Megatron (BW): Difference between revisions

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The name or term "Megatron" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Megatron (disambiguation).

Megatron is a Predacon, a Vehicon, and a Decepticon in the Beast Era portion of the Generation 1 continuity family. He's also briefly known as Savage and Noble. He's a busy villain, yesss.

Every single James Bond villain stereotype rolled into one. Yeesssss...

Megatron began with one goal: restoring glory and power to the Predacon race, with himself at the helm. What distinguishes Megatron from the countless others who share this goal is his chutzpah. He is willing to risk everything—time, space, himself—if need be. And there were times he would have made it happen were it not for Optimus Primal.

Megatron is skillful at orchestrating vast schemes by manipulating others into doing them for him—an idle suggestion here, a conspicuously-planted object of interest there. He knows his enemies inside and out and exactly how to provoke them. He has no friends, only pawns, or occasionally, pawns that are too reliable to risk losing. Because of this attitude, this superiority complex, he despises working with the very troops he needs to carry out his plans. His hubris does not make him very popular, and so he must rely on power and fear to rule them. In fact, he prefers mindless drones.

Megatron is a gambler and can sometimes be a ham. (His manner of saying "Yesss..." is practically vaudevillian.) He has a twisted sense of humor and an over-developed sense of drama which rule everything he conceives, both long and short term. When he destroys you, he wants you to know that it was he who did this, and just how badly you were had. This is his greatest weakness. Like a Bond villain, he'll gladly boast to the hero at length about how smart and clever he was, giving his victim time to formulate a counterattack (he admits the Predacons sometimes gloat too much). He often sabotages himself by neglecting the quick and easy solutions for the bigger, meaner, and more complex.

Prior to the signing of the Pax Cybertronia, Megatron was a field commander in the Predacon army, where he learned much about strategy and tactics. Upon ratification of peace with the Maximal Imperium most Predacons laid down their arms. Megatron refused and went rogue.

The universe cowered once at the name of Megatron and it shall do so again!Megatron, "Optimal Situation"

Japanese name: Megalligator (alligator)

Chinese name: Konglong Wang (meaning Dinoking), Bawang Long (Meaning Tyrannosaurus)

European-market name: Dragone (Transmetal 2), Metal T-Rex (Transmetal)

Fiction

English continuity

Theft of the Golden Disk

Voice actor: David Kaye (English)

Megatron steals sacred Maximal cup coaster.

Megatron was the star pupil of the crimelord Cryotek, and successfully carried out his plan to steal the Golden Disk. Cryotek loved him like a son... which didn't stop him setting up Megatron to take the fall for the crime, knowing he'd betray him some day anyway. Unfortunately for Cryotek, "some day" was today—Megatron had everyone on the mission who wasn't loyal to him killed, had the data for the location of the Disk secretly decoded by Tarantulas, and then kept it for himself while directing the Maximals to his tutor. This was the first known time that Megatron would co-opt the plan of someone who thought they were the ones being manipulative and backstabbing, but wouldn't be the last. Theft of the Golden Disk

Dreamwave comics continuity

After stealing the Golden Disk, Megatron broke into Vector Sigma along with Dinobot and reviewed historical files on many of the Autobots and Decepticons from the era of the Great War. He told Dinobot to refer to him henceforth as Megatron. Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye #8

The Golden Disk was wrongly drawn as the Alien Disk. This two-page story is contradicted by many other versions of the story - specifically Megatron's spontaneous renaming of himself - possibly placing it in a version of the Beast Wars that occurs only in Dreamwave's Generation 1 continuity.

Dawn of Future's Past

On Cybertron, Megatron wore removable transformable armor, which transformed into a missile-launching armored platform, over his basic bodyframe (which transforms into a hovertank). This quickly-discarded outer shell was possibly used to comply with the ratification of the Pax Cybertronia, which required Predacons to lay down their arms. A Predacon field commander before the peace, Megatron refused to comply with these new regulations and struck out on his own to destroy the Maximal Imperium.

