Megatron Origin issue 3

« The Transformers: Megatron Origin #3 »
Anyone have a Tylenol?
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	September 6, 2007
Cover date	August 2007
Written by	Eric Holmes
Art by	Alex Milne
Colors by	Josh Perez
Color assist by	Mark Bristow
Letters by	Neil Uyetake
Edits by	Chris Ryall
Continuity	2005 IDW continuity
Chronology	4 million BCE

The former miner-turned-gladiator decides to start a rebellion for some reason.

Synopsis

In Kaon, Soundwave arrives at Megatron's gladiatorial safehouse with a message. Swindle advises him to tread lightly; their leader has just lost an arm from his latest pit fight, and the Constructicons are busily replacing it with one culled from a casualty of the fight.

Soundwave brings good news: he has made progress on Megatron's request for a flight-capable operative. In fact, he's outdone Megatron's request: he's found three new converts to the cause, all of them capable of flight: Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp. Starscream is awed in the presence of the famous gladiator and prostrates himself, swearing undying allegiance. After questioning them on their capabilities, Megatron announces that he has something in store for them besides gladiatorial matches. Deploying his new suite of weaponry, he turns the trio over to the ministrations of Hook, for modification...

Elsewhere in Kaon, the Cybertron Security Forces hold a funeral for Fastback and Bumper, killed in action following their disastrous confrontation with Megatron's forces. Sentinel Prime delivers the eulogy. He emphasizes that their deaths should serve as a call to action, and that to give their deaths meaning he will bring the outlaws to justice. Some time later, a parade is held for the unveiling of a new statue, commemorating the service of Senator Decimus. It all goes well until the three Seekers disrupt the festivities; Skywarp uses his teleportation abilities to abduct the Senator and spirit him away to places unknown. This first attack emboldens Megatron's cause; from his office, Senator Ratbat watches footage of the increasingly daring and destructive attacks, and realizes that his plans might have gotten too far out of hand.

His cause now in the ascendant, Megatron puts out a call for new recruits to join the gladiator games; though Sunstreaker considers joining, his brother Sideswipe advises against it — watching the fights is one thing, but joining them another thing entirely. The Predacons express scorn about the influx of "amateurs" but quickly retract the claim as Grimlock and the Dynobots throw their hats into the ring. Backstage, Rumble and Frenzy protest being placed under Soundwave's command, but Megatron states that they have been modified for a reason. Ignoring their protests, Megatron takes the stage and whips his crowd of new arrivals into a frenzy — stoking their egos by unveiling the Decepticon insignia as the heraldry of his new movement, telling his audience that they're the most dangerous Transformers on the planet, and tempting them with the promise of turning all of Cybertron into their arena — before ordering his Seekers to bring out Senator Decimus, intending to execute the helpless Senator.

Before he can do so, however, their clandestine meeting is interrupted by the Autobot Security Services, led by Prowl and Sentinel Prime. Megatron, his inner circle, and everyone the Autobots can catch are clapped in inhibitor claws and captured. Back at their headquarters, Sentinel Prime, already frustrated by the massive influx of prisoners, is upset by the news that, under Senate directive, Soundwave will walk free. As the rest of Megatron's cadre bicker with one another in their holding cell, Starscream offers to turn state's evidence in exchange for his own freedom. Though Megatron tries to order his legions to kill Starscream, the Decepticon is escorted out of his cell, promising that his evidence will guarantee both their future and his own...

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Quotes

"Anyway..ech...you should see the other guy."

—Swindle on the fate of Megatron's opponent.

"Mmm...uh...Meg...MEGATRON! I swear my allegiance undying!"

—Starscream upon first meeting Megatron.

"I'm so going to make the team."

—A disturbingly optimistic Dead End.

Divebomb: "Megatron calls and many come."
Rampage: "Pfff...amateur night."
Razorclaw: "...Mostly."

—The Predacons on their fellow gladiators... right before and after the Dynobots show up.

"Eyes open. Don't need buzzer to start fight. Crowd like this, we play it dirty — or play it dead."

—Grimlock. He's either being brief or talking in the "Me Grimlock"s.

"Boss... what did you tell him?"
"...Everything."

—an unidentified Decepticon and Megatron, following Starscream's betrayal. Megatron starts things off as he means to go on.

Notes

Continuity notes

• Chronologically, this is the first appearance of the Decepticon Insignia in the IDW 2005 universe; it is seen scratched into a giant Autobot emblem following the Seekers' abduction of Decimus.
• A statue is shown depicting Nova Prime in his combined-with-trailer mode, but without his mouthplate.
• Sentinel Prime shifts the primary colors of his armor from orange to black, probably as a sign of mourning for Bumper and Fastback's untimely deaths. This scene only makes slightly more sense than Megatron removing his "helmet" last issue, and is just about as integral to the plot, but is infinitely harder to decipher, thanks to eye-wateringly confusing panel layout and insufferably murky coloring.
• James Roberts retconned that Megatron was already a known element in Cybertronian society, a writer and political activist turned revolutionary. This adds a whole new meaning to both Starscream's awestruck allegiance and the growing crowds of "amateurs" (and the initial ideology of the future Autobots who showed up). It also means Ratbat would've intended for instability when he armed Megatron. He got more than he expected!
• Sentinel talking about not being able to set policies takes on greater meaning in the wake of More Than Meets the Eye issue #11. There, it was revealed that Sentinel conspired with the Senate to murder his predecessor Nominus Prime, only to operate in a reduced capacity as a military commander. (Someone's bitter!) This suspiciously megalomaniacal streak will be explored further in issue #56 of The Transformers.
• It's revealed that Sideswipe prevented Sunstreaker's attempts to join Megatron's underground gladiatorial games.

