" model.

* The footage from the first issue of the comic was recycled again for the [[rubsign]] ad.

* Megatron attempts to hijack a load of shoes in a South American ad for [[Bata]]'s licensed ''Transformers'' footwear. He is stopped when a pair of said shoes deflect his fusion cannon blast right back at him. No, really.

* In the middle of a desert battle, Megatron summons Thrust and Dirge, in response to Optimus Prime bringing in like half a dozen new guys.

* Megatron, in his Action Master body, is seen in a base futilely trying to grab a pair of [[Micromaster Combiner]]s.

Megatron's voice, provided by Frank Welker, has narrated numerous commercials, including:
* The Constructicons
* Rubsigns
* Sharkticons (strange!)
* Wreck-Gar (stranger!)
* Galvatron (stranger still!)
* Stunticons
* Combaticons
* Trypticon
* Predacons
* Battlechargers

==Games==
===''Transformers: Mystery of Convoy''===
Megatron appeared on a viewscreen to taunt [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] in a room in stage 6. After getting through the maze-like stage 9, Magnus challenged and defeated the Decepticon leader, who for some reason was roughly the size of a [[combiner]]. {{storylink|Transformers: Mystery of Convoy}}

===''Transformers: Beast Wars Transmetals''===
After defeating both the [[Maximal]]s and [[Predacon (BW)|Predacons]] on ancient Earth, [[Ravage (G1)|Ravage]] entered the ''[[Ark (G1)|Ark]]'' and used a prototype [[transreplication]] device to create clones of the dormant Decepticons within. The Megatron clone, equipped with all the memories and personality functions of the original, then followed Ravage back to his future in order to conquer it. {{storylink|Transformers: Beast Wars Transmetals (N64)|Transformers: Beast Wars Transmetals}}

===''The Transformers: Call of the Future''===
{{charstubfiction}}
{{storylink|The Transformers (PS2)|The Transformers: Call of the Future}}

===''Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen'' - The Game===
[[Image:ROTF_360PS3PC_G1Megatron_DLC.jpg|thumb|250px|]]
:''Voice actor:'' [[Frank Welker]]
====Xbox 360/Sony PS3/PC====
{{Note|On [[August 27]], [[2009]], Megatron was one of a handful of downloadable characters in a DLC pack for Xbox 360 and Sony Playstation 3.}}
{{storylink|Revenge of the Fallen (Xbox 360/PS3/PC)|Revenge of the Fallen}}
{{--}}

==Toys==
{{main|Megatron (G1)/toys}}

==Trivia==
[[Image:Earlymegatron.jpg|thumb|250px|The [[fusion cannon]]'s got that handle because... well, we're not sure.]] [[Image:P-Megatron.jpg|thumb|250px|Microman Megatron's concept model. Back then, he was a little less happy to see you.]]
* Early in the ''Transformers'' series preproduction, Megatron's look was based not on the toy, but on concept art for an unproduced prototype version. This early version, sporting a different, black head, a very different scope/fusion cannon, and the gun's barrel on his back, managed to make its way into not only early [[commercial]] animation and licensed material, but into the art of the early Marvel Comics. Though the model was altered before the animated series was produced, elements from the first model were perpetuated such as the back-mounted barrel in both the comic and the cartoon. The Marvel Comics continued to color Megatron's helmet black (well, blue) until the end of its run.

