Megatron (TFA)


 * Megatron is a Decepticon in the Transformers Animated continuity family.



If you were to ask Megatron to describe himself in one word, he'd probably go with "heroic". He sees himself as a freedom fighter, leading the Decepticons out of the days of "Autobot tyranny". The fact he's hoping to replace that with Decepticon tyranny isn't really a concern. A fanatic at spark, he revels in every Autobot who suffers at Decepticon hands and doesn't register humans as anything more than "collateral damage."

Megatron demands loyalty from the Decepticons, loyalty he gains by his awe-inspiring power. With the combined threat of a sharp mind, his fusion cannon, a pair of deadly swords and simple brute strength, there aren't many who'd dare cross him. Still, he has no problem manhandling troops as a gentle reminder.

The loss of his body and former power was only a minor setback for him, as Megatron proved a master manipulator. He effortlessly duped Isaac Sumdac into helping him--and once Megatron was restored to full power, he turned the tables on his old captor.

He is extremely intolerant of treachery and deals with said treacherous bots with a vicious no-nonsense efficiency, unlike other Decepticon leaders. He is a shrewd strategist and effortlessly wraps others around his fingers.

"Laugh now, child. I will show you true fear!"

- Megatron as he listens in on Sari's ghost stories

Animated cartoon

 * Voice actor: Corey Burton (English), Jan Spitzer (German)



Eons ago, Megatron lead the Decepticons in their war against the Autobots for control of Cybertron and freedom from Autobot tyranny. However, the Autobots under Ultra Magnus had two major advantages: they possessed the AllSpark, giving them an infinite supply of energy, and had exclusive space bridge technology, allowing them to move about the galaxy easier. However, Megatron's forces continued to fight on until the Autobots sent the AllSpark through the space bridge to random coordinates. Realizing that the AllSpark was the key to defeating the Autobots, Megatron abandoned the Cybertron theater and began searching the galaxy aboard his massive flagship, the Nemesis However, some Decepticons continued to fight on against the Autobots.

Four million years later, Megatron's crew discovered a small Autobot repair vessel after detecting the AllSpark. When Starscream volunteered to attack, Megs saw right through him, pointing out he "didn't spend the last four million solar cycles combing the galaxy just so you can get your greasy wings on the AllSpark." He even crumpled a part of said wings to make his point. Later, Starscream approached the Decepticon leader again, wishing him "luck", to which Megatron replied, "I do not believe in luck." Starscream got his own back by planting a bomb on Megatron, which blew just as his fusion cannon was about to breach the hull of the Autobots' ship. The Autobot crew managed to steer the now-failing ship through an asteroid field and into a nearby space bridge.

With the ship now plummeting through the Earth's atmosphere, a wounded Megatron still managed to thrash the crew soundly and nearly claimed the AllSpark. Quick thinking on the part of Optimus Prime sent the Decepticon leader out the cargo hatch and into free fall. Megatron fell from the sky and crashed in Paw Paw, Michigan, where his head (and later, a hand) was found by a young Isaac Sumdac.

Over the next fifty years, Sumdac built a robotics empire by reverse-engineering Megatron's components. Fifty years after his fall to Earth, Megatron's inert head remained secretly in Sumdac's private lab, the source of the human's engineering genius and also a secret shame. Megatron's severed hand was there as well, used by Sumdac as a piece of furniture.



After the Autobots re-awoke, Sari used the Key to sneak into her father's lab. He stopped her from seeing anything it contained, but the AllSpark energy from the Key was absorbed by Megatron's head, reawakening his spark and bringing him back online. Confused and disoriented, he automatically brought up video footage of Starscream and the Autobots. Furious both at Starscream's betrayal and the fact he didn't have the hands to reach out and take the AllSpark which was finally within his grasp, he released a burst of energy which activated a small drone Dr. Sumdac had been working on. Megatron thus realized he could control the extremely primitive (by his standards) technology around him. Learning Sari was going to spend the night at the Autobot base, he secreted his drone into her backpack.

Once she arrived, Megatron sent the drone to look for the AllSpark, but his search was fruitless. He decided to try a simpler method: kill the Autobots and extract the data from their lifeless corpses. Interfacing with the factory's assembly line, he attacked. As the Autobots fought back, he decided to cut out the middleman and knocked a hole in a fuel tank. Prowl arrived, realized the factory was working via motion sensors, and managed to get close to the control panel. To counter him, Megatron simply took over the factory arms and snatched up Prowl. However, he failed to stop Bumblebee, due to the primitive tools he was forced to use. With his plans foiled, Megatron was out of patience, refusing to work through these worthless machines. He needed a body. Perhaps it was time to reveal something more advanced to Sumdac...

