Galvatron

Galvatron is the name of several fictional Transformers, most often the recreated version of Megatron, the Decepticon leader. He was voiced by Leonard Nimoy in the 1986 Transformers movie, and then by Frank Welker in season 3 and 4 of the animated television series. Since then, other Transformers characters have shared the name Galvatron. Most unique among the characters named Galvatron was the main villain of the anime series Beast Wars Second, who was not a former Megatron, but instead a unrelated Predacon who named himself after the original Galvatron.

Transformers: Generation 1

Megatron was originally able to transform into a Walther P38, delivering more focused energy blasts. He can shrink and reduce his mass as he transforms, assuming sizes that comfortably allow either another Transformer or even a human being to wield him. In one instance (the episode S.O.S. Dinobots ), he retained his full size and connected to jet-mode Starscream's underside.

His imposing robot form is dominated by his primary weapon - his arm-mounted fusion cannon, capable of leveling a city block in one blast. He can also sub-dimensionally link the weapon to a black hole, generating even more powerful antimatter blasts. However, this ability is almost never used, as it leaves him extremely weak and vulnerable.

He has a secondary weapon barrel mounted on his back, and can retract and replace his right hand with an energy flail. He can fire electrical blasts from his hands, laser blasts from his eyes on at least one occasion (The Autobot Run) and can reprogram computers with a port in his head. He has proven to be impervious to mind control in some instances. He also wields an energon morning star on rare occasions.(More Than Meets The Eye, Part 2)

According to his original tech spec, Megatron has no known weaknesses. This does not, however, spare him from defeat at the hands of his enemies.

When he was reformatted by Unicron as Galvatron, he was given vast strength, but with questionable sanity. Galvatron's primary weapon is his particle accelerator cannon, mounted on his right arm, which can fire blasts of assorted types, including electrochemical energy and particle beams. He transforms into a futuristic laser-cannon emplacement (similar to a Howitzer) and can, on rare occasions, assume the form of a laser pistol, shrinking as he does so to allow other beings to wield him (an ability never used in the animated series, although it was occasionally used in the UK comic series).

Galvatron's toy tech spec identified him as a city commander, much like the Autobot toy Ultra Magnus. The bio fails to indicate whether or not he is a recreated Megatron, instead mentioning that he is both "determined to lead the Decepticons" and that he "plots against his allies".

Marvel Comics

Megatron

Bob Budiansky, the writer for the Marvel Comics series, stated that originally Hasbro took issue with the name, saying it sounded too frightening. Budiansky responded that as the lead villain, that was the point. Hasbro saw his reasoning, and approved the name.

Megatron's beginnings are much simpler in the world of Marvel Comics — here, rising from his beginnings as a gladiator for the city-state of Tarn, Megatron and the Decepticons were the ones who developed transformation first, using it to begin the war against the Autobots, who fought back by mimicking the technology. Eventually, Cybertron was shaken from its orbit and fell into the path of an asteroid cluster. This would result in the Ark venturing out and then crashing into prehistoric Earth. Four million years later, in 1984, the Transformers were reawakened, and Megatron was defeated twice by Prime.

Although Megatron became absent from U.S. comics at this point, he continued to appear in the U.K. comics, which would eventually tie in to the U.S. storyline. Prior to Megatron's apparent death, there had been a story in Marvel UK #99 which after being attacked by the Predacons had seen both him and Prime transported to Cybertron. The disembodied local Decepticon leader, Lord Straxus, attempted to possess Megatron's body as his own had been mostly destroyed in a battle with Blaster. The attempt failed as Prime and Ultra Magnus defeated Megatron as the two minds warred for dominance. With the now insane Megatron threatening to destroy Polyhex with his antimatter powers, Ratbat teleported him back to Earth with amnesia in time for his U.S. "death" in issue #25.

However, unbeknown to all, Straxus made another attempt with a specially crafted clone of Megatron created from a regular trooper, which was transported to Earth soon after the real Megatron vanished. The clone believed itself to be the real thing and was salvaged by Shockwave, who brainwashed the clone and unleashed it on Galvatron, a recreated future version of Megatron who had traveled back in time. However, the clone and Galvatron teamed up to battle Autobots and Decepticons from both present and future in the apocalyptic "Time Wars". Subsequently, the clone returned to Cybertron, where it was confronted with the real Megatron — the Space bridge explosion had deposited him in the Dead End region of Cybertron. The clone subsequently destroyed itself to prevent Straxus, buried inside its mind, from taking over.

At this point, Megatron appeared once again in the U.S. comic. He captured Ratchet and forced him to recreate Starscream as a Pretender, reprogrammed to serve Megatron without question. Ratchet did so, but also restored Grimlock, Jazz and Bumblebee as Pretenders in the same manner, as well as arranging for Starscream's old personality to resurface, thwarting Megatron's scheme. When Megatron then attempted to flee through a trans-time dimensional portal, Ratchet tackled him as his base then exploded around them. Although both were at first presumed dead, an effort by Nightbeat to locate Ratchet found the two alive but fused together. They were separated, sedated, and placed in storage. Soon after, The Ark was stolen by Shockwave and Starscream (as well as a stowaway Galvatron from a parallel universe). Grimlock, unaware of Megatron's presence in storage, reactivated the Ark's store of Transformers, including Megatron. The latter promptly reunited with Galvatron. During their battle on board with Shockwave, the Ark crashed on Earth and supposedly killed all on board.

In the Generation 2 comic book series, Megatron returned in the comics with an M1 Abrams tank mode despite his seeming demise.

In the course of its run, the UK comics produced several stories which do not fit into the continuity of the G1/G2 storyline, instead branching off in their own direction. For example, after the first disappearance of Ratchet and Megatron, a disparate continuity of storylines based around the "Earthforce" — a team of Autobots based on Earth — began, which saw Megatron and Shockwave establishing a joint leadership of the Decepticons only to have command usurped by Starscream and Soundwave.

Also, after the end of the Generation 1 comics, the final UK annual printed a text story entitled "Another Time and Place", which followed up on the events of the Ark crash and saw Bludgeon and his followers locate Megatron's body and revive it with Nucleon (reflecting the release of Megatron as an Action Master figure in 1990). The process only barely succeeded — Megatron was deranged and animalistic, and was ultimately defeated by Optimus Prime and Grimlock. This conflicts with the Generation 2 comic but does not conflict with the rewritten UK Generation 2 comic by Fleetway, in which Megatron simply attributes his new body to human scientists, with no further explanation to contradict the events of "Another Time and Place". This tale, somewhat concurrent with the Earthforce tales, has Optimus Prime arriving on Earth in response to a distress call from Grimlock. Bludgeon has attacked Earth in order to draw Prime into the open. The Decepticons, low on energon, are defeated. Megatron then arrives and battles Prime. He is attacked by both Autobots and Decepticons, holding them off until Starscream arrives to bail him out. After this point it switches to reprints of the U.S. material. The most notable difference between the two is that Bludgeon is not killed by Megatron, and Bludgeon and Prime actually meet (although Bludgeon would later be killed by Megatron in the U.S. reprints).

Galvatron

Galvatron's convoluted Marvel Comics career began in the United Kingdom, where a weekly Transformers comic was published, reprinting its American counterpart title. However, given the greater regularity of the UK comic, it soon began to run out of material to reprint, and took to producing its own stories that fit in between the gaps of the US tales. With the release of The Transformers: The Movie, writer Simon Furman had a whole new playground to enjoy as he cannibalised the most popular elements of the movie, freely using its unique cast and writing a series of time travel arcs that crossed the movie future over with the present day comics stories. As outlined below, a significant proportion of original UK stories revolved around Galvatron, from the future, and Ultra Magnus, from the present.

The first of these was Target: 2006, in which Galvatron, Cyclonus and Scourge travel back in time from a point during the events of the movie adaptation itself. Desiring to be free of Unicron's controlling influence, Galvatron incapacitated the present-day Megatron and had the Constructicons assemble a colossal weapon, which would destroy Unicron once was fired in the future. This plan was thwarted by the present-day Ultra Magnus and three future Autobots Hot Rod, Kup and Blurr who convinced Galvatron that he had actually travelled back in time to a parallel universe, forcing him to return to the future.

Galvatron returned to the original future, living out the rest of the events of Transformers: The Movie. However, things quickly diverged from the animated series' telling of events when, after being hurled out of Unicron by Rodimus Prime, Galvatron triggered his time-jump mechanism once more, hurling himself back to 1987, where he materialised above Earth's atmosphere, and hurtled toward the planet at terminal velocity. His explosive landing drew the attention of the piloted mechanoid, Centurion, who Galvatron - his mind addled from the crash to the brink of madness - promptly destroyed, believing him to be Rodimus Prime. After a moment to collect his thoughts, Galvatron fought the madness down, until he wound up in a battle with a group of Autobots led by Blaster, and the Dinobots. During the fight, a sonic attack from Blaster unhinged his fragile mind, opening a doorway to insanity that would steadily widen over time. Despite this, Galvatron overpowered the Autobots and Dinobots and would have triumphed had it not been for Shockwave and his Decepticons, who viewed Galvatron as a threat to Shockwave's leadership.