* The name "Megatron" was originally used by Marvel Comics for ''another'' robot that appeared long before the Transformers toyline came about, in issue 18 of the ''Shogun Warriors'' series (written by Doug Moench, art by Herb Trimpe, released in July 1980)<ref>[http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix2/droneracecharter.htm#Megatron Megatron and the "Drones" from Marvel's ''Shogun Warriors'' comic at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe]</ref>. [[Bob Budiansky]] stated in an interview that the name "Megatron" is a portmanteau derived from "Megaton" and "Electronic".<ref>[http://www.alteredstatesmag.com/features/qanda/bbudiansky_2.php ASM - Your Future Nostalgia. Today]</ref> He suggested the name "Megatron" for the Transformers line (it's unclear if he was aware of the existing Marvel character, though as an editor it seems likely that he at least had a subconscious memory of it) but [[Hasbro]] initially rejected it, claiming that "mega" conjured images of nuclear bombs. Budiansky reminded them that the name was supposed to sound evil, because he's the leader of the bad guys. Hasbro responded, "Oh, right," and then approved the name. <ref>[http://www.alteredstatesmag.com/features/qanda/bbudiansky_2.php ASM: A Little Q&A with... Bob Budiansky]</ref>

*When Megatron transforms into gun mode, he most often [[Size changing|shrinks]] to a size where he can be held by either a human or fellow Transformer and has someone else aim and fire him. The exceptions are in the episodes "[[S.O.S. Dinobots]]" and "[[The Ultimate Doom, Part 3]]". In the former, Megatron does not shrink and instead attaches himself to Starscream's jet-mode undercarriage. In the latter, he floats in the air and takes a shot at Skyfire unassisted. Regardless, the reasons Megatron chooses to Transform instead of simply using his fusion cannon are not entirely clear, but one could assume his gun-mode firepower is more concentrated or in some other way more powerful.

*On the 1985 [[Universal Studios Tour]], a giant statue of Megatron was available for children to clamber over and have their picture taken on. It wasn't especially dignified.

[[Image:MegatronOrigin2 Megs hair.jpg|right|150px|thumb|Megatron sincerely hopes that you do not remember this.]]

*Megatron [[Gone but Not Forgotten!|once]] crushed [[Brawl (G1)|Brawl]]'s head with his bare hands!

* After his fight with Optimus Prime in the [[The Transformers: The Movie|1986 animated movie]], Megatron appears to have energon leaking from his eyes and mouth. Either that or he's been crying, which seems unlikely.

* In the UK comics, [[Dreadwind (G1)|Dreadwind]] explains that Megatron is the equivalent of a 'blueblood,' possessing some royal lineage.{{storylink|Letters page (Marvel UK)|Dread Tidings #227}}

* In "[[Megatron Origin issue 2|Megatron Origin #2]]", we see that Megatron's helmet is, in fact, a helmet and not part of his head (at least in this continuity). Upon removing his helmet, Megatron then briefly unfurls a crest. The significance of this moment is not explained, nor is it ever revisited. Thankfully.

*Some [[Canada|Québecquers]] loved his shiny body so much they named a communications company after him. <ref>[http://www.megatron.net/quebec/ Megatron Dot Net Forward Slash Quebec.]</ref>

{{-}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://tfu.info/1984/Decepticon/Megatron/megatron.htm Megatron at TFU.info]
* [http://www.ntfa.net/universe/english/index.php?act=view&char=Megatron Megatron's Universe profile at NTFA.net]
* [http://www.transformers-universe.com/popup.php?img=content/images/galerie/pics/44/4417_Megatron_DreamwaveProfile1.jpg Page 1,] [http://www.transformers-universe.com/popup.php?img=content/images/galerie/pics/44/4418_Megatron_DreamwaveProfile2.jpg 2 and] [http://www.transformers-universe.com/popup.php?img=content/images/galerie/pics/44/4419_Megatron_DreamwaveProfile3.jpg 3 of Megatron's MTMTE profile at Transformers-universe.com]
*[http://www.allspark.com/content/view/4539/37/|e-HOBBY Megatron Black Version Manga and Profile Translation at the Allspark / TF Pulp]
* [http://transfans.co.uk/comics_guide_detail.php?id=269&page=13 Transformers #227 Letters Page on Transfans.co.uk]

