The Decepticons | The Autobots | Humans | Others
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As a whole
- Adaptational Villainy: In true Shattered Glass fashion, the Autobots are nowhere near as noble as their canon counterparts, displaying contempt towards organic lifeforms and anyone who doesn't fit inside the draconian rules of Functionism.
- Aliens Are Bastards: Apart from being The Empire, almost all of them have shown extreme Fantastic Racism toward organic life forms and the Hyperion 's crew has no issues endangering or killing humans to get what they want.
- Car Fu: Often use their vehicle forms to ram into opponents.
- Cool Starship: There's a number of them in the Autobot empire, but the most prominent in the comic is Ultra Magnus' ship, the Hyperion.
- The Empire: The Autobot Empire upholds an extremely cruel Fantastic Caste System and executes or brainwashes anyone who speaks up against it.
- Fantastic Racism: The majority of Autobots show nothing but disdain toward organic life forms. Additionally, higher standing castes view the manual castes as disposable compared to them.
- It's All About Me: Most of the Autobots see themselves as naturally superior and therefore entitled to whatever they might want, regardless how getting it might affect other life forms.
- Order Is Not Good: The Autobots view functionism as the natural order of everything and strictly adhere to it, viewing any resistance against it as treason and a precursor to absolute chaos.
Crew of the Hyperion
Ultra Magnus
The former second-in-command of Optimus Prime and current captain of the Autobot warship Hyperion. After attempting to assassinate and usurp his leader during the war on Cybertron, he was essentially demoted and sent to Earth.
- A Lighter Shade of Black: He's a staunch functionist and a Bad Boss with delusions of grandeur, but he's also one of the (sadly) very few Autobots who can see through Optimus' facade of an omnipotent Prime and recognize the insecure, violent madman underneath who will most likely drive Cybertron and its colonies to ruin if left in charge. He attempted to stage a coup for this very reason, as Optimus' warmongering had left a great deal of the empire destroyed.
- Bad Boss: He's at least as despotic as Optimus in how he deals with his underlings, doesn't keep his side of bargains and has no qualms letting the worker drones die by the dozen to construct him a dark energon-powered weapon. Several of his crew have expressed frustration with his ineffective way of running things, with Strongarm and Jetfire flat-out deserting to Cybertron while leaving him to get blown up on Earth.
- Dramatically Missing the Point: When Nautica laments how many of their workers died to complete their weapon, Magnus thinks she's concerned about how depleted their forces are and tells her that he "understands". This of course only angers her.
- Handicapped Badass: He had his hand taken away by Optimus as punishment for his attempted coup, but as his fight with Megatron in Volume 1 shows, he's still not to be taken lightly in combat.
- The Heavy: In the present, he's more of a threat to the Nemesis crew than Optimus himself, seeing as Optimus is still stuck on Cybertron and unaware that both they and the crew of Autobots he sent after them survived.
- Hook Hand: His right hand was chopped off and replaced with a hook as punishment for trying to overthrow Optimus Prime.
- Hypocrite: In Volume 3 he calls Megatron a coward unwilling to make sacrifices for his cause—while he himself is currently overseeing the construction of a Doomsday Device that he intends to use on helpless humans to lure the Decepticons out of hiding.
- Laser-Guided Karma: After Optimus was (seemingly) dead, leaving him in power, he refused to uplift Blaster and his beastformers into his new council like he'd promised. This comes back to bite him hard, as Blaster sells both him and all of his co-conspirators out to Optimus and his followers, leading to a planet-wide manhunt that only Magnus and Flamewar manage to come out of alive, the latter only because she defected to the Decepticons.
- Reassigned to Antarctica: He's given back command of the Hyperion after Optimus is through torturing him for his betrayal, but only so he can follow the Nemesis and retrieve the key to Vector Sigma. He also gets Strongarm assigned to his post to make sure he doesn't step out of line again.
- The Starscream: Is one of the few Autobots to see just how utterly insane Optimus Prime truly is and seeks to overthrow him to seize power for himself, believing he can do a better job at leading the Autobots. He very nearly succeeded by ordering an orbital strike on Optimus during the war and tearing the Matrix out of his heavily damaged body. Unfortunately for him, Optimus was recovered and rebuilt by his loyalists and wasted no time putting his treacherous former friend back in his place.
Strongarm
A Functionary officer assigned to the Hyperion to keep an eye on Ultra Magnus and the rest of his disgraced crew.
- The Bully: Strongarm seemingly cannot go a single day without kicking the dog. Her cruelty is also mostly aimed at those who she knows (or thinks) can't fight back, such as lower-caste Cybertronians and humans.
