Eight influential events/concepts/philosophies
Mostly for Mikaela and Event #2, but also for anyone who might be curious what I consider when playing Magnum.
ONE: Camaraderie
Megatron is used to being fairly social, having moved from a job where you worked with and relied on other miners into a 'job' where you killed with and relied on other gladiators. He knew everyone, what they were good at, who they were 'friends' with, what their hopes were, what they feared, and though he often used this knowledge to his advantage he still had a measure of respect for it. He has several memories of the small, cramped quarters his fighting team shared in the Kaon underground--of training with them in back alleyways and on dangerous abandoned streets--of catching blows to save them in the arena--of taking Rumble and Frenzy, a fourth his size, to a bar after a flawless victory, being endlessly amused at how they downed energon cubes sized for him and still could bite your kneecaps off afterwards--of returning back to that same cramped apartment and collapsing in a pile, because there's no room and because you can trust your team-mates...
The Nexus has been oddly lonely, in comparison.
TWO: Leadership
And then there is Clench. Its a turning point, in his head, when he remembers Clench, because that was the point when the good of the team became greater than the one member who was leading it...
Clench had been useful. Clench had taught him many moves, and had taken them under his 'wing' when Megatron and Rumble and Frenzy and the other renegade miners had arrived on his doorstep...needing energon. Needing a way to survive. Needing a way to stay hidden.
And then as time went on, and he and the others fought beneath Clench's leadership, he'd noticed the problems. He'd noticed the hesitation, the bad decisions, the mis-assignments...
And in the middle of a match, with the team surrounded and down a man, he watched Clench falter for the last time--
And killed him.
Megatron had...known, really, what needed to be done, and had taken care of it, and had fought tooth and nail that fight to keep his team alive and bring them forth to victory. There was no reason to regret it. (Well, unless you were Clench.)
THREE: The Mine
There are also memories of darkness.
Pitch black.
Elevators and lifts descending down a huge, open shaft, walled by rocks of blue and grey and red and brown and eventually only black as the light cuts out and the elevators open into darkness. Sometimes there are others with him and sometimes he goes forth alone, small beams of light making headway into gaping chasms or tight tunnels, endlessly searching for the small purple flashes of crystal energon, sensors stretching out as far as they can go.
Occassionally, he turns the lights off, and just...listens to the absolute stillness around him. The tiny purple stars are easier to catch when it is dark...
and then his axe ignites, and he chips at the wall for minutes...hours...days...at a time, earning meager wages and joking with the others when they're free about how bad the economy has become, but at least they've got their jobs...
FOUR: Revolt
Which leads straight into the next memory, as the scene shifts, and the miners are above ground in a makeshift open-air auditorium. They're the same people he's been working with, and complaining with, and laughing with...and they're gathered in assembly to listen to a Senator from Kaon speak. The mine is being automated. They're all loosing their jobs. His friend speaks out...
And the image of a shield with a large autobot symbol on it becomes forefront, held by a massive bot who brutally silences the friend who spoke. There he is...lying on the ground...leaking...
And then there is only rage, and Megatron is attacking. He's...killing, and the thought of it horrifies him as he looks up from energon stained hands to see the Senator's guard firing into the crowd of unarmed miners, relentlessly. Everyone goes down. Everyone gets hurt. Not everyone lives to tell about it...
...and that same symbol is presiding, over all, before there is only static.
FIVE: Victory
There is more static, edging at his vision, as he watches the city burn. Its Kaon, or whats left of it--that hive of scum and villainy. The home town of the Senator that slaughtered the miners. The corrupt populace of mid to high class autobots who fed upon the labors of the poor. The place where those spat out by such systems had only an underground arena to turn to if they wanted to survive--to kill, or be killed, one day at a time.
And now...he's won.
The city burns.
The sun rises.
And his Decepticons stand beside him just to watch. Its over....and its also just beginning...but they've survived, and they're not going to stop now. They could make a difference. They had made a difference, and now, just maybe, they could change the world.
This memory is tied to an immense amount of longing--that all of this they'd worked for was cut off, was pulled out from underneath them...that, without him there, what will become of his cons? Of his fight? This fuels his burning desire to return to what was taken from him, no matter what the cost.
SIX: Pride
But there is something that the Nexus gave him, in return.
He cannot get over how many Decepticons there are. That in every universe, across every universe that has Transformers, they exist under his command, and fight for his ideals (in one shape or another.) He's...so...pleased with that. So proud. In a way, it keeps him going, because it means that he can do what he'd envisioned. That his fight is shared by others. That he might triumph, in the end.