Galvatron's absence in the original future led Rodimus Prime to place a bounty on his head. This was picked up by Death's Head, who pursued Galvatron back through time. Fearful of what he had unleashed on the past, Rodimus travelled back with Kup and Blurr to stop Death's Head, only to wind up in a four-way confrontation between themselves, Death's Head, Galvatron and the present-day Ultra Magnus, as Galvatron attempted to siphon the power of Earth's core through a volcano to increase his power even further. Rodimus's team and Death's Head were returned to the future in the course of the battle, while Ultra Magnus and Galvatron were lost beneath tons of lava when the volcano erupted.

Eventually, Galvatron was able to free himself, and continued with his plans for the future by disrupting Shockwave's leadership of the Decepticons. He was also later confronted by Cyclonus and Scourge, who had been shunted back in time, circumventing the normal mass-displacement procedures, and wanted his time-jump mechanism so they could return to the future and their position as Decepticon leaders.

Shockwave later recovered what he believed was the missing Megatron (but which was actually a clone), brainwashed him, then unleashed him on Scourge and Cyclonus after the latter revealed that they would be responsible for Shockwave's death in the future. This led to Cyclonus's death, causing further disruption to the timeline. "Megatron" was then loosed on Galvatron, but rather than destroy him, he saw a possible partner in him, and the duo teamed up to battle the combined forces of Autobots and Decepticons from the present and the future as a rift in the fabric of spacetime threatened to destroy reality. With his own actions in the present altering the events that Galvatron remembered from his past, his remaining sanity crumbled. As the rift arrived, Galvatron stood before it and defied it... only for his body to be swept up, and utterly destroyed.

The U.K. Time Wars story arc is notable in that it contradicts the continuity of the U.S. comic which would unfold later. In events as they were told later in the U.K. comic, to explain Megatron's presence on Earth (U.K.) at the same time as being in a semiconscious state on Cybertron (U.S.), the "Two Megatrons" story was created. This meant the Galvatron in Time Wars fought alongside Megatron's clone. Galvatron had remembered these events as he had witnessed them through the eyes of the clone, implying that he was not created from the "real" Megatron after all.

Galvatron's time-travelling and the spacetime rift which results causes alterations to the timelines. The original future is replaced by a new timeline in which Galvatron never time jumped and would go on instead to defeat the Autobots and conquer Earth. This Galvatron is commonally referred to as Galvatron II. The events in "Time Wars" had altered the timeline sufficiently that the Transformers: The Movie events would no longer transpire in the comic book universe.

Animated series

Megatron is a Decepticon, one of the lineal descendants of the military hardware robots created by the Quintessons on their factory world of Cybertron. Following a war between the Decepticons and the other robot race, the Autobots, the Decepticons were defeated by the Autobots' invention of transformation. The Autobot victory began the Golden Age of Cybertron, but the Decepticons too eventually developed transformation, leading to the creation of Megatron. Gathering a small number of troops together, Megatron killed the Autobot leader. However, the ancient Autobot, Alpha Trion reconstructed young robot Orion Pax into Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots as the war erupted again ("War Dawn"). The war drained Cybertron of most of its energy, necessitating that both factions seek out new worlds and new sources of power. Megatron and his forces attacked and boarded the Autobots' craft (named the Ark in Beast Wars, paralleling Marvel Comics' Ark.), causing it to crash on prehistoric Earth, entombing all on the ship in emergency stasis as it crashed into a dormant volcano. Upon awakening, Megatron and his Decepticons discovered that Earth was a world teeming with organic life and vast energy resources, more than enough to re-power Cybertron and allow the Decepticons to conquer it and other worlds. Over the following years, Megatron's schemes to obtain Earth's energies continued. Megatron even made a number of temporary alliances with the Autobots, although most of these alliances ended in double crosses.

Megatron as he appeared in The Transformers.

Megatron conquered Cybertron by the Earth year 2005 in Transformers: The Movie. After hearing of an Autobot supply run, Megatron proceeded with an attack on Autobot City on Earth. Optimus Prime arrived there and confronted Megatron. Megatron mortally wounded Prime — but not before Prime delivered his own final blow to Megatron, severely damaging him and forcing the Decepticons to flee. On the Decepticons' return journey to Cybertron, a mortally wounded, but still functional Megatron was jettisoned into space along with several other fallen Decepticons in order to reduce Astrotrain's mass to reach Cybertron. The end seemed to be near for Megatron—but it was not to be, as he was summoned by Unicron, who made him an offer - in return for Megatron's service, he would give him a new body and new troops to command. Megatron initially refused, enraged at the thought of being Unicron's servant. However, faced with obliteration as his only alternative, Megatron reluctantly accepted Unicron's offer, and was reformatted as Galvatron. Commanded by Unicron to destroy the Matrix of Leadership, Galvatron first returned to Cybertron to settle a score with Starscream, who had set him adrift in space and was now being crowned as the new Decepticon leader in a pompous ceremony. Demonstrating his new power, Galvatron obliterated Starscream with a single blast from his new cannon mode. The other Decepticons quickly accepted Galvatron as their leader. Unicron's subsequent consumption of Cybertron's moons enraged Galvatron, but when Unicron mentally tortured him to put him in his place, Galvatron submitted. Leading another attack on Autobot City, he pursued Ultra Magnus and the Autobots to the Planet of Junk, where he seized the Matrix from Ultra Magnus, and attempted to use its power against Unicron. Unable to open the Matrix, Galvatron was powerless as Unicron transformed and attacked Cybertron with his bare hands. Unicron swallowed Galvatron in contempt, while swatting away Cybertron's Decepticon defenders like flies. Shortly thereafter, a group of Autobots entered Unicron's body, where the youthful Hot Rod encountered the humiliated Decepticon leader. Although Galvatron initially proposed an alliance with the Autobot against Unicron, he was once again tortured mentally by Unicron, who tells him to destroy Hot Rod otherwise Galvatron himself will be obliterated. Galvatron weakly agrees, still accepting Unicron as his master, and then engaged Hot Rod in battle. Galvatron quickly attained the upper hand over the smaller Autobot. However, when Hot Rod seized the Matrix from Galvatron, he was reformatted into the much larger and more powerful Rodimus Prime. Rodimus easily defeated Galvatron and hurled him through Unicron's armor and into the void of space, before unleashing the power of the Matrix and destroying Unicron.

Now leaderless and forced off Cybertron by the Autobots, the Decepticons retreated to the ruined world of Chaar, where they bickered and fought amongst each other over their limited energon resources. Galvatron's Unicron-created lieutenants, Cyclonus and Scourge set out to find their leader's body using the information stored in Unicron's memory banks and traced him to the planet Thrull. They found Galvatron immersed in a pool of lava-like plasma, and rescued him only to discover that the plasma had seeped into Galvatron's head casing and the heat had permanently damaged his "metaprocessor", causing him to go irreversibly insane.

After attacking his own minions, he then returned with them to Chaar, only to discover that the Decepticons had sided with the Quintessons in an attack on the Autobots in exchange for Energon. Heading for the planet, Galvatron opened fire on his own forces, and then confronted the Quintessons themselves, who tricked him into an alliance with the promise of leading him to the fictitious "Decepticon Matrix of Leadership". A joint Decepticon/Quintesson attack on both Cybertron and Earth almost allowed the Quintessons to claim ultimate victory when they activated a switch that nullified all Transformers, but when Spike Witwicky reversed the effect, Galvatron turned on the Quintessons, who only just managed to escape his wrath.

Galvatron subsequently installed himself as Decepticon Leader proper, waging a campaign against the Autobots on Earth and Cybertron throughout 2006. Further team-ups with the Quintessons ensued, which almost always resulted in the Decepticons being double-crossed. Galvatron's madness ensured that his own troops suffered harshly under his rule, subjected to beatings, blastings, and exiles for even the smallest of infractions. Galvatron did occasionally have moments of lucidity, and in them formed some functional plans, including the construction of a death crystal cannon on the planet Dredd, the bluff threat of an "ultimate weapon" and the takeover of the pacifist planet of Paradron, but the insanity would always return to consume his mind. With Galvatron's madness at a particularly high point, coupled with concerns expressed by several Decepticons, Cyclonus was forced to take his leader, against his will, to the asylum world of Torkulon. Galvatron was held and underwent various therapies, each successively less effective than the last. With no remaining options, the therapists chose to remove the damaged portion of Galvatron's brain. To accomplish this, Galvatron's mind was patched into the neural web of the living world, but so strong was his resolve that his madness actually infected the world itself, allowing Galvatron the chance to escape.

When the Hate Plague began to sweep the universe, Galvatron was able to avoid infection initially, teaming up with the resurrected Optimus Prime in order to recover a protective alloy that would shield the user from the plague's effects. Somewhat ironically, when Galvatron first saw the effects of the Plague at the Morgans' lab, he uttered that the infected Autobots and some of his fellow Decepticons had "all gone mad," and that said lab with the infected Transformers was no place for him. However, he became infected in the process of recovering the alloy, but was eventually cured along with all the other victims of the plague when Optimus Prime unleashed the power of the Matrix. It also seemed that Galvatron may have actually been cured of his own inherent insanity, as he refused to continue the conflict there and then, and shook Prime's hand, saying that he had earned his respect.

