Emperor of Destruction

Emperor of Destruction is a fictional rank exclusive to the Japanese Transformers series. It was originally only found in Japanese Transformers series (including the Japanese versions of the U.S. Cartoon that aired in the 1980s) but has occasionally appeared in Western Transformer literature as well.
The opposite number of the Emperors of Destruction are the Convoys.
Meaning of Title
The meaning of the title is self-explanatory. "The Emperor of Destruction" leads the Decepticons (called Destrons in the Japanese airings) on their conquests and as such oversees the destruction of all who oppose them.
As is well known, it is not the strongest Decepticon who ascends to lead their ranks, but the Decepticon with the proper combination of power, cunning, ambition, ruthlessness and charisma. It is this combination that allows this Transformer to prevail even over others who might be stronger or smarter. In most of the Transformers series, the Emperor of Destruction plays the part of the main villain and as such is often portrayed as the single most dangerous Decepticon of that series.
Known Emperors
Note: Not all of the characters below have the title "Emperor of Destruction".
In the original Japanese Transformers universe, there were at least eight known Emperors of Destruction. However, the titles of the majority of these Transformers are exclusive to Japan.
1. Megatron: The first (and often considered the greatest) of the Emperors of Destruction, Megatron is credited with first forming the Decepticons. As a result, many of his successors measured their success by comparing themselves to him. He was mortally wounded in battle with Optimus Prime (called Convoy in Japanese airings) and reformatted into Galvatron by the Chaos-Bringer Unicron.
2. Galvatron: Actually Megatron in a powerful new body, Galvatron was plagued with insanity stemming from landing in a lava pit after being thrown out of Unicron's body by Rodimus Prime (Rodimus Convoy in Japan). As a result, he was far more dangerous then Megatron ever was. In the Japanese exclusive series ’’Transformers: The Headmasters’’, he regained much of his sanity and became even more dangerous. He was eventually defeated and entombed in ice by the four Autobot Headmasters, who learned his weaknesses from the spy Punch-Counterpunch.
3. Scorponok (called Zarak in Japan): The Emperor of Terror, later Emperor of Darkness. In the U.S. Transformer series, Scorponok was a mindless robot under the control of an alien named Lord Zarak. In "Transformers: The Headmasters", Zarak was the name of a small robot who transformed into the head of the Scorponok unit (which was basically a lifeless shell, more akin to a suit of powered armor). After Galvatron's defeat, he took control of the Decepticon forces and among other things oversaw the destruction of planet Cybertron (Seibertron in Japan), Mars and the death of Ultra Magnus. He was defeated and driven into space in the climax. After this, he sought to return in a new, more powerful body as Black Zarak, but was enslaved by the entity called Devil Z.
4. Devil Z: The Führer of Darkness, A mysterious non-corporal energy lifeform, the so-called Devil Z enslaved Zarak before the latter could combine with a rebuilt robot body and became the next Emperor. Without a physical body, he led his Decepticon forces from behind the scenes in ‘’Transformers: Super-God Masterforce’’. Eventually, he combined with the mindless Zarak and was destroyed by God Ginrai, who then pursued the surviving Decepticons into space.
(While Devil Z served as the "Emperor", a subordinate rank called "Ambassador of Destruction" was created for his minion, the human powered Transtector called Overlord. However this is the only time this rank has appeared in any fiction.)
5. Deathsaurus: Perhaps one of the most famous of the Emperors of Destruction in Japan is Deathsaurus, the primary antagonist of ‘’Transformers: Victory’’. His seething hatred of Star Saber led to many battles with his arch-foe. He was the closest the Decepticons would have to Megatron/Galvatron, as his plans were often well thought-out and foiled only by the incompetence of his troops or the Autobots’ determination. He nearly succeeded in badly wounding Star Saber multiple times and mortally wounded God Ginrai, but in a final duel with Star Saber he was stabbed in the chest and cast into a black nebula.
6. Violenjaeger: The Strongest Emperor. Another Emperor who claimed to be a god, Violenjaeger resembled a Quintesson more than a Decepticon due to his organic appearance and ability to change faces. He commanded a force of Decepticon Generals, made up of legendary (and in some case, deceased) Decepticon warriors including the Stunticon combiner Menasor and the Combaticon combiner Bruticus. He appeared in Transformers: Zone and was destroyed by "Dai Atlas".
7. Super Megatron/Ultra Megatron: A mysterious entity named Dark Nova resurrected Galvatron from his icy tomb (from Headmasters) and rebuilt him into Super Megatron (oddly not called Galvatron: this suggested that he was less powerful as the Galvatron moniker is usually used to refer to an upgraded Megatron). His sanity now restored and his powers even further strengthened, the revived "Emperor of Destruction" was only stopped by his nemesis Optimus Prime, now rebuilt as Star Convoy. After being defeated, he was further upgraded into Ultra Megatron, but after being defeated yet again he was absorbed into Dark Nova to form Star Giant - only to be defeated by Star Convoy once more.
8. Scrash: The Führer, Nothing is known about this Emperor save that he succeeded Ultra Megatron and Star Convoy considered him enough of a threat to deal with personally.
Other Continuities
In other continuities, it is not traditional for the Decepticon leader to be entitled "Emperor of Destruction", only the Autobots have this tradition in which they bestow the title Prime (or Convoy in Japan) to all their leaders. In the Japanese Beast Wars series Beast Wars II and Beast Wars Neo the Predacon leaders Galvatron and Magmatron also went by this title.
The title has become somewhat more popular among some Transformers fans, and was even acknowledged in the recent ‘’More Than Meets The Eye’’ series by Dreamwave Productions, in which Galvatron's function was the “Emperor of Destruction”. The Dinobot Magmatron, while a Maximal, was also given the moniker “Emperor of Destruction”, making the title no longer exclusive to the Decepticon ranks (however this could be an allusion to Magmatron's origins as the leader of the Predacon forces in Beast Wars Neo, in which he was considered the next "Emperor Of Destruction" after Galvatron from Beast Wars II).

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