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Megatron (G1)

2007-10-29T19:53:02Z

70.49.197.72:

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

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

[[Image:Megatronguido.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Baby, you know I don't mean to hurt you.]]

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

Megatron will attempt almost anything to achieve his goals, but his schemes are rarely in any way subtle. This is perhaps due to his arrogance, but his pride is not so strong as to dissuade him from abandoning a battle he is losing. Some would question his sanity, though these few are mostly now dead by his hands...or his [[Fusion cannon]], depending on his mood.

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

{{quote|You destroy everything you touch, Megatron!|Optimus Prime|[[More Than Meets the Eye, Part 2|MTMTE2]]}}
{{quote|That's because everything I touch is food for my hunger. My hunger for ''power''!|Megatron|[[More Than Meets the Eye, Part 2|MTMTE2]]}}

==Fiction==
===Marvel Comics continuity===
====Generation 1====
''(Note: Events from the UK-only comic stories are in italics.)''

[[Image:Megatrong1marvelarmy.jpg|left|thumb|250px|No, not fascist at all.]]

Four million years ago, ''rising from his beginnings as a gladiator for the city-state of [[Tarn]],'' Megatron and the Decepticons developed the ability of transformation, using it to begin the war against the Autobots, who fought back by mimicking the technology. Megatron declared his intent to transform [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]] into a "cosmic dreadnought" to conquer the universe. {{storylink|The Transformers (comic issue)|The Transformers}} ''However, he would only get as far as building massive engines deep beneath the planet's surface. {{storylink|Legion of the Lost!|Legion of the Lost!, Part 1}}''

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

[[Image:Megatrong1earlymarvel.jpg|right|thumb|150px|Check out my awesome preproduction model!]]

''After the death of [[Sentinel Prime]], Megatron's troops poised themselves around the Autobot capital city of [[Iacon]], slowly disintegrating its defenses. [[Emirate Xaaron]] chose [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], a warrior, to take the [[Council of Autobot Elders]]' place as leader of the Autobot forces. Optimus Prime and Megatron's armies then met in battle, and Megatron's forces were defeated - with help from an exploding bridge. {{storylink|And There Shall Come... A Leader!}}''

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

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

[[Image:Megatrong1marvelblackhole.jpg|thumb|left|150px|My god. He's full of stars.]]

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

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

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

This forced Megatron him into an alliance with [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]], who located and reactivated the [[Dinobot (G1)|Dinobots]], who had defeated Shockwave in the past. However, Ratchet loosed them on Megatron, and was willing to sacrifice himself to knock Megatron off a cliff. While Ratchet survived, Megatron disappeared for some time.

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

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

[[Image:Megatrong1marveltarget2006.jpg|left|thumb|250px|SPOILERS!]]

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

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

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

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

In order to attain possession of a new energy-generating device, the hydrothermacline, Megatron battled Optimus Prime in a video game duel, using a cheat code to continue the fight after he had lost. Prime defeated him again, but at the expense of some of the game's characters, and ruled himself the loser because he would not have committed such an act in real life. Prime was destroyed, and Megatron's elation soon turned into paranoia, as he had not killed Prime with his own hands, and believed he could still be alive. Bringing the Predacons ''back'' to Earth, Shockwave had them pose as Autobots and attack Megatron in another attempt to remove his threat, but the plan failed when the deranged Megatron defeated even [[Predaking]]. Believing (correctly, as it would turn out) that Prime's mind could have been preserved on computer disk, Megatron descended into outright insanity, and boarded the space bridge, vowing to go where Prime could not follow - right before he blew it up with his fusion cannon, apparently killing himself.

[[Image:Megatrong1marveltwomegatrons.jpg|left|thumb|200px|buggabuggaWHA?]]

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

''Some time later, it was salvaged by Shockwave, who brainwashed it and unleashed it on [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]], a recreated future version of Megatron who had traveled back in time from the year 2006 and posed a threat to Shockwave's leadership. The clone Megatron, however, saw a possible partner in Galvatron, and the two teamed up to battle Autobots and Decepticons from both present and future in the apocalyptic [[Time Wars]]. Subsequently, the clone returned to Cybertron, where it defeated the ruling Decepticon Triumvirate, but was then confronted with the ''real'' Megatron - ''the Spacebridge explosion had deposited him in the Dead End region of Cybertron, where he had wandered, with no recollection of who he was, until he had saved [[Blackjack|a Decepticon]] from Autobots and regained his memories.'' The clone Megatron subsequently destroyed itself to prevent Straxus, buried inside its mind, from taking over.''

[[Image:Megs_ratch.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Megs takes "[[Till all are one]]" very literally.]]

While Megatron's [[Micromaster]] [[Air Strike Patrol]] created a diversion which pitted Optimus Prime's forces against [[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]]'s, Megatron sent his [[Micromaster]] [[Sports Car Patrol]] to capture Ratchet from the Ark, bringing him to [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]]. {{storylink|Back from the Dead}} Threatening Ratchet with the destruction of the Ark and all of his patients aboard, Megatron forced him to recreate Starscream as a [[Pretender]]. Ratchet did so, but also restored [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]], [[Jazz]] and [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] in the same manner, thwarting his scheme, and also bringing the explosives on board the Ark through a [[Trans-Time Dimensional Portal|trans-time dimensional portal]] into Megatron's base. When Megatron then attempted to flee through the portal, Ratchet tackled him as the Decepticon's base exploded around them, apparently killing them both. {{storylink|Skin Deep}}

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

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

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

=====Earthforce=====
[[Image:Megs_earthforce.jpg|left|thumb|150px|The real culprit behind global warming.]]

''In an offshoot of the Marvel timeline following the restoration of the Autobots aboard the Ark with Nucleon, but before... uh ... ''(okay, see [[Earthforce]] for continuity notes, it's pretty complicated...)''

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

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

{{-}}

====="Another Time And Place" text story=====
[[Image:Megatrong1anothertime.jpg|right|thumb|50px|Yuk!]]

:''"Another Time and Place" was retconned out of continuity a few years later by the Generation 2 comic books.''

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

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

====Generation 2====
[[Image:Megatrong2cobra.jpg|left|thumb|200px|Green with evil!]]

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

Both [[Skydive (G1)|Skydive]] and [[Spike Witwicky]] had snuck on board, and following a clearly one-sided battle with Spike's [[Headmaster]] partner, [[Fortress Maximus (G1)|Fortress Maximus]], Megatron was seemingly killed again when Fortress Maximus threw himself into the Ark's power core, destroying it once and for all. But Megatron (and a repaired Starscream) rejoined the Decepticons on Earth to challenge the current Decepticon leader, Bludgeon. Bludgeon was deposed, fatally, though Megatron continued many of the Pretender's ongoing projects, such as calling the attentions of Optimus Prime to Earth by indiscriminately rampaging across it. When Prime finally showed up, Megatron's old foe at first attempted to talk and join forces against the new threat of [[Jhiaxus]] and his [[Advanced-Decepticon]]s, but Megatron ignored him, ripped the [[Creation Matrix]] from his chest, and left to infuse a new generation of warriors with life. But after securing the galvanizing additive known as [[Rheanimum]], his forces were bested by Jhiaxus.

[[Image:megatrong2idiot.jpg|thumb|300px|Megatron's getting a little too self-aware.]]

Megatron himself was humbled brutally in battle against Jhiaxus, so he entered into an alliance with the Autobots to "put their house in order." Conversely, they were betrayed by Starscream, who joined forces with Jhiaxus' troops, alerted Jhiaxus to the location of the Autobot/Decepticon camp on Earth, and then again betrayed both sides by using the opportunity to steal the Creation Matrix and Megatron's [[Warworld]]. Starscream, using the powers of the Matrix, fused himself with the War World, which gave Megatron and Optimus Prime great difficulty as they fought their way through its shifting insides. Ultimately, Starscream relinquished the Creation Matrix to Optimus Prime when it was discovered that the artifact was making him nice, allowing Megatron to load a ship with canisters of [[Rheanimum]] gas and head back to Earth, where the [[Swarm]] was beginning its attack. Megatron arrived just in time to coat the remaining Transformers with the gas, which protected them from the Swarm long enough for Optimus Prime to defeat the Swarm with the Matrix. The Swarm departed, changed into a force for good, leaving both Autobot and Decepticon seemingly united for good.
{{-}}

====Fun Publications ''Classics'' comics====

''(Note: The Classics comic takes place after the end of the original Marvel Comic, but in a new timeline that does not include the events of the Marvel UK-exclusive stories or Generation 2.)''

[[Image:Megatronclassicscrossingover.jpg|left|thumb|175px|I got your child safety right here pal!]]

Fifteen years had passed since Megatron supposedly died along with Shockwave, Starscream, and Ratchet when the Ark crashed violently into the Yukon. The defeated Decepticon army scattered, and the Autobots were able to return to a peaceful Cybertron.

