Starscream is an idiot and Swindle is a phony
Grimlock's gonna squash them to beryllium baloney

—Miracle of Sound, Roll Out

Character list for Transformers.

Animation, Film, and Web Series

Generation 1 (also covers Marvel comics and offshoot continuities)
- Super-God Masterforce
- Victory
Beast Wars
- Characters from the Expanded Universe^noteIncludes characters from Beast Wars II
- Beast Wars Neo
- Beast Machines
Robots in Disguise (2001)
Unicron Trilogy
- Armada
- Energon
- Cybertron
Animated
Aligned continuity
- Prime
- Robots in Disguise (2015)
- Rescue Bots
  - Rescue Bots Academy
- Transformers: Go!
Prime Wars Trilogy
Cyberverse
Live-action films
- Bumblebee (includes characters from Rise of the Beasts)
War for Cybertron Trilogy
EarthSpark

Comics

Video Games

Devastation
War for Cybertron
- Fall of Cybertron

Recurring characters

While the Transformers get overhauled with every new incarnation, the characters tend to stay true to a few core traits, and there are iconic members among them who appear across multiple incarnations. The following is a list of some of these more prolific and recurring characters.

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Autobots

In General

"Til all are one!"

The heroic faction of the Transformer race. While they of course all have varied personalities, the Autobots generally stand for justice, peace, and freedom, and are the main force opposing the Decepticons. They tend to adopt "civilian" alt modes like cars, trucks, and planes.

Arc Words: "Til All Are One", reflecting their desire for unity and peace no matter how long they have to fight for it.
Battle Cry: "Transform and roll out" is often used as their rallying cry, often shouted by Optimus.
Black-and-Gray Morality: Some later media depict the Autobot-ruled Cybertron as suffering from a Fantastic Caste System that oppresses lower-ranked Cybertronians. This is usually not by design, but a consequence of their society having roles and expectations of certain types of Transformer. The Autobot leaders aside from Optimus Prime may also be corrupt and self-serving. That said, even in these stories, the Autobots are still depicted as the more heroic faction compared to the Decepticons.
Good Is Not Soft: They may be the good guys, but don't think they can't and won't give the Decepticons a good fight. Most of the time, they are depicted as preferring not to kill their foes outright, but they will do it if necessary.
La Résistance: In many depictions, the Autobots are mainly composed of scientists, doctors, civil servants, and civilians that have been forced into a war of survival against the fascistic Decepticons. Rather tellingly, before he became Optimus Prime, Orion Pax usually had some humble job like a librarian or dockworker, not a soldier.
Meaningful Name:
- The live-action films state that "Autobot" is short for "autonomous robotic organism", while the comics say it's symbolic of their desire for a government that preserves the autonomy of the individual.
- By contrast, the Decepticons, who desire a tyrannical government, tend to lie and deceive to get what they want or claim that the Autobots "deceived" them. The context of the name has been humorously lampshaded many times by Cybertronian and human alike.
Red Is Heroic: The Autobot insignia is red, their technology often has a red/orange aesthetic, and many of their members are prominently red, including Optimus Prime of course.
Robot Superhero: The Autobots fight to protect each other, and other civilizations, from the Decepticons and Predacons respectively.
The Squad: Usually there are about five core Autobots, though that number is almost certain to expand. You usually have The Leader (almost always Optimus Prime/Primal), their first lieutenant (traditionally a Jazz/Prowl/Rattrap type, but increasingly an Arcee/Elita stand-in), an Army Scout (almost always Bumblebee/Cheetor, doubling as the Kid-Appeal Character), either The Medic or The Engineer (or both in one given that they're robots, typically a Ratchet/Wheeljack/Rhinox), and a heavy combat specialist (like an Ironhide/Bulkhead/Dinobot or a Dinobot like Grimlock).
True Companions: Most of the time, the Autobots are already long time war buddies who trust and get along with each other, even if they don't always see eye-to-eye on certain matters. And if they are not this by the time a series starts, it's highly probably they will become this over the course of the series.

Optimus Prime

"Freedom is the right of all sentient beings."

The main protagonist of the franchise and often the Big Good. As the leader of the Autobots (or at least, leader of the group the story is following), Optimus is considered one of their most honorable and courageous warriors. He will never give up until the Decepticons are stopped, no matter the cost. He often takes the alt-mode of a red and blue semi-trailer truck.

Sometimes, his role is assumed by a lookalike (God Ginrai or Optimus Primal).

Adaptational Badass: While he was far from a slouch in the original cartoon, later iterations become far more powerful through learning to fly (something he didn't do in the cartoon after the pilot episodes, which was just Early-Installment Weirdness), picking up more impressive weapons to use (such as the Magnus Hammer or Star Saber), and/or gaining a Super Mode or two.
Adaptational Job Change: His pre-war occupation depends on the continuity. He's been a dock worker (G1 cartoon), a gladiator (Marvel comics), an archivist (Aligned, Cyberverse, second IDW continuity), a police officer (first IDW continuity), a space bridge repairer (Animated), and a scientist (films).
All-Loving Hero: Optimus' compassion for other beings is almost limitless. While he wars with the Decepticons, he will show them mercy if he can. The one exception is Megatron, and even he may not be ruled out in some adaptations.
Always Someone Better: Usually portrayed as significantly stronger/more competent than Megatron, who has to resort to underhanded methods or reliance on some sort of power boost to tip the scales in his favor.
Baritone of Strength: Optimus almost always has a deep, booming voice, the most iconic of which is Peter Cullen.
Big Badass Rig: His typical alt mode is a semi-trailer truck. Even when he isn't, Optimus tends to be some sort of large truck-like vehicle.
Big Good: Even when Optimus isn't the overall leader of the Autobots, he's one of their most respected members and the others will look to him for guidance and leadership.
The Chosen One: Optimus possesses the Matrix of Leadership, designating him as leader of the Autobots and possibly some other destiny, depending on the incarnation.
Cool Sword: Another recurring weapon for this character.
Death Is Cheap: With a few exceptions, every time Optimus dies, he always tells Death "screw you" and comes back stronger. In Transformers: Animated, he was dead for all of 90 seconds.
Enemy Mine: In most continuities, he teams up with Megatron at least once to take down a bigger threat together.
Gentle Giant: He's often depicted as one of the largest of the rank-and-file Autobots, yet is one of the most humble and kind of any of them.
Hero Protagonist: He's usually the main character in most incarnations and actively opposes the evil Megatron and the Decepticons.
Heroic Sacrifice: Optimus often has to do this, though it may be turned into a Disney Death. "Optimus Dies" is such a cliche in Transformers that the wiki for the series has a page documenting how many times it's happened.
Megatron (Beast Wars): "Oh, you Optimuses do love to sacrifice yourselves, don't you?"
Large and in Charge: As the leader of the Autobots, he is usually one of larger Autobots if not the largest of them all. And that is before he activates his Super Mode.
Meaningful Name: His name approximately means "best of the best" in Latin.
Meaningful Rename: In most incarnations, he was once Orion Pax, a humble Cybertronian with no aspirations of heroism. The name Optimus Prime tends to come hand-in-hand with him being promoted to a leader of the Autobots, discovering his heritage as a descendant of the Primes (the original 13 Transformers), or receiving a power boost that changes his appearance.
Messianic Archetype: Given his penchant for dying and coming back to life as as well as being the Big Good, he has some shades of this archetype. In recent installments (starting from Transformers: Prime), he even turns out to be the Thirteenth Prime, having reincarnated himself as an oridinary Cybertronian only to regain his memories.
Nice Guy: Optimus is a kind person and always shows compassion to others, even to those who don't deserve it.
Primary-Color Champion: He's always red, blue, and white with a touch of yellow, as befitting his noble and idealistic Big Good status.
Rank Scales with Asskicking: Nothing in any of the continuities points to him having gone through any form of combat training or conditioning before the war, unlike the Decepticon leaders, and in fact he's usually a lower-class worker, but part of becoming a Prime involves gaining a body that possesses incredible physical power, and he shows time and again he's earned his status as The Chosen One through his well-honed fighting skills and naturally acquired leading prowess even in the midst of a raging battle.
Red Is Heroic: Optimus is almost always depicted with a red upper body and blue lower body, but red is his more predominant color and sometimes he's much more red than blue.
Series Mascot: Optimus is, without question, the one Transformer everyone can recognize immediately, if not necessarily the specific incarnation he is.
Super Mode: Occurs in various instances throughout the franchise. Sometimes he combines with his trailer, while other times he combines with another Autobot (Godbomber/Apex Bomber, Ultra Magnus, Jetfire, Overload, Wing Saber, Omega Supreme, Leobreaker).
We Used to Be Friends: In some incarnations, he and Megatron used to be friends, or at least like-minded in their shared desire to reform Cybertron, before Megatron went too far in his rebellion and Optimus had to oppose him.