With some help from various sources, he assembled a crew of ragtag criminals and miscreants for the purpose of stealing the Golden Disk and using it to find Earth. Succeeding in stealing the disk, he, his lieutenant, and another accomplice fought their way out of the Archives, eliminating one guard and dodging another. They were swiftly picked up by the Darksyde, a ship stolen by the rest of their crew.

Megatron instructed Tarantulas to study the disk for the coordinates of Earth while the Darkside battled its several pursuers. Although they were followed by the Maximal ships Axalon and the Chromia 10, the Darksyde's mission was also aided by a third ship crewed by the Predacon agents Laserbeak and Buzzsaw. Though the Chromia 10 and the Predacon ship were destroyed, the Darksyde was still followed by the Axalon. Megatron removed his transformable armor and patched a video feed through to the Axalon's captain, Optimus Primal. Declaring himself the leader of the Predacons, Megatron opened a transwarp portal through which both ships travelled. Dawn of Future's Past

Beast Wars

Voice actor: David Kaye (English), Shigeru Chiba (Japanese), Antonio Moreno (Portuguese)

I thought I told you NO MORE BARNEY JOKES. NOOOOO....

After stealing the Maximal relic, the Golden Disk, and a ship, he and his crew were followed through a transwarp portal by the Axalon. After crashing on a planet that was supposed to be Earth, yet seemingly wasn't, both the Maximals and the Predacons took organic beast forms to protect themselves against the massive amount of Energon radiation. Megatron now transformed into a purple Tyrannosaurus rex.

Dinobot chastised Megatron, accusing him of leading the Predacons to the wrong planet and challenged Megatron for leadership of the Predacons. Megatron simply ignored the challenge and had Scorponok dispose of him. Beast Wars (Part 1)

Despite the loss of a formidable crony, Megatron positioned himself on the new world and the "Beast Wars" began. Being on a world filled with Energon allowed Terrorsaur to find a superhorde, and power himself to great levels. With this power, Terrorsaur was able to demolish Megatron in battle and take over the Predacons. However, through the Maximals' actions, the superhorde was destroyed. Terrorsaur was eventually ridden of his newfound power and returned to an angered Megatron, who was rebuilt by Scorponok. Power Surge

Today is a beautiful day to be stomping on things!

Again, Terrorsaur tried to usurp Megatron, this time using an apparently-turned Rattrap, who used a device to paralyze Megatron. The Predacons argued over who would be leader, but agreed to put Rattrap and Megatron away for the time being. Megatron was able to easily escape using his secret voice commands, leaving Rattrap to his fate. Revealing himself to have escaped, Megatron allowed Terrorsaur to lead the Predacons in battle with the Maximals. Terrorsaur failed miserably, showing his ineptitude to the Predacons, which was Megatron's plan all along. Double Jeopardy

Megatron later formulated a plan to get off Earth. First, he had the other Predacons act dissatisfied with his leadership, causing a battle that apparently destroyed the Predacons, using a Maximal spy camera that he was aware of to play out the trick. Then, the Maximals scavenged the Darksyde for parts to repair the Axalon's stardrive. Dinobot discovered the deception and rushed to warn the leaving Maximals. In the scuffle, Megatron snuck aboard. In the Axalon, he managed to knock out every Maximal on the ship but Rattrap, who he started crushing to death. An angered Rhinox woke up and threw Megatron off the Axalon. However, Megatron's tail weapon was stuck in the console, causing the Axalon to crash. Again. Victory

Later, Megatron caught wind of the return of the Vok and called a ceasefire between the two factions, realizing he had more important things to worry about. The Vok did indeed return, and planned to destroy the planet the Transformers were on with their massive Planet Buster (cleverly disguised as the Moon). Optimus Primal managed to stop the planet buster after flying close to it within a modified stasis pod. Megatron added a little surprise for Primal within the pod, though; locking the door so that Primal could not escape and was destroyed when the planet buster exploded. Other Voices

The quantum surge from the exploding planet buster bathed Megatron in quantum energies, upgrading him into a Transmetal. Megatron quickly rallied his forces and attempted an all-out attack on the leader-less Maximals. Megatron and the Predacons took the upperhand in battle until a Transmetal Optimus Primal (brought back online by Rhinox) saved the day. Coming of the Fuzors (Part 1)

With both factions now aware that the planet they were stranded on was really prehistoric Earth, Megatron was free to put his full plan into motion. Locating the crashed Ark, Megatron attempted to alter history by assassinating the unconscious Optimus Prime. By doing so, he intended to ensure the defeat of the Autobots and thus the victory of the Decepticons and Predacons. The Agenda (Part III)

The Maximals managed to save Prime's life by having Teletraan I repair his body while Optimus Primal kept his spark within his own structure, transforming his body into a more powerful form. The Maximals defeated Megatron and returned Prime's spark to its proper place. Optimal Situation

Megatron did not rest. He went on to reverse-engineer alien technology, gained by means unknown, to create the Transmetal 2 process and create himself a loyal clone of Dinobot. Feral Scream Part 1 He also worked towards taking control of Optimus & temporarily seize the new Maximal base, allowing him to enter the Ark again. Wanting to replicate the effect Optimus Prime's spark had on Primal, he deliberately took the spark of the original Megatron and placed it in his body. He was transformed into a powerful dragon and able to give Optimus Primal a sound beating, until chased away by the recovered Maximal group. Master Blaster

Even this power was useless when Tigerhawk arrived and casually destroyed the Predacon base. Other Victories Desperate once again, Megatron investigated the now-deceased Tarantulas's base for anything of value—and found the legendary Decepticon battleship, the Nemesis, rebuilt and with Transwarp capabilities. Bringing it out of the ocean depths, Megatron intended to pilot it back to the future and lay waste to the Maximals on Cybertron. Nemesis Part 1

First, however, he planned to annihilate the entire Ark rather than simply Optimus Prime—an act Tarantulas had early planned that would've wiped out Decepticon descendants as well as Autobots. (Taking G1 Megatron's spark with him would have most likely altered time as well) In this final battle, Megatron was quoting heavily from the Covenant of Primus holy texts and declared himself the "Alpha and Omega" that prophesied, drunk off his own power; it's possible he believed the resulting timestorm wouldn't affect him as it would the rest of his race.

Primal infiltrated the Nemesis and kept Megatron busy until Rhinox could fly a shuttlecraft through the bridge and take the Predacon out. The Nemesis crashed a second time and thus preserved history. After returning the original Megatron's spark to its proper body, the Maximals headed back to Cybertron with the incarcerated Megatron shackled to the outside of their ship. Nemesis Part 2

3H continuity

Ground Zero

The Shokaract events ended with them being paradoxed out of existence.

Antagony, future-born Herald Maximo of Shokaract, arrived on prehistoric Earth to protect the Dark Essence of Unicron. She attempted to terminate Megatron, who quickly conned her into fighting Optimus and then took her captive when she went into stasis lock. Visitations

He began patiently (and happily) torturing her for information on the future she came from, and when that failed he hacked into her mind using a nanoprobe "mind drill". That triggered a suicide device that killed her before he could gain any information; Megatron was left with no information, beyond that her master would surely try again...

Almost immediately after his transformation into dragon form, Megatron detected a temporal breach. Having his troops ambush the Maximals (who had also detected), he attempted to reach the time-traveller (Windrazor) and gain access to the future, not caring what would happen if he took the original Megatron's spark with him. In the process, he encountered the Dark Essence and almost became a willing vessel for it, until it realised Windrazor would be easier to control. When the Fuzor fought the influence off, Shokaract himself emerged...Herald, Covenant, Schism, Paradox

Megatron's reaction to a horrifically powerful spark-devouring demigod, and time & space being shattered into a chaotic maelstrom... was to blackmail said demigod by opening fire on the Dark Essence of the Chaos-Bringer, demanding knowledge of the future or he'd cause the erasure of Shokaract's future. Megatron is hardcore. He failed, but this was a crucial distraction that helped bring about Shokaract's defeat. Terminus

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IDW Beast Wars comics

File:IDW Megatron Magmatron.jpg

Go back to anime, Magmatron!

In Lio Convoy's opinion, Megatron was a simple wild card, no real threat when compared with Magmatron. This drives home the fact that Cybertron had no idea of the damage Megatron had and would inflict, or the lengths he would go to becoming arguably the most powerful Transformer since the Great War.

After dispatching Rampage and Inferno to oversee the installation of Sentinel into the Darkside, Megatron was attacked by Magmatron, who had been assigned to arrest him by the Tripredacus Council. Although Megatron proved more than a match for the experienced Predacon general individually, he was ambushed and paralyzed by Iguanus and Drill Bit. Magmatron intended to use a transwarp shunt to transport his prisoner back to Cybertron. The Gathering #3 Thanks to the intervention of Grimlock, Optimus Minor, and Razorbeast, Magmatron was sent home empty-handed. Razorbeast was tempted to dispatch the prone Megatron, but released him instead, due to his desire to avoid interfering with the timeline. The Gathering #4

Ravage attempted to free Megatron after his capture, but didn't progress very far in his plans. the Ascending #1 Despite this, Megatron arrived to a battle-damaged Cybertron, having finally completed his transwarp journey, and having arrived long before the Maximals responsible for his defeat, thanks to Shokaract's suicide, with little else to stand in his way... Yessssss... The Ascending #4

Beast Machines

Voice actor: David Kaye (English), Shigeru Chiba (Japanese), Francisco José (Portuguese)

Breaking free from his constraints on the Autobot shuttle while it traveled through transwarp space, Megatron arrived back home on Cybertron well before the Maximals did. Revelations Part II: Descent He used the window of opportunity for maximum effect, releasing a virus across the planet that quickly incapacitated the population. Forbidden Fruit He then began extracting the victims' sparks and storing them in a citadel, planning to one day absorb them into his own spark. Sparkwar Pt. III: The Siege Meanwhile, he used factories to rebuild the bodies into mindless drones he called "Vehicons." Revelations Part I: Discovery Eventually, he had almost every spark on Cybertron in his possession.

Clearly Megatron had changed his goals since the Beast Wars. Gone was the ham who sought conquest for the sake of glory and power and the Predacon cause. He spoke not of revenge on the Maximals, but rather of the liberation of all Transformerkind from the chaos of free will. He referred outright to his own ascension to godhood. And he had also developed a sense of honor, keeping his word to his enemies even at the risk of future losses. The Weak Component This was quite the change, as right up to the end of the Beast Wars he would flatten a subordinate for even mentioning "the H word." Nemesis Part 2 In that time, he had also positively reveled in his dinosaur and dragon beast modes. But on his return to Cybertron, something convinced him that beast modes and other vestiges of the organic were an abomination which should be scoured from the planet, leaving only technological purity. His unfruitful attempts to remove the organic elements from his own body became a source of constant frustration. This was a new and even madder Megatron.

The time period from when Megatron broke free from the shuttle, to when Optimus Primal and the Maximals arrived on Cybertron, was vastly transformative for both Megatron and the planet, and probably constituted an epic story in its own right. Nevertheless, the period was only vaguely described in the cartoon and barely elaborated upon in secondary media. Many questions remain unanswered.

When the Maximals arrived in their shuttle, they found the planet empty aside from Vehicons who immediately attacked them with canisters of a gas that infected them with the virus. The fully-Transmetal among them "devolved" into their original beast modes but were able to keep moving and escape. The remaining two, Rhinox and Silverbolt, were paralyzed and quickly overtaken. Their sparks soon joined Megatron's collection. Revelations Part II: Descent

The escaped Maximals would have succumbed to the virus eventually if not for the Oracle reformatting them. This was the beginning of Megatron's undoing, for their new technorganic bodies were both immune to the virus and (while in beast mode) invisible to Vehicon sensors. Megatron's first resulting change in strategy was to imbue three Vehicons with captured sparks so they could think on their feet in battle. The original personalities of these "generals" were deeply buried under shell programs, which allowed Megatron to use sparks of the Maximals' former allies. Thus, if the Maximals discovered who they really were, they would be reluctant to destroy them. The recently-captured Silverbolt and Rhinox were made into Jetstorm and Tankor, respectively. The third general, Thrust, was created from the Predacon Waspinator for reasons that remain opaque.

