Megatron Origin issue 1

	; How ya like me now?!
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	June 20, 2007
Cover date	May 2007
Written by	Eric Holmes
Art by	Alex Milne
Colors by	Josh Perez
Color assist by	Zac Atkinson
Edits by	Chris Ryall
Continuity	IDW continuity
Chronology	Megatron Origin

A working-class miner accidentally kills some other guy in anger.

Synopsis

Senator Decimus and his assistant are hesitant to attend a formal ceremony on Mining Outpost C-12, but they do it anyway because those are the rules. Decimus holds disdain for the personnel who operate the energon mines, and understands why they must be replaced.

During the assembly, he announces the replacement of the working class, but makes sure to mention that the laborers will not be left without jobs. The crowd responds angrily to their replacement, led by one particularly angry bot with blue eyes, but for his protests, this bot is executed by an Autobot security official.

The crowd is silenced at this display of force, and Megatron fights back against the oppression by tossing his axe into Decimus's shoulder. Before the security officer can react, Megatron tackles and disarms him. The two struggle, and in the ensuing fight, Megatron accidentally kills his opponent.

With one Autobot down, the rest of the miners get into an open rumble against the Autobots. However thanks to superior firepower, the Autobots are able to knock out all their foes.

Later, Megatron awakens aboard a prison vessel. Because of the violence he and his fellows engaged in, all the surviving miners are arrested, en route to Penal Facility H-3, "The Rig". But the miners (including Rumble and Frenzy) take over their ship, the Longshot. The Longshot blasts the ship containing Senator Decimus and heads toward Kaon, a hive of villainy and scum easily defined as wretched, where the miners hide and plot.

Sentinel Prime's target practice is interrupted by Prowl with news of the incident in space. The Prime is uninterested in the dealings and appoints Prowl to handle the situation.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Security Services	Others
Autobot security official (5) Sentinel Prime (8) Prowl (9)	Megatron (1) Decimus (2) Decimus's assistant (3) Outspoken miner (4) Rumble (6) Frenzy (7)

Quotes

"What…"
"What… did I…"
"No… Nonono…"
"Oh no."

— Megatron, possibly regretting taking the first Autobot life in the Great War.

"That was… unintentional. I shouldn't be here."

— Megatron is a BIG SOFTIE.

Notes

Continuity notes

When Frenzy attempts to enlist Megatron's aid in escaping their imprisonment on the Longshot, Megatron makes it clear that the violence he dealt during the mine revolt was unintentional (and indeed, he was remorseful). Yet on the next page, after he is freed, Megatron seems to be quite willing to beat the living daylights out of the security guard on the ship.
First appearances: Rumble and Frenzy

First appearances:

Transformers references

Kaon was previously established in Dreamwave Productions' The War Within.

Real-life references

Errors

Other trivia

Later retcons

James Roberts would write several pre-war stories in 2011 and 2012, which flesh out and subtly retcon the events of this issue:

In "Chaos Theory Part 1", we meet Megatron the idealistic, would-be dissident wanting non-violent change. When he finds himself brutalised by an untouchable and corrupt member of a higher caste, he is filled with a growing rage. The events of Origin retroactively have more consistency.
"Post Hoc" has the Decepticons already existing before this issue, inspired by Megatron's samizdat writings. The Senate have exiled Megatron to a nucleon mine on Messatine, afraid of him becoming a leader or, if they kill him, a martyr.
Cybertron is under dictatorship: by the time of Origin, a Clampdown has been in place for a while with curfews, spies on every street, and any group or city-state the Senate doesn't like getting the boot. This has only increased discontent in "Post Hoc".
Sentinel Prime is actually the recent replacement of Nominus Prime. You may have also thought Sentinel was alright because he dislikes the Senate, but "Chaos Theory Part 2" and "Post Hoc" show him to be a nasty, dictatorial thug who was involved in assassinating his predecessor. This puts a new spin on his complaint that the Senate keep saying how he should do his job instead of giving him "what I need".
Prowl knows that Sentinel Prime is dirty but didn't dare cross him earlier. Yet he still joined the Senate's security forces, with the only known comment that he "did what he had to do". Also, not surprisingly, even Sentinel couldn't stand the guy, later blaming for him the entire rise of the Decepticon cause with his constant lectures on collateral damage.

Covers (6)

Cover A: Megatron with pickax, by Alex Milne (pencils) and Josh Perez (colors)
Cover B: Megatron smashing security guard, by Marcelo Matere (pencils) and Andrew Elder (colors)
Cover RI-A: Cover A, uncolored
The Transformers: Megatron Origin TPB cover: reuse of Cover A.