[1] Serving as the main antagonists in the franchise, their goals include conquering their fictional homeworld of Cybertron, defeating the Autobots, and achieving universal domination.

As opposed to the Autobots' Supreme Commander, the Primes, the Decepticons' highest ranking leader is often given the title Emperor of Destruction in Japan.

Four million years passed before a tremor in 1984 reactivated the Decepticons, who assumed alternate modes based on Earth vehicles and technology and set out to conquer the planet and plunder its resources.

With the war's expansion to Earth however, Megatron soon came to realize how far his faction had strayed from his original vision and joined the Autobots in hopes of ending the conflict.

director, Karen Croft, where she formalized a partnership between them to begin constructing more Cybertronian control badges to use at her disposal, offering Mandroid the Decepticon prisoners under her watch as his test subjects.

Led by their leader, Starscream, they know that they witnessed Sentinel Prime's betrayal long ago and have been seeking revenge ever since while remaining in hiding.

However, after their leader is defeated by Orion and renamed Optimus Prime, Megatron and the High Guard are exiled from Iacon for their war crimes and returned to their hidden location in the desert.

In the end, the High Guard are now renamed into the Decepticons by Megatron, in order to take control of Cybertron, starting the war against Optimus and the Autobots.