The Decepticon Army

The Decepticons are a military force from the planet Cybertron created and ruled by their founder: the charismatic, powerful, and ruthless tyrant known as Megatron. As Megatron's influence has spread across Cybertron, he has gathered many Cybertronian under his banner, forming what is now the Decepticon Army.

Here, we are taking a look at the Decepticon Army and focusing on how it functions as a military force. This way, we can see how the many different personalities and groups within the Decepticons fit within their military hierarchy.

Leadership

At the top of the military structure is, of course, the leadership. This, of course, is where Megatron (aka Galvatron, depending on when you catch him) sits as the Supreme Commander of the Decepticon Military.

It should come as no surprise that even Megatron cannot rule a military dictatorship all on his own. Like any good leader, he requires generals to oversee the day-to-day command structure. This is where we find other Decepticons leaders that can be drawn from different sources (the old Marvel comics, the UK comics, and even other animated series). Several excellent "generals" can include such characters as:

Deathsaurus

Jhiaxus

Straxus (I'm a particular fan on his)

Strika (and her consort Obsidian)

The Decepticon Triumvarate (Legonis, Octus, and Seizer)... Well, maybe NOT these guys... but you get the idea!

Intelligence, Logistics, and Support

No military can operate with just a pile of grunts. They require a vast support structure to make sure everyone and everything goes where it needs to be, to make sure the troops are well supplied with weapons, munitions, and food (in this case: energon). Here is where we find a number of famous and interesting characters within the Decepticon military structure.

Shockwave is the head military scientist of the Decepticon army. He is in charge of the creation and development of new weapons to be used by the Decepticons during the war. Shockwave studied under Jhiaxus before the start of the Cybertronian Wars. Jhiaxus was the original creator of the first Combiners, based on his experiments with the Enigma of Combination (before it was lost in the early days of the war). Shockwave has gone on to expand upon the Cybertronian form by altering transformation cogs and experimenting with Cybertronian CNA and ancient fossils of the Predacons (the prehistoric species to exist on Cybertron before the evolution of the Primes and the Transformers).

Shockwave's experiments are responsible for the creation of:

* Decepticon Clones (Pounce and Wingspan)

* Dinobots (Shockwave captured Grimlock's special forces unit -- The Lightning Strike Coalition -- and used them as his first experiments in merging Predacon CNA with existing Cybertronians)

* Duocons (Battletrap and Flywheels, who function as special forces teams)

* Pretenders (Cybertronians able to assume humanoid or other alien forms to help infiltrate alien worlds to manipulate world leaders and divert resources to the Decepticon cause. As they are primarily spies and infiltrators, they fall under the command of Soundwave and his intelligence operations)

* Triple Changers - see below

Soundwave is the head of intelligence for the Decepticon army. Their vast collection of Minicon cassettes function as Soundwave's spies and operatives.

The Reflector team (Spectro, Spyglass, and Viewfinder) operates under Soundwave as a reconnaissance unit.

Pretenders serve under Soundwave as espionage agents within human law enforcement, military, corporate, and political structures.

Soundwave's TOP spies include Counterpunch and Flip Sides, who are spies operating directly in the Autobot ranks, under the nose of the paranoid security officer Red Alert. 

The Triple Changers are an important addition to the Decepticon's military prowess:

* Astrotrain is the head of transportation; in charge of the Decepticon's fleet of vehicles and starships!

* Blitzwing -- once a normal Seeker before his destruction at the hands of Autobot B-127 (Bumblebee) -- Blitzwing is now the Air and Ground Commander of the Decepticon forces! That's right! If Megatron or Starscream are not on the field, Blitzwing is in charge of the assault force! 

* Octane is the head manager of fuel distribution within the Decepticon army. He works with Astrotrain to make sure all the energon goes where it needs to be. Otherwise, he works with Decepticon miners and excavation teams to find new sources of energon to be used for the military. Octane rarely see any real military action.

Constructicons

Technically falling under the logistics and support division are the Constructicons. These are the Engineering branch of the Decepticon military.

Medical Corps

Believe it or not, the Decepticons do actually have medics and doctors to repair their fallen troopers. No, Megatron does not just kill them all, as we might think he does. That would be a waste of good soldiers! Well, in reality most of the medics are reserved for repairs to the officer class. Only after the important Cons are fixed up do the regular troopers get any attention.

