Megaplex

This article is about the clone of Megatron. For the Kreon, see Megaplex (Kre-O).

Megaplex is a Decepticon from the Machine Wars portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

I hear the new Cybertron Megaplex has over 30 screens!

Megaplex is one of a series of specially constructed clones of Megatron. He exists to foment confusion in the Autobot ranks and protect against traitors among the Decepticons. He has led many battles in Megatron's stead.

While Megaplex is ideally endowed with the same power as the original Megatron, the Decepticons' true leader is no fool. Realizing that a being based so closely on his own nature and with equal power would be quite likely to make a play to permanently replace him, Megatron thus had his clones constructed with a failsafe device that significantly restricts their abilities. Thus, though Megaplex is easily able to pass as Megatron for short periods of time, his intelligence, strength, firepower, and skill are capped at levels significantly below those of the real Megatron. The deception is likely to work best on the battlefield, from a distance, or when Megaplex is following a strict script set by the original.

Megaplex prefers close-quarters combat, tearing into his opponents with electron sword and energy flail. For artillery he prefers liquid helium "Freeze Shells".

Fiction

Wings Universe

At the end of the second Golden Age of Cybertron, clone armies of some of the most infamous Decepticons in history, created by Jhiaxus, have swept across the galaxy devastating both Autobot and Decepticon forces alike. Led by Megaplex —clone of Megatron— this onslaught resulted in Optimus Prime falling in battle on Sigma Seven.

In a battle between Thundercracker's forces and a rebel cell led by Obsidian and Strika, the Autobots gain the upper hand, and Strika manages to coerce the coordinates to Megaplex's location from Thundercracker.

In Iacon, Megaplex surveys the devastated planet, haunted by the exhilaration it makes him feel. Starscream warns him he is beginning to sound like Megatron himself, prompting Megaplex, with open disgust for the comparison, to caution Starscream that he should strive to be less like his own template. Skywarp arrives to report the capture of Thundercracker, and given that Starscream cannot send his drones in without fear of injuring their comrade, Megaplex decides to deal with the matter personally.

After waiting for an hour outside Iacon, Electro and Mirage are finally met by Obsidian's group, who have deliberately taken their time approaching to ensure they have been seen with Thundercracker, exploiting the clones' genuine concern for their own to prevent any attacks. Megaplex and his forces arrive and demand that Thundercracker be turned over, but Obsdian refuses, aggravating the clone commander by comparing him to Megatron. Casting his sword aside, Megaplex lunges for Obsidian, intending to crush him with his bare hands... at which points Obsidian orders Mirage to shut down his electro-disrupter, revealing the larger force of Autobots and Decepticons who have surrounded the clones. The Autobots withdrawing from the cities was a ruse, Obsidian reveals, allowing them to regroup and corral Megaplex's armies into one location. A mighty battle erupts; Electro seizes Megaplex's discarded sword and uses his Forestonite-granted Laser Rod powers to energize it, dispatching Starscream with its blasts. Megaplex is impressed, but as he battles Obsidian one-on-one, notes that he has plenty of impressive weapons of his own, like the fusion cannon he unleashes against the rebel leader. His rant is interrupted, however, by a howl of pain from Sandstorm, who undergoes a sudden change in personality, and vicious opens fire on Obsidian, cutting him down. Sandstorm is not, in fact, the original pacifistic Autobot that everyone believed he was, but another of Jhiaxus's clones, hidden amongst the Autobot forces as a sleeper agent and trump card. Megaplex is indignant at Sandstorm's assumption of command, but moments later, Jhiaxus and the rest of his forces arrive on Cybertron to explain: the war has changed Megaplex, awakening the urges of his template within him. Jhiaxus has no need of a Megatron in his army, and so he offers Megaplex the same choice he gives the Autobots and Decepticons: leave Cybertron, or face termination.

Toys

Machine Wars

File:MachineWars Megaplex toy.jpg

Doctor Doom will sue Megatron for stealing his idea.

• Megaplex (Basic, 1997)
  • Accessories: 2-piece rifle

Megaplex was one of two original characters introduced in the Machine Wars line. His mold was originally designed, but unused, for the end of Generation 2. He transforms from a Lockheed-Martin F-22 Raptor fighter jet to robot mode with a spring-loaded one-step transformation. The two halves of his rifle store in the back of his robot-mode legs.