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

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

{{-}}

===Animated continuity===

====Generation 1 cartoon====

:''Voice Actor:'' [[Frank Welker]] (US), [[Seizō Katō]] (Japan)<br>

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

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

Gathering a small number of troops together, Megatron made a small strike on an outer city, killing the current Autobot leader. Megatron used a device called the [[Robo-Smasher]] to permanently reprogram Autobots and Decepticons into servitude of his cause, thus swelling the Decepticon ranks into a proper army. Among the robots forced into servitude were the Constructicons. {{storylink|The Secret of Omega Supreme}}

However, these events were not made public knowledge, and young robots like the naive [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Orion Pax]] still looked up to Megatron and his followers because of their new robot-mode flight powers. However, Pax soon learned the error of his ways when Megatron duped him into allowing him access to [[Energon]] warehouses, and Megatron fatally injured him in a scuffle. However, the ancient Autobot, [[Alpha Trion]], reconstructed Pax into a battle hardy configuration - now, he was [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], leader of the Autobots and Megatron's sworn opponent as the civil war erupted again. {{storylink|War Dawn}}

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

Under Megatron's leadership, the Decepticons conquered a large portion of Cybertron, but the war drained Cybertron of most of its energy, necessitating that both factions seek out new worlds and new sources of power. Megatron and his elite forces pursued the Autobots' craft, (referred to as the [[Ark (G1)|Ark]] in Beast Wars, following the ship's name from the G1 Marvel Comics) in their star cruiser (referred to as the [[Nemesis (G1)|Nemesis]] in Beast Wars) and attacked and boarded the craft, causing it to crash on a prehistoric planet, entombing all on the ship in emergency stasis as it crashed into a dormant volcano. {{storylink|More Than Meets the Eye, Part 1|MTMTE, Part 1}}

Four million years later, a volcanic eruption reactivated the Transformers and the war began again on the energy-rich world they found themselves on; Earth. After their first series of battles, the Autobots believed Megatron and the Decepticons destroyed when their [[Decepticon space cruiser|new space cruiser]] crashed into the [[Pacific Ocean]], but in reality they survived and reconstructed the cruiser to serve as a sub-oceanic staging base and bunker. {{storylink|More Than Meets the Eye, Part 2|MTMTE, Part 2}}

Megatron re-established contact with Cybertron, and began construction of an intergalactic transport system called a "space bridge," although the early tests nearly resulted in his destruction when he was sucked into the portal and teleported to Cybertron. The technology was eventually stabilized, however, and used in a grand scheme to transport Cybertron through space into Earth's orbit, where the natural disasters its gravity wreaked created tremendous energy that Megatron and the Decepticons gathered. {{storylink|Transport to Oblivion}} {{storylink|The Ultimate Doom, Part 1}}

The Earth was saved, however, when Megatron's stockpiles of energy were detonated by the Autobots, the explosion forcing Cybertron out of orbit. Again, however, Megatron was able to cheat death, and was forced to team up with Optimus Prime in order to stop the machinations of his treacherous lieutenant, [[Starscream_(G1)|Starscream]]. {{storylink|The Ultimate Doom, Part 3}} {{storylink|Countdown to Extinction}}

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

Over the following years, Megatron's schemes to obtain Earth's energies continued. His assorted plans included various attempts to harness the power of Earth's core, thefts of several unstable energy devices from human scientists, the draining of energy from a time-lost prehistoric island, and partnership with a human politician that allowed him to force the Autobots off of Earth, and actually allowed him to conquer [[Central City (G1)|Central City]] among [[Giant Purple Griffin|many]], many others. {{storylink|The Core}} {{storylink|Dinobot Island, Part 1}} {{storylink|Megatron's Master Plan, Part 1}} {{storylink|Aerial Assualt}}

====Fight! Super Robot Life Transformers manga (Japan-only)====

Between the second season and ''[[The Transformers: The Movie (1986)|The Movie]]'', Megatron shifted the focus of his energy plundering schemes to the energy-rich [[Japan]]. His many schemes, including attacking with the [[Seeker]]s and [[Menasor (G1)|Menasor]] and turning himself into the [[Super Megatron Gun]], were thwarted by the Autobots and their new human ally, [[Kenji]].

====Scramble City OVA (Japan-only)====

Hoping to thwart the construction of [[Scramble City]], Megatron sent his entire army of [[combiner]]s to the city's secret location (which had been discovered by [[Ratbat]]). The Autobots struggled to fight off Megatron's combiner army until [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] activated Scramble City and sent in [[Metroplex (G1)|Metroplex]], who fought the Decepticons off. Megatron then revealed his trumpcard: Trypticon.

====''Robot Masters'' (Japan-only)====
[[Image:Rmrebirthmegatron.JPG|thumb|right|HAH! I fooled you for all of five seconds!]]

''In the year 2004, Megatron was lost in an undisclosed accident, leaving his time-displaced descendant from the Beast Wars to take his place as Decepticon leader. Later, the original Megatron's consciousness took possession of the body of [[Reverse Convoy]], leader of the planet [[Vehicon_(planet)|Vehicon]], via an inter-dimensional uplink to a black hole, and then used it to pose as an ally to the Autobots, only to betray them by revealing himself as the aptly-named "Rebirth Megatron".''

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

=====Online mini-comics=====

====Binaltech (Japan-only)====
After [[Ravage (G1)|Ravage]] was revived by [[I.I.I.]] installing the uploaded consciousness from the flight recorder of the starship he used on prehistoric Earth, he used [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]]'s [[Kronosphere]] on Cybertron to transport Megatron and his fleet to the year 2006, so the Autobots would have to bear the brunt of Unicron's attack in 2005 and the time-displaced Decepticons could return to crush their weakened forces. This strategy proved to be largely effective, as Megatron eventually returned and assumed full control over Cybertron after the defeat of Unicron. These events forced the Autobots into desperate action, however. While Megatron was leading the Decepticon army in an assault on the Sol System, [[Mirage (G1)|Mirage]] snuck onto Cybertron and threw a [[large switch]] the Autobots had received information on. This switch effectively froze every non-Binaltech Transformer throughout the entire universe, including Megatron and his armada at the [[Earth Defense Command]] post they were attacking on Mars. The only active Decepticons in the area, [[Nemesis Prime (Alternators)|Nemesis Prime]] and Shockwave, staged a full retreat while using drones to gather up as many of the frozen Decepticons as possible. Since Nemesis Prime was last seen taking Megatron's throne for himself, it is unknown if he took the frozen Megatron to safety, or left the former Decepticon leader to be taken into custody.

====The Transformers: The Movie====
[[Image:Megatron1986movie.jpg|left|thumb|250px|No, not drawn by [[Pat Lee]]-- that's actually battle damage.]]
Eventually, Megatron turned his attention away from Earth, and succeeded in completely conquering Cybertron by the Earth year 2005. However, the Autobots maintained control of two of Cybertron's moons, and retained a large reserve force on Earth. Learning the Autobots were preparing a strike against the planet, Megatron and the Decepticons intercepted the shuttle sent to Earth to acquire energy to power the raid, and unleashed a [[Battle of Autobot City|mighty assault]] on [[Autobot City]]. In the course of the conflict, word was sent to Optimus Prime, who arrived the following morning after the slaughter and confronted Megatron in another one-on-one struggle. Megatron appeared beaten, but spying a discarded pistol, stalled for time by pleading for mercy as he attempted to reach it. The young Autobot [[Hot Rod]] then intervened, tackling Megatron, but amazingly, one of the most powerful Decepticon was too much for him, seizing him and using him as shield as he grabbed the pistol and opened fire on Prime. Funny that. The wounds were fatal and sent Prime to the grave - but not before he delivered his own final blow to Megatron, seriously damaging him and forcing the Decepticons to flee.

On the return trip to Cybertron, it became necessary to jettison excess mass, or the Decepticons would be unable to reach the planet. The wounded Decepticons were voted out, and set adrift in space, with Starscream personally jettisoning Megatron. But this was not to be the end for the great slag-maker, as the world-devourer, [[Unicron]], found him and recreated him into [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]]. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}}

====''The Transformer'' manga (Japan-only)====

After the events of ''[[The Transformers: The Movie (1986)|The Transformers: The Movie]]'' and ''[[Five Faces of Darkness]]'', Galvatron attempted to destroy the Autobots with a legion of Megatron clones dubbed [[Megatron Military|"The Megatron Military"]]. Each clone was equipped with its own unique fusion cannon and were capable of combining the blasts into an intense attack. As a unified force, the Megatron Military crushed [[Rodimus Prime (G1)|Rodimus Prime]], [[Arcee (G1)|Arcee]], [[Springer (G1)|Springer]], [[Blurr (G1)|Blurr]] and [[Kup (G1)|Kup]]. Their victory was assured until Rodimus managed to deduce that the Megatron Military was being controlled by Galvatron. As it turned out, Galvatron was actually disguised as one of the Megatron clones. Once Rodimus defeated Galvatron, all the Megatron clones lost power and were easily vanquished.

====Battlestars: Return of Convoy (Japan-only)====
[[Image:SuperAndUltraMegatron.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Mister and Mister Overdesigned, 1991.]]

''(Note: With his transformation into Galvatron, Megatron departed from the animated continuity, until five years later, in the Japanese-exclusive storyline, ''Battlestars: The Return of Convoy'', which, although not animated itself (told instead through one chapter of [[manga]] and several [[story page]]s), continues the tale of the cartoon universe.)''

A evil force named [[Dark Nova]] recovered Galvatron's body from the iceberg he was buried in and restored him to life as '''Super Megatron''', pitting him against [[Optimus Prime (G1)#Battlestars: Return of Convoy (Japan-only)|Star Convoy]], the reborn Optimus Prime, and his Autobots. Super Megatron didn't fare too well against his old adversary and was swiftly defeated. Dark Nova then upgraded him into '''Ultra Megatron''', who had a similar success rate.

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

{{-}}

====Generation 2 manga (Japan-only)====

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

Megatron recovered from the Star Giant incident and returned to his original body. Appearing to have discarded his evil ways, he joined with Optimus Prime to form the [[Cybertron Alliance]] and ushered in the Second Generation of Transformers. However, after human soldiers killed one of his dearest comrades, he adopted a new body and began the war anew.

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

====Generation 2: "The Earth is in Danger!"====

''(Note: this manga special is not in continuity with the Japanese G2 story pages and minicomics.)''

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

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

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

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

Megatron calls Soundwave a "blundering tape-filled idiot." {{storylink|When Continents Collide}} This is notable because it is hilarious. Also, Megatron totally sounds like "Mumm-Ra" from ''Thundercats''. Megatron had an odd obsession with drills, mole machines, and other burrowing devices, as he used them frequently in his plans for energy gathering and conquest.

===Marvel Books Big Looker Storybook continuity===

[[Image:KidsCliff1.jpg|right|150px|thumb|MTV pimps Megatron's ride.]]

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

Frighteningly.

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

Young Megatron was a gladiatorial combatant in the depths of [[Cybertron_(planet)|Cybertron]]’s underworld. As victory upon victory mounted, he began to realize that the games were nothing more than an elaborate conspiracy by the [[Council of Ancients]] to divert the attentions of the masses from the dangerous truth of Cybertron’s history. When Megatron began to show interest in Cybertron's buried past through exploration and research, the Council of Ancients attempted to have him assassinated - a plan that only resulted in stirring up even more discontent among Cybertronians, allowing Megatron to begin recruiting for the Decepticon movement.