- Dirty Cop: Was this back on Cybertron, being willing to forge evidence and assault witnesses or suspects to make her arrests. "Introductions" has her continually physically assault Megatron, then immediately try to arrest him when he fights back, under charges of "assaulting an officer".
- Dirty Coward: She's very quick to threaten and bully those whose standing in the caste system is lower than hers, but is more often than not reduced to a timid stutter when those of a higher caste address her. Best shown in "Introductions", where her and Roller were brutalizing Megatron until Shockwave and Starscream showed up, at which point Strongarm changed her tune from demanding and aggressive to meek and submissive real fast.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: With how much of an ill-tempered piece of scrap she is, it's no wonder barely anyone on the Hyperion can stand her.
- Hate Sink: An aggressive, arrogant and racist Dirty Cop, you'd be hard-pressed to find anything about her that's likable.
- Kick the Dog:
- In "Introductions", she beats Megatron up and pokes fun at the Dweller incident that got Terminus, his friend and mentor, killed.
- In Volume 2 she repeatedly makes cruel jokes about Soundwave's disability and tells him Laserbeak being taken away by Ratchet was his fault for not complying.
- Meaningful Name: Given what her name implies and how she behaves, it's easy to see that she's a despicable bully who threatens and browbeats other people if it means getting what she wants.
- The Political Officer: She's basically Optimus' eyes and ears on the Hyperion and its true commander in all but name. Ultra Magnus and his crew mostly walk on eggshells around her since they know how fanatically loyal to Optimus she is.
- Psychopathic Womanchild: She has no control over her temper and is quick to use violence or death threats whenever someone she views as beneath her so much as questions her. At the same time, she shows sadistic glee whenever she gets to abuse her power and is under the delusion that she is automatically right about everything solely because she's a functionary officer.
- The Starscream: To another example of the trope, ironically. Strongarm hates being under Magnus' command and starts making moves to overthrow him in Volume 2 by probing which of his crew would be on her side if she started a mutiny. In Volume 3 she siphons energy from his Super Weapon to her own shuttle, hoping the ensuing backlash when the weapon is activated while blow Magnus to kingdom come.
Bumblebee
A loud-mouthed scout onboard the Hyperion whose opinion of himself is far higher than his actual skills would justify.
- And I Must Scream: The last time we see him in Volume 2, he's trapped in his vehicle-form and had his vocalizer damaged by Strongarm, leaving him unable to call for help.
- Boisterous Weakling: Likes to call himself "mighty" and fancies himself a warrior, but in each battle he's taken part in so far he was very easily dealt with and pushed aside. The only time he's remotely presented as a threat is when he's up against much smaller opponents like Ravage or Miko.
- Evil Is Petty: Was willing to abort his chase for Miko and kill Jack because Jack threw some minor insults his way.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: He's a complete blowhard and he never shuts up. Small wonder no one even pretends to like him.
- Innocent Blue Eyes: Is one of the few Autobots with blue instead of red optics and has a rather idealized view of both the Autobots and the war, which makes him easy to fool if you're an Autobot in a high-ranking position and want to use him for something.
- Laser-Guided Karma: In Volume 2 he brags to a few unlucky Autodrones about how him blaming the collapse of the energon mine in Volume 1 on Strongarm got him his warrior-status back without noticing that Strongarm has been listening. Strongarm enlists him for a mission to steal technology Magnus needs from Sumdac Systems, then leaves him there damaged and stuck in his altmode after a scuffle with Soundwave and Ravage. Even if they hadn't encountered the two Decepticons, it's all but stated that Strongarm would have murdered him as payback.
- Motor Mouth: Tends to talk a mile a minute, mostly about himself. It's one of the reasons he's so disliked by most of his fellow Autobots.
- Pay Evil unto Evil:
- After his recklessness caused a collapse in an energon mine in Volume 1, he tells Magnus Strongarm was actually responsible. Magnus is so delighted to hear of the hated Political Officer's failure that he instantly elevates Bumblebee into warrior status again.
- Is on the receiving end of this trope after him and Strongarm's confrontation with Soundwave and Ravage ends with him forced into his alt-mode. Strongarm not only leaves him behind, but also damages him with one of her blades, leaving him completely helpless.
- Reassigned to Antarctica: Twice. He was already part of the Hyperion 's crew, which is mostly filled with disgraced Autobot officers, then gets assigned to mining operations after failing to capture Ravage in Volume 1 with the strong implication that literally no one else wanted him. This is partially undone by Volume 2, as Magnus gives him his warrior position back after Bumblebee blames the destruction of one of their energon mines on Strongarm.
