Megatron (Unicron Trilogy)


 * Megatron is a Decepticon from the Unicron Trilogy continuity family. When in his powered-up forms, he is known as Galvatron.



Megatron is not content with conquest of Cybertron. When he learns of some power greater than his own, he does not attempt to merely defeat it. He will subjugate it, bend it to his will, carve up its corpse and integrate its power into himself. Megatron demands complete submission from those around him. Any opposition is savagely crushed, any insubordination violently punished. He is a monster in every sense of the word. Megatron tempers this barbarism with regal militaristic formality. He calls his closest troops "gentlemen." He speaks politely and intelligently. He makes it perfectly clear that he is completely cognizant of his madness.

Megatron's only weakness is his obsession with Optimus Prime. No matter how much power he attains, his final, glorious battle must be against him. On the occasions Prime has seemingly been destroyed, Megatron has sunk into a deep depression. Once Optimus Prime is gone, there may be no further challenges in this universe.


 * Japanese Super Link name: Galvatron / Galvatron G
 * Japanese Galaxy Force name: Master Megatron / Master Galvatron

Armada

 * Voice actor: Kiyoyuki Yanada (Japan), David Kaye (US), José Santacruz (Brazil), Willi Röbke (Germany)



Millions of years ago, the civil war on Cybertron reached a bloody stalemate as both Autobots and Decepticons augmented their forces with a race of small power-enhancing Transformers known as the Mini-Cons. In the end, a truce was settled where the Mini-Cons would be exiled, never to be used as tools of war again. However, Megatron betrayed the truce, attacking with the full force of the Decepticon fleet in an attempt to capture all the Mini-Cons in one fell swoop. The Autobots, anticipating this turn of events, launched their fleet to protect the fleeing Exodus Mini-Con ship as it warped away.



In the year 2010, Cybertron received a Mini-Con homing beacon from a small primitive world known as Earth, unwittingly activated by a group of human children. Megatron led his most loyal Decepticon warriors to this planet in search of the Mini-Cons, only to discover his arch-enemy Optimus Prime had followed to stop him.

After a tactical retreat, it was revealed that the Decepticons had established a base in the ruined hulk of the Mini-Con ship on Earth's Moon. While pondering his next move, Megatron discovered a Mini-Con storage panel buried in the moon dust. Activating it, he discovered it contained his old Mini-Con partner, Leader-1. Counting upon this as his edge over the Autobots, he reconfigured the vehicle modes of his forces and set out to capture the human children and their Mini-Con friends. After surrounding them, he was thwarted yet again by the timely arrival of Optimus Prime and the other Autobots. However, Megatron soon demonstrated the great power a Mini-Con Powerlinx bestows on a Transformer, initially overwhelming the Autobots with his sheer firepower.



Megatron went on to run a successful campaign, regularly capturing Mini-Cons and successfully combining the first two Mini-Con weapons, the Star Saber and the Skyboom Shield. Through the machinations of his tactician, Thrust (who was at the time indirectly being manipulated by Unicron), Megatron then acquired the final weapon, the Requiem Blaster, which with the other two served to power the newly-built Hydra Cannon. The destructive force of his new weapon was unleashed against Earth, but Optimus Prime took the blast to save the planet, killing himself in the process.



Prime's death plunged Megatron into a deep depression, having lost his greatest opponent without the chance to finish him with his own hands. Thankfully for all concerned, the Mini-Cons were able to resurrect Optimus, restoring Megatron to his former self - but he soon underwent another change that allowed him to surpass all he had been, when he was among the Transformers who had their powers boosted by their Mini-Cons. Renaming himself "Galvatron," he returned to Cybertron with a renewed vigor for conquest. However, the emergence of the threat of Unicron was ignored by Galvatron, forcing his lieutenant Starscream to sacrifice himself to make his leader see the truth, and Galvatron again came to fear the end of his war in the face of Unicron's power.

Galvatron entered Unicron's body along with Optimus Prime, and was absorbed into the demi-god's body and mind, but when the Autobots' human allies freed the Mini-Cons from Unicron's thrall, Galvatron too was freed. Believing the threat of Unicron to be over, he challenged Prime to a final duel. However, the energies released in the battle reawakened Unicron, and Galvatron saw that the only way to end the circle was to destroy himself - sacrificing his life rather than live in an era of peace, Galvatron plunged himself into Unicron's maw, and in a flash, the two seemingly ceased to exist.

