| “ | Yeeess. | „ |
| ~ Megatron |
Megatron is the commander of the Darksyders, a gang of Predacons (the descendants of the Decepticons), and the main antagonist of two of the Transformers TV series, Beast Wars, and Beast Machines. His beast form is a Tyrannosaurus Rex, then a Transmetal Tyrannosaurus Rex, and later a Transmetal II dragon. He named himself after a dark and terrifying myth, the original Megatron he was named after was a figure quoted in the Covenent of Primus as an apocalyptic figure that threatens to shatter the fabric of time and defeats great heroes.
Biography[]
Beast Wars[]
While the original name of the Predacon known as "Megatron" is unknown, when he read the Covenant of Primus, the criminal chose to rename himself after the great destroyer the book mentioned. Megatron found life on Cybertron intolerable, as he and his fellow Predacons lived as second-class citizens underneath the Maximals, which could be traced back to the defeat of their Decepticon ancestors in the Great War. The ruling triumvirate of the Predacons, the Tripredacus Council, were slowly biding their time, waiting for the right moment to strike, but Megatron was impatient, and had his own plan to ensure Predacon rule over Cybertron.
Gathering a gang of criminals into his service, Megatron stole the Maximal relic known as the Golden Disk. The disk contained the location data of the planet Earth, as well as a secret message inscribed centuries earlier by the Decepticon Megatron. It was a contingency plan to prevent Decepticon defeat that directed whoever found the message to use transwarp technology to travel back through time to prehistoric Earth, when the Autobot spacecraft the Ark lay hidden on the planet. By finding and killing Optimus Prime as he lay in stasis aboard the craft, history could be altered in favour of the Decepticons, ensuring their victory in the war, and Predacon rule in the present.
Season 1[]
In Beast Wars, Megatron traveled through time to get to prehistoric Earth to find enough Energon to make the Predacons more powerful. With him were Predacons Waspinator, Terrorsaur, Scorponok, Dinobot, and Tarantulas. Dinobot turned on Megatron after their arrival and became a Maximal after the Predacons' first battle with the Maximals. Megatron was nearly killed in the second episode when, in robot form and on a mountain full of raw energon, he shot a missile at Optimus Primal that was deflected by Dinobot. However, he survived.
Everyone believed that Megatron had been seeking Earth purely for its energon, unaware of his greater scheme. As revealed in The Agenda Megatron was able to confirm that the plant they were on was indeed Earth. Using the information on the Golden Disk, he located the Ark buried within a volcano. When faced with the enormity of the task that lay before him, and the innumerable unpredictable and dangerous possibilities that were inherent to altering history itself, he faltered. Megatron blasted the tunnel he had dug into the volcano shut to keep the Ark hidden, and resolved instead to focus on acquiring other means of power to conquer Cybertron in the present.
Megatron was often challenged for the position of leader by Terrorsaur, in Power Surge being blown to scrap (only to be repaired by the loyal Scorponok). In Double Jepoardy, Megatron got a new Predacon on his side; by intercepting a Maximal stasis pod he reprogrammed the protoform as a predacon, and it became Blackarachnia. In Spider's Game, he had another protoform reprogrammed into a Predacon named Inferno.
In Before the Storm, Megatron detected a energy pulse and sent Inferno to investigate. The result was the discovery of a second Golden Disk, resulting in Megatron calling a ceasefire between the two factions, realizing he had more important things to worry about. Tigatron broke into the Darksyde, learning about the new Golden Disk, and escaped, however this was merely part of Megatron's plan, which required the Maximals to learn about the approach of the Vok. In Other Voices, After the arrival of the Bio-Dome, Megatron allowed Optimus to go in first, later listening to the sounds of the Maximal being tortured. One of the planet's moons revealed itself to be an artificial alien construct, and as it opened into the Planet Buster, Megatron mused to himself that there was still another hand to be played. Retiring to the Predacon base, he monitored events within the Axalon via the scanners, learning that Optimus intended to use a stasis pod turned into a spaceship by Tarantulas to destroy the Planet Buster. Megatron was able to override some of the pod's systems, preventing Primal from ejecting before the pod and the Planet Buster exploded.
