Megatron Origin issue 4

« The Transformers: Megatron Origin #4
Somebody needs to switch to decaf.
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	October 24, 2007
Cover date	September 2007
Written by	Eric Holmes
Art by	Alex Milne
Colors by	Josh Perez and Mark Bristow
Color assist by	Gabe Eltaeb
Letters by	Neil Uyetake
Edits by	Andrew Steven Harris
Continuity	2005 IDW continuity
Chronology	4 million BCE

The former miner-turned-gladiator-turned-rebel leader kills lots of other guys for the hell of it.

Synopsis

Having been arrested and detained by Sentinel Prime's Autobot security forces, Megatron's forces are in a tight squeeze, literally and metaphorically - their presence threatens to push the holding capacity of Kaon's Security Services Headquarters to the limit, and Starscream is marched away from the other imprisoned gladiators, seemingly to turn in his fellow rebels.

Starscream is taken before the Kaon Council to testify. As the assembled 'bots read out a list of charges, the Seeker remains flippant, raising the ire of the prosecutors, before finally offering his own two cents: everything that has happened is their fault. Raising his weapons, he and Soundwave easily destroy their would-be captors in a final coup de grace against the old order, and etch their symbol into the meeting room's view screen.

From their cells, the other prisoners hear the bloodshed, and Megatron is pleased: he'd deliberately engineered the entire arrest and Starscream's seeming defection in order to easily slaughter his assembled enemies. Starscream releases his leader and his gladiator crew, who are swiftly joined by every other criminal in the building. With Soundwave providing armaments and badges to the new recruits, Starscream introduces Megatron to the most devastating weapon in the precinct's armory: a new, arm-mounted fusion cannon. Blasting a hole in the wall with his new weapon, Megatron orders the group to attack with an offensive that is as simple as it is destructive: everything burns.

Aboard a pleasure vessel filled with Cybertron's upper class, snooty recreation comes to an end when Megatron's forces launch an attack. Though Thundercracker is uncertain, his partner Skywarp goads him into firing upon the leisure ship, causing it to crash into the city below in a fiery conflagration.

As Kaon burns, Sentinel and the other Autobots fight to retake the city from the insurgents, but it's an uphill fight all the way: the rebels have caused massive damage, jammed communications with Iacon, and refuse to give an inch of ground. With his options running out, Sentinel realizes that he'll have to deploy the "Apex" as his final contingency plan, ordering his soldiers to hold the line while he falls back to retrieve it.

While Megatron and his troops lead the assault on Kaon, Soundwave meets with his boss, Senator Ratbat. The smug Senator admits that he was behind the disastrous chain of events that led to Megatron's rise to power: not only did he aid Megatron's cause by supplying arms, he was also the one who arranged for Megatron to be removed from the mining operation where he was originally working—and now that Megatron's forces have destabilized the area, the senator is embezzling what he can before moving on to new pastures. Soundwave, however, shoots his former boss, takes Ratbat's ill-gotten gains, and prepares to seal his spark inside a new frame...

As he struggles to get to the front lines, Megatron's advance is briefly halted by a colossal explosion: an explosion that was caused by Sentinel Prime, sealed inside a colossal suit of Apex Armor and ready to throw down with his opposite number. Another salvo of firepower throws the rebel leader off his feet. Believing his enemy dead, Sentinel radios to the other Autobots that he's created an opening in the enemy lines... but learns that he's spoken too soon when Megatron rises once more, using Hound's body as a bludgeon to shatter the helmet of the Apex Armor.

Their struggle takes them over a precipice as they battle while discussing Megatron's goal: Megatron will transform the world by tearing it all down, and Sentinel seeks to uphold the old order from any treachery. The two grapple until Megatron is almost knocked over a precipice; as Sentinel lifts him up to deliver the final strike, Megatron gains a second wind and launches a savage counterattack against the Autobot leader, mortally wounding him. Haivng finally made contact with Iacon, more Autobot reinforcements arrive... just in time to see their leader's broken body lying in a crater. Prowl, assuming command, orders a retreat.

As dawn breaks, Megatron takes stock of his latest victory and the journey that led him to this point. Having fashioned a throne from the remains of the Apex Armor, he discusses his next moves with Soundwave. Now that Kaon has been taken, the next step is clear—the rest of Cybertron shall be conquered. But they will not do it as Cybertronians. From this day forward, they are the Decepticons.

The Great War has begun...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Security Services	Decepticons	Others
Blades (21) Sentinel Prime (22) Prowl (23) Hound (24) Ironhide (25) Trailbreaker (27) Hubcap (34) Broadside (35) Bluestreak (36) Mirage (37)	Starscream (1) Megatron (2) Soundwave (4) Divebomb (5) Squawkbox (6) Laserbeak (7) Ravage (8) Buzzsaw (9) Motormaster (10) Thundercracker (11) Frenzy (12) Skywarp (13) Rumble (14) Runamuck (15) Kickback (see "Errors") (16) Bonecrusher (17) Mixmaster (18) Thrust (26) Blot (29) Ruckus (30) Drag Strip (31) Dead End (32) Razorclaw (33)	Straxus (see "Errors") (3) Grapple (19) Inferno (20) Ratbat (28)

Quotes

"Heh. Nobody's perfect."

—Starscream, after hearing a long list of charges against him.

"Through your own interests you created this. You brought us here. You didn't just make it possible—you made it happen. All we did was give it a badge."

—Starscream, before the court.

"Hmm. Yes. There's something about this."

—Megatron, upon receiving his arm cannon.

"Instability is just a different word for opportunity, Hmm?"
"Confirmed."
"What-" (Ratbat gets shot by Soundwave) "What.... are... you...doing!?"
"Situation—war. Resources—limited. Optimal solution—repurpose valuable resource."

—Ratbat and Soundwave

"And when you've crossed the planet with your little gang of thugs, what will you do then?"
"I will create desolation—and call it peace!"

—Sentinel Prime and Megatron

Notes

Continuity notes

• Civilians cry out "Primus!" when they are attacked by Thundercracker and Skywarp. The name is only used as a curse here, but it is significant because the principal writer of the series at the time, Simon Furman, intended to keep Primus and Unicron out of this continuity. Although Furman didn't write Megatron Origin, he did comment on it on his blog: "just because someone refers to something called Primus, doesn't necessarily mean it's G1 Primus. There are still no plans to feature Primus (as was). But is/was there someone or something called Primus in the IDW/TF-verse, quite possibly." Primus would later turn up as a Transformer god after all, though with a different creation myth to Marvel G1 continuity.
• When the issue was first published, artist Alex Milne said that Sentinel Prime hadn't actually died during his confrontation with Megatron, and that the script called for him to look like he could go either way. On the other hand, his corpse is drawn with a gaping hole in his chest, an expression of horror on his face, and washed-out colours that are usually indicative of death. This odd note wouldn't be followed up on for many, many years; "Spotlight: Blurr" introduced Zeta Prime as Sentinel's successor, suggesting that he had died and been succeeded by another Prime. In 2016, however, we'd learn that Sentinel had survived his final confrontation with Megatron... because "Sentinel Prime" was, in fact, a false identity created by the Titan Master Infinitus, a tiny 'bot puppeteering a larger body. "The Last Autobot" (selling a Sentinel toy) playfully mentions that there'd been rumours that Sentinel had survived until pictures of Sentinel's dead body were made public!
• Starscream gives Megatron his fusion cannon. It shouldn't be hard to see the irony in this.
• Thundercracker expresses some misgivings about shooting down the ship with Skywarp. Take notice of that little bit of characterization, it becomes important later.
• If the art doesn't make it abundantly clear, in the last panel Megatron is holding the data cube Ratbat was preparing before his repurposing.
• Kickback shows up as one of the Decepticons in Kaon. For many years, this (and Bombshell's appearance in "Spotlight: Blaster") was an error; All Hail Megatron #7 initially established that the trio of Bombshell, Shrapnel, and Kickback were genetically engineered by the Decepticons millions of years later. 2017's Hasbro Heroes Sourcebook finally amended this by noting that the Decepticon experiments were cloned from a naturally-occurring race. It seems likely that the Kickback in this issue was a separate individual who inspired the creation of the modern Kickback.
• John Barber would retcon:
  • The body that Starscream is brought before is only referred to in the text as the "Kaon Council." John Barber would later retcon that these individuals were, in fact, the Senate (almost the whole Senate!) and they'd flown into Kaon specifically to see Megatron in captivity. This doesn’t entirely click with the council scene, where there are empty chairs that Starscream sneers about (implying the council doesn't view these matters as important enough to all show up for), but it would later be established that Shockwave and Dai Atlas were supposed to be there but weren’t (Shockwave because he had defected, Atlas because he was physically prevented from attending), so you could No-Prize it that he was referring to their conspicuous absence
  • Soundwave was originally a down-and-out being exploited by Ratbat and quietly seething at the functionist-backed bigotry towards his beast friends; Megatron easily recruited him. It was also his idea for the Decepticons to be 'arrested' as seen in this issue and the last. Tying into this, Ratbat's downsizing becomes a deliberate karmic punishment for his bigotry against beast-bots.
• James Roberts would retcon:
  • Sentinel Prime is a brutish thug responsible for multiple crimes and murders. Sentinel was also responsible for having Megatron brutalised and almost killed in his peaceful activist days, so this final battle isn't hero and villain but villain on villain... and Sentinel, who has some dark secrets of his own, has it coming.
  • Trailbreaker was a fugitive and enemy of Sentinel's. What's he doing in the Security Services? There may be a story here!

Transformers references

• Sentinel Prime uses Apex Armor, a reference to the Commemorative Series reissue of Powermaster Optimus Prime.
• When he assassinates the Senate, Starscream's weapons flip out in a similar fashion to his Cybertron toy, albeit without using a Cyber Key.

Real-life references

• Megatron's intention to "create desolation--and call it peace!" is a paraphrase of the real-life Caledonian chieftain Calgacus, who described the philosophy of the Romans he was fighting against: "To robbery, slaughter, plunder, they give the lying name of empire; they make a solitude and call it peace." Megatron's wording also reflects the motto from his original bio, "Peace through tyranny."

Errors

• On page 10, Trailbreaker is depicted grabbing Starscream as the Decepticon makes his escape. Starscream then kicks the Autobot off, sending him into what is heavily implied to be his death (what with the long fall into a massive explosion and all), despite Trailbreaker turning up alive and well many years later in the previously published "Spotlight: Kup" as well as the later published "Spotlight: Blaster". This is not the first time that the Megatron Origin books would conflict with the events in Spotlight: Kup... but then again, Trailbreaker does have the ability to protect himself with his trademark force fields, so perhaps he simply survived the fall.
• Straxus shows up as one of the Senate guards... when really he shouldn't be there at all.
• The string of word bubbles meant for Ratbat on page 12 instead appear to come from Ravage.

Covers (3)

• Cover A: Megatron stands over a defeated Sentinel Prime by Alex Milne (pencils) and Josh Perez (colors)
• Cover B: Megatron screaming by Marcelo Matere (pencils) and Andrew Elder (colors)
• Cover RI-A: uncolored cover A

• 
  Um... Spoiler alert!
• 
  He's angry because of that spoiler
• 
  No colors, still spoiled

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