Energon

 * Voice actor: David Kaye, Richard Newman (Episode 14 only) (US), Junichi Endô (Japan)





Although he was believed dead by both the Autobots and Decepticons, Megatron, like Unicron, had survived the final battle, his body now a decayed husk, absorbed into the equally damaged body of Unicron, where it lay for ten years. When the being called Alpha Quintesson began his plan to re-energize Unicron, Megatron saw his opportunity, siphoning off some of the energon that Alpha Q's Terrorcons stole, working towards his own rebirth. To turn the Decepticons to his side, Alpha Q forged a sword from Megatron's spark, but when an enraged Scorponok stabbed Megatron's corpse with the blade, Megatron was born anew. Taking the sword for his own, he proceeded to take over Unicron's body, sending Alpha Q fleeing in Unicron's head, and restarted his campaign against Earth and the Autobots, seeking energon to reactivate Unicron, who he would use as the ultimate weapon.

Megatron eventually succeeded in bringing Unicron to the vicinity of Cybertron and transforming the planet-eater to robot mode. However, in an attempt to stop him, Alpha Q rammed Unicron's head, charged with the positive energon of Earth, into Unicron's body. The resultant reaction between Earth's energon and the negatively-charged energon that powered Unicron tore a rupture in reality that led to a new region of space where Alpha Q recreated all the planets Unicron had consumed. Megatron immediately saw these new worlds as targets to acquire more energon, and after another series of attacks, Megatron successfully amassed enough to fully reanimate Unicron. However, the chaos-bringer's consciousness invaded Megatron's body, taking over his mind.

Although Optimus Supreme was able to destroy Unicron's body, his mind lived on, buried within Megatron, subtly directing him to attack Cybertron and uncover a reservoir of Super Energon beneath the planet's surface. Megatron immersed himself in the powerful liquid and underwent another power boost, once again taking the name of Galvatron. Quickly acquiring control of the planet, he forced the Autobots underground with energon gas and used the planet's Energon Towers to relocate Cybertron to Alpha Q's region of space. Once there, Galvatron once again soaked himself in Super Energon, growing to a colossal height, but as he did so, Unicron's influence totally seized control of his mind and directed him out into space to re-merge with his spark. Optimus Prime forced him into a battle, knowing that Galvatron's hatred of him would force his consciousness to surface again, and when it did, Prime drained Unicron's influence from Galvatron, sealing it within himself.

Enraged by Unicron's manipulations, Galvatron intended to destroy Unicron's spark, but wound up being possessed by it once more. While struggling to fight the control of Unicron, he was confronted by Optimus Prime once again, and rather than fight him, he plunged himself into the foundling sun created by Primus, igniting the star and once again seemingly destroying himself rather than allow Unicron victory.

Cybertron

 * Voice actor: David Kaye, Trevor Devall (Episode 1, "Fallen" only) (US), Jouji Nakata (Japan), Wolf Frass (German)



Ten years later, Primus's plan to imprison Unicron's spark at the heart of the sun ultimately failed, leading the star to collapse, creating a black hole which threatened the existence of Cybertron, and the rest of the universe. Escaping his confinement within the sun, Megatron enhanced his powers by merging his body with the remnants of Unicron's shattered form, increasing his power with the dark god's own.



As the Autobots prepared to evacuate Cybertron in the wake of disasters caused by the black hole, Megatron struck, approaching the unprotected ancient Transformer Vector Prime, and stealing a holographic map containing locations of the Cyber Planet Keys that could be used to seal the black hole. Operating out of a fiery pocket dimension, Megatron schemed to used the world-shaping power of the Cyber Planet Keys and their focal Omega Lock to accelerate the universal degeneration created by the black hole, destroying the universe and using the keys to remake it in his own image.

