Megatron (Unicron Trilogy)

"You have something of mine."

- Megatron after his arrival to Earth

"Join me and I will send you to battle. Defy me, and I will send you to oblivion."

- Megatron

"My power is your doom!"

- Megatron gloating

"Megatron seems to change forms like a race-bot changes tires, but with every re-scan he only grows more twisted and evil. There was a time Megatron actually seemed to care about the Decepticons under his command, but now all he cares about is power."

- Optimus Prime about Megatron

Megatron, later known as Galvatron, is the main antagonist of the Unicron Trilogy, being a trio of three anime television series; Armada, Energon, and Cybertron. Being the brutish yet polite power-seeker that he is, he is rivals with the Autobots with his loyal Decepticons and uses his militaristic pawns to gain power via the dozens of Mini-Cons scattered around the galaxy before he uses said power to take it over.

He was voiced by David Kaye, who also played Megatron in the Beast Era, such as Transformers: Beast Wars and Transformers: Beast Machines.

Armada
Megatron is a refined, focused general of the Decepticons. He is extremely cruel, ruthless, manipulative, 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 Demolisher and defraudes Starscream of the Star Saber. 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 Hyra-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 vigor for conquest. However, the emergence of the threat of Unicron was ignored by Galvatron, forcing his lieutenant Starscream to sacrifice himself to make his leader see the truth, and Galvatron again came to fear the end of his war in the face of Unicron's power. 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.



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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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