Bumblebee/Hot Shot

"Some of my best friends are humans."

An Autobot scout, Bumblebee is small but powerful, and just as determined and heroic as his more imposing comrades. He tends to have the closest relationship with the Autobots' human allies. His alt mode varies, but is always some sort of yellow car.

Depending on continuity, sometimes his role is assumed by Hot Shot^note, other times they're separate characters.

Arm Cannon: His iconic weapon are blasters or cannons that are built into his arms. He often uses them in a Guns Akimbo style.
Blade Below the Shoulder: His other iconic weapon is a retractable wrist-mounted blade.
Breakout Character: While Bumblebee was always part of the core cast of Autobots, the live-action films focused much more heavily on him than previous incarnations, and his prominence in later media was ramped up accordingly. After Optimus, Bumblebee is the most well-known and most heavily-marketed of the Transformers.
Decomposite Character: Hot Shot originally started out as Bumblebee's Suspiciously Similar Substitute in the Unicron Trilogy due to Hasbro not being able to secure the trademark, but over time underwent Divergent Character Evolution and is often treated as a separate character from Bumblebee.
Kid-Appeal Character: Bumblebee is the former Trope Namer. His smaller size, more friendly personality than the stern Optimus, and close relationships with humans cements him in this role in most incarnations.
Nice Guy: As Hideaki Yoke famously put it in The Toys That Made Us, he's a sweet boy. He usually goes out of his way to help anyone who isn't a Decepticon.
Number Two: While Jazz is usually depicted as Optimus' lieutenant in the Autobot hierarchy, Bumblebee is one of Optimus' most trusted soldiers and friends, and is the Autobot most likely to be trusted with important missions. In some media he takes over Jazz's typical role as Optimus' second-in-command.
Pint Sized Power House: He is usually smaller than most other Transformers, but no less powerful or brave, and can fight bots much larger than him and win.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: Bumblebee is gentle and reserved when compared to his impetuous and reckless Palette Swap Cliffjumper.
The Speechless: His portrayal in the live-action films depicts him as having been rendered mute following the loss of his vocal components in battle, which forces him to communicate with either recycled sound bites or body language. This has carried over into several subsequent iterations of the character, most notably in the Aligned continuity and Cyberverse.

Cliffjumper

"My name is Cliffjumper, lieutenant of the Autobot Resistance."

Another Autobot scout, Cliffjumper is often portrayed as a red Palette Swap of Bumblebee but is more headstrong and reckless.

Arm Cannon: Like Bumblebee, Cliffjumper's signature weapons are blasters or cannons built into his arms.
Half the Man He Used to Be: He is often killed off by being cut in half.
Leeroy Jenkins: Cliffjumper is known to charge into battle without any provocation. Even outside of combat, he is known to jump to rash conclusions before his more reasonable comrades correct him.
Red Is Heroic: He is a heroic Autobot with a red color scheme.
Palette Swap: He is usually depicted as a red version of Bumblebee, though some versions at least give him a different head to further distinguish him.
Pint Sized Power House: Like Bumblebee, Cliffjumper is usually smaller than most other Transformers but can go head to head against much larger bots and win...if the narrative does not turn him into a Sacrificial Lion.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: Cliffjumper is impetuous and reckless when compared to his more popular counterpart Bumblebee.
Sacrificial Lion: An infamous example. A recent trend in Transformers media, popularized by both Transformers: Prime and Bumblebee, has Cliffjumper getting killed early on by the Decepticons to demonstrate the threat that they pose. This has led the fandom to joke that "Cliffjumper always dies" despite that not being truly the case. This has also led to other Transformers media such as the second IDW continuity and the Energon Universe to counteract this perception by giving Cliffjumper the Ascended Extra treatment and letting him cement his credentials.

Jazz

"Have your own style of doing things or have none at all."

Optimus' first lieutenant and an aficionado of Earth culture, which is likely the reason for his unusual speech patterns among the Autobots. His alt mode is a white, red and blue Cool Car, emphasis on the Cool.

Cool Car: Jazz always transforms into some sort of sports car (normally a Porsche).
Cool Shades: He often has a mirrored visor over his eyes to give this impression.
Jive Turkey: Jazz tends to talk in hip, cool lingo.
The Lancer: As Optimus' lieutenant, Jazz is second-in-command of the Autobots, and his laid-back and cool demeanor sharply contrasts Optimus' stern professionalism.
Meaningful Name: The cool, lingo-happy Autobot is called "Jazz".
Nice Guy: No matter the iteration, he's usually one of the most easygoing and good-natured Autobots.
Out of Focus: While Jazz has certainly not faded away, his prominence in later media has decreased as Bumblebee became the second-most pushed Autobot in marketing and adaptations, and accordingly he began supplanting Jazz as Optimus' right-hand Autobot in some media.
The Spymaster: Jazz is oftentimes the head of Autobot Secret Intelligence or Special Forces, which means he not only engages in covert operations but oversees them in their entirety.
Token Minority: While the Transformers don't really have ethnicities, he is often voiced by African-Americans and talks in a lot of street lingo, making it clear he's intended to be perceived as the "black" Transformer.

Ironhide

"Always happy to get more ammo."

The combat expert of the Autobots. When the Autobots need some muscle power, they call for Ironhide. His alt mode is usually some sort of truck, usually red.

The Big Guy: Tends to have this role, since he likes fighting and often has the firepower to be very good at it.
Blood Knight: As Ironhide is one of the most enthusiastic of all the Autobots when it comes to getting into a fight, there is nothing he likes more than busting up Decepticons.
BFG: While their exact design varies, Ironhide likes whatever weaponry he wields to be big and powerful. His film incarnation goes for dual Arm Cannons, while in the Unicron Trilogy he's sporting a pair of Shoulder Cannons.
Cool Car: He tends to transform into a pick-up truck, though his G1 incarnation was a slightly less cool minivan.
Good Is Not Soft: Ironhide sometimes looks down on humans and is somewhat of a Blood Knight, but he's still firmly heroic.
Made of Iron: As his name suggests, Ironhide is often extremely durable and can withstand withering amounts of punishment. His Animated incarnation is notable for being able to cover himself in a near-indestructible alloy a la Colossus from X-Men.
More Dakka: Given his role as the Autobots' weapons specialist, Ironhide's armaments allow him to unleash withering amounts of heavy firepower upon his enemies.
Out of Focus: In a similar vein to Jazz and Prowl, his importance has receded a bit in later media. Other characters like Bulkhead and Grimlock have taken his role as The Big Guy of the main Autobot group.
Red Is Heroic: Save for the live-action films (where he's colored black), Ironhide has bright red as his predominant color.

Ratchet

"My old fashioned ways have saved plenty of servos."

The Autobots' chief medical officer, Ratchet is always there when the Autobots need repairs. His alt mode is some sort of emergency vehicle, most often an ambulance.

Combat Medic: His exact combat proficiency varies depending on the incarnation, but Ratchet is always at least able to join in the fight with the other Autobots.
Depending on the Writer: Perhaps more than any of the other core Autobots, Ratchet's personality can vary wildly between adaptations. He's been an Actual Pacifist who refuses to fight unless he must, a grumpy and snarky Dr. Jerk, a quiet professional who just doesn't open up to others, and more. He may or may not also demonstrate Fantastic Racism towards humans.
Disney Owns This Trope: His G1 incarnation used The Red Cross logo, which got their attention since they are very protective of their copyright. Subsequent appearances by Ratchet tend to have him using more lawyer-friendly logos, like a red cross with an Autobot crest in the center or a cardiogram.^note
Good Wears White: Since he turns into an ambulance, his usual color scheme is predominantly white and red.
The Medic: Provides the current trope image. His position in the Autobots is their medical officer.

Prowl

"I have little to say, but my logic center dictates the most advantageous course of action in any situation."

The chief Autobot military strategist. His alt mode is always some sort of police vehicle, usually a car though sometimes a bike.

The Chessmaster: As a military strategist, Prowl is also an expert manipulator, though his manipulations sometimes come at the expense of the rest of the Autobots.
Cool Car: His alt mode is usually a police car.
Cool Shades: Sometimes has a mirrored visor over his eyes to give this impression.
Cyber Ninja: A trait exhibited by more recent iterations of the character, starting with Transformers: Animated.
The Lancer: Sometimes is the second-in-command to Optimus.
Out of Focus: Much like Jazz, his prominence in latter media has decreased. This is not only due to Bumblebee’s increased presence in media but also due to Barricade (whose most popular iteration ironically started out as an Evil Counterpart to Prowl) being equally recognizable as a police car bot.
Pragmatic Hero: Some versions of him, such as the 2005 IDW comics, have him go further than needed to help the Autobots, though it tends to lean into some morally questionable decisions.
The Spock: Usually the voice of logic and reason among the Autobots.
The Stoic: He tends to be very aloof and reserved, in keeping with his calculating personality.

