Editing Spotlight: Megatron

{{comicstory|seriesissue=''[[The Transformers: Spotlight |The Transformers Spotlight]]: Megatron''
|prev=The Hunting Party (IDW)
|next=
|title=
|image=SLMegatron_cvrA.jpg
|caption=
|publisher=[[IDW Publishing]]
|date=[[February 6]], [[2013]]
|coverdate=February 2013
|written by=[[Nick Roche]]
|art by=[[Nick Roche]]
|colors by=[[Len O'Grady]]
|letters by=[[Shawn Lee]]
|assistant editor=[[Thomas Boening]]
|editor=[[John Barber]]
|continuity=[[IDW Generation 1 continuity|IDW continuity]]
|chronology="[[The Transformers (IDW)|Ongoing]]" era, post-[[Heart Like a Wheel|#13]]
}}

'''Freshly reborn in his new body, Megatron confronts Starscream over the failure of his leadership.'''

==Synopsis==

Led through the Decepticons' meagre base complex by [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]], [[Megatron (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Megatron]] takes stock of both his new form, and the deplorable conditions the [[Decepticon]]s have succumbed to in his absence, stranded on an asteroid with so little energy that they have resorted to cannibalizing each other's bodies. Parading before what remains of his troops, he attempts to reinvigorate them with an impassioned speech, but meets with little enthusiasm from the disheartened mechs. [[Shockwave (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Shockwave]] proposes further testing of the [[space bridge]] nodes integrated into Megatron's new body, stolen from [[Metroplex (G1)|Metroplex]], but Megatron rebuffs him, quietly suspicious of his motives, but also with a more important task in mind: confronting [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]].

Approaching Starscream in his darkened throne room, Megatron finds that their meeting does not go as expected, with a timid, broken Starscream seizing Megatron's cannon and pointing at himself, ready to be killed by his reborn leader. Eager for the traditional sport he has come to expect from his treacherous lieutenant, Megatron continues to needle and taunt Starscream over his failures as a leader, his inability to employ the [[Matrix of Leadership|Matrix]], and his spectacular destruction of the Decepticon infrastructure. At last, Starscream can take no more and opens fire on Megatron, but immediately realizes his mistake and flees, blasting his way out of the base and taking wing in jet mode. Having eked what he desired out of Starscream, Megatron transforms and pursues, engaging his subordinate in a dogfight across the asteroid. Starscream leads Megatron into a tunnel and collapses it on top of him, but this does little to stop the Decepticon leader, who bursts through the rubble and seizes the [[Seeker (body-type)|Seeker]]. Megatron asks if Starscream truly wishes to die, and Starscream replies in the positive, but Megatron refuses to grant him even that and taunts him further, causing Starscream's anger to flare and the battle to continue. The Decepticons assemble below to watch the fight as Megatron accuses Starscream of desiring punishment for his failures, and Starscream retorts that Megatron cannot possibly know what it was like for him: after desiring leadership for so long and finally gaining it, his dream was destroyed when he found he could not make the Decepticons obey him. This is the last straw for Megatron, however, who knows entirely too well what it is like to have a dream destroyed—the Decepticons, his dream, have been destroyed... by Starscream. Beaten to within an inch of his life, Starscream lays before Megatron's primed cannon and begs for the end, but Megatron will not deliver it, explaining the simple reason he has kept Starscream around all these years: in his greatest moments, Starscream's presence reminds him of his need to watch his own back. He offers Starscream the chance to return to the Decepticon ranks, and Starscream weakly accepts.

The battle done, the other Decepticons gather around the two combatants, and Megatron addresses them once more with bombast and rhetoric, promising retribution against the [[Autobot]]s for their sorry state. As the cry of "All Hail Megatron!" rings out, Megatron looks upon his troops. Soundwave lurks, Shockwave plots, Starscream lives to scheme—the Decepticon house is in order once more, everything is as it should be, and victory is assured.

==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c2=
{{{!}}border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background:transparent"
{{!}}-
{{!}}style="background:transparent; border-right: 0px" valign="top"{{!}}
*[[Megatron (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Megatron]] (1)
*[[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]] (2)
*[[Pounce]] or [[Wingspan]] (3)
*[[Viewfinder]] (4)
*[[Sunstorm (G1)|Sunstorm]] (5)
*[[Blitzwing (G1)|Blitzwing]] (6)
*[[Windsweeper]] (7)
*[[Skywarp (G1)|Skywarp]] (8)
{{!}}style="background:transparent; border-right: 0px" valign="top"{{!}}
*[[Razorclaw (G1)|Razorclaw]] (9)
*[[Shrapnel (G1)|Shrapnel]] (10)
*[[Acid Storm (G1)|Acid Storm]] (11)
*[[Needlenose]] (12)
*[[Shockwave (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Shockwave]] (13)
*[[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]] (14)
*[[Astrotrain (G1)|Astrotrain]] (15
*[[Kickback (G1)|Kickback]] (16)
{{!}}}
}}

