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    Decepticons

    Team » Decepticons appears in 1468 issues.

    Decepticons are the arch-enemies of the Autobots. Decepticons -- as their name implies -- use deception and villainy to advance their own cause.

    Short summary describing this team.

    Decepticons last edited by fesak on 05/21/22 12:01PM View full history

    Decepticons, much like the Autobots, are able to transform between humanoid form and mechanical devices, such as an airplane or a gun. Decepticons are led, at times, by Megatron who was transformed into Galvatron by the robotic planet-eating robot known as Unicron.

    Both Decepticons and Autobots are from the planet Cybertron. As the epic battle between the Decepticons and the Autobots grew beyond Cybertron, they eventually made their way to Earth where they continued their battle.

    Generation 1

    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. 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.

    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.

    Over time, the defeated Decepticons married transformation technology with robot-mode flight powers, leading to the creation of Megatron around nine million years ago. 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, Megatron slew Sentinel Prime and reignited the war. 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.

    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, 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.

    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.

    Once the Decepticons held the quadrant through terror, now we scrap like Slaargs over a few energon cubes.Cyclonus,

    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.

    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.

    Dreamwave

    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.

    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. 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.

    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.

    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.

    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

    ...At which point Dreamwave went bankrupt. Damn.

    IDW

    The Decepticons were formed out of the uprising in Kaon that Megatron spearheaded: the end result of a corrupt Autobot Senate and a vicious underground bloodsport. Kaon fell quickly and the Decepticons soon began spreading across the planet, recruiting new people and carrying out terrorist strikes in advance of their main assaults. The war they started proved too destructive for Cybertron to handle though, and the Decepticons had to abandon it after the disastrous Thunderwing incident.

    The Decepticons are spread across known space, following a strict Infiltration protocol to conquer worlds. Disguising themselves, the infiltration unit gathers intelligence and seeds facsimiles in key strategic places; Phase Two is to use their facsimiles to inflame global tensions and watch the locals to devastate themselves. By Phase Five, their base is in Siege Mode and Phase 6 has open war on a burnt-out world. Infiltration Escalation In extreme circumstances, when they really want a world destroyed, they'll send in Sixshot.

    The Decepticon army is highly specialised: there's infiltration units for, er, infiltration; a Decepticon Secret Service handling spying and tech acquisitions penal colonies like Styx; and Tactical Assault Units like the Predacons who carry out direct action.

    This all got thrown out of the window in the early 21st Century, however, when it appeared the Decepticons had won. Whoops, they hadn't. Earth was lost, Megatron was defeated, and Starscream took control through a charade of wielding the Matrix. Some Decepticons were left behind on Earth while Starscream led the rest to a barren asteroid, where they accomplished nothing for three years until Megatron finally returned and took back his rightful position.

    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. Then they were brainwashed by Galvatron and/or D-Void into combining with the Sweeps to form a "Deceptigod". Chaos Part Three: 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.

    Aftermath

    Both sides signed the Pax Cybertronia, which eventually led to peace, but left the Decepticons in a second class position.

    Beast Era

    In Beast Wars continuity, the Predacons were the descendants of the Decepticons and fought with the same aggression and ideas of conquest. They faced the Maximals in the same way their ancestors had fought the Autobots.

    Robots in Disguise

    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.

    In the Japanese version of Robots in Disguise, Car Robots, the Decepticons were known as Combatrons. This is the same name by which the G1 Combaticons were called in Japan.

    For the Hasbro toy line, several other non-show Decepticons were added to the ranks to help fill out the line. It is unknown how most of these actually fit into the story, though one of them, Axer, is actually a dimension-hopper who arrived from the Generation 1 universe.

    Animated continuity

    Armada

    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 together 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

    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

    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...

    Comics continuity

    Marvel 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. 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 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.

    Generation 2

    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.

    Armada

    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 Transformers movies

    The Decepticons are the Transformers who sided with Lord High Protector Megatron and attempted to seize the AllSpark. Their numbers ranged from the treacherous, the fanatical, the violent, and the treacherous fanatically violent to the spastic.

    The origins of these Decepticons began when a being known as 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. Either way, he would become known as the first Decepticon and would go on to become the Master to Megatron,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.

    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, the risk was still too high that they might claim the AllSpark, and Optimus Prime made the desperate decision to launch the AllSpark into deep space. Megatron obsessively followed after it, and disappeared. Starscream took over leadership, and 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.

    In 2003, Starscream's retrieval team made their way to Mars, destroyed the Beagle 2 Rover and making their way to Earth. 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.

    Starscream, however, survived, and 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, when he received word that the Autobots would be helping the humans destroy Megatron's remains. 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.

    Over the next two years, the Decepticons searched for the Tomb of the Primes, which housed the Matrix needed to activate the solar harvester. 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 Nemesis, Megatron learned from the Fallen that the AllSpark's knowledge was 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 he escaped, Megatron managed to kill Optimus. 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. Although the Fallen managed to reclaim the Matrix, it had been used to resurrect Optimus, who in turn killed the Fallen. Megatron and Starscream were forced to retreat and form a new plan.