- Would Hurt a Child: He wasted no time firing his weapon at Miko and was eager to torture Jack.
Bulkhead
A gigantic Autobot in charge of their Energon mining operations on Earth.
- A Father to His Men: Bulkhead genuinely cares about his drone workers and always treats them with respect. In Volume 2, when an altercation with the Decepticons causes a mine to collapse on them, he flips out and vows to painfully murder Soundwave in retaliation.
- Brainwashing: Turns out, Bulkhead was shadowplayed by Slipstream into thinking that Strika (who'd been leading the protest Bulkhead had been arrested at) had been allowed to walk free, leaving Bulkhead and the rest of the 'lesser' bots to their fates-something which only fueled his animosity for the Decepticons.
- It's Personal: With Breakdown, see We Used to Be Friends below.
- Jerkass Has a Point: It's pretty understandable for him to be angry at Breakdown after Breakdown basically left him to get arrested. In "We Have a History" Breakdown himself admits he doesn't blame Bulkhead for still holding a grudge.
- Punch-Clock Villain: It's implied Bulkhead doesn't really believe in the Autobot cause or Functionism and works for the Empire purely out of necessity. And as it turns out, the decision might not have been voluntary.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Back on Cybertron, he was a manual caste like Breakdown and actually sympathized more with the Decepticons than the Autobots. That ended when a protest him and Breakdown were attending got violently broken up by Functionaries and Breakdown abandoned him to get arrested. By the time Breakdown sees him next, he's part of the Wreckers, a violent Autobot black ops division, and in the present has nothing good to say about his old friend or the 'Cons.
- We Used to Be Friends: Him and Breakdown used to be drinking buddies, but their relationship soured significantly after Breakdown abandoned him to the Functionaries.
Nautica
An aquatronian and the Hyperion's chief engineer.
- Anti-Villain: Volume 3 pushes her more into this category as while she is working to realize Ultra Magnus' Doomsday Device, the only reason she wants it finished so badly is that the dark energon used in its construction is slowly killing her worker drones one by one and neither Magnus nor Wheeljack give a damn since they view the workers as expendable. So the only way to save them, in Nautica's mind, is to finish the weapon as quickly as possible despite the fact it will be used to do extreme damage to Earth's natives.
- Armor-Piercing Question:
- In Volume 3, she asks Steve whether he really believes the propaganda that tells him and other drones like him that there's no greater honor than serving the Autobot empire and that therefor everything their superior officers put them through is correct.
- She's on the receiving end later in the same volume. After noticing and identifying her religious mark that outs her as a devotee of Solus Prime, Knock Out pointedly asks her if she thinks the Primes would approve of what her and the other Autobots are doing to planet Earth and its natives. Nautica tellingly doesn't have a response and opts to just flee with the generator instead.
- Benevolent Boss: While she sometimes loses her patience with them, she treats the drones under her command pretty well overall, even doing things like teaching them different skill-sets and accepting it when they choose names for themselves instead of designations. In Volume 3, she's seen mourning one of her drones who has succumbed to dark energon poisoning. It is somewhat deconstructed as it's shown that she has zero qualms about endangering others if it means saving her crew.
- Didn't Think This Through: In Volume 3 she finally has enough of Magnus leading at the cost of her and her drones and attacks him, telling Magnus that she and her team quit. Unfortunately, she does this while some of Magnus' supporters, namely Prowl, are still in the room and is promptly subdued.
- The Engineer: She's chief engineer of the Hyperion. Given what her superiors are like, it's a pretty thankless position.
- Hidden Depths: Volume 3 reveals that Nautica is a devotee of Solus Prime. During a conversation with Bulkhead she confesses that she started having doubts about the Autobot empire after seeing all the horror and death of the civil war and wonders whether all those hardships are the Thirteen testing her faith or if she chose the wrong side from the very beginning.
- Mythology Gag: Nautica frequently mentions having served on the Lost Light before being assigned to the Hyperion and that Rodimus, her former captain, wasn't the greatest leader (though she still prefers him to Ultra Magnus).
- Noodle Incident: In Volume 3 Nautica tells Bulkhead she had "problems" with her former captain, Rodimus', leadership and that she barely escaped a court martial because of him.
- No-Respect Guy: Does most of the work in keeping the Hyperion in operational condition and even managed to detect the Decepticons by listening in on Unit:E's transmissions, yet is always sidelined and pushed aside.
