President Megatron

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Founder/Leader of the Decepticons, Megatron lives up to his faction’s name. He very rarely outright lies, but he bends the truth to near breaking point, highlights irrelevant but damaging factoids, and encourages the worst to be assumed -- all the while warning his followers that they are being deceived. Megatron knows he doesn’t have to be liked, he just needs to make everyone believe the other side is far worse.

Although capable of holding his own in a fight, Megatron prefers to get other Decepticons to fight in his place. Some would consider this cowardice, hiding behind bigger bots; Megatron himself thinks of it as making the right friends.

The Honorable Starscream

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A literal and figurative giant amongst the Decepticon military, Starscream believes a perpetual state of conflict is needed for the health of the individual and the community as a whole. You can’t be prepared for what life throws at you if you aren’t already on your toes. Anyone that dies along the way, well, they’d have only weighed the survivors down anyways. This goes for the Commander-in-Chief, too! All for the greater good, you must understand. The Decepticons deserve only the best to lead them.

Starscream is quite content as Second-in-Command, afterall getting to tell Megatron what to do and having the honor of using him in gun mode is a pretty sweet high. Intoxicating, even...

Soundwave

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Soundwave gathers, rectifies, distributes -- effectively controls information, on everyone and everything. He ensures that all hear HIS version of events, the version that best serves Deceptionism. All of history, of art and of literature, all opinions and individual thought, all of all supports -has ALWAYS supported- Megatron and his loyal subjects. Anything that doesn't, simply doesn't exist -- never existed. It was just a momentary lapse in memory on your part, an honest mistake, we all make them from time to time (excluding the mighty Megatron, of course, of course).

Soundwave is assisted by a veritable army of (typically diminutive) Transformers, primarily in gathering intel. He cares deeply for each and every one of them; not out of comradery, oh no, but because they all contain so much precious data. Even more if you lobotomize away those useless personalities.

Shockwave

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Charged with security, Shockwave will go to any length to protect the Decepticon way. Anything that helps the cause is immediately justified for that very reason. If that means sacrificing a few freedoms, or even a few lives, then so be it. Fortunately, most Decepticons are willing to give of themselves for the greater good -- partly because they’ve been conditioned to do so, but largely because they believe themselves to be the victims in the Autobot-Decepticon conflict and thus are desperate to do something. In fact the people’s suggestions are often far more ambitious than Shockwave’s own.

Shockwave (more often his subordinates) scours battlefields for any possible benefits. Technology can be reverse-engineered, POWs can divulge enemy plans and/or be put to work (scientists are especially valuable), and casualties... an autopsy can reveal what killed them, and from there new weapons can be developed. Shockwave is obsessed with finding Autobot secrets, going so far as to "release" prisoners he stuffed with recording devices in the hope to uncover something, anything. But most of those bugged bots end up dead or drunk or lead incredibly dull lives, perhaps he needs a more proactive agent...

Decepticon Justice Division

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For many Decepticons it is the dream, for others they are a nightmare; the Decepticon Justice Division takes loyalism to the extreme. The DJD serve as bodyguards for Megatron out on the field, taking on his alternate mode to serve as decoys for any would-be assassin. And in the unlikely event that the Decepticon leader is injured, the DJD are there willing and able to donate their parts (ALL of them, if need be). As one might expect, the Division has gone through quite a number of recruits. Luckily, the waiting list for membership is incredibly long - even after limiting it to those with the same spark-type as Megatron. Those that make it are completely rebuilt into walking torture devices, and are given one further weapon: a mask in the form of the Decepticon badge. This doesn’t do any physically damage (although some clever bots have found ways), rather it’s psychological: victims aren’t going against a group of thugs, they are going against Decepticonism itself.

When not directly protecting their leader, the DJD hunt down any that oppose the Decepticon cause: assassins, terrorists, traitors, rebels, dissidents, thoughtcriminals, etc.. While this sadly means sometimes cutting down their own Decepticon brothers, a great many of these "undesirables" have been successfully rehabilitated, every iota of disloyalty having been burned, torn, blasted, devoured, scrambled and otherwise removed from their minds.

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Barricade joined the Decepticon Justice Division with the hopes of becoming one of Megatron’s personal bodyguards, but after finding his spark-type was not a match for the Decepticon leader (he is a match for Starscream though) he was instead assigned to uphold the law on a civilian level. Barricade takes his more realistic function in stride, after all a Decepticon mustn’t allow personal disappointment get in the way of serving the cause, and all who serve are equals regardless of their post.

Barricade is partnered with Nickel – an excitable and optimistic recruit with a habit of spouting off Decepticon maxims. She’s just happy to support the cause in any way! However, Nickel’s enthusiasm and Decepticon conditioning can get the better of her, as she’ll occasionally chase after street lights and trash cans thinking they are Autobots in disguise. Nickel hasn’t had any luck so far, but you can never be too careful.

A victim of savage oppression (who the oppressors were depends on time of day...), Glitch found solace in Megatron’s rhetoric and purpose in the Decepticon Justice Division. Glitch quickly climbed the ranks and eventually became Chief Justice, enacting harsh punishments on those that step out of line.

... in the name of the law, of course. Yes. They all deserve what they get.

DECEPTICISION 20XX

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Every four vorns (or 332 human years) the Decepticons hold an election to choose their leader; an honest election where the candidate with the most votes wins, which always happens to be Megatron. Of course, his opponents are carefully chosen to be easily defeated, comically inept strawmen that make Megatron look good simply because he’s not them (though not so inept as to become the stars of the election). Thus the Decepticon populace feels that they’ve both made an impact on society AND have successfully identified and routed out deceivers in their midst. Technically, not untrue…

This year, the opposing candidates are:

Octus is a proponent of manifest destiny, that the Decepticons have the sole right to the entire cosmos. Anyone who gets in the way gets exterminated (or at least kicked off the planet). Under his reign all Decepticons would have to join the armed forces in order to become a "true" citizen, not earning their full rights until they do so.

Of course Octus himself is infamously lazy and hedonistic, in sharp contrast of his idealized warrior-citizen, though he attests that his alien tank mode’s weaponry are more than capable of compensating. Not that he’d ever voluntarily join the battle line.

Scorponok would instead prefer to work with the universes other inhabitants, even going so far as to grant full citizenry to anyone who so much as visits a Decepticon-occupied planet. Scorponok has especially close ties with one organic world in particular, though he is quick to assure his fellow robotic comrades that he’s still loyal to the cause.

Scorponok has launched a number of exotic building projects, allegedly "for the economy" (though it often seems to benefit non-Transformer workers…). His latest plan seems to concern a massive fortress of some type, with himself as the head. But of course, he designed the thing and is running for Leader, why wouldn’t he be in charge?

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(unofficial fan art redesigns, I don't own the characters or names)