Characters / The Transformers More Than Meets The Eye Past Characters

Past Characters

Killmaster

A monstrous Decepticon who used to battle Whirl often. He owned a wand. By the time of the story he's long-dead. Or not, thanks to the intervention of the Necrobot...

• Always Someone Better: To Whirl, his archnemesis, since Whirl is forced to admit he's never actually beaten Killmaster when they find him on Necroworld.
• An Arm and a Leg: Cyclonus manages to slice off his wand-holding arm, allowing him to throw the wand to Whirl, who uses it to maybe destroy Killmaster too.
• Arch-Enemy: To Whirl. They even refer to each other as "Nemesis", which Swerve says is the "best worst thing ever".
• Beware the Silly Ones: All anyone ever mentions about him is that he had a wand. Then he shows up in the modern day and age. Turns out there was a reason he was one of the Warrior Elite. He's ludicrously tough, and that wand of his? It can teleport people across universes to a prison dimension.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: Though he never transforms onscreen, his color palette and monstrous robot mode make him appear like a particularly hulking Insecticon.
• Blood Knight: He's a genius but Whirl claims he loves killing more than teleporting weapons.
• Earth-Shattering Kaboom: Apparently designed a "Moongun" capable of destroying moons. The Galactic Council used this as the basis for planet destroying "Geobombs".
• Genius Bruiser: Not only is a better fighter than Whirl in every way, but he's a capable scientist to the point that Brainstorm admires him and the Galactic Council covets his designs.
• Harsher in Hindsight: The Running Gag about Killmaster's wand. When he emerges from his pod on Necroworld and immediately proceeds to go on a rampage, he uses said wand on Ten and Swerve.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Killmaster's defining trait is his weapon, his wand. After using the wand to teleport Ten and Swerve, it gets turned on Killmaster himself when Cyclonus is able to get it away from him and sends him to his own prison dimension.
• Ironic Nickname: Downplayed; While he is genuinely a lethal force, his most iconic weapon non-lethally detains people in a prison dimension.
• Lethal Joke Weapon: In-universe. The absurdity of a giant Decepticon with a magic wand that was barely the length of his finger that just makes people vanish sounded like another of Whirl's demented jokes. But not only is it real, it is exactly as dangerous as any other weapon.
• Meaningful Rename: Played for laughs. As said below, his real name is Murderking but Whirl calls him a "master of killing".
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Played with; Killmaster's not actually his original name, just something he switched to at some point. Then again, his original name was Murderking.
• Noodle Incident: Nearly every other character in the series claims to have, at some point, fought "Killmaster, you know, the one with the wand." None of these fights are ever shown, except a panel in Spotlight: Trailcutter.
• Posthumous Character: Subverted; he was actually "rescued" by the Necrobot and brought forward in time. Whirl just assumed he was dead after not hearing from him for a thousand years or so and tried to take credit for the kill.
• The Quiet One: Adding to his unsettling air is the fact, unlike pretty much every other character in the comic, he barely says anything, even as he tries murdering people.
• Teleport Gun: He has a penchant for building these. His iconic wand is one and can teleport things across universes.
• Undignified Death: Lots of people have fought Killmaster, but Whirl claims to be the one to have killed him while he was in a Decepticon medical facility and then shoved a wand up his... Though it turns out Whirl was lying when Killmaster shows up on Necroworld.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Despite being large, spiky and unfriendly looking, all anyone ever seems to remember about Killmaster is that he had a wand, if that.

The Guiding Hand

The five gods of Cybertron, supposedly born at the dawn of time to fight Primus' opposite, and who helped create Cybertronian society, until one of their own turned on them, causing the first war on Cybertron. Their numbers included Primus, Adaptus, Epistemus, Solomnus, and Mortilus.

Whether they actually existed is not clear.

• Ambiguous Situation: Whether they actually existed or not. Certainly, someone created the Matrix, and someone wrote "The Guiding Hand" on the inside of the Matrix crystal. And Primus' opposite most definitely exists, but as to the others... It eventually turns out they do exist, and we've been looking at some of them since the series began.
• Dark Is Evil: Mortilus was a death god, and according to legends appeared black and red. He wanted to conquer the universe, and turned on the others. Turns out this was all wrong. Mortilus was actually a stand-up guy. The red and black part's also accurate.
• Depending on the Writer: Roberts had obviously been intending the Guiding Hand to be the IDW's version of Primus' story, replacing the Hasbro-preferred Thirteen. Then over in Robots in Disguise, the Thirteen were gradually introduced as a concept, raising even more questions about just what the heck was up with the Guiding Hand.
• Dual Wielding: According to legends, Primus carried two BFS.
• Flanderization: Primus is an in-universe victim. Some stories depict him as a warrior god, the Closed Fist of the Guiding Hand. Others have him as more benevolent and loving. Guess which version the Functionist Council preferred.
• God Is Good: Primus was a god of light and life, sworn to stand again something (Rewind gets interrupted before he can say who that is). Likewise, the others (except Mortilus).
• "Just So" Story: The story about them in the annual. Primus, warrior-god of light, felt a yearning in his chest, and let lose four Sparks. With a wave of their hand they created civilisation. Then Mortilus turned evil, and was killed, destroying Cybertron's first moon, and causing the end of the others - Primus merged with Vector Sigma, Adaptus became the first transformation cog, Epistemus became the first brain module, and Solomnus became the casing of the Matrix. And with Mortilus dead, Cybertronians became immortal. Except in the modern day older 'bots are prone to developing and dying of cybercosis, at least that is until Swerve discovers a cure rendering that no longer an issue, and Luna-1 is still very much intact.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Adaptus used a mass mnemosurgery field to wipe their knowledge of him, and themselves. Primus took the brunt of it.
• The Smart Guy: Solomnus was "wisdom personified", and Epistemus "knowledge personified".