Wheeljack

"There’s not enough energy in these conducters to to last a quartex!"

An Autobot engineer and inventor who comes up with a wide range of zany contraptions. His alt mode is usually a white car with red and green highlights, most iconically a Lancia Stratos.

Badass Driver: In addition to being an inventor, he also has a tendency to show off his driving skills.
Cool Car: His alt mode is usually a white car based on a Lancia Stratos.
The Engineer: His primary function.
Genius Bruiser: Despite being the resident Mad Scientist of the Autobots, Wheeljack is oftentimes not afraid to enter the heat of combat and blow stuff up.
Mad Scientist: His primary characterization.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: He is the Mad Scientist (though his role is specifically The Engineer) to Perceptor's reserved scientist. This also carries into their fighting styles; while Perceptor prefers to fight at range, Wheeljack is not afraid to enter the thick of combat.
Stuff Blowing Up: The eventual fate of most of his inventions. It's also what happens whenever he enters battle.
Wrench Whack: As an engineer, Wheeljack often sports a wide range of engineering tools - wrenches included - that he uses in combat.

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker

"Damn, I’m good."

An Autobot trooper, Sideswipe tends to be reckless and eager to enter the heat of combat. His alt mode is always some sort of sports car, but most iconically a red Lamborghini.

Sometimes he has a twin brother named Sunstreaker, who turns into a yellow Lamborghini.

Bash Brothers: The dynamic whenever Sideswipe and Sunstreaker are together.
Blade Below the Shoulder: Sideswipe sometimes sports these as weapons.
Blood Knight: The brothers crave a good fight, Sideswipe more so.
Cool Car: Their alt modes are normally Lamborghinis.
The Fighting Narcissist: Sunstreaker has a very vain personality and is very showy in battle. He is also very protective of his paint job.
Identical Stranger: In some continuities, there are two Sideswipes running around. Sometimes, one is a clone of the original.
Kid-Appeal Character: Sometimes, Sideswipe is one of the younger Autobots, being even younger than the likes of Bumblebee or Hot Shot.
Leeroy Jenkins: Sideswipe has a penchant to charge into dangerous situations with near-suicidal recklessness.
Out of Focus: Sunstreaker gets considerably less attention in later iterations than Sideswipe, who often appears without his twin.
Red Is Heroic: Sideswipe usually sports a red paint job.

The Dinobots

"Dinobots RULE!"

Five Autobots that have dinosaurs as their alt modes. Their usual lineup is as follows:

Grimlock (Tyrannosaurus rex)
Slug (Triceratops)
Sludge (Brontosaurus)
Snarl (Stegosaurus)
Swoop (Pteranodon)

Adaptation Name Change: While various other teams have had their members change name usually due to trademarks, the Dinobots are particularly infamous for this. Aside from Grimlock and Snarl, Slag, for reasons adressed below, has been renamed Triceradon, borrowed Snarl's name for a bit in adaptations where he didn't appear, and finally settled for Slug. Sludge has been renamed Slog. Finally Swoop has been renamed Terranotron, Strafe and Ptero.
Arch-Enemy: Are occasionally depicted as this to the Constructicons and Devastator, as they're some of the few Autobots (short of their own Combiners or Titans) able to give Devastator an even fight.
Badass Crew: The Dinobots are some of the most badass combatants on either side of the warlines, and as a team they're almost unstoppable.
The Big Guy: Collectively, the group is this for the Autobots. As strong as some of them can be, the Dinobots are the major muscle of the faction.
Blood Knight: All of them tend to be much more enthusiastic about violence than the other Autobots.
Breath Weapon: The Dinobots are able to breath fire in their beast modes.
Combining Mecha: They sometimes possess the capability to combine into Volcanicus, an animalistic Autobot Combiner who strikes fear into the Decepticons.
Cool Sword: They're typically depicted as preferring swords to guns and blasters, though they have those too of course.
Did Not Do the Bloody Research: Slug was originally named "Slag", which is considered a curse word in the UK (in other English speaking countries, its a term for a junk metal byproduct that results from smelting or forging processes). Since Transformers media would later establish "slag" to be a curse word in-universe too, his name was changed to Slug in later appearances.
Dumb Dinos: They're often depicted as this, as a consequence of their beast modes.
Dumb Muscle: The Dinobots are usually much, much stronger than other Transformers, and a lot dumber too.
Fragile Flyer: Swoop is the smallest and fastest of the Dinobots and the only one capable of flight in every version. While the Dinobots are heavily armored and mostly invulnerable in their dinosaur modes, Swoop is still very vulnerable to enemy fire when transformed into his Pteranodon form. His G1 bio explicitly mentions his wings as his Achilles' Heel, since damage to them will ground him and his Pteranodon mode is ungainly on land.
Hulk Speak: In many versions, they talk this way on account of their limited intelligence.
Grimlock: "Me Grimlock not kisser, me Grimlock KING!"
Military Maverick: Due to their rowdy nature, Grimlock and the Dinobots are often at odds with the rest of the Autobots and have been known to frequently show insubordination. In fact, there have been times where Grimlock has left the Autobots, sometimes even temporarily joining the Decepticons.
Odd Name Out: All of their names (Slag/Slug, Sludge, Snarl, Swoop, Slash, Skar/Scarr, Scorn, Strafe) are one syllable each and start with the letter "S", save for the leader Grimlock, and other very obscure characters.
Reimagining the Artifact: In the original G1 cartoon, the Autobots made the Dinobots just because "that'd be cool to do" and no other reason. Various adaptations since have tried to provide justification for why, among the race of robots that turn into vehicles, there's a small subset of them that turn into dinosaurs. The usual explanation is that the Dinobots survived the crash on prehistoric Earth that sent the rest of the Transformers into stasis, or were awoken earlier than the rest of them, and they scanned dinosaur alt modes that they retained into modern times.
The Smurfette Principle: Some media add a sixth Dinobot to the core five, Slash, who is a female and transforms into a Velociraptor.
Theme Naming: Aside from leader Grimlock, the Dinobots have short, one-word names that start with "S". The core four are Slag/Slug, Snarl, Sludge, and Swoop, and auxiliary members include Slash^noteVelociraptor, Scorn^noteSpinosaurus, Strafe^noteTwo-headed dragon monster, and Skar/Scarr^noteAnkylosaurus. Even the one time Dinobots were depicted as an entire sub-species of Cybertronians, the few shown followed this convention (Steelwall^note, Scowl^noteAnkylosaurus). The lone exceptions are Paddles^notePlesiosaurus, a very obscure G1 character from an anthology book, and Grimmaster^noteStyracosaurus, another obscure character from the Japanese G1 continuity better known as the once-Decepticon Kakuryu of the Dinoforce.

Jetfire/Skyfire

"In my Decepticon life, I never did a thing worth doing until now..."

Jetfire (aka Skyfire; long story, detailed further down) is an Autobot aerial combatant. In most incarnations he was once a Decepticon, but underwent a Heel–Face Turn and joined the Autobots. He turns into a jetcraft of variable design. He is able to combine with Optimus Prime to grant him flight and enhanced firepower.

