MediaWiki - User contributions [en]

Megatron (G1)

2008-05-31T21:58:46Z

142.59.180.119: /* Generation 1 */

{{featured}}{{disambig3|Megatron}}

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

[[Image:Megatronguido.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Why this guy didn't win the war against the Autobots is a complete mystery.]]

'''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]]s' 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.

Sometimes, Megatron is later 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]]"}}

:''Chinese name (Taiwan):'' '''Mei-jia Wang''' (Literally: "Major Wang" or "King Mega" or "Mega Throne") / '''Jü Wu Ba''' ("Extremely huge") / '''Megatron''' (pronounced in French)
:''Chinese name (China):'' '''Wei Zhen Tian''' ("Extremely prestigious", literally "Heaven-shaking Might")

==Fiction==
===Marvel Comics continuity===
====Generation 1====
{{noteukonly}}

[[Image:Megatrong1marvelarmy.jpg|left|thumb|250px|No, this is not from the American Primaries.]]

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 (comic 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 on his quest into the [[Temple of Knowledge]], where he destroyed the temple's curator, [[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|thumb|150px|Check out my awesome preproduction model!]]

''After the death of [[Sentinel Prime]], Megatron's troops poised themselves around the Autobot capital city of [[Iacon]], slowly disintegrating its defenses. [[Emirate Xaaron]] chose [[Optimus Prime (G1)|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 (comic issue)|Marvel Comics #1]], but it's said to be just a hundred years in Marvel UK's [[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 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]] 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|thumb|left|250px|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]], 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]]. {{storylink|The Enemy Within!}} Soon, Megatron and the full fury of the Decepticons under his command, sieged 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]] 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. Chafing under his command, Megatron battled Shockwave, but was soundly defeated.

[[Image:Megatrong1marvelhumiliation.jpg|right|300px|thumb|A rare moment when Megatron gets beaten.]]

This forced Megatron him 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.

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. But 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.

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.

[[Image:Megatrong1marveltarget2006.jpg|left|thumb|250px|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)|Predacon]]s 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. 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]], whose body had been destroyed by [[Blaster]], leaving him a head floating in a jar.''

''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]] 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.''

[[Image:Megatrong1marveltooclever.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Yes, you're very smart. Shut up.]]

In order to attain possession of a new energy-generating device, the hydrothermacline, 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. 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.

[[Image:Megatrong1marveltwomegatrons.jpg|left|thumb|200px|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|Action Force]], and the mechanoid [[Centurion (Marvel)|Centurion]], and wound up submerged in the Thames river.''

''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 Triumvirate, but was then confronted with the ''real'' Megatron - ''the Spacebridge explosion had deposited him in [[Dead End (place)|the Dead End]] region of Cybertron, where he had wandered, with no recollection of who he was, until he had saved [[Blackjack|a Decepticon]] from Autobots and regained his memories.'' The clone Megatron subsequently destroyed itself to prevent Straxus, buried inside its mind, from taking over.''

[[Image:Megs_ratch.jpg|right|thumb|200px|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 [[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 his 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]] 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.

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 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]] where Primus alerted Unicron to his location 15 years early, or both.}}

=====Earthforce=====
{{earthforcefiction}}
[[Image:Megs_earthforce.jpg|left|thumb|150px|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)|Constructicon]]s built a rocket that would launch into Earth's atmosphere and detonate, converting the atmosphere into [[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]]s, and enraged Megatron demanded that 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]] named [[Wildrider]] for leaking the information, knowing Megatron would destroy Wildrider before he could explain himself. {{storylink|Secrets}} When Megatron learned information as to Shockwave's whereabouts, Megatron ambushed him, unaware the information had been deliberately leaked by [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]]. Starscream and [[Soundwave (G1)|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:Megatrong1anothertime.jpg|right|thumb|50px|Yuk!]]

:''"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, 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 apart 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|thumb|200px|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. Biggles-Jones|Doctor Biggles-Jones]] and escaping in the Ark. {{storylink|Final Transformations}}

Both [[Skydive (G1)|Skydive]] and [[Spike Witwicky]] had snuck on board, and following a clearly one-sided battle with Spike's [[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]] and his [[Advanced-Decepticon]]s, 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|thumb|300px|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]] 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|thumb|175px|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}}

{{-}}

===American cartoon continuity===

:''Voice Actor:'' [[Frank Welker]] (English), [[Seizō Katō]] (Japanese), [[José Santacruz]] (Portuguese), [[Gernot Duda]](Generation 1, German), [[Manfred Erdmann]] (German), [[Thomas Rauscher]] (Generation 2, German)

[[Image:Megatronffod.jpg|right|250px|thumb|And then in 1984, Megatron creates the [[Constructicon (G1)|Constructicon]]s. It all comes full circle.]]

Following a war between the Decepticons and the other robot race, the [[Autobot|Autobots]], the Decepticons were defeated by the Autobots' invention of transformation, which allowed them the advantage of stealth. The Autobot victory in the war began the [[Golden Age of Cybertron]], but a viper lurked within this paradise. Eventually, Decepticons too developed transformation, leading to the creation of Megatron. {{storylink|Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4}}

Megatron quickly gathered a small group of like-minded warriors together beneath him, and began his mission to restore the Decepticons to glory and overthrow the Autobots. In these early, shadowy days, Megatron is known to have attacked at least one of [[Iacon]]'s outer cities, {{storylink|War Dawn}} and was responsible for the death of the [[U-Haul Robot|Autobot leader]] at the time. {{storylink|Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4}} Using a device called the [[Robo-Smasher]] to permanently reprogram Autobots and Decepticons into servitude of his cause, Megatron swelled the Decepticons ranks into a true army. Among the robots forced into servitude were the [[Constructicon (G1)|Constructicons]]. {{storylink|The Secret of Omega Supreme}}

For whatever reason, the agressive actions of Megatron and the Decepticons were not made public knowledge, and young robots like the naive [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Orion Pax]] still looked up to Megatron and his followers because of their new robot-mode flight powers. However, Pax soon learned the error of his ways when Megatron approached him about the possibility of using one of his warehouses to store, only to turn on him once he had gained access to the [[energon]] stored within the facilitiy. Megatron fatally injured Pax in a scuffle, but thanks to the actions of the time-displaced [[Aerialbot (G1)|Aerialbots]], the young Autobot was rebuilt by [[Alpha Trion]] into a new configuration that could truly stand up to Megatron's power. Now, Orion Pax was [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], leader of the Autobots and Megatron's sworn opponent as the civil war erupted again. {{storylink|War Dawn}}

[[Image:G1Megatron-Flail.jpg|left|thumb|Megatron and his energy flail/mace/morning star/thingamajig.]]

Under Megatron's leadership, the Decepticons conquered a large portion of Cybertron, but the war drained Cybertron of most of its energy, necessitating that both factions seek out new worlds and new sources of power. Megatron and his elite forces pursued the [[Ark (G1)|Autobot's craft]] in their [[Nemesis (G1)|space cruiser]] and attacked and boarded the craft, causing it to crash on a prehistoric planet, entombing all on the ship in emergency stasis as it crashed into a dormant volcano.

Four million years later, a volcanic eruption reactivated jarred the ship's computer, [[Teletraan I]], which in turn brought [[Skywarp (G1)|Skywarp]] back on-line. Skywarp proceeded to drag Megatron into the computer's reconfiguration beam, and the Decepticon leader was restored, with the Autobots soon to follow. Realizing that the Transformers were far from Cybertron, Megatron immediately arranged for construction of a new space cruiser, which would be fuelled with by energy pillaged from Earth's many natural resources. {{storylink|More Than Meets the Eye, Part 1}} Early in his campaign against Earth, Megatron engaged Optimus Prime in a famous battle atop [[Sherman Dam]], where he defeated the Autobot leader and absconded with the plant's energy. {{storylink|More Than Meets the Eye, Part 2}} After several further energy raids, the space cruiser was refuelled and the Decepticons blasted off from Earth, but an attempted coup by Megatron's treacherous lieutenant [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]] abord the ship allowed Autobot stowaway [[Mirage (G1)|Mirage]] the opportunity to sabotage the vessel and send it crashing back to Earth. {{storylink|More Than Meets the Eye, Part 3}}

The Autobots believed the Decepticons to be destroyed, but in reality, they had survived the crash and repurposed the hulk of their spaceship as a sub-oceanic staging base and bunker. Megatron re-established contact with the guardian of Cybertron, [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]], and began construction of an intergalactic transport system called a "[[space bridge]]," although the early tests nearly resulted in his destruction when he was sucked into the portal and teleported to Cybertron. {{storylink|Transport to Oblivion}} The technology was eventually stabilized, however, and used in a grand scheme to transport Cybertron through space into Earth's orbit, where the natural disasters its gravity wreaked created tremendous energy that Megatron and the Decepticons gathered. {{storylink|The Ultimate Doom, Part 1}} The Earth was saved, however, the stockpile of energy aboard a transport craft being piloted by Megatron was detonated by the Autobots, the explosion forcing Cybertron out of orbit. {{storylink|The Ultimate Doom, Part 3}} Although caught in the explosion and left adrift in space, Megatron was again able to cheat death, and soon found himself forced to team up with Optimus Prime in order to stop Starscream's attempt to destroy Earth. {{storylink|Countdown to Extinction}}

In his next scheme, Megatron absorbed all the separate powers of the other Decepticons into himself, and challenged Optimus Prime to one-on-one combat. With the added abilities of all his minions, Megatron easily defeated Prime in the battle, but when his deception was revealed, he and his followers were defeated in a group attack. {{storylink|Heavy Metal War}}

Over the following years, Megatron's schemes to obtain Earth's energies continued, growing ever more convoluted, imaginative and outlandish. His assorted plans included various attempts to harness the power of Earth's core, {{storylink|Fire in the Sky}} {{storylink|Fire on the Mountain}} {{storylink|The Core}} the manipulation of the Autobots minds and bodies to his own evil ends, {{storylink|Changing Gears}} {{storylink|Attack of the Autobots}} {{storylink|The Autobot Run}} stealing or taking control of various new weapons, devices and energy sources from both humans and the Autobots, {{storylink|Traitor}} {{storylink|The Immobilizer}} {{storylink|Day of the Machines}} {{storylink|Enter the Nightbird}} {{storylink|Blaster Blues}} trying to conquer key human cities, {{storylink|City of Steel}} {{storylink|Atlantis, Arise!}} the draining of energy from a time-lost prehistoric island, {{storylink|Dinobot Island, Part 1}} supercharging himself with the [[Heart of Cybertron]], {{storylink|Microbots}} partnership with a [[Shawn Berger|human politician]] that actually allowed him to force the Autobots off Earth and temporarily conquer [[Central City (G1)|Central City]], {{storylink|Megatron's Master Plan, Part 1}} the creation of many new creatures, weapons and Transformers, {{storylink|Kremzeek!}} {{storylink|Aerial Assault}} {{storylink|The Key to Vector Sigma, Part 1}} {{storylink|Masquerade}} {{storylink|B.O.T.}} and many, many others. Also, at one undefined point, he was known to have battled Optimus Prime in a laboratory, causing an explosion that disfigured [[Gregory Swofford]]. {{storylink|The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1}}

[[Image:Megatron1986movie.jpg|left|thumb|250px|No, not drawn by [[Pat Lee]]—that's actually battle damage.]]

Eventually, at some point over the following twenty years, Megatron turned his attention away from Earth, and succeeded in completely conquering Cybertron by the Earth year 2005. The Autobots, however, were able to maintain control of two of Cybertron's moons, while the majority of their forces were relocated to the new [[Autobot City]] on Earth. Learning the Autobots were planning a decisive strike against the Decepticons, Megatron and the Decepticons intercepted the shuttle sent to Earth to acquire energy to power the raid, and unleashed a [[Battle of Autobot City|mighty assault]] on Autobot City. In the course of the conflict, word was sent to Optimus Prime, who arrived the following morning after the slaughter and confronted Megatron in another one-on-one struggle. Megatron appeared beaten, but spying a discarded pistol, stalled for time by pleading for mercy as he attempted to reach it. The young Autobot [[Hot Rod]] then intervened, tackling Megatron, but the powerful Decepticon proved too much for him, seizing him and using him as shield as he grabbed the pistol and opened fire on Prime. The wounds were fatal and sent Prime to the grave - but not before he delivered his own final blow to Megatron, seriously damaging him and forcing the Decepticons to flee.

On the return trip to Cybertron aboard [[Astrotrain (G1)|Astrotran]], it became necessary to jettison excess mass, or the Decepticons would be unable to reach the planet. The wounded Decepticons were voted out, and set adrift in space, with Starscream personally jettisoning Megatron. Before long, however, Megatron's drifting body was found by the planet-eating [[Unicron]], who offered to rebuild his body if he would destroy the Autobot [[Matrix of Leadership]] for him. Although Megatron initially refused, unwilling to be anyone's servant, Unicron tortured him into accepting the bargain, and Megatron was recreated as [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]]. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

===Japanese animated continuity===

{{Note|The events of the American animated series occur in Japanese continuity as noted above. This timeline, however, inserts a large number of additional storylines, told through various different media, into the timeline (in particular, between Season 2 and the movie), as detailed below.}}

====''Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers'' manga====

In the late 1980s, Megatron turned his attention away from North America, and chose to focus on stealing the energy of Japan. In addition to ordering many attacks, he transformed himself into the gigantic "Super Megatron Gun" (a non-shrunken version of his pistol mode, operated by Starscream riding atop [[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]]!) {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformer issue 4|F!SRLF #4}} and ordered the construction of the Decepticon city, [[Trypticon]], to counter the Autobots' [[Metroplex (G1)|Scramble City]]. {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformer issue 3|F!SRLF #3}} {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformer issue 6|F!SRLF #6}}

====''Scramble City'' OVA====

To hide the continuing construction of Scramble City from prying Decepticon optics, the Autobots moved the project to a concealed cavern, but when the Decepticons detected magnetic fluctuations emanating from the caves, Megatron dispatched [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]]'s cassettes to investigate, and [[Ratbat]] discovered the facility. Hoping to destroy the fortress before it was completed, Megatron sent his entire army of [[combiner]]s to attack the Autobots. The plan met with failure, as the Autobots and their combiners were able to hold off the Decepticons long enough for Scramble City to be completed and transformed into its robot mode of [[Metroplex (G1)|Metroplex]]. Metroplex dispatched the Decepticons, but Megatron then revealed his trump card - Trypticon! {{storylink|Scramble City}}

{{note|This storyline was never concluded, as a second installment of ''Scramble City'' was never produced.}}

====''Super Robot Magazine'' manga====

Continued Autobot and human interaction led to a joint project to create an [[warp gate|interstellar transport system]] in the late 1990s. When Starscream fused with the mechansm and attempted a coup, Megatron and Prime were forced to team up to stop him, and went missing following the battle that ensued. {{storylink|Super Robot Magazine}}

{{Note|This manga's cliffhanger was never resolved, but was retroactively exploited to insert the ''[[Robots in Disguise (cartoon)|Robots in Disguise]]'' animated series into the Japanese Generation 1 continuity, by claiming that its events took place when Prime and Megatron were absent and most of the Autobots and Decepticons were injured and off-planet.}}

====Binaltech====

After the Autobot's Earth-based forces were decimated by a [[Cosmic Rust]] plague unleashed by [[Swindle (G1)|Swindle]] in 2003, Megatron made his big push to fully take over Cybertron in 2004. The vast majority of the Autobots were occupied battling Megatron's forces on Cybertron, leading to the creation of new "Binaltech" bodies for the injured Autobots on Earth to protect the planet.

In the midst of this Binaltech affair, the time-tossed Decepticon [[Ravage (G1)|Ravage]] attempted to alter history by using the [[Kronosphere]] time-machine. In the middle of a decisive battle between the Autobots and Decepticons, Ravage used the Kronosphere to transport Megatron and the Decepticons through time, altering history so that the Autobots were left to face the looming threat of [[Unicron]] alone. This disruption of the natural order of time proved almost catastrophic, but reality was saved by the appearance of a mysterious entity known only as "The Protector," which restored the timeline as it should have been, but also preserved the "Binal-Time" timeline as an alternate universe.

In this alternate universe, Unicron was ultimately defeated, but the weakened Autobot forces were then overwhelmed by the fighting-fit Megatron and the Decepticons when they reappeared in 2006, and Cybertron was conquered by them once again. Megatron then turned his attention on the Sol system, and launched an attack on the [[Earth Defense Command]] base on [[Mars]]. At the same time, however, the Autobot spy Mirage had been dispatched to Cybertron, where he was instructed to locate and throw a [[large switch]] that the Autobots had received information on. This switch effectively froze every non-Binaltech Transformer throughout the entire universe, including Megatron and his armada on Mars. The only active Decepticons in the area, [[Nemesis Prime (Alternators)|Nemesis Prime]] and Shockwave, staged a full retreat while using drones to gather up as many of the frozen Decepticons as possible. Since Nemesis Prime was last seen taking Megatron's throne for himself, it is unknown if he took the frozen Megatron to safety, or left the former Decepticon leader to be taken into custody.

====''Robot Masters''====

[[Image:Rmrebirthmegatron.JPG|thumb|right|HAH! I fooled you for all of five seconds!]]

:''Voice Actor:'' [[Jirō Saitō]] (Japanese)

In the year 2004, Megatron disappeared through unknown circumstances, leaving his time-displaced descendant from the [[Beast Wars (event)|Beast Wars]] to take his place as Decepticon leader in the battle for the mysterious element [[solitarium]]. Precisely what happened to Megatron was never explained, but the Decepticon leader was later able to effect his return by using his inter-dimensional black hole uplink powers to take over the body of [[Reverse Convoy]] from the planet [[Vehicon (RM)|Vehicon]]. Posing as an ally to the Autobots, Megatron proceeded to betray them by revealing himself as the aptly-named "Rebirth Megatron". Eventually, however, Optimus Prime returned all the Autobots and Decepticons to proper place in time and space through the power of solitarium and rid the Earth of Decepticons.

====''The Transformer'' manga====

{{note|[[The Transformer (manga)|The Transformer]] manga takes place concurrently with the third season of the animated animated series. However, while that series took place in 2006 in American continuity, in Japan, its events were moved back to 2010.}}

At some point in 2010, Galvatron attempted to destroy the Autobots with a legion of Megatron clones dubbed [[Megatron Military|"The Megatron Military"]]. Each clone was equipped with its own unique fusion cannon and they were capable of combining the blasts into an intense attack. As a unified force, the Megatron Military crushed [[Hot Rod|Rodimus Prime]], [[Arcee (G1)|Arcee]], [[Springer]], [[Blurr (G1)|Blurr]] and [[Kup]]. Their victory was assured until Rodimus managed to deduce that the Megatron Military was being controlled by Galvatron, who was, as it turned out, actually disguised as one of the Megatron clones himself. Once Rodimus defeated Galvatron, all the Megatron clones lost power and were easily vanquished. {{storylink|The Transformer issue #2}}

====''The Battlestars''====

{{note|With his transformation into Galvatron, Megatron departed from the animated continuity until this storyline, five years later.}}

[[Image:SuperAndUltraMegatron.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Mister and Mister Overdesigned, 1991.]]

During his time as Galvatron, Megatron had been seemingly vanquished forever when he was crushed beneath an iceberg. {{storylink|The Emperor of Destruction Vanishes on an Iceberg}} Over fifteen years later, an evil force named [[Dark Nova]] recovered Galvatron's body from its ice tomb, and recreated him as '''Super Megatron''', pitting him against [[Optimus Prime (G1)#The Battlestars|Star Convoy]], the reborn Optimus Prime, and his Autobots. Super Megatron didn't fare too well against his old adversary and was swiftly defeated by the [[Battlestar]]s and their [[Triple Combination Battlestar Attack]]. Dark Nova then upgraded him into '''Ultra Megatron''', who had a similar success rate.

For the final battle, Dark Nova merged with the remains of Ultra Megatron and formed the massive [[Dark Nova|Star Giant]]. Star Giant was virtually invincible from the outside, so Star Convoy, [[Grandus]] and [[Sky Garry]] traveled inside his body and began tearing up the joint. As soon as they'd inflicted enough damage, the trio escaped just as Star Giant detonated, leaving only his head some-what intact. Fortunately for Megatron, his body was stored within the head, allowing him to survive the explosion.

{{-}}

====''Generation 2'' story pages and mini-comics====

[[Image:JapG2Meg.jpg|left|250px|thumb|He hasn't lost his knack for monologuing in his old age]]

Recovering from the Star Giant incident, Megatron abandoned his evil ways and was upgraded into a new [[Action Master]] body. His new peaceful intentions were genuine, and he joined with Optimus Prime to form the [[Cybertron Alliance]], ushering in the Second Generation of Transformers. However, after human soldiers killed one of his dearest comrades, he adopted a new body and began the war anew.

Megatron coordinated an onslaught of attacks which mortally wounded Optimus Prime (who had adopted a new missile trailer mode to counter Megatron). Megatron then delivered the fatal blow personally and believed his enemy dead. Killing Optimus Prime wasn't so easy, as the [[spark|essences]] of the previous Autobot Supreme Commanders within the [[Matrix of Leadership]] used the [[Reconfiguration Matrix]] to transform Optimus into Laser Optimus Prime. The fight raged on for a while until Prime managed to drive the Decepticon forces to retreat into outer space.

====Comic Bom Bom ''Generation 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]]s 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]] 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 resiliance, 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.

====''Beast Wars II'' cartoon====
The Predacon [[Galvatron (BWII)|Galvatron]] attempted to use a time-and-space-warping gate to summon Megatron to his aid. [[Lio Convoy in Imminent Danger#Which Megatron?|It is not clear]] whether he was searching for the Predacon [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] or the original Decepticon to bear that name.

Galvatron's brother [[Megastorm]] screws up the calculations and instead summons the titanic [[Majin Zarak]]. Galvatron proudly declares "we obtained a weapon far superior to Megatron".

Dissed, Megsey. ''Dissed''! {{storylink|Lio Convoy in Imminent Danger}}

===Kid Stuff Talking Story Books continuity===
:''Voice actor: Earl Hammond(?)''

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

===Marvel Books 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 received 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.

===Dreamwave comics continuity===
[[Image:Megatrong1gladiator.jpg|left|thumb|150px|Gladiators can afford extra paint applications.]]

Young Megatron was a gladiatorial combatant in the depths of [[Cybertron_(planet)|Cybertron]]’s underworld. 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|thumb|250px|Megatron is so grass-roots.]]

Megatron's forces began a civil war of Autobot against Decepticon in order to mask his reactivation of the ancient planetary engines buried beneath Cybertron’s surface. As a result, Cybertron would be transformed into a massive warworld that would cut a swathe of destruction through the galaxy. What he required, however, was a power source for the engines, which he believed could be found in the [[Matrix of Leadership|Matrix]]. He personally killed [[Sentinel Prime]], but found the Matrix was not with him. He sent two assassination squads after [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], the new [[Prime (rank)|Autobot leader]], before going for him personally. During the fight, Megatron's lieutenant [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]], shot both leaders into a deep hole. During their subsequent battle, Megatron explained his goals, and urged Prime to join him. His attack on Prime also cracked the Matrix's casing, causing both Transformers to see visions of the future. Unfortunately for Megatron, Starscream activated the planet mechaforming process too soon, resulting in the destruction of the machinery, and Prime erased Megatron's memories of the future, and of the engines. {{storylink|The War Within}}

Roughly 7.4 million years BCE, Megatron and Optimus Prime disappeared in an early test of the then-unstable [[Space Bridge]] matter-transport system. Spending an undisclosed time on the planet [[Quintessa]], Megatron returned with an overwhelming army of lifeless [[Air Warrior|seeker clones]], quickly subjugating Cybertron. ''(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]] 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. (Presumably, they broadly resembled the G1 cartoon and comic books.) In 1999, when 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 first to break free of the human's control, overriding the new programming and capturing Lazarus during an auction. Megatron forced Lazarus to watch as he unleashed a technorganic virus designed to transform all of Earth into a new Cybertron. It also served to lure Optimus Prime and the Autobots, also now reactivated, to his location. Megatron, tired of the war, continuously asked Prime to join him. After his first failed attempt, Megatron unleashed [[Devastator (G1)|Devastator]] on [[San Francisco]], ensuing in mass slaughter, in an attempt to show Prime the humans were not worth fighting for. However, the selfless sacrifice of several firemen restored Prime's faith in humanity and allowed him and the Autobots to beat back Megatron.

[[Image:Shockwavedwwarandpeace.jpg|thumb|left|250px|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 his shuttle for return to Cybertron, only to have Starscream seize the opportunity by jettisoning him into space on the return trip. 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]] [[Wreck-Gar (G1)|Wreck-Gar]]. 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. Megatron returned the favor by stabbing him in the back with an energy dagger.

Traveling to the Planet [[Beest]], Megatron defeated the exiled Decepticon warlords, the [[Predacon (G1)|Predacons]], and rebuilt them into the mightiest of all combiners, [[Predaking (G1)|Predaking]], to serve as his ace in the hole in his quest to reclaim leadership of the Decepticons. Moving in stealth on Cybertron, Megatron defeated Shockwave, severing his laser arm and forcing him into servitude. He then returned to Earth to collect the remaining Decepticons under Starscream's command, and to teach Starscream a lesson long in coming.

''While it was alluded that Megatron had a grand goal in mind that also included the subjugation of the [[Quintessons]], the remainder of the story has yet to be told due to the closure of 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.''

===Dreamwave ''Transformers/G.I. Joe'' continuity===
Megatron and the other Decepticons were unintentionally revived by [[Major Bludd]]. Bludd's leader, [[Cobra Commander]] used Megatron as a weapon of global conquest. Megatron took the opportunity to harvest energy from the conquered human establishments. To enforce Megatron's loyalty, the Commander was willing to use his possesion of [[The Matrix]] as a weapon capable of causing Megatron great pain. Megatron eagerly awaited the Commander's death.

When Cobra Commander's legs were crushed during Bruticus's rampage, Megatron suggested the Commander use Megatron's gun mode as a means of killing himself to relieve the pain, but it was Baroness who was bold enough to fire the killing shot.

Then Snake-Eyes broke the Matrix and Megatron died. He remained dead.
{{storylink|Transformers/G.I. Joe}}

===Devil's Due ''G.I. Joe vs. The Transformers'' continuity===
[[Image:Megatronddjoe.jpg|right|thumb|250px|[[Joey Slick]] > [[Cobra Commander]]]]
After [[Cobra]], a ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule the world, found a crashed spaceship full of Transformers in [[stasis lock]], these beings were rebuilt into Cobra vehicles and reprogrammed to serve Cobra. One exception to the latter detail was Megatron, who was rebuilt to transform into a Walther P38 handgun, but only was locked in this mode and not reprogrammed. He mocked [[Cobra Commander]]'s decisions, especially deciding [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]], Megatron's traitorous lieutenant, would serve as the Commander's choice of transport.

Megatron was able to bargain for his freedom when the Transformers were cleared of their reprogramming, including a very stern [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]]. The two leaders clashed, but ultimately Megatron was defeated. Unbeknownst to the victors, Megatron's remains were seized by the United States government. {{storylink|G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers}}

Megatron's remains were eventually used to create [[Serpent O.R.]], a synthetic creature that combined the personalities of several of [[Earth]]'s most famous warmongers and Megatron. During a Cobra raid, Serpent O.R. was prematurely activated. After discerning his origins, Serpent O.R. considered himself the son of Megatron. {{storylink|G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers: The Art of War|The Art of War}}

=== IDW comics continuity ===

Long ago, before the war, Megatron was an [[Energon]] miner, a member of the lower class, in [[Mine 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 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]]. Initially repulsed by killing his opponents, the games eventually turned him more brutal & excessive and he took control of the entire operation from Clench. The opportunistic Senator [[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]]'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 recruited 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 to death, and took control of Kaon. {{storylink|Megatron Origin issue 4}}

[[Image:Megatrong1idwpreearth.jpg|left|thumb|150px|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 & fear Megatron as a calm, calculating and measured opponent, a contrast to his almost sociopathic personality in ''Origin'' {{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}} 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. As a result, this made Thunderwing 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.

[[Image:Megatrong1idwgunbody.jpg|right|thumb|150px|I ''also'' wonder.]]

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)|Predacon]]s in a ship to Cybertron, authorizing [[Razorclaw (G1)|Razorclaw]] to do whatever was necessary to destroy Thunderwing, including the destruction of Cybertron. However, Optimus Prime and the [[Wreckers]] were able to thwart both Bludgeon and Thunderwing, and so destruction of the planet was averted. {{storylink|Stormbringer (comics)|Stormbringer}}

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 thought they were beyond such power games. After seriously damaging the hesitantly rebellious [[Skywarp (G1)|Skywarp]] and [[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]], 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}}

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. 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 [[alt mode]] and the Ore-13 power. 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)

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 and seemingly killed him; 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{{m-}}[[Sixshot (G1)|Sixshot]]{{m-}}despite [[Astrotrain (G1)|Astrotrain]]'s panic attack on hearing that. {{storylink|Escalation}}

During this time, he discovered a plot by [[Ramjet (G1)|Ramjet]] to overthrow him. Without saying a word, he beat the living [[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" stragy. 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 [[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 the Reapers were destroyed {{storylink|Devastation issue 6}}, he apparently did not destroy them, because a year later they were all still functional. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 1}}

===IDW ''[[Hearts of Steel]]'' continuity===
He is referred to (as a leader [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]] wants to replace, big surprise), but does not appear. {{Storylink|Hearts of Steel issue 2}}
====IDW ''Hearts of Steel'' Concept Art micro-continuity====
Megatron is depicted with three different altmodes: a giant cannon (with big studded wheels that become shoulder-shields), a 19th-century Colt revolver, possibly a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colt_1851_Navy_Revolver Colt 1851 Navy], and another very similar revolver, with an anachronistic scope and a bulkier muzzle. Since these altmodes have no place in the story, these sketches constitute a [[micro-continuity]] in which [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus]] and Megatron are active in the late 19th century.

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

[[Image:G1Megatron_MasterBlaster_stasislock.jpg|left|thumb|150px|I know 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'' before it is 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|thumb|200px|Now that's what I 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]], to his cause. {{storylink|The Agenda (Part 2)}}

[[Image:G1Megs_Nemesis_part2_deletedclip.jpg|left|thumb|150px|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{{m-}}or perhaps because of{{m-}}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 succumbed, 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}}
{{-}}

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

==Trivia==
[[Image:Earlymegatron.jpg|right|thumb|120px|The [[fusion cannon]]'s got that handle because... well, we're not sure.]]

[[Image:P-Megatron.jpg|thumb|right|120px|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]] 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>

* In the UK comics, [[Dreadwind (G1)|Dreadwind]] explains that Megatron is the equivalent of a 'blueblood,' possessing some royal lineage.<ref>[[Letters page (Marvel UK)]] #227</ref>

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

*In Megatron: Origins #2, we see that Megatron's helmet is, in fact, a helmet and not part of his head. Upon removing his helmet, Megatron then briefly unfurls a crest. The significance of this moment is not explained, nor is it ever revisited.

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

*Some Québecquers loved his shiny body so much they named their postal service after him http://www.megatron.net/quebec/

==Footnotes==
<references/>

==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]

[[Category: Action Masters]]
[[Category: Attacktix]]
[[Category: Beast Wars characters]]
[[Category: Classics characters]]
[[Category: Decepticons]]
[[Category: Decepticon leaders]]
[[Category: Generation 1 characters]]
[[Category: Generation 2 characters]]
[[Category: Go-Bots]]
[[Category: Legends of Cybertron]]
[[Category: Machine Wars characters]]
[[Category: Return of Convoy characters]]
[[Category: Robot Heroes]]
[[Category: Robot Masters characters]]
[[Category: Rulers of Cybertron]]
[[Category: Titanium Series]]
[[Category: Universe (2008)]]
[[Category: Unreleased toys]]<div id="wikia-credits"><br /><br /><small>From [http://transformers.wikia.com Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki], a [http://www.wikia.com Wikia] wiki.</small></div>

Megatron (G1)

2008-05-31T21:57:58Z

142.59.180.119: /* Generation 1 */

{{featured}}{{disambig3|Megatron}}

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

[[Image:Megatronguido.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Why this guy didn't win the war against the Autobots is a complete mystery.]]

'''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]]s' 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.

Sometimes, Megatron is later 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]]"}}

:''Chinese name (Taiwan):'' '''Mei-jia Wang''' (Literally: "Major Wang" or "King Mega" or "Mega Throne") / '''Jü Wu Ba''' ("Extremely huge") / '''Megatron''' (pronounced in French)
:''Chinese name (China):'' '''Wei Zhen Tian''' ("Extremely prestigious", literally "Heaven-shaking Might")

==Fiction==
===Marvel Comics continuity===
====Generation 1====
{{noteukonly}}

[[Image:Megatrong1marvelarmy.jpg|left|thumb|250px|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 (comic 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 on his quest into the [[Temple of Knowledge]], where he destroyed the temple's curator, [[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|thumb|150px|Check out my awesome preproduction model!]]

''After the death of [[Sentinel Prime]], Megatron's troops poised themselves around the Autobot capital city of [[Iacon]], slowly disintegrating its defenses. [[Emirate Xaaron]] chose [[Optimus Prime (G1)|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 (comic issue)|Marvel Comics #1]], but it's said to be just a hundred years in Marvel UK's [[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 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]] 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|thumb|left|250px|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]], 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]]. {{storylink|The Enemy Within!}} Soon, Megatron and the full fury of the Decepticons under his command, sieged 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]] 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. Chafing under his command, Megatron battled Shockwave, but was soundly defeated.

[[Image:Megatrong1marvelhumiliation.jpg|right|300px|thumb|A rare moment when Megatron gets beaten.]]

This forced Megatron him 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.

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. But 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.

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.

[[Image:Megatrong1marveltarget2006.jpg|left|thumb|250px|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)|Predacon]]s 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. 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]], whose body had been destroyed by [[Blaster]], leaving him a head floating in a jar.''

''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]] 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.''

[[Image:Megatrong1marveltooclever.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Yes, you're very smart. Shut up.]]

In order to attain possession of a new energy-generating device, the hydrothermacline, 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. 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.

[[Image:Megatrong1marveltwomegatrons.jpg|left|thumb|200px|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|Action Force]], and the mechanoid [[Centurion (Marvel)|Centurion]], and wound up submerged in the Thames river.''

''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 Triumvirate, but was then confronted with the ''real'' Megatron - ''the Spacebridge explosion had deposited him in [[Dead End (place)|the Dead End]] region of Cybertron, where he had wandered, with no recollection of who he was, until he had saved [[Blackjack|a Decepticon]] from Autobots and regained his memories.'' The clone Megatron subsequently destroyed itself to prevent Straxus, buried inside its mind, from taking over.''

[[Image:Megs_ratch.jpg|right|thumb|200px|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 [[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 his 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]] 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.

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 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]] where Primus alerted Unicron to his location 15 years early, or both.}}

=====Earthforce=====
{{earthforcefiction}}
[[Image:Megs_earthforce.jpg|left|thumb|150px|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)|Constructicon]]s built a rocket that would launch into Earth's atmosphere and detonate, converting the atmosphere into [[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]]s, and enraged Megatron demanded that 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]] named [[Wildrider]] for leaking the information, knowing Megatron would destroy Wildrider before he could explain himself. {{storylink|Secrets}} When Megatron learned information as to Shockwave's whereabouts, Megatron ambushed him, unaware the information had been deliberately leaked by [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]]. Starscream and [[Soundwave (G1)|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:Megatrong1anothertime.jpg|right|thumb|50px|Yuk!]]

:''"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, 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 apart 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|thumb|200px|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. Biggles-Jones|Doctor Biggles-Jones]] and escaping in the Ark. {{storylink|Final Transformations}}

Both [[Skydive (G1)|Skydive]] and [[Spike Witwicky]] had snuck on board, and following a clearly one-sided battle with Spike's [[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]] and his [[Advanced-Decepticon]]s, 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|thumb|300px|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]] 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|thumb|175px|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}}

{{-}}

===American cartoon continuity===

:''Voice Actor:'' [[Frank Welker]] (English), [[Seizō Katō]] (Japanese), [[José Santacruz]] (Portuguese), [[Gernot Duda]](Generation 1, German), [[Manfred Erdmann]] (German), [[Thomas Rauscher]] (Generation 2, German)

[[Image:Megatronffod.jpg|right|250px|thumb|And then in 1984, Megatron creates the [[Constructicon (G1)|Constructicon]]s. It all comes full circle.]]

Following a war between the Decepticons and the other robot race, the [[Autobot|Autobots]], the Decepticons were defeated by the Autobots' invention of transformation, which allowed them the advantage of stealth. The Autobot victory in the war began the [[Golden Age of Cybertron]], but a viper lurked within this paradise. Eventually, Decepticons too developed transformation, leading to the creation of Megatron. {{storylink|Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4}}

Megatron quickly gathered a small group of like-minded warriors together beneath him, and began his mission to restore the Decepticons to glory and overthrow the Autobots. In these early, shadowy days, Megatron is known to have attacked at least one of [[Iacon]]'s outer cities, {{storylink|War Dawn}} and was responsible for the death of the [[U-Haul Robot|Autobot leader]] at the time. {{storylink|Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4}} Using a device called the [[Robo-Smasher]] to permanently reprogram Autobots and Decepticons into servitude of his cause, Megatron swelled the Decepticons ranks into a true army. Among the robots forced into servitude were the [[Constructicon (G1)|Constructicons]]. {{storylink|The Secret of Omega Supreme}}

For whatever reason, the agressive actions of Megatron and the Decepticons were not made public knowledge, and young robots like the naive [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Orion Pax]] still looked up to Megatron and his followers because of their new robot-mode flight powers. However, Pax soon learned the error of his ways when Megatron approached him about the possibility of using one of his warehouses to store, only to turn on him once he had gained access to the [[energon]] stored within the facilitiy. Megatron fatally injured Pax in a scuffle, but thanks to the actions of the time-displaced [[Aerialbot (G1)|Aerialbots]], the young Autobot was rebuilt by [[Alpha Trion]] into a new configuration that could truly stand up to Megatron's power. Now, Orion Pax was [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], leader of the Autobots and Megatron's sworn opponent as the civil war erupted again. {{storylink|War Dawn}}

[[Image:G1Megatron-Flail.jpg|left|thumb|Megatron and his energy flail/mace/morning star/thingamajig.]]

Under Megatron's leadership, the Decepticons conquered a large portion of Cybertron, but the war drained Cybertron of most of its energy, necessitating that both factions seek out new worlds and new sources of power. Megatron and his elite forces pursued the [[Ark (G1)|Autobot's craft]] in their [[Nemesis (G1)|space cruiser]] and attacked and boarded the craft, causing it to crash on a prehistoric planet, entombing all on the ship in emergency stasis as it crashed into a dormant volcano.

Four million years later, a volcanic eruption reactivated jarred the ship's computer, [[Teletraan I]], which in turn brought [[Skywarp (G1)|Skywarp]] back on-line. Skywarp proceeded to drag Megatron into the computer's reconfiguration beam, and the Decepticon leader was restored, with the Autobots soon to follow. Realizing that the Transformers were far from Cybertron, Megatron immediately arranged for construction of a new space cruiser, which would be fuelled with by energy pillaged from Earth's many natural resources. {{storylink|More Than Meets the Eye, Part 1}} Early in his campaign against Earth, Megatron engaged Optimus Prime in a famous battle atop [[Sherman Dam]], where he defeated the Autobot leader and absconded with the plant's energy. {{storylink|More Than Meets the Eye, Part 2}} After several further energy raids, the space cruiser was refuelled and the Decepticons blasted off from Earth, but an attempted coup by Megatron's treacherous lieutenant [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]] abord the ship allowed Autobot stowaway [[Mirage (G1)|Mirage]] the opportunity to sabotage the vessel and send it crashing back to Earth. {{storylink|More Than Meets the Eye, Part 3}}

The Autobots believed the Decepticons to be destroyed, but in reality, they had survived the crash and repurposed the hulk of their spaceship as a sub-oceanic staging base and bunker. Megatron re-established contact with the guardian of Cybertron, [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]], and began construction of an intergalactic transport system called a "[[space bridge]]," although the early tests nearly resulted in his destruction when he was sucked into the portal and teleported to Cybertron. {{storylink|Transport to Oblivion}} The technology was eventually stabilized, however, and used in a grand scheme to transport Cybertron through space into Earth's orbit, where the natural disasters its gravity wreaked created tremendous energy that Megatron and the Decepticons gathered. {{storylink|The Ultimate Doom, Part 1}} The Earth was saved, however, the stockpile of energy aboard a transport craft being piloted by Megatron was detonated by the Autobots, the explosion forcing Cybertron out of orbit. {{storylink|The Ultimate Doom, Part 3}} Although caught in the explosion and left adrift in space, Megatron was again able to cheat death, and soon found himself forced to team up with Optimus Prime in order to stop Starscream's attempt to destroy Earth. {{storylink|Countdown to Extinction}}

In his next scheme, Megatron absorbed all the separate powers of the other Decepticons into himself, and challenged Optimus Prime to one-on-one combat. With the added abilities of all his minions, Megatron easily defeated Prime in the battle, but when his deception was revealed, he and his followers were defeated in a group attack. {{storylink|Heavy Metal War}}

Over the following years, Megatron's schemes to obtain Earth's energies continued, growing ever more convoluted, imaginative and outlandish. His assorted plans included various attempts to harness the power of Earth's core, {{storylink|Fire in the Sky}} {{storylink|Fire on the Mountain}} {{storylink|The Core}} the manipulation of the Autobots minds and bodies to his own evil ends, {{storylink|Changing Gears}} {{storylink|Attack of the Autobots}} {{storylink|The Autobot Run}} stealing or taking control of various new weapons, devices and energy sources from both humans and the Autobots, {{storylink|Traitor}} {{storylink|The Immobilizer}} {{storylink|Day of the Machines}} {{storylink|Enter the Nightbird}} {{storylink|Blaster Blues}} trying to conquer key human cities, {{storylink|City of Steel}} {{storylink|Atlantis, Arise!}} the draining of energy from a time-lost prehistoric island, {{storylink|Dinobot Island, Part 1}} supercharging himself with the [[Heart of Cybertron]], {{storylink|Microbots}} partnership with a [[Shawn Berger|human politician]] that actually allowed him to force the Autobots off Earth and temporarily conquer [[Central City (G1)|Central City]], {{storylink|Megatron's Master Plan, Part 1}} the creation of many new creatures, weapons and Transformers, {{storylink|Kremzeek!}} {{storylink|Aerial Assault}} {{storylink|The Key to Vector Sigma, Part 1}} {{storylink|Masquerade}} {{storylink|B.O.T.}} and many, many others. Also, at one undefined point, he was known to have battled Optimus Prime in a laboratory, causing an explosion that disfigured [[Gregory Swofford]]. {{storylink|The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1}}

[[Image:Megatron1986movie.jpg|left|thumb|250px|No, not drawn by [[Pat Lee]]—that's actually battle damage.]]

Eventually, at some point over the following twenty years, Megatron turned his attention away from Earth, and succeeded in completely conquering Cybertron by the Earth year 2005. The Autobots, however, were able to maintain control of two of Cybertron's moons, while the majority of their forces were relocated to the new [[Autobot City]] on Earth. Learning the Autobots were planning a decisive strike against the Decepticons, Megatron and the Decepticons intercepted the shuttle sent to Earth to acquire energy to power the raid, and unleashed a [[Battle of Autobot City|mighty assault]] on Autobot City. In the course of the conflict, word was sent to Optimus Prime, who arrived the following morning after the slaughter and confronted Megatron in another one-on-one struggle. Megatron appeared beaten, but spying a discarded pistol, stalled for time by pleading for mercy as he attempted to reach it. The young Autobot [[Hot Rod]] then intervened, tackling Megatron, but the powerful Decepticon proved too much for him, seizing him and using him as shield as he grabbed the pistol and opened fire on Prime. The wounds were fatal and sent Prime to the grave - but not before he delivered his own final blow to Megatron, seriously damaging him and forcing the Decepticons to flee.