Season 2[]
In Aftermath, Megatron was turned into a Transmetal by the quantum surge, and gained the ability to fly, like Optimus could. In Coming of the Furzors, he also got two new Predacons to replace Terrorsaur and Scorponok (who both fell into a lava pit) The two Fuzors, Quickstrike and Silverbolt, the latter of whom would defect. Battling their way to the Maximal ship, the Predacons were confronted by a resurrected and upgraded Optimus Primal, who drove them off. Returning to base, Megatron discovered that in his absence, the two golden disks had been stolen by Dinobot, and the backup copy of their data he kept on his personal system had been destroyed. Though Blackarachnia blamed Dinobot for the backup's destruction, Megatron clearly suspected that she was responsible.
After Dinobot was captured by the Predacons in Maximal, No More, he defected back to their side. Megatron forced him to prove himself by staging a fight between him and Quickstrike, and the original Golden Disk was soon back in Megatron's hands. However, Dinobot ultimately opted to remain a Maximal.
In Other Visits, The discovery of another alien site gave Megatron the opportunity to take a shot at retrieving the alien Golden Disk. He distracted Rhinox long enough for Inferno and Blackarachnia to incapacitate the Maximal, and managed to take the disk back into his possession. Returning to base, Megatron encountered Tarantulas, who declared himself no longer under Megatron's command, but was willing to cooperate. As the Predacons put their new plan into effect at the alien site, the Maximals arrived, only for a domed spaceship to appear. After using a force field to prevent the Maximals getting in, Megatron ventured into the spacecraft and was able to use the alien Golden Disk to take control of it. His first act was to bring aboard the other Predacons (bar Tarantulas) and Optimus Primal, the latter as a prisoner. Installing Transwarp cells into the ship, Megatron intended to take it back to Cybertron and conquer the world. Tarantulas arranged for a Maximal attack, infiltrating the ship and causing it to self-destruct.
In Bad Spark, another stasis pod was found, Megatron bugged Blackarachnia and sent her and Waspinator out to find it. Megatron got Protoform X, naming him Rampage, turning him to his side by torturing him using a piece of his spark.
His options growing limited, in Code of Hero, Megatron chose to test alternative means of altering history. Using the Golden Disk, he discovered the location of a valley full of early humans, who would evolve into the humans who helped the Autobots defeat the Decepticons in the great war. Determining that the future could be altered, Megatron mounted an attack on the valley. The Predacons were prevented from razing it entirely by the interference of Dinobot. After defeating all of the Predacon troops singlehandedly, Dinobot knocked the disk from Megatron's hand, and destroyed it. Megatron ordered a retreat as the rest of the Maximals arrived.
In The Agenda, Megatron realised the Transwarp Wavefront from the Planet Buster's destruction would reach Cybertron, and alert the Maximal High Council, and decided to implement one last gambit. Attacking the Maximal base, the Predacon Tripredacus Council agent Ravage came to capture Megatron, and drove them off. Megatron sent Waspinator on a secret mission,but was captured by Ravage. After his capture, Megatron learned that Tarantulas was an undercover agent for the Predacons Secret Policel. Megatron manipulated him into joining him by playing a fragment of the message of the Golden Disk from the original Megatron.
Megatron and Ravage subsequently led an assault on the Axalon, which only failed after Rattrap destroyed Ravage and his ship. Megatron fled to the Ark, finally prepared to enact his namesake's plan to change history by killing Optimus Prime. At the ship, he discovered Blackarachnia and Silverbolt, the former having deduced Megatron's plans by studying the stolen backup of Golden Disk. Megatron coerced Blackarachnia into helping him by threatening Silverbolt. She provided the access codes necessary to shut down the Ark's security grid and grant Megatron access to the ship. After ranting to the unconscious Optimus Prime, Megatron blasted the Autobot at full power, triggering a timestorm that began to unravel history. As reality whirled around him, he confronted the Maximals to gloat.
Season 3[]
In Optimal Situation, however, Blackarachnia, due to her Maximal heritage meaning she would be erased by Megatron's gambit, reavtivated the Ark's security systems, and he was thrown out of the Ark. Optimus Primal took Optimus Prime's spark, turning him into a Transmetal II, and "Optimal Optimus" defeated Megatron. However, the Maximal's base managed to be destroyed.