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

[[Image:Fledglingcause.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Megatron is so grass-roots.]]

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

Roughly 7.4 million years BCE, Megatron and Optimus Prime disappeared in an early test of the then-unstable [[Space Bridge]] matter-transport system. Spending an undisclosed time on the planet [[Quintessa]], Megatron returned with an overwhelming army of lifeless [[Air Warrior|seeker clones]], quickly subjugating Cybertron. ''(This story was never finished due to the closure of Dreamwave, though the seekers and presumably Megatron as well were eventually defeated.)''

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

The Autobots and Decepticons were reactivated in 1984, but specific details of their battles in the 1980s and 1990s are unrecorded. (Presumably, they broadly resembled the G1 cartoon and comic books.) In 1999, when a Autobot/Human military alliance succeeded in capturing and deactivating the Decepticons. However, the [[Ark II]] spaceship carrying them back to Cybertron exploded shortly after liftoff, and the Transformers were believed destroyed. In actuality, they had been scattered back to Earth, where they lay in [[stasis lock]] across the globe for three years. This slumber was brought to an end when [[Lazarus|Adam Rook]] (aka Lazarus), a rogue military scientist who had devised a method of controlling Transformers, salvaged many of the fallen Cybertronians and reprogrammed them as mass killing machines, which he then attempted to sell on the black market. Megatron was first to break free of the human's control, overriding the new programming and capturing Lazarus during an auction. Megatron forced Lazarus to watch as he unleashed a technorganic virus designed to transform all of Earth into a new Cybertron. It also served to lure Optimus Prime and the Autobots, also now reactivated, to his location. Megatron, tired of the war, continuously asked Prime to join him. After his first failed attempt, Megatron unleashed [[Devastator (G1)|Devastator]] on [[San Francisco]], ensuing in mass slaughter, in an attempt to show Prime the humans were not worth fighting for. However, the selfless sacrifice of several firemen restored Prime's faith in humanity and allowed him and the Autobots to beat back Megatron.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

=== IDW comics continuity ===

{{disambig2|Megatron, the one time min'''e'''r|the clone of Optimus Primal|Optimus Minor}}

{{spoiler}}
Long ago, before the war, Megatron was an [[Energon]] miner, a member of the lower class, in [[Mine C-12]]. One day [[Decimus|Senator Decimus]] arrived at the mine to announce that the mine was being closed immediately and the workers would be relocated. However, one of the Senator's guards killed a worker for insubordination and claims of Senate corruption, which spurred Megatron into action. He attacked Senator Decimus and killed the guard in self-defense, which afterwards caused him much grief. He and the other miners were en route to imprisonment when [[Rumble (G1)|Rumble]] and [[Frenzy (G1)|Frenzy]] broke free and started a riot aboard their ship. They escaped and made their way to [[Kaon]]. {{storylink|Megatron Origin, Part 1}} After evading law enforcement, Megatron joined a team of gladiators under the tutelage of [[Clench]]. Eventually, he surpassed his mentor and became a star of the games, earning the attention of self-serving, opportunistic Senator [[Ratbat]]. Subsequently, Megatron encountered the information broker [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]], who, on behalf of an unnamed third party, offered him weaponry and technology to upgrade himself and his comrades into living weapons.{{storylink|Megatron Origin, Part 2}}

[[Image:Megatrong1idwpreearth.jpg|left|thumb|150px|450 years ago, his helmet was black, but now it's gray. The difference time makes, huh?]]The war between Megatron's Decepticons and [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]]'s Autobots was so great that it created an impending energy crisis and threatened the stability of [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]] itself. When [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] left Cybertron, secretly pursuing alternate energy sources, Megatron ordered [[Bludgeon (G1)|Bludgeon]] to investigate his files, secretly assigning Soundwave to investigate Bludgeon. {{storylink|Spotlight: Shockwave}}

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

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

Seven hundred [[Units of time|stellar cycles]] later, in current times, it was discovered that as a result of digging through Shockwave's files, Bludgeon had resurrected Thunderwing's dangerous project, as well as Thunderwing himself. After being informed of Thunderwing's attack on [[Nebulos]], Megatron dispatched the [[Predacon (G1)|Predacon]]s in a ship to Cybertron, authorizing [[Razorclaw (G1)|Razorclaw]] to do whatever was neccessary to destroy Thunderwing, including the destruction of Cybertron. However, Optimus Prime and the [[Wreckers]] were able to thwart both Bludgeon and Thunderwing, and so destruction of the planet was averted. {{storylink|Stormbringer (comics)|Stormbringer}}

Megatron, meanwhile, was on Earth, investigating Starscream's infiltration team. He discovered that Starscream had stumbled across [[Ore-13]], an incredible energy source which had been [[Spotlight: Shockwave|mysteriously seeded there]], and that the [[Air Commander]] was planning to use it to usurp Megatron's command. After seriously damaging the hesitantly rebellious [[Skywarp (G1)|Skywarp]] and [[Blitzwing]], Megatron faced a super-powered Starscream. Though the Ore-13 made Starscream a formidable adversary, Megatron was still more deadly than he, and Starscream was destroyed. Whether he can be restored is still unknown. {{storylink|Infiltration}}

Megatron took stock of Starscream's progress on Earth in light of the discovery of Ore-13, repaired Skywarp and Blitzwing, and made Starscream's former troops aware, in no uncertain terms, that any further insurrections would be met with deadly force. But instead of leaving Earth in the hands of a new commander, Megatron stayed to guide the second stage of the Decepticons' plans, wishing to try out his new Earth-inspired handgun (Walther P99) [[altmode]]. {{storylink|Escalation}}

He then used Ore-13's power for fancy [[size changing|mass-displacement technology]] and turned into a pistol [[Scale|for use in human hands]], proclaiming himself to be the most powerful living weapon in the universe. Or maybe he just wanted to be held. He personally took charge of the Decepticon subterfuge in Brasnia, guiding the fascimile of [[Georgi Koska]] in an attempt to escalate an international incident into a full polarizing war. However, his choice of disguise quickly proved to be a really, really stupid move as apparently fleshie constructs holding guns are no match for armored cars with weapons. Stuck on the ground, he then transformed as Optimus Prime came into his range and started a full-blown melee with his longtime foe for all the nuts and bolts.

Though he lost his fusion cannon almost right away, Megatron soon gained the upper hand, bursting at the seams with an Ore-13 high. Incapacitating Prime, he reached into his battered foe's chest and squeezed, seemingly killing his longtime opponent. Aghast, the Autobots moved into a full but ineffective counterattack, unable to stop the rampaging Decepticon (who fortunately couldn't just mow them down with his gun). However, Prime's death was a desperate ruse, and the Autobot leader countered with a surprise attack on Megatron, using the same tactics he used against Thunderwing to force Megatron to burn through his reserves prematurely. Now on the ropes, his plan in shambles, Megatron transformed and retreated with Skywarp and Thundercracker before being finished off.

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

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

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

[[Image:G1Megatron_MasterBlaster_stasislock.jpg|left|thumb|150px|I know we all need our beauty sleep, but 4 million years, now thats taking the pee.]]

After the Autobot/Decepticon war moved to Earth, Megatron hunted down the [[Voyager probe]] as it travelled through the [[Solar System]] and encoded on its disc a message. Should his efforts fail, he left detailed instructions to any Decepticon descendants who recovered the disc, instructions which apparently condoned use of [[transwarp]] technology to alter history in his favor by locating the ''Ark'' before it is reactivated, with access codes to the ''Ark'' stored in the Disk, and killing Optimus Prime before the Autobots and Decepticons reawaken. {{storylink|The Agenda, Part 2|The Agenda, Part 2 (backstory)}}

[[Image:G1Megatron_Disc_Agenda_part2.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Now thats what I call a smile.]]

The disk (dubbed the [[Golden Disk (Voyager)|Golden Disk]]) eventually fell into Cybertronian hands and was stolen by a [[Predacon (BW)|Predacon]] who shared Megatron's name. {{storylink|Beast Wars, Part 1}} This new [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]], later stranded in Earth's past, was able to use a recording of the original Megatron to sway one of the original Megatron's most loyal troops, [[Ravage]], to his cause. {{storylink|The Agenda, Part 2}}

[[Image:G1Megs_Nemesis_part2_deletedclip.jpg|left|thumb|150px|I was cut out?! This is Starscream's doing!]]

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

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

{{-}}

==Toys==
:See [[Megatron (G1) toys]]

==Trivia==
[[Image:P-Megatron.jpg|thumb|left|150px|Microman Megatron's concept model. Back then, he was a little less happy to see you.]]

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

* Early in the ''Transformers'' series preproduction, Megatron's look was based not on the toy, but on concept art for an unproduced prototype version. This early version, sporting a different, black head, a very different scope/fusion cannon, and the gun's barrel on his back, managed to make its way into not only early commercial animation and licensed material, but into the art of the early Marvel Comics. Though the model was altered before the animated series was produced, elements from the first model were perpetuated such as the back-mounted barrel in both the comic and the cartoon. The Marvel Comics continued to color Megatron's helmet black (well, blue) until the end of its run.

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

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

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

{{-}}

==Footnotes==
<references/>

==External links==
* [http://tfu.info/1984/Decepticon/Megatron/megatron.htm Megatron at TFU.info]
* [http://www.ntfa.net/universe/english/index.php?act=view&char=Megatron Megatron's Universe profile at NTFA.net]

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[[Category: Titanium Series]]
[[Category: Unreleased toys]]<div id="wikia-credits"><br /><br /><small>From [http://transformers.wikia.com Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki], a [http://www.wikia.com Wikia] wiki.</small></div>

Ratchet (G1)

2007-10-29T19:49:34Z

70.49.197.72:

{{disambig3|Ratchet}}
{{featured}}

:''Ratchet is an [[Autobot]] from the [[Generation 1]] [[continuity family]].''

[[Image:Ratchetg1.jpg|right|300px|thumb|All aboard the party ambulance!]]