On the return trip to Cybertron aboard [[Astrotrain (G1)|Astrotran]], it became necessary to jettison excess mass, or the Decepticons would be unable to reach the planet. The wounded Decepticons were voted out, and set adrift in space, with Starscream personally jettisoning Megatron. Before long, however, Megatron's drifting body was found by the planet-eating [[Unicron]], who offered to rebuild his body if he would destroy the Autobot [[Matrix of Leadership]] for him. Although Megatron initially refused, unwilling to be anyone's servant, Unicron tortured him into accepting the bargain, and Megatron was recreated as [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]]. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

===Japanese animated continuity===

{{Note|The events of the American animated series occur in Japanese continuity as noted above. This timeline, however, inserts a large number of additional storylines, told through various different media, into the timeline (in particular, between Season 2 and the movie), as detailed below.}}

====''Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers'' manga====

In the late 1980s, Megatron turned his attention away from North America, and chose to focus on stealing the energy of Japan. In addition to ordering many attacks, he transformed himself into the gigantic "Super Megatron Gun" (a non-shrunken version of his pistol mode, operated by Starscream riding atop [[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]]!) {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformer issue 4|F!SRLF #4}} and ordered the construction of the Decepticon city, [[Trypticon]], to counter the Autobots' [[Metroplex (G1)|Scramble City]]. {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformer issue 3|F!SRLF #3}} {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformer issue 6|F!SRLF #6}}

====''Scramble City'' OVA====

To hide the continuing construction of Scramble City from prying Decepticon optics, the Autobots moved the project to a concealed cavern, but when the Decepticons detected magnetic fluctuations emanating from the caves, Megatron dispatched [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]]'s cassettes to investigate, and [[Ratbat]] discovered the facility. Hoping to destroy the fortress before it was completed, Megatron sent his entire army of [[combiner]]s to attack the Autobots. The plan met with failure, as the Autobots and their combiners were able to hold off the Decepticons long enough for Scramble City to be completed and transformed into its robot mode of [[Metroplex (G1)|Metroplex]]. Metroplex dispatched the Decepticons, but Megatron then revealed his trump card - Trypticon! {{storylink|Scramble City}}

{{note|This storyline was never concluded, as a second installment of ''Scramble City'' was never produced.}}

====''Super Robot Magazine'' manga====

Continued Autobot and human interaction led to a joint project to create an [[warp gate|interstellar transport system]] in the late 1990s. When Starscream fused with the mechansm and attempted a coup, Megatron and Prime were forced to team up to stop him, and went missing following the battle that ensued. {{storylink|Super Robot Magazine}}

{{Note|This manga's cliffhanger was never resolved, but was retroactively exploited to insert the ''[[Robots in Disguise (cartoon)|Robots in Disguise]]'' animated series into the Japanese Generation 1 continuity, by claiming that its events took place when Prime and Megatron were absent and most of the Autobots and Decepticons were injured and off-planet.}}

====Binaltech====

After the Autobot's Earth-based forces were decimated by a [[Cosmic Rust]] plague unleashed by [[Swindle (G1)|Swindle]] in 2003, Megatron made his big push to fully take over Cybertron in 2004. The vast majority of the Autobots were occupied battling Megatron's forces on Cybertron, leading to the creation of new "Binaltech" bodies for the injured Autobots on Earth to protect the planet.

In the midst of this Binaltech affair, the time-tossed Decepticon [[Ravage (G1)|Ravage]] attempted to alter history by using the [[Kronosphere]] time-machine. In the middle of a decisive battle between the Autobots and Decepticons, Ravage used the Kronosphere to transport Megatron and the Decepticons through time, altering history so that the Autobots were left to face the looming threat of [[Unicron]] alone. This disruption of the natural order of time proved almost catastrophic, but reality was saved by the appearance of a mysterious entity known only as "The Protector," which restored the timeline as it should have been, but also preserved the "Binal-Time" timeline as an alternate universe.

In this alternate universe, Unicron was ultimately defeated, but the weakened Autobot forces were then overwhelmed by the fighting-fit Megatron and the Decepticons when they reappeared in 2006, and Cybertron was conquered by them once again. Megatron then turned his attention on the Sol system, and launched an attack on the [[Earth Defense Command]] base on [[Mars]]. At the same time, however, the Autobot spy Mirage had been dispatched to Cybertron, where he was instructed to locate and throw a [[large switch]] that the Autobots had received information on. This switch effectively froze every non-Binaltech Transformer throughout the entire universe, including Megatron and his armada on Mars. The only active Decepticons in the area, [[Nemesis Prime (Alternators)|Nemesis Prime]] and Shockwave, staged a full retreat while using drones to gather up as many of the frozen Decepticons as possible. Since Nemesis Prime was last seen taking Megatron's throne for himself, it is unknown if he took the frozen Megatron to safety, or left the former Decepticon leader to be taken into custody.

====''Robot Masters''====

[[Image:Rmrebirthmegatron.JPG|thumb|right|HAH! I fooled you for all of five seconds!]]

:''Voice Actor:'' [[Jirō Saitō]] (Japanese)

In the year 2004, Megatron disappeared through unknown circumstances, leaving his time-displaced descendant from the [[Beast Wars (event)|Beast Wars]] to take his place as Decepticon leader in the battle for the mysterious element [[solitarium]]. Precisely what happened to Megatron was never explained, but the Decepticon leader was later able to effect his return by using his inter-dimensional black hole uplink powers to take over the body of [[Reverse Convoy]] from the planet [[Vehicon (RM)|Vehicon]]. Posing as an ally to the Autobots, Megatron proceeded to betray them by revealing himself as the aptly-named "Rebirth Megatron". Eventually, however, Optimus Prime returned all the Autobots and Decepticons to proper place in time and space through the power of solitarium and rid the Earth of Decepticons.

====''The Transformer'' manga====

{{note|[[The Transformer (manga)|The Transformer]] manga takes place concurrently with the third season of the animated animated series. However, while that series took place in 2006 in American continuity, in Japan, its events were moved back to 2010.}}

At some point in 2010, Galvatron attempted to destroy the Autobots with a legion of Megatron clones dubbed [[Megatron Military|"The Megatron Military"]]. Each clone was equipped with its own unique fusion cannon and they were capable of combining the blasts into an intense attack. As a unified force, the Megatron Military crushed [[Hot Rod|Rodimus Prime]], [[Arcee (G1)|Arcee]], [[Springer]], [[Blurr (G1)|Blurr]] and [[Kup]]. Their victory was assured until Rodimus managed to deduce that the Megatron Military was being controlled by Galvatron, who was, as it turned out, actually disguised as one of the Megatron clones himself. Once Rodimus defeated Galvatron, all the Megatron clones lost power and were easily vanquished. {{storylink|The Transformer issue #2}}

====''The Battlestars''====

{{note|With his transformation into Galvatron, Megatron departed from the animated continuity until this storyline, five years later.}}

[[Image:SuperAndUltraMegatron.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Mister and Mister Overdesigned, 1991.]]

During his time as Galvatron, Megatron had been seemingly vanquished forever when he was crushed beneath an iceberg. {{storylink|The Emperor of Destruction Vanishes on an Iceberg}} Over fifteen years later, an evil force named [[Dark Nova]] recovered Galvatron's body from its ice tomb, and recreated him as '''Super Megatron''', pitting him against [[Optimus Prime (G1)#The Battlestars|Star Convoy]], the reborn Optimus Prime, and his Autobots. Super Megatron didn't fare too well against his old adversary and was swiftly defeated by the [[Battlestar]]s and their [[Triple Combination Battlestar Attack]]. Dark Nova then upgraded him into '''Ultra Megatron''', who had a similar success rate.

For the final battle, Dark Nova merged with the remains of Ultra Megatron and formed the massive [[Dark Nova|Star Giant]]. Star Giant was virtually invincible from the outside, so Star Convoy, [[Grandus]] and [[Sky Garry]] traveled inside his body and began tearing up the joint. As soon as they'd inflicted enough damage, the trio escaped just as Star Giant detonated, leaving only his head some-what intact. Fortunately for Megatron, his body was stored within the head, allowing him to survive the explosion.

{{-}}

====''Generation 2'' story pages and mini-comics====

[[Image:JapG2Meg.jpg|left|250px|thumb|He hasn't lost his knack for monologuing in his old age]]

Recovering from the Star Giant incident, Megatron abandoned his evil ways and was upgraded into a new [[Action Master]] body. His new peaceful intentions were genuine, and he joined with Optimus Prime to form the [[Cybertron Alliance]], ushering in the Second Generation of Transformers. However, after human soldiers killed one of his dearest comrades, he adopted a new body and began the war anew.

Megatron coordinated an onslaught of attacks which mortally wounded Optimus Prime (who had adopted a new missile trailer mode to counter Megatron). Megatron then delivered the fatal blow personally and believed his enemy dead. Killing Optimus Prime wasn't so easy, as the [[spark|essences]] of the previous Autobot Supreme Commanders within the [[Matrix of Leadership]] used the [[Reconfiguration Matrix]] to transform Optimus into Laser Optimus Prime. The fight raged on for a while until Prime managed to drive the Decepticon forces to retreat into outer space.

====Comic Bom Bom ''Generation 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]]s 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]] 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 resiliance, 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.

====''Beast Wars II'' cartoon====
The Predacon [[Galvatron (BWII)|Galvatron]] attempted to use a time-and-space-warping gate to summon Megatron to his aid. [[Lio Convoy in Imminent Danger#Which Megatron?|It is not clear]] whether he was searching for the Predacon [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] or the original Decepticon to bear that name.

Galvatron's brother [[Megastorm]] screws up the calculations and instead summons the titanic [[Majin Zarak]]. Galvatron proudly declares "we obtained a weapon far superior to Megatron".

Dissed, Megsey. ''Dissed''! {{storylink|Lio Convoy in Imminent Danger}}

===Kid Stuff Talking Story Books continuity===
:''Voice actor: Earl Hammond(?)''

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

===Marvel Books 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 received 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.

===Dreamwave comics continuity===
[[Image:Megatrong1gladiator.jpg|left|thumb|150px|Gladiators can afford extra paint applications.]]

Young Megatron was a gladiatorial combatant in the depths of [[Cybertron_(planet)|Cybertron]]’s underworld. 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|thumb|250px|Megatron is so grass-roots.]]

Megatron's forces began a civil war of Autobot against Decepticon in order to mask his reactivation of the ancient planetary engines buried beneath Cybertron’s surface. As a result, Cybertron would be transformed into a massive warworld that would cut a swathe of destruction through the galaxy. What he required, however, was a power source for the engines, which he believed could be found in the [[Matrix of Leadership|Matrix]]. He personally killed [[Sentinel Prime]], but found the Matrix was not with him. He sent two assassination squads after [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], the new [[Prime (rank)|Autobot leader]], before going for him personally. During the fight, Megatron's lieutenant [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]], shot both leaders into a deep hole. During their subsequent battle, Megatron explained his goals, and urged Prime to join him. His attack on Prime also cracked the Matrix's casing, causing both Transformers to see visions of the future. Unfortunately for Megatron, Starscream activated the planet mechaforming process too soon, resulting in the destruction of the machinery, and Prime erased Megatron's memories of the future, and of the engines. {{storylink|The War Within}}

Roughly 7.4 million years BCE, Megatron and Optimus Prime disappeared in an early test of the then-unstable [[Space Bridge]] matter-transport system. Spending an undisclosed time on the planet [[Quintessa]], Megatron returned with an overwhelming army of lifeless [[Air Warrior|seeker clones]], quickly subjugating Cybertron. ''(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]] 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. (Presumably, they broadly resembled the G1 cartoon and comic books.) In 1999, when 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 first to break free of the human's control, overriding the new programming and capturing Lazarus during an auction. Megatron forced Lazarus to watch as he unleashed a technorganic virus designed to transform all of Earth into a new Cybertron. It also served to lure Optimus Prime and the Autobots, also now reactivated, to his location. Megatron, tired of the war, continuously asked Prime to join him. After his first failed attempt, Megatron unleashed [[Devastator (G1)|Devastator]] on [[San Francisco]], ensuing in mass slaughter, in an attempt to show Prime the humans were not worth fighting for. However, the selfless sacrifice of several firemen restored Prime's faith in humanity and allowed him and the Autobots to beat back Megatron.

[[Image:Shockwavedwwarandpeace.jpg|thumb|left|250px|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 his shuttle for return to Cybertron, only to have Starscream seize the opportunity by jettisoning him into space on the return trip. 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]] [[Wreck-Gar (G1)|Wreck-Gar]]. 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. Megatron returned the favor by stabbing him in the back with an energy dagger.

Traveling to the Planet [[Beest]], Megatron defeated the exiled Decepticon warlords, the [[Predacon (G1)|Predacons]], and rebuilt them into the mightiest of all combiners, [[Predaking (G1)|Predaking]], to serve as his ace in the hole in his quest to reclaim leadership of the Decepticons. Moving in stealth on Cybertron, Megatron defeated Shockwave, severing his laser arm and forcing him into servitude. He then returned to Earth to collect the remaining Decepticons under Starscream's command, and to teach Starscream a lesson long in coming.

''While it was alluded that Megatron had a grand goal in mind that also included the subjugation of the [[Quintessons]], the remainder of the story has yet to be told due to the closure of 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.''

===Dreamwave ''Transformers/G.I. Joe'' continuity===
Megatron and the other Decepticons were unintentionally revived by [[Major Bludd]]. Bludd's leader, [[Cobra Commander]] used Megatron as a weapon of global conquest. Megatron took the opportunity to harvest energy from the conquered human establishments. To enforce Megatron's loyalty, the Commander was willing to use his possesion of [[The Matrix]] as a weapon capable of causing Megatron great pain. Megatron eagerly awaited the Commander's death.

When Cobra Commander's legs were crushed during Bruticus's rampage, Megatron suggested the Commander use Megatron's gun mode as a means of killing himself to relieve the pain, but it was Baroness who was bold enough to fire the killing shot.

Then Snake-Eyes broke the Matrix and Megatron died. He remained dead.
{{storylink|Transformers/G.I. Joe}}

===Devil's Due ''G.I. Joe vs. The Transformers'' continuity===
[[Image:Megatronddjoe.jpg|right|thumb|250px|[[Joey Slick]] > [[Cobra Commander]]]]
After [[Cobra]], a ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule the world, found a crashed spaceship full of Transformers in [[stasis lock]], these beings were rebuilt into Cobra vehicles and reprogrammed to serve Cobra. One exception to the latter detail was Megatron, who was rebuilt to transform into a Walther P38 handgun, but only was locked in this mode and not reprogrammed. He mocked [[Cobra Commander]]'s decisions, especially deciding [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]], Megatron's traitorous lieutenant, would serve as the Commander's choice of transport.

Megatron was able to bargain for his freedom when the Transformers were cleared of their reprogramming, including a very stern [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]]. The two leaders clashed, but ultimately Megatron was defeated. Unbeknownst to the victors, Megatron's remains were seized by the United States government. {{storylink|G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers}}

Megatron's remains were eventually used to create [[Serpent O.R.]], a synthetic creature that combined the personalities of several of [[Earth]]'s most famous warmongers and Megatron. During a Cobra raid, Serpent O.R. was prematurely activated. After discerning his origins, Serpent O.R. considered himself the son of Megatron. {{storylink|G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers: The Art of War|The Art of War}}

=== IDW comics continuity ===

Long ago, before the war, Megatron was an [[Energon]] miner, a member of the lower class, in [[Mine 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 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]]. Initially repulsed by killing his opponents, the games eventually turned him more brutal & excessive and he took control of the entire operation from Clench. The opportunistic Senator [[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]]'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 recruited 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 to death, and took control of Kaon. {{storylink|Megatron Origin issue 4}}

[[Image:Megatrong1idwpreearth.jpg|left|thumb|150px|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 & fear Megatron as a calm, calculating and measured opponent, a contrast to his almost sociopathic personality in ''Origin'' {{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}} 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. As a result, this made Thunderwing 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.

[[Image:Megatrong1idwgunbody.jpg|right|thumb|150px|I ''also'' wonder.]]

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)|Predacon]]s in a ship to Cybertron, authorizing [[Razorclaw (G1)|Razorclaw]] to do whatever was necessary to destroy Thunderwing, including the destruction of Cybertron. However, Optimus Prime and the [[Wreckers]] were able to thwart both Bludgeon and Thunderwing, and so destruction of the planet was averted. {{storylink|Stormbringer (comics)|Stormbringer}}

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 thought they were beyond such power games. After seriously damaging the hesitantly rebellious [[Skywarp (G1)|Skywarp]] and [[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]], 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}}

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. 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 [[alt mode]] and the Ore-13 power. 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)

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 and seemingly killed him; 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{{m-}}[[Sixshot (G1)|Sixshot]]{{m-}}despite [[Astrotrain (G1)|Astrotrain]]'s panic attack on hearing that. {{storylink|Escalation}}

During this time, he discovered a plot by [[Ramjet (G1)|Ramjet]] to overthrow him. Without saying a word, he beat the living [[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" stragy. 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 [[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 the Reapers were destroyed {{storylink|Devastation issue 6}}, he apparently did not destroy them, because a year later they were all still functional. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 1}}

===IDW ''[[Hearts of Steel]]'' continuity===
He is referred to (as a leader [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]] wants to replace, big surprise), but does not appear. {{Storylink|Hearts of Steel issue 2}}
====IDW ''Hearts of Steel'' Concept Art micro-continuity====
Megatron is depicted with three different altmodes: a giant cannon (with big studded wheels that become shoulder-shields), a 19th-century Colt revolver, possibly a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colt_1851_Navy_Revolver Colt 1851 Navy], and another very similar revolver, with an anachronistic scope and a bulkier muzzle. Since these altmodes have no place in the story, these sketches constitute a [[micro-continuity]] in which [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus]] and Megatron are active in the late 19th century.

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

[[Image:G1Megatron_MasterBlaster_stasislock.jpg|left|thumb|150px|I know 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'' before it is 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|thumb|200px|Now that's what I 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]], to his cause. {{storylink|The Agenda (Part 2)}}

[[Image:G1Megs_Nemesis_part2_deletedclip.jpg|left|thumb|150px|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{{m-}}or perhaps because of{{m-}}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 succumbed, 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}}
{{-}}

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

==Trivia==
[[Image:Earlymegatron.jpg|right|thumb|120px|The [[fusion cannon]]'s got that handle because... well, we're not sure.]]

[[Image:P-Megatron.jpg|thumb|right|120px|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]] 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>

* In the UK comics, [[Dreadwind (G1)|Dreadwind]] explains that Megatron is the equivalent of a 'blueblood,' possessing some royal lineage.<ref>[[Letters page (Marvel UK)]] #227</ref>

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

*In Megatron: Origins #2, we see that Megatron's helmet is, in fact, a helmet and not part of his head. Upon removing his helmet, Megatron then briefly unfurls a crest. The significance of this moment is not explained, nor is it ever revisited.

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

*Some Québecquers loved his shiny body so much they named their postal service after him http://www.megatron.net/quebec/

==Footnotes==
<references/>

==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]

[[Category: Action Masters]]
[[Category: Attacktix]]
[[Category: Beast Wars characters]]
[[Category: Classics characters]]
[[Category: Decepticons]]
[[Category: Decepticon leaders]]
[[Category: Generation 1 characters]]
[[Category: Generation 2 characters]]
[[Category: Go-Bots]]
[[Category: Legends of Cybertron]]
[[Category: Machine Wars characters]]
[[Category: Return of Convoy characters]]
[[Category: Robot Heroes]]
[[Category: Robot Masters characters]]
[[Category: Rulers of Cybertron]]
[[Category: Titanium Series]]
[[Category: Universe (2008)]]
[[Category: Unreleased toys]]<div id="wikia-credits"><br /><br /><small>From [http://transformers.wikia.com Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki], a [http://www.wikia.com Wikia] wiki.</small></div>

Megatron (G1)

2008-05-31T21:56:47Z

142.59.180.119:

{{featured}}{{disambig3|Megatron}}

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

[[Image:Megatronguido.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Why this guy didn't win the war against the Autobots is a complete mystery.]]

'''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]]s' 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.

Sometimes, Megatron is later 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]]"}}

:''Chinese name (Taiwan):'' '''Mei-jia Wang''' (Literally: "Major Wang" or "King Mega" or "Mega Throne") / '''Jü Wu Ba''' ("Extremely huge") / '''Megatron''' (pronounced in French)
:''Chinese name (China):'' '''Wei Zhen Tian''' ("Extremely prestigious", literally "Heaven-shaking Might")

==Fiction==
===Marvel Comics continuity===
====Generation 1====
{{noteukonly}}

[[Image:Megatrong1marvelarmy.jpg|left|thumb|250px|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 (comic 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 on his quest into the [[Temple of Knowledge]], where he destroyed the temple's curator, [[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|thumb|150px|Check out my awesome preproduction model!]]

''After the death of [[Sentinel Prime]], Megatron's troops poised themselves around the Autobot capital city of [[Iacon]], slowly disintegrating its defenses. [[Emirate Xaaron]] chose [[Optimus Prime (G1)|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 (comic issue)|Marvel Comics #1]], but it's said to be just a hundred years in Marvel UK's [[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 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]] 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|thumb|left|250px|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]], 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]]. {{storylink|The Enemy Within!}} Soon, Megatron and the full fury of the Decepticons under his command, sieged 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]] 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. Chafing under his command, Megatron battled Shockwave, but was soundly defeated.

[[Image:Megatrong1marvelhumiliation.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Get used to this, Megatron.]]

This forced Megatron him 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.

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. But 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.

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.

[[Image:Megatrong1marveltarget2006.jpg|left|thumb|250px|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)|Predacon]]s 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. 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]], whose body had been destroyed by [[Blaster]], leaving him a head floating in a jar.''

''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]] 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.''

[[Image:Megatrong1marveltooclever.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Yes, you're very smart. Shut up.]]

In order to attain possession of a new energy-generating device, the hydrothermacline, 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. 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.

[[Image:Megatrong1marveltwomegatrons.jpg|left|thumb|200px|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|Action Force]], and the mechanoid [[Centurion (Marvel)|Centurion]], and wound up submerged in the Thames river.''

''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 Triumvirate, but was then confronted with the ''real'' Megatron - ''the Spacebridge explosion had deposited him in [[Dead End (place)|the Dead End]] region of Cybertron, where he had wandered, with no recollection of who he was, until he had saved [[Blackjack|a Decepticon]] from Autobots and regained his memories.'' The clone Megatron subsequently destroyed itself to prevent Straxus, buried inside its mind, from taking over.''

[[Image:Megs_ratch.jpg|right|thumb|200px|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 [[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 his 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]] 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.

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 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]] where Primus alerted Unicron to his location 15 years early, or both.}}

=====Earthforce=====
{{earthforcefiction}}
[[Image:Megs_earthforce.jpg|left|thumb|150px|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)|Constructicon]]s built a rocket that would launch into Earth's atmosphere and detonate, converting the atmosphere into [[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]]s, and enraged Megatron demanded that 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]] named [[Wildrider]] for leaking the information, knowing Megatron would destroy Wildrider before he could explain himself. {{storylink|Secrets}} When Megatron learned information as to Shockwave's whereabouts, Megatron ambushed him, unaware the information had been deliberately leaked by [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]]. Starscream and [[Soundwave (G1)|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:Megatrong1anothertime.jpg|right|thumb|50px|Yuk!]]

:''"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, 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 apart 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|thumb|200px|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. Biggles-Jones|Doctor Biggles-Jones]] and escaping in the Ark. {{storylink|Final Transformations}}

Both [[Skydive (G1)|Skydive]] and [[Spike Witwicky]] had snuck on board, and following a clearly one-sided battle with Spike's [[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]] and his [[Advanced-Decepticon]]s, 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|thumb|300px|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]] 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|thumb|175px|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}}

{{-}}

===American cartoon continuity===

:''Voice Actor:'' [[Frank Welker]] (English), [[Seizō Katō]] (Japanese), [[José Santacruz]] (Portuguese), [[Gernot Duda]](Generation 1, German), [[Manfred Erdmann]] (German), [[Thomas Rauscher]] (Generation 2, German)

[[Image:Megatronffod.jpg|right|250px|thumb|And then in 1984, Megatron creates the [[Constructicon (G1)|Constructicon]]s. It all comes full circle.]]

Following a war between the Decepticons and the other robot race, the [[Autobot|Autobots]], the Decepticons were defeated by the Autobots' invention of transformation, which allowed them the advantage of stealth. The Autobot victory in the war began the [[Golden Age of Cybertron]], but a viper lurked within this paradise. Eventually, Decepticons too developed transformation, leading to the creation of Megatron. {{storylink|Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4}}

Megatron quickly gathered a small group of like-minded warriors together beneath him, and began his mission to restore the Decepticons to glory and overthrow the Autobots. In these early, shadowy days, Megatron is known to have attacked at least one of [[Iacon]]'s outer cities, {{storylink|War Dawn}} and was responsible for the death of the [[U-Haul Robot|Autobot leader]] at the time. {{storylink|Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4}} Using a device called the [[Robo-Smasher]] to permanently reprogram Autobots and Decepticons into servitude of his cause, Megatron swelled the Decepticons ranks into a true army. Among the robots forced into servitude were the [[Constructicon (G1)|Constructicons]]. {{storylink|The Secret of Omega Supreme}}

For whatever reason, the agressive actions of Megatron and the Decepticons were not made public knowledge, and young robots like the naive [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Orion Pax]] still looked up to Megatron and his followers because of their new robot-mode flight powers. However, Pax soon learned the error of his ways when Megatron approached him about the possibility of using one of his warehouses to store, only to turn on him once he had gained access to the [[energon]] stored within the facilitiy. Megatron fatally injured Pax in a scuffle, but thanks to the actions of the time-displaced [[Aerialbot (G1)|Aerialbots]], the young Autobot was rebuilt by [[Alpha Trion]] into a new configuration that could truly stand up to Megatron's power. Now, Orion Pax was [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], leader of the Autobots and Megatron's sworn opponent as the civil war erupted again. {{storylink|War Dawn}}

[[Image:G1Megatron-Flail.jpg|left|thumb|Megatron and his energy flail/mace/morning star/thingamajig.]]

Under Megatron's leadership, the Decepticons conquered a large portion of Cybertron, but the war drained Cybertron of most of its energy, necessitating that both factions seek out new worlds and new sources of power. Megatron and his elite forces pursued the [[Ark (G1)|Autobot's craft]] in their [[Nemesis (G1)|space cruiser]] and attacked and boarded the craft, causing it to crash on a prehistoric planet, entombing all on the ship in emergency stasis as it crashed into a dormant volcano.

Four million years later, a volcanic eruption reactivated jarred the ship's computer, [[Teletraan I]], which in turn brought [[Skywarp (G1)|Skywarp]] back on-line. Skywarp proceeded to drag Megatron into the computer's reconfiguration beam, and the Decepticon leader was restored, with the Autobots soon to follow. Realizing that the Transformers were far from Cybertron, Megatron immediately arranged for construction of a new space cruiser, which would be fuelled with by energy pillaged from Earth's many natural resources. {{storylink|More Than Meets the Eye, Part 1}} Early in his campaign against Earth, Megatron engaged Optimus Prime in a famous battle atop [[Sherman Dam]], where he defeated the Autobot leader and absconded with the plant's energy. {{storylink|More Than Meets the Eye, Part 2}} After several further energy raids, the space cruiser was refuelled and the Decepticons blasted off from Earth, but an attempted coup by Megatron's treacherous lieutenant [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]] abord the ship allowed Autobot stowaway [[Mirage (G1)|Mirage]] the opportunity to sabotage the vessel and send it crashing back to Earth. {{storylink|More Than Meets the Eye, Part 3}}

The Autobots believed the Decepticons to be destroyed, but in reality, they had survived the crash and repurposed the hulk of their spaceship as a sub-oceanic staging base and bunker. Megatron re-established contact with the guardian of Cybertron, [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]], and began construction of an intergalactic transport system called a "[[space bridge]]," although the early tests nearly resulted in his destruction when he was sucked into the portal and teleported to Cybertron. {{storylink|Transport to Oblivion}} The technology was eventually stabilized, however, and used in a grand scheme to transport Cybertron through space into Earth's orbit, where the natural disasters its gravity wreaked created tremendous energy that Megatron and the Decepticons gathered. {{storylink|The Ultimate Doom, Part 1}} The Earth was saved, however, the stockpile of energy aboard a transport craft being piloted by Megatron was detonated by the Autobots, the explosion forcing Cybertron out of orbit. {{storylink|The Ultimate Doom, Part 3}} Although caught in the explosion and left adrift in space, Megatron was again able to cheat death, and soon found himself forced to team up with Optimus Prime in order to stop Starscream's attempt to destroy Earth. {{storylink|Countdown to Extinction}}

In his next scheme, Megatron absorbed all the separate powers of the other Decepticons into himself, and challenged Optimus Prime to one-on-one combat. With the added abilities of all his minions, Megatron easily defeated Prime in the battle, but when his deception was revealed, he and his followers were defeated in a group attack. {{storylink|Heavy Metal War}}

Over the following years, Megatron's schemes to obtain Earth's energies continued, growing ever more convoluted, imaginative and outlandish. His assorted plans included various attempts to harness the power of Earth's core, {{storylink|Fire in the Sky}} {{storylink|Fire on the Mountain}} {{storylink|The Core}} the manipulation of the Autobots minds and bodies to his own evil ends, {{storylink|Changing Gears}} {{storylink|Attack of the Autobots}} {{storylink|The Autobot Run}} stealing or taking control of various new weapons, devices and energy sources from both humans and the Autobots, {{storylink|Traitor}} {{storylink|The Immobilizer}} {{storylink|Day of the Machines}} {{storylink|Enter the Nightbird}} {{storylink|Blaster Blues}} trying to conquer key human cities, {{storylink|City of Steel}} {{storylink|Atlantis, Arise!}} the draining of energy from a time-lost prehistoric island, {{storylink|Dinobot Island, Part 1}} supercharging himself with the [[Heart of Cybertron]], {{storylink|Microbots}} partnership with a [[Shawn Berger|human politician]] that actually allowed him to force the Autobots off Earth and temporarily conquer [[Central City (G1)|Central City]], {{storylink|Megatron's Master Plan, Part 1}} the creation of many new creatures, weapons and Transformers, {{storylink|Kremzeek!}} {{storylink|Aerial Assault}} {{storylink|The Key to Vector Sigma, Part 1}} {{storylink|Masquerade}} {{storylink|B.O.T.}} and many, many others. Also, at one undefined point, he was known to have battled Optimus Prime in a laboratory, causing an explosion that disfigured [[Gregory Swofford]]. {{storylink|The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1}}

[[Image:Megatron1986movie.jpg|left|thumb|250px|No, not drawn by [[Pat Lee]]—that's actually battle damage.]]

Eventually, at some point over the following twenty years, Megatron turned his attention away from Earth, and succeeded in completely conquering Cybertron by the Earth year 2005. The Autobots, however, were able to maintain control of two of Cybertron's moons, while the majority of their forces were relocated to the new [[Autobot City]] on Earth. Learning the Autobots were planning a decisive strike against the Decepticons, Megatron and the Decepticons intercepted the shuttle sent to Earth to acquire energy to power the raid, and unleashed a [[Battle of Autobot City|mighty assault]] on Autobot City. In the course of the conflict, word was sent to Optimus Prime, who arrived the following morning after the slaughter and confronted Megatron in another one-on-one struggle. Megatron appeared beaten, but spying a discarded pistol, stalled for time by pleading for mercy as he attempted to reach it. The young Autobot [[Hot Rod]] then intervened, tackling Megatron, but the powerful Decepticon proved too much for him, seizing him and using him as shield as he grabbed the pistol and opened fire on Prime. The wounds were fatal and sent Prime to the grave - but not before he delivered his own final blow to Megatron, seriously damaging him and forcing the Decepticons to flee.

On the return trip to Cybertron aboard [[Astrotrain (G1)|Astrotran]], it became necessary to jettison excess mass, or the Decepticons would be unable to reach the planet. The wounded Decepticons were voted out, and set adrift in space, with Starscream personally jettisoning Megatron. Before long, however, Megatron's drifting body was found by the planet-eating [[Unicron]], who offered to rebuild his body if he would destroy the Autobot [[Matrix of Leadership]] for him. Although Megatron initially refused, unwilling to be anyone's servant, Unicron tortured him into accepting the bargain, and Megatron was recreated as [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]]. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

===Japanese animated continuity===

{{Note|The events of the American animated series occur in Japanese continuity as noted above. This timeline, however, inserts a large number of additional storylines, told through various different media, into the timeline (in particular, between Season 2 and the movie), as detailed below.}}

====''Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers'' manga====

In the late 1980s, Megatron turned his attention away from North America, and chose to focus on stealing the energy of Japan. In addition to ordering many attacks, he transformed himself into the gigantic "Super Megatron Gun" (a non-shrunken version of his pistol mode, operated by Starscream riding atop [[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]]!) {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformer issue 4|F!SRLF #4}} and ordered the construction of the Decepticon city, [[Trypticon]], to counter the Autobots' [[Metroplex (G1)|Scramble City]]. {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformer issue 3|F!SRLF #3}} {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformer issue 6|F!SRLF #6}}

====''Scramble City'' OVA====

To hide the continuing construction of Scramble City from prying Decepticon optics, the Autobots moved the project to a concealed cavern, but when the Decepticons detected magnetic fluctuations emanating from the caves, Megatron dispatched [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]]'s cassettes to investigate, and [[Ratbat]] discovered the facility. Hoping to destroy the fortress before it was completed, Megatron sent his entire army of [[combiner]]s to attack the Autobots. The plan met with failure, as the Autobots and their combiners were able to hold off the Decepticons long enough for Scramble City to be completed and transformed into its robot mode of [[Metroplex (G1)|Metroplex]]. Metroplex dispatched the Decepticons, but Megatron then revealed his trump card - Trypticon! {{storylink|Scramble City}}

{{note|This storyline was never concluded, as a second installment of ''Scramble City'' was never produced.}}

====''Super Robot Magazine'' manga====

Continued Autobot and human interaction led to a joint project to create an [[warp gate|interstellar transport system]] in the late 1990s. When Starscream fused with the mechansm and attempted a coup, Megatron and Prime were forced to team up to stop him, and went missing following the battle that ensued. {{storylink|Super Robot Magazine}}

{{Note|This manga's cliffhanger was never resolved, but was retroactively exploited to insert the ''[[Robots in Disguise (cartoon)|Robots in Disguise]]'' animated series into the Japanese Generation 1 continuity, by claiming that its events took place when Prime and Megatron were absent and most of the Autobots and Decepticons were injured and off-planet.}}

====Binaltech====

After the Autobot's Earth-based forces were decimated by a [[Cosmic Rust]] plague unleashed by [[Swindle (G1)|Swindle]] in 2003, Megatron made his big push to fully take over Cybertron in 2004. The vast majority of the Autobots were occupied battling Megatron's forces on Cybertron, leading to the creation of new "Binaltech" bodies for the injured Autobots on Earth to protect the planet.

In the midst of this Binaltech affair, the time-tossed Decepticon [[Ravage (G1)|Ravage]] attempted to alter history by using the [[Kronosphere]] time-machine. In the middle of a decisive battle between the Autobots and Decepticons, Ravage used the Kronosphere to transport Megatron and the Decepticons through time, altering history so that the Autobots were left to face the looming threat of [[Unicron]] alone. This disruption of the natural order of time proved almost catastrophic, but reality was saved by the appearance of a mysterious entity known only as "The Protector," which restored the timeline as it should have been, but also preserved the "Binal-Time" timeline as an alternate universe.

In this alternate universe, Unicron was ultimately defeated, but the weakened Autobot forces were then overwhelmed by the fighting-fit Megatron and the Decepticons when they reappeared in 2006, and Cybertron was conquered by them once again. Megatron then turned his attention on the Sol system, and launched an attack on the [[Earth Defense Command]] base on [[Mars]]. At the same time, however, the Autobot spy Mirage had been dispatched to Cybertron, where he was instructed to locate and throw a [[large switch]] that the Autobots had received information on. This switch effectively froze every non-Binaltech Transformer throughout the entire universe, including Megatron and his armada on Mars. The only active Decepticons in the area, [[Nemesis Prime (Alternators)|Nemesis Prime]] and Shockwave, staged a full retreat while using drones to gather up as many of the frozen Decepticons as possible. Since Nemesis Prime was last seen taking Megatron's throne for himself, it is unknown if he took the frozen Megatron to safety, or left the former Decepticon leader to be taken into custody.

====''Robot Masters''====

[[Image:Rmrebirthmegatron.JPG|thumb|right|HAH! I fooled you for all of five seconds!]]

:''Voice Actor:'' [[Jirō Saitō]] (Japanese)

In the year 2004, Megatron disappeared through unknown circumstances, leaving his time-displaced descendant from the [[Beast Wars (event)|Beast Wars]] to take his place as Decepticon leader in the battle for the mysterious element [[solitarium]]. Precisely what happened to Megatron was never explained, but the Decepticon leader was later able to effect his return by using his inter-dimensional black hole uplink powers to take over the body of [[Reverse Convoy]] from the planet [[Vehicon (RM)|Vehicon]]. Posing as an ally to the Autobots, Megatron proceeded to betray them by revealing himself as the aptly-named "Rebirth Megatron". Eventually, however, Optimus Prime returned all the Autobots and Decepticons to proper place in time and space through the power of solitarium and rid the Earth of Decepticons.

====''The Transformer'' manga====

{{note|[[The Transformer (manga)|The Transformer]] manga takes place concurrently with the third season of the animated animated series. However, while that series took place in 2006 in American continuity, in Japan, its events were moved back to 2010.}}

At some point in 2010, Galvatron attempted to destroy the Autobots with a legion of Megatron clones dubbed [[Megatron Military|"The Megatron Military"]]. Each clone was equipped with its own unique fusion cannon and they were capable of combining the blasts into an intense attack. As a unified force, the Megatron Military crushed [[Hot Rod|Rodimus Prime]], [[Arcee (G1)|Arcee]], [[Springer]], [[Blurr (G1)|Blurr]] and [[Kup]]. Their victory was assured until Rodimus managed to deduce that the Megatron Military was being controlled by Galvatron, who was, as it turned out, actually disguised as one of the Megatron clones himself. Once Rodimus defeated Galvatron, all the Megatron clones lost power and were easily vanquished. {{storylink|The Transformer issue #2}}

====''The Battlestars''====

{{note|With his transformation into Galvatron, Megatron departed from the animated continuity until this storyline, five years later.}}

[[Image:SuperAndUltraMegatron.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Mister and Mister Overdesigned, 1991.]]

During his time as Galvatron, Megatron had been seemingly vanquished forever when he was crushed beneath an iceberg. {{storylink|The Emperor of Destruction Vanishes on an Iceberg}} Over fifteen years later, an evil force named [[Dark Nova]] recovered Galvatron's body from its ice tomb, and recreated him as '''Super Megatron''', pitting him against [[Optimus Prime (G1)#The Battlestars|Star Convoy]], the reborn Optimus Prime, and his Autobots. Super Megatron didn't fare too well against his old adversary and was swiftly defeated by the [[Battlestar]]s and their [[Triple Combination Battlestar Attack]]. Dark Nova then upgraded him into '''Ultra Megatron''', who had a similar success rate.

For the final battle, Dark Nova merged with the remains of Ultra Megatron and formed the massive [[Dark Nova|Star Giant]]. Star Giant was virtually invincible from the outside, so Star Convoy, [[Grandus]] and [[Sky Garry]] traveled inside his body and began tearing up the joint. As soon as they'd inflicted enough damage, the trio escaped just as Star Giant detonated, leaving only his head some-what intact. Fortunately for Megatron, his body was stored within the head, allowing him to survive the explosion.

{{-}}

====''Generation 2'' story pages and mini-comics====

[[Image:JapG2Meg.jpg|left|250px|thumb|He hasn't lost his knack for monologuing in his old age]]

Recovering from the Star Giant incident, Megatron abandoned his evil ways and was upgraded into a new [[Action Master]] body. His new peaceful intentions were genuine, and he joined with Optimus Prime to form the [[Cybertron Alliance]], ushering in the Second Generation of Transformers. However, after human soldiers killed one of his dearest comrades, he adopted a new body and began the war anew.

Megatron coordinated an onslaught of attacks which mortally wounded Optimus Prime (who had adopted a new missile trailer mode to counter Megatron). Megatron then delivered the fatal blow personally and believed his enemy dead. Killing Optimus Prime wasn't so easy, as the [[spark|essences]] of the previous Autobot Supreme Commanders within the [[Matrix of Leadership]] used the [[Reconfiguration Matrix]] to transform Optimus into Laser Optimus Prime. The fight raged on for a while until Prime managed to drive the Decepticon forces to retreat into outer space.

====Comic Bom Bom ''Generation 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]]s 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]] 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 resiliance, 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.

====''Beast Wars II'' cartoon====
The Predacon [[Galvatron (BWII)|Galvatron]] attempted to use a time-and-space-warping gate to summon Megatron to his aid. [[Lio Convoy in Imminent Danger#Which Megatron?|It is not clear]] whether he was searching for the Predacon [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] or the original Decepticon to bear that name.

Galvatron's brother [[Megastorm]] screws up the calculations and instead summons the titanic [[Majin Zarak]]. Galvatron proudly declares "we obtained a weapon far superior to Megatron".

Dissed, Megsey. ''Dissed''! {{storylink|Lio Convoy in Imminent Danger}}

===Kid Stuff Talking Story Books continuity===
:''Voice actor: Earl Hammond(?)''

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

===Marvel Books 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 received 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.

===Dreamwave comics continuity===
[[Image:Megatrong1gladiator.jpg|left|thumb|150px|Gladiators can afford extra paint applications.]]

Young Megatron was a gladiatorial combatant in the depths of [[Cybertron_(planet)|Cybertron]]’s underworld. 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|thumb|250px|Megatron is so grass-roots.]]

Megatron's forces began a civil war of Autobot against Decepticon in order to mask his reactivation of the ancient planetary engines buried beneath Cybertron’s surface. As a result, Cybertron would be transformed into a massive warworld that would cut a swathe of destruction through the galaxy. What he required, however, was a power source for the engines, which he believed could be found in the [[Matrix of Leadership|Matrix]]. He personally killed [[Sentinel Prime]], but found the Matrix was not with him. He sent two assassination squads after [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], the new [[Prime (rank)|Autobot leader]], before going for him personally. During the fight, Megatron's lieutenant [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]], shot both leaders into a deep hole. During their subsequent battle, Megatron explained his goals, and urged Prime to join him. His attack on Prime also cracked the Matrix's casing, causing both Transformers to see visions of the future. Unfortunately for Megatron, Starscream activated the planet mechaforming process too soon, resulting in the destruction of the machinery, and Prime erased Megatron's memories of the future, and of the engines. {{storylink|The War Within}}

Roughly 7.4 million years BCE, Megatron and Optimus Prime disappeared in an early test of the then-unstable [[Space Bridge]] matter-transport system. Spending an undisclosed time on the planet [[Quintessa]], Megatron returned with an overwhelming army of lifeless [[Air Warrior|seeker clones]], quickly subjugating Cybertron. ''(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]] 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. (Presumably, they broadly resembled the G1 cartoon and comic books.) In 1999, when 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 first to break free of the human's control, overriding the new programming and capturing Lazarus during an auction. Megatron forced Lazarus to watch as he unleashed a technorganic virus designed to transform all of Earth into a new Cybertron. It also served to lure Optimus Prime and the Autobots, also now reactivated, to his location. Megatron, tired of the war, continuously asked Prime to join him. After his first failed attempt, Megatron unleashed [[Devastator (G1)|Devastator]] on [[San Francisco]], ensuing in mass slaughter, in an attempt to show Prime the humans were not worth fighting for. However, the selfless sacrifice of several firemen restored Prime's faith in humanity and allowed him and the Autobots to beat back Megatron.

[[Image:Shockwavedwwarandpeace.jpg|thumb|left|250px|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 his shuttle for return to Cybertron, only to have Starscream seize the opportunity by jettisoning him into space on the return trip. 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]] [[Wreck-Gar (G1)|Wreck-Gar]]. 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. Megatron returned the favor by stabbing him in the back with an energy dagger.

Traveling to the Planet [[Beest]], Megatron defeated the exiled Decepticon warlords, the [[Predacon (G1)|Predacons]], and rebuilt them into the mightiest of all combiners, [[Predaking (G1)|Predaking]], to serve as his ace in the hole in his quest to reclaim leadership of the Decepticons. Moving in stealth on Cybertron, Megatron defeated Shockwave, severing his laser arm and forcing him into servitude. He then returned to Earth to collect the remaining Decepticons under Starscream's command, and to teach Starscream a lesson long in coming.

''While it was alluded that Megatron had a grand goal in mind that also included the subjugation of the [[Quintessons]], the remainder of the story has yet to be told due to the closure of 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.''

===Dreamwave ''Transformers/G.I. Joe'' continuity===
Megatron and the other Decepticons were unintentionally revived by [[Major Bludd]]. Bludd's leader, [[Cobra Commander]] used Megatron as a weapon of global conquest. Megatron took the opportunity to harvest energy from the conquered human establishments. To enforce Megatron's loyalty, the Commander was willing to use his possesion of [[The Matrix]] as a weapon capable of causing Megatron great pain. Megatron eagerly awaited the Commander's death.

When Cobra Commander's legs were crushed during Bruticus's rampage, Megatron suggested the Commander use Megatron's gun mode as a means of killing himself to relieve the pain, but it was Baroness who was bold enough to fire the killing shot.

Then Snake-Eyes broke the Matrix and Megatron died. He remained dead.
{{storylink|Transformers/G.I. Joe}}

===Devil's Due ''G.I. Joe vs. The Transformers'' continuity===
[[Image:Megatronddjoe.jpg|right|thumb|250px|[[Joey Slick]] > [[Cobra Commander]]]]
After [[Cobra]], a ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule the world, found a crashed spaceship full of Transformers in [[stasis lock]], these beings were rebuilt into Cobra vehicles and reprogrammed to serve Cobra. One exception to the latter detail was Megatron, who was rebuilt to transform into a Walther P38 handgun, but only was locked in this mode and not reprogrammed. He mocked [[Cobra Commander]]'s decisions, especially deciding [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]], Megatron's traitorous lieutenant, would serve as the Commander's choice of transport.

