Characters / Beast Wars: Maximals

Index: Maximals | Predacons | Others | Expanded Universe | Beast Wars Neo

"Maximize!"

The heroes of the series Beast Wars, a simple crew of explorers who get more than what they signed up for when encountering a Predacon ship...

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Optimus Primal

Optimus Primal

Function: General; Maximal General (Transmetal); Supreme Commander (Optimal Optimus); Maximal Commander (Beast Machines)

Alt/Beast Modes: Silverback Gorilla (Original); Gorilla with Hoverboard (Transmetal); Ape; Jet; Armored Transport (Optimal Optimus); Gorilla (Beast Machines)

^{Click here to see his Transmetal form:}

^{Click here to see his "Optimal" form (Warning, 3rd season spoilers):}

Voiced by: Garry Chalk

Debut: "Beast Wars (Part 1)"

"Well, that's just prime."

The Maximal Commander with an alternate mode of a silverback gorilla. Like his namesake (and possible ancestor) Optimus Prime, Primal is brave, noble and wise. However, unlike the more idealized Prime, Primal has no background as a military leader - he signed onto the Axalon to command an exploration mission, and his crew ended up in a fight with Megatron solely because they were the only ones in range. Thus he is a much more cerebral, pacifistic commander than Prime was, and he's frequently questioned and undermined by his men. However, though he makes mistakes and doesn't win every battle, no one ever questions that his heart is in the right place and ultimately he wins the loyalty of every bot under his command, many of whom he takes on a paternal role towards. When hit with the quantum surge, he gained a Transmetal body and the ability to fly in his beast mode (via rocketboard). After taking in Optimus Prime's spark in an effort to preserve time, he was upgraded into a new "Optimal" body.

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• Adaptational Villainy: In the original continuity of the IDW comics, he was one of the many Maximals under the service of the villainous Onyx Prime.
• Amplifier Artifact: Optimus Prime's spark upgrades his body in the third season of Beast Wars.
• Back from the Dead: Again, he wouldn't be an Optimus if he didn't die and come back from the dead at least a few times. He does so once in Beast Wars, twice in Beast Machines.
• Baritone of Strength: His voice is deep and commanding, much like his original namesake.
• Benevolent Boss: He puts up with a lot from his crew, but always does his best to guide and protect them. The few occasions he loses patience with them are are very jarring.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Don't let his easygoing nature fool you. Crossing him will cost you dearly.
• Came Back Strong: After being blown up in the first season finale, he returns in Coming of the Fuzors: Part 2 in a new Transmetal body which was now just as big as Megatron increasing his overall strength. Other improvemts included heavier artillery and flight in his beast mode.
• Character Catchphrase: Used both straight and sarcastically: "Prime."/"Well, that's just prime”.
  • Amusingly mocked by Rattrap once, when in the presence of a damaged G1 Optimus Prime:
    Rattrap: ...Or what's left of him, anyway. [Death Glare from Optimus]
  • On two occasions, when he forced to resort to less-than-ideal tactics:
    Primal: Sometimes, crazy works.
  • And when activating or enhancing the flight mode of his first robot mode:
    Primal: Prime jets, ON!/maximum burn!
• The Chosen One: The Oracle chooses him to communicate with and share its power in Beast Machines because of his “receptive Spark”. Later, in the comics continuity, he’s chosen to lead the Children of Primus in their war with Unicron.
• Composite Character: Becomes one of himself and the original Optimus Prime when he temporarily takes Optimus' spark into his body. His "Optimal Optimus" mode is a mash-up of Primal's original form, Prime's vehicle mode, and a new form expanding Primal's flight capabilities. The result is a four-changer between gorilla, robot, armored transporter, and jet. His voice takes on a new metallic distortion effect not dissimilar to the one Prime had, and he drops a couple choice quotes from Prime too.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: To the original Optimus Prime. Prime is best remembered as an old, stoic soldier who had seen his share of battle, had the wisdom and patience of ages, and had a strong code of honor; Primal is a more youthful and emotional leader who will argue with his troops if they step out of line, has a snarky sense of humor, and while he is a moral and righteous character, he's not above some shady behavior when situation calls. If Optimus Prime is a protective Big Good, Optimus Primal is an exasperated Team Dad.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Primal's first and final bodies both feature a lot of dark colors, but he's a very heroic character (some lapses in Beast Machines notwithstanding).
• Deadpan Snarker: He has a tendency to sarcastically remark, "Well, that's just prime."
• Death Is Cheap: Primal dies several times over the course of Beast Wars and Beast Machines. His death in the Beast Machines finale is for real.
• Decomposite Character: Along with the toyline moving the events of present-day Earth to a time-travel adventure, it did this to Primal, as the toyline originally painted Primal not as an expy/legacy character to Optimus Prime, but as Prime himself in an upgraded form. The same thing was done with Megatron.
• Determinator: It's no exaggeration to say that death itself has failed to stop Optimus Primal.
  Megatron: [quoting the Covenant of Primus] "And there came a hero who said 'hurt not the earth, nor the seas, nor the trees, nor the very fabric of time!' But the hero would not prevail..."
  Optimus: Finish the quote, Megatron. "Nor would he surrender!"
• Dual Wielding: He fights using two swords.
• Expy: Of Optimus Prime. His head is very much the same design, he has red, blue, and white colors, and he's the leader of his team.
• Face Death with Dignity: In the Grand Finale of Beast Machines, Optimus faces the end of his life with calm, serene dignity, contrasting Megatron's furious and terrified screaming.
  Optimus: The Great Transformation awaits, Megatron. Prepare to be... reformatted.
  Megatron: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!
• A Father to His Men: Most notably with Cheetor; the two of them form a surprisingly nuanced father-son dynamic that lasts throughout the Beast Era.
  • Downplayed, but he has a similar dynamic with Silverbolt, especially noticeable during Agenda: Part 3 where he talks to Silverbolt less like a commanding officer and more like a father figure, effectively grounding him for courting a member of the enemy faction.
• Final Boss:
  • In the Beast Wars: Transformers video game, he is the final boss in the Predacons campaign.
  • The PlayStation version of Beast Wars: Transmetals features him as the final opponent of the Predacons campaign.
• Flying Brick: Optimus is always one of the stronger Maximals, and each of his bodies can fly in robot mode.
• The Fundamentalist: During the first season of Beast Machines, he constantly preaches about fulfilling the journey the Oracle has given for him and the Maximals and lashes out whenever his teammates express their dissent towards his beliefs. This behavior is blatantly a stand-in for overzealous religious people who try to force their beliefs onto others. He realizes this starting in the second season and tones down the zealousness.
• Genius Bruiser: It's easy to overlook, but Primal isn't a soldier, he's a scientist. Turns out he started out as a soldier, then became a scientist when he got sick of it. Then the Beast Wars forced him to become a soldier again.
• Genre Savvy: In "Dark Designs", Rhinox is captured and reprogrammed as a Predacon by Megatron. Rather than come to his rescue immediately, Optimus suggests waiting a while before saving their friend. It turns out that making Rhinox a Predacon made him a far bigger problem for Megatron than the Maximals as Rhinox attempts to usurp leadership of the Predacons.
• Gentle Gorilla: The noble Maximal leader's beast form is a silverback gorilla.
• The Good Captain: He is a fair and benevolent leader to the Maximals in Beast Wars. Not so much in season one of Beast Machines but he returns to this in season two.
• Good Is Not Dumb: He's one of the most noble characters in the series, and one of the most cunning to go with it.
• Good Is Not Soft: While he's a very friendly and affable commander, Optimus is far from unwilling to lay down the law, chewing out Rattrap several times in the opening episodes, Dinobot throughout the series, and even memorably threatening to personally extract information from the central processor of a cagey and uncooperative Depth Charge.
• Good Shepherd: After his brush with death in Beast Machines he becomes something of a holy man; talking about the Will of the Matrix and becoming less interested in the military war and more interested in the spiritual war represented by the underground garden.
• Heel Realization: In the second season premiere of Beast Machines, he realizes that having organic life replace machines would make him no different from Megatron.
• The Hero Dies: Aside from possibly Cheetor, he is unquestionably the main character of both series. And he dies a total of five of times, though his last death at the end of Beast Machines is final... for the most part.
• Heroic Build: Optimus' bodies all feature a big, powerful, heroic mass. Special mention goes to his Beast Machines body, which looked like most of Primal's weight came from his chest and arms.
• Heroic BSoD: Has a breakdown after the death of Tigerhawk and becomes even more determined than ever to stop Megatron.
  Optimus Primal: NOOOO! [smashes doors] This ends here, Megatron! No more good friends will be sacrificed to your insane ambition! I swear it! NO MORE!
• Heroic Sacrifice: Is tricked into one, in the first season finale of Beast Wars. His sacrifice at the end of Beast Machines results in his permanent death.
• Ideal Hero: He attempts to be this. Though he often falls short, he eventually earns the respect and admiration of all under his command.
• Identical Stranger: He looks a hell of a lot like Optimus Prime and has a similar name, but they're unrelated. This originates from an early take of the series where he was supposed to be the same character in a new body.
• Indy Ploy: One of his favoured tactics, as noted by his secondary catchphrase.
• Informed Attribute: Optimus' tendency to give long, cheesy, inspirational speeches are not nearly as frequent as Rattrap suggests.
• In-Series Nickname: Cheetor often addresses him as Big Bot. Rattrap frequently refers to him as Fearless Leader or Boss Monkey.
• It Has Been an Honor: Before entering the stasis pod to stop the Vok's planet buster in season 1, he tells the Maximals they are the finest crew he has ever worked with.
• Killed Off for Real: After dying at least four times in the series, he commits a Heroic Sacrifice and dies permanently at the end of Beast Machines.
• Lantern Jaw of Justice: His reformatted robot mode in Beast Machines has a large chin.
• Large and in Charge: As Optimal Optimus, he's up to the size of the G1 cast and as such towers over every other character until Megatron becomes a Transmetal II.
• The Leader: The leader of the Maximals.
• Legacy Character: He's a descendant of Optimus Prime.
• Look What I Can Do Now!: For every "upgrade" he receives in this series:
  Cheetor: Jumping gyros, Optimus sure learns a new body fast!
  Rattrap: Well, what did ya expect? He changes 'em often enough!
• Martial Pacifist: Optimus would much rather be off exploring the universe than fighting a war. That said, he's damn good at fighting said war.
• Meaningful Echo:
  Optimus: Sometimes, crazy works.
• More Dakka: As befitting a commander.
  • In his original form: Arm-mounted cannons? Check. Shoulder-mounted missile launchers? Check.
  • His Transmetal body replaces the above with dual pistols, and shoulder-mounted machine guns.
  • After fusing with Optimus Prime's spark, Prime surprisingly has less overall Dakka, but it got a lot bigger.
• Painful Transformation: The upgrade to Optimal Optimus involved a lot of screaming in pain.
• Power Makes Your Voice Deep: His "Optimal Optimus" upgrade lowered his voice and gave it a metallic aftereffect to boot.
• Pragmatic Hero: In the first season finale of Beast Machines. He blindly follows the Oracle, believing it wants him to replace everything technological with organic life and has no compunctions about using the Plasma Energy Chamber, which would spell doom for Cybertron. Fortunately, he realises the error of his ways in the second season premiere.
• Punny Name: Optimus Prime, but "Primal" because he's a primate.
• Rank Scales with Asskicking: He's the leader of the Maximals, and as Gorilla Warfare illustrates, he could maul his troops if he felt like it.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: During the finale of "Nemesis".
  Megatron: Oh well, come on, let's have it! The usual "destiny and honor" speech!
  Optimus: Speech this. (punch)
• Sky Surfing: His Transmetal form enables him to transform his feet into a skateboard-like construct that enables him to fly.
• Tank Goodness: After fusing with Optimus Prime's spark, he can become a tank.
• Team Dad:
  • Especially with Cheetor with whom he forms a notable father-son dynamic that evolves throughout both series.
  • Though not as blatant as his relationship with Cheetor, Silverbolt also comes off like an older son of Optimus', perhaps most notably shown in The Agenda: Part 2 where Silverbolt gets a stern paternal talking to from Optimus and then gets, essentially, grounded.
• This Is Gonna Suck: In "Other Voices, Part 2", he willingly walks into danger knowing he barely has a shot at stopping the Planet Buster, let alone surviving the ordeal. He also grimly notes that, if it doesn't work at all, then he's no worse off than his companions who will die on Earth without him, knowing he may be taking a huge risk for nothing.
• Token Flyer: Before Airazor, Optimus was the only Maximal capable of flight. Then more and more Maximals either gained or arrived with the ability.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: In the first season of Beast Machines, Optimus slowly becomes a fanatical, overzealous extremist blinded by his own dogma and committing highly dangerous acts, culminating in him opening the Plasma Energy Chamber, threatening the entire planet. The first episode of Season 2 is all about making him realize just how much of an ass he's been acting like, and results in him returning to form.
• Undignified Death: While it was a Heroic Sacrifice, Optimus' first death (in the first season finale of Beast Wars) has him go out screaming Megatron's name in ineffectual rage as he realises that the Predacon leader has doomed him. His final death at the end of Beast Machines is much more dignified.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: In the first season of Beast Machines, Optimus slowly slips into fanaticism, believing that the only way to defeat Megatron and return Cybertron to its proper state is to wipe away everything mechanical on the planet. He goes so far as to attempt to reformat an unwilling Megatron, and even opens the Plasma Energy Chamber, risking destroying the entire planet. Getting a good look at the results of his actions and a journey through the Oracle has Optimus realize the error of his ways, and he returns to form as a straight-up hero in season 2.
• The Worf Effect: Gets hit with this frequently after he upgrades to Optimal form. Subsequently, every time he participates in the front lines 1) the Predacons have developed a plot device to take him out first, 2) he arrives late to the battle or 3) environmental factors, (being buried, twice, for example) prevent him from participating. This is because developing Megatron's third form took longer than expected, leaving Optimal Optimus without an equal or superior until 3 episodes from the finale.