[[Category:Action Masters]]
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[[Category:Generation 1 characters]]
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[[Category:Go-Bots]]
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[[Category:Return of Convoy characters]]
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[[Category:Robot Heroes]]
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[[Category:Rulers of Cybertron]]
[[Category:Titanium Series]]
[[Category:Transmetals]]
[[Category:Universe (2008)]]

Sparkwar Pt. II: The Search

2010-06-15T09:17:18Z

125.237.57.83:

{{episode
|series=BMtoon
|ep=21
|image=Sparkwar2 Optimus hologram primal.jpg
|caption="Wait, if you're Optimus Prime, why do you have a mouth?" "All the better to eat you with, my dear Primal"
|title="Sparkwar Pt. II: The Search"
|airdate=[[March 29]], 2000
|written by=[[Michael Reaves]]
|directed by=[[Gino Nichele]]
|production company=[[Mainframe Entertainment]]
|animation studio=[[Mainframe Entertainment]]
|continuty=[[Beast Wars continuity]]
}}

'''The Maximals continue their search for the missing sparks.'''

:''French title:'' '''La Guerre des Étincelles (Partie 2)''' ("The War of the Sparks (Part 2)")
:''French-Canadian title:'' '''Guerre des Étincelles p2: La Recherche''' ("War of the Sparks Pt.2: The Search")
:''Japanese title:'' 虚像の導き (''Kyozou no Michibiki'', "The Illusion's Guidance")
:''Spanish title:'' '''Guerra de Chispas Parte 2: La Búsqueda'''

==Synopsis==
[[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]]'s fascist planet is being patrolled by legions of the new drones as the [[Maximal]]s, in beast mode, make their way along the lower levels of the surface. They observe that Megatron is fortifying his position. [[Optimus Primal|Optimus]] has a jolting vision of the drifting [[Spark]]s, apparently the [[Oracle (BM)|Oracle]] contacting him about the Sparks, which have been moved.

Within the [[Grand Mal|big floating head]], Megatron speaks to his three generals, directing them to locations where the Maximals will be, and instructing them to capture Optimus alive.

[[Image:Sparkwar2 Rattrap generators.jpg|left|thumb|200px|"I nicked this out of Tony Stark's chest."]]
[[Rattrap]] introduces the team to his [[scrambled field generator]] devices, small disks intended to befuddle the Vehicons' sensors. Rattrap's not ''quite'' sure they'll work, but the team figures it's better than nothing. The group tries them out, changing to robot modes... then dives for cover as [[Obsidian (BM)|Obsidian]] passes by overhead. But the general doesn't notice them, instead moving to carry out his orders along with [[Strika (BM)|Strika]].

Optimus tells the group that his flashes were of familiar places, and splits them up into three teams to go investigate. Rattrap and [[Botanica]] aren't too happy at being paired up, but the group deploys as ordered.

At the Maximal shell yard just outside processing plant #57, [[Cheetor (BW)|Cheetor]], [[Silverbolt (BW)|Silverbolt]] and [[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]] move in. Silverbolt is not interested in taking orders from Cheetor, despite Blackarachnia's assurance that a ''lot'' has changed since they were parted. Obsidian, watching from concealment, prepares his strike force.

As Optimus and [[Nightscream (BM)|Nightscream]] walk below the surface, Nightscream finds a familiar claw slash in the wall. Nightscream wants to find [[Noble]], but Primal gently persuades him to take one job at a time. They run into a cave-in around the corner; Op's eyes flash with white light, and, glancing at a floor hatch, he says they're heading down...

Rattrap and Botanica arrive outside the Citadel, still squabbling. Rattrap detects a massive positronic residual charge, but inside they find piles and piles of Spark canisters... empty. They've arrived here too late. They depart, only to be ambushed by Strika. Botanica is chagrined that Rattrap's scramblers didn't work very long; they fall back.

Obsidian observes from high above as the Maximals explore the shell complex. Silverbolt and Cheetor argue over the latter's leadership capabilities, till Obsidian attacks. Surrounded, Silverbolt decides a berserker head-on attack is the only option.

