Military humor

Galvatron is the name of several fictional Transformers, most often the recreated version of Megatron, the Decepticon Supreme Commander.

Transformers: Generation 1

Template:Transformers character With vast strength but questionable sanity, Galvatron's primary weapon is his particle accelerator cannon, mounted on his right arm, which can fire blasts of assorted types, including electrochemical energy and particle beams. He transforms into a futuristic laser-cannon emplacement (similar to a Howitzer) and can, on rare occasions, assume the form of a laser pistol, shrinking as he does so to allow other beings to wield him (an ability never used in the animated series, although it was occasionally used in the UK comic series).

Galvatron's toy tech spec identified him as a city commander, much like the Autobot toy Ultra Magnus. The bio fails to indicate whether or not he is a recreated Megatron, instead mentioning that he is both "determined to lead the Decepticons" and that he "plots against his allies".

Animated series

On the Decepticons' return journey to Cybertron following their attack on Autobot City in the Earth year 2005, a mortally wounded, but still functional Megatron was jettisoned into space along with several other fallen Decepticons in order to reduce Astrotrain's mass to reach Cybertron. The end seemed to be near for Megatron -- but it was not to be, as he summoned by Unicron, who made him an offer - in return for Megatron's service, he would give him a new body and new troops to command. Megatron initially refused, enraged at the thought of being Unicron's servant. However, faced with obliteration as his only alternative, Megatron reluctantly accepted Unicron's offer, and was reformatted as Galvatron.

Commanded by Unicron to destroy the Matrix of Leadership, Galvatron first returned to Cybertron to settle an old score with Starscream, who had set him adrift in space and was now being crowned as the new Decepticon leader in a pompous ceremony. Demonstrating his new power, Galvatron obliterated Starscream with a single blast from his new cannon mode. The other Decepticons quickly accepted Galvatron as their leader. Unicron's subsequent consumption of Cybertron's moons enraged Galvatron, but when Unicron mentally tortured him to put him in his place, Galvatron submitted.

Leading another attack on Autobot City, he pursued Ultra Magnus and the Autobots to the Planet of Junk, where he seized the Matrix from Ultra Magnus, and attempted to use its power against Unicron. Unable to open the Matrix, Galvatron was powerless as Unicron transformed and attacked Cybertron with his bare hands. Unicron swallowed Galvatron in contempt, while swatting away Cybertron's Decepticon defenders like flies. Shortly thereafter, a group of Autobots entered Unicron's body, where the youthful Hot Rod encountered the humiliated Decepticon leader. Although Galvatron initially proposed an alliance with the Autobot against Unicron, he was once again tortured mentally by Unicron, who tells him to destroy Hot Rod otherwise Galvatron himself will be obliterated. Galvatron weakly agrees, still accepting Unicron as his master, and then engaged Hot Rod in battle. Galvatron quickly attained the upper hand over the weaker Autobot. However, when Hot Rod seized the Matrix from Galvatron, he was reformatted into Rodimus Prime, and hurled Galvatron through Unicron's armor and into the void of space, before unleashing the power of the Matrix and destroying Unicron.

Now leaderless and forced off Cybertron by the Autobots, the Decepticons retreated to the ruined world of Chaar, where they bickered and fought amongst each other over their limited energon resources. Galvatron's Unicron-created lieutenants, Cyclonus and Scourge set out to find their leader's body using the information stored in Unicron's memory banks and traced him to the planet Thrull. They found Galvatron immersed in a pool of lava-like plasma, and rescued him only to discover that Galvatron had been driven insane (the official diagnosis, provided in the later episode, Webworld, is that the plasma seeped into Galvatron's head casing and embrittled his metaprocessor, causing him to become irreversibly mad (which probably explains why his voice changed)). After attacking his own minions, he then returned with them to Chaar, only to discover that the Decepticons had sided with the Quintessons in an attack on the Autobots in exchange for Energon. Heading for the planet, Galvatron opened fire on his own forces, and then confronted the Quintessons themselves, who tricked him into an alliance with the promise of leading him to the fictitious "Decepticon Matrix of Leadership". A joint Decepticon/Quintesson attack on both Cybertron and Earth almost allowed the Quintessons to claim ultimate victory when they activated a switch that nullified all Transformers, but when Spike Witwicky reversed the effect, Galvatron turned on the Quintessons, who only just managed to escape his wrath.