Alternate Company Equivalent: Given where his toy originated from, he can been seen as one to the Macross Valkyrie.
Cool Plane: He turns into some sort of jet plane, usually a fighter plane though sometimes a spy plane, cargo plane, or even a space shuttle.
Fusion Dance: He's sometimes able to combine with Optimus Prime to give Prime a power boost and a winged jetpack.
Good Counterpart: As the resident flying Autobot, he is often their analogue to Starscream and the Seekers. Given his iconic background being that of a Decepticon deserter, he is sometimes noted to be a former Seeker himself.
Heel–Face Turn: He tends to start out as a Decepticon, but then changes sides when he realizes his ideals align with more with the Autobots. Even on occasions where he doesn't start out on the Deceptions, Jetfire's backstory tends to somehow personally connect him to the enemy faction.
Mecha Expansion Pack: He sometimes has access to this, which often comes with a visored helmet and a pair of Shoulder Cannons. Said armor usually makes him more closely resemble the original Macross toy he was based off.
One-Way Visor: He sometimes sports this.
Science Hero: He is often portrayed as having been a scientist before the war, and even after enlisting he continues his scientific endeavors.
Shout-Out: And in spite of the above-mentioned legal issues regarding the original toy, some versions of the character continue to harken back to the Macross design. As far as legally possible.
Token Flier: Sometimes he is the most prominent flier among the Autobots if not their only flier at all, or at the very least the first bot with flying capabilities to join their ranks in any given show.
We Used to Be Friends: He used to be friends with Starscream when they worked together as scientists before the war. After it broke out, they found themselves on opposite sides.
Writing Around Trademarks: According to Hasbro's production bible for the G1 cartoon, Jetfire was renamed Skyfire and writers were discouraged from using the character unless they had to. While never directly confirmed, this is because of the origins behind his original Japanese toy. In the franchise's early days, Hasbro tended to just browse Japanese toy fairs and pick transforming robot toys they liked to market in the US under the Transformers brand; the Diaclone and Microman toys that formed the bulk of Transformers were manufactured by Takara, but Jetfire's toy was a Macross VF-1S Super Valkyrie manufactured by Takatoku Toys, i.e., a competitor company to Takara. While the exact details aren't given beyond "due to legal reasons", this is why the character was renamed and his appearance in the cartoon only vaguely resembled the toy. As of a 2013 lawsuit from Harmony Gold (the owners of Robotech and thus the rights to Macross outside of Japan) that was settled out of court, Hasbro has somehow gotten over these legal hurdles, resulting in Jetfire merchandise that more closely resembles his Super Valkyrie toy.
Your Size May Vary: He is usually one of the larger Autobots, but his size ranges from being an average Transformer to towering over the likes of Optimus and Megatron (though not Combiner-sized).

Blaster

"When the music is blastin', I'm rollin'."

An Autobot communications officer, Blaster is often depicted as one of their higher-ranking members. His alt mode is either a boom-box, or a civilian vehicle outfitted with a killer soundsystem.

Depending on the Writer: While Blaster is usually a more laidback and fun character, some incarnations make him more serious and dour.
Drone Deployer: He can deploy smaller transformers that store inside him. While he has fewer recurring ones than Soundwave, the most recurring are Eject and Rewind (humanoid robots), Steeljaw (a feline), and Ramhorn (a rhino).
Good Counterpart: To Soundwave, as a communications officer who deploys cassette robots from his chest. Naturally they end up duking it out directly frequently. To further contrast them, Blaster is red while Soundwave is blue, and Blaster's casual and fun attitude is juxtaposed with Soundwave's cold, robotic monotone.
Out of Focus: Opposite of how Soundwave has gotten more relevance over the years, Blaster has been scarcely seen in comparison, even compared to his fellow Autobots.
Palette Swap: Given how he is the Autobots' answer to Soundwave, Blaster's toys are often recolored from Soundwave or vice versa.
Red Is Heroic: His usual color scheme is red and yellow and he's working for the Autobots.

Perceptor

"Simple! We use my transmat reduction beam to shrink down to microscopic size. Then, we crawl into Megatron, and rip the blasted heart out!"

The premier Autobot scientist, Perceptor usually serves as the chief science officer. His alt mode varies; while his most iconic is a microscope, he sometimes turns into either a truck laden with research equipment or a tank.

Good Counterpart: To Shockwave. Both are the head scientists among their respective factions and exhibit Spock-like behaviors. Their original G1 alt modes also required them to change scale, and such has caused their alt modes to vary in future media despite them maintaining consistent design elements in robot mode.
Long-Range Fighter: He prefers to fight at range, which reflects his alt mode being a microscope as he has unparalled accuracy. The 2005 IDW continuity even turned him into a Cold Sniper.
Omnidisciplinary Scientist: A rarity for a franchise that uses Cast Speciation to sell more toys by using different characters for different roles rather than giving them all to a few characters, Perceptor is perhaps the closest to this trope. He is described as being highly versed in a wide range of scientific fields, ranging from metallurgy to electrical engineering to astronomy.
Primary-Color Champion: His color scheme consists of red and cyan (a shade of blue) with yellow highlights.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: He is the reserved Autobot scientist to Wheeljack’s Mad Scientist (though Wheeljack’s role is specifically The Engineer). This also carries into their fighting styles; while Perceptor prefers to fight at range, Wheeljack is not afraid to enter the thick of combat.
Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Being a scientist obsessed with technical details, his speech patterns are full of overly complex words and scientific jargon that most of his fellow Autobots would find unnecessary.
Shoulder Cannon: He always sports one which is always incorporated into his alt mode, be it his scope or tank barrel.
Sizeshifter: In his original G1 incarnation, Perceptor turned into a microscope (though he could also turn into a tank). Naturally, future iterations of the character have moved towards different alt modes.
The Smart Guy: He's defined by his nerdiness and penchant for confounding scientific Techno Babble.
The Spock: Perceptor is perhaps the one of the most logic-oriented Autobots (though he usually does not steep towards Prowl’s level since he views himself as a scientist rather than a soldier). Perhaps the most obvious is his Animated iteration, who speaks with the same speech synthesizer as Stephen Hawking and is described as having deleted his emotions to make room for more scientific knowledge.
Tank Goodness: He can transform into a tank, even when he has his microscope alt mode.
You Don't Look Like You: As with the likes of Megatron, Soundwave, Shockwave, and Blaster, Perceptor’s alt mode being a microscope has resulted in his alt mode varying across continuity. Unlike the rest, he’s been much more consistent with his choice of alt modes, turning into either a truck or tank while always finding a way to incorporate his signature Shoulder Cannon.

The Aerialbots

"To live is to fight; to die is to stop."

The Aerialbots are a team of Autobots that take the form of aircraft, most often fighter planes. Their names and personalities vary across continuity, but they are always able to combine into Superion, the first of the Autobot Combiners. Their usual lineup is as follows:

Silverbolt (Concorde)
Slingshot (Harrier)
Fireflight (F-4)
Skydive (F-16)
Air Raid (F-15)

Arch-Enemy: The Aerialbots are often depicted as the nemeses of the Stunticons. Both teams turn into alt modes normally associated with the opposing faction and are capable of forming a Combining Mecha, being the first of the so-called "Special Teams" or "Scramble City" type Combiners.
Combining Mecha: Superion is perhaps the most iconic Autobot Combiner.
Cool Plane: Their alt modes.
Depending on the Writer: The individual Aerialbots vary in names, appearance, and personality, but there’s usually either five to six members.
Good Counterpart: Considering how most Autobots turn into cars while most Decepticons turn into planes and other military vehicles, they count as they provide the Autobots with a way to counter Decepticon flyers such as the Seekers. In addition, as the Decepticons usually are the first to develop combiners, the Aerialbots serve as the Autobots’ answer to them.
Humongous Mecha: As a Combiner, Superion stands tall over all other Transformers short of other Combiners and Titans.
Military Maverick: The Aerialbots are sometimes act like this to the rest of the Autobots at first, but over time they warm up to them.

Ultra Magnus

"Undisciplined thinking can make even the simplest task impossible."

Ultra Magnus is another high-ranking Autobot, sometimes even outranking Optimus Prime. His battle prowess is feared across the Decepticon lines, and with good reason. He transforms into a truck that hauls a combat trailer; the cab forms Magnus' core robot form, and the trailer is worn as power-enhancing armor.

Carry a Big Stick: His signature weapon is a large hammer.
Large and in Charge: Not only is he is a high-ranking Autobot who sometimes fills in for leader when Optimus is incapacitated, he also often towers over Optimus himself as he often wears Powered Armor.
Mythology Gag: The Diaclone toys that became Ultra Magnus and Optimus Prime were originally the same "Convoy" figure, just with different trailers — this is why the G1 Ultra Magnus toy without his armor looks suspiciously like a white Palette Swap of Optimus Prime, because that's exactly what his Diaclone toy was. Transformers media after G1 reference this frequently by giving Prime and Magnus a connection, such as being brothers or that they were both rebuilt by Alpha Trion. Within the toyline, Optimus Prime toys are often redecoed into Ultra Magnus toys, and in the Masterpiece line Magnus' cab mode looks just like Prime's cab mode for his MP-10 figure, even though the cab isn't a separate robot anymore and transforms entirely different.
Palette Swap: Sometimes, his toys are merely redecoes of Optimus.
Powered Armor: He's often depicted as a much smaller transformer that wears the Magnus armor to enhance his powers for combat. In some versions, it turns out he is a Legacy Character with multiple smaller bots having worn the armor throughout the ages.
Primary-Color Champion: Like Optimus, Magnus's signature color scheme is predominantly red, white, and blue, albeit the last being more of a teal-blue hue when compared to Optimus's dark blue.
Related in the Adaptation: In the original G1 cartoon, he was just another Autobot of many that appeared suddenly during the shift to Season 3. Some media make him related to Optimus Prime in some way (usually as his brother), due to the nature of Magnus' original toy.
Robo Family: He's sometimes depicted as Optimus' brother.

Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime

"Talent and looks; I got it all!"

A young, hot-headed member of the Autobots, Hot Rod is nonetheless a courageous and reliable soldier. He has the potential to one day become a leader among the Autobots, earning the deserved title of "Prime". He transforms into a futuristic sports car, naturally often based on a hot rod.

Alliance of Alternates: At the end of Regeneration One, all versions of this character at the time teamed up to stop the Dark Matrix Creature.
Arm Cannon: His signature weapon are blasters on his forearms, formed from his exhaust pipes in vehicle mode.
The Chosen One: He's traditionally dubbed as this to signify his importance as the next Prime.
Cool Car: He transforms into a futuristic sports car, almost always with flame designs over it and hot rod-like exhaust pipes visible on it.
Energy Bow: Some versions have access to a Rocket Bow, which is a reference to the fact his original characterization was modeled after Hawkeye.
Fire-Breathing Weapon: He frequently has access to flame-based weaponry regardless of continuity.
Large and in Charge: As Rodimus Prime, he grows in size so that he matches his predcessor in height.
Meaningful Rename: In the original G1 movie, Hot Rod was christened "Rodimus Prime" when he received the Matrix of Leadership. Since Prime was not yet established as a title or rank one could earn, this was simply to anoint Hot Rod as heir to Optimus' position as the new leader of the Autobots.
Next Tier Power-Up: In incarnations where his Rodimus form is an upgrade of his Hot Rod form, it tends to come with a new facial design, larger robot mode, and possibly a new vehicle mode (usually a Big Badass Rig like his predecessor).
Red Is Heroic: His primary color scheme is predominantly red with orange and yellow flames.
Writing Around Trademarks: Because of legal issues with trademarking the name "Hot Rod", the character bounced between names for years — Hot Rodimus, Rodimus, Rodimus Major, and Hot Shot, have all been used at various points. In later years it seems Hasbro finally got their hands on a trademark of some sort, because he's gone back to Hot Rod.

Arcee

"Uh, Jack? A lady’s vital stats are her own business."

The quintessential female Autobot and perhaps the most iconic female Transformer. Her alt mode is either a car or a motorcycle which may or may not be of Cybertronian origin.

Action Girl: No matter the incarnation, she's always a significant female soldier and is an active combatant.
Cool Bike: In some modern incarnations, she turns into a motorcycle.
Cool Car: More traditional iterations of this character usually turn into some sort of car.
Dual Wielding: Her usual armament is a pair of swords.
Fem Bot: She's one of the most prominent female Transformers going up against the Decepticons.
Pink Means Feminine: Most of her incarnations, regardless of alt mode, are pink and white in color. Even her Prime incarnation has some pink highlights despite otherwise being colored blue.
The Smurfette Principle: She is often the only active female among the Autobots.

Blurr

"First of all, the name’s not ‘Zippy’! As a matter of fact, I don’t believe I’ve ever met another bot named Zippy, so one can only assume you came up with ‘Zippy’ in reference to my speed, which may be technically accurate, but lacks a certain creativity!"

An Autobot courier, Blurr both moves and talks extremely fast. He turns into a sleek futuristic car.

Blue Is Heroic: All incarnations of the character sport a blue paint job.
Cool Car: Given his Super-Speed, his alt mode has to be one. Sometimes he turns into a hover car.
Cruel and Unusual Death: A relatively recent (and morbid) trend for this character involves him being killed off in some of the most horrific ways possible to illustrate how dangerous the stakes have gotten. From being crushed into a cube to running himself out of existence to succumbing to cosmic rust and dissolving into dust a la Infinity War...
Motor Mouth: He has a penchant for filling the air with his sentences in quick succession (either by repeating himself or Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness). This derives from the G1 cartoon, where he was voiced by world-famous speed-talker John Moschitta Jr.
Super-Speed: He can move very fast in both robot and alt mode.
Token Minority: In-universe example; he’s usually from Velocitron rather than Cybertron.

Elita One

"Fear is an illusion, thus one must not perceive it."

A female Autobot commander, Elita One is a close ally to Optimus Prime and a prominent leader in the fight against the Decepticons. Her alt mode is usually that of a Cybertronian car.

Amazon Brigade: She sometimes leads an all-female team of Autobots.
Composite Character: Some iterations of her combine her with other characters. Transformers: Animated made her the former identity of Blackarachnia, and the films had her as one of the Arcee motorcycle triplets.
Distaff Counterpart: Being a courageous, kind-hearted Autobot in a position of authority, she's essentially a female equivalent to Optimus Prime. Some iterations move away from this aspect (the first IDW continuity portrayed her as a villainous schemer and the Token Evil Teammate among the Council of Worlds and the second IDW continuity had her start out with the proto-Decepticon Ascenticon movement, while other incarnations are just standard Autobot warriors).
Fem Bot: She's another relevant female Autobot.
Inconsistent Spelling: The way her name is spelled varies constantly between Elita One, Elita-1, and Elita-One.
The Lancer: Elita oftentimes has a high status among the Autobots as one of Optimus's senior officers.
Lady of War: A female warrior who's as tough and skilled at combat as she is elegant.
Meaningful Name: Her name is the feminine version of "elite", which in turn is derived from a word meaning "chosen". This means her full designation translates to "chosen one".
Official Couple: She is usually, though not always, Optimus's Love Interest.
Pink Means Feminine: She's typically colored pink, though some incarnations are more of a salmon reddish shade to distinguish her from the also pink Arcee.
Time Stands Still: She originally had the ability to project a force field that temporarily stopped time, although it came at the cost of draining her life energy.

The Wreckers

"Wreck'n'rule!"

A special task force of various Autobots called in whenever the odds are the worst. Their membership varies across continuity, but given what they’re called in for, their roster is usually in flux.

Badass Crew: They're a bunch of Autobots who don't take prisoners and easily beat the daylights out of Decepticons.
Depending on the Writer: The exact roster of the Wreckers frequently varies across continuities.
Dwindling Party: Expected given the nature of their work.
Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Their members usually have some quirks that don't really fit with the military mood, but they still get the job done.
Suicide Mission: What they’re frequently called in for.

Star Saber/Wing Saber

"Battle up!"

A legendary warrior known for his skill with the sword, oftentimes at odds with the rest of the Autobots. His alt mode is a futuristic jetcraft.

The Ace: Star Saber oftentimes has a reputation of being one of the Autobots' best soldiers, given his unparalleled combat capabilities and unmatched combat record.
Cool Sword: Is usually known for wielding some sort of sword, oftentimes a BFS.
Cool Plane: His alt mode is always some form of jet aircraft, almost always Cybertronian in origin.
Fusion Dance: Most iterations of this character possess the capability to combine with Optimus (or a lookalike in the case of Ginrai/Victory Leo). Between Saber and Jetfire, it is more likely the former will have the capability to combine with Optimus.
Knight Errant: His most prevalent background prior to joining the Autobots portrays him as a wandering knight who travels the galaxy looking to right any wrongs he comes across.
Knight Templar: More recent iterations of this character exhibit this kind of behavior, most (in)famously his incarnation in the 2005 IDW comics.
Large and in Charge: Given his alt mode being a heavy combat aircraft, he is usually one of the larger Autobots, often being on the same level (both in terms of rank and scale) as Ultra Magnus.
Master Swordsman: A master of wielding his BFS.
Military Maverick: Despite eventually becoming one of the more higher-ranking Autobots (if not the leader), Star Saber is known to have a bit of a rough side that puts him at odds with the rest of the Autobots. His Cybertron iteration is described as having a penchant for insubordination (even having attacked Optimus once), whereas his IDW iteration was (to put it very lightly) an outright Knight Templar and The Fundamentalist.
One-Man Army: His martial prowess allows him to take on entire armies of Decepticons at once and walk away without a scratch.
Primary-Color Champion: His usual color scheme is predominantly red, blue, and yellow mixed with white.
Samurai: Sometimes has this characterization, reflecting the fact that he originated in a Japanese-only installment.
Sixth Ranger: He usually joins the Autobots midway into the conflict.
Super Robot: While the franchise are usually closer to this genre than the Real Robot Genre, he perhaps fits this trope even more than the average Transformer, being known to display fantastical capabilities and tropes heavily associated with the genre. It helps that his original incarnation was designed by Kunio Okawara, the designer of the original RX-78-2 Gundam.

Drift

"We're going about this the wrong way, all of us! After countless centuries of fighting...the Autobots are a step away from what we were when all this started. And us - the Decepticons have become something worse than any of us could have imagined."