The Senator

Click ^here  to see his new identity.

Remember me as I was.

An eccentric senator who's working to undermine and overthrow the Senate. Serving as Orion's mentor, he's a skilled scientist who's gathered a school of outliers. After the Senate's torture and mutilation, he becomes a certain emotionless scientist we're much more familiar with.

Visit the Robots In Disguise character sheet for more information on him.

Quark

A scientist from the pre-war era. He was friends with Nightbeat and while apolitical, he supported the Senate's heavy-handed tactics against the early Decepticons.

• Ascended Extra: After a small (but vital) role in "Shadowplay" and "Elegant Chaos", he becomes a more substantial character in the "Speak, Memory" two-parter.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: He's herded into a chamber that he believes will teleport him and 49 others to a safer prison, but it turns out the chamber is a smelting pit to melt down Autobots into raw material for MTO soldiers.
• Hope Spot: For a moment he thinks he's really going to be sent to a better place than Grindcore. In a way, he is, but he has to be slowly melted alive in a smelting pit to get there.
• The Lost Lenore: For Brainstorm, though it was unrequited.
• Mode Lock: While in Grindcore, he was trapped in his immobile microscope mode and left in a cell.
• Non-Action Guy: He expressly feared that he'd die in the Decepticon revolution because he's a scientist with minimal military or labor skills. He was partly right.
• Posthumous Character: He's long-dead by the present, having died in Grindcore Prison during the war. His impact on the plot is wholly posthumous.
• Properly Paranoid: Was afraid that the Decepticons anti-Functionist rhetoric would spiral out of control. Felt that the government was spying on everyone and working to punish any dissenters. He's proven right on both accounts.
• Shout-Out: His design was based on Animated Perceptor.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Brainstorm initially developed his time machine to prevent his death before deciding to stop the war from happening altogether. His appearance in "Shadowplay" is very brief and is mostly there to provide a "man on the street" perspective on pre-war Cybertron, but Brainstorm's time machine has a major impact on the IDW timeline.
  • Quark's death also had a lasting impact on Skids until his amnesia, and making Skids actually remember it proves vital to the story in the final issue of Dying of the Light, and it ultimately ends in Skids' own death.

Senator Momus

A self-made senator who was murdered for expressing sympathy to the Decepticon cause. His death triggers Chromedome and Prowl's investigation into the Senate's conspiracy.

• Punished for Sympathy: He was sympathetic to the Decepticon cause, back when it was justified.

• Self-Made Man: Originally a mine facility foreman, until he's exempt after reporting Overlord's birth to the authorities. He eventually becomes a Senator.

Outliers

Damus, aka "Glitch"

A jittery but friendly outlier with the power to stop machinery.

• Blessed with Suck: Admittedly, his powers would be a lot cooler if he could properly control them and didn't cause him severe agony. He eventually overcomes this.
• The Cameo: Alertnate!Glitch is standing front and centre when a stranded Megatron gives a speech at the end of Lost Light #6.
• Chekhov's Gunman: The Functionist timeline version of Glitch is seen standing front and centre in the crowd of AVL supporters listening to Megatron's speech at the end of Lost Light issue 6. Still suffering from the empurata of his pre-war prime-timeline self, it's clear that Megatron's words-about fighting Functionism through diplomacy, education, and understanding-is having as profound an effect on him as Megatron's much more fiery rhetoric had on the prime timeline Glitch that set him on the road to becoming Tarn.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Started off as meek and slightly ditzy, with little control over his powers. After Orion and his team are branded outlaws, he quickly comes into his own, becoming possibly the most powerful outlier. And he eventually became Tarn.