Megatron was able to bargain for his freedom when the Transformers were cleared of their reprogramming, including a very stern [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]]. The two leaders clashed, but ultimately Megatron was defeated. Unbeknownst to the victors, Megatron's remains were seized by the United States government. {{storylink|G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers}}

Megatron's remains were eventually used to create [[Serpent O.R.]], a synthetic creature that combined the personalities of several of [[Earth]]'s most famous warmongers and Megatron. During a Cobra raid, Serpent O.R. was prematurely activated. After discerning his origins, Serpent O.R. considered himself the son of Megatron. {{storylink|G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers: The Art of War|The Art of War}}

=== IDW comics continuity ===

Long ago, before the war, Megatron was an [[Energon]] miner, a member of the lower class, in [[Mine 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 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]]. Initially repulsed by killing his opponents, the games eventually turned him more brutal & excessive and he took control of the entire operation from Clench. The opportunistic Senator [[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]]'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 recruited 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 to death, and took control of Kaon. {{storylink|Megatron Origin issue 4}}

[[Image:Megatrong1idwpreearth.jpg|left|thumb|150px|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 & fear Megatron as a calm, calculating and measured opponent, a contrast to his almost sociopathic personality in ''Origin'' {{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}} 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. As a result, this made Thunderwing 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.

[[Image:Megatrong1idwgunbody.jpg|right|thumb|150px|I ''also'' wonder.]]

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)|Predacon]]s in a ship to Cybertron, authorizing [[Razorclaw (G1)|Razorclaw]] to do whatever was necessary to destroy Thunderwing, including the destruction of Cybertron. However, Optimus Prime and the [[Wreckers]] were able to thwart both Bludgeon and Thunderwing, and so destruction of the planet was averted. {{storylink|Stormbringer (comics)|Stormbringer}}

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 thought they were beyond such power games. After seriously damaging the hesitantly rebellious [[Skywarp (G1)|Skywarp]] and [[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]], 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}}

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. 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 [[alt mode]] and the Ore-13 power. 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)

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 and seemingly killed him; 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{{m-}}[[Sixshot (G1)|Sixshot]]{{m-}}despite [[Astrotrain (G1)|Astrotrain]]'s panic attack on hearing that. {{storylink|Escalation}}

During this time, he discovered a plot by [[Ramjet (G1)|Ramjet]] to overthrow him. Without saying a word, he beat the living [[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" stragy. 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 [[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 the Reapers were destroyed {{storylink|Devastation issue 6}}, he apparently did not destroy them, because a year later they were all still functional. {{storylink|All Hail Megatron issue 1}}

===IDW ''[[Hearts of Steel]]'' continuity===
He is referred to (as a leader [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]] wants to replace, big surprise), but does not appear. {{Storylink|Hearts of Steel issue 2}}
====IDW ''Hearts of Steel'' Concept Art micro-continuity====
Megatron is depicted with three different altmodes: a giant cannon (with big studded wheels that become shoulder-shields), a 19th-century Colt revolver, possibly a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colt_1851_Navy_Revolver Colt 1851 Navy], and another very similar revolver, with an anachronistic scope and a bulkier muzzle. Since these altmodes have no place in the story, these sketches constitute a [[micro-continuity]] in which [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus]] and Megatron are active in the late 19th century.

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

[[Image:G1Megatron_MasterBlaster_stasislock.jpg|left|thumb|150px|I know 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'' before it is 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|thumb|200px|Now that's what I 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]], to his cause. {{storylink|The Agenda (Part 2)}}

[[Image:G1Megs_Nemesis_part2_deletedclip.jpg|left|thumb|150px|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{{m-}}or perhaps because of{{m-}}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 succumbed, 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}}
{{-}}

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

==Trivia==
[[Image:Earlymegatron.jpg|right|thumb|120px|The [[fusion cannon]]'s got that handle because... well, we're not sure.]]

[[Image:P-Megatron.jpg|thumb|right|120px|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]] 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>

* In the UK comics, [[Dreadwind (G1)|Dreadwind]] explains that Megatron is the equivalent of a 'blueblood,' possessing some royal lineage.<ref>[[Letters page (Marvel UK)]] #227</ref>

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

*In Megatron: Origins #2, we see that Megatron's helmet is, in fact, a helmet and not part of his head. Upon removing his helmet, Megatron then briefly unfurls a crest. The significance of this moment is not explained, nor is it ever revisited.

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

*Some Québecquers loved his shiny body so much they named their postal service after him http://www.megatron.net/quebec/

==Footnotes==
<references/>

==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]

[[Category: Action Masters]]
[[Category: Attacktix]]
[[Category: Beast Wars characters]]
[[Category: Classics characters]]
[[Category: Decepticons]]
[[Category: Decepticon leaders]]
[[Category: Generation 1 characters]]
[[Category: Generation 2 characters]]
[[Category: Go-Bots]]
[[Category: Legends of Cybertron]]
[[Category: Machine Wars characters]]
[[Category: Return of Convoy characters]]
[[Category: Robot Heroes]]
[[Category: Robot Masters characters]]
[[Category: Rulers of Cybertron]]
[[Category: Titanium Series]]
[[Category: Universe (2008)]]
[[Category: Unreleased toys]]<div id="wikia-credits"><br /><br /><small>From [http://transformers.wikia.com Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki], a [http://www.wikia.com Wikia] wiki.</small></div>

Optimus Prime (G1)

2008-05-31T21:49:12Z

142.59.180.119: /* Beast Wars */

{{Template:Disambig3|Optimus Prime}}

:''Optimus Prime is the leader of the Autobots in the [[Generation 1]] continuity family. Before he became Optimus Prime, he was named alternatively '''Orion Pax''' or '''Optronix''' in certain continuities.''

[[Image:Optimusg1.jpg|right|thumb|300px|I'm that guy everyone remembers. No, not the [Megatron (G1)|gun guy]]the ''other'' guy.]]

'''Optimus Prime''' is the awe-inspiring [[Prime (rank)|leader]] of the [[Autobot]] forces. Originally a mere civilian, he was chosen by the [[Matrix of Leadership|Matrix]] to command, the first in a number of heavy burdens he has been forced to bear. Another is his bringing of the Transformers' conflict to Earth. The complete opposite of his mortal enemy [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]], every casualty, [[human]] or [[Transformer|Cybertronian]], weighs heavily on his [[spark]]. He does not show this side to his soldiers, and he never succumbs to despair. The Autobots need a decisive, charismatic leader, and that is what he gives them. It was that leadership which turned the tide of the [[Great War]].

On the battlefield, there are few who rival Optimus Prime's prowess. His [[ion blaster]] and his [[energon-axe]] are deadly weapons, though lacking when compared to others. He is easily the strongest of any Autobot his [[Scale|size]], and what he lacks in raw firepower he easily compensates with guts. He would sacrifice his life to protect his fellow Autobots or those under their care, and [[The many deaths of Optimus Prime|has on a few occasions]]. His compassion for other sentient beings is his only real weakness, and one the Decepticons have taken advantage of time and again... though it's also the source of his strength!

Prime (usually) carries within him the [[Matrix of Leadership]].

{{quote|Freedom is the right of all sentient beings.|Optimus Prime's most common [[bio]] quote}}

:''Nicknames:'' '''[[Autobot commander (disambiguation)|Autobot Commander]]''', '''Chief''', '''Big Boss''', '''Roller'''<ref>Nicknames found in early ''Universe''-style profiles published in [[The Transformers Comics Magazine]].</ref>
:''Japanese name:'' '''[[Convoy]]''', '''Battle Convoy''' (Laser Optimus Prime)
:''Italian name:'' '''Commander'''
:''Chinese name (Taiwan):'' '''Jr-tsun''' (至尊, "Prime")
:''Taiwanese name:'' '''Tīh-ghŭ''' (鐵牛, literally "Iron Ox" or "Iron Bull", a kind of vehicle in early days and rural area)
:''French-Canadian & Chzech name:'' '''Optimus Primus'''
:''Hungarian name:'' '''Optimusz Fővezér'''; and '''Optimusz Prájm''' (pronounced: prīm) in the first ''The Movie'' dub
:''Brazilian name:'' '''Líder Optimus''' (in cartoon) / '''Supremus Absolutus''' (in comics)

==Fiction==
===Marvel Comics continuity===
====Generation 1====
{{noteukonly}}
[[Image:Optimusprimeg1preearthmarvel2.jpg|left|thumb|250px|Optimus Prime's Cybertronic truck mode, along with a Cybertronic Grumman X-29 , a Cybertronic Earth motorcycle, and a Cybertronic Porsche 962.]]

''Before the [[Great War]] broke out on Cybertron, Optimus Prime was a Transformer of note, displaying his skills in the Infraformers Sharp-shooting Competition.'' Subsequently, when the war began, Prime quickly made a name for himself as a combat leader. On a mission with the [[Triggerbot (G1)|Triggerbots]] to stop [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] from claiming the [[Underbase]], Prime was forced to jettison the massive databank into space to prevent anyone acquiring its power, but with this action, proved his wisdom and skill to the [[Autobot Council of Elders]]. ''The outbreak of the Great War saw Autobot territories falling under Decepticon dominion, one City-State at a time. The last City-State to be taken was the Autobot capital of [[Iacon]]. As Decepticons besieged Iacon, the Council of Elders prepared to surrender. Councillor [[Xaaron]] suggested that High Councillor [[Traachon]] step down and allow a military officer to assume Autobot leadership. Traachon then used his powers of veto and effectively elected himself out of office, allowing Optimus Prime to assume supreme command of the Autobots, becoming the first soldier to ever hold the mantle of Autobot leadership. {{storylink|And There Shall Come...A Leader!}} ''

[[Image:Optimusprimeg1marvelfirst.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Optimus Prime had to go through an experimental "box with a gun on top" phase before he could commit to the truck thing.]]

Four million years ago, Cybertron - shaken from its orbit and drifting through space - came under threat when it floated into the path of a massive asteroid swarm that could potentially devastate the planet. Prime led a group of his most powerful Autobot warriors on the Autobot starship, the Ark, on a mission to destroy the asteroids, and although successful, in the aftermath of this mission the Ark was attacked by Decepticons, hoping to overcome their weakened foes. Intent on keeping the secrets of the Ark's computer, [[Auntie]], from the Decepticons, Prime set the craft on a suicide course, crashing it into the prehistoric planet Earth. {{storylink|The Transformers (comic issue)}}

In 1984 C.E., a volcanic eruption reactivated Auntie, which in turn brought the Transformers back on-line. Prime led the Autobots in their opening battles to prevent the Decepticons from plundering Earth's resources, but following their initial victory, the Autobots were all deactivated by [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]]. {{storylink|The Last Stand}} Prime was decapitated by Shockwave, who planned on using the energy of the Creation Matrix to give life to his evil creations. Before Shockwave could give life to his first Decepticon, Prime managed to transfer the Matrix energy into the mind of [[Buster Witwicky]]. {{storylink|The Worse of Two Evils!}} Enough residual energy existed to allow Shockwave to bring his [[Constructicon (G1)|Constructicon]]s to life {{storylink|The Next Best Thing to Being There!}}, but he realized something was wrong when Prime failed to give life to his next creation, [[Jetfire (G1)|Jetfire]]. Deducing what had happened, Shockwave sent Jetfire (who was still little more than a drone) out to capture Buster. {{storylink|Brainstorm!}} The human turned the tables on Shockwave, however, and used the Matrix energy to turn Jetfire on Shockwave, allowing Prime to reclaim his body and retake leadership of the Autobots, giving Jetfire true life as a reward. {{storylink|Prime Time!}}

''During the arrival of the Decepticons from the future, Prime, Ratchet and Prowl were mass-displaced into Limbo. {{storylink|Target 2006}} Upon his return, Optimus observed the records of how poorly the Autobots performed in his absence, going so far as to seek leadership from Megatron out of sheer desperation. Optimus Prime began to consider whether he was too important to the Autobots, and if they could carry on should he fall. To alleve his doubts, he and a reluctant [[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]] plotted to fake Prime's death to teach the Autobots how to fend for themselves. While Prime was setting up an imposter version of himself to leave behind destroyed for the Autobots to find, Megatron sent the [[Predacon (G1)|Predacons]] to attack Prime. {{storylink|Prey!}}''

After a period of effective leadership, Prime engaged Megatron in a [[video game]] duel for possession of a super fuel. Prime was victorious, but Megatron implemented a cheat code, allowing him to re-enter the game. Prime was able to defeat him yet again, but in doing so, he also destroyed several of the game sprites, and refused to accept his victory, as he had performed an action that compromised his beliefs about the preservation of life, which he would never have done, had the duel been real. In accordance with the rules of the game, Prime's body exploded and he died. {{storylink|Afterdeath!}} Autobot surgeon [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]]'s subsequent efforts to restore him were unsuccessful, and his body was launched into space. {{storylink|Funeral for a Friend!}} The funeral barge eventually crashed on giant moon where it lay for untold time. At one stage, an alien ship crashed near the barge. The dying alien reached out toward the Matrix, with the Matrix choosing to revive the being as Death Bringer. Much later, the Matrix would revive a small predatory animal which would prove instrumental to the conclusion of the Matrix Quest.

Prime's personality had been copied onto a [[floppy disk]] by the technician running the game, [[Ethan Zachary]], who employed him in various video game scenarios he developed. Prime's damaged mind led him to believe that he himself was a video game character, even after he was reunited with his fellow Autobots. {{storylink|Pretender to the Throne!}} In an attempt to bring him back to life, [[Bumblebee (G1)|Goldbug]], [[Joyride]], [[Slapdash]], and [[Getaway]] took the disk to the planet [[Nebulos]], where a new body was constructed for Prime. They built a new body for Optimus Prime, and even upgraded it with the ability to combine with the trailer to form a larger robot. In an effort to keep Transformers off their planet, however, the Nebulans had poisoned their fuel, and the sensation of dying convinced Prime that he was truly alive, and not a game character. To save his life, the Nebulan scientist [[Hi-Q]] [[binary-bonding|bonded]] with him, creating '''[[Powermaster]] Optimus Prime'''. {{storylink|People Power!}}

Prime quickly proved himself to be a fool, for he dared to ignore [[Rorza, the Rocket-cycle Racer from Rigel III]]. {{storylink|The Cosmic Carnival!}}

Powermaster Prime and his Autobots later battled [[Deathbringer]]. ''Optimus Prime immediately sensed Matrix energies emanating from Death Bringer, and realised that the undead reaper was a creation of the Matrix. Although Death Bringer proved to be invulnerable, Optimus Prime was finally able to defeat it by convincing it to self-destruct in concordance with its primary function. The battle with Death Bringer alerted Optimus Prime to the fact that his old body was still out there somewhere in space, and more importantly, that the Matrix that it carried was also with it. With a war to win, the location of the Matrix was not a high priority. {{storylink|Deathbringer (comic issue)|Deathbringer}} ''

[[Image:Pmoptimusprimedeath.jpg|left|thumb|150px|"I'll have a #5, medium, no cheese."<br>"''Rarf ur rarff rarf.''"<br>"...What?"]]

With the subsequent threat of [[Unicron]] looming, priorites quickly changed and Prime began a quest to locate his old body and the physical Matrix object within it. When the Matrix was successfully reacquired, Prime sacrificed his life one more time to destroy Unicron by plunging the Matrix into his maw. However, the Powermaster process had been working to fully bond Prime and Hi-Q, and with Prime now destroyed, the process completed itself in Hi-Q's body, and the two minds and souls became one. Hi-Q's biomechanical body was stripped down and reconstructed by the [[Last Autobot]], creating a brand new Optimus Prime. {{storylink|End of the Road! (Marvel US comic)|End of the Road!}}
{{-}}

=====Marvel UK future timelines=====

''In an alternate timeline, Optimus Prime still maintained his Powermaster body in 1995. When a feminist group on Earth raised complaints that all the Autobots seemed to fit male archetypes, Optimus tried to appease them in the name of public relations. Unfortunately, his "appeasement" came in the form of a powder pink token Autobot female named [[Arcee (G1)|Arcee]]. That...didn't go over well. {{storylink|Prime's Rib!}}''

''Years later, in 2004, Prime was back in his original Earthen appearance. While attending the grand opening of Autobot City on Earth, the Autobots came under fire from Shockwave and his Decepticons. Optimus Prime and the Autobots bravely used their bodies as shields to protect their human guests until the Decepticons were driven off. {{storylink|Aspects of Evil!}}''

=====Earthforce=====
{{earthforcefiction}}

''While dealing with the oncoming threat of Unicron, Optimus Prime came under a great deal of stress and began actively berating Grimlock and his newly reactivated Dinobots for their more brutal methods of combating the enemy. {{storylink|Two Steps Back!}} This reprimand prompted Grimlock to offer his resignation from the Autobot army. Tempers got heated, and the two Autobots actually started brawling with one another in the conference room. After a few minutes of furious fighting, however, Prime and Grimlock effectively beat some sense into each other. Optimus Prime decided to take the ''Ark'' and its crew out into space, leaving Grimlock behind to command an "Earthforce" of Autobots, dedicated to protecting the planet in his absence. {{storylink|Break-Away!}}''

''Optimus Prime returned briefly for an inspection after the Autobot Earthbase was completed, and the Dinobots barely managed to keep him from learning about the berserker rages which plague [[Slag (G1)|Slag]] every few million years. {{storylink|The 4,000,000 Year Itch!}} He also oversaw the reconstruction of [[Tracks]] in Wheeljack's repair bay, leaving the vain Autobot under Grimlock's command before returning to space. {{storylink|Makin' Tracks!}}''

=====''Another Time and Place''=====
{{note|This text story was later [[retcon]]ned away by the events of ''[[Generation 2]]''.}}

After Klo, the Autobots returned to Cybertron in an effort to rebuild the planetary government and resources. Optimus Prime naturally took the lead in these endeavours, but matters weighed heavily on his spark. The Nucleon-soaked Hi-Q at the core of his new body was one thing, reducing Prime to a non-transforming "[[Actionmaster]]" like many of his fellow Autobots. But more importantly, Optimus Prime feared that the newfound peace on Cybertron would not last. He desperately wanted his soldiers to stop being soldiers, yet was petrified that something might come along and disturb their inactivity. This trepedation kept Optimus from stopping Grimlock from jetting off on an ill-advised mission to [[Hydrus Four]] in search of a way to reverse the Nucleon process, and he even refused to listen to Prowl when he reported that Grimlock took off to Hydrus Four anyway. Prowl struck a chord, however, when he pointed out that if he could track Grimlock's destination, so could the Decepticons. Shamed by Prowl's rebuke, Optimus Prime soon pushed aside his recalcitrance and assembled a strike team to go after the Dinobots.

On Hydrus Four, the Autobots discovered the Decepticons had taken over the medical facility with the Nucleon supply, and taken the Dinobots hostage. It seemed Bludgeon had a plan for the Nucleon, using it to recreate Megatron himself. With a surgical strike, however, they managed to free the Dinobots and take the fight to the enemy. Optimus confronted Bludgeon himself in battle, but was saved when Grimlock suddenly charged through and struck the Decepticon leader in dino-mode. In turned out the Nucleon process could be reversed after all! After that, all Prime and Grimlock had to do was tear apart the zombie-like, half-revived Megatron. Piece o' cake. {{storylink|Another Time and Place}}

====Generation 2====
As time passed, with the Decepticons supposed in exile and Cybertron at peace, the Autobots functionally disbanded. They scattered across the galaxies, with many retiring in peace while others continued to fight for peace among other civilizations they came across. The time came when Optimus Prime was called back into the skirmish, alongside his honor guard of Kup and Hot Rod, when Grimlock and his combat unit discovered a greater [[Cybertronian Empire]] that had sprouted up without their noticing it. These next generation Decepticons, led by the Liege Centuro [[Jhiaxus]], would conquer world after world using terraforming and exo-structuring processes to remake raw materials into a new Cybertron for their use. Optimus Prime, Grimlock and their "Dirty Dozen" of Autobots began a small resistance movement against Jhiaxus and his people, but realized they were out of their depth. As the call went out to reassemble the Autobot army en masse, Prime worried that they were still missing some greater threat -- he had begun experiencing visions of an unknown peril that was heading their way, and wasn't sure if even the united Autobots would be enough to deal with it. {{storylink|War Without End!}}

Until he could identify this secondary threat, Prime ordered the Autobots to remain inactive at an Autobase built into a small asteroid belt. But certainly Grimlock was having none of that. He grabbed a sizeable percentage of their displaced warriors who had already arrived and headed out after Jhiaxus and his flagship, [[Twilight]]. Naturally, they got in over their heads. Prime grabbed some of his personal soldiers (Hot Rod, Kup, Prowl, [[Hound]]) and hijacked a strike ship to get close enough to Twilight for a rescue mission. Once Grimlock and his men were sent out on a prison vessel, Optimus blasted the ship just enough to cause chaos, and give Grimlock enough time to overtake the crew. {{storylink|Devices and Desires!}}

[[image:Optimusprime-g2.jpg|right|thumb|150px|More apocalyptic visions than you can shake a [[Covenant of Primus|covenant]] at.]]
Surprisingly enough, he gave Grimlock no rebuke once they met up again -- in fact, Prime put the Dinobot commander in charge of the entire army! In order to fully understand the visions of impending doom he was receiving, Optimus Prime decided he needed to return to Cybertron itself, to help "cut through the static" that was garbling whatever message the Matrix was trying to send him. Engaging in a quasi-mystical ritual to expand his psychic boundaries, Optimus cast himself mentally back through time to witness the birth of the first Transformers, [[Prima]], as he rose from the living structure of Cybertron itself. What he saw next, however, was astonishing -- Cybertronians birthing new Cybertronians themselves, causing living metal to burst forth from them in a bio-morphic reproduction process called "[[budding]]". Primus had apparently allowed this only up til a point, allowing the race to evolve in stages before discontinuing the ability and the memory of it from his progeny. Jhiaxus and his new Cybertronians, however, were the end result of some Decepticons somehow relearning the budding process. They were stronger, yes, and perhaps more evolved physically, but their souls, their sparks, were distilled too many times over. Optimus Prime awoke from his trance, believing he had come to understand the threat he sensed: the fractioning of his species. Little did he know that the threat was far less philosophical, and far more tangible, than he realized. {{storylink|The Power and the Glory}}

When word reached Prime that Megatron had resurfaced on Earth, he jumped at the idea of joining forces with the original Decepticons to face off against the Cybertronian Empire. Travelling to Earth alone, Optimus approached Megatron with the intent to talk. Instead, Megatron blasted him from behind, beat him to a pulp, ionized his every circuit, and then ripped out his chest and siphoned away the power of the Matrix. So no, the talking didn't go too well. Prime only survived due to Grimlock's talent for insubordination, as the Dinobot leader brought a massive strike team down to save their fallen leader before Megatron finished him off. Still, as the Autobots dragged Prime away to receive repair treatment, he knew Megatron would be back -- Optimus had stuttered out enough information about "new Decepticons" to pique his old foe's interest, and once Megatron went after them and bit off more than he could chew, they'd meet again. {{storylink|The Gathering Darkness}}

In this, at least, Optimus Prime knew Megatron all too well. Only days later a heavily battered and bruised Megatron wandered into Autobase: Earth, looking for that alliance Prime had offered. {{storylink|Escalation!}} With new allies, things were looking up for Prime until the unthinkable happened. His visions of death and apocalypse finally came true as the Autobots came across a devastated world looking almost identical to the images he had been experiencing. Optimus now realized his visions were not metaphorical in nature, and almost drew the conclusion himself before [[Perceptor (G1)|Perceptor]]'s science team completed their analysis of the genocide -- it was their fault. More specifically, some by-product of the Cybertronian race had been formed by the budding process which created Jhiaxus and the Cybertronian Empire, an animate entity that scourred the cosmos of its own design. Before more data and analysis could be had, however, Jhiaxus and his troops arrived on Earth seeking to end their ancestors once and for all. {{storylink|Swarm (comic issue)|Swarm}}

Once again seeking compromise, Optimus Prime took Megatron in an attempt to reacquire the Decepticon [[Warworld]] and use it to force Jhiaxus to see reason, that they faced a common and perhaps unbeatable foe in this "[[Swarm]]". His efforts were more than a little delayed, however, by the ever-treacherous Starscream. That Decepticon schemer had sold them out to Jhiaxus in the first place, but then came aboard Warworld and merged with it and the power of the Creation Matrix Megatron had been housing there. {{storylink|Total War!}} Still, Optimus Prime managed to reach a communications console, and begged Jhiaxus for an audience to discuss the impending threat which was bearing down on them all. As badly as Prime's last attempt to "just talk" with an enemy went, this time it went much worse, as Jhiaxus responded by ordering the orbital bombardment and destruction of the human city of San Francisco. Millions of lives wiped out in an instant. And before Prime could even attempt to respond or try again, the Swarm itself arrived in orbit. {{storylink|Dark Shadows!}}

As bad as things were, a silver lining did develop -- Starscream proved too much of a "pedestrian villain" to actually corrupt the Matrix as had happened in the past. Instead, it was actually turning him more heroic, giving him selfless and self-sacrificing urges! Not wanting to be a hero, much less a dead hero, Starscream willingly relinquished the Matrix to Optimus Prime. In yet another effort at unity and compromise, Prime took a skysled over to Jhiaxus's flagship, Twilight, in order to talk the Liege Centuro into working with the Autobots and Decepticons to commune with the Swarm.

Instead, Jhiaxus tore off his face.

The formerly icy Cybertronian had been driven completely off his rocker by the extended conflict with his ancestors, and was now little more than a mad dog pounding away at Optimus Prime. The brutality only ended when the Swarm entered Twilight and consumed Jhiaxus utterly. At this point, Optimus had reasoned that the Swarm was merely a void, searching for something to complete the emptiness inside it. With desperate reasoning, Prime allowed the Swarm to assail him, hoping that he (and the Matrix inside him) would prove to BE what it was searching for. His body ravaged to the point of total discorporation, Optimus Prime still managed to make mental contact with the Swarm as it consumed him, and expose it to the will of Primus. In the end, Optimus Prime successfully purefied the Swarm, and was reborn in a new, more powerful body. In the aftermath, Prime suggested they all move on to a new era of peace and enlightment. {{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 new timeline that does not include the events of the Marvel UK-exclusive stories or ''Generation 2''.}}

[[Image:Classicscomicautobots.jpg|left|thumb|200px|"All right, do-over. This time I'll skip the visions of doom, and you won't get yourself tangled up with [[Cobra]]. Deal?"]]

Optimus Prime has returned to Earth commanding [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]], [[Cliffjumper (G1)|Cliffjumper]], [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]], [[Jetfire (G1)|Jetfire]], [[Mirage (G1)|Mirage]] and [[Hot Rod|Rodimus]] (formerly Hot Rod) to counter the return of [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]]. When Transformers from another reality, [[Skyfall (Cybertron)|Skyfall]] and [[Landquake (Timelines)|Landquake]], arrive on Earth unexpectedly, Megatron stumbles upon them, only to find himself under attack by Prime and his Autobots. {{storylink|Crossing Over, Part 1}} Overwhelmed, Megatron managed to escape with Landquake, while the Autobots returned to Autobot headquarters with Skyfall. {{storylink|Crossing Over, Part 2}}

Optimus Prime took his Autobots and Skyfall to [[South America]], where the Decepticons were investigating a mysterious energy source that was similar to the radiation readings of their new dimension-traveling companions. After Prime left Jetfire in mid-transit to help [[RUNT]] fight the [[Seeker]]s, he and the remaining Autobots arrived at their destination and battled the rest of Megatron's forces on the ground.{{storylink|Crossing Over, Part 3}}

Shortly after the events of this battle, Prime regrouped, seemingly having lost Skyfall and Cliffjumper (along with Landquake). He was pleased to be visited (seemingly very quickly, if really at all) by [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] when their paths crossed while the latter was hunting [[Bug Bite]]. {{storylink|Games of Deception}}

{{-}}

===American cartoon continuity===
:''Voice actors:'' [[Peter Cullen]] (Optimus Prime, English), [[Laurie Faso]] (Orion Pax, English), [[Tesshō Genda]] (Japanese), [[Francis Lax]] (French), [[Willi Röbke]] (German), [[Thomas Rau]] (German G2 Redub)

[[Image:Orionpax.jpg|right|thumb|Ariel spends a lot of time hanging around the docks.]]

Optimus Prime began his life as a robot named '''Orion Pax''', a simple dock worker during the Golden Age of Cybertron nine million years ago, with a girlfriend named [[Ariel]], and a best friend named [[Dion]]. At the time, a new breed of robot had recently appeared on the planet - ones with new robot-mode flight powers that made Orion idolize them. Unfortunately for Orion, when [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]], the leader of these robots, approached him with inquiries about using one of the dock warehouses, Orion fell for the deception and he and Ariel were critically wounded when Megatron and his forces then attacked in order to claim the energy stored there. Searching for someone to help them, the time-displaced [[Aerialbot (G1)|Aerialbots]] took Orion and Ariel to the ancient Autobot [[Alpha Trion]], who used them as the first subjects for the new reconstruction process he had developed - rebuilding the frail Autobot frames into battle-hardy configurations. With this reconstruction, Orion Pax became Optimus Prime, the first of the Autobot warriors, who took the mantle of leadership as the civil war against Megatron and Decepticons erupted, while Ariel was rebuilt into [[Elita One (G1)|Elita One]], the commander of the Autobot resistance on Cybertron. {{storylink|War Dawn}}

As leader of the Autobots, Prime headed up the Autobots' mission to search out new worlds with new sources of energy to revitalise the depleted Cybertron. However, shortly after its launch, the [[Ark (G1)|Autobots' craft]] was attacked by the [[Nemesis|Decepticon space cruiser]] and boarded by Megatron and the Decepticons. In the ensuing struggle, the g-forces of a nearby planet pulled both crafts down, and the Autobots' ship crashed into a volcano, thrusting all the occupants of the ship into emergency stasis. Four million years later, in the Earth year 1984 C.E., a volcanic eruption jarred the ship's computer, [[Teletraan I]] back to life, and it reactivated the Decepticons, programming them with new Earth-based disguise modes. As a petty parting gesture, [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]] fired upon the Autobot ship, creating a landslide that knocked Prime into the path of the computer's restoration beam, restoring him to life, and beginning the war anew on Earth. {{Storylink|More Than Meets The Eye, Part 1}}

Prime was perpetually at the forefront of the action throughout the early years of the war on Earth, usually confronting Megatron, and, in some rare instances, being forced to team up with him for the greater good (or the lesser evil). He has suffered his fair share of battlefield scrapes, almost meeting his end when his vital [[cosmotron]] component was critically damaged by the Decepticon jets and [[Laserbeak (G1)|Laserbeak]] {{storylink|Divide and Conquer}}, and suffering a severe - though unfair - defeat when Megatron challenged him to one-on-one combat while imbued with the different powers of all the Decepticons. {{storylink|Heavy Metal War}}

Generally, Prime acting in a commanding role as part of larger battles and event, but played prominent and solo roles in a few, also. In 1985, Megatron created a perfect duplicate of him, leaving the Autobots unable to differentiate between the two until the clone disregarded the safety of their human companion, [[Spike Witwicky]], exposing the deception. {{storylink|A Prime Problem}} Later in the same year, Prime's fame and prowess led him to become the target of the demented big-game hunter, [[Lord Chumley]], who sought his head to go along with his other rare trophies. Entering the hunter's estate alone, Prime defeated all the traps and beasts lying in wait and brought Chumley to justice. {{storylink|Prime Target}} The same year also saw Elita One captured by the Decepticons on Cybertron and used to lure Prime there alone; although knowing it was a trap, he ventured in solo and was defeated by the Decepticons and nearly destroyed, until Elita's stasis-field powers froze time long enough for them to escape. Prime was forced to seek out Alpha Trion to save the wounded Elita's life, and in the process, rediscovered his forgotten connection to his creator. {{storylink|The Search for Alpha Trion}} When Megatron created the [[Stunticon]]s, Prime decided to have the Aerialbots created as a countermeasure, though Alpha Trion gave his life by merging with [[Vector Sigma]] to ensure their creation. {{storylink|The Key to Vector Sigma}} For some reason, his [[Optimus Prime Memorial|memorial]] was also built 20 years before his death. {{storylink|Starscream's Brigade}}

[[Image:Optimusg1passingthematrix.jpg|thumb|left|"Oh, hey, I have this in me now, by the way."]]

Over the course of the next twenty years, the [[Decepticon]]s succeeded in seizing control of all of [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]], forcing the Autobots to operate from their new [[Autobot City|city]] on Earth, and from two bases on Cybertron's moons. In the Earth year 2005, Prime was stationed on [[Moonbase One]], and dispatched troops to Earth to acquire energy for an upcoming strike on Cybertron. The Decepticons, however, got wind of the plan and attacked the shuttle, killing its occupants. Their scheme was to use the shuttle to stage a [[Battle of Autobot City|surprise attack on Autobot City]]; an attack which would have suceeded, if not for a distress call which summoned Prime and support troops to Earth.

Optimus Prime foresaw that his final battle with his arch-nemesis was looming, deciding that the Decepticons must be stopped, no matter the cost. Bravely, he plowed through the remaining Decepticon ranks, punishing them for every Autobot they killed overnight, before confronting Megatron. In the ensuing battle with Megatron, Optimus Prime sustained fatal injuries, but not before turning the tide of battle and forcing the Decepticon to flee. Despite the efforts of [[Perceptor (G1)|Perceptor]], Optimus Prime could not be saved. Knowing his time had come, he passed the [[Matrix of Leadership]], and with it leadership of the Autobots, into the hands of his old friend, the city's commander, [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]]. With his last ounce of energy, he muttered [['Til all are one]], then died, his lifeforce becoming one with the ancient wisdom contained within the Matrix. When the young Autobot, [[Hot Rod]], opened the Matrix within the body of the planet-eater, [[Unicron]], Prime's voice was heard once more, dubbing the transformed Hot Rod "Rodimus Prime," new leader of the Autobots. {{Storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

[[Image:Optimusg1zombie.jpg|right|thumb|"WHERE IS SARAH CONNOR?"]]

Optimus Prime's body was entombed in a massive deep-space mausoleum with the many other fallen Autobots, but his corpse was desecrated by the [[Quintessons]] in 2006 when they reanimated it as part of an attempt to destroy the Autobots by using Prime to lure their space fleet into a trap. However, the Matrix was able to purify Prime of the Quintesson influence, and he got the other Autobots clear while he piloted his flagship into the Quintessons' detonator, triggering the explosion of a nearby sun. {{storylink|Dark Awakening}}

Prime was believed to have been destroyed in the explosion, but in reality, before the flagship impacted with the detonator, his body was recovered from the craft by two human scientists, [[Jessica Morgan]] and [[Gregory Swofford]]. As their ship departed, it was coated in solar spores released by the explosion of the sun. Jessica's father, [[Mark Morgan]], loathed the Autobots, and his hatred only grew when an attempt by the Decepticons to steal a heat-resistant alloy he had developed resulted in Jessica being paralyzed. Swofford and Morgan reconstructed Optimus Prime's body in an attempt to use it as a delivery system for the spores, which induced hatred and madness, in order to destroy the Transformers. {{storylink|The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1}} However, when they could not reanimate him, they used his body as a lure instead, bringing the Autobots to their lab, where they were infected. As this "[[Hate Plague]]" proceeded to spread across the galaxy, [[Sky Lynx (G1)|Sky Lynx]] retrieved a Quintesson, who fully restored Optimus Prime to life. Coating himself in Morgan's heat-resistant alloy, Prime reclaimed the Matrix from Rodimus and unleashed its concentrated wisdom to destroy the Hate Plague. {{storylink|The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 2}}

{{Note|There is a considerable continuity error concerning zombie Optimus. At the end of "[[Dark Awakening]]", Optimus is in pretty rough shape (as the screen shot shows), missing an arm, part of his face, a sizable portion of his shoulder, covered with cosmetic damage, etc. However, when he is discovered in "[[The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1]]", he's shining new. The intent was for him to retain his damage and be repaired during Morgan and Swofford's attempt at reanimating him, but even this does not explain how he went from being conscious to dead again, why there is no barrage of Quintesson laser-fire piercing Prime's now-pristine ship, or why the ship is now flying into an exploding star instead of the Quints' booby-trapped detonator asteroid.}}

[[Image:Puppetpmprime.jpg|right|150px|thumb|Prime's legal troubles began after he gave Tommy "the Touch." Strangely, the prosecution never even noticed the double entendre.]]

In 2007, Optimus Prime began to suffer visions following the release of the Matrix's energy, which foretold a great transformation for Cybertron. Events began with the Decepticons' theft of the key to the [[Plasma Energy Chamber]], {{storylink|The Rebirth, Part 1}} which forced Prime to consult Alpha Trion within [[Vector Sigma]], learning that the mega-computer had orchestrated events in order to restore Cybertron's Golden Age. {{storylink|The Rebirth, Part 2}} When the Plasma Energy Chamber was opened and threatened to drive Earth's Sun supernova, [[Spike Witwicky]] and the other organic [[Nebulan]]s who had become involved in the conflict as a result of these events were able to drain off the excess solar energy and revitalize Cybertron. {{storylink|The Rebirth, Part 3}}

At an undetermined point in time, through unknown circumstances, Optimus Prime was upgraded into a [[Powermaster]] body, and began associating with a young human boy named [[Tommy Kennedy]]. Tommy enjoyed doing school reports on the history of the Transformers, and who better to educate him on that subject than Prime? After finishing a story, Prime would often leave Tommy asking numerous questions only to inform him that they'd be answered another day before flying off into outer space. Some times, before leaving to attend intergalactic peace conferences, Prime would keep Tommy entertained with educational music videos performed by [[Stan Bush]]. {{storylink|Season 5}}

===Japanese cartoon continuity===
{{Note|The events of the American animated series occur in Japanese continuity as noted above, except that the events of Season 3, which took place in 2006 in America, were moved back to 2010, and "The Rebirth" and subsequent events do not occur. Japanese animated continuity inserts a large number of additional storylines, told through various different media, into the timeline (in particular, between Season 2 and the movie, and between the movie and Season 3), as detailed below.}}

====''Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformer'' manga====
When the Decepticons turned their attention to pillaging the energies of Japan in the late 1980s, Optimus Prime and the Autobots met up with a young Japanese boy named [[Kenji]], whose inventive mind helped them to defeat [[Menasor (G1)|Menasor]] during an energy raid on [[Tokyo]]. As a token of thanks, Optimus Prime granted Kenji a special communications helmet and made him an official Autobot ally. {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformer issue 1|F!SRLF #1}}

While showing Kenji around the Autobots' new Tokyo base, Optimus Prime lamented that he wished his "kid brother" [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] would hurry up and arrive with his trailer upgrade. As he pondered the where-abouts of his sibling, the Decepticons attacked Yokohama. The Autobots hurried to the scene only to encounter an over-powered Megatron in his newest form: the Super Megatron Gun. The Autobots' defeat seemed assured until Magnus arrived with Prime's trailer upgrade, the [[Scramble Power Buster]]. The Scramble Power Buster trumped the might of the Super Megatron Gun, leaving Prime and Magnus to vanquish the Decepticon forces with their combined attack: the Double Cross Kick (basically, them jump-kicking the Decepticons in the spine at the same time). {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformer issue 4|F!SRLF #4}}

Prime and Magnus teamed up again to battle the Stunticons and [[Combaticon]]s when the two Decepticons teams posed as Autobots and besmirched the two commanders' good names. Although [[Menasor]] and [[Onslaught]]'s [[Decepticon Trailer Brigade|Decepticon Great Wheel]] attack proved a challenge, Prime and Magnus's "Finish Double" attack (suspiciously similar to their Double Cross Kick) soon won the day. {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformer issue 7|F!SRLF #7}}

====''Scramble City''====
As the 1980s rolled on, the Autobots began an initiative to construct a new battle fortress known as [[Metroplex (G1)|Scramble City]]. The facility to construct the fortress was concealed within a cavern and overseen by Ultra Magnus, but when it was discovered by Decepticon spy [[Ratbat]], Megatron unleashed a horde of Decepticon [[combiner]]s to destroy the project before it could be completed. Optimus Prime lead a counter-offensive of Autobot combiners to the front lines. Things looked grim, as the Decepticon combiners thrashed the Autobots. As a last resort, [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] activated Scramble City, which transformed into its robot mode of [[Metroplex (G1)|Metroplex]] and arrived in time to fight off the Decepticons. However, Megatron unleashed his trump card, the Decepticon City: [[Trypticon]]. {{storylink|Scramble City}}

{{note|This storyline was never concluded, as a second installment of ''Scramble City'' was never produced.}}

====''Super Robot Magazine'' manga====
Continued Autobot and human interaction led to a joint project to create an [[warp gate|interstellar transport system]] in the late 1990s. When Starscream fused with the mechansm and attempted a coup, Prime and Megatron were forced to team up to stop him, and went missing following the battle that ensued. {{storylink|Super Robot Magazine}}

{{Note|This manga's cliffhanger was never resolved, but was retroactively exploited to insert the ''[[Robots in Disguise (cartoon)|Robots in Disguise]]'' animated series into the Japanese Generation 1 continuity, by claiming that its events took place when Prime and Megatron were absent and most of the Autobots and Decepticons were injured and off-planet.}}

====''Binaltech''====
In 2003, the Decepticons attacked the Autobots on Earth with a plague of [[Cosmic Rust]], leaving many of them injured, and the planet's defense force significantly depleted when Megatron made his big push to fully take over Cybertron in 2004. With Prime leading the Autobots in battling the Decepticons on their homeworld, no troops could be spared to bolster the defense of Earth, leading to the creation of new "Binaltech" bodies for various damaged Autobot warriors on the planet.

In the midst of the Binaltech conflict, the time-travelling [[Predacon (BW)|Predacon]] [[Ravage]] attempted to alter history by using the [[Kronosphere]] to teleport Megatron and the Decepticon armada outside of time during a turning-point battle with Prime and the Autobots. This left the Autobots to face the looming threat of [[Unicron]] alone, but as Prime and Ultra Magnus co-ordinated a last-chance attack against the chaos bringer, Prime dispatched [[Skids (G1)|Skids]] into the past to undo the change made to the timeline.

Although the restoration of the original timeline was accomplished, the intervention of a mysterious entity known as "[[Nemesis Prime (G1)|the Protector]]" preserved the "Binal-Time" timeline as an alternate universe. Prime was injured in the final battle with Unicron and gave the Matrix to Ultra Magnus, who used it to destroy the planet-eater, but ultimately, Prime survived and continued to lead the Autobots.

====''Robot Masters'' ====
Also in 2004, the Scramble City project was expanded through the use of the newly-discovered element [[Solitarium]] to involve the construction of the fully-fledged Autobot City on Earth. This coincided with the opening of a dimensional fissure known as the [[Blasty Zone]], which transported the [[Predacon (BW)|Predacon]] [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] through time to the present day. This "Beast Megatron" seized control of the Decepticons, left leaderless by the mysterious absence of Megatron, and went up against Optimus Prime and the Autobots for control of the world's solitarium, but Prime was able to fend off the villains with the help of several Autobots and Maximals from throughout time and space who came through the Blasty Zone - [[Star Saber (G1)|Star Saber]], [[Victory Leo]], [[Lio Convoy]] and [[Optimus Primal]]. Through interaction with these heroes, Prime gains the power of and [[Energon Matrix]].

Beast Megatron would not relent, and eventually discovered a massive deposit of solitarium beneath [[New York City]]. The Decepticons razed the city in search of the element until Prime and his forces arrived to save the day, this time aided by the enigmatic Autobot [[Reverse Convoy]]. Things were going smoothly until Reverse Convoy revealed himself to actually be the ''real'' Megatron, inhabiting the body of a Transformer from the planet Vehicon through use of his black hole interlink system. Now going by the name Rebirth Megatron, Prime's nemesis teamed with Beast Megatron to conquer their mutual foes. Prime managed to defeat the duo by combining his power with Lio Convoy's and Optimus Primal's.

Eventually, Prime returned all the displaced Autobots, Maximals, Decepticons and Predacons to their rightful place in time using the power of solitarium, and rid the Earth of Decepticons.

====''15 Go! Go!'' comics====
[[Image:TGGStarConvoy.jpg|right|thumb|"Hot Rod?! Did you [[Micromaster|shrink]] in the wash?"]]

[[Image:TGGLaserPrime.jpg|left|thumb|"How do you think I'd look in [[Scourge (RID)|black]]?"]]

Shortly before the [[Unicron]] War of 2005, an unknown saboteur badly damaged [[Teletraan I]]'s databanks. Optimus Prime notified his Autobots of the attack and issued a command that the information be recovered as soon as possible. "[[Ravage|Black Panther Man]]," stationed on the artificial Earth satellite [[Nana]], volunteered for the important task and assigned [[Teletraan 15]] to the case.

Teletraan 15 later traveled to the future, where [[Micromaster]] [[Hot Rod]] saved her from a [[Novaroid]]. As Dark Nova and Ultra Megatron prepared to merge, '''Star Convoy''' arrived and asked Hot Rod to aid him in the coming fight. But before they could start the battle, an interruption came from an unexpected source: [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]] emerged from a [[Transwarp]] portal and attacked!