A samurai-themed Autobot with a checkered past, oftentimes having once been the Decepticon Deadlock. His alt mode is a car of some sort, but usually a Japanese rally car.

Cool Car: His alt mode. Said car is usually themed around Japanese street racing cars.
Defector from Decadence: He usually defects from the Decepticons once they start exhibiting signs of He Who Fights Monsters or Full-Circle Revolution.
The Drifter: As his name suggests, Drift is a wanderer who travels around the galaxy looking for a purpose after his defection.
Heel–Face Turn: Even more so than Jetfire, Drift is always a defector from the Decepticons.
- Heel–Face Revolving Door: In some continuities, he leaves the Autobots and goes back to being Deadlock (and thus a Decepticon). And sometimes, back to the other side.
Katanas Are Just Better: His preferred armament, coming in either BFS or Dual Wielding flavor.
Master Swordsman: His time in the Circle of Light saw him take up katana fighting, and he sometimes wields two of them.
Meaningful Rename: He changes his name from Deadlock to Drift not only to separate himself from his Decepticon past, but also to signify his new wandering lifestyle.
Noble Demon: Drift has a rather noble personality for a Decepticon and seeks honorable combat, traits that eventually drive him to perform a Heel–Face Turn and join the Autobots.
Red Is Heroic: While his color scheme has varied across incarnations and he’s not particularly that heroic of an Autobot, almost all versions of the character have sported the color red in some capacity (usually as a secondary color).
Rōnin: Leaving the Circle of Light makes him a samurai-like Autobot with no teacher, but he makes use of his skills to help his new team.
Samurai: His manners, color scheme and fighting style is highly reminiscent of a samurai, thanks to training with the Circle of Light. His film incarnation's robot mode is a giant robotic samurai.
Wearing a Flag on Your Head. The most consistent color scheme he’s had is white and red, the same colors of the Japanese flag.

Windblade

"I am a child of the Titan Caminus. I am the cityspeaker for the last city on Cybertron. And both are my home. I have only begun to fight."

The result of the Thrilling 30 “Fan-Built Bot” poll, Windblade is a female Autobot hailing from Caminus with a onna-bugeisha motif.

Combat Hand Fan: Sometimes has these as secondary weapons.
Cool Plane: Her alt mode is a VTOL jet aircraft.
Distaff Counterpart: Can be viewed as one to Drift, seeing as they are both samurai-themed Autobots who are relative newcomers to the franchise. Both officially debuted in the 2005 IDW continuity and received at least two separate series each.
Facial Markings: Possess geisha/kabuki-inspired red markings on her eyes. In some continuities, such markings are a Camien tradition.
Fem Bot: One of the relatively recent ones, being a female Cybertronian.
Geisha: A major visual motif that she possesses, with some overlap from Kabuki theater.
Katanas Are Just Better: Her signature weapon, the Stormfall Sword.
Lady of War: She's a female Transformer, as well as a powerful and graceful warrior with a geisha motif.
Meaningful Name: Her name refers to both her being a flying swordfighter and her alt mode having VTOL turbofans.
Official Fan-Submitted Content: Her entire design was voted on by the fans, though her Japanese aesthetic was added on later.
Red Is Heroic: Sports red and is unambiguously an Autobot fighting against the Decepticons.
Samurai: Technically an onna bugeisha rather than a samurai.
Token Minority: In-universe example; she's usually from Caminus rather than Cybertron.
Tomboy and Girly Girl: The Tomboy compared to Arcee’s Girly Girl.

Omega Supreme, Metroplex, and Fortress Maximus

"Metroplex heeds the call of the Last Prime!"

The resident Autobot Titans, the largest class of Transformer. Usually taking the alt mode of an Autobot city, base, or starship, there's no bigger muscle on their side than either of those three.

Arch-Enemy: Metroplex to Trypticon, Fortress Maximus to Scorponok. They are among the recurring Titans on either side, so they tend to end up being depicted fighting each other a lot. Though sometimes these matchups are switched around. Transformers: War for Cybertron and Star Trek vs. Transformers pitted Trypticon against Omega Supreme and Fortress Maximus respectively.
Arm Cannon: Omega Supreme has one for his arms.
BFS: Fortress Maximus sometimes wields the Master Sword, an enormous sword scaled to his size.
Combining Mecha: Compared to his compatriots, Omega Supreme is often formed from multiple components rather than a single one. His G1 incarnation has him form from a base, rocket ship, and tank, while his Unicron Trilogy incarnation forms from a train and battleship.
Cool Starship: Fortress Maximus (and Omega Supreme depending continuity) can turn into a starship that other transformers can use for transport.
Genius Loci: Their alt modes are cities for Transformers.
Humongous Mecha: Seeing as their alt modes are usually cities for Transformers, which are already much bigger than humans. This entails that they tower over their standard-sized brethren. In terms of scale, Omega Supreme is usually the smallest (sometimes not even being classified as a Titan), while Fortress Maximus is the biggest (when he's not a smaller Transformer piloting a larger body).
Meta Mecha: Fortress Maximus is a Headmaster - meaning a much smaller Transformer forms his head. Unlike other Headmasters, said smaller Transformer also has another Transformer form his head as well. In some continuities, Fortress Maximus is a much smaller Transformer who pilots a much larger body into battle.
Light Is Good: Metroplex is depicted with bright white and silver as his main colors. Fortress Maximus sports a similar color scheme, though his has blue and red highlights.
Lost Superweapon: As Titans, they usually are long-dormant and hidden, forcing the Autobots to discover them as well as how to activate them. When the Autobots succeed, it means they have attained a powerful new asset that can tip the scales of the war in their favor.
Weaponized Headgear: Omega Supreme has a cannon on the back of his head.

Alpha Trion

"He is no longer Orion Pax. He is the first of our new defenders...Optimus Prime."

One of the Thirteen Primes, Alpha Trion is a wise sage who usually plays the role of being the mentor to Optimus Prime. He usually does not transform, but when he does, his alt mode is usually a Cool Starship.

Big Good: Given that he’s usually responsible for creating or empowering Optimus Prime, he counts.
Caped Mecha: He often sports purple protrusions on his back while in robot mode that given the illusion of a mantle.
Cool Starship: His usual alt mode.
Keeper of Forbidden Knowledge: Oftentimes possesses special knowledge or capabilities that allow him to empower the Autobots.
King of Beasts: Sometimes, he turns into a lion.
Last of His Kind: While not the last of the Thirteen proper (especially if one considers Optimus to be one of the Thirteen), he usually outlasts most of his brothers into the present day to interact with the Autobots.
Magic Librarian: A rare sci-fi version of the trope. His role among the Thirteen was to act as the record keeper, having written the Covenant of Primus.
The Mentor: To Optimus Prime.
Purple Is Powerful: His color scheme usually mixes purple and red. As he’s one of the Thirteen, it makes sense to reflect his otherworldly knowledge.
Toyless Toyline Character: Being a background character, Alpha Trion usually does not get a toy in most Transformers toylines.
Virtual Ghost: Some versions of the character have already passed on and only continue interacting with Optimus and company through some sort of hologram.
Wizard Beard: Has a robotic version.
You Don't Look Like You: While Alpha Trion's overall robot mode appearance has remained constant, his alt mode has varied wildly due to him not often transforming on screen.

Sentinel Prime

"In my day, the good knew their responsibility...and the weak knew their place."

One of the previous Primes, Sentinel is usually the predecessor to Optimus Prime. Unlike Optimus, he tends to have a rather questionable sense of morality. His alt mode is a Cybertronian shuttle or vehicle.

Adaptational Villainy: His identity was first established largely in the Marvel and Dreamwave comics, where he was the heroically martyred previous leader of the Autobots. Every iteration of him since is either a nasty Jerkass at best or a downright Big Bad at worst.
Breakout Villain: Whether or not it’s a good thing may depend on whether or not the person is old enough to remember the Marvel and Dreamwave comics, but for better or worse, Sentinel Prime became a much more prominent and popular character as a villain than he ever was as Optimus’s upstanding and tragically slain forerunner. He's an important Hate Sink in Animated (in the unproduced Season 4, he would have gone on to be a major antagonist) and a Big Bad in the 2005 IDW comics and the films.
Depending on the Writer: Sentinel's characterization and thus his alignment tends to vary depending on the media. His characterization has ranged from being a flawed but well-meaning leader whose life was cut short before he could do anything significant to an outright Knight Templar willing to sacrifice millions to achieve his goals.
Evil Counterpart: Who else but to Optimus Prime? They're both Primes, but Sentinel is cruel, self-serving, and contemptuous towards those he perceives as his lessers, while Optimus is everything he isn't.
Fantastic Racism: He tends to despise organics almost as much as Megatron does.
Hero's Evil Predecessor: He's typically (if not always) the previous Prime before Optimus, and he's almost always characterized as a real piece of work who leaves Cybertron worse off.
Jerkass: Even when he’s not a villain, he’s usually pretty unpleasant to be around.
Knight Templar: Despite being frequently portrayed in an antagonistic light, even in those portrayals Sentinel often believes he is still the supreme force of good despite his actions being to the contrary.
Token Evil Teammate: "Teammate" is a stretch because he's never one of the lead Autobots, but his corrupt character adds an amount of moral grayness to the Autobots' side.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Oftentimes, Sentinel has good intentions behind his actions, but these intentions do not justify the extreme lengths he is willing to go in order to achieve them nor the amount of innocent lives that get caught up in the consequences.
You Don't Look Like You: His character design is one of the least consistent in the franchise, and his color schemes vary between yellow, orange-gold, blue and orange, or red.