• Cyber Cyclops: A victim of Empurata. He got fixed at some point during his transition into Tarn.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Back then, he was relatively unknown: he was an Outlier capable of disabling machinery, and an empurata victim. He worked alongside other Outliers to help Orion and his team out to thwart an assassination plot; however, he eventually compared convinced to join Megatron's Decepticon movement, gain multiple body and power upgrades, become a warden to a hellish prison, and eventually become leader of the Decepticon Justice Division under the new codename: "Tarn".
• Meaningful Background Event: In the past, when Orion Pax recommends to Roller that he should check out Megatron's early works from before he was radicalized, calling it "powerful stuff", Glitch is shown standing right behind the two as this happens, overhearing the conversation. Roller never got the chance to, but Glitch did obviously did. Powerful stuff, indeed.
• Mind over Matter: Once his powers are fully realized, he can mentally shred tanks without breaking a sweat. His powers eventually mutate into being able to force a spark to shut down by gradually lowering the volume of his voice.
• Nice Guy: Even to complete strangers, he's exceptionally friendly. Though after joining the Decepticons he becomes more Faux Affably Evil.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: His introduction indicates that "Glitch" is just a nickname. We learn his real name in Issue #36. Glitch being Tarn is only briefly mentioned by Megatron just before Megatron kills him.
• The Pollyanna: Presumably, given he's not jaded as Whirl, another Empurata victim.

• Put on a Bus: Much like Roller, Glitch is a character who was important in the past issues and come the present is conspicuously missing. The reason he's missing is because he was convinced by Megatron to defect to the Decepticons, becoming a hardcore true believer. After spending a stint as the Warden of Grindcore Prison, he was inducted into the Decepticon Justice Division as its leader, code-name: Tarn.
• Took a Level in Badass: To the point that he can hold his own in a fight where Skids is getting his aft kicked. Even moreso when he becomes Tarn.
• Walking Spoiler: For a relatively minor character, he sure has a lot of spoiler tags, doesn't he? It's because he's actually Tarn, and not Roller as was previously thought.

Windcharger

A hyperactive and imaginative outlier with the power of magnetism.

• A Day in the Limelight: This is the most screentime Windcharger's received since the eighties.
• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Has trouble pay attention for very long.
• Meet My Good Friends Lefty and Righty: His "Magic Arms."
• Powers Do the Fighting: His magnetic arms.
• Selective Magnetism: His Outlier ability in a nutshell.

Ironfist

A fanboy engineer and future Wrecker who supplies Orion's crew with a fake Matrix for the heist.

For tropes regarding him, visit the character sheet for The Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers.

Zeta Prime

A future Prime and a protégé of the Senator. He seeks out Orion after the heist and seems nice on the surface, but is actually an extremist who wants to enforce law on Cybertron with brutality.

• At Least I Admit It: As Starscream highlights after Optimus annexes Earth, Zeta was very upfront about his policies and attitudes, viewing the lower classes of Cybertronian society as raw fuel to be harvested while Optimus claims he's protecting Earth.
• Bait the Dog: While his very first on-screen appearance has him as a raving violent monster, this trope was a major part of his character In-Universe. Zeta was one of several bots loyal to the Senator and friendly with the outliers; when Optimus first started his rebellion, Zeta was a major ally. When he was named Prime his initial societal reforms were considered a major step in the right direction after the Functionalist Council, Senate, and Sentinel Prime's rule. However, Zeta was eventually revealed to have continued several of the old guard's unethical practices, like the brainwashing, police brutality, and crackdown of dissidents. This eventually lead to the stint with the Vamparc Ribbon and Zeta burning several populated cities to the ground in his attempt to snuff out the Decepticons.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: In Spotlight: Orion Pax, he and Optimus have a cordial relationship, but a few hints of a nastier personality slip through.
  • He reformed the Institute behind Orion's back.
• Boom, Headshot!: Implied to be how he was killed as shown in The Transformers: Autocracy.
• Canon Foreigner: He was created for the IDW continuity. Normally Sentinel is Optimus's immediate predecessor as Prime whilst here he was the one who took the mantle after Sentinel's (seeming) demise.
• The Chosen Many: He was one of a number of Cybertronians altered by the senator to be a potential Matrix bearer.
• Corrupt Politician: Was this all along, it just took Pax awhile to fully realize it.
• Depending on the Writer: Played With Chris Metzen and James Roberts had different ideas for the kind of villain that Zeta was however due to constraints many of the contradicting parts ended up cut and their depictions of Zeta don't differ too much. Metzen envisioned Zeta as more of a Fallen Hero driven to extreme measures with the rising Decepticon threat whilst Roberts saw him as a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing who was always willing to stab Optimus in the back. However, putting aside Metzen's idea of a Face–Heel Turn vs. Roberts's idea of him being Evil All Along, Zeta's depiction is fairly consistent between the two of them.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: In contrast to Sentinel, Zeta's history before becoming a Prime is largely undocumented. However while Sentinel and Nominus had major roles in the administration before ascending to leadership, Zeta was an outsider to the political landscape and ascended largely because so much of the old administration was killed. Zeta's rule was brief but bloody and while he came from outside of the corrupt lineage of previous Primes he was a monster in his own way.
• He Who Fights Monsters: By the end of his life Zeta was no better than any of his predecessor Primes or Megatron post fall from grace.
• Knight Templar: Zeta was an infamous authoritarian that wanted Cybertron under control by any means necessary. James Roberts wanted him to be more of a Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist and his MTMTE depiction toes the line between the two tropes.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Made the Decepticon Registration Act compulsory. Needless to say, it only made the Decepticons angrier, which led to his death three days later.
• Obviously Evil: By the time of his appearance in Spotlight: Orion Pax, he's started looking like he does in The Transformers: Autocracy.