Leaving Starscream and Thundercracker to search for the Omega Lock on Earth, Megatron located the resting place of the first Cyber Planet Key on Velocitron, the Speed Planet. Recruiting the native troublemakers Ransack and Crumplezone to do his bidding, he deduced that the planet's racing trophy was the key. After failing to defeat planet ruler Override in a race to learn more, however, he left Ransack and Crumplezone to compete in tournaments and win the trophy and turned his attention to the Jungle Planet, home of the second Cyber Planet Key, where he ingratiated himself with planet ruler Scourge. Both missions ultimately ended in failure, however, when the Autobots acquired the keys.



Attempting to find the third key, Megatron discovered that he had been betrayed by Starscream when the planet map - in reality, a duplicate switched out by Starscream - led him to a dead sector of space and sealed him within a metallic sphere. Scourge was able to liberate him a short time later, but in that time, Starscream had obtained the third Cyber Planet Key, from Earth, for himself, along with the Omega Lock and other keys. Megatron made a beeline for his treacherous lieutenant, but was intercepted by the Autobots Hot Shot, Red Alert and Scattorshot, who intended to hold him off until the other Autobots could stop Starscream. Starscream's attempts to harness the Earth Key, however, caused a release of its energies which endowed Megatron with a new Cyber Key power - the "Death Machine Gun," which he used to mow down the Autobots in his path.

The Autobots managed to retake the keys from Starscream, but a further attack from Megatron saw the Decepticon leader steal them out from under Optimus Prime's nose and retreat into his pocket dimension. Prime pursued him through the portal and defeated him in a pitched battle, reacquiring the lock and returning to Cybertron. As Megatron attempted to follow him, Vector Prime combined his portal-opening powers with the Cyber Planet Keys and collapsed Megatron's dimension in upon itself, destroying the villain.



This was not to be the end for Megatron, however, as the power of his Unicron armor sustained him as a ghost-like entity composed of pure darkness. In this state, he rematerialized on Cybertron and used Unicron's reformatting powers to upgrade the injured Crumplezone into Dark Crumplezone. As he came under attack from the Autobot Leobreaker, his regeneration completed and his physical body was restored, even as he used the remainder of the lingering darkness to create an evil doppleganger of Leobreaker, Nemesis Breaker, out of the Autobot's own dark thoughts. Merging with Nemesis Breaker to form Dark Claw Mode, Megatron battled Optimus Prime and Leobreaker's Savage Claw Mode and made a further play for the Omega Lock, until news of the location of the fourth and final Cyber Planet Key led him to withdraw.

Guided through a spatial warp by the mysterious Soundwave to Gigantion, the Giant Planet, home of the final key, Megatron engaged the world's leader, Metroplex, in battle. Much to his surprise, however, he was utterly defeated in seconds. Consumed with rage, the power of Unicron within his armor reached out and detected the energies of the Giant Planet's Cyber Planet Key, drawing upon them and infusing Megatron's body with them. Attacking the Autobots in a dark, shadowed form, he decimated most of their forces before being confronted by Optimus Prime and completing his transformation - once again, Megatron had become Galvatron.

After taking revenge on Metroplex, Galvatron joined the race to acquire the Giant Planet key, which included a rematch with the reborn Hot Shot, Red Alert and Scattorshot. Yet again, the Autobots were able to acquire the key, but Galvatron then stole the completed Omega Lock, only to be attacked by Starscream, who battled with Galvatron for possession of the artifact. Galvatron ultimately claimed victory in the battle, with the sheer amount of energy released in the clash actually blasting Starscream (along with Sideways and Soundwave, who were trying to nick the lock) into another universe. With the lock and keys now in his hands, Galvatron attacked Primus and returned to the Black Hole, where he was confronted and finally defeated by the five planet leaders, right before they returned the Omega Lock and the Cyber Planet Keys to Primus, whose Spark was then restored and who used the Ark to finally seal the black hole for good.

Having had ultimate power torn from his grasp, Galvatron contemplated giving up. He was then spoken to by Starscream's spirit, who said that if he was to give up just like that, then he was "no Unicron." Starscream vanished but stayed as a memory. His crown, left floating in space after his demise, came to Galvatron, who clenched it close. He realized that his former lieutenant was right and decided to continue his conquest (presumably keeping the crown as a trophy). He challenged Optimus Prime to one final duel. Battling on Cybertron's moon, Galvatron generated a massive blade of dark energy, which Prime countered with Vector Prime's sword. As the two old enemies charged towards each other in a final strike, Prime impaled Galvatron, whose body crumbled and dissolved as he met his end once and for all.