- Only Sane Man: Compared to the fanatics, backstabbers and otherwise dysfunctional Autobots comprising the Hyperion 's ranks, Nautica comes across as a lot more competent and focused. She's painfully aware that she's basically the only bot on the Hyperion who has their head screwed on straight and often loses her patience with Ultra Magnus' ever-changing demands.
- Pet the Dog: She's shown teaching an Autodrone how to do repair jobs on the side. When said drone reveals to her in Volume 2 that he's chosen a name for himself, she accepts it, but warns him not to let 'bots like Strongarm or Magnus catch wind of it, since drones are forbidden from having a name aside from their designation under Functionism.
- Punch-Clock Villain: She was drafted into the Autobots when her home planet allied with them. Though she embraced the chance to see the galaxy, it's implied she doesn't much care for Functionism and she's fairly lax when it comes to the chain of command.
- Rage Breaking Point: After the Super Weapon countless of her workers died to build almost blows up her and the rest of the Hyperion's crew and Magnus insists the drones risk their sparks again to repair it Nautica finally snaps and tells her superior to Take This Job and Shove It.
Steve
S-3V3 / "Steve"
One of the many Autodrones working on the Hyperion. He has a very friendly relationship with his superior Nautica.- Armor-Piercing Question: In Volume 3 he tries to justify Magnus' and Wheeljack's actions by claiming that dying for the empire is the greatest honor a drone can have. When Nautica asks him if he actually believes that he at first tries to avoid answering her, and when she reiterates the question more forcefully he just meekly replies he doesn't want to get in trouble.
- Cyber Cyclops: Like every drone, he has a single V-shaped visor instead of two separate optics
- Nervous Wreck: Whenever Steve is on page he's stuttering and shrinking in on himself, especially when talking to commanding officers like Strongarm. Seeing the environment he's working in, that's more than understandable.
- Minion with an F in Evil: Yes, he works for the tyrannical Autobot empire, but he's not being treated any better by them than the Decepticons or organic lifeforms and the only reason he's on their side is that he simply doesn't know any better. Unlike bots like Bumblebee he also doesn't derive any pleasure from hurting or torturing organics.
- No Mouth: Subverted. Him and the other drones seem to lack intakes, but Volume 3 shows they can retract their lower face-plates to extend a metal tube for refueling, similar to the ones the Terrorcons in the original show had.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Downplayed. After escaping from the Nemesis, Steve manages to get off a distress call to Ultra Magnus before Megatron catches up to and re-captures him. Magnus, instead of rescuing Steve, decides to fire his newly built dark energon-powered Super Weapon on the coordinates Steve sent to test it. Cue the (thankfully evacuated) Unit:E base getting blasted into oblivion.
- What Measure Is a Mook?: He's one of thousands of manufactured drones, built for nothing but manual labor and while he's loyal to the empire it's mostly because the empire is all he's ever known. Some of his actions, like choosing a name for himself despite the laws of Functionism making that illegal for a drone, suggest even with that he's not a hundred percent on board with the empire's philosophy.
- You Are Number 6: Defied. Originally he only had a designation not a name because he was a worker drone, the lowest caste in Functionism. In Volume 2 he reveals to Nautica that him and several other drones have chosen Earth names for themselves with him picking "Steve", after a human radio host he came to like.
Jetfire
A seeker serving as air commander on the Hyperion who's vain and prone to endless complaining.
- Arch-Enemy: To Starscream. Starscream hates him for his part in the destruction of their home city Vos, while Jetfire looks down on Starscream for allying with the Decepticons.
- Fantastic Racism: Even more so than other Autobots. Jetfire has nothing but disdain for "grounders" (Cybertronians whose alt-modes are ground-based vehicles) and isn't exactly quiet about it. To hear him tell it, flyers are the only Cybertronians worthy of any respect.
- I Fight for the Strongest Side!:
- He helped the Autobots destroy Vos because he believed their siege of the city would have resulted in them winning anyway and was eager to endear himself to the winning side.
- He freely admits to carrying this mindset in Volume 2 when Strongarm approaches him about her planned mutiny. He points out that Ultra Magnus doesn't exactly have a track record of winning, so he wouldn't hesitate switching sides if someone more likely to come out on top were to step up.
- Incurable Cough of Death: Gains this after his prolonged exposure to angolmois (dark energon) radiation gets him poisoned.
- Kick the Dog: He brutalizes one of the worker drones with his claws to cover up his sabotage of Ultra Magnus' weapon.