On another mission into the future, Teletraan 15 and her companion [[Steeljaw]] were aboard [[Jetfire]] as he was attacked by the [[Decepticon]] jets [[Smokescreen (G2)|Smokescreen]] and [[Dreadwing (G2)|Dreadwing]] on his way to his commander. Fortunately for them, '''Battle Convoy''' (a.k.a. Laser Optimus Prime) appeared and severed Dreadwing's wing with a single mighty slash of his sword. Teletraan 15 thought that he looked sad and wondered if he had learned his sword skills during his [[Kiss Player]] days.

{{-}}

====''Kiss Players''====

{{note|[[Kiss Players]] takes place between ''The Transformers: The Movie'' and the third season of the animated series. While there is no particularly large time-gap between these stories in American animated continuity, in Japan, since the third season was moved to 2010 but the movie remained set in 2005, there was a five-year milieu that made room for plenty of new stories to be told.}}

[[Image:Illust.jpg|right|thumb|150px|Optimus is the one on the left. With the dignity.]]

Following Optimus Prime's death in the [[Battle of Autobot City]], Tokyo was devastated when [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]] crash-landed into the city after being hurled out of Unicron's body by Rodimus Prime. The death and destruction that resulted caused a massive anti-Transformer sentiment to spring up, epitomized by the formation of the government organization known as the [[Earth Defense Command]], who forced any remaining Transformers on Earth off the planet. Dissatisfaction with the E.D.C.'s extreme actions resulted in the formation of an underground resistance group led by the young [[Marissa Faireborn]], a girl who had been rescued from danger by Optimus Prime in 1996, with the deceased Prime forming a rallying point for these commandos.

[[Image:Marissa_convoy_stack.jpg|left|thumb|150px|She prefers the Japanese version's [[For safety reasons|''longer stacks''.]]]]

When Prime's corpse was covertly flown to Japan by the E.D.C., Marissa commandos attacked the convoy transporting the Autobots leader's body. Believing that they had secured Prime's body, the commandos were taken by surprise and slaughtered by the [[Ne squad]] [[Kiss Player]] [[Ringo]] and her [[Autrooper]] partner, who burst out of the torso of the decoy Prime body that had been atop the flatbed truck. As the sole surviving member of the squad, Marissa discovered that the true body was being transported within Prime's own trailer nearby. Slicing the trailer open, she was too late to prevent an E.D.C. Autrooper from partially fusing with Prime. Reflecting on her childhood memories of playing with the kindly Autobot leader, Marissa lovingly kissed his faceplate. In an explosion of energy that destroyed the trailer, the two [[ParasiTech|fused]] and Prime was reborn in a new, living body. The pair had become Kiss Players!

As fugitives from the E.D.C., Prime and Marissa spent their days on the run and their nights hanging out at the beach. He longed for the day when he would be able to see her bathing in the sun, rather than the moonlight, although he also thought that all the soft-serve ice cream she was eating was making her a little fat. One night while Marissa was surfing, she had a squid latch onto her. Then a [[Legion]] that had infused itself with both an octopus and shipwreck attacked her. With tentacles. Prime fought it off and saved Marissa, but the E.D.C. [[Autrooper]]s were soon dispatched to the scene, and the two had to beat a hasty retreat.

[[Image:PrimeKP.jpg|right|thumb|"And THIS is for [[Trailbreaker|TRAILBREAKER]], who DESERVED to have GOTTEN this MOLD INSTEAD!"]]

Over the months that followed, Prime and Marissa battled Legions, led Legions (due to the Galvatron-infused cells inside Prime's new body, which sometimes overcame him with nightmares about his old enemy Megatron), fled from Hot Rod, who believed Prime to be an impersonator of his dead commander, and both fought and fled from the E.D.C.

Finally, teaming up with Hot Rod and his Kiss Player partner [[Shaoshao Li]] (who had adored Marissa since childhood and hated Prime for "stealing" her friend's affections), and the E.D.C. Kiss Player [[Atari Hitotonari]] with her Autrooper partner, Prime and Marissa entered the secret experimental facility beneath the Tokyo headquarters of the E.D.C. and discovered the sinister truth behind the shadowy organization. Everything that had occurred was part of an attempt by E.D.C. commander [[Amao]] to resurrect her daughter, who had been killed in the 2005 catastrophe. Finding Galvatron's headless corpse imprisoned in the facility, the Kiss Players realized that the only way to repair things was to return the [[Unicron]]-created Decepticon's cells. Galvatron's body absorbed the Legions, the Autroopers, and the cells inside Prime and Hot Rod, who were returned to their former forms... which meant that Prime was once again dead.

Marissa did get a few chances to see her friend again - in 2007, she and her friends were transported back through time to 1984 where they witnessed Prime's battle with Megatron atop [[Sherman Dam]], and then later, ''forward'' in time, to 2010, where Prime (and [[Goldbug]]) helped her once more by rescuing her and her friends from the [[Sharkticon]] pit on [[Quintessa]].

{{-}}
====''The Headmasters'' cartoon====
One year after Prime's resurrection, in 2011, the Autobots had entered into an even closer relationship with Earth and began the colonization of other worlds, the first of which was the planet [[Athenia]], where Optimus Prime was stationed. It soon became apparent, however, that when Prime had released the energy of the Matrix to cure the Hate Plague, the consequences were more far-reaching than he had anticipated - without the energy of the Matrix to act as a balancing factor, [[Vector Sigma]] had become destabilized, and the Decepticons suddenly returned to exploit this, assaulting Cybertron in order to seize control of the mega-computer. {{storylink|Four Warriors Come Out Of The Sky}} Prime took a squad of troops to aid in the battle on the planet, and when the arrival of the Autobot [[Headmaster]]s tipped the battle in their favor, Prime broke off from the main attack and headed down into the depths of the planet, planning on stabilizing Vector Sigma at any cost. {{storylink|The Mystery of Planet Master}}

Guided through the dangers of the planet's catacombs by the spirit of Alpha Trion while the other Autobots searched for the Matrix on Earth, Prime eventually arrived at the computer, only to find his way barred by [[Cyclonus (G1)|Cyclonus]] and [[Scourge (G1)|Scourge]]. Hot Rod then arrived with the Matrix, with which Alpha Trion merged, re-energizing it and transforming Hot Rod back into Rodimus Prime; for the first time, the two Primes fought side-by-side and defeated Galvatron. Before Rodimus could implement the Matrix to stabilize Vector Sigma, however, Optimus Prime sacrificed himself to perform the task, merging with the computer and restoring its balance to save the planet. {{storylink|A Dream is Born, Double Prime}}

====''The Battlestars''====
[[Image:StarConvoyBoxArt1.jpg|right|thumb|150px|"Occasionally you meet a nice one{{m-}}Star Convoy, E.T. ... but usually they just turn out to be some kind of big lizard!"]]

In a sinister plot to destroy the Autobots, [[Dark Nova]] had Optimus Prime's [[spark|sparkless]] body revived as the evil [[False Convoy]]. False Convoy battled the Autobots but was defeated. Using the power of the [[Zodiac|Zodiac]], Optimus Prime was brought back online and upgraded into '''Star Convoy'''. He was then reunited with [[Hot Rod (G1)#The Battlestars|Hot Rod]], who became his [[Micromaster]] partner.

With the likes of [[Sky Garry]], [[Grandus]] and [[Sixliner]], Star Convoy formed the [[Battlestar]]s and did battle with the Decepticons and Dark Nova's horde of [[Great Galaman]] drone warriors. Getting nowhere fast, Dark Nova then resurrected [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]] (last seen buried in ice) as [[Megatron (G1)#The Battlestars|Super Megatron]] to counter Star Convoy. This didn't work all that well, and after defeating Super Megatron with the [[Triple Combination Battlestar Attack]], his foe was resurrected again by Dark Nova as Ultra Megatron. After disposing of him yet again, Dark Nova merged with Ultra Megatron into [[Dark Nova|Star Giant]].

Star Giant proved to be virtually indestructible from the outside until Star Convoy got the bright idea of giving the villain [[Furmanism|the worst case of indigestion he's ever had]]. Holding Star Giant's massive mouth open, he ordered Sky Garry and [[Grandus]] to move in. After all 3 were swallowed, they began taking Star Giant down from the inside while simultaneously fighting off his various defensive systems. As soon as the trio escaped from Star Giant's interior, the monster exploded, leaving only his head slightly intact. As it happens, Megatron was housed inside Star Giant's noggin and survived the attack.

====Nucleon Quest Convoy bio====
Following the defeat of Star Giant, the restoration of Cybertron (following its devastation in 2011) began, but the planet was in the throes of a chronic energy shortage. In order to re-energize the struggling planet, Optimus Prime upgraded himself into a Powermaster by fusing with the Nebulan scientist Hi-Q. Protecting his body with a Phase Modulation Shield, Prime ventured into a black hole to obtain the super-energy Nucleon, which was used to restore Cybertron to its former glory.

====''Generation 2'' story pages and mini-comics====
[[Image:G2PrimeJustice.jpg|thumb|right|"SHALOM!"]]

With Cybertron restored, Optimus Prime upgraded himself into a new [[Action Master]] body. Megatron eventually recovered from his defeat and turned over a new leaf, joining with Prime to form the [[Cybertron Alliance]]. Things were good for a little while, as Megatron's attempts at peace were genuinely sincere, and the alliance ushered in what would be called the Second Generation of the Transformers. However, after human soldiers killed one of his dearest comrades, Megatron adopted a new body and started the war anew.

To counter Megatron, Optimus Prime upgraded his body into a new Missle Trailer mode. Rallying a new wave of Autobot warriors, Optimus diligently repelled Megatron and the Decepticons. Megatron eventually wore Optimus down in battle, though, blowing him away with a barrage of devastating attacks. Megatron finally succeeded in delivering a fatal blow to Optimus, shooting him at point blank with his cannon. Prime would have been done for, except that the [[spark|sparks]] of the previous Autobot Supreme Commanders within the [[Matrix of Leadership]] activated the [[Reconfiguration Matrix]] to forge him a new body. Optimus Prime became '''Battle Convoy''' and easily trumped Megatron's power. After a lengthy and costly war, Battle Convoy managed to drive the Decepticon forces to retreat into deep space. Prime was last seen wounded, being aided off the battlefield by his fellow Autobots.

====E-Hobby ''Generation 2'' storyline====
When the universe came under threat from an [[Galvatron II|alternate-reality incarnation of Galvatron]], Prime used his [[Reconfiguration Matrix]] to once again transform his body into a form resembling his original. Armed with powerful solar-powered missile launchers created by the Decepticons that were so energy-consumptive that Prime required a sunlight-absorbing [[Wikipedia:Black body|black body]] coating to operate them at full power, Prime put his new body to use rescuing Laser Ultra Magnus from Galvatron's clutches.

===''Generation 2'' manga===

[[Image: G2Hero.jpg|left|thumb|200px|GAH HE'S LOOKING AT ME!]]

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]]s 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]] 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.

Optimus Prime addressed Junpei, asking if the boy was injured. Junpei revealed he was alright but presented concern about the Decepticons returning to Earth. Optimus Prime swore that the Autobots would remain on Earth until the threat of the Decepticons was finished and asked for Junpei's help in making that future a reality. {{storylink|The Earth is in Danger!}}

===Beast Era===
====''Beast Wars''====
[[Image:G1Prime_BWMegs.jpg|right|thumb|Optimus Prime dies again!]]

The [[Beast Wars (event)|Beast Wars]] raged on prehistoric Earth, eventually leading to the discovery of the buried Ark sometime after it's crash on prehistoric Earth. [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]], following his namesakes instructions in a desperate gambit, decided to attempt to change history by killing Prime, who was still lying in the Ark in [[stasis lock]]. Megatron hoped that this would result in the Decepticons winning the Great War and eventually [[Predacon (BW)|Predacon]] control of Cybertron. Megatron unleashed a full-power weapon blast at Optimus Prime's face, near-fatally injuring him. {{storylink|The Agenda (Part III)}} However, [[Optimus Primal (BW)|Optimus Primal]] proceeded to take Prime's spark into his body to protect it from surgical trauma while his injuries were repaired. The subsequent power increase caused by Prime's spark's connection to the Matrix mutated Primal into a large, [[Transmetal]] "Optimal Optimus" form. Then, with the repairs complete, Prime's spark was restored, and he briefly activated before sinking back into normal stasis. {{storylink|Optimal Situation}}

Sometime after the Autobots and Decepticons awoke in the 1980s, the original Megatron gained access to one of Earth's ''Voyager'' spacecraft and inscribed a message on the [[Golden Disk (Voyager)|disk]] on board. In the event that he lost the War, Megatron left instructions for the descendants of the Decepticons to use [[transwarp]] technology to travel to Prehistoric Earth, locate the ''[[Ark (G1)|Ark]]'', and change history by killing Optimus Prime. {{storylink|The Agenda (Part 2)}}

====''Beast Machines''====
:''Voice actor'': [[Garry Chalk]] (English), [[Tilo Schmitz]] (German)

An enormous statue of Optimus Prime, bearing two [[Golden Disk]]s, could be seen on Cybertron in front of the Hall of Archives. The statue was subsequently blown to pieces by the [[Vehicon]] forces. {{storylink|Fires of the Past}} Later, Megatron beamed a hologram of Optimus Prime down to the ruins of [[Iacon]] to confront [[Optimus Primal]]. Primal mistook the hologram for the real thing and shared with it the code for the [[Oracle]]. Megatron quickly revealed his ruse. Primal explained to his Maximals that he knew the image was fake, but he needed the location of the missing [[spark]]s from Megatron's mind.{{storylink|Sparkwar Pt. II: The Search}}

{{note|Writer [[Bob Skir]] claims that neither the statue nor the golden disks in its hands were mentioned the script. However, he suggested that they were either the [[Golden Disk (Voyager)|disks]] from the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 probes, or that Optimus won them in the 2,395,989th Annual Cybertronian spelling bee.<ref>[http://bigbot.com/beast-machines-transformers-bob-skir/Beast-Machines-FAQ/Tue_12_Oct_1999.html Q&A from Bigbot's "bobskir.com"]</ref> We're betting on the latter.}}

====''Universe: Primeval Dawn''====
[[Image:Sparkholderprimevaldawn.jpg|left|190px|thumb|"Oh, I also have ''this'' in me now, too."]]

The Vok took the Matrix of Leadership from an unconscious Optimus Prime, used it to create [[Primal Prime]], then gave the Matrix to their new creation.

{{note|In the Beast Wars cartoon, Prime's spark was shown to be contained in a Matrix-like vessel. In [[Universe (comic)|Primeval Dawn]], that vessel was shown to be merely a container for his spark, and the actual Matrix was hidden underneath.}}

{{-}}
===Kid Stuff Talking Story Books===
:''Voice actor:'' Unknown

Optimus Prime is a "metallic nemesis." Megatron said so.

===Big Looker Story Books===
[[Image:KidsPrime1.jpg|right|150px|thumb|And the fluffy kitten played with that yarn all gosh-darn night.]]

In "[[The Great Car Rally]]", a 2-part race was being held with a massive supply of oil and gasoline as the prize. The Decepticons wanted it badly, but so did the Autobots. Megatron entered the race by hiding himself inside a hollowed-out car, but ended up losing to [[Cliffjumper (G1)|Cliffjumper]]. Optimus Prime celebrated the Minibot's victory with a gargantuan smile as all the Decepticons starved to death.
{{-}}

===Dreamwave comics continuity===

Optimus Prime started life as '''Optronix''' (Orion to his friends<ref>The [[Keepers Trilogy]] novels set in Dreamwave continuity</ref>), a data archivist. After taking note of a battle in which the Autobot leader [[Sentinel Prime (G1)|Sentinel Prime]] had been defeated by Megatron, he was summoned to the council of elders and informed that the Matrix had chosen him to be the next leader of the Autobots. He received the Matrix of Leadership shortly thereafter, gaining a powerful new body in the process, and almost arranged for the Autobot evacuation of Cybertron, intending to leave the Decepticons to their own devices, until a battle with Megatron beneath the planet's surface, accompanied by visions from the Matrix, stirred him on to fight for the safety of his homeworld. Some time into his role as leader, Prime disappeared in a [[space bridge]] explosion along with Megatron, but returned some time later, having spent a period of time on [[Quintessa]].

[[Image:Optronix_optimus.jpg|thumb|left|What? OPTRONIX is evolving!]]

Following the awakening of the Transformers on Earth, the Autobots protected the planet from the Decepticons. Over the next fifteen years, the Autobots befriended the humans, particularly the [[Witwicky|Witwicky family]]. The Autobots finally allied with humankind and eventually defeated the Decepticons at the turn of the century. They planned to return to Cybertron aboard the newly constructed ''[[Ark_II]]'', along with seven humans, including Witwicky patriatch [[Sparkplug Witwicky|Sparkplug]]. Before the ship departed, Prime gave a piece of the Matrix to [[Spike Witwicky]], Sparkplug's son and [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]]'s closest human friend. But the ship was destroyed as part of a military conspiracy to take control of the Transformers. However, a terrorist organization run by the enigmatic [[Lazarus]] was able to seize control of several of the Transformers that fell back to Earth, while the U.S. military located Prime's body. Spike was forced by the product chief, General [[Robert Hallo]], to use the piece of the Matrix to reactivate Prime. Functional again, Prime used the Matrix to reactivate more of his fallen comrades, and then faced off against Megatron in [[San Francisco]].

Following this, Prime began to experience subconscious urgings, leading both the Autobots and the Decepticons to the Arctic Circle, where Shockwave arrived to greet them - and arrest them as war criminals. Shockwave had succeeded in ending the war on Cybertron, but Prime soon fell in with a rebel Autobot group that had discovered Shockwave had a greater agenda. Rallying Autobots across Cybertron to the cause, Prime faced Shockwave in battle but was defeated and had the Matrix ripped from him and used to activate Vector Sigma. Before Shockwave could make full use of the mega-computer's data, however, [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] arrived and bested him. The injuries Prime took in this conflict necessitated a prolonged restoration period in stasis...

{{note|...which turned out to be the remainder of Dreamwave's existence. Bummer.}}

===Devil's Due G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers comics continuity===
{{charstub}}

=== IDW comics continuity ===
{{ongoing}}
{{-}}
{{note|[[Megatron Origin]] depicted that before the war, a robot that's a hybrid of the "Orion Pax" and "Optronix" designs appears listening to [[Sentinel Prime]]'s speech at the funeral of [[Bumper (G1)|Bumper]] and [[Fastback]]. He is standing with [[Elita One (G1)|Elita One]], [[Alpha Trion (G1)|Alpha Trion]], and a white version of himself (presumably [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]], possibly even [[Dion]]). Whether this is truly the [[IDW continuity]]'s version of pre-Prime Optimus remains unrevealed.}}

[[Image:IDWOptimus.jpg|right|thumb|150px|Freedom is the right of all sentient and heavily-armed beings.]]

Optimus Prime commands the Autobot armed forces spread across the galaxy from the [[Autobot Orbital Command Hub]]. He was directly involved in the cataclysm ([[IDW timeline|just under 450 years ago]]) that reduced Cybertron to a dead husk, fighting alongside Megatron in an attempt to stop [[Thunderwing_(G1)|Thunderwing]]'s rampage. Their efforts were futile, and they only survived due to Cybertron itself swallowing Thunderwing at [[Thunderhead Pass]]. Megatron was unconvinced that Thunderwing was dead, and advocated that Cybertron be destroyed to better insure that the mad Decepticon was forever destroyed. Prime refused, and threatened to stop any effort that Megatron attempted. Megatron agreed to spare the planet, but warned Prime that anything which happened afterwards was on his head.

In the present, Prime received a pulsewave from [[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide]], who was stationed under [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]]'s team on Earth, saying that the Decepticon infiltration cell under Starscream had broken their infiltration methods and enacted [[siege mode]] prematurely. Soon afterward, the Autobot science vessel ''[[Calabi-Yau]]'' sent a distress signal from above [[Thunderhead Pass]], and he ordered the [[Wreckers]] to withdraw from [[Varas Centralus]] and meet him on Cybertron. {{Storylink|Stormbringer issue 2}} Thunderwing had been restored by [[Bludgeon (G1)|Bludgeon]] and his followers, and though the Wreckers made short work of them, the real fight would be met with Thunderwing. After the Wreckers, [[Predacon (G1)|Predacon]]s and [[Centurion droids|Centurion drones]] were unable to destroy the monster, Prime took to the field, firing massive amounts of energy at Thunderwing, forcing it to exhaust its last reserves of [[Ultra Energon]] and, ultimately, its life. {{storylink|Stormbringer issue 4}}

[[Jetfire (G1)|Jetfire]] discovered information in Bludgeon's files about the mysterious new form of Energon found on Earth. Linking it to the pulsewave transmission from Ironhide, Prime diverted his spacecraft to Earth and called [[Nightbeat (G1)|Nightbeat]] in to assist him. {{storylink|Spotlight: Nightbeat}}. Shortly after arrival{{m-}}having undergone alteration so that he could disguise himself as an Earth truck{{m-}}he slowly began to realize how unusual the situation Prowl's unit had found itself in was. {{Storylink|Infiltration issue 6}} Not only had the Decepticons broken their own infiltration protocols over what Starscream had dubbed [[Ore-13]], but after attempting to recover what appeared to be Sunstreaker's remains, it was also evident that some of the planet's native sentients{{m-}}[[human]]s{{m-}}posed a threat possibly equal to that of their old enemies. {{Storylink|Escalation issue 2}}

[[Image:IDWPrime_Earth.jpg|left|thumb|150px|Don't crush the cameraman!]]

Optimus Prime, now fully filled in on Earth's happenings, decided that they needed reinforcements. He called [[Nightbeat (G1)|Nightbeat]], [[Hot Rod]], and [[Hardhead (G1)|Hardhead]] to come when they could. When Prowl pointed out that Megatron, in his new gun-based Earth mode, was in the breakaway Soviet state of [[Brasnya]] stirring up trouble, Prime ordered them into action.

[[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]] almost got the drop on Prime, but [[Roller]] was right behind him and executed him with one single shot. Megatron returned to his full-size robot mode and disagreed with the quality of Prime's tea and crumpets. At last, the two rivals were going to go at it.

The fight went well at first, with Prime blowing Megatron's fusion blaster clean off. Megatron, however, tireless thanks to Ore-13, prevailed, almost beating Prime into [[stasis lock]]. {{storylink|Escalation issue 5}}

However, Prime transfered his consciousness into his trailer, leading Megatron to believe him dead. Realizing that Ore-13 was the same as Ultra Energon, Prime returned to his body in time to save his forces from the relentless Megatron, dealing enough damage to the Decepticon leader to drain his power reserves, just as he did against Thunderwing. The victory was narrow, however, leaving Optimus with the daunting task of fending off an increasing enemy force without his last ace in the hole. {{storylink|Escalation issue 6}}

This near-death experience had left Prime somewhat unsettled. While his consciousness was in [[infraspace]] downloading to his trailer, he sensed a presence of dread{{m-}}the visage of his long-missing predecessor, [[Nova Prime]]. Looking for answers, Optimus Prime left Earth temporarily to seek an audience with [[Omega Supreme (G1)|Omega Supreme]] for answers. Once there, he found out about Nova's beliefs of how Transformers were better than everyone else and should show it, and faced down the rampaging [[Monstructor]], a legacy of Nova's tenure locked away by Omega Supreme. Then he gave his "you shouldn't have done that" speech to Omega, handed Monstructor's limbs over to Jetfire's team, and went on to do what comic G1 Primes do best: have angst-ridden introspection about himself and the tarnished legacy of the [[Prime (rank)|Prime lineage]]. {{storylink|Spotlight: Optimus Prime}}

After returning to Earth, Nightbeat discovered that a human group was aware of the base's location and recommended to Prime that they move the ''[[Ark-19]]''. As preparations were underway, Prime received a message from [[Hound (G1)|Hound]] saying that Thunderwing had been stolen. [[Sideswipe (G1)|Sideswipe]], eager to search for [[Sunstreaker]], suggested that they be reassigned to Earth, and Prime agreed. However, the thrashing that Prime gave Megatron had so embarrassed the Decepticon leader that he ordered in [[Sixshot]]. While moving the ''Ark-19'', Prime and the others came under fire by Sixshot. {{storylink|Devastation issue 1}}

Ordering Ratchet to get Jimmy and Verity to safety, Optimus then instructed Nightbeat to upload all of ''Ark-19<nowiki>'</nowiki>s'' data to ''[[Ark-32]]'' and for Prowl to activate the self-destruct sequence. {{storylink|Devastation issue 2}} When ''Ark-19'' exploded, it was assumed that Optimus was on board, but all was good at the end when he appeared with Bumblebee and the others{{m-}}ready to take on Sixshot. {{storylink|Devastation issue 3}} Optimus and the Autobots held Sixshot at bay, but the military ordered an air strike to destroy the alien robots. The battle was a stalemate, as Sixshot had to return to the Decepticons and the Autobots [[orbital jump]]ed just in time to avoid destruction. {{storylink|Devastation issue 4}} On ''Ark-32'', after a conversation with Jetfire, Prime informs Prowl that they need to retrieve Wheeljack and Hot Rod and leave Earth to see to another crisis. The Secure facility on [[Garrus-9]] had been breached, and Prime and company needed to make sure that some of the "recent inmates" there don't end up "in enemy hands." {{storylink|Devastation issue 5}}

Optimus eventually faces off with Nova, now called Nemesis Prime. {{storylink|Spotlight: Sideswipe}}

===IDW ''[[Hearts of Steel]]'' continuity===
He appears very briefly in the first few pages, in his "Ice Age Wars" body (we only see him in robot mode, but his altmode is a brachiosaurus<ref>[http://www.allspark.com/forums/index.php?s=d5d311674e796c81d010d26ac751389b&showtopic=10074&st=20&p=266183&#entry266183 Allspark forums post] by [[Guido Guidi]], August 15th, 2006</ref>). {{Storylink|Hearts of Steel issue 1}} He spends most of the story in [[stasis lock]].

====IDW ''Hearts of Steel'' Concept Art micro-continuity====
Optimus is depicted as turning into the front half of a fanciful red-and-blue locomotive. The rear half of the locomotive turns into a battle station. Since this altmode has no place in the story, these sketches constitute a [[micro-continuity]] in which Optimus Prime and [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] are active in the late 19th century.

{{-}}

==Toys==
{{main|Optimus Prime (G1) toys}}

{{-}}
==Trivia==
* According to [[Bob Budiansky]], longtime comics writer [[Denny O'Neil]] named Optimus Prime prior to Budiansky being brought on to the ''Transformers'' project.

* According to the staff of ''[[Beast Wars (cartoon)|Beast Wars]]'', Optimus Prime became a space explorer in the [[Beast Era]].<ref>[[Beast Wars Universe]] ISBN 978-4766938005</ref>

[[image:Optimusprime-mom.jpg|125px|right|thumb|Prime's mom knows how to write in cursive.]]

* By the time Optimus Prime appeared in ''[[Beast Machines]]'', his 3D model from ''Beast Wars'' had apparently been lost, leading the animators to use a faceplated Optimus Primal head as a quick replacement to save time and budget.

* Aside from occasionally having Alpha Trion as a father figure, Optimus Prime may have a mother! In an advertisement for [[Pepsi Convoy]] that shows him in a refrigerator (along with [[Destron Pizza]]), a note attached to a nearby piece of Tupperware reads:

:''Dear Convoy''
:''Warm it before you eat''
:''Mom''

:Although the ad itself is for Pepsi Convoy, he is a separate character, and it can be assumed that the note was left for Convoy/Optimus Prime himself.

* The first wave of Dreamwave posters in 2001 identified Optimus Prime as [http://www.comicden.com/merch/posters.htm "Captimus Primus"], which is tantalizingly close to making some sort of sense.

* Optimus Prime's Japanese name is "Convoy", which is named after his original name "Battle Convoy" in [[Diaclone]] toyline, because the name "Optimus Prime" is difficult for Japanese kids to remember and pronounce. <ref>'''Figure-Oh''' No. 114</ref>

{{-}}

==External links==
* [http://www.tfu.info/1984/Autobot/OptimusPrime/optimusprime.htm Optimus Prime on TFU.info]

* [http://www.ntfa.net/universe/english/index.php?act=view&char=Optimus_Prime Optimus Prime's Universe profile at NTFA.net]

* [http://www.toybin.org/search.php?q=1984+Autobot+Optimus+Prime ToyBin Optimus Prime Toy gallery]

{{-}}
== Footnotes ==
<references />

[[Category: Action Masters]]
[[Category: Alternators]]
[[Category: Attacktix]]
[[Category: Autobots]]
[[Category: Autobot leaders]]
[[Category: Beast Wars characters]]
[[Category: Classics characters]]
[[Category: Combiners]]
[[Category: Convention exclusives]]
[[Category: E-Hobby]]
[[Category: Generation 1 characters]]
[[Category: Generation 2 characters]]
[[Category: Go-Bots]]
[[Category: Headmasters characters]]
[[Category: Kiss Players characters]]
[[Category: Machine Wars characters]]
[[Category: Mail order exclusives]]
[[Category: Matrix bearers]]
[[Category: Powermasters]]
[[Category: Return of Convoy characters]]
[[Category: Robot Heroes]]
[[Category: Robot Masters characters]]
[[Category: Rulers of Cybertron]]
[[Category: Titanium Series]]
[[Category: Toys "R" Us exclusives]]
[[Category: Unreleased toys]]
[[Category: Zombies]]<div id="wikia-credits"><br /><br /><small>From [http://transformers.wikia.com Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki], a [http://www.wikia.com Wikia] wiki.</small></div>

Optimus Prime (G1)

2008-05-31T21:46:40Z

142.59.180.119: /* Generation 1 */

{{Template:Disambig3|Optimus Prime}}

:''Optimus Prime is the leader of the Autobots in the [[Generation 1]] continuity family. Before he became Optimus Prime, he was named alternatively '''Orion Pax''' or '''Optronix''' in certain continuities.''

[[Image:Optimusg1.jpg|right|thumb|300px|I'm that guy everyone remembers. No, not the [Megatron (G1)|gun guy]]the ''other'' guy.]]

'''Optimus Prime''' is the awe-inspiring [[Prime (rank)|leader]] of the [[Autobot]] forces. Originally a mere civilian, he was chosen by the [[Matrix of Leadership|Matrix]] to command, the first in a number of heavy burdens he has been forced to bear. Another is his bringing of the Transformers' conflict to Earth. The complete opposite of his mortal enemy [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]], every casualty, [[human]] or [[Transformer|Cybertronian]], weighs heavily on his [[spark]]. He does not show this side to his soldiers, and he never succumbs to despair. The Autobots need a decisive, charismatic leader, and that is what he gives them. It was that leadership which turned the tide of the [[Great War]].

On the battlefield, there are few who rival Optimus Prime's prowess. His [[ion blaster]] and his [[energon-axe]] are deadly weapons, though lacking when compared to others. He is easily the strongest of any Autobot his [[Scale|size]], and what he lacks in raw firepower he easily compensates with guts. He would sacrifice his life to protect his fellow Autobots or those under their care, and [[The many deaths of Optimus Prime|has on a few occasions]]. His compassion for other sentient beings is his only real weakness, and one the Decepticons have taken advantage of time and again... though it's also the source of his strength!

Prime (usually) carries within him the [[Matrix of Leadership]].

{{quote|Freedom is the right of all sentient beings.|Optimus Prime's most common [[bio]] quote}}

:''Nicknames:'' '''[[Autobot commander (disambiguation)|Autobot Commander]]''', '''Chief''', '''Big Boss''', '''Roller'''<ref>Nicknames found in early ''Universe''-style profiles published in [[The Transformers Comics Magazine]].</ref>
:''Japanese name:'' '''[[Convoy]]''', '''Battle Convoy''' (Laser Optimus Prime)
:''Italian name:'' '''Commander'''
:''Chinese name (Taiwan):'' '''Jr-tsun''' (至尊, "Prime")
:''Taiwanese name:'' '''Tīh-ghŭ''' (鐵牛, literally "Iron Ox" or "Iron Bull", a kind of vehicle in early days and rural area)
:''French-Canadian & Chzech name:'' '''Optimus Primus'''
:''Hungarian name:'' '''Optimusz Fővezér'''; and '''Optimusz Prájm''' (pronounced: prīm) in the first ''The Movie'' dub
:''Brazilian name:'' '''Líder Optimus''' (in cartoon) / '''Supremus Absolutus''' (in comics)

==Fiction==
===Marvel Comics continuity===
====Generation 1====
{{noteukonly}}
[[Image:Optimusprimeg1preearthmarvel2.jpg|left|thumb|250px|Optimus Prime's Cybertronic truck mode, along with a Cybertronic Grumman X-29 , a Cybertronic Earth motorcycle, and a Cybertronic Porsche 962.]]

''Before the [[Great War]] broke out on Cybertron, Optimus Prime was a Transformer of note, displaying his skills in the Infraformers Sharp-shooting Competition.'' Subsequently, when the war began, Prime quickly made a name for himself as a combat leader. On a mission with the [[Triggerbot (G1)|Triggerbots]] to stop [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] from claiming the [[Underbase]], Prime was forced to jettison the massive databank into space to prevent anyone acquiring its power, but with this action, proved his wisdom and skill to the [[Autobot Council of Elders]]. ''The outbreak of the Great War saw Autobot territories falling under Decepticon dominion, one City-State at a time. The last City-State to be taken was the Autobot capital of [[Iacon]]. As Decepticons besieged Iacon, the Council of Elders prepared to surrender. Councillor [[Xaaron]] suggested that High Councillor [[Traachon]] step down and allow a military officer to assume Autobot leadership. Traachon then used his powers of veto and effectively elected himself out of office, allowing Optimus Prime to assume supreme command of the Autobots, becoming the first soldier to ever hold the mantle of Autobot leadership. {{storylink|And There Shall Come...A Leader!}} ''

[[Image:Optimusprimeg1marvelfirst.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Optimus Prime had to go through an experimental "box with a gun on top" phase before he could commit to the truck thing.]]

Four million years ago, Cybertron - shaken from its orbit and drifting through space - came under threat when it floated into the path of a massive asteroid swarm that could potentially devastate the planet. Prime led a group of his most powerful Autobot warriors on the Autobot starship, the Ark, on a mission to destroy the asteroids, and although successful, in the aftermath of this mission the Ark was attacked by Decepticons, hoping to overcome their weakened foes. Intent on keeping the secrets of the Ark's computer, [[Auntie]], from the Decepticons, Prime set the craft on a suicide course, crashing it into the prehistoric planet Earth. {{storylink|The Transformers (comic issue)}}

In 1984 C.E., a volcanic eruption reactivated Auntie, which in turn brought the Transformers back on-line. Prime led the Autobots in their opening battles to prevent the Decepticons from plundering Earth's resources, but following their initial victory, the Autobots were all deactivated by [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]]. {{storylink|The Last Stand}} Prime was decapitated by Shockwave, who planned on using the energy of the Creation Matrix to give life to his evil creations. Before Shockwave could give life to his first Decepticon, Prime managed to transfer the Matrix energy into the mind of [[Buster Witwicky]]. {{storylink|The Worse of Two Evils!}} Enough residual energy existed to allow Shockwave to bring his [[Constructicon (G1)|Constructicon]]s to life {{storylink|The Next Best Thing to Being There!}}, but he realized something was wrong when Prime failed to give life to his next creation, [[Jetfire (G1)|Jetfire]]. Deducing what had happened, Shockwave sent Jetfire (who was still little more than a drone) out to capture Buster. {{storylink|Brainstorm!}} The human turned the tables on Shockwave, however, and used the Matrix energy to turn Jetfire on Shockwave, allowing Prime to reclaim his body and retake leadership of the Autobots, giving Jetfire true life as a reward. {{storylink|Prime Time!}}

''During the arrival of the Decepticons from the future, Prime, Ratchet and Prowl were mass-displaced into Limbo. {{storylink|Target 2006}} Upon his return, Optimus observed the records of how poorly the Autobots performed in his absence, going so far as to seek leadership from Megatron out of sheer desperation. Optimus Prime began to consider whether he was too important to the Autobots, and if they could carry on should he fall. To alleve his doubts, he and a reluctant [[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]] plotted to fake Prime's death to teach the Autobots how to fend for themselves. While Prime was setting up an imposter version of himself to leave behind destroyed for the Autobots to find, Megatron sent the [[Predacon (G1)|Predacons]] to attack Prime. {{storylink|Prey!}}''

After a period of effective leadership, Prime engaged Megatron in a [[video game]] duel for possession of a super fuel. Prime was victorious, but Megatron implemented a cheat code, allowing him to re-enter the game. Prime was able to defeat him yet again, but in doing so, he also destroyed several of the game sprites, and refused to accept his victory, as he had performed an action that compromised his beliefs about the preservation of life, which he would never have done, had the duel been real. In accordance with the rules of the game, Prime's body exploded and he died. {{storylink|Afterdeath!}} Autobot surgeon [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]]'s subsequent efforts to restore him were unsuccessful, and his body was launched into space. {{storylink|Funeral for a Friend!}} The funeral barge eventually crashed on giant moon where it lay for untold time. At one stage, an alien ship crashed near the barge. The dying alien reached out toward the Matrix, with the Matrix choosing to revive the being as Death Bringer. Much later, the Matrix would revive a small predatory animal which would prove instrumental to the conclusion of the Matrix Quest.

Prime's personality had been copied onto a [[floppy disk]] by the technician running the game, [[Ethan Zachary]], who employed him in various video game scenarios he developed. Prime's damaged mind led him to believe that he himself was a video game character, even after he was reunited with his fellow Autobots. {{storylink|Pretender to the Throne!}} In an attempt to bring him back to life, [[Bumblebee (G1)|Goldbug]], [[Joyride]], [[Slapdash]], and [[Getaway]] took the disk to the planet [[Nebulos]], where a new body was constructed for Prime. They built a new body for Optimus Prime, and even upgraded it with the ability to combine with the trailer to form a larger robot. In an effort to keep Transformers off their planet, however, the Nebulans had poisoned their fuel, and the sensation of dying convinced Prime that he was truly alive, and not a game character. To save his life, the Nebulan scientist [[Hi-Q]] [[binary-bonding|bonded]] with him, creating '''[[Powermaster]] Optimus Prime'''. {{storylink|People Power!}}

Prime quickly proved himself to be a fool, for he dared to ignore [[Rorza, the Rocket-cycle Racer from Rigel III]]. {{storylink|The Cosmic Carnival!}}

Powermaster Prime and his Autobots later battled [[Deathbringer]]. ''Optimus Prime immediately sensed Matrix energies emanating from Death Bringer, and realised that the undead reaper was a creation of the Matrix. Although Death Bringer proved to be invulnerable, Optimus Prime was finally able to defeat it by convincing it to self-destruct in concordance with its primary function. The battle with Death Bringer alerted Optimus Prime to the fact that his old body was still out there somewhere in space, and more importantly, that the Matrix that it carried was also with it. With a war to win, the location of the Matrix was not a high priority. {{storylink|Deathbringer (comic issue)|Deathbringer}} ''

[[Image:Pmoptimusprimedeath.jpg|left|thumb|150px|"I'll have a #5, medium, no cheese."<br>"''Rarf ur rarff rarf.''"<br>"...What?"]]

With the subsequent threat of [[Unicron]] looming, priorites quickly changed and Prime began a quest to locate his old body and the physical Matrix object within it. When the Matrix was successfully reacquired, Prime sacrificed his life one more time to destroy Unicron by plunging the Matrix into his maw. However, the Powermaster process had been working to fully bond Prime and Hi-Q, and with Prime now destroyed, the process completed itself in Hi-Q's body, and the two minds and souls became one. Hi-Q's biomechanical body was stripped down and reconstructed by the [[Last Autobot]], creating a brand new Optimus Prime. {{storylink|End of the Road! (Marvel US comic)|End of the Road!}}
{{-}}

=====Marvel UK future timelines=====

''In an alternate timeline, Optimus Prime still maintained his Powermaster body in 1995. When a feminist group on Earth raised complaints that all the Autobots seemed to fit male archetypes, Optimus tried to appease them in the name of public relations. Unfortunately, his "appeasement" came in the form of a powder pink token Autobot female named [[Arcee (G1)|Arcee]]. That...didn't go over well. {{storylink|Prime's Rib!}}''

''Years later, in 2004, Prime was back in his original Earthen appearance. While attending the grand opening of Autobot City on Earth, the Autobots came under fire from Shockwave and his Decepticons. Optimus Prime and the Autobots bravely used their bodies as shields to protect their human guests until the Decepticons were driven off. {{storylink|Aspects of Evil!}}''

=====Earthforce=====
{{earthforcefiction}}

''While dealing with the oncoming threat of Unicron, Optimus Prime came under a great deal of stress and began actively berating Grimlock and his newly reactivated Dinobots for their more brutal methods of combating the enemy. {{storylink|Two Steps Back!}} This reprimand prompted Grimlock to offer his resignation from the Autobot army. Tempers got heated, and the two Autobots actually started brawling with one another in the conference room. After a few minutes of furious fighting, however, Prime and Grimlock effectively beat some sense into each other. Optimus Prime decided to take the ''Ark'' and its crew out into space, leaving Grimlock behind to command an "Earthforce" of Autobots, dedicated to protecting the planet in his absence. {{storylink|Break-Away!}}''

''Optimus Prime returned briefly for an inspection after the Autobot Earthbase was completed, and the Dinobots barely managed to keep him from learning about the berserker rages which plague [[Slag (G1)|Slag]] every few million years. {{storylink|The 4,000,000 Year Itch!}} He also oversaw the reconstruction of [[Tracks]] in Wheeljack's repair bay, leaving the vain Autobot under Grimlock's command before returning to space. {{storylink|Makin' Tracks!}}''

=====''Another Time and Place''=====
{{note|This text story was later [[retcon]]ned away by the events of ''[[Generation 2]]''.}}

After Klo, the Autobots returned to Cybertron in an effort to rebuild the planetary government and resources. Optimus Prime naturally took the lead in these endeavours, but matters weighed heavily on his spark. The Nucleon-soaked Hi-Q at the core of his new body was one thing, reducing Prime to a non-transforming "[[Actionmaster]]" like many of his fellow Autobots. But more importantly, Optimus Prime feared that the newfound peace on Cybertron would not last. He desperately wanted his soldiers to stop being soldiers, yet was petrified that something might come along and disturb their inactivity. This trepedation kept Optimus from stopping Grimlock from jetting off on an ill-advised mission to [[Hydrus Four]] in search of a way to reverse the Nucleon process, and he even refused to listen to Prowl when he reported that Grimlock took off to Hydrus Four anyway. Prowl struck a chord, however, when he pointed out that if he could track Grimlock's destination, so could the Decepticons. Shamed by Prowl's rebuke, Optimus Prime soon pushed aside his recalcitrance and assembled a strike team to go after the Dinobots.

