MediaWiki - User contributions [en]

Kerokero Ace

2010-09-26T11:26:24Z

24.24.174.56:

[[Image:Kerokero ace cover.jpg|right|250px|thumb|[http://keroro.wikia.com/wiki/Kururu KU KU KU!]]]

'''Kerokero Ace''' (ケロケロエース) is a Japanese ''shōnen'' ("young boy") monthly [[manga]] magazine released about every 26th in Japan by [[Kadokawa|Kadokawa Shoten]], the first issue published in [[October 26]], [[2007]]. The magazine is known for focusing on the ''Sgt. Frog'' series, as well other titles promoted by [[Bandai]], such as the Gundam series. Alternative names for the magazine include "'''Kerokero'''" and "'''KeroA'''".

==Transformers-related titles==
*''[[The Cool|Transformers Animated: The Cool]]'' by [[Naoto Tsushima]] (May, [[2010]] - )

==External links==
*[[Wikipedia:Kerokero Ace|Kerokero Ace]] at Wikipedia
*[[wikipedia:ja:%E3%82%B1%E3%83%AD%E3%82%B1%E3%83%AD%E3%82%A8%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B9|Kerokero Ace]] at Japanese Wikipedia
*[http://www.kadokawa.co.jp/mag/kerokero/ Kerokero Ace's section at Kadokawa]

[[Category:Magazines]]

User talk:71.171.158.80

2010-08-26T10:01:25Z

24.24.174.56: New page: {{preview}}

Starscream (Animated)

2010-08-05T08:53:48Z

24.24.174.56: /* The Cool comic */

{{factions|decepticon}}
{{disambig3|Starscream}}
:''Starscream is a [[Decepticon]] from the [[Transformers Animated (franchise)|Transformers Animated]] [[continuity family]].''

[[Image:Starscreamanimated.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Special skills: <s>barefist fighting</s> backstabbing, aggressive negotiation, dramatic oratory, self-resurrection, clone production, [[chin]]-stroking.]]
'''Starscream''' is easily as accomplished, powerful and deserving of leadership as [[Megatron (Animated)|Megatron]]. At least, that's what he thinks. Power-hungry and driven by jealousy, Starscream operates through three ideals: lying, manipulation and deception. And when all else fails, a bit of sabotage never goes astray. Wise bots are careful about turning their backs on Starscream, just in case it's the day he finally decides to shove in the knife.

Though not as powerful as Megatron (despite what he thinks of himself), Starscream is by no means a wimp. His weapons can demolish large buildings, and he can fly around so fast that he can break free of [[Ratchet (Animated)|Ratchet's]] magnetic powers. Unfortunately, all these abilities are offset by an enormous ego and the tendency to make long, overbearing speeches when he should just get on with it and fight. More than once, his leanings towards bombast have caused him to miss a golden opportunity. Sadly, he doesn't seem to be learning from these mistakes.

{{bigquote|Fools! I am Starscream!...Hold your applause! Kneel and worship the TRUE leader of the Decepticons!...assuming I can ever dispose of that accursed Megatron.|Starscream|"[[Transformers Animated: The AllSpark Almanac]]"}}

==Fiction==
===''Animated'' cartoon===
{{Idw-tfa}}
:''Voice actor:'' [[Tom Kenny]] (English), [[Jin Yamanoi]] (Japan), [[Stefan Staudinger]] (German), [[Krzysztof Korzeniowski]] (Polish) [[Daniele Demma]] (Italian)

Starscream was aboard the ''[[Nemesis (Animated)|Nemesis]]'' when it came across an [[Teletran-1|Autobot repair ship]] that appeared to be emitting the energy signature of the fabled [[AllSpark (Animated)|AllSpark]]. Starscream's doubt of the AllSpark's very existence and his dismissal of Megatron's millennia-long search did not sit well with [[Lugnut (Animated)|Lugnut]], and an argument broke out on the bridge until Megatron himself arrived and all fell silent. Starscream was forced to eat his words when [[Blackarachnia (Animated)|Blackarachnia]] confirmed that the energy coming off the ship was indeed that of the AllSpark, but quickly volunteered to secure it for his leader. Seeing through his lieutenant's greed, Megatron put a dent in Starscream's wing and rose to obtain it for himself. As he was leaving, however, Starscream arrived at the airlock to wish Megatron luck and patted him on the back—planting an overload device on him in the process. As Megatron attacked the Autobot ship, the device overloaded his circuits and caused an explosion that led Starscream to believe that Megatron was no more. In the aftermath of the blast, Starscream got so caught up in his own greatness that he didn't notice that his comrades had left him on the ship, hurtling towards an exploding space bridge.

[[Image:MegsRisingPt1-StarTeeth.jpg|left|150px|thumb|He gained strength and speed and shiny teeth and as the Huntsman was reboo-oorn!]]
Surviving the explosion, Starscream spent the next fifty [[Units of time|solar cycles]] searching for the [[AllSpark (Animated)|AllSpark]] on his own, using the damaged ship as a base (and probably getting a few screws loose in his [[central processor]] in the meantime). Detecting the faint signal of the AllSpark on [[Earth]], Starscream tapped into television broadcasts from the planet and discovered that the Autobot ship had landed there. ''While heading for the planet, Starscream was approached by Blackarachnia, who was also seeking the AllSpark for her own purposes and proposed an alliance. Starscream was unsurprisingly unwilling to share power, and he booted Blackarachnia out into space just before the ship warped away. Starscream was so occupied by the task, however, that he failed to notice Earth's [[Moon (moon)|moon]] appearing in the ship's path.'' {{storylink|Dispatches}}

One crash-landing later, Starscream abandoned the ruined hulk of the ship and headed down to Earth, immediately drawing the attention of military jets. After a brief dogfight, Starscream scanned one of the jets as an alternate mode in order to continuing searching incognito. The search did not go on long, as Starscream found the Autobots watching a [[Crimson Angels]] air show, and he quickly joined in the proceedings. Upon revealing himself to the Autobots, he quickly thrashed each of them individually. Starscream mocked them, apparently assuming that the Autobots thought ''they'' had really defeated Megatron (whom he referred to as "the great Megatron" without sarcasm, so he seems to have at least a loathing respect for his leader's power). All too boastful of his cunning, Starscream boldly admitted that Megatron was already defeated by the bomb which Starscream himself had put on him. Despite being more powerful than the Autobots, Starscream failed to take the AllSpark, partially because he [[Megatron (BW)|spent too much time gloating]]. [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus Prime]] grabbed Starscream in midair, and they opened the AllSpark, releasing a massive wave of energy. Optimus was killed by the energy surge and subsequent fall (he got better), while Starscream disappeared. {{storylink|Transform and Roll Out}}

[[Image:StarscreamProfessorArrivalIssue2.jpg|thumb|Oh, so ''that's'' what happened to Whatisname...]]
''Starscream was hurled into the wilderness by the AllSpark energy surge, where he lay, unconscious and undisturbed, for an unspecified period of time. Eventually, Starscream came back online, only to discover that his body had succumbed to [[stasis lock]], leaving him immobile. As "luck" would have it, it was at this moment that he was happened upon by the villainous [[Professor Princess]], whom Starscream attempted to sweet-talk into triggering his manual reset. She was insistent upon "fixing up" Starscream first, plastering him with makeup and a wig, but when the horrified Starscream screamed at her, she just decided to blast him. Her rainbow-blast jumpstarted Starscream's systems, and he seized the Professor, but before he could reduce her to a pink stain, she threatened to broadcast an image of the prettified Starscream all over the world and perhaps the galaxy. Preferring ''not'' to be hideously embarrassed, Starscream let her live and quickly departed, unaware that she'd worked her fashion magic on his wings, too.'' {{storylink|Whatever Happened To Whatisname?}}

[[Image:Megatron rising 1 Starscream freakout.jpg|left|150px|thumb|"Do you have any idea how long I spent preparing that speech!?"]]
Starscream laid low on Earth, until he revealed himself to a badly damaged [[Blitzwing (Animated)|Blitzwing]] and Lugnut, offering them help in exchange for their loyalty. {{storylink|Lost and Found (episode)|Lost and Found}} After repairing the duo, Starscream continually had to reassert his authority over the two walking malfunctions, who were quick to point out that their service was by threat, not choice. As Lugnut went prostrate with praise, Starscream was initially quite flattered by the hulking Decepticon's obsequity, but quickly learned that the big guy was being manipulated by an outside source. Tracking the transmission, he came to [[Sumdac Tower]] and was quite surprised to find the disembodied head of his former leader. Megatron, aware of Starscream's betrayal after seeing a news report on his earlier battle with the Autobots {{storylink|Home Is Where the Spark Is}} but not wanting to tip his hand, greeted Starscream as a "devoted and faithful subject", while Starscream adopted a subservient attitude himself. Beginning the smug monologue to end all smug monologues, he was interrupted by the senseless heroics of the Autobot [[Bumblebee (Animated)|Bumblebee]]. Focusing his attentions on the yellow little squirt, he mistakenly assumed that Megatron was helpless, an oversight that allowed the galactic despot to control the lab's machinery and defenestrate the traitor. Even so Starscream remained fixated on Bumblebee, and thus was caught unaware when the repaired form of Megatron burst from the tower roof. {{storylink|Megatron Rising - Part 1}}

[[Image:PayThePiper.JPG|150px|thumb|Ghost in three...two...one...]]
Starscream watched with interest, tossing Bumblebee around absentmindedly as Megatron trashed the Autobots. When Megatron called out his loyal Decepticons, Starscream gracefully landed on Lugnut's head, ready to return to his position as second-in-command. Megatron prepared to fire on the Autobots, but quickly lashed out and rammed the [[AllSpark Key]] into Starscream's chest, seemingly offlining the traitor, who then crumpled to the ground. {{storylink|Megatron Rising - Part 2}}

[[Image:Jagged.JPG|left|150px|thumb|All tied up and ready for ''Kiss Players''.]]
Sometime later, Starscream awoke on a garbage barge, evidently thrown in by an Autobot cleaning up Detroit. He found he couldn't detect any Decepticons, not even himself. Panicking, he wondered if he was dead, but recovered when he realized he was still on Earth. Furious, he managed to track down Lugnut and Blitzwing and to follow them to the Decepticon base. There he challenged Megatron and was soundly sliced, blasted and thrown off a cliff. However, he again revived, except now he had no [[spark]]! Starscream discovered he was being kept alive by an AllSpark fragment embedded in his head. Using this newfound immortality to his advantage, he again attacked Megatron... and again and again and again, each time taking a trouncing and having his corpse thrown off a cliff by Blitzwing and Lugnut. Discovering another fragment, he set up a trap that would draw Megatron out and blow up both him and the city. He embedded the shard in a train engine, and as the overloading machine drew out Megatron, Blitzwing, the [[Cybertron Elite Guard|Elite Guard]] AND the Earth team, the plan seemed to be working. Unfortunately, the Autobots stopped the train, and Megatron knocked Starscream out of the sky, sending him crashing into the midst of the Autobots. He blasted [[Ultra Magnus (Animated)|Ultra Magnus]] and took back his fragment, but was put into stasis lock when Optimus slipped [[Stasis cuffs|some cuffs]] on him. He was last seen bound, gagged and being taken onto the [[Steelhaven (Animated)|Elite Guard vessel]]. {{storylink|Mission Accomplished}}

While in transit on said vessel, Starscream somehow blasted his way out, once again vowing revenge against Megatron. Magnus sent word to Optimus Prime, warning him that Starscream was most likely on his way back to Earth. Megatron, eavesdropping on the conversation, offered a substantial reward for bringing Starscream to him.

To this end, [[Prowl (Animated)|Prowl]] ran off by himself to the resting place of the ''Nemesis'' on the Moon, where he ran right into Starscream. Despite getting in behind Prowl, Starscream was rather easily disabled and put in stasis cuffs. While [[Lockdown (Animated)|Lockdown]] and Prowl battled, Starscream somehow managed to escape.

Lockdown and Prowl agreed to team up, and they tracked down an apparently very scared Starscream, who was captured easily. While Lockdown brought him to Megatron, another Starscream turned up. This Starscream tried to deal with the Autobots, suggesting they team up to deal with their common enemy, Megatron. Prowl disabled him with ease, despite making a total mess.

[[Image:Lotta starscreams.jpg|thumb|Megs is gonna have a field day.]]
Shortly after Lockdown delivered "Starscream" into the hands of Megatron, the Autobots showed with the other Starscream. Confusion ensued, and suddenly both Starscreams exposed internal bombs, and a recording of the real Starscream revealed that his entire plan was to allow the [[Starscream clone (Animated)|clones of himself]] to be captured and take out all his enemies in one fell swoop. In his infinite wisdom, however, he apparently programmed the bombs to explode long after everyone had realized what had happened. Prowl sent the clones into the sky, where they exploded without destroying the city.

Afterwards, Megatron increased the bounty on Starscream, this time stipulating that it had to be the ''real'' one. Watching, Starscream cursed Megatron (again) and dismissed his failure, noting he had plenty more clones—an army of them. {{storylink|A Fistful of Energon}}

[[Image:Starscream with Shescream.jpg|thumb|left|Technically, she is my sister, and therefore unable to take me as her lover. After much soul searching, I have reluctantly decided, "What the hell", I just won't tell her.]]
His time alone allowed him to produce five clones of himself, which he empowered with small slivers of the AllSpark fragment in his head, giving them life. He quickly learned that each of the Starscreams was a different aspect of his personality: [[Skywarp (Animated)|cowardice]], [[Thundercracker (Animated)|ego]], [[Sunstorm (Animated)|sycophancy]], [[Ramjet (Animated)|deception]], and...[[Slipstream (Animated)|something else]]. He asked the female version of him where she came from, and she said not to ask. Once introductions were done, he ordered them on their merry way to Megatron's base. {{storylink|A Bridge Too Close, Part I}}

[[Image:TFA ABTC1 Screamer Clones Emerge.jpg|thumb|There can be only one!]]
Upon reaching the base, the clone army attacked, leading to a free-for-all against Megatron's forces and the Autobots who'd assembled to stop the Decepticon leader's plan. During the fight, Starscream became fed up with his female clone telling him how to handle Megatron, as he'd been working on killing him long before she existed. She was unimpressed with his results to date. Eventually, his team overwhelmed Megatron, allowing two of the clones to subdue him while Starscream prepared to deal the killing blow. Starscream relished the moment, wryly assuring Megatron that he'd tell everyone that he died fighting valiantly—after naming Starscream as his successor. Abruptly, Starscream got head-jacked by [[Isaac Sumdac]] in a [[Headmaster (Animated)|Headmaster]] unit.

Starscream's inert body fell on top of his head, which put him out of action. Panicking, he told his clones to attack, but was outraged when they all sided with Megatron instead. Starscream's head was then glued to one of the walls by [[Mixmaster (Animated)|Mixmaster]]'s concrete. When he tried to mock Megatron's plan for the conquest of Cybertron, he had his mouth closed by more concrete. Poor Screamer.