- Laser-Guided Karma: After all his Smug Snake behavior, his betrayal of his own city and his complete lack of loyalty for any of the sides he fights on, Volume 3 shows he's contracted dark energon poisoning while sabotaging Ultra Magnus' weapon in order to siphon it's energy for Strongarm's ship. Making this even better is that the worker drones on-site attempted to warn him about the radiation which him and Strongarm dismissed out of prejuidice.
- Sissy Villain: He has a very slender and effeminate frame and is incredibly vain.
- Smug Snake: Is convinced that him and flyers in general are the pinnacle of Cybertronian evolution. So far, each battle he's taken part in either ended in a stalemate or a very decisive loss for him.
- Ungrateful Bastard: He only even spotted the Decepticons in Volume 1 because Nautica was listening in on Unit:E's transmissions and tipped him off that something big was going on, but he doesn't thank her for it and instead tries to take all the credit for the discovery.
Wheeljack
A former Wrecker now serving as an Energon Scout onboard the Hyperion.
- Adaptational Superpower Change: Downplayed. In the main series he transformed into a sports car; in this comic, while he still transforms into a sports car, he also has a flight form similar to G1 Tracks.
- Dual Wielding: Uses two swords when fighting.
- Mad Scientist: Once experimented on Dark Energon to reverse-engineer it. When he gains the upper hand in his and Knock Out's fight, he tries to infect the Decepticon medic with it just to see what would happen. Thankfully, he doesn't get to, courtesy of a well-timed bullet by Fowler. In Volume 3 he' positively gleeful about being allowed to work with dark energon again, despite the adverse effects it's having on the workers.
- We Have Reserves: In Volume 3 Wheeljack dismisses the fact that using dark energon in construction makes the worker drones drop like flies, claiming that there's always the option to make more and that the drones are expendable anyways.
Cybertronian Government
Optimus Prime
Optimus Prime/Orion Pax
A former data clerk on Iacon. Him and Megatron originally founded the Decepticons together, due to both of them disliking the current caste system. But as the situation escalated and violent riots started popping up all over Cybertron, Orion began to doubt their cause. In his insecurity, he was easily swayed by the corrupt senator Dai Atlas, who convinced him Megatron and the Decepticons were delusional and that the abolition of the caste system would only plunge Cybertron into chaos. Promised to be uplifted as a war hero, Orion murdered the current ruler of Cybertron, Sentinel Prime, and framed Megatron for it. When Dai Atlas refused to make good on his promises, Orion attempted to claim the Matrix of Leadership for himself, only to be stopped by none other than Megatron. In the ensuing scuffle, Orion was thrown into Vector Sigma, where the malevolent creator god Primus upgraded him. Afterward he took the name Optimus Prime.Still feeling incomplete due to his corrupted Matrix, he started a hunt for Megatron and the key to Vector Sigma, in order to firmly establish his rule as Prime.
Optimus is a megalomaniacal, brutish tyrant who views his people as disposable tools. He'll go to any lengths to usher in a new "Golden Age" for Cybertron.
- A God Am I: Sees himself as the last of the Primes, who are basically Physical Gods.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: As Orion Pax, he managed to deduce Megatron's identity as "Terminus", the famous critic of the caste system, all by himself, using only the few clues he had from Megatron's lost copy of his manifest. This ability of his seems to have been lost as Optimus Prime thanks to his Sanity Slippage, relying more on Jack Bauer Interrogation Techniques and Cold-Blooded Torture to get information.
- Berserk Button: Referring to him with his old name of Orion Pax or even implying he's not a true Prime is a sure-fire way to set him off.
- Big Bad: Is the current leader of the extremely fascistic Autobot Empire.
- The Chosen Wannabe: Optimus desperately wants to believe that he is the last true Prime, when in reality the Matrix soundly rejected him when he tried to claim it and his actions prove time and time again that it was right to do so. The fact that he's technically not a real Prime is a very sore spot for him and reminding him of it, on purpose or otherwise, is a guaranteed way to get on his bad side.
- Evil Is Bigger: By far the largest bot who isn't a Titan thanks to Primus reformatting him with a bigger, stronger body upon his ascension into a (unofficial) Prime.
- Evil Is Petty: Whenever he has the chance to do so, Optimus will take extremely gratuitous vengeance on whoever he thinks wronged him, even if doing so might screw him over in the long run.
- Green-Eyed Monster: He was furious when the Matrix of Leadership opened for Megatron after it had previously rejected him as Orion Pax.
- Hero Killer: Murdered Sentinel Prime by shooting him In the Back, after Sentinel Prime started to show sympathy for the Decepticons.
- I Just Want to Be Special: Showed shades of this as Orion Pax. While he already agreed with Dai Atlas that the Decepticons would end up plunging Cybertron into chaos, the thing that finally convinced him to go through with murdering Sentinel Prime was Atlas promising to have him portrayed as a war hero and the savior of Cybertron. When he tries to claim the Matrix, he's excited and eager the whole way through, only to throw a petty tantrum when the Matrix rejects him. Once he becomes Optimus Prime, the fact that he used to be just a small archivist becomes a major Berserk Button to him.
- It's All About Me: Even when he was still Orion Pax, he was mainly looking out for himself, with everybody else being at best an afterthought. He opposed the caste system primarily because it kept middle castes like him from rising up even further and was easily swayed by Dai Atlas through the promise of power and fame. When he realized the Matrix of Leadership was about to choose Megatron as its next Prime instead of him, he attempted to destroy it rather than let anyone else have what he believed was his power by right.
- Never My Fault: He straight-up refuses to admit to any wrongdoing on his part, and continually makes excuses for his crimes. It's implied this is a coping mechanism for all the horrible things he's done.
- Not Brainwashed: After hearing that Orion murdered Sentinel Prime, Megatron believed that he had been shadowplayed by the Institute, only for Soundwave to affirm that this wasn't the case as thanks to Slipstream, they got the case files showing Orion was not on the Institutes "patients" list. Thus, it was by choice that Orion did the deed.
- Sadist: Even as Orion Pax, he had a noticeable mean streak. It's only gotten worse once he was physically altered to be strong enough to act on it.
- That Man Is Dead: He insists that he is no longer Orion Pax of Iacon, but Optimus Prime. Anyone who questions this is immediately introduced to his blades.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Orion Pax was a kind, if slightly insensitive, archivist who was fully on the Decepticon's side at first. Then Dai Atlas got his hands on him and planted the idea in his head that Cybertron needed functionism to survive, along with the fear of being sent to the mines if the Decepticons got their way. From that point on, Orion became steadily more paranoid and more supportive of the caste system until he became just as bad as Dai Atlas and his ilk.
- We Used to Be Friends: With Megatron in the past, but his own power-hungry and overly paranoid nature eventually lead him to betray Megatron.
Ratchet
An Autobot medic who serves as Optimus Prime's chief scientist.
- Deadpan Snarker: Makes a lot of snarky comments from the side-lines and enjoys taking the piss out of his more serious Autobot comrades.
- Dirty Coward: He talks a lot of smack from the side-lines, but is very quick to cower and back down when threatened and even quicker to flee once any actual fighting breaks out.
- Green and Mean: Has a largely green paint-job and is a sadistic, self-interested Autobot-medic.
- Mad Doctor: A medic with a disturbing fondness for physically and psychologically altering his "patients".
- Mad Scientist: Is implied to have performed countless experiments on prisoners of war left in his care, to the point some of his own people have become disgusted with him.
- Sadist: It's very obvious that he enjoys torturing prisoners of war for information. That's not to mention his fondness for Mind Rape via Cortical Psychic Patch and his eagerness to brainwash Beastformers like Ratbat and (maybe) Laserbeak.
- Villainous Rescue: He was the one to nurse Optimus Prime back to health after Ultra Magnus' attempt on his life almost succeeded.
Windblade
A high-caste City Speaker and a devoted follower of Optimus Prime.
- Condescending Compassion: Windblade views any mini-com beastformer opposing the caste system and the Autobots as merely a poor delusional animal who needs to be re-educated on proper demeanor by its betters.
- Cruel to Be Kind:
- How she sees her part in Vos' destruction. She lured Starscream and many other Seekers out of the city so Jetfire could lower the shields for the bombardment, but claims that in doing so, she saved Starscream's and all those other Seeker's lives.
- In Volume 3 she proceeds to stomp on and crush Ratbat's wing after Ratbat mouths off to her and insults Optimus Prime. When Ratchet points out how that's pretty hypocritical after she previously dismissed his own method of dealing with beastformer mini-cons as barbaric, Windblade claims that she is training an "animal" and that it's the only way to make Ratbat understand her place.
- The Fundamentalist: Windblade is obsessed with the Thirteen Primes and what she views as their given order. Anyone who opposes her belief she dismisses as misguided or heretics.
- Hiding Behind Religion: She uses her faith in the Thirteen Primes as justification for siding with Optimus and supporting Functionism. Any atrocities her side commits, she instantly convinces herself are right, because they're ultimately carrying out the Prime's will. Starscream calls her out on this hard in "Just Talk to Me!".Starscream: But to you, Faith is just a shield! Something that lets you recharge easy, something that "justifies" your hatred of everyone not like you! You're not a ghoul like Ratchet! You're so much better than the sadists in the AAT! You can't be like them, because you're doing it for the "right reasons", for your twisted "faith".