A year later, however, in 2007, the short truce ended as Galvatron formulated a new plan. Although appearing quite coherent throughout the scheme, it was truly his most insane yet - rejecting notions of conquest, Galvatron now sought the utter destruction of both Cybertron and Earth. To this end, he dispatched his troops to Cybertron, in order to recover the key to the Plasma Energy Chamber. Failing to do so, a plasma energy explosion sent the Autobots—possessing the key—and his Decepticons to the planet Nebulos. While the Cyclonus-led Decepticons sought to reclaim the key and return to Cybertron, he led the main attack force on Cybertron. Victorious on Cybertron, Galvatron had a colossal rocket engine constructed on the planet's surface, which propelled Cybertron into Earth's orbit (for the second time during the Transformers television series). His troops soon returned from Nebulos with the key, but in their absence, they had become binary-bonded to the planet's organic inhabitants as Headmasters and Targetmasters - a union which Galvatron thoroughly objected to, threatening to destroy the Nebulons immediately. Nebulon leader Lord Zarak, however, was able to stay Galvatron's hand, as he now possessed the Plasma Energy Chamber key. Galvatron then used the key to open the chamber, releasing the energy with the intent of driving the Earth's sun supernova, destroying both planets. Galvatron and the other Decepticons then attempted to flee inside Scorponok, but a tendril of plasma energy struck the giant craft, sending the Decepticons hurtling off into deep space. Spike Witwicky and the Autobot-allied Nebulons were subsequently able to foil Galvatron's scheme and use the excess solar energy to re-energise Cybertron, restoring its Golden Age, but Galvatron was not finished yet, and began his plans for the future, proclaiming that the Decepticons would build a more powerful planet and use it to rule the galaxy. However, as this was the end of the American cartoon series, Galvatron's future plans never came to light.

While the American series ended with the three-part miniseries, The Rebirth, featuring Galvatron's scheme with the Plasma Energy Chamber, it was decided in Japan to continue the series in a different direction. Disregarding the events of The Rebirth, they began to produce a collection of animated series exclusive to Japan, the first of which was Transformers: The Headmasters, taking place a year after the Hate Plague incident from The Return of Optimus Prime. Of all the previously seen Transformers to appear in Headmasters, Galvatron received the most attention, effectively remaining as the Decepticons' leader for 26 out the series 35 episodes.

After the Hate Plague incident, the Decepticons kept a low profile. At some point over the next year, Galvatron came into contact with Zarak from the planet Master (a world colonised by diminutive robots who had previously fled Cybertron during the wars). They entered into an alliance, which came to fruition when, as a result of the release of the Matrix's energy, Vector Sigma began to destabilise, allowing the Decepticons to return to Cybertron undetected. Backed up by Zarak's Headmaster warriors, Galvatron had the upper hand in the ensuing battle, until Fortress, another of Master's robots, and his own team of Autobot Headmasters arrived to fend them off. However, Galvatron went on to confront Optimus Prime in Vector Sigma's chamber, only to be defeated when Hot Rod recovered the Matrix from where it was recharging on Earth and became Rodimus Prime, battling alongside Optimus. Optimus Prime then sacrificed himself to stabilise Vector Sigma by merging with it.

Not long after this, Galvatron discovered that the Autobots had produced a new metal compound called Cybertonuron, and, seeking to claim the metal for his own, led another attack on Cybertron. However, Zarak feared that with the metal, Galvatron would be too powerful, and arranged for bombs to be planted in Vector Sigma's chamber, before proceeding to lure Galvatron there just as they detonated. Galvatron was caught in the blast and was perceived dead for a short period of time, before it was revealed that he had survived, and returned just as Zarak was crowning himself as Decepticon leader. Galvatron, rationally, pretended to trust the surprise of Zarak as he and his Headmasters would prove useful in the ensuing quest for Energon, and the Decepticons subsequently set out across the galaxy, attacking planets to harvest their energy. Using the amassed energy, Galvatron planned to actually incorporate the planet Earth into his own body, becoming a colossal being of incredible power. Learning of this plan, the Autobot Headmasters engaged him in battle in Alaska, and were successfully able to bury him under an iceberg, which then exploded, apparently killing Galvatron.

Galvatron did not make any appearances in the 1990s Beast Wars animated series, but was briefly mentioned in the episode Possession or the video Warning From Space, in which the ghost of Starscream spun a lie that he had been killed by Unicron while defending him, only to have Blackarachnia reveal the truth.

The Generation One Megatron made a cameo in the pilot of the Transformers: Animated series on a historical video being viewed by Optimus Prime. This historical video was stock footage from the original animated series. However, he is distinct from the Megatron of Transformers: Animated, despite the Animated version of the character being heavily based on the original.

Blackthorne Publishing

While Megatron didn't appear in Blackthorne comics' short-lived Transformers title, Galvatron did, however, in the color cover art, Galvatron was presented in toy accurate grey colors, not his animation purple. Galvatron was the leader of the Decepticons in a universe that bore many similarities to season three of the original series, and featured many of the same characters. He would be at the forefront of many schemes, including trying to capture a group of creatures who produced energon naturally (unaware they were working for the Quintessons), attacking a space station, building the "Nullification Cannon" and battling the robotic criminals, the Destructons. Galvatron was also shown as having to contend with several takeover attempts by Scorponok and even his own "pet" Ratbat. The series stopped after just three issues, so any further tales of this Galvatron will go untold.

Books

Megatron appeared in the following books:

• The Revenge of the Decepticons written by Suzanne Weyn and published by Marvel Books in 1984.
• The 1985 audio story Sun Raid and Satellite of Doom.
• The Ladybird Transformers audio books Autobots' Lightning Strike, Laserbeak's Fury, Megatron's Fight for Power and Autobots Fight Back.
• The 1985 Find Your Fate Junior book called Dinobots Strike Back by Casey Todd.
• The 1985 Find Your Fate Junior book called Battle Drive by Barbara Siegel and Scott Siegel.

After Megatron was reformatted as Galvatron, he appeared in several books as well. He first appeared in the 1986 story and coloring book The Lost Treasure of Cybertron by Marvel Books. Galvatron also appeared in the 1986 Ladybird story books Galvatron's Air Attack, and Decepticon Hideout by John Grant.

Japanese manga

In the Japanese exclusive manga stories accompanying Transformers: The Headmasters Megatron would make a number of appearances. On one occasion Galvatron used a massive army of Megatron clones to overwhelm the Autobots, only being defeated when Rodimus Prime destroyed Galvatron's control over them. Rodimus and Galvatron would also even team up to battle Guiltar, a hybrid of both Optimus Prime and Megatron.

With his transformation into Galvatron, Megatron departed from the Japanese G1 continuity (which took a different direction after the end of series 3, opting to replace the events of The Rebirth with those of Headmasters), until five years later, in the manga-exclusive storyline, Battlestars: The Return of Convoy, which, although not animated itself (told instead through one chapter of manga and color magazine spreads), continues the tale of the cartoon Universe.

In the previous Japanese-exclusive animated series, Transformers: The Headmasters, Galvatron had been apparently destroyed when he was buried on an iceberg. In the "Return of Convoy" storyline, a new evil force named Dark Nova recovers Galvatron's body, and restores him to life as Super Megatron (who transformed into a futuristic jet), pitting him against Star Convoy (the reborn Optimus Prime) and his Autobots.

Super Megatron subsequently gets an upgrade to Ultra Megatron, and for the final battle, merges with Dark Nova himself, becoming Star Giant. In the Japanese Generation 2 manga, he was shown to have survived and, in a body resembling his "Hero" toy, once again opposed Optimus Prime.

Beast Wars

The Predacon leader known as Megatron from the Beast Wars and Beast Machines animated series is a separate character from the original Generation 1 Megatron. However, this was not the original intent for the character, as the original pack-in mini-comic and biographies released with the earliest Beast Wars toys indicate that the character was supposed to be the original Megatron, in a new body. With the advent of the animated series, however, the fiction of Beast Wars was re-imagined and eventually applied to the toy line, establishing this Megatron as an independent character. But that is not to say that the original Megatron did not play a role in his namesake's rise to power.

File:Megatron-stasislock.jpg

Generation 1 Megatron in Beast Wars

At some point during the Great Autobot-Decepticon War, the original Megatron acquired the Voyager probe's Golden Disk and inscribed a hidden message onto it. His intention was for future generations of Decepticons to uncover it and, following its instructions, complete the task he set himself: to use transwarp technology to travel back in time and kill Optimus Prime while he lay in stasis aboard the Ark, thereby prematurely ending the Great War with the Decepticons the victors.

Three centuries after the "Great War" ended, the Predacon that would become Megatron uncovered this message. He quickly stole a Predacon transwarp cruiser, the Darksyde, and, with the aid of a small, like-minded army, travelled to prehistoric Earth. In honor of the plan's originator, he took the moniker "Megatron".

Pursued by a crew of Maximals, both ships crashed on the planet, with only Megatron truly aware of when and where they were. However, Megatron, found himself unwilling to carry out the instructions of his ancestor, instead attempting to amass power through the huge reserves of energon and portions of mysterious alien technology that littered the planet. Systematic defeat by the Maximals eventually left all his options exhausted, and he proceeded to strike at Optimus Prime, only to be once again thwarted by his enemies.

This would not be the last time Generation 1 Megatron's influence would be felt. Observing how Primal boosted his own strength and form by holding the spark of Optimus Prime within his body, Beast Wars Megatron made the same move, purloining the spark of his ancestor and taking it into his own body, transforming as a result into a monstrous dragon.