In Feral Scream, having obtained a Transmetal driver, Megatron created a Transmetal 2 clone of Dinobot. Due to to the interference of Depth Charge and Cheetor, the Transmetal driver was lost, and the Predacons captured Depth Charge in order to interrogate him. Before they could extract the information, they were attacked by a feral beast. Megatron was attacked by the creature himself, and sent flying off a cliff. Returning to base, Megatron detected the beast roaming in the night, and realized that Cheetor had been exposed to the Transmetal driver's energies and upgraded into a new form. He dispatched Dinobot and Waspinator to capture Cheetor, but they failed.
In Go with the Flow, Megatron had his men build a disruptor cannon. Unfortunately due to the bi-polar energon source that the weapon used, the Predacons were unable to get close enough to install the shielding. Megatron sent Waspinator and Inferno out to capture one of the early humans, and they came back with Una. With great difficulty, Megatron instructed her on installing the shielding and installing the stabilizer crystal. After the Maximals had rescued her, the Predacons fired the cannon, only to discover too late that Una hadn't installed the stabilizer after all. The cannon exploded in their faces.
Transmetal II[]
In Master Blaster, Tarantulas and Quickstrike betrayed Megatron, throwing him into a lava pit after he absorbed the original Megatron's spark, but achieved Transmetal II and therefore survived the lava. From here, Megatron's beast form was a dragon, and he threw Tarantulas away, nearly knocking him into the lava as well. In Other Victories, he put Quickstrike on trial, but the trial was interrupted. Tigerhawk, possessed by the Vok, destroyed the Predacons' base. Shortly afterward, Tarantulas extracted the Vok from Tigerhawk but accidentally destroyed himself and the Vok.
In Nemesis, Megatron found the Decepticon's ship, the Nemesis, and used it to destroy Tigerhawk and attack the protohumans (inadvertently killing Quickstrike and Inferno in the process). Dinobot II betrayed Megatron after Rampage was killed by Depth Charge, and informed the Maximals of a shuttle they could use to get back to Cybertron. He was killed in the explosion of the cockpit, and Megatron was captured by the Maximals and chained to the hull of the ship as they went back to Cybertron.
Beast Machines[]
Megatron broke free from his constraints on the shuttle during the flight and arrived on Cybertron well before the Maximals did. Megatron released a virus across the planet that quickly incapacitated the population. He then began extracting the victims' sparks and storing them in a citadel, planning to absorb them into his own spark. Meanwhile, he used factories to rebuild the bodies into mindless drones he called "Vehicons". He ended up with almost every spark on Cybertron in his possession. At some point Megatron's former follower Waspinator managed to make it back to Cybertron, and Megatron extracted his spark too.
When the Maximals arrived, Megatron sent the Vehicons to attack them with canisters of a gas that infected them with the virus. The Transmetal among them returned to their original beast modes but escaped. Rhinox and Silverbolt were paralyzed and quickly overtaken and their sparks soon joined Megatron's collection.
Season 1[]
In The Reformatting, Megatron observed the reformatted Maximals first battle against the Vehicons, vowing to destroy the organic impurity. In Master of the House Megatron confronted Optimus Primal, gloating that Cybertron now belonged to him. Megatron struggled with controlling the Vehicon drones while attacking three targets, and Primal goaded him into losing control, causing him to transform into his damaged dragon form. Megatron pointed out Primal's failure had led to Cybertron's downfall, before reconnecting to his harness and retaking control.
In Fires of the Past, though the Diagnostic Drone insisted that Megatron's organic side had been purged, another failed battle between the Vehicons caused him to revert to his dragon mode. In order to make his drones more flexible, he imbued three Vehicons with captured sparks so they could think independently. The original personalities were buried under shell programs, which allowed Megatron to use sparks of Maximals, ensuring the Maximals would be reluctant to destroy them. Silverbolt and Rhinox were made into Jetstorm and Tankor, while the third, Thrust, was created from Waspinator. During the generals' first engagement with Blackarachnia and Rattrap, Megatron became aware that Blackarachnia was trying to access the computer of the shuttle they'd arrived in, and he tried to access her memory while she did so. Rattrap was able to cut the link before Megatron could learn the Maximal base’s location.