In a montage sequence at the conclusion of the series, however, Galvatron's evil proved eternal, as, beyond the veil of time and space, his spark battled with that of Vector Prime.

Armada
One million years ago, Cybertron was at relative peace. Most Transformers were nothing more than citizens of the planet, the Autobot army simply guarded the majestic Cyber City, and no one had heard of "Decepticons." The standard-sized Transformers lived alongside villages of the smaller-sized Mini-Cons, and all of them were caught unawares by the sudden rise of Megatron. He and his soldiers came seemingly out of nowhere, sweeping through Mini-Con villages and performing horrible experiments on the diminutive Transformers. The Decepticons had discovered how to rewire Mini-Cons to interface with them, drawing power from their new slaves.

After capturing all but a handful of Mini-Cons, Megatron and his enhanced troops assaulted Cyber City, defeating the Autobots in a single battle. But while Optimus Prime's forces retreated, the rogue Mini-Cons infiltrated Decepticon headquarters and spirited all of their imprisoned brethren away in a spaceship. To Megatron's great consternation, the ship fled from Cybertron to parts unknown.

Despite this loss, the Decepticons still held the power of the Mini-Cons they had been using in the battle of Cyber City, and this gave them continual combat superiority. Cybertron was completely unprepared for Megatron's assault; thousands of citizens submitted themselves to slavery. Megatron's rule brought chaos and injustice, and while the Autobots never gave up their fight, they had to resort to guerrilla tactics from underground bases.

At some point, Prime would recall having heard about Megatron for the first time while he (Prime) was still in military academy. Prime said that the rumors surrounding Megatron were positive: that he was an unbeatable warrior with an unrivalled intellect. But Megatron soon turned his abilities against the Cybertronian governments, raising the Decepticon army in a march of conquest. After Prime's first field mission, he witnessed Megatron's ruthlessness in the form of a devastated energon refinery filled with the dead and dying. Prime claimed that this experience cemented his desire to defeat Megatron at all costs.

For a million years, the war raged on Cybertron, but when some human children stumbled upon the crashed Mini-Con ship and activated a distress beacon, the conflict took a new turn. The Decepticons, controlling Cybertron's communications satellites, intercepted the signal and mounted a spacebridge assault on Earth. Meanwhile, the Autobots, having hacked into the communications system, also saw the signal and made a spacebridge trip of their own. The two forces inevitably clashed, but at last the Autobots were able to gain the upper hand when some of the reactivated Mini-Cons lent their power to fight the Decepticons.

Megatron, however, was undeterred by the Mini-Cons' newfound resistance. In addition to the Mini-Cons he had maintained lordship over for millenia, Megatron also gained control of the Air Defense Team and their Dark Saber combination. But he couldn't keep control of it, as he lacked respect for its power. He later attempted to seize control of the Mini-Con Moon Base and its inhabitants; rushing in without thinking, he gave Leader-1 the means to seal him in a security room and almost torture him to death.

He came out of this with the Destruction Mini-Con Team as his prisoners, only to find they had a failsafe in their systems that gave out both unfettered power and incredible pain to anyone linking to them by force. Having tasted that power, Megatron was unwilling to let it go, and so actually made a deal with Dualor in return for it, even though he knew they'd end up betraying him.

At some point, Megatron somehow gained even more power and a new paint job, rechristening himself "Galvatron." By itself, this new form was more powerful than his old body with Mini-Con enhancement. Still refusing to accept any limits, Galvatron discarded Leader-1 and sought to create the ultimate Mini-Con in his place. He began with Clench and "upgraded" him with parts extracted from other victims. Clench took to his servitude gladly, grateful for the power of his new body. This was just one example of Galvatron's increased ability to manipulate those around him to serve his own ends. Sadly for his allies, this came with an even greater disregard for anyone and anything besides his own quest for physical enhancement.