• Throw the Dog a Bone: Gave the Disposables rights. It's about the only nice thing we ever hear of him doing.

Dominus Ambus

Rewind's previous Conjunx Endura and a brilliant scientist who disappeared many years ago. Rewind joined the crew in an attempt to find him.

• The Ace: From Chromedome's description, at least. He was a scientist, philosopher, poet, activist, and explorer, among other things.
• Always Someone Better:
  • Chromedome feels he's second to him in Rewind's eyes.
  • His little brother, Minimus feels much the same (only without the Rewind part, obviously), given Dominus was a successful and accomplished person, and Minimus wasn't.
• And I Must Scream: In the alternate timeline, the Functionist Council replaced his head with a TV screen to shut him up. When that doesn't work they wipe his mind, leaving him unable to think or speak properly.
  • His main timeline counterpart doesn't fare much better.
• Chekhov's Gunman: What appears to be his Functionist-timeline self is seen listening in on Megatron's speech to the AVL at the end of Lost Light issue six with his screen-head now saying a single word; "RESIST".
• Deadpan Snarker: He must've gotten all the good sarcasm robo-genes or something, compared to his brother. He manages to be astoundingly sarcastic in spite of only having a TV screen for a face in his only 'current' appearance.
• Long-Lost Relative: Of Minimus Ambus(the current day Ultra Magnus). He's still nowhere to be found though.
  • Minimus only says he's 'long gone'. Given his habit of Exact Words, he's probably still alive. Though when asked much later on, Minimus expresses his opinion that Dominus is dead.
  • Eventually, in issue 53, we learn his fate. It's not pretty.
• Never Found the Body: Rewind searched for him for four million years even buying recordings of executions from Swindle so he could be sure. Then the Autobots found the body.
  • Issue 44 makes it even more complicated: Minimus is absolutely sure he's dead, the Necrobot has him recorded as dead... but he's never found Dominus' body.
  • Issue 53 finally reveals his fate. He was tortured and lobotomized by the DJD, who then trapped him in his beast mode by removing his Transformation Cog and made him into The Pet.
• Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Even more impressive given he was around during the time of the Grand Cybertronian Taxonomy, which frowned on 'bots going outside their primary function and assigned vocation.
• Porn Stache: And it's a family trait.
• Reimagining the Artifact: Dominus provides an alternate reimagining of Pretenders, separate from Furman's Polydermal Grafting process. Being a Load-bearer he can put more and more armor onto him until he's nearly unrecognizable, having a humanoid and vehicle alt-mode whilst his inner robot was a canine like beast. It also jives with the alternate dimensions discussions on Pretenders where Rewind noted that they were certain bots who added kibble to themselves to make it appear as though they had an alt-mode that was more favorable to the Taxonomy.

• The Stoic: Wasn't very big on having fun, as he wrote in one of his works: "pleasure is a distraction from the truth".

Terminus

Megatron's mentor, who was crippled in a mining accident. He encourages Megatron to use both words and force in his attempts to protest the Senate. In the present Megatron refers to him as "someone who taught me not to get attached".

• An Arm and a Leg: Among other injuries.
• Cool Old Guy: Lived under Functionist oppression most of his life and survived, just barely.
• The Corrupter: Downplayed as he's not trying to revive the Decepticons but he does encourage Megatron to stay in the Functionist Universe and avoid his trial mainly because he determines that the Functionist Universe needs Megatron.
• I Choose to Stay: Terminus decides fairly early on that he's going to remain in the Functionist Universe to try and help the Anti-Vocationist League fight back against the Functionist Council. He also really, really wants Megatron to do the same, but Megatron is firm in his desire to return to the prime reality and continue his quest, and eventually face judgement for his crimes. Except Terminus decided to take matters into his own hands to ensure that didn't happen.
• Killed Offscreen: Was killed by the Functionists sometime during the centuries he and Megatron spent in their universe as an attempt to break Megatron by depriving him of everyone he cared about; it didn't work.
• The Mentor: A wise old miner who took a young Megatron under his wing.
• Never Found the Body: After his near Mind Rape at the hands of Trepan, Megatron (during his mining days) tried and failed to find Terminus, thinking the higher-ups had him killed. In issue #55, it is revealed that he was rescued by a time traveling Necrobot, brought to the present, repaired and put into stasis to recover from his injuries.
• Parental Substitute: In all the ways that truly matter, Terminus was Megatron's father.
• Slept Through the Apocalypse: He was in Stasis for the entirety of the Great War, giving him a completely different viewpoint on Megatron and his cause than just about everyone else. To him, Megatron the Warlord and the horrors of the Great War are something he read and was told about after the fact, while Megatron the civil rights activist and writer, and the oppression of Functionalism, are things he knows of firsthand, and were from his point of view, quite recent, which colors his interactions with the latter and how he continues to push Megatron away from atoning for what he's done, and is more focused on continuing their work overcoming Functionalism.
• So Proud of You: Has this vibe when observing Megatron effortlessly take charge while they're stuck in the Functionist timeline.
• Toxic Friend Influence:
  • Terminus was the one to push Megatron to never back down or compromise, and to use violence if necessary. Following his advice is what eventually lead to Megatron becoming far worse than even those he originally fought against.
  • After that he intentionally led Megatron to a false set of coordinates to make him stay in the Functionist Universe so he could help the AVL and then lied to Megatron that the others had left to "give him a second chance". Which disregards that Megatron saw his captaincy on the Lost Light as a second chance.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: He encouraged Megatron to use violence in his protests.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: He encourages Megatron to use violence in his protests.