When he was finally defeated by the Maximals, the original Megatron's spark was returned to his body (in a deleted scene from the television series, that is available on the season 3 DVD 2 in the "Scene Selection" menu), and history carried on as before.

Although the producers attempted to get Frank Welker to reprise his role as Megatron for his recording on the Golden Disk, he was unavailable. As a result, during his cameo appearance in Beast Wars, Generation 1 Megatron was voiced by series regular Gary Chalk, who also provided the voice of the heroic Maximal leader Optimus Primal.

Convention comics

Megatron would also appear in several BotCon comic sagas, written principally by Simon Furman. His story Reaching the Omega Point indicates that the Autobot-Decepticon alliance established in the conclusion of the Generation 2 comics didn't last and that Megatron eventually became Galvatron. In a prelude story The last days of Optimus Prime, Prime, feeling that there is no longer a place for him within the new Cybertron, journeys to J'nwan — a quasi-mystical realm — and is greeted peacefully by Megatron. In the Beast Wars future in which the story takes place, the greatest Autobots and Decepticons have passed on to J'nwan, where they can finally live in peace.

Megatron also featured prominently in Alignment, Simon Furman's take on what happened after the Generation 2 comic. In this story Megatron was defeated for command of the Decepticons by Galvatron II (the U.S. comics version) and left for dead. Soundwave had revived his master. Megatron took a fleet of scavenged Warworlds to face the Liege Maximo. He was destroyed by Maximo's arm cannon; he unleashed an energon-fueled blast which destroyed the Maximo. This sets up the Pax Cybertronia and the evolution of the Autobots and Decepticons into Maximals and Predacons. Whether this story is reconcilable with "Reaching the Omega Point", or whether it is even part of the Transformers canon is debatable.

Voice actor plays

Megatron appeared in the 2006 TransformersCon voice actor play. Voices in the play were performed by a variety of volunteers and the actual voice actors attending the convention. The play itself should be considered unofficial, but was notable because it featured several original voice actors reprising their Transformers roles. In this voice actor play various Transformers from different timelines and realities were swept up in a repeat wave and transported along with Unicron to Earth. The Transformers included Generation 1 Tracks, Ariel, Cosmos and Megatron, Beast Wars Tarantulas, Robots in Disguise Sky-Byte and Beast Machines Tankor.

Dreamwave Productions

In the 21st Century reimagining of the Generation One Universe by Dreamwave Productions, Megatron was envisioned as an ancient gladiatorial combatant in the depths of Cybertron's underworld. As victory upon victory mounted, he began to realize that the games were nothing more than an elaborate attempt by the Cybertronian elders to hide the truth of Cybertron's history from the masses. When Megatron attempted to gain access to that knowledge through exploration and research, the Cybertronian elders attempted to have him assassinated — a plan that only resulted in stirring up even more discontent among Cybertronians which allowed Megatron to begin recruiting for the Decepticon movement. It is known that at one point Megatron attempted to recruit Grimlock as one of his inner circle, but the fellow gladiator refused the position, eventually joining the Autobots.

Approximately 7.4 million years ago, Megatron and Optimus Prime disappeared in an early test of the new unstable Spacebridge matter-transport system. Spending an undisclosed time on the planet Quintessa, Megatron returned with an overwhelming army of lifeless Seeker clones, quickly subjugating Cybertron. However, this story was never finished due to the closure of Dreamwave.

Four million years ago, when Autobots aboard the Ark saved Cybertron from an asteroid, Decepticons invaded. The craft flew through one of the Spacebridge portals, and was transported to prehistoric Earth, where it crashed, entombing the occupants in stasis for four million years. The Autobots and Decepticons were reactivated in 1984. In 1999, an Autobot/human military alliance succeeded in capturing and deactivating the Decepticons. However, the Ark II, the spaceship carrying them back to Cybertron, exploded, and the Transformers then lay in stasis-lock on Earth for three years. Adam Rook, a rogue military scientist, salvaged many of them and reprogrammed them as mass killing machines, which he then attempted to sell on the black market. Megatron was first to break free of Rook's control. He captured Rook and unleashed a technorganic virus designed to transform all of Earth into a new Cybertron. Megatron unleashed Devastator on San Francisco in a mass slaughter but was defeated by Autobots.

While it was alluded that Megatron had a grand goal in mind that also included the subjugation of the Quintessons, the remainder of the story has yet to be told due to the closure of Dreamwave. However, it has been stated by representatives of IDW Publishing, the current holders of the Transformer comic license, that once Dreamwave has exited bankruptcy court, they intend to finish the story.

The Dreamwave version of Megatron would also appear in a trilogy of iBooks by David Cian set in the main Dreamwave G1 universe: Hardwired, Annihilation and Fusion. In the series, Megatron and Prime were abducted by the alien Keepers and forced to fight in gladiatorial battles. They began working together to return to Earth, where Megatron would predictably attempt to seize their power for himself by uniting with the Autobots to stop the Keepers in return for a favor — which turned out to be asking Optimus to make him the next Prime. While this trilogy is set in the same universe as the Dreamwave stories, whether they fit into the continuity is unclear.

Megatron would also appear in Dreamwave's Transformers/G.I. Joe limited series. Unlike many of the other Transformers (who were given World War II vehicle alternate modes) Megatron would keep his basic Walther P-38 handgun transformation, which was indeed a WWII German handgun. Forming an alliance with Cobra Commander due to their similar natures, Megatron nonetheless had a bitter personal rivalry with the tyrannical Cobra leader, resulting in Megatron killing several of his troops and Cobra Commander having to use the Matrix to keep him in line. Later, Megatron refused to help the Commander as Bruticus tried to crush him, and allowed the Baroness to use him in gun mode to shoot the helpless Cobra Leader. After battling Optimus Prime, he was deactivated when Snake Eyes opened the Matrix, deactivating all the Transformers.

Devil's Due Publishing

In the G.I. Joe vs. The Transformers comics printed by Devil's Due Publishing, Megatron was again among the Decepticons who crashed on in the Ark on Earth, but this time the Ark was discovered by the terrorist group Cobra, who reformatted the Autobots and Decepticons into weapons and vehicles for themselves called Battle Android Troopers controlled by the Televipers.

Megatron was locked in gun mode, and kept by Cobra Commander. When Optimus Prime broke free of the controls, Megatron convinced his keeper to free him to fight Optimus. Wounded by the Autobots and a malfunctioning orbiting weapons system, Megatron was eventually defeated and believed destroyed. In reality much of his body remained and the U.S. government studied his workings to advance their own projects in military super computers.

In the third volume of the series, it was revealed that the U.S. Government had created the android Serpentor (or, as he is called here, Serpent O.R., standing for Organic Robot) using DNA from great historical war leaders and parts from Megatron. Serpentor succeeded where Megatron had failed, and captured Optimus Prime. But Serpentor's exposure to the Matrix, possession by Cobra Commander and subsequent destruction left Megatron's legacy unfulfilled.

Fun Publications

The Transformers Classics comics published in the Official Transformers Collectors Club magazine is set in the Marvel Comics continuity, but in a timeline where the events of Generation 2 did not occur. The story occurs fifteen years after Megatron was presumed dead in the crash of the Ark. Megatron survived, and eventually upgraded his body (based on his Classics toy) and gathered many other Decepticons to him. Soundwave helped him in recovering the body of Astrotrain, who was then used to help locate the placement of other fallen Decepticons around the globe. Those who joined Megatron included Laserbeak, Ramjet, Ravage, Skywarp, Soundwave, Starscream and the Constructicons. Megatron also reactivated Thrust, Dirge and Thundercracker, but the three left him to join up with Bludgeon's troops - mostly because they couldn't work with Starscream, who had killed them once. Megatron's based his command from the wreck of the Ark in the Yukon, where he keeps the fallen body of Ratchet as a trophy and the severed, but living, head of Shockwave as an advisor.

In Crossing Over, when Skyfall and Landquake were presumed killed in the midst of a bloody Mini-Con civil war and attack by Unicron (set concurrently with the events of Transformers: Cybertron), they were, in actuality, transported across universes, from the world of the Unicron Trilogy into the Marvel Comics timeline. Unclear what had happened, they then found themselves staring down the barrel of Megatron's cannon. The two were saved when a group of Robot Hunters in battle suits attacked Megatron. Megatron slaughtered them, only to be confronted by a team of Autobots led by Optimus Prime. Skyfall went with the Autobots, while Landquake was taken by Megatron. Back at the Ark Landquake was interrogated and swore loyalty to Megatron. Scrapper detected an unusual energon reading similar to that of Landquake and the Decepticons went to investigate, only to be confronted by the Autobots again.

In Games of Decepticon Megatron detects the arrival of Bugbite's ship on Earth and sends Starscream, Skywarp and Ramjet to investigate. The Decepticons capture the Autobot spy Mirage. Returning to the Ark the Decepticons fall under the sway of Bugbite, who is using cerebro shells he stole from the Insecticon Bombshell. Megatron overcomes the shell and destroys Bugbite, as the Autobots under the command of Grimlock raid the Ark, destroying the computer and saving Mirage.

Megatron appears in At Fight's End talking to Ratchet.