[[Image:TFA ABTC2 Megatron Screamer End.jpg|150px|left|thumb|So...Megatron..how've you been]]
When Megatron's newly activated [[Space bridge]] ran out of power to maintain the portal to Cybertron, Megatron replaced the AllSpark fragment with Starscream's head, which overloaded the power systems. This caused the portal to expand and attempt to suck everything around it into itself. This included Starscream's head and Megatron, the latter of whom was disabled by Autobot stasis cuffs, which prevented him from resisting the space bridge's pull. The overload also caused the space bridge receiving coordinates to be deleted, dumping the pair into empty space. Without a body to manoeuvre, Starscream was forced to look at Megatron, while Megatron, still disabled by the stasis cuffs, suffered a similar problem. A long night of bickering commenced. {{storylink|A Bridge Too Close, Part II}}

[[Image:TransWarpedStarscreamsScream.jpg|thumb|200px|How... literal. And disturbingly yonic.]]
Somehow, Starscream managed to manoeuvre his head to begin trying to free Megatron from his stasis cuffs, either by gnawing on them or by picking them with a fragment of asteroid in his mouth. Megatron berated Starscream for his incompetence, whereupon the indignant Decepticon pointed out that this would be much easier if Megatron had reattached his head to his body back on Earth, and that they wouldn't even be here if Megatron hadn't overloaded the Space Bridge. Fuelled with anger, Starscream screamed that this was all Megatron's fault, during which the fragment in his head lit up... and Starscream's face suddenly unfolded into a sonic blaster that smashed Megatron's cuffs.

This was evidently not something from Starscream's original design plans, as he could be heard asking where that had come from once it had fired. Megatron didn't care, though; all that mattered was that he was free now. Starscream was petrified when Omega Supreme chose that moment to float into view, trying to denounce Megatron in order to save his own hide. Fortunately for them both, Omega Supreme was currently offline, giving Megatron an idea. Though Starscream nearly gave the plan away when he was brought inside the awoken giant, Megatron succeeded in installing Starscream's head into the computer to be used as a combination of power source and control mechanism.

[[Image:TransWarpedDigitalStarscream.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Take me to ATARI!]]
Megatron used Omega Supreme to attack the Autobots on Earth, and during the battle, [[Prowl (Animated)|Prowl]] infiltrated Omega, accessed his internal processor, and helped him fight off Megatron's control... only for Starscream to take over instead. He continued fighting the Autobots until Megatron suggested that they just go conquer Cybertron instead. Starscream agreed that it was a good idea, but failed to make Omega transwarp as the giant's old friend [[Ratchet (Animated)|Ratchet]] swayed his control. Eventually overpowering Omega's mind, Starscream tried flying into space, only for Optimus Prime to plant a [[plasmadynamic thruster]] on his new body, causing it to start warping around randomly in outer space. {{storylink|TransWarped}}

At some point during Starscream and Megatron's warping adventures, Starscream stopped controlling Omega Supreme's body, again reduced to a sarcastic head. After one of the warp jumps, Lugnut suddenly smacked into their windshield and joined their merry group. {{storylink|Decepticon Air}} Removing the plasmadynamic thruster, they traveled into Cybertron airspace, even though Omega Supreme was offline and drained of energy. Starscream advocated that they abandon the hulk before the Autobots picked them off in their helpless state, but Megatron disagreed. After the Decepticon agent [[Shockwave (Animated)|Shockwave]] obtained Omega's activation codes, they picked him up and transwarped back to Earth's moon, where Starscream noted Lugnut's anger at Megatron complimenting Shockwave. {{storylink|This Is Why I Hate Machines}}

[[Image:TFA-Endgame-MegatronFieldDay.jpg|thumb|Megs has his field day.]]
Goading Lugnut into fighting Shockwave, Starscream used the distraction to roll himself back to his old headquarters, the wrecked ''Nemesis'', where he used a [[protoform]] and one of his many clone bodies to get himself back to 100%. Megatron subsequently destroyed the rest of the lifeless clone bodies, before explaining to Starscream his ultimate plan—creating Decepticon clones of Omega Supreme. When the time came for these clones to imprint upon a leader, Starscream went for a power grab yet again, knocking Megatron down and taking his place. However, he was in turn tackled by the eternally loyal Lugnut, who ended up becoming the template of the three "[[Lugnut Supreme]]s". As Megatron explained that this had been his plan all along, Starscream retorted that the giants would just be lifeless shells without his AllSpark fragment.

[[Image:TFA-Endgame-StarscreamBits.jpg|thumb|left|"It’s incredible! I can feel, I can touch, I’m alive! I can fondle, I can fiddle! Phwooar! I am ali—"]]
Unfortunately for him, Megatron had found three other fragments in Omega Supreme's spark chamber, and so and deemed Starscream useless before blasting his lower body to smithereens with a fusion cannon shot and leaving him on the surface of the Moon. {{storylink|Endgame, Part I}}

But this did not destroy the tenacious traitor, and he painstakingly reattached himself to a reassembled lower torso before transforming and flying to Earth. There, he was distracted from his goal of taking revenge on Megatron by a sudden severe pain in his head, which pulled him to Sumdac Towers, where he found Jazz and Prowl using their Processor-Over-Matter skills to reassemble AllSpark fragments. Realising what a threat this posed to him, he opened fire on them in an effort to distract them, but failed. His fragment was torn from his head, and Starscream, his sparkless body no longer fueled by the AllSpark, fell from the air, finally dead.

[[Image:TFAni EndgamePart2 Screamer Offlined.jpg|thumb|The ''seventh'' time's the charm.]]
He did leave behind a nasty post-mortem surprise, however: Upon the disconnection of Lugnut from the [[Lugnut Supreme]]s, a hidden program kicked in, a message from Starscream revealing that each of the Omega clones had been secretly outfitted with a nasty set of concealed explosives, now primed and ready to detonate. Unfortunately for Starscream, his revenge would not come to be. Not only did Omega Supreme destroy one clone while deactivating its explosive, the other was encased in an AllSpark-powered force field and failed to destroy anything...not even Megatron, who took the full force of the blast (albeit he was heavily damaged). {{storylink|Endgame, Part II}}
{{--}}

===Titan Magazines===
[[Image:Starscreamanimated_DinoMIGHT.jpg|right|150px|thumb|"''They're not singing<br>they're not singing<br>they're not singing any morrrre!''"]]

Megatron kept uncovering Starscream's hide-outs, so Starscream took [[Starscream clone (Animated)|his clone army]] and seized control of the Autobots' own base, reasoning the Decepticons would never look for him ''there''. His plan was undone by the [[Dinobot (Animated)|Dinobots]]. {{storylink|Dino-MIGHT!}}

He later acted as the backer for the supervillain [[Crossroads]], giving him a sliver of Megatron (no, it ''wasn't'' explained how he got it) that completed the man's robot-controlling gauntlets. Starscream didn't care that Crossroads was going to hurt robots, as long as he made sure to turn the city against the Autobots. Boo, hiss! {{storylink|Crossroads!}}

Later still, he appeared out of nowhere to hack into the [[Wraith-X]] stealth bomber and send it off to bomb Detroit to bits, seemingly just for shits and giggles. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 23|Divebomb}} It turned out he'd been let back into the Decepticons for... some reason, joining their massed attack on the Autobot base. Of course, he used that as a way to ensure Megatron had an "accident", and then "saved him"; as a result, Megatron become stupid and believed he could be trusted with temporary command of the Decepticons... {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 24|Megatron's Revenge}}

===Animated shorts===
Starscream mocked Megatron during a speech by the latter. {{storylink|Starscream Heckles Megatron}}
{{--}}

===''The Cool'' comic===
Leading [[Blackarachnia (Animated)|Blackarachnia]] and [[Lockdown (Animated)|Lockdown]], Starscream lead the Decepticons in an attack on [[Detroit]] against the Autobots. Clashing directly with [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus Prime]], Starscream's ultimate goal was to seize the [[AllSpark (Animated)|AllSpark]]. {{storylink|The Cool issue 1|The Cool #1}}

[[Image:TheCoolStarscreamDeath01.jpg|200px|thumb|left|So was this supposed to be ''funny'' or ''horrifying''?]]

Starscream ultimately succeeded, snatching the AllSpark out of [[Bulkhead (Animated)|Bulkhead]]'s hands. He announced to the stunned Autobots that he had destroyed [[Megatron (Animated)|Megatron]] with his own hands and would now use the power of the AllSpark to cull the weak from the universe. Optimus Prime had other ideas, however, and falling down from the sky in vehicle mode, transformed to robot mode and grabbed one side of the AllSpark. Refusing to let Starscream use its power for evil, Prime opened the AllSpark, unleashing all its energy. Starscream took the energy square to the face, apparently getting vaporized. {{storylink|Intense AllSpark Competition!}}

Starscream survived the blast and was present fighting [[Bumblebee (Animated)|Bumblebee]] at [[Sumdac Systems]] headquarters when Megatron was reborn. Annoyed, Starscream declared he'd make the most of it and attempted to brown-nose up to his old boss. Megatron was aware of his previous attempt to assasinate him, however, and promptly tore a hole through his torso, killing him. {{storylink|The Cool issue 5|The Cool #5}}
{{-}}

==Toys==
===Animated===
[[Image:TFAnimated Voyager Starscream toy.jpg|right|300px|thumb|What? Decepticon sigil not upside down? HERESY! HERESYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!]]
*'''Starscream''' (Voyager, 2008)
**''Japanese ID number:'' '''TA-07'''
**''Accessories:'' 2 missiles

: Starscream transforms into a futuristic, forward-swept wing jet fighter based upon the [http://www.airforce-technology.com/projects/s37/ Su-47 (S-37) Berkut Experimental Fighter] and the [http://www.mahq.net/MECHA/macross/plus/yf-19.htm YF-19 "Alpha One"] from the series ''[[wikipedia:Macross_Plus|Macross Plus]]''.

: His twin "sonic shock blaster" spring-loaded missile launchers can slide forward, opening panels on his forearms (referred to as blasters on the packaging). Landing gear in his vehicle mode flip down from his undercarriage, and his blasters flip forward or back for a "hidden" attack. He also features two [[automorph]] gimmicks. When his nose cone is pushed in, his undercarriage folds into his hips. Folding his shoulders down also pushes up his head. Though not really an "automorph", with the arms and legs out of the way, his spring loaded wings fold down by themselves. His arms are also ''just'' poseable enough to stroke that enormous chin.

:His missiles have tiny shark faces molded into them.

:The [[TakaraTomy]] release of the figure uses a bright shade of blue for both wings and canopy.

:As with [[Seeker (body-type)|past incarnations]], Starscream was [[Redeco|redecoed]] as [[Skywarp (Animated)|''Animated'' Skywarp]], [[Sunstorm (Animated)|''Animated'' Sunstorm]], and [[Thundercracker (Animated)|''Animated'' Thundercracker]].

::*''[http://www.tfu.info/2008/Decepticon/Starscream/starscream.htm More information on Voyager Starscream at TFU.info]''

{{-}}{{anchor|activator}}
[[Image:Activatorsstarscream.jpg|right|250px|thumb|I shall call him Screamer and he shall be mine and he shall be my Screamer. Come here, Screamer!]]
*'''Starscream''' (Activators, 2008)

: A smaller, simpler version of Starscream, the Activators Starscream toy has a spring-loaded autotransform gimmick that springs him from Harrier jet mode to robot mode in one easy step, although robot to Harrier jet mode is still that good old manual click-it-up yourself transformation, giving you the best of both worlds.

: Activators Starscream greatly resembles Voyager Starscream, especially when compared to several other Activators and their respective larger toys, with the only discernible difference between Activators and Voyager Starscream is that Activator Starscream's wings sit lower on his back. Most notably, this toy possesses more show-accurate weapons than its Voyager counterpart, due to the lack of a launching mechanism.

: This mold was also used to make ''Animated'' [[Thundercracker (Animated)|Thundercracker]] and [[Dirge (Animated)|Dirge]].

::*''[http://www.tfu.info/2008/Decepticon/ActStarscream/starscream.htm More information on Activators Starscream at TFU.info]''

{{-}}{{anchor|McDonald's}}
*'''Starscream''' (McDonald's Happy Meal Toy, 2008)

:A simple version of Starscream with a very simple transformation sequence. A tad unique among the McDonald's ''Animated'' toys, he has given up a toy accurate vehicle mode for a toy accurate robot mode. You transform him by splitting the front of the jet to form the legs, snapping up the feet, lowering the rear wings and rotating his head. His robot mode, save for the fact the wings are pointing the wrong direction and that he is missing his guns, is decently [[Show-accuracy|show-accurate]], but his vehicle mode totally sucks. Plain and simple.

::*''[http://www.tfu.info/2008/Decepticon/McStarscream/starscream.htm More information on McDonald's Starscream at TFU.info]''

{{-}}{{anchor|RescueRatchet}}
[[Image:Legends animated starscream purpledeco.jpg|right|250px|thumb|The Decepticon formerly-known-as-Starscream.]]
*'''Rescue Ratchet''' (Animated 3-pack, 2008)

: A Legends-class Starscream came packaged with this [[Target]]-[[exclusive]] version of [[Ratchet (Animated)#Rescue|Ratchet]], as well as a Legends [[Prowl (Animated)|Prowl]]. He features a purplier, sparkly base plastic and fewer paint applications, particularly on the head.

:This mold was also used to make [[Thundercracker (Animated)|Thundercracker]] Clear Blue Ver., [[Skywarp (Animated)|Skywarp]] Clear Purple Ver., [[Sunstorm (Animated)|Sunstorm]] Clear Orange Ver., [[Ramjet (Animated)|Ramjet]] Clear White Ver., and [[Starscream Clone Black Ver.]]

::*''[http://www.tfu.info/2008/Decepticon/AniLegendsStarscream/starscream.htm More information on Legends Starscream at TFU.info]''

{{-}}
[[Image:AniLegendsStarscreamClearPurple.jpg|250px|thumb]]
*'''Starscream Clear Purple Ver.''' (EZ Collection, 2010)

:A redeco of Legends Starscream in mostly translucent purple with some parts, such as his wings, in opaque lavender. He was only available at Jusco stores in Japan (but not at ones in their [[wikipedia:Ryukyu Islands|Ryukyu]] branch), given away for free to customers who purchased Voyager-class [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus Prime]] or [[Megatron (Animated)|Megatron]].

===Universe (2008)===
[[Image:Universe2008-toy LegendsAniStarscream.JPG|right|250px|thumb|And yet, his ego remains as big as ever.]]
*'''Starscream''' (Legends, 2008)

:Legends-class Starscream transforms surprisingly similarly to his larger counterparts. He is notable for being the only version of the character to have his weapons mounted correctly on his upper arms, rather than his lower arms (though this is largely because he completely lacks elbows). However, as with his past versions, he is again not gray, but apparently a shade of blue.

:This figure was redecoed in the Animated line, in a Target exclusive [[Starscream (Animated)#RescueRatchet|three-pack]] with Rescue Ratchet and Prowl.