Decepticons

In General

"The Decepticons are led by a single undeviating goal: total domination of the universe."

The villainous faction of the Transformer race. The Decepticons wish to conquer Cybertron, and often expand their sights to Earth and the entire universe. They tend to adopt militaristic alt modes like fighter jets, tanks, and armored vehicles.

Antagonist Abilities: Chances are, if unique powers show up, the Decepticons will get them first.
Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Unlike the Autobots, who are led by a Prime bestowed with a Matrix of Leadership, the Decepticons are led by the most powerful member of the group. This is deconstructed as a horrible idea since all of the Decepticons except Soundwave think they're the most powerful, hence the all Chronic Backstabbing Disorder from Starscream and others, as well as all the arguing and fighting over who'll be the next leader whenever the current leader is incapacitated.
Battle Cry: "Transform and rise up", a Dark Reprise of the Autobots' call. Fitting given that modern media depicts have Decepticons rebelling against the Autobots they see as oppressing them.
Big Bad: The Decepticons are always the villains in any Transformers media.
Conservation of Ninjutsu: Decepticons often genuinely contain some rather terrifying powerhouses in their numbers, but more often than not are they usually more effective in small numbers than large.
Equal-Opportunity Evil: Smart or dumb, guy or girl, strong or weak, the Decepticons will take any bots willing to pledge themselves to the cause, or even those that are just joining to be rid of a mutual enemy.
Evil Counterpart: To the Autobots.
Full-Circle Revolution: Whenever an adaptation touches on the Decepticons seizing control of Cybertron, of course they prove themselves even more cruel and oppressive towards the remaining Autobots than the Autobots were to them when they ran things.
Meaningful Name: "Deceptive cons(tructs)", obviously. Some adaptations try various ways to justify the name due to how Obviously Evil it sounds.
Purple Is Powerful: The Decepticon insignia is purple and the color features prominently in their technology and some of their higher-up members like Megatron and Shockwave.
The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized: In many later adaptations, the Decepticons are depicted as rebels who began an uprising against the Cybertronian ruling class of Autobots because they felt oppressed and abused by society. However, even if they're shown to be correct in this perception, the Decepticons demonstrate they are far more villainous than the Autobots.
The Squad: The recognizable members are usually Megatron as The Leader and Starscream as... The Starscream. A tier down from that you might also get a fiercely loyal Soundwave type, and a Mad Scientist like a Shockwave. From there maybe a Dark Action Girl like Blackarachnia. The rest are even more interchangable than the Autobots as Cannon Fodder, Monster of the Week, and whatever fits the tone of the series and story arc. There are so many they often get put in their own subfactions like the Seekers or Insecticons.
Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: The Decepticons, regardless of what their reasons are for joining, are primarily composed of selfish, power hungry, violent, greedy or otherwise malicious bots. Due to this, it makes sense they are prone to many a Chronic Backstabbing Disorder, Dirty Coward habits, The Starscream behavior, and a general lack of unity and cohesion that can end up screwing them all over. It also make sense that the Token Good Teammate of the Decepticons often defects rather than remain loyal to the cause.
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: They may work towards the same goal, but hardly any Decepticons actually get along with one another or tolerate the other's presence, and if they do, it's usually only a pair or a trio, but it's never a unanimous sentiment. In fact, where as Autobots would mourn the loss of any of their members, Decepticons are more likely to cheer when one of them perishes.
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: With the faction being led by many bots who qualify as a Bad Boss or a Mean Boss (or both), it's no surprise that members of said faction are treated as completely dispensable with very few exceptions.

Megatron/Galvatron

"Peace through tyranny!"

The leader of the Decepticons, Megatron wars with the Autobots in the name of Decepticon supremacy over the Transformer race. Depending on the Writer, he may be a Well-Intentioned Extremist who truly thinks his rule will usher in a Golden Age, and other time he's simply a megalomaniacal warmonger who wants to conquer the galaxy and will crush anyone who gets in his way. In some media, Megatron may be upgraded or rebuilt into a more powerful form, in which he may take the name Galvatron. Megatron's alt mode varies — his original Generation 1 alt mode was a pistol, but in other incarnations he tends to be a tank, jet, helicopter, or even a dragon.