On Hydrus Four, the Autobots discovered the Decepticons had taken over the medical facility with the Nucleon supply, and taken the Dinobots hostage. It seemed Bludgeon had a plan for the Nucleon, using it to recreate Megatron himself. With a surgical strike, however, they managed to free the Dinobots and take the fight to the enemy. Optimus confronted Bludgeon himself in battle, but was saved when Grimlock suddenly charged through and struck the Decepticon leader in dino-mode. In turned out the Nucleon process could be reversed after all! After that, all Prime and Grimlock had to do was tear apart the zombie-like, half-revived Megatron. Piece o' cake. {{storylink|Another Time and Place}}

====Generation 2====
As time passed, with the Decepticons supposed in exile and Cybertron at peace, the Autobots functionally disbanded. They scattered across the galaxies, with many retiring in peace while others continued to fight for peace among other civilizations they came across. The time came when Optimus Prime was called back into the skirmish, alongside his honor guard of Kup and Hot Rod, when Grimlock and his combat unit discovered a greater [[Cybertronian Empire]] that had sprouted up without their noticing it. These next generation Decepticons, led by the Liege Centuro [[Jhiaxus]], would conquer world after world using terraforming and exo-structuring processes to remake raw materials into a new Cybertron for their use. Optimus Prime, Grimlock and their "Dirty Dozen" of Autobots began a small resistance movement against Jhiaxus and his people, but realized they were out of their depth. As the call went out to reassemble the Autobot army en masse, Prime worried that they were still missing some greater threat -- he had begun experiencing visions of an unknown peril that was heading their way, and wasn't sure if even the united Autobots would be enough to deal with it. {{storylink|War Without End!}}

Until he could identify this secondary threat, Prime ordered the Autobots to remain inactive at an Autobase built into a small asteroid belt. But certainly Grimlock was having none of that. He grabbed a sizeable percentage of their displaced warriors who had already arrived and headed out after Jhiaxus and his flagship, [[Twilight]]. Naturally, they got in over their heads. Prime grabbed some of his personal soldiers (Hot Rod, Kup, Prowl, [[Hound]]) and hijacked a strike ship to get close enough to Twilight for a rescue mission. Once Grimlock and his men were sent out on a prison vessel, Optimus blasted the ship just enough to cause chaos, and give Grimlock enough time to overtake the crew. {{storylink|Devices and Desires!}}

[[image:Optimusprime-g2.jpg|right|thumb|150px|More apocalyptic visions than you can shake a [[Covenant of Primus|covenant]] at.]]
Surprisingly enough, he gave Grimlock no rebuke once they met up again -- in fact, Prime put the Dinobot commander in charge of the entire army! In order to fully understand the visions of impending doom he was receiving, Optimus Prime decided he needed to return to Cybertron itself, to help "cut through the static" that was garbling whatever message the Matrix was trying to send him. Engaging in a quasi-mystical ritual to expand his psychic boundaries, Optimus cast himself mentally back through time to witness the birth of the first Transformers, [[Prima]], as he rose from the living structure of Cybertron itself. What he saw next, however, was astonishing -- Cybertronians birthing new Cybertronians themselves, causing living metal to burst forth from them in a bio-morphic reproduction process called "[[budding]]". Primus had apparently allowed this only up til a point, allowing the race to evolve in stages before discontinuing the ability and the memory of it from his progeny. Jhiaxus and his new Cybertronians, however, were the end result of some Decepticons somehow relearning the budding process. They were stronger, yes, and perhaps more evolved physically, but their souls, their sparks, were distilled too many times over. Optimus Prime awoke from his trance, believing he had come to understand the threat he sensed: the fractioning of his species. Little did he know that the threat was far less philosophical, and far more tangible, than he realized. {{storylink|The Power and the Glory}}

When word reached Prime that Megatron had resurfaced on Earth, he jumped at the idea of joining forces with the original Decepticons to face off against the Cybertronian Empire. Travelling to Earth alone, Optimus approached Megatron with the intent to talk. Instead, Megatron blasted him from behind, beat him to a pulp, ionized his every circuit, and then ripped out his chest and siphoned away the power of the Matrix. So no, the talking didn't go too well. Prime only survived due to Grimlock's talent for insubordination, as the Dinobot leader brought a massive strike team down to save their fallen leader before Megatron finished him off. Still, as the Autobots dragged Prime away to receive repair treatment, he knew Megatron would be back -- Optimus had stuttered out enough information about "new Decepticons" to pique his old foe's interest, and once Megatron went after them and bit off more than he could chew, they'd meet again. {{storylink|The Gathering Darkness}}

In this, at least, Optimus Prime knew Megatron all too well. Only days later a heavily battered and bruised Megatron wandered into Autobase: Earth, looking for that alliance Prime had offered. {{storylink|Escalation!}} With new allies, things were looking up for Prime until the unthinkable happened. His visions of death and apocalypse finally came true as the Autobots came across a devastated world looking almost identical to the images he had been experiencing. Optimus now realized his visions were not metaphorical in nature, and almost drew the conclusion himself before [[Perceptor (G1)|Perceptor]]'s science team completed their analysis of the genocide -- it was their fault. More specifically, some by-product of the Cybertronian race had been formed by the budding process which created Jhiaxus and the Cybertronian Empire, an animate entity that scourred the cosmos of its own design. Before more data and analysis could be had, however, Jhiaxus and his troops arrived on Earth seeking to end their ancestors once and for all. {{storylink|Swarm (comic issue)|Swarm}}

Once again seeking compromise, Optimus Prime took Megatron in an attempt to reacquire the Decepticon [[Warworld]] and use it to force Jhiaxus to see reason, that they faced a common and perhaps unbeatable foe in this "[[Swarm]]". His efforts were more than a little delayed, however, by the ever-treacherous Starscream. That Decepticon schemer had sold them out to Jhiaxus in the first place, but then came aboard Warworld and merged with it and the power of the Creation Matrix Megatron had been housing there. {{storylink|Total War!}} Still, Optimus Prime managed to reach a communications console, and begged Jhiaxus for an audience to discuss the impending threat which was bearing down on them all. As badly as Prime's last attempt to "just talk" with an enemy went, this time it went much worse, as Jhiaxus responded by ordering the orbital bombardment and destruction of the human city of San Francisco. Millions of lives wiped out in an instant. And before Prime could even attempt to respond or try again, the Swarm itself arrived in orbit. {{storylink|Dark Shadows!}}

As bad as things were, a silver lining did develop -- Starscream proved too much of a "pedestrian villain" to actually corrupt the Matrix as had happened in the past. Instead, it was actually turning him more heroic, giving him selfless and self-sacrificing urges! Not wanting to be a hero, much less a dead hero, Starscream willingly relinquished the Matrix to Optimus Prime. In yet another effort at unity and compromise, Prime took a skysled over to Jhiaxus's flagship, Twilight, in order to talk the Liege Centuro into working with the Autobots and Decepticons to commune with the Swarm.

Instead, Jhiaxus tore off his face.

The formerly icy Cybertronian had been driven completely off his rocker by the extended conflict with his ancestors, and was now little more than a mad dog pounding away at Optimus Prime. The brutality only ended when the Swarm entered Twilight and consumed Jhiaxus utterly. At this point, Optimus had reasoned that the Swarm was merely a void, searching for something to complete the emptiness inside it. With desperate reasoning, Prime allowed the Swarm to assail him, hoping that he (and the Matrix inside him) would prove to BE what it was searching for. His body ravaged to the point of total discorporation, Optimus Prime still managed to make mental contact with the Swarm as it consumed him, and expose it to the will of Primus. In the end, Optimus Prime successfully purefied the Swarm, and was reborn in a new, more powerful body. In the aftermath, Prime suggested they all move on to a new era of peace and enlightment. {{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 new timeline that does not include the events of the Marvel UK-exclusive stories or ''Generation 2''.}}

[[Image:Classicscomicautobots.jpg|left|thumb|200px|"All right, do-over. This time I'll skip the visions of doom, and you won't get yourself tangled up with [[Cobra]]. Deal?"]]

Optimus Prime has returned to Earth commanding [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]], [[Cliffjumper (G1)|Cliffjumper]], [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]], [[Jetfire (G1)|Jetfire]], [[Mirage (G1)|Mirage]] and [[Hot Rod|Rodimus]] (formerly Hot Rod) to counter the return of [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]]. When Transformers from another reality, [[Skyfall (Cybertron)|Skyfall]] and [[Landquake (Timelines)|Landquake]], arrive on Earth unexpectedly, Megatron stumbles upon them, only to find himself under attack by Prime and his Autobots. {{storylink|Crossing Over, Part 1}} Overwhelmed, Megatron managed to escape with Landquake, while the Autobots returned to Autobot headquarters with Skyfall. {{storylink|Crossing Over, Part 2}}

Optimus Prime took his Autobots and Skyfall to [[South America]], where the Decepticons were investigating a mysterious energy source that was similar to the radiation readings of their new dimension-traveling companions. After Prime left Jetfire in mid-transit to help [[RUNT]] fight the [[Seeker]]s, he and the remaining Autobots arrived at their destination and battled the rest of Megatron's forces on the ground.{{storylink|Crossing Over, Part 3}}

Shortly after the events of this battle, Prime regrouped, seemingly having lost Skyfall and Cliffjumper (along with Landquake). He was pleased to be visited (seemingly very quickly, if really at all) by [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] when their paths crossed while the latter was hunting [[Bug Bite]]. {{storylink|Games of Deception}}

{{-}}

===American cartoon continuity===
:''Voice actors:'' [[Peter Cullen]] (Optimus Prime, English), [[Laurie Faso]] (Orion Pax, English), [[Tesshō Genda]] (Japanese), [[Francis Lax]] (French), [[Willi Röbke]] (German), [[Thomas Rau]] (German G2 Redub)

[[Image:Orionpax.jpg|right|thumb|Ariel spends a lot of time hanging around the docks.]]

Optimus Prime began his life as a robot named '''Orion Pax''', a simple dock worker during the Golden Age of Cybertron nine million years ago, with a girlfriend named [[Ariel]], and a best friend named [[Dion]]. At the time, a new breed of robot had recently appeared on the planet - ones with new robot-mode flight powers that made Orion idolize them. Unfortunately for Orion, when [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]], the leader of these robots, approached him with inquiries about using one of the dock warehouses, Orion fell for the deception and he and Ariel were critically wounded when Megatron and his forces then attacked in order to claim the energy stored there. Searching for someone to help them, the time-displaced [[Aerialbot (G1)|Aerialbots]] took Orion and Ariel to the ancient Autobot [[Alpha Trion]], who used them as the first subjects for the new reconstruction process he had developed - rebuilding the frail Autobot frames into battle-hardy configurations. With this reconstruction, Orion Pax became Optimus Prime, the first of the Autobot warriors, who took the mantle of leadership as the civil war against Megatron and Decepticons erupted, while Ariel was rebuilt into [[Elita One (G1)|Elita One]], the commander of the Autobot resistance on Cybertron. {{storylink|War Dawn}}

As leader of the Autobots, Prime headed up the Autobots' mission to search out new worlds with new sources of energy to revitalise the depleted Cybertron. However, shortly after its launch, the [[Ark (G1)|Autobots' craft]] was attacked by the [[Nemesis|Decepticon space cruiser]] and boarded by Megatron and the Decepticons. In the ensuing struggle, the g-forces of a nearby planet pulled both crafts down, and the Autobots' ship crashed into a volcano, thrusting all the occupants of the ship into emergency stasis. Four million years later, in the Earth year 1984 C.E., a volcanic eruption jarred the ship's computer, [[Teletraan I]] back to life, and it reactivated the Decepticons, programming them with new Earth-based disguise modes. As a petty parting gesture, [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]] fired upon the Autobot ship, creating a landslide that knocked Prime into the path of the computer's restoration beam, restoring him to life, and beginning the war anew on Earth. {{Storylink|More Than Meets The Eye, Part 1}}

Prime was perpetually at the forefront of the action throughout the early years of the war on Earth, usually confronting Megatron, and, in some rare instances, being forced to team up with him for the greater good (or the lesser evil). He has suffered his fair share of battlefield scrapes, almost meeting his end when his vital [[cosmotron]] component was critically damaged by the Decepticon jets and [[Laserbeak (G1)|Laserbeak]] {{storylink|Divide and Conquer}}, and suffering a severe - though unfair - defeat when Megatron challenged him to one-on-one combat while imbued with the different powers of all the Decepticons. {{storylink|Heavy Metal War}}

Generally, Prime acting in a commanding role as part of larger battles and event, but played prominent and solo roles in a few, also. In 1985, Megatron created a perfect duplicate of him, leaving the Autobots unable to differentiate between the two until the clone disregarded the safety of their human companion, [[Spike Witwicky]], exposing the deception. {{storylink|A Prime Problem}} Later in the same year, Prime's fame and prowess led him to become the target of the demented big-game hunter, [[Lord Chumley]], who sought his head to go along with his other rare trophies. Entering the hunter's estate alone, Prime defeated all the traps and beasts lying in wait and brought Chumley to justice. {{storylink|Prime Target}} The same year also saw Elita One captured by the Decepticons on Cybertron and used to lure Prime there alone; although knowing it was a trap, he ventured in solo and was defeated by the Decepticons and nearly destroyed, until Elita's stasis-field powers froze time long enough for them to escape. Prime was forced to seek out Alpha Trion to save the wounded Elita's life, and in the process, rediscovered his forgotten connection to his creator. {{storylink|The Search for Alpha Trion}} When Megatron created the [[Stunticon]]s, Prime decided to have the Aerialbots created as a countermeasure, though Alpha Trion gave his life by merging with [[Vector Sigma]] to ensure their creation. {{storylink|The Key to Vector Sigma}} For some reason, his [[Optimus Prime Memorial|memorial]] was also built 20 years before his death. {{storylink|Starscream's Brigade}}

[[Image:Optimusg1passingthematrix.jpg|thumb|left|"Oh, hey, I have this in me now, by the way."]]

Over the course of the next twenty years, the [[Decepticon]]s succeeded in seizing control of all of [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]], forcing the Autobots to operate from their new [[Autobot City|city]] on Earth, and from two bases on Cybertron's moons. In the Earth year 2005, Prime was stationed on [[Moonbase One]], and dispatched troops to Earth to acquire energy for an upcoming strike on Cybertron. The Decepticons, however, got wind of the plan and attacked the shuttle, killing its occupants. Their scheme was to use the shuttle to stage a [[Battle of Autobot City|surprise attack on Autobot City]]; an attack which would have suceeded, if not for a distress call which summoned Prime and support troops to Earth.

Optimus Prime foresaw that his final battle with his arch-nemesis was looming, deciding that the Decepticons must be stopped, no matter the cost. Bravely, he plowed through the remaining Decepticon ranks, punishing them for every Autobot they killed overnight, before confronting Megatron. In the ensuing battle with Megatron, Optimus Prime sustained fatal injuries, but not before turning the tide of battle and forcing the Decepticon to flee. Despite the efforts of [[Perceptor (G1)|Perceptor]], Optimus Prime could not be saved. Knowing his time had come, he passed the [[Matrix of Leadership]], and with it leadership of the Autobots, into the hands of his old friend, the city's commander, [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]]. With his last ounce of energy, he muttered [['Til all are one]], then died, his lifeforce becoming one with the ancient wisdom contained within the Matrix. When the young Autobot, [[Hot Rod]], opened the Matrix within the body of the planet-eater, [[Unicron]], Prime's voice was heard once more, dubbing the transformed Hot Rod "Rodimus Prime," new leader of the Autobots. {{Storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

[[Image:Optimusg1zombie.jpg|right|thumb|"WHERE IS SARAH CONNOR?"]]

Optimus Prime's body was entombed in a massive deep-space mausoleum with the many other fallen Autobots, but his corpse was desecrated by the [[Quintessons]] in 2006 when they reanimated it as part of an attempt to destroy the Autobots by using Prime to lure their space fleet into a trap. However, the Matrix was able to purify Prime of the Quintesson influence, and he got the other Autobots clear while he piloted his flagship into the Quintessons' detonator, triggering the explosion of a nearby sun. {{storylink|Dark Awakening}}

Prime was believed to have been destroyed in the explosion, but in reality, before the flagship impacted with the detonator, his body was recovered from the craft by two human scientists, [[Jessica Morgan]] and [[Gregory Swofford]]. As their ship departed, it was coated in solar spores released by the explosion of the sun. Jessica's father, [[Mark Morgan]], loathed the Autobots, and his hatred only grew when an attempt by the Decepticons to steal a heat-resistant alloy he had developed resulted in Jessica being paralyzed. Swofford and Morgan reconstructed Optimus Prime's body in an attempt to use it as a delivery system for the spores, which induced hatred and madness, in order to destroy the Transformers. {{storylink|The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1}} However, when they could not reanimate him, they used his body as a lure instead, bringing the Autobots to their lab, where they were infected. As this "[[Hate Plague]]" proceeded to spread across the galaxy, [[Sky Lynx (G1)|Sky Lynx]] retrieved a Quintesson, who fully restored Optimus Prime to life. Coating himself in Morgan's heat-resistant alloy, Prime reclaimed the Matrix from Rodimus and unleashed its concentrated wisdom to destroy the Hate Plague. {{storylink|The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 2}}

{{Note|There is a considerable continuity error concerning zombie Optimus. At the end of "[[Dark Awakening]]", Optimus is in pretty rough shape (as the screen shot shows), missing an arm, part of his face, a sizable portion of his shoulder, covered with cosmetic damage, etc. However, when he is discovered in "[[The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1]]", he's shining new. The intent was for him to retain his damage and be repaired during Morgan and Swofford's attempt at reanimating him, but even this does not explain how he went from being conscious to dead again, why there is no barrage of Quintesson laser-fire piercing Prime's now-pristine ship, or why the ship is now flying into an exploding star instead of the Quints' booby-trapped detonator asteroid.}}

[[Image:Puppetpmprime.jpg|right|150px|thumb|Prime's legal troubles began after he gave Tommy "the Touch." Strangely, the prosecution never even noticed the double entendre.]]

In 2007, Optimus Prime began to suffer visions following the release of the Matrix's energy, which foretold a great transformation for Cybertron. Events began with the Decepticons' theft of the key to the [[Plasma Energy Chamber]], {{storylink|The Rebirth, Part 1}} which forced Prime to consult Alpha Trion within [[Vector Sigma]], learning that the mega-computer had orchestrated events in order to restore Cybertron's Golden Age. {{storylink|The Rebirth, Part 2}} When the Plasma Energy Chamber was opened and threatened to drive Earth's Sun supernova, [[Spike Witwicky]] and the other organic [[Nebulan]]s who had become involved in the conflict as a result of these events were able to drain off the excess solar energy and revitalize Cybertron. {{storylink|The Rebirth, Part 3}}

At an undetermined point in time, through unknown circumstances, Optimus Prime was upgraded into a [[Powermaster]] body, and began associating with a young human boy named [[Tommy Kennedy]]. Tommy enjoyed doing school reports on the history of the Transformers, and who better to educate him on that subject than Prime? After finishing a story, Prime would often leave Tommy asking numerous questions only to inform him that they'd be answered another day before flying off into outer space. Some times, before leaving to attend intergalactic peace conferences, Prime would keep Tommy entertained with educational music videos performed by [[Stan Bush]]. {{storylink|Season 5}}

===Japanese cartoon continuity===
{{Note|The events of the American animated series occur in Japanese continuity as noted above, except that the events of Season 3, which took place in 2006 in America, were moved back to 2010, and "The Rebirth" and subsequent events do not occur. Japanese animated continuity inserts a large number of additional storylines, told through various different media, into the timeline (in particular, between Season 2 and the movie, and between the movie and Season 3), as detailed below.}}

====''Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformer'' manga====
When the Decepticons turned their attention to pillaging the energies of Japan in the late 1980s, Optimus Prime and the Autobots met up with a young Japanese boy named [[Kenji]], whose inventive mind helped them to defeat [[Menasor (G1)|Menasor]] during an energy raid on [[Tokyo]]. As a token of thanks, Optimus Prime granted Kenji a special communications helmet and made him an official Autobot ally. {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformer issue 1|F!SRLF #1}}

While showing Kenji around the Autobots' new Tokyo base, Optimus Prime lamented that he wished his "kid brother" [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] would hurry up and arrive with his trailer upgrade. As he pondered the where-abouts of his sibling, the Decepticons attacked Yokohama. The Autobots hurried to the scene only to encounter an over-powered Megatron in his newest form: the Super Megatron Gun. The Autobots' defeat seemed assured until Magnus arrived with Prime's trailer upgrade, the [[Scramble Power Buster]]. The Scramble Power Buster trumped the might of the Super Megatron Gun, leaving Prime and Magnus to vanquish the Decepticon forces with their combined attack: the Double Cross Kick (basically, them jump-kicking the Decepticons in the spine at the same time). {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformer issue 4|F!SRLF #4}}

Prime and Magnus teamed up again to battle the Stunticons and [[Combaticon]]s when the two Decepticons teams posed as Autobots and besmirched the two commanders' good names. Although [[Menasor]] and [[Onslaught]]'s [[Decepticon Trailer Brigade|Decepticon Great Wheel]] attack proved a challenge, Prime and Magnus's "Finish Double" attack (suspiciously similar to their Double Cross Kick) soon won the day. {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformer issue 7|F!SRLF #7}}

====''Scramble City''====
As the 1980s rolled on, the Autobots began an initiative to construct a new battle fortress known as [[Metroplex (G1)|Scramble City]]. The facility to construct the fortress was concealed within a cavern and overseen by Ultra Magnus, but when it was discovered by Decepticon spy [[Ratbat]], Megatron unleashed a horde of Decepticon [[combiner]]s to destroy the project before it could be completed. Optimus Prime lead a counter-offensive of Autobot combiners to the front lines. Things looked grim, as the Decepticon combiners thrashed the Autobots. As a last resort, [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] activated Scramble City, which transformed into its robot mode of [[Metroplex (G1)|Metroplex]] and arrived in time to fight off the Decepticons. However, Megatron unleashed his trump card, the Decepticon City: [[Trypticon]]. {{storylink|Scramble City}}

{{note|This storyline was never concluded, as a second installment of ''Scramble City'' was never produced.}}

====''Super Robot Magazine'' manga====
Continued Autobot and human interaction led to a joint project to create an [[warp gate|interstellar transport system]] in the late 1990s. When Starscream fused with the mechansm and attempted a coup, Prime and Megatron were forced to team up to stop him, and went missing following the battle that ensued. {{storylink|Super Robot Magazine}}

{{Note|This manga's cliffhanger was never resolved, but was retroactively exploited to insert the ''[[Robots in Disguise (cartoon)|Robots in Disguise]]'' animated series into the Japanese Generation 1 continuity, by claiming that its events took place when Prime and Megatron were absent and most of the Autobots and Decepticons were injured and off-planet.}}

====''Binaltech''====
In 2003, the Decepticons attacked the Autobots on Earth with a plague of [[Cosmic Rust]], leaving many of them injured, and the planet's defense force significantly depleted when Megatron made his big push to fully take over Cybertron in 2004. With Prime leading the Autobots in battling the Decepticons on their homeworld, no troops could be spared to bolster the defense of Earth, leading to the creation of new "Binaltech" bodies for various damaged Autobot warriors on the planet.

In the midst of the Binaltech conflict, the time-travelling [[Predacon (BW)|Predacon]] [[Ravage]] attempted to alter history by using the [[Kronosphere]] to teleport Megatron and the Decepticon armada outside of time during a turning-point battle with Prime and the Autobots. This left the Autobots to face the looming threat of [[Unicron]] alone, but as Prime and Ultra Magnus co-ordinated a last-chance attack against the chaos bringer, Prime dispatched [[Skids (G1)|Skids]] into the past to undo the change made to the timeline.

Although the restoration of the original timeline was accomplished, the intervention of a mysterious entity known as "[[Nemesis Prime (G1)|the Protector]]" preserved the "Binal-Time" timeline as an alternate universe. Prime was injured in the final battle with Unicron and gave the Matrix to Ultra Magnus, who used it to destroy the planet-eater, but ultimately, Prime survived and continued to lead the Autobots.

====''Robot Masters'' ====
Also in 2004, the Scramble City project was expanded through the use of the newly-discovered element [[Solitarium]] to involve the construction of the fully-fledged Autobot City on Earth. This coincided with the opening of a dimensional fissure known as the [[Blasty Zone]], which transported the [[Predacon (BW)|Predacon]] [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] through time to the present day. This "Beast Megatron" seized control of the Decepticons, left leaderless by the mysterious absence of Megatron, and went up against Optimus Prime and the Autobots for control of the world's solitarium, but Prime was able to fend off the villains with the help of several Autobots and Maximals from throughout time and space who came through the Blasty Zone - [[Star Saber (G1)|Star Saber]], [[Victory Leo]], [[Lio Convoy]] and [[Optimus Primal]]. Through interaction with these heroes, Prime gains the power of and [[Energon Matrix]].

Beast Megatron would not relent, and eventually discovered a massive deposit of solitarium beneath [[New York City]]. The Decepticons razed the city in search of the element until Prime and his forces arrived to save the day, this time aided by the enigmatic Autobot [[Reverse Convoy]]. Things were going smoothly until Reverse Convoy revealed himself to actually be the ''real'' Megatron, inhabiting the body of a Transformer from the planet Vehicon through use of his black hole interlink system. Now going by the name Rebirth Megatron, Prime's nemesis teamed with Beast Megatron to conquer their mutual foes. Prime managed to defeat the duo by combining his power with Lio Convoy's and Optimus Primal's.

Eventually, Prime returned all the displaced Autobots, Maximals, Decepticons and Predacons to their rightful place in time using the power of solitarium, and rid the Earth of Decepticons.

====''15 Go! Go!'' comics====
[[Image:TGGStarConvoy.jpg|right|thumb|"Hot Rod?! Did you [[Micromaster|shrink]] in the wash?"]]

[[Image:TGGLaserPrime.jpg|left|thumb|"How do you think I'd look in [[Scourge (RID)|black]]?"]]

Shortly before the [[Unicron]] War of 2005, an unknown saboteur badly damaged [[Teletraan I]]'s databanks. Optimus Prime notified his Autobots of the attack and issued a command that the information be recovered as soon as possible. "[[Ravage|Black Panther Man]]," stationed on the artificial Earth satellite [[Nana]], volunteered for the important task and assigned [[Teletraan 15]] to the case.

Teletraan 15 later traveled to the future, where [[Micromaster]] [[Hot Rod]] saved her from a [[Novaroid]]. As Dark Nova and Ultra Megatron prepared to merge, '''Star Convoy''' arrived and asked Hot Rod to aid him in the coming fight. But before they could start the battle, an interruption came from an unexpected source: [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]] emerged from a [[Transwarp]] portal and attacked!

On another mission into the future, Teletraan 15 and her companion [[Steeljaw]] were aboard [[Jetfire]] as he was attacked by the [[Decepticon]] jets [[Smokescreen (G2)|Smokescreen]] and [[Dreadwing (G2)|Dreadwing]] on his way to his commander. Fortunately for them, '''Battle Convoy''' (a.k.a. Laser Optimus Prime) appeared and severed Dreadwing's wing with a single mighty slash of his sword. Teletraan 15 thought that he looked sad and wondered if he had learned his sword skills during his [[Kiss Player]] days.

{{-}}

====''Kiss Players''====

{{note|[[Kiss Players]] takes place between ''The Transformers: The Movie'' and the third season of the animated series. While there is no particularly large time-gap between these stories in American animated continuity, in Japan, since the third season was moved to 2010 but the movie remained set in 2005, there was a five-year milieu that made room for plenty of new stories to be told.}}

[[Image:Illust.jpg|right|thumb|150px|Optimus is the one on the left. With the dignity.]]

Following Optimus Prime's death in the [[Battle of Autobot City]], Tokyo was devastated when [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]] crash-landed into the city after being hurled out of Unicron's body by Rodimus Prime. The death and destruction that resulted caused a massive anti-Transformer sentiment to spring up, epitomized by the formation of the government organization known as the [[Earth Defense Command]], who forced any remaining Transformers on Earth off the planet. Dissatisfaction with the E.D.C.'s extreme actions resulted in the formation of an underground resistance group led by the young [[Marissa Faireborn]], a girl who had been rescued from danger by Optimus Prime in 1996, with the deceased Prime forming a rallying point for these commandos.

[[Image:Marissa_convoy_stack.jpg|left|thumb|150px|She prefers the Japanese version's [[For safety reasons|''longer stacks''.]]]]

When Prime's corpse was covertly flown to Japan by the E.D.C., Marissa commandos attacked the convoy transporting the Autobots leader's body. Believing that they had secured Prime's body, the commandos were taken by surprise and slaughtered by the [[Ne squad]] [[Kiss Player]] [[Ringo]] and her [[Autrooper]] partner, who burst out of the torso of the decoy Prime body that had been atop the flatbed truck. As the sole surviving member of the squad, Marissa discovered that the true body was being transported within Prime's own trailer nearby. Slicing the trailer open, she was too late to prevent an E.D.C. Autrooper from partially fusing with Prime. Reflecting on her childhood memories of playing with the kindly Autobot leader, Marissa lovingly kissed his faceplate. In an explosion of energy that destroyed the trailer, the two [[ParasiTech|fused]] and Prime was reborn in a new, living body. The pair had become Kiss Players!

As fugitives from the E.D.C., Prime and Marissa spent their days on the run and their nights hanging out at the beach. He longed for the day when he would be able to see her bathing in the sun, rather than the moonlight, although he also thought that all the soft-serve ice cream she was eating was making her a little fat. One night while Marissa was surfing, she had a squid latch onto her. Then a [[Legion]] that had infused itself with both an octopus and shipwreck attacked her. With tentacles. Prime fought it off and saved Marissa, but the E.D.C. [[Autrooper]]s were soon dispatched to the scene, and the two had to beat a hasty retreat.

[[Image:PrimeKP.jpg|right|thumb|"And THIS is for [[Trailbreaker|TRAILBREAKER]], who DESERVED to have GOTTEN this MOLD INSTEAD!"]]

Over the months that followed, Prime and Marissa battled Legions, led Legions (due to the Galvatron-infused cells inside Prime's new body, which sometimes overcame him with nightmares about his old enemy Megatron), fled from Hot Rod, who believed Prime to be an impersonator of his dead commander, and both fought and fled from the E.D.C.

Finally, teaming up with Hot Rod and his Kiss Player partner [[Shaoshao Li]] (who had adored Marissa since childhood and hated Prime for "stealing" her friend's affections), and the E.D.C. Kiss Player [[Atari Hitotonari]] with her Autrooper partner, Prime and Marissa entered the secret experimental facility beneath the Tokyo headquarters of the E.D.C. and discovered the sinister truth behind the shadowy organization. Everything that had occurred was part of an attempt by E.D.C. commander [[Amao]] to resurrect her daughter, who had been killed in the 2005 catastrophe. Finding Galvatron's headless corpse imprisoned in the facility, the Kiss Players realized that the only way to repair things was to return the [[Unicron]]-created Decepticon's cells. Galvatron's body absorbed the Legions, the Autroopers, and the cells inside Prime and Hot Rod, who were returned to their former forms... which meant that Prime was once again dead.

Marissa did get a few chances to see her friend again - in 2007, she and her friends were transported back through time to 1984 where they witnessed Prime's battle with Megatron atop [[Sherman Dam]], and then later, ''forward'' in time, to 2010, where Prime (and [[Goldbug]]) helped her once more by rescuing her and her friends from the [[Sharkticon]] pit on [[Quintessa]].

{{-}}
====''The Headmasters'' cartoon====
One year after Prime's resurrection, in 2011, the Autobots had entered into an even closer relationship with Earth and began the colonization of other worlds, the first of which was the planet [[Athenia]], where Optimus Prime was stationed. It soon became apparent, however, that when Prime had released the energy of the Matrix to cure the Hate Plague, the consequences were more far-reaching than he had anticipated - without the energy of the Matrix to act as a balancing factor, [[Vector Sigma]] had become destabilized, and the Decepticons suddenly returned to exploit this, assaulting Cybertron in order to seize control of the mega-computer. {{storylink|Four Warriors Come Out Of The Sky}} Prime took a squad of troops to aid in the battle on the planet, and when the arrival of the Autobot [[Headmaster]]s tipped the battle in their favor, Prime broke off from the main attack and headed down into the depths of the planet, planning on stabilizing Vector Sigma at any cost. {{storylink|The Mystery of Planet Master}}

Guided through the dangers of the planet's catacombs by the spirit of Alpha Trion while the other Autobots searched for the Matrix on Earth, Prime eventually arrived at the computer, only to find his way barred by [[Cyclonus (G1)|Cyclonus]] and [[Scourge (G1)|Scourge]]. Hot Rod then arrived with the Matrix, with which Alpha Trion merged, re-energizing it and transforming Hot Rod back into Rodimus Prime; for the first time, the two Primes fought side-by-side and defeated Galvatron. Before Rodimus could implement the Matrix to stabilize Vector Sigma, however, Optimus Prime sacrificed himself to perform the task, merging with the computer and restoring its balance to save the planet. {{storylink|A Dream is Born, Double Prime}}

====''The Battlestars''====
[[Image:StarConvoyBoxArt1.jpg|right|thumb|150px|"Occasionally you meet a nice one{{m-}}Star Convoy, E.T. ... but usually they just turn out to be some kind of big lizard!"]]

In a sinister plot to destroy the Autobots, [[Dark Nova]] had Optimus Prime's [[spark|sparkless]] body revived as the evil [[False Convoy]]. False Convoy battled the Autobots but was defeated. Using the power of the [[Zodiac|Zodiac]], Optimus Prime was brought back online and upgraded into '''Star Convoy'''. He was then reunited with [[Hot Rod (G1)#The Battlestars|Hot Rod]], who became his [[Micromaster]] partner.

With the likes of [[Sky Garry]], [[Grandus]] and [[Sixliner]], Star Convoy formed the [[Battlestar]]s and did battle with the Decepticons and Dark Nova's horde of [[Great Galaman]] drone warriors. Getting nowhere fast, Dark Nova then resurrected [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]] (last seen buried in ice) as [[Megatron (G1)#The Battlestars|Super Megatron]] to counter Star Convoy. This didn't work all that well, and after defeating Super Megatron with the [[Triple Combination Battlestar Attack]], his foe was resurrected again by Dark Nova as Ultra Megatron. After disposing of him yet again, Dark Nova merged with Ultra Megatron into [[Dark Nova|Star Giant]].

Star Giant proved to be virtually indestructible from the outside until Star Convoy got the bright idea of giving the villain [[Furmanism|the worst case of indigestion he's ever had]]. Holding Star Giant's massive mouth open, he ordered Sky Garry and [[Grandus]] to move in. After all 3 were swallowed, they began taking Star Giant down from the inside while simultaneously fighting off his various defensive systems. As soon as the trio escaped from Star Giant's interior, the monster exploded, leaving only his head slightly intact. As it happens, Megatron was housed inside Star Giant's noggin and survived the attack.

====Nucleon Quest Convoy bio====
Following the defeat of Star Giant, the restoration of Cybertron (following its devastation in 2011) began, but the planet was in the throes of a chronic energy shortage. In order to re-energize the struggling planet, Optimus Prime upgraded himself into a Powermaster by fusing with the Nebulan scientist Hi-Q. Protecting his body with a Phase Modulation Shield, Prime ventured into a black hole to obtain the super-energy Nucleon, which was used to restore Cybertron to its former glory.

====''Generation 2'' story pages and mini-comics====
[[Image:G2PrimeJustice.jpg|thumb|right|"SHALOM!"]]

With Cybertron restored, Optimus Prime upgraded himself into a new [[Action Master]] body. Megatron eventually recovered from his defeat and turned over a new leaf, joining with Prime to form the [[Cybertron Alliance]]. Things were good for a little while, as Megatron's attempts at peace were genuinely sincere, and the alliance ushered in what would be called the Second Generation of the Transformers. However, after human soldiers killed one of his dearest comrades, Megatron adopted a new body and started the war anew.

To counter Megatron, Optimus Prime upgraded his body into a new Missle Trailer mode. Rallying a new wave of Autobot warriors, Optimus diligently repelled Megatron and the Decepticons. Megatron eventually wore Optimus down in battle, though, blowing him away with a barrage of devastating attacks. Megatron finally succeeded in delivering a fatal blow to Optimus, shooting him at point blank with his cannon. Prime would have been done for, except that the [[spark|sparks]] of the previous Autobot Supreme Commanders within the [[Matrix of Leadership]] activated the [[Reconfiguration Matrix]] to forge him a new body. Optimus Prime became '''Battle Convoy''' and easily trumped Megatron's power. After a lengthy and costly war, Battle Convoy managed to drive the Decepticon forces to retreat into deep space. Prime was last seen wounded, being aided off the battlefield by his fellow Autobots.

====E-Hobby ''Generation 2'' storyline====
When the universe came under threat from an [[Galvatron II|alternate-reality incarnation of Galvatron]], Prime used his [[Reconfiguration Matrix]] to once again transform his body into a form resembling his original. Armed with powerful solar-powered missile launchers created by the Decepticons that were so energy-consumptive that Prime required a sunlight-absorbing [[Wikipedia:Black body|black body]] coating to operate them at full power, Prime put his new body to use rescuing Laser Ultra Magnus from Galvatron's clutches.

===''Generation 2'' manga===

[[Image: G2Hero.jpg|left|thumb|200px|GAH HE'S LOOKING AT ME!]]

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]]s 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]] 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.

Optimus Prime addressed Junpei, asking if the boy was injured. Junpei revealed he was alright but presented concern about the Decepticons returning to Earth. Optimus Prime swore that the Autobots would remain on Earth until the threat of the Decepticons was finished and asked for Junpei's help in making that future a reality. {{storylink|The Earth is in Danger!}}

===Beast Era===
====''Beast Wars''====
[[Image:G1Prime_BWMegs.jpg|right|thumb|You have to get up preeeeetty early in the timestream to beat Optimus Prime!]]

The [[Beast Wars (event)|Beast Wars]] raged on prehistoric Earth, eventually leading to the discovery of the buried Ark sometime after it's crash on prehistoric Earth. [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]], following his namesakes instructions in a desperate gambit, decided to attempt to change history by killing Prime, who was still lying in the Ark in [[stasis lock]]. Megatron hoped that this would result in the Decepticons winning the Great War and eventually [[Predacon (BW)|Predacon]] control of Cybertron. Megatron unleashed a full-power weapon blast at Optimus Prime's face, near-fatally injuring him. {{storylink|The Agenda (Part III)}} However, [[Optimus Primal (BW)|Optimus Primal]] proceeded to take Prime's spark into his body to protect it from surgical trauma while his injuries were repaired. The subsequent power increase caused by Prime's spark's connection to the Matrix mutated Primal into a large, [[Transmetal]] "Optimal Optimus" form. Then, with the repairs complete, Prime's spark was restored, and he briefly activated before sinking back into normal stasis. {{storylink|Optimal Situation}}

Sometime after the Autobots and Decepticons awoke in the 1980s, the original Megatron gained access to one of Earth's ''Voyager'' spacecraft and inscribed a message on the [[Golden Disk (Voyager)|disk]] on board. In the event that he lost the War, Megatron left instructions for the descendants of the Decepticons to use [[transwarp]] technology to travel to Prehistoric Earth, locate the ''[[Ark (G1)|Ark]]'', and change history by killing Optimus Prime. {{storylink|The Agenda (Part 2)}}

====''Beast Machines''====
:''Voice actor'': [[Garry Chalk]] (English), [[Tilo Schmitz]] (German)

An enormous statue of Optimus Prime, bearing two [[Golden Disk]]s, could be seen on Cybertron in front of the Hall of Archives. The statue was subsequently blown to pieces by the [[Vehicon]] forces. {{storylink|Fires of the Past}} Later, Megatron beamed a hologram of Optimus Prime down to the ruins of [[Iacon]] to confront [[Optimus Primal]]. Primal mistook the hologram for the real thing and shared with it the code for the [[Oracle]]. Megatron quickly revealed his ruse. Primal explained to his Maximals that he knew the image was fake, but he needed the location of the missing [[spark]]s from Megatron's mind.{{storylink|Sparkwar Pt. II: The Search}}

{{note|Writer [[Bob Skir]] claims that neither the statue nor the golden disks in its hands were mentioned the script. However, he suggested that they were either the [[Golden Disk (Voyager)|disks]] from the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 probes, or that Optimus won them in the 2,395,989th Annual Cybertronian spelling bee.<ref>[http://bigbot.com/beast-machines-transformers-bob-skir/Beast-Machines-FAQ/Tue_12_Oct_1999.html Q&A from Bigbot's "bobskir.com"]</ref> We're betting on the latter.}}

====''Universe: Primeval Dawn''====
[[Image:Sparkholderprimevaldawn.jpg|left|190px|thumb|"Oh, I also have ''this'' in me now, too."]]

The Vok took the Matrix of Leadership from an unconscious Optimus Prime, used it to create [[Primal Prime]], then gave the Matrix to their new creation.

{{note|In the Beast Wars cartoon, Prime's spark was shown to be contained in a Matrix-like vessel. In [[Universe (comic)|Primeval Dawn]], that vessel was shown to be merely a container for his spark, and the actual Matrix was hidden underneath.}}

{{-}}
===Kid Stuff Talking Story Books===
:''Voice actor:'' Unknown

Optimus Prime is a "metallic nemesis." Megatron said so.

===Big Looker Story Books===
[[Image:KidsPrime1.jpg|right|150px|thumb|And the fluffy kitten played with that yarn all gosh-darn night.]]

In "[[The Great Car Rally]]", a 2-part race was being held with a massive supply of oil and gasoline as the prize. The Decepticons wanted it badly, but so did the Autobots. Megatron entered the race by hiding himself inside a hollowed-out car, but ended up losing to [[Cliffjumper (G1)|Cliffjumper]]. Optimus Prime celebrated the Minibot's victory with a gargantuan smile as all the Decepticons starved to death.
{{-}}

===Dreamwave comics continuity===

Optimus Prime started life as '''Optronix''' (Orion to his friends<ref>The [[Keepers Trilogy]] novels set in Dreamwave continuity</ref>), a data archivist. After taking note of a battle in which the Autobot leader [[Sentinel Prime (G1)|Sentinel Prime]] had been defeated by Megatron, he was summoned to the council of elders and informed that the Matrix had chosen him to be the next leader of the Autobots. He received the Matrix of Leadership shortly thereafter, gaining a powerful new body in the process, and almost arranged for the Autobot evacuation of Cybertron, intending to leave the Decepticons to their own devices, until a battle with Megatron beneath the planet's surface, accompanied by visions from the Matrix, stirred him on to fight for the safety of his homeworld. Some time into his role as leader, Prime disappeared in a [[space bridge]] explosion along with Megatron, but returned some time later, having spent a period of time on [[Quintessa]].

[[Image:Optronix_optimus.jpg|thumb|left|What? OPTRONIX is evolving!]]

Following the awakening of the Transformers on Earth, the Autobots protected the planet from the Decepticons. Over the next fifteen years, the Autobots befriended the humans, particularly the [[Witwicky|Witwicky family]]. The Autobots finally allied with humankind and eventually defeated the Decepticons at the turn of the century. They planned to return to Cybertron aboard the newly constructed ''[[Ark_II]]'', along with seven humans, including Witwicky patriatch [[Sparkplug Witwicky|Sparkplug]]. Before the ship departed, Prime gave a piece of the Matrix to [[Spike Witwicky]], Sparkplug's son and [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]]'s closest human friend. But the ship was destroyed as part of a military conspiracy to take control of the Transformers. However, a terrorist organization run by the enigmatic [[Lazarus]] was able to seize control of several of the Transformers that fell back to Earth, while the U.S. military located Prime's body. Spike was forced by the product chief, General [[Robert Hallo]], to use the piece of the Matrix to reactivate Prime. Functional again, Prime used the Matrix to reactivate more of his fallen comrades, and then faced off against Megatron in [[San Francisco]].

Following this, Prime began to experience subconscious urgings, leading both the Autobots and the Decepticons to the Arctic Circle, where Shockwave arrived to greet them - and arrest them as war criminals. Shockwave had succeeded in ending the war on Cybertron, but Prime soon fell in with a rebel Autobot group that had discovered Shockwave had a greater agenda. Rallying Autobots across Cybertron to the cause, Prime faced Shockwave in battle but was defeated and had the Matrix ripped from him and used to activate Vector Sigma. Before Shockwave could make full use of the mega-computer's data, however, [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] arrived and bested him. The injuries Prime took in this conflict necessitated a prolonged restoration period in stasis...

{{note|...which turned out to be the remainder of Dreamwave's existence. Bummer.}}

===Devil's Due G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers comics continuity===
{{charstub}}

=== IDW comics continuity ===
{{ongoing}}
{{-}}
{{note|[[Megatron Origin]] depicted that before the war, a robot that's a hybrid of the "Orion Pax" and "Optronix" designs appears listening to [[Sentinel Prime]]'s speech at the funeral of [[Bumper (G1)|Bumper]] and [[Fastback]]. He is standing with [[Elita One (G1)|Elita One]], [[Alpha Trion (G1)|Alpha Trion]], and a white version of himself (presumably [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]], possibly even [[Dion]]). Whether this is truly the [[IDW continuity]]'s version of pre-Prime Optimus remains unrevealed.}}

[[Image:IDWOptimus.jpg|right|thumb|150px|Freedom is the right of all sentient and heavily-armed beings.]]

Optimus Prime commands the Autobot armed forces spread across the galaxy from the [[Autobot Orbital Command Hub]]. He was directly involved in the cataclysm ([[IDW timeline|just under 450 years ago]]) that reduced Cybertron to a dead husk, fighting alongside Megatron in an attempt to stop [[Thunderwing_(G1)|Thunderwing]]'s rampage. Their efforts were futile, and they only survived due to Cybertron itself swallowing Thunderwing at [[Thunderhead Pass]]. Megatron was unconvinced that Thunderwing was dead, and advocated that Cybertron be destroyed to better insure that the mad Decepticon was forever destroyed. Prime refused, and threatened to stop any effort that Megatron attempted. Megatron agreed to spare the planet, but warned Prime that anything which happened afterwards was on his head.

In the present, Prime received a pulsewave from [[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide]], who was stationed under [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]]'s team on Earth, saying that the Decepticon infiltration cell under Starscream had broken their infiltration methods and enacted [[siege mode]] prematurely. Soon afterward, the Autobot science vessel ''[[Calabi-Yau]]'' sent a distress signal from above [[Thunderhead Pass]], and he ordered the [[Wreckers]] to withdraw from [[Varas Centralus]] and meet him on Cybertron. {{Storylink|Stormbringer issue 2}} Thunderwing had been restored by [[Bludgeon (G1)|Bludgeon]] and his followers, and though the Wreckers made short work of them, the real fight would be met with Thunderwing. After the Wreckers, [[Predacon (G1)|Predacon]]s and [[Centurion droids|Centurion drones]] were unable to destroy the monster, Prime took to the field, firing massive amounts of energy at Thunderwing, forcing it to exhaust its last reserves of [[Ultra Energon]] and, ultimately, its life. {{storylink|Stormbringer issue 4}}

[[Jetfire (G1)|Jetfire]] discovered information in Bludgeon's files about the mysterious new form of Energon found on Earth. Linking it to the pulsewave transmission from Ironhide, Prime diverted his spacecraft to Earth and called [[Nightbeat (G1)|Nightbeat]] in to assist him. {{storylink|Spotlight: Nightbeat}}. Shortly after arrival{{m-}}having undergone alteration so that he could disguise himself as an Earth truck{{m-}}he slowly began to realize how unusual the situation Prowl's unit had found itself in was. {{Storylink|Infiltration issue 6}} Not only had the Decepticons broken their own infiltration protocols over what Starscream had dubbed [[Ore-13]], but after attempting to recover what appeared to be Sunstreaker's remains, it was also evident that some of the planet's native sentients{{m-}}[[human]]s{{m-}}posed a threat possibly equal to that of their old enemies. {{Storylink|Escalation issue 2}}

[[Image:IDWPrime_Earth.jpg|left|thumb|150px|Don't crush the cameraman!]]