{{--}}

==Notes==
*In a podcasted audio interview, [[Marty Isenberg]] revealed that he originally wanted to play Starscream's name ironically — he wanted the character to have a quiet, whispery tone, as he '''really''' didn't like the screechy voice of [[Starscream (G1)|the original Starscream]] (though, at the same time, he pointed out that he has nothing against [[Chris Latta|his actor]]). [[Derrick J. Wyatt]] argued against this idea, and Tom Kenny's reading finally won Marty over.
* Though he never ''truly'' took out Megatron, this Starscream may be the most successful to bear the name to date.
* There is some confusion as to precisely what weapons Starscream has. According to the Decepticon character descriptions sent out in the initial [[Cartoon Network]] press release for ''Transformers Animated'', Starscream "can affect a sonic scream and produce powerful blasts of sound that can send enemies spinning through the atmosphere". His toy packaging declares that he has "twin sonic shock blasters" rather than the [[null-ray]]s of his Generation 1 counterpart, while a bio on the [[Hasbro]] website declares that ''Animated'' Starscream '''does''' have null-rays... while otherwise being a direct copy of the press release text, which doesn't mention them anywhere. What is unquestionably Starscream's "sonic scream" appears in the third season episode "TransWarped", apparently a modification created by the AllSpark fragment in his head. Similarly, in the same episode, Blurr tells [[Skywarp (Animated)|Skywarp]] and [[Thundercracker (Animated)|Thundercracker]] to use alternating sonic pulses to destabilise the concrete the trio are trapped in. This could point to Starscream's arm-mounted cannons being sonic shock blasters, as he was addressing Skywarp, but also could be a reference to Generation 1 [[Thundercracker (G1)|Thundercracker]] and his ability to create sonic booms.
*Several times in the series, Starscream's alt-mode is called a "harrier jet". In the real world, this term actually refers to just one specific jet type--the [[United Kingdom|British]]-designed V/STOL-capable [[wikipedia:Harrier_Jump_Jet|Harrier Jump Jet]]--which very clearly is not Starscream's altmode. Then again, the series is set about 100 years in the future, so perhaps the jet designs or terminology could have changed.
* ''[[Transformers Animated: The AllSpark Almanac Volume 2‎]]'' hints that Starscream will return from the dead yet again, in the form of [[Cyclonus (Animated)|Cyclonus]].

[[Category:Animated characters]]
[[Category:Decepticons]]
[[Category:Fast food exclusives]]
[[Category:Targetmasters]]
[[Category:Universe (2008)]]

Optimus Prime (Animated)

2010-08-05T08:51:47Z

24.24.174.56: /* The Cool comic */

{{factions|autobot}}
{{Template:Disambig3|Optimus Prime}}

:''Optimus Prime is an [[Autobot]] from the [[Transformers Animated (franchise)|Transformers Animated]] [[continuity family]].''

[[Image:OptimusPrimeAnimated.JPG|right|thumb|300px|"Freedom... [[Megatron (BW)|Yeesss]]..."]]

A washout from the [[Cybertron Elite Guard]], '''Optimus Prime''' was reassigned to [[space bridge]] repair duty under the supervision of [[Ratchet (Animated)|Ratchet]]. He is a relatively naive and idealistic young leader, prone to long-winded "inspirational" speeches who leads a small and inexperienced Autobot [[space bridge]] maintenance team. Recently, his crew has landed on [[Earth]], adopted jobs as semi-official superheroes and currently live in an abandoned Sumdac Systems warehouse.

Despite his humble "Bot Next Door" persona, he performs his job with a dedicated seriousness. He transforms into a red truck cab that can be fitted with many kinds of "[[trailer]]" attachments (most notably one that makes him look like a fire engine) and wields a kick-ass, rocket-propelled, extendable battle axe, as well as multiple arm mounted modifications, including grappler cables, fire extinguishers and bola-whip throwers. Despite his formidable abilities and skills, not everyone thought so highly of the young Prime. [[Sentinel Prime (Animated)|Sentinel Prime]] sneers at Optimus's lowly repair job, and [[Supreme Commander]] [[Ultra Magnus (Animated)|Ultra Magnus]] once held the young officer in low regard. More than anything, Prime wanted to be a hero. He's had the speeches, he had the moves...but what was he missing? Maybe [[Stan Bush|The Touch]]?

But since coming to Earth, Optimus has learned the truth about heroism. It's not about glory and destiny, it's about doing the right thing and going to your limit and beyond. Ratchet, for all his cynicism, knows that Prime is a hero, and after seeing him in action, Ultra Magnus himself admitted that Optimus has excellent leadership skills.

{{Quote|So, this is what it feels like to be a hero...|Optimus upon his death|"[[Transform and Roll Out]]"}}

==Fiction==
===''Animated'' cartoon===
{{Idw-tfa}}
:''Voice actor:'' [[David Kaye]] (English), [[Hiroki Takahashi]] (Japanese), [[Bernd Vollbrecht]] (German), [[Maciej Walentek]] (Polish), [[Marco Balzarotti]] (Italian), [[Alexandre Marconato]] (Portuguese)

''Optimus did his [[Autobot boot camp]] training under [[Kup (Animated)|Kup Minor]], who gave him the name "Optimus" because of his cheery, optimistic outlook. Sentinel and [[Blackarachnia (Animated)|Elita-1]] were also in this training platoon. {{storylink|Transformers Animated: The AllSpark Almanac Volume 2‎|AllSpark Almanac Volume 2‎}}''

''During his later training days at the [[Autobot Academy]], Optimus impressed Ultra Magnus with his performance in a computer simulated battle against [[Megatron (Animated)|Megatron]]. Although Optimus "died" in the battle, causing his boisterous pal Sentinel to make a crack at his expense, Magnus pointed out that Optimus had just scored higher on the test than anyone in Academy history, and let Optimus know he had great hopes for him.'' {{storylink|The Arrival issue 5#Survival Skills|Survival Skills}}

[[Image:Alongcameaspiderthreefriends.jpg|left|250px|thumb|"Whoa-oh! Surprise hug from Mr. Freaky-Big!"]]

A thousand stellar cycles ago, Optimus and Elita-1 accompanied Sentinel on an unpermitted mission to [[Archa Seven|a forbidden organic planet]] in search of a lost [[Decepticon]] [[Twilight (Animated)|ship]] rumored to be carrying a huge payload of [[Energon (fuel)|energon]] [[energon cube|cubes]]. The mission was declared a wash when the trio discovered that the planet was infested with [[Archa Seven arachnid|giant spiders]], but the trio found that their retreat was not an easy one. Separated from Sentinel in the chaos of a spider attack, Optimus and Elita found the Decepticon ship and its coveted energon cubes, only to be surrounded by another swarm of spiders. Optimus had Elita download his grappler abilities so that they could bring a giant stalactite down on the creatures, causing the energon cubes to explode in the process. As they attempt to swing their way to safety, however, Elita's download timed out and she plummeted back down into the heart of the conflagration, just as Sentinel arrived to bear witness. Knowing that to go after her would mean death, Optimus held Sentinel back from pursuing Elita and forcibly dragged him back to the surface just before they were caught in the explosion. {{storylink|Along Came a Spider}}

Sentinel never forgave Optimus for making him leave Elita behind, and bore a grudge against him for the next thousand years, constantly belittling him and sniping at him. When the failed mission came to the attention of Ultra Magnus, the two were brought to a military tribunal. Sentinel gladly placed the blame for Elita-1's death at Optimus' feet, and gallantly, Optimus took the fall for leading the mission. He was discharged from the Academy, never to join the Elite Guard. Luckily for Optimus, Magnus thought that maybe the bot he once had such high hopes for still had some potential, and gave him the rank of "Prime" and his own ship...a rusted out junker filled with the incompetent young bots [[Bumblebee (Animated)|Bumblebee]] and [[Bulkhead (Animated)|Bulkhead]], plus a crotchety old medic, [[Ratchet (Animated)|Ratchet]].

During one of their routine [[Space Bridge]] terminal repair missions, Optimus Prime's crew stumbled upon a bot named [[Prowl (Animated)|Prowl]] who was trying to complete his [[Cyber-Ninja]] training. Unfortunately, an [[energon cube]] explosion destroyed his ship, so Optimus offered Prowl a place on his crew. The would-be cyber-ninja expressed frustration at the constant curveballs life had thrown at him thus far, and Optimus noted that he could easily relate to that sentiment.
{{storylink|Endgame, Part I}}

[[Image:Ani crew.JPG|left|thumb|300px|Call me Captainimus Prime!]]

Fifty years ago, Prime and his crew came across the [[AllSpark (Animated)|AllSpark]] while repairing a space bridge and brought the artifact aboard their ship. During transport, they were discovered by the [[Decepticon]]s, and [[Megatron (Animated)|Megatron]] came after them. He proved too strong to take head on (in spite of [[Starscream (Animated)|his subordinate]] planting a bomb on his chassis), but when [[Teletran-1]] neared [[Earth]], Prime knocked Megatron overboard. The Autobots stayed in stasis for the next 50 years until they were accidentally awakened by an apparent intruder. Optimus and the Autobots took on Earth vehicles as alternate modes in an attempt to assimilate with what they believed to be the local dominant culture. Prime and his team were able to dispatch a bio-mechanical insectoid that was attacking Detroit. They were hailed as heroes for it.

[[Image:Sariprime.jpg|right|120px|thumb|Insert what where?!]]

Over the next several weeks, the Autobots got to learn human culture and customs, doing their best to prevent disasters and save lives. Eventually, Starscream came for the AllSpark, and Optimus found that the schemer could pack quite a punch. The Autobot officer was still able to keep Starscream from getting the artifact, though at the cost of his life. However, he was quickly revived by [[Sari Sumdac]] and her AllSpark-influenced [[AllSpark Key|key]]. Later, the Autobots helped rebuild parts of Detroit that were destroyed in their battle with Starscream. {{storylink|Transform and Roll Out}}

Unfortunately for Optimus, he had gained a reputation outside of Earth's atmosphere—not as a hero, but as the slayer of Megatron. The Decepticon [[Blitzwing (Animated)|Blitzwing]] placed a large bounty on his head, and pretty soon, [[Lockdown (Animated)|Lockdown]] came to collect. He captured Prime and stole his axe and grapplers. Fortunately, Ratchet saved him, finally getting the old bot to open up more. {{storylink|The Thrill of the Hunt}}

[[Image:TFA ep9 Optimus and Blackarachnia rooftop.jpg|left|200px|thumb|Optimus Prime is all left feet, but that's still not as many as Blackarachnia.]]

During the Autobots' first [[Halloween]] on Earth, the Decepticon [[Blackarachnia (Animated)|Blackarachnia]] ambushed [[Bumblebee (Animated)|Bumblebee]] and [[Bulkhead (Animated)|Bulkhead]] and kidnapped Sari. When Optimus Prime tried to fight Blackarachnia, she dodged all his moves, as she had trained with him. Prime was shocked to learn that Blackarachnia was his old Autobot Academy classmate Elita-1, who hadn't died but been mutated while fighting off the giant arachnids those many years ago. Blackarachnia tried to use Sari's AllSpark key to remove the organic aspects from her biology, but the key began to drain the life from everything organic around and nearly killed Blackarachnia herself. Prime removed the key, saving Blackarachnia and the organics. Still calling her Elita, Prime tried to convince her to return to the Autobots so they could try and help her. She repaid that kindness by injecting him with venom and telling him that she would never trust him again. Prime was left to reflect on the friend he'd failed not once, but twice. {{storylink|Along Came a Spider}}

When Decepticon energy signals were detected near the city, the Autobots quickly realized that their options were limited. Bulkhead mentioned that the [[Dinobot (Animated)|Dinobots]] might help, forcing [[Prowl (Animated)|Prowl]] to reveal how the two moved them to [[Dinobot Island (Animated)|Dinobot Island]]. Prime's reaction was...displeased, to say the least. Ranting that all he had to command were insubordinate malfunctions, Prime also concluded that the Key was no longer safe with Sari, and he ordered Ratchet to take it from her. As Sari ran off crying, Bumblebee mouthed off that their situation was an indication that Prime was unfit for command.

[[Image:Megatron Rising Optimus rant.JPG|right|170px|thumb|[[wikipedia:Red_Forman|Dumbasses]]!]]

Heading to Dinobot Island, Prime did not get off to a good start with [[Grimlock (Animated)|Grimlock]], mostly because Grimlock considered him lunch. After Prowl smoothed things over, Prime tried to convince them to help the Autobots fight the Decepticons, but Grimlock was uninterested. Receiving word from Ratchet that the Key had been stolen, Prime ordered Ratchet to guard the AllSpark while the Autobots headed back for the mainland. Prime himself also began to wonder if he was fit for command, seeing as all his decisions had blown up in his face. When Bumblebee contacted the Autobots to inform them that Starscream was at [[Sumdac Tower]], he refused Prime's order to hold back and went to attack the Decepticon on his own. Prime dryly noted that the day just kept getting better and better.

Then everything pretty much went to Hell when Megatron burst out of Sumdac Tower, to the shock and horror of just about everyone. {{storylink|Megatron Rising - Part 1}}

Quickly regaining their composure, the Autobots attacked. Megatron beat the [[Slag (slang)|slag]] out of them. Though Optimus fared slightly better, Megatron still brought him down fairly quickly. They were only able to escape when Megatron punished Starscream for his betrayal. Taking refuge within Sumdac Tower, [[Isaac Sumdac|Professor Sumdac]] explained his role in Megatron's revival and helped repair the Autobots with residual key energy. After Bumblebee called Prime to answer for his earlier assessment of them, Prime admitted he was wrong and asked them for forgiveness. When Ratchet and Sari showed up with Teletran-1, the Autobots took flight, hoping to lure the Decepticons away from Earth to prevent human casualties. Unfortunately, the Decepticons shot down the vessel and caused it to crash on Dinobot Island.

[[Image:Megatron Rising Optimus Megatron Key shove.JPG|left|200px|thumb|"Now, light our darkest hour!"]]

As the Autobots took on the Decepticons, Optimus faced down Megatron, which went as well as the first time. When Megatron got into the Autobots' ship, he took the AllSpark and placed the powerful artifact within him, using it as a weapon against Prime. However, Megatron had dropped the key, and Sari threw it to Prime. The Autobot officer used the key to send a surge of energy through the AllSpark, causing it to disperse while still in Megatron. With the threat passed, Prime apologized to Sari and returned the key, saying it was too important to be trusted with an Autobot. {{storylink|Megatron Rising - Part 2}}

After the battle with the Decepticons, the [[Cybertron Elite Guard]] arrived to take the AllSpark back to Cybertron. Optimus explained that the AllSpark had been dispersed and that the Decepticons had been defeated. Sentinel Prime accused Optimus of lying and took every chance he could to belittle his former friend, but [[Ultra Magnus (Animated)|Ultra Magnus]] decided to investigate their claims. Optimus took them to Dinobot Island, but the Autobots did not make a good impression on the Dinobots. Before they could investigate, they received a message from Ratchet, saying that [[police drone]]s had gone haywire at a Sumdac Systems manufacturing plant. Optimus managed to get Sari inside and shut off the assembly line, but the key was stuck in the console. Before Optimus could help, Sentinel pushed him aside and promised to see Optimus charged for high treason. Tired of Sentinel's slag, Optimus finally stuck up for himself and told Sentinel where to shove it, destroying the console the key was stuck in and revealing an AllSpark fragment. Ultra Magnus accepted the shard as proof of Optimus Prime's claims. Though Sentinel still refused to believe him, Magnus said that Optimus Prime displayed many qualities that Sentinel himself could use. {{storylink|The Elite Guard}}

[[Image:Returnofheadmaster optimuslaughs.jpg|right|180px|thumb|Ha ''Ha!'' [[Decapitation]].]]

When Sentinel and Optimus were at a press conference with [[Augustus Edsel|Mayor Edsel]], they received a call about a Decepticon sighting in old Detroit. After Sentinel mangled the roads en route, he told Optimus to split up and search on his own. Hours later, Optimus received a communication to from Sentinel to dismiss the police and come to Sentinel's location alone—and not to laugh when he got there. What Optimus found was Sentinel Prime's severed head, with his [[Structure|body]] having been stolen by the [[Headmaster (Animated)|Headmaster]]. He promised to help Sentinel find his body without letting Ultra Magnus or the other Autobots know, but not before taking a moment or two to enjoy the situation.

