Megatron's Ultimate Goal

[devastron]

In a recent Transformers post there was some interesting discussion about the whole civil war and what both sides were after or were fighting for. I thought I would present these pages from the current IDW ongoing, issue 22, to help shed some light on Megatron's motivations.

(Please be kind, this is my first time posting an entry.)



The context here is Megatron recently 'surrendered' to the Autobots for unknown reasons. He did mention wanting to see the Autobots get betrayed by the humans, which does happen, but later on we find out he wasn't as much a prisoner as he appeared.

Optimus has come to visit him in the brig, letting him out of his restraints so they can talk. The Autobots are having a hard time figuring out what to do with Megatron. Give him a trial? Imprison him for life? Execute him? Prime asks him why he surrendered and Meg's avoids answering, leading to this conversation.



I get a kick out of laid back Megatron in his chair. Its also interesting to see someone call out Optimus like that.

And now a nice collage of all of the major events that happened in the IDW run so far.



Interesting to know the war has gone from hot to cold and back several times. It makes sense considering how energy intensive it must be and how tough it is to kill a Transformer.

And now the answer we have all been waiting for.



I found Megatron's answer fascinating. His ultimate goal seems to be a Cybertronian utopia of peace and not really constant warfare. Of course this does come after conquering basically everything I suppose. I did like finally seeing his motto of 'Peace through Tyranny' explained as it always seemed somewhat nonsensical.

So there you have it. If there is interest and I didn't totally screw this up I might post some stuff from the following issue showing Optimus's past and what he actually was doing back then.

Comments

[akodo_rokku]

I feel like making Transformers morally grey kind of ruins it.

[rainspirit]

I will never, ever understand what makes people love Transformers.

The impact of Machiavellian politics and brutal conflict seem a little bit lessened when the major players are giant robots that turn into cars.

[starwolf_oakley]

Sometimes the "bad guy" sits down and says to the good guy, "Is what I want all that bad? Really?" Still, Megatron never really got over his anger at being forced to work in the mines (he wasn't a gladiator in this continuity?) and took his rage out on everyone. Any noble ideas about slavery being wrong turned into "killkillkill."

The last two panels remind me of what I've heard about the latest season of Sparatcus: the slaves have figure out if they want to fight for their freedom or run away and *be* free.

[crinos]

I love how Megatron is sitting in that first panel. That is a posture that says: "Fucks officially NOT GIVEN."

Now I want to see Darkseid sit like that.

[blunderbuss]

AAAAGGGHHHH! That teenage girl in the second scan! I thought I had repressed all memories of her horribleness!

I also like how Megatron completely undermines his own vision and doesn't even realize it. He admits that he is sustained by hate, but then says that he plans to make Cybertron into a peaceful utopia. You can't rule a utopia when you have nothing but hate, nor can you simply just stop hating. If he's sustained by hate then he needs either someONE or someTHING to hate, and that's when his utopia will start to unravel. And naturally, he's too arrogant to ever realize this.

..... Wait.

[dejadrew]

"Lust, rage, ambition, I've moved beyond them all."

... Lust?

... Lust was actually on the table for the giant ROBOT to move beyond?

... THE FANFICS ARE TRUE?

[q99]

I like the difference between how Megs and Prime picture Megatron's vision of victory- Prime picture him as he currently is on top of a pile of heads. Megatron pictures himself as he was in front of adoring crowds.

[biod]

I can not picture Prime saying " whatever". At all.

[lonewolf23k]

Essentially, what this story does is turn Megatron from a generic cartoon tyrant...

...to the Giant Robot equivalent to Fidel Castro; starts out as a noble revolutionary, and turns into a brutal dictator.

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

Someone oughta scan the pages where the two reflect on the injuries they've inflicted on one another.

I don't know why, but Megatron's "The arm cannon. You always go for the arm cannon." is one of the greatest Transformer lines ever.

[tsunamiwombat]

Theres something vast, epic, and utterly horrific about the Transformers war when you really examine it. A war that has lasted millenia. It's soldiers are immortal machines, unfatigueable so long as they have energy, limited only by their sentience.

They hurtle through space, slumbering on great war barges that systematically check individual planets one at a time for the enemy until they are found. Each ship is a land mine, drifting through the cosmos, and when it detonates the energy it releases is not an explosion but a war.

They slumber, and the only constant are friends and enemies they don't see for thousands of years at a time. They follow orders they were given a millenia ago. The war is self propogating - it is it's own purpose. They fight because that is what they do. Only the systematic, genocidal extermination of the other side can end it - a mathematical impossibility in the infinite gulf of space.

There will always be another hidden cell, another ship in stasis in an Asteroid field. You could rebuild cybertron and 10,000 years later a passing comet drops a whole column of Decepticons on your doorstep for whom the war never ended and Megatron is still alive.

That is the life of an Autobot or Decepticon. That is why Optimus Prime never, ever laughs.