Decepticon
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| This article is about the Transformers faction. For the Robots in Disguise episode, see The Decepticons. |
The Decepticons are one of the primary factions in the Transformers mythos. They are typically concerned with such things as conquering Cybertron, defeating the Autobots, amassing large quantities of energon, developing powerful weaponry, and beating people up. Not necessarily in that order.
Unlike the Autobots, whose leader is a Prime bearing a Matrix, the Decepticons are led by the most powerful of their ranks. This tends to cause some conflict, given how generally every Decepticon thinks that they're the most powerful. Also, the Decepticons are not exactly the most compassionate beings in the universe, but not all fight for greed. More than a few have a sense of honor, while others believe that Cybertron would be better protected by aggressive expansion. Ultimately, the Decepticons desire to protect their homeworld, even if it is at the expense of others. Usually.
In at least one universe, the faction starts off being named the Ascenticons before taking its more traditional appellation.
Generation 1 continuity family
Marvel Comics continuity
Marvel The Transformers comics
The Decepticons emerged from the gladiatorial State Games, which caused Megatron's rise to public prominence - in the aftermath of the destructive Vos-Tarn War, Megatron was able to use his fame and charisma to unite both the survivors and the planet's malcontents into a new army. His plan was to turn Cybertron into a mobile cosmic dreadnought and conquer the galaxy. State Games The Decepticons developed new technology to allow them to transform into attack vehicles and weaponry, launching a devastating attack that killed billions and shook the planet from its orbit before Optimus Prime turned the tide.
Megatron, Shockwave and others were lost on Earth for four million years; as Optimus was too, the Autobots swiftly lost ground to Decepticon leaders Trannis and Straxus. Cybertron was devastated and conquered, causing the cream of the Decepticons to leave the burnt-out planet to form a Cybertronian Empire out in the stars, while Straxus threw all those he considered weak into the Smelting pool. The Empire would go on to slaughter and Cyberform planet after planet, their actions unknown on Cybertron.
Eventually the Earth-bound Decepticons would awaken in 1984, sparking off a new front in the war. After the presumed suicide of Megatron, an escalation in fighting would see Decepticon leadership fragment and change hands rapidly, with frequent clashes, plots and counter-plots between the primary leadership, namely Starscream, Shockwave, Ratbat, and Scorponok, until most of them were killed in the Underbase conflict, leaving Scorponok the only surviving commander. A brief truce with the Autobots was held when Unicron attacked in 1991, but Scorponok was killed in the following conflict. Immediately after this, Bludgeon came to power. Charismatic and driven, Bludgeon turned the beaten Decepticons into a new army; after a defeat on Klo, they regrouped and reorganised. (In one reality, they were immediately massacred afterward.)
Earthforce
In the side-continuity of Earthforce, while Unicron continued on to Cybertron, Megatron and Shockwave continued a Decepticon civil war on Earth with a small handful of troops - wasting most of their time trying to take each other out. Eventually Soundwave and Starscream overthrew them, uniting both factions into a stronger Decepticon force. The two former leaders attempted to regain their position but never appeared to succeed.
Marvel Generation 2 comic
Bludgeon invaded Earth with the intention of capturing the Matrix and making a new generation of Decepticons, but Megatron returned, killed Bludgeon in one-on-one combat, and stole this plan. However, the threat of the Cybertronian Empire forced an alliance between the Autobots and Decepticons again.
Classics
Regeneration One
Following Bludgeon's defeat on Klo, the Autobots turned their attention internally to Cybertron, repatriating Decepticons who chose to lay down their arms while leaving Bludgeon's faction free to conquer other planets and build up his Warworld. Having abandoned Earth to its own devices, the Autobots were unaware of Megatron's revival, and his subsequent devastation of the planet with the help of his horde of zombified Decepticons (which included a few Autobots in its ranks by circumstance). The horde was stopped when Optimus Prime killed Megatron once and for all.
Meanwhile, Soundwave used the Decepticons on Cybertron to subvert the Autobots' peace, destroying the Last Autobot and clearing the way for Bludgeon's eventual return. In the interim, Scorponok launched his own covert invasion of Cybertron, with the intent of using his Gene Key to overwrite the CNA of every Autobot on the planet, turning them into Decepticons. Scorponok's efforts were ultimately thwarted by Grimlock, and Bludgeon's subsequent invasion was ultimately repelled by Rodimus Prime, but at the expense of leaving the Autobots virtually defenseless.
While Rodimus led an Autobot task force on a preemptive strike against the Cybertronian Empire's Hub network, the Dark Matrix creature, which had manipulated events on Cybertron, Earth, and Nebulos, spread itself across Cybertron, turning every Transformer it could reach into Shadow-leeches. The last known surviving Decepticons were Ravage, Starscream, and Shockwave, who, facing extinction, renounced the ways of the Decepticons and became ambassadors for peace.
Transformers '84
The ultimate ambition of the Decepticons was to reshape their world into a planet conquering warworld through what was known as Project Dreadnought. While they had great successes in the war's opening stages, Megatron's increasing obsession with defeating Optimus Prime stalled their expansion efforts, Secrets & Lies #1 and created fractures in the army. Secrets & Lies #3
After Megatron and Decepticon High Command had been lost in space, '84 #0 Straxus became the closest thing to the new Decepticon leader, leading his army on a violent campaign against Ultra Magnus' Autobots. Secrets & Lies #3
Generation 1 cartoon continuity
The Transformers cartoon
The Decepticons began life as a line of military hardware robots created by the Quintessons, alongside the consumer goods robots that would become the Autobots. Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4 It is unknown exactly what role the military hardware robots played in the eventual rebellion of the robots against their creators; the only ones seen to participate in the conflict were the Autobots' ancestors, led by A-3, but given their fighting ability, the proto-Decepticons seem like they would have made logical soldiers in the fight. Forever Is a Long Time Coming
Following the defeat of the Quintessons and their exile from Cybertron, a brief period of peace descended, before the base differences between the two breeds of robot led to the outbreak of conflict. Lusting for power, the Decepticons, as they now called themselves, rallied under a leader and began a war with the peaceful Autobots, who proved unable to match their inborn military skills. After the fall of several successive Autobot leaders, the heroic robots turned to stealth, and invented the art of transformation; with this edge, Sentinel Prime defeated the Decepticons' leader, ending the war and ushering in the prosperous Golden Age of Cybertron. Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4
Over time, the defeated Decepticons married transformation technology with robot mode flight powers, leading to the creation of Megatron around nine million years ago. Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4 Gathering like-minded warriors like the loyal Soundwave, the emotionless Shockwave and the young upstart Starscream, and brain-washing others into his service with the Robo-Smasher, The Secret of Omega Supreme Megatron slew Sentinel Prime and reignited the war. Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4 Against the Autobots under the command of new leader Optimus Prime, the protracted warfare ran for five million years, draining Cybertron dry of energy and forcing the Transformers to seek new power sources on other planets. When Optimus Prime's best and brightest departed on this quest aboard a spacecraft, Megatron's elite followed them, and the battle that erupted led to a crash-landing on prehistoric Earth that entombed all the combatants in stasis for four million years. More than Meets the Eye, Part 1
In 1984, a volcanic explosion led to the reactivation of the Transformers; the Decepticons were first to recover, and immediately set about plundering Earth's natural resources to build a space cruiser that would take them back to Cybertron. Sabotaged in mid-flight, the ship crashed into one of Earth's oceans, More than Meets the Eye, Part 3 but the Decepticons survived and rebuilt the crippled craft to serve as their new headquarters for the continuing conflict on the planet. A space bridge was established between Earth and Cybertron, and any resources the villains could purloin would be sent back to the dying planet to secure their stranglehold over it. Transport to Oblivion
At some point over the next twenty years, the Decepticons focused their attentions away from Earth and managed to take complete control of Cybertron, forcing the Autobots to relocate to twin moonbases on Cybertron's two satellites, and to Autobot City on Earth. In 2005, learning that the Autobots planned a major strike to retake Cybertron, the Decepticons launched an attack on Autobot City, with disastrous consequences for the Autobots. The battle saw one of the Decepticons' long held dreams achieved in the death of Optimus Prime, but Megatron was damaged, and left to rot in deep space, along with several of his wounded followers. Found by the monster planet Unicron, Megatron was reformatted him into Galvatron, and the others into Cyclonus, Scourge, and the Sweeps, in return for their servitude. Soon after, while Unicron was attacking the Decepticon-controlled Cybertron, Galvatron duelled with the new Autobot leader Rodimus Prime, who triumphed and hurled him into the void of space. Their world and their forces devastated and their leader gone, the Decepticons were easily routed by the Autobots, who forced them into exile on the burned-out world of Chaar while they retook and restored Cybertron. The Transformers: The Movie
On Chaar, the Decepticons faced constant energy shortages and engaged in constant in-fighting over what little they did have. Determined to restore order, Cyclonus hatched a plan to locate the lost Galvatron, in hopes that he could lead the Decepticons to glory once more. Although they were successful, Galvatron proved to have been driven insane by his experiences, and while his return did herald the recommencement of hostilities with the Autobots, the Decepticons never quite recovered their old standing, continuing to operate on Chaar throughout 2006 and regularly entering into ill-fated alliances with the Quintessons. Five Faces of Darkness
Eventually, the Decepticons went into hiding following the resurrection of Optimus Prime. When they returned, it was in force, launching an attack on Autobot City in order to steal the key to the Plasma Energy Chamber on Cybertron, intending to use the chamber to overload the sun and destroy Earth and Cybertron together. The battle for the key carried several of their number to the planet Nebulos, where they became binary bonded to the planet's evil rulers, the Hive, as Headmasters and Targetmasters. They returned with the key to Cybertron, but Autobot intervention caused the energy of the chamber to backfire on them, hurling their battlestation Scorponok, with the amassed forces of the Decepticons aboard, off into the far reaches of the universe. The Rebirth
Japanese cartoon continuity
Following the return of Optimus Prime, the Decepticons consolidated their power base by heavily fortifying Chaar and turning it into an actual, functional base of operations. Four Warriors Come out of the Sky Their ranks were swelled with the addition of the Decepticon Headmasters—Cybertronians who had fled their homeworld millions of years before and taken up residence on the planet Master, but who had been exiled by the local leader Fortress for an attempted coup. The Mystery of Planet Master Headmaster commander Scorponok coveted leadership of the Decepticons for himself, and finally obtained it when the Autobot Headmasters entombed Galvatron in an iceberg. The Emperor of Destruction Vanishes on an Iceberg Under Scorponok's leadership, the Decepticons nearly succeeded in destroying the Earth with crysmagnetal and plasma energy, but upon the destruction of Scorponok's Transtector, they ultimately elected to finally withdraw from Earth once and for all. The Final Showdown on Earth (Part 2)
The Decepticons returned to Chaar, and over the next few years, fought the Autobots on Athenia in a series of space-based exchanges that became known as the Master Wars. Circumstances changed when the mysterious alien Devil Z was able to brainwash Scorponok, placing him and by extension, the entire Decepticon army, under his command. Master File No, 1 While Scorponok, now known as "BlackZarak", continued to lead the Decepticons' space based forces, a small group of Pretenders operating under Devil Z's direct command on Earth furthered the evil alien's attempts to fuse human and Transformer life to create the ultimate lifeform by bringing about the rise of the Headmaster Juniors and the Godmasters. Birth! Headmaster Jrs Super Warriors - The Godmaster Brothers A group of Autobot Pretenders worked to counter his schemes by doing the same, and the repeated failure of his human Transformers to triumph over their Autobot counterparts led Devil Z to conclude that he had been incorrect, and that humanity was of no use to him. He transformed the Headmaster Jr and Godmasters into full robotic lifeforms, but soon after, he and BlackZarak were destroyed by the Autobot leader Ginrai, and the Decepticons fled the Earth once more. A Battle... and Then...
Leadership was briefly taken up by Overlord, but by the year 2025, the Decepticon army was reorganized under the new Emperor of Destruction, Deathsaurus, and began attacking numerous different planets all across the galaxy in pursuit of a world they could take for their own. The Brave Hero of the Universe - Star Saber Deathsaurus led the Breastforce and Dinoforce in attack on Earth, seizing enough energy to reactive his Planet-Destroying Fortress, but he was stopped by the new Autobot Supreme Commander, Star Saber. Showdown! The Fortress vs the Victory Unification
Deathsaurus' defeat marked a decline in Decepticon activity, but soon a more supernatural force seized command: Violengiguar, a being made up of the spirits of many defeated Decepticons, rallied together Nine Great Demon Generals from throughout Decepticon history to capture for him the Autobots' new Energon Z, and the life-giving Zodiac, which he would combine to create a "Decepticon Zone" from which he could conquer the universe. His plans were stopped by new Autobot leader Dai Atlas, Zone and the Zodiac was instead used to bring Optimus Prime back to life. This stood in the way of the plans of the mysterious alien Dark Nova, so he used his powers to resurrect Galvatron from his Arctic tomb and transform him into Super Megatron. The Decepticon army was virtually non-existent under Dark Nova; Super Megatron had no actual Decepticon troops at his command, merely Dark Nova's Novaroid and Galaman warriors, though they did bear the Decepticon insignia. Dark Nova later upgraded Super Megatron into Ultra Megatron, then merged with him to become "Star Giant", but was destroyed by the resurrected Optimus Prime. Return of Convoy
By the year 2035, Decepticon leadership had been taken up by the enigmatic Scrash, and fighting was primarily occurring in outer space once again. The development of Power Core Combination by the Autobots and their human allies on Earth drew Scrash's attention back to the planet, and he sent Battle Gaia and the Jet Corps to create distractions while a team of Decepticons reformatted to be able to take control of the Autobots' new inventions were sent to steal the combiner tech. Operation Combination Some reports suggest that when his plans were foiled, Scrash himself made another attack on the planet along with his warriors Flashwing, Deathplay, Darkfly and Sharpedge which also met with failure. 2007 timeline
Defeated by Optimus Prime in a duel in the Mirtonian constellation, the badly wounded Megatron disappeared with the Decepticons into the far reaches of the universe, and the war appeared to be over once more. The Autobots Triumph in the Battle of Good Vs. Evil! Alas, it was not to be so, as a parallel version of Galvatron from an alternate dimension appeared and took control of the Decepticon army, renewing hostilities Hybrid Style Convoy Black Version and bolstering their forces with the addition of biomechanically-engineered monsters. MP-1B Cybertron Commander / Convoy Black Ver.