The Senate

The Senate

The Legislative Body of antebellum Cybertron. Though a few right-hearted members exist, by and large the organization is incredibly corrupt and completely invested in expanding its power base.

General tropes regarding the Senate include:

• Asshole Victim: You aren't exactly torn up when watching Starscream and Soundwave murder most of them.
• Corrupt Politician: The vast majority of the Senators fall under this category.
• Evil Versus Evil: As issue #36 reveals, the Senate and the Functionist Council didn't get on. It might just have had something to do with the fact that the Senate was in favour of using the Constructed Cold to bolster their security forces. The same Constructed Cold the Council hated.
• Greater-Scope Villain: If it wasn't for their horribly oppressive regime Megatron would've never suffered a fall from grace and ultimately turned the Decepticons from freedom fighters into The Empire.
• Hate Sink: Majority of them were haughty, fraudulently benign Control Freak bastards who had as much compassion and concern for their fellow Cybertronians as 19th century robber barons had for their employees.
• It's All About Me: Most members couldn't care less about the Cybertronian populace.
• Token Good Teammate: Crosscut, Sherma, Momus, Dai Atlas, and Shockwave. Tellingly, only Crosscut survives his tenure unscathed.

Senator Proteus

A cruel and manipulative senator who heads many of the Senate's corrupt activities. He's a bigot who wants to reinforce his control over the populace.

• Big Bad: Of the "Shadowplay" flashback arc, with Sentinel as his top henchman.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Is all smiles towards anyone he considers his equal, or when in front of a camera. Otherwise he's a scheming, corrupt fascist who has his enemies murdered, or worse.

• False Flag Operation: Uses a couple of these to expand the powers of the Senate and deal with potential dissenters.
• Fantastic Racism: Doesn't like the Disposables, and has low opinions of anyone who does, like Senator Shockwave.
• For the Evulz: Some corrupt Senators just want more money, some want to keep living their comfortable lifestyles. Proteus just seems content with doing things because he can.
• Jerkass: While for the most part he's an oily Bitch in Sheep's Clothing, certain actions he takes are just assholish most notably picking up and throwing the projector bot when he finished showing a presentation.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: There is no immediate payback for his involvement in the events of Shadowplay. However, he is executed by Starscream during Megatron's Decepticon Uprising.

Sentinel

A future Prime and Senator Proteus's right-hand man. Ambitious and scheming, he's almost as corrupt and cruel as Proteus himself.

• Adaptational Villainy: Seems to be par for the course after Transformers: Dark of the Moon. Here, he's much more in keeping with his corrupt "Chaos Theory" portrayal than the Hero Antagonist featured in "Megatron: Origins". Understandable, since Roberts worked on both.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: As Brainstorm states, while Sentinel may have been a complete bastard in life, he died fighting against Megatron, meaning he got to be remembered as a hero.

• At Least I Admit It: When Optimus annexes Earth for its own protection, Starscream highlights that Sentinel did many of the same actions as Optimus to try and "uplift" Cybertron but was honest about how much he hated everyone and everything in his field of vision.
• Big Bad: He is the villain of the Titans Return storyline.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: With Proteus, and although Proteus is in charge, Shockwave states that Sentinel is the one to worry about.

• Dragon Ascendant: Once he gets the Matrix, he stops listening to his bosses more and more.
• Eviler than Thou: Kills Nominus Prime when the Senate has no more need of him.
• Evil Genius: Sadly for everyone, Sentinel is not just Dumb Muscle, he's surprisingly knowledgeable about a great deal of things. Like, for example, how to wire a 'bot into a Metrotitan and use them to reactivate all the others.
• Evil Mentor: Some characters consider him Prowl's mentor (though Prowl denies it). And yet Sentinel actually addresses him as "old friend" on his return.