Optimus Prime, now fully filled in on Earth's happenings, decided that they needed reinforcements. He called [[Nightbeat (G1)|Nightbeat]], [[Hot Rod]], and [[Hardhead (G1)|Hardhead]] to come when they could. When Prowl pointed out that Megatron, in his new gun-based Earth mode, was in the breakaway Soviet state of [[Brasnya]] stirring up trouble, Prime ordered them into action.

[[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]] almost got the drop on Prime, but [[Roller]] was right behind him and executed him with one single shot. Megatron returned to his full-size robot mode and disagreed with the quality of Prime's tea and crumpets. At last, the two rivals were going to go at it.

The fight went well at first, with Prime blowing Megatron's fusion blaster clean off. Megatron, however, tireless thanks to Ore-13, prevailed, almost beating Prime into [[stasis lock]]. {{storylink|Escalation issue 5}}

However, Prime transfered his consciousness into his trailer, leading Megatron to believe him dead. Realizing that Ore-13 was the same as Ultra Energon, Prime returned to his body in time to save his forces from the relentless Megatron, dealing enough damage to the Decepticon leader to drain his power reserves, just as he did against Thunderwing. The victory was narrow, however, leaving Optimus with the daunting task of fending off an increasing enemy force without his last ace in the hole. {{storylink|Escalation issue 6}}

This near-death experience had left Prime somewhat unsettled. While his consciousness was in [[infraspace]] downloading to his trailer, he sensed a presence of dread{{m-}}the visage of his long-missing predecessor, [[Nova Prime]]. Looking for answers, Optimus Prime left Earth temporarily to seek an audience with [[Omega Supreme (G1)|Omega Supreme]] for answers. Once there, he found out about Nova's beliefs of how Transformers were better than everyone else and should show it, and faced down the rampaging [[Monstructor]], a legacy of Nova's tenure locked away by Omega Supreme. Then he gave his "you shouldn't have done that" speech to Omega, handed Monstructor's limbs over to Jetfire's team, and went on to do what comic G1 Primes do best: have angst-ridden introspection about himself and the tarnished legacy of the [[Prime (rank)|Prime lineage]]. {{storylink|Spotlight: Optimus Prime}}

After returning to Earth, Nightbeat discovered that a human group was aware of the base's location and recommended to Prime that they move the ''[[Ark-19]]''. As preparations were underway, Prime received a message from [[Hound (G1)|Hound]] saying that Thunderwing had been stolen. [[Sideswipe (G1)|Sideswipe]], eager to search for [[Sunstreaker]], suggested that they be reassigned to Earth, and Prime agreed. However, the thrashing that Prime gave Megatron had so embarrassed the Decepticon leader that he ordered in [[Sixshot]]. While moving the ''Ark-19'', Prime and the others came under fire by Sixshot. {{storylink|Devastation issue 1}}

Ordering Ratchet to get Jimmy and Verity to safety, Optimus then instructed Nightbeat to upload all of ''Ark-19<nowiki>'</nowiki>s'' data to ''[[Ark-32]]'' and for Prowl to activate the self-destruct sequence. {{storylink|Devastation issue 2}} When ''Ark-19'' exploded, it was assumed that Optimus was on board, but all was good at the end when he appeared with Bumblebee and the others{{m-}}ready to take on Sixshot. {{storylink|Devastation issue 3}} Optimus and the Autobots held Sixshot at bay, but the military ordered an air strike to destroy the alien robots. The battle was a stalemate, as Sixshot had to return to the Decepticons and the Autobots [[orbital jump]]ed just in time to avoid destruction. {{storylink|Devastation issue 4}} On ''Ark-32'', after a conversation with Jetfire, Prime informs Prowl that they need to retrieve Wheeljack and Hot Rod and leave Earth to see to another crisis. The Secure facility on [[Garrus-9]] had been breached, and Prime and company needed to make sure that some of the "recent inmates" there don't end up "in enemy hands." {{storylink|Devastation issue 5}}

Optimus eventually faces off with Nova, now called Nemesis Prime. {{storylink|Spotlight: Sideswipe}}

===IDW ''[[Hearts of Steel]]'' continuity===
He appears very briefly in the first few pages, in his "Ice Age Wars" body (we only see him in robot mode, but his altmode is a brachiosaurus<ref>[http://www.allspark.com/forums/index.php?s=d5d311674e796c81d010d26ac751389b&showtopic=10074&st=20&p=266183&#entry266183 Allspark forums post] by [[Guido Guidi]], August 15th, 2006</ref>). {{Storylink|Hearts of Steel issue 1}} He spends most of the story in [[stasis lock]].

====IDW ''Hearts of Steel'' Concept Art micro-continuity====
Optimus is depicted as turning into the front half of a fanciful red-and-blue locomotive. The rear half of the locomotive turns into a battle station. Since this altmode has no place in the story, these sketches constitute a [[micro-continuity]] in which Optimus Prime and [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] are active in the late 19th century.

{{-}}

==Toys==
{{main|Optimus Prime (G1) toys}}

{{-}}
==Trivia==
* According to [[Bob Budiansky]], longtime comics writer [[Denny O'Neil]] named Optimus Prime prior to Budiansky being brought on to the ''Transformers'' project.

* According to the staff of ''[[Beast Wars (cartoon)|Beast Wars]]'', Optimus Prime became a space explorer in the [[Beast Era]].<ref>[[Beast Wars Universe]] ISBN 978-4766938005</ref>

[[image:Optimusprime-mom.jpg|125px|right|thumb|Prime's mom knows how to write in cursive.]]

* By the time Optimus Prime appeared in ''[[Beast Machines]]'', his 3D model from ''Beast Wars'' had apparently been lost, leading the animators to use a faceplated Optimus Primal head as a quick replacement to save time and budget.

* Aside from occasionally having Alpha Trion as a father figure, Optimus Prime may have a mother! In an advertisement for [[Pepsi Convoy]] that shows him in a refrigerator (along with [[Destron Pizza]]), a note attached to a nearby piece of Tupperware reads:

:''Dear Convoy''
:''Warm it before you eat''
:''Mom''

:Although the ad itself is for Pepsi Convoy, he is a separate character, and it can be assumed that the note was left for Convoy/Optimus Prime himself.

* The first wave of Dreamwave posters in 2001 identified Optimus Prime as [http://www.comicden.com/merch/posters.htm "Captimus Primus"], which is tantalizingly close to making some sort of sense.

* Optimus Prime's Japanese name is "Convoy", which is named after his original name "Battle Convoy" in [[Diaclone]] toyline, because the name "Optimus Prime" is difficult for Japanese kids to remember and pronounce. <ref>'''Figure-Oh''' No. 114</ref>

{{-}}

==External links==
* [http://www.tfu.info/1984/Autobot/OptimusPrime/optimusprime.htm Optimus Prime on TFU.info]

* [http://www.ntfa.net/universe/english/index.php?act=view&char=Optimus_Prime Optimus Prime's Universe profile at NTFA.net]

* [http://www.toybin.org/search.php?q=1984+Autobot+Optimus+Prime ToyBin Optimus Prime Toy gallery]

{{-}}
== Footnotes ==
<references />

[[Category: Action Masters]]
[[Category: Alternators]]
[[Category: Attacktix]]
[[Category: Autobots]]
[[Category: Autobot leaders]]
[[Category: Beast Wars characters]]
[[Category: Classics characters]]
[[Category: Combiners]]
[[Category: Convention exclusives]]
[[Category: E-Hobby]]
[[Category: Generation 1 characters]]
[[Category: Generation 2 characters]]
[[Category: Go-Bots]]
[[Category: Headmasters characters]]
[[Category: Kiss Players characters]]
[[Category: Machine Wars characters]]
[[Category: Mail order exclusives]]
[[Category: Matrix bearers]]
[[Category: Powermasters]]
[[Category: Return of Convoy characters]]
[[Category: Robot Heroes]]
[[Category: Robot Masters characters]]
[[Category: Rulers of Cybertron]]
[[Category: Titanium Series]]
[[Category: Toys "R" Us exclusives]]
[[Category: Unreleased toys]]
[[Category: Zombies]]<div id="wikia-credits"><br /><br /><small>From [http://transformers.wikia.com Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki], a [http://www.wikia.com Wikia] wiki.</small></div>

Optimus Prime (G1)

2008-05-31T21:45:24Z

142.59.180.119:

{{Template:Disambig3|Optimus Prime}}

:''Optimus Prime is the leader of the Autobots in the [[Generation 1]] continuity family. Before he became Optimus Prime, he was named alternatively '''Orion Pax''' or '''Optronix''' in certain continuities.''

[[Image:Optimusg1.jpg|right|thumb|300px|I'm that guy everyone remembers. No, not the [Megatron (G1)|gun guy]]the ''other'' guy.]]

'''Optimus Prime''' is the awe-inspiring [[Prime (rank)|leader]] of the [[Autobot]] forces. Originally a mere civilian, he was chosen by the [[Matrix of Leadership|Matrix]] to command, the first in a number of heavy burdens he has been forced to bear. Another is his bringing of the Transformers' conflict to Earth. The complete opposite of his mortal enemy [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]], every casualty, [[human]] or [[Transformer|Cybertronian]], weighs heavily on his [[spark]]. He does not show this side to his soldiers, and he never succumbs to despair. The Autobots need a decisive, charismatic leader, and that is what he gives them. It was that leadership which turned the tide of the [[Great War]].

On the battlefield, there are few who rival Optimus Prime's prowess. His [[ion blaster]] and his [[energon-axe]] are deadly weapons, though lacking when compared to others. He is easily the strongest of any Autobot his [[Scale|size]], and what he lacks in raw firepower he easily compensates with guts. He would sacrifice his life to protect his fellow Autobots or those under their care, and [[The many deaths of Optimus Prime|has on a few occasions]]. His compassion for other sentient beings is his only real weakness, and one the Decepticons have taken advantage of time and again... though it's also the source of his strength!

Prime (usually) carries within him the [[Matrix of Leadership]].

{{quote|Freedom is the right of all sentient beings.|Optimus Prime's most common [[bio]] quote}}

:''Nicknames:'' '''[[Autobot commander (disambiguation)|Autobot Commander]]''', '''Chief''', '''Big Boss''', '''Roller'''<ref>Nicknames found in early ''Universe''-style profiles published in [[The Transformers Comics Magazine]].</ref>
:''Japanese name:'' '''[[Convoy]]''', '''Battle Convoy''' (Laser Optimus Prime)
:''Italian name:'' '''Commander'''
:''Chinese name (Taiwan):'' '''Jr-tsun''' (至尊, "Prime")
:''Taiwanese name:'' '''Tīh-ghŭ''' (鐵牛, literally "Iron Ox" or "Iron Bull", a kind of vehicle in early days and rural area)
:''French-Canadian & Chzech name:'' '''Optimus Primus'''
:''Hungarian name:'' '''Optimusz Fővezér'''; and '''Optimusz Prájm''' (pronounced: prīm) in the first ''The Movie'' dub
:''Brazilian name:'' '''Líder Optimus''' (in cartoon) / '''Supremus Absolutus''' (in comics)

==Fiction==
===Marvel Comics continuity===
====Generation 1====
{{noteukonly}}
[[Image:Optimusprimeg1preearthmarvel2.jpg|left|thumb|250px|Optimus Prime's Cybertronic truck mode, along with a Cybertronic Grumman X-29 , a Cybertronic Earth motorcycle, and a Cybertronic Porsche 962.]]

''Before the [[Great War]] broke out on Cybertron, Optimus Prime was a Transformer of note, displaying his skills in the Infraformers Sharp-shooting Competition.'' Subsequently, when the war began, Prime quickly made a name for himself as a combat leader. On a mission with the [[Triggerbot (G1)|Triggerbots]] to stop [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] from claiming the [[Underbase]], Prime was forced to jettison the massive databank into space to prevent anyone acquiring its power, but with this action, proved his wisdom and skill to the [[Autobot Council of Elders]]. ''The outbreak of the Great War saw Autobot territories falling under Decepticon dominion, one City-State at a time. The last City-State to be taken was the Autobot capital of [[Iacon]]. As Decepticons besieged Iacon, the Council of Elders prepared to surrender. Councillor [[Xaaron]] suggested that High Councillor [[Traachon]] step down and allow a military officer to assume Autobot leadership. Traachon then used his powers of veto and effectively elected himself out of office, allowing Optimus Prime to assume supreme command of the Autobots, becoming the first soldier to ever hold the mantle of Autobot leadership. {{storylink|And There Shall Come...A Leader!}} ''

[[Image:Optimusprimeg1marvelfirst.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Prime had to go through an experimental "box with a gun on top" phase before he could commit to the truck thing.]]

Four million years ago, Cybertron - shaken from its orbit and drifting through space - came under threat when it floated into the path of a massive asteroid swarm that could potentially devastate the planet. Prime led a group of his most powerful Autobot warriors on the Autobot starship, the Ark, on a mission to destroy the asteroids, and although successful, in the aftermath of this mission the Ark was attacked by Decepticons, hoping to overcome their weakened foes. Intent on keeping the secrets of the Ark's computer, [[Auntie]], from the Decepticons, Prime set the craft on a suicide course, crashing it into the prehistoric planet Earth. {{storylink|The Transformers (comic issue)}}

In 1984 C.E., a volcanic eruption reactivated Auntie, which in turn brought the Transformers back on-line. Prime led the Autobots in their opening battles to prevent the Decepticons from plundering Earth's resources, but following their initial victory, the Autobots were all deactivated by [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]]. {{storylink|The Last Stand}} Prime was decapitated by Shockwave, who planned on using the energy of the Creation Matrix to give life to his evil creations. Before Shockwave could give life to his first Decepticon, Prime managed to transfer the Matrix energy into the mind of [[Buster Witwicky]]. {{storylink|The Worse of Two Evils!}} Enough residual energy existed to allow Shockwave to bring his [[Constructicon (G1)|Constructicon]]s to life {{storylink|The Next Best Thing to Being There!}}, but he realized something was wrong when Prime failed to give life to his next creation, [[Jetfire (G1)|Jetfire]]. Deducing what had happened, Shockwave sent Jetfire (who was still little more than a drone) out to capture Buster. {{storylink|Brainstorm!}} The human turned the tables on Shockwave, however, and used the Matrix energy to turn Jetfire on Shockwave, allowing Prime to reclaim his body and retake leadership of the Autobots, giving Jetfire true life as a reward. {{storylink|Prime Time!}}

''During the arrival of the Decepticons from the future, Prime, Ratchet and Prowl were mass-displaced into Limbo. {{storylink|Target 2006}} Upon his return, Optimus observed the records of how poorly the Autobots performed in his absence, going so far as to seek leadership from Megatron out of sheer desperation. Optimus Prime began to consider whether he was too important to the Autobots, and if they could carry on should he fall. To alleve his doubts, he and a reluctant [[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]] plotted to fake Prime's death to teach the Autobots how to fend for themselves. While Prime was setting up an imposter version of himself to leave behind destroyed for the Autobots to find, Megatron sent the [[Predacon (G1)|Predacons]] to attack Prime. {{storylink|Prey!}}''

After a period of effective leadership, Prime engaged Megatron in a [[video game]] duel for possession of a super fuel. Prime was victorious, but Megatron implemented a cheat code, allowing him to re-enter the game. Prime was able to defeat him yet again, but in doing so, he also destroyed several of the game sprites, and refused to accept his victory, as he had performed an action that compromised his beliefs about the preservation of life, which he would never have done, had the duel been real. In accordance with the rules of the game, Prime's body exploded and he died. {{storylink|Afterdeath!}} Autobot surgeon [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]]'s subsequent efforts to restore him were unsuccessful, and his body was launched into space. {{storylink|Funeral for a Friend!}} The funeral barge eventually crashed on giant moon where it lay for untold time. At one stage, an alien ship crashed near the barge. The dying alien reached out toward the Matrix, with the Matrix choosing to revive the being as Death Bringer. Much later, the Matrix would revive a small predatory animal which would prove instrumental to the conclusion of the Matrix Quest.

Prime's personality had been copied onto a [[floppy disk]] by the technician running the game, [[Ethan Zachary]], who employed him in various video game scenarios he developed. Prime's damaged mind led him to believe that he himself was a video game character, even after he was reunited with his fellow Autobots. {{storylink|Pretender to the Throne!}} In an attempt to bring him back to life, [[Bumblebee (G1)|Goldbug]], [[Joyride]], [[Slapdash]], and [[Getaway]] took the disk to the planet [[Nebulos]], where a new body was constructed for Prime. They built a new body for Optimus Prime, and even upgraded it with the ability to combine with the trailer to form a larger robot. In an effort to keep Transformers off their planet, however, the Nebulans had poisoned their fuel, and the sensation of dying convinced Prime that he was truly alive, and not a game character. To save his life, the Nebulan scientist [[Hi-Q]] [[binary-bonding|bonded]] with him, creating '''[[Powermaster]] Optimus Prime'''. {{storylink|People Power!}}

Prime quickly proved himself to be a fool, for he dared to ignore [[Rorza, the Rocket-cycle Racer from Rigel III]]. {{storylink|The Cosmic Carnival!}}

Powermaster Prime and his Autobots later battled [[Deathbringer]]. ''Optimus Prime immediately sensed Matrix energies emanating from Death Bringer, and realised that the undead reaper was a creation of the Matrix. Although Death Bringer proved to be invulnerable, Optimus Prime was finally able to defeat it by convincing it to self-destruct in concordance with its primary function. The battle with Death Bringer alerted Optimus Prime to the fact that his old body was still out there somewhere in space, and more importantly, that the Matrix that it carried was also with it. With a war to win, the location of the Matrix was not a high priority. {{storylink|Deathbringer (comic issue)|Deathbringer}} ''

[[Image:Pmoptimusprimedeath.jpg|left|thumb|150px|"I'll have a #5, medium, no cheese."<br>"''Rarf ur rarff rarf.''"<br>"...What?"]]

With the subsequent threat of [[Unicron]] looming, priorites quickly changed and Prime began a quest to locate his old body and the physical Matrix object within it. When the Matrix was successfully reacquired, Prime sacrificed his life one more time to destroy Unicron by plunging the Matrix into his maw. However, the Powermaster process had been working to fully bond Prime and Hi-Q, and with Prime now destroyed, the process completed itself in Hi-Q's body, and the two minds and souls became one. Hi-Q's biomechanical body was stripped down and reconstructed by the [[Last Autobot]], creating a brand new Optimus Prime. {{storylink|End of the Road! (Marvel US comic)|End of the Road!}}
{{-}}

=====Marvel UK future timelines=====

''In an alternate timeline, Optimus Prime still maintained his Powermaster body in 1995. When a feminist group on Earth raised complaints that all the Autobots seemed to fit male archetypes, Optimus tried to appease them in the name of public relations. Unfortunately, his "appeasement" came in the form of a powder pink token Autobot female named [[Arcee (G1)|Arcee]]. That...didn't go over well. {{storylink|Prime's Rib!}}''

''Years later, in 2004, Prime was back in his original Earthen appearance. While attending the grand opening of Autobot City on Earth, the Autobots came under fire from Shockwave and his Decepticons. Optimus Prime and the Autobots bravely used their bodies as shields to protect their human guests until the Decepticons were driven off. {{storylink|Aspects of Evil!}}''

=====Earthforce=====
{{earthforcefiction}}

''While dealing with the oncoming threat of Unicron, Optimus Prime came under a great deal of stress and began actively berating Grimlock and his newly reactivated Dinobots for their more brutal methods of combating the enemy. {{storylink|Two Steps Back!}} This reprimand prompted Grimlock to offer his resignation from the Autobot army. Tempers got heated, and the two Autobots actually started brawling with one another in the conference room. After a few minutes of furious fighting, however, Prime and Grimlock effectively beat some sense into each other. Optimus Prime decided to take the ''Ark'' and its crew out into space, leaving Grimlock behind to command an "Earthforce" of Autobots, dedicated to protecting the planet in his absence. {{storylink|Break-Away!}}''

''Optimus Prime returned briefly for an inspection after the Autobot Earthbase was completed, and the Dinobots barely managed to keep him from learning about the berserker rages which plague [[Slag (G1)|Slag]] every few million years. {{storylink|The 4,000,000 Year Itch!}} He also oversaw the reconstruction of [[Tracks]] in Wheeljack's repair bay, leaving the vain Autobot under Grimlock's command before returning to space. {{storylink|Makin' Tracks!}}''

=====''Another Time and Place''=====
{{note|This text story was later [[retcon]]ned away by the events of ''[[Generation 2]]''.}}

After Klo, the Autobots returned to Cybertron in an effort to rebuild the planetary government and resources. Optimus Prime naturally took the lead in these endeavours, but matters weighed heavily on his spark. The Nucleon-soaked Hi-Q at the core of his new body was one thing, reducing Prime to a non-transforming "[[Actionmaster]]" like many of his fellow Autobots. But more importantly, Optimus Prime feared that the newfound peace on Cybertron would not last. He desperately wanted his soldiers to stop being soldiers, yet was petrified that something might come along and disturb their inactivity. This trepedation kept Optimus from stopping Grimlock from jetting off on an ill-advised mission to [[Hydrus Four]] in search of a way to reverse the Nucleon process, and he even refused to listen to Prowl when he reported that Grimlock took off to Hydrus Four anyway. Prowl struck a chord, however, when he pointed out that if he could track Grimlock's destination, so could the Decepticons. Shamed by Prowl's rebuke, Optimus Prime soon pushed aside his recalcitrance and assembled a strike team to go after the Dinobots.

On Hydrus Four, the Autobots discovered the Decepticons had taken over the medical facility with the Nucleon supply, and taken the Dinobots hostage. It seemed Bludgeon had a plan for the Nucleon, using it to recreate Megatron himself. With a surgical strike, however, they managed to free the Dinobots and take the fight to the enemy. Optimus confronted Bludgeon himself in battle, but was saved when Grimlock suddenly charged through and struck the Decepticon leader in dino-mode. In turned out the Nucleon process could be reversed after all! After that, all Prime and Grimlock had to do was tear apart the zombie-like, half-revived Megatron. Piece o' cake. {{storylink|Another Time and Place}}

====Generation 2====
As time passed, with the Decepticons supposed in exile and Cybertron at peace, the Autobots functionally disbanded. They scattered across the galaxies, with many retiring in peace while others continued to fight for peace among other civilizations they came across. The time came when Optimus Prime was called back into the skirmish, alongside his honor guard of Kup and Hot Rod, when Grimlock and his combat unit discovered a greater [[Cybertronian Empire]] that had sprouted up without their noticing it. These next generation Decepticons, led by the Liege Centuro [[Jhiaxus]], would conquer world after world using terraforming and exo-structuring processes to remake raw materials into a new Cybertron for their use. Optimus Prime, Grimlock and their "Dirty Dozen" of Autobots began a small resistance movement against Jhiaxus and his people, but realized they were out of their depth. As the call went out to reassemble the Autobot army en masse, Prime worried that they were still missing some greater threat -- he had begun experiencing visions of an unknown peril that was heading their way, and wasn't sure if even the united Autobots would be enough to deal with it. {{storylink|War Without End!}}

Until he could identify this secondary threat, Prime ordered the Autobots to remain inactive at an Autobase built into a small asteroid belt. But certainly Grimlock was having none of that. He grabbed a sizeable percentage of their displaced warriors who had already arrived and headed out after Jhiaxus and his flagship, [[Twilight]]. Naturally, they got in over their heads. Prime grabbed some of his personal soldiers (Hot Rod, Kup, Prowl, [[Hound]]) and hijacked a strike ship to get close enough to Twilight for a rescue mission. Once Grimlock and his men were sent out on a prison vessel, Optimus blasted the ship just enough to cause chaos, and give Grimlock enough time to overtake the crew. {{storylink|Devices and Desires!}}

[[image:Optimusprime-g2.jpg|right|thumb|150px|More apocalyptic visions than you can shake a [[Covenant of Primus|covenant]] at.]]
Surprisingly enough, he gave Grimlock no rebuke once they met up again -- in fact, Prime put the Dinobot commander in charge of the entire army! In order to fully understand the visions of impending doom he was receiving, Optimus Prime decided he needed to return to Cybertron itself, to help "cut through the static" that was garbling whatever message the Matrix was trying to send him. Engaging in a quasi-mystical ritual to expand his psychic boundaries, Optimus cast himself mentally back through time to witness the birth of the first Transformers, [[Prima]], as he rose from the living structure of Cybertron itself. What he saw next, however, was astonishing -- Cybertronians birthing new Cybertronians themselves, causing living metal to burst forth from them in a bio-morphic reproduction process called "[[budding]]". Primus had apparently allowed this only up til a point, allowing the race to evolve in stages before discontinuing the ability and the memory of it from his progeny. Jhiaxus and his new Cybertronians, however, were the end result of some Decepticons somehow relearning the budding process. They were stronger, yes, and perhaps more evolved physically, but their souls, their sparks, were distilled too many times over. Optimus Prime awoke from his trance, believing he had come to understand the threat he sensed: the fractioning of his species. Little did he know that the threat was far less philosophical, and far more tangible, than he realized. {{storylink|The Power and the Glory}}

When word reached Prime that Megatron had resurfaced on Earth, he jumped at the idea of joining forces with the original Decepticons to face off against the Cybertronian Empire. Travelling to Earth alone, Optimus approached Megatron with the intent to talk. Instead, Megatron blasted him from behind, beat him to a pulp, ionized his every circuit, and then ripped out his chest and siphoned away the power of the Matrix. So no, the talking didn't go too well. Prime only survived due to Grimlock's talent for insubordination, as the Dinobot leader brought a massive strike team down to save their fallen leader before Megatron finished him off. Still, as the Autobots dragged Prime away to receive repair treatment, he knew Megatron would be back -- Optimus had stuttered out enough information about "new Decepticons" to pique his old foe's interest, and once Megatron went after them and bit off more than he could chew, they'd meet again. {{storylink|The Gathering Darkness}}

In this, at least, Optimus Prime knew Megatron all too well. Only days later a heavily battered and bruised Megatron wandered into Autobase: Earth, looking for that alliance Prime had offered. {{storylink|Escalation!}} With new allies, things were looking up for Prime until the unthinkable happened. His visions of death and apocalypse finally came true as the Autobots came across a devastated world looking almost identical to the images he had been experiencing. Optimus now realized his visions were not metaphorical in nature, and almost drew the conclusion himself before [[Perceptor (G1)|Perceptor]]'s science team completed their analysis of the genocide -- it was their fault. More specifically, some by-product of the Cybertronian race had been formed by the budding process which created Jhiaxus and the Cybertronian Empire, an animate entity that scourred the cosmos of its own design. Before more data and analysis could be had, however, Jhiaxus and his troops arrived on Earth seeking to end their ancestors once and for all. {{storylink|Swarm (comic issue)|Swarm}}

Once again seeking compromise, Optimus Prime took Megatron in an attempt to reacquire the Decepticon [[Warworld]] and use it to force Jhiaxus to see reason, that they faced a common and perhaps unbeatable foe in this "[[Swarm]]". His efforts were more than a little delayed, however, by the ever-treacherous Starscream. That Decepticon schemer had sold them out to Jhiaxus in the first place, but then came aboard Warworld and merged with it and the power of the Creation Matrix Megatron had been housing there. {{storylink|Total War!}} Still, Optimus Prime managed to reach a communications console, and begged Jhiaxus for an audience to discuss the impending threat which was bearing down on them all. As badly as Prime's last attempt to "just talk" with an enemy went, this time it went much worse, as Jhiaxus responded by ordering the orbital bombardment and destruction of the human city of San Francisco. Millions of lives wiped out in an instant. And before Prime could even attempt to respond or try again, the Swarm itself arrived in orbit. {{storylink|Dark Shadows!}}

As bad as things were, a silver lining did develop -- Starscream proved too much of a "pedestrian villain" to actually corrupt the Matrix as had happened in the past. Instead, it was actually turning him more heroic, giving him selfless and self-sacrificing urges! Not wanting to be a hero, much less a dead hero, Starscream willingly relinquished the Matrix to Optimus Prime. In yet another effort at unity and compromise, Prime took a skysled over to Jhiaxus's flagship, Twilight, in order to talk the Liege Centuro into working with the Autobots and Decepticons to commune with the Swarm.

Instead, Jhiaxus tore off his face.

The formerly icy Cybertronian had been driven completely off his rocker by the extended conflict with his ancestors, and was now little more than a mad dog pounding away at Optimus Prime. The brutality only ended when the Swarm entered Twilight and consumed Jhiaxus utterly. At this point, Optimus had reasoned that the Swarm was merely a void, searching for something to complete the emptiness inside it. With desperate reasoning, Prime allowed the Swarm to assail him, hoping that he (and the Matrix inside him) would prove to BE what it was searching for. His body ravaged to the point of total discorporation, Optimus Prime still managed to make mental contact with the Swarm as it consumed him, and expose it to the will of Primus. In the end, Optimus Prime successfully purefied the Swarm, and was reborn in a new, more powerful body. In the aftermath, Prime suggested they all move on to a new era of peace and enlightment. {{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 new timeline that does not include the events of the Marvel UK-exclusive stories or ''Generation 2''.}}

[[Image:Classicscomicautobots.jpg|left|thumb|200px|"All right, do-over. This time I'll skip the visions of doom, and you won't get yourself tangled up with [[Cobra]]. Deal?"]]

Optimus Prime has returned to Earth commanding [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]], [[Cliffjumper (G1)|Cliffjumper]], [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]], [[Jetfire (G1)|Jetfire]], [[Mirage (G1)|Mirage]] and [[Hot Rod|Rodimus]] (formerly Hot Rod) to counter the return of [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]]. When Transformers from another reality, [[Skyfall (Cybertron)|Skyfall]] and [[Landquake (Timelines)|Landquake]], arrive on Earth unexpectedly, Megatron stumbles upon them, only to find himself under attack by Prime and his Autobots. {{storylink|Crossing Over, Part 1}} Overwhelmed, Megatron managed to escape with Landquake, while the Autobots returned to Autobot headquarters with Skyfall. {{storylink|Crossing Over, Part 2}}

Optimus Prime took his Autobots and Skyfall to [[South America]], where the Decepticons were investigating a mysterious energy source that was similar to the radiation readings of their new dimension-traveling companions. After Prime left Jetfire in mid-transit to help [[RUNT]] fight the [[Seeker]]s, he and the remaining Autobots arrived at their destination and battled the rest of Megatron's forces on the ground.{{storylink|Crossing Over, Part 3}}

Shortly after the events of this battle, Prime regrouped, seemingly having lost Skyfall and Cliffjumper (along with Landquake). He was pleased to be visited (seemingly very quickly, if really at all) by [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] when their paths crossed while the latter was hunting [[Bug Bite]]. {{storylink|Games of Deception}}

{{-}}

===American cartoon continuity===
:''Voice actors:'' [[Peter Cullen]] (Optimus Prime, English), [[Laurie Faso]] (Orion Pax, English), [[Tesshō Genda]] (Japanese), [[Francis Lax]] (French), [[Willi Röbke]] (German), [[Thomas Rau]] (German G2 Redub)

[[Image:Orionpax.jpg|right|thumb|Ariel spends a lot of time hanging around the docks.]]

Optimus Prime began his life as a robot named '''Orion Pax''', a simple dock worker during the Golden Age of Cybertron nine million years ago, with a girlfriend named [[Ariel]], and a best friend named [[Dion]]. At the time, a new breed of robot had recently appeared on the planet - ones with new robot-mode flight powers that made Orion idolize them. Unfortunately for Orion, when [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]], the leader of these robots, approached him with inquiries about using one of the dock warehouses, Orion fell for the deception and he and Ariel were critically wounded when Megatron and his forces then attacked in order to claim the energy stored there. Searching for someone to help them, the time-displaced [[Aerialbot (G1)|Aerialbots]] took Orion and Ariel to the ancient Autobot [[Alpha Trion]], who used them as the first subjects for the new reconstruction process he had developed - rebuilding the frail Autobot frames into battle-hardy configurations. With this reconstruction, Orion Pax became Optimus Prime, the first of the Autobot warriors, who took the mantle of leadership as the civil war against Megatron and Decepticons erupted, while Ariel was rebuilt into [[Elita One (G1)|Elita One]], the commander of the Autobot resistance on Cybertron. {{storylink|War Dawn}}

As leader of the Autobots, Prime headed up the Autobots' mission to search out new worlds with new sources of energy to revitalise the depleted Cybertron. However, shortly after its launch, the [[Ark (G1)|Autobots' craft]] was attacked by the [[Nemesis|Decepticon space cruiser]] and boarded by Megatron and the Decepticons. In the ensuing struggle, the g-forces of a nearby planet pulled both crafts down, and the Autobots' ship crashed into a volcano, thrusting all the occupants of the ship into emergency stasis. Four million years later, in the Earth year 1984 C.E., a volcanic eruption jarred the ship's computer, [[Teletraan I]] back to life, and it reactivated the Decepticons, programming them with new Earth-based disguise modes. As a petty parting gesture, [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]] fired upon the Autobot ship, creating a landslide that knocked Prime into the path of the computer's restoration beam, restoring him to life, and beginning the war anew on Earth. {{Storylink|More Than Meets The Eye, Part 1}}

Prime was perpetually at the forefront of the action throughout the early years of the war on Earth, usually confronting Megatron, and, in some rare instances, being forced to team up with him for the greater good (or the lesser evil). He has suffered his fair share of battlefield scrapes, almost meeting his end when his vital [[cosmotron]] component was critically damaged by the Decepticon jets and [[Laserbeak (G1)|Laserbeak]] {{storylink|Divide and Conquer}}, and suffering a severe - though unfair - defeat when Megatron challenged him to one-on-one combat while imbued with the different powers of all the Decepticons. {{storylink|Heavy Metal War}}

Generally, Prime acting in a commanding role as part of larger battles and event, but played prominent and solo roles in a few, also. In 1985, Megatron created a perfect duplicate of him, leaving the Autobots unable to differentiate between the two until the clone disregarded the safety of their human companion, [[Spike Witwicky]], exposing the deception. {{storylink|A Prime Problem}} Later in the same year, Prime's fame and prowess led him to become the target of the demented big-game hunter, [[Lord Chumley]], who sought his head to go along with his other rare trophies. Entering the hunter's estate alone, Prime defeated all the traps and beasts lying in wait and brought Chumley to justice. {{storylink|Prime Target}} The same year also saw Elita One captured by the Decepticons on Cybertron and used to lure Prime there alone; although knowing it was a trap, he ventured in solo and was defeated by the Decepticons and nearly destroyed, until Elita's stasis-field powers froze time long enough for them to escape. Prime was forced to seek out Alpha Trion to save the wounded Elita's life, and in the process, rediscovered his forgotten connection to his creator. {{storylink|The Search for Alpha Trion}} When Megatron created the [[Stunticon]]s, Prime decided to have the Aerialbots created as a countermeasure, though Alpha Trion gave his life by merging with [[Vector Sigma]] to ensure their creation. {{storylink|The Key to Vector Sigma}} For some reason, his [[Optimus Prime Memorial|memorial]] was also built 20 years before his death. {{storylink|Starscream's Brigade}}

[[Image:Optimusg1passingthematrix.jpg|thumb|left|"Oh, hey, I have this in me now, by the way."]]

Over the course of the next twenty years, the [[Decepticon]]s succeeded in seizing control of all of [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]], forcing the Autobots to operate from their new [[Autobot City|city]] on Earth, and from two bases on Cybertron's moons. In the Earth year 2005, Prime was stationed on [[Moonbase One]], and dispatched troops to Earth to acquire energy for an upcoming strike on Cybertron. The Decepticons, however, got wind of the plan and attacked the shuttle, killing its occupants. Their scheme was to use the shuttle to stage a [[Battle of Autobot City|surprise attack on Autobot City]]; an attack which would have suceeded, if not for a distress call which summoned Prime and support troops to Earth.

Optimus Prime foresaw that his final battle with his arch-nemesis was looming, deciding that the Decepticons must be stopped, no matter the cost. Bravely, he plowed through the remaining Decepticon ranks, punishing them for every Autobot they killed overnight, before confronting Megatron. In the ensuing battle with Megatron, Optimus Prime sustained fatal injuries, but not before turning the tide of battle and forcing the Decepticon to flee. Despite the efforts of [[Perceptor (G1)|Perceptor]], Optimus Prime could not be saved. Knowing his time had come, he passed the [[Matrix of Leadership]], and with it leadership of the Autobots, into the hands of his old friend, the city's commander, [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]]. With his last ounce of energy, he muttered [['Til all are one]], then died, his lifeforce becoming one with the ancient wisdom contained within the Matrix. When the young Autobot, [[Hot Rod]], opened the Matrix within the body of the planet-eater, [[Unicron]], Prime's voice was heard once more, dubbing the transformed Hot Rod "Rodimus Prime," new leader of the Autobots. {{Storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

[[Image:Optimusg1zombie.jpg|right|thumb|"WHERE IS SARAH CONNOR?"]]

Optimus Prime's body was entombed in a massive deep-space mausoleum with the many other fallen Autobots, but his corpse was desecrated by the [[Quintessons]] in 2006 when they reanimated it as part of an attempt to destroy the Autobots by using Prime to lure their space fleet into a trap. However, the Matrix was able to purify Prime of the Quintesson influence, and he got the other Autobots clear while he piloted his flagship into the Quintessons' detonator, triggering the explosion of a nearby sun. {{storylink|Dark Awakening}}

Prime was believed to have been destroyed in the explosion, but in reality, before the flagship impacted with the detonator, his body was recovered from the craft by two human scientists, [[Jessica Morgan]] and [[Gregory Swofford]]. As their ship departed, it was coated in solar spores released by the explosion of the sun. Jessica's father, [[Mark Morgan]], loathed the Autobots, and his hatred only grew when an attempt by the Decepticons to steal a heat-resistant alloy he had developed resulted in Jessica being paralyzed. Swofford and Morgan reconstructed Optimus Prime's body in an attempt to use it as a delivery system for the spores, which induced hatred and madness, in order to destroy the Transformers. {{storylink|The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1}} However, when they could not reanimate him, they used his body as a lure instead, bringing the Autobots to their lab, where they were infected. As this "[[Hate Plague]]" proceeded to spread across the galaxy, [[Sky Lynx (G1)|Sky Lynx]] retrieved a Quintesson, who fully restored Optimus Prime to life. Coating himself in Morgan's heat-resistant alloy, Prime reclaimed the Matrix from Rodimus and unleashed its concentrated wisdom to destroy the Hate Plague. {{storylink|The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 2}}

{{Note|There is a considerable continuity error concerning zombie Optimus. At the end of "[[Dark Awakening]]", Optimus is in pretty rough shape (as the screen shot shows), missing an arm, part of his face, a sizable portion of his shoulder, covered with cosmetic damage, etc. However, when he is discovered in "[[The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1]]", he's shining new. The intent was for him to retain his damage and be repaired during Morgan and Swofford's attempt at reanimating him, but even this does not explain how he went from being conscious to dead again, why there is no barrage of Quintesson laser-fire piercing Prime's now-pristine ship, or why the ship is now flying into an exploding star instead of the Quints' booby-trapped detonator asteroid.}}

[[Image:Puppetpmprime.jpg|right|150px|thumb|Prime's legal troubles began after he gave Tommy "the Touch." Strangely, the prosecution never even noticed the double entendre.]]

In 2007, Optimus Prime began to suffer visions following the release of the Matrix's energy, which foretold a great transformation for Cybertron. Events began with the Decepticons' theft of the key to the [[Plasma Energy Chamber]], {{storylink|The Rebirth, Part 1}} which forced Prime to consult Alpha Trion within [[Vector Sigma]], learning that the mega-computer had orchestrated events in order to restore Cybertron's Golden Age. {{storylink|The Rebirth, Part 2}} When the Plasma Energy Chamber was opened and threatened to drive Earth's Sun supernova, [[Spike Witwicky]] and the other organic [[Nebulan]]s who had become involved in the conflict as a result of these events were able to drain off the excess solar energy and revitalize Cybertron. {{storylink|The Rebirth, Part 3}}

At an undetermined point in time, through unknown circumstances, Optimus Prime was upgraded into a [[Powermaster]] body, and began associating with a young human boy named [[Tommy Kennedy]]. Tommy enjoyed doing school reports on the history of the Transformers, and who better to educate him on that subject than Prime? After finishing a story, Prime would often leave Tommy asking numerous questions only to inform him that they'd be answered another day before flying off into outer space. Some times, before leaving to attend intergalactic peace conferences, Prime would keep Tommy entertained with educational music videos performed by [[Stan Bush]]. {{storylink|Season 5}}

===Japanese cartoon continuity===
{{Note|The events of the American animated series occur in Japanese continuity as noted above, except that the events of Season 3, which took place in 2006 in America, were moved back to 2010, and "The Rebirth" and subsequent events do not occur. Japanese animated continuity inserts a large number of additional storylines, told through various different media, into the timeline (in particular, between Season 2 and the movie, and between the movie and Season 3), as detailed below.}}

====''Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformer'' manga====
When the Decepticons turned their attention to pillaging the energies of Japan in the late 1980s, Optimus Prime and the Autobots met up with a young Japanese boy named [[Kenji]], whose inventive mind helped them to defeat [[Menasor (G1)|Menasor]] during an energy raid on [[Tokyo]]. As a token of thanks, Optimus Prime granted Kenji a special communications helmet and made him an official Autobot ally. {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformer issue 1|F!SRLF #1}}

While showing Kenji around the Autobots' new Tokyo base, Optimus Prime lamented that he wished his "kid brother" [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] would hurry up and arrive with his trailer upgrade. As he pondered the where-abouts of his sibling, the Decepticons attacked Yokohama. The Autobots hurried to the scene only to encounter an over-powered Megatron in his newest form: the Super Megatron Gun. The Autobots' defeat seemed assured until Magnus arrived with Prime's trailer upgrade, the [[Scramble Power Buster]]. The Scramble Power Buster trumped the might of the Super Megatron Gun, leaving Prime and Magnus to vanquish the Decepticon forces with their combined attack: the Double Cross Kick (basically, them jump-kicking the Decepticons in the spine at the same time). {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformer issue 4|F!SRLF #4}}

Prime and Magnus teamed up again to battle the Stunticons and [[Combaticon]]s when the two Decepticons teams posed as Autobots and besmirched the two commanders' good names. Although [[Menasor]] and [[Onslaught]]'s [[Decepticon Trailer Brigade|Decepticon Great Wheel]] attack proved a challenge, Prime and Magnus's "Finish Double" attack (suspiciously similar to their Double Cross Kick) soon won the day. {{storylink|Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformer issue 7|F!SRLF #7}}

====''Scramble City''====
As the 1980s rolled on, the Autobots began an initiative to construct a new battle fortress known as [[Metroplex (G1)|Scramble City]]. The facility to construct the fortress was concealed within a cavern and overseen by Ultra Magnus, but when it was discovered by Decepticon spy [[Ratbat]], Megatron unleashed a horde of Decepticon [[combiner]]s to destroy the project before it could be completed. Optimus Prime lead a counter-offensive of Autobot combiners to the front lines. Things looked grim, as the Decepticon combiners thrashed the Autobots. As a last resort, [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] activated Scramble City, which transformed into its robot mode of [[Metroplex (G1)|Metroplex]] and arrived in time to fight off the Decepticons. However, Megatron unleashed his trump card, the Decepticon City: [[Trypticon]]. {{storylink|Scramble City}}

{{note|This storyline was never concluded, as a second installment of ''Scramble City'' was never produced.}}

====''Super Robot Magazine'' manga====
Continued Autobot and human interaction led to a joint project to create an [[warp gate|interstellar transport system]] in the late 1990s. When Starscream fused with the mechansm and attempted a coup, Prime and Megatron were forced to team up to stop him, and went missing following the battle that ensued. {{storylink|Super Robot Magazine}}

{{Note|This manga's cliffhanger was never resolved, but was retroactively exploited to insert the ''[[Robots in Disguise (cartoon)|Robots in Disguise]]'' animated series into the Japanese Generation 1 continuity, by claiming that its events took place when Prime and Megatron were absent and most of the Autobots and Decepticons were injured and off-planet.}}

====''Binaltech''====
In 2003, the Decepticons attacked the Autobots on Earth with a plague of [[Cosmic Rust]], leaving many of them injured, and the planet's defense force significantly depleted when Megatron made his big push to fully take over Cybertron in 2004. With Prime leading the Autobots in battling the Decepticons on their homeworld, no troops could be spared to bolster the defense of Earth, leading to the creation of new "Binaltech" bodies for various damaged Autobot warriors on the planet.