'''Ratchet''' is the Autobots' Chief Medical Officer. If something's broke, he can fix it. Ratchet is known for his irreverent bedside manner; he loves having a good time, and his party-loving nature has given him a dry wit. He attaches little importance to his job, though this does not detract from the quality of his work, and believes he is expendable. [[Optimus_Prime_(G1)|Optimus Prime]] has trouble convincing Ratchet that this is far from the truth.

Although he's a healer, Ratchet often finds himself on the front lines of combat and, on occasion, the last hope the Autobots have. These pressures are sometimes too much for him to handle, but Ratchet ultimately never gives up.

:''French-Canadian name:'' '''Mécano'''<br>
:''Hungarian name:'' '''Racsni'''<br>
:''Italian name:'' '''Doc'''

==Fiction==
===Marvel Comics continuity===

''('''Note''': Events from the UK-only comic stories are in italics.)''

[[IMage:Ratchetg1first.jpg|left|thumb|This look didn't last long.]]
Shortly after the Transformers arrived on Earth, [[Sparkplug Witwicky]] suffered a heart attack, so Ratchet drove Sparkplug and his son [[Buster Witwicky|Buster]] to the hospital. It was during this leave that [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] freed himself from his four million year sleep and completely wiped out the fuel-deprived Autobot forces with one blast. {{storylink|The Last Stand}}

Ratchet soon discovered, to his horror, that he was the last Autobot still functional on Earth, up against the entire Decepticon army. Covertly invading the Ark, he discovered that even the mighty [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]] had fallen. However, Prime's head, though detached, still functioned, and the Autobot Commander told Ratchet that he must rise up to meet this challenge. Ratchet did not believe he could; he was a doctor, not a warrior (damnit Jim). {{storylink|Warrior School!}}

[[Image:Ratchetwarriorschool.jpg|right|thumb|The more you know! ™]]
Still, Ratchet tried. Shockwave had returned in full strength and deposed the mighty [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]]. In his weakened state, Megatron could not hope to defeat Shockwave and reclaim his leadership, but Ratchet approached him with a possible solution. Ratchet knew how Shockwave had fallen 4 million years ago, and struck a deal -- if Ratchet could defeat Shockwave, Megatron would relinquish Decepticon control of the Ark and its wrecked Autobot inhabitants.

Ratchet journeyed to the [[Savage Land]], where the [[Dinobot (G1)|Dinobots]] had fought Shockwave to a stalemate, leaving all dormant in a tar pit prison. He dug up the Dinobots and repaired them. Soon after, he met with Megatron on a snowy ski slope, and announced that he had fulfilled his half of the bargain. Shockwave was defeated. Megatron, of course, went back on his part of the deal and threatened to kill Ratchet. Ratchet declared that he knew all along Megatron would not hold his end of the bargain, admitted that he had not, in fact, defeated Shockwave. The Dinobots sprung up out of the snow surrounding Megatron, and fought him, but did not succeed. Megatron now stood alone, triumphant, mocking Ratchet and his lack of a warrior's edge. With nothing to lose, Ratchet charged Megatron, but he was ineffectual. However, the charge had loosened the ground on which Megatron stood, and the Decepticon leader fell off the cliff side and disappeared. {{storylink|Repeat Performance!}}

''On their return trip to the Ark, Ratchet helped educate the Dinobots about human/Autobot relations by telling them the story of a recent battle with the Decepticons at a hydroelectric dam. When they arrived, Ratchet and the Dinobots found the Ark defended by [[Guardian#omega-class|Guardian]], an Autobot combat drone which had been reprogrammed by Shockwave. Ratchet rescued the Dinobots from the powerful drone by remembering and exploiting one of its few weaknesses, an access port which could admit a fine laser. Ratchet then began the task of repairing the Autobots, placing priority on those whose command skills would be useful. This put him at odds with Dinobot leader [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]], who felt that the fallen Dinobot [[Swoop (G1)|Swoop]] should be repaired first.''

''When Prowl devised a plan to use the Matrix to create an army of monstrous Autobot warriors, debate over the plan's ethics threatened to divide the Autobots. Ratchet remained neutral, and asked Optimus Prime to step in and provide guidance.''

''Ratchet and Wheeljack collaborated on a Transformer-sized robotic suit, to be used by [[Buster Witwicky]] in battle. Optimus Prime was unamused.''

[[Image:Ratchetmechanic.jpg|left|thumb|Such irony.]]

After the destruction of Optimus Prime, Ratchet was unable to repair him. Unable to deal with his failure, Ratchet wandered off on his own during Optimus' funeral. Ratchet decided that rather than moping, he should concern himself with the other damaged Autobots under his care, so he headed towards a junkyard to look for spare parts he could use. However, he was abducted in vehicle mode by the [[Mechanic]] and his accomplice [[Juan]], when the two thieves were found by the police. Ratchet revealed himself when they arrived at the Mechanic's hideout, but the Mechanic froze Ratchet with his own surgical weapons and headed for the Ark, intent on finding technology that would ensure he would never be threatened by the police again. When he had unfrozen, Ratchet followed the human back to the Ark, but was defeated by his own surgical tools. But using pieces he took from the junkyard, he repaired [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]], and the appearance of the police car frightened the Mechanic away. The Mechanic escaped with Ratchet's tools and the [[Power Booster Rod]]. {{storylink|Funeral for a Friend!}}

When an [[Underbase]]-powered [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]] decimated the Earthbound Autobot forces, Ratchet was left with the monumental task of repairing them. During a period of work-induced stress, he began to hallucinate visions of his patients attacking him and accusing him of being worthless. It was during this time that the Decepticon [[Sports Car Patrol]], posing as Autobots, offered to help transport Ratchet to Cybertron, where he could have access to new medical technology that had been created during his 4 million-year absence on Earth. He and three of the Sports Car Patrol took the bodies of [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]], [[Jazz]], and [[Bumblebee (G1)|Goldbug]] with him, though Ratchet was curious why [[Blackjack]] stayed behind on the Ark. Ratchet's concerns were answered when, upon arrival on Cybertron, he saw the believed-to-be-deceased Megatron standing before him, who had orchestrated the entire scheme. {{storylink|Back from the Dead}}

Megatron brought Ratchet the remains of Starscream. He demanded Ratchet repair him while Blackjack held the Ark and its medical bay inhabitants hostage. Ratchet agreed, and he used [[Pretender]] technology to repair Starscream while secretly repairing Grimlock, Jazz, and Goldbug as well. After Pretender Starscream was sent to Earth, Megatron sought out Ratchet to kill him, but he had his own Pretenders ready. {{storylink|The Resurrection Gambit!}} Ratchet sprung Grimlock, Jazz, and Bumblebee (Ratchet preferred Bumblebee's original form) on Megatron, but Megatron and his Micromasters were too powerful for them. The Pretenders and Micromasters' battle wandered outside the Decepticon base, and Ratchet was left alone. Sacrificing his life, Ratchet warped the bombs Blackjack had put on the Ark into the Decepticon base in an attempt to kill both he and Megatron. Megatron tried to escape through the warp portal, but Ratchet tackled him, and the base exploded. {{storylink|Skin Deep}}

[[Image:Megs ratch.jpg|right|thumb|Ratchet, when I said "[[Till all are one]]", I didn't mean it like THAT...

Optimus Prime was devastated by the loss of Ratchet. {{storylink|Yesterday's Heroes!}} He assigned the detective [[Nightbeat (G1)|Nightbeat]] to investigate Ratchet's death, who hypothesized that Ratchet could possibly still be alive. There was an initial blast which could have knocked Ratchet into the portal and into [[unspace]], a netherworld between the warp portal's starting and ending points. A probe was sent to retrieve him, and it succeeded -- but it also brought back Megatron, who was fused with Ratchet as a single, monstrous being. {{storylink|Eye of the Storm}} The Ratchet/Megatron creature rampaged through the Ark, wounding several Autobots, but Optimus Prime would not let them harm it. This put Optimus Prime in an awkward position -- was the life of Ratchet worth the possible loss of his other troops? The creature fought his way into the engine rooms and began tearing stuff apart, and Prime's choice was made for him. The creature must be stopped. Prime fought Ratchet/Megatron to a standstill, and, alarmingly, the part that was Ratchet took control, and pulled Prime's gun to his own forehead, pleading for the Autobot Commander to put him out of his misery. In an unpopular decision, Optimus Prime ordered [[Fixit]] to separate Megatron and Ratchet, even if it meant saving Megatron. Bonded at a molecular level, neither could survive without the other, even when separated. {{storylink|The Price of Life!}}

[[Image:Ratchetjollies.jpg|250px|left|thumb|Holy crap.]]

Separated by Fixit, they remained in stasis on the Ark until Grimlock and his [[Nucleon]]-revived Dinobots found the Ark abandoned during the Transformers' battle with [[Unicron]]. They filled the entire medical bay chambers with Nucleon, not aware that Megatron lay there in storage. {{storylink|The Void! (Marvel US comic)}} Shockwave and [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]] stole the Ark after Unicron was defeated, in an attempt to return to Earth and conquer it. {{storylink|Still Life!}} However, just as Megatron awoke, Starscream and Shockwave were interrupted by [[Galvatron II]], who had snuck on board before launch. While Galvatron and Megatron teamed up on Shockwave, Starscream went to check on any other possible survivors in the medical bay. He found Ratchet, whose mind was still connected to Megatron's, and Starscream fought the confused Autobot easily. However, when Starscream mused that Ratchet was no fun to kill, Ratchet became enraged and defeated him in a berserker state. Determined to end what he had started, Ratchet blew up the Ark as it was approaching Earth's orbit, sending all three Decepticons and himself to a supposed death. {{storylink|A Savage Circle}}

:''('''Note''': In the [[Generation 2 (Marvel comic)|Generation 2 comics]], despite Megatron and Ratchet's inseparable mind-link, Megatron's return was without Ratchet, who is unmentioned outside of Optimus Prime's flashbacks. In [[Games of Deception|Timelines: Games of Deception]], however, Ratchet's deactivated body can be see lying behind Megatron in the background.)''