Galvatron subsequently installed himself as Decepticon Leader proper, waging a campaign against the Autobots on Earth and Cybertron throughout 2006. Further team-ups with the Quintessons ensued, which almost always resulted in the Decepticons being double-crossed. Galvatron's madness ensured that his own troops suffered harshly under his rule, subjected to beatings, blastings, and exiles for even the smallest of infractions. Galvatron did occasionally have moments of lucidity, and in them formed some functional plans, including the construction of a death crystal cannon on the planet Dredd, the bluff threat of an "ultimate weapon" and the takeover of the pacifist planet of Paradron, but the insanity would always return to consume his mind. With Galvatron's madness at a particularly high point, coupled with concerns expressed by several Decepticons, Cyclonus was forced to take his leader, against his will, to the asylum world of Torkulon. Galvatron was held and underwent various therapies, each successively less effective than the last. With no remaining options, the therapists chose to remove the damaged portion of Galvatron's brain. To accomplish this, Galvatron's mind was patched into the neural web of the living world, but so strong was his resolve that his madness actually infected the world itself, allowing Galvatron the chance to escape.

When the Hate Plague began to sweep the universe, Galvatron was able to avoid infection initially, teaming up with the resurrected Optimus Prime in order to recover a protective alloy that would shield the user from the plague's effects. Somewhat ironically, when Galvatron first saw the effects of the Plague at the Morgans' lab, he uttered that the infected Autobots and some of his fellow Decepticons had "all gone mad," and that said lab with the infected Transformers was no place for him. However, he became infected in the process of recovering the alloy, but was eventually cured along with all the other victims of the plague when Optimus Prime unleashed the power of the Matrix. It also seemed that Galvatron may have actually been cured of his own inherent insanity, as he refused to continue the conflict there and then, and shook Prime's hand, saying that he had earned his respect.

A year later, however, in 2007, the short truce ended as Galvatron formulated a new plan. Although appearing quite coherent throughout the scheme, it was truly his most insane yet - rejecting notions of conquest, Galvatron now sought the utter destruction of both Cybertron and Earth. To this end, he dispatched his troops to Cybertron, in order to recover the key to the Plasma Energy Chamber. Failing to do so, a plasma energy explosion sent the Autobots -- possessing the key -- and his Decepticons to the planet Nebulos. While the Cyclonus-led Decepticons sought to reclaim the key and return to Cybertron, he led the main attack force on Cybertron. Victorious on Cybertron, Galvatron had a colossal rocket engine constructed on the planet's surface, which propelled Cybertron into Earth's orbit (for the second time during the Transformers television series). His troops soon returned from Nebulos with the key, but in their absence, they had become binary-bonded to the planet's organic inhabitants as Headmasters and Targetmasters - a union which Galvatron thoroughly objected to, threatening to destroy the Nebulons immediately. Nebulon leader Lord Zarak, however, was able to stay Galvatron's hand, as he now possessed the Plasma Energy Chamber key. Galvatron then used the key to open the chamber, releasing the energy with the intent of driving the Earth's sun supernova, destroying both planets. Galvatron and the other Decepticons then attempted to flee inside Scorponok, but a tendril of plasma energy struck the giant craft, sending the Decepticons hurtling off into deep space. Spike Witwicky and the Autobot-allied Nebulons were subsequently able to foil Galvatron's scheme and use the excess solar energy to re-energise Cybertron, restoring its Golden Age, but Galvatron was not finished yet, and began his plans for the future, proclaiming that the Decepticons would build a more powerful planet and use it to rule the galaxy. However, as this was the end of the American cartoon series, Galvatron's future plans never came to light.

Galvatron was voiced in The Transformers: The Movie by Leonard Nimoy, and in the series by Frank Welker, the original Megatron actor, with a completely different vocal style. Welker was actually the first to voice the character, as several episodes of the third season were recorded before the movie, but Nimoy was allowed to voice the character how he saw fit when the film was then produced, regardless of conflicts. This role also marks the second time that Nimoy and Welker have shared a role - Welker provided the screams for the younger versions of Spock, Nimoy's Star Trek character, in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. In Japan, Galvatron was voiced by Seizo Kato, the country's original Megatron actor.

