"Through your own interests you created this. You brought us here. You didn't just make it possible—you made it happen. All we did was give it a name."
—Starscream
Megatron: Origins is an IDW Transformers 2007 four-issue miniseries, written by Eric Holmes with art by Alex Milne. Set in IDW's continuity that started in 2005, the series details the rise of Megatron from a lowly Energon miner to the leader of the Decepticons.
Tropes found in this series include:
- Asshole Victim: Several examples.
- Megatron laughs at a Senate guard, the same one he ends up killing in self defense, after he's knocked onto his butt. Said guard having struck down an unarmed, protesting miner grunt in cold blood just a few moments ago.
- Senator Decimus is struck in the face by an energy pickaxe, kidnapped, held at gunpoint and finally slaughtered alongside his fellow politicians. None of this warrants tears because the comic establishes him to be a snobby aristocratic jackass completely indifferent to the welfare of the very people he's supposed to represent.
- Senator Ratbat is a weaselly, self serving wretch and, as we'd later discover, scornful towards non-humanoid Cybertronians, thus making Soundwave's enslavement of him as a Cassette minion quite cathartic to watch.
- Blood Knight: Future Defensor limb/notorious combat hungry maniac Blades sits antsy during Prowl's lengthy, pedantic debriefing on the growing Megatron issue before standing up to voice his readiness to go out and confront this problem head on.
- Continuity Snarl: The Easter Egg appearances of Orion Pax, Ironhide, Elita One and Chromia due to later stories saying that Orion Pax and Ironhide were fighting against Sentinel Prime's forces, Elita One spent most of her life on Carcer and Chromia was born on Caminus.
- Corrupt Politician: Just about all who appear but Senator Ratbat is the main one throughout the mini. Secretly financing Megatron's terrorist activities as he stands to get rich from the chaos.
- The Determinator: As first demonstrated with his fateful tussle with the Senate guard, Megatron doesn't give up, especially when his life is on the line.
- Easter Egg: Tons and tons due to Alex Milne...though there's the above mentioned Continuity Snarl, while the female Transformers were quietly retconned to be Transgender.
- Establishing Character Moment: The Constructicons first appearance in this series, and continuity for that matter, sees them casually murder a few homeless for building material. This sets them up as the sadistic, one dimensional goons we'd see later on in future series.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Megatron is initially reluctant to take lives and looks on at Cy-Kill's slain body with his eyes shaded in by the shadow of his helmet, indicating he felt ashamed.
- Evil Versus Evil: The Decepticons vs the Senate.
- Foreshadowing: Several examples.
- Thundercracker's unsureness of what the 'Cons are doing in issue 4 would become a major facet of his character.
- Megatron's (initial) hesitancy/shame in killing retroactively hints at the person he used to be, as we'd come to learn in later stories which explore his life prior to this book.
- Likewise Sentinel's dismissive attitude towards his superiors and faint hints of a less than noble personality would be greatly expanded upon in future stories where any ambiguity is tossed out and he's a straight up villain.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Megatron starts the series as a lowly miner and ends it as about to lead the newly-formed Decepticons into the biggest war the Transformers species will ever see.
- The Ghost: A gladiator called "Betabear" is name-dropped by Rumble during their team match, yet it's hard to tell which if any of the generic fighters we see is meant to be him.
- Grey-and-Gray Morality: The Decepticons are a merciless terrorist group operating an illegal, underground gladiator death match circuit they use as a platform to recruit new members, but are a response to the Senate, an uncaring governmental body comprised of self interested political snobs who turn their noses up at the common man and employ Autobrand wearing thugs to keep the population in check, however, as demonstrated by Bumper and Fastback, not every Autobot is a vicious bully.
- He Who Fights Monsters: The brutality and corruption of the Senate is met in kind by a Megatron whose taken the plunge.
- Hero Antagonist: While Sentinel Prime pulls some brutal moves (getting every Cybertronian police officer to nail Megatron's goons in one massive ring and stealing the Apex Armor), it's justified by Megatron's way tougher actions.
- Kick the Dog: The Constructicons chuck a few nearby Empties into their cauldron of smelted ore, recycling them into arena parts.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Ratbat, a Senator from the highest class on Cybertron, finds himself turned into one of Soundwave's cassettes at the end of the series as the war kicks off. Animal-like cassette bots being on the lowest rung of Cybertronian society.