Heading for Sumdac Tower, Optimus confronted [[Porter C. Powell]], who denied knowing where Masterson was and told him the Autobots were no longer welcome at the facility. Optimus left, but immediately tapped in on Powell and Masterson's phone conversation, letting Optimus track Masterson to the docks. After encountering mini-Headmasters in the form of [[Tutor Bot]] and [[Sparkplug (robot dog)|Sparkplug]], Optimus was able to get aboard the ship before it sailed away. Finding the Headmaster with Sentinel Prime's body, Optimus Prime proceeded to beat the living slag out of his attacker, much to Sentinel's discomfort. Finally defeating the mad scientist, Optimus reattached Sentinel's head to his body, but Masterson walked away due to legal technicalities. When Ultra Magnus asked them about it the next day, Optimus covered for Sentinel, saying that Sentinel had volunteered to use himself as bait to capture Masterson, and Magnus praised their bravery. In an awkward moment, Sentinel thanked Optimus for all he'd done, and the two shook hands amicably. {{storylink|The Return of the Headmaster}}

[[Image:Sentinel vs Optimus%2C with Jazz in the middle.jpg|left|200px|thumb|Jay Leno VS. Bruce Campbell, Battle of [[chin]]s.]]

When word of Decepticon attacks came after learning that Megatron was still alive, Ultra Magnus decided that Optimus and his Autobots would be needed elsewhere repairing damaged space bridges. The Elite Guard also wanted Optimus to...leave out that whole destruction of the AllSpark and Megatron's survival thing for the time being. When they detected an AllSpark shard energy signature in a human train, the Elite Guard went to retrieve it. Detecting Starscream, Optimus realized it was a trap and was forced to place stasis cuffs on Sentinel Prime to leave the Elite Guard's ship. Meeting up with his crew, he helped them remove the shard and save the humans. Magnus and Sentinel, who by now had broken out of his cuffs, were about to rip Optimus a new one for insubordination, assault, and the lack of evidence over the Decepticons—at which point Starscream's body crashed mere meters away from them, having been offlined by Megatron (again). When Starscream knocked out Ultra Magnus, Optimus took command (much to Sentinel's displeasure). He managed to place the stasis-cuffs on Starscream, and Ultra Magnus decided that Optimus Prime and his team would be allowed to stay on Earth, locate the remaining AllSpark shards, and arrest the remaining Decepticons. {{storylink|Mission Accomplished}}

Later on, when Bulkhead brought [[Scrapper (Animated)|Scrapper]] and [[Mixmaster (Animated)|Mixmaster]] back to Autobot headquarters, Optimus was not impressed with their antics and demanded that they leave. Optimus warned Bulkhead that the duo were not worth spending time with and that they were not capable of learning the ways of an Autobot. After the Constructicons were 'persuaded' by Megatron that their talents would be better utilized in the Decepticon ranks, Prime was furious and despite Bulkhead's insistence that they were his friends, Optimus questioned that they didn't know any better.

Unfortunately, he was proved right when Mixmaster and Scrapper showed up and demanded that they hand over the AllSpark fragments, to which Prime naturally refused. A struggle ensued (in which Ratchet and Bumblebee insisted Prime was 'their dipstick') and Mixmaster held Bumblebee hostage and demands the AllSpark. Prime tried to stall for time and Bulkhead handed over the fragments, to Prime's dismay. Bulkhead then 'had one for the road' and his scheme came to light. With the fragments retrieved, Optimus consoled a distraught Bulkhead and assured him that as long as the Constructicons (now having lost their memory due to the explosion caused by the tainted oil) were not wearing Decepticon badges, they still had a choice. {{storylink|Rise of the Constructicons}}

[[Image:Animated Black Friday Prime Meltdown.jpg|right|175px|thumb|At the end of this day, one shall stand, one shall melt.]]

After learning that the Dinobots helped Meltdown escape, Prime took Prowl and Bumblebee to investigate Dinobot Island. There, he learned that Blackarachnia was manipulating the Dinobots, and had struck a deal with Meltdown to remove her organic half. However, Meltdown needed a genetic modifier. Blackarachnia, having poisoned Prowl and Bumblebee with her venom, told Prime to help Grimlock get the modifier in exchange for the antivenom that would save his Autobots. Though Prime tried to convince Grimlock of Blackarachnia's evil intentions, Grimlock would hear none of it. Returning to the mainland, Prime revoked his "protector of humanity" title long enough for Grimlock to "convince" [[Porter C. Powell]] to tell them where the modifier was. When Powell realized it was valuable, Prime was tempted to let Grimlock finish him off, but decided the Autobots didn't have time. Returning to Dinobot Island, Meltdown turned the tables on them, revealing that he planned to remove Blackarachnia's organic half, and sicced [[Fusion creature|his experiments]] on Prime and Grimlock. With the other Dinobots help, they sent the mutants packing. Prime then removed the modifier before Meltdown could finish his experiments, and exposure to the modifier caused Meltdown to break apart. Blackarachnia urged Optimus to come closer, but Grimlock's jealousy caused him to attack, allowing Blackarachnia to flee. When Prime went to Prowl and Bumblebee, he found the anti-venom, and saved their sparks. Although Powell tried to have Prime arrested, Fanzone refused to do anything about it. Because she left the anti-venom, however, Optimus Prime was hopeful that somewhere beneath the anger and betrayal of Blackarachnia, there was still something left of Elita-1. {{storylink|Black Friday (episode)|Black Friday}}

When Bulkhead was kidnapped by Megatron, Bumblebee brought home [[Blurr (Animated)|Blurr]], an Elite Guard intelligence agent who had been assigned to monitor the Decepticons and investigate Optimus Prime's crew (good odds on [[Sentinel Prime (Animated)|the one]] who gave Blurr his orders). When Blurr revealed where the Decepticons were, and that they were building a space bridge with Isaac Sumdac's help, Prime ordered Ratchet and Sari to get the ship back online, while he and the others went to rescue Bulkhead and stop the Decepticons. Before he left, he admitted that he wasn't sure if Professor Sumdac was willingly cooperating with the Decepticons, but promised Sari that he would bring him home alive. Heading to the mines, they were ambushed by Blitzwing and Lugnut, who were incapacitated by Blurr. Reaching the control room, the Autobots were incapaciated by the [[Constructicon (Animated)|Constructicons]]. Fortunately, the Decepticons were too busy with the sudden arrival of Starscream and [[Starscream clone (Animated)|his clones]] to immediately kill them. {{storylink|A Bridge Too Close, Part I}}

Managing to free himself, Optimus found himself in the odd position of fighting side by side with Megatron. But the battle went against the Autobots, with Blurr and a pair of clones sucked into the space bridge and the other Autobots incapacitated. In typical Decepticon fashion, Megatron used Prime as a human shield against the clones. After the battle, Megatron decided to use Prime as a test to see if the space bridge worked, where Prime would eliminated by [[Shockwave (Animated)|Shockwave]] if it did. Fortunately, Prowl managed to get free from his stasis cuffs and shatter Optimus Prime's, allowing him to grapple Megatron. However, the power cut out, forcing Megatron to use the severed head of Starscream to further power the bridge, causing an overload. Prime managed to slap stasis cuffs on Megatron, taking him into the bridge, but the Autobots were nearly sucked in when [[Omega Supreme (Animated)|Omega Supreme]] arrived and sacrificed himself to save them. As the bridge self-destructed, the Autobots managed to escape before the mountain came down on top of them. Though mourning the losses of Omega and Blurr, Megatron's plot was foiled, and the Autobots could breathe a collective sigh of relief.

Sighs of relief which turned to gasps of shock and horror when Sari noticed that the skin of her arm had been torn...revealing robotic circuitry underneath! {{storylink|A Bridge Too Close, Part II}}

Leaving the mine, Optimus carried Sari and Isaac with him as the Professor explained what he knew of Sari's origins: years ago, Sumdac found a body of liquid metal, which he touched, and Sari emerged. Remembering all too well the horror story of human manufacturing, Optimus pointed out several flaws in Isaac's story. Optimus provided the necessary muscle to prevent Porter C. Powell and Henry Masterson from trying anything funny when Isaac returned to Sumdac Tower and fired the two, and was on hand to witness Sari activated some sort of weapons system to eject them. Horrified, Sari decided she was better off with her "fellow machines", and Optimus promised to keep her safe until she was ready to talk. Realizing that she wasn't going to talk, Optimus tricked Sari into going to [[Burger Bot]], alerting Sumdac that they were heading there. Unfortunately, the Headmaster had found his Headmaster unit and Starscream's body, and attacked the trio. After a short battle, Optimus tricked Masterson into transforming, saying that a "n00b" like him couldn't do it. The attack managed to reconcile Isaac and Sari, and Optimus took them home, where Prowl revealed his theory that Sari was a protoform merged with Sumdac's DNA.

Later, Ratchet turned up with an unconscious Bulkhead and claims of a missing Bumblebee. Bulkhead theorized that Bumblebee had activated the [[plasmadynamic thruster]], sending him across the universe, and used a homing beacon generator to bring him home. Unfortunately, Bumblebee was swallowed by a [[Rock Lord|rock-like alien]]. As the Autobots tried to figure out how to stop the creature without harming Bumblebee, Sari used the Key to upgrade herself into a more powerful mech. She defeated the monster, but overloaded and was unable to control her movements, seriously injuring Bumblebee. The Autobots were able to remove the Key, only to discover Sari kept going and the Key had been drained. Ratchet was forced to deactivate Sari with his EMP generator.

Returning to the plant, Optimus informed Isaac of Sari's condition, deciding that this family was done keeping secrets from each other. Unfortunately, Megatron arrived, commanding Omega Supreme. Optimus and the others led Megatron out of the city, where he and Prowl boarded Omega, removing Megatron's influence. Unfortunately, Starscream took over Omega Supreme, and decided to conquer Cybertron. Optimus latched aboard the departing vessel, and shoved the plasmadynamic thruster into Omega, sending him warping across the galaxy randomly, ending the threats of Megatron and Starscream for a while. {{storylink|TransWarped}}

After reprimanding Bumblebee for playing video games while on monitor duty, Optimus led the Autobots out on a search mission when they detected a Cybertronian energy signature. While Optimus was away, he received an emergency call from Bumblebee, revealing that Wasp was at the plant. By the time the Autobots returned, Wasp had switched places with Bumblebee. Unable to convince his teammates of the ruse, Bumblebee fled, and just as Optimus and his remaining Autobots gave chase, Sentinel Prime and Jazz cut them off. Sentinel was unwilling to listen to Optimus's claims that Wasp was innocent and Longarm Prime was the real traitor, and he took off for Wasp. Optimus had their group split up to try and find Wasp first, ordering Ratchet to come with him while Bulkhead and Prowl went to check another section of the city. While searching, Optimus and Ratchet discovered two Cybertronian fliers and assumed they were Decepticons. Only after fighting with the pair did they learn that [[Jetstorm (Animated)|Jetstorm]] and [[Jetfire (Animated)|Jetfire]] were Elite Guard members who had been upgraded with flight protocols duplicated from Starscream.

As Optimus, Ratchet, and Jazz watched Sentinel flail about on the wet roads, still ignoring pleas to warn Cybertron about Longarm, Optimus asked how Jazz was able to stand the obnoxious Prime, and was surprised to learn that the Elite Guard ninja ignored "only half" of what Sentinel said. When the jet twins reported to Sentinel that Bulkhead and Prowl were working with Wasp, Sentinel ordered all of Optimus's crew arrested, despite Optimus putting it as simply as possible: Wasp wasn't a double agent, so Bulkhead and Prowl couldn't be his fellow double agents. Once they reached the others, Optimus had to deal with Sentinel's insistence on arresting them all to let Ultra Magnus sort them out, despite Prowl and Bulkhead now believing that Wasp and Bumblebee had switched places. Overruling Sentinel's demands, Optimus had everyone return to the plant, as that's where Wasp had to be if 'Bee's story was true. By the time they returned, Wasp had read up on Bumblebee's files and so was able to relate a number of 'Bee's adventures to prove he was the real deal. When Bulkhead had Bumblebee and Wasp play ''[[Ninja Gladiator]]'' to see who the real one was, Prime had no better suggestion. Wasp choked and escaped, and Jazz finally realized that Optimus had been telling the truth about Longarm being a double agent. An oblivious Sentinel asked why they hadn't told him this in the first place, and Optimus sighed in exasperation. {{storylink|Where Is Thy Sting?}}

With the Elite Guard remaining on Earth, the Autobots began a search for the rest of Megatron's Decepticons. During one search, Optimus saw an unfamiliar shadow with a strange helmet. Following it, Optimus, Prowl, and Jazz discovered Sentinel Prime had captured [[Sunstorm (Animated)|Sunstorm]] without making a sound. Despite his notorious ego, Sentinel refused to elaborate on the capture, and even bolted the clone's mouth shut when he started to talk. Returning to the Elite Guard ship, Optimus discovered that Sentinel had also captured Blitzwing and Swindle, as well, and was equally vague on the details. After helping Prowl investigate the mysterious helmeted figure, Optimus returned to the ship where he, Jazz, and Prowl were shocked to discover that Sentinel had captured Lugnut. Now convinced that Sentinel was lying to them, Optimus and the others eventually followed him to [[Tigatron Stadium]], where they discovered a stasis-cuffed Sentinel, the [[Ramjet (Animated)|Liar Starscream]], Lockdown (wearing the mysterious helmet), and that Sentinel had been having Lockdown capture the Decepticons in exchange for parts of the Elite Guard ship. After a battle, the clone was captured, but Lockdown escaped. Returning to the Elite Guard ship, the Autobots made contact with Cybertron, learning that Shockwave had attacked Ultra Magnus and stolen the [[Magnus Hammer]] in the process. Optimus decided not to inform Cybertron Command of Sentinel's misconduct, but instead gave Prowl all the credit for the captures. Sentinel expressed annoyance that he didn't get any credit for the captures, and Optimus told his former friend that when the smoke cleared, there would be a reckoning between the two Primes. {{storylink|Five Servos of Doom}}

[[Image:PredaconsRising-BASentinelOptimus.jpg|left|thumb|300px|Hail hail, the gang's all here!]]

However, Sentinel remained on Earth, convinced that Wasp knew something about the attack on Ultra Magnus. Efforts to locate Wasp were hampered by Sentinel's refusal to recognize Optimus's authority on Earth, claiming he was the ''primer'' Prime. However, things came to a head when the Dinobot Swoop captured Wasp and took him to Dinobot Island. Realizing that Blackarachnia might be involved, Optimus tried to warn Sentinel about her, but he refused to listen, as usual. Reaching the island, Optimus found Blackarachnia draining Sentinel of his powers, and offered himself in Sentinel's place. Blackarachnia didn't care; as far as she was concerned, she had every right to slag them both for abandoning her. She also revealed that she had made Wasp into the technorganic Waspinator in the hopes that if she could change him back, she could change back into Elita-1. However, Waspinator heard this, and tried to attack Blackarachnia. Reaching critical mass, Blackarachnia wrapped herself and Waspinator into a cocoon to contain the transwarp explosion. The Autobots were barely able to avoid the blast radius, which appeared to destroy most of Dinobot Island. Optimus concluded that Blackarachnia sacrificed herself to save them, but Sentinel thought that she sacrificed Waspinator to escape. Although Sentinel did not press the issue, Optimus could see that he was deeply hurt by what he had experienced.