Transformers: The Headmasters

While the American series ended with the three-part miniseries, The Rebirth, featuring Galvatron's scheme with the Plasma Energy Chamber, it was decided in Japan to continue the series in a different direction. Disregarding the events of The Rebirth, they began to produce a collection of animated series exclusive to Japan, the first of which was Transformers: The Headmasters, taking place a year after the Hate Plague incident from The Return of Optimus Prime. Of all the previously seen Transformers to appear in Headmasters, Galvatron received the most attention, effectively remaining as the Decepticons' leader for 26 out the series 35 episodes.

After the Hate Plague incident, the Decepticons kept a low profile. At some point over the next year, Galvatron came into contact with Zarak from the planet Master (a world colonised by diminutive robots who had previously fled Cybertron during the wars). They entered into an alliance, which came to fruition when, as a result of the release of the Matrix's energy, Vector Sigma began to destabilise, allowing the Decepticons to return to Cybertron undetected. Backed up by Zarak's Headmaster warriors, Galvatron had the upper hand in the ensuing battle, until Fortress, another of Master's robots, and his own team of Autobot Headmasters arrived to fend them off. However, Galvatron went on to confront Optimus Prime in Vector Sigma's chamber, only to be defeated when Hot Rod recovered the Matrix from where it was recharging on Earth and became Rodimus Prime, battling alongside Optimus. Optimus Prime then sacrificed himself to stabilise Vector Sigma by merging with it.

Not long after this, Galvatron discovered that the Autobots had produced a new metal compound called Cybertonuron, and, seeking to claim the metal for his own, led another attack on Cybertron. However, Zarak feared that with the metal, Galvatron would be too powerful, and arranged for bombs to be planted in Vector Sigma's chamber, before proceeding to lure Galvatron there just as they detonated. Galvatron was caught in the blast and was perceived dead for a short period of time, before it was revealed that he had survived, and returned just as Zarak was coronating himself as Decepticon leader. Galvatron, rationally, pretended to trust the surprise of Zarak as he and his Headmasters would prove useful in the ensuing quest for Energon, and the Decepticons subsequently set out across the galaxy, attacking planets to harvest their energy. Using the amassed energy, Galvatron planned to actually incorporate the planet Earth into his own body, becoming a colossal being of incredible power. Learning of this plan, the Autobot Headmasters engaged him in battle in Alaska, and were successfully able to bury him under an iceberg, which then exploded, apparently killing Galvatron.

Japanese Manga

Galvatron also appeared in a series of Japanese Manga comic strips set in continuity with the Headmasters series, where he attempted to destroy the Autobots with such schemes as creating his own army of Megatron clones, attempting to destroy Fortress Maximus and creating a hybrid of the original Megatron and Optimus Prime named Guiltor to destroy Rodimus Prime, although he ended up teaming up with his enemy to destroy it after it went rogue.

After Galvatron's seeming destruction in Headmasters this was all that was heard from Galvatron in the animated continuity for several years until the Battlestars: The Return of Convoy storyline (although not animated in itself, consisting of one chapter of manga and a selection of magazine spreads, it continues the storyline of the animated series). Buried and deactivated beneath the ice, Galvatron was recovered by the evil entity, Dark Nova, and reformatted into Super Megatron, going on to battle Star Convoy (a similarly reborn Optimus Prime). A common myth among some Transformers fans is that Super Megatron is an independent entity created by Dark Nova, who seeks out Galvatron and kills him, instead of being created from his remains.

Marvel Comics

Galvatron I

Galvatron's convoluted Marvel Comics career began in the United Kingdom, where a weekly Transformers comic was published, reprinting its American counterpart title. However, given the greater regularity of the UK comic, it soon began to run out of material to reprint, and took to producing its own stories that fit in between the gaps of the US tales. With the release of The Transformers: The Movie, writer Simon Furman had a whole new playground to enjoy as he cannibalised the most popular elements of the movie, freely using its unique cast and writing a series of time travel arcs that crossed the movie future over with the present day comics stories. As outlined below, a significant proportion of original UK stories revolved around Galvatron, from the future, and Ultra Magnus, from the present. He differed from his animated series counterpart in personality. His insanity tended to be more subtle and less debilitating tending to display traits of severe psychopathy and megalomania rather than schizophrenia.

The first of these was Target: 2006, in which Galvatron, Cyclonus and Scourge travel back in time from a point during the events of the movie adaptation itself. Desiring to be free of Unicron's controlling influence, Galvatron disposed of the present-day Megatron and had the Constructicons assemble a colossal laser cannon, which would destroy Unicron when it was fired in the future. The Autobots attempted to stop Galvatron's plan, but the unspeakably powerful Decepticon overwhelmed them all, although he was distracted long enough by his hated adversary Ultra Magnus to allow the future versions of Hot Rod, Kup and Blurr to destroy his cannon, and convince him that he had actually travelled back in time to a parallel universe, forcing him to return to the future.

And so Galvatron returned to the original future, living out the rest of the events of The Transformers: The Movie. However, things quite quickly diverged from the animated series' telling of events when, after being hurled out of Unicron by Rodimus Prime, Galvatron triggered his time-jump mechanism once more, hurling himself back to 1986, where he materialised on the fringes of Earth's atmosphere, hurtling down to the planet's surface at terminal velocity. His explosive landing drew the attention of the piloted mechanoid, Centurion, who Galvatron - his mind addled from the crash to the brink of madness - promptly destroyed, believing him to be Rodimus Prime. After a moment to collect his thoughts, Galvatron fought the madness down, until he wound up in a battle with a group of Autobots led by Blaster, and the Dinobots. During the fight, a sonic attack from Blaster unhinged his fragile mind, opening a doorway to insanity that would steadily widen during his time on Earth. Despite this, Galvatron overpowered all Autobots and Dinobots and would have triumphed had it not been for Shockwave and his Decepticons, who viewed Galvatron as a threat to Shockwave's leadership, forcing him to flee.

Galvatron's absence in the original future led Rodimus Prime to place a bounty on his head, which was picked up by freelance peacekeeping agent, Death's Head, who travelled back in time after learning of Galvatron's own time jump from Cyclonus. Fearful of what he had unleashed on the past, Rodimus travelled back with Kup and Blurr to stop Death's Head, only to wind up in a four-way confrontation between themselves, Death's Head, Galvatron and the present-day Ultra Magnus, as Galvatron attempted to siphon the power of Earth's core through a volcano to increase his power even further. Rodimus's team and Death's Head were returned to the future in the course of the battle, and Ultra Magnus and Galvatron were believed dead when they fell into the volcano and were entombed in lava.

Over time, however, Galvatron was able to free himself, and continued with his own plans for the future by disrupting Shockwave's leadership of the Decepticons. He was also later confronted by Cyclonus and Scourge, who had been shunted back in time, circumventing the normal mass-displacement procedures, and wanted his time-jump mechanism so they could return to their own time and position as Decepticon leaders.

Shockwave, meanwhile, had recovered what he believed to be the missing Megatron (but which was, in actuality, a clone) and brainwashed him, and then unleashed him on Scourge and Cyclonus after the latter revealed that they would be responsible for his death in the future - leading to Cyclonus's death, causing even further disruption to the timeline. When the brainwashed Megatron clone was then loosed on Galvatron, rather than destroy him, he saw a possible partner in him, and the duo teamed up to battle the combined forces of Autobots and Decepticons (slaughtering the Autobot Wreckers and Decepticon Mayhem Attack Squad in the process) from the present and the future in the "Time Wars", as a rift in the fabric of space and time threatened to destroy reality. With his own actions in the present altering the events that Galvatron remembered from his own past, his grip on sanity began to crumble, as he descended into insanity during his battle with Optimus Prime. As the rift then arrived, Galvatron stood before it, and defied it... only for his body to be swept up, and utterly destroyed.

This U.K. Time Wars story arc is notable in that it contradicts the continuity of the U.S. comic which would unfold later on. In events as they were told later in the U.K. comic, to explain Megatron's presence on Earth (U.K.) at the same time as being in a semiconscious state on Cybertron (U.S.), the "two Megatrons" story was created. (This has the effect of having Galvatron in Time Wars fighting alongside Megatron's clone, as he remembers actions as seen through the clone's eyes). The simple explanation is that Galvatron's remembrance of Megatron's actions were not real memories but simply part of his insanity.