In Mercenary Pursuits, after raging at the generals for their failure, Megatron sent them out, promising rewards for whoever captured the Maximals. Tankor returned with all four of the Maximals. Unfortunately, while Megatron was getting ready to reward Tankor with death, the Maximals escaped, and Primal was able to turn Tankor against Megatron. Once they'd escaped, Megatron was able to restore his control harness and remotely erase Tankor's memory of the last 20 days, returning him to his side.
In The Weak Component, the Diagnostic Drone continued to try to remove Megatron's organic side, suggesting they wait until after the Maximals were dealt with, but Megatron was determined to end his organic mode. During a battle between the drones and Maximals in a Vehicon factory, Megatron retook control of the drones, frustrated over his generals' failure, only for feedback from a computer to overload his systems. While weakened, he was approached by Rattrap, who offered to defend Megatron for the night in return for weaponry. Though the other Maximals turned up, Rattrap fought them off. Megatron encouraged him to use the weapons to terminate the Maximals, but Rattrap refused, pointing out that the sun was coming up and their agreement was at an end. In return, Megatron let him go free.
In Survivor, the attempts to remove Megatron's organic form continued to fail and he turned down the Diagnostic Drone's suggestion to build a new body for himself, as it would require leaving his spark unprotected. Instead he planned to capture Nightscream and work out how to reverse-engineer how he acquired an organic mode. During the mission, the Diagnostic Drone was reprogrammed by Tankor, whose Rhinox personality had resurfaced, and was now actively working against Megatron to create a technological utopia. When the next attempt to purge Megatron's dragon mode failed , the Diagnostic Drone suggested that the failure was caused by Megatron himself.
In The Key, after Tankor's apparent death, Megatron demanded the Diagnostic Drone find out what happened. The Maximals, meanwhile, attempted to attack a Vehicon factory, with the intent of stealing a Mole Drone, and Megatron moved the buildings around to crush them, and elevated the factory to tip them out. In The Catalyst, Megatron questioned Thrust and Jetstorm over Tankor's whereabouts prior to his demise. Tankor had the Drone to reveal the discovery of the Key to Vector Sigma, capable of transforming organic matter into technomatter, to Megatron. Megatron was encouraged by the idea it could purge Cybertron of organic life, but was suspicious of the Drone's intentions, and ordered the Key be loaded on to select drones only. Tankor's plan to force Megatron's hand by providing the Maximals with a catalyst to make their vines grow faster paid off, and Megatron ordered the key loaded onto all the Tank Drones.
In End of the Line, Megatron made sure the Tank Drones were under his sole control. Tankor then provided Primal with the whereabouts of the Plasma Energy Chamber, capable of purging all technology from Cybertron, to force Megatron to use the keys. Megatron did not believe that Primal would open the chamber, and, distrustful of the Diagnostic Drone, destroyed it. During the Maximal's push for victory, Megatron found himself confronted by Prima, and crowed over his opponent as the other Maximals were transformed into technomatter. Primal was able to provoke Megatron into his beast mode and attempted to reformat him. The attempt was interrupted by Tankor, who prepared to kill Megatron with a Key, but was promptly restrained. Megatron announced having a free agent was part of his plan and had handed him the key to victory. Optimus opened the Plasma Energy Chamber, and Megatron responded by triggering the key weapon, causing a maelstrom of clashing energies.
Season 2[]
In Fallout, when the Maximals entered the Council Citadel, they found Megatron’s body, which disintegrated. In Savage Noble, Megatron, whose spark had become trapped in a purely organic Transformer, took the identity of Noble. He preyed on Nightscream's survivor guilt and Optimus's compassion, attained the confidence of the Maximals. In Prometheus Unbound, with their help, he re-entered the Council Citadel, and attempted to access the control harness, only to discover it would not interface with his organic form. Using a spark extractor, he ripped his spark out and possessed the Grand Mal, a ship that resembled him.