Beast Wars cartoon
The Decepticons fought the Autobots in the Great War but were ultimately defeated and forced to sign the Pax Cybertronia which left them in a second class position. A small number of Decepticons were granted amnesty for their crimes but by the era of the Maximals, most of these had retired. The Decepticons were succeeded by the Predacons who shared their ancestors' dream of galactic conquest and schemed to quietly subvert the rule of the Maximals. The Agenda (Part 1) The Agenda (Part III)
Dreamwave Generation One continuity
The Decepticons arose out of the underground fights that Megatron once partook in. After discovering certain secrets about Cybertron's origin, including massive planetary engines, Megatron began using the games to recruit combatants. For nearly half a million years, they grew in numbers and trained, until they rebelled against the Council of Ancients and took Kaon by force.
While the war raged on, the Constructicons repaired the engines and introduced a mecha-forming process, but what they really needed was a power source. Megatron became convinced that he could find one powerful enough within the Matrix, which was in the possession of Sentinel Prime. However, when Megatron finally killed the Prime, he discovered that it was not within him. Soon after, Optronix became Optimus Prime, and Megatron initiated a plan: an assassination team under Communications Officer Soundwave would elimate the Prime and claim the Matrix, while Military Operations Commander Shockwave would lay siege to Iacon, preventing the Autobots from coming to Prime's rescue.
However, Megatron made two mistakes: he informed Air Commander Starscream of his intentions, and he underestimated Optimus Prime. The Prime managed to erase some of Megatron's memories of what he discovered, while Starscream activated the mechaforming process using energy from the planetary engines. The engines were destroyed before the process was complete, ruining both. The War Within
After Megatron disappeared with Optimus Prime in a space bridge test, Shockwave became Decepticon leader, though Starscream and High Auditor Ratbat broke off with their own splinter factions shortly afterwards. The Decepticons allied with Prowl's Autobots and Grimlock's Lightning Strike Coalition (an Autobot splinter group), to stop the machinations of The Fallen. War Within: The Dark Ages Several thousand years later, Shockwave was prepared to sign a peace treaty with Ultra Magnus, who had become Autobot leader, the LSC, and Ratbat's Ultracon. However, Megatron returned with the Aerospace Extermination Squadron, an army of Quintesson created Seeker drones, whose abilities allowed the Decepticons to fully conquer Cybertron and enslave the Autobots. The Decepticons' control over Cybertron was ended when Optimus Prime returned to Cybertron and the Air Warriors were defeated. War Within: The Age of Wrath
When Megatron disappeared along with the Nemesis crew, Shockwave again emerged as Decepticon leader, this time as head of a triumvirate including Ratbat and Scorponok. With energon becoming scarce, Shockwave agreed to work with Ultra Magnus and Fortress Maximus in the creation of the Micromasters, Transformers who were downsized for better fuel efficiency. Shockwave suffered a rebellion when Skystalker overthrew him, using Shockwave's severed head as a tool. Transformers: Micromasters However, all Transformers on Cybertron entered stasis lock when the Great Shutdown occurred.
Around 1,000 B.C.E., Shockwave was reactivated by Scourge, and then defeated the Unicronian Transformer. Studying Scourge and discovering some of the secrets Megatron had learned, Shockwave made peace with the Autobots, installing himself as Head of State with an Autobot High Council as a legislature, while Ultra Magnus became his senior security officer. However, the High Councillors were unsuited for peace time government, and gradually gave Shockwave more and more power... which is exactly what he had planned.
On Earth, the Nemesis crew was reawakened in 1984. Cut off from Cybertron, the Decepticons concluded that they had no other choice but to conquer the planet. Megatron soon learned that others had come looking for them, including Jetfire and the Dynobots. The Decepticons captured Jetfire and the Dinobots except Grimlock, and used the hostage situation to force Grimlock to serve the Decepticons. Additionally, the Constructicons located Earth and served under Megatron. In 1998, the Autobots allied with humanity to defeat the Decepticons. They were to be returned to Cybertron in the Ark II, but Shockwave, through a human intermediary, sabotaged the Ark II, causing the ship to crash and send the Transformers aboard into stasis lock.
Renegade members of the United States military managed to capture the Decepticons and a number of Autobots, intending to use them as instruments of war, but Adam Rook later stole them and set himself up as an arms dealer. Unfortunately, Megatron overwhelmed the programming that kept him a prisoner, and freed the other Decepticons. Megatron then intended to unleash a technovirus on Earth, but the Autobots defeated him. Prime Directive
A year later, Shockwave arrived to tie up loose ends, quickly capturing Megatron and the Nemesis crew. Starscream ejected Megatron out of the ship carrying them to Cybertron, leaving him to die in space. The Nemesis crew were granted amnesty, but Starscream quickly recruited them into going back to Earth to conquer the planet, taking the Combaticons with them. Shockwave was finally overthrown when Optimus Prime united the Autobot resistance groups, but he escaped with a small number of troops. War and Peace
Meanwhile, Megatron was rescued by Wreck-Gar, who repaired his memory loss. Using some recovered Air Warriors, Megatron located the Predacons, who were used to take control of Shockwave's small army. On Earth, Starscream's failures during Sunstorm's rampage were reason enough to convince the Nemesis crew to mutiny against Starscream in Megatron's favor. With two combiner teams, an army of Seekers, Soundwave's cassettes, and knowledge of Earth's connection to Cybertron, Megatron prepared to lead the Decepticons on the conquests of Earth and Cybertron G1 ongoing...
2005 IDW continuity
During the reign of Nominus Prime, Cybertronian civilization was stratified by a Functionist society that equated one's worth as an individual with the usefulness and uniqueness of one's altmode. Among the impoverished lower classes was a young, idealist miner named Megatron who sought to peacefully end Functionism as an institution. His treatise gathered momentum among Cybertron's working class,Chaos Theory Part 1 but the Decepticon movement didn't come about until later, when an embittered and disillusioned Megatron began circulating more radical and violent samizdat writings. Indeed, the name Decepticon was taken from one of Megatron's favorite rallying cries: "You are being deceived." They soon began scaring people in high society.
Despite the Senate's best efforts to quash the burgeoning social movement by instituting a clampdown Chaos Theory Part 2 and having Megatron reassigned to distant mining colonies, Post Hoc they proved unable to suppress Megatron for long; soon, the Decepticon leader found a way back to Cybertron Megatron Origin #2 and eventually spearheaded an uprising in Kaon, taking the city and killing Sentinel Prime. Megatron Origin #4 The Decepticons soon began spreading across the planet, recruiting downtrodden victims of Functionist society, smuggling illegal weapons, Behind My Bleeding Back, and carrying out terrorist strikes in advance of their main assaults. Spotlight: Blurr Sentinel Prime's successor Zeta attempted to restore order, but his destructive, morally dubious campaign led to both Orion Pax and Megatron teaming up against the mad Prime and killing him. Although they'd overthrown the Senate and yet another Prime, it was clear that Megatron sought to institute a brutal dictatorship of their own, Overthrown and Orion—now "Optimus Prime"— rose up to fight back against the Decepticons. Rise
As the war spread into space and beyond, the Decepticons first sought to institute a Decepticon Empire, conquering, razing, and cyberforming organic worlds into colonies in their new Constellate. Rules of Disengagement Under Megatron's command, the Empire included a Decepticon Secret Service that handled spying and tech acquisitions; Spotlight: Hot Rod penal colonies like Styx; Tactical Assault Units like the Predacons, Spotlight: Shockwave, and the elite Decepticon Justice Division, assembled to hunt down and kill traitors to the cause. The Permanent Revolution The war they started proved too destructive for Cybertron to handle, and the Decepticons had to abandon it after the disastrous Thunderwing incident. Stormbringer
Despite Megatron's vision of "cleansing" the galaxy of impure organic lifeforms, the Constellate proved too costly to sustain; in its place, the Decepticons devised the infiltration protocol: Last Stand of the Wreckers #2 a cheaper method by which undercover Decepticons would gather intelligence, deploy facsimiles, and deliberately inflame pre-existing planetary tensions, effectively manipulating the natives into annihilating themselves. Infiltration In extreme circumstances, the Decepticons would send in a Phase Sixer like Sixshot to destroy whatever remained. Spotlight: Sixshot
In the early 21st century, after centuries of cloak-and-dagger warfare against the Autobots across the galaxy, Megatron finally dropped infiltration protocol; during the Surge, Decepticons across the galaxy abruptly broke cover and launched an all-out offensive on major Autobot positions. Bullets Megatron and his innermost forces attacked Earth, where they ran amok for almost a year before Optimus Prime and his Autobots were able to recover, grievously wound Megatron, and drive his forces from the ravaged planet. Starscream took control through a charade of wielding the Matrix. All Hail Megatron The counter-offense left the Decepticons in tatters; some Decepticons remained on Earth, where they fruitlessly scrounged for fuel, while others retreated with Starscream to a barren asteroid, where they began to cannibalize each other for energon and spare parts. After three years of convalescence, Megatron finally returned and took back his rightful position. Altered Carbon
Later, Megatron allowed himself to be captured and brought to a mostly restored Cybertron, where he used a space bridge built into his body to summon the Decepticon army to him. Everyone but Megatron and Shockwave were brainwashed by Galvatron and/or D-Void into combining with the Sweeps to form a "Deceptigod". Kings Once the monster was defeated, the weakened Decepticons were all captured by the Autobots. They were imprisoned and kept under control using inhibitor/deterrence chips in their heads, and the war was considered over. The Death of Optimus Prime Megatron was believed dead after standing up to the creature.