Adaptational Badass: In the original cartoon, he was an ineffective General Failure who yelled for his troops to retreat every other episode. Needless to say, every incarnation afterwards is very much a dangerous warlord who's more than earned his place at the top of the heap. Transforming into alt modes bigger than a gun certainly helps.
Adaptational Super Power Change: Megatron's original alt mode was a pistol, but due to a combination of societal changes^note, attempts to avoid the most unrealistic aspects of the franchise (such as obvious size-changing), and the questions risen by Megatron of all people choosing to become a prop for someone else to use, nowadays it's much more common to see him transform either to a jet or a tank.
Arch-Enemy:
- As Megatron, he’s this to Optimus Prime, and it is very much a mutual feeling. Megatron would slaughter his way through his own troops if it meant he could get a clear target on Optimus.
- As Galvatron, he’s one to Rodimus Prime and Ultra Magnus, out of all the Autobots, Galvatron is the most personal enemy to these two.
Arm Cannon: His iconic weapon is his fusion cannon, which is mounted on his arm or replaces one of his arms.
Asskicking Leads to Leadership: He's typically considered the strongest of the Decepticon army, and generally at Optimus Prime's level of skill, if not occasionally above or below him, and is consistently considered the leader of the Decepticons. Needless to say, Decepticons or Autobots that take Megatron head on are often just signing up to get beaten down or killed.
Bad Boss: Most Megatrons care nothing about the other Decepticons beyond them providing minions and soldiers to fight in his name. They usually follow him anyway because they're terrified of him.
Big Bad: As the leader of the Decepticons, Megatron is usally the primary antagonist in Transformers media. When he isn't, it's usually because he's incapaciated somehow, or because something even worse (like Unicron) overshadows him.
BFG: His fusion cannon is massive, usually the size of the rest of his arm.
Character Development: Meta-wise, the earliest incarnations of Megatron were just Generic Doomsday Villains who desired conquest and power. In later media, Megatron is emphasized as a Well-Intentioned Extremist who had good reasons to begin his rebellion. There's even been media where Megatron becomes disillusioned with his own cause, has a Heel Realization and renounces the Decepticons (one version even joined the Autobots for the rest of the series when this happened), though this is very rare.
Cool Plane: His second most common alt mode is some kind of Cybertronian jet.
Cybernetic Mythical Beast: Sometimes, Megatron can turn into a robotic dragon.
Decomposite Character: Some media depict Megatron and Galvatron interacting with one another, either by making Galvatron an ancient Transformer who long predates Megatron or through the use of Time Travel.
The Dreaded: The Autobots greatly fear Megatron, and so do most of the Decepticons for that matter.
Enemy Mine: In most media, he'll team up with Optimus at least once to take down a shared threat to them both.
Epic Flail: His preferred melee weapon is a chain mace.
Evil Is Bigger: He's always one of the biggest Decepticons, and is usually quite a bit taller than Optimus.
Evil Counterpart: To Optimus Prime. Both are leaders of their respective factions of the Cybertronian War and seek peace and unity among the Transformer race, but Optimus is a protector who believes in freedom while Megatron is a warlord and tyrant.
Evil Sounds Raspy: His voice is usually deep and raspy, the most iconic of which is provided by Frank Welker.
Fantastic Racism: One of his most consistent character traits is his contempt for all organic life, especially humans. However, whether he actively hates them or just doesn't care about their suffering depends on the media.
Gladiator Games: Most incarnations of Megatron get their start as champion gladiators, leading to them using their infamy as leverage to recruit followers.
Greater-Scope Villain: Megatron is always the most recurring leader of the Decepticons. Even if he loses his position as leader, he always finds a way to get it back.
The Heavy: His actions drive the plot in almost every incarnation of the franchise.
He Who Fights Monsters: In later media especially, it's common to depict Megatron as starting the Decepticon rebellion for good reasons, or at least with sympathetic intentions. However, almost universally the war triggers Motive Decay to the point he just wants to destroy the Autobots and rule Cybertron no matter what it takes.
I Control My Minions Through...: Most commonly, through fear. Megatron, despite his failures to wipe out the Autobots, is legitimately one of the strongest Decepticons around as well as pretty cunning himself. As such, even if his fellow Decepticons may not always respect his authority, they make sure to do their best to keep those comments to themselves or when they figure Megatron cannot hear them, as the idea of getting on the bot's bad side scares them enough that they don't wish to incur his wrath.
Large and in Charge: As the leader of the Decepticons, he is usually one of larger Decepticons if not the largest of them all.
Legacy Character: "Megatronus" is the name of The Fallen, one of the Thirteen Primes who underwent a Face–Heel Turn. Most adaptations imply or outright state that Megatron took his name from The Fallen. Additionally, the Beast Wars era Megatron took his name from the original G1 Megatron.
Meaningful Rename: Megatron is occasionally upgraded into a new, more powerful form, and he is rechristened "Galvatron".
Names to Run Away from Really Fast: His name is derived from "megaton", the unit for one million tons of nuclear power. And as stated above, some versions of Megatron took their name in-story from The Fallen, a.k.a. Megatronus Prime, who is basically the Transformers' version of The Antichrist or Judas.
Odd Name Out: He's the only one in the Decepticon high command whose name doesn't start with the letter "S" (Starscream, Soundwave, and Shockwave), as well as the leader.
Real Life Writes the Plot: Megatron's original G1 alt mode was a gun, but this created numerous headaches when it came to marketing and selling it because of legal restrictions on the sale of toy guns in North America; at the time some areas actually required collectors to have a gun license to own a G1 Megatron. Not helping things is that his alt mode looks relatively realistic◊ as far as toy guns go. For this reason his later incarnations have different alt modes, usually a tank or jet, and his gun alt mode tends to only appear in media that is purposefully evoking his G1 design.
Smarter Than They Look: Many Decepticons acknowledge Megatron is powerful, but a notable amount of them also believe he's easy to fool as long as they claim to pledge "loyalty" to him. This often bites them in their ass, as Megatron has both the wit and the determination with his power to keep control of his faction even after being usurped.
Tank Goodness: His most recurring alt mode (introduced in G2) is a tank, mainly because it's basically a mobile gun.
Transforming Mecha: Sometimes, Megatron possesses the ability to transform into more than one alt mode. A relatively recent trend for him makes him a Triple Changer able to turn into both a tank and a jet, in the process combining his two most common alt modes. His RID 2001 iteration has ten modes (including robot mode), the most of any Transformer ever.
Villainous Friendship: With Soundwave. Because Megatron is correctly assured of Soundwave's absolute loyalty, and because he is an efficient and competent soldier, Soundwave is consistently one of the few Decepticons Megatron genuinely trusts and respects.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: In incarnations that emphasize Cybertron's Fantastic Caste System, Megatron is usually a low-ranked Cybertronian who begins the Decepticon uprising to overthrow the corrupt and oppressive government that is keeping them down. With incarnations that emphasize Cybertron is a dying world due to its energy crisis, Megatron wants to rebuild Cybertron and restore the Transformer race to its glory days. Either way, he's willing to do anything to make it happen. His methodology is reflected in his recurring motto, "Peace through tyranny!"
We Can Rule Together: Megatron often espouses the belief that he and Optimus ought to be allies to rebuild Cybertron together. If only Optimus wasn't such an idealistic fool and could see things Megatron's way...
We Used to Be Friends: In some incarnations, Megatron and Optimus used to be friends, or at least like-minded in acknowledging the problems with Cybertron and the need for reforms. Then Megatron begins his rebellion and the two find themselves on opposite sides.
With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Whenever Megatron gets turned into Galvatron, his increase in power is often accompanied by a decrease in sanity.
Worthy Opponent: He usually regards Optimus Prime as one.
You Don't Look Like You: Megatron's physical design (his robot mode appearance and overall color scheme) has varied wildly across the franchise. Even more so is his choice of alt mode - he's been a gun, tank, jet, helicopter, truck, dragon, race car, and tyrannosaurus rex.

Starscream

"Kneel and worship the TRUE leader of the Decepticons!"

Starscream is Megatron's lieutenant, commander of the Decepticon air fleet, and the Trope Namer and Trope Codifier for The Starscream. Ambitious and traitorous, Starscream is itching for the chance to lead the Decepticons himself and will take any opportunity to kill Megatron or leave him to his death. Megatron is well aware of Starscream's treacherous ways; why he keeps him around in spite of that is something writers have struggled to explain for decades. Starscream's alt mode is a fighter jet.

Ace Pilot: Starscream is generally regarded as a powerful warrior in the air and a skilled flyer in his jet mode.
Ain't Too Proud to Beg: For all his scheming, the second he's caught in a situation where he could be facing mortal peril, he won't hesitate to try to weasel out of punishment.
Arm Cannon: His trademark weapon is a pair of forearm-mounted blasters.
Beware the Silly Ones: While often times Starscream comes off as pathetic and a coward (which he is), there are plenty of adaptations that also show that he is very deadly and has his moments of cunning pragmatism.
Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: No matter how many times his plans to overthrow Megatron fail, Starscream never learns his lesson and keeps trying.
Co-Dragons: The most recurring (and least loyal) of Megatron's usual top lieutenants, alongside Shockwave and Soundwave.
Combat Pragmatist: A lot of Starcream's success comes from how ruthlessly pragmatic he is, taking about any opportunity to do what he feels is best for him.
Cool Plane: His alt mode is a jet fightercraft, and he leads the Seekers, a squadron of Decepticon aircraft.
Depending on the Writer: Starscream's competence, both in scheming and battle, vary wildly across adaptations. Later works tend to emphasize he actually is very powerful and a good fighter, but he's held back by his cowardice. Additionally, while he's head and shoulders above most Cybertronians, he's still significantly weaker than Optimus Prime and Megatron.
Dirty Coward: When his plans fall apart, Starscream will quickly degrade into a sniveling sycophant and kiss "Lord Megatron's" feet to avoid his wrath. He also tends to dislike fighting unless it's an easy win for him, and will flee if it isn't.
The Dragon: He's usually Megatron's second-in-command. In media where Megatron is incapacitated or no longer around, Starscream often becomes a Dragon Ascendant that leads the Decepticons in his absence.
Evil Sounds Raspy: He is usually voiced in this manner, as provided by the likes of Chris Latta, Tom Kenny, and Steve Blum.
Foil: To Soundwave. In many stories and adaptations, Starscream essentially serves as an inverted mirror to Soundwave's character. Whereas Soundwave is a devoted loyalist, Starscream is treacherously ambitious. Whereas Soundwave is brave, Starscream is cowardly. Whereas Soundwave is dangerously competent, Starscream is hilariously incompetent. Megatron recognizes this, and often praises Soundwave and his minions as many times as he insults Starscream. And if Megatron is taken out of commission, expect Soundwave to be the one standing in Starscream's way to become leader of the Decepticons.
Hidden Depths: Subverted. Several continuities give him a background in science, not that it tends to make him any more competent. That said, his creditentials tend to be forgotten if Shockwave is also present.
Informed Attribute: He's officially listed as a scientist before the war, but this is rarely (if ever) touched upon.
It's All About Me: Starscream's survival comes before anything else, and he won't do anything that puts his own priorities in danger unless he's absolutely certain he'll win.
Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: While the level varies, a lot of Starscreams' treacherous sides stem partially because their Megatron doesn't treat him very well or heed his advice, useful or not. Of course in many cases it is unclear whether Starscream himself was always an impudent, disloyal jerk to Megatron that earned his shabby treatment, though Megatron usually being a Mean Boss all around certainly doesn't help either way.
More Despicable Minion: He's depicted as this at his worst. While Megatron believes in his own twisted way that he's doing what's best for Cybertron, Starscream is only out for himself above all else and will stoop to any low to get the power he thinks he deserves.
Palette Swap: Starscream's body type is often used as the basis for the general "Seeker" mold in both the cartoons and in the toyline, and in the cartoons Seekers may be so widespread as to serve as Mooks. How much Starscream's mold gets reused depends on the specific incarnation.
Primary-Color Champion: Inverted. Starscream's iconic color scheme is red, blue, and white, