Magmatron (BW)
- Magmatron is a Predacon from the Beast Era portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.
As befits a decorated Warrior-General, Magmatron is capable of both elegant, reasoned judgment and wild, vicious action. Once he has set his sights on a goal, his drive to achieve it is unwavering and he will accept nothing less than total victory. Despite these attributes, and prodigious physical power, Magmatron's greatest advantage often lies in his charismatic leadership. Revered and admired by his soldiers, Magmatron fits the title "Emperor of Destruction" better than most.
On the surface, Magmatron seems to have much in common with Megatron. Both are schemers and planners, willing to subvert the established Predacon power structure to suit their plans and ultimate ambition for power, and possessing the strength to fight off any who challenge them. Their key difference lies in their relationships to that power structure. Megatron is at heart a rebel, working outside existing society. Magmatron, on the other hand, values his position of power and eminence in the current Predacon hierarchy, and though he schemes to someday stand at the top of that body, he is unwilling to risk his current high standings any more than he must to achieve those future goals. Also, while Megatron is more openly abusive and harsh with his troops, Magmatron operates with more military professionalism when interacting with his own soldiers. This aspect of Magmatron's personality may also be due to his more professional background, as opposed to Megatron's more rogue-ish ways.
Magmatron possesses a mitotic spark which allows him to separate into three dinosaur forms called Landsaur, Seasaur, and Skysaur, or merge them into a single monstrosity called Magmasaur.
Fiction
Beast Wars Neo cartoon
- Voice actor: Show Ryuzanji (Japanese)
After the defeat of Galvatron, Magmatron (who suffers from a similar chronic grin, even while talking) became the new Predacon Emperor of Destruction. A loyal and effective servant to the cause of Predacon equality on Cybertron, Magmatron was perfectly suited for the job. He had a long-standing rivalry with Big Convoy, albeit there was a mutual respect between the two enemies.
Aboard his ship, the Dinosaur, he tracked Big Convoy and his Maximal recruits to the planet Gaea where he learned of the Angolmois capsules that had been launched from the self-destructing Nemesis. Magmatron immediately set a course to track them down, desiring their incredible power. Competing with Big Convoy, Magmatron secured numerous capsules for the Predacons.
However, he did not keep them long. The Blendtrons, a trio of super-powerful and freakish Transformers, stole the capsules from both factions. As it turned out, the Angolmois energy was actually the lifeforce of Unicron. Offering up Galvatron's corpse as a new body, the Blendtrons released the Angolmois energy and Unicron was reborn.
Magmatron immediately challenged the Chaos Bringer but was quickly vanquished into a wormhole, leaving his crew of Predacons leaderless and rather ineffective. Magmatron escaped the wormhole toward the end of the Unicron battle, after Unicron had possessed Vector Sigma, and willingly fought side-by-side with Big Convoy and the Maximals to stop their mutual enemy.
After a lengthy battle, Unicron was defeated and driven from Vector Sigma by Big Convoy's Matrix Buster. Putting aside their rivalry, Big Convoy and Magmatron formed an alliance. The Maximals and Predacons then worked side-by-side and hand-in-hand to rebuild their ravaged planet.
Beast Wars Neo comic
Magmatron and his forces were changed into Transformers from actual animals by the power of the Angolmois capsules. Magmatron and Big Convoy battled across the cosmos until Magmatron was finally felled by the might of Unicron. In his dying moments, he repented of his wrong-doings, and indeed, Big Convoy struck the blow that finished Unicron once and for all with Magmatron's own sword.
IDW Beast Wars comics
During the early days of the Pax Cybertronia, Magmatron endangered the fragile peace, being an indomitable general who would not accept defeat. When he was finally brought to heel by the Tripredacus Council, he still chafed under the terms of the treaty and the council's apparent willingness to roll over for the Maximals. However, he accepted his change in status and maneuvered into a position on the Bi-Partate Committee for State Affairs alongside his old enemy, Big Convoy. Beast Wars Sourcebook 2
Frustrated by the Council's decision to bide its time, Magmatron recruited a small band of disenchanted warriors and fostered a professional relationship with the Tripredacus agent Ravage to keep abreast of the situation on Earth. With this information, he formed an elegant and tightly-knit plan to travel backwards in time to prehistoric Earth and reprogram all of the remaining protoform Maximals into Predacons. Keeping his plans secret until the last moment, he revealed to his forces that the Council has ordered him to pick up where their previous agent failed: capture the rogue Megatron.
Chronally displacing his crew so that they could not be detected by the beast warriors who are already there, they set to work. He ordered Razorbeast to begin activating the stasis pods while Spittor, Manterror, Transquito, and Iguanus reported on their progress. They witnessed the birth of three Predacons, but Spittor was greeted by the Maximal, Polar Claw. More Maximals were spotted, revealing Razorbeast as a spy, but the red warthog escaped into the wilderness. The Gathering #1
Once his new army was assembled, Magmatron ordered them to hunt down the Maximals. Drill Bit and Spittor, however, accompanied Magmatron on his personal quest to find Razorbeast. He located the spy and quickly gained the upper hand with his three dinosaur modes, but Razorbeast pulled a fast one, and buried the Predacon leader beneath a mountainside. Magmatron soon recouped his losses by recovering the spark of the Tripredacus agent, Ravage. The Gathering #2
Iguanus, having located a blank protoform, assisted Magmatron with rebirthing Ravage in a new, Transmetal 2 body. After issuing seek-and-destroy orders to his new lieutenant, Magmatron set forth on his next mission. He located Megatron, and the two engaged in battle. Megatron insisted that Magmatron was foolish for coming after him alone, as Ravage did, but Magmatron was not alone—Iguanus and Drill Bit ambushed Megatron.
