Have you guys ever wondered where the source of any version Megatron's mindset came from. I know a couple versions of Megatron were disgusted of the Caste system, an honorable ideology, but what exactlly caused any Megatron to turn evil. Was it Unicron, the Fallen or a form of insanity?

 

Wasn't it Optimus (Orion Pax) being picked to be the Prime instead of him?

 

Only in some continuities. In Animated Megatron didn't even know who Optimus was.

 

That too. I forgot about that. But what if there's something more to it.

 

The aligned Megatron started as a revolutionary fighting for freedom and change. But he was always power hungry and when he got a taste of it he hungered for more disguising his lust for power as a revolution, probably even to himself. When Orion Pax was named Prime it was the greatest insult and he saw himself as the only person who could make Cybertron great. In his mind anyone who thought differently was foolish and a potential enemy.

In G1 he was evil so the Autobots could fight him.

 

A lust for power usually comes to mind when I think of Megatron.... Plus all Megatrons think they are the superior beings and everyone else is inferior.

 

megatron build by cousticons in early wars of five face of darknes pt 4
oprion pax [prime] rebuilt by aphatron in war of dawn

 

'Evil' is subjective. I do not, for instance, view TFA Megatron as inherently evil at all.

 

Yeah TFA megatron was an antagonist but not evil. Transfotmers prime megatron was once good but became twisted and although I don't think he see's himself as evil but he knows what he's done isn't right. G1 megatron was evil just straight up he was born then decided to kill ppl lol.

 

Marvel G1 Megatron started the war because he was power hungry...if I recall correctly in issue 1.

 

Running theme, Power lust.

With dashes of insanity here and there.

 

Sadly the show never got to adress this in a Megatron origins episode and how they lost the war.

TFA Megatron rocked. That's how i want the next Megatron to be like but with the honour of a warlord like Kang the Conqueror.

 

I think it mostly depends on which continuity.

In the movies it was [deeply misguided] patriotism and hunger for power [in that order of importance].

In Prime, it was just hunger for power [yes, they initially seemed to imply he was a freedom fighter, but Prime's less-than-brillant writers completely ignored any sort of portrayal resembling that, and just went for power lust].

In TFA, he follows the same logic as Movie Megs [patriotism and hunger for power], though his is a bit less misguided.

And so we go.

 

In TFA, Megatron is about as heroic as any character, if not the most. You've got a character who was trying to get an entire class, the soldier class, basic civil rights. Everything stems from that. The other castes repeatedly denied the soldier class any rights in their lives, since in the past, the Destrons played the major role in leading to Cybertronian freedom, but a faction of the Protectobots, the Autobots were the ones who made the laws. Megatron would write a manifesto, which Ultra Magnus reacts to by introducing the Decepticon Registration Act, which inflames the matter until war breaks out. Even the original persuit of the AllSpark was to empower Cybertron so the soldiers would not always have to risk their lives in skirmishes to protect the planet. Then after the Autobots use Space Bridges and WMDs to force a stalement, it's Megatron who agrees to amnesty and exile just to end the war. All of Animated is Megatron trying to get Cybertron under Decepticon rule, not to conquer the universe, but to allow his people to have a say in their home planet.

In WFC (I'm not saying aligned because while Prime may steal from it, there's too many problems that I won't get into), Megatron is from a caste and a city that's so low on the totem pole, that they may as well be drones. His problem was that the system was so broken, there was no way to move, you were either lucky enough to be "born" into high society or you spend your existence toiling for their benefit. In fact, he was so low that he wasn't even given a name; he took Megatronus to help get his message across. Unfortunately, the story falls apart there. In Exodus, the bias of the narrative never shows the character transition from angry social changer to "villain" and by Exiles, he may as well be twirling a moustache.

BW Megatron comes from a world where Predacons are the second class citizens of Cybertron. His entire plan was to ultimately change that. Then some time between BW and BM he went nuts.

 

I never knew that about TFA Megs. It really gives me a lot of respect for him and makes him one of my favorite Megs to date.

 

animated did well with the black and gray morality. the autobots weren't the perfect goody goodies they usually were. i do wish we saw a flashback episode for megatron.

 

Allspark Almanac. It's there, but it's scattered in pieces. There's also some hints in the series, but the actual story isn't there, perhaps we would've gotten it in season 4.

 

tfa was awsome. Megatron was cool. I think we can all agree too that the unicron trilogy megatron and rid megaton were both nuters.

 

Recent incarnations of Megatron have been more motivated by sympathetic ideals, but back in the day Megatron just craved power and conquest, and was willing to do whatever it took to get it.

 

Pretty much, though TFP Megatron doesn't really show any signs of sympathetic motives.

This is one area where I miss the old days; you see it often enough in real life, even if sometimes the people in question lie to themselves about it.