WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Transformers: War for Cybertron -- Earthrise, now streaming on Netflix.
In Netflix's Transformers: War for Cybertron -- Siege, Megatron realized he needed a trump card to defeat the Autobots. Thanks to the intervention of the Guardian, Omega Supreme, at the planet's space-bridge, Optimus Prime was able to toss the Allspark to Earth and escape with the Teletraan I ark, leaving Megatron with a dying planet.
However, come Earthrise, Megatron has a plan called Project Nemesis, and it paints him as an even more sadistic figure than first assumed.
Elita and Jetfire are scrounging around Cybertron to free Autobots, but they're stunned to find out Megatron's also imprisoning Decepticons. They liberate some, confused why he'd betray his own kind, but when they get captured, they realize it's all part of a bigger scheme. In the first few episodes, not much is revealed about this project other than Shockwave's heading it and he requires all auxiliary power, which is why various zones are being shut down.
Megatron then visits a derelict one, and after realizing it's not productive and there are too many wounded soldiers in the infirmary, he wants it to shut down, too. It would result in Decepticons going offline and Cybertron's population whittling bit by bit, but it all comes together when he and Shockwave reveal to Elita what they're up to. They need power for their ark, Nemesis, so it can pursue Optimus' ship across the galaxy and retrieve the Allspark. However, they're ravaging the bodies of robots they deem expendable, harnessing their sparks and turning them into Energon to fuel the ship.
Elita's heartbroken Megatron would go so far, but without the Allspark, he has no choice. However, later on, when she escapes, there's another twist to the plot that Megatron might not know about when Shockwave fights her. He's hooked cables up into his body and is sucking the sparks directly into him, powering him up. Now, this fits his sinister scientist nature because it's a way of becoming bigger, stronger and faster, but it looks like he's kept this secret, maybe even to usurp his leader who's away with the Nemesis in the Dead Universe.
It's a game-changer because, as seen with many stories in the source material, Shockwave loves toying with sparks. This series could have him creating something akin to the Dark Spark, which is the opposite of the Matrix of Leadership and can reanimate dead soldiers as zombie-bots. He could also be transferring sparks in between robots to manipulate Decepticons and Autobots as spies. Either way, as Elita blows the citadel up, one can only hope she destroyed all the tech Shockwave was using for his evil scheme.
Developed by Rooster Teeth Studios, Transformers: War for Cybertron - Earthrise features the voice talents of Jake Foushee as Optimus Prime, Jason Marnocha as Megatron, Linsay Rousseau as Elita-1, Joe Zieja as Bumblebee, Frank Todaro as Starscream, Rafael Goldstein as Ratchet, Keith Silverstein as Jetfire, Todd Haberkorn as Shockwave & Red Alert, Edward Bosco as Ultra Magnus & Soundwave, Bill Rogers as Wheeljack, Sophia Isabella as Arcee, Brook Chalmers as Impactor, Shawn Hawkins as Mirage, Kaiser Johnson as Ironhide, Miles Luna as Teletraan I & Cliffjumper and Mark Whitten as Sideswipe & Skywarp. The series is now available on Netflix.