In In Darkest Knight, determined to gain access to the Oracle, Megatron seized Primal and Cheetor, bringing them aboard to tear the information from them. He was able to communicate with them by a hologram, announcing that the procedure would be terminal. Before it could be completed, Silverbolt, who had been reformatted from Jetstorm, arrived and freed the two Maximals. In A Wolf in the Fold, Megatron deployed his own variation of the Hate Plague, infecting all Maximals but Primal. Optimus was scooped up by a tentacle and taken aboard the floating head for a debate about free will versus universal harmony. As it turned out, Optimus helped the Maximals overcome their anger, though Megatron was amused by Primal's afterthought that not all their issues came from the virus. In Home Soil, following Botanica's arrival, Megatron used the giant head's spaceship mode to destroy the plant life she'd brought with her.
Sparkwars[]
In The Strike, Megatron used the sparks of Obsidian and Strika to add to his army. Though they subsequently failed to destroy the Maximals, Megatron thanked them for keeping his enemy busy while he finalised his plans for the collection of sparks. In The Spark, he ordered them to find the Maximals and take Optimus alive. Primal had ventured down into the lost city of Iacon with Nightscream, giving Megatron the opportunity to strike. Tricking the Maximal leader with a hologram of Optimus Prime, Megatron was able to extract the codes to access the Oracle. However, Primal was able to use the link to determine the location of the lost sparks without Megatron knowing.
In The Siege, Megatron prepared for his "grand ascension", separating his spark from the giant head and started consuming his captured sparks. The Maximals got a team onto the ship but were seized and forced to watch as Megatron devoured the sparks, intending to unite every spark on the planet into himself as the perfect being. Rising out of the head, Megatron began to draw the Maximals' sparks from their bodies. He had to pause to destroy Noble, which had retained life after he had left it. Anguished at the loss of his friend, Nightscream used his sonic attack on Megatron's spark, apparently dispelling it.
In Spark of Darkness, Megatron's spark drifted through the streets of Cybertropolis, attempting to possess bodies but unable to stay in them for long, and only able to use them in the barest way. After attacking the Maximals at random, his spark was captured by Rattrap in a spark extractor and repolarized. This meant Megatron was able to possess a new body, however he realized that he was trapped in a Diagnostic Drone. This didn't hinder him from capturing the Maximals and attempting to reformat Primal's spark, and, though Botanica rescued them, Megatron escaped thanks to his three generals.
Endgame[]
In The Downward Spiral, while working on a new plan, Megatron had his generals attack the Maximals, holed up in the Grand Mal. He was able to use a device’, inadvertently provided by Rattrap, frequency to help the Vehicons bring down the ship. Though the Maximals eliminated the generals in When Legends Fall, Megatron had built a new body for himself. Seizing control of the Cycle drones, he ripped the Maximals' sparks from their bodies, leaving himself and Primal as the last two on the planet, and revealed his new body was a copy of Primal’s Optimal form.
In Seeds of the Future, the two mortal enemies fought a long battle, which raged across the city. Primal was seemingly beaten when he found the devastated technorganic orchard, and Megatron took him back to the surface. There, Megatron claimed his throne, and absorbed the rest of the sparks, becoming larger. Preparing to use the Key to Vector Sigma to reformat Cybertron's organic core, Megatron severed Primal's connection to the Oracle. However Primal received encouragement from his Maximal comrades, and reformatting Megatron's throne, pushing him into Cybertron’s core. As they fell, Primal triggered the planet’s reformatting, and Megatron screamed "No!" as he and Optimus were destroyed completely.
Personality[]
Megatron was generally calm, collected and almost affable. He spoke in a polite, civilized tone of voice and was possessed of a bitingly sardonic wit. He was fond of drama and showmanship and his obsession with grandiose gestures sometimes hampered his mission. However almost all of his charm and courtesy was an act and there was no-one, man woman or child he would not destroy in order to keep his plans in motion. Nevertheless, Megatron did not consider himself evil, seeing himself as a freedom fighter whose goals were for the good of his kind. But in truth, Megatron cared for nothing but power and for no-one but himself, willing even to sacrifice his own troops to achieve victory.
In Beast Machines, Megatron had become even darker, seeming subdued, bitter and obsessed with vengeance as well as making jokes less frequently. In place of that, a psychotic loathing against all things organic and free-will boiled into being cold and calculating, making him determined to wipe any trace of it on Cybertron and restore it to a fully mechanical state. Nevertheless, his arrogance and megalomania were as prevalent as ever and he reverted to his former dramatic showman-style after absorbing the powers of Cybertron and becoming a living god.