A short time later, the Elite Guard were preparing to leave, and Optimus Prime's crew were seeing them off. Optimus actually defended Sentinel when the twins poked fun at him, saying that for all his flaws, Sentinel was a good bot at spark. Sentinel later came out to talk to Optimus privately, and Optimus apologized, both for not telling Sentinel about Elita's survival, and for not letting Sentinel go back to try and rescue her. In turn, Sentinel apologized for coming up with the idea to go to the planet, but admitted that the time was past for apologies. Optimus ended the conversation on a lighter note, saying that Cybertron needed a leader, and for better or worse, Sentinel Prime was that leader. Sentinel agreed, and the two Primes finally appeared to bury the hatchet. {{storylink|Predacons Rising}}

Optimus Prime's mood soon soured as the [[Christmas]] season rolled in, and the latest must-have product from Porter C. Powell was advertised all over the city—the all-singing, all-dancing [[Soundwave (Animated)|Soundwave]]! After following a lone Soundwave and almost getting decapitated by a train, he decided he was obsessing over nothing and rejoined the other Autobots for some [[oilnog]]... not realizing it had been spiked by another Soundwave, forcing Optimus and the others into taking an early [[Stasis lock|stasis nap]].

[[Image:TFAni Human Error Part 1 Optimus Human.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Worst. Hangover. ''Ever!'']]

As Optimus woke up the next morning, he discovered, to his horror, that he and the others had inexplicably become human. Despite his hopes, Ratchet could find no rational explanation for their transformation. Deciding the best course of action was to head to Sumdac Tower, the Auto''men'' set off into the city. A quick stop at the Burger Bot turned to them fleeing from an attacking Decepticon armada, followed by Optimus and Prowl saving a woman and [[Gary|her son]] from a burning building, to (badly) fighting off an attacking Starscream and finally—perhaps worst of all—having to take public transportation to Sumdac Tower. However, no sooner had they arrived at their destination then they witnessed the tower blasted to ruins... by a Megatron-controlled Cybertron!

But just as the Autobots seemed on the brink of destruction, Optimus came to a realization—none of what they had experienced was real, but a virtual reality simulation! They took out the Decepticons together with superhuman feats, Optimus destroying Megatron himself with a well aimed axe into his cannon. As the dust settled and the Decepticons disappeared, they "imagined" themselves into their real forms once again. But as soon as they had made the transformation, a giant Soundwave scooped them up into the sky, blasting them all with energy.

In the real world, Optimus and his crew were all prisoners of the real Soundwave in the basement of the Autobot hideout, as part of the sonic warrior's plan to reprogram them into being Decepticons. As their captor started to accelerate the reprogramming, Optimus opened his eyes to reveal them glowing red... {{storylink|Human Error, Part I}}

[[Image:PrimeReadyToRock.jpg|thumb|left|200px| "I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!"]]

A wire from an attack Sari had made on Soundwave disrupted the connection, but after a failed escape attempt by Prowl, Soundwave reverted all the Autobots to their human forms and used his toy replica drones scattered around Detroit to begin hypnotising the human population.

Looking for a way to interface with Soundwave to escape and locating it in the form of his vehicle mode, Optimus gave the order to pursue the Decepticon utilizing the conveniently placed vehicles on which their own alternate modes were based. Unfortunately, Optimus didn't know how to drive extremely well. He still was able to pursue Soundwave, albeit with the fire hose out of control.

When Optimus and his group finally cornered Soundwave, it was revealed to be a trap: Hundreds of Soundwave's vehicle modes surrounded the Automen, and when the Autobots attempted to escape, their vehicles' seat belts wrapped around them as Soundwave began to reprogram them again.

Controlling the reprogrammed Autobots like puppets, Soundwave used them in a battle with Sari and the [[Substitute Autobot]]s, whom at first they soundly defeated. When Sari ordered the Substitute Autobots to attack all the Autobots at once, however, Soundwave began having trouble multitasking, until he decided to use just Optimus against them. Optimus soundly defeated the Substitute Autobots again and was about to kill Sari when the freed Prowl used his shuriken to blast Ratbat out of Soundwave's hands, liberating the rest of the Autobots. Optimus then grabbed Laserbeak, forced him into guitar mode, and engaged in a brief (''epic'') Battle of the Bands scenario before using Laserbeak to slice Soundwave and Ratbat in half, destroying the Decepticon's control over the citizens of Detroit. He and Sari then exchanged mutual new appreciation of each other's daily difficulties, Sari better understanding the stresses of command, Optimus now realizing the rigors of being human. {{storylink|Human Error, Part II}}

[[Image:TFAni Decepticon Air Swindle Optimus Hand.jpg|thumb||180px|right|"GIVE ME YOUR FACE!"]]
Optimus later congratulated Professor Sumdac and Bulkhead for completing a space bridge terminal in record time, and he was amazed when Sari single-handedly and expertly recalibrated the transwarp sequencers. However, he soon received a message from Sentinel Prime, who had accidentally freed several Decepticon prisoners on the Elite Guard ship, which decrypted to "Broken Lance", the coded distress call Sentinel used to use in their Academy days. Using the space bridge terminal to get to the ship, Optimus promptly emerged from Swindle's chest, having arrived in the pocket dimension which Swindle used to hold all his stock. Taking an elevator to the ship's energon storage chamber, Optimus slightly destabilized some energon cubes by perforating them with his axe, then put them in the elevator car and sliced the cables, so it exploded near the bottom just as the Decepticons pried open the doors. Slightly charred from the backblast, Optimus entered one of the service ducts and worked his way back to the brig area, grumbling as he did so.

Soon after, Prime freed his fellow Autobots and told Jazz to rewire the decontamination unit on the bridge as a freezing chamber to trap the Decepticons. At the same time, taking a cue from Sentinel's coded transmission, he made his Autobot symbol blink in [[Cybertronian optical code|Cybertronian Optical Code]] to tell Jazz that the decontamination chamber would be the only part of the bridge ''not'' to get frozen. After convincing the Elite Guard to surrender to the Decepticons (but not before using Sentinel as a slingshot against Lugnut), he endured Blitzwing locking them in the decontamination chamber and gloating all the while—until Blitzwing pressed the button and all the Decepticons on the bridge were frozen. Sentinel offered Optimus the Elite Guard spot that would be left when Sentinel became Magnus, but Prime declined, saying that he still had plenty to do on Earth. Optimus then returned to Earth on the Elite Guard's ship, and he and Sentinel traded salutes before they went their separate ways.
{{storylink|Decepticon Air}}

[[Image:EndGamePart1-Autobotscantfly.jpg|left|thumb|250px|Optimus cannot fly!! What is [[To sell toys|happening?]]]]
When Bulkhead detected Omega Supreme on the Moon, Ratchet tried to convince Optimus to use the [[Magnus Hammer]] against Megatron to rescue Omega and Arcee. Optimus felt unworthy due to his discharge from the [[Autobot Academy]] and ban from the Elite Guard, and instead requested that Ratchet build him a modification to [[#Wingblade|let him fly]]. As part of a counter to Ratchet's protest that "Autobots don't fly", Prowl volunteered his boosters to use as a basis for Optimus's mods. When Ratchet ran into trouble on the jetpack, Sari used her Allspark powers to find the problem, and Ratchet soon had an attachable winged jetpack for Optimus to test out. Optimus loved the new ability to fly, shouting "Yessssss!" as he slipped the surly bonds of Earth, but he was shot down by [[Slipstream (Animated)|Slipstream]]. With a jetpack that didn't even give him an advantage over a Starscream clone, and with Megatron's [[Lugnut Supreme]]s fast approaching, Optimus decided he no longer had a choice and picked up the Magnus Hammer, ready to stand up in this [[darkest hour]]. {{storylink|Endgame, Part I}}

Though hesitant about taking to the air given his previous performance, Optimus took to the skies with Prowl to drive the Lugnut Supremes away from Sumdac Tower while Ratchet, Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and Sari went to the Moon to sever Megatron's access to Omega Supreme. After a little trouble, Optimus was able to use the Magnus Hammer to cause a tornado that threw the clones to Dinobot Island, damaging one and rendering the other two unable to fly. However, they were still online and resumed their march to Sumdac Tower. Optimus instructed Prowl and Jazz to enter the clones and remove their AllSpark fragments while he himself fought Megatron. Unfortunately, when Omega was severed from the clones, it activated their hidden function as ''Starscream'' clones, complete with bombs capable of destroying everything within one hundred square miles. Omega returned in time to destroy one clone, and Prowl and Jazz used processor-over-matter to assemble stray AllSpark fragments and power a shield strong enough to contain the remaining clone. Meanwhile, Optimus and Megatron continued to duke it out, eventually being encased in the shield with the third clone. As the final clone's bomb began to detonate, a flash of light removed Optimus from the blast. He was found minutes later by the Autobots, and they were triumphant until they saw the price of victory: Prowl had merged his spark with the AllSpark fragments to save them all. As Optimus ran toward his fallen comrade, Megatron appeared and blasted the Autobot captain. Ratchet tossed the Magnus Hammer to Optimus, who beat the Decepticon leader down. Megatron goaded Optimus to finish it, but Optimus instead destroyed Megatron's fusion cannon, saying that killing him would be too easy. Instead, Optimus Prime and his crew, along with Sari and Omega Supreme, returned to Cybertron with Megatron, Shockwave, and Lugnut as prisoners, before cheering crowds (and a not-so-cheery Sentinel Prime) who hailed them as heroes. {{storylink|Endgame, Part II}}

===Toy bios===
Optimus Prime prefers to fight fairly and in the open. At the same time, he knows bad guys ''don't'', so he utilizes his "night mode" to sneak up on them without being seen. Good lesson, there. {{storylink|Optimus Prime (Animated)/toys#BumperBattlerNightwatch|Nightwatch Optimus Prime}} When the Autobots were preparing for an all-out assault on the Decepticons, Optimus ordered everyone to get their armor upgraded. Ratchet helped him install armor so strong that it can take fusion blasts with ease. {{storylink|Optimus Prime (Animated)/toys#ActivatorArmorUp|Armor Up Optimus Prime}}

===''Be the Hero'' books===
{{Note|As the following stories are [[multipath adventure]]s, details will vary depending on the path taken. See individual pages for information on alternate paths.}}
====''Prime Suspect''====
After saving a [[You|human child]] from being run over by an out-of-control truck, Optimus found that he was being pursued by [[Carmine Fanzone|Captain Fanzone]] and a squad of police. Some investigation turned up the fact that he was accused of breaking into [[HomeTech]]'s laboratory, and they had him doing so on security tape. Rendezvousing at the laboratory, Prime got [[Sari Sumdac|Sari]] and the kid from earlier to go in and look for the footage. Though ultimately unsuccessful, a clue was found that led the Autobots to HomeTech's main warehouse. Within, Prime encountered the Decepticon who had framed him, [[Blitzwing (Animated)|Blitzwing]], and the two battled at length until the other Autobots helped him taken Blitzwing down. With the deception exposed, Prime was confident his name was cleared. {{storylink|Prime Suspect}}
====''Quest for the AllSpark''====
Optimus and [[Ratchet (Animated)|Ratchet]] came up with a surefire plan when [[Megatron (Animated)|Megatron]] took over [[Detroit]]'s robot workforce in an attempt to get his hands on the [[AllSpark (Animated)|AllSpark]]. The Autobots made false AllSparks and went to hide them around the city. Prime was intercepted by the clearance 'bot [[Crush-A]], and called in the rest of the Autobots, ultimately defeating their foe. {{storylink|Quest for the AllSpark}}
====''Web of Deception''====
When the Autobots' ship on the bottom of [[Lake Erie]] was struck by [[Sparkseeker]] torpedoes, Optimus was knocked offline and abducted by [[Lockdown (Animated)|Lockdown]]. He found himself strapped to an explosive device alongside one of the giant spiders from [[Archa Seven]]. Fortunately Ratchet was able to track him down and rescue him before the bomb could be triggered. {{storylink|Web of Deception}}
====''Time-Quake''====
Optimus and the other Autobots scoured Detroit, searching for the source of some strange temporal anomalies that had begun plaguing the city. Eventually they were able to track down the time machine that was responsible for the disturbances, and Optimus led his team in apprehending the culprit. {{storylink|Time-Quake}}

===Titan Magazines===
[[Image:SPROK%21.JPG|left|200px|thumb|No Country for Old Toys.]]
Optimus was swiftly overpowered by Starscream and [[Starscream clone (Animated)|his army of clones]], as were all the Autobots. The Dinobots arrived to save the day in return for lodgings during a rainy spell, leaving Optimus to ask Ratchet desperately for the weather forecast ''every day'' (the forecast being rain, rain, rain...). {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 17#Dino-MIGHT!|Dino-MIGHT!}}

Later, Detroit was hit by severe earthquakes, and Optimus led the Autobots in a rescue operation, personally holding up a collapsing bridge all by himself. These earthquakes turned out to be the work of the supervillain [[Quake-Maker]]. Optimus fought him but was easily beaten up—but forget Optimus, because the ''awesome'' Elite Guard operative [[Afterburn]] arrived, swiftly taking control of the Autobots and taking the villain down. Optimus was left a bit upset that Afterburn was so much better than him. {{storylink|Animated Comic issue 1|Burnout}}

He was apparently so upset that he didn't bother turning up afterwards, letting Afterburn dominate things. Prime's big contribution was to give everyone the day off. {{storylink|Animated Comic issue 3|Crossroads!}}

Later on, he ran afoul of the angry and impressively moustached [[General Macadam]], who was throwing a fit over Swoop buzzing a [[United States Air Force|USAF jet]]. Optimus gave the Dinobot a grilling over this...realising too late that Swoop, having been booted from Dinobot Island, had come for a job. Later on, Prime was ''very'' amused when Macadam angrily asked for help stopping the hijacked [[Wraith-X]], and had Bumblebee bring in Swoop for it.