Megatron soon revealed to Isaac that he still functioned and, when Isaac guessed he was a friend of the Autobots, Megatron played along. He persuaded Isaac to keep his existence secret until Isaac had built him a new body, as then the Autobots would be more forgiving of how Isaac had reverse-engineered their friend. He then helped construct the Dinobots, deliberately programming them to go on a rampage and building fire-breath into them as a prototype for a planned army of drones. When they were defeated, Megatron despaired he might never gain a new body, but upon discovering they'd been turned into sentient Transformers, he quickly convinced them that cars, trucks and "car robots" were evil beings that ate dinosaurs.

During their second rampage, Isaac realized Megatron had deliberately built weapons into the Dinobots. The tyrant feigned shame, saying he'd added experimental features out of a desire to have a body again. Isaac promised not to tell the Autobots and that Megatron would have a body again one day...

Soon, Dr. Sumdac began attempting to build him some new servos, but these proved inadequate. Megatron revealed that his body would need Destronium to work, but Isaac responded there was only a small amount available and that it would have to be delivered across town in less than 10 minutes or it would become unstable. Taking notice of an experimental turbo suit Sumdac's labs were developing (with flaws that possibly precluded Isaac considering it as a solution), Megatron manipulated computer systems so the suit was delivered to small-time hood Nino Sexton. Once Sexton began using the suit to commit crimes too quickly to be stopped, Megatron contacted him with an offer of much money out of Dr. Sumdac's private account if Sexton used the suit to steal and deliver the Destronium. Between Autobot interference and the suit aging him prematurely, Sexton failed. Worse, the Destronium was at critical levels, risking an explosion that would destroy Detroit. The Autobots barely managed to send the Destronium sample into the upper atmosphere before it exploded, and they were left to wonder why a human had tried to steal it in the first place.

After Megatron learned of the power of the Key and the careless nature in which Sari used it, he attempted to trick her into assisting him. He designed Soundwave, a musical toy that was secretly meant to grow more powerful every time Sari used the Key upon it, until eventually it would be a suitable robotic body for Megatron himself. When the Key instead brought Soundwave into independent life, Megatron changed his plan and, with convincing logic, recruited Soundwave as a Decepticon warrior.

When Blitzwing and Lugnut arrived on Earth, Megatron, remembering Starscream's betrayal, was hesitant to act. After witnessing a battle between his soldiers and the Autobots, Megatron concluded that Blitzwing was too unstable while Lugnut was genuinely loyal. He contacted Lugnut only, instructing him to locate the AllSpark, which would help restore him. Later, he also informed Lugnut about the Key. Unfortunately, Lugnut and Blitzwing were defeated and damaged by the Autobots, severing Lugnut's link with Megatron—and Megatron's only link to the outside world.



Although Megatron himself was not mentally involved, his headless body was infected with space barnacles, causing the barnacles to mutate into a semi-sentient form. After absorbing two mining bots and possibly killing a familiar-looking miner, it was defeated by Bumblebee and Prowl. Later, it was discovered (minus space barnacles) by Isaac Sumdac, and most likely brought back to his laboratory. Sumdac was heard to remark that Megatron would be very pleased...

Sumdac attempted to rebuild Megatron, but progress was slowed by a power failure. Frustrated, Megatron again contacted Lugnut and ordered him to bring him the Key. This communication triggered Starscream's curiosity, and the treacherous jet located Megatron. Starscream didn't have time to finish his speech slay Megatron before he was distracted by the Autobots--and Megatron used that distraction to take Starscream by surprise and eject him from the lab. When Blitzwing and Lugnut arrived with the Key, Megatron revealed his true identity to his human "friend". Sumdac, seized by the mechanical hand he had so long used as a chair, could only watch and wail in horror as the Decepticon tyrant used the power of the AllSpark to reconstruct himself, more powerful than ever. Finally restored, he burst through the roof of Sumdac Tower, to the horror of the Autobots and Starscreamready to unleash his vengeance on all of them.

Megatron's revenge was quick and brutal. Trashing the Autobots in short order, he called his Decepticons to him. As Starscream bootlicked, Megatron powered up his fusion cannon to destroy the one responsible for his defeat—then used the Key to send a painful power surge through Starscream, extinguishing the traitor's spark and reinforcing his authority over Blitzwing and Lugnut. He commanded them to "transform and rise up," and the three Decepticons took to the sky, using the Key to track the AllSpark.