[[Image:Sparkwar2 Maximals over iacon.jpg|right|thumb|200px]]
Optimus and Nightscream, meanwhile, have found a stunning ruin below the surface, a great city that was replaced after the great war between the Autobots and the Decepticons, during the Great Upgrade: Iacon. The two apparently trigger a ghostly spector, a holographic tribute to the original [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]].

Rattrap and Botanica get out of robot mode to escape detection, and duck into a convenient building; Strika drives by without finding them. Rattrap taps his scrambler disk uncertainly, only to get snapped at by Botanica. But Rattrap's attention is suddenly distracted by the contents of the building they're in: holographic pleasure chips. He loads several of said chips into his backpack, then spots some sort of player for the chips just then. He plugs into it, becoming enthralled with a vision of a peaceful metallic world. Just then Strika enters and attacks.

At the shell plant, Silverbolt finally gets blasted back to the ground, and rebuked by Cheetor for his recklessness.

Optimus and Nightscream are about to move on, when the virtual Prime reaches down and scoops Optimus up, bringing him up to face level. From Nightscream's point of view, the hologram disappears, though Optimus continues to float in mid-air. Thrust arrives just then and attacks, but Optimus is seemingly in a trance.

[[Image:Sparkwar2 Rattrap holoenviron.jpg|left|thumb|200px]]
Rattrap is still lost in his fantasy world, till Botanica pulls the machine's plug. A blast scatters the Maximals as well as Rattrap's precious chips, which he scrambles to scoop up. He tells Botanica to keep Strika occupied.

As leader, Cheetor decides on a strategic advance to the rear.

Nightscream is dodging cycle drone shots, while Optimus talks with Optimus on some other plane. The Prime hologram tells him that the Oracle lies within him, and he has but to summon it. Primal does so, and is surrounded by a white, Oracle-style hoola-hoop. The hologram of Optimus Prime chuckles... then laughs... a laugh which quickly deepens into that of Megatron, whose face suddenly replaces the figure of Prime.

Strika is posed to deliver a killing blow to Botanica, when Rattrap notices that one of her feet is on the activation pad of the holo-player he was using earlier. He leaps, landing on her shoulders and plugging one of the chips into her head, ensnaring her with the same vision that he was having before. He's pretty pleased with himself; Botanica drags him off.

In the shell yard, Cheetor has a bit of inspiration. The Maximals use a discarded power core to defeat their tormentors, blowing it up in their faces.

Megatron gloats to Optimus; he used the Spark vision to have the Maximals sent off on fools' errands, so Optimus would access the Oracle for his benefit. Megatron has studied and mastered most of the Oracle's secrets, but there's still some pieces missing... till now. And a fast, forceful download commences.

[[Image:Sparkwar2 Megatron primal.jpg|right|thumb|200px]]
Megatron gloats again; all the pieces are in place, and now he can complete his ultimate plan for the Sparks. The hologram fades away, and Optimus finds himself in the middle of Nightscream's cycle drone battle.

Nightscream, meanwhile, has been brought down by weight of numbers, when a bolt out of the blue hits his attackers. It's Savage, lumbering onto the scene and prompting the cycle drones into a frantic retreat. Savage morphs to Noble and jogs after them, out of sight. A second later the drones go flying through the air. Optimus recovers, and immediately orders Nightscream to follow him to a rendezvous with the others.

The Maximals are shocked that Megatron has the full power of the Oracle, but Primal tells him that he gave Megatron access to the Oracle on purpose. While Megatron was downloading it, Primal accessed information from ''him'' as well, and learned the location of the Sparks. They have but a short window of opportunity to act, to free the Sparks from the location where they're being held: within the big floating head.