Though many Decepticons returned to Cybertron, an even greater number of cells opted to remain in space, communicating with each other and waiting for an inevitable call to arms. Stranger Eons
The Decepticons were released and eventually, in the interests of peace, the chips were deactivated. An uneasy peace emerged between Decepticon, Autobots, and the returning neutrals, with Starscream rising to power as the Decepticon spokesman (after arranging the death of their previous spokesman, Ratbat, before he could start another war). The World & Everything in It A Better Tomorrow Out in space, however, the Decepticon Justice Division refused to accept the war was over and continued hunting down and murdering anyone on their 'list'. Rules of Disengagement Megatron soon returned, having spent the intervening time in the wilds of Cybertron, learning about the "strange energies" that allowed the Deceptigod to form and communicating them with his inner circle of loyalists. Wielding a new combiner, he and his followers once again attempted an uprising, but the Autobots successfully quashed the conflict and managed to imprison Megatron once again. In the ensuring chaos, Starscream abandoned the Decepticons managed to convince the NAILs to support him as the sole leader of Cybertron; with their support, the remaining Autobots and Decepticons were exiled from Iacon. Heavy Is the Head
Following the Dark Cybertron crisis, Megatron allowed himself to be put on trial on Luna 2, having supposedly abandoned the Decepticon cause. Towards Peace Thanks to a technicality in the Luna 2 legal system, Megatron was allowed to join the Lost Light crew in its quest for the Knights of Cybertron, postponing his ultimate verdict until the Knights could judge him in person. However, in exchange for his continued freedom, Megatron was forced to recite a statement declaring his renouncement of all Decepticon ideals and ordering all remaining Decepticon forces to stand down and do the same. Predestination: A Beginner's Guide In the aftermath of Megatron's defection Galvatron took command of the Decepticons ...And the Damage Done and led them to Earth where they forged an alliance with the EDC. Hello Cruel World According to Ravage, however, Galvatron would be instantly abandoned if Megatron gave the word. slaughterhouse
After Galvatron's demise, No Fair Fights the Earth-based Decepticons fell under Soundwave's command and worked, somewhat uneasily, alongside the Autobots within the Council of Worlds. To Walk Among the Chosen Out in space, Nickel assumed command of Deathsaurus' troops with the cell being caught in the crossfire of the Galactic Council and the Black Block Consortia. Journey's End
Shortly before his fall from grace, Starscream sent Bludgeon into space to rally all the scattered Decepticon cells into one massive fleet. Stranger Eons
The techno-geneticist Scorponok had his own plans to revive the Decepticons (now hovering somewhere around 10,000 individuals) and finally achieve victory. Via a creature called the Firstborn, Scorponok intended for the Decepticons to briefly become organic creatures and sexually reproduce so as to refresh their numbers. Kill All 'Cons
Upon Onyx Prime's return to Cybertron, he unveiled the truth about Horri-Bull's death, turning the Decepticons against Soundwave. The Ground As the leaderless faction clashed with the Prime worshippers, they noticed Starscream sneaking around and asked him to become leader again. Though hesitant at first, Endless Forever Starscream ultimately agreed and led his army away to draw up new plans of conquest. Unforgivable Shortly afterwards, Starscream visited the imprisoned Shockwave who revealed his master plan was to have Unicron soften up the galaxy before killing him via the corrupted Vector Sigma and restoring the Decepticon Empire. Last Stand
Under Bludgeon's guidance, the scattered cells came together to form the "Decepticon Vengeance Division", being dispatched by Starscream to contain and destroy Unicron at G Nebula 89. Though the fleet's firepower was immense, Bludgeon himself was loyal to Unicron, the Decepticons subsequently being warped into Unicron's heralds. Stranger Eons When Unicron arrived at Cybertron, the Decepticon citizenry swarmed into Metroplex, Our Finest before the entirety of the population was teleported to Earth by the magic of the Spectral Knights. Road's End
Along with all other factions, the Earth-bound Decepticons joined in the attack on the DVD, Assembly settling into a new life on Earth once Unicron had been defeated. Ceremony Post
Beast Wars: Uprising
After being reactivated in 1984, the Decepticons carried out operations on Earth, seemingly under the command of Starscream, Cultural Appropriation before the war spread beyond Earth and turned increasingly violent, resulting in the Earth Defense Command banning all Transformers from their space. The Decepticons were the ones to finally sour all human/Transformer relations when they used a stolen Autobot shuttle to destroy the human colony of Xin Shanghai. Micro-Aggressions
At an unidentified point in the 21st century, Unicron reformatted, or revived, Megatron into the powerful Galvatron who continued, or retook, Decepticon leadership. A Brush With Infamy–Prologue Both Autobots and Decepticons briefly joined forces to combat the Chaos Bringer, eventually destroying him. The Inexorable March
The Decepticons then invaded the planet Nebulos via infiltration protocol before the intervention of the Human Confederacy turned the war hot and ended in the Scouring of Nebulos. The enormous loss of life was the final straw for the humans, who restricted all Cybertronians to the Allowed Zone, where the war could do no further harm to the galaxy. Micro-Aggressions A Brush With Infamy–Prologue Galvatron did not take this threat lying down and quickly conquered the Allowed Zone to rebuild his army and destroy humanity in the Great Push. The battle ended in a humiliating defeat for the Decepticons, and resulted in the Allowed Zone being cut in half. Galvatron himself would eventually be executed via a Quintesson judgement. Micro-Aggressions
In the aftermath, Overlord took command of the Decepticons, A Brush With Infamy–Prologue before Thunderwing overthrew him. Cultural Appropriation Thunderwing led his troops to seize the Underbase on Artemis and bonded with the ancient artifact's power. Rendered insane, he cut a swath of destruction across Cybertron, forcing the Autobots and Decepticons to once again unite to combat their mutual foe. Thunderwing's defeat marked the technical end of both Autobots and Decepticons as both parties reorganized themselves into the Builders of Cybertron. Not All Megatrons
Having created the Energon Matrix to substitute for the lost Vector Sigma, Cerebros created the Predacons as the descendants of the Decepticons. Head Games
Of Masters and Mayhem
When the Great War broke out, the Decepticons quickly proved themselves a superior fighting force to the former Autobot rulers. The Truth We Make Despite this, the length of the war caused some teams, such as the Raptoricons, to abandon the conflict entirely. Life Finds a Way
A Decepticon project throughout the war was the recreation of the Creation Matrix, Deadly Aim Shockwave undertaking many an experiment to this end. The Toxic Transformer
The Decepticon experiments eventually created the Matrix of Malice which unleashed Thunder Mayhem on the planet, the combiner's destructive rampage wiping out Cybertronian civilization, the Autobots included. Deadly Aim Some Decepticon units managed to survive by fleeing on starships and in stasis pods, Life Finds a Way with even Megatron himself managing to flee in a personal craft. History
Star Trek vs. Transformers
Four million years ago, the Decepticons pursued the Autobots into the Sol asteroid belt, their boarding of the Ark causing it to crash on prehistoric Earth and knocking all aboard into stasis lock. The Decepticons were reawakened in the 1980s and began a secret war over Earth's supply of energon before World War III forced them off the planet. Trailing the Autobots aboard Trypticon, the Decepticons boarded Fortress Maximus in orbit of Cygnus Seven, the act again causing all aboard to fall into stasis lock when the Autobot ship crashed. In the 23rd century, a Federation survey team unknowingly reactivated Maximus. Awakened first by the Titan's repair protocols, Megatron healed his troops and led an attack on the surface. Prime's Directive, Part Two
While Decepticon firepower made quick work of the mining colony, they were unprepared for the intervention of the USS Enterprise, its photon torpedos proving able to damage the Decepticons. Falling back to a nearby moon, the Decepticons found Trypticon being occupied by the Klingons, Megatron soon smooth talking the aliens into an alliance. Prime's Directive, Part One
Though the Decepticon/Klingon alliance had initial successes, Prime's Directive, Part Three it soon collapsed when it was revealed that Starscream had manipulated the Klingon sense of honor to have Kuri give him a personal cloaking device. Enraged, Megatron ordered a retreat from Cygnus Seven to pursue Starscream. Prime's Directive, Part Four
The Decepticons caught up with Starscream on Kronos, within the chambers of the Klingon High Council, and began conquering the planet. When the Autobots and Starfleet arrived to defend Kronos, Soundwave unleashed his audio disruptor waves on their foes, only to learn that the Klingons were deaf to the frequency he utilized. Caught off-guard, the Decepticons were subject to a surprise attack by a fleet of warbirds. By the terms of James T. Kirk's peace with Gorkon, the Decepticons were left behind in Klingon custody. Prime's Directive, Part Five
2019 IDW continuity
The 'Ascenticon' faction began with Termagax, noted Cybertronian engineer and philosopher, in the aftermath of the War of the Threefold Spark. Dissatisfied with the way Cybertron had developed in response to the Nominus Edict, Termagax created the Ascenticon to become part of the Cybertronian senate and institute reforms, starting with scrapping the Edict. Termagax's student, a young firebrand named Megatron, became the first Senator of the Ascenticon faction. Orion Pax: Free Fall The Change In Your Nature Part Three
Over time, Termagax's dissatisfaction with Cybertronian society grew more extreme, until she eventually recused herself from society entirely, leaving the Ascenticons in Megatron's hands... just as the senator wished. Megatron shared his mentor's desire to get rid of what he saw as the restrictions on Cybertron's growth, but not her grassroots approach. Megatron began a scheme to make sure the Ascenticons rose to power, even if by mass deception. The Cracks Beneath Your Feet Part Two The Cracks Beneath Your Feet Part Four
Megatron's scheme began with the creation of a sub-faction, called The Rise, composed of those radically opposed to the Edict, and the Autobot hegemony. The intent was to have the Rise creation friction, which would turn the Autobots increasingly fascistic, and therefore drum up support for the Ascenticon way. Unknown to all, Megatron had Shockwave returned from exile to whip the Rise into suitable shape. The Cracks Beneath Your Feet Part Four
In the senate, the Ascenticons proved contentious, siding against the Autobots and Reversionist factions. The World In Your Eyes Part Four
In public, Megatron began giving rallies, gaining popular support while condemning the violence of the Rise. As the cycles passed, their rallies grew harder and harder to control as support for their cause grew and grew, with the most recent rally having injured a dozen people. Senator Orion Pax attempted to parley with Megatron, seeking a delay of the latest Ascenticon rally in Tarn, but Megatron rebuffed these efforts, simply stating that he sought change on Cybertron, and as long as he was allowed to speak he would continue to do so. The World In Your Eyes Part One At the rally in Tarn, Megatron's speech was supposedly interrupted by an assassination attempt. Megatron publicly vowed to catch whoever was responsible, The World In Your Eyes Part Two while denouncing the Autobots and their attempts to keep the peace, declaring the formation of a new "Ascenticon Guard", The World In Your Eyes Part Three
While the Guard was nominally under the command of Elita-1, it was Senator Soundwave who was in charge of recruitment, and the senator was extremely untrusting of any recruit with Autobot sympathies. The World In Your Eyes Part Five Meanwhile, the Guard took in such luminaires as Refraktor, Skytread, and unhinged war veteran Quake. The World In Your Eyes Part Three
The situation soon escalated after the Rise murdered Brainstorm, when the scientist stumbled onto their illegally siphoning energon, The World In Your Eyes Part OneThe Change In Your Nature Part One an act witnessed by a Voin. Acting quickly, Soundwave contacted the Rise to deal with the situation. They sent Quake, The Cracks Beneath Your Feet Part Five who did silence the witness, but also murdered the young Cybertronian Rubble when he stumbled onto the scene. The World In Your Eyes Part Five
In the ensuing investigation, the security services found evidence of the Rise's activities and armaments, and officer Barricade's connection to these events. Elsewhere, recruitment for the Guard began to surge, including Barricade. The Cracks Beneath Your Feet Part One
Megatron, on learning of Soundwave's actions, was outraged at the decision. He quickly updated his plans, to accelerate events. Broadcasting a speech to Cybertron as a whole, Megatron declared the Ascenticons would no longer wait peacefully for change to come, but force it, before unveiling a revised version of the Ascenticon insignia. The Cracks Beneath Your Feet Part Five
Soon after, Ascenticons began branding themselves with the new insignia. Elsewhere, Soundwave approached Sentinel Prime, stating the Ascenticon viewpoint that the planet's situation dictated an immediate, accelerated election, which Sentinel angrily refused. Meanwhile, Soundwave covered the Ascenticons' tracks, erasing the knowledge of when 'bots such as Quake and Barricade had joined up. On hearing of a fight between Risers and the security service, Soundwave ordered Elita and Bumblebee to intervene and show Cybertron the new face of the Ascenticons. The Change In Your Nature Part One
After witnessing the fallout of the Rise's actions, The Change In Your Nature Part Two Megatron visited Shockwave and beat him until he agreed to fall into line within the command chain of the Ascenticons. The Change In Your Nature Part Three
Sentinel Prime made plans to arrest the Ascenticon leaders at an upcoming Senate session only for Heretech to reveal this to Megatron, driving the Ascenticon leader to accelerate his plans. The Change In Your Nature Part Four
When the Senate met, Megatron's forces attacked the building, overpowering the guards and taking the Senators hostage where Megatron cast aside the mantle of "Ascenticons" and adopted Sentinel's mocking moniker of "Decepticons". We Have Deceived You Now in control of Iacon, the Decepticons focused their attention on winning over those Cybertronians who controlled the everyday functions of society. Awakenings
As the Decepticons consolidated their rule, Megatron ordered the death of Cybertron's orbiting fleet of Titans while the bulk of his force was sent to the Forge Pyramid for the unborn Titan sparks, Titans managing to claim just one. Darkness, Once Gazed Upon: Part Two The Decepticons later mobilized to claim the Enigma of Combination only for the device to lost into the Sea of Rust as the rust worms were set loose on the planet. Enigmatic The Decepticons later marched on the Autobot refuge of Crystal City. While they destroyed the city, their advanced was halted by the arrival of Lodestar and Computron. A Dust of Crystals The Landscape of Fear
Faced with loose rust worms, the rogue Insecticons and a returned Exarchon seeking the AllSpark, the Autobots and Decepticons agreed to a temporary truce, The Landscape of Fear War's End Part Two though Megatron was quick to violate the spirit of the alliance. Radical Time
Under Sixshot's command, the Decepticon Guard and Team Stream allied with Pyra Magna's Companions to defeat Exarchon, sealing him within the last Titan spark that Pyra then destroyed. As a show of respect, Sixshot allowed the Autobots to depart the Sonic Canyons in peace. War's End Part Four
Following the rust worms and Insecticons being turned on each other, End of Time the Decepticons launched a final attack on the Autobot refuge of Darkmount. Though they came very close to preventing the Autobots from escaping, Computron managed to hold off the advancing army long enough for the Autobot ships to launch, leaving Cybertron as a Decepticon world. Fate of Cybertron
Transformers/Ghostbusters
While the Autobots fled Cybertron at the end of the Great War, Decepticon High Command was visited by Gozer who proceeded to take Starscream's form and attack Cybertron. Though the Decepticons fought back, they found their power outmatched by the invader. Unable to flee, Megatron was approached by Kremzeek the Scavenger who had come seeking the AllSpark, shuttled off Cybertron by the recently departed Autobots. Bargaining with the Decepticon leader, Kremzeek turned Decepticon High Command into ghosts, leaving the Decepticon army to be destroyed by Gozer along with their planet. Ghosts of Cybertron Part 1 Ghosts of Cybertron Part 2 Ghosts of Cybertron Part 4
When Kremzeek was defeated on Earth, his Decepticon prisoners were freed. Ghosts of Cybertron Part 4 Though Optimus offered to use the AllSpark to revive them, Megatron attacked his arch-foe in a vengeful fury, even dreaming of possessing Optimus and using the Autobots to rebuild the Decepticon Empire, before he was detained in a ghost trap. Soundwave and Shockwave were likewise imprisoned by the Ghostbusters while Starscream fled the planet. In the aftermath, Optimus took the Decepticon ghosts with him, hoping to one day rehabilitate and resurrect them, while Ectotron opted to patrol the galaxy for any more Decepticon spectres that might be out there. Ghosts of Cybertron Part 5
Transformers vs. The Terminator
In the original timeline, in the year 1984, the Decepticons aboard the Ark awoke first, taking advantage of the situation to execute their Autobot foes. Free of any resistance, the Decepticons conquered Earth, defeating Skywatch, an organization born to challenge them, and forcing its supercomputer, Skynet, to surrender some time prior to the year 2029. Skynet was later executed by Starscream in 2029 when it was found to have only feigned surrender. Enemy of My Enemy Part Two
Before its death, Skynet had succeeded in constructing a time displacement device, sending a lone T-800 unit back in time to destroy the Decepticons before they could awake in 1984. Enemy of My Enemy Part One
While the unit arrived too late to prevent the Decepticons' reactivation, and lacked the capability to destroy them, its interference allowed the Autobots to survive, the Decepticons withdrawing from the Ark as a result. After scouting the nearby area, they launched an attack on a Cyberdyne Systems facility, Enemy of My Enemy Part Two where they clashed with the Autobots once again. Enemy of My Enemy Part Three
By interrogating the personnel of Cyberdyne Systems, Starscream had managed to deduce that the T-800 was from the future and threatened to destroy the humans unless it worked with him. Though the android deduced that the hostages were expendable, it agreed to work with Starscream. When the Seeker attacked Soundwave, the chaos allowed the Autobots to overpower the Insecticons, turning the tide of the battle against the Decepticons. When Starscream tried to turn the time traveller against Megatron, the Decepticon leader contemptuously hurled the interloper back at Starscream, downing the traitor but leaving Megatron open to a crippling attack from Optimus. After Soundwave had chased off Starscream, only to then be downed by the T-800 and Sarah Connor, the Autobots hurled the T-800 into Megatron's open wound, destroying the tyrant from within.