IDW Publishing

After Dreamwave's closure, the rights to the Transformers comics were taken over by IDW Publishing. IDW would take the opportunity to reboot the Transformers universe, including a revised origin for Megatron detailing how he came to power. Here, Megatron was originally a lowly energon miner. He also formed an uneasy truce with Starscream.

In the IDW continuity, Megatron retains his role as supreme commander of the Decepticon army, although in this continuity, they are no longer based on Cybertron (which was rendered uninhabitable by Thunderwing) and are fighting to conquer multiple worlds simultaneously. In fact, he barely seems to care about Cybertron and was willing to order its total destruction to stop the reanimated Thunderwing. Having now ingested Ore-13, Megatron is able to easily manage mass-displacement and thus turn into an Earth handgun (in Escalation #2), and the newfound power appears to have affected his actions- he personally went on the Brasnya mission and is confident enough to transform & battle Optimus in front of human witnesses, actions that Optimus finds out of character. His instability is also what leads the other Decepticons to awaken Starscream to stand up to him in Devastation.

Kiss Players

Although Megatron himself would not make an appearance in the Japanese exclusive Kiss Players line, he would nonetheless have a small role to play. When Rodimus Prime hurled Galvatron out of Unicron at the climax of The Transformers: The Movie, Galvatron hurtled through space, out of control, until he eventually crash-landed in Tokyo, devastating much of the city. Although comatose, Galvatron's Unicron-corrupted cells spread throughout Earth and fused with various creatures. The resultant hybrids, known as the Legion, bore a marked resemblance to Megatron and would menace the Earth Defense Command on several occasions.

In keeping with the sexual nature of Kiss Players, the Legion possessed phallic tongues, which became the subject of much controversy among the Transformers fandom.

Binaltech

Megatron is largely "off-screen" for most of the Binaltech saga, reflecting the absence of a Megatron figure in that toyline.

Due to the interference of Ravage (the same future Ravage who appears in the Beast Wars), most of the events of the original animated feature do not transpire; most importantly the Battle of Autobot City does not occur, and Optimus Prime and Megatron do not have their final showdown, meaning that Optimus Prime does not die, and Megatron is never reformatted into Galvatron.

Already in control of Cybertron proper, Megatron took advantage of Swindle's release of the modified "Cosmic Rust" pathogen on Earth to launch an assault on the Autobot resistance on Cybertron's moons. With their numbers weakened, they would easily be defeated. However, Ravage's machinations interrupted this assault, by trapping Megatron and a large army of Decepticons in a spacial rift. Ravage, equipped with knowledge of the future, intended protecting the Decepticons from Unicron, and forcing the Autobots to face the planet-eater unaided. The Decepticons would then be in a position to conquer whoever was the victor of that battle...

Per Ravage's original plan, once the Autobots had defeated Unicron, Megatron and the Decepticons returned. The Autobots, spread too thin across multiple initiatives, retreated from Cybertron, and Megatron resumed his control of the planet. However, Optimus Prime planned for this event, and sent Mirage to press a switch, buried deep within Cybertron, that would render all Transformers inert. (This was seen at the conclusion of the "Five Faces of Darkness" story arc from the original animated series.) Optimus hoped that although all the Transformers would be rendered inoperative, the war would be stopped, and that the humans would be able to reactivate the Autobots in the future.

As Megatron prepared his assault on Earth, he met Nemesis Prime for the first time, and was furious that an Optimus Prime look-alike, one created on Earth, no less, would dare to wear the Decepticon symbol. The confrontation came to nothing, however, as Mirage accomplished his mission. But this plan had the surprising side-effect that only those with original Cybertronian bodies were deactivated - those with Earth-made Binaltech bodies continued to function. And thus, the Autobots effectively won the war, with the large army of Binaltech Autobots outnumbering the few remaining functional Decepticons who had obtained Binaltech bodies. Nemesis Prime and Shockwave escaped with the deactivated Megatron and as many other inert Decepticons as they could.

Universe Flash cartoon

Megatron appeared in the short-lived online Universe cartoon, where he plots to steal gasoline in order to produce Energon. Notably, his alternate mode of a jet is exactly the same as that of Cyclonus, and he incorporates several elements from his live-action movie design, such as both arms fusing together to form his fusion cannon.

Video games

Megatron has appeared in numerous Transformers video games.

Megatron appeared as a final boss in Transformers Battle Circuit, a simple Flash-based video game on the Hasbro web site.

Megatron appeared as a playable character in the fighting games Transformers Battle Universe, a Net Jet game in which four incarnations of the character are playable, and DreamMix TV World Fighters, a crossover between various franchises including Transformers.

The Generation 1 version of Megatron is offered as a downloadable character for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen video game. Despite being a distinct playable character, he is also summoned in gun mode by Generation 1 Starscream as an attack move.

Toys

The original Megatron toy in gun mode

Through the years, there have been many toys representing the original Generation 1 incarnation of Megatron; some of which have appeared in fiction, others of which have not. Additionally, some toy makers have made unlicensed toys in his image, or accessories for the existing toys.

The original 1984 Megatron toy was released in Japan as part of Takara's Microman line under the name "MC-12 Gun Robo". The toy's characteristics such as the head design and Fusion Cannon have been incorporated in other variants and incarnations of Megatron toys. Today, this toy is on a list of banned items on planes in the U.S., and a special license is required to own this toy in Australia. Despite this, Takara Tomy has reissued this toy numerous times in Japan; mostly to commemorate the anniversary of the Transformers franchise.

Following the release of The Transformers: The Movie, Galvatron toys were released. The figure released in 1986, transforms into a laser cannon emplacement and a laser pistol. He is one of the few figures from the original line with electronic lights and sound - pressing the toy's "belt buckle" or pulling the pistol mode's trigger activates a white light in its head, which illuminates his eyes in robot mode and his cannon in other modes. The light is accompanied by one of three electronic "laser blast" noises, selectable by moving a switch on the back of the figure's waist to various positions. The sounds are powered by a 9-volt battery. The toy is considerably large, especially when compared to his fellow Decepticons Cyclonus and Scourge.

Like the other new characters introduced in The Transformers: The Movie (with the exception of Ultra Magnus), Galvatron was designed for animation first, with his toy design being based on the movie's concept art. Galvatron's animation design continued to evolve past the earlier designs used for his toy, and consequently, while the toy is predominantly grey/metallic silver, in animated form, his robot mode is predominantly purple. Marvel Comics also used the earlier design, rendering Galvatron as mostly grey in their pages (although as a result of the limited color palette used in the comics, what was intended to be silver was rendered as a pale blue, except for in his Target: 2006 appearances).

When the Galvatron toy was reissued in 2005, it followed a trend established by some earlier figures, and fulfilled a dream long held by many fans - a version of the toy re-decoed in the purple color scheme of the animated series. But this was not a simple color swap, with different paint applications and stickers made specially for the toy to recreate the animated appearance as best as possible. A new, snarling face sculpt was created, and the toy came packaged with a die-cast metal Matrix accessory. His electronics—now powered by two AAA batteries—were also completely altered. The LED was switched to red and his sounds were brand-new—the first setting became a single laser blast, the second was the classic transforming sound effect, and the third was one of five sound bytes from the Japanese version of the film.

In 2007, Takara Tomy released Masterpiece MP-05 Megatron. While retaining the original concept of a transforming gun, this die-cast figure incorporated modern toy manufacturing techniques for improved detail and articulation, while at the same time, captured the look of the cartoon character.

Other merchandise

Megatron, Shockwave and Ravage are the three Decepticon figures available to play in the Monopoly Transformers Collectors Edition game.

Cultural impact and reception

Megatron has been parodied by such shows as Frank TV, Scrubs, Robot Chicken, Drawn Together, Family Guy and MAD. Frank Welker reprised his role for some of Megatron's parodic appearances.

In the novel World War Z by Max Brooks, an expandable pistol for use against zombies is called the "Meg"; a footnote points out that it is named after the Megatron toy.

Honors

At BotCon 2010, Hasbro named Megatron as one of the first five robot inductees in the Transformers Hall of Fame.

Wizard Magazine rated Megatron the 68th greatest villain of all time.

Beast Wars II

Main article: Galvatron (Beast Wars II)

A new character bearing the name Galvatron appeared in the Japanese exclusive Beast Wars Second line.

Transformers: Robots in Disguise

Template:Transformers character This version of Galvatron started out as Megatron a six-changer, powerful enough to transform into five additional modes besides his robot form - twin-headed dragon, bat-gargoyle creature, race car, spaceship and claw (GigaDragon, GigaBat, GigaFormula, GigaJet and GigaHand in Japanese). Each form has its own different frightening capabilities, making Megatron a very unstable and unpredictable fighter. (In Car Robots, each mode even had its own personality.) Unlike his namesake, Megatron would often sit back from a conflict and allow his subordinates to do the dirty work. Like his counterparts, he is arrogant, but unlike them, he also was incompetent, as most of his schemes were badly planned and badly executed.

In the original Car Robots series, the character was developed as a new, unique villain character (who turned into a modified hand-gun for another Decepticon to fire), rather than a Megatron, however the name was used in the US due to recognition, as well as maintaining ownership of the trademark.