Finding it aboard the Autobots' ship, the Decepticons caused it to crash on Dinobot Island, where Megatron proceeded to beat the slag out of Optimus Prime. Getting into the ship, Megatron removed the AllSpark from its casing and placed it in his chest, preparing to devastate Earth before conquering Cybertron. However, Professor Sumdac used his knowledge of Megatron's circuitry to disrupt his equilibrium sensors, causing Megatron to drop the Key. Optimus Prime used the Key to force a surge of power through the AllSpark within Megatron, causing it to explode and disperse its energy.

However, it was not a total loss for Megatron; despite the damage, he escaped and managed to abduct Sumdac. Once again, their fates were intertwined, only this time Sumdac was Megatron's prisoner.

Establishing a base deep underground, Megatron quickly adjusted his plans after the loss of the AllSpark. During his battle aboard the Autobot ship, he had managed to download a partial space bridge schematic from their computers. He planned to use the space bridge to teleport himself, Lugnut, and Blitzwing to Cybertron, then conquer the planet from within. To facilitate this plan, Megatron used the captive Professor Sumdac to reverse-engineer the space bridge and fill in the "gaps" within the schematics. However, when a service bot suddenly malfunctioned, it was revealed that a shard of the AllSpark was imbedded within it. This gave Megatron hope that the AllSpark was not destroyed, but dispersed throughout the city of Detroit...

Finding out about the Allspark fragments, however, didn't seem to cause him to make any changes in his plans. Megatron received word from a spy that the Decepticons had begun making random assaults on the Autobots. He realized that they needed to make a concentrated effort in order to secure his victory. Once Lugnut and Blitzwing had stolen what they needed from the Elite Guard to send the message, Megatron was interrupted by a revived Starscream. After quickly beating him to a pulp, Megatron relayed his commands to the spacefaring 'Cons, only to be repeatedly attacked by a seemingly invincible Starscream. The renegade even attempted to draw Megatron out with an AllSpark fragment. Megatron emerged victorious every time and was informed by his spy that all was going as planned: With his forces now drawing the Autobots away from Cybertron, Megatron could attack a weakened Cybertron from within as soon as his space bridge was completed.

Later, while at the Decepticon base, Lugnut detected an AllSpark energy signal emanating from Detroit. Megatron quickly dispatched Lugnut to retrieve the AllSpark shard before the Autobots could. Lugnut proceeded to praise his master's "grand and glorious plan", but Megatron, fed up with the adulation to the point of involuntary optic-twitching, curtly commanded his enforcer to get going.

When Lugnut and Blitzwing brought the Constructobots back to base, Megatron saw the advantage of keeping them alive, and invited them to have a look at his space bridge schematics. Impressed by their knowledge, he decided to put them to work, stealing supplies. After an encounter with Bulkhead, the Constructobots became convinced of "the funny guy's" less than noble intentions, and returned to the mine to confront him. Megatron calmly slammed them both against a rock face and asked them to explain. He feigned shock, and brought them in to discuss things over his own private oil blend. He spoke of the glories they could achieve as Constructicons, the adulation, the statues in their honor...the barrels of oil they could down. Ever the shrewd worker, it didn't take much for him to convince them to join up, and he promptly sent them to the Autobot base to retrieve the AllSpark fragments.



When Starscream escaped from the Elite Guard's ship, Megatron received the message that was sent to the Autobots by Ultra Magnus from the tachyon transmitter which was stolen by Lugnut and Blitzwing. He had placed a bounty on the traitor, for which Lockdown (with the unknowing aid of Prowl) pretty much took the opportunity to bring him to the Decepticon leader. Lockdown contacted Megatron to confirm that he had captured a purple-ish "Starscream" (who was acting quite odd and cowardly) and agreed to meet at an abandoned warehouse for the exchange. As "Starscream" was brought to Megatron, Prowl, who was hiding on a rafter high above, accidentally scuffed a small bolt, which grabbed the Decepticons' attention. Not too long after, the Autobots appeared, with another, different colored, Starscream. Megatron intercepted Lockdown's escape and announced confusedly that no one was to leave until they found out which was the true Starscream. However, it turned out that both Starscreams were clones with bombs in their spark chambers which were designed to destroy Megatron and the Autobots in one go. Quickly thinking up a plan, Megatron and the other Decepticons transformed and escaped forcibly through the ceiling. Unfortunately, Prowl used the upgrades given to him by Lockdown to send the clones into the air, not too far from the fleeing Decepticons, when the bombs exploded. It is unknown if they were wounded, but Megatron later raised the bounty on Starscream, only this time, he wanted the "real" Starscream.

