Decepticon

History

The toys that became Transformers characters originated from Takara's Japanese Diaclone and Microchange lines. Hasbro licensed these lines for US release and combined them into the Transformers series. Jim Shooter, Marvel Comics' editor-in-chief, was hired to create a narrative universe, proposing two factions of robots that escaped their home planet to wage war on Earth. The Microchange toy later named Megatron was chosen as Decepticon leader because he transformed into a gun.

The names Decepticon and Autobot were created by Griffin-Bacal Advertising. The Decepticons' backstory varies by continuity, but they are generally followers of Megatron, a revolutionary leader and military dictator from Cybertron. Megatron declares war on the Autobots, continuing for millions of years. Both factions eventually crash-land on Earth and continue their war, sometimes over Earth's resources.

The Decepticons are imperialists and conquerors believing in peace through tyranny. In some continuities, they were gladiators or soldiers before the war.