There was no time to celebrate, though, as ''Megatron'' assaulted their headquaters! {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 23|Divebomb}} It turned out Afterburn, whom Megatron slaughtered, was a Decepticon infiltrator—and a sparkless drone one, at that—and he'd given their location away! Optimus and the gang held off a full Decepticon assault. In the aftermath, Optimus tried to boost Bumblebee's spirits by telling him he'd been a true hero in fighting Megatron, and that Afterburn hadn't been a ''real'' Transformer, so his death was no biggie. It was quite dodgy how easily Optimus wrote the guy off, to be frank... {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 24|Megatron's Revenge}}

Optimus later went to watch a race at [[Crazy Coyote Canyon]] to find the "King of Speed", and he permitted Bulkhead to join in if he wanted. He probably regretted this when Bulkhead won and Prime had to carry him in a victor's lap... {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 25|The Race}}

{{-}}

===''The Cool'' comic===

To protect the [[AllSpark (Animated)|AllSpark]], Optimus Prime lead his crew of Autobots to the [[Earth]] city of [[Detroit]]. The Decepticons [[Starscream (Animated)|Starscream]], [[Lockdown (Animated)|Lockdown]] and [[Blackarachnia (Animated)|Blackarachnia]] followed and attacked. Prime rescued [[Sari Sumdac]] from an explosion, protecting her with his body, then pitted himself against Starscream. {{storylink|The Cool issue 1|The Cool #1}}

Starscream succeeded in seizing the AllSpark, but Prime refused to let him keep it. Driving off a ramp and attacking him in the sky, Prime opened the AllSpark, dispersing its energy, killing himself in the process. Luckily, Sari's [[AllSpark Key|key]], was able to revive him. {{storylink|The Cool issue 2|The Cool #2}}

Prime then lead the Autobots in defense of [[Dinobot Island (Animated)|Dinobot Island]], but was unable to counter [[Soundwave (Animated)|Soundwave]]'s sonic attacks and [[Lugnut (Animated)|Lugnut]]'s aerial bombardments. The [[Dinobot (Animated)|Dinobot]]s arrived and drove the villains off, but then attempted to drive the Autobots off, too! Prime and [[Grimlock (Animated)|Grimlock]] sorted their issues out and parted on good terms. {{storylink|The Cool issue 3|The Cool #3}}

[[Image:TheCoolMegatronChokesPrime01.jpg|thumb|200px|right|]]

Back in Detroit, Prime was attacked by Blackarachnia, who demanded to know why he abandoned her to die years ago. Prime explained that he and [[Sentinel Prime (Animated)|Sentinel]] immediately formed a rescue party but could not locate her Freeing himself from her webbing, Prime vowed to help her restore her body no matter what. Their touching moment was interrupted by an attack from [[Blackout (Animated)|Blackout]], which buried Prime in rubble. By the time the other Autobots could free him, Blackarachnia had already retreated with the other Decepticons, asking never to be called "Elita-1" again. Prime screamed furiously at this. {{storylink|The Cool issue 4|The Cool #4}}

Optimus was present outside [[Sumdac Systems]] headquarters to greet the revived Megatron, who politely remembered Prime's name. Megatron made short work of Prime, slamming him to the ground by the throat and blasting away the Autobots with his [[fusion cannon]]. Refusing to give up, Prime drew his axe and clashed with Megatron's swords. Later, Prime survived the battle to greet [[Ultra Magnus (Animated)|Ultra Magnus]] and the [[Elite Guard]], who were demanding an explanation for why he and his crew had yet to return to Cybertron. {{storylink|The Cool issue 5|The Cool #5}}
{{-}}

==Toys==
{{main|Optimus Prime (Animated)/toys}}

==Merchandise==
:''Main article: [[Optimus Prime (Animated)/toys#Merchandise]]''

==Notes==
*The twin cylinder-shaped protrusions connected to Optimus's small antennae are inspired by the head design of the [[Transformers (2007)|2007 movie]] rendition of [[Optimus Prime (Movie)|Optimus Prime]], as opposed to the [[Optimus Prime (G1)|traditional]] single cylinder.
*Optimus Prime features design elements from two different incarnations of [[Optimus Primal]]. The "skin" color of his face (and to a lesser extent, the presence of a retractable faceplate) is taken from Primal's first [[Beast Wars (franchise)|Beast Wars]] body, while the way his lips are drawn is inspired by Primal's [[Beast Machines (franchise)|Beast Machines]] body. [[Derrick J. Wyatt]] thought since Prime is more of an inexperienced leader, he wanted to infuse some elements from Primal's design, who had a similar role in his series. <ref>[http://community.livejournal.com/tf_animated/271043.html#cutid1 Derrick Wyatt Q&A at the tf_animated livejournal community]</ref>
*Optimus was killed off after only [[Transform and Roll Out|one episode]] (three if you want to get technical) ''and'' revived 1 minute and 15 seconds later. That's gotta be [[The many deaths of Optimus Prime|a new record]].
*At the end of "Transform and Roll Out", Prime's spark is contained in the same place ordinarily reserved for the [[Matrix (disambiguation)|Matrix]] in other continuities.
*Despite nominally being a fire truck, Prime's alt mode features a detachable cab that can mount a number of different trailers, such as [[Headmaster (episode)|a lookalike of Generation 1 Optimus's trailer]] and a [[The Elite Guard|dump truck]]. Presumably, this would make his alt mode not a fire truck, but a semi-truck ''outfitted'' as a fire truck. Score one for the old fans!
*Like his Generation 1 counterpart, this Optimus's trailer almost invariably disappears COMPLETELY when he transforms, assuming it's there to begin with. This even happens when it isn't his trailer, such as in "[[Garbage In, Garbage Out]]". Even Prime himself is just as confused as to where it goes, as evidenced by "[[Career Day]]" [[Subspace]] shunting? [[Unicron Singularity]]? Or...something more?
*Optimus Prime's bio on his Happy Meal toy at McDonald's says he is a '''FIRE TRUCK CAB'''.
*To date, none of Optimus' toys come with his trademark 'grappler launcher' weapons.
*According to the packaging call-outs for Cybertron Mode, DVD two-pack and Voyager Optimus Prime, his weapon is an "Ion-Axe" (or "Ion Axe"). However, on Roll Out Command Optimus Prime, Optimus's weapon is an "Ultra-Axe". The ''[[Transformers Animated: The AllSpark Almanac|AllSpark Almanac]]'' labels it a [[Solitarium]] weapon. The Japanese dub not only embraced the term "Ultra-Axe", but also added the "Ultra-" prefix to Prime's net (now the "Ultra-Net"), grappling hook (the "Ultra-Anchor"), and... jumping ability ("Ultra-Jump").
*[[TakaraTomy]] marketing director, [[Masahiko Yamazaki]], has claimed that the Japanese version of ''Transformers Animated'' takes place within the continuity of the [[Live-action film series|live-action film franchise]], thus making ''Animated'' Optimus Prime the same character as Movie [[Optimus Prime (Movie)|Optimus Prime]]. Some of Yamazaki's other statements regarding this have been contradicted (primarily regarding [[Bulkhead (Animated)|Bulkhead]]), so take with a grain of salt.
*A round of punny Japanese. During the "next episode" preview at the end of "[[Transform and Roll Out|A New Chapter! Transformers]]", Bumblebee complains that the name "Oputimasu Puraimu" (as the natives pronounce it) is too long and difficult to remember. His renaming suggestions include: "[[Convoy]]", "Oputi", "Opura", and "Pupu". Obviously, Optimus rejects all of them, saying that "Oputi" is more suited for a cute dog, "Opura" just sounds weird, and "Pupu", while cute, would be hard not to laugh at.

==External links==
* [http://www.tfu.info/2008/Autobot/CybModeOptimusPrime/optimusprime.htm Optimus Prime at TFU.info]

==References==
<references />

[[Category: Animated characters]]
[[Category: Autobots]]
[[Category:Fast food exclusives]]
[[Category:Universe (2008)]]

Megatron (Animated)

2010-08-05T08:51:09Z

24.24.174.56: /* The Cool comic */

{{factions|decepticon}}{{disambig3|Megatron}}
:''Megatron is a [[Decepticon]] from the [[Transformers Animated (franchise)|Transformers Animated]] [[continuity family]].''

[[Image:Megatronanimated.jpg|300px|thumb|An insult to G1, we swear!]] If you were to ask '''Megatron''' to describe himself in one word, he'd probably go with "heroic". He sees himself as a freedom fighter, [[Decepticon leader#Animated|leading]] the Decepticons out of the days of "[[Autobot]] tyranny". The fact he's hoping to replace that with Decepticon tyranny isn't really a concern. A fanatic at [[spark]], he revels in every Autobot who suffers at Decepticon hands and doesn't register humans as anything more than "collateral damage."

Megatron demands loyalty from the Decepticons, loyalty he gains by his awe-inspiring power. With the combined threat of a sharp mind, his [[fusion cannon]], a pair of deadly swords and simple brute strength, there aren't many who'd dare cross him. Still, he has no problem manhandling troops as a gentle reminder.

The loss of his body and former power was only a minor setback for him, as Megatron proved a master manipulator. He effortlessly duped [[Isaac Sumdac]] into helping him—and once Megatron was restored to full power, he turned the tables on his old captor.

He is extremely intolerant of treachery and deals with [[Starscream (Animated)|said treacherous bots]] with a vicious no-nonsense efficiency, [[Megatron (G1)|unlike other Decepticon leaders]]. He is also a shrewd strategist who effortlessly [[Scrapper (Animated)|wraps]] [[Mixmaster (Animated)|others]] around his fingers.

{{bigquote|Decepticons... ''transform and rise up!''|Megatron puts a new twist on [[Roll out|an old saying]]|"[[Megatron Rising - Part 2]]"}}

==Fiction==
===''Animated'' cartoon===
{{Idw-tfa}}
:''Voice actor:'' [[Corey Burton]] (English), [[Norio Wakamoto]] (Japanese), [[Jan Spitzer]] (German), [[Mirosław Neinert]] (Polish), [[Afonso Amajones]] (Portuguese)

[[Image:Megatron Cybertron.jpg|left|thumb|Pointier than thou.]]
Eons ago, Megatron led the Decepticons in their war against the Autobots for control of Cybertron and freedom from Autobot tyranny. However, the Autobots under [[Ultra Magnus (Animated)|Ultra Magnus]] had two major advantages: They possessed the [[AllSpark (Animated)|AllSpark]], giving them an infinite supply of energy, and they had exclusive [[space bridge]] technology, allowing them to move about the galaxy more easily. However, Megatron's forces continued to fight on until the Autobots sent the AllSpark through the space bridge to random coordinates. Realizing that the AllSpark was the key to defeating the Autobots, Megatron abandoned the Cybertron theater and began searching the galaxy aboard his massive flagship, the ''[[Nemesis (Animated)|Nemesis]]''. However, some Decepticons continued to fight on against the Autobots.

[[Image:TFA TARO Decepticons attention.JPG|175px|thumb|He's not planning on shaking Prime's hand...he's going to tear it off.]] Four million years later, Megatron's crew discovered a [[Omega Supreme (Animated)|small Autobot repair vessel]] after detecting the [[AllSpark (Animated)|AllSpark]]. When [[Starscream (Animated)|Starscream]] volunteered to attack, Megatron saw his ambitions all too clearly, and pointedly remarked that he wasn't about to let four million solar cycles of searching for the AllSpark end with Starscream getting his greasy wings on it. No, Megatron would strike the Autobot ship and take the AllSpark himself. Just prior to his departure, Starscream approached him again, ostensibly to wish him luck, but actually to place an overload device on his leader's back. This device went off just as Megatron's fusion cannon was about to breach the hull of the Autobots' ship. The Autobot crew managed to steer the now-failing ship through an asteroid field and into a nearby [[space bridge]].

With the ship now plummeting through the Earth's atmosphere, a wounded Megatron still managed to thrash the crew soundly and nearly claimed the AllSpark. Quick thinking on the part of [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus Prime]] sent the Decepticon leader out the cargo hatch and into free fall. Megatron [[Megatron (Movie)|fell from the sky]] and crashed in Paw Paw, Michigan, where his head (and later, a hand) was found by a young [[Isaac Sumdac]].

Over the next fifty years, Sumdac built a robotics empire by reverse-engineering Megatron's components, while, Megatron's inert head remained secretly in Sumdac's private lab, the source of the human's engineering genius and also a secret shame. Megatron's severed hand was there as well, used by Sumdac as a piece of furniture. {{storylink|Transform and Roll Out}}

[[Image:AniMegsHead-TransformAndRollout.jpg|left|150px|thumb|Hey Megatron, don't lose your... oh.]]
After the Autobots re-awoke, [[Sari Sumdac|Sari]] used her [[AllSpark Key]] to sneak into her father's lab. He stopped her from seeing anything it contained, but the AllSpark energy from the Key was absorbed by Megatron's head, reawakening his spark and bringing him back online. Confused and disoriented, he automatically brought up video footage of Starscream and the Autobots, footage in which Starscream admitted to his treachery. Furious both at Starscream's betrayal and the fact he didn't have the hands to reach out and take the AllSpark which was finally within his grasp, he released a burst of energy which activated a small drone Dr. Sumdac had been working on. Megatron thus realized he could control the extremely primitive (by his standards) technology around him. Learning Sari was going to spend the night at the Autobot base, he secreted his drone into her backpack. Once she arrived, Megatron sent the drone to look for the AllSpark, but his search was fruitless. He decided to try a simpler method: Kill the Autobots and extract the data from their lifeless corpses. Interfacing with the factory's assembly line, he attacked. As the Autobots fought back, he decided to cut out the middleman and knocked a hole in a fuel tank. [[Prowl (Animated)|Prowl]] realized the factory was working via motion sensors and managed to get close to the control panel. To counter him, Megatron simply took over the factory arms and snatched up Prowl. However, he failed to stop [[Bumblebee (Animated)|Bumblebee]], due to the primitive tools he was forced to use. With his plans foiled, Megatron was out of patience, refusing to work through these worthless proxy machines. He needed a body, which meant it was time to provide some more advanced technology to Sumdac... {{storylink|Home Is Where the Spark Is}}

Megatron soon revealed to Isaac that he still functioned and, when Isaac guessed he was a friend of the Autobots, Megatron played along. He persuaded Isaac to keep his existence secret until Isaac had built him a new body, as then the Autobots would be more forgiving of how Isaac had reverse-engineered their friend. Megatron then helped construct the [[Dinobot (Animated)|Dinobots]], deliberately programming them to go on a rampage and building fire-breath into them as a prototype for a planned army of drones. When they were defeated, Megatron despaired he might never gain a new body, but upon discovering they'd been turned into sentient Transformers, he quickly convinced them that cars, trucks and "[[Autobot|car robots]]" were evil beings that ate the fossil fuels supposedly derived from dinosaurs.