It is apparent, however, that Galvatron's time-travelling and the time/space rift which results causes alterations to the timelines. The original future is replaced with a new timeline in which Galvatron never time jumped and would go on instead to defeat the Autobots and conquer Earth. This Galvatron is commonally referred to as Galvatron II. Meanwhile in the main universe, events after 'Timewars' lead to Unicron attacking Cybertron in 1991 instead of 2006, and the true Megatron acquiring his new Generation 2 tank body, instead of becoming Galvatron.

Galvatron II

When Furman took over writing duties of the US comic from Bob Budiansky, he set in motion an epic Unicron-themed storyline that saw the introduction of another Galvatron to comic book continuity.

Seeking a herald to sow destruction in his name, Unicron reached forward in time, to yet another alternate future. In this possible future time of 2009, Unicron had succeeded in consuming Cybertron, and the Decepticons, led by Galvatron, now dominated much of Earth. Unicron's agents, Hook, Line and Sinker, forcibly escorted Galvatron back to 1990, where he was dispatched to Cybertron by Unicron to sow destruction as a portent of his coming. But Galvatron had his own agenda, having had enough of enforced servitude, and captured Emirate Xaaron, whom he forced to awaken the Transformers' deity, Primus. Primus then transported all the Transformers to Cybertron, in preparation for the battle against Unicron - just as Galvatron had hoped. However, they were only halfheartedly fighting, forcing Galvatron to make a do-or-die attack on Unicron himself. Unicron swatted him away, but Galvatron's attack had inspired the combined Transformer army to fight with everything they had. While they battled - and ultimately defeated - Unicron, Galvatron stole away and secreted himself aboard the Ark, which was stolen by Starscream and Shockwave.

But Megatron was also aboard the Ark in stasis, and when he awoke, he and Galvatron clashed and madness rose in Galvatron - a lingering kernel of insanity left over from his time as Megatron, that ate away at his mind from within, driving him into a blood-red rage. With Megatron at his mercy, Galvatron regained control of himself, realising that if he killed Megatron, Galvatron might never be created. Saving a weakened Megatron from Shockwave, Galvatron and Megatron joined forces. Autobot medic Ratchet subsequently crashed the Ark, but Galvatron survived, now apparently driven completely insane by the crash, and wound up in a battle with Fortress Maximus, who defeated the mad Transformer and buried him in ice (completely unintentionally mirroring Galvatron's fate in the Headmasters animated series).

Galvatron never returned in the U.S comic, although Furman has said that, had the Transformers: Generation 2 comics continued, he would have made a comeback sooner. Its worth noting that even though this Galvatron defeated Rodimus Prime in his timeline, he actually seemed weaker then the previous Galvatron since he was beaten by getting buried in ice (the other Galvatron survived getting buried under lava, and had shot by all the Autobots and took no damage).

Marvel U.K.

Although the U.S. Marvel series was clear-cut in its use of one, singular Galvatron, the UK comics were anything but. In addition to the two primary Galvatrons, several others put in brief appearances. However, the extent to which these were separate incarnations of Galvatron is debatable, and it is just as likely that these were simply alternate versions of the Galvatrons mentioned above.

The first of these (the second actual Galvatron to appear) debuted after the "Time Wars", when the future Autobots attempted to return to their own time after the Time Wars. They discovered, much to their dismay, that their future no longer existed, and had been re-written into a different timeline in which Galvatron did not travel back in time after Unicron's destruction, and had been able to conquer Cybertron. Rodimus and his forces mounted a rebellion, and this timeline's Galvatron attempted to force Rodimus Prime into a violent battle, hoping to corrupt the Matrix with his rage. The scheme failed, but Rodimus and his team remained in this future.

This story was related in the five-part anthology, "Aspects of Evil", a later chapter of which revealed that a few years later, in 2010, Unicron's essence managed to take control of Rodimus Prime from within the Matrix. A Galvatron appeared amidst this telling of events - presumably, this was the same Galvatron as noted above.