Taking their prisoners back to the Ark, the Autobots discovered that the duplicitous T-800 had destroyed their ship. With no means of returning to Cybertron, Optimus proposed that the Autobots and Decepticons work together for the time being, a truce that Thundercracker, Skywarp, Bombshell and Skrapnel agreed to. Enemy of My Enemy Part Four
War for Cybertron Trilogy cartoon
My Little Pony/Transformers
As they fought to hold a malfunctioning space bridge, the portal suddenly activated and dragged the Decepticons and their foes to the land of Equestria. Upon arrival, Megatron aligned himself with Queen Chyrsalis, the one whose magic had brought the Cybertronians to Equestria. Transformation Is Magic The nature of their arrival however had left the Decepticons scattered across the land, forcing Megatron to rally them. Pet Sounds
After the Decepticons had indulged in some mischief across Equestria, they rallied with the changelings to attack the Crystal Empire only to be met by an Autobot/pony force, the changelings having deliberately misinformed their allies of the ponies' strength. Though the changelings hoped to trap the Decepticons in Equestria and let them raze the land, it was soon discovered that changeling magic was not required to return to Cybertron, Optimus Prime combining the Matrix of Leadership with Twilight Sparkle's magic to send the Decepticons home. While Shockwave reported that the Decepticons had not seized any magical artifacts, he noted it was possible to instead bring magic to Cybertron. Finale
Building a new space bridge, the Decepticons pilfered magical relics from Equestria only for the Seekers to run afoul of Twilight Sparkle and her friends. When the ponies followed to Cybertron, the princess accidentally unleashed a blast of magic that freed the tyrant King Sombra. Using his mind control abilities, the unicorn king enslaved several Decepticons, including Megatron, forcing the remainder of the faction, now under Shockwave's command, to ally with the Autobots for Cybertron's sake. The Magic of Cybertron
After the Cybertronians and Equestrians had worked out how to free Sombra's thralls, The Beauty of Cybertron the alliance attacked the tyrant as he sought to unearth the Titan Scorponok. After the Titan had been destroyed, and Starscream seen off for attempted regicide, Megatron agreed to end hostilities as Cybertron and Equestria moved towards an official trade alliance. Finale
Transformers/Back to the Future
Four million years prior to 1984, the Decepticons boarded the Ark and caused it to crash on Earth, knocking all aboard into stasis lock. When they awoke, both Autobots and Decepticons began a secret war for control of Earth, Transformers/Back to the Future #1 one that the Decepticons had decisively lost by the year 2015. Having used the DeLorean time machine to skip ahead form 1985, Rumble decided that 2015 was unsalvageable and claimed the DeLorean to travel back to 1974 and built up his strength for the next decade before he hacked into the Ark to ensure that it repaired only his fellow Decepticons who executed the prone Autobots. Having no need of two Rumbles however, the Megatron of the new timeline executed the time traveller, sparing his head for the future knowledge it held. Transformers/Back to the Future #2
With none to oppose them, the Decepticons conquered Earth within a year, enslaving its population and forcing the humans to produce energon cubes. Transformers/Back to the Future #1 By 2015, the Decepticons were the absolute masters of Earth, having driven what few Autobots were left into hiding. One Decepticon however, the number-cruncher Gigawatt, found himself unable to tolerate Megatron's needlessly brutality and abandoned the Decepticons, scanning the DeLorean, gaining its time travel abilities, and defecting to the Autobots, hoping to use his new powers to undo Megatron's reign. Transformers/Back to the Future #2
After Doc Brown had repaired Gigawatt's damaged flux capacitor, the turncoat and Marty McFly travelled back to 1984 and activated the Autobots before Rumble arrived, leaving the Decepticons locked in stasis and undoing their reign. When Marty returned home however, he failed to notice the Decepticon emblem on his new pickup truck... Transformers/Back to the Future #4
Last Bot Standing
Led by Galvatron, the Decepticons waged the Great War across the galaxy before the conflict consumed all known sources of energon, ending the war. Last Bot Standing #2
Sometime after the war's end, the Autobot trio of Rodimus, Gripper and Strongarm stumbled onto a pair of Decepticon warships, Last Bot Standing #1 who pursued them to the planet Donnokt. The Autobots managed to pick off the Decepticons until only Fangry and Talon remained. While Talon sought to return to their ship and send out a signal to any remaining Decepticons, Fangry was more interested in Donnokt's energon-sympathetic materials before Rodimus executed the two. Last Bot Standing #4
Elsewhere in the universe, the ex-Decepticon Steeljaw assumed command of a pack of Cybertronian survivors who rebuilt themselves to run on biofuel, the pack shedding their factional allegiances in spite of still wearing their insignias. Last Bot Standing #2 When the pack arrived on Donnokt, Steeljaw, upon being informed that Rodimus had destroyed their biofuel and left them with no way to return to energon, decided to destroy Donnokt and die like a Decepticon before Rodimus killed him. Last Bot Standing #4
Energon Universe
Many years ago, underwent an energy crisis following a long period of peace. During this time, the Decepticons rose to power, waging a war against the Autobots defending the planet's old ways of peace. After 200 years of fighting, the Autobots attempted to flee Cybertron aboard the Ark, but a group of Decepticons led by their most powerful warrior followed, resulting in the Ark crash landing on Earth. Transformers #2
In the present day, most Decepticons on Cybertron went into stasis to conserve energy, watched over by Shockwave. When Skuxxoid arrived attempting to sell a Quintesson Prosecutor, Shockwave informed the bounty hunter of Cybertron's situation before ordering him to leave before he had the Rockeroid stripped for spare parts for bringing the Quintesson to his world. Void Rivals #4 Meanwhile, the Decepticons aboard the Ark laid dormant underneath Hanger's Rock until Jetfire arrived and unearthed the crashed ship. Jetfire reactivated the ship's computer Teletraan One to revive the ship's inhabitants, Starscream being the first. However, as Jetfire had left Cybertron before the Decepticons rose to power, he had no knowledge of the war and was very surprised to see his old friend immediately execute a dormant Autobot. This also meant that Teletraan One was reviving Transformers indiscriminately, so when Optimus Prime was restored, a fight broke out. Starscream, noticing how the computer was reviving them, ordered the newly restored Skywarp to begin dragging Decepticon warriors to his position as to overwhelm Prime and the Autobots. First was Soundwave and his cassettes, but before any other Decepticons could be revived, Optimus Prime destroyed the computer.
Upset at the computer's destruction, Starscream and Skywarp gave chase to the fleeing Autobots, but had to turn back due to interference from a damaged Jetfire and Skywarp's low energy reserves. Returning to the Ark, Soundwave explained that they did not possess enough Energon or materials to repair Teletraan One or even power themselves, so Starscream had to collect some. Before he left, Starscream asserted his leadership, ordering Soundwave to never mention his name again. Starscream, with Laserbeak's assistance, attacked a local power plant, killed a human worker Transformers #1, and returned with enough energy for the others. The group returned to the plant with an energy converter from the Ark to harvest more energy and terrorize more humans. Starscream intercepted a military jet sent to investigate and was shot in the face by one of its pilots. The crashing jet almost hit Skywarp and Soundwave. Meanwhile, Laserbeak began following a van with a painted headshot of Optimus Prime. Transformers #2
The group returned to the Ark with the materials as Laserbeak attacked the van's driver Carly, only to be intercepted by the Autobot Cliffjumper. The cassette sent a priority alert to the other Decepticons, who were at that time learning from Soundwave that the Earth's materials (or at least those present at the power plant) were not advanced enough to repair Teletraan One. Soundwave attempted to lament on what Megatron would do in the situation before being slapped by Starscream. Upon receiving Laserbeak's alert, Starscream sent Skywarp to deal with the Autobot. Skywarp attacked Cliffjumper and a militia of humans at a local bar, shrugging off the human's firepower with ease. Before he could kill Cliffjumper and Carly, he was met with the arrival of Optimus Prime, and the two did battle. This did not end well for Skywarp once one of the humans was shot. Transformers #3
2001 Robots in Disguise continuity family
In the Robots in Disguise cartoon, the Decepticons were a brand new faction that came into being during the events of the story. Because there were so few Decepticons (only six or seven), and because they were a subset of the Predacon antagonists, they can almost be viewed as a subgroup rather than a proper faction.
The Decepticons were created on Earth when Megatron's forces captured a set of stasis pods from an ancient Transformer spaceship that had been found on Earth, leading to the birth of the Commandos and Scourge. The toy version of Galvatron was also labeled as a Decepticon, although this "change" in the character's faction was only mentioned once in the cartoon series.
For the Hasbro toyline, several other non-show Decepticons were added to the ranks to help fill out the line. It is currently unknown how many, if any, of these Decepticons, share a similar origin to the show's "brainwashed Autobots" origins, though one of them, Axer, is actually a dimension-hopper who arrived from a Generation 1 universe.
In Viron 704.31 Epsilon, Megazarak assumed command of the Decepticons after Megatron's death and led a universal conquest that nearly decimated the Autobot forces. Additionally, the components of Devastator and Dominus Trannis were among the surviving Autobots, only to be brainwashed by the Robo-Smasher and implanted with Predacon personality components. Only Defensor and the remaining Predacons, led by Sky-Byte, were able to defeat this new Decepticon empire and bring the war to a bittersweet end.
Unicron Trilogy continuity family
Cartoon continuity
Armada cartoon
The exact origins of the Decepticon faction are a bit muddled. It is widely assumed, though never directly confirmed, that the movement was founded by Megatron. Also, the enslavement of the power-enhancing Mini-Cons is considered to be the impetus to the Decepticons' rise to a massive multi-planet-spanning army, though at what point in the war this occurred is unclear; it's possible the Mini-Cons' arrival was what gave Megatron the opportunity to rise to power, or that they arrived after the war had already begun.
Either way, the Mini-Cons fueled the war machine for centuries, and the war with the Autobots soon spread from Cybertron to other worlds. The self-imposed exile of the Mini-Cons to an unknown destination was seen as a major setback for the Decepticons (and something of a pyrrhic victory for the Autobots), but despite this, the war continued, as both sides had amassed a large enough power base to continue on without the little buggers.
The Autobots and Decepticons seemed to fight to a stalemate, neither able to gain a distinct advantage over the other. When a signal reached Cybertron centuries later that the Mini-Cons had landed on Earth, it seemed neither side was capable of sending a full force to retrieve them, despite the power they contained. Though the Decepticon force sent to Earth was small in numbers, it was far from insignificant; Megatron himself led the squad, backed by some of his most trusted warriors.
When Megatron returned to Cybertron, the overwhelming majority of the Mini-Cons were in the protective custody of the Autobots, but Megatron was unfazed; he had assembled the Mini-Cons required to make the three legendary weapons: the Star Saber, Skyboom Shield and Requiem Blaster. Bolstered by this new power and the apparent death of Optimus Prime, Megatron attempted to take Cybertron once and for all.
But Megatron's (now calling himself Galvatron) return to Cybertron was the beginning of the end of the Decepticon army. When Unicron revealed himself as a threat to both armies, fueled by the negative psychic energies from centuries of death and destruction, the two sides eventually joined to beat back the planet-eater. Despite the truce, Galvatron and Prime engaged in a brutal duel on the surface of the weakened Unicron after the three legendary weapons had been removed from his core. Realizing their battle was keeping Unicron active, Galvatron sacrificed himself, and both Unicron and Galvatron disappeared into nothingness.
Energon cartoon
Galvatron's final orders to his troops still stood: work with the Autobots. The Decepticons maintained a degree of autonomy, still wearing the faction sigil and often taking military/defensive positions in the growing number of energon-mining colonies, but they were ultimately answerable to Optimus Prime and the Autobots. There were, of course, dissenters, most of whom were captured and imprisoned. For a decade, Autobot and Decepticon worked side by side in a somewhat stable truce.
Both sides found themselves the target of attacks from Unicron again; hordes of Terrorcon drones, sent by Alpha Quintesson to steal energon ore with which to revive the now-shattered husk of Unicron. What the alien did not count on was that Galvatron's spark had survived within the remains, and was siphoning energon from Unicron's body. Soon the Decepticon leader revived himself in a new form,(calling himself Megatron again) drove off Alpha Quintesson, and along with an elite cadre of soldiers and a seemingly inexhaustible supply of mindless Terrorcon drones, began his new plans for conquest.
When news of Megatron's return reached Cybertron, hundreds of Decepticons rose up and rebelled, eager to get back to conquering. But having been joined to Unicron for so long apparently had given Megatron a taste of godhood; he had no more interest in amassing a galaxy-spanning army of troops. Countless Decepticons died in the resulting battles, with Megatron more than willing to sacrifice them without a thought to attain ultimate power for himself. As "the Powerlinx Battles" -as they came to be called- came to their climax, Megatron (calling himself Galvatron again) found that his actions and thoughts were being influenced and controlled by the dark spark of Unicron. Unwilling to let Unicron stand in his way, Galvatron ultimately sacrificed himself (again) and seemingly destroyed Unicron's spark by plunging himself into a newly formed energon sun created by Primus.