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|h1=[[Maximal|Maximals]]|c1=
*[[Optimus Primal]] (3)
*[[Cheetor (BW)|Cheetor]] (4)
*[[Botanica]] (5)
*[[Rattrap]] (7)
*[[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]] (8)
*[[Silverbolt (BW)|Silverbolt]] (9)
*[[Nightscream (BM)|Nightscream]] (10)

|h2=[[Vehicon (BM)|Vehicons]]|c2=
*[[Copter Drone|Copter Drones]] (1)
*[[Heavy Artillery Drone|Heavy Artillery Drones]] (2)
*[[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] (6)
*[[Thrust (BM)|Thrust]] (11)
*[[Obsidian (BM)|Obsidian]] (12)
*[[Strika (BM)|Strika]] (13)
*[[Motorcycle Drone|Motorcycle Drones]] (14)

|h5=Other|c5=
*[[Noble]] (15)

}}

==Quotes==
"No offense, kitten, but I don't take orders from children." 
"Silverbolt, a lot's happened since you've been gone." 
"Not that much."
:—'''Silverbolt''' isn't impressed with Cheetor, despite '''Blackarachnia''' sticking up for him.

"This calls for a strategic advance to the rear." 
"Meaning?" 
"RUN AWAY!"
:—'''Rattrap''' and '''Botanica''' encounter Strika.

"Ugh, everyone else gets a partner, I get a flea-ridden travel agent."
:—'''Botanica'''

==Notes==
===Technical or animation errors===
*The head of the Optimus Prime hologram sure looks like Primal's original Beast Wars head, doesn't it (curved antenna, etc)? Also, when it reaches down to pick up Primal, the Optimus Prime head has a mouth. It's gone by the next shot.

===Continuity Errors===
*Error

===Transformers References===
*While traveling through the sublevels of Cybertron, Optimus Primal and Nightscream stumble upon the ruins of [[Iacon]].
*After that, they encounter a hologram of [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]]. It needed more [[Peter Cullen]].
*The hologram claimed to be Optimus Prime's "essence, stored here these many years after [[The Final Battle (disambiguation)|The Final Battle]]". Sure, it was a ruse by Megatron, but there had to be enough truth in it to attempt to fool Optimus Primal. It seems likely there was some sort of Final Battle, or a legend of a Final Battle in Beast Era lore where it would be believable that Prime's essence would get stored away afterwards. What was it?
*The Maximals stumble on the remains of more Transformers, reusing [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]] and [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]]'s character models again.

===Real-World References===
* As the [[Grand Mal|Big Floating Head]] hovers into view, Rattrap mutters "Talk about yer bad moon risin'," in tribute to the classic Credence Clearwater Revival song.

===Other Notes===
* Isn't it odd that Silverbolt ''still'' calls Cheetor "kid" though he's still technically younger? Granted, absolutely everybody in the Beast Era save Nightscream treats Cheetor as a kid (and rightfully so), so perhaps Maximal aging is... complicated?

==Home video releases==
{{homevidnote}}
;DVD
[[Image:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] 2005 — ''Super Lifeform Transformers: Beast Wars Returns'' — Volume 6 ([[Geneon Universal Entertainment|Geneon Entertainment]]) — Japanese audio only. 
[[Image:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2006 — ''Beast Machines: Transformers'' — The Complete Series ([[Rhino Entertainment|Rhinomation]]) 
[[Image:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2007 — ''Transformers: Beast Machines'' — Season Two: Volume One ([[Sony]]) 
[[Image:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 2007 — ''Transformers: Beast Machines'' — Complete Season Two (Sony) 
[[Image:Flag of France.png|20px|France]] 2009 — ''Transformers: Beast Machines'' — Intégrale Saison 2 (Sony) — French audio only.

[[Category:Beast Machines episodes]]

In Darkest Knight

2010-06-15T09:14:48Z

125.237.57.83: /* Trivia */

{{episode
|series=BMtoon
|ep=17
|image=Silverboltbm.jpg
|caption=I'm Batman.
|title="In Darkest Knight"
|production company=[[Mainframe Entertainment]]
|airdate=[[March 1]], 2000
|written by=[[Steven Melching]]
|directed by=[[George Samilski]]
|animation studio=[[Mainframe Entertainment]]
|continuity=[[Beast Wars continuity]]
}}
'''Blackarachnia is finally able to revive Silverbolt, but he doesn't seem too happy about it.'''

:''French title:'' '''Une Sombre Nuit''' ("A Dark Night")
:''French-Canadian title:'' '''Sombre Chevalier''' ("Dark Knight")
:''Japanese title:'' 野獣の恩返し (''Yajū no Ongaeshi'', "The Beast's Gratitude")
:''Spanish title:'' '''El Caballero en la Oscuridad'''

==Synopsis==
As the [[Grand Mal|big floating head]], [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]]'s newest body, drifts overhead, [[Nightscream (BM)|Nightscream]] searches through a derelict region of [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]] for his former friend, the organic [[Noble|Savage/Noble]]. However, his search is cut short by [[Jetstorm (BM)|Jetstorm]] and [[Thrust (BM)|Thrust]].

[[Image:DarkestKnight Rattrap's invention.jpg|left|thumb|200px]]
Back at the Maximal base, [[Rattrap]] talks to [[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]] about his newest invention, combining a [[spark extractor]] with a [[DNA scanner]]. This process, he hopes, could someday be used to restore any of the captured sparks they recover into Transformer bodies. [[Optimus Primal]] and [[Cheetor (BW)|Cheetor]] arrive, wondering what's happened to Nightscream. Nobody has seen him for a while, so the team head aboveground to find out where he's gone. However, Blackarachnia has a lingering fascination with Rattrap's new device.

The Maximals find Nightscream surrounded by a back of [[Motorcycle Drone|cycle drones]] and other [[Vehicon (BM)|Vehicon]]s. A fight to rescue their young member begins. Cheetor uses his blades to glide through the air, fighting the [[Sonic Attack Jet]]s all the while. Rattrap outraces several more cycle drones. Cooking up her own plot, Blackarachnia places Rattrap's device on Jetstorm, hoping to free his spark and reformat him.

Megatron, in his gigantic head, uses his gravity beams to capture Optimus and Cheetor, ending the conflict quickly. Nightscream is left behind, at the mercy of Thrust. Luckily, he is protected by Savage/Noble, who uses both of his tails to damage Thrust. Rattrap sees the strange dragon haul Nightscream's unconscious body away and, suspecting Savage intends to consume the younger Maximal, follows.

[[Image:DarkestKnight Silverbolt reflection.jpg|right|thumb|200px|"Kermit, I would like to have a word about injecting some culture into this show."]]
Blackarachnia leads Jetstorm deeper underground. The jet crashes through one of her webs and into a pool of [[organic goo|organic fluid]]. With the general restrained, the DNA scanner Blackarachnia placed onto him activates and begins to detect local fossils. The scanner passes by several other bones before locking onto a suitable candidate: a skeleton of a prehistoric, condor-like creature. After a painful metamorphosis, the Vehicon once known as Jetstorm is destroyed, and the [[Maximal]] [[Silverbolt (BW)|Silverbolt]] is reborn. He becomes aware of himself and is surprised by his new, [[technorganic]] form. Shocked, disgruntled, and angry, he flies out of the cave in which he was brought back, leaving a confused Blackarachnia behind.

Confronting the renegade Maximal atop a skyscraper, Blackarachnia discovers a change in her lover. Instead of the corny, phrase-spouting 'bot of prehistoric Earth, this new, angry Silverbolt loathes himself. Blackarachnia tries to remind the Maximal of the heroic personality he used to be, but Silverbolt (who is no longer silver) no longer has any connection to those ideals that once defined him. He comes along with Blackarachnia on a trip to rescue Optimus Primal and Cheetor not out of concern for his Maximal pals, but only as a way to confront his former master, Megatron.