===Animated continuity===
'''Voice actor:''' [[Don Messick]], [[Wally Burr ]] (US), [[Masashi Ebara]] (Japan)

[[Image:Ratchetg1cartoon.jpg|right|thumb|Ruh-roh. Rooby rooby roo!]]

Ratchet served as chief medical officer on the [[Ark]] before and after it crashed on Earth and stranded the [[Autobot|Autobots]] and [[Decepticons]] there.<ref>[[More Than Meets the Eye, Part 1]]</ref> In addition to patching up his fellow warriors whenever someone (usually [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]]) had roughed them up a little, Ratchet was also in charge of helping whenever [[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]] had another invention in the making. Working together, the two Autobots built and designed the [[Dinobot (G1)|Dinobots]] more or less from scratch - and did a pretty good job, considering they were working with substandard materials.<ref>[[S.O.S. Dinobots]]</ref> Ratchet was also responsible for saving [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime's]] life, performing a daring surgery on the Autobot leader while subjected to attacks by [[Laserbeak (G1)|Laserbeak]].<ref>[[Divide and Conquer]]</ref> When [[Skyfire (G1)|Skyfire]] refused to assassinate the Autobots and was gunned down by [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]], it was Ratchet who reconstructed the giant Decepticon scientist and gave him the chance to reform.<ref>[[Fire in the Sky]]</ref>

Ratchet's greatest strength, unfortunately, also led to his downfall. While piloting a secret mission to [[Autobot City]] in order to gather a stockpile of [[energon]], Ratchet and his allies were attacked by Megatron.<ref>[[The Transformers: The Movie (1986)]]</ref> In the middle of the fighting, Ratchet was distracted when his comrade [[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide]] was struck down. Lowering his guard, Ratchet himself was then shot repeatedly and left for dead on the floor of the shuttle as the Decepticons continued with their attack on [[Autobot City]].

Ratchet's body was evidently recovered for interment, as his grave was housed in the interstellar Autobot mausoleum. Sadly, it was not Ratchet's fate to rest in peace: along with the mausoleum itself, Ratchet's remains were later plunged into a red sun as a side-effect of a [[Quintesson]] plot. <ref>[[Dark Awakening]]</ref>

====Binaltech====

Along with [[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]], Ratchet helped implant [[Chip Chase|Chip Chase's]] consiousness into the lifeless Prowl-2 shell when Prowl's spark was lost in [[subspace]].

===Dreamwave comics continuity===
[[Image:Ratchettww.jpg|left|thumb|The Cybertronic red cross is Pac-Man.]]
8.2 million years ago, Ratchet accompanied [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]], and [[Red Alert (G1)|Red Alert]] to the [[Sub-Orbital District]] of [[Iacon]], which had been devastated after [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] activated the planetary engines.<ref>[[The War Within, Part 2]]</ref> He found no life signs in the entire blast radius.

600 000 years later, Ratchet remained with the Prowl-led Autobots after Optimus Prime disappeared in a [[space bridge]] explosion. He repaired [[Skids (G1)|Skids]] after he was damaged in a battle with [[Trypticon (G1)|Trypticon]].<ref>[[The Dark Ages, Part 5]], War Within Volume 2</ref>

Ratchet was among the crew of the ''[[Ark (G1)|Ark]]'' when it crashed on [[Earth]], and awoke in 1984 to battle the [[Decepticons]]. After years of fighting, Ratchet and the other Autobots took part in [[Operation Liberation]] in 1998, a joint human/Autobot operation that defeated and captured the Earth-bound Decepticons. However, the ''[[Ark II]]'', which was meant to convey the Autobots, the captured Decepticons, and a number of humans back to Cybertron was sabotaged by General [[Robert Hallo]], sending Ratchet and his comrades to the bottom of the [[Arctic Ocean]]. Years later, Ratchet was recovered by the sinister [[Lazarus]], who had recovered and reprogrammed a number of Transformers for his nefarious ends. However, when [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] broke free of Lazarus' control, he hooked Ratchet and a number of other Autobots up to a device that generated a deadly 'metal virus'. Soon after, [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]] detached Ratchet and the others from the doomsday device.

[[Image:Ratchetdw.jpg|right|thumb|My crotch is my stomach.]]

Repaired by his comrades, Ratchet took part in a battle in the [[Canada|Canadian]] Arctic with the Decepticons over possession of a crashed spacecraft containing [[Scourge (G1)|Scourge]]. As the Autobots overwhelmed their foes, [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] arrived on the planet and gave them an ultimatum; surrender and return to a newly-unified Cybertron, or be destroyed. The Autobots returned to the Ark, where Optimus Prime assigned Ratchet to a [[Jazz (G1)|Jazz]]-led team that was to remain on Earth. After Shockwave's lieutenant [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] took Prime and others back to Cybertron, Ratchet and [[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]] remained at the Ark as Jazz, [[Brawn (G1)|Brawn]], and [[Windcharger (G1)|Windcharger]] attempted to locate Scourge and his ship.

When [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]] and a team of Decepticons arrived on Earth they attacked the Ark's inhabitants, wanting the starship for themselves. In the initial assault, the Autobots managed to take [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]], his cassettes, [[Thundercracker (G1)|Thundercracker]], and [[Skywarp (G1)|Skywarp]] prisoner, but eventually all the Autobots but Ratchet and Brawn were defeated by the mighty [[Bruticus (G1)|Bruticus]]. Expecting a supply ship from Cybertron later that day, Ratchet and Brawn slipped past the Ark's berserk defense systems in order to contact the ship and warn them. Unfortunately, Bruticus arrived soon after, and they were forced to destroy the Ark rather than let the Decepticons have access to [[Teletraan-1]]. Before the battle could escalate further, it was interrupted by the arrival of [[Sunstorm (G1)|Sunstorm]], a [[Seeker]] seemingly powered by supernatural forces. An uneasy truce was formed between the small group of Autobots and Decepticons, and Ratchet begrudgingly put his medic skills to work on Starscream.

Ratchet later aided in the construction of Autobot City.

===Devil's Due ''G.I.Joe vs Transformers''===
[[Image:Ratchetjoetf2.jpg|100px|left|thumb|Physician, arm thyself.]]

In an alternate timeline, a newly-formed [[human]] terrorist organization named [[Cobra]] uncovered the Ark buried in a dormant volcano. Finding two armies of giant transformable robots, they repurposed these aliens for their own use, rebuilding them so they could reconfigure into various Cobra-designed vehicles. Ratchet was reprogrammed and rebuilt into a Cobra HISS tank. [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]] was able to break free from his reprogramming and awaken the other Transformers and, with the help of the human anti-terrorist task-force [[G.I.Joe]], defeated Megatron and Cobra. An alliance between the Autobots and the United States government was formed.

A malfunction in [[Teletran 3]] sent dozens of Transformers into various points in history, an act which, if un-reversed, will result in a perpetual holocaust to be unleashed across [[Earth]]. To retrieve one Transformer and bring him home, a team of Cobra and G.I. Joe agents were sent 15 years into an apocalyptic future where [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] and his Decepticons rule. The remaining cyborged humans had formed a resistance which had only one lone Autobot warrior who stood between them and utter annihilation. The last Autobot alive, Ratchet had grown bitter and battle-hardened after years of guerrilla warfare, and demanded the team sent to bring him back to the present day help him complete one more mission. Ratchet, the Joes, and the Cobra agents were successful in freeing a factory nearby was manned by enslaved humans, but Ratchet refused to go home with them and abandon his calling. [[Barbecue]] returned Ratchet home against his wishes, and as Ratchet cursed the stupid little creature, the [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] of the present day shot Ratchet in the back, putting him out of commission.

Later, when [[Serpent O.R.]] takes Optimus Prime prisoner, Ratchet (still in his post-apocalyptic body) is part of [[Hot Rod (G1)|Hot Rod]]'s rescue team.

=== IDW Comics continuity ===

[[Image:Ratchetidw.jpg|thumb|left|IDW's Ratchet, design and art by E.J. Su. Apparently got a 'telling Prowl off' upgrade, too.]]
[[Image:Ratchetholomatter.jpg|100px|thumb|right|Ratchet's [[Holomatter|holo-matter avatar]] has no mouth, and he must snark.]]

Ratchet is part of a detachment of Autobots that has operated covertly on Earth for at least four years, attempting to foil a Decepticon insurgency.<ref>''[[Infiltration]]'' #0-6</ref> Although a loyal warrior, Ratchet's conscience got the better of him when he intercepted a Decepticon pulsewave ordering the elimination of [[Stoker|a human being]]. Although too late to save that human, he encountered two more - [[Verity Carlo]] and [[Hunter O'Nion]] - who had stumbled upon the Decepticon plot<ref>[[Infiltration (issue 0)]]</ref>. Ratchet broke cover to save their lives, subjecting him to the wrath of [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]], who threatened disciplinary action.<ref>[[Infiltration (issue 3)]]</ref>

Ratchet was seemingly alone in his convictions, until [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]] agreed to help him and the humans investigate an abandoned Decepticon bunker in [[Nebraska]]. [[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]] and [[Skywarp (G1)|Skywarp]] arrived while the humans were reconnoitering and began an aerial bombardment of the bunker, intending to destroy it. Bumblebee and Ratchet engaged the Decepticons in order to buy the humans time to escape the collapsing bunker<ref>[[Infiltration (issue 4)]]</ref>.

The Autobots and humans were leaving the Decepticons to finish their work when an enraged [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] burst from the buried ruins of the bunker. Thankfully for them, Megatron was more concerned with the treachery of Blitzwing and Skywarp, allowing Ratchet and the others to escape with their lives.<ref>[[Infiltration (issue 5)]]</ref> Unwilling to further risk their safety, Ratchet subsequently returned the humans to Ark-17, where they met the newly-arrived Optimus Prime.<ref>[[Infiltration (issue 6)]]</ref>

Later Ratchet and Ironhide accompanied Verity Carlo and Jimmy Pink to find the now missing Sunstreaker and Hunter O'Nion while Prime and the other Autobots went to Brasnia.