During their second rampage, Isaac realized Megatron had deliberately built weapons into the Dinobots. The tyrant feigned shame, saying he'd added experimental features out of a desire to have a body again. Isaac promised not to tell the Autobots and that Megatron would have a body again one day... {{storylink|Blast from the Past}}

Soon, Dr. Sumdac began attempting to build him some new servos, but these proved inadequate. Megatron revealed that his body would need [[Destronium]] to work, but Isaac responded there was only a small amount available and that it would have to be delivered across town in less than 10 minutes or it would become unstable. Taking notice of an experimental turbo suit Sumdac's labs were developing (with flaws that possibly precluded Isaac considering it as a solution), Megatron manipulated computer systems so the suit was delivered to small-time hood [[Nanosec|Nino Sexton]]. Once Sexton began using the suit to commit crimes too quickly to be stopped, Megatron contacted him with an offer of much money out of Dr. Sumdac's private account if Sexton used the suit to steal and deliver the Destronium. Between Autobot interference and the suit aging him prematurely, Sexton failed. Worse, the Destronium was energized to a critical level, risking an explosion that would destroy [[Detroit]]. The Autobots barely managed to send the Destronium sample into the upper atmosphere before it exploded, and they were left to wonder why a human had tried to steal it in the first place. {{storylink|Nanosec (episode)|Nanosec}}

After Megatron learned of the power of the AllSpark Key and the careless nature in which she used it, he attempted to trick her into assisting him. He designed [[Soundwave (Animated)|Soundwave]], a musical toy that was secretly meant to grow more powerful every time Sari used the Key upon it, until eventually it would be a suitable robotic body for Megatron himself. When the Key instead brought Soundwave to independent life, Megatron changed his plan and, with convincing logic, recruited Soundwave as a Decepticon warrior. {{storylink|Sound and Fury}}

When [[Blitzwing (Animated)|Blitzwing]] and [[Lugnut (Animated)|Lugnut]] arrived on Earth, Megatron, remembering Starscream's betrayal, was hesitant to act. After witnessing a battle between his soldiers and the Autobots, Megatron concluded that Blitzwing was too unstable, but Lugnut was genuinely loyal. He contacted Lugnut only, instructing him to locate the AllSpark, which would help restore him. Later, he also informed Lugnut about the Key. Unfortunately, Lugnut and Blitzwing were defeated and damaged by the Autobots, severing Lugnut's link with Megatron—and Megatron's only link to the outside world. {{storylink|Lost and Found (episode)|Lost and Found}}

[[Image:Sumdac megatron%27s body.jpg|200px|thumb|Yeah, it's a fixer-upper.]]
Although Megatron himself was not mentally involved, his headless body was infected with [[space barnacles]], causing the barnacles to mutate into a semi-sentient form. After absorbing two mining bots and attacking a [[Sparkplug (Animated human)|miner]], it was defeated by Bumblebee and Prowl. Later, the body was discovered (minus space barnacles) by Isaac Sumdac and most likely brought back to his laboratory. Sumdac remarked that Megatron would be ''very'' pleased with the find... {{storylink|Nature Calls}}

[[Image:MegRisingRebuilt.jpg|left|200px|thumb|Don't call it a comeback; I've been here for years.]] Sumdac attempted to rebuild Megatron, but progress was slowed by a power failure. Frustrated, Megatron again contacted Lugnut and ordered him to bring him the AllSpark Key. This communication triggered Starscream's curiosity, and the treacherous jet located Megatron. Starscream didn't have time to <s>finish his speech</s> slay Megatron before he was distracted by the Autobots—and Megatron used that distraction to take Starscream by surprise and eject him from the lab. When Blitzwing and Lugnut arrived with the Key, Megatron revealed his true identity to his human "friend". Sumdac, seized by the mechanical hand he had so long used as a chair, could only watch and wail in horror as the Decepticon tyrant used the power of the AllSpark to reconstruct himself, more powerful than ever. Finally restored, he burst through the roof of [[Sumdac Tower]], to the horror of the Autobots and Starscream, ready to unleash his vengeance on all of them. {{storylink|Megatron Rising - Part 1}}

[[Image:PayThePiper.JPG|200px|thumb|"Will anyone else attempt to fill his shoes?"]] Megatron's revenge was quick and brutal. Trashing the Autobots in short order, he called his Decepticons to him. As Starscream bootlicked, Megatron powered up his fusion cannon to destroy the one responsible for his defeat—then used the AllSpark Key to send a painful power surge through Starscream, extinguishing the traitor's spark and reinforcing his authority over Blitzwing and Lugnut. He commanded them to "transform and rise up," and the three Decepticons took to the sky, using the Key to track the AllSpark.

[[Image:Megatron Rising 2 All Spark Megs boom.jpg|left|200px|thumb|This is not good...]] Finding it aboard the Autobots' ship, the Decepticons caused the ship to crash on [[Dinobot Island (Animated)|Dinobot Island]], where Megatron proceeded to beat the [[Slag (slang)|slag]] out of Optimus Prime. Getting into the ship, Megatron removed the AllSpark from its casing and placed it in his chest, preparing to devastate Earth before conquering Cybertron. However, Professor Sumdac used his knowledge of Megatron's circuitry to disrupt his equilibrium sensors, causing Megatron to drop the AllSpark Key. Optimus Prime used the Key to force a surge of power through the AllSpark within Megatron, causing it to explode and disperse its energy.

And yet, it was not a total loss for Megatron; despite the damage, he escaped and managed to abduct Sumdac. Once again, their fates were intertwined, only this time Sumdac was Megatron's prisoner. {{storylink|Megatron Rising - Part 2}}

Establishing a base deep underground in a mine, Megatron quickly adjusted his plans after the loss of the AllSpark. During his battle aboard the Autobot ship, he had managed to download a partial [[space bridge]] schematic from their computers. He planned to use the space bridge to teleport himself, Lugnut, and Blitzwing to Cybertron, then conquer the planet from within. To facilitate this plan, Megatron used the captive Professor Sumdac to reverse-engineer the space bridge and fill in the "gaps" within the schematics. However, when a service bot suddenly malfunctioned, it was revealed that a shard of the AllSpark was embedded within it. This gave Megatron hope that the AllSpark was not destroyed, but dispersed throughout the city of Detroit. {{storylink|The Elite Guard}}

[[Image:Swordscream.JPG|200px|thumb|Yes, Starscream, and we'll keep doing it until you get it right!]]
Finding out about the AllSpark fragments, however, didn't seem to result in any changes in his plans. Megatron received word from a spy that the Decepticons had begun making random assaults on the Autobots. He realized that they needed to make a concentrated effort in order to secure his victory. He had Lugnut and Blitzwing steal a tachyon transmitter from the [[Cybertron Elite Guard|Elite Guard]] so he could send his message, but was interrupted during his transmission by a revived Starscream. After quickly beating him to a pulp, Megatron relayed his commands to the spacefaring 'Cons, only to be repeatedly attacked by a seemingly invincible Starscream. The renegade even attempted to draw Megatron out with an AllSpark fragment. Megatron emerged victorious every time and was informed by his spy that all was going as planned: With his [[Decepticon Uprisings|forces now drawing the Autobots away from Cybertron]], Megatron could attack a weakened Cybertron from within as soon as his space bridge was completed. {{storylink|Mission Accomplished}}

Later, while at the Decepticon base, Lugnut detected an AllSpark energy signal emanating from Detroit. Megatron quickly dispatched Lugnut to retrieve the AllSpark shard before the Autobots could. Lugnut proceeded to praise his master's "grand and glorious plan", but Megatron, fed up with the adulation to the point of involuntary optic-twitching, curtly commanded his enforcer to get going. {{storylink|Garbage In, Garbage Out}}

[[Image:RiseoftheConstructicons-Megatron%27sprivateblend.jpg|left|200px|thumb|Gentlemen, to evil.]]
When Lugnut and Blitzwing brought the [[Constructicon (Animated)|Constructobots]] back to base, Megatron saw the advantage of keeping them alive, and he invited them to have a look at his space bridge schematics. Impressed by their knowledge, he decided to put them to work stealing supplies. After an encounter with [[Bulkhead (Animated)|Bulkhead]], the Constructobots became convinced of "the funny guy's" less-than-noble intentions, and they returned to the mine to confront him. Megatron calmly slammed them both against a rock face and asked them to explain. He feigned shock and brought them in to discuss things over his own private oil blend. Megatron showed himself to be a bit of an oil connoisseur, possessing stylish little goblets for it made of twisted oil drums, as well as a secret stash of top-quality oil and a chamber to drink it in. Megatron spoke of the glories they could achieve as Constructicons: the adulation, the statues in their honor...the barrels of oil they could down. Ever the shrewd worker, it didn't take much for him to convince them to join up, and he promptly sent them to the Autobot base to retrieve the AllSpark fragments. {{storylink|Rise of the Constructicons}}

[[Image:Rise Constructicons Megatron what.jpg|200px|thumb|Constructicons say WHAAAAAT?]]
When Starscream escaped from the Elite Guard's ship, Megatron received [[Ultra Magnus (Animated)|Ultra Magnus]]'s alert to the Autobots thanks to the stolen tachyon transmitter. Megatron had placed a bounty on the traitor, and [[Lockdown (Animated)|Lockdown]] (with the unknowing aid of Prowl) pretty much took the opportunity to bring him to the Decepticon leader. Lockdown contacted Megatron to confirm that he had captured a purple-ish "Starscream" (who was acting quite odd and cowardly) and agreed to meet at an abandoned warehouse for the exchange. As "Starscream" was brought to Megatron, Prowl, who was hiding on a rafter high above, accidentally scuffed a small bolt, which grabbed the Decepticons' attention. Not too long after, the Autobots appeared with another, different-colored Starscream. Megatron intercepted Lockdown's escape and announced confusedly that no one was to leave until they found out which was the true Starscream. However, it turned out that both Starscreams were clones with bombs in their [[spark]] chambers designed to destroy Megatron and the Autobots in one go. Quickly thinking up a plan, Megatron and the other Decepticons transformed and escaped forcibly through the ceiling. However, Prowl used the upgrades given to him by Lockdown to send the [[Starscream clone (Animated)|clones]] into the air, not too far from the fleeing Decepticons, when the bombs exploded. It is unknown if they were wounded, but Megatron later raised the bounty on Starscream—insisting on the ''real'' one this time. {{storylink|A Fistful of Energon}}

He was later contacted by [[Swindle (Animated)|Swindle]], who attempted to sell him a new weapon. Nothing came of this, as Swindle was defeated before the deal could be closed. {{storylink|SUV: Society of Ultimate Villainy}} Megatron also made some ''"secret"'' transmissions to his [[Shockwave (Animated)|double agent]] on Cybertron in order to settle his new plans for the coming Autobot-Decepticon war. {{storylink|Autoboot Camp}}

[[Image:TFA ABTC1 Megatron Sumdac Hostage.jpg|left|200px|thumb|"Did I tell you about the time I killed the cult leader?"]]
Megatron's plans finally seemed on the verge of fruition when Sumdac and the Constructicons completed the space bridge. However, some vital technical aspects made it inoperable. In order to remedy this, Megatron contacted Shockwave to learn who was Cybertron's leading [[Space bridge technician]], which turned out to be the Autobot Bulkhead. Not wishing to leave Doctor Sumdac alone to sabotage the Constructicons' efforts, Megatron took him along as a hostage while he went to capture Bulkhead. Once he had the big Autobot in custody, Megatron threatened to use the [[Headmaster (Animated)|Headmaster]] unit on him if he didn't help make the space bridge operational. To Megatron's satisfaction, Bulkhead agreed and finished the project. Just as the machine was activated, both the Autobots and Starscream and his clone army attacked. {{storylink|A Bridge Too Close, Part I}}

The three-way free-for-all ironically forced Megatron and Optimus Prime to team up temporarily, but this quickly ended when Megatron used Prime's body as a shield against one of Starscream's clone's attacks. Despite putting up a decent resistance, Megatron was overwhelmed and held down by two of the Starscream clones. As the original Starscream gloated, he was head-jacked by Isaac Sumdac in the Headmaster unit. Sumdac prepared to fight Megatron himself, but Megatron simply used his strength to throw the two Starscream clones at him, knocking off the Headmaster unit and proving himself the victor. With Starscream incapacitated, the clones sided with Megatron. He then made his own victory speech to his soldiers, declaring he would send Optimus Prime through the bridge to test it. However, the Autobots got some [[Omega Supreme (Animated)|reinforcements]]. Megatron quickly ordered the majority of his forces to deal with this new menace while the Constructicons cleared the space bridge area of rubble. Grabbing Optimus, Megatron threw him into the portal, but was frustrated when Prowl freed his leader in the nick of time, at which point the bridge shut down. Bulkhead declared the power source wasn't strong enough to maintain the link for long, so Megatron grabbed Starscream's AllSpark-powered head to maintain the gateway. However, this provided too much power, sending the space bridge portal out of control. An enraged Megatron decided to terminate Optimus Prime, only for Optimus to slap [[stasis cuffs]] on him, causing him to lose his grip and fall into the portal.

[[Image:TFA ABTC2 Megatron Screamer End.jpg|200px|thumb|"Stop staring at me!"]]
With the overload having deleted the space bridge's receiving coordinates, the defeated Megatron was transported to some unknown sector of space. Still immobilized by the stasis cuffs, Megatron's only companion was now Starscream's head, which a cruel twist of Fate had deposited right next to him. Forced to remain face to face with his traitorous ex-lieutenant, Megatron could only trade verbal blows. A most cruel fate, indeed. {{storylink|A Bridge Too Close, Part II}}

After their bickering subsided, Starscream began trying to free Megatron from the stasis cuffs, but having no body was a hinderance. Megatron was only freed when Starscream revealed a previously unseen weapon from his mouth. Before their could react, Omega Supreme appeared, offline. Getting aboard him, Megatron was captured by Omega, but was able to convince the simple processor possessing behemoth to take him to Cybertron to face a war crimes tribunal. However, Omega Supreme's attempt to transwarp to Cybertron left them somewhere else in space, but did drain Omega for the time being. Initially disgusted that he was trapped aboard the cause of the Decepticons defeat, as well without his weapons and only Starscream for company, Megatron soon realized that if he could reprogram Omega to serve him, he would be a great advantage.

Managing to hotwire the Autobot with the stasis cuffs and Starscream's AllSpark charged head, Megatron contacted Shockwave to give him a status report on the Earth space bridge. However, the situation was worse than Megatron realized: not only was the space bridge network shut down, but the Earth Autobots could expose Shockwave at any moment. Although Omega Supreme provided an advantage that could end both problems, Megatron decided that the space bridge invasion plan was a failure, and issued a fleet wide stand down order. Heading to Earth, Megatron attempted to use Omega to destroy the Autobots (even though he couldn't remember their names). However, Prowl and Optimus Prime managed to board Omega and sever Megatron's control over him. Unfortunately, Starscream managed to gain control over Omega Supreme, capturing Megatron again. Ever the manipulator, Megatron convinced Starscream that his time would be better spent conquering Cybertron. However, the Autobots managed to install the [[plasmadynamic thruster]] from Megatron's space bridge into Omega Supreme, sending Omega and the two Decepticons aboard warping through space randomly. {{storylink|TransWarped}}

[[Image:TFAni Decepticon Air Lugnut Megatron.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Don't you just hate it when fanboys keep following you?]]
Later, as Lugnut was floating through space following his half-successful escape from the Elite Guard flagship, Omega Supreme transwarped to directly in front of him and he smashed into the bridge window. When Starscream asked Megatron if they were picking up hitchhickers, Megatron simply slapped his head of its position. That was for asking stupid questions.. {{storylink|Decepticon Air}}

Soon thereafter, Megatron gained control of Omega Supreme's transforming mechanism, and by detaching the plasmadynamic thruster was also able to direct their transwarp jumps; however, he could not get the weapons online without the proper access codes. Megatron brought the ship to Cybertron, where they could do little but float helplessly in the air; Megatron reasoned—correctly—that the Autobots would not dare fire on their own most famous weapon (though [[Sentinel Prime (Animated)|Sentinel "Magnus"]] sure wanted to). Megatron ordered Shockwave to hurry up his search for the access codes; once Shockwave successfully abducted Arcee and boarded the ship, they transwarped into Earth orbit right before Sentinel opened fire. Megatron welcomed Shockwave aboard as his "most loyal" servant, to the great concern of Lugnut. {{storylink|This Is Why I Hate Machines}}

Now on the moon, Megatron commanded Shockwave to extract the access codes from Arcee's mind. When Starscream re-attached his head to another clone body, Megatron pursued him and destroyed all the remaining clones, teasing Starscream for having always thought on a small scale. Megatron's ultimate plans for the protoforms aboard the ''Nemesis'' was to use them to create his own clone fleet of Omega Supremes--based on the personality template of his ''truly'' most loyal minion, Lugnut. That part of the plan went just fine, but Shockwave was still unable to get Arcee to do his bidding--perhaps because although she was fooled by his Longarm Prime persona, she saw the evil Megatron standing right behind him and refused to cooperate. After a few technical bypasses put Lugnut in mental command of the "[[Lugnut Supreme]]" fleet, Megatron ordered his new weapons to test their skills by destroying the Earthbound Autobots. {{storylink|Endgame, Part I}}

Observing from within one of the Lugnut Supremes, Megatron's first target for destruction was his former prison, Sumdac Tower. But when the tower's forcefield proved impenetrable and Optimus Prime was able to destroy one of the Lugnut Supremes and severely damage the other two by using the [[Magnus Hammer]], Megatron settled on a new plan: destroying everything that wasn't him. He flew cover over the advancing Lugnut Supremes, directly engaging Optimus Prime (at first mistaken for [[Ultra Magnus (Animated)|Ultra Magnus]], then dismissed as a [[knockoff|"cheap imitation"]]) so Prime would not again be able to use the Magnus Hammer on the giants. As their combat raged on, Megatron was at last able to remember Optimus Prime's name, to Prime's bitter enjoyment. The two were later trapped within a prison of Allspark energy--meant to seal in the timebomb that Starscream had secretly placed in one of the Lugnut Supremes--and Megatron reasoned that even if he himself had to die, he could at least kill Prime first. But Prowl's ghost was having none of that, and Megatron soon found himself left alone to be blown up. Though massively damaged, he survived this and turned to attack the Autobots once more. He was quickly defeated by Optimus Prime, and when Megatron then invited Prime to kill him, Prime retorted that that would be "the easy way out," which Megatron did not deserve. Megatron was placed in [[stasis cuffs]] and arrested, then brought back to Cybertron and displayed as a prisoner before the cheering Autobot masses. {{storylink|Endgame, Part II}}

===''Quest for the AllSpark''===
Megatron took to hanging around online using the alias "Meg A. Tron". Masquerading thusly, he was able to recruit the unwitting help of [[Heinz Von Furstwartz|Professor Heinz Von Furstwartz]] in his scheme to sow confusion amongst the Autobots and get hold of the AllSpark. He was also able to take control of Detroit's legion of robot workers, forcing the Autobots to enact an elaborate plan to keep the AllSpark safe. {{storylink|Quest for the AllSpark}}

===Titan Magazines===
[[Image:MegatronTitan23.jpg|right|180px|thumb|"NIXON'S BAAACK!"]]