In the midst of the Binaltech conflict, the time-travelling [[Predacon (BW)|Predacon]] [[Ravage]] attempted to alter history by using the [[Kronosphere]] to teleport Megatron and the Decepticon armada outside of time during a turning-point battle with Prime and the Autobots. This left the Autobots to face the looming threat of [[Unicron]] alone, but as Prime and Ultra Magnus co-ordinated a last-chance attack against the chaos bringer, Prime dispatched [[Skids (G1)|Skids]] into the past to undo the change made to the timeline.

Although the restoration of the original timeline was accomplished, the intervention of a mysterious entity known as "[[Nemesis Prime (G1)|the Protector]]" preserved the "Binal-Time" timeline as an alternate universe. Prime was injured in the final battle with Unicron and gave the Matrix to Ultra Magnus, who used it to destroy the planet-eater, but ultimately, Prime survived and continued to lead the Autobots.

====''Robot Masters'' ====
Also in 2004, the Scramble City project was expanded through the use of the newly-discovered element [[Solitarium]] to involve the construction of the fully-fledged Autobot City on Earth. This coincided with the opening of a dimensional fissure known as the [[Blasty Zone]], which transported the [[Predacon (BW)|Predacon]] [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] through time to the present day. This "Beast Megatron" seized control of the Decepticons, left leaderless by the mysterious absence of Megatron, and went up against Optimus Prime and the Autobots for control of the world's solitarium, but Prime was able to fend off the villains with the help of several Autobots and Maximals from throughout time and space who came through the Blasty Zone - [[Star Saber (G1)|Star Saber]], [[Victory Leo]], [[Lio Convoy]] and [[Optimus Primal]]. Through interaction with these heroes, Prime gains the power of and [[Energon Matrix]].

Beast Megatron would not relent, and eventually discovered a massive deposit of solitarium beneath [[New York City]]. The Decepticons razed the city in search of the element until Prime and his forces arrived to save the day, this time aided by the enigmatic Autobot [[Reverse Convoy]]. Things were going smoothly until Reverse Convoy revealed himself to actually be the ''real'' Megatron, inhabiting the body of a Transformer from the planet Vehicon through use of his black hole interlink system. Now going by the name Rebirth Megatron, Prime's nemesis teamed with Beast Megatron to conquer their mutual foes. Prime managed to defeat the duo by combining his power with Lio Convoy's and Optimus Primal's.

Eventually, Prime returned all the displaced Autobots, Maximals, Decepticons and Predacons to their rightful place in time using the power of solitarium, and rid the Earth of Decepticons.

====''15 Go! Go!'' comics====
[[Image:TGGStarConvoy.jpg|right|thumb|"Hot Rod?! Did you [[Micromaster|shrink]] in the wash?"]]

[[Image:TGGLaserPrime.jpg|left|thumb|"How do you think I'd look in [[Scourge (RID)|black]]?"]]

Shortly before the [[Unicron]] War of 2005, an unknown saboteur badly damaged [[Teletraan I]]'s databanks. Optimus Prime notified his Autobots of the attack and issued a command that the information be recovered as soon as possible. "[[Ravage|Black Panther Man]]," stationed on the artificial Earth satellite [[Nana]], volunteered for the important task and assigned [[Teletraan 15]] to the case.

Teletraan 15 later traveled to the future, where [[Micromaster]] [[Hot Rod]] saved her from a [[Novaroid]]. As Dark Nova and Ultra Megatron prepared to merge, '''Star Convoy''' arrived and asked Hot Rod to aid him in the coming fight. But before they could start the battle, an interruption came from an unexpected source: [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]] emerged from a [[Transwarp]] portal and attacked!

On another mission into the future, Teletraan 15 and her companion [[Steeljaw]] were aboard [[Jetfire]] as he was attacked by the [[Decepticon]] jets [[Smokescreen (G2)|Smokescreen]] and [[Dreadwing (G2)|Dreadwing]] on his way to his commander. Fortunately for them, '''Battle Convoy''' (a.k.a. Laser Optimus Prime) appeared and severed Dreadwing's wing with a single mighty slash of his sword. Teletraan 15 thought that he looked sad and wondered if he had learned his sword skills during his [[Kiss Player]] days.

{{-}}

====''Kiss Players''====

{{note|[[Kiss Players]] takes place between ''The Transformers: The Movie'' and the third season of the animated series. While there is no particularly large time-gap between these stories in American animated continuity, in Japan, since the third season was moved to 2010 but the movie remained set in 2005, there was a five-year milieu that made room for plenty of new stories to be told.}}

[[Image:Illust.jpg|right|thumb|150px|Optimus is the one on the left. With the dignity.]]

Following Optimus Prime's death in the [[Battle of Autobot City]], Tokyo was devastated when [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]] crash-landed into the city after being hurled out of Unicron's body by Rodimus Prime. The death and destruction that resulted caused a massive anti-Transformer sentiment to spring up, epitomized by the formation of the government organization known as the [[Earth Defense Command]], who forced any remaining Transformers on Earth off the planet. Dissatisfaction with the E.D.C.'s extreme actions resulted in the formation of an underground resistance group led by the young [[Marissa Faireborn]], a girl who had been rescued from danger by Optimus Prime in 1996, with the deceased Prime forming a rallying point for these commandos.

[[Image:Marissa_convoy_stack.jpg|left|thumb|150px|She prefers the Japanese version's [[For safety reasons|''longer stacks''.]]]]

When Prime's corpse was covertly flown to Japan by the E.D.C., Marissa commandos attacked the convoy transporting the Autobots leader's body. Believing that they had secured Prime's body, the commandos were taken by surprise and slaughtered by the [[Ne squad]] [[Kiss Player]] [[Ringo]] and her [[Autrooper]] partner, who burst out of the torso of the decoy Prime body that had been atop the flatbed truck. As the sole surviving member of the squad, Marissa discovered that the true body was being transported within Prime's own trailer nearby. Slicing the trailer open, she was too late to prevent an E.D.C. Autrooper from partially fusing with Prime. Reflecting on her childhood memories of playing with the kindly Autobot leader, Marissa lovingly kissed his faceplate. In an explosion of energy that destroyed the trailer, the two [[ParasiTech|fused]] and Prime was reborn in a new, living body. The pair had become Kiss Players!

As fugitives from the E.D.C., Prime and Marissa spent their days on the run and their nights hanging out at the beach. He longed for the day when he would be able to see her bathing in the sun, rather than the moonlight, although he also thought that all the soft-serve ice cream she was eating was making her a little fat. One night while Marissa was surfing, she had a squid latch onto her. Then a [[Legion]] that had infused itself with both an octopus and shipwreck attacked her. With tentacles. Prime fought it off and saved Marissa, but the E.D.C. [[Autrooper]]s were soon dispatched to the scene, and the two had to beat a hasty retreat.

[[Image:PrimeKP.jpg|right|thumb|"And THIS is for [[Trailbreaker|TRAILBREAKER]], who DESERVED to have GOTTEN this MOLD INSTEAD!"]]

Over the months that followed, Prime and Marissa battled Legions, led Legions (due to the Galvatron-infused cells inside Prime's new body, which sometimes overcame him with nightmares about his old enemy Megatron), fled from Hot Rod, who believed Prime to be an impersonator of his dead commander, and both fought and fled from the E.D.C.

Finally, teaming up with Hot Rod and his Kiss Player partner [[Shaoshao Li]] (who had adored Marissa since childhood and hated Prime for "stealing" her friend's affections), and the E.D.C. Kiss Player [[Atari Hitotonari]] with her Autrooper partner, Prime and Marissa entered the secret experimental facility beneath the Tokyo headquarters of the E.D.C. and discovered the sinister truth behind the shadowy organization. Everything that had occurred was part of an attempt by E.D.C. commander [[Amao]] to resurrect her daughter, who had been killed in the 2005 catastrophe. Finding Galvatron's headless corpse imprisoned in the facility, the Kiss Players realized that the only way to repair things was to return the [[Unicron]]-created Decepticon's cells. Galvatron's body absorbed the Legions, the Autroopers, and the cells inside Prime and Hot Rod, who were returned to their former forms... which meant that Prime was once again dead.

Marissa did get a few chances to see her friend again - in 2007, she and her friends were transported back through time to 1984 where they witnessed Prime's battle with Megatron atop [[Sherman Dam]], and then later, ''forward'' in time, to 2010, where Prime (and [[Goldbug]]) helped her once more by rescuing her and her friends from the [[Sharkticon]] pit on [[Quintessa]].

{{-}}
====''The Headmasters'' cartoon====
One year after Prime's resurrection, in 2011, the Autobots had entered into an even closer relationship with Earth and began the colonization of other worlds, the first of which was the planet [[Athenia]], where Optimus Prime was stationed. It soon became apparent, however, that when Prime had released the energy of the Matrix to cure the Hate Plague, the consequences were more far-reaching than he had anticipated - without the energy of the Matrix to act as a balancing factor, [[Vector Sigma]] had become destabilized, and the Decepticons suddenly returned to exploit this, assaulting Cybertron in order to seize control of the mega-computer. {{storylink|Four Warriors Come Out Of The Sky}} Prime took a squad of troops to aid in the battle on the planet, and when the arrival of the Autobot [[Headmaster]]s tipped the battle in their favor, Prime broke off from the main attack and headed down into the depths of the planet, planning on stabilizing Vector Sigma at any cost. {{storylink|The Mystery of Planet Master}}

Guided through the dangers of the planet's catacombs by the spirit of Alpha Trion while the other Autobots searched for the Matrix on Earth, Prime eventually arrived at the computer, only to find his way barred by [[Cyclonus (G1)|Cyclonus]] and [[Scourge (G1)|Scourge]]. Hot Rod then arrived with the Matrix, with which Alpha Trion merged, re-energizing it and transforming Hot Rod back into Rodimus Prime; for the first time, the two Primes fought side-by-side and defeated Galvatron. Before Rodimus could implement the Matrix to stabilize Vector Sigma, however, Optimus Prime sacrificed himself to perform the task, merging with the computer and restoring its balance to save the planet. {{storylink|A Dream is Born, Double Prime}}

====''The Battlestars''====
[[Image:StarConvoyBoxArt1.jpg|right|thumb|150px|"Occasionally you meet a nice one{{m-}}Star Convoy, E.T. ... but usually they just turn out to be some kind of big lizard!"]]

In a sinister plot to destroy the Autobots, [[Dark Nova]] had Optimus Prime's [[spark|sparkless]] body revived as the evil [[False Convoy]]. False Convoy battled the Autobots but was defeated. Using the power of the [[Zodiac|Zodiac]], Optimus Prime was brought back online and upgraded into '''Star Convoy'''. He was then reunited with [[Hot Rod (G1)#The Battlestars|Hot Rod]], who became his [[Micromaster]] partner.

With the likes of [[Sky Garry]], [[Grandus]] and [[Sixliner]], Star Convoy formed the [[Battlestar]]s and did battle with the Decepticons and Dark Nova's horde of [[Great Galaman]] drone warriors. Getting nowhere fast, Dark Nova then resurrected [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]] (last seen buried in ice) as [[Megatron (G1)#The Battlestars|Super Megatron]] to counter Star Convoy. This didn't work all that well, and after defeating Super Megatron with the [[Triple Combination Battlestar Attack]], his foe was resurrected again by Dark Nova as Ultra Megatron. After disposing of him yet again, Dark Nova merged with Ultra Megatron into [[Dark Nova|Star Giant]].

Star Giant proved to be virtually indestructible from the outside until Star Convoy got the bright idea of giving the villain [[Furmanism|the worst case of indigestion he's ever had]]. Holding Star Giant's massive mouth open, he ordered Sky Garry and [[Grandus]] to move in. After all 3 were swallowed, they began taking Star Giant down from the inside while simultaneously fighting off his various defensive systems. As soon as the trio escaped from Star Giant's interior, the monster exploded, leaving only his head slightly intact. As it happens, Megatron was housed inside Star Giant's noggin and survived the attack.

====Nucleon Quest Convoy bio====
Following the defeat of Star Giant, the restoration of Cybertron (following its devastation in 2011) began, but the planet was in the throes of a chronic energy shortage. In order to re-energize the struggling planet, Optimus Prime upgraded himself into a Powermaster by fusing with the Nebulan scientist Hi-Q. Protecting his body with a Phase Modulation Shield, Prime ventured into a black hole to obtain the super-energy Nucleon, which was used to restore Cybertron to its former glory.

====''Generation 2'' story pages and mini-comics====
[[Image:G2PrimeJustice.jpg|thumb|right|"SHALOM!"]]

With Cybertron restored, Optimus Prime upgraded himself into a new [[Action Master]] body. Megatron eventually recovered from his defeat and turned over a new leaf, joining with Prime to form the [[Cybertron Alliance]]. Things were good for a little while, as Megatron's attempts at peace were genuinely sincere, and the alliance ushered in what would be called the Second Generation of the Transformers. However, after human soldiers killed one of his dearest comrades, Megatron adopted a new body and started the war anew.

To counter Megatron, Optimus Prime upgraded his body into a new Missle Trailer mode. Rallying a new wave of Autobot warriors, Optimus diligently repelled Megatron and the Decepticons. Megatron eventually wore Optimus down in battle, though, blowing him away with a barrage of devastating attacks. Megatron finally succeeded in delivering a fatal blow to Optimus, shooting him at point blank with his cannon. Prime would have been done for, except that the [[spark|sparks]] of the previous Autobot Supreme Commanders within the [[Matrix of Leadership]] activated the [[Reconfiguration Matrix]] to forge him a new body. Optimus Prime became '''Battle Convoy''' and easily trumped Megatron's power. After a lengthy and costly war, Battle Convoy managed to drive the Decepticon forces to retreat into deep space. Prime was last seen wounded, being aided off the battlefield by his fellow Autobots.

====E-Hobby ''Generation 2'' storyline====
When the universe came under threat from an [[Galvatron II|alternate-reality incarnation of Galvatron]], Prime used his [[Reconfiguration Matrix]] to once again transform his body into a form resembling his original. Armed with powerful solar-powered missile launchers created by the Decepticons that were so energy-consumptive that Prime required a sunlight-absorbing [[Wikipedia:Black body|black body]] coating to operate them at full power, Prime put his new body to use rescuing Laser Ultra Magnus from Galvatron's clutches.

===''Generation 2'' manga===

[[Image: G2Hero.jpg|left|thumb|200px|GAH HE'S LOOKING AT ME!]]

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]]s 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]] 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.

Optimus Prime addressed Junpei, asking if the boy was injured. Junpei revealed he was alright but presented concern about the Decepticons returning to Earth. Optimus Prime swore that the Autobots would remain on Earth until the threat of the Decepticons was finished and asked for Junpei's help in making that future a reality. {{storylink|The Earth is in Danger!}}

===Beast Era===
====''Beast Wars''====
[[Image:G1Prime_BWMegs.jpg|right|thumb|You have to get up preeeeetty early in the timestream to beat Optimus Prime!]]

The [[Beast Wars (event)|Beast Wars]] raged on prehistoric Earth, eventually leading to the discovery of the buried Ark sometime after it's crash on prehistoric Earth. [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]], following his namesakes instructions in a desperate gambit, decided to attempt to change history by killing Prime, who was still lying in the Ark in [[stasis lock]]. Megatron hoped that this would result in the Decepticons winning the Great War and eventually [[Predacon (BW)|Predacon]] control of Cybertron. Megatron unleashed a full-power weapon blast at Optimus Prime's face, near-fatally injuring him. {{storylink|The Agenda (Part III)}} However, [[Optimus Primal (BW)|Optimus Primal]] proceeded to take Prime's spark into his body to protect it from surgical trauma while his injuries were repaired. The subsequent power increase caused by Prime's spark's connection to the Matrix mutated Primal into a large, [[Transmetal]] "Optimal Optimus" form. Then, with the repairs complete, Prime's spark was restored, and he briefly activated before sinking back into normal stasis. {{storylink|Optimal Situation}}

Sometime after the Autobots and Decepticons awoke in the 1980s, the original Megatron gained access to one of Earth's ''Voyager'' spacecraft and inscribed a message on the [[Golden Disk (Voyager)|disk]] on board. In the event that he lost the War, Megatron left instructions for the descendants of the Decepticons to use [[transwarp]] technology to travel to Prehistoric Earth, locate the ''[[Ark (G1)|Ark]]'', and change history by killing Optimus Prime. {{storylink|The Agenda (Part 2)}}

====''Beast Machines''====
:''Voice actor'': [[Garry Chalk]] (English), [[Tilo Schmitz]] (German)

An enormous statue of Optimus Prime, bearing two [[Golden Disk]]s, could be seen on Cybertron in front of the Hall of Archives. The statue was subsequently blown to pieces by the [[Vehicon]] forces. {{storylink|Fires of the Past}} Later, Megatron beamed a hologram of Optimus Prime down to the ruins of [[Iacon]] to confront [[Optimus Primal]]. Primal mistook the hologram for the real thing and shared with it the code for the [[Oracle]]. Megatron quickly revealed his ruse. Primal explained to his Maximals that he knew the image was fake, but he needed the location of the missing [[spark]]s from Megatron's mind.{{storylink|Sparkwar Pt. II: The Search}}

{{note|Writer [[Bob Skir]] claims that neither the statue nor the golden disks in its hands were mentioned the script. However, he suggested that they were either the [[Golden Disk (Voyager)|disks]] from the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 probes, or that Optimus won them in the 2,395,989th Annual Cybertronian spelling bee.<ref>[http://bigbot.com/beast-machines-transformers-bob-skir/Beast-Machines-FAQ/Tue_12_Oct_1999.html Q&A from Bigbot's "bobskir.com"]</ref> We're betting on the latter.}}

====''Universe: Primeval Dawn''====
[[Image:Sparkholderprimevaldawn.jpg|left|190px|thumb|"Oh, I also have ''this'' in me now, too."]]

The Vok took the Matrix of Leadership from an unconscious Optimus Prime, used it to create [[Primal Prime]], then gave the Matrix to their new creation.

{{note|In the Beast Wars cartoon, Prime's spark was shown to be contained in a Matrix-like vessel. In [[Universe (comic)|Primeval Dawn]], that vessel was shown to be merely a container for his spark, and the actual Matrix was hidden underneath.}}

{{-}}
===Kid Stuff Talking Story Books===
:''Voice actor:'' Unknown

Optimus Prime is a "metallic nemesis." Megatron said so.

===Big Looker Story Books===
[[Image:KidsPrime1.jpg|right|150px|thumb|And the fluffy kitten played with that yarn all gosh-darn night.]]

In "[[The Great Car Rally]]", a 2-part race was being held with a massive supply of oil and gasoline as the prize. The Decepticons wanted it badly, but so did the Autobots. Megatron entered the race by hiding himself inside a hollowed-out car, but ended up losing to [[Cliffjumper (G1)|Cliffjumper]]. Optimus Prime celebrated the Minibot's victory with a gargantuan smile as all the Decepticons starved to death.
{{-}}

===Dreamwave comics continuity===

Optimus Prime started life as '''Optronix''' (Orion to his friends<ref>The [[Keepers Trilogy]] novels set in Dreamwave continuity</ref>), a data archivist. After taking note of a battle in which the Autobot leader [[Sentinel Prime (G1)|Sentinel Prime]] had been defeated by Megatron, he was summoned to the council of elders and informed that the Matrix had chosen him to be the next leader of the Autobots. He received the Matrix of Leadership shortly thereafter, gaining a powerful new body in the process, and almost arranged for the Autobot evacuation of Cybertron, intending to leave the Decepticons to their own devices, until a battle with Megatron beneath the planet's surface, accompanied by visions from the Matrix, stirred him on to fight for the safety of his homeworld. Some time into his role as leader, Prime disappeared in a [[space bridge]] explosion along with Megatron, but returned some time later, having spent a period of time on [[Quintessa]].

[[Image:Optronix_optimus.jpg|thumb|left|What? OPTRONIX is evolving!]]

Following the awakening of the Transformers on Earth, the Autobots protected the planet from the Decepticons. Over the next fifteen years, the Autobots befriended the humans, particularly the [[Witwicky|Witwicky family]]. The Autobots finally allied with humankind and eventually defeated the Decepticons at the turn of the century. They planned to return to Cybertron aboard the newly constructed ''[[Ark_II]]'', along with seven humans, including Witwicky patriatch [[Sparkplug Witwicky|Sparkplug]]. Before the ship departed, Prime gave a piece of the Matrix to [[Spike Witwicky]], Sparkplug's son and [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]]'s closest human friend. But the ship was destroyed as part of a military conspiracy to take control of the Transformers. However, a terrorist organization run by the enigmatic [[Lazarus]] was able to seize control of several of the Transformers that fell back to Earth, while the U.S. military located Prime's body. Spike was forced by the product chief, General [[Robert Hallo]], to use the piece of the Matrix to reactivate Prime. Functional again, Prime used the Matrix to reactivate more of his fallen comrades, and then faced off against Megatron in [[San Francisco]].

Following this, Prime began to experience subconscious urgings, leading both the Autobots and the Decepticons to the Arctic Circle, where Shockwave arrived to greet them - and arrest them as war criminals. Shockwave had succeeded in ending the war on Cybertron, but Prime soon fell in with a rebel Autobot group that had discovered Shockwave had a greater agenda. Rallying Autobots across Cybertron to the cause, Prime faced Shockwave in battle but was defeated and had the Matrix ripped from him and used to activate Vector Sigma. Before Shockwave could make full use of the mega-computer's data, however, [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] arrived and bested him. The injuries Prime took in this conflict necessitated a prolonged restoration period in stasis...

{{note|...which turned out to be the remainder of Dreamwave's existence. Bummer.}}

===Devil's Due G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers comics continuity===
{{charstub}}

=== IDW comics continuity ===
{{ongoing}}
{{-}}
{{note|[[Megatron Origin]] depicted that before the war, a robot that's a hybrid of the "Orion Pax" and "Optronix" designs appears listening to [[Sentinel Prime]]'s speech at the funeral of [[Bumper (G1)|Bumper]] and [[Fastback]]. He is standing with [[Elita One (G1)|Elita One]], [[Alpha Trion (G1)|Alpha Trion]], and a white version of himself (presumably [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]], possibly even [[Dion]]). Whether this is truly the [[IDW continuity]]'s version of pre-Prime Optimus remains unrevealed.}}

[[Image:IDWOptimus.jpg|right|thumb|150px|Freedom is the right of all sentient and heavily-armed beings.]]

Optimus Prime commands the Autobot armed forces spread across the galaxy from the [[Autobot Orbital Command Hub]]. He was directly involved in the cataclysm ([[IDW timeline|just under 450 years ago]]) that reduced Cybertron to a dead husk, fighting alongside Megatron in an attempt to stop [[Thunderwing_(G1)|Thunderwing]]'s rampage. Their efforts were futile, and they only survived due to Cybertron itself swallowing Thunderwing at [[Thunderhead Pass]]. Megatron was unconvinced that Thunderwing was dead, and advocated that Cybertron be destroyed to better insure that the mad Decepticon was forever destroyed. Prime refused, and threatened to stop any effort that Megatron attempted. Megatron agreed to spare the planet, but warned Prime that anything which happened afterwards was on his head.

In the present, Prime received a pulsewave from [[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide]], who was stationed under [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]]'s team on Earth, saying that the Decepticon infiltration cell under Starscream had broken their infiltration methods and enacted [[siege mode]] prematurely. Soon afterward, the Autobot science vessel ''[[Calabi-Yau]]'' sent a distress signal from above [[Thunderhead Pass]], and he ordered the [[Wreckers]] to withdraw from [[Varas Centralus]] and meet him on Cybertron. {{Storylink|Stormbringer issue 2}} Thunderwing had been restored by [[Bludgeon (G1)|Bludgeon]] and his followers, and though the Wreckers made short work of them, the real fight would be met with Thunderwing. After the Wreckers, [[Predacon (G1)|Predacon]]s and [[Centurion droids|Centurion drones]] were unable to destroy the monster, Prime took to the field, firing massive amounts of energy at Thunderwing, forcing it to exhaust its last reserves of [[Ultra Energon]] and, ultimately, its life. {{storylink|Stormbringer issue 4}}

[[Jetfire (G1)|Jetfire]] discovered information in Bludgeon's files about the mysterious new form of Energon found on Earth. Linking it to the pulsewave transmission from Ironhide, Prime diverted his spacecraft to Earth and called [[Nightbeat (G1)|Nightbeat]] in to assist him. {{storylink|Spotlight: Nightbeat}}. Shortly after arrival{{m-}}having undergone alteration so that he could disguise himself as an Earth truck{{m-}}he slowly began to realize how unusual the situation Prowl's unit had found itself in was. {{Storylink|Infiltration issue 6}} Not only had the Decepticons broken their own infiltration protocols over what Starscream had dubbed [[Ore-13]], but after attempting to recover what appeared to be Sunstreaker's remains, it was also evident that some of the planet's native sentients{{m-}}[[human]]s{{m-}}posed a threat possibly equal to that of their old enemies. {{Storylink|Escalation issue 2}}

[[Image:IDWPrime_Earth.jpg|left|thumb|150px|Don't crush the cameraman!]]

Optimus Prime, now fully filled in on Earth's happenings, decided that they needed reinforcements. He called [[Nightbeat (G1)|Nightbeat]], [[Hot Rod]], and [[Hardhead (G1)|Hardhead]] to come when they could. When Prowl pointed out that Megatron, in his new gun-based Earth mode, was in the breakaway Soviet state of [[Brasnya]] stirring up trouble, Prime ordered them into action.

[[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]] almost got the drop on Prime, but [[Roller]] was right behind him and executed him with one single shot. Megatron returned to his full-size robot mode and disagreed with the quality of Prime's tea and crumpets. At last, the two rivals were going to go at it.

The fight went well at first, with Prime blowing Megatron's fusion blaster clean off. Megatron, however, tireless thanks to Ore-13, prevailed, almost beating Prime into [[stasis lock]]. {{storylink|Escalation issue 5}}

However, Prime transfered his consciousness into his trailer, leading Megatron to believe him dead. Realizing that Ore-13 was the same as Ultra Energon, Prime returned to his body in time to save his forces from the relentless Megatron, dealing enough damage to the Decepticon leader to drain his power reserves, just as he did against Thunderwing. The victory was narrow, however, leaving Optimus with the daunting task of fending off an increasing enemy force without his last ace in the hole. {{storylink|Escalation issue 6}}

This near-death experience had left Prime somewhat unsettled. While his consciousness was in [[infraspace]] downloading to his trailer, he sensed a presence of dread{{m-}}the visage of his long-missing predecessor, [[Nova Prime]]. Looking for answers, Optimus Prime left Earth temporarily to seek an audience with [[Omega Supreme (G1)|Omega Supreme]] for answers. Once there, he found out about Nova's beliefs of how Transformers were better than everyone else and should show it, and faced down the rampaging [[Monstructor]], a legacy of Nova's tenure locked away by Omega Supreme. Then he gave his "you shouldn't have done that" speech to Omega, handed Monstructor's limbs over to Jetfire's team, and went on to do what comic G1 Primes do best: have angst-ridden introspection about himself and the tarnished legacy of the [[Prime (rank)|Prime lineage]]. {{storylink|Spotlight: Optimus Prime}}

After returning to Earth, Nightbeat discovered that a human group was aware of the base's location and recommended to Prime that they move the ''[[Ark-19]]''. As preparations were underway, Prime received a message from [[Hound (G1)|Hound]] saying that Thunderwing had been stolen. [[Sideswipe (G1)|Sideswipe]], eager to search for [[Sunstreaker]], suggested that they be reassigned to Earth, and Prime agreed. However, the thrashing that Prime gave Megatron had so embarrassed the Decepticon leader that he ordered in [[Sixshot]]. While moving the ''Ark-19'', Prime and the others came under fire by Sixshot. {{storylink|Devastation issue 1}}

Ordering Ratchet to get Jimmy and Verity to safety, Optimus then instructed Nightbeat to upload all of ''Ark-19<nowiki>'</nowiki>s'' data to ''[[Ark-32]]'' and for Prowl to activate the self-destruct sequence. {{storylink|Devastation issue 2}} When ''Ark-19'' exploded, it was assumed that Optimus was on board, but all was good at the end when he appeared with Bumblebee and the others{{m-}}ready to take on Sixshot. {{storylink|Devastation issue 3}} Optimus and the Autobots held Sixshot at bay, but the military ordered an air strike to destroy the alien robots. The battle was a stalemate, as Sixshot had to return to the Decepticons and the Autobots [[orbital jump]]ed just in time to avoid destruction. {{storylink|Devastation issue 4}} On ''Ark-32'', after a conversation with Jetfire, Prime informs Prowl that they need to retrieve Wheeljack and Hot Rod and leave Earth to see to another crisis. The Secure facility on [[Garrus-9]] had been breached, and Prime and company needed to make sure that some of the "recent inmates" there don't end up "in enemy hands." {{storylink|Devastation issue 5}}

Optimus eventually faces off with Nova, now called Nemesis Prime. {{storylink|Spotlight: Sideswipe}}

===IDW ''[[Hearts of Steel]]'' continuity===
He appears very briefly in the first few pages, in his "Ice Age Wars" body (we only see him in robot mode, but his altmode is a brachiosaurus<ref>[http://www.allspark.com/forums/index.php?s=d5d311674e796c81d010d26ac751389b&showtopic=10074&st=20&p=266183&#entry266183 Allspark forums post] by [[Guido Guidi]], August 15th, 2006</ref>). {{Storylink|Hearts of Steel issue 1}} He spends most of the story in [[stasis lock]].

====IDW ''Hearts of Steel'' Concept Art micro-continuity====
Optimus is depicted as turning into the front half of a fanciful red-and-blue locomotive. The rear half of the locomotive turns into a battle station. Since this altmode has no place in the story, these sketches constitute a [[micro-continuity]] in which Optimus Prime and [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] are active in the late 19th century.

{{-}}

==Toys==
{{main|Optimus Prime (G1) toys}}

{{-}}
==Trivia==
* According to [[Bob Budiansky]], longtime comics writer [[Denny O'Neil]] named Optimus Prime prior to Budiansky being brought on to the ''Transformers'' project.

* According to the staff of ''[[Beast Wars (cartoon)|Beast Wars]]'', Optimus Prime became a space explorer in the [[Beast Era]].<ref>[[Beast Wars Universe]] ISBN 978-4766938005</ref>

[[image:Optimusprime-mom.jpg|125px|right|thumb|Prime's mom knows how to write in cursive.]]

* By the time Optimus Prime appeared in ''[[Beast Machines]]'', his 3D model from ''Beast Wars'' had apparently been lost, leading the animators to use a faceplated Optimus Primal head as a quick replacement to save time and budget.

* Aside from occasionally having Alpha Trion as a father figure, Optimus Prime may have a mother! In an advertisement for [[Pepsi Convoy]] that shows him in a refrigerator (along with [[Destron Pizza]]), a note attached to a nearby piece of Tupperware reads:

:''Dear Convoy''
:''Warm it before you eat''
:''Mom''

:Although the ad itself is for Pepsi Convoy, he is a separate character, and it can be assumed that the note was left for Convoy/Optimus Prime himself.

* The first wave of Dreamwave posters in 2001 identified Optimus Prime as [http://www.comicden.com/merch/posters.htm "Captimus Primus"], which is tantalizingly close to making some sort of sense.

* Optimus Prime's Japanese name is "Convoy", which is named after his original name "Battle Convoy" in [[Diaclone]] toyline, because the name "Optimus Prime" is difficult for Japanese kids to remember and pronounce. <ref>'''Figure-Oh''' No. 114</ref>

{{-}}

==External links==
* [http://www.tfu.info/1984/Autobot/OptimusPrime/optimusprime.htm Optimus Prime on TFU.info]

* [http://www.ntfa.net/universe/english/index.php?act=view&char=Optimus_Prime Optimus Prime's Universe profile at NTFA.net]

* [http://www.toybin.org/search.php?q=1984+Autobot+Optimus+Prime ToyBin Optimus Prime Toy gallery]

{{-}}
== Footnotes ==
<references />

[[Category: Action Masters]]
[[Category: Alternators]]
[[Category: Attacktix]]
[[Category: Autobots]]
[[Category: Autobot leaders]]
[[Category: Beast Wars characters]]
[[Category: Classics characters]]
[[Category: Combiners]]
[[Category: Convention exclusives]]
[[Category: E-Hobby]]
[[Category: Generation 1 characters]]
[[Category: Generation 2 characters]]
[[Category: Go-Bots]]
[[Category: Headmasters characters]]
[[Category: Kiss Players characters]]
[[Category: Machine Wars characters]]
[[Category: Mail order exclusives]]
[[Category: Matrix bearers]]
[[Category: Powermasters]]
[[Category: Return of Convoy characters]]
[[Category: Robot Heroes]]
[[Category: Robot Masters characters]]
[[Category: Rulers of Cybertron]]
[[Category: Titanium Series]]
[[Category: Toys "R" Us exclusives]]
[[Category: Unreleased toys]]
[[Category: Zombies]]<div id="wikia-credits"><br /><br /><small>From [http://transformers.wikia.com Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki], a [http://www.wikia.com Wikia] wiki.</small></div>

Decepticon leader

2008-05-31T21:34:56Z

142.59.180.119: /* Trivia */

Among the [[Decepticon]]s, there is one guiding principle: rule of the strong. Whereas the [[Prime (rank)|leader]] of the [[Autobot]]s consults his subordinates, the strongest and the most powerful Decepticon leads, and everyone else is expected to follow without question. But strength of body is not enough. One must also have the brains to lead, the intelligence to outwit their rivals and plan their victories. Thus, the '''Decepticon leader''' is the strongest and smartest of their ranks.

Guess how many Decepticons [[Megatron|think]] [[Starscream|they]] [[Shockwave (G1)|qualify]].

{{quote|Only a select few ever lead, Starscream.|[[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] on the nature of power|"[[More Than Meets the Eye, Part 1]]"}}

==Fiction==
===Generation 1===
====Marvel Comics continuity====
=====Marvel Comics=====
{{noteukonly}}
[[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] was at first the sole Decepticon leader. Under his leadership, much of [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]] was conquered. ''When Megatron disappeared, [[Trannis]] seized power, destroying [[Iacon]] and forcing the Autobots underground. After the [[Wreckers]] killed Trannis, [[Straxus]] took command of the Decepticons on Cybertron.''

When Megatron was defeated shortly after the Decepticons reactivated, Military Operations Commander [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] defeated the Autobots and usurped Megatron, reducing him to [[second-in-command]]. However, Megatron was soon defeated by the [[Dinobot (G1)|Dinobot]]s, allowing Shockwave to fully assume command. Megatron's subsequent return saw a joint leadership, while Megatron was able to use logic to convince Shockwave to give him full leadership. After seemingly killing [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], Megatron went mad and apparently killed himself, allowing Shockwave to assume full leadership again.

Meanwhile, after receiving a mayday from the Earth bound Decepticons, Straxus constructed a [[space bridge]] that linked Earth and Cybertron, only for Straxus to be killed when it was attacked by [[Perceptor (G1)|Perceptor]]'s resistance cell. Fuel Auditor [[Ratbat]] emerged as the most powerful Decepticon in [[Polyhex]], entering into an uneasy alliance with Shockwave. While this was going on, the Decepticon [[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] took his unit to follow [[Fortress Maximus (G1)|Fortress Maximus]] to [[Nebulos]], where he underwent [[binary bonding]] with [[Zarak]]. Following Fortress Maximus to Earth, Scorponok also entered an uneasy alliance with Shockwave and Ratbat. With this many bytes of aggression, the stage was set for a coup.

Ultimately, it came about that [[Air Commander]] [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]] was the catalyst that launched a rebellion. When the Decepticons learned that the legendary [[Underbase]] was coming to Earth, Starscream caused the Decepticons to turn against each other. By the end of the conflict, Shockwave was presumed to have burned up on reentry into Earth's atmosphere, Ratbat was shot dead by Scorponok, and Starscream was killed when he tried to absorb the Underbase's power. Without any rivals, Scorponok easily settled into power as Earth's sole Decepticon leader.

''Meanwhile, on Cybertron, [[Thunderwing (G1)|Thunderwing]] petitioned the [[Decepticon High Council]] to be appointed leader of the Decepticon army. His bid was successful.'' Learning that the Autobots were searching for the [[Matrix of Leadership|Creation Matrix]], Thunderwing managed to gain the Matrix and corrupted it. Thunderwing was ultimately killed, and the Matrix believed destroyed. With [[Unicron]] fast approaching Cybertron, Optimus Prime made the decision to surrender to Scorponok, in return for allying with the Autobots against Unicron. Scorponok planned to betray Prime, but Zarak later agreed to the alliance. However, Scorponok's troops were growing disgruntled, especially by his recruitment of Starscream, who had decimated them months earlier then was resurrected by Megatron, who had survived his space bridge suicide (only to be fused together with Autobot Chief Medical Officer [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]]). Taking advantage of this, Shockwave, who had survived his burn-up, managed to get several disgruntled Decepticons to ally with him and attack Scorponok's group. Ultimately, they were all transported to Cybertron by [[Primus]], who named Optimus Prime as the commander of Cybertron's united army.

During the battle with Unicron, Optimus Prime and Scorponok were both killed. As Shockwave and Starscream fled the dying Cybertron, [[Bludgeon (G1)|Bludgeon]] was acclaimed Decepticon leader by the surviving Decepticons. He led the Decepticons in the conquest of [[Klo]], then massacred the Autobots who arrived to stop them. However, Optimus Prime had been revived by the [[Last Autobot]], whom Bludgeon had worshipped as the Ultimate Warrior. The Last Autobot revived the fallen Autobots, and Bludgeon agreed to lead the Decepticons into exile...planning to bide their time.

Shockwave, meanwhile, had hijacked the Ark alongside Starscream with the intention of using it to conquer Earth. He didn't count on [[Galvatron II|an alternate timeline Galvatron]] to have attempted the same thing. He also didn't count on Ratchet and Megatron to be on board the Ark in stasis, though, nor did he expect the pair to awaken during the journey. While Megatron kept Shockwave and Starscream occupied, Ratchet forced the Ark to crash violently into the ground. Galvatron was the only one to emerge from the crash, and he appeared to be the only survivor.

=====Generation 2=====
After his resurrection, Megatron challenged Bludgeon for leadership of the Decepticons. After a fierce battle, Megatron emerged victorious.

=====Classics=====

====Generation 1 cartoon continuity====
=====Generation 1 cartoon=====
At first, the Decepticons were led by an [[Early Decepticon leader|old Decepticon]] who could not [[Transformation|transform]]. However, when he lost the [[Second Cybertronian War]] against the Autobots, he was replaced with Megatron, who led the Decepticons to conquer much of Cybertron. However, when Megatron and Optimus Prime disappeared, the war on Cybertron entered a stalemate. Shockwave had been appointed Guardian of Cybertron in Megatron's absence, and became de facto Decepticon leader. Once Megatron resumed contact with Cybertron, Shockwave resubmitted to his authority. {{storylink|More Than Meets the Eye, Part 1|MTMTE1}} {{storylink|Transport to Oblivion}}

Air Commander Starscream, long contemptuous of Megatron's leadership, made several attempts to supplant Megatron. They all ended with failure, usually due to his own impatience or the other Decepticons' loyalty to Megatron. However, Starscream eventually decided to get some help. He made plans with [[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]] and [[Astrotrain (G1)|Astrotrain]] to trap Megatron in a tunnel and freeze him. However, the [[Triple Changer]]s betrayed Starscream, leaving them both to freeze, and proceeded to wreak havoc. Megatron and Starscream were freed due to an accident on Astrotrain's part, and after defeating Astrotrain, Blitzwing, [[Devastator]], and Starscream, Megatron resumed leadership of the Decepticons. {{storylink|Triple Takeover}}

By 2005, the Decepticons had conquered Cybertron. However, the Autobots retained control of two moons and held a reserve force at [[Autobot City]]. Megatron launched an [[Battle of Autobot City|assault on Autobot City]], where he and Optimus Prime mortally wounded each other. During the trip back to Cybertron, Astrotrain required the Decepticons to jettison excess weight or he would be unable to make it back. The wounded Decepticons were thrown overboard to allow the survivors to return, with Starscream personally ejecting Megatron. After a mild scuffle aboard Astrotrain, Starscream emerged as the new Decepticon leader. However, Megatron was discovered by [[Unicron]], and [[reformatted]] into [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]]. With a new body and troops, Galvatron returned to Cybertron and killed Starscream with a single blast. Galvatron was hailed as the new leader of the Decepticons. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

After Unicron's attack on Cybertron and the disappearance of Galvatron, the Decepticons fled to [[Chaar]]. Without strong leaders like Galvatron, Starscream, or Shockwave, the Decepticons fell into a period of disunity, where they fought each other for scraps of [[Energon]]. Ultimately, [[Cyclonus (G1)|Cyclonus]] located Galvatron, who reorganized the Decepticons. {{storylink|Five Faces of Darkness}}

=====Robot Masters=====
After the disappearance of Megatron, the leadership of the Decepticons was helmed by Starscream. However, a [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] from another time challenged Starscream for leadership and won.

====Dreamwave====
At first, Megatron was the sole leader of the Decepticons, with his chief lieutenants being Air Commander Starscream, Military Operations Commander Shockwave, and Communications Officer Soundwave. {{storylink|The War Within}} After Megatron was believed to have been destroyed along with Optimus Prime in a space bridge explosion, Shockwave became Decepticon leader. However, Starscream and High Auditor Ratbat broke off from the Decepticon army, forming the [[Predacon (War Within)|Predacon]]s and [[Ultracon]]s, respectively. {{storylink|The War Within: The Dark Ages}} Megatron's return to Cybertron saw him resume command of the fragmented Decepticons. {{storylink|The War Within: The Age of Wrath}}

After Megatron, Starscream, and Soundwave disappeared chasing Optimus Prime's crew aboard the ''Ark'', Shockwave emerged as Decepticon leader, this time as part of a triumvirate that included Scorponok and Ratbat. He was briefly overthrown by [[Skystalker]], who used his head to issue commands to Shockwave's troops, but Skystalker was defeated and Shockwave resumed command. {{storylink|Micromasters (comic)|Micromasters}}. With the [[Great Shutdown]], all Transformers entered a period of enforced [[stasis lock]]. Shockwave was reactivated by Unicron's herald [[Scourge (G1)|Scourge]], but Shockwave defeated Scourge, studying him. Learning secrets about Cybertron that Megatron had previously discovered, Shockwave made peace with the Autobots, installing himself as Head of State with an [[Autobot High Council]] as a legislature. On Earth, Megatron retained command of the ''[[Nemesis (G1)|Nemesis]]'' crew, but he was defeated when Shockwave arrived, intent on gaining the Matrix from Optimus Prime. Starscream ejected Megatron from the ship transporting them back to Cybertron, then recruited the ''Nemesis'' crew and the [[Combaticon]]s to conquer Earth. When Optimus Prime was brought to Cybertron, he united the Autobot resistance groups and overthrew Shockwave. {{storylink|Prime Directive}} {{storylink|War and Peace}}

Meanwhile, Megatron was repaired by [[Wreck-Gar (G1)|Wreck-Gar]], and managed to locate a trio of [[Aerospace Extermination Squadron|Air Warrior]]s he used to recruit the [[Predacon (G1)|Predacon]]s. Heading for Cybertron, he took command of Shockwave's forces, forcing Shockwave into a subordinate state. On Earth, Starscream's failures against the Autobots and [[Sunstorm (G1)|Sunstorm]] made Soundwave, his cassettes, and the [[Seeker]]s all too willing to mutiny against Starscream in favor of Megatron. {{storylink|Generation One (Dreamwave comic)|Generation 1 ongoing}}

===Animated===
Styled '''Supreme Leader''', the title was held by [[Megatron (Animated)|Megatron]] for over four million solar cycles, since the days of the [[Great War]]. When Megatron was believed killed trying to secure the [[AllSpark (Animated)|AllSpark]], [[Starscream (Animated)|Starscream]] immediately nominated himself the new Supreme leader...no one took him seriously. {{storylink|Transform and Roll Out!}}

He finally ''did'' manage to get the Decepticons [[Lugnut]] and [[Blitzwing (Animated)|Blitzwing]] to swear allegiance to him in exchange for repairs. {{storylink|Lost and Found}} However, this was also short-lived, as Lugnut was really taking orders from the disembodied head of Megatron. {{storylink|Megatron Rising - Part 1}} After his restoration, the Decepticons repledged their loyalty to Megatron, who decided to reinforce it by seriously damaging Starscream. {{storylink|Megatron Rising - Part 2}}

===Shattered Glass===
Unlike previous incarnations, the leader of the Decepticons is a heroic resistance leader, intending to free Cybertron from the Autobots and save the galaxy from their evil ways. [[Megatron (Shattered Glass)|Megatron]] stands as their current leader, and it seems like [[Starscream (Timelines)|Starscream]] will be a [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|successor]] rather than a usurper.

(note: ''this is the only exception where Laserbeak doesn't perch on your shoulder'')

==Trivia==
*Unlike the Autobots, whose leader is called a Prime (Except it you are named [[Fortress Maximus]], [[God Ginrai]], [[Victory Saber]], or [[Dai Atlas]]), the Decepticon leader has no "official name".
*Being Decepticon leader means that [[Laserbeak (G1)|Laserbeak]] has to perch on your shoulder. Seriously.