===IDW ''[[Hearts of Steel]]'' continuity===
With Optimus Prime in stasis lock, Ratchet and [[Prowl (G1)|Prowl]] appear to be the co-leaders of the Autobots in the 19th century. {{Storylink|Hearts of Steel, Part 1}} Despite [[Bumblebee (G1)|Bumblebee]]'s pleading, he was reluctant to interfere with the humans, but nevertheless participated in the pursuit of [[Astrotrain (G1)|Astrotrain]] as it headed to [[New York]]. {{Storylink|Hearts of Steel, Part 4}}

His "Ice Age Wars" altmode is uncertain, but it clearly has scales and spikes. His 19th century altmode is a medical boxcar. He may be the very first Transformer depicted with a boxcar altmode, as, prior to this, all train-based Transformers were locomotives.

===''Timelines: Descent into Evil'' comic===
[[Image:Ratchetironhidedescent.jpg|left|thumb|Amazingly not dead.]]
Years after the Decepticon and Autobot Wars have ended, Ratchet and five other Autobots were sent to [[Ceti Alpha Seven]] to destroy [[Deathsaurus|General Deathsaurus]]' Insecticon clone lab and stop his planned Decepticon uprising. After a team of four (consisting of [[Outback|Fallback]], [[Chromia]], [[Flareup]], and [[Ricochet (Timelines)|Ricochet]]) failed, Ratchet and [[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide]] followed to help. After battling swarms of [[Virulent Clones]] and [[Buzzclaw (Timelines)|Buzzclaw]], they finally met up with Deathsaurus himself. Ironhide stayed to fight the general, and Ratchet separated to find their fallen friends.

Ratchet managed to gather the fallen but was captured by Deathsaurus along with Ironhide. Both were restrained inside the lab, which was set to detonate. Before this happened, Ricochet snuck in and freed them, allowing them to gather the wounded and escape as the clone lab was destroyed.

{{-}}

==Toys==
===Generation 1===
[[Image:Ratchettoyg1.jpg|right|thumb|Why's everything so dark in here?]]

* '''Ratchet''' (1984/1986/1990/2001)
: ''Japanese ID number:'' '''99'''

: Ratchet was originally a Onebox Ambulance Type toy from [[Takara]]'s ''[[Diaclone]]'' line before [[Hasbro]] brought ''Transformers'' to North America. The toy transformed from an ambulance to a robot and gun-station. A variant of the toy included red crosses on the top and sides of the vehicle. Ratchet and his [[retool]]/[[redeco]] buddy [[Ironhide (G1)|Ironhide]], like all Diaclones, were designed to be piloted mecha, which is why he has a seat instead of a head. The Transformers version applied a face sticker to the back of the seat in lieu of a real sculpted noggin.

: In 1986, he was made available as a mail-away item (as he was no longer shipping to retail shelves) in multiple offers, including [[Digital Doom on the Highway to Destruction]] flier packed with most boxed ''Transformers'' toys. He cost $8 and two [[robot points]]. It is worth noting that in Japan, Ratchet was originally only available as a [[S.T.A.R.S.]] mail-away, costing 1700 yen and 4 robot points.

: In 2001, he was reissued in Japan as an [[E-Hobby|e-Hobby]] [[exclusive]], paired with Ironhide.

===Timelines===
* '''Autobot Ratchet & Flareup''' (2005)

[[Image:Ratchettoytimelines.jpg|left|thumb|Flareup sucked out all his visual interest.]]

: One of two "souvenir" packages [[exclusive]] to [[BotCon 2005]], Ratchet is a retooling of the ''[[Energon (franchise)|Energon]]'' Autobot [[Tow-Line (Energon)|Tow-Line]] with a new head, transforming into a large utility van. In robot mode, his lower vehicle portion becomes a mobile battle/repair platform. Ratchet can fold his legs back and up over his shoulders (wow!) and re-attach to this platform for a "battle mode". In this... ahem, position, Ratchet can also form the top half of a two-robot "Powerlinx combiner" with any ''Energon'' Deluxe Autobot, and any of them can also use his platform for their own combination.

: The mold's standard "receiver dish" weapon was not produced; instead he came with a new "light bar" that pegged onto his roof in much the same manner.

: He could only be purchased in an at-show "souvenir" two-pack along with [[Flareup]].

{{-}}
===Merchandise===
====Super Collection Figure====
: A non-transformable PVC figurine of Ratchet was made for "Act 6" of Takara's [[Super Collection Figure]] line, a slight retooling of the Ironhide PVC with a new head and "gun"-hand (even though Ironhide's pelvis in animation was not the same as Ratchet's). He was placed in blind-packed boxes, and along with full-color versions, an all-pewter-finish version was made as well in equal numbers.

====Heroes of Cybertron====
: For the Hasbro ''[[Heroes of Cybertron]]'' version of SCF, Ratchet was cast entirely in clear-blue plastics then painted over completely, so a patch of unpainted plastic at the back of his head would emulate the [[Lightpipe|light piping]] effect of previous toys. He was part of the fifth and final wave of ''Heroes of Cybertron'', and came with the right leg to the "build-a-bot" large PVC of [[Metroplex (G1)|Metroplex]].

{{-}}

==Trivia==
*[[Bob Budiansky]] has said that he named Ratchet after the less-friendly medic Nurse ''Ratched'' from ''[[wikipedia:Ratched|One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest]]''.
* In recent years, toys sporting the name "Ratchet" require an additional "Autobot" prefix for [[trademark]] reasons, hence making the official name "'''Autobot Ratchet'''".

==External links==
* [http://www.tfu.info/1984/Autobot/Ratchet/ratchet.htm Ratchet at TFU.info]

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

==Footnotes==
<references/>

[[Category: Autobots]]
[[Category: Convention exclusives]]
[[Category: Generation 1 characters]]
[[Category: e-Hobby]]
[[Category: Letters page answerers]]
[[Category: Mail order exclusives]]
[[Category: Medics]]
[[Category: Timelines characters]]<div id="wikia-credits"><br /><br /><small>From [http://transformers.wikia.com Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki], a [http://www.wikia.com Wikia] wiki.</small></div>

The Great Car Rally

2007-09-22T01:31:43Z

70.49.197.72:

{{stub}}
'''The Great Car Rally''' is a storybook of Transfromers. ''Note: The art is really gorgeous, except for the fact that all the cars have eyeballs. Scary, eh?''

== Vital statistics ==
ISBN <br/>
'''Writer:''' <br/>
'''Illustrators:''' <br/>
'''Publisher:''' <br/>
'''Published year:''' <br/>
'''Pagecount:''' <br/>
'''Major characters:''' [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], [[Cliffjumper (G1)|Cliffjumper]], [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]], [[Spike Witwicky]], [[Sparkplug]]<br/>

== Summary ==
[[Image:KidsCliff1.jpg|thumb|left|Megatron [[scale|drove]] a car chasing Cutejumper.]]
A bunch of humans set up a race for charity. The victor would received a year's supply of oil and gasoline. The Decepticons, of course, desperately wanted that bounty, so they decided to sneak into the race rather than just steal it.
[[Image:KidsPrime1.jpg|thumb|right|Everybody smiled, '''even Optimus Prime'''.]]

[[Category: Generation 1]]
[[Category: Books]]<div id="wikia-credits"><br /><br /><small>From [http://transformers.wikia.com Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki], a [http://www.wikia.com Wikia] wiki.</small></div>

Optimus Prime (G1)

2007-09-22T01:29:27Z

70.49.197.72:

{{Template:Disambig3|Optimus Prime}}

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

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

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

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

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

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

:''Japanese name:'' '''Convoy'''<br>
:''French-Canadian Name:'' '''Optimus Primus'''
:''Italian name:'' '''Commander'''
:''Hungarian name:'' '''Optimusz Fővezér
:''Czech Name:'' '''Optimus Primus'''
:''Brazilian Name - cartoon:'' '''Líder Optimus'''
:''Brazilian Name - comics:'' '''Supremus Absolutus'''

==Fiction==
===Marvel Comics continuity===
====Generation 1====
:''(Note: Events from the UK-only comic stories are in italics.)''
[[Image:Optimusprimeg1preearthmarvel2.jpg|left|thumb|250px|Optimus Prime's Cybertronic truck mode, along with a Cybertronic Grumman X-29 , a Cybertronic Earth motorcycle, and a Cybertronic Porsche 962.]]

''Before the [[Great War]] broke out on Cybertron, the robot who would be Optimus Prime (his name before becoming the Prime Autobot remains unknown) was a Transformer of note, displaying his skills in the Infraformers Sharp-shooting Competition.'' Subsequently, when the war began, Prime quickly made a name for himself as a combat leader. On a mission with the [[Triggerbot (G1)|Triggerbots]] to stop [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] from claiming the [[Underbase]], Prime was forced to jettison the massive databank into space to prevent anyone acquiring its power, but with this action, proved his wisdom and skill to the [[Autobot Council of Elders]]. ''The outbreak of the Great War saw Autobot territories falling under Decepticon dominion, one City-State at a time. The last City-State to be taken was the Autobot capital of [[Iacon]]. As Decepticons besieged Iacon, the Council of Elders prepared to surrender. Councillor [[Xaaron]] suggested that High Councillor [[Traachon]] step down and allow a military officer to assume Autobot leadership. Traachon then used his powers of veto and effectively elected himself out of office, allowing Optimus Prime to assume supreme command of the Autobots, becoming the first soldier to ever hold the mantle of Autobot leadership.''
[[Image:Optimusprimeg1marvelfirst.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Optimus Prime's first fictional appearance.]]

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

In 1984 C.E., a volcanic eruption reactivated Auntie, which in turn brought the Transformers back on-line. Prime led the Autobots in their opening battles to prevent the Decepticons from plundering Earth's resources, but following their initial victory, the Autobots were all deactivated by [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]]. Prime was decapitated by Shockwave, and had the energy of the Creation Matrix leeched from his mind to give life to Shockwave's creations, the [[Constructicon]]s (although Shockwave was unaware that the Matrix was not merely a program in Prime's mind, but a physical object in his chest). Before Shockwave could give life to his next Decepticon, [[Jetfire (G1)|Jetfire]], Prime transferred the Matrix energy into the mind of [[Buster Witwicky]], who used the energy to turn Jetfire on Shockwave, allowing Prime to reclaim his body and retake leadership of the Autobots, giving Jetfire true life as a reward.