Transformers references

• The four spectral Megatrons on Cover A include Stormbringer Megatron, Hearts of Steel Megatron's unused design, the original cartoon/cartoon model Megatron, and Battlestars Super Megatron.
• Soundwave hides his true allegiance with a device that strongly resembles a rubsign.
• Standing behind the Orion Pax lookalike is a white robot of near-identical design, as a possible Ultra Magnus homage. However, this robot is only seen clearly from the back, and is obscured later in the scene.
• A panel at Bumper's funeral features Bumblebee, Cliffjumper, and Hubcap—all of whom shared the same basic toy design with Bumper in the Generation 1 toyline.
• Ironhide, or a bot that looks a lot like him, is depicted in the funeral scene wearing his windscreen in front of his face, in a clear nod to his Generation 1 toy, which is the only time in this continuity he is depicted as such.
• Sunstreaker as a gladiator is a clear nod to "State Games".

Errors

At least three of the bots in this picture shouldn't be here.

• Bumper and Fastback's funeral is described as an internment, whereas the correct word should be interment, without the second "n".
• Bumper and Fastback's caskets feature their names written in English, even though everything else is written in Cybertronian.
• Sentinel Prime emphatically states that Bumper and Fastback's deaths are "no tragedy", then proceeds to describe their demise as a tragedy in the very next sentence! This is corrected in the trade, where Sentinel Prime instead says "This moment" instead of "This tragedy" in the second sentence.
• Thanks to artist Alex Milne drawing plenty of pre-existing characters as cameos and Easter eggs throughout this miniseries, the funeral scene is... something of a mess these days, thanks to stories afterwards going on to use these characters in different ways, or inventing alternate pasts for them that mean that they wouldn't be able to attend.
  • A robot clearly intended to be Orion Pax can be spied in the bottom right of the panel; this was seemingly retconned away years later when More than Meets the Eye #36 established that Pax was opposed to Sentinel Prime's forces at this time. One might simply surmise that this individual just be an Orion look-alike; this is made somewhat easier due to the fact that this issue features a design for "Orion Pax" that is different from the one we would later see, a mix between how G1 cartoon Orion appeared in "War Dawn" and how his Dreamwave comic counterpart Optronix looked in The War Within. On the other hand, Optimus Prime #13 pretty heavily implies Pax was, in fact, there...
  • Whirl, Windcharger, and Ratchet also appear at the funeral; in the same issue of More than Meets the Eye, they crossed Sentinel, and Windcharger had to go on the lam. Whether they're now working for Sentinel or are simply hoping he doesn't notice them at the funeral, there might be a story going on here...
  • A pair of female Transformers — more specifically Elita One and Chromia — put in an appearance as well, though Spotlight: Arcee, published less than a year later, would initially suggest that Female Transformers didn't naturally exist. Future stories would amend this by having female Transformers hail from long-lost colonies and pre-war Cybertronian subcultures... but, at the same time, introduced the "real" versions of Chromia and Elita by having them hail from these colony worlds, rendering their cameos here impossible to reconcile.
• When Razorclaw looks across the crowd at Megatron's rally to regard the Dynobots, they are all mis-colored and thus virtually unrecognizable. Similarly, in the next panel when Grimlock returns Razorclaw's glare, the Predacons are all mis-colored and also virtually unrecognizable, pretty much ruining the whole point of the scene.
• According to Alex Milne, the guy who complains to Grimlock that his tank is "rust-dry" is supposed to be Sludge. He's completely mis-colored and unrecognizable as Sludge, however.^[1]
• When Megatron has Decimus brought out before the crowd to presumably be executed, the good senator is mis-colored in a seemingly random orange and yellow deco, looking a bit similar to Sentinel Prime.

Covers (3)

• Cover A: Megatron screaming by Alex Milne (pencils) and Josh Perez (colors)
• Cover B: Megatron shadow by Marcelo Matere (pencils) and Andrew Elder (colors)
• Cover RI-A: Uncolored cover A

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  Megatron's shadow is on steroids.

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• Megatron Origin #4
• The Transformers: Cover Gallery Volume 2
• Transformers movie comic adaptation
• The Art of IDW's Transformers
• Movie Prequel
• Hasbro toys for Barricade, Jazz, and Ratchet
• Beast Wars: The Ascending
• Greatest Battles of Optimus Prime and Megatron
• CGC: Certified Guaranty Company
• Devastation (back cover)

Reprints

Other than reprints of the entire series

• N/A

References