The Virus Revealed

He blighted us with SCIENCE!!

Synopsis

Date Index 316.263 AU

Apelinq determines that Megatron took over Cybertron so quickly through use of a virus, which must have induced a kind of stasis lock that paralyzed everyone's ability to transform and fight back, as it swept across the planet.

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Maximals
Apelinq (1)

Having first commenced his all-out conquest of Cybertron back in Journal 6, and accomplishing that in Journal 7, it is here that Megatron's transformation virus is finally brought to light. The virus was first shown in the Beast Machines episode "Forbidden Fruit" as having wiped out most of the planet's population. However, that episode also stated that the virus was unleashed before the Vehicon armies swarmed over the planet, whereas all throughout this series has Megatron been launching terrorist attacks with his Vehicons prior to the release of his virus. It's not implausible that he could have started attacking with Vehicons, then used the virus as a trump card, and then finished off his takeover with a final Vehicon attack, but this is so far the first, last, and only piece of fiction to ever suggest such.
As was likewise the case in Beast Machines (most prominently in the episode "The Reformatting"), Megatron's virus is said to be capable of "crippling one's ability to transform".
Apelinq also postulates that the virus induces an intense form of stasis lock, a concept first introduced by Beast Wars, which is a state of unconsciousness brought on by an emergency systems shutdown. Here, it is tied into the fact that Megatron's virus deactivated much of Cybertron's population, as originally given in "Forbidden Fruit".