Cybertron cartoon
What little remained of the once-mighty Decepticon army after Megatron's loss was at best a loose association of criminals, thugs, and lunatics, with no real political or military power to speak of. For a decade, Cybertron was once again at peace, with the population overwhelmingly Autobot or neutral. The Transformers had withdrawn from Earth and its other colonies to focus on revitalizing their homeworld after the devastation of the Powerlinx Battles. However, two great catastrophes shattered this peace; the energon sun collapsed in on itself, forming the powerful black hole known as the Unicron Singularity, which threatened to devour Cybertron and, if left unchecked, the entire universe... and the return yet once again of Megatron, who had absorbed much of what remained of Unicron's power.
Megatron's goal of attaining godhood was now at hand. By obtaining the legendary Omega Lock and the four Cyber Planet Keys, Megatron intended to accelerate the growth of the black hole, consuming the universe in a vast sea of nothingness that only he would survive, then use his powers to re-create the universe in his image.
To this end, he had no need of an army. He gathered a small group of allies and lackeys to seek the items he needed, but they were nothing more than pawns to him, to be used and discarded at a whim.
The Decepticons briefly regained their status as a mass army of individuals when Starscream, who had long suffered at Megatron's hands since the beginning of the Decepticons, made his own bid for ultimate power with the help of the Planet X agent Sideways. Having sealed Megatron and his troops in a trap, Starscream freed hundreds of criminal Transformers who had been locked up on Earth for millennia, and formed his own globe-spanning army. The Decepticon "Monsters" were tasked with finding the Omega Lock and Earth's Cyber Planet Key, which they eventually brought to their leader. However, numerous Decepticons were killed in the battles with the Autobots, and it soon became apparent that Starscream, like Megatron before him, didn't care. Most of these criminals soon abandoned Starscream and went into hiding.
As for Megatron, he too had deserters among his own considerably small ranks. Most notably, the powerful Scourge, leader of the Jungle Planet and the colossal Menasor from Gigantion, both of whom eventually joined forces with their former enemies the Autobots.
This was not seen as a concern for Megatron, however, as by this time Starscream and his allies were seemingly destroyed on Gigantion, and Megatron (now calling himself "Galvatron" again) had the Omega Lock and all four Keys. What few Decepticons remained loyal to him were too stupid to see what Galvatron had planned, and made perfect distractions as he set his final plan in motion. If they weren't strong enough to survive the coming cataclysm, then so be it.
Ultimately, Galvatron's plan failed, and the Unicron Singularity was sealed. His remaining Decepticons quickly left him, realizing what was likely to have happened to them, and eventually joined the Autobots. After Galvatron's seemingly-final defeat and death in a one-on-one duel with Optimus Prime on Cybertron's moon, the Decepticons, not knowing when to quit, rose again, albeit in a rather pathetic fashion. Having cobbled together a rather rickety rocket, Ransack, Crumplezone and Thunderblast shanghaied the reluctant Thundercracker, who was really keen on being on the winning side for once, and flew off to parts unknown as the "New Decepticon Army".
They made it to Mars before the rocket crash-landed.
Meanwhile, the Autobot Wing Saber reported form a deep-space recon mission that he thought he had picked up traces of Starscream, seemingly backed up by Sideways and Soundwave. Landmine and the former Decepticon Mudflap raced off to join Wing Saber and investigate...
Dreamwave Armada continuity
Dreamwave Armada comic
Founded by Megatron, the exact number of the original Decepticons is unknown. Using the Mini-Cons as weapons, they were able to conquer Cybertron and force the Autobots underground. Eventually they were beaten due to the arrival of Unicron: his heralds slaughtered the entire Decepticon base on Cybertron, and the Chaos-Bringer's arrival forced them to join forces with the Autobots. With Megatron shot dead during the Unicron battle, the peace held for a period of years.
Live-action film series
The origins of these Decepticons began when the Fallen turned on his brother Primes in an attempt to seize power at the cost of humanity's existence. One account has it that the Fallen gathered a small army of construction drones to assist him and named them Decepticons. Tales of the Fallen issue 3 Either way, he would become known as the first Decepticon and would go on to become the Sidious to Megatron's Vader Revenge of the Fallen, tempting the latent aggressive edge in the Protector. Filled with dreams of power and paranoia of losing that power, Megatron reformed the Cybertron defense force into a massive engine of war, ready to wipe out entire alien species who would dare challenge them.
When science leader Optimus Prime's opposition became known, Megatron branded them traitors and declared his followers to be the Decepticons. Soon after, The Fallen commanded Megatron to build the Nemesis, a ship that would carry his sarcophagus and Decepticon soldiers in their search for the Matrix of Leadership left on Earth. Megatron was commanded to remain on Cybertron, so Soundwave commanded the expedition. Most of the Decepticons left Cybertron, leaving Megatron with a reduced, but still potent, army. Defiance
The Decepticons began the war, destroying any who defied them. When the Allspark was thrown into space, Megatron followed after it, eventually landing on Earth, where he became frozen. Transformers Despite the absence of their supreme leader, the Decepticons were able to conquer Cybertron and drive the Autobots off-world while operating under the joint leadership of Shockwave and Soundwave. In 1987, Shatter and Dropkick learnt that Optimus Prime was planning to regroup the Autobots on Earth while torturing B-127 "Bumblebee", and attempted to summon the Decepticon fleet and bait a trap for the rebels, only to be slain before they could make the transmission. Bumblebee
Starscream began a search for Megatron and the AllSpark. After a while, Starscream began to focus more on the AllSpark, hoping Megatron would remain lost, something the other Decepticons began to suspect. Ghosts of Yesterday In 2003, Starscream's retrieval team made their way to Mars, destroyed the Beagle 2 Rover and made their way to Earth. Movie Prequel
In 2007, the Decepticons began to make their presence known, with Blackout destroying SOCCENT Forward Operations Base in Qatar, searching for information on Megatron and the AllSpark. A few days later, Frenzy hacked Air Force One's computers. Although he was unable to find out the truth about Sector Seven, he avoided detection and managed to get a clue in Sam Witwicky, whose ancestor Archibald Witwicky had discovered Megatron a century earlier. His glasses had been marked with coordinates to the AllSpark's location, so Barricade and Frenzy attempted to confront the boy. Although they were defeated by Bumblebee and Mikaela Banes, Frenzy hid in Mikaela's purse, and accompanied them to Hoover Dam, where Megatron and the AllSpark were hidden. As Starscream ordered the Decepticons to mobilize, Frenzy shut down the temperature controls while Starscream destroyed the external generators. Megatron was freed, but Bumblebee took the Cube with a group of survivors from Blackout's attack to Mission City, meeting with Optimus Prime's Autobots along the way. In the Battle of Mission City, Megatron and most of the Decepticons were killed and the AllSpark believed destroyed. Transformers
After the battle of Mission City, Starscream, who had survived, stole Frenzy's remains to access whatever information the humans had on the AllSpark to build his own AllSpark. Returning to Cybertron, Starscream proclaimed himself Decepticon leader and began building the replica. One month later, the replica was ready, but it didn't work properly and Dreadwing made a coup attempt. Starscream barely survived and made his way back to Mars, questioning his purpose. The Reign of Starscream
When he received word that the Autobots would be helping the humans destroy Megatron's remains, and hoping to destroy Prime, Megatron, and the traitor Wreckage all at once, Starscream returned to Earth. Although he managed to destroy Wreckage, Prime had already left with Megatron's body. Just as he defeated Bumblebee, Starscream received word from Soundwave, who had brought the Nemesis to Earth's solar system. After meeting up with Soundwave, Starscream explained the situation, and returned to the Nemesis to awaken the remaining Decepticons and oversee the spawning of more hatchlings while Soundwave lead a scout team to Earth. Transformers: Alliance Over the next two years, the Decepticons under Soundwave's command searched for the Tomb of the Primes, which housed the Matrix needed to activate the solar harvester only to be opposed by the Autobot/human task force NEST.
In 2009, Soundwave discovered Megatron's resting place in the Laurentian Abyss and the presence of an AllSpark shard on Diego Garcia. Dispatching Ravage and the Constructicons, the Decepticons managed to restore Megatron's Spark and bring him back to life. Returning to the Decepticon flagship, the Nemesis, Megatron learned from the Fallen that the AllSpark's knowledge was now within Sam Witwicky's mind, who had destroyed the Cube when he killed Megatron. Further commanded to kill Optimus Prime, Megatron captured the boy. Although the boy escaped, Megatron, Starscream and Grindor battled Optimus, and Megatron eventually managed to kill the last Prime. Megatron then decided that a show of force was needed to compel the humans to turn Sam over to them. The Fallen lead Decepticon protoforms to Earth and then broadcast a message demanding the humans turn over Sam. Sam was eventually found in Egypt, where the harvester was hidden under a pyramid. In Egypt, a battle took place around the pyramids. Although the Fallen managed to reclaim the Matrix, it had already been used to resurrect Optimus, who was then made super-powerful by being fused with Jetfire, a Decepticon-turned Autobot. Optimus Prime then destroyed the harvester and confronted the Fallen, slaying the ancient Decepticon after a short, but vicious fight with him. Seeing his master's demise, Megatron, who had been severely injured during the battle, retreated with Starscream, vowing revenge. Revenge of the Fallen
After three years of relative quiet, the Decepticons returned to NEST's radar when they enacted a scheme decades in the making, luring Optimus to the crashed Ark on the Moon. Optimus revived Sentinel Prime, who soon revealed that he had joined up with Megatron to restore Cybertron. Sentinel activated his space bridge, bringing forth an army of Decepticons who had hidden on the Moon. Sentinel issued an ultimatum to humanity: deport the Autobots from Earth or be destroyed. Humanity complied and the Autobots left in their spacecraft, but Starscream destroyed the ship once their human operative Dylan Gould learned they would leave without a fight. The Decepticons then stormed Chicago, slaughtering thousands of humans and made the city into a fortress impenetrable to the human military. Decepticons scattered across the globe to get Sentinel Prime's pillars in place, so that they could create a space bridge large enough to bring Cybertron to Earth, enslaving humanity to reconstruct their home.
However, the Autobots had survived the destruction of their ship, foreseeing the Decepticons' treachery, and with the help of Sam Witwicky and a small crew of human allies, began a great battle to destroy Sentinel's space bridge. In the ensuing battle, the majority of the Decepticons' chain of command was killed off before the Autobots took the fight to Sentinel once the control pillar was temporarily disabled. After a brief duel with Optimus, Sentinel ordered the Decepticons' entire Orbital Assault Carrier fleet to attack his former pupil. With Sentinel battling the majority of the Autobots, the OAC's attacking Optimus, and the Wreckers engaging the incoming terrestrial Decepticons, Gould was left to reactivate the control pillar. Though he succeeded, he was killed by Sam, and the pillar was destroyed, taking Cybertron, the Decepticons' remaining air force, and the space bridge with it. Sentinel attempted to escape, but was intercepted by Optimus and they fought once again. Although Sentinel managed to defeat Optimus, he was attacked and grievously wounded by Megatron, who sought to regain the power he had lost in the past few years. Megatron then asked for peace, but Optimus refused and seemingly killed the tyrant once and for all. Sentinel Prime was then executed by Optimus Prime. Dark of the Moon
Unfortunately, this Autobot victory was quickly negated when Harold Attinger created Cemetery Wind, a secret CIA cabal who began hunting down all Autobots and Decepticons left around the globe, with the help of Lockdown, a Cybertronian bounty hunter. Five years later, less than a dozen Transformers from either faction had survived the hunt. Though both factions were being slaughtered, Attinger claimed he was only hunting Decepticons, and their remains were sent to Kinetic Solutions Incorporated to be melted down to be made into new Transformers remote-controlled by humans. Megatron's head was recovered from Chicago, but no one except Brains discovered that the Decepticon leader had survived, and was biding his time by secretly worming his way into KSI's military prototype, Galvatron. Megatron also gave his new body operational control of the other fifty drones KSI had built. This was all in order to obtain the Seed that Lockdown would eventually pay Attinger and KSI with in exchange for help in apprehending Optimus Prime, so that Megatron could cyberform a large city to announce his return and build a massive army.
Optimus only became aware of Galvatron's true nature after doing battle with the drone, and passed the knowledge on to his human ally Cade Yeager. Yeager tried to warn Joshua Joyce of Galvatron's plot regarding the Seed, but it was too late, and Galvatron rebelled, christening the drones he took control of Decepticons. The Autobots came to rescue Joyce and the Seed in Hong Kong, but Galvatron set his army upon them, sparking a large battle. Hound and Bumblebee were nearly overwhelmed by the Decepticons until Optimus arrived with the Dinobots, decimating the majority of them. The last few Decepticons were killed when Optimus detonated one of Lockdown's grenades. Galvatron, having escaped the battle when the Dinobots arrived, headed off for parts unknown, his plans temporarily stymied. Age of Extinction
Over the next few years, new Decepticons continued to arrive on Earth, but soon fell into disarray without a leader. Several Decepticons were killed in skirmishes with humans and Autobots, while others were captured by the TRF. After years of anarchy, Galvatron returned to Earth with a new body and reverted to his Megatron persona, now serving Quintessa in her plan to restore Cybertron at the cost of destroying Earth. Megatron initially kept his existence a secret to all except Barricade, who he used as a scout.