The medical Corps of the Decepticons includes:

* Knock Out

* Flatline

* Moonheart

* Nickel

* Riggorus

* Scalpel

Battlechargers (aka the Decepticon Ground Soldiers, aka Vehicons)

These 'Cons function as the infantry for the Decepticon military. 

Noteworthy Battlechargers include Runabout and Runamuck, the "Beavis and Butthead" of the Decepticon army (no, seriously... they are!). While most Battlechargers are identified by a function number (similar to Imperial Stormtroopers from Star Wars), I like to think that the standouts in their ranks all have names that start with "Run", such as Runaway, Runaround, Runback, Rundown, Runoff, Runout, and Runover.

Seekers (the Air Force)

Now we get to everyone's favorite Decepticons: the Jets! The Seekers function as the Decepticon Air Force, and make up the bulk of the Decepticon military. The air superiority of the Seekers is what allowed the Decepticons to overcome the Autobot forces as easily as they have.

The Seekers are under the leadership of Air Commander Starscream, a former scientist of little note. He is typically found in the company of his subordinates Skywarp and Thundercracker. Before Starscream's rise to power, the Seekers were under the command of Jetfire, who defected to the Autobot cause.

Most Seekers have appearances similar to each other, but occasional "conehead" variants have been known to exist.

It is worth noting that most Seekers operate in teams of three. This is seen in the following groups:

* Starscream, Skywarp, and Thundercracker;

* Dirge, Ramjet, and Thrust

* Acid Storm, Ion Storm, Nova Storm

Special Forces

From here, the Decepticon forces are divided into special units designed for different military operations. Each team is used to perform a specific function within the military and the current objective.

* Combaticons - Special forces operations unit. Their leader, Onslaught, is a tactical genius and makes sure his team is used to their best function.

* Firecons - Chemical warfare division, specializing in flamethrower weapons.

* Predacons - Jungle warfare division. Modified by Shockwave with Predacon CNA, these Con's are skilled in guerilla warfare and operating in dense foliage.

* Seacons - Naval warfare. Oceans are virtually unheard of on Cybertron, so the Decepticons have had to adapt this special forces unit to function in the mostly aquatic regions of Earth.

* Stunticons - Urban warfare unit. Their backup is usually a bunch of Battlechargers.

* Triggercons - Heavy artillery units

Others...

There are a number of other Decepticons I have not touched upon here.

Insecticons - I do not count the Insecticons as a part of the main Decepticon forces. Rather, much like the insects of Earth, the Insecticons are a Cybertronian subspecies that shares their world with the other Transformers. To a large degree, Insecticons are mindless and do little more than seek out sources of food (energon). A select few "alpha Insecticons" exist, capable of complicated thought. Some of these have sided with the Decepticons, but only if they have been bested by a superior Decepticon leader who has proved their strength and will to rule.

Sixshot - This "ninja" joins the Decepticon military after they have abandoned Earth and returned to Cybertron. Following Megatron's transformation into Galvatron in 2005 at the hands of Unicron, the destruction of Unicron, and the Fall of the Decepticon Empire, Sixshot is recruited by Galvatron to function as the leader of the Decepticon forces on Earth; while Galvatron focuses his attention on attempting to reclaim Cybertron. As such, Sishot effectively operates as one of Galvatron's newest generals.

Terrorcons - These monster-formed Decepticons are the result of Shockwave's continued Predacon research. However, the conversion process drives them insane, and uncontrollable. So while they are classified as Decepticons, they are technically not an official part of the Con military. They later fall under the control of the Quintessons, who have more experience in dealing with monster-formed Transformers.

Zarak's Hive - Lord Zarak (aka Scorponok) is an ally of Galvatron's Decepticon army in the years 2007+. He and his servitors hail from the planet Nebulos, where the dormant titan Fortress Maximus propagated their Transformer lifeforms.

Zarak's servitors include the Decepticon Headmasters, Targetmasters, and Powermasters. While the normal Decepticon forces follow Sixshot on Earth, Galvatron (through Zarak) leads these "Decepticons" in his conquest of Cybertron.