- Misery Builds Character: A decidedly dark take on it. Megatron gives this whopper of a line to Sentinel when the two face off in the climax:Megatron: "I've heard it said that we only gain wisdom through suffering — and tonight I intend to make you very wise."
- My God, What Have I Done?: Megatron's reaction to killing a Senate guard in self defense. The first life he ever took.
- Mythology Gag: Several examples.
- A common one through IDW's continuity is that whenever stories were set in the past, Megatron wears a black-colored helmet. A nod to his appearances in the 80s Marvel comic and his original concept art.
- One of the Empties is unmistakably Wheezel.
- During Megatron's match with Cy-Kill the crowd chants the very familiar phrase "Till All Are One." Here with the far darker meaning of "Till All Are One In Death."
- The Nameless: The southern American accented miner grunt who spoke up against the Senate's plan to automate.
- Noble Demon: Megatron is a savage combatant but his anti-Senate platform ultimately comes from a very sincere place.
- Non-Indicative Name: Thanks to The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye and the "Chaos" arc in the main Transformers title, Megatron Origins takes place after most of the key events of Megatron's origin. By the time of the riot where he takes his first life, Megatron was a widely known, increasingly radical figure in Cybertronian politics, with his presence at the offworld mine where the riot took place being a deliberate attempt at containment after two attempts to silence him had failed.
- Only Sane Man: Prowl's the only one in Cybertron's security forces shown taking Megatron's rising movement seriously.
- Police Brutality: Sentinel Prime gripes at the restrictions he feels imposed on him by Cybertron's Senate. When the Decepticon uprising finally breaks out, he views it as an opportunity to finally cut loose.
- Reluctant Monster: Megatron, initially, before his time in the ring fixes that.
- Start of Darkness: The closing of the mines and Megatron's first, possible accidental, kill from the riots that broke out over it were originally intended to be this, although subsequent Retcons would indicate that while he hadn't taken a life before, his experiences had already radicalised him quite a bit.
- Series Continuity Error: Many of the characters make reference to "Primus", the god, and creator, of the Transformers in most continuities, however Simon Furman had
stated previously that both Primus and Unicron did not exist in this continuity. Furman later commented that the reference here doesn't necessarily mean it's a reference to the Primus normally thought of. note - Shocking Defeat Legacy: The defeat of Cybertron's Security Forces to put down the initial Decepticon uprising in Kaon is this.
- Small Role, Big Impact: The unnamed Energon miner whose death triggered the riot where Megatron took his first life.
- Smash the Symbol: The opening of the Decepticon uprising is Starscream launching a surprise attack on the Senate, the body housing most of Cybertron's corrupt elite.
- Smug Snake: Sentinel can't help but arrogantly smirk after Megatron is placed at his feet, captured and shackled.
- The Starscream:
- The Trope Namer unsurprisingly appears, though as this is set in the past he's portrayed as an eager convert to Megatron's cause. In issue #3 it looks like he's sold out the Decepticons but it's only a trap to lure the Senate into a false sense of security.
- Soundwave, amusingly, actually plays this role here as he turns on his former employer, Ratbat, at the end of the story.
- Take That!: One of Megatron's kills in the gladiatorial pits is a Cybertronian version of Cy-Kill, the leader of the villainous Renegades faction from The Gobots note Downplayed in the Japanese release where Cy-Kill was changed to look less like his Challenge Of The Go Bots counterpart.
- Throne Made of X: The story ends with Megatron sitting on a throne made out of Sentinel Prime's corpse and the Apex Armor.
- Token Good Teammate:
- Bumper and Fastback are the only unambiguously decent Autobots we meet during this very grim story. They're just two ordinary guys doing their jobs and never display any corrupt traits.
- Among the Decepticons Thundercracker seems to be this. He expresses some misgivings over shooting down a ship full of noncombatants even if they are members of the upper class. This bit of characterization would become super important later in the IDW continuity.
- Unexplained Accent: For some reason the unnamed Energon miner whose death started the opening riot has a Southern US accent, if him saying "y'all" is any indication.
- Villain Has a Point: Starscream correctly summarizes that the Decepticon movement is a direct result of the Senate's corruption and incompetency.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Megatron's stated wish to "bring desolation and call it peace" wouldn't sound so welcoming if this version of Cybertron wasn't such a horrible place to live on.