Rattrap

Rattrap

Function: Spy; Intelligence/Surveillance Expert (Beast Machines)

Alt/Beast Modes: Rat (Original/Transmetal/Beast Machines); Dragster (Transmetal)

^{Click here to see his Transmetal form:}

Voiced by: Scott McNeil

Debut: "Beast Wars (Part 1)"

"That'll teach you to mess with the rat!"

Ostensibly the team's second-in-command, a world-class spy, master marksman and demolitions expert with an alt. mode of a rat. Rattrap is a malcontent - self-centered, sarcastic, arrogant and dismissive to just about everyone on the crew (with the one exception of his best buddy Rhinox), but he's also among the most capable members of the Maximals and though few can stand him when the series begins, they all ultimately come to depend and rely on him. Though he can be cowardly and lazy, he always steps up when he needs to and has proven to be a remarkably capable and decisive leader when Optimus is presumed dead or otherwise indisposed. A consummate survivor, Rattrap is one of just two Maximals to survive from the very beginning of the war to the very end.

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• Adaptational Late Appearance: The video game depicts him as a recruit joining the team after being uncovered from a stasis pod in the Maximal campaign rather than being part of the Maximals from the beginning.
• Aliens of London: He has a rather strong Brooklyn accent despite being an alien robot.
• Almighty Janitor: It's easy to forget, but Rattrap is a mineral surveyor. What's more, it's what he enjoys doing above everything else. Yet he's one of the best fighters of the original Maximals, and capable of taking down larger and more powerful opponents with a mix of skill and subterfuge.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: He and Botanica argue like cats and dogs, but find themselves falling in love almost without noticing.
• Boring, but Practical: Rattrap is armed with little more than a average powered gun and a couple of detonators. But more often than not, they're all he needs.
• Borrowed Catchphrase: In "Double Dinobot". After spending half the episode as The Cassandra when an evil clone of Dinobot has been sent to infiltrate the Maximal's base, by the time the rest of the team finally catch on, Rattrap nearly became a "deep fried rat" because of it. In full Deadpan Snarker mode, he uses Primal's catchphrase against him when he has an Uh-Oh moment.
  Rattrap: I tried to tell ya — once a Pred, always a Pred! Now where is he?
  Optiums Primal: I left him back at the base... alone. [looks down with concern]
  Cheetor: [visibly shocked]
  Rattrap: Well... That's. Just. PRIME!
• Brooklyn Rage: He speaks with a Brooklyn accent and is an irritable little fella.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: His snarky attitude and cowardly demeanor obscures the fact that he's a genuinely capable soldier and second-in-command. Optimus doesn't hesitate to put him in charge of the crew when he's briefly trapped by an alien probe, and despite being surprised by a sudden ambush by the Predacons, Rattrap is able to come up with an effective defense within seconds, despite being under pressure.
• Butt-Monkey: Rattrap becomes something of a Butt Monkey in Beast Machines, at least in the early episodes. In Beast Wars he was considered slightly obnoxious but otherwise a valuable robot to have on your side. Then along comes Beast Machines and the only thing standing between Rattrap and getting thrown off a cliff is Optimus. When Optimus gets put out of commission temporarily in "The Weak Component", everyone acts downright hostile towards him, even after he learns to transform again, because he doesn't offer anything in the way of firepower and ended up giving the rest of the team away. Cheetor even says they're only keeping him around because he sits on the outside fringes of being "one of us", and therefore they're not ditching him. Then they're surprised when he turns to Megatron for a little sympathy and weaponry.
• Can't Catch Up: Has this in effect for the first part of Beast Machines. He is the last to Transform, and when he does his form lacks any offensive weaponry. It's only when he discovers his body's new abilities makes him a master hacker that he goes from being The Load to being The Reliable One.
• Character Catchphrase:
  "We're all gonna die."
  "Oh, maaan!"
  "What in the name of gouda?"
  "For booting up cold!"
  • Phrase Catcher:
  "Shut up, Rattrap."
• Character Development: In the pilot he was a completely selfish, cowardly Jerkass with no redeeming virtues whatsoever. Over the next episodes he developed into a more courageous and loyal character, becoming a Jerk with a Heart of Gold and one of the team's most valuable members.
• Closest Thing We Got: In Beast Machines, Rattrap essentially becomes the Maximals' new tech guy with Rhinox gone, although his devices are relatively basic compared to Rhinox, such as cloaking devices that don't work the first time they were used.
• Combat Pragmatist: "You fight with a rat, you better fight dirty!"
• Cowardly Lion: Rattrap is often the first to suggest running, hiding, or simply not engaging in a fight. He's also *the* best fighter the Maximals have, outside of Dinobot, capable of turning the tide of battle based on his wits alone.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Though he'll gripe and moan about doing something dangerous and is quick to say "We're all gonna die", he's actually quite fearless. He's faced down Predacons much larger and stronger than he is, a Predacon stealth warship, Vok weapons and structures, and even the Nemesis with plenty of snark and skill and often comes out on top while enjoying the experience. Hell, he's even triumphed against Megatron a few times.
• Deadpan Snarker: This show has a pretty witty cast, so many of them fit this trope. However, there are episodes where this is all Rattrap does.
• Demolitions Expert: He's the Maximal Primal turns to whenever he needs something blown up.
• Fake Defector: He does a temporary Face–Heel Turn in one episode.
  • In the Beast Wars episode "Double Jeopardy, he's being suspected as a traitor, and goes to the Predacon base to retrieve something, fake-betraying his comrades.
  • In Beast Machines, this trope is played with; he temporarily defects to Megatron as he feels useless, then realises that he was making a mistake.
• Famous Ancestor: Rattrap once swore by his Great-Aunt Arcee, meaning he has familial ties back to the Great War.
• Fantastic Racism: He makes it clear that he absolutely hates Predacons or Decepticons, more so than normal for a Maximal.
• Fire-Forged Friends: Despite his sardonic personality, he ends up having this relationship with pretty much every Maximal save for Optimus or Rhinox. Especially Dinobot.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Developes this trait in Beast Machines when he becomes frustrated with his lack of combat abilities, essentially becoming to the new team what Rhinox was to the old.
• Guile Hero: He uses his cunning to dupe the Predacons.
• Having a Blast: He carries a number of surprisingly powerful demolition bombs with him at all times.
• Heroic Build: Notably, one of the only "cheats" on a Transmetal body is Rattrap's "backpack" rotates on the show model, making it so the larger section of the backtop is the top rather than the bottom, making him look more heroic.
• How Do I Shot Web?: He initially has some difficulties figuring out his Transmetal body. Especially the vehicle mode.
  • He also takes the longest to find out how to transform in Beast Machines, because said transformation requires a certain level of calmness, and if you know anything about Rattrap...
  Rattrap: [while running for his life and dodging explosions] I am transformed... I am SO transformed... I... I am getting REALLY cheesed off here!
• Hyper-Competent Sidekick: Optimus demands a lot from his second in command, from pretending to defect to the other side, to infiltrating their own base when they locked themselves out with their new death trap security system. Thankfully for the Maximals, and the universe as a whole, Rattrap always comes through.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He whines, he moans, he mocks, he groans. He openly voices his disdain regarding missions and is the most cowardly member of the Maximal crew. Yet, he is possibly Primal's most loyal cadet and, though reluctantly, always eventually accepts his missions. All of this adds up to Primal naming him second-in-command, over the likes of Rhinox and Dinobot, in the episode "Chain of Command".
• Knight in Sour Armour: He's one of the Maximals, but is also a bit of an egotistical jerk and very cynical.
  Airazor: Looks like we found the source of the anomaly.
  Rattrap: Oooh, lucky us. Now we can be the first to get vaped.
  Airazor: Do you ever think positively?
  Rattrap: He-hey, that was positive sister. Ya know, I coulda said - now we can be the first to get tortured and then vaped.
  Airazor: ...You're a real fun bot, you know that?
• The Lancer: In Beast Wars as the Number Two and the snarky contrasting voice to the leadership.
  • Transitions into more of a The Smart Guy role in Beast Machines as Cheetor matures into a leadership position, filling the void left by Rhinox.
• The Load: In Beast Machines, he holds this position early on as he has trouble transforming and, even when he does, doesn't have any robot mode weapons. The other characters, who have always viewed Rattrap as mildly annoying but a good 'bot to have on your side, start treating him as this trope.
• Morphic Resonance: Has two prominent front teeth in his robot mode, just like a rat.
• Mr. Vice Guy: Outside of his grating personality, Rattrap alludes to regular visits to the transformer-equivalent of seedy topless bars and casinos back on Cybertron.
• Never Speak Ill of the Dead: As much of an asshole as he is to them, disrespecting his fallen comrades is a good way to piss him off. This is shown in Beast Machines twice.
  • When Nightscream gives the Maximals grief about losing the Beast Wars, Rattrap tackles him and tells him how he lost friends (Dinobot, Tigatron, Airazor and possibly even Depthcharge) in that war.
  • Silverbolt isn’t exactly dead but when his Vehicon personality Jetstorm tells Blackarachnia to give up on trying to get Silverbolt back, Ratrap speaks up saying “Watch it lugnut. Silverbolt was my friend.”
• The Nicknamer: Including, but not limited to: Chopperface (Dinobot), Fearless Leader/Boss Monkey (Optimus), Spots (Cheetor), Bird-Dog (Silverbolt) and so on.
• Official Couple: He eventually hooks up with Botanica in Beast Machines.
• The Pig-Pen: According to Dinobot, he smells awful, and even Rhinox voices agreement with the sentiment. Well, he is a rat.
• Pragmatic Hero: He'll try anything to stop the Predacons, even if Optimus Primal doesn't agree with his actions.
• The Reliable One: After Rattrap discovers the advantages of his new form in Beast Machines, he becomes this for the new team, essentially going from The Load to someone essential for many of their plans to work. It gets to the point where during an argument between Optimus and Cheetor ordering him what to do, Rattrap laments he misses being the useless one.
• Resourceful Rodent: His quick wits are easily his greatest asset.
• Robo Family: He made a throwaway reference to his "Great Aunt Arcee".
• Rodents of Unusual Size: His alt-mode is a giant rat.
• Sarcastic Devotee: Despite the fact that he's Primal's biggest biggest critic, his loyalty to the Maximals never actually wavers.
• Slap-Slap-Kiss: With Botanica. They start off angry at each other but eventually grow to care about one another.
• The Sneaky Guy: The team's go-to stealth expert, even when he's shiny and red.
• Sour Supporter: Rattrap doesn't hesitate to put his life on the line for his fellow Maximals...or to complain about having to do so.
• Transformation Conventions: Rattrap transforms into a giant robot rat. Not only does his name make the choice evident but also the fact that he's a world-class spy, a consummate survivor, and sometimes cowardly.
• Underestimating Badassery: Rattrap lacks the speed, strength, or simply raw firepower of other Maximals and Predacons. Even when he upgrades to a Transmetal, his new abilities are overshadowed by the abilities of other upgraded characters. However, he's the best fighter the Maximals have from their original roster, and foiled the plans of the Predacons single handedly on more than one occasion. Of the original ten-bot roster, Rattrap is also one of only three — the other two being Cheetor and Waspinator — who's still alive and kicking at the very end of Beast Machines.
• Undying Loyalty: Despite his personality flaws and constant complaints, he'd rather die than betray the other Maximals. He reacts violently to any perceived or potential betrayals on the team.
• The Unfought: In the Beast Wars: Transformers video game, he is never faced in a boss fight in the Predacons campaign despite being a playable character in the Maximals campaign.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Dinobot. In the earlier episodes, they hate each other, hurling insults back and forth at basically every opportunity. As the series progresses, they form a grudging respect for one another, with their comments serving more as Witty Banter than actual malicious intent. This continues even after Dinobot's temporary betrayal and, most notably, during his death scene. Rattrap is even the first to stand and salute in respect of his fallen comrade. It gets to the point where in the planned, but sadly unaired, Season 3 episode Dark Glass, Rattrap went against orders to implant the original Dinobot's memory and personality data into his Evil Counterpart.
• Weak, but Skilled: He's the least physically impressive of all the Maximals but he is the best marksman of the whole series, even shooting Megatron down on more than one occasion. That combined with his expertise in explosives, dirty fighting, espionage abilities, and implied age and experience compared to the rest of the Axalon crew has made him the one Maximal on the team you don't want to take lightly.
• You Dirty Rat!: Downplayed. He's not evil, but he's easily the weaseliest member of the team.

Rhinox

Rhinox

Function: Defense; Vehicon General (As Tankor)

Alt/Beast Modes: Rhinoceros; Cybertronic Tank (As Tankor)

Voiced by: Richard Newman

Debut: "Beast Wars (Part 1)"

"When a spark comes online, there is great joy. When it is extinguished, the universe weeps..."

— Episode "The Spark"

The Maximals' Science Officer, mechanic, and all-around Team Mom with an alt-mode of a rhinoceros. Rhinox is brilliant, beloved and respected by pretty much all on the team, and could possibly make the best leader of the team if he wanted to. But he doesn't. Rhinox has no ambition to be anything more or less than what he is. Intensely spiritual, and with a greater understanding of the Matrix than anyone else, Rhinox would much prefer to relax in a tranquil garden than march off to war, and would rather bring up the rear then lead the charge. Though among the more powerful of the Maximals, Rhinox is quiet, unassuming and the one least likely to be seen in the battlefield, instead preferring to stay back at base, monitoring the situation from his computer, developing new technologies and taking care of the homefront.

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• Badass Bookworm: He's the Maximals' Science Officer and technician. He's also a big and strong guy that can transform into a rhinoceros, and even in his robot form is strong enough manhandle Megatron.
• Beware the Nice Ones: He's happy in peacetime, likes smelling flowers, and mostly stays off the battlefield, despite the fact that he could lead the Maximals if he wanted. However, anyone who can punch Megatron in the face, pick him up like nothing, then throw him out of a starship is someone you do not want to mess with. Dinobot learnt this the hard way:
  Dinobot: With Optimus gone, I should be the leader of the—
  [Rhinox grabs Dinobot and lifts him by the throat. Dinobot's feet hover a few feet off the ground]
  Rhinox: I'm in a BAD MOOD. UNDERSTAND?!
  Dinobot: [cowed] Uh-huh...
• Brainwashed and Crazy:
  • There's the episode "Dark Designs" where he's turned into a Predacon — and proves to be a more effective villain than most of the Predacons put together.
  • In Beast Machines his spark is used to bring the Vehicon General, Tankor, to life. Even after Rhinox's memories are unlocked, the 'Tankor' shell programme has corrupted his personality.
• Brilliant, but Lazy:
  • Rhinox has shown multiple times that he is a capable leader and a powerful warrior. Optimus has stated that he could lead the Maximals if he wanted, but Rhinox is perfectly happy smelling flowers and toiling with his gadgets. It is implied that Rhinox used to be in command of his own ship but is happier now as a science officer.
  • When given a Predacon aggression boost, Megatron finds out just what Rhinox's brains and brawns can do to when not restricted by any morality and given an ample dose of ambition. When Megatron tries it again in Beast Machines, he naturally takes precautions by first making Tankor Dumb Muscle, but also putting a Restraining Bolt into Tankor's programming that prevented him from directly attacking Megatron.
• Can't Catch Up: As powerful as Rhinox was, even he could do so much against certain Transmetals. In the second season, once Megatron had attained his Transmetal form, Rhinox found himself suffering The Worf Effect as Megatron dispatched him with relative ease.
• Combat Medic: His main duty is to help treat the team's injuries, but he frequently joins in battle against the Predacons.
• Crutch Character: Due to never getting an upgrade, over the course of the series, his strength and firepower starts getting played down and his technical skills start getting played up.
• Deadpan Snarker: When reprogrammed into a Predacon.
• Expy: As one of the older Maximals and Optimus' closest friend along with being slow but powerful, he draws some parallels to Ironhide. His technical skills also make him the series analogue to Wheeljack.
• Face–Heel Turn: In Beast Machines, he willingly chooses to side with Megatron after being freed from his programming. It's implied that he was driven mad by his time trapped within Tankor, unable to do anything but watch what the Vehicon did.
• Fartillery: In The Low Road, Taranatulas infects him with a virus and he eats bean plants to keep up his energy. The resulting blast was visible from orbit.
  Megatron: This is certainly the most humiliating defeat in my entire career, yeeesssss.
• Faux Affably Evil: He's disturbingly effective at this when reprogrammed as a Predacon in Dark Designs. In Beast Machines, he shows shades of this when his personality awakens inside Tankor.
  Megatron: Such a pleasure to see you, Rhinox.
  Evil!Rhinox: Always a treat to see you too.
  Megatron: Traitor!
  Evil!Rhinox: Yep, you've gotta point there.
• Gadgeteer Genius: He manages to create a virtually impenetrable defense system for the Maximal base after they'd already crashed, in spite of there being no raw materials around.
• Gatling Good: Rhinox's 'Chainguns of Doom' are arguably the most memorable weapons in the series. He often enters battle firing off both at once.
• Genius Bruiser: He may be The Big Guy but he's also the mechanic and science officer. Take the episode "Dark Voyage" where he, Rattrap, Cheetor, and Dinobot all get flash-blinded. Rhinox takes command of the quartet, and eventually helps them fight off a Predacon ambush using only his hearing.
• Gentle Giant: He's a pretty big Maximal and also quite friendly.
• Heel Realization: Posthumously in Beast Machines, he acknowledges that his actions as Tankor were wrong.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Subverted. His big moment in the finale looks like he's going on a suicide run, with the other Maximals saluting him as he pilots the Ark's shuttle on a crash course with the Nemesis and even whispering "For everything that ever was" before the moment of impact. He actually survives crashing into the Nemesis because his shuttle goes through it with Megatron wrapped around the hood.
• Hyper-Competent Sidekick: He's the most trusted and widely skilled of the Maximals. A very effective commander, if somewhat less charismatic than Optimus, a genius scientist, and very in-touch with the more spiritual aspects of Transformer life. The only reason he isn't leader himself is because he doesn't want the job when he could be doing more important background work. Beast Machines show us that this comes back to bite everyone hard in the ass when he defects to his own faction and manages to be a credible threat to Optimus and Megatron, despite lacking the former's specialist team and the latter's endless armies.
• Martial Pacifist: Like Primal, he wishes he didn't have to fight.
• Mighty Glacier: He's the slowest of the Maximals, but he doesn't need speed with his strength and firepower.
• Mission Control: Whenever he's not on the field, he acts as this.
• More Dakka: A firm believer. Yes, he is in fact firing a chaingun one-handed and keeping it perfectly on target for eleven full seconds.
• Nature-Loving Robot: Rhinox shows an affinity for nature, but in a more meditative sense. This is used as contrast in Beast Machines when he's Tankor.
• Number Two: Rattrap may be the official second-in-command of the Maximals, but Rhinox is Optimus' right-hand-bot. When Optimus is indisposed, the others will refer to his judgement whenever possible. He tends to play second-in-command to whoever the temporary leader is.
• Out-Gambitted: In Beast Machines, Megatron works out that he's playing dumb and kills him.
• Ramming Always Works: He strikes the final blow of the Beast Wars by slamming an Autobot shuttle straight through the Nemesis' command deck and into Megatron.
• The Reliable One: If something needs to be done, the Maximals look to him for advice on how it can be accomplished. On at least one occasion, Rhinox complains about everyone always expecting him to somehow figure out the impossible.
  Rhinox: Make a device to extract molecular matter from an alien probe? Man, I gotta be a miracle worker.
• Renaissance Man: His extremely wide range of skills earn him the respect of even some Predacons.
• Rhino Rampage: His beast form is a rhinoceros.
• The Smart Guy: A weird case where he's this as well as The Big Guy because of his size mixed with his technical know-how.
• Submissive Badass: He could easily lead the Maximals, but he doesn't want the job, and prefers to bring up the rear and sniff the flowers along the way. When he does take command, Dinobot learns quickly that he's not playing around, showing just how serious the situation is.
• Verbal Tic: "Dana" in the Japanese version.
• Worthy Opponent: Time and again, Rhinox thwarts Megatron's schemes to the point that he's probably the Maximal Megatron grows to hate the most. It goes all the way to the series finale when Rhinox commits the last action of the Beast Wars, personally flying the shuttle that brings down Megatron, who gets to see Rhinox face-to-face as he does it.

Cheetor

Cheetor

Function: Jungle Patrol; Robotic Jungle Patrol (Transmetal/Transmetal 2); Warrior (Beast Machines)

Beast Modes: Cheetah (Original/Transmetal/Beast Machines); Saber-toothed Tiger (Transmetal 2)

^{Click here to see his Transmetal form:}

^{Click here to see his Transmetal- 2 form:} "I think it's right about time to shred some Pred!"

Voiced by: Ian James Corlett

Debut: "Beast Wars (Part 1)"

"Ultra gear!"

— Episode "The Web"

You won't find many other Transformers who can keep up with the brash young optimist of Primal's crew. Being the youngest Maximal, Cheetor is sometimes a bit of a handful, always trying to prove himself or rush off into a situation before thinking. He means well in everything he does, though, and he always manages to land on his feet. Cheetor arguably underwent the greatest amount of character growth in the series, both physically and mentally, but through all of it he kept his optimism, his spunk, and his love of blasting Predacons.

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• Alternate Identity Amnesia: Initially, he's unaware of what he does when he temporarily transforms into his Transmetal 2 form.
• Animal Jingoism: After getting sucker-punched by Silverbolt (twice), Cheetor laments that as a cat, he should've known better than to trust a dog.
• Book Ends:
  • He speaks the first line in Beast Wars and the last line in Beast Machines, signifying his Character Development throughout the Beast Era from a young rookie to a capable commander of the Maximals.
  • In Beast Wars, both the third episode "The Web" and the third-to-last episode "Other Victories" show Cheetor having precognitive dreams that come true during an encounter with Tarantulas. These episodes are also the first and last character-centric episodes of the show.
• Break the Cutie: Heading into Season 2 of Beast Wars, Cheetor loses a lot of his innocence as he temporarily loses Optimus, then loses his two best friends and someone he really looked up to (Airazor and Tigatron, and Dinobot respectively).
• Butt-Monkey: Especially in "The Agenda", where he falls on his head, gets blasted, taunted by Waspinator, and punched out by Silverbolt. Not Cheetor's best day.
• Character Catchphrase:
  Ultra Gear!
  Time to fade, heroes!
  Jumpin' gyros!
• Character Development: His progression from Kid-Appeal Character to The Lancer and eventually taking Optimus' place as the leader of the group is seen as being the most logical development from Beast Wars into Beast Machines.
• The Chosen One: Expanded universe material reveals that he is one of the few Transformers eligible to hold the Matrix of Leadership.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: His transition to Transmetal 2 in season 3, complete with uncontrollable physical changes and massive mood swings, really comes across as Cheetor going through puberty. The episode even ends with him checking his new "goatee" out in a mirror. Rattrap even calls it Cyber-Puberty.
• Dreaming of Things to Come: He has four strange, vaguely-precognitive dreams over the course of the series.
• Dual Wielding: Does this with swords in Beast Machines.
• Expy: Of Bumblebee, being a scout with a yellow-and-black color scheme. His gradual ascension from rookie to leader of the Maximals has elements of Hot Rod as well.
• Fearless Fool: He gets called out on this by his teammates several times after botching missions out of bravado.
• Friend to All Children: Even after going Transmetal II, he is well loved by the proto-humanoid younglings and frequently holds school sessions for them, teaching them the absolute most basic of mechanics such as pulleys and levers. He never goes so far as to teach them to read and write, but drawing and art? Oh yeah. Even Tarantulas was impressed when he saw it on a spy drone. These skills serve the kids well over several episodes in the series.
• Hopeless Suitor: He develops a crush on Blackarachnia in the third season of Beast Wars, but it goes nowhere because she already has eyes for Silverbolt.
• How Do I Shot Web?: He had some difficulties figuring out his new bodies in both the season 2 premiere and the middle of the season 3. In the latter, it's so ridiculously overpowered it overloads his brain and briefly reduces him to a feral animal.
• Jet Pack: He has one in both of his Transmetal forms.
• Just a Kid: The youngest, most inexperienced member of the group, but his kiddy aspects quickly flake away as he learns how to adapt to survival. Upon going Transmetal, he becomes a touch less boyish. His Transmetal 2 evolution sees him Coming of Age when his voice goes from being childishly meek to manly and fierce.
• Kid-Appeal Character: Was this up until his transformation into Transmetal 2 (aka Cyber-puberty).
• The Lancer: In Beast Machines he becomes a secular commander to contrast the growing spiritual leadership Optimus gives out.
• Leeroy Jenkins: He's pulled some frankly idiotic stunts in attempt to prove himself to the other Maximals. One of these is what leads to his becoming a Transmetal 2.
• The Load: But on an intermittent basis. His relatively small size/firepower, impetuousness, immaturity, and lack of specialized skills can even verge on The Millstone. On the other hand, his speed and enthusiasm commonly enable him to fill a solid supporting role. Equally, he starts out as the load (and the resident trouble magnet), but throughout the series get powered up and matures into the Cheetor we see in Beast Machines. He's still fast, he's still impetuous but hell, he's scary good at what he does.
• Look What I Can Do Now!: He does this twice, but the second time is the important one, since he takes a level in badass while he's at it.
  Cheetor: Thought I had slick cat-like moves before? Check this out!
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: He fired the shot that finalized Megatron's declaration of war on the Maximals. He also fired the first shot during his skirmish with Waspinator. It's likely that Megatron would have found just about any excuse to go to war against the Maximals even if Cheetor didn't fire the first shot but Cheetor's impulsiveness and lack of maturity certainly didn't help matters at all.
• Not Quite Flight: In Beast Machines, Cheetor loses his ability to fly in beast form. However, he can glide by holding his swords together.
• Our Werebeasts Are Different: His Transmetal 2 form started off as this. Cheetor would transform into it while he was asleep, and have no memories of what he did in that form, while said form behaved like a feral animal.
• Painful Transformation: Becoming a Transmetal involves quite a bit of screaming from Cheetor, whereas his transition into Transmetal 2 involves a lot of screaming from Cheetor.
• Palette Swap: With Tigatron. Apart from size, robot face and beastmode head shape, both transform the same and use the same "brainmatter" gun.
• Panthera Awesome: Though technically speaking, cheetahs aren't panthera genus.
• Speed Demon: Cheetor chose a cheetah as his alt mode partly because it was the fastest animal the scanners could detect.
• Super-Speed: In his Transmetal 2 form, thanks to a rocket on his back, kitty can go for moonlight walks at mach 2.
• Split Personality: His transformation into a Transmetal 2 results in his beast mode instincts taking full control, changing him into a vicious, feral animal whenever he randomly transforms. Once the transformation stabilizes, he regains full control over both modes again.
• Tagalong Kid: He starts out as a young and inexperienced Maximal who desperately wants to prove his capability to the others.
• Tail Slap: As a Transmetal, he uses his beast mode's tail as a whip.
• Took a Level in Badass: Post Transmetal 2, he's a formidable fighter and no longer comic relief. In this form he’s one of four Maximals (including Dinobot, Optimal Optimus and Tigerhawk) to take on all of the Predacons in one battle alone and he does it in his beast mode. The growth continues in Beast Machines, where he has gone from hotheaded rookie to a capable leader in his own right, ready and willing to challenge Optimus if he thinks it's necessary.
• Undying Loyalty: He always trusts Optimus Primal.
• Vocal Evolution: His voice goes down a few notches on hitting "cyber-puberty". It ratchets back up again in Beast Machines, though.
• Wolverine Claws: As a Transmetal-2, he has retractable claws.
• Youthful Freckles: No, really. He's a robot with freckles. The cheetah mode is just an excuse.
• You Are in Command Now: At the end of Beast Machines, he is all but stated to be the new leader of the Maximals after the sacrifice of Optimus and receiving a vision from the Oracle, complete with a final image of Optimus nodding to Cheetor in approval before passing on.

Dinobot

Dinobot

Function: Front-Line Combat

Beast Mode: Velociraptor

Voiced by: Scott McNeil

Debut: "Beast Wars (Part 1)"

"I am a warrior. Let the battle be joined."

— Episode "Code of Hero"

"Conflicted" is the best word to describe Dinobot. Once a loyal member of Megatron's crew, he turned against his leader and was betrayed by Megatron. Joining the Maximals shortly afterwards, Dinobot never hesitated to show his disdain for the Maximal life and views, and (for a time) wished to replace Optimus as leader.

Dinobot was essentially a sincere, non-cynical Social Darwinist, who genuinely believed that the strong destroying the weak resulted in the best possible scenario. Despite his gruffness, Dinobot was also a 'bot of honor (Bushido, to be precise), and showed his power, skill, courage and determination to defeat the Predacons time and again.

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• Adaptational Heroism: In the Beast Wars: Transformers video game, he is on the Maximals' side from the beginning rather than starting out as a Predacon before defecting to the Maximals.
• Allegiance Affirmation: After the events of "Maximal No More", where Dinobot ended up giving the Golden Disk to Megatron, he realized the error of his ways and swore allegiance to the Maximals for the rest of his life.
• Anti-Hero: Never loses his Predacon sense of warrior honour - but has a tendency to push for the more aggressive option and operates under a philosophy of social darwinism.
• Bait-and-Switch Character Intro: He initially appears to be a power-hungry The Starscream, having the Brass Balls to insult Megatron to his face and challenge him to a duel for leadership. He later challenges Optimus to lead the Maximals, until he saves Optimus from falling to his death during their Duel to the Death; because allowing it to happen would be dishonorable. This firmly establishes him as an anti-heroic Proud Warrior Race Guy, who has a case of Honor Before Reason.
• Be All My Sins Remembered: While dying, he explicitly tells the Maximals not to sugarcoat his deeds if asked.
  Dinobot: Tell my tale to those who ask. Tell it truly, the ill deeds along with the good... and let me be judged accordingly. The rest is silence...
• Because You Were Nice to Me: Megatron stabbed him in the back, Optimus saved his life. Conflicting morals notwithstanding, his Heel–Face Turn was really a gimme...
• The Big Guy: He's often the most aggressive of the Maximals and the tallest of them for most of the series.
• Blood Knight: He rarely seemed satisfied when not in battle, often chafing under the more peace-loving Maximals.
• Breakout Character: It is impossible to bring up Beast Wars without mentioning him or Waspinator at least once. He was the first to be inducted into the Transformers "Hall of Fame" by fan choice and his death episode "Code of Hero" is widely accepted to not only be the best Beast Wars episode, but also highly argued to be the best "Transformers" episode EVER! However it should be noted that Dinobot is actually somewhat of a subversion since in spite or possibly because of his popularity, he is actually the least revisited character amongst the original Maximal cast with his only appearances after Beast Wars being being brief cameos until Transformers: War for Cybertron Trilogy, which essentially retold his story.
• Byronic Hero: Has several traits of one. While he defects to the Maximals, he's still prone to questionable Predacon tactics.
• Cast from Hit Points: He uses up the remainder of his energy to destroy the Golden Disk so Megatron can't alter the future freely.
• Character Development: Dinobot initially sides with the Maximals as a matter of convenience, only for him to gradually begin to care about them and view them as friends and become more heroic over the course of the first season. He backslides as he falls deep into a mentality of fatalism in Season 2, culminating in him betraying the Maximals and rejoining the Predacons, and he spends the rest of the season trying to atone, culminating in his Heroic Sacrifice.
• Cool Sword: His favorite weapon is a strange rapier-like blade with segments of it also spinning. It's as hard to describe as it is iconic.
• Cultured Badass: Dinobot is a well-spoken warrior, fond of turns of Shakespearean phrase in moments of introspection.
• Deadpan Snarker: Dinobot regularly engages in Snark-to-Snark Combat with Rattrap (when their arguments don't just dissolve into childish bickering, anyway), and he tends to have a sarcastic comment on hand for the other Maximals when he's in a particularly sour mood.
  Cheetor: Better dead than Pred.
  Dinobot: Some of us have survived the experience, furball.
• Death Seeker: After his temporary return to the Predacons in the second season in which he returned the Golden Disc to Megatron despite knowing the latter's insane plan, he is nearly driven to suicide by having betrayed his honor.
• Defector from Decadence: The only reason he joined the Maximals in the first place was because Megatron did not respect his idea of honor.
• Determinator: "Code of Hero" sees Dinobot take an absolutely savage thrashing from the Predacons, yet he refuses to give up or stay down. This, ultimately, is what kills him.
• Dying Moment of Awesome: Quite possibly the most awesome moment of the series is his Last Stand in "Code of Hero".
• Easily Forgiven: Subverted. After the events of "Maximal, No More", at least one Maximal would express their ill feelings towards Dinobot for what he did. This continues until "Code of Hero", where Dinobot redeems himself, albeit at the cost of his own life.
• Enigmatic Minion: Dinobot is a Predacon that defected to the Maximals simply because Megatron didn't follow their plan in the first episode. When Dinobot finds out that Megatron actually brought them to past Earth, he's convinced his best interests would be with Megatron once again, but he's unable to betray the Maximals and remains with them. Considering Dinobot knew of the actual purpose of the golden disks and told Optimus about the Ark, it can be assumed his original plan was to destroy all the Maximals in history just like Megatron attempted. This is foreshadowed in the episode "The Probe", where he claims it would not be in his best interest to return to Cybertron, as he could possibly hold a worse fate than Megatron and also in "Possession" when he states he has long studied military history.
• Everyone Has Standards: He made it no secret that he would love to have Optimus's job, though refused to ever betray the big ape, except for his temporary (misguided) Face–Heel Turn in "Maximal No More". In Coming Of The Fuzors, Part 2, it is revealed that Rattrap had moved all of his junk into Optimus's personal quarters after the latter's supposed demise in Other Voices, Part 2. This appalls even Dinobot, who subsequently punches Rattrap square in the face.
• Evil Is Angular: He may not be evil, but he is the most ruthless of the Maximals, and his face contains a lot of sharp details such as Villainous Cheekbones and a Thin Chin of Sin that make his Predacon heritage visible.
• Eye Beams: His only built-in distance weaponry is firing green lasers from his eyes.
• Face Death with Dignity:
  • Faced with being killed by the Predacons along with the rest of the Maximals in "Coming of the Fuzors, Pt. 2", Dinobot declares that they will at least go out with honor. Fortunately, a resurrected Optimus comes in to rescue them.
  • In "Code of Hero", he remains completely dignified as he dies, saying goodbye to his friends, declaring that he has no regrets about his Heroic Sacrifice, and asking that they tell his story, Warts and All.
• Fangs Are Evil: He has sharp teeth not only in velociraptor mode, but also in his robot form. This trait is one of many that make his Predacon heritage very obvious.
• The Fatalist: He begins to think along these lines during Season 2, wondering whether a recorded future (such as the one in the Golden Disc) is immutable or not. Turns out it isn't, but he chooses to go along with it anyway.
• Foreshadowing: In "Fallen Comrades", when Optimus is shot down by Predacons, Dinobot, believing it to be fatal, says he will ensure Optimus has a glorious funeral, and is even jokingly disappointed when he isn't able to arrange it for Optimus. Guess what Optimus does for him in "Code of Hero"?
• The Friends Who Never Hang: Dinobot and Airazor never interact or speak to each other in the cartoon.
• Good Is Not Nice: When he's actually being "good". Dinobot's still pretty pragmatic, suggesting in one instance Optimus use the fact that Megatron's down two soldiers to attack. To say nothing of his last stand, where he skewers Inferno, followed by making him shoot Blackarachnia, followed by making him shoot his own head off, and shoves Waspinator head-first into Rampage's cannon barrel. He's also very willing to risk or sacrifice a few of the Maximals if it means they could have a chance of victory.
• Good Old Fisticuffs: In "Code Of Hero", this exchange sums it up:
  Quickstrike: What's a warrior without weapons?
  Dinobot: A WARRIOR STILL!
• A Good Way to Die: Knowing he saved the prehistoric human race from Megatron's attempt to wipe them out, he says he can die without regrets.
  Optimus: Well fought, my friend. You saved the valley. You saved the lives of those who lived here, and those who are still to come.
  Dinobot: Then... there is nothing to regret.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Has quite the temper, and Rattrap is particularly good at triggering it. Rat-Trigger Temper?
• Heel–Face Revolving Door: He nearly rejoins the Predacons on occasion until his Heroic Sacrifice, which secured his place on the "face" side of the door forever.
• Heel–Face Turn: He starts out as a Predacon before joining the Maximals.
• Heroes Prefer Swords: One of the few Beast Wars characters to wield a sword in combat, and another being Optimus; Predacon programing nonewithstanding, that code of honor of his makes him heroic.
• Heroic RRoD: Dinobot runs himself into the ground fighting off Megatron's attempt at wiping out the proto-humans, using the last of his energy to destroy the Golden Disk before succumbing to the damage and energy loss and dying.
• Heroic Sacrifice: In "Code of Hero", he eventually puts a stop to Megatron's plan to kill humanity's precursors and destroys the golden disk at the cost of depleting the remainder of his energy, causing him to go offline permanently.
• Honor Before Reason: He considers betraying his code to be worse than death.
• I Fight for the Strongest Side!: He switched back to the Predacons temporarily because he thought they were going to win the war, once he found out they were actually on past Earth and Megatron held the golden disk with information of altering the future.
• I'm a Humanitarian: He ate Megatron's evil clone of him in "Double Dinobot", then gleefully (for Dinobot) brags about it to the other Maximals, and picks a piece of the unfortunate clone out of his teeth, inadvertently flicking it unto Optimus.
• I Owe You My Life: The biggest reason he submitted to Optimus' command in the first place is Optimus saving him from a fatal fall instead of letting him drop.
• Irony: In seeing Megatron use the Golden Disk to change history, Dinobot's greatest hope and worst fear are realised at the same moment: yes, the future can be changed, so his fate is in his own hands, but Megatron also has limitless power to change history to his own liking. In the same episode, Dinobot comments on the irony of his situation, that despite knowing that he has the power to choose his own destiny, he truly has no choice but to go to his death to save the protohumans and stop Megatron from ending humanity before it can begin.
  Dinobot: The question that once haunted by being has been answered: the future is not fixed, and my choices are my own. And yet, how ironic, for now, I find that I have no choice at all! I am a warrior. Let the battle be joined.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Dinobot often, and rudely, points out the Maximals are too lax in the Beast Wars; they should spend more time devising battle strategies, be more aware of Megatron's plans, and generally try to be more proactive. He's rather correct in these observations; it's the Predacons and their plans that drive a lot of Season 1 episodes as they try some new device or weapon out, while the Maximals are more often shown relaxing around the base or researching the planet itself. To their credit the other Maximals come to recognize and appreciate the value of his pragmatism.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: It's buried deep, but he eventually comes to care for his Maximal comrades and value life that is weaker than him. He never becomes a Nice Guy or full-on unambiguously heroic but is firmly on the side of good by the time his Character Development finishes.
• Kill and Replace: After eating his titular Evil Knockoff in "Double Dinobot", he proceeds to masquerade as said Knockoff around Megatron until he's ready to strike.
• Killed Off for Real: In "Code of Hero", he dies after succumbing to his wounds, and has his body subsequently cremated. While he has several clones made, including Dinobot II, in later seasons none of them are really him, though Dinobot II does inexplicably gain the original's memories, which would have been explained in a non-produced episode where Rattrap uploads the old memories into Dinobot II.
• Klingons Love Shakespeare: He often quotes Hamlet. His Last Words are even the same as the titular character of said play.
• Knight in Sour Armor: Even as a Maximal, he's still somewhat dishonest and unscrupulous.
• Large Ham: Dinobot is one of the hammiest characters on the show, with a lot of dramatic snarling and shrieking. Even when he's calm, he speaks in a dramatic fashion, with a fair few Shakespeare quotes thrown in for good measure.
• Leader Wannabe: Whenever Optimus is incapacitated or absent, Dinobot is usually there to declare he's taking command of the Maximals now. However, he never goes out of his way to get rid of Optimus or backstab him, and when Optimus is ready to lead again Dinobot steps aside to let him.
• Let's Fight Like Gentlemen: His sense of honor, while a stark contrast to Silverbolt's, demands that he fight fairly in all his battles and to rebel against insane ambitions, even if it would garner him the upper hand to follow.
• Manipulative Bastard: Not often, but he can be quite skilled at getting others to do what he wants in the right circumstances. In the episode "Equal Measures," he played Cheetor, Optimus, and Terrorsaur all like fiddles in a bid to destroy the Predacon base.
• Meaningful Name: He's a dinosaur, he's a robot, he's Dinobot! That aside, he also shares the name of a faction within the Autobots' ranks that was prone to Wild Card behavior, which is reflective of him as well, a Predacon who often chafes under the authority of the Maximals he is aligned with.
• My God, What Have I Done?: After temporarily betraying the Maximals to the Predacons in "Maximal No More", Dinobot is riddled with guilt, leading him to try and redeem himself in "Code of Hero".
• My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Despite his constant assertions of his Predacon honor, no other Predacon shown shares his code.
• Nominal Hero: Initially, he only joins up with the Maximals because he thought they had a better chance at winning, and he doesn't care about any of them all that much. Character Development turns him into an Unscrupulous Hero who does care for his allies, but will sacrifice one of them if it means a chance at victory.
• Not in This for Your Revolution: Towards the beginning, he shows little sign of caring about the Maximal cause and was more interested in killing the Predacons.
• Not So Stoic: Downplayed. Dinobot isn't exactly stoic, but he rarely ever loses his cool even in the face of death, which makes the rare occasions he does freak out pretty funny.
• One-Man Army: In "Code of Hero" he manages to defeat Megatron's whole crew on his own.
• Only Sane Man: Dinobot is this both for Megatron's gang and arguably the Predacon faction as a whole. He and his Transmetal 2 clone both offer sensible advice that Megatron blithely ignores, and he deplores the Predacons' Chronic Backstabbing Disorder. While he firmly believes that Asskicking Leads to Leadership, he is also honorable enough to generally keep his word and obey his commanders.
• Proud Warrior Race Guy:
  Dinobot: To defeat you in such a manner would be lacking in honor. I prefer to beat my opponents the old-fashioned way... brutally!
• Raptor Attack: His beast form is based more on the image of the Velociraptor made popular by Jurassic Park than on anything scientifically accurate.
• Redemption Demotion: Literally, but not spiritually, he demoted himself by joining the Maximals. Dinobot was Megatron's lieutenant before his defection. With the Maximals, he is fourth-in-command at best. In terms of performance, however, he is consistently one of the best fighters on The Team.
• Redemption Equals Death: After he temporarily rejoins the Predacons, the other Maximals don't trust him as much until his Heroic Sacrifice.
  Rattrap: It's like I always said; you may just be a slag-spoutin' saurian... but it's nice to know where you stand.
• Reformed, but Rejected: While they still welcome him back, the Maximals are understandably uneasy around him after he briefly defects back to the Predacons in Maximal No More. It didn't help that he'd given the Golden Disc back to Megatron. Rattrap put it succinctly - it wasn't that they hated or disliked him, but his recent actions meant they were no longer sure where he stood, and his betrayal hurt.
• Sacrificial Lion: His death and destruction of the Golden Disk marks the point that Megatron gets really desperate and directly causes the "The Agenda" three-parter, which massively changes the show's status quo, and his death looms large over the rest of the series.
• Seppuku: He's seen strongly considering this in "Code Of Hero" to regain his honour after his temporary Face–Heel Turn, but is ultimately unable to go through with it. Good thing, too, as he ended up being the only thing standing between Megatron and the latter's plan to slaughter the proto-humans.
• Shout-Out to Shakespeare: He constantly quotes Shakespeare during his contemplative phase. The TFWiki.net page for Dinobot captions pretty much every image with some kind of Shakespeare reference, including "Two households, both alike in dignity, in fair... wherever the hell we are."
• The Social Darwinist: In "Law of the Jungle", he argues with Tigatron that the war between Maximals and Predacons is a struggle for the strongest dominating the weak, just as the Great War was as well. He uses nature as an example as well seeing a tiger hunt an antelope. In "Maximal, No More", he temporarily rejoins the Predacons when he thinks they will inevitably win the Beast Wars.
• Spectacular Spinning: His raptor tail splits into two parts that spin to make a shield of some sorts (and on at least one occasion, an improvised gyrocopter); the segments of his sword also spin. It's spinning is put to good use in "Code of Hero" where he uses it like a drill/chainsaw when fighting Inferno.
• The Starscream: Trying to usurp Megatron is what gets him booted from Predacons in the first place. Immediately afterwards, he tries to take over the Maximals by dueling Optimus Primal. He stops trying to seize power by force after being defeated and saved by Primal, though he still seeks it whenever available.
• Strong and Skilled: While he's not quite in the same strength range as Rhinox, Dinobot is physically powerful enough and skilled enough in combat that he can take on both Optimus and Megatron, with Dinobot generally getting the better of the larger and more imposing Megatron any time the two fought physically in the first season. He goes so far as to defeat several Predacons in quick succession, most of whom possessing upgraded Transmetal bodies, albeit at the cost of his own life.
• Take Up My Sword: Almost literally. After the events of "Code of Hero," one of the proto-humans finds his discarded make-shift axe, forged from a stick and a random rock. The proto-human carefully studies the weapon and tries to emulate Dinobot's use of it. Shortly after, the same giant snake the proto-humans had no chance against was felled by said weapon, and the proto-humans have used it as a heirloom of leadership, even helping the maximals with it on several occasions.
• Token Evil Teammate: Started out as this when he joined the Maximals, because he was formerly a Predacon, but mellowed out shortly.
• Took a Level in Kindness: It's slow, but his time with the Maximals softens him from the savage and callous warrior he was before into a more noble individual who cares for his new teammates and his willing to die to protect the innocent.
• Troll: In "Double Dinobot", he pretends to be his clone in front of Megatron, makes the defenses on the Maximal base appear down, then engages the shield right as a Megatron tries to enter the base for no reason other than to mess with him.
• Unscrupulous Hero: He's pragmatic to a fault, to an almost callous extent, and he's perfectly happy to use very underhanded tactics to kill off the Predacons, even being willing to manipulate his fellow Maximals if they refuse his advice. He's also perfectly willing to sacrifice or risk the life of an ally if it means victory.
• Verbal Tic: A lot of his speech is punctuated by a deep, throaty growl.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Rattrap. At the beginning, they basically hate each other and hurl insults back and forth at basically every opportunity. By the second season, though, they have formed a grudging respect for one another, with their comments serving more as Witty Banter than actual malicious intent. This continues even after Dinobot's temporary betrayal and, most notably, during his death scene. Rattrap is even the first to stand and salute in respect of his fallen comrade. Ironically, each and every instance of this is an example of Scott McNeil arguing with himself.
• Warrior Poet: Ideas of honor and pride strongly influence his fighting style. He quotes Shakespeare regularly in later episodes, even setting out on some truly impressive soliloquies.
• Weapon Twirling: His defensive tail weapon spins.
• We Used to Be Friends: It's implied that he and Megatron have a decent relationship. After they're falling out when they arrived on prehistoric Earth, it's made abundantly clear that the two despise each other for mutual betrayal.
  Dinobot: (after Megatron accuses him of trying to save his own hide) You know me better than that.
  Megatron: So I thought before you chose to fight at Optimus Primal's side!
  Dinobot: I thought you'd led us to the wrong planet! And you betrayed me.

Tigatron

Tigatron

Function: Reconnaissance

Beast Mode: White Tiger

Voiced by: Blu Mankuma

Debut: "Fallen Comrades"

"Remember, do not fight your beast instincts. Let them help your robot forms both in battle and in peace. But for now, let us maximize AND SLAG SOME BUTT!"

— Episode "Call of the Wild"

The first of the Axalon's protoforms to land planetside, Tigatron has no old life on Cybertron to return to (well, unless you count the comic's retcons) and much prefers the beauty of nature, such that protecting it becomes his motivation to stay in the war. He prefers to work as a scout by himself — unless Airazor has other ideas.

---

• 10-Minute Retirement: After a fight led to the death of the (female) tiger he got his beast mode from, who he had grown... attached to.
• Adapted Out: He is omitted in the 1997 Beast Wars: Transformers video game.
• Anguished Declaration of Love: To Airazor as they were being abducted.
• Berserk Button: As has been stated elsewhere, he is a hippie. A hippie who will blow a hole through you if you threaten nature.
• Beware the Nice Ones: He's a hippie... but he's a hippie with a BFG that has no compunctions about blasting your head off if you so much as torch a few trees. Just ask Inferno.
  Tigatron: [blasting Inferno with every word] YOU! WILL! LEAVE! THE WILD! ALONE!!!!
• Big Brother Mentor: To Cheetor, the Maximals' other feline. This may seem ironic given Tigatron was supposedly "born" from a stasis pod in the seventh episode, while Cheetor has been around since the beginning. However, the prequel comic establishes Tigatron actually existed and had a life on Cybertron (where he was known as "Unit 2") and was "reborn" on Earth, he just doesn't remember it. Coming out of a damaged stasis pod seems to be more akin to getting amnesia.
• Classical Anti-Hero: Due to being more in touch with beast instincts and having moments of self-doubt about his involvement in the war.
• The Coconut Effect: White tigers are not a subspecies of tiger that live in the snow, they are a birth defect akin to albinism and their miscoloring does not allow them to survive in the wild. At best you might assume he adopted the form of a tiger subspecies that went extinct somewhere in the last 4 million years, prior to the development of human civilization.
• Cold Ham: Tigatron has a calm, but dramatically poetic manner of speaking that contrasts with the more casual tones of the rest of the cast.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: Falls victim to the hazards of the new world in Season 2. Abducted by the Vok along with Airazor, but they return (sort of) in Season 3.
• Great White Feline: Tigatron's alt mode is a white tiger. He is much more in touch with his animal instincts than the other Maximals and is more at home in the wild than on the Axalon. He was also friends with a normal white tiger named Snowstalker who was killed during the conflict between the Maximals and Predacons.
• Heroic BSoD: During his 10-Minute Retirement. Dinobot and Inferno snapped him out of it though.
• An Ice Person: The majority of his weapons involve freezing the opposition.
• In-Series Nickname: Other characters occasionally refer to him as "Stripes".
• I Work Alone: In some cases, he does need saving but more often than not he gets the job done himself.
• Jack of All Stats: He's strong but not a powerhouse like Optimus or Rhinox. He's fast but not on Cheetor's level. He's also quite skilled of a fighter but Dinobot is still ahead of him in being a pure martial warrior and he's not the virtual grab-bag of skills and talents that Rattrap is, although he does appear to be the second go-to guy for missions involving espionage and infiltration after Rattrap. His firearms are powerful but there are multiple Maximals and Predacons on the show who have much more deadly and destructive arsenals. He's stealthy enough of a warrior that he's surprised and gotten the drop on Predacons like Terrorsaur, Scorponok, and Waspinator but has himself been taken down in sneak attacks by even more guile and stealthy Predacons like Tarantulas and Blackarachnia. And while he's good at scouting, Airazor's flight and sensors make her better overall at that. However, the fact that he's at least above average in all categories of strength, speed, skill, and firepower have enabled him to take on and defeat a one 'bot wrecking machine like Inferno.
• Martial Pacifist: Does not like fighting, since it causes a lot of collateral damage to nature and innocents.
• Nature-Loving Robot: He identifies far more with his beast form than his robot heritage.
• Nice Guy: Always polite and soft-spoken, Tigatron is ever a gentleman and nature lover. That said, he's no one you want to be on the wrong side of.
• Official Couple: He gets together with Airazor.
• Palette Swap: With Cheetor. Apart from size, robot face and beastmode head shape, both transform the same and use the same "brainmatter" gun.
• Panthera Awesome: He turns into a white tiger.
• Recurring Character: He's rarely in contact with the main Maximal group.
• Robosexual: Inverted where it was implied that he was in a relationship with a purely biological tiger.
• Sophisticated as Hell: Tigatron's typically stoic and poetic manner of speaking can give way to casual banter at times, with his quote at the top of this article being a good example.
• The Stoic: Most of the time, he shows little emotion.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: When he is forced to fight, he still refuses to kill his opponents. As Optimus put it, "Tigatron will defend himself, but total destruction isn't his style."
• Together in Death: With Airazor, after the death of Tigerhawk.
• Verbal Tic: In the Japanese version de gozaru.

Airazor

Airazor

Function: Aerial Recon

Beast Mode: Falcon

Voiced by: Pauline Newstone

Debut: "The Spark"

"She stoops to conquer!"

"Born" out of one of the protoform pods jettisoned from the Axalon. Airazor's pod had been damaged in re-entry, and she was narrowly saved from spark failure by Rhinox and Cheetor, the latter of whom donated parts to keep her online.

Always the first to remind Tigatron that sometimes you can be too alone, they end up spending a lot of time by themselves, away from the rest of the team...

---

• The Ace: In large part due to being the best flyer the Maximals had at the time, or in the Beast Wars, period. Even after more characters gained flight, none of them could match her rare talent in the skies.
• Action Girl: She is a very capable Maximal fighter.
• Adaptational Early Appearance: In contrast to being retrieved by the Maximals from one of the stasis pods in the cartoon, the 1997 video game depicts Airazor as a member of the Maximals from the beginning in the Maximals campaign.
• Anguished Declaration of Love: Tigatron and Airazor do this while being tortured then dragged away by a Vok bio-weapon. They don't appear again until Season 3.
• Cool Big Sis: During her "birth", Cheetor donated parts to keep her damaged protoform online. As such, Airazor shares something of a sibling relationship with the young cat.
• Dropped a Bridge on Her: Her abduction in Season 2. She gets better along with Tigatron, though.
• Fragile Speedster: She was the fastest flyer in the Beast Wars, but any attack that managed to hit her would take her out of the fight quickly. When she is damaged, she's forced to spend a good while in CR Chamber for repairs before she's ready for action again.
• High-Speed Missile Dodge: Her speed and agility let her easily fly around enemy projectiles.
• Noble Bird of Prey: Her beast mode is a falcon and she is one of the more idealistic and friendly of the Maximals.
• Official Couple: She gets together with Tigatron.
• Recurring Character: While she isn't as much of a loner as Tigatron, Airrazor spends most of her time scouting in the field, far from the other Maximals.
• She's a Man in Japan: Weird zig-zagged case. in the Japanese dub, which apparently wrote around the subject of Airazor and Tigatron's closeness as being that of a "samurai and retainer" until "Other Visits (Part 1)" in Season 2, in which they admit their love just before being written out of the show until their return as Tigerhawk in Season 3. HOWEVER... in Beast Wars Metals (manga), she retains her natural gender. This leads to her legendverse version strongly hinted to be non-binary with feminine pronouns.
• Talk to the Fist: In "Other Voices (Part 2)" she loses patience with Blackarachnia:
  Blackarachnia: Do Maximals always talk such slop?
  [Airazor punches Blackarachnia twice in the face]
  Rattrap: My sentiments exactly.
• Together in Death: She and Tigatron meet their ends together when Tigerhawk dies fighting the Nemesis.

Silverbolt

Silverbolt

Function: Tracker; (Aerodrone General) (As Jetstorm)

Beast Mode: Eagle/Wolf Hybrid; (Cybertronic Fighter Jet) (As Jetstorm); Condor (Beast Machines)

^{Click here to see his Beast Machines form:}

Voiced by: Scott McNeil

Debut: "Coming of the Fuzors (Part 1)"

"It's my duty, ma'am. As a Maximal... and as a heroic character."

The first of the second wave of Protoform pods, Silverbot's scanners accidentally captured two animals at once, turning him into a wolf/eagle hybrid. One thing that didn't seem to change from this was his unfailing (perhaps to unnatural degrees) sense of honor and chivalry. Silverbolt is perhaps the most "conventionally good" of the Maximals, and this can get him into trouble, especially with the Predacon Blackarachnia. Despite his peppy attitude and not so bright decisions, he approaches battle with all the seriousness of a knight, and is more than willing to fight for things he believes in.

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• Adaptation Personality Change: In the Japanese version, he's psychotically polite and always happy no matter what. Silverbolt speaks in polite-form Japanese and has a habit of shouting English-language phrases, speaking like a stereotypical American (polite-form Japanese being the form Americans are taught, the Japanese often mock them for constantly using it). His Verbal Tic is a habit of shouting "DESU!" over and over again ("desu" being a part of polite-form Japanese, used to end sentences respectfully).
• Affectionate Nickname: Though rare, there were times in Beast Machines when Silverbolt called Blackarachnia, with a straight face, "dark venom of [his] heart."
• And I Must Scream: As Jetstorm; he indicates that he was aware of what the shell program was doing.
• The Atoner: After being freed from Jetstorm, he tries to make up for what he did while under the shell program's influence.
• Badass Boast: Delivers a pretty good one to shut down Rampage in the latter's debut episode.
  Rampage: Your persistence is futile! I rise again!
  Silverbolt: Then let us give you further to fall!
• Battle Couple: With Blackarachnia.
• Beware the Nice Ones: He is a nice person who is very protective of Blackarachnia. Those who attempt to harm/kill her find out the hard way.
• Butt-Monkey: Y'know he has it bad when Waspinator schools him in battle... three different times. The rare occasions where Silverbolt got the better of the insect were by pure accident. It's particularly striking since, in "Bad Spark", Silverbolt was able to defeat Rampage despite being severely damaged.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: Shows shades of this regarding Blackarachnia, especially in "Cutting Edge" where Cheetor makes several attempts to flirt with her.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Silverbolt is a bit naive, but he fights hard to make up for it.
• Dating Catwoman: He was in love with Blackarachnia while she was still a Predacon.
• Dogged Nice Guy: To Blackarachnia, but it's more complicated than him simply being noble and kind. The first time Blackarachnia seems to grow a soft spot for him, is after he saves her from a sabretooth tiger. Then he saves her when she is about to drop to her death. For all of his niceness, he constantly gives the Maximal chain of command the finger when it comes to Blackarachnia. In other words, it's nobility mixed with strength and guts that wins her over and kindness is just part of a bigger puzzle.
• Everything's Better with Samurai: After being freed from Jetstorm, his robot mode is designed to look like a samurai.
• Expy: For Batman. The creators have said that his behavior in Beast Wars reminded them of Silver Age Batman, while the darker turn he takes in "Beast Machines" mirrors the grimmer, post-The Dark Knight Returns Batman popular today. There's also his relationship with Blackarachnia.
• The Face: He stands out in the group by being a wolf/eagle chimera and he's even social with his enemies.
• Foil: To Dinobot. Both follow codes of honor, but Dinobot's code is more in line with Bushido, whereas Silverbolt's code is in line with Chivalry.
  • To Quickstrike: the two of them are transmetal Fuzors that are "born" on the same day and get recruited by Megatron. While Quickstrike is sadistic and eager to kill Maximals, Silverbolt refuses to attack them if they're outnumbered and then defects. Both of them also have a crush on Blackarachnia, but unlike Silverbolt who genuinely loves her, Quickstrike starts hating her when she switches sides.
• The Heart: Especially in "Transmutate", where he takes the other Maximals to task for considering euthanising the titular character.
• Heel–Face Turn: He wasn't really evil to begin with, but he was tricked into joining the Predacons in "Coming Of The Fuzors, Part 1", before eventually realising his place in the Beast Wars in "Part 2".
  • Does it again in Beast Machines, after spending half the series as one of Megatron's Vehicon Generals.
• Hidden Depths: There are a few hints that Silverbolt has quite a dark side, even if it doesn't usually shine through his idealistic personality. His savage thrashing and attempted murder of Tarantulas after the spider tries to kill Blackarachnia shows a shocking capacity for brutality. In Beast Machines, Silverbolt, disgusted with himself, admits that he enjoyed being the sadistic and vicious Jetstorm, being embittered and unsure of himself for quite some time afterward.
• Honor Before Reason: He keeps believing that there's hope for Blackarachnia to become a Maximal again in spite of evidence towards the contrary.
• Hypocrite: In "Changing of the Guard", he verbally tears into Depth Charge for following his own personal vendetta against Rampage over the mission at hand and helping his teammates. Unfortunately, not too long ago, Silverbolt spent most of The Agenda trilogy being led by his emotions and following his own personal agenda of pursuing a relationship with Blackarachnia to the point where he physically attacked his own teammates, refused direct orders from Optimus to shoot down and capture Blackarachnia, and helped Blackarachnia dig up the Ark where Megatron made his infamous assassination attempt on the original Optimus Prime, endangering all of his Maximal allies, not to mention time and space itself. However, this may be why he's railing against Depth Charge so hard.
• Iconic Sequel Character: Makes his introduction in Season 2 and becomes a mainstay of the cast, surviving until the end of the Beast Wars and maintaining importance in Beast Machines.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Maximals reprogrammed in stasis by the Predacons generally became evil at the very least, and Ax-Crazy at the very worst. Silverbolt, though, was so innately righteous that just saying the Predacon activation code "Terrorize" left a bad taste in his mouth. This unfortunately, didn't save him from being corrupted into the cruel and sadistic Jetstorm.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
  • After his revival in Beast Machines.
  • During The Agenda Trilogy he morphed into this for a while. While he did attack some of his teammates just so he could go after Blackarachnia on his own, he was genuinely sorrowful that he had to do it and even apologized to Cheetor before punching him.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: While his intentions weren't evil, he attacked his own teammates, refused Optimus Primal's orders to capture Blackarachnia, and helped her dig up the Ark, which in turn led to Megatron's Near-Villain Victory where he almost assassinated Optimus Prime and nearly wiped out the Maximals. After the dust has settled, Silverbolt is welcomed back into the team with almost no repercussions or reprimands from anyone. While he gets away with his Stupid Good behavior in the series proper, the sequel series Beast Machines sees Silverbolt suffer severe consequences for his actions when Megatron captures him, brainwashes him into the villainous Jetstorm who grows to enjoy attacking his own friends, and leaves him badly traumatized and jaded when he's finally brought back as Silverbolt. It isn't until the end of the series that he's able to recover and reclaim some of his old persona and get more intimate with Blackarachnia again.
• Knight in Shining Armor: Technically the armor is feathered, but you get the idea. This is often Played for Laughs, as he's surrounded by less idealistic characters. He even lampshades it:
  Blackarachnia: Oh no. You're not saving my life again? Even after I shot you?
  Silverbolt: It's my duty, ma'am, as a Maximal and as a heroic character.
• Knight in Sour Armor: In Beast Machines, after his mind is liberated, he's a bit more cynical.
• Large Ham: He has a very melodramatic manner of speaking. The line where he decides on his name actually leaves Megatron stunned silent at the overwrought drama.
  Silverbolt: [stares at the moon] I think my name is... Silverbolt. Yes! Pure, strong... and fast.
• Leitmotif: Knightly, heroic music accompanies him wherever he goes.
• Light Is Good: He has a noble and knightly personality and an angelic motif to go with it, what with the bright coloration and feathered wings.
• Losing Your Head: The only Maximal to suffer this fate, in contrast to the Predacons where getting blown to pieces was something that happened to many of them on a semi-regular basis.
• Love Makes You Crazy: Not only does he wind up openly assisting Blackarachnia in her schemes, but when Rattrap makes a fairly mild crack about the two of them, Silverbolt tries to beat his head in. He also punches out Cheetor, just because he didn't want the cat-bot to be the one to bring Blackarachnia in. This from the guy who'd once declared that attacking your own teammates was totally unacceptable.
• Love Makes You Dumb: His devotion to Blackarachnia makes him do some incredibly stupid things.
• Minion with an F in Evil: It's easily forgotten, but Silverbolt was this to the Predacons in "Coming Of The Fuzors", though he soon learned the Predacons weren't interested in the noble approach to life. He even had trouble using the Predacon activation code.
• Mix-and-Match Critter: As one of the Fuzors, along with Quickstrike. Between a wolf and an eagle.
• Morality Pet: Blackarachnia relents and gives Megatron the codes to the Ark, once he threatens Silverbolt.
• Noble Wolf: Silverbolt's beast mode is part wolf, and even among the Maximals he is considered by Primal personally to be one of the noblest individuals he's ever met, though he makes clear that as a commader, he considers it both a strength and a weakness. While he is a valiant warrior, Silverbolt's less idealist teammate's are easily exasperated by his chivalric personality with how ofte he allows his optimism to get in the way of his better judgement, conversly this same nobility also helps to call them on contemplating a Mercy Kill of Transmutate, and brings the otherwise self-serving Blackarachnia over to their side.
• Official Couple: With Blackarachnia.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When Tarantulas seemingly kills Blackarachnia in Crossing the Rubicon, Silverbolt goes to a dark place and brutalizes the spider before almost murdering him in cold blood. He's stopped from fully crossing the line, ironically enough, by Rampage's attempt to murder him.
• The Paladin: He almost always fancies himself a warrior who stands for all that is good, though as mentioned, love can foul up his ideals. Silverbolt also tends to do much better when fighting the Predacons most vile, then when he's up against someone as pitiable as Waspinator.
• Patient Zero: In the Beast Machines episode "A Wolf in the Fold", Silverbolt gets infected by Megatron's Hate Plague and spreads it to his fellow Maximals, including Optimus Primal. By the end of the episode, Silverbolt helps his fellow Maximals cure the plague.
• The Power of Love: It isn't blatant, but whenever Blackarachnia is either threatened, in danger, or has already come to harm, Silverbolt's Butt-Monkey qualities vanish.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: When Blackaracknia was seemingly killed by Tarantulas. Ironically, the intervention of the character named Rampage stopped him from returning the favor.
• Sixth Ranger: Joins the team during the events of the episode "Coming of the Fuzors".
  • Does it again in the Beast Machines episode "In Darkest Knight".
• Stupid Good: His desire to do "good" leads him to so many irrational decisions that even his fellow Maximals wonder if his processor has a glitch.
  Scott McNeil: And then of course, Silverbolt: strong, proud, brave, and smart as a sack of hammers.
• Swapped Roles: In Beast Wars, Silverbolt and Blackarachnia were on opposite sides of the conflict with Silverbolt trying to get Blackarachnia to return to her original Maximal programming. In the sequel series Beast Machines, Blackarachnia is the one who ends up having to restore Silverbolt to the light after he is reformatted as the Vehicon Jetstorm.
• Thinks Like a Romance Novel: He is under the impression that he is a knight in a chivalric romance and that Blackarachnia is a lady he is meant to protect, and his speech reflects this.
• Took a Level in Badass: following his reformatting from being the evil Jetstorm in Beast Machines, he goes from a Knight in Shining Armor who was only really dangerous if you hurt Blackarachnia to an angsty Anti-Hero who mows down Vehicon soldiers.
• Verbal Tic: In the Japanese Gag Dub, desu!.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: Noble and chivalrous to a fault, to the point where even his fellow Maximals find him a little naive — let alone the extremely cynical former Predacon Blackarachnia.
• Wouldn't Hit a Girl: To the point where even his love interest Blackarachnia gets irritated. In "The Agenda: Part 2", she shoots him, and he somehow manages to rationalize it as a good thing because she didn't kill him, proving there's still good in her somewhere.

Depth Charge

Depth Charge

Function: Aquatic Forces Commander

Alt/Beast Modes: Manta Ray; Space Cruiser

Voiced by: David Sobolov

Debut: "Deep Metal"

"Gotta go. Protoform X is waiting and I don't want to disappoint him."

Once, Depth Charge was a sane and balanced Maximal. Then Rampage slaughtered Colony Omicron, where Depth Charge was chief security officer. The guilt-ridden DC spent four years hunting Rampage down, during which time Rampage managed to twist the knife even deeper by eating DC's friends at Starbase Rugby. When Rampage was apprehended, Charge demanded the Maximal council find a way to destroy his spark and was disgusted when they turned Rampage over to Primal's crew instead.

He was unsurprised when Primal "screwed it up" by going after Megatron's ship, and set off in pursuit. Some kind of residual transwarp energy brought him to prehistoric Earth, where he took the form of a manta ray and resumed his hunt of Rampage, who was delighted to see his old "playmate" again.

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• Adaptational Villainy: Like most Beast Wars characters, he's one of "Onyx Prime's" Maximals.
• Aloof Ally: While sympathetic to the Maximals' cause, Depth Charge doesn't officially align himself with Primal's team, generally only intervening on their behalf when he feels a need to, or if it comes up as he's hunting Rampage.
• Anti-Hero: He's lost so much to Rampage that he has little to live for apart from hunting him. This has made Depth Charge obsessive and kind of a jerk, even if he is still on the side of good.
• Arch-Enemy: Rampage. It's implied that this was Rampage's intention.
• Big Damn Heroes: In "Cutting Edge", he arrives just in time to drive off a Predacon attack on the under-staffed Maximal base.
  Depth Charge: Big Preds are MY specialty.
• Byronic Hero: Depth Charge has experienced significant loss, made worse because it was his responsibility as a security officer to protect a colony. He is consumed by revenge, living a joyless and empty existence, which he can only label as "justice".
• Cowboy Cop: At first, he comes off as this. He's only in the Beast Wars in the first place because he disobeyed his orders in order to pursue Rampage and end his menace once and for all when the High Council's decision to punish the insane mass-murdering cannibal was to simply exile him. His irrational, wrathful behavior at the end of his life makes it very clear his hatred and desire for revenge warped him into a Rabid Cop who just wants Rampage dead no matter the cost.
• Driven to Suicide: At the end of Beast Wars, Depth Charge kills himself by impaling Rampage's spark with raw Energon.
• Deadpan Snarker: Occasionally, one notable instant being his remarks towards Rattrap in "Go With the Flow".
  Rattrap: Huh, I ain't dead!
  Depth Charge: This day's just full of disappointments.
• Determinator: He's out to kill someone presumed to be immortal. And before that, he spent four years hunting him and succeeded in capturing him.
• Doomed Hometown: Colony Omicron, which was destroyed by Rampage.
• Establishing Character Moment: His first line establishes him as someone that doesn't respect rules or authority:
  Depth Charge: Slag the high council...
• Everyone Has Standards: After Cheetor is seemingly killed by the Transmetal driver, Depth Charge tries to destroy it to keep Megatron from causing any more damage. When he later learns that Cheetor survived, but got caught in the overload and turned into a Transmetal 2, he expresses remorse for being unable to help him, and for not immediately telling Optimus the truth about what exactly happened.
• Fallen Hero: According to Optimus, Depth Charge was once a model Maximal before Rampage's massacre of Omicron reduced him to a grim hunter.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Depth Charge manages to alienate every other Maximal thanks to his disrespectful rudeness, disregard for the overall mission, and obsession with hunting Rampage. Only Optimus is willing to tolerate his attitude problem enough to reach out to him and even that has its limits.
• Godzilla Threshold: Despite his frequent disagreements with Optimus, even he realizes how big a threat Megatron will be if he gets ahold of Nemesis. When ordered by Optimus to stop him, Depth Charge complies without a single protest.
• Good Counterpart:
  • To Rampage, as a relentless warrior bent on killing but Depth Charge has a specific target in mind and doesn't delight in violence in and of itself.
  • To Tarantulas, as someone who refuses to follow orders in favor of his own agenda but his agenda is about slaying a monster instead of omnicide.
• Good Is Not Nice: Though obsessed with Rampage, his better nature will eventually force him to aid the other Maximals when the time comes. He'll still be a Jerkass about it.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Subverted. While killing Rampage was crucial to the Maximals winning the Beast Wars, he didn't do it for selfless, heroic reasons but because he was absolutely consumed with his desire to kill Rampage and damn the consequences.
• He Who Fights Monsters: Depth Charge has been consumed by his mission, and the destruction of Protoform X is now more important to him than the original reasons behind his quest. So much that he initially disregarded Primal's request that he join the Maximals to help protect the Ark and the future.
• Headbutting Heroes: With Optimus, and takes Dinobot's place as the 'bot most likely to get under Rattrap's skin.
• Hidden Depths: It's made evident that his obsession with Rampage isn't that he got away, but that Rampage killed people he cared about when escaping Starbase Rugby. This may not seem significant, but Word of God establishes that Starbase Rugby was a base that had Maximal and human officers present, meaning that Depth Charge was once very close to humanity before succumbing to his quest for vengence.
• Ineffectual Loner: His sights are firmly on Rampage and whatever other goals the Maximals have mean little to him. As such, he's not too popular with his teammates and usually works by himself.
• It's Personal: He wants to kill Rampage to avenge Colony Omnicron's death.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He occasionally lends a hand to the Maximals even if it means risking a chance at putting down Rampage for good and butting heads with Optimus (since the latter was the one responsible for handling Rampage).
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: His manta fins can be used to shield himself in robot mode, usually by wrapping close to his body. They're armored and durable enough to withstand a barrage from Rampage's main weapon, though blocking that particular amount of firepower still leaves Depth Charge winded and drained.
• Made of Iron: He's able to take on Rampage and is durable enough to survive repeated shots from Rampage's tank mode.
• My Greatest Failure: As chief security officer, it was his job to protect Omicron. He couldn't save anyone when Rampage wiped out the whole colony.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Oddly enough, this results from one of the first times he decides to stop his mindless hunt of Rampage and help out the other Maximals. He accidentally crashes into them causing them to lose the mainframe for the Sentinel Defense System to Inferno.
  • This happens in the finale as well. As the only Maximal who can travel underwater, he is sent by Optimus to stop the Nemesis from launching by any means necessary. Unfortunately, Rampage delays him and- rather than continue his mission- he gives into his rage and takes down Rampage at the cost of his own life. This allows Megatron to launch the Nemesis unchallenged, which leads to further loss of life for both sides of the conflict.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: It's already established how dangerous the threat of the Nemesis is, but a certain quote really clinches it:
  Depth Charge: I have no time for you, X.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: In "Master Blaster", Depth Charge was on patrol when the Predacons attacked the Maximal base with a remote-controlled Optimus Primal. Megatron sent Dinobot II out to dispose of him. Obviously, he failed.
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner: When he kills Rampage.
  Depth Charge: Raw energon! Right through your twisted spark! Take it! Take it straight to the pit, you sickening piece of slag!
• Revenge Before Reason: Rampage intentionally invoked this by slagging everyone near and dear to him. Revenge is literally all Depth Charge has left.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: His crusade against Rampage has consumed four years of his life and any principles he formerly held dear.
• Satellite Character: Deconstructed; his personality is defined by his all-consuming hatred of Rampage, and nothing else, the implication being that Rampage left Depth Charge nothing else to care about. Per Optimus, there once was a time that Depth Charge was as loyal and decent a Maximal as any other, but thanks to Rampage, those days are long gone.
• Sixth Ranger: He is introduced in the third season of Beast Wars.
• Sole Survivor: Of Colony Omicron at the hands of Protoform X's destruction.
• Spanner in the Works: To Megatron, multiple times. First, his unexpected arrival provides the Maximals with a reluctant, but powerful ally that can stand up to Rampage. Second by pulling a Big Damn Heroes moment and fending off the entire Predacon force from destroying the Ark in a later episode. Finally, he does it again in the finale, as his killing of Rampage inadvertently starts the steps for Dinobot 2's Heel–Face Turn. This ends up giving the Maximals one final advantage to winning the war.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Fills the anti-hero spot left vacant by Dinobot's death several episodes before. He even shares in similar banter with Rattrap.
• Taking You with Me: He impales Rampage's spark with a blade of raw Energon, knowing that it is the only way to destroy his enemy and that it will kill him as well.
• This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: Though he's by no means a poor fighter on land, there's a very noticeable uptick in episodes that require his aquatic skills after he joins the crew.
• Tragic Hero: He is consumed by Revenge. His final act, which wasn't his primary motive at the time, was killing his Arch-Enemy.

Tigerhawk

Tigerhawk

Function: Vok Emissary

Beast Mode: Tiger/Falcon Hybrid

Voiced by: Blu Mankuma

Debut: "Other Victories"

"Violence will not be tolerated. Surrender or be destroyed."

In the fires of an unknown place between time and space, the Vok aliens de-Sparked and fused the bodies of Tigatron and Airazor together to form Tigerhawk, a Vok-controlled super warrior intended to bring justice to the time-disrupting Transformers on prehistoric Earth.

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• Back for the Dead: Tigatron and Airrazor returned in a new form just to be killed off two episodes later.
• Blow You Away: He can control wind.
• Dishing Out Dirt: He can cause earthquakes.
• 11th-Hour Ranger: Joins the team in time for the events of the Grand Finale.
• Family-Unfriendly Death: He dies being slowly and painfully disintegrated by a fusion cannon blast.
• Heroic Sacrifice: He sacrificed himself to stop the warship Nemesis in the Grand Finale.
• Hold the Line: He dies stopping the warship Nemesis at the end of Beast Wars.
• Irony: His toy bio quote especially considering who he is created from. Extracts of the quote were actually spoken by him whilst his shell was inhabited by the Vok.
• Knight of Cerebus: Tigerhawk's shell was initially possessed by the Vok, the Greater-Scope Villain of the series. His arrival in "Other Victories" was directly responsible for throwing Beast Wars into the endgame phase.
• Knight Templar: When he first arrived, he was fixated on destroying Megatron to protect the time stream from his schemes. When Optimus tried to stop him as Megatron still had the spark of his namesake inside him, Tigerhawk ignored the warning and buried him underground. If it wasn't for Tarantulas' intervention, he would have caused a disaster just as bad as anything Megatron could have in his blind zeal. He mellowed out considerably once the sparks of Tigatron and Airrazor took control of his body.
• Light Is Good: Tigerhawk is a winged warrior with powers that seem almost supernatural. He arrives on the scene from a comet as if he were an avenging angel sent to mete out divine punishment against the demonic Megatron.
• Merger of Souls: Tigerhawk is a fusion of Tigatron and Airazor's spark-extracted shells and is initially inhabited by the Vok. Once they are extracted by Tarantulas, Tigatron and Airazor's sparks merge and take control of Tigerhawk's shell.
• Mix And Match Critter: His beast mode is a winged tiger.
• Romantic Fusion: He is the combined bodies and sparks of the lovers Tigatron and Airrazor.
• Sacrificial Lion: He's killed in "Nemesis, Pt. 2" to show how dangerous the Nemesis actually is, and results in Optimus finally deciding to stop Megatron once and for all.
• Shock and Awe: He can fire lightning.
• Story-Breaker Power: In his short life, he proved to be the most powerful individual character in the series by far.
• Too Powerful to Live: He was killed off holding back the Nemesis early in the finale as his sheer power would have let him defeat any of the Predacons too easily had he been allowed to fight in the final battle.
• Two Beings, One Body: A fusion of Airazor and Tigatron. Thank the Vok for that.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: He is introduced just before the final episodes of Beast Wars only to get killed off.
• Walking Spoiler: His presence most likely hints at what becomes of Tigatron and Airazor.
• Weather-Control Machine: Tigerhawk is one.
• You Shall Not Pass!: He dies holding off the Nemesis to buy time for the other Maximals. While he wasn't able to stop it, he did drain off enough power to prevent it from using its fusion cannon to destroy the Ark.

Blackarachnia

See Beast Wars Predacons

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