He was later contacted by Swindle, who attempted to sell him a new weapon. Nothing came of this, as Swindle was defeated before the deal could be closed. Megatron also made some "secret" transmissions to his double agent on Cybertron in order to settle his new plans for the coming Autobot-Decepticon war.

Megatron's plans finally seemed on the verge of fruition when Sumdac and the Constructicons completed the space bridge. However, some vital technical aspects made it inoperable. In order to remedy this, Megatron contacted Shockwave to learn who was Cybertron's leading Space bridge technician, which turned out to be the Autobot Bulkhead. Not wishing to leave Doctor Sumdac alone to sabotage the Constructicons' efforts, Megatron took him along as a hostage while he went to capture Bulkhead. Once he had the big Autobot in custody, Megatron threatened to use the Headmaster unit on him if he didn't help make the space bridge operational. To Megatron's satisfaction, Bulkhead agreed and finished the project. Just as the machine was activated, both the Autobots and Starscream and his clone army attacked.

The three-way free-for-all ironically forced Megatron and Optimus Prime to team up temporarily, but this quickly ended when Megatron used Prime's body as a shield against one of Starscream's clone's attacks. Despite putting up a decent resistance, Megatron was overwhelmed and held down two of the Starscream clones. As the original Starscream gloated, he was head-jacked by Isaac Sumdac in the Headmaster unit. Sumdac prepared to fight Megatron himself, but Megatron simply used his strength to throw the two Starscream clones at him, knocking off the Headmaster unit and proving himself the victor. With Starscream incapacitated, the clones sided with Megatron.

He then made his own victory speech to his soldiers, declaring he would send Optimus Prime through the bridge to test it. However, the Autobots got some reinforcements. He quickly ordered the majority of his forces to deal with this new menace while the Constructicons cleared the space bridge area of rubble. Grabbing Optimus, Megatron threw him into the portal, but was frustrated when Prowl freed his leader in the nick of time, at which point the bridge shut down. Bulkhead declared the power source wasn't strong enough to maintain the link for long, so Megatron grabbed Starscream's AllSpark-powered head to maintain the gateway. However, this provided too much power, sending the space bridge portal out of control. An enraged Megatron decided to terminate Optimus Prime, only for Optimus to slap stasis cuffs on him, causing him to lose his grip and fall into the portal.



With the overload having deleted the space bridge's receiving coordinates, the defeated Megatron was transported to some unknown sector of space. Still immobilized by the stasis cuffs, Megatron's only companion was now Starscream's head, which a cruel twist of Fate had deposited right next to him. Forced to remain face to face with his traitorous ex-lieutenant, Megatron could only trade verbal blows. A most cruel fate, indeed.

Animated

 * Optimus Prime vs. Megatron: The Battle Begins (Deluxe class figure multi-pack, 2008)


 * Transforms into a sleek spacecraft with, er, VTOL turbofans (presumably designed to show some lineage with his eventual helicopter mode. It's best if you don't think about it too hard). Megatron's signature fusion cannon forms the central chassis and cockpit section of the spacecraft (officially, a "Fusion Fighter"); his sword sections mount on the sides of the cannon for storage, though the blade is unremovable and effectively useless.  Like the Prime figure he comes with, he features a punching gimmick, having a spring-loaded waist that snaps back when twisted.  Unfortunately, Megatron's ball-joint hips and the swivel joints between his thighs and knees are rather loose, making it difficult to pose the figure in such a way that he stands on his own. The figure features a silver color scheme and battle damage paint applications.


 * The design makes it tricky to tell which end of his Fusion Fighter is the front and which is the back.


 * CYBERTRON Mode Megatron (Voyager, 2008)


 * A larger, bulkier, more detailed, and more gimmick-laden iteration of the same character design used in the deluxe-scaled versus pack toy. Note that while both modes of both toys look very similar, they have different transformation mechanisms and are not a simple upscaling/downscaling of each other.  Where the deluxe version is straight silver, this version has a pearl-gray paint scheme. The figure features an automorph gimmick in the chest, which closes like a clamshell in transforming to robot mode. A second automorph gimmick is built into the energon blades on the cannon, swinging them into place to form a polearm. Red translucent plastic is heavily used throughout the figure, including in the light piping for the head and the missile for the spring-loaded cannon. Even his fingers are made of energon, it seems.


 * This toy apparently had a safety modification done late on in the design process (late enough that it doesn't show up on the instructions), possibly as a result of drop test failure. The strut that holds his fusion cannon has been reinforced, and as a result, his cannon cannot be mounted flush against his arm.