Animated series

A Predacon warlord before coming to Earth, he is believed to have decimated numerous planets in his quest for energy. Optimus stated that Megatron left entire planets as "lifeless barren rocks". Needing ever more energy, Megatron targeted Earth's energy; to that end, he kidnapped the human energy-research expert, Doctor Kenneth Onishi, using his psycho-probe to drain information on Earth's energy sources from his mind. But even his subordinates were unaware that Megatron had a greater scheme in motion...

His attempts to amass energy thwarted by the Autobots and the incompetence of his own troops, Megatron sought to bolster his forces, locating six Autobot protoforms in a crashed Cybertronian spaceship, bestowing them with military vehicle modes and corrupting them with his own Spark energy, creating the Decepticons. However, their leader, Scourge, happened to scan Optimus Prime along with the tanker that would form his alternate mode, and as a result became something of an "evil clone" of Prime, whose cruelty and cunning eventually extended to plotting against Megatron.

In the pursuit of his greater agenda, Megatron began seeking the mysterious O-Parts, which led to the Orb of Sigma, in a subterranean pyramid. The orb would lead to Cerebros, the power key to the huge Autobot battle station, Fortress Maximus, who, it was revealed, he had actually come to Earth to obtain. When Megatron was buried in the ruins of the pyramid following a failed attempt to steal the orb from the Autobots, he underwent his most startling transformation of all, as the energies of the pyramid resurrected him as the vampiric Galvatron (known in Japan as DevilGigatron), able to enhance his own strength by draining the life energy from others. As Galvatron, he possessed four additional transformations - a hydrofoil, a gryphon, a pterodactyl and an elephant, used to terrifying effect when he drained the energy of Fortress Maximus and engaged Omega Prime in a final battle at the Earth's core. Thankfully, Prime was able to defeat him with the gathered energy of Earth's children, courtesy of Fortress Maximus, and he was sent back to Cybertron for imprisonment.

Dreamwave Productions

The character of RiD Megatron made one appearance in Dreamwave comics Summer Special issue before the company went under, sending his bickering lieutenants Scourge and Sky-Byte to steal a nuclear generator while he led the other Decepticons and Predacons to distract the Autobots. There was a contest in the issue as to whether RiD or Beast Wars would be the next Dreamwave comic series, which Beast Wars won.

Toys

• Car Robots Gigatron (2000)

An Ultra-sized figure that transforms from robot to two-headed dragon (GigaDragon), bat-gargoyle (GigaBat), Cybertronian race car (GigaFormula), Cybertronian jet (GigaJet) and giant hand (GigaHand).

• Car Robots Devil Gigatron (2000)

A white redeco of Gigatron retooled to transform into four extra modes: hydrofoil, gryphon, pterodactyl and elephant.

• Robots in Disguise Ultra Megatron (2001)

In Japan, Car Robots Gigatron has 6 modes, while Devil Gigatron has retooling to support 10 modes. However when the line was brought to the US, RiD Megatron was based on the retooled Devil Gigatron mold, but with the black Gigatron color scheme, and is therefore capable of the same 10 modes as RiD Galvatron.

This figure was also remolded as the BotCon 2005 exclusive figure Deathsaurus.

• Robots in Disguise Ultra Galvatron (2002)

The US version of Devil Gigatron.

Unicron Trilogy

The Megatron of the "Unicron Trilogy" (Transformers: Armada, Transformers: Energon and Transformers: Cybertron) is the leader of the evil Decepticons in that universe of the Transformers mythology. In all three animated series, he is modified into Galvatron, reverting to his Megatron name after the first two upgrades. He is voiced by David Kaye, who also voiced the Beast Wars and Beast Machines version of Megatron.

Animated series

Transformers: Armada

Megatron is a refined, focused general of the Decepticons. He is extremely cruel, ruthless and cunning as well as incredibly strong and intelligent. Only Optimus Prime can be compared with him in force. Megatron will stop at nothing in order to achieve his ultimate object, that is to say, to rule over all the Mini-Cons and over the entire Universe, in the end.

Megatron won't be disobeyed or contradicted. He is extremely severe and captious commander. He hardly ever praises his subordinates but often punishes them cruelly for their mistakes and failures (and for his own blunders, too). He is capable even to treat them unjustly: for example, he simply takes the Mini-Con away from Demolishor ( see episode #8 "Palace") and defraudes Starscream of the Star Saber(see episode #17 "Conspiracy"). As the matter of fact, Megatron considers all the other Decepticons to be mere tools in his hands. So he is ready to sacrifice anyone of them if considers it necessary. Yet in most cases he still infuses them with genuine respect for him.

Although usually stern and unflappable on the outside, there were many conflicting emotions with Megatron - he had dedicated his life to war, to the extent that he knew nothing else, and the suggestion that his days of fighting could be over caused him much dismay. Megatron took the form of a tank in Armada, and his weapons include missiles, an anti-matter cannon and a retractable knife (although he only used the knife in one episode).

Megatron led his Decepticons to Earth in the year 2010, in pursuit of the Mini-Cons. Establishing a base in the ruined hulk of the Mini-Con ship on Earth's moon, Megatron waged a generally successful campaign against the Autobots, 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 went 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 after being attacked by Nemesis Prime, becoming Galvatron (Megatron Super Mode in Japan) and returning to Cybertron with a renewed vigour 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. Having no other choice, Galavtron rallies all the Decepticons to form an alliance with Optimus and the Autobots to stop Unicron for good. 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, and, believing the threat of Unicron to be over, 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.

Transformers: Energon

In Micron Legend (the Japanese version of Transformers: Armada) Megatron did not rename himself Galvatron when he received his power boost. Instead, he renames himself when he is reborn in Superlink, using the name "Galvatron" throughout the series. In the American version, on the other hand, he reverts to using the name Megatron again, changing it to Galvatron once more towards the end of the series.

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 Q began his plan to re-energise Unicron in Transformers: Energon, Megatron saw his opportunity, syphoning 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, with a powerful new body that transformed into a gunship, armed with Hyper Power cannons. 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, interacting it with the negative energon within. The resultant reaction tore a rupture in reality that led to a new region of space where Alpha Q had recreated all the planets Unicron had consumed, which Megatron immediately saw as a target to acquire more energon from. After another series of attacks, Megatron successfully reanimated Unicron, but 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 in Megatron, directing him to attack Cybertron and uncover a reservoir of Super Energon beneath the planet's surface. Megatron immersed himself in the powerful liquid, once again becoming the mighty Galvatron (Galvatron G in Japan) and quickly asserted control of the planet, forcing the Autobots underground with Energon gas. Using Energon Towers, Galvatron had Cybertron relocated to Alpha Q's region of space, where he once again soaked himself in Super Energon, growing to a colossal height. However, as he did so, Unicron's influence totally seized control of his mind, directing 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. Galvatron then intended to destroy Unicron's Spark, but wound up being possessed by it once more, and rather than fight Optimus Prime, plunged himself into the foundling sun created by Primus, igniting the star and seemingly destroying himself, rather than allow himself to be controlled by Unicron.

Transformers: Cybertron

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 (now known as Master Megatron in Japan) enhanced his powers by merging his body with the remnants of Unicron's shattered form, increasing his power with the dark god's own. In this new form, Megatron became a Triple Changer with the ability to change into a monstrous racing vehicle and a Cybertronian jet plane. His primary weapons consist of two rear-mounted missile launchers and the ability to unleash energy streams from his palms in the shape of lightning bolts. In addition, he can call upon a Cyber Key to activate high speed thrusters in vehicle mode, as well as a battle claw (Named as Death Claw in Japan) in robot mode.

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 power of the world-shaping 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 doppelgänger 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, and Nemesis Breaker was destroyed. 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 (Master Galvatron in Japan).

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 into another universe. With the lock and keys now in his hands, Galvatron returned to the Black Hole, where he was eventually confronted and finally defeated by the five planet leaders regardless of his new powers that supersized himself and his troops.

Having had ultimate power torn from his grasp, Galvatron contemplated giving up, but when Starscream's spirit reached out to him and goaded him into continuing his vendetta, he challenged Optimus Prime to one epic final duel. The battle was long, and eventually ended on Cybertron's moon. Galvatron almost won when he 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, Optimus 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.

Galvatron's power in this series was very inconsistent. He was clearly more powerful then Optimus in his first appearance, but was evenly matched with him in their final battle.

Dreamwave Productions

Transformers: Armada

The story of Megatron in the Armada comics would be similar to his animated counterpart, but with an expanded backstory. Attacking various Mini-Con villages to draw the Autobots away, Megatron's forces then declared war and invaded Cyber-City, crushing all resistance and announcing himself as its new leader. The Autobots returned but were no match for the Mini-Con-enhanced Decepticons. However, a handful of Mini-Cons broke into Decepticon headquarters, freed most of their comrades and evacuated the planet. Despite this setback, the few Mini-Cons that Megatron had left were still enough to allow him to conquer Cybertron.

One million years later, both Megatron and his rival Optimus Prime would receive a signal from Earth—from the Mini-Con ship that had escaped his grasp at Cyber-City. Megatron was addressing the Decepticons when the location of the Mini-Cons had been discovered. Leading his forces across the Space Bridge to Earth, Megatron attacked the Mini-Cons, but they escaped thanks to their human friends. Megatron would then be reformatted into a new alternate mode by Starscream—a gigantic tank—and then battled the newly arrived Autobots. With the Mini-Cons, the Decepticons had the upper hand, but a new team of Mini-Cons arrived during the chaos and bonded with the Autobots. The powered-up Autobots outmatched the Decepticons and Megatron fled back to Cybertron. (Transformers: Armada #5)

Establishing a new base in Nebraska, Megatron vowed to capture more Mini-Cons and later managed to convert Jetstorm, Runway and Sonar into the Star Saber. It was at this point that Megatron's story in the Transformers: Universe storyline took place (see below).