Apart from showing interest in the activities of [[Quake-Maker]], {{storylink|Animated Comic issue 1|Burnout!}} Megatron seemed idle... but what the Autobots were unaware of was that he'd constructed a Spark-less drone unit, [[Afterburn]], as a prototype of a future army, and then sent Afterburn off to spy on the Autobots.

He not only received repeated communications from his spy, but gained directions to the Autobot base! Megatron entered with explosive results {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 23|Divebomb}} and then ''killed'' Afterburn while rubbing [[Bumblebee (Animated)|Bumblebee]]'s nose in it. He proceeded to summon the other Decepticons and thrash most of the Autobots with ease, making some really bad puns along the way, only stopped when [[Starscream (Animated)|Starscream]] secretly got him buried under a crane. Starscream then "saved" him, making Megatron think he'd turned over a new leaf and thus giving him temporary command until he got better. {{storylink|Transformers Comic issue 24|Megatron's Revenge}}

{{-}}
===Animated shorts===
[[Image:MockMegs-bunny.jpg|thumb|left|200px|If only [[Cyclonus (Animated)|he]] was around to see this]]
While Megatron gave an inspirational speech to his Decepticons (which seemed to be very similar to [[Mission Accomplished|another message]] he'd sent out), Starscream proceeded to make fun of him behind his back—making faces, giving Megatron bunny ears, and shaking his butt at his leader. Megatron was suspicious of Starscream's actions, but each time he turned to look, his lieutenant was standing there innocently, doing nothing unseemly. Megatron apparently decided to let it go, as did the other Decepticons (even Lugnut), until he finally caught Starscream in mid-heckle and dealt with him by blasting him through a wall. {{storylink|Starscream Heckles Megatron}}
{{-}}

===''The Cool'' comic===
[[Image:TheCoolMegatronChokesPrime01.jpg|thumb|200px|right|All aboard the Crazy Train! ''Toot! Toot!'']]

At some point, [[Starscream (Animated)|Starscream]] double-crossed Megatron and attempted to kill him. Unbeknownst to anyone, Megatron's head survived his destruction and had hooked into [[Detroit]]'s closed-circut video surveillance system. Following the dispersion of the [[AllSpark (Animated)|AllSpark]] (and Starscream's apparent demise), Megatron became intrigued by [[Sari Sumdac|Sari's]] [[AllSpark Key|key]] after she used it to bring [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Optimus Prime]] back to life. Interests piqued, Megatron declared the time was right to initiate the next phase of his operation. {{storylink|Intense AllSpark Competition!}}

Megatron eventually got his hands on the key and used its power to revive himself. After killing Starscream, Megatron engaged Optimus Prime in a sword-to-axe duel. The outcome of that fight is unknown, though apparently the Autobots survived the day. {{storylink|The Cool issue 5|The Cool #5}}

{{-}}

==Toys==
===Animated===
[[Image:TFAnimated Deluxe BattleBegins Megatron toy.jpg|250px|thumb|SPAAAACE ROOOAAACH!]]
*'''Optimus Prime vs. Megatron: The Battle Begins''' (Entertainment Pack, 2008)
**''Accessories'': Missile

: Transforms into a sleek spacecraft with, er, VTOL turbofans (presumably designed to show some lineage with his eventual helicopter mode. It's best if you don't think about it too hard). Megatron's signature fusion cannon forms the central chassis and cockpit section of the spacecraft (officially, a "Fusion Fighter"); his sword sections mount on the sides of the cannon for storage, though the blade is unremovable and effectively useless. Like the [[Optimus Prime (Animated)|Prime]] figure he comes with, he features a punching gimmick, having a spring-loaded waist that snaps back when twisted. Unfortunately, Megatron's balljoint hips and the swivel joints between his thighs and knees are rather loose, making it difficult to pose the figure in such a way that he stands on his own. The figure features a silver color scheme and battle damage paint applications. Also included was [[Transformers Animated (cartoon)/DVD#Pack-in disc|a DVD]] featuring the first episode of ''Transformers Animated''.

:The design makes it tricky to tell which end of his Fusion Fighter is the front and which is the back.

:This toy was also released in a 2-pack with Prowl as a Wal*Mart [[exclusive]] (see below).

:If you want to be pedantic about it, the battle implied by the battle-pack pairing is technically a timeline impossibility, insofar as it depicts Cybertron Mode Megatron versus Earth Mode Optimus. It is also [[scale]]d incorrectly, as Megatron was shown as being notably larger than Optimus in "[[Transform and Roll Out]]".

::*''[http://www.tfu.info/2008/Decepticon/BattleBeginsMegatron/megatron.htm More information on "The Battle Begins" Megatron at TFU.info]''

{{-}}{{anchor|VoyagerCybMode}}

[[Image:Animated megatron voyager.jpg|250px|thumb|Curse you, Earth's atmosphere!]]
*'''CYBERTRON Mode Megatron''' (Voyager, 2008)
**''Japanese ID number:'' '''TA-06'''
**''Accessories'': Missile

: A larger, bulkier, more detailed, and more gimmick-laden iteration of the same character design used in the deluxe-scaled versus pack toy. Note that while both modes of both toys look very similar, they have different transformation mechanisms and are not a simple upscaling/downscaling of each other. Where the deluxe version is straight silver, this version has a pearl-gray paint scheme. The figure features an [[automorph]] gimmick in the chest, which closes like a clamshell in transforming to robot mode. A second automorph gimmick is built into the energon blades on the cannon, swinging them into place to form a polearm. Red translucent plastic is heavily used throughout the figure, including in the light piping for the head and the missile for the spring-loaded cannon. Even his ''fingers'' are made of energon, it seems.

:This toy apparently had a safety modification done late on in the design process (late enough that it doesn't show up on the instructions), possibly as a result of drop test failure. The strut that holds his fusion cannon has been reinforced, and as a result, his cannon cannot be mounted flush against his arm. It is also noted that his cannon easily pops off.

:As with the smaller figure above, it's not obvious exactly what end is the front of his spaceship mode. Neither orientation really matches up to the version seen in the show, which had the fusion cannon mounted in a way that's impossible with both toys.

::*''[http://www.tfu.info/2008/Decepticon/VoyagerMegatron/megatron.htm More information on Cybertron Mode Megatron at TFU.info]''
{{-}}{{anchor|Leader}}

[[Image:Animated megatron leader.jpg|250px|thumb|"I kill you till you're dead!"]]
*'''Megatron''' (Leader, 2008)
**''Japanese ID number:'' '''TA-26'''
**''Accessories'' Missile, 2 rotor-swords

: Megatron's "Earth" robot mode bears a significant resemblance to Generation 1 [[Megatron (G1)#The Battlestars|Super Megatron]] from the ''Battlestars'' storyline, and thus, in turn, to his original G1 body. His alt-mode is a dual-rotored helicopter design, somewhat like an [[Incinerator (Movie)|Osprey]] [[Obsidian|helicopter]] or the [[Cobra]] Mamba. Its rotors form double-bladed swords. The fusion cannon is attached to the left arm out of the box, but it can be detached and put on either arm. It has wheels for use in vehicle mode, and if it is removed, then (undocumented) landing gear can be deployed to make up for the loss. Interestingly, it seems the alt-mode was originally intended to allow for the removal of the cannon without removal of the bottom half of the fuselage. With a fair amount of force the cannon can be popped off (and will reattach), but the cannon mount/fuselage lower half does not provide the front landing gear with sufficient clearance to fully extend. The toy has a [[Gimmick|voice chip]], activated by pressing the Decepticon symbol on his chest. If used in robot mode it says one of three quotes: "Crush the Autobots!", "Where is the AllSpark?", and (glorious) evil laughter. In helicopter mode it makes the sound of the rotors warming up, spinning, and powering down. When the cockpit is moved during transformation the classic G1/Animated [[Transformation#The noise|transformation noise]] is heard. It is compatible with the [[Headmaster (Animated)|Headmaster]] toy, but it does not change his quotes.

: The instructions leave a couple of things out. First, the shoulders should be pushed backwards/upwards for vehicle mode. This lowers the wings down and aligns the front of the engines with the back. Second, the barrel of the cannon can be rotated 180 degrees (at a separate pivot from the one at its base) for robot mode, to better match how it looks in the cartoon, with the red stripes facing his arm. Considering how padded the instructions are to mask the relatively simple transformation (two whole steps just to move the rear landing gear), leaving all this out is quite a feat. Bad Hasbro.

:There is no doubt whatsoever as to which end is the front and which is the back of his vehicle mode.

::*''[http://www.tfu.info/2008/Decepticon/Megatron/megatron.htm More information on Leader Megatron at TFU.info]''

{{-}}{{anchor|McDonalds}}

*'''Megatron''' (McDonald's Happy Meal Toys, 2008)

:This is a very simple representation of Megatron in his Earth form. It transforms by rotating the head, lying face down and flipping the arms onto the back. The robot mode seems to have taken priority in the design process, since the vehicle mode looks like his robot mode lying down. Megatron does not come with his signature arm cannon.

::*''[http://www.tfu.info/2008/Decepticon/McMegatron/megatron.htm More information on McDonald's Megatron at TFU.info]''

{{-}}{{anchor|Activator}}

[[Image:Megatronanimatedactivator.jpg|250px|thumb|"Transform and shrink down!"]]
*'''Megatron''' (Activators, 2008)

:Part of the fourth wave of [[Activators]], this version of Megatron is a very simplified, roughly-Basic-sized version of his Earth mode. His spring-loaded transformation from vehicle to robot mode is activated by a single switch on the back of his copter mode.

:Despite having a cannon on the bottom of his vehicle mode, he does not possess one on either arm in robot mode.

::*''[http://www.tfu.info/2008/Decepticon/ActMegatron/megatron.htm More information on Activators Megatron at TFU.info]''

{{-}}{{anchor|ShadowBlade}}

[[Image:SBAniMegs..jpg|200px|thumb|I defy the Unicron Trilogy. Defy it, I say!]]
*'''Shadow Blade Megatron''' (Leader, 2008)

: A [[Black repaint|black]], grey and purple redeco of Megatron's leader class mold with a slight remolding to the tail... that's NOT called [[Megatron (Armada)/toys|Galvatron]]. YeabuhWHA?

:Surprisingly for a Hasbro produced redeco, Shadow Blade Megatron is cast entirely in black plastic with the exception of his translucent parts. His nose is not painted, so whenever his lights light up...his nose glows red.

: He has a slight molding problem that prevents him from actually moving his face when his Decepticon insignia is pressed.

::*''[http://www.tfu.info/2009/Decepticon/SBMegatron/megatron.htm More information on Shadow Blade Megatron at TFU.info]''
{{-}}

[[Image:MarauderMegatron.jpg|200px|thumb| Not [[Transtech]] [[Blitzwing (G1)| Blitzwing]] ]]
*'''Marauder Megatron'''
**''Accessories:'' Missiles

:A strange, engimatic toy of Megatron with triple changer capability. He has a jet mode and a tank mode, and his robot mode head has a muzzle-like plate over the mouth, almost like he's been... [[Endgame, Part II| imprisoned.]]

{{canceledtoy}}
{{-}}

==Notes==
[[Image:AnimatedMegatronMovieHat.jpg|150px|thumb|They moonlight as lawn darts.]]
* Megatron's pre-Earth head has a rather pointed resemblance to the somewhat early head of 2007 movie's [[Megatron (Movie)|Megatron]], which went unused in the actual movie but appeared on loads of promotional materials and merchandise. Also in common with Movie Megatron, ''Animated'' Megatron lay inert for many years while his technology was [[Sector Seven|reverse-engineered by humans]].

* He is, additionally, [[Megatron (BW)|not the only Megatron]] to spend time as [[Grand Mal|a giant, disembodied head]].

* Megatron's cannon makes the same sound as his [[Megatron (G1)|Generation 1 counterpart]]'s weapon, except with additional effects mixed in to make it actually sound like a laser cannon.

[[Image:AnimatedMegatronAltmode.jpg|150px|thumb|[[Show-accuracy]] be damned!]]
* Megatron's outer space alt mode, shown for all of 20 seconds, has ''two'' toy molds devoted to it. Though these "Cybertron mode" toys resemble each other, neither looks anything like the alt mode of the pre-Earth Megatron seen on the show.

* Megatron is the only one of the original 5 Decepticons in ''Animated'' actually to have a Cybertronian vehicle mode design. Although the others have different robot mode kibble before they scan their Earth modes, none of them had an alt-mode created. Having a toy helps. (This is in contrast to the Autobots, who all had Cybertronian-modes designed for them from the start, even if we didn't see them in the first episode.)

* Sumdac found Megatron's head intact in its original Cybertronian mode. The head housed in his lab, however, is essentially a damaged version of his Earth-mode head. Presumably, this change is the result of Sumdac's destructive tinkering and research over the fifty years Megatron was in stasis lock.

* Early images of Megatron's Earth body had slight differences from the finished product, most notably the lack of a fusion cannon and the presence of a katana instead of his twin swords.

* According to ''[[Transformers Animated: The AllSpark Almanac|The Allspark Almanac]]'', Megatron's Earth mode cockpit seats five.

* When he was a disembodied head, Megatron had a pupil in his right eye, similarly to the Autobots. Since Megatron can now move his head (and has a body), this never appears again.

[[Category:Animated characters]]
[[Category:Decepticons]]
[[Category:Decepticon leaders]]
[[Category:Engineers]]
[[Category:Fast food exclusives]]