• Fantastic Racism: He looks down on the colonists as not being proper Cybertronians.
• For Science!: In issue #36, he turns out to have been experimenting on Sparks, to try and create Outliers. Unfortunately, his experiments wiped out entire Hot Spots worth of Sparks.
• The Ghost: Doesn't once appear during the Shadowplay flashbacks, but his influence is felt.
• Historical Hero Upgrade: He was an awful person in life, but was remembered well by most Autobots due to Megatron killing him and making him a martyr.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Arrogant, violent, callous, impatient... Sentinel's utterly lacking in any positive features whatsoever.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: While he eventually dies later on, on Luna 2 at the end of Titans Return, there is no immediate payback for his involvement in the events of Shadowplay.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: He was a racist, fascist, bullying, authoritarian thug, and going by his comments during Titans Return, either the Cybertronian equivalent of a homophobe or a prude (or both).
• Vague Age: Invoked during the Titans Return storyline, when Fortress Maximus and Prowl realize they've no idea how old Sentinel actually was. Going by flashbacks and his own comments, he's at least 10 million years old.

Kroma

A thug who works for the Senate and Whirl's old handler.

• Continuity Nod: Last seen getting stabbed in the face by Orion while attempting to rescue Whirl from jail. Here, he spends about a day in prison for the failed attempt before being released.

• Karma Houdini: We never see him get any kind of comeuppance for his actions.
• Mysterious Past: He and Shockwave have apparently met before. And given Shockwave's reaction, there's no love lost between them.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Pax and crew never would have learned about the bomb plot if Kroma hadn't run his mouth off in front of Whirl.
• No Cure for Evil: Averted. The last time he appeared, Orion had stabbed him through the face. There's no sign of any scarring or damage when he reappears though.
• Smug Snake: He's very arrogant and self assured, and those traits really bring his success rate down.

The Heavies (Hammer and Anvil)

A pair of massive but stupid gangsters who work for the Senate as enforcers.

• Berserk Button: When Whirl sees them in issue #37 (thanks to time travel), he loses it and utterly curbstomps the two with disturbing ease.

• Early-Bird Cameo: They first appear for a single panel in issue 6, as Whirl describes them destroying his life on the Senate's orders.

• Karma Houdini Warranty: Lampshaded by Chromedome. Is issue #6, they destroy Whirl's life. Whirl next sees them in issue #37 where Team Rodimus has time travelled back to before the War and is seconds away from murdering them before Chromedome stops him because Orion Pax will kill the Heavies a year later.
• Killed Off for Real: Hammer gets an Orion Pax through the chest, while Anvil gets a bomb thrown at him.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Anvil briefly inflicts one on Orion Pax after he kills Hammer.
• You No Take Candle: Anvil speaks like this, but in issue #37 Hammer is revealed to be surprisingly eloquent.

Trepan

A sadistic mnemosurgeon who used to work at the Institute. He's long-dead by the present, but his actions have had a lasting effect.

• Asshole Victim: Though he seemed to have joined the Autobots after the outbreak of the war (or was at least conscripted), Births, Deaths & Interventions reveals a sadistic side when he tried to lobotomise a young Megatron. To say nothing of the fact that he was already involved with The Institute.

• Faux Affably Evil: Best demonstrated when conducting mnemosurgery on Megatron in Births, Deaths & Interventions:
  "Don't worry... I'm here to cure you."
• Hate Sink: Although on panel for little time, it's made clear that Trepan is a loathsome sadistic bastard who uses preserving Functionism as an excuse to lobotomize people for sick kicks.
• Karmic Death: Remembrance Day reveals Overlord kidnapped Trepan to learn the secrets of mnemosurgery. Megatron eventually found out and had Trepan killed. Births, Deaths & Interventions reveals Trepan once attempted mnemosurgery on an unwilling Megatron during the latter's mining days, making it highly unlikely that his later death was a coincidence.

• Mind Rape: Specializes in this with his mnemosurgery.

The Functionist Council

This is what happens when you act against us.

A powerful council in Cybertron's old government who believed that a Transformer's purpose was decided by their alt mode. Trucks and construction vehicles are required to engage in manual labor employment, while a proton microscope would be forced to seek out intellectual pursuits. Their harsh ruling and bigotry helped give birth to the Decepticon movement.

• Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: After reformatting their Cybertron into a false Primus, the Council, minus Nine who was still working against them with the AVL, merged with Vector Sigma to give them greater control over it.
• Big Bad: Of the Council, Six-of-Twelve appears to be this, being the most visible member of the Council outside of rogue member Nine, and having his head reshaped to look like the Matrix due to his A God Am I mentality. The final story arc of the comic reveals them, not the Grand Architect, to be the actual final villains of the comic, as the Architect has been building his forces-the Worldsweeper Fleet, the Black Block Consortia, and the Infinites-to combat the Functionists when they arrive in our universe with their false Primus.
• Barrier Maiden: Nine-Of-Twelve plays with this. His city is a safe-haven for all of the undesirables because he decrees it and the Council respects his wishes. On a more practical scale they won't attack because they need Nine-Of-Twelve to form the key to Vector Sigma an alt-mode that the twelve councilors are all needed to complete.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: Unlike most of the antagonists, they seem to be less motivated by ambition and greed, and act more like machines in thought and deed. This doesn't stop them from interpreting the GCT in a way that benefits them, however.
• Bright Is Not Good: Members One, Two, Four, Five and Eight all have bright color schemes.
• Can't Kill You, Still Need You: Why Nine-of-Twelve believed the other Functionists wouldn't act against him by attacking Adaptica; because they're a combiner group that forms the Key of Vector Sigma, which would be impossible if Nine died, and it's impossible to know if they might need to do so in the future. He's proven wrong when the Council turns the Luna-2 Harvester on Adaptica because the Key to Vector Sigma is a useless decoration.

• Combining Mecha: They combine into the Key to Vector Sigma.
• Cyber Cyclops: The unifying trait of the twelve Council members.

• Defector from Decadence: Nine-Of-Twelve defected from the rest of them and his city became a safe haven for the unwanted and the resistance. Of course this should be taken with the same Blue-and-Orange Morality that the Functionists subscribe to as the council was purging those considered born improper which he agreed to up until they hypocritically began using that improper means of birth to suit their own agenda.
• Despair Event Horizon: Nine-of-Twelve hits this when he realizes Luna-2 wasn't sold off to offworlders as claimed, but rather turned into a gigantic mobile Harvester unit that Six-of-Twelve initially envisioned as being used to harvest resources from other worlds and teleport them back to Cybertron. They then let Nine scoop up every undesirable on Cybertron as a means of protecting them, and stick them in Adaptica, where they prove to be an easy target for the Moon-Harvester. The realization that the rest of the Council has betrayed him, and that the city and its inhabitants are defenseless sends Nine into a deep depression that Megatron has to snap him out of so they can attempt to mount some kind of defense.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Their bread and butter. Anyone who stepped out of line (questioned them, tried to get a job they weren't assigned to) was lucky just to get their hands and face cut off.
• Divergent Character Evolution: They debuted as The Dividual with no real discerning qualities to speak of (outside of maybe One-of-Twelve being Faux Affably Evil), but their return in Season 3 fleshed out a few of their members more individually with Six-Of-Twelve and Nine-Of-Twelve becoming more distinct characters.
• Eviler than Thou: Issue 35 makes it clear that as bad as the Senate was, the Functionist Council was far worse. When they overthrow the Senate it was because the Senate thought to go ahead with the Constructed Cold method of birth. As the main universe shows, Constructed Cold mechs weren't seen as equal to natural births, but the Senate was ok with their existence. The Functionalists killed the Senate and destroyed the initiative because they saw Cold Construction as an affront to God. They also turn out to be this to the Grand Architect, who may be morally grey, but is fully opposed to stopping them and their false Primus when they arrive in the main universe, thanks to the foreknowledge he gained of their arrival due to Timey Wimey shenanigans.

• Fantastic Racism: Their whole belief system is built around this, discriminating against both the Constructed Cold and the manual classes. And if you don't have a Spark, you're not even alive in their view.
• Faux Affably Evil: While One-Of-Twelve formally polite to his colleagues, when talking to The Useless One, a.k.a. Rung, he politely addresses him by his famed title as a means to mock him.
• Flat Character: Invoked. Despite having different designs and occupations, they show very little in the way of individual personalities. Though when they finally reappear more is done to differentiate them.
• Floating Continent: Their Base, known as the Cog.
• Full-Circle Revolution: In an alternate timeline, they unseated the Senate and started running things themselves. The result is a nightmarish police state where entire alt mode classes are casually wiped out just for not having a set job.
• The Fundamentalist: Their driving goal is to find "the perfect shape", and when the story uses them as the Big Bad Ensemble it's clear that they're a bunch of religious fanatics enslaving the populace to their zealotry.
• A God Am I: Six of Twelve's believes himself to be an agent of Primus having had the Matrix for so long. When he reappears he's redesigned his head to look like it. They take it a bit more literally when they turn Cybertron into a false Primus and merge with Vector Sigma to control it.
• God of Evil: After Team Rodimus left their universe, the Functionists transformed Cybertron into a gigantic Warworld and began a universal crusade to wipe out all non-Cybertronian life. When Cybertron alone proved to be insufficient for this task (planets would evacuate as soon as Cybertron was detected, often with the help of Megatron and the AVL who could arrive beforehand to warn them), the Functionists reformatted Cybertron into the image of Primus himself, then merged with Vector Sigma to better control it. It's hard not to think of the resultant Primus as this.
• Guilt-Free Extermination War: Their ultimate plan in the alternate timeline is too wage a war on the rest of the galaxy and purge it of all non-Cybertronian life.
• Hypocrite:
  • Despite acknowledging that the Data Slugs are still useful to society, the Council kills them all anyway because they feel threatened by their continued existence.
  • There's also their rule over society via Functionism. For all of their talk about the importance of alt-modes they themselves find out that their (collective) alt-mode is useless as Vector Sigma can be used without them. Alternate!Rung mercilessly lampshades this.
  • Early in their reign, they used Empurata, ritual removal and replacement of hands with with simplistic claws and expressive faces with single cyclopic eyes and nothing else, as a form of punishment. Each member of the council is currently an inexpressive, faceless cyclops.
• It's All About Me: They believe theirs is the only species worthy of life.
• Irony: The Functionists practice an insane form of Cybertronian fundamentalism and venerate the Guiding Hand, with Primus specifically in his warrior aspect, and fully believe that their crusade against non-Cybertronian life is in accordance with their faith. They end up chasing Megatron and the AVL into the main universe in a Cybertron that has been reformatted into a mockery of Primus, and their main opposition is the Grand Architect; aka the mortal incarnation of Adaptus, who has by this time also recruited Solomus in his mortal form of Chief Justice Tyrest, and after meeting up with Team Rodimus, is reunited with Epistemus as the Magnificence, as well as the actual Primus himself, aka Rung, the exact opposite of a warrior god. Only Mortilus is left out because he-as Censere the Necrobot-was already killed by the DJD, but in effect, the Functionists are now waging war against their own gods in the name of said gods, using a false version of one of those gods to do it!
• Killed Off for Real: Nine-Of-Twelve is unceremoniously killed by a bolt of energy from the Magnificence/Epistemus/The Omega Guardians along with Froid and Sunder in issue #23 of Lost Light. The rest of the Council follows an issue later when Team Rodimus successfully opens all of their Matrices.
• Knight Templar: Unlike the Senate, they seem to genuinely believe that they're in the right.
• Lack of Empathy: They seem utterly devoid of any regard for life that falls outside the boundaries of what their Grand Cybertronian Taxonomy deems useful, and sometimes not even then.
• The Lancer: Nine-Of-Twelve officially joined the AVL and became one to Megatron during his centuries in the Functionist Universe, along with Clicker.
• Lean and Mean: They all have incredibly lean builds, which even led to suspicion they didn't have alt-modes, and almost all of them are utter monsters.
• The Man Behind the Man: Issue 37 reveals that they were in charge of the Senate before the war, and they were the ones who were behind every bad thing that happened to Whirl.
• Measuring the Marigolds: They subscribe to an utterly insane version, where everything in existence must serve a purpose, including animals and moons. Things that don't are removed or altered until they do. All other forms of life in the galaxy for example, have no purpose and must be removed.
• Obsessed Are the Listmakers: They continuously edited the Grand Cybertronian Taxonomy every time an alt-mode went extinct.
• Pet the Dog: If someone were to find the Spark of a Point One Percenter, then the Council would automatically dub them "Alt-Mode Exempt", free to go and do whatever they wanted. Unless they were the poor sap who actually found it, since Point One Percenters fatally poison anyone nearby when they form.
  • Subverted with Sweep. One-Of-Twelve declares him "Alt Mode Exalted"... and then tells him to go right back to work, with no change in his life or living standards.
• Power Floats: All but Nine-of-Twelve have demonstrated the ability to float. It could be due to their capes.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Nine-of-Twelve, who while not technically a member of the Anti-Vocationist League, knowingly allows them to operate out of his city of Adaptica and even sits in on their meetings. Following the Moon-Harvester incident, he appears to have joined the AVL for real and worked with them for centuries in keeping organic species safe from his former colleagues.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Their cold-blooded, meticulous adherence to their agenda makes them a collective Blue Oni to the decadent, corrupt Senate.
• Take That!: One of the council has a head shaped like a Green Lantern power battery.
• The Spymaster: Ten-Of-Twelve analyzes the results of the Rollout, though given how the Council seems to work, he's probably not the sole Head of Intelligence.
• They Know Too Much: Their rationale behind the mass recall of the Data Sticks is that, while still potentially useful, their data storing abilities make them a potential threat to the Council.
• Token Good Teammate: Even accounting for the Blue-and-Orange Morality above, Nine still comes off as a much better member of the Council. When he realizes that the other Functionists have gone ahead with a supposedly abandoned plan to turn Luna-2 into a giant Harvester that they are now turning on a city of 'bots he brought there in an attempt to protect, he's devastated.
• The Unfettered: They care about nothing but imposing their ideals upon the Cybertronian populace.
• Unwitting Pawn: Nine-of-Twelve to the rest of the Council. He thought he was sheltering Cybertron's undesirables in Adaptica, sparing them from the rest of the Council's mass recalls and that the Council wouldn't retaliate because they might need him down the line to help form the Key to Vector Sigma. It turns out he was just gathering them all in one convenient, lightly-defended location that the Council could turn their newly-developed Moon-Harvester on because the Key was never needed to activate Vector Sigma.