Hatchling

It's time to double up! It has been suggested this article should be merged with protoform. If you disagree, please discuss why on its talk page. are a kind of protoform

How is decepticon babby formed?

Hatchlings are the first stage of life for Cybertronians. Unprogrammed protoforms held in small sacs, they require regular doses of Energon to survive. If their sac is breached before the end of the gestation process, they will die.

And they're so cute!

Fiction

Movies

Revenge of the Fallen

Despite the loss of both Megatron and the AllSpark, The Fallen continued his plans to raise an army and ordered new Decepticon leader Starscream to oversee the spawning of this army. Without the AllSpark to provide energon, the plan was failing, and the hatchlings continued to die. Starscream's command came to an end when Soundwave resurrected Megatron (possibly without telling Starscream). Upon his return to the Nemesis, Megatron chastised his lieutenant for leaving him to die on Earth, but Starscream defended his actions by saying The Fallen had decreed the spawning of the new army, and in Megatron's absence, someone had to assume command. Furious at Starscream's presumption, Megatron slammed him into a wall containing protoform sacs, telling Starscream that there was no command but Megatron's. Despite warning Megatron of their fragile state, Starscream's presence on the wall caused one of the sacs to break open, causing the hatchling inside to fall out and die. Starscream later presented the body of the hatchling to The Fallen to further emphasize the need to find more Energon, as the other hatchlings would die without it. Revenge of the Fallen

Dark of the Moon

Megatron, after making an undisclosed journey and frightening the wildlife of the Savannah, returned to his temporary base of operations in Namibia, Africa, where he kept a number of hatchlings grouped together in rusty barrels. He fed them what little sustenance he had managed to acquire, musing for them not to be greedy, whilst simultaneously listening to Starscream's sycophantic pity. Dark of the Moon

IDW comics

"Where do babies come from? You see, when a mommy bot and a daddy bot love each other very much they..."

Before the war, after the AllSpark was rediscovered and used to revitalize Cybertron, some newborn hatchlings were being tended to by Flatline. Foundation #1 Later, a monster attacked the hatchlings and their protector Starscream, but they were rescued by Megatron and Shockwave. Foundation #2 Many years after the war broke out, when Optimus Prime broke into Megatron's citadel, he found Megatron surrounded by hatchlings. Megatron dared Optimus as to whether he would kill the defenseless young Transformers to get at him. Foundation #3 Optimus refused to succumb to this temptation and let the hungry hatchlings swarm over Megatron: when the Decepticon cast them off, he discovered his nemesis was gone. Foundation #4

Millennia later on Earth, Megatron relocated the hatchlings to Namibia, Africa. Rising Storm #2Rising Storm #4

Games

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - The Game

Xbox 360/Sony PS3/PC

Decepticon campaign

After the defeat of The Fallen, Megatron returned to the Nemesis, unleashing his dormant army of Decepticons. Revenge of the Fallen (Xbox 360/PS3/PC)

Transformers: Dark of the Moon - the Game

Xbox 360/Sony PS3

Decepticon campaign

The Hatchlings were relocated by the Decepticons to an abandoned Soviet facility in Siberia when the base was attacked by the Autobots who followed the MechTech signal from some of the captured equipment Starscream brought back to Megatron. During the attack on his base, Megatron retrieved some plutonium from an old human stockpile and used it to create energy which in turn he used to awaken the Hatchlings. Megatron would use this ability to awaken these Hatchlings to use them against various Autobots and obstacles until he managed to flee the facility. Dark of the Moon (Xbox 360/PS3)

Notes

• In the Revenge of the Fallen novelization, comic adaptation and video game, following the end of the battle in Egypt, Megatron returns to the Nemesis to activate the protoforms and bring them forth. This was presumably supposed to be the "hook" ending shown after the credits (but the question remains as to how Megatron would have accomplished this, since he never got any more Energon!). While not included in the film itself, this idea was reflected in various pieces of subsequent media, including Unite for the Universe, Titan's UK comic, and eventually Dark of the Moon and its prequel Rising Storm, by which time the hatchlings had been brought to Earth.
• In the comic adaptation of Dark of the Moon, Megatron brings the Hatchlings with him to Chicago. What happens to them in the movie is unknown...

Foreign names

• Polish: Embricony