Megatron considered using the same technology on himself, transferring his own spark to a "pure" Vehicon body. But he decided it not worth the risk to expose his spark, however briefly.

Rhinox eventually awakened and went rogue, planning a grand scheme to usurp Megatron's dominance, but Megatron effortlessly seized control of his traitor-general's evil plan at the last minute & almost wiped out all resistance with the Key to Vector Sigma. At the last moment, Optimus unleashed the Plasma Energy Chamber force End Of The Line and the combined energies destroyed Megatron's body. He was presumed dead, but the combined energies had actually succeeded in separating his organic half from his body—unfortunately, his spark went with it and was now trapped in a purely organic Transformer. He took the identity of "innocent" Maximal Noble and, preying on Nightscream's survivor guilt and Optimus's inherent goodness, got the Maximals to help transfer his spark to the Grand Mal, a vessel shaped in his own head. Prometheus Unbound

With Tankor destroyed and Jetstorm eventually reformatted into Silverbolt, Megatron used the sparks of famous generals Obsidian and Strika to replace them. Sparkwar Pt. I: The Strike He also managed to gain a link to the Oracle itself, stealing the knowledge from Primal. Sparkwar Pt. II: The Search This gave him the ability to move ahead with his grand plan—to consume the captured sparks and eventually consume/replace the Allspark itself—but Nightscream temporarily stopped him by depolarize Megatron's own spark. Now severed from a body, it jumped between discarded shells and attacked everyone in a zombie like fashion' Rattrap would use a spark extractor to repolarize his spark, allowing Megatron to regain his senses, but trapping him in a Diagnostic Drone. Spark of Darkness

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Immediately following this, Megatron launched an all-out battle for the sparks and suceeded in capturing them, as well as the sparks of all the Maximals and obliterating their technorganic orchard—leaving just Optimus Primal and himself as the only two Transformers on the entire planet. To add insult to injury, he uploaded his spark into a copy of Primal's old Optimal Optimus form. Over the season, his personality had gradually become more like that of his Beast Wars self, and by this point he was once again hamming it up—revelling in his victory, mocking his enemies (his stated reason for copying Optimus' old body) and deliberately not killing Optimus outright, and having melodramatic outbursts when in his new body.

At the end of a fierce one-on-one fight, Megatron won and began consuming his amassed sparks, growing ever more powerful and planning to become both the new Matrix and the new core consciousness of Cybertron. However, he'd made his old mistake—leaving Optimus alive (to make him watch his "ascension") instead of killing him. When he attempted to use the Key to Vector Sigma to transform the planet's organic core into technomatter, Primal managed to dislodge them both. They plummeted into the planet's goopy core and from there, Primal was able to reformat the entire planet, destroying himself and Megatron completely, but freeing all the lost sparks to repopulate their newly redecorated planet. Endgame Pt. III: Seeds of the Future

Universe

When Optimus Primal's spark is revived from the within the Matrix to protect the multiverse, this action freed Megatron's spark as well. The reborn Megatron returned to the ranks of the Predacons, but this time, Optimus Primal found himself in an uneasy alliance with him against Unicron. Megatron traveled with his old nemesis from universe to universe, wherever the growing multiversal conflict had spread. But now with Unicron disappeared into the Unicron Singularity, it remains to be seen whether Megatron's insane ambition will resurface.

Prior to the Universe Conflict an alternate dimension's Megatron was killed by a Tigerhawk who was corrupted by the Vok. Yet another dimension's Megatron was killed by it's realities Obsidian and Tankor. All three Megatron-murderers were eventualy promoted to the rank of Unicron's General. It seems that killing Megatron may be part of Unicron's criteria for choosing a General.

Japanese continuity

Beast Wars II catalog

On planet Cybertron, Megatron once disagreed with Galvatron over opinions on galactic conquest, and engaged him in battle over it. At the time, Megatron momentarily let his guard down, and was defeated. Galvatron declared "Your era is over, Megatron!"

Later, Megatron noted that while Galvatron was ambitious, he cared for his underlings—and although he was loathe to admit it, he acknowledged that Galvatron probably had all the regal bearing of a new Emperor of Destruction. Beast Wars II catalog

Beast Wars II cartoon

Galvatron tried to summon a Megatron to Gaea using a time machine. Maybe this one. Maybe not.

When his brother Megastorm screws up the wavelength calculations and instead summons the titanic Majin Zarak, Galvatron is pleased and declares, "we obtained a weapon far superior to Megatron". Lio Convoy in Imminent Danger

Robot Masters

Voice actor: Toshitsugu Takashina (Japanese)

Taking advantage of the Blasty Zone as a means of time travel (and apparently size-enhancer), Megatron journeyed to a point in history where the original Megatron had gone missing, leaving the Decepticons without a leader. "Beast Megatron" took command of the Decepticons, leading them on a quest to collect a powerful element, solitarium, from within the Earth. Beast Megatron's plans were quickly thwarted by Optimus Prime and a troop of time-displaced Autobots and Maximals, including Star Saber, Victory Leo, Lio Convoy and Beast Megatron's arch nemesis, Optimus Primal.

Beast Megatron later discovered a large deposit of solitarium beneath New York City, and along with Starscream, Smokesniper, Gigant Bomb and Wingstun, laid waste to the Big Apple. The Autobots, accompanied by Reverse Convoy, arrived and dealt with Beast Megatron's forces quickly. However, Reverse Convoy revealed himself to be the original Megatron in disguise and betrayed them. Now going by the name Rebirth Megatron, he teamed up with Beast Megatron and the pair made trouble for the Autobot commanders. However, the Autobots were able to defeat the two Megatrons, sending the villains into retreat.

Beast Wars Metals manga

Although it picks up after the events of the first season, the Beast Wars Metals manga is not in-continuity with the television series.

Megatron was a bumbling oaf constantly leading the Predacons against the forces of the Maximals. Beast Wars Metals

Beast Wars Reborn

Reborn on the wagon of a travelin' show, Primal used ta dance fer the money they'd throw! Megatron would do whatever he coooouuuld!

Both Megatron and Optimus Primal awoke inside a bizarre temple-like spaceship which was hurtling through space. Neither had any memory of who they were or how they got there, only their own names and a feeling of discomfort between one another. The pair went about investigating the ship in search of answers. While Megatron's memory was lost, his personality remained mostly intact: he was more concerned with seizing control of the ship before Primal did in order to gain the upper hand.

They eventually found a data log and discovered that their sparks had been taken and they were reborn into new bodies (unbeknownst to them, bodies identical to their original Earth forms). However, their memories were intentionally not uploaded into their new bodies. While searching the log they discovered that the ship's main power source was a Golden Disk lodged within a giant pillar. Megatron immediately raced to obtain the Disk and Primal followed him. The closer they got to the disk the more the ship attempted to thwart their advance by manipulating its atmosphere conditions.

Once they reached the chamber the ship's environment suddenly morphed to that of a decaying planet littered with the corpses of robots. The corpses came to life and began shambling toward them, intent on eating their sparks. They made short work of the zombies, leaving Megatron to obtain the Golden Disk and Primal with a feeling that he shouldn't entirely trust Megatron.

From another dimension beyond time and space, Primus recognized that something was amiss and sent one of his messengers to meet Primal and Megatron within the spaceship.

Transformers Legends Anthology

When Megatron was defeated by Nightscream, the spirit of Rhinox attempted to act as a spirit guide and redeem the tyrant. While briefly tempted to move on, his repeated returns to Cybertron (in Spark of Darkness) convinced him that godhood was still within his reach and he erased Rhinox's spark from existence.

3D Battle-Card Game

Energon Wars expansion

Megatron leads a ragtag group of Decepticon warriors from various backgrounds (and/or universes) against Optimus Primal and his Autobot allies.