    The Decepticons returned after three years with the plan to use a space bridge to bring an army to Earth and transport Cybertron into orbit to rebuild the planet with Earth's natural resources and the human population as slaves. Megatron and the traitorous Sentinel Prime had planned this for a long time, intending to meet on Earth before Megatron went after the Allspark and ended up frozen while the Ark was shot down by Decepticon fighters and crashed on Earth's Moon in 1961. This was detected by the Americans and the Russians and the space programs were created to reach the ship and study it. However, by 1963 the Decepticons had raided the Ark and removed all but five of the pillars and hid them on the Moon along with an army of Decepticons, awaiting the time that the pillars would be used. After humans successfully reached the Moon and explored the ship, Soundwave and Laserbeak approached various humans including Dylan Gould's father to get them to shut down the American and Russian space programs. The Decepticons established a network of human collaborators who kept the humans from noticing the Decepticons actions on the Moon, later led by Dylan Gould. After a human collaborator named Alexi Voshkod lead NEST to Chernobyl where they retrieved an engine part from the Ark, the Decepticons reemerged for the first time since Egypt in the form of Shockwave and his Driller who attack, but retreat. This leads the Autobots to retrieve Sentinel and the remaining space bridge pillars and revive him. As this is part of his plan, Megatron orders Laserbeak to kill all the human collaborators save for Dylan Gould. Sam Witwicky and Seymour Simmons find out about the Decepticons plot from pictures a Russian probe got of the Decepticons hiding the pillars and the Dreads are sent to attack the convoy protecting Sentinel, but are killed. After Sentinel reveals his true colors and murders Ironhide, he sets up the pillars in the National Mall and brings the Decepticon army, consisting of hundreds of Decepticon soldiers and Decepticon ships, to Earth. With the army in hand, the Decepticons promise to bring no war against the human population in exchange that the Autobots must leave Earth. While taking off into the atmosphere, Starscream destroyed the Autobot ship, knowing that mankind will resist on their own. Some of the Decepticons scatter around the world to set up the pillars while most of the army invades Chicago, devastating the human population and securing it as a fortress. The Autobots, NEST and, a team of mercenaries, led by Sam Witwicky and Robert Epps, invade Chicago and battle the Decepticon army, aided by the United States Army and U.S Air force. The group manages to take out much of the army including Laserbeak, the Driller, Starscream, Soundwave, Barricade, and Shockwave and disrupt the Control Pillar, forcing Sentinel into battle. The combined human and Autobot forces overwhelm Sentinel and his remaining forces while Tomahawk missiles destroy most of the Decepticon fighters. Sentinel then tried to flee before engaging Optimus one-on-one as Dylan Gould reactivates the space bridge. Sam Witwicky kills Gould and Bumblebee and Ratchet destroy the Control Pillar, causing Cybertron to implode and ruining the Decepticon plan. The remaining Decepticon ships are sucked up into Cybertron by the space bridge and are presumably destroyed with the planet. Sentinel nearly kills Optimus, but Megatron, convinced by Carly Spencer that he would end up working for Sentinel, saves Optimus and incapacitates Sentinel. Megatron, half-heartedly,offers a truce between the Autobots and Decepticons after Cybertron is destroyed as long as he's in charge of the Decepticons again, but Optimus refuses and kills Megatron and Sentinel. While the loss of human life in Chicago is massive, the battle is a major victory for the Autobots as they eliminated most of the Decepticon army on Earth. Despite there sill being some decepticons scattered around the globe, the entire Decepticon command structure was destroyed in the battle.

    But the Autobots' victory was shortlived, after Harold Attinger created Cemetery Wind, a CIA cabal intent on hunting down all Transformers of either faction which are still alive with the aid of Lockdown, a Cybertronian bounty hunter. After five years, less than a dozen Transformers remained after the purge, and Attinger claimed he was only pursuing the Decepticons, whereas actually, all Transformers were being killed off. The Autobot remains were sent to Kinetic Solutions Incorporated to be remade into human-controlled Transformers, including Megatron's head, whose survival only Brains was aware of

    The Decepticons are, in general, less human in appearance than the Autobots in the movie, resembling carnivorous mammals, birds, insects or the Decepticon insignia itself (possibly to frighten the insects). What is also most noticeable about the Decepticons in the movie franchise is that they've actually been designed to resemble the insignia of their faction, most notably Megatron, Blackout, Barricade, and the Fallen; the insignia is in fact based on the Fallen's ugly mug.

    In a departure from previous Transformers incarnations, Japan used the name "Decepticons" for this franchise, rather than "Destrons"

    Animated

    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 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. 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.

    4 million stellar cycles ago, the Autobots and Decepticons battled each other in what is now known as The Great War. The Autobots pulled a victory only due to their exclusive access to space bridges 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. In his final battle against Optimus, Megatron was taken back to Cybertron, along with Lugnut and Shockwave, for imprisonment. The rest are still at large, except Starscream, who died when his AllSpark fragment was removed.

    As with the movie Decepticons, the Animated Decepticons are not called Destrons in Japan.

    Shattered Glass

    In this universe, the Decepticons are the good guys and a resistance group, intended to overthrow Autobot tyranny and their dastardly leader, Optimus Prime. Led by the heroic Megatron, the 'Cons want to liberate Cybertron and preserve freedom and life across the galaxy, no matter the cost. But if they fail to stop the Autobots, not only will the Autobots conquer Earth, they will also enslave the universe and all will be lost.

    Prime

    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.

    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. 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. Meanwhile, Starscream and Soundwave waited for opportunities to pounce on Team Prime with their Vehicons. Con Job Convoy

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