Nightscream awakens in an abandoned warehouse, now serving as Savage/Noble's "den". The creature, in his "Noble" form, provides a metallic apple for Nightscream to feed on. Noble has lost his former mental skills, but still seems to like Nightscream and remember him. Rattrap tries to rescue Nightscream quietly but catches Noble's attention. Confused, Noble shifts into his Savage form, causing Nightscream and Rattrap to cheese it.

[[Image:DarkestKnight Optimus Cheetor interrogation.jpg|left|thumb|200px|"I'm a pepper! Don't you want to be a pepper, too?"]]
Inside of the Grand Mal, Cheetor and Optimus are interrogated for information on the Oracle and how Megatron can use it to manipulate the Sparks he holds captive. Blackarachnia and Nightscream arrive in the same chamber, where Megatron manifests an image of himself, a hologram of the Grand Mal made out of floating masses of data. He explains why he selected Silverbolt's spark to be made into a new general: He believed Silverbolt's sense of honor would let him stay true to Megatron's Vehicon ideology. Blackarachnia argues, hoping Silverbolt understands that friendship and love are more important.

Silverbolt rejects Megatron's dogma and transforms into his new robot mode. His throwing blades heavily damage Megatron's insides. Freed, Primal orders a retreat, but Silverbolt feels it would be better to [[Furmanism|fight and die]]. Blackarachnia uses one of her abilities to stun him so she can drag him out.

[[Image:Blackarachniasilverboltdarkestknight.jpg|right|300px|thumb|A sunset on Cybertron? Crazy!]]
Rattrap and Nightscream are still running from Savage when they find Thrust and his drones standing in their way. The Maximals let Savage take care of the drones, while Silverbolt tosses away Thrust into the water. Primal welcomes Silverbolt back into the Maximals, but the bird just leaves the Maximals, not yet ready to be part of the team. Nightscream argues that Savage/Noble still has the qualities of a good guy inside of him, and Primal decides that the best thing to do is to wait.

That morning, sitting on a skyscraper, Blackarachnia and Silverbolt have another discussion, in which he reveals how he enjoyed being a Vehicon, without having to follow his code of honor. Despite this, Blackarachnia is still ready to reach out to him, and together they return to the Maximals.

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|h1=[[Maximal]]s
|c1=
*[[Nightscream (BM)|Nightscream]] (2)
*[[Rattrap]] (5)
*[[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]] (6)
*[[Optimus Primal]] (7)
*[[Cheetor (BW)|Cheetor]] (8)
*[[Silverbolt (BW)|Silverbolt]] (11)

|h2=[[Vehicon (BM)|Vehicon]]s
|c2=
*[[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] (1)
*[[Thrust (BM)|Thrust]] (3)
*[[Jetstorm (BM)|Jetstorm]] (4)
*[[Motorcycle Drone|Motorcycle Drones]] (9)
*[[Sonic Attack Jet|Sonic Attack Jets]] (10)

|c4=
*[[Noble]] (11)

}}

==Quotes==
"Nothing noble about us!" 
"But savage? We can do that!"
:—'''Thrust''' and '''Jetstorm'''

"I thought you losers were out of business!" 
"Guess again, bat brain! We're back on the winning team!"
:—'''Nightscream''' and '''Jetstorm'''

"You broke 'em, you bought 'em, kittycat!"
:—'''Jetstorm'''

"What do you want from us?" 
"Oh, nothing much. Just every bit of data on the Oracle to better understand how I can fully exploit the precious sparks in my possession. I anticipate that extracting this information will be slow, painful, and, regrettably...fatal."
:—'''Optimus Primal''' and '''Megatron'''

"How can you stand the sight of me? Look at what I've become!"
:–'''Silverbolt''' doesn't like his new design any more than the rest of us.