Yet another Galvatron raised his head in a storyline titled "Perchance to Dream...", when he entered The Ark and scanned the dreams of several of the inactive Transformers stored within it with a "mind bug," seeking those that would best fit his undefined purpose by searching for moments of anger and dissension in their past. Wheeljack was accidentally reawakened by the process, and brought the other scanned Autobots online to confront Galvatron, who was defeated when they subjected him to his own mind bug, and put him in stasis, where his dreams were haunted by images of Rodimus Prime. This Galvatron specifically identified himself as a different entity to Galvatron I, and while the story itself does nothing else to suggest his identity, later writings by Furman state that this is supposed to be Galvatron II. Given that this strip begins the Earthforce storyline, which takes place in a separate continuity from the ongoing events of the main U.S./U.K. storyline, it would appear that in this universe, rather than go to Cybertron, as he did in the U.S. comics, Galvatron II instead went to The Ark to carry out this mission, leading to the divergence of the timelines.

Convention Comics

The return of Galvatron was a major plot point of the TransForce Convention exclusive story, Alignment. Set 300 years after the attack of the Swarm, in this future story Galvatron II (the U.S comics version of the character, referred to as such in the story) defeated Megatron (seemingly at odds with his intention to actively keep Megatron alive at the end of the previous comic) and almost killed him. Taking command of the Decepticons and constructing a fleet of Warworlds, he attacked the Autobots, only to be stopped and killed by Optimus Prime, who was also fatally injured.

Books

Galvatron appeared in the 1986 story and coloring book The Lost Treasure of Cybertron by Marvel Books.

Blackthorne Publishing

Galvatron would also appear in Blackthorne comics' short-lived Transformers title. He was the leader of the Decepticons in a universe that bore many similarities to season three of the original series, and featured many of the same characters. He would be at the forefront of many schemes, including trying to capture a group of creatures who produced energon naturally (unaware they were working for the Quintessons), attacking a space station, building the "Nullification Cannon" and battling the robotic criminals, the Destructons. Galvatron was also shown as having to contend with several takeover attempts by Scorponok and even his own "pet" Ratbat. The series stopped after just three issues, so any further tales of this Galvatron will go untold.

Note: In the color cover art Galvatron was presented in toy accurate grey colors, not his animation purple.

Dreamwave Productions

In the 21st century release of new Transformers comics by Dreamwave Productions, the original Galvatron put in an appearance not within the pages of the reimagined title based on the original series, but in the concluding storyline of its sister title, Transformers: Armada (see below). In this world, the incarnation of Galvatron that appeared (in his original animated series colour scheme) was the herald of Unicron, from a different dimension, sent to cause destruction prior to Unicron's arrival alongside his fellow heralds, Scourge, Dirge, Thunderwing and Bludgeon (all characters from the original universe, though their names are not mentioned and are not the versions in the other Dreamwave comic).

After defeating Starscream in an attempt to capture the Mini-Con Over-Run, and the Mini-Con Matrix he held, Galvatron attacked the Autobot base - only to find that the Armada universe's incarnation of Megatron and his Decepticons had already done the deed. Consequently, Megatron and Galvatron engaged in a colossal battle, with Galvatron clearly possessing the upper hand. Overwhelmed, Megatron was about to be destroyed when the Air Defense Team Mini-Cons arrived and, judging Galvatron to be the greater threat, combined into the Star Saber for Megatron to wield. Transformed into the Dark Saber in Megatron's grip, the extra power it gave him allowed Megatron to easily slay Galvatron. The remaining heralds were eradicated in an explosion caused by Jetfire on Cybertron.

File:Megatron-galvatron.jpg

Armada Megatron kills G1 Galvatron with the Star Saber in Dreamwave comics

Galvatron received a biography page in the Dreamwave comics More Than Meets The Eye series, where it was not mentioned if he was formerly Megatron. While it is generally assumed by fans that Megatron would become Galvatron in this series, the incarnations of Scourge and Cyclonus who did appear in Dreamwave's series were original characters created by Unicron and not recreated Decepticons from the series, so it's not certain how Galvatron would have come to be in this series.

IDW Publishing

In an interview, writer Simon Furman indicated that Galvatron made his first IDW Publishing appearance in The Transformers: Spotlight issue featuring Nightbeat. In the issue, Galvatron was never named or even seen in full, instead presented as a briefly-glimpsed figure with his distinctive helmet design shown in shadow. Galvatron and his unnamed followers lured Nightbeat to an underground dimensional portal, which resembled a metallic sea, and captured him. They implanted him with a cerebral device and wiped his memories of the encounter, seemingly planning to use him for some unknown purpose. Several pieces of dialog suggested the portal leads to something called the "Dead Universe", which was later confirmed in his own Spotlight issue, released in July 2007.