[[Image:NOOOOO.jpg|left|thumb|250px|Real dignified, Prime.]]
''Optimus Prime began to consider whether he was too important to the Autobots, and if they could carry on should he fall. To alleve his doubts, he and a reluctant [[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]] plotted to fake Prime's death to teach the Autobots how to fend for themselves. While Prime was setting up an imposter version of himself to leave behind destroyed for the Autobots to find, Megatron sent the [[Predacon (G1)|Predacons]] to attack Prime. In an ironic twist, would the Autobots stumble across a genuine dead Prime?''

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

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

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

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

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

===="Another Time and Place" text story ([[retcon]]ned)====

====Generation 2====
[[image:Optimusprime-g2.jpg|right|thumb|150px|Apparently going G2 makes you blockier.]]

Prime was plagued by visions of the [[Swarm]] - a destructive by-product of Transformer reproduction - entering into an alliance with Megatron against it and the forces of the second-generation [[Cybertronian]]s led by [[Jhiaxus (G2)|Jhiaxus]]. Prime's body was destroyed yet again when he confronted the Swarm, but upon releasing the energy of the Matrix into it, purifying it, Prime was reborn by the repentant creature. At the end of the battle, Prime’s dream of reuniting the two races of Transformers into a single force for good seemed to be a possibility when the [[Autobot]]s and [[Decepticon]]s fought side by side against a common foe.

===Animated continuity===

====Generation 1 cartoon====

:''Voice actors:'' [[Peter Cullen]] (US), [[Tesshō Genda]] (Japan), [[Francis Lax]] (France)<br>

[[Image:Orionpax.jpg|left|thumb| Dock worker Orion Pax and his girlfriend Ariel. What she does at the docks? Well......]]

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

[[Image:Optimusmtmtep1.jpg|thumb|right|Turn INTO the skid.]]

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

[[Image:Optimal_dunk.JPG|left|thumb|151px|Prime proving Red Bots Can Jump.]]

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

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

====''Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformer'' manga (Japan-only)====

During an energy raid on [[Tokyo]], Optimus Prime and the Autobots met up with a young Japanese boy named [[Kenji]], whose inventive mind helped them to defeat [[Menasor (G1)|Menasor]]. As a token of thanks, Optimus Prime granted Kenji a special communications helmet and made him an official Autobot ally.

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

====''Scramble City'' (Japan-only)====

After the location of the top-secret [[Autobot City]] [[Metroplex (G1)|Metroplex]] was discovered by [[Ratbat]], Megatron unleashed a horde of Decepticon [[combiner]]s to attack the mammoth Autobot before it could be activated. Optimus Prime lead a counter-offensive of Autobot combiners to the front lines. Things looked grim, as the Decepticon combiners thrashed the Autobots. As a last resort, [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]] activated Metroplex, who arrived in time to fight off the Decepticons. However, Megatron unleashed his trump card, the Decepticon City: [[Trypticon]].

====''Robot Masters'' (Japan-only)====
:''Voice actor: ? (Japan)''

Selecting a time when the original Megatron was known to have gone missing, [[Megatron (BW)|Beast Megatron]] traveled back in time via the [[Blasty Zone]] to sieze Decepticon leadership and gather precious [[solitarium]]. Beast Megatron's forces were strong, though Optimus Prime managed to fend off the villains when several time-displaced Autobots and Maximals ([[Star Saber (G1)|Star Saber]], [[Victory Leo]], [[Lio Convoy]] and [[Optimus Primal]]) came to his aid.

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

====''Binaltech'' (Japan-only)====
While Optimus Prime was fighting the Decepticon on Cybertron, he charged [[Ultra Magnus]] to protect the earth and to lead the construction of the new Autobot city. When the crisis annouced by Ravage arrived, he went with Ultra Magnus on a last chance mission to stop Unicron, while sending [[Skids (G1)|Skids]] into the past to restore the timeline so that recent events instigated by Ravage would not happen.

====''Transformers The Movie''====

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

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

Optimus Prime foresaw that his final battle with his arch-nemesis was looming, deciding that the Decepticons must be stopped, no matter the cost. Bravely, he plowed through the remaining Decepticon ranks, punishing them for every Autobot they felled overnight, before confronting Megatron. In the ensuing battle with Megatron, Optimus Prime sustained fatal injuries, but not before turning the tide of battle and forcing the Decepticon to flee. Despite the efforts of [[Perceptor (G1)|Perceptor]], Optimus Prime died. The [[Matrix of Leadership]], and with it leadership of the Autobots, fell into the hands of [[Ultra Magnus (G1)|Ultra Magnus]], and subsequently to [[Hot Rod|Rodimus Prime]]. {{Storylink|Transformers: The Movie}}

====''Kiss Players'' (Japan-only)====
''Note: [[Kiss Players]] is set in 2006 and 2007, in the first part of the 4-year gap between Transformers the Movie and Season 3 created by the latter being entitled ''Transformers 2010'' in Japan.
=====Radio play=====
[[Image:Illust.jpg|left|thumb|150px|See? Melissa's just bein' nice.]]

In the year 1985, as Optimus Prime prepared to face his enemy [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] atop the [[Sherman Dam]], [[Fortress Maximus|Brave Maximus]] Fortress materialized nearby with an unusual crew on board. Undetected by the Autobot leader, a pop singer sextet of humans and Transformers had arrived from more than 20 years in the future, brought there by the mysterious [[Sparkbot]]s. When the [[Kiss Player]] [[Marissa Faireborn]] kissed the unsuspecting Prime, a fragment of the [[Allspark]] emerged from his chest. With their prize secured, the time travelers returned to the far future of 2007.

Years later, Prime would save the life of a young Marissa, leading to the human girl's lifelong [[wikipedia:Elektra_complex|crush]] on the mechanoid. After the Autobot leader was killed in the battle of Autobot City, Marissa rescued Optimus Prime's carcass from the clutches of the [[Earth Defense Command]] and he was resurrected in Japan in the form of a Dodge Ram SR-10. In addition to his ion blaster, he carries a weapon that he originally named the High Frequency Blade: a sword that Prime created from Marissa's beloved surfboard. Marissa hated the name, however, and renamed it the "Surf Blade". Naturally, Prime agreed to this, because really, what're you gonna do? Women, am I right, fellas?

[[Image:Marissa_convoy_stack.jpg|right|thumb|150px|She prefers the Japanese version's [[For safety reasons|''longer stacks''.]]]] Now Prime and Marissa spend their days hiding from the E.D.C. and their nights hanging out at the beach. He longs for the day when he can see her bathing in the sun, rather than the moonlight, although he thinks all that ice cream she's eating is making her a little fat.

One night while Marissa was surfing, she had a squid latch onto her. Then a [[Legion]] that had infused itself with both an octopus and shipwreck attacked her. With tentacles. Prime fought it off and saved Marissa, but the E.D.C. [[Autrooper]]s were soon dispatched to the scene, and the two had to beat a hasty retreat.

Marissa enjoys washing Prime, especially his... um... stick shift and the rim of his gas tank. Which makes Prime shudder and moan.

Eww.

''('''Note''': This is all actually part of the official fiction. Really.)''
{{-}}

=====Manga=====

Following his death in America, Optimus Prime's body was covertly flown to Japan by the E.D.C. Soon thereafter, as the organization transported the robotic corpse by truck, the convoy was ambushed by a group of young female resistance commandos. Believing that they had secured Prime's body, the commandos were taken by surprise and slaughtered by the [[Ne squad]] [[Kiss Player]] [[Ringo]] and her [[Autrooper]] partner, who burst out of the torso of the false Prime.

Marissa Faireborn, the remaining member of the squad, discovered that the true body was being transported within Prime's nearby cargo trailer. Slicing the trailer open, she was too late to prevent an E.D.C. Autrooper from partially fusing with Prime. Reflecting on her childhood memories of playing with the kindly Autobot leader, Marissa lovingly kissed his faceplate. In an explosion of energy that destroyed the trailer, the two fused and Prime was converted into his new, living body.

''('''Note''': The fake Prime corpse was represented in art by the Masterpiece Convoy toy with an E.D.C. logo attached over its Autobot symbol. The real Optimus Prime was illustrated as the original toy.)''

====''Season 3/2010''====

[[Image:Optimusg1zombie.jpg|right|thumb|WHERE IS SARAH CONNOR.]]
Prime's body was entombed in a massive deep-space mausoleum with the many other fallen Autobots, but his corpse was desecrated by the [[Quintessons]] in 2006(2010 if you go by Japan's fiction), when they reanimated it as part of an attempt to destroy the Autobots by using Prime to lure their space fleet into a trap. However, the Matrix was able to purify Prime of the Quintesson influence, and he got the other Autobots clear while he piloted his flagship into the Quintessons' detonator, triggering the explosion of a nearby sun.

Prime was believed to have been destroyed in the explosion, but in reality, before the flagship impacted with the detonator, his body was recovered from the craft by two human scientists, [[Jessica Morgan]] and [[Dr. Gregory Swafford]]. However, as their ship departed, it was coated in solar spores released by the explosion of the sun. Jessica's father, [[Dr. Mark Morgan]], loathed the Autobots, and his hatred only grew when an attempt by the Decepticons to steal a heat-resistant alloy he had developed resulted in Jessica being paralyzed. Swafford and Morgan reconstructed Optimus Prime's body in an attempt to use it as a delivery system for the spores, which induced hatred and madness, in order to destroy the Transformers.

However, when they could not reanimate him, they used his body as a lure instead, bringing the Autobots to their lab, where they were infected. As this "[[Hate Plague]]" proceeded to spread across the galaxy, [[Sky Lynx (G1)|Sky Lynx]] retrieved a Quintesson, who fully restored Optimus Prime to life. Coating himself in Morgan's heat-resistant alloy, Prime reclaimed the Matrix from Rodimus and unleashed its concentrated wisdom to destroy the Hate Plague.

