Megatron Origin issue 2

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« The Transformers: Megatron Origin #2 »

$39.95 on Pay Per View
Publisher IDW Publishing
First published July 25, 2007
Cover date July 2007
Written by Eric Holmes
Art by Alex Milne (pages 1-11, 20-22) and Marcelo Matere (pages 12-19)
Colors by Josh Perez
Letters by Chris Mowry and Robbie Robbins
Edits by Chris Ryall
Continuity IDW continuity
Chronology Megatron Origin

The former miner decides to kill other guys for the hell of it.

Synopsis

AND I'M PRETTY

Kaon. The Forge. During an underground gladiatorial combat, the escaped convict Megatron fights against a familiar opponent. His enemy displays the remarkable ability to continue fighting once impaled, but is crippled after being run over by Megatron in vehicle mode. For the satisfaction of the ring master and the audience, he executes his opponent. As the crowd cheers at the death, Megatron removes his helmet, exposing his long metal panels (ahem).

Meanwhile, Senator Ratbat dismisses the concerns of his meager assistant to attend to more important matters. In privacy, he manipulates world events for personal gain. But a report on the underground combat circuit piques his interest. He sends his servant to handle it.

Megatron rises through the ranks of the illegal gladiatorial bloodsport and eventually finds himself fighting alongside Clench. Megatron takes the opportunity to better his position in the organization by killing Clench and taking over.

Prowl shows footage of the battle to his team, who are eager to put a stop to the unlawful violence. Sentinel Prime arrives and announces that there have already been several efforts in a plan to catch the delinquents.

Bumper and Fastback stake out a location suspected to be the grounds for the next session of murders. They witness the arrival of the Constructicons who begin to assemble that night's arena, which includes tossing an Empty to drown in hot metal. Megatron arrives on the scene and immediately receives a technology and weaponry sales offer from one who introduces himself as Soundwave. The two Autobots witness the transaction and are ambushed by Ravage, Laserbeak, and Buzzsaw.

Bumper awakens to see Megatron stomp the life out of Fastback. Next, Soundwave uses Laserbeak to pry data from Bumper's mind. Megatron cancels the battle and expresses satisfaction with Soundwave's service—he agrees to do business with Soundwave's master and then kills Bumper.

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Security Services Others

Quotes

"Finish Him!"

—Clench


"'Til all are one!"

—Spectators at the execution of Cy-Kill

Notes

Continuity notes

  • The markings on Cy-kill... err, Megatron's opponent's shoulder possibly represent the number of kills he has.
  • During the first fight, Megatron wears an emblem around his neck that resembles what might become the Decepticon insignia.
  • In a moment perhaps best forgotten, Megatron takes off his buckethead helmet to unfurl elaborate decorative panels on his head, in a scene mimicking modern "historical epic" type movies where the hero takes off his helmet to flick his hair around like it's a shampoo commercial.
  • Clench and Frenzy mention the departed Betabear. Since he was in a combat arena for robots, we can assume Betabear is a godless killing machine.
  • First appearances: Huffer, Red Alert, Blaster (bar his error appearance in Stormbringer), Brawn, Bumper, Air Raid; Clench, Skyquake, Stalker and Overlord; Buzzsaw, Ratbat, Full-Tilt, Spinister, Seawing, Slugslinger, and all six Constructicons; Tankor.

Transformers references

Real-life references

Errors

Other trivia

Later retcons

In James Roberts's stories:

  • Megatron is a famous political activist and not just some random guy. That means three things:
    • Ratbat would know who Megatron is when he decides to arm and fund him on the quiet. Before it wasn't clear if he wanted to profit off the gladiatorial matches or profit off instability, but these retcons mean it's definitely the latter.
    • Sentinel Prime and the Security Services would know who he is. When Sentinel takes control not long after Megatron becomes leader and talks about crushing "cult[s]" and saying "that one will hang", it's no longer the bloodsports themselves that concern him!
    • The one gladiator who just thinks he's a "newbie" is one dumb son.
  • His lost friend Terminus had advised him that violence may be necessary to achieve his political goals and that he needed to make himself a figurehead. Instead of accidentally becoming a leader, Megatron can now be read as deliberately becoming one and making himself an army.
  • Megatron's goal is to emancipate the manual classes. Killing Cy-Kill means murdering a manual worker for the greater good.
  • Sunstreaker is shown to be a law enforcer in "The Chaos of Warm Things". And yet there he is in the stands, watching the very matches (and fighting in them in #3) that his bosses and co-workers are trying to stop!
  • Whirl is a long-time cop and basically forced to work for the Senate and Sentinel. He's not in the Security Service scenes by choice!

Continuity issues

  • Several female Transformers appear in the background of scenes. The release of Spotlight: Arcee a year later would make this a potential continuity problem. This would be made into a definite continuity problem years later when "Dark Cybertron" made it explicit that female Transformers were not present on Cybertron at the time. However the continuity problem would later be cleared up, as An Axe to Break the Ice would establish that transgenderism was not unknown among Primal Vanguard members returning from expeditions in which they'd encountered other, gendered, species and "reclassified themselves" after realising there was a "better fit" for their identity.
  • The new anti-gravity technology which Ratbat learns of is likely responsible for the Decepticons' ability to fly in robot form.... which, until AHM, did not exist in IDW continuity.
  • Among the crowd of enthralled fans thirsty for blood is Monstructor. While this does seem like his kind of scene...isn't he currently trapped in a dimensional prison somewhere?

Covers (3)

  • lol go-bots suck amirite?
    lol go-bots suck amirite?

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