- Light Is Not Good: Sports a bright white color scheme and is just as eager to enforce the Functionist caste system as her compatriots.
- Noble Bigot: Deconstructed. Windblade acts like she's above the more cruel and vindictive actions her fellow Autobots take, but she's still an avid supporter of Functionism, so any compassion she displays to her perceived lessers is wrapped in a thick layer of condescension and only lasts as long as they don't talk back too much.
- We Used to Be Friends: Her and Starscream used to be close friends, due to both being high-ranking politicians and deeply religious. However, in the end their ideologies wildly differed and the destruction of Vos ended up being the final straw that made Starscream end their friendship.
Mercenaries
Arcee
An opportunistic bounty hunter who only cares about two things in the galaxy: payment, and her partner, Cliffjumper.
- Adaptational Superpower Change: Instead of a motorcycle, like in the main series, her altmode is a helicopter here.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: She has no memory of indirectly causing Blackarachnia's death by destroying the antidote-vial Airachnid was going for and doesn't even recognize the latter when they meet again on Earth, at least at first.
- Dark Action Girl: Her battle with Airachnid in Volume 2 shows why it's a bad idea to underestimate her. Airachnid only manages to get away because Jack intervenes at the last moment and Acree ends up accidentally blowing herself up.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Her and Cliffjumper are a couple and he's probably the only person she truly cares about.
- Fantastic Racism: She has a very low opinion of Insecticons.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: She's a lot smaller than Cliffjumper, but no less dangerous.
- "It" Is Dehumanizing: Both her and Cliffjumper refer to Airachnid with 'it' or 'bug', demonstrating their disdain toward Insecticons.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Is hesitant to hand Airachnid over to the Autobots in Volume 2, since it would alert Optimus of the Nemesis ' and the Hyperion 's crews survival and bring even more Autobots to Earth, which her and Cliffjumper's current employer wouldn't be happy about.
- Male Might, Female Finesse: She prefers to use weapons and gadgets as opposed to her partner Cliffjumper, who favors brute strength.
- Nothing Personal: How she sees her actions toward Airachnid and Blackarachnia on Athena. She was merely paid to acquire test subjects for the Rust plague and the Insecticons just happened to be there at the right time.
Cliffjumper
A brutal thug and Arcee's partner in crime.
- Berserk Button: Damaging his horns. Starscream does it in both of their confrontations.
- The Brute: A mean-spirited thug who takes pleasure in beating and taunting the marks him and Arcee are sent after.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Is in a romantic relationship with Arcee. She's the only one who gets to see his soft side. Her getting heavily injured in Volume 2 has him swear vengeance on Airachnid.
- Horns of Villainy: Has two bull-like horns on his head. He's fairly proud of them and does not like it when they get damaged.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: He's a good head taller than his partner Arcee.
- Male Might, Female Finesse: The might to Arcee's finesse. Cliffjumper relies more on his brawn than on any gadgets, though he doesn't scoff at them.
Former Cybertronian Government
Sentinel Prime
Sentinel Prime/Infinitus
Optimus' predecessor. He was beloved by the people of Cybertron for defeating the Quintessons. Orion, spurred on by Dai Atlas, assassinated him when he began to show sympathy to the Decepticon cause.- Broken Pedestal: Becomes this to Orion after revealing to him that his Matrix of Leadership is empty and has been that way since the Quintesson War, which made him a "false" Prime in Orion's eyes.
- Heel–Face Door-Slam: Due to the Decepticons' efforts, he'd come to see how wrong the caste system was and was preparing to abolish it, but was killed by Orion Pax before he could actually do so.
- Hero of Another Story: He was a key player in the war against the Quintessons, having reclaimed and managed to open the Matrix of Leadership, making him the first Prime in a long time. He was also one to defeat the tyrannical judge Deseeus using the Matrix, freeing Cybertron for good.
- Mythology Gag: His old name before he became a Prime was Infinitus, who, for those familiar with the IDW comics, was a Titan Master who pretended to be a Prime by controlling a larger body, calling himself "Sentinel Prime" while piloting his Transtector.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Him instating the caste system made him unworthy of becoming a Prime again in the Matrix' eyes, leaving him unable to re-charge it at Vector Sigma. It also caused Cybertron to fall into stagnation and for the Fantastic Racism against the cold constructed and the "disposables" to become even worse than it had been during the Quintesson occupation.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished:
- He'd begun to see the evils of Functionism by the time of "One Shall Fall" and was preparing to abolish the caste system. This didn't sit well with higher caste bots like Dai Atlas, who believed the caste system was the only thing that kept Cybertron in order and led to him being killed by Orion Pax.
