Gigatron (G1)

This article is about the Decepticon from the IDW comics. For the Decepticon from Masterforce sometimes known as Gigatron, see Overlord (Masterforce). For a list of other meanings, see Gigatron (disambiguation).

Gigatron is a Decepticon from the IDW portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

Gigatron is a Decepticon warlord who enjoys the simple pleasure that is war and doesn't see why people have to complicate it by, say, claiming it to be over. He's got a very short temper and sometimes acts rashly as a result, and because of this relies on his trusty second-in-command, Hellbat, to keep him on the right path.

Fiction

Car Robots cartoon

While the 2001 Robots in Disguise cartoon is considered to be the basis of its own continuity family, the Japanese cartoon it adapts, Car Robots, is part of the Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity. See the 2001 Robots in Disguise Megatron's article for details of Car Robots Gigatron.

IDW Generation 1 continuity

And it burns, burns, burns
The ring of fire

During the war, Gigatron learned from Deadlock and Turmoil that an army of stone soldiers was hidden on an obscure planet, though Megatron saw no use for it at the time. Centuries later, refusing to accept that the war had ended, he returned to absorb the army into his forces, but couldn't find it. Empire of Stone #2 Fortunately, Deadlock—having defected and changed his name to Drift—also arrived on the planet, where he was captured and brought before Gigatron. Empire of Stone #1 Gigatron convinced the former Decepticon to lead him to the Stone Army in exchange for freeing his friend Ratchet, but went back on his word on the advice of Hellbat. When the captives then tried to escape, he lost his temper, cut off their escape route and would have killed them on the spot if Hellbat hadn't again intervened, convincing him to imprison them instead. Empire of Stone #2

When hearts like ours meet

Not long afterwards, the captives came running straight back into Gigatron's throne room, followed closely by Stone Army soldiers that attacked the Decepticons. Told by Drift that Hellbat had betrayed him and activated the army for his own gain, Gigatron was enraged and transformed into his two-headed dragon mode, single-handedly wiping out the stone soldiers. Drift then brokered an alliance with the Decepticon commander against Hellbat's new army. Empire of Stone #3 Unwilling to destroy too many of his potential soldiers, however, Gigatron soon left the group to confront Hellbat directly and was faced with a gigantic stone warrior. Kept at bay by the giant, Gigatron instead tossed Drift onto Hellbat's platform to deal with him, which he did by cutting the army's control device off of the traitor's arm. Gigatron tried to take the chance to kill Hellbat and retrieve the device for himself, but was stopped in his tracks by Drift, who urged him to give up on war. The interruption allowed Hellbat to take back the device and send the entire army after Gigatron, who in his rage waded through the stone soldiers to get to his treacherous second-in-command and cut him down. Unfortunately, his strike also destroyed the machinery used to activate the army, causing a series of explosions that collapsed the building on top of him as he fought off the remaining soldiers. Empire of Stone #4

Toys

Robots in Disguise

• Megatron (Ultra, 2001)
  • Japanese ID number: D-001
  • Accessories: 2 missiles, 2 missile launchers

Gigatron was repurposed from Robots in Disguise Megatron. The only new-mold bad guy from the Car Robots line, Megatron (or "Gigatron", as he was called in Japan) has six different configurations: robot, jet, bat, two-headed dragon, giant hand (awesome), and roadster. His hand mode has a spring-loaded "gripping" gimmick (oh hell yeah). He comes with a pair of pressure-launch missile launchers that can double as swords, or be combined to form a single naginata-like weapon.

Gigatron was later retooled into "Devil Gigatron", and it was this slightly modified version of the mold that Hasbro released in their Robots in Disguise line (see "Galvatron" for specific details). The blades of his missiles were also rounded off a bit more to comply with safety standards.

The Hasbro version of this mold was also used to make Timelines Deathsaurus.

Oddly enough, in Transformers: The Ultimate Guide, Simon Furman boasts that Hasbro's Megatron had ten modes and was a completely different toy from Gigatron. While Megatron could convert into all 10 alternate modes, the instructions only mentioned the original 6. Also, the Hasbro version is not a completely different toy from the Takara version so much as it is a slightly retooled version.

• More information on Megatron at TFU.info

Notes

• Gigatron is a Generation 1 version of Robots in Disguise Megatron, whose name in Japan was Gigatron. There's no evidence of this Gigatron having six forms, however: he's only ever seen transforming into a two-headed dragon.