==Quotes==

"This '''Matrix,''' Starscream... was it everything we '''hoped''' it would be, all those years we pursued it? Did planets '''fall''' before you as you '''brandished''' it? Was '''victory''' a mere '''formality''' after tilting it back-and-forth under a strong light? Did your followers '''respect''' you simply by dint of you '''prancing''' around with it '''tassled''' to your neck? Of all the treachery you've peddled over the eons, '''Starscream'''... this '''spark-quenchingly''' wretched '''mess''' you've made of leadership is the most '''affronting.'''"
:—'''Megatron'''


"This is not '''you''', Starscream! I don't expect a '''backbone,''' but I expect a '''viciousness,''' an '''acidity'''... some '''self-preservation!''' You want me to '''destroy''' you?"<br>
<small>"Yes..."</small><br>
"You '''really''' want me to end this all, don't you?"<br>
"Yes!"<br>
"Well, think back on the '''last''' thing you '''really''' wanted, Starscream, and remember what an utter failure '''that''' was, too."
:—'''Megatron''' and '''Starscream'''


"What a mess... should we '''stop''' them?"<br>
"If you '''do''', I'll teleport my '''fist''' inside your '''abdomen''' and '''wave.'''"
:—'''Windsweeper''' and '''Skywarp'''


"I free '''slaves.''' Implant '''ideology.''' I build them '''up.''' I '''liberate''' cities. I '''topple''' worlds. It takes '''eons.''' Then I slumber for '''three. Tiny. Years.''' And when I wake up, '''this''' is all I have left. Say it again. Say that I have no '''idea''' what it's like to see a lifetime's work '''destroyed''' and made mockery of. You and I have one thing in '''common'''... the person responsible for leaving '''both''' of our lives in tatters... is '''you.'''"
:—'''Megatron''', to Starscream


"The '''Decepticons.''' A million years to '''create''' them. A thousand days to '''destroy''' them. A hundred words to '''rebuild''' them. Everything is as it should be."
:—'''Megatron'''

==Notes==

*This issue takes place during IDW's [[The Transformers (IDW)|ongoing ''Transformers'' series]]. Chronologically, it would appear to occur right after Megatron's return in [[Heart Like a Wheel|issue #13]]; that issue ended with Megatron requesting the Decepticons be assembled so he could address them, as at the start of this story, and also saw Starscream lose the Matrix, which he no longer has in this issue.
*Like any good [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|Marvel UK]]-er, Roche includes a reference to Megatron's rarely-seen ability to link up interdimensionally to a [[black hole]], only ever used in-fiction in the Marvel UK stories "[[Raiders of the Last Ark]]" and "[[Resurrection!]]". It did get a previous mention in IDW continuity, though, in [[Chaos Theory Part 1|issue #22]] of the ongoing, when [[Ratchet (G1)|Ratchet]] and [[Perceptor (G1)|Perceptor]] discussed it as an implausible rumor. 
*Continuing the common thread linking this new run of ''Spotlights'', the space bridge technology that Megatron's new body contains is revealed to have been derived from Metroplex, who Megatron was shown to be searching for in ''Spotlights [[Omega's Conundrum|Orion Pax]]'' and ''[[The Hunting Party (IDW)|Thundercracker]]''. When and how the Decepticons obtained the tech, we do not yet know, but this probably explains why, when he appeared before in ''[[Spotlight: Metroplex]]'' and the ''[[The Transformers: Ironhide|Ironhide]]'' mini-series, Metroplex had to ''fly'' through space, instead of space bridging away as he did in ''Spotlight: Thundercracker''—because the Decepticons have stolen the technology that allows him to do so.
*A passing reference is made by Megatron to Soundwave's sneakery and general untrustworthiness, something that originates with the character's original [[bio]], but never got a lot of face-time in fiction outside of, again, the Marvel UK comics. This side of Soundwave was actually a big part of his early portrayal in IDW continuity, back in ''[[Spotlight: Soundwave]]''; Roche has brought it back to the fore after it fell by the wayside in ''[[The Transformers: All Hail Megatron|All Hail Megatron]]'' and the ongoing, which opted to present the slavish Megatron loyalist of the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|Generation 1 cartoon]]. 

===Errors===

*Skywarp ought to be on [[Earth]] at this point in time, having chronologically last been seen at the end of the [[The Transformers: Bumblebee|''Bumblebee'' mini-series]]. Whether or not he was captured by [[Skywatch]] at the end of that story was left unclear, but it seems unlikely he could have reached this asteroid.

===Covers (4)===
* '''Cover A:''' Megatron amid space debris, surrounded by bits of Starscream, by Nick Roche and Len O'Grady
* '''Cover B:''' Megatron illuminated by the light of his cannon, by [[Livio Ramondelli]]
* '''Cover RI:''' Megatron by [[Clayton Crain]]
* '''Cover RE:''' Megatron standing proud as Soundwave and Shockwave look on, by [[Alex Milne]] and [[Josh Perez]], exclusive to [http://www.standiumcomics.com Stadium Comics].
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[[Category:Spotlight issues]]