Later, all the Mini-Cons—Autobot and Decepticon aligned—would be summoned in a trance-like state to a monolith-like spacecraft and depart for the Earth's moon, where the other half of the Mini-Cons' ship had originally crashed. In the interim, the Mini-Cons there had rebuilt the remains of their ship into a base. Reinforced by Thrust, the Decepticons ventured to the moon in pursuit and launched an all-out attack on the Mini-Con base. Stiff resistance forced Megatron to burrow under the Moonbase and gain access that way, deactivating the defenses, but was betrayed by his personal Mini-Con, Leader-1, who turned the base's defenses on the Decepticons. Striking a deal with the remaining Mini-Cons—their assistance in return for full autonomy—Megatron created a new orbital attack-satellite and had it orbit the Earth, but it was later knocked-out by Skyblast. However, both groups would soon have a bigger problem to deal with...

Learning of a mysterious Space Bridge anomaly, Megatron sent his troops to investigate, and was surprised when they brought back Over-Run's dimensional pod. He then sent his troops to capture him and the Mini-Con Matrix he possessed—only for them to get severely beaten by a mysterious Transformer. Despite this setback, Megatron then proceeded with a full-scale attack on the Autobot base when he learned Prime was missing (he had been teleported to an alternate Universe Cybertron), severely injuring Smokescreen in the process, only to have his troops beaten one-by-one. Investigating, Megatron then came face-to-face with the Transformer who had decimated them—Generation One Galvatron (who is not named). Galvatron and his fellow Heralds of Unicron had been sent to the Armada universe to eliminate any threats to Unicron before his arrival—including Megatron. The two battled, and even enhanced by Leader-1's power, Megatron was severely outmatched. However, just as Galvatron was about to finish him off, the Mini-Con Air Defense Team, judging Galvatron to be the greater threat, merged into the Star Saber, allowing Megatron to kill Galvatron.

Realizing that the threat Unicron posed was too great to be overcome on his own, Megatron agreed to co-operate with Optimus Prime by pooling resources. Megatron's Decepticons and the Autobots came to a truce for their final battle with Unicron. Megatron returned the Mini-Cons and joined the battle against Unicron, but secretly planned to let the Autobots die and then strike a bargain with Unicron. In the final battle with Unicron, Hot Shot, Red Alert and Scavenger attacked Megatron and knocked him into Unicron's mouth, where he was devoured alive.(Transformers: Armada #18 )

Transformers: Energon

The origin of Energon Megatron was different in the Dreamwave comics. Although Megatron appeared dead, seemingly devoured by Unicron at the end of the Armada comics, it was later revealed that Megatron's mind was trapped within Unicron's bulk, where he existed undetected by Unicron, slowly building himself a new body. However, he could not move his consciousness into the body without being detected by Unicron.

Ten years after his "death" the answer to Megatron's problems would be presented to him—ironically, in his old foe Optimus Prime. Megatron diverted Prime's Space Bridge so that he arrived in Unicron's body instead of Cybertron. Megatron then revealed himself to Optimus, attempting to convince Optimus to move Megatron's spark into his new body. Optimus refused—until Megatron showed him what was happening on Earth. The Terrorcons, a group of former Decepticons given immense power by Unicron's agent Alpha Q in return for finding enough energon to resurrect his master, and led by Megatron's old rival Scorponok (in flashback Starscream would be seen warning Megatron of Scorponok's ambitions)—had attacked Earth, threatening to overwhelm its Autobot defenders and crush Earth to obtain its energon.

Megatron offered Prime a deal—if Prime would help him resurrect himself then Megatron would aid the Autobots in fighting off the Terrorcons. Out of options, Prime agreed, disabling an internal sensor to allow Megatron's rebirth to go unnoticed and battling Unicron's internal defense. Prime succeeded and Megatron was reborn in a new body and teleported to Earth.

File:Energon30.jpg

Energon Megatron vs. Scorponok

Somewhat surprisingly keeping his end of the bargain, Megatron aided Thrust and the Autobots, defeating the clones of Divebomb in Toronto. Teleporting to Tokyo, he aided Blurr, Downshift and Prowl against Cruellock and his clones before heading to Moscow and helping Inferno against Battle Ravage and his clones. In Los Angeles he turned back the Insecticon clones before advising Jetfire as to Prime's location. Although he had almost singlehandedly defeated the Terrorcons thus far, their commander Scorponok would prove more of a challenge as the two clashed in the Canadian Yukon, battling physically and verbally. Neither Unicron-enhanced combatant had the upper hand, with Megatron's tank drone and ability to teleport negating the advantage of Scorponok's hyper mode. Eventually Megatron defeated Scorponok with a sword through the chest, before ominously informing Ironhide to tell the Autobots that he was back.

Issue 31 of Dreamwave Comics Transformers: Energon series was never published as the company had closed, but art from the issue has appeared on the internet. In it, Megatron can be seen ascending to the leadership of the Decepticons once again.

Megatron would also appear in the Dreamwave Summer Special (somewhat oddly published before his return in the Energon comic). Now in command of the Decepticons, Megatron sends Snowcat, Slugslinger and Sharkticon each on missions to steal copies of the plans for Omega Supreme from the Autobot's Ocean City. Snowcat failed when he was confronted by Omega Supreme himself. Slugslinger failed to get in because he tried to sneak in a waste disposal unit and was flushed out. Sharkticon was overpowered by underwater defenses and then tossed out by Kicker and the Mini-Cons Skyboom, Wreckage and Scattor. Each of the three made up stories to Megatron as to why they failed. After consideration Megatron decided that Slugslinger's story was the more impressive lie and appoints him as his lieutenant.

Megatron would also appear in the Energon promotional comic. On Earth, Megatron, with the aid of Snowcat, Shockwave, Mirage and Demolishor, has cornered Optimus Prime and a wounded Hot Shot. Optimus refused to give up despite the odds. The other Autobot reinforcements were over ten minutes away when Wing Saber arrived. Megatron was shocked to learn the power of Optimus Prime when he Powerlinked with Wing Saber and turned back all the Decepticons, and then Megatron himself. The Autobots then arrive and Optimus thanked Wing Saber for his help.

3H Enterprises

Plucked from his timeline by the power of Unicron immediately after building the Star Saber, Megatron was thrust together with Grimlock and Optimus Primal to battle Striker and Reptilion. Although not specifically shown, it can be safely assumed that Megatron was returned to his own timeline after the end of the conflict.

Pack in comics

In the second Transformers: Energon pack in comic Prowl, Inferno and Landmine discover some hills on Earth that are rich with energon and call in to Optimus Prime that they should put an energon tower up. Optimus warns the Autobots that Decepticon activity has been scanned nearby. Megatron attacks with a horde of Divebomb Terrorcon clones. The Autobots attempt by fight back by having Mirage and Inferno Powerlinx while Landmine goes into brute mode, but they are overwhelmed when Insecticon Terrorcon hordes join in the attack. The Autobots retreat and Megatron takes the energon for himself.

Video games

• Megatron is a playable character in Transfomers: War for Cybertron
• Megatron is among the characters appearing in the 2004 Transformers video game for the Playstation as a boss.

Other media

Megatron (in his Cybertron form) appears among the characters in Re-Unification, the 2010 TFcon voice actor play prelude comic.

Toys

• Armada Megatron with Leader-1 (2002)

Released in the first wave of Transformers: Armada toys, Megatron was packaged with the Mini-Con Leader-1 (Barrel in Japan), who transformed into a missile truck and a laser-pistol that Megatron could wield. Packed with the largest number of action features and Mini-activated gimmicks in the entire line, Megatron featured multiple extending and flip-out platforms on his shoulders that the small robots could mount on and a ramp and claw to grab them and a "prison cell" in his legs. Plugging a Mini-Con into his turret activates a twin firing missile launcher with electronic sounds, while mounting the Mini-Con on the turrets other Powerlinx point activates machine gun noises. His left robot mode arm features a flip-out knife blade that does not require a Mini-Con to activate, and his main turret cannon fires pressure-activated missiles accompanied by electronic noises. His missiles and Leader-1 can also store in his shoulders in robot mode. Finally, Megatron features an additional transformation that involves rotating his tank turret around to the front of his robot mode; by cranking a hidden handle on his midriff, the turret spins and unleashes a stream of electronic noises, and even speech, as Megatron intones "Decepticons, attack!"

Armada Megatron is supposed to stand 22 feet 11 inches tall (698cm) according to the Armada video game, and his toy is 19cm tall (at the head). That's a scale of 1:37.

• Armada McDonalds Megatron (2002)

A greatly simplified version of the Armada Megatron figure, given away with McDonald's Happy Meals.