==See also==
*[[Emperor of Destruction]]
*[[Lord High Protector]]

[[Category:Decepticon leaders| Decepticon leader]]
[[Category:Ranks]]<div id="wikia-credits"><br /><br /><small>From [http://transformers.wikia.com Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki], a [http://www.wikia.com Wikia] wiki.</small></div>

Victory Saber

2008-05-31T21:34:14Z

142.59.180.119:

:''Victory Saber is an [[Autobot]] from the [[Victory (television series)|Victory]] portion of the [[Generation 1]] [[continuity family]].''

[[Image:Victory_saber.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Doesn't die and resurrect nearly as much as Optimus Prime.]]

'''Victory Saber''' is the fused form of [[Star Saber (G1)|Star Saber]] and [[Victory Leo]]. While a seemingly basic transformation the fusion drastically increases both speed and power. However, as a drawback, Victory Leo's savage personality can override Star Saber's calm and collected nature turning him into a complete psychopath.

==Fiction==
===Victory===
:''Voice actor: [[Hideyuki Tanaka]] (Japan)''
Victory Saber first appeared when Deathsaurus developed a super-smart missile launcher that he boasted could wipe out the human race as threat to keep the Autobots to from interfering with his plans. Deathsaurus boasted that Star Saber couldn't reach the missile launcher before the missiles fired, but didn't count on him combining with Victory Leo. In vehicle mode, Victory Saber quickly reached the missile launcher, thrashed Deathsaurus (who wasn't about to let his weapon get destroyed), and destroyed it. From then on, Victory Saber proved a major threat to the Decepticons that not even [[Liokaiser]] could beat.

When Deathsaurus got the energy that he needed to reactivate his [[Decepticon Space City]], not even Victory Saber was a match for it. After Deathsaurus and Liokaiser were defeated, Victory Saber destroyed the fortress by using information supplied by the turncoat [[Dinoforce]] to attack a weak point.

===Victory manga===

===Zone===
[[Image:Victorysaber_looklikeevilruler.jpg|thumb|150px|right|I am good guy. No, really.]]
Victory Saber was lost in a explosion after the [[Nine Great Demon Generals]] destroyed the planet [[Feminia]]. [[Dai Atlas]] and [[Sonic Bomber]] set out to search him, only to find the heavily injured Victory Saber.

Later, Victory Saber inaugurated Dai Atlas as the new Autobot Supreme Commander.
{{-}}

===PD Type manga===

After combining into Victory Saber to do battle with [[Liokaiser]], Star Saber becomes irritated to the point of shouting after Victory Leo continuously interrupts his dramatic speeches with incessant roaring.

===Robot Masters===
====Pack-in comics====
====OVA====
====Online mini-comics====

==Toys==
===Generation 1===
*'''Victory Saber''' (1989)
:''Japanese ID number:'' '''C-328'''

===Robot Masters===
[[Image:RobotMasters VictorySaber toy.jpg|thumb|Available at many discount bootleg stores]]
*'''Victory Saber''' (2004)
:''Japanese ID number:'' '''RM-17'''

*'''Victory Saber''' (eHobby exclusive, 2005)
:An "evil recolor" of the Victory Saber two-pack completed with Decepticon symbols. The red, white, yellow, and blue plastics were replaced with the black, purple, teal and bronze plastics. This redeco represents Victory Saber in "optical camouflage" paintjobs for use on an undercover mission to investigate Decepticon dealings in the [[Carbombya|Middle East black market]].

==External links==

*[http://www.tfu.info/1989/Cybertron/VictorySaber/victorysaber.htm Victory Saber at TFU.info]

{{charstub}}

[[Category: Autobots]]
[[Category: Autobot leaders]]
[[Category: Combined forms]]
[[Category: Robot Masters characters]]
[[Category: Victory characters]]
[[Category: Zone characters]]<div id="wikia-credits"><br /><br /><small>From [http://transformers.wikia.com Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki], a [http://www.wikia.com Wikia] wiki.</small></div>

Ginrai (human)

2008-05-31T21:32:29Z

142.59.180.119: /* Masterforce animated series */

{{picsneeded|Toys}}{{disambig2|the American trucker|the Nebulan scientist who is sometimes called Ginrai thanks to trademark issues|Hi-Q}}

:''Ginrai is a human and [[Autobot]] [[Godmaster]] from the [[Super-God Masterforce]] portion of the [[Generation 1]] [[continuity family]].

''[[Image:Ginrai comb1.gif|thumb|300px|"Hair this perfect doesn't just '''happen!'''"]]

Born in Nagano, [[Japan]], '''Ginrai''' found the country's atmosphere stifling for most of his early life, and left for the [[United States]] at age seventeen to find himself. He took a job as a long-haul truck driver for [[Union Transportation]], which offered him the freedom and solitude of the open road. His easy-going personality earned him many friends amongst his "brothers" in the trucker fraternity.

:''RTM dub name'': '''Optimus Prime'''

{{Note|"Ginrai" should be pronounced "Jinrai" in accordance with his name's kana spelling, "ジンライ".}}

==Fiction==
===''Masterforce'' animated series===
[[Image:Ginraiarmor.jpg|thumb|left|It rides up the crotch.]]
:''Voice actor:'' [[Hiroshi Takemura]] (Japanese)

The story that would bring Ginrai into contact with the Transformers began an indeterminate number of years ago, when the super-energy alien being and self-styled "Decepticon god" [[Devil Z]] stole several [[Transtector]]s - including one intended to be used by the legendary Autobot leader [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]] - from an area of space known as the [[G Nebula]]. Already filled with the [[Chokon Power|Tenchokon]] of the nebula, the Transtectors were then scattered across the Earth by Devil Z, that they might absorb the planet's [[Chokon Power|Chichokon]]. Devil Z planned to have human beings bond to the Transtectors, adding their inherent [[Chokon Power|Jinchokon]] to the equation, thereby creating a new super-robotic lifeform - [[Godmaster]]s.

Through un-divulged circumstances, the Transtector intended for Prime assumed the form of a red tractor trailer cab, and came to rest in a small garage in California. The unwitting [[garage owner (Masterforce)|garage owner]] rented the cab to several truckers, but always found it returned early, with complaints of unusual, even supernatural, incidents.

[[Image:250px-Ginrai_tf.jpg|thumb|right|Optimus Prime? Never heard of him.]]

Two years after coming to America, Ginrai happened to be transporting an ill dolphin from [[Baney Aquarium]] to the Ocean Research Institute of California, run - unbeknownst to him - by the Autobot [[Pretender]] [[Diver]]. Destiny stepped in when Ginrai's truck broke down on the way, and he pulled in at this very garage, where the owner rented him the Transtector to complete his delivery. In the glove box of the cab, he discovered a pair of [[Master-Braces]] and slipped them on his wrists, only to discover that he was unable to remove them. When Diver laid eyes upon the bracelets, he recognized the basic design of them, and insisted that Ginrai take him back to the garage where he had found the truck. On the way, however, they were attacked by the Decepticon Godmaster brothers [[Hydra and Buster]], who forced the truck off a cliff. Accidentally touching the bracelets as he attempted to escape the crushed cab, Ginrai was infused with the Masterforce and a suit of armor materialized around him, healing both himself and the Transtector, as they combined and transformed. Now a Godmaster himself, Ginrai saw the shocked Decepticon off. {{Storylink|The Hero is Chosen, and His Name is Ginrai!|MF ep 10}}

Ginrai was at first unsure of what to make of his new powers, and was not entirely keen on joining the Autobots, as the notion of operating as part of a command structure, and being tied down to a specific place ran directly counter to his desire for freedom in his life. Although he promised to aid them when necessary "for the sake of the world" - a mantra that he admitted he had a weakness for - he soon bore witness to the true evil of the Decepticons when Hydra and Buster killed several of his fellow truckers while searching for him. Ginrai was still, however, not entirely willing to join the Autobots, but fate kept on pushing him to do so - he soon suffered a prophetic dream, after which he discovered three more pairs of Master-Braces in his Transtector, indicating the presence of more Godmasters on Earth.

When Ginrai brought the bracelets to Japan for study at the Autobot base, events began to escalate as Transtector activated on its own, transporting Ginrai to his birthplace of Nagano, or more specifically, a construction site at the base of Mount Yatsugatake there. Blasting for a tunnel through the mountain had been blocked by a mysterious object, which proved to be a trailer for Ginrai's truck, which burst from the tunnel during another battle with [[Hydra and Buster|Buster and Hydra]]. Later still, the two brothers lured Ginrai into a public battle that they might blame the conflict on him, and turn public opinion against the Autobots; the plan failed, but a friend of Ginrai's offered the suggestion that his becoming a Godmaster was the will of God himself.

[[Image:180px-Super ginrai.jpg|thumb|left|A bird? A Plane? No, it's Super Ginrai.]]

Not long thereafter, in a battle with [[King Poseidon]], Ginrai discovered that his cab and trailer were capable of performing a "Double On," merging together to create the super-robot, "Super Ginrai." Additionally, after appearing on TV in hopes of locating the remaining three Godmasters, to whom he would give the Master-Braces, Ginrai successfully located [[Lightfoot]], [[Ranger]] and [[Road King]], and recruited them to the Autobot side. With this success, the Autobot leader [[Metalhawk]] stepped down as commander and requested that Ginrai take his place. After some deliberation, and much hassling from the other Autobot Pretenders, who wouldn't let him say no, Ginrai accepted.

[[Image:God_ginrai.jpg|thumb|right|Ginrai, when somebody asks you if you're a God, you say YES!]]

When [[Grand Maximus]] arrived on Earth to inform Ginrai's Autobots of the impending arrival of the Decepticon super-weapon, [[Black Zarak]], he provided them with the schematics necessary to create the drone, [[Godbomber]]. Metalhawk and the Pretenders raced to finish the construction of Godbomber, but as the so-called "Bomber Project" neared completion, Ginrai was lured into the desert by a disguised Buster and Hydra (under the auspices of performing some stunt driving for a movie), and was attacked and resoundingly defeated by the Decepticon Ambassador of Destruction, [[Overlord]]. Following a failed attack on the Bomber Project facility, the barely-healed Ginrai insisted upon taking the fight to the Decepticons, combining with the completed Godbomber to form "God Ginrai." In his new form, Ginrai confronted Overlord and Black Zarak on the moon, where he fully embraced his role as protector of Earth, and defeated the Decepticons with the aid of Grand Maximus.

Some time later, Black Zarak was able to return to Earth and merge with Devil Z, forcing the Autobots into a series of battle to protect countries all around the Earth. Tracking the villains to the Matterhorn, God Ginrai was forced into a final battle with the hybrid entity atop the mountain and succeeded in decapitating the villain, but Black Zarak then assumed a new hydra alternate mode, which God Ginrai destroyed with his God Fire Guts attack. His powers boosted by the [[Headmaster Junior]]s, God Ginrai then executed the almighty Final Fire Guts attack, destroying Devil Z.

With Devil Z's death, the bonding between Transtector and human that he had engineered ceased to exist, and Ginrai and the other humans were separated from their Transtectors. The Transtectors, however, had been evolved through their partnership with the humans, and continued to exist as true super-robot life forms. Having imprinted his human partner's personality, Ginrai's Transtector departed for space to pursue the surviving Decepticons and rejoin the greater war.

===''Masterforce'' manga===

The ''Masterforce'' manga forgoes re-telling Ginrai's origins, simply indicating that he exists, then introducing him in the midst of a battle with Buster and Hydra. Similarly, the other Autobot Godmasters are introduced in such a manner, although here, their creation comes ''before'' Ginrai's acquisition of his trailer, and they present it to him at an opportune moment. The most notable moment for Ginrai in the manga comes when he and the Autobots are taken to the planet [[Athenia]] by the [[Trainbot]]s, and Ginrai succeeds [[Fortress Maximus|Fortress]] as [[Supreme Commander]] of the Autobots, a rank there is no indication he attains in the anime.

===''Victory'' animated series===

The Ginrai Transtector - now having taken its human partner's name as its own, becoming known as Ginrai itself - joined with the Autobot forces in space, where he became good friends with [[Star Saber (G1)|Star Saber]] and his adopted human son, [[Jean Minakaze|Jean]]. Before long, Star Saber was appointed Supreme Commander of the Autobots, while Ginrai became commander of the Defense Force for Space Sector Two. Operating out of a base in the G Nebula, Ginrai's time was occupied battling the Decepticon forces under Overlord's control, so much so that Star Saber occasionally had to respond to emergencies in Sector Two, such as a [[Breastforce]] attack on planet [[Micro]].

Feeling guilty over taking up Star Saber's time in such a manner, Ginrai was quick to come to his aid when he was lured into a trap on Earth by Decepticon [[Emperor of Destruction]] [[Deathsaurus]]. Confronting Deathsaurus in battle, Ginrai was struck by a blast from the villain's Living-Metal-Destroying Cannon and badly damaged. Despite the best medical efforts of [[Perceptor (G1)|Perceptor]], [[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]], and [[Minerva]] Ginrai's body was left useless and immobile. Due to a slip by Perceptor, however, he learned of the existence of a reconstruction process conceived by Star Saber that would allow him to become a power-up for the Autobot leader. Star Saber refused to allow him to submit to the process, revolted at the notion of using his close friend's body in such a way, but Ginrai insisted. Perceptor and Wheeljack brought his life functions to an end, and then restored him to Star Saber's specifications as [[Victory Leo]].

===Binaltech continuity (unused)===
With the heart of a human and the soul of a robot, Ginrai survived numerous deaths and rebirths to eventually become a member of a multiverse-spanning future civilization. Travelling back through time, he appeared in the early 21st century during the events of [[Operation: Distant Thunder]], taking over a [[Binaltech]] body that had been intended for [[Roller]], one of [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]]'s components. Now in the form of a Dodge Ram SRT-10 pickup truck, Ginrai gained a shockwave-firing concussion blaster and powerful leg-jets, while retaining his martial arts skills and teleportation and space-time manipulation abilities.

Ginrai used his powers to seal the numerous timewarp rifts that had appeared all over [[Earth]] and confirmed to the Autobot scientist [[Skids (G1)|Skids]] that Distant Thunder had been a success. Although the present timeline should have been erased by its effects, it was destined to create a great multiversal force in the future, and had therefore been preserved with a time-space bypass.

[[Ginrai#Trivia|''This never happened.'']]

{{-}}
==Toys==
===Masterforce===
*'''Super Ginrai''' (1988)
**''Japanese ID number:'' '''C-307'''
**''Accessories:'' Godmaster transtector, superconductor rifle, particle beam cannon (a.k.a. cannon craft)
:A remoulded version of the American Powermaster Optimus Prime figure, Ginrai is a red, blue and grey tractor trailer, only able to transform into robot mode when the small Ginrai human figure is put into engine mode and snapped into place in the truck's grill, unlocking the clasp that holds the legs in place. When the cab is in robot mode, the trailer can become a battle station; either robot or station can be armed with any of the toy's weapons, including two black guns and two grey double-barrelled "cannon craft," which can be piloted by the small Godmaster figures. The two components can be merged into "Super Ginrai", whose head is a separate piece, and could go on to combine with the separately-sold Godbomber to become God Ginrai.

:Differences between Powermaster Optimus Prime and Ginrai include a die-cast metal cab with translucent blue plastic windows, shortened smokestacks, a more metallic grey plastic, chrome on the Godmaster Ginrai engine, and silver paint rather than stickers for the small robot's upper legs. Only in the reissue are there blue eyes for the small Ginrai robot.

*'''God Ginrai''' (1988)
**''Japanese ID number:'' '''C-310'''
**''Accessories:'' Godmaster transtector, superconductor rifle, particle beam cannon (a.k.a. cannon craft), God Cannon with tachyon missile
:Super Ginrai was also sold in a gift set with Godbomber, who could disassemble his parts and combine with Super Ginrai to form God Ginrai. Godbomber's legs became boots, to which the Ginrai's grey cannons attached, his chest and wings formed a backpack, while his arms clipped over the top of Ginrai's own, and his back became a chromed chestplate, into the top of which the his spring-loaded "God Cannon" plugged.

*'''God Ginrai (reissue)''' (2002)

:The God Ginrai giftset was reissued in Japan in 2002 with blue eyes for the small Ginrai robot and a slighty different shade of red paint on the cab. It was, however, notoriously over-produced, and retailers were still selling it some time later at greatly reduced prices.

*'''Powermaster Optimus Prime w/ Apex Armor''' (2002)

:The American release the God Ginrai reissue, albeit with [[remold|remolded]] [[missile|missiles]], used the Ginrai name for the [[powermaster]]/[[godmaster]]/[[Nebulan]] figure instead of [[Hi-Q]]. This marks the first time the Ginrai character had been sold as a US release, even if the larger figures represented the Optimus Prime character and the new Apex Bomber character instead of the lifeless transtector and drone.

*'''Fire Guts God Ginrai''' (eHobby exclusive, 2002)

:Released to coincide with the 2002 reissue, this redeco of the God Ginrai gifset cast the Autobot leader in reds and oranges, representing Ginrai using his "God Fire Guts" attack from the animated series. It was limited to 1600 pieces.

{{-}}

==Trivia==
* The human Ginrai's appearance is designed after screen actor Yūjirō Ishihara.

* According to the color pages from ''Comic Bom-Bom'', Ginrai owns the '''Ultra Matrix''', which contains far more energy than the [[Sun]].

* According to the episode ''[[The Earth Family of Good and Evil]]'', Ginrai is good at surfing and the skateboard.

*The relationship between Ginrai and Optimus Prime is a bit... sketchy, to say the least. Precisely why Ginrai's Transtector looks so much like Optimus Prime is not detailed in the series itself, with the explanation only being delivered in the featurette added to the video release of "[[You Too Use the Masterforce to Transform]]". Here, it is stated that the Transtector was created for Optimus Prime, but stolen by Devil Z... only for this to be contradicted seconds later, when it is ''then'' said that the Transtector was to be used by a hero from Planet [[Master (Headmasters)|Master]]. The ''[[Kiss Players]]'' radio drama backed up the first account, noting specifically that the Transtector was created as part of a plan to resurrect Prime after his [[A Dream is Born, Double Prime|most recent death]].

* When Hasbro wanted to create an [[Alternators]] Dodge Ram toy, Takara reportedly demanded that it be made into [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]] out of fear that the toy (whose vehicle mode is scarce in Japan as a real vehicle) wouldn't sell as well in their market if it wasn't a popular and easily recognized figure; as the figure reportedly cost twice as much to build as the others, Hasbro had to agree in order for Takara to continue fronting part of the production cost. In an ironic turn of events, the Dodge Ram was prematurely solicited by Takara not as "Convoy" (Optimus Prime), but as his Masterforce look-alike Ginrai. As a matter of fact, the head sculpt for the Alternators Optimus Prime toy ''is'' based on the Super Ginrai (Powermaster Optimus Prime's "super mode") toy's head sculpt. Ultimately, however, [[Binaltech]] Ginrai was cancelled, with only Hasbro releasing Optimus Prime as originally planned. Eventually, Takara released the Dodge Ram as as part of the new [[Kiss Players]] line, now named "Convoy" (Optimus Prime).

* Character and fiction information for the unreleased Binaltech Ginrai toy was finally provided in late 2007 with the release of ''The Transformers Binaltech Stories: Profiles and Technical Specifications'', an unofficial publication by Binaltech story writer [[Hirofumi Ichikawa]] that compiled all then-current BT information as well as that of the cancelled releases of "Blackwidow" ([[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia]]) and Ginrai. Unlike Blackarachnia's story, which can be fit into the published Binaltech continuity, Ginrai's intended story was modified into [[Nemesis Prime (Alternators)|Nemesis Prime]]'s fiction and therefore is not compatible with the official Binaltech continuity...although it does provide a possible identity for the spark sent by the mysterious "[[Protector]]" which fulfils the same role in Nemesis Prime's story.

[[Category: Autobots]]
[[Category: Autobot leaders]]
[[Category: Godmasters]]
[[Category: Humans]]
[[Category: Victory characters]]<div id="wikia-credits"><br /><br /><small>From [http://transformers.wikia.com Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki], a [http://www.wikia.com Wikia] wiki.</small></div>

Decepticon leader

2008-05-31T21:17:32Z

142.59.180.119: /* Trivia */

Among the [[Decepticon]]s, there is one guiding principle: rule of the strong. Whereas the [[Prime (rank)|leader]] of the [[Autobot]]s consults his subordinates, the strongest and the most powerful Decepticon leads, and everyone else is expected to follow without question. But strength of body is not enough. One must also have the brains to lead, the intelligence to outwit their rivals and plan their victories. Thus, the '''Decepticon leader''' is the strongest and smartest of their ranks.

Guess how many Decepticons [[Megatron|think]] [[Starscream|they]] [[Shockwave (G1)|qualify]].

{{quote|Only a select few ever lead, Starscream.|[[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] on the nature of power|"[[More Than Meets the Eye, Part 1]]"}}

==Fiction==
===Generation 1===
====Marvel Comics continuity====
=====Marvel Comics=====
{{noteukonly}}
[[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] was at first the sole Decepticon leader. Under his leadership, much of [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]] was conquered. ''When Megatron disappeared, [[Trannis]] seized power, destroying [[Iacon]] and forcing the Autobots underground. After the [[Wreckers]] killed Trannis, [[Straxus]] took command of the Decepticons on Cybertron.''

When Megatron was defeated shortly after the Decepticons reactivated, Military Operations Commander [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] defeated the Autobots and usurped Megatron, reducing him to [[second-in-command]]. However, Megatron was soon defeated by the [[Dinobot (G1)|Dinobot]]s, allowing Shockwave to fully assume command. Megatron's subsequent return saw a joint leadership, while Megatron was able to use logic to convince Shockwave to give him full leadership. After seemingly killing [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], Megatron went mad and apparently killed himself, allowing Shockwave to assume full leadership again.

Meanwhile, after receiving a mayday from the Earth bound Decepticons, Straxus constructed a [[space bridge]] that linked Earth and Cybertron, only for Straxus to be killed when it was attacked by [[Perceptor (G1)|Perceptor]]'s resistance cell. Fuel Auditor [[Ratbat]] emerged as the most powerful Decepticon in [[Polyhex]], entering into an uneasy alliance with Shockwave. While this was going on, the Decepticon [[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] took his unit to follow [[Fortress Maximus (G1)|Fortress Maximus]] to [[Nebulos]], where he underwent [[binary bonding]] with [[Zarak]]. Following Fortress Maximus to Earth, Scorponok also entered an uneasy alliance with Shockwave and Ratbat. With this many bytes of aggression, the stage was set for a coup.

Ultimately, it came about that [[Air Commander]] [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]] was the catalyst that launched a rebellion. When the Decepticons learned that the legendary [[Underbase]] was coming to Earth, Starscream caused the Decepticons to turn against each other. By the end of the conflict, Shockwave was presumed to have burned up on reentry into Earth's atmosphere, Ratbat was shot dead by Scorponok, and Starscream was killed when he tried to absorb the Underbase's power. Without any rivals, Scorponok easily settled into power as Earth's sole Decepticon leader.

''Meanwhile, on Cybertron, [[Thunderwing (G1)|Thunderwing]] petitioned the [[Decepticon High Council]] to be appointed leader of the Decepticon army. His bid was successful.'' Learning that the Autobots were searching for the [[Matrix of Leadership|Creation Matrix]], Thunderwing managed to gain the Matrix and corrupted it. Thunderwing was ultimately killed, and the Matrix believed destroyed. With [[Unicron]] fast approaching Cybertron, Optimus Prime made the decision to surrender to Scorponok, in return for allying with the Autobots against Unicron. Scorponok planned to betray Prime, but Zarak later agreed to the alliance. However, Scorponok's troops were growing disgruntled, especially by his recruitment of Starscream, who had decimated them months earlier then was resurrected by Megatron, who had survived his space bridge suicide (only to be fused together with Autobot Chief Medical Officer [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]]). Taking advantage of this, Shockwave, who had survived his burn-up, managed to get several disgruntled Decepticons to ally with him and attack Scorponok's group. Ultimately, they were all transported to Cybertron by [[Primus]], who named Optimus Prime as the commander of Cybertron's united army.

During the battle with Unicron, Optimus Prime and Scorponok were both killed. As Shockwave and Starscream fled the dying Cybertron, [[Bludgeon (G1)|Bludgeon]] was acclaimed Decepticon leader by the surviving Decepticons. He led the Decepticons in the conquest of [[Klo]], then massacred the Autobots who arrived to stop them. However, Optimus Prime had been revived by the [[Last Autobot]], whom Bludgeon had worshipped as the Ultimate Warrior. The Last Autobot revived the fallen Autobots, and Bludgeon agreed to lead the Decepticons into exile...planning to bide their time.

Shockwave, meanwhile, had hijacked the Ark alongside Starscream with the intention of using it to conquer Earth. He didn't count on [[Galvatron II|an alternate timeline Galvatron]] to have attempted the same thing. He also didn't count on Ratchet and Megatron to be on board the Ark in stasis, though, nor did he expect the pair to awaken during the journey. While Megatron kept Shockwave and Starscream occupied, Ratchet forced the Ark to crash violently into the ground. Galvatron was the only one to emerge from the crash, and he appeared to be the only survivor.

=====Generation 2=====
After his resurrection, Megatron challenged Bludgeon for leadership of the Decepticons. After a fierce battle, Megatron emerged victorious.

=====Classics=====

====Generation 1 cartoon continuity====
=====Generation 1 cartoon=====
At first, the Decepticons were led by an [[Early Decepticon leader|old Decepticon]] who could not [[Transformation|transform]]. However, when he lost the [[Second Cybertronian War]] against the Autobots, he was replaced with Megatron, who led the Decepticons to conquer much of Cybertron. However, when Megatron and Optimus Prime disappeared, the war on Cybertron entered a stalemate. Shockwave had been appointed Guardian of Cybertron in Megatron's absence, and became de facto Decepticon leader. Once Megatron resumed contact with Cybertron, Shockwave resubmitted to his authority. {{storylink|More Than Meets the Eye, Part 1|MTMTE1}} {{storylink|Transport to Oblivion}}

Air Commander Starscream, long contemptuous of Megatron's leadership, made several attempts to supplant Megatron. They all ended with failure, usually due to his own impatience or the other Decepticons' loyalty to Megatron. However, Starscream eventually decided to get some help. He made plans with [[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]] and [[Astrotrain (G1)|Astrotrain]] to trap Megatron in a tunnel and freeze him. However, the [[Triple Changer]]s betrayed Starscream, leaving them both to freeze, and proceeded to wreak havoc. Megatron and Starscream were freed due to an accident on Astrotrain's part, and after defeating Astrotrain, Blitzwing, [[Devastator]], and Starscream, Megatron resumed leadership of the Decepticons. {{storylink|Triple Takeover}}

By 2005, the Decepticons had conquered Cybertron. However, the Autobots retained control of two moons and held a reserve force at [[Autobot City]]. Megatron launched an [[Battle of Autobot City|assault on Autobot City]], where he and Optimus Prime mortally wounded each other. During the trip back to Cybertron, Astrotrain required the Decepticons to jettison excess weight or he would be unable to make it back. The wounded Decepticons were thrown overboard to allow the survivors to return, with Starscream personally ejecting Megatron. After a mild scuffle aboard Astrotrain, Starscream emerged as the new Decepticon leader. However, Megatron was discovered by [[Unicron]], and [[reformatted]] into [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]]. With a new body and troops, Galvatron returned to Cybertron and killed Starscream with a single blast. Galvatron was hailed as the new leader of the Decepticons. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

After Unicron's attack on Cybertron and the disappearance of Galvatron, the Decepticons fled to [[Chaar]]. Without strong leaders like Galvatron, Starscream, or Shockwave, the Decepticons fell into a period of disunity, where they fought each other for scraps of [[Energon]]. Ultimately, [[Cyclonus (G1)|Cyclonus]] located Galvatron, who reorganized the Decepticons. {{storylink|Five Faces of Darkness}}

=====Robot Masters=====
After the disappearance of Megatron, the leadership of the Decepticons was helmed by Starscream. However, a [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] from another time challenged Starscream for leadership and won.

====Dreamwave====
At first, Megatron was the sole leader of the Decepticons, with his chief lieutenants being Air Commander Starscream, Military Operations Commander Shockwave, and Communications Officer Soundwave. {{storylink|The War Within}} After Megatron was believed to have been destroyed along with Optimus Prime in a space bridge explosion, Shockwave became Decepticon leader. However, Starscream and High Auditor Ratbat broke off from the Decepticon army, forming the [[Predacon (War Within)|Predacon]]s and [[Ultracon]]s, respectively. {{storylink|The War Within: The Dark Ages}} Megatron's return to Cybertron saw him resume command of the fragmented Decepticons. {{storylink|The War Within: The Age of Wrath}}

After Megatron, Starscream, and Soundwave disappeared chasing Optimus Prime's crew aboard the ''Ark'', Shockwave emerged as Decepticon leader, this time as part of a triumvirate that included Scorponok and Ratbat. He was briefly overthrown by [[Skystalker]], who used his head to issue commands to Shockwave's troops, but Skystalker was defeated and Shockwave resumed command. {{storylink|Micromasters (comic)|Micromasters}}. With the [[Great Shutdown]], all Transformers entered a period of enforced [[stasis lock]]. Shockwave was reactivated by Unicron's herald [[Scourge (G1)|Scourge]], but Shockwave defeated Scourge, studying him. Learning secrets about Cybertron that Megatron had previously discovered, Shockwave made peace with the Autobots, installing himself as Head of State with an [[Autobot High Council]] as a legislature. On Earth, Megatron retained command of the ''[[Nemesis (G1)|Nemesis]]'' crew, but he was defeated when Shockwave arrived, intent on gaining the Matrix from Optimus Prime. Starscream ejected Megatron from the ship transporting them back to Cybertron, then recruited the ''Nemesis'' crew and the [[Combaticon]]s to conquer Earth. When Optimus Prime was brought to Cybertron, he united the Autobot resistance groups and overthrew Shockwave. {{storylink|Prime Directive}} {{storylink|War and Peace}}

Meanwhile, Megatron was repaired by [[Wreck-Gar (G1)|Wreck-Gar]], and managed to locate a trio of [[Aerospace Extermination Squadron|Air Warrior]]s he used to recruit the [[Predacon (G1)|Predacon]]s. Heading for Cybertron, he took command of Shockwave's forces, forcing Shockwave into a subordinate state. On Earth, Starscream's failures against the Autobots and [[Sunstorm (G1)|Sunstorm]] made Soundwave, his cassettes, and the [[Seeker]]s all too willing to mutiny against Starscream in favor of Megatron. {{storylink|Generation One (Dreamwave comic)|Generation 1 ongoing}}

===Animated===
Styled '''Supreme Leader''', the title was held by [[Megatron (Animated)|Megatron]] for over four million solar cycles, since the days of the [[Great War]]. When Megatron was believed killed trying to secure the [[AllSpark (Animated)|AllSpark]], [[Starscream (Animated)|Starscream]] immediately nominated himself the new Supreme leader...no one took him seriously. {{storylink|Transform and Roll Out!}}

He finally ''did'' manage to get the Decepticons [[Lugnut]] and [[Blitzwing (Animated)|Blitzwing]] to swear allegiance to him in exchange for repairs. {{storylink|Lost and Found}} However, this was also short-lived, as Lugnut was really taking orders from the disembodied head of Megatron. {{storylink|Megatron Rising - Part 1}} After his restoration, the Decepticons repledged their loyalty to Megatron, who decided to reinforce it by seriously damaging Starscream. {{storylink|Megatron Rising - Part 2}}

===Shattered Glass===
Unlike previous incarnations, the leader of the Decepticons is a heroic resistance leader, intending to free Cybertron from the Autobots and save the galaxy from their evil ways. [[Megatron (Shattered Glass)|Megatron]] stands as their current leader, and it seems like [[Starscream (Timelines)|Starscream]] will be a [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|successor]] rather than a usurper.

(note: ''this is the only exception where Laserbeak doesn't perch on your shoulder'')

==Trivia==
*Unlike the Autobots, whose leader is called a Prime (Except it you are named [[Fortress Maximus]], [[God Ginrai]], [[Victory Saber]], and [[Dai Atlas]]), the Decepticon leader has no "official name".
*Being Decepticon leader means that [[Laserbeak (G1)|Laserbeak]] has to perch on your shoulder. Seriously.

==See also==
*[[Emperor of Destruction]]
*[[Lord High Protector]]

[[Category:Decepticon leaders| Decepticon leader]]
[[Category:Ranks]]<div id="wikia-credits"><br /><br /><small>From [http://transformers.wikia.com Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki], a [http://www.wikia.com Wikia] wiki.</small></div>

Decepticon leader

2008-05-31T21:16:05Z

142.59.180.119: /* Trivia */

Among the [[Decepticon]]s, there is one guiding principle: rule of the strong. Whereas the [[Prime (rank)|leader]] of the [[Autobot]]s consults his subordinates, the strongest and the most powerful Decepticon leads, and everyone else is expected to follow without question. But strength of body is not enough. One must also have the brains to lead, the intelligence to outwit their rivals and plan their victories. Thus, the '''Decepticon leader''' is the strongest and smartest of their ranks.

Guess how many Decepticons [[Megatron|think]] [[Starscream|they]] [[Shockwave (G1)|qualify]].

{{quote|Only a select few ever lead, Starscream.|[[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] on the nature of power|"[[More Than Meets the Eye, Part 1]]"}}

==Fiction==
===Generation 1===
====Marvel Comics continuity====
=====Marvel Comics=====
{{noteukonly}}
[[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] was at first the sole Decepticon leader. Under his leadership, much of [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]] was conquered. ''When Megatron disappeared, [[Trannis]] seized power, destroying [[Iacon]] and forcing the Autobots underground. After the [[Wreckers]] killed Trannis, [[Straxus]] took command of the Decepticons on Cybertron.''

When Megatron was defeated shortly after the Decepticons reactivated, Military Operations Commander [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] defeated the Autobots and usurped Megatron, reducing him to [[second-in-command]]. However, Megatron was soon defeated by the [[Dinobot (G1)|Dinobot]]s, allowing Shockwave to fully assume command. Megatron's subsequent return saw a joint leadership, while Megatron was able to use logic to convince Shockwave to give him full leadership. After seemingly killing [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], Megatron went mad and apparently killed himself, allowing Shockwave to assume full leadership again.

Meanwhile, after receiving a mayday from the Earth bound Decepticons, Straxus constructed a [[space bridge]] that linked Earth and Cybertron, only for Straxus to be killed when it was attacked by [[Perceptor (G1)|Perceptor]]'s resistance cell. Fuel Auditor [[Ratbat]] emerged as the most powerful Decepticon in [[Polyhex]], entering into an uneasy alliance with Shockwave. While this was going on, the Decepticon [[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]] took his unit to follow [[Fortress Maximus (G1)|Fortress Maximus]] to [[Nebulos]], where he underwent [[binary bonding]] with [[Zarak]]. Following Fortress Maximus to Earth, Scorponok also entered an uneasy alliance with Shockwave and Ratbat. With this many bytes of aggression, the stage was set for a coup.

Ultimately, it came about that [[Air Commander]] [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]] was the catalyst that launched a rebellion. When the Decepticons learned that the legendary [[Underbase]] was coming to Earth, Starscream caused the Decepticons to turn against each other. By the end of the conflict, Shockwave was presumed to have burned up on reentry into Earth's atmosphere, Ratbat was shot dead by Scorponok, and Starscream was killed when he tried to absorb the Underbase's power. Without any rivals, Scorponok easily settled into power as Earth's sole Decepticon leader.

''Meanwhile, on Cybertron, [[Thunderwing (G1)|Thunderwing]] petitioned the [[Decepticon High Council]] to be appointed leader of the Decepticon army. His bid was successful.'' Learning that the Autobots were searching for the [[Matrix of Leadership|Creation Matrix]], Thunderwing managed to gain the Matrix and corrupted it. Thunderwing was ultimately killed, and the Matrix believed destroyed. With [[Unicron]] fast approaching Cybertron, Optimus Prime made the decision to surrender to Scorponok, in return for allying with the Autobots against Unicron. Scorponok planned to betray Prime, but Zarak later agreed to the alliance. However, Scorponok's troops were growing disgruntled, especially by his recruitment of Starscream, who had decimated them months earlier then was resurrected by Megatron, who had survived his space bridge suicide (only to be fused together with Autobot Chief Medical Officer [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]]). Taking advantage of this, Shockwave, who had survived his burn-up, managed to get several disgruntled Decepticons to ally with him and attack Scorponok's group. Ultimately, they were all transported to Cybertron by [[Primus]], who named Optimus Prime as the commander of Cybertron's united army.

During the battle with Unicron, Optimus Prime and Scorponok were both killed. As Shockwave and Starscream fled the dying Cybertron, [[Bludgeon (G1)|Bludgeon]] was acclaimed Decepticon leader by the surviving Decepticons. He led the Decepticons in the conquest of [[Klo]], then massacred the Autobots who arrived to stop them. However, Optimus Prime had been revived by the [[Last Autobot]], whom Bludgeon had worshipped as the Ultimate Warrior. The Last Autobot revived the fallen Autobots, and Bludgeon agreed to lead the Decepticons into exile...planning to bide their time.

Shockwave, meanwhile, had hijacked the Ark alongside Starscream with the intention of using it to conquer Earth. He didn't count on [[Galvatron II|an alternate timeline Galvatron]] to have attempted the same thing. He also didn't count on Ratchet and Megatron to be on board the Ark in stasis, though, nor did he expect the pair to awaken during the journey. While Megatron kept Shockwave and Starscream occupied, Ratchet forced the Ark to crash violently into the ground. Galvatron was the only one to emerge from the crash, and he appeared to be the only survivor.

=====Generation 2=====
After his resurrection, Megatron challenged Bludgeon for leadership of the Decepticons. After a fierce battle, Megatron emerged victorious.

=====Classics=====

====Generation 1 cartoon continuity====
=====Generation 1 cartoon=====
At first, the Decepticons were led by an [[Early Decepticon leader|old Decepticon]] who could not [[Transformation|transform]]. However, when he lost the [[Second Cybertronian War]] against the Autobots, he was replaced with Megatron, who led the Decepticons to conquer much of Cybertron. However, when Megatron and Optimus Prime disappeared, the war on Cybertron entered a stalemate. Shockwave had been appointed Guardian of Cybertron in Megatron's absence, and became de facto Decepticon leader. Once Megatron resumed contact with Cybertron, Shockwave resubmitted to his authority. {{storylink|More Than Meets the Eye, Part 1|MTMTE1}} {{storylink|Transport to Oblivion}}

Air Commander Starscream, long contemptuous of Megatron's leadership, made several attempts to supplant Megatron. They all ended with failure, usually due to his own impatience or the other Decepticons' loyalty to Megatron. However, Starscream eventually decided to get some help. He made plans with [[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]] and [[Astrotrain (G1)|Astrotrain]] to trap Megatron in a tunnel and freeze him. However, the [[Triple Changer]]s betrayed Starscream, leaving them both to freeze, and proceeded to wreak havoc. Megatron and Starscream were freed due to an accident on Astrotrain's part, and after defeating Astrotrain, Blitzwing, [[Devastator]], and Starscream, Megatron resumed leadership of the Decepticons. {{storylink|Triple Takeover}}

By 2005, the Decepticons had conquered Cybertron. However, the Autobots retained control of two moons and held a reserve force at [[Autobot City]]. Megatron launched an [[Battle of Autobot City|assault on Autobot City]], where he and Optimus Prime mortally wounded each other. During the trip back to Cybertron, Astrotrain required the Decepticons to jettison excess weight or he would be unable to make it back. The wounded Decepticons were thrown overboard to allow the survivors to return, with Starscream personally ejecting Megatron. After a mild scuffle aboard Astrotrain, Starscream emerged as the new Decepticon leader. However, Megatron was discovered by [[Unicron]], and [[reformatted]] into [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]]. With a new body and troops, Galvatron returned to Cybertron and killed Starscream with a single blast. Galvatron was hailed as the new leader of the Decepticons. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

After Unicron's attack on Cybertron and the disappearance of Galvatron, the Decepticons fled to [[Chaar]]. Without strong leaders like Galvatron, Starscream, or Shockwave, the Decepticons fell into a period of disunity, where they fought each other for scraps of [[Energon]]. Ultimately, [[Cyclonus (G1)|Cyclonus]] located Galvatron, who reorganized the Decepticons. {{storylink|Five Faces of Darkness}}

=====Robot Masters=====
After the disappearance of Megatron, the leadership of the Decepticons was helmed by Starscream. However, a [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] from another time challenged Starscream for leadership and won.

====Dreamwave====
At first, Megatron was the sole leader of the Decepticons, with his chief lieutenants being Air Commander Starscream, Military Operations Commander Shockwave, and Communications Officer Soundwave. {{storylink|The War Within}} After Megatron was believed to have been destroyed along with Optimus Prime in a space bridge explosion, Shockwave became Decepticon leader. However, Starscream and High Auditor Ratbat broke off from the Decepticon army, forming the [[Predacon (War Within)|Predacon]]s and [[Ultracon]]s, respectively. {{storylink|The War Within: The Dark Ages}} Megatron's return to Cybertron saw him resume command of the fragmented Decepticons. {{storylink|The War Within: The Age of Wrath}}

After Megatron, Starscream, and Soundwave disappeared chasing Optimus Prime's crew aboard the ''Ark'', Shockwave emerged as Decepticon leader, this time as part of a triumvirate that included Scorponok and Ratbat. He was briefly overthrown by [[Skystalker]], who used his head to issue commands to Shockwave's troops, but Skystalker was defeated and Shockwave resumed command. {{storylink|Micromasters (comic)|Micromasters}}. With the [[Great Shutdown]], all Transformers entered a period of enforced [[stasis lock]]. Shockwave was reactivated by Unicron's herald [[Scourge (G1)|Scourge]], but Shockwave defeated Scourge, studying him. Learning secrets about Cybertron that Megatron had previously discovered, Shockwave made peace with the Autobots, installing himself as Head of State with an [[Autobot High Council]] as a legislature. On Earth, Megatron retained command of the ''[[Nemesis (G1)|Nemesis]]'' crew, but he was defeated when Shockwave arrived, intent on gaining the Matrix from Optimus Prime. Starscream ejected Megatron from the ship transporting them back to Cybertron, then recruited the ''Nemesis'' crew and the [[Combaticon]]s to conquer Earth. When Optimus Prime was brought to Cybertron, he united the Autobot resistance groups and overthrew Shockwave. {{storylink|Prime Directive}} {{storylink|War and Peace}}

Meanwhile, Megatron was repaired by [[Wreck-Gar (G1)|Wreck-Gar]], and managed to locate a trio of [[Aerospace Extermination Squadron|Air Warrior]]s he used to recruit the [[Predacon (G1)|Predacon]]s. Heading for Cybertron, he took command of Shockwave's forces, forcing Shockwave into a subordinate state. On Earth, Starscream's failures against the Autobots and [[Sunstorm (G1)|Sunstorm]] made Soundwave, his cassettes, and the [[Seeker]]s all too willing to mutiny against Starscream in favor of Megatron. {{storylink|Generation One (Dreamwave comic)|Generation 1 ongoing}}

===Animated===
Styled '''Supreme Leader''', the title was held by [[Megatron (Animated)|Megatron]] for over four million solar cycles, since the days of the [[Great War]]. When Megatron was believed killed trying to secure the [[AllSpark (Animated)|AllSpark]], [[Starscream (Animated)|Starscream]] immediately nominated himself the new Supreme leader...no one took him seriously. {{storylink|Transform and Roll Out!}}

He finally ''did'' manage to get the Decepticons [[Lugnut]] and [[Blitzwing (Animated)|Blitzwing]] to swear allegiance to him in exchange for repairs. {{storylink|Lost and Found}} However, this was also short-lived, as Lugnut was really taking orders from the disembodied head of Megatron. {{storylink|Megatron Rising - Part 1}} After his restoration, the Decepticons repledged their loyalty to Megatron, who decided to reinforce it by seriously damaging Starscream. {{storylink|Megatron Rising - Part 2}}

===Shattered Glass===
Unlike previous incarnations, the leader of the Decepticons is a heroic resistance leader, intending to free Cybertron from the Autobots and save the galaxy from their evil ways. [[Megatron (Shattered Glass)|Megatron]] stands as their current leader, and it seems like [[Starscream (Timelines)|Starscream]] will be a [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|successor]] rather than a usurper.

(note: ''this is the only exception where Laserbeak doesn't perch on your shoulder'')

==Trivia==
*Unlike the Autobots, whose leader is called a Prime (Except it you are named Fortress Maximus, God Ginrai, Victory Saber, and Dai Atlas), the Decepticon leader has no official name or rank.
*Being Decepticon leader means that [[Laserbeak (G1)|Laserbeak]] has to perch on your shoulder. Seriously.

==See also==
*[[Emperor of Destruction]]
*[[Lord High Protector]]

[[Category:Decepticon leaders| Decepticon leader]]
[[Category:Ranks]]<div id="wikia-credits"><br /><br /><small>From [http://transformers.wikia.com Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki], a [http://www.wikia.com Wikia] wiki.</small></div>