The Machine Wars stock photos (and even the packaging art) have Megaplex as the blue jet and Megatron as the gray one, meaning either the package designers got everything wrong, or the toys were put on the wrong cards. The latter is more likely since gray is more associated with Megatron than blue is.

This mold is also used by Machine Wars Megatron, Beast Wars II Thrust, Robots in Disguise Wind Sheer and Robotmasters Air Hunter.

• More information on Machine Wars Megaplex at TFU.info

Generation 1

File:G1 Megaplex toy.jpg

Primus help us all when the Megaplex army clashes with Starscream's clones.

• Megaplex (Decepticon, 2003)
  • ID number: 93
  • Accessories: "Megasight" scope/"fusion cannon", two-part silencer ("focusing barrel" and "accelerator"), three-part stock ("death charge unit", "saddle", "cannon base"), "energy flail", "high-density infra-red ray laser gun", "electron sword", 20 "Freeze Shell/particle beam" bullets

Released as an e-HOBBY exclusive, Megaplex is a redeco of the original Megatron Walther P-38 pistol toy in the same colors as its original Takara Transformers release, itself a coloration used in the Microman line the mold originated in. The spring-loaded firing mechanisms inside both the toy's main body and the stock have also been restored, letting the toy launch choking-hazard-sized projectiles in both pistol and robot mode.

Based on the "Transformers Collection" reissue of Megatron, this version comes with all of Megatron's accessories. (The original Takara version lacked all of the gun's add-on parts, having only the chromed rifle and sword, and of course the flail is new to the "bookbox" Megatron.) His scope, stock and silencer can combine to form a large "particle beam cannon" artillery mode, or attach to his robot mode to make a huge shoulder-mounted "telescopic laser cannon formation". Both of these modes can fire the small plastic bullets the toy comes with thanks to the spring-loaded "death charge unit" portion of his stock. This piece can also connect to the back of his pistol barrel in robot mode, letting him "shoot from the hip", as it were.

Preorders for Megaplex closed on September 30 of 2002. Orders were shipped out in December.

• More information on e-Hobby Megaplex at TFU.info

Timelines

• Machine Wars: Termination (BotCon 2013 box set)

• Accessories: Sword

Timelines Megaplex is a redeco of Prime Voyager Dreadwing, featuring an all-new color scheme strongly evoking his Machine Wars incarnation, which accurately includes a predominantly grey and green color scheme, all transparent bits being a cloudy-white like the original Megaplex's cockpit windows, even down to the pinstripes on his wings and tailfins. However, instead of stickers with random shapes used for faction symbols on either of his wings in jet mode, there are two modified Decepticon symbols prominently displayed in their place, presumably evoking the faction symbol of Jhiaxus's Cybertronian Empire. There are two more of these symbols on either side of his chest in robot mode. Other major differences from the original's color scheme include all the soft-plastic bits on the original Dreadwing mold being colored light blue on this version, and the face being painted white. The eyes are still a lovely shade of dead-cataract white, however.

This version of the mold lacks the light-up blaster cannon accessory of the original, possibly due to cost-cutting reasons, but does include the sword, which can still be mounted (via 5mm posts) onto ports on his forearms, hands, wings, and back, as well as behind the cockpit canopy via the additional peg featured on its hilt. He comes in a boxset with Hoist, Strika, Obsidian, and Skywarp.

This mold was also redecoed into Prime Voyager Skyquake.

• More information on Timelines Megaplex at TFU.info

Notes

• Megaplex's Machine Wars packaging art is in fact a color-altered version of the card-art for the Predator jet Falcon.
• The e-HOBBY Megaplex's "Particle Beam Cannon" accessory configuration can actually also be slightly adapted to yet another mode used in the original Microman line; the "saddle" extension that raises the cannon up to robot-height actually plugged into the back of the cannon vertically. This made a backed seat that Micromen figures could sit on, making it a (Micro-)manned piece of field artillery; the back of the scope even has little flip-out handles for them to hold. The seemingly-nonsensical peg on the side of the "saddle" piece plugs into the back of the New Microman-era figures to secure them. (Modern Micromen are too big.)

Foreign names

• Japanese: Megaplex (メガプレックス Megapurekkusu)