When Optimus Prime suddenly vanished, Megatron led an attack on Autobase, critically wounding Smokescreen in the process. This was disrupted by the machinations of Unicron, whose heralds took out the Decepticons' Cybertron base and Earth forces. Megatron fought a vicious battle to the death with the herald Galvatron, whom he dismembered with the help of the Air Defense Team as the Star Saber.

Regrouping after this, he formed an alliance with the returned Optimus to get "payback." The Decepticons joined the Autobots and Mini-Cons in battling Unicron, who emerged from another dimension via a portal close to Cybertron. While almost all of the Transformers were pouring their efforts into a direct assault, Megatron covertly flew to Unicron's surface with the intent of striking a deal. Just as he was landing, Over-Run opened the Mini-Con Matrix and dealt Unicron a critical blow. Megatron changed his plan to simple looting, but before he could even begin, Hot Shot, Red Alert, and Scavenger shot him at pointblank range in revenge for Smokescreen. As the dimensional portal closed back around Unicron, Megatron was pulled helplessly into the Chaos-Bringer's departing body.

Energon
Though his body was meticulously and painfully disassembled and cannibalized by Unicron's defense systems, his consciousness survived within Unicron's spark core. In secret, he constructed a new body for himself and, after teleporting Optimus Prime into Unicron and convincing him to shut down some sensors, returned to Earth and destroyed Scorponok. Ironhide was worried that Megatron would kill him too, but Megatron told him that he wanted him alive so that he could tell everyone that he had returned.

At an unspecified time after Megatron would reclaim leadership of the Decepticons, he ordered Snow Cat, Slugslinger, and Sharkticon to attack Ocean City. Each of them failed in various embarrassing ways, then lied about it afterward in an attempt to defend their failures.

Megatron


 * was not


 * amused.

He was, however, impressed with Slugslinger's lie, and in fact promoted him for it.

Universe comics
Unicron, his ruined body trapped between dimensions, was teleporting Transformers from across time and space into himself, where he would pit them against each other and absorb their energon radiation and, eventually, sparks. One of his abductees was Megatron, bearing the tank-based form he took after first arriving on Earth. Megatron found himself alongside Grimlock and Optimus Primal, and all three were dropped into a cauldron (possibly the Cauldron). They fought their way out, with Primal taking the lead (as he had been sent there on a mission from God). The trio instigated a prison break that ended with many of Unicron's captives returning to their home universes. Presumably Megatron did as well.

Trivia



 * According to the Armada Playstation 2 game instruction booklet, Megatron's Armada body has the following statistics:
 * Height: 22' 11" (8' 3" vehicle mode)
 * Weight: 106,925 lbs
 * Power: 1,600 hp
 * Vehicle top speed: 50mph


 * A conceptual drawing in the Micron Legend Yearbook 2003 showed Armada Megatron as originally being more weapon-laden and certifiably able to kill you to death.


 * Also in the Micron Legend Yearbook 2003, Armada Megatron's cannon's concept art specifically notes that there is a "'80s Galvatron" homage sculpted on the barrel.


 * A different development sketch in the Yearbook revealed that "Gigatron" was one of Armada Megatron's working names.


 * According to Aaron Archer as ORSON on the now-defunct "Orson's World" forum at TFW2005.com, Armada Megatron's "antlers" were part of an aborted Mini-Con grabber gimmick. The gimmick didn't make it, but the antlers remained.


 * Also according to Archer, the chin on Armada Megatron is supposed to look like a pair of fangs to play up the character's evil nature. How well this was actually pulled off in the final sculpt is debatable.


 * When a fan asked him why Energon Megatron was not named Galvatron, owing to continuity with the Armada series and the obvious visual homage in the figure's design, Archer explained that it was due to Hasbro needing to protect their trademarks, as well as Megatron being a more recognizable (and thus marketable) product name. He added that he personally wanted to call the toy Galvatron Imperius.




 * During his stint on the Armada comic, it seems Pat Lee may have been referring to the original Hasbro stock photo of a mis-assembled Megatron toy (seen on the right), as he consistently draws Megatron's feet as being flipped with the "grates" from the tops of the feet facing forward.
 * In cartoon continuity, Megatron is actually the second Decepticon leader to bear that name, the first having departed Cybertron long ago with Rodimus and eventually seeking a peaceful existence.