"Where do you think you're going? Do you have any idea what I went through to get you back again?"
:—The answer, '''Blackarachnia''', is, "You stole hardware from Rattrap, then kidnapped Jetstorm and brainwashed him."

"You helped me find the light once." 
"I was a fool back then. I ''believed'' in things."
:—'''Blackarachnia''' and '''Silverbolt'''

"Don't listen to him, Silverbolt! He turned you into a monster!" 
"I gave you strength. I gave you power." 
"We gave you friendship! I gave you my heart." 
"I gave you purpose. I gave you ''life!''" 
"''You... gave... me... '''NOTHING!!!'''''"
:-'''Blackarachnia''' and '''Megatron''' play Loyalty-tug-of-war with '''Silverbolt'''.

"Nobody's judging you. You were under Megatron's control. Join us, and you can avenge yourself." 
"You still don't get it, do you? I don't hate Megatron for what he made me do. He freed me from my code of honor, and I revelled in it. Don't you see? I… enjoyed it. I don't know what I am anymore." 
"You are what you've always been – honest, pure, virtuous to a fault." 
[''Blackarachnia takes Silverbolt's hand''] 
"You're taking a huge risk." 
"Considering how well I know the goodness in your heart, it really isn't a risk at all."
:—'''Blackarachnia''' and '''Silverbolt'''

==Notes==
===Animation or technical errors===
* The fossil scanned by Silverbolt is clearly a bat, not a condor, and is a reuse of the CGI model of the fossil Nightscream found in "[[Survivor]]".

===Continuity errors===
* Also, seeing as how Silverbolt looks virtually ''nothing'' like his previous form, it seems somewhat odd that [[Rattrap]] would instantly recognise him without being introduced.
* Remember how in "[[Revelations Part III: Apocalypse]]", Optimus said that changing Rhinox against his will is no better than Megatron? Or in "[[Crossing the Rubicon]]", when he said much the same thing about Blackarachnia herself? Well, either Blackarachnia [[Fallout|''doesn't'' remember]] or it's okay when Jetstorm/Silverbolt has a [[To sell toys|new toy]] out. Then again, going behind everyone's back to do her own thing is possibly the only in-character action she made in the entire show.
* Previously it was a major plot point to maintain robot mode. Now Nightscream is able to maintain robot form while unconscious. Good focus kid.

===Trivia===
* Vehicons are a superstitious and cowardly lot.
* Holding his swords out in front of him allows Cheetor to fly (or at least glide quite a considerable distance). Because, er, magic?
* Even better, Cheetor later uses them as a parachute. Techno-organic swords are amazing.
* Regrettably, this episode has nothing to do with Green Lantern. Or Batman.
* This is one of only two episodes in the entire series to feature sunlight. Every other episode happens entirely at night. Wouldn't it be awesome if they did [[wikipedia:Ben_10:_Alien_Force|Ben 10]] that way?
*This is the last episode to show Jetstorm but Silverbolt would be called that name in the remaining episodes by Thrust

==Home video releases==
{{homevidnote}}
;DVD
[[Image:Flag of Japan.png|20px|Japan]] 2005 — ''Super Lifeform Transformers: Beast Wars Returns'' — Volume 5 ([[Geneon Universal Entertainment|Geneon Entertainment]]) — Japanese audio only. 
[[Image:Flag of USA.png|20px|United States of America]] 2006 — ''Beast Machines: Transformers'' — The Complete Series ([[Rhino Entertainment|Rhinomation]]) 
[[Image:Flag of Australia.png|20px|Australia]] 2007 — ''Transformers: Beast Machines'' — Season Two: Volume One ([[Sony]]) 
[[Image:Flag of UK.png|20px|United Kingdom]] 2007 — ''Transformers: Beast Machines'' — Complete Season Two (Sony) 
[[Image:Flag of France.png|20px|France]] 2009 — ''Transformers: Beast Machines'' — Intégrale Saison 2 (Sony) — French audio only.

[[Category:Beast Machines episodes]]