Eventually, Megatron came out of hiding and reformed the Decepticon army, negotiating the release of his henchmen Mohawk, Dreadbot, Nitro Zeus, and Onslaught (only settling for the latter when his request for the volatile-even by Decepticon standards-Berserker was denied). The Decepticons and Transformers Reaction Force attacked an Autobot refugee camp, but were forced into a retreat thanks to the efforts of Yeager's team of Autobots and Dinobots, with Mohawk, Onslaught, and Dreadbot perishing during the battle. Decepticons began making their way to Cybertron after Megatron retrieved the Staff of Merlin. However, practically all Decepticons-including Nitro and Infernocus-fell before the combined might of the Autobots, the Transformers Reaction Force, Quintessa's former Guardian Knights, and their other allies as well as the British Armed Forces. Seeing as how Megatron and Barricade's current statuses are unclear, the return of the Decepticons is uncertain. The Last Knight
Titan movie comics
War devastated Cybertron. While the Decepticons were heavily reliant on drone units to bolster their forces and were forced to automate many of their outposts, Lost In Space 3: Ironhide the risk was still too high that they might claim the AllSpark, forcing Optimus Prime to make the desperate decision to launch the AllSpark into deep space. Megatron obsessively followed after it, and disappeared. Prelude: Optimus Prime
Alternate timeline
Animated continuity family
Around 1 billion years ago, the Destrons emerged as a new faction on the Protectobot governed Cybertron. Led by Devron, the Third Cybertronian War was fought between the Destrons and the Protectobots (who were led by the new leader Nova Magnus). The Destrons emerged victorious, though many Cybertronian records were forever lost due to the Great Purge. The AllSpark Almanac II
The Decepticons came to prominence as a sub-faction of the Destrons around 70 million years ago. They advocated the use of the AllSpark to bring Cybertron itself to life, that it might serve as a cosmic juggernaut that would allow the Transformers to return to the era of expansion and colonization of other worlds they had enjoyed nearly 700 million years beforehand. When the Decepticon leader Megazarak was ousted by charismatic rhetorician named Megatron, tensions finally exploded, and the Autobots and Decepticons went to war for possession of the AllSpark.
After something in the vicinity of six million years of civil war, things reached a crisis point when the Decepticons began a strategic bombing campaign on Cybertron, demanding the AllSpark be turned over in exchange for a cessation of hostilities. The AllSpark Almanac II Rather than give in to Megatron's demands, the Autobots instead sought to put the AllSpark beyond any Cybertronian's reach, launching it randomly through a space bridge to some distant corner of the galaxy, where it was hoped it would never be found. Transform and Roll Out The Autobots pulled a victory only due to their exclusive access to space bridges, Project Omega, and their decision to send the AllSpark into deep space. Defeated, the Decepticons dispersed, and, according to Ultra Magnus, the only sight of them would be an occasional scout ship. In fact, they had been missing for so long, Optimus Prime believed a Decepticon presence was a thing of the past. This was quickly reassessed upon encountering Megatron's crew. The ensuing confrontation over the newly rediscovered AllSpark took Megatron - injured from an assassination attempt by his lieutenant Starscream - and the Autobots to Earth, where Megatron would be sent crashing to Earth. The Autobots' ship crash-landed in Lake Erie, and during the next fifty years, Isaac Sumdac reverse-engineered technology from Megatron's severed head to build a robotic empire. Starscream would follow the AllSpark's trail to Earth, and the Autobots subsequently became heroes, though they were unaware of Sumdac's use of Megatron's technology. Transform and Roll Out
Megatron revived in Sumdac's lab and covertly manipulated the scientist into helping him build a new body, poising as an incapacitated Autobot. Home Is Where the Spark Is His loyal Decepticons Lugnut and Blitzwing arrived on Earth to find him, Lost and Found and when the time was right, helped restore him to a functioning body. Megatron Rising - Part 1 Megatron killed Starscream for his betrayal, but in the ensuing battle with the Autobots, the AllSpark was dispersed across the Detroit area. Though disheartened by the loss of the AllSpark, Megatron kidnapped Sumdac Megatron Rising - Part 2 and downloaded a schematic of an Autobot space bridge, plotting to build one to invade Cybertron from within. The three Decepticons made camp in an abandoned mine that shielded their signals from the Autobots, The Elite Guard, but were surprised when Starscream was reanimated by an AllSpark fragment. Megatron reestablished contact with his double-agent on Cybertron, Shockwave, and ordered his troops around the galaxy to begin attacking the Autobots' space bridges. Mission Accomplished.
Megatron would have his troops go after AllSpark fragments Garbage In, Garbage Out or supplies for his space bridge Rise of the Constructicons. Megatron also ordered a large bounty on the rogue Starscream. A Fistful of Energon When the space bridge was completed, the Decepticons engaged in a fierce three-way battle with the Earthbound Autobots and Starscream's army of clones. Megatron would emerge victorious with the Autobots captured and the Starscream clones defected to his side, though the space bridge ended up malfunctioning and sucked in him and Starscream. A long night of bickering ensued. A Bridge Too Close, Part II
Team Chaar and other Decepticons around the galaxy began succeeding in taking the Autobots' space bridges, but were dismayed when Megatron failed to arrive on Cybertron to begin the invasion. Megatron and Starscream were found by the comatose Omega Supreme, and Megatron cut his losses and cancelled the invasion, seeking to use Omega to conquer Cybertron himself. He was able to bring the Autobot to Earth to attack Optimus Prime's crew, but Ratchet's intervention trapped Megatron and Starscream inside Omega and sent them transwarping around the galaxy randomly. TransWarped
His cover about to be blown, Shockwave mortally injured Ultra Magnus before escaping with the Magnus Hammer, putting Cybertron in disarray. Where Is Thy Sting? Sentinel Prime had Lockdown capture Lugnut, Blitzwing, Sunstorm, Ramjet, and the stasis-locked Swindle for him. Five Servos of Doom However, Swindle would be revived en route to Cybertron, and freed his fellow prisoners, though only he and Lugnut would escape the ship and not be recaptured. Decepticon Air Lugnut found his way to Megatron, and Shockwave brought the group Arcee. This Is Why I Hate Machines The Decepticons returned to Earth and constructed a group of dark clones of Omega Supremes with the codes in Arcee's processor, and attacked Earth. Endgame, Part I Autobots and Decepticons did battle; Ratchet led a team to rescue Arcee and Omega Supreme, while Bulkhead and Bumblebee defeated and captured Lugnut and Shockwave. Starscream took control of the Lugnut Supremes, rigging them to blow and destroy Detroit. Prowl and Jazz reconstructed the AllSpark, killing Starscream once and for all, and managed to use the power of the AllSpark to save Detroit. Megatron was captured by Optimus, and the Autobots returned to Cybertron with the Decepticon leader, Lugnut, and Shockwave as prisoners. Endgame, Part II
Megatron and his men would be incarcerated in Trypticon Prison, and Strika took command of the Decepticons for the time being. She ordered Team Stunticon to break out Megatron, but when they failed, Strika led an invasion of Cybertron's Energon farms. The Stunti-Con Job
Shattered Glass
Fun Publications Shattered Glass continuity
The Decepticons began as a resistance group, rallied by the mathematician Megatron against Optimus Prime's conquests. After managing to conquer back some portions of Cybertron, the Decepticons invented transformation as a means to hide in plain sight. When the Decepticons attempted to destroy the Autobot flagship, the Ark, they were aided by Cliffjumper from another universe who helped them succeed before joining their ranks. Shattered Glass
When a group of Decepticons stranded on Earth made contact with Cybertron, Megatron opened diplomatic relations with the organic planet. Transhuman After Megatron had been reborn as Galvatron, another group of refugees from Cliffjumper's universe led by Ultra Mammoth joined the Decepticons in their fight. Falling into Place
The Decepticons eventually established Decepticon City on Earth Distant Fissures where Galvatron, thanks to Rodimus' trickery, was able to deal a fatal barrage to Optimus Prime, forcing the Autobots to retreat. Memory's Splinter Restoration
As the Decepticons followed back to Cybertron, the planet revealed itself as the alternate mode of Primus, the Order Bringer attacking the displaced Earth of Primax 207.0 Epsilon for its infringing on his perfect order. The Decepticons failed to match their creator's godly power, the deity only falling when Earth revealed itself as Gaea who, with aid from the Knights of Unicron, defeated the Order Bringer. After Gaea had transformed into a New Cybertron, the Decepticons settled onto the new planet as peacekeepers. The Future Buried... Though the war was considered over, the Decepticons and their dimensionally displaced allies still hunted for Rodimus' cell and Megatron's counterpart trying to rebuild his own Decepticons. Divination
IDW Shattered Glass continuity
The Decepticons began as a civil rights group protesting the corrupt rule of the Senate. When the political tensions of the time devolved into a full-scale war, the Decepticons fought against the ruling class of Autobots. When the fighting spread off-world, Megatron crashed on Earth, followed by the rest of the Decepticons who discovered that Earth was home to Rarified Energon. The Autobots followed and continued the war on Earth. Despite the Decepticons' best efforts, they were outmatched, being forced to retreat as Megatron fought a delaying action. The Decepticons returned to Cybertron only for the Autobots to follow. Being defeated once again, the rudderless Decepticons scattered across Cybertron's underground. Megatron eventually managed to return to Cybertron but upon seeing the planet's sorry state, he set himself up as a hermit, instructing his former lieutenants not to contact him. Shattered Glass #2
After Starscream had found that his spark could be used to awaken the Titan Metroplex, he sought out Megatron. Convincing his former leader to restart the fight, the two infiltrated Gold City to meet with Soundwave and send out a rallying call only for Goldbug's forces to capture Starscream. Shattered Glass #3
While Skywarp and the Insecticons mounted an ultimately unsuccessful rescue mission into Goldbug's fortress, Shattered Glass #4 Megatron rallied the rest of his scattered forces. Though the Decepticons managed to conquer Gold City, Goldbug had managed to kill Starscream and claim his spark. As the Decepticons began to rebuild, Megatron offered Jetfire a chance to join them and help reclaim Starscream's spark. Shattered Glass #5
By the time that Ultra Magnus had overthrown Optimus Prime, the Decepticons had rechristened Gold City as "New Kaon". On Magnus' orders, Blaster infiltrated New Kaon to take out the Decepticons' long-range communications. When he failed in this task, the Wreckers beheaded him and used his severed head to listen in on the Decepticons' movements. Shattered Glass II #2
Using Starscream's spark, Goldbug managed to reactivate Metroplex, Shattered Glass II #3 the Decepticons massing at the feet of the Titan as he marched towards New Kaon. Shattered Glass II #4 Soundwave and Jetfire eventually managed to remove Starscream's spark from Metroplex, sending him back to stasis. As Soundwave began his march home, he reflected that the Decepticons would never stop in their fight for freedom. Shattered Glass II #5
Aligned continuity family
| “ | Sometimes deception is necessary, when those who should listen to the truth will not, and will only understand once they have been lied to and forced to see their own lies. | ” |
| —Megatron. | ||
Megatronus, a member of the Thirteen, considered himself the first Decepticon. Lockout He killed Solus Prime Battlegrounds, Part 2 and was imprisoned for it in an alternate dimension. Battlegrounds, Part 1
The Decepticons originated from those in the lower castes of Cybertronian society in the Badlands. Megatron, a gladiator who seized control of all the gladiatorial pits and assumed the name of The Fallen, began preaching to the dispossessed on the Grid. He allowed them to bomb Cybertron and throw their society into chaos, for he rightly believed if he denied any connection to their extremist behavior, it would elevate him in the eyes of the High Council. Even the Seeker Starscream kidnapped Sentinel Prime for him. When the Council questioned Megatron about the movement's name, he denied he had heard of it, though he also accepted it for reasons outlined above.
When Halogen appointed Orion the new Prime, Megatron declared his Decepticons would continue to fight for freedom. During the war they conquered eighty-five percent of the planet, as well as occupying Moon Base One and Trypticon Station, before poisoning the core itself with Dark Energon. When the Autobots left aboard the Ark, Trypticon transformed into the Nemesis and followed them with Megatron, Starscream, Soundwave, and Lugnut into unknown space, while Shockwave took control of the Cybertronian Decepticons. Transformers: Exodus
Prime cartoon
Eons later, Megatron, Starscream, Soundwave, Knock Out, and Breakdown were based on Earth, with a mass-produced Vehicon army. During a three-year lull, Starscream was ordered to build a space bridge and to mine more Energon. Transformers: Prime Megatron returned, but not with the army Starscream had hoped for. Instead he tried to raise an army of Terrorcon zombies to eradicate humanity, but failed and perished in a space bridge implosion, leaving Starscream in command once more. Darkness Rising It emerged he survived, and he was retrieved and placed in sickbay. Masters & Students Meanwhile, Starscream and Soundwave waited for opportunities to pounce on Team Prime with their Vehicons. Con Job Convoy
Breakdown: "What color are their hands now?"
