This article will contain FULL SPOILERS for Transformers One. If you have not seen the film yet, I highly recommend you watch the movie before reading this article.
Transformers One is the story of two friends: D-16 and Orion Pax. The two toil away in the mines of Cybertron, looking out for each other until destiny leads them both to becoming bitter enemies. Often such stories are framed heavily around the “good guy”, in this case Orion Pax. However, Transformers One chooses to show us parallel stories. As we see Orion Pax become Optimus Prime, we also see D-16 go from a friendly, loyal friend into the creature of fury and destruction known as Megatron.
With the movie having been out over a week now, one of the comments I have heard from many fans is that Megatron’s “birth” in the film was too quick too extreme and needed some more ramp up in the story. To be clear, these are critiques from fans who found the movie enjoyable (or loved it). However, I seen the movie four times now and I never felt this way. I believe D-16’s path to becoming Megatron begins very early in the film and escalates throughout the film until he finally embraces the name Megatron in the film’s final act.
Innocent Beginnings
When we meet D-16 he is the best friend of Orion Pax who expresses his loyalty to his friends often through action. This core loyalty also extends to the Cybertronian system he was born into. He practically worships Megatronus Prime as a God (or Demi-God if you prefer). By extension he reveres Sentinel Prime, who represents an extension of the Dynasty of the Primes. The Dynasty is fundamental to his core beliefs and his very reality. He truly believes if he stays “on protocol”, follows the rules and works hard he will elevate his station in life. He believes Sentinel Prime is a hero who will one day find the Matrix of Leadership and restore Cybertron to its former glory.
However, deep down inside D-16 there is a rebellious streak that is a seed of his future Megatron persona. There is a part of him that acts without doubt if he truly believes what he is doing is right. When Darkwing attempts to punch Orion Pax, D-16 has no hesitation in blocking the punch, but delivering a punch to Orion himself. He believes in protocol, he believes Orion should be “punished”, but not to the extreme degree that Darkwing would have inflicted on his friend. In that instant we see D-16 decide what is “right” and “wrong” and he takes action accordingly.
D-16 does not express blind loyalty however. Within the first act of the film he goes on at least two distinct rants about how Orion Pax has “ruined” his life through his rebellious actions. It is clear this is a pattern of behavior from Orion that D-16 has had to make up for time and time again.
Before D-16 is made aware of the true nature of Cybertron’s state and Sentinel Prime’s actual loyalties, he has already demonstrated a willingness to act aggressively to defend what he believes is right and has shown frustrations with his friend, even though at this point he is still very loyal to him.
Lighting the Fuse
About an hour into the film our four primary characters discover Alpha Trion inside a Cave where the Prims fell in battle 50 Cycles previous. He not only gives them Transformation Cogs (as shown in the trailers) but he also reveals to them the true nature of Sentinel Prime’s betrayal. Not only did Sentinel Prime directly cause the death of the Primes, but he also has literally bent the knee to the sworn enemies of Cybertron: the Quintessons.
This shatters D-16’s world view. He takes it the hardest because of the four key characters, he held most steadfast to the belief that the system was proper and good. Orion states he always felt something was out of sorts with the system. B-127 was tossed into a lower level to be forgotten about long ago and Elita-1 followed the rules only to be busted down to Waste Management. D-16 however was considered a very good miner (Sentinel himself states this). He held on to an enduring hero worship of Megatronus Prime and Sentinel Prime. The system worked for him but the reveal of the truth tears his sense of self apart.
It is important to note that D-16’s inner rage begins to manifest itself before he learns the truth. When he comes upon Megatronus’ head, he kneels at it and a mournful expression turns into one of rage. Take that emotion then couple it with his entire outlook on the world being shattered and it is not hard to imagine that D-16 is quickly trying to put together a new view of the world that is orderly and makes sense. His rage is palpable, causing him to irrationally blame Orion for not following protocol. Instead of using hope as his guiding light (as Orion does), he begins to see nothing but strength, anger and cruelty as the ways to deal with what feels like a universe gone insane. When he yells “I want to kill him!” (referring to Sentinel Prime), long time fans know his path is cemented from that moment on towards becoming Megatron.