- He drained his Matrix in order to defeat the Quintesson judge Deseeus and free Cybertron. Decades later, revealing that he's technically no longer a Prime is the last push Orion Pax needs to actually go through with murdering him.
Dai Atlas
The arrogant former Lord of Tarn, who played a pivotal role in Orion Pax' turn to the dark side. He was behind the assassination of Sentinel Prime.
- Asshole Victim: With all the horrific things he's done and said, it's no wonder that his inevitable death by Optimus' hands became one of the most anticipated events in the prequel comic.
- Became Their Own Antithesis: In the past, he was an active player in the war to free Cybertron from the Quintessons' tyranny. Once the war was over, he advocated for the caste system, putting thousands of Cybertronians through the same pain and injustices he himself experienced under Quintesson rule.
- The Corrupter: To Orion Pax. While Pax was fully on the Decepticons' side in the beginning, Atlas' continued influence made him doubt whether Cybertron could truly survive without Functionism. It certainly didn't hurt that Atlas started to fill his head with horror scenarios about the lower castes possibly seeking revenge and damning the higher and middle castes to slavery.
- Destination Defenestration: Gets his corpse kicked out of his office in Iacon Central after Optimus tears out his spark.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: His one redeeming feature seems to be that he did care for his assistant Botanica, as he was enraged by her death at Optimus's hands, and tries to avenge her.
- Fantastic Racism: Demonstrated heavy disdain for lower castes, beastformers, and "Disposables" when he was still alive, believing they needed to be controlled and viewing their fight for equality as little more than them trying to get out of having to work.
- Hate Sink: From his arrogance, to his extremely racist rhetoric and his Lack of Empathy toward the lower castes, it's pretty clear the reader isn't meant to like this guy.
- Lack of Empathy: In a flashback in "One Shall Rise", several miners, Megatron among them, almost get themselves killed trying to get high-grade Energon he ordered. When Dai Atlas arrives at the site, his only concern is that he won't be able to entertain the guests at his upcoming party, because the miners had to be evacuated before getting the high-grade.
- The Man Behind the Man: He was the one who ultimately convinced Orion that the removal of the caste system would only hurt Cybertron and that Sentinel Prime had to die in order to prevent its abolition.
- Never My Fault: When Megatron and the other Energon-miners started to go on strike, leading to Energon shortages, he raved against them for "destroying" Cybertron. Refusing to even consider that the reason behind the strike was the way him and other higher and middle caste treated the workers.
- Villain Has a Point: In "Orion's turning...", he points out that Functionism assigns bots the work best suited to their frame-types and that bots like him or Orion would almost certainly die if sent to the mines. Downplayed, as this is a rather obvious excuse he makes to not even attempt to reform the system and keep his own privileged position.
Botanica
A plantformer who served as Dai Atlas' personal assistant and bodyguard.
- Beneath Notice: Most bots don't pay much attention to her when talking to Dai Atlas. Unfortunately for them, Botanica is someone who counts on not being noticed, since her vines are shown to be strong enough to restrain Strika, and Botanica won't hesitate to throw a bot to their presumed doom should Dai Atlas order her to.
- Bodyguarding a Badass: She serves as additional personal protection for Dai Atlas, a former war hero almost at the level of a Prime. Justified, as it's implied Dai Atlas' fighting skills have degraded since the war due to him living the high life and both not getting the chance to hone them and being too lazy to train.
- Lack of Empathy: Much like her boss, Botanica doesn't care much for the plights of the lower castes.
- Plant Person: The Transformers variant of one. As a plantformer, Botanica has the ability to change forms from a more humanoid robot-mode to a giant plant with long prehensile vines.
- Tentacle Rope / Combat Tentacles: Botanica uses her vines primarily to grab, restrain and throw anyone who poses a threat to Dai Atlas. She used them to tie up Orion in One Shall Fall when the latter became enraged at Atlas' refusal to elevate him to war hero and attacked, then threw him off the roof. Later, she used them on Strika when Strika attacked Atlas to try and force him to tell her where he'd sent her comrades he arrested at the Galaxxon protest.
- Vine Tentacles: Botanica's primary weapons are the vines she's able to summon at a moments notice. Said vines are very strong and durable, as both Orion Pax and Strika found out the hard way..