• Armada Galvatron with Clench (2003)

A purple, gray and maroon re-deco of Armada Megatron, Galvatron retains all the original toy's features, except it now says, "The power is mine!" This figure is called Megatron Super Mode in Japan. Galvatron is packaged with the Mini-Con, Clench, a re-deco of Leader-1. American fiction treats Clench as a new character, a relative of Leader-1, whereas Japanese fiction present the character, there known as "Spark Barrel," as an upgraded version of Leader-1. Some "Bonus Pack" releases of this toy came with the Mini-Con Night Attack Team: Broadside, Fetch and Scattor as additional Mini-Cons.

This figure was later re-decoed in black, red and blue as the Official Transformers Collectors Convention 2004 figure Megazarak.

File:Megatron-energon.jpg

Energon Megatron

• Energon Megatron (2004)

In his new Energon body, Megatron transforms into a heavily armed jet-ship that can transform into "hyper mode" by pulling on the translucent green sections of his wings. He is packaged with a large electronic tank accessory, designed to resemble his original Armada body (except in black), which fires a single missile from its cannon with an electronic blast. A removable sword blade made of clear plastic is stored in Megatron's own nosecone; by inserting the rear end of the tank into the nosecone and pressing the release button, the blade snaps into a connector on the tank and is extracted. Pushing the blade (by striking another toy while playing, for example), yields a metallic clang and a flashing light that illuminates the sword. The tank can mount on the back of Megatron's jet mode, or can clip to either of his robot mode arms, with either cannon or sword pointed forward.

It is no surprise that this figure was known as "Galvatron" in Japan, given that it is specifically sculpted to resemble the original 1986 animated Galvatron incarnation, with such defining features at the three-pronged helmet, hexagonal kneecaps, four-squared midriff and "belt buckle." The translucent green cannons mounted on his shoulders are designed in homage to Galvatron's arm-mounted particle cannon. In Japan, there is also a purple version of the toy known as "Galvatron G".

• Energon Voyager Megatron (2004)

The Hasbro version of Energon Megatron is a "Leader" size-class figure ($40), whereas Takara released a downsized version of the toy at a cheaper price. This figure was then imported by Hasbro and released in a two-pack with the deluxe-sized Optimus Prime figure, neither available from Hasbro through any other means. The toy is essentially the same as the larger Hasbro version, albeit with a lighter, more show-accurate paint scheme and a translucent green sword blade. The electronic noises made by the tank accessory are still a cannon-firing and sword-slashing noise, but are different actual sounds.

A black and orange version of this toy was released as a Lucky Draw special in Japan.

• McDonald's Energon Megatron (2004)

A simplified version of the Energon Megatron figure, available only in Europe with McDonald's Happy Meals.

• Energon Galvatron (2005)

A re-deco of the Energon Megatron figure in the colors of the original Generation 1 Galvatron's cartoon appearance—purple with gray portions and black highlights. His translucent parts are now molded in orange, a call-back to the original Galvatron's orange cannon, and the tank was cast in gray plastic.

The Japanese version of the Galvatron figure, known as Galvatron G, was naturally a repaint of the smaller Megatron figure, as the larger one was not released there. Although more show-accurate, with paler colors, a blue-gray crown and a purple tank, the color scheme was generally not as popular with fans as the darker, more vibrant Hasbro figure, and the smaller Japanese Galvatron was not released in Hasbro markets.

• Cybertron Leader Megatron (2005)

The original Japanese version of Transformers: Cybertron is known as Transformers: Galaxy Force and is not intended to be a follow-on from Armada and Energon (hence "Master Megatron" is not the same character as the Armada and Energon individual). Megatron is a Triple Changer, transforming into a Cybertronian race car reminiscent of the Batmobile and a jet fighter. Megatron is packaged with a unique Cyber Planet Key, which, when inserted into the slot on his back, pops up two turbine engines with an electronic powering-up noise. Inserting the key into his left shoulder pod pops out his "Death Claw" shield, which fitting into the right shoulder snaps the pod open, revealing the "Death Machine Gun," which can be removed and placed in the robot mode's hand; turning the crank on the gun spins the barrel. Megatron is also equipped with two firing missiles above his turbines, which shoot out with an electronic firing noise and a flashing LED light.

Released some time after the Japanese version of the figure, the Hasbro toy made a few adjustments to the color scheme, unifying the two shades of purple on the Japanese figure and painting in the nose. In Japan, a gold chrome edition of this toy was released as a Lucky Draw special.

Some bonus packs of Cybertron Megatron came with the Decepticon Hardtop as a bonus item.

File:Megatron-bk.jpg

Burger King Megatron

• Cybertron Burger King Megatron (2005)

A simplified version of the Cybertron Megatron figure available only at Burger King restaurants, which transforms only into jet mode. The picture on the left actually has paint applications added onto it that are not official: the legs have black added onto the vents, the fists are painted black, the wings are tipped with black, there is red added to the waist, there is a decepticon symbol added onto the chest with blue on the sides, and there is blue added to the forehead.

• Cybertron Leader Galvatron (2006)

A redeco of the Cybertron Megatron figure, in the colors of the Generation 1 Megatron's animated appearance—white with red and black highlights.

• Cybertron Legends Megatron (2005/2006)

A simplified version of the Megatron figure, which transforms only into car mode. Unfortunely, the wheels do not move due to the way the figure transforms. Since the figure is in legends class, it should have less paint applications than the larger leader class figure. Strangely, it has one paint application that the leader class version does not: on top of the chest in robot mode, the vents are painted red, whereas on the leader class figure, they are left unpainted. This makes the figure less show-accurate, because in the cartoon, the vents are left gray.

In 2007 a Target store exclusive value pack of four Voyager class Cybertron toy was released. It included Jetfire, Megatron, Optimus Prime and Soundwave. All identical to their original releases. Another Target exclusive contained Cybertron Optimus Prime and Megatron, along with the 2007 film versions of both characters.

The figure was later re-decoed into Galvatron.

• Cybertron Jungle Planet Deluxe Megatron (2006)

Released near the end of the Cybertron line, this Deluxe-sized figure is a repaint of 10th Anniversary Beast Wars Megatron. This figure's color scheme is a homage to Armada Predacon. It is supposed to represent Megatron mutated by the power of the Jungle Planet Cyber Planet Key into a beast form.

This figure was based on drawings by Hasbro designer Tim Bradley.

• Attacktix Megatron (2006)

A small non-transforming Megatron looking like his Cybertron form was released as a figure in the Attacktix collectible game. It holds his "Death Machine Gun" which fires as a large missile.

• Attacktix Galvatron (2006)

A repaint of Attacktix Megatron in the color of Galvatron.

Transformers: Timelines (Shattered Glass)

Template:Transformers character This Megatron, later called Galvatron, is a heroic mirror image of the usual Megatron character from the BotCon exclusive "Shattered Glass" comic, in which the Decepticons are on the side of good and the Autobots on the side of evil. Megatron transforms into a Cybertronian jet. He has a drone partner named Rumbler, who can act act as a cannon for Megatron or form a neutronic blade weapon.

After nearly being killed in an assassination attempt Megatron was rebuilt by Nexus Prime into Galvatron.

According to his Tech Specs Megatron was once a young mathematician who lectured at one of Cybertron's most prestigious universities.

Fun Publications

File:Megatron-shatteredglass.jpg

Shattered Glass Megatron art

In the Fun Publications story "Shattered Glass" Megatron recruits the Autobot Cliffjumper from an alternate reality to aid him against the Autobots of his world. He later leads an attack on the Autobot's Ark launch site.

Megatron appears in the fiction Dungeons & Dinobots, a text based story. He defends the Arch-Ayr fuel dump from an Autobot attack. He later sends several of his troops to capture and reprogram the rogue Dinobots built by the mad Autobot scientist Wheeljack.

Megatron is captured by the Autobot Targetmasters in Do Over, but was freed thanks to help by the Predacons and Whisper. When confronted by Optimus Prime he attempts to use the Autobot Targetmaster Nightstick to shoot the Autobot leader, but Nightstick takes control of Megatron's arm. Megatron then tricks Optimus into using Megatron's own weapon to cut Megatron's hand off, freeing him from Nightstick. Megatron misses the launching of the Decepticon ship Nemesis, which is taken over by Starscream to counter Autobot ship Ark.

In Reunification, Megatron greets a Quintesson and the dimensional travelers Breakaway, Topspin Skyfall and Landquake after their escape from the Autobot combiner Computron. Megatron introduces the travelers to Heatwave, but then is shot by the traitor Cyclonus, who is working for Alpha Trion. The travelers try to combine their powers with Heatwave to return Megatron to life, but instead have a vision of Skyfall and are combined into Nexus Prime. Nexus Prime resurrect Megatron as Galvatron.

Galvatron appears in a flashback in The Coming Storm.

Toys

• Timelines Voyager Megatron with Rumbler and Divebomb (2008)

Megatron is a remold of Energon Voyager Megatron with the colors of Generation 1 Megatron and a new head sculpt based on a design prior to the release of the original G1 series. He came packaged with the Decepticon Mini-Con Divebomb and the Autobot Rodimus.

• Timelines Voyager Galvatron (2011)

A recolor of Cybertron Evac. This toy was a Botcon 2011 exclusive packaged together with Thundercracker. Only 1800 were produced.

References

• Furman, Simon (2004). Transformers: The Ultimate Guide. DK Publishing Inc. pp. 38, 43, 65. ISBN 1405304618.