Megatron eventually returned to life, nearly killing Starscream for his part in his near-death in the space bridge explosion. Sick Mind Out of His Head Shadowzone Despite his brush with death, Starscream continued to secretly operate against Megatron Operation: Breakdown, which came to a grinding halt when Megatron forced him to beg for his life in an abandoned Energon mine. Rock Bottom Finding neither respect from Megatron following this incident nor mercy from the Autobots, as well as seemingly being replaced by former rogue Airachnid, Starscream abandoned the Decepticons, becoming neutral, and leaving Airachnid to take his place. Partners
Seeking to attain more Dark Energon to coincide with a prophecy that he interpreted as his own destiny in the Covenant of Primus, Megatron raced to complete a second space bridge. Optimus Prime sought to stop this plot by finally ending the Decepticon leader's lifeOne Shall Fall, but a larger problem became apparent. Following an explosion of Dark Energon from a volcano, it was surmised that Unicron was awakening at the Earth's core. Rejected from Unicron's service,One Shall Rise, Part 1 Megatron formed a shaky alliance with Optimus One Shall Rise, Part 2 to defeat the Chaos Bringer. During this time, acting Decepticon leader Airachnid attempted to abandon Megatron to Unicron's wrath, but following a humiliating defeat at the hands of Soundwave, relinquished command to the communications officer. With the power of the Matrix of Leadership, Optimus was able to defeat Unicron. However, Optimus' surrender of the Matrix's power also lost him his memories of being a Prime, and he took upon his old 'Orion Pax' persona. One Shall Rise, Part 3 Megatron took advantage of Orion's amnesia, setting him to work on Project Iacon, to find various relics from Cybertron hidden on Earth. Orion Pax, Part 1 Eventually, however, the Autobots were successful in restoring Orion Pax to Optimus Prime, halting work on the project. Orion Pax, Part 3
Former Seeker captain Dreadwing arrived on Earth, Loose Cannons and was promoted to second in command following Airachnid's departure and murder of Breakdown (whose remains were recovered by human terrorist organization MECH). Crossfire Airachnid later sent her armada of Insecticons to kill Megatron, but following her defeat at the hands of Arcee, the Insecticons were freed from her control and then integrated into Megatron's forces. However, Bulkhead's actions caused the Nemesis to crash on Earth, Armada prompting Megatron to use Dark Energon to repair the ship. Unexpectedly, the Dark Energon enhanced Nemesis gained sentience, and disabled the Decepticons and worked to complete Project Iacon and collect the relics around the world. Through the efforts of the Autobots' human allies, the ship's sentience was defeated, but had already located four Iacon relics. Flying Mind The Decepticon forces were sent to the four locations around the world: Knock Out and an Insecticon to New York City, Tunnel Vision Dreadwing to Antarctica, Triangulation Soundwave to a forest, Triage and Hardshell to a volcano around the equator. Toxicity Knock Out, Dreadwing, and Hardshell's endeavours all end in failure, Soundwave being the only victorious one. Triage After mistakenly reporting Bulkhead's destruction to Megatron, Hardshell was himself destroyed by a vengeful Wheeljack and Miko. Hurt
Breakdown's remains were used to save the mortally wounded Nemesis Prime MECH leader Silas - to Megatron and Knock Out's disgust - who attempted to join the Decepticon ranks, but when his offering of Project Damocles was destroyed by the Autobots, he was hauled away for dissection by Knock Out. The effort did bear fruit in that the location of Raf Esquivel's home was discovered,The Human Factor narrowing down the location of the Autobot base. Hard Knocks. The Decepticons lost the upper hand briefly when Optimus acquired the Star Saber Legacy, but the blade was destroyed by Megatron's knock-off Dark Star Saber. Additionally, the Decepticons found the existence of the Omega Keys on Earth, though they were unaware of their true function. Alpha/Omega. Knock Out successfully retrieved a Key, while Dreadwing lost one, but it turned out new Autobot recruit Smokescreen is the final Key, and was promptly kidnapped by Soundwave. Hard Knocks Megatron learned of the Omega Keys' ability to revive Cybertron, but Smokescreen made off with the two Keys the Decepticons possessed. However, the rogue Starscream was able to steal all three Autobot Keys, and proposed to use them as a bargaining chip to return to the Decepticons. Inside Job
Naturally, Megatron was less than convinced of Starscream's loyalty, and watched his memories via cortical psychic patch to find his true motives. While evidence of Starscream's treachery was rampant, Megatron allowed him to return since the Decepticons must be united to revive Cybertron. However, Dreadwing was enraged and disillusioned by Megatron's pardon, since his leader was apathetic to Skyquake becoming one of the undead, Patch but his attempt to murder Starscream was halted when Megatron killed him with his own blaster. Starscream returned to his position of second-in-command, and worked out the location of the Omega Lock on Cybertron. Megatron battled the Autobots on their home planet, lost the Keys, but Starscream, Knock Out and Soundwave kidnapped the Autobots' human allies and held them hostage. Regeneration The Autobots handed over the Keys in exchange for the children, and Megatron turned the power of the Omega Lock on Earth to cyberform it. Optimus used the Star Saber to destroy the Omega Lock and all hope of restoring Cybertron, but Megatron launched a full-scale invasion of the Earth from his new fortress of Darkmount, with his first act of aggression being destroying the Autobot base. Darkest Hour
In the wake of the Autobots' defeat, and having found no corpses in the base's remains, the Decepticons increased global surveillance to find them - also dealing a similarly devastating blow against the United States military with its fusion cannons. Megatron feigned a desire for peace to the US government, a cover for his eventual violent conquest of Earth. A search on Cybertron for the missing relics turned up Shockwave, Darkmount, NV who is quickly reinstated into the Decepticon command structure as first lieutenant of all scientific endeavors, to Starscream's chagrin. Efforts to find the Autobots resulted only in failure, leading Shockwave to unleash the massive Predacon he cloned, Predaking to hunt down the Autobots, Scattered only for it to come home empty-handed. Prey The Autobots were able to spread the Decepticon ranks thin and away from Darkmount, and the newly arrived Ultra Magnus lead the regrouped team to assault the fortress. The attack was eventually halted and the Autobots were taken prisoner, only for an upgraded Optimus Prime to arrive and single-handedly turn the tide. Earth's military was able to bring Darkmount crumbling to the ground, forcing the Decepticons to go on the defense and return to using the Nemesis as their base of operations. Rebellion
The Decepticons turned their efforts to cloning, and enjoyed a string of successful ventures to retrieve Predacon fossils to engineer an army of the extinct beasts thanks to the efforts of Shockwave and Soundwave, Project Predacon the Predacon, Chain of Command and Knock Out. Plus One Jealous of Megatron's favoring Shockwave, Starscream coerced Knock Out to create an army of super soldiers with a mix of Dark and Synthetic Energon, starting with the imprisoned Cylas. However, this only created a new form of Terrorcon that craved and drained Energon from a victim, starting a plague that threatened the entire ship. The Decepticons struggled to repel the infected, until Cylas freed Airachnid from her stasis pod. The former prisoner killed Cylas and called the Insecticons to rejoin her, but Airachnid's latest attempt to overthrow Megatron was put down by Soundwave, who bridged her and her army to a dead moon of Cybertron. The crisis weakened the Decepticons with the loss of the Insecticons and the infected Vehicons, having depleted more than half of their military strength. Shockwave subsequently speeded up progress on Project Predacon, Thirst but Predaking revealed his sentience and ability to transform on the verge of the project's completion. The former beast asked to lead the coming Predacons on Megatron's behalf, but the Decepticon leader and his command staff knew better than to give him control of a more powerful army than the depleted Decepticons. Following a plot engineered by Starscream, the Decepticons allowed the Autobots to destroy the Predacons before they escape their pods, to Predaking's horror and rage. The destruction of the lab, coupled with the presence of Synthetic Energon, resulted in the lab being filled with pure Cybermatter. Evolution
Shockwave realized the Cybermatter could cyberform entire worlds. Megatron resolved to restore the Omega Lock and rule a cyberformed Earth and a revived Cybertron, but found the synthetic Energon formula was incomplete, and had Ratchet delivered to him by the captured Soundwave, while his lieutenants gathered human technology to repair the Omega Lock. Minus One As the device was being restored, Megatron appealed to Ratchet to finish the synthetic Energon formula, playing on the medic's love for his home to outweigh his reservations about aiding the leader of the Decepticons. Ratchet eventually consented when he was shown the nearly completed Omega Lock Persuasion and soon completed the formula. In return, Megatron turned him over to the vengeful Predaking, but Ratchet - having learned the truth thanks to a slip up from Knock Out - revealed Megatron's plot to wipe out Project Predacon. Predaking turned on the Decepticons and slaughtered countless Vehicons, but was bested by Megatron in combat. Ratchet gave his comrades a way onto the warship, and Megatron mobilized his remaining army for their last stand. Synthesis While Megatron battled Optimus with the Dark Star Saber, Jack and Miko banished Soundwave to the shadowzone on the bridge, while the other Autobots fought to capture the ship. Smokescreen and Bumblebee tried to get the Star Saber to Optimus, but Megatron killed Bumblebee as he tried to do so. However, the scout's corpse, having fallen info the Omega Lock, was revived by the Cybermatter, and ran Megatron through with the Star Saber, finally killing the leader of the Decepticons once and for all. Their leader dead, Shockwave, Starscream, and what few Vehicons remained abandoned ship, while Knock Out attempted to join the winning team. The Nemesis was used to fire the Omega Lock into the Well of All Sparks, and Cybertron was restored. Deadlock
Most of the Vehicons had theoretically surrendered to the Autobots, and were part of an inept crew of construction workers under Bulkhead's watch. Though, not all hope was lost for the Decepticons. Shockwave & Starscream had been moving to the former's labs, cloning more Predacons to overthrow the Autobots in their newly restored home world. However, when Unicron took over Megatron's semi-lifeless body, the two Predacons they had cloned joined Predaking in helping the Autobots save Cybertron from an army of Terrorcon-Predacons headed to corrupt the core once more, after Shockwave had been beaten up by the zombie dragons and encouraged the Predacons' decision. To make matters worse for them, Knock Out, who had been imprisoned by the Autobots, officially joined their side. When the Autobots put a stop to Unicron's plans and trapped Unicron in the AllSpark's container, Megatron officially disbanded the Decepticons after being victim of Unicron's eternal torture and realized the true meaning of oppression. With Starscream all alone, he returned to his roots and decided to take command of the no longer functioning faction, but the Predacons had something in store for their former abuser... Predacons Rising
Rescue Bots cartoon
At some point during the Decepticons' campaign on Earth, Rescue Force Sigma-17 arrived on the planet in response to the message sent into space by Optimus Prime. Prime judged them as not ready to face the Decepticons, and instead stationed them in the technologically advanced town of Griffin Rock. Family of Heroes For their protection, Optimus apparently kept their existence a secret from the Decepticons and seemingly the other Autobots, with the exception of Bumblebee and Ratchet. Bumblebee to the Rescue While the Decepticon empire never touched the island, Optimus and Bumblebee occasionally lent a hand when other threats arose. It's a Bot Time
In an alternate timeline where Doctor Morocco ruled Griffin Rock, Bumblebee mistook the MorBots as Decepticons, only to have Heatwave correct him. Bot to the Future
2015 Robots in Disguise cartoon
At some undetermined point, the Autobot prison ship Alchemor took off from Cybertron, its cargo of stasis pods carrying several hundred of the most-wanted Decepticons, who for some unexplained reason all possessed robot or beast modes based on Earth animals. At least some of them were simply members of naturally-occurring, animal-shaped Cybertronian sub-races, reminiscent of the Insecticons of the Prime cartoon. After Megatron disbanded the Decepticons, any remaining Decepticons seemed to have been forced into hiding or had defected after the planet repopulated with Autobots. Megatron apparently kept his promise about not inflicting any more oppression as he had remained unseen by the time Bumblebee traveled to Earth.