''('''Note''': There is a considerable continuity error concerning zombie Optimus. At the end of "[[Dark Awakening]]", Optimus is in pretty rough shape (as the screen shot shows), missing an arm, part of his face, a sizable portion of his shoulder, covered with cosmetic damage, etc. He is also apparently fully conscious as he flies the ship into the Quintesson trap as it is being ripped apart by laser fire. However, when he is discovered in "[[The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1]]", he's both whole and shining new, and apparently comatose. There is no hint whatsoever of the battle that took place only minutes previous, no Quintesson laser-fire piercing Prime's pristine ship. Plus, the sun in question is about to go nova naturally rather than by Quintesson design, which is why Morgan and Swafford were there in the first place.)''

====''Rebirth'' (America-only)====

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

====''Headmasters'' (Japan-only)====

''(The Headmasters anime ignores the events of the 3-part "The Rebirth" story arc and picks up a year after "The Return of Optimus Prime", in 2011.)''

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

Guided through the dangers of the planet's catacombs by the spirit of Alpha Trion while the other Autobots searched for the Matrix on Earth, Prime eventually arrived at the computer, only to find his way barred by [[Cyclonus (G1)|Cyclonus]] and [[Scourge (G1)|Scourge]]. Hot Rod then arrived with the Matrix, with which Alpha Trion merged, re-energizing it and transforming Hot Rod back into Rodimus Prime; for the first time, the two Primes fought side-by-side and defeated Galvatron.

Before Rodimus could implement the Matrix to stabilize Vector Sigma, however, Optimus Prime sacrificed himself to perform the task, merging with the computer and restoring its balance to save the planet.

====''Battlestars: Return of Convoy'' (Japan-only)====
[[Image:StarConvoyBoxArt1.jpg|right|thumb|"Some aliens are alright; Star Convoy, E.T. ...but usually they just turn out to be some kind of big lizard!"]]

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

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

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

====Generation 2 manga (Japan-only)====
[[Image:BattleConvoy.jpg|thumb|left|125px|I hope the bastards fixed my weak stomach problem.]]

After the end of [[Battlestars]], Optimus Prime down-graded back to his original body. Megatron eventually recovered from the Star Giant incident and supposedly turned over a new leaf. Megatron joined with Prime to form the [[Cybertron Alliance]], and things were good for a little while, as Megatron's attempts at peace were genuinely sincere. The alliance ushered in what would be called the Second Generation of the Transformers. However, after human soldiers killed one of his dearest comrades, Megatron adopted a new body and started the war anew.

[[Image:G2PrimeJustice.jpg|thumb|right|SHALOM!]]
To counter Megatron, Optimus Prime upgraded his body into a new Missle Trailer mode. Rallying a new wave of Autobot warriors, Optimus dilligently repelled Megatron and the Decepticons. Megatron eventually wore Optimus down in battle, though, blowing him away with a barrage of devastating attacks. Megatron finally succeeded in delivering a fatal blow to Optimus, shooting him at point blank with his cannon. Prime would have been done for, except that the [[spark|sparks]] of the previous Autobot Supreme Commanders within the [[Matrix of Leadership]] activated the [[Reconfiguration Matrix]] to forge him a new body. Optimus Prime became '''Battle Convoy''' and easily trumped Megatron's power. After a lengthy and costly war, Battle Convoy managed to drive the Decepticon forces to retreat into deep space. Prime was last seen wounded, being aided off the battlefield by his fellow Autobots.
=====E-Hobby=====
Presumingly using his [[Reconfiguration Matrix]] to revert to his original body, Optimus Prime came into possession of two powerful Solar-powered missile launchers created by the Decepticons. The energy consumption of these missiles is so large that it was necessary for Prime to be given a Sunlight-absorbing [[Wikipedia:Black body|Black body]] coating in order for them to operate at full power. It was in this form that Prime rescued Laser Rod Ultra Magnus from [[Galvatron II]].

=====Generation 2: "The Earth is in Danger!"=====

''(Note: this manga special is '''not''' in continuity with the Japanese G2 story pages and minicomics.)''
[[Image: G2Hero.jpg|left|thumb|100px|Good. Good. Just keep looking that way. Yeah.]]
In the year 199X, the Decepticons had learned of a powerful new energy source known as [[forestonite]] which just happened to be located (surprise surprise) on [[Earth]]. Megatron sent his trio of [[Cyberjet]]s to Earth first to draw out the enemy Autobots. The Cyberjets made quick work of [[Electro]] but were soon halted by the appearance of Optimus Prime.

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

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

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

===Beast Era===

====''Beast Wars''====
[[Image:G1Prime_BWMegs.jpg|right|thumb|You have to get up preeeeetty early in the timestream to beat Optimus Prime!]]
The Beast Wars raged on prehistoric Earth, eventually leading to the discovery of the buried Ark. [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]], following his namesakes instructions in a desperate gambit, decided to attempt to change history by killing Prime, who was still lying in the Ark in [[stasis lock]]. Megatron hoped that this would result in the Decepticons winning the Great War and eventually [[Predacon (BW)|Predacon]] control of Cybertron. Megatron unleashed a full-power weapon blast at Optimus Prime's face, near-fatally injuring him. {{storylink|The Agenda, Part 3}} However, [[Optimus Primal (BW)|Optimus Primal]] proceeded to take Prime's spark into his body to protect it from surgical trauma while his injuries were repaired. The subsequent power increase caused by Prime's spark's connection to the Matrix mutated Primal into a large, [[Transmetal]] "Optimal Optimus" form. Then, with the repairs complete, Prime's spark was restored, and he briefly activated before sinking back into normal stasis. {{storylink|Optimal Situation}}

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

====''Beast Machines''====

An enormous statue of Optimus Prime, bearing two [[Golden Disk]]s, could be seen on Cybertron in front of the Hall of Archives. The statue was subsequently blown to pieces by the [[Vehicon]] forces. {{storylink|Fires of the Past}} Later, Megatron beamed a hologram of Optimus Prime down to the ruins of [[Iacon]] to confront [[Optimus Primal]]. Primal mistook the hologram for the real thing and shared with it the code for the [[Oracle]]. Megatron quickly revealed his ruse. Primal explained to his Maximals that he knew the image was fake, but he needed the location of the missing [[spark]]s from Megatron's mind.{{storylink|Sparkwar Part 2: The Search}}

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

====''Universe: Primeval Dawn''====
[[Image:Sparkholderprimevaldawn.jpg|right|190px|thumb|Oh, I also have ''this'' in me now, too.]]
The Vok took the Matrix of Leadership from an unconscious Optimus Prime, used it to create [[Primal Prime]], then gave the Matrix to their new creation.

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

===Kid Stuff Talking Story Books===
'''Voice actor: Unknown'''

[[Image:KidsPrime1.jpg|left|150px|thumb|Scary grin only second to [[Hot Shot]].]]

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

===Big Looker Story Books===

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

===Dreamwave comics continuity===

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

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

Following the awakening of the Transformers on Earth, the Autobots allied with humankind and eventually defeated the Decepticons at the turn of the century. They planned to return to Cybertron aboard the newly constructed "[[Ark_II|Ark II]]," but the ship was destroyed as part of a military conspiracy to take control of the Transformers. However, a terrorist organization run by the enigmatic [[Lazarus]] was able to seize control of several of the Transformers that fell back to Earth, while the U.S. military located Prime's body. Before his departure, Prime had entrusted a small portion of the Matrix to [[Spike Witwicky]], who was forced by the product chief, General [[Robert Hallo]], to use it to reactivate Prime. Functional again, Prime used the Matrix to reactivate more of his fallen comrades, and then faced off against Megatron in [[San Francisco]].

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

=== IDW comics continuity ===
[[Image:IDWBeforeEarth_Prime.jpg|left|thumb|150px|I'll... ''I'll what, I'll what?!'']]

''(Before the war, a robot that's a hybrid of the "Orion Pax" and "Optronix" designs appears listening to [[Sentinel Prime]]'s speach at the funeral of [[Bumper]] and [[Fastback]]. He is standing with [[Elita One]], [[Alpha Trion]], and a white version of himself (presumably [[Ultra Magnus]], possibly even [[Dion]]). Whether this is truely the IDW-verse's version of pre-Prime Optimus remains unrevealed.)''

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

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

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

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

[[Image:IDWPrime_Earth.jpg|left|thumb|150px|Don't crush the cameraman!]]
Optimus Prime, now fully filled in on Earth's happenings, decided that they needed reinforcements. He called [[Nightbeat]], [[Hot Rod]], and [[Hardhead (G1)|Hardhead]] to come when they could. When Prowl pointed out that Megatron, in his new gun-based Earth mode, was in the breakaway Soviet state of Brasnya stirring up trouble, Prime ordered them into action.

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

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

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

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

===IDW ''[[Hearts of Steel]]'' continuity===
He appears very briefly in the first few pages, in his "Ice Age Wars" body (we only see him in robot mode, but his altmode is a brachiosaurus<ref>[http://www.allspark.com/forums/index.php?s=d5d311674e796c81d010d26ac751389b&showtopic=10074&st=20&p=266183&#entry266183 Allspark forums post] by [[Guido Guidi]], August 15th, 2006</ref>). {{Storylink|Hearts of Steel, Part 1}} He spends most of the story in [[stasis lock]].
====IDW ''Hearts of Steel'' Concept Art micro-continuity====
Optimus is depicted as turning into the front half of a fanciful red-and-blue locomotive. The rear half of the locomotive turns into a battle station. Since this altmode has no place in the story, these sketches constitute a [[micro-continuity]] in which Optimus Prime and [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]] are active in the late 19th century.

==Toys==
See [[Optimus Prime (G1) toys]].

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

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

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

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

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

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

==External links==
* [http://www.tfu.info/1984/Autobot/OptimusPrime/optimusprime.htm Optimus Prime on TFU.info]
* [http://www.ntfa.net/universe/english/index.php?act=view&char=Optimus_Prime Optimus Prime's Universe profile at NTFA.net]
* [http://www.toybin.org/search.php?q=1984+Autobot+Optimus+Prime ToyBin Optimus Prime Toy gallery]

== Footnotes ==
<references />

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