Rise Up
D-16 spends a lot of the rest of the film swinging the emotional pendulum from quiet brooding to explosive emotional outbursts. The first time he destroys members of Sentinel’s guard, he laughs almost maniacally (no doubt the first of many times to come in the Great War). When Orion checks on him in a couple of the film’s quieter scenes, he is absolutely menacing and scary. This is a far cry from the D-16 we saw earlier in the film who was still so considerate he called B-127 a “cool guy” so as not to hurt his feelings. By the time D-16 meets The High Guard, that D-16 is already mostly gone.
The meeting with The High Guard is critical to the Megatron persona beginning to take hold. Starscream tells D-16 that what concepts of a unified Cybertron is a “myth”. The only real power is that of one ‘bot over another, and when Starscream says that it flips a switch in D-16. When he fights Starscream he fights full force without holding back. As he prepares to deal a killing blow to Starscream, his iconic Fusion Cannon emerges from his arm. This is symbolic of the Megatron persona taking an even stronger hold on D-16. His eyes begin to change color from yellow to orange, another sign that he is sliding towards the Megatron persona. When he declares sparing Starscream to be the final time he will show mercy, we know he is lost and it is both a frightening and profoundly sad scene.
There is another critical element in this scene to D-16 becoming Megatron: Power. For the first time in his life, he is not only feeling power within himself via his new form, but also having all the High Guard cheering him on is intoxicating and most importantly, validating. Unlike his other three companions who have largely held him back from embracing his darker tendencies, the High Guard is telling him not only do they approve, but they want to follow him. This creates an irresistible frame of mind for D-16. The system lied to him, it is broken. Who better than him to tear it down and rebuild it into something better? And now he has an army to help him do it!
A Leader is Born
In the final act of the film, D-16 is thrashing Sentinel Prime. Orion keeps insisting on turning public opinion against him but D-16 is firm that he needs to be destroyed. Orion tries to stop his friend but fails, so he does the only thing he can do, he takes a Fusion Cannon blast for Sentinel in an act of mercy and self-sacrifice. It is a noble act on the part of Orion, but what follows is critical to the birth of Megatron.
When Orion takes the blast for Sentinel, what D-16 sees is not a noble act. As Orion falls over the edge of the chasm, D-16 reflexively catches him. After all, isn’t that what he has done for a long time now? Orion gets into trouble and he bails him out.
Then D-16 thinks for a beat and he realizes that Orion just took the hit for his sworn enemy. Orion is defending the very system he wants to tear down, symbolized by Sentinel Prime himself. Couple that with his already existing frustration with having to bail out Orion time and time again and Megatron finally rises up from within him and takes hold. That final surge of betrayal and anger makes his eyes red and he lets go of Orion.
For a few moments, D-16 (now fully embracing the Megatron persona) believes Orion is dead and he begins to rain destruction down on the citizens of Iacon. He is not interested in protecting anyone, only destroying. He even turns against his (now former) comrades Elita-1 and B-127. But there is one last piece of the puzzle needed to complete the picture that is Megatron.
When Optimus Prime emerges and Megatron clearly sees the Matrix of Leadership inside his chest, he does not see it for the glorious moment that it is. Instead, here is his former friend, someone he had been absolutely loyal to and risked his own station in life to defend becoming the embodiment of the very thing he wants to tear down: a Prime. His fury is explicit as he battles Optimus, but perhaps the most powerful moment is at the end of their battle when Megatron does not call Optimus “Orion Pax”. Instead he spits out the word “Prime.”. This is a callback to G1 where Megatron was known to call Optimus Prime just “Prime”. Back then it was verbal shorthand. Here, it is said almost as a curse. A statement that Optimus Prime is no friend of his and that by becoming a Prime, he has betrayed him personally. Yes, Optimus states clearly that D-16/Megatron has hurt and betrayed him, but deep down inside, Megatron feels the same way but for different reasons. From here on out, the friendship is severed and Megatron is fully formed.
Transformers One is not just the story of Orion Pax finding his true calling as a noble Autobot leader, it is also the story of how D-16 began to lose himself and change into the twisted and cruel being known as Megatron. The film lays the foundations of who D-16 is before beginning to tear him down and rebuild him. I found this to be one of the most compelling aspects of this film and one of the reasons I think it is absolutely worth watching on the big screen. Transformers One opened September 20th in the United States and is currently opening in other countries over the next few weeks.