This incarnation of Galvatron is not a recreated Megatron, but instead a Transformer from the Golden Age of Cybertron who is driven by a belief in having a great destiny. He was one of the crew of the lost Ark-1, which had secretly been seeking out (under orders from Nova Prime) an anomaly that was "a door to somewhere else... a dark mirror of the Matrix itself". Galvatron deliberately flew the Ark into the anomaly to find out the answers, thus marooning the crew in the Dead Universe. In the present day, he heads for Cybertron to obtain Thunderwing's body, destroying an alien observation station on the way. On Cybertron, Galvatron killed Leadfoot and easily overpowered Hound's unit, though he left them alive as a small act of defiance against his master. He made his first appearance in the main storyline in issue 3 of The Transformers: Devastation, being sent to Earth by Nemesis Prime to stop the Reapers from destroying it too soon. He turned the Reaper leader into a dead being able to kill by touch (like himself) and left it to decimate his fellow Reapers. Caught between this and the Ore-13 charged Decepticons, the Reapers were soon annihilated, and Galvatron left with the body of Sixshot. He then reported back to Prime, who made it clear in conversation with Jhiaxus that he was not unaware of Galvatron's rebellious ambitions.

As with the Marvel version of Galvatron, he is seemingly invincible and shrugs off powerful weapons. Unlike other incarnations of the character, he appears to be able to kill and decay others by touch and can even survive being shot through the head at close range by powerful weapons. In Devastation he is shown to be able to confer his touch of death onto others, turning the Reaper leader into an unwilling "giver of unlife". There are hints that he is not actually alive — after surviving his head shot he responded to a cry of "He's not dead!" by thinking "Wrong", and he has referred to the others in the Dead Universe as actually being dead: "I killed them".

Kiss Players

Galvatron would play a small but important role in the Kiss Players storyline. After he was hurled out of Unicron's body by Rodimus Prime he tumbled through space until he impacted on Tokyo on Earth, devastating much of it. This had major repercussions as it damaged relations between Earth and the Autobots, leading to the formation of the Earth Defense Command to expel Transformers from Earth. This was only the start of their problems, as Galvatron's comatose body continued to release his Unicron-corrupted cells into the atmosphere, where they merged with various local lifeforms to create The Legion.

Beast Wars

Galvatron did not make any appearances in the 1990s Beast Wars animated series, but was briefly mentioned in the episode Possession or the video Warning From Space, in which the ghost of Starscream spun a lie that he had been killed by Unicron while defending him, only to have Blackarachnia reveal the truth.

Toys

• Galvatron (1986)

As one of the most articulated figures from the period, Galvatron transforms into a laser cannon emplacement and a laser pistol. He is one of the few figures from the original line with electronic lights and sound - pressing the toy's "belt buckle" or pulling the pistol mode's trigger activates a white light in its head, which illuminates his eyes in robot mode and his cannon in other modes. The light is accompanied by one of three electronic "laser blast" noises, selectable by moving a switch on the back of the figure's waist to various positions. The sounds are powered by a 9-volt battery. The toy is considerably large, especially when compared to his fellow decepticons, Cyclonus and Scourge.

Like the other new characters introduced in The Transformers: The Movie (with the exception of Ultra Magnus), Galvatron was designed for animation first, with his toy design being based on the movie's concept art. Galvatron's animation design continued to evolve past the earlier designs used for his toy, and consequently, while the toy is predominantly grey/metallic silver, in animated form, his robot mode is predominantly purple. Marvel Comics also used the earlier design, rendering Galvatron as mostly grey in their pages (although as a result of the limited color palette used in the comics, what was intended to be silver was rendered as a pale blue, except for in his Target: 2006 appearances).

• Anime Galvatron (2005)

When the Galvatron toy was reissued in 2005, it followed a trend established by some earlier figures, and fulfilled a dream long held by many fans - a version of the toy re-decoed in the purple color scheme of the animated series. But this was not a simple color swap, with different paint applications and stickers made specially for the toy to recreate the animated appearance as best as possible. A new, snarling face sculpt was created, and the toy came packaged with a die-cast metal Matrix accessory. His electronics—now powered by two AAA batteries—were also completely altered. The LED was switched to red and his sounds were brand new—the first setting became a single laser blast, the second was the classic transforming sound effect, and the third was one of five sound bytes from the Japanese version of the film.

• Galvatron II (2005)

Released concurrently with the 2005 reissue, this exclusive version of the figure available from online retailer eHobby featured the figure's original gray color scheme, but retained the new face sculpt and electronics of the reissue. The Matrix accessory was now chromed green, in reference to the appearance of the Matrix in the Marvel Comics series. The figure also included a set of exclusive stickers in the form of small golden electricity bolt decals which could be applied to the figure if the owner chose to do so, and which were based on a piece of early artwork of Galvatron from Japan's TV Magazine.

• Titanium Galvatron (2007)

Galvatron was released as a non-transformable 3-inch "Robot Master" in the Transformers: Titanium line. His boots were made of die-cast metal and his color scheme was accurate to his animation appearance.

• Transformers: Universe Galvatron (2008)

This Deluxe sized toy, not a Megatron re-deco, was first displayed at the 2008 New York Toy Fair. His alternate mode is now a modern Merkava tank.

Beast Wars II

Template:Transformers character A new character bearing the name Galvatron appeared in the Japanese exclusive Beast Wars Second line.

Animated series

In Japan, the exclusive cel-animated series Beast Wars II introduced a new character by the same name. In the years that followed the end of The Great War, the factions known as the Maximals and Predacons arose to replace the Autobots and Decepticons. In this time, a Transformer known called Galvatron was the leader of a group of Predacons who landed on Planet Gaia (a future version of Earth) in search of the power of the Angolmois energy to rule the universe. After many battles, he brought in his Fortress Nemesis to finish the extraction of the energy from the planet. Confronted by the Maximals Lio Convoy and LioJunior, merged together as the Lion of Gaea, Galvatron was defeated, but as the Angolmois energy was sealed in capsules to prevent further use, Galvatron revived, intending to use the self-destruct device in his chest to destroy his foes. With a final blow, Lio Convoy shattered Galvatron's chest, causing a cataclysmic explosion that seemed to kill both of them off and scattered the Angolmois capsules across the galaxy.

Galvatron was a Triple Changer, using a Gaian computer to give him the most powerful forms the planet had to offer. These were an ancient drill tank and a monstrous dragon. This made Galvatron the first Predacon in the series to gain a beast mode, although his was made into a Transmetal-like form because of his tank mode. Galvatron had immense power, to such an extent he often lapsed into stasis until he managed to amass enough Angolmois Energy to be permanently active in the second half of the series.

Beast Wars Neo

In the course of the Beast Wars Neo sequel series, it is revealed that the Angolmois energy is actuality the life essence of Unicron himself, which his minions the Blendtrons seek to recover. The Blendtrons also recover Galvatron's lifeless shell, which was then possessed by Unicron as he attempted to transform Cybertron into his new body, only to be defeated by Maximal leader Big Convoy, aided by Lio Convoy and his Maximals.

IDW Publishing

Galvatron received a bio page in the second Transformers Beast Wars Sourcebook by IDW Publishing.

Fun Publications

Beast Wars Second Galvatron, Megastorm and the technorganic Predacon Waspinator appeared together in the story Wreckers: Finale Part 2 by the Transformers Collectors Club in 2007. During the invasion of Cybertron by the Quintessons the Predacons worked together to ambush a Quintesson contingent commanded by Overseer Vashik. Vashnik's troops were caught in a pool of molten magma and destroyed.

Toys

• Beast Wars Second Galvatron (1998)

Galvatron transforms into a dragon and a drill tank. The beast mode's wings unfold into a set of clawed pincers for the robot to wield, while his tail launches two pronged missiles diguised as a forked tip. The figure was available both individually, and in a two-pack with his opponent, Lio Convoy. On an interesting side note, the Galvatron toy was colored purple, as a homage to his G1 namesake, though for reasons unknown animators rendered him pink in the Beast Wars II anime.

Transformers: Robots in Disguise

Main article: Megatron (Robots in Disguise)

Unicron Trilogy

Main article: Megatron (Unicron Trilogy)