SEVEN: Guilt
-The Nexus also has succeeded with giving him something else he's not particularly used to...and that is regret. Guilt. There are images swimming in his mind of the future Optimus Prime showed him--of himself, aged so much as to be unrecognizable, of the worlds he has destroyed, and the countless citizens he's killed. Of a dead cybertron. His fault.
This...does not set well with him. Even moreso he is bothered by the constant accusations that this is unavoidable and that, no matter what else happens, he will become this way. It infuriates him. He...doesn't...want that, and is tired of trying to explain it.
EIGHT: Philosophy
Finally, and...most importantly, Megatron is a Decepticon. He has finally had time to consider what this really means while being in the Nexus...while seieng other from so many worlds...and while putting it into words is difficult the concept remains. It turns the tale of the good Samaritan on end: An Autobot would stop to help a man in trouble, but a Decepticon will not...would never...because to assist him would be to take away from him the glory of working out his situation for himself. Being self-sufficient...fulfilling as much of your potential as is possible...achieving...that is what it means. It does sacrifice those who get in the way, but...if they had a strong enough desire to remain alive, then they would find a method and survive.
Things you might want to know to play Megatron:
-First of all, have some pictures of me:
I'm in the crosshairs...
But now I'm on my throne.
(Yes, those are also treds on his back. I don't know why they look like part of his chair.)
-He turns into this: I'm a car.
It was designed for working in mining conditions, so its built for going over extremely rough terrain and crunching undesireable materials. His engine is thus built for long-lasting relentless power, not for fast accelleration or high speeds.
-He lives with seven other Decepticons, and generally gets along well with them. He has his own room, but is not opposed to others spending the night in it, (such as Glit,) simply because he's not unusued to that.
-Weaponry registered to system: 1 multi-spectra fusion cannon on the right arm, in which beam width and intensity can be adjusted. 1 energy mace, which replaces the left hand. Also, several tinyguns as designed by Kino and Blackout are hidden in various positions on his body.
-He wears his helmet for a reason--underneath is a strange sensor array that he prefers to keep hidden. Have a picture: Megatron is pretty.
-My three most useful icons:
Thinking/upset/sad/frowning/trying to keep his temper
Happy, pleased, amused
Conflused, perplexed, questioning, curious
(Though feel free to take any that you'd like to from my collection.)
ONE: Camaraderie
Megatron is used to being fairly social, having moved from a job where you worked with and relied on other miners into a 'job' where you killed with and relied on other gladiators. He knew everyone, what they were good at, who they were 'friends' with, what their hopes were, what they feared, and though he often used this knowledge to his advantage he still had a measure of respect for it. He has several memories of the small, cramped quarters his fighting team shared in the Kaon underground--of training with them in back alleyways and on dangerous abandoned streets--of catching blows to save them in the arena--of taking Rumble and Frenzy, a fourth his size, to a bar after a flawless victory, being endlessly amused at how they downed energon cubes sized for him and still could bite your kneecaps off afterwards--of returning back to that same cramped apartment and collapsing in a pile, because there's no room and because you can trust your team-mates...
The Nexus has been oddly lonely, in comparison.
TWO: Leadership
And then there is Clench. Its a turning point, in his head, when he remembers Clench, because that was the point when the good of the team became greater than the one member who was leading it...
Clench had been useful. Clench had taught him many moves, and had taken them under his 'wing' when Megatron and Rumble and Frenzy and the other renegade miners had arrived on his doorstep...needing energon. Needing a way to survive. Needing a way to stay hidden.
And then as time went on, and he and the others fought beneath Clench's leadership, he'd noticed the problems. He'd noticed the hesitation, the bad decisions, the mis-assignments...
And in the middle of a match, with the team surrounded and down a man, he watched Clench falter for the last time--
And killed him.
Megatron had...known, really, what needed to be done, and had taken care of it, and had fought tooth and nail that fight to keep his team alive and bring them forth to victory. There was no reason to regret it. (Well, unless you were Clench.)
THREE: The Mine
There are also memories of darkness.
Pitch black.
Elevators and lifts descending down a huge, open shaft, walled by rocks of blue and grey and red and brown and eventually only black as the light cuts out and the elevators open into darkness. Sometimes there are others with him and sometimes he goes forth alone, small beams of light making headway into gaping chasms or tight tunnels, endlessly searching for the small purple flashes of crystal energon, sensors stretching out as far as they can go.
Occassionally, he turns the lights off, and just...listens to the absolute stillness around him. The tiny purple stars are easier to catch when it is dark...
and then his axe ignites, and he chips at the wall for minutes...hours...days...at a time, earning meager wages and joking with the others when they're free about how bad the economy has become, but at least they've got their jobs...
FOUR: Revolt
Which leads straight into the next memory, as the scene shifts, and the miners are above ground in a makeshift open-air auditorium. They're the same people he's been working with, and complaining with, and laughing with...and they're gathered in assembly to listen to a Senator from Kaon speak. The mine is being automated. They're all loosing their jobs. His friend speaks out...
And the image of a shield with a large autobot symbol on it becomes forefront, held by a massive bot who brutally silences the friend who spoke. There he is...lying on the ground...leaking...
And then there is only rage, and Megatron is attacking. He's...killing, and the thought of it horrifies him as he looks up from energon stained hands to see the Senator's guard firing into the crowd of unarmed miners, relentlessly. Everyone goes down. Everyone gets hurt. Not everyone lives to tell about it...
...and that same symbol is presiding, over all, before there is only static.
FIVE: Victory
There is more static, edging at his vision, as he watches the city burn. Its Kaon, or whats left of it--that hive of scum and villainy. The home town of the Senator that slaughtered the miners. The corrupt populace of mid to high class autobots who fed upon the labors of the poor. The place where those spat out by such systems had only an underground arena to turn to if they wanted to survive--to kill, or be killed, one day at a time.
And now...he's won.
The city burns.
The sun rises.
And his Decepticons stand beside him just to watch. Its over....and its also just beginning...but they've survived, and they're not going to stop now. They could make a difference. They had made a difference, and now, just maybe, they could change the world.
This memory is tied to an immense amount of longing--that all of this they'd worked for was cut off, was pulled out from underneath them...that, without him there, what will become of his cons? Of his fight? This fuels his burning desire to return to what was taken from him, no matter what the cost.
SIX: Pride
But there is something that the Nexus gave him, in return.
He cannot get over how many Decepticons there are. That in every universe, across every universe that has Transformers, they exist under his command, and fight for his ideals (in one shape or another.) He's...so...pleased with that. So proud. In a way, it keeps him going, because it means that he can do what he'd envisioned. That his fight is shared by others. That he might triumph, in the end.
SEVEN: Guilt
-The Nexus also has succeeded with giving him something else he's not particularly used to...and that is regret. Guilt. There are images swimming in his mind of the future Optimus Prime showed him--of himself, aged so much as to be unrecognizable, of the worlds he has destroyed, and the countless citizens he's killed. Of a dead cybertron. His fault.
This...does not set well with him. Even moreso he is bothered by the constant accusations that this is unavoidable and that, no matter what else happens, he will become this way. It infuriates him. He...doesn't...want that, and is tired of trying to explain it.
EIGHT: Philosophy
Finally, and...most importantly, Megatron is a Decepticon. He has finally had time to consider what this really means while being in the Nexus...while seieng other from so many worlds...and while putting it into words is difficult the concept remains. It turns the tale of the good Samaritan on end: An Autobot would stop to help a man in trouble, but a Decepticon will not...would never...because to assist him would be to take away from him the glory of working out his situation for himself. Being self-sufficient...fulfilling as much of your potential as is possible...achieving...that is what it means. It does sacrifice those who get in the way, but...if they had a strong enough desire to remain alive, then they would find a method and survive.
Things you might want to know to play Megatron:
-First of all, have some pictures of me:
I'm in the crosshairs...
But now I'm on my throne.
(Yes, those are also treds on his back. I don't know why they look like part of his chair.)
-He turns into this: I'm a car.
It was designed for working in mining conditions, so its built for going over extremely rough terrain and crunching undesireable materials. His engine is thus built for long-lasting relentless power, not for fast accelleration or high speeds.
-He lives with seven other Decepticons, and generally gets along well with them. He has his own room, but is not opposed to others spending the night in it, (such as Glit,) simply because he's not unusued to that.
-Weaponry registered to system: 1 multi-spectra fusion cannon on the right arm, in which beam width and intensity can be adjusted. 1 energy mace, which replaces the left hand. Also, several tinyguns as designed by Kino and Blackout are hidden in various positions on his body.
-He wears his helmet for a reason--underneath is a strange sensor array that he prefers to keep hidden. Have a picture: Megatron is pretty.
-My three most useful icons:
Thinking/upset/sad/frowning/trying to keep his temper
Happy, pleased, amused
Conflused, perplexed, questioning, curious
(Though feel free to take any that you'd like to from my collection.)