In the aftermath of Cybertron's restoration, the population was overwhelmingly Autobot. Cyclonus and his troops quickly worked to overthrow the High Council and take over Cybertron. With the planet under their control, they began making preparations for the rebirth of the Decepticons. Freedom Fighters
Years later, Megatronus caused the Alchemor to crash on Earth near Crown City, its cargo being scattered around the countryside in the crash. Lockout The Mini-Con Fixit sent a mayday, however on Cybertron, Bumblebee, working as a street cop for the repopulated planet, was instead alerted by a vision of Optimus Prime. Optimus gave Bumblebee a new mission on Earth, sending the young Autobot to the nearest space bridge. Bumblebee unwillingly found himself accompanied to Earth by his cop partner Strongarm and the delinquent Sideswipe. Joined by the ex-Decepticon prisoner Grimlock and two humans — Denny Clay, owner of a vintage salvage depot for the discriminating nostalgist (a scrapyard) and his son Russell — Bumblebee and his team were tasked with tracking down the escaped prisoners and prevent harm coming to Earth or its native population. Pilot (Part 1)
Chief among the threats poised by the Decepticons was the charismatic Steeljaw, who sought to organize the escaped prisoners into an effective cabal to conquer the planet. Trust Exercises Steeljaw first teamed up with Minitron, who took control of Grimlock and was able to snatch Underbite. Though Minitron was captured, Steeljaw made off with Underbite True Colors and made an alliance with the Decepticon criminal, Thunderhoof. As the Kospego Commands! Setting up a base in an abandoned factory, Steeljaw was eventually able to assemble a new team of Decepticons - consisting of Underbite, Thunderhoof, Clampdown, the bounty hunter Fracture (who had initially arrived on Earth to collect a bounty placed on Bumblebee by the High Council). Hunting Season and his Mini-Cons, Airazor and Divebomb. After a short battle with Bumblebee's team, Steeljaw's gang were apprehended by the Autobots, however, Steeljaw was able to free everyone and the team escaped. Sideways
Steeljaw and his "pack" went on to have a series of failed attempts at trying to free the captured Decepticons inside the Autobot's base. Seeking access to the scrapyard, Steeljaw engineered a diversion by using Kickback as bait. While Bumblebee's team was distracted, Steeljaw broke into the scrapyard, and his gang quickly took Fixit, Russell, and Denny hostage. Steeljaw also rigged up a sub-sonic pulse that would disable the Autobots and prevent them from gaining access. Steeljaw tried to get Fixit to free the other Decepticon convicts, Fixit managed to stall long enough for the Autobots to break in and deactivate the sonic weaponry; in the ensuing fight, Steeljaw was defeated yet again by Bumblebee. Back at the Decepticon hideout, Steeljaw exploded at his comrades and ordered them to leave. The arrival of a mysterious entity snapped him out of his funk, and Steeljaw reluctantly agreed to build him a gateway and serve as his minion for the time being. Lockout
Steeljaw and his "pack" searched for materials and constructed a doorway for Megatronus to enter the material world, however the Autobots arrived to stop him and Steeljaw's portal was destroyed by a resurrected Optimus Prime. Despite this, Megatronus successfully made it through Battlegrounds, Part 1 and proceeded with his true plan: to merge the AllSpark and Anti-Spark together to destroy both Earth and Cybertron. With the revelation that the planet he intended to conquer would be destroyed, Steeljaw turned on Megatronus and attempted to fight him, only to be backhanded out of sight. The remaining members of his gang placed in stasis after the death of Megatronus, with Steeljaw and Kickback the only specific Decepticons known to be at large. Battlegrounds, Part 2
After a Groundbridge accident at the scrapyard, Soundwave (who was still trapped in the shadowzone after the end of the war) managed to escape, quickly dispatching the Bee Team. However, with a coordinated attack, he was sent back just as fast as he escaped. Portals
Steeljaw eventually managed to assume control of all Decepticons on Earth, intending to rebuild the Decepticon Empire on the planet, Decepticon Island (Part 1) before he was defeated and all the Decepticons were shipped back to Cybertron. Decepticon Island (Part 2) The High Council freed Steeljaw and a select few others to act as decoys for the Bee Team while they worked to continue their plans. Exiles Freedom Fighters
The High Council eventually sent a quartet of genetically-engineered Activator Mini-Cons to aid Soundwave in escaping from the Shadowzone so he could summon Megatron back home. King of the Hill (Part 2) The Great Divide Railroad Rage Freedom Fighters Soundwave was defeated however and placed in Optimus Prime's custody. Collateral Damage Freedom Fighters
When the Bee Team arrived on Cybertron, they discovered the High Council's true identities and, as a result of Cyberwarp's hesitations, managed to defeat their combined form of Galvatronus, freeing Cybertron from Decepticon control. Strongarm took Cyberwarp's desire for peace as a hopeful sign that Autobots and Decepticons might one day peacefully co-exist on Cybertron. Freedom Fighters
Rescue Bots Academy cartoon
Wedge used to be a Decepticon, but Optimus Prime saw potential in him and got him to join the Autobots. When the Rescue Bot recruits encountered the Decepticon Laserbeak, they assumed he'd be highly dangerous until Wedge told them his own backstory. Perceptor cleared Laserbeak to stay at the academy as his criminal record was clear. More Than Meets The Eye Though Laserbeak believed his past as a Decepticon prevented him from fitting in, the recruits thought otherwise Space Party and Optimus later made him an official Autobot. Crash Of The Titan
Cloud
The Decepticons of Cloud World are made up of the disgruntled cast-offs of Cloud's society of multiversal sentinels, banned from interdimensional travel and exiled from its capital Metropolis to the slums of the Underground.
Cyberverse cartoon
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Megatron established the Decepticons as a political movement, opposing the Cybertronian status quo. Standing alongside the former gladiator as he declared his vision of a Cybertron where all would be one were Starscream, Optimus, Soundwave, Arcee, Ratchet, and Shadowstriker. Optimus, at least, would soon become disillusioned with Megatron's actions, finding his friend's chosen course too violent and power-hungry; after a final confrontation with his old friend where he failed to sway him from his course, he fully broke away to chart a different path. Megatron Is My Hero
Circa 66 million years ago, the Decepticons launched a plan to use Vector Sigma to reprogram the Allspark, Megatron Is My Hero only for the Autobots to send it off Cybertron. Allspark While the Autobots manually searched for the lost Allspark in space, The Journey the Decepticons remained on Cybertron and tracked the artifact remotely. Once it had been tracked to Earth, Starscream sent Slipstream to scout the planet, Fractured while he rallied the Decepticon fleet, Siloed launching an invasion of the planet when the Ark crew had awoken. Eruption
When the Autobots acquired the Allspark and made for Cybertron, the Decepticons returned home via the space bridge, Escape From Earth using Chromia to bait a trap for their foes. The Crossroads
Upon arrival into Cybertronian orbit, Optimus' failure to raise Chromia led him to suspect a trap and set the Ark on autopilot, leaving it to be destroyed by a laser snare, allowing the Autobots to ambush the Decepticons. Battle For Cybertron I Battle For Cybertron II The battle that followed saw the AllSpark restored to the planet's core, the fight ending in a stalemate. Battle For Cybertron IV
Off in space, the Cybertronian species was betrayed by Starscream to the Quintessons The End Of The Universe I with both Autobots and Decepticons ending up trapped in a virtual reality where their sparks were drained. The Loop After Hot Rod's group freed the Cybertronian race, The Scientist the Autobots and Decepticons allied to save their planet. The Alliance Though they managed to destroy the invading Judge and flagship, Starscream revealed himself as the new Judge. The Judge Salvation for the Cybertronian race came from Megatron, who had stolen an alternate version of the Matrix of Leadership. Combining it with Optimus', the two leaders managed to kill Starscream. In the aftermath, Megatron divided Cybertron in two, leading his Decepticons to one hemisphere, The End Of The Universe IV and preparing for the arrival of "the Other One", the alternate version of himself from whom he'd stolen the Matrix from. The Other One
To prepare for his other self's impending invasion, Megatron began fashioning an unspace weapon, his secretiveness causing friction in the ranks. Rack 'n' Ruin 'n' Ratchet After Optimus Prime had been warned by Alchemist Prime to destroy the alternate Matrix, Dweller In The Depths the Autobots invaded Decepticon territory. As the Autobot strike team reached the Decepticon control room, the Other One's Decepticon supersoldiers teleported in. Silent Strike After two waves of the invaders had been defeated, the Other One arrived and reclaimed his Matrix, killing Megatron in the process. Though the Other One was ready to conquer this new reality, his Matrix had been infected by a psychic shard of Windblade who short-circuited the artifact allowing Optimus Prime to paralyze the alternate Megatron who was taken away by Astrotrain. The Other One
With Megatron dead, Shadow Striker and Soundwave assumed command of the Decepticons. Some time after the Other One's demise, the Autobots and Decepticons signed the Treaty of the Wall, ending the Great War. The Immobilizers
Some time afterwards, Cybertron was invaded by the Other One's supersoldiers who, bereft of their master, had begun a civil war for leadership. Optimus and Soundwave were approached by one of the supersoldiers, calling himself Tarn who asked for help in stopping the war. After the Decepticons had first made an attempt to destroy the invaders, Optimus and Soundwave helped Tarn find the Cortex Helm of Onyx Prime only for the supersoldier to take the Helm first using its power to exert control over his brethren before he crowned himself as the new Decepticon leader. As Tarn ordered all Decepticons to kill the other Autobots, he set the supersoldiers against Optimus. When the Prime fell, Tarn prepared to kill Optimus before the Autobots and the non-supersoldier Decepticons joined forces against Tarn. Disgusted by Tarn, Soundwave managed to pry the Helm off him and use it himself, giving the supersoldiers the free will to choose their path. Before Tarn could reclaim the Helm, Soundwave unleashed a massive sonic attack that killed both him and Tarn. With the supersoldiers standing down, Shadow Striker became the Decepticon leader, the two factions now living in peace. The Perfect Decepticon
Alternate universe
In Megatron X's timeline, the tyrant killed Optimus outright when the young Prime refused to stand beside him. Without Optimus to rally the Autobots into a proper resistance, the Decepticons quickly won the Great War. Once Megatron created his Perfect Decepticons, he turned them on the "unneeded" Decepticons, wiping them all out save Astrotrain and the Insecticons. The Other One The Perfect Decepticon
Earthspark cartoon
Under Megatron, the Decepticons originally fought the war on the ideals of creating a more equal Cybertron. With the war's expansion to Earth however, Megatron soon came to realize how far his faction had strayed from his original vision and joined the Autobots in hopes of ending the conflict. When Megatron seemingly destroyed the AllSpark in the final battle of the war on Earth, the Decepticons found themselves stranded on Earth as the SpaceBridge to Cybertron was destroyed along with it. For his actions Megatron was branded a traitor by many of his former soldiers such as Shockwave and Soundwave. Warzone Decoy
Stranded on Earth, Decepticons were forced to go on the run to evade imprisonment by G.H.O.S.T. and had to resort to stealing Energon. Secret Legacy, Part 1 Even high ranking commanders such as Starscream found themselves becoming the prisoners of the Autobot-Human alliance. Decoy Many hapless Decepticons though found themselves working for the anti-Cybertronian scientist, Mandroid, as usually either mind-controlled slaves or as part of a deal to protect them from G.H.O.S.T. Secret Legacy, Part 2 Age of Evolution, Part 1
While as prisoners of G.H.O.S.T., Decepticons such as Skullcruncher found themselves being unwilling experiments that left them severely weakened. When the Terran, Hashtag, inadvertently hacked G.H.O.S.T.'s security systems she ended up disabling the shields of the prison cells containing their Decepticon prisoners, leading to a short-lived prison uprising. Hashtag: Oops
Many Decepticons found themselves participating in underground fighting rings known as "Bot Brawls" done for the amusement of their human audiences, the losers in these fighting bouts being chained to the ceiling and left to die. One of these being run by Mandroid who salvaged Cybertronian body parts from the losers for his own body modifications. Home, Part 1 Following another defeat by the Terrans, Mandroid rendezvoused with G.H.O.S.T. director, Karen Croft, where she formalized a partnership between them to begin constructing more Cybertronian control badges to use at her disposal, offering Mandroid the Decepticon prisoners under her watch as his test subjects. Home, Part 2
Merchandise
Transformers (2007)
Transformers Movie Screen Cleaners
- Decepticon (2008)
- Released by Tomy Yujin on January, this dangler is a faction logo-shaped screen cleaner for your cell phone, with a stock image of Decepticon insignia printed on the other side.
Age of Extinction
- Decepticon Shield (3D Deco Light, 2014)
- A three-dimensional wall light fixture from 3D Light FX in the form of a Movie-style Decepticon insignia. It uses purple LED lights and is battery powered. It comes with a sticker in the form of a wall crack, which is meant to look as though the insignia is somehow breaking through the wall.
Kidrobot
Enamel Pin Series
- Transformers logos (November 3, 2017)
- Rarity: 2 in 20
- Released by Kidrobot in their blindboxed Transformers vs. G.I. Joe Enamel Pin Series, this is a flat, enamel pin badge of the Decepticon symbol, packaged in with a similar Autobot pin in a release called "Transformers logos" [sic].
Icon Heroes
- Decepticon Faction Bookend (2022)
- A set of bookends in the form of the Decepticon insignia made of polystone and produced by Icon Heroes.
Notes
- The suffix "con" is typically attached to Decepticon subgroups, such as the Constructicons and Predacons. Notable exceptions would be the Mini-Cons and Omnicons.
- In an earlier draft of the 2007 movie called the Prime Directive, Optimus reveals that the Decepticons were named so for their betrayal of the dynasty of Primes.
Foreign names
- Japanese: Destron (デストロン Desutoron), Combatron (Car Robots, コンバットロン Konbatoron), Decepticon (ディセプティコン Diseputikon)
- Armenian: Deseptikonner (Դեսեպտիկոններ, "Decepticons")
- Cantonese: Kwòng Pāǐ (Hong Kong, 狂派, "Con Faction", literally "Mad Faction" or "Crazy Clan")
- Danish: Bedragerne (Marvel comic, "Betrayers"), Bedraonerne (The Transformers cartoon)
- French: Deceptican (France, The Transformers cartoon, Unicron Trilogy cartoons, IDW Movie universe comics), Decepticor (France, Beast Wars cartoon), Decepticon (France, in other media and Canada)
- Hebrew: Shekernikim (שקרניקים, "Lie-niks")
- Hungarian: Álcák (Marvel comic and 2007 onwards, "Disguises"), Decepticonok (toy commercial, second The Movie dub, Armada), Varangyok (first The Movie dub, "Toads"), Robotikák (first dubs of Energon and Cybertron, "Roboticas")
- Italian: Distructor, Distructors
- Korean: Destron (데스트론 Deseuteuron), Decepticon (디셉티콘 Diseptikon)
- Mandarin: Decepticon (Taiwan, 迪賽剛 Dísàigāng), Bàtiānhǔ (China, 霸天虎, "Heavenly Tyrant Tiger")
- Polish: Szachraje (G1 VHS lector, "Tricksters"), Deceptikon, Decepcjokon (first The Movie dub, "Deceptiocon"), Dezorientac (Beast Wars, Disorientator)
- Portuguese: Decépticos (Portugal comic), Malignus (Brazil comic)
- Russian: Decepticon (Десептикон)
- Serbian: Deseptikon
- Swedish: Bedragare (Marvel comic, "Betrayer")
- Ukrainian: Obmanoyid (Обманоїд, "Deceitoid"), Decepticon (Десептикон)
References
- Group stub
- Stub
- Upcoming toy releases
- Alternators
- Alternity
- Animated factions
- Armada
- Beast Machines
- Beast Wars
- Beast Wars: Uprising factions
- Beastformers franchise
- Cybertron franchise
- Dark of the Moon
- Decepticons
- Energon franchise
- Factions
- Generation 1 factions
- Generation 2
- IDW (2005) factions
- IDW (2019) factions
- Machine Wars
- Micromaster
- Movie
- Operation Combination
- Predacon subgroups
- Prime
- Return of Convoy
- Revenge of the Fallen
- Robotmasters
- Robots in Disguise (2001)
- Super-God Masterforce
- The Headmasters
- Universe (2003)
- Victory
- Zone