 * As with the smaller figure above, it's not obvious exactly what end is the front of his spaceship mode. Neither orientation really matches up to the version seen in the show, which had the fusion cannon mounted in a way that's impossible with both toys.


 * Megatron (Leader, 2008)
 * Megatron's "Earth" robot mode bears a significant resemblance to Generation 1 Super Megatron from the Battlestars storyline, and thus, in turn, to his original G1 body. His alt-mode is a dual-rotored helicopter design, somewhat like an Osprey helicopter or the Cobra Mamba. Its rotors form double-bladed swords. The fusion cannon is attached to the left arm out of the box, but it can be detached and put on either arm. It has wheels for use in vehicle mode, and if it is removed, then (undocumented) landing gear can be deployed to make up for the loss. Interestingly, it seems the alt-mode was originally intended to allow for the removal of the cannon without removal of the bottom half of the fuselage.  With a fair amount of force the cannon can be popped off (and will reattach), but the cannon mount/fuselage lower half does not provide the front landing gear with sufficient clearance to fully extend.  The toy has a voice chip, activated by pressing the Decepticon symbol on his chest. If used in robot mode it says one of three quotes: "Crush the Autobots!", "Where is the AllSpark?", and (glorious) evil laughter. In helicopter mode it makes the sound of the rotors spinning. When the cockpit is moved during transformation the classic G1/Animated transformation noise is heard. It is compatible with the Headmaster toy, but it does not change his quotes.


 * The instructions leave a couple of things out. First, the shoulders should be pushed backwards/upwards for vehicle mode. This lowers the wings down and aligns the front of the engines with the back. Second, the barrel of the cannon can be rotated 180 degrees (at a separate pivot from the one at its base) for robot mode, to better match how it looks in the cartoon, with the red stripes facing his arm. Considering how padded the instructions are to mask the relatively simple transformation (two whole steps just to move the rear landing gear), leaving all this out is quite a feat. Bad Hasbro.


 * There is no doubt whatsoever as to which end is the front and which is the back of his vehicle mode.


 * Megatron (McDonald's Happy Meal Toys, 2008)
 * This is a very simple representation of Megatron in his Earth form. It transforms by rotating the head, lying face down and flipping the arms onto the back. The robot mode seems to have taken priority in the design process, since the vehicle mode looks like his robot mode lying down.  Megatron does not come with his signature arm cannon.


 * Shadow Blade Megatron (Leader)


 * A black, grey and purple redeco of Megatron's leader class mold... that's not called Galvatron. YeabuhWHA?


 * Megatron (Activators, 2008?)

Trivia

 * Megatron's pre-Earth head has a rather pointed resemblance to the somewhat early head of 2007 movie's Megatron, which went unused in the actual movie but appeared on loads of promotional materials and merchandise.


 * Also in common with Movie Megatron, Animated Megatron lay inert for many years while his technology was reverse-engineered by humans.




 * Yes, Megatron's outer space altmode, shown for all of 20 seconds, has two toy molds devoted to it. Though these "Cybertron mode" toys resemble each other, neither looks anything like the altmode of the pre-Earth Megatron seen on the show.


 * In this series, Megatron has his own catchphrase: "Decepticons, transform and rise up!", contrasting Optimus Prime's classic "Autobots, transform and roll out!" line.


 * Apparently Megatron is a bit of an oil connoisseur. He even has little goblets for it made of twisted oil drums, too, as well as a secret stash of top-quality oil and a secret chamber to drink it in. Classy!


 * Early images of Megatron's Earth body were slightly different from the finished product, most notably the lack of a fusion cannon, and a katana instead of his twin swords.


 * Both Lockdown and Swindle are technically on neither side, but work almost entirely for the Decepticons because Megatron pays better than the Autobots do. Considering how long he was out of contact with the Decepticon army, it really makes you wonder where he's getting all that money (or whatever currency they use)...


 * Throughout the entire series, Megatron has only once mentioned any of the Autobots by their actual names. This occurred when Megs called Bulkhead by his name in "A Bridge Too Close, Part I".


 * There is a fairly major continuity error. Sumdac found Megatron's head intact and in Cybertronian mode. The head housed in his lab is essentially a damaged version of his Earth mode head. However, it is possible this is merely the result of Sumdac's work, as it could be seen as a stripped down version of the original head.


 * Megatron's cannon makes the same sound as his G1 counterpart's weapon, except with additional effects mixed in to make it actually sound like a laser cannon.


 * This is the second Megatron to be impaled in the chest with the Allspark