With the transwarp shunt set up and ready to send Megatron into the hands of the Council, it was with reluctance that Magmatron again did battle. This time, an intruding Grimlock challenged the Predacon schemer. The Gathering #3 A tough fight, but Magmatron's triple beast modes eventually won out. Grimlock was enough of a distraction, however, to let Razorbeast and Optimus Minor enter his camp. Magmatron was thwarted by Razorbeast in hand-to-hand combat. As the Predacon lunged toward Minor, who was sitting upon the unconscious Megatron, the monkey activated a chronal displacement device. This sent Megatron back into his own chronal place, making Magmatron stumble onto the transwarp shunt. Razorbeast activated it, sending the warlord to parts unknown. The Gathering #4
Razorbeast's meddling in Magmatron's escape caused the Predacon commander to be consigned to a temporal limbo, able to traverse the whole of history but unable to affect any of the events he witnessed. Through this, he saw the eventual end of Cybertron as its inhabitants set upon each other with beastly fury while Shokaract summoned Unicron to devour the planet. Knowing that the roots of this catastrophic event were already beginning in his time, Magmatron turned to the enemy who had consigned him to this fate. Exerting what little influence he could, he stabilized Razorbeast's Transwarp carrier signal, allowing the time-lost Maximal's message to be received by Lio Convoy. The Ascending #1
Magmatron's meddling effect on the timestream was noticed by Unicron, who dispatched Rartorata to Earth to deal with the assembling combatants there. His ability to change the future was increased further, however, when during the confusion of the battle on Earth between the Maximal and Predacon forces, a playing 'possum Ravage made contact with the chronal displacement bands. Magmatron was able to use his limited influence to hold Ravage inside Chronospace, where he was able to make contact with the former Decepticon. Magmatron briefed him on the apocalypse that could yet come, urging him to call a truce with the Maximals in an effort to stop the end of all things. The Ascending #2
After a combined group of Maximals and Predacons returned with Ravage to present-day Cybertron to battle Shokaract, Ravage again briefed with Magmatron, who instructed him to send a Maximal to attach a chronal-displacement device onto Shokaract's body. When this happened (at the cost of Prowl II), Shokaract was brought to Magmatron within Chronospace. Magmatron showed him Cybertron's future and the realization that he was a pawn of Unicron caused Shokaract to rip out his Anti-Matrix and explode, sending Magmatron back to his normal time on Cybertron. Magmatron stated there would be no more war, for the day at least, and reported that Razorbeast died heroically. The Ascending #4
Universe: The Wreckers comics
Magmatron had become the leader of the new Dinobots, and led them to a mission given to them by the Oracle. The mission was a trap, and Magmatron and his Dinobots were attacked by the Trans-Organics. Betrayal Magmatron fought off the Dweller long enough for the Dinobots to escape. When they returned to rescue him, they found nothing but his sword. Wreckers: Finale Part I
Toys
Beast Wars Neo
- Magmatron (Ultra, 1999)
- Japanese ID number: D-35
- Accessories: Sword-hilt/launcher, sword blade, left & right Skysaur missiles, 2 Seasaur missiles.
- Magmatron transforms from a massive robot into three prehistoric reptiles—a Quetzalcoatlus ("Skysaur"), a Giganotosaurus ("Landsaur"), and an Elasmosaurus ("Seasaur"). These three beasts can also combine into some horrible, chimeric dragon-like creature. In robot mode, Magmatron has free-rolling wheels on his feet, for some unknown purpose.
- The Landsaur unit features a spring-loaded launcher in its mouth, enabling it to fire any of the five missiles the toy comes with. The launcher/throat assembly disconnects for robot mode, forming a sword-hilt primarily for use with the sword-blade missile. The hilt can also be converted into a pistol by flipping out an extra handle from the side. The Seasaur's lower body forms a shield that mounts on Magmatron's left arm; it also contains two grey missiles, and features a spring-loaded gimmick that causes the front paddles to flap when the rear ones are squeezed together. The Skysaur's wings feature a spring-loaded flapping action, triggered by pulling on its tail, and also hide a pair of smooth red blade/missiles.
- Battle of the Universe: Big Convoy VS Magmatron (Vs pack, 1999)
- Japanese ID number: VS-35
- Accessories: Sword-hilt/launcher, sword blade, left & right Skysaur missiles, 2 Landsaur missiles.
- Magamatron was available in Japan both in an individual box, and in a massive 2-pack with Big Convoy. Both toys are identical to their individual releases.
Beast Machines
- Magmatron (Ultra, 2000)
- Accessories: Sword-hilt/launcher, sword blade, left & right Skysaur missiles, 2 Seasaur missiles.
- For Beast Machines, Magmatron was brought over in a box that reflected his Japanese origin, with Japanese text and other elements from the Beast Wars Neo packaging added. He was slightly changed from his original release, with his missiles and sword "rounded off" to better conform with United States safety laws and has a less "glossy" sheen. He was available as an exclusive to Target stores. His bio card describes him as a Maximal, and also places him on Vehicon-dominated Cybertron. However, his separate beast modes still retain their Predacon spark crystals.
Notes
- Magmatron's Maximal status on his Beast Machines toy bio (and the rest of his bio, for that matter) is difficult to reconcile with his appearances elsewhere, but one hypothetical sequence of events is that, after the climax of Beast Wars Neo, he returned to Cybertron, discovered it overrun with Megatron's Vehicons, changed his allegiance to Maximal, and fought the Vehicons as a member of the Dinobots. Or, call it a micro-continuity and be done with it.
- Magmatron's Maximal on-package bio gives his quotation as "Til all is won", an obvious reference to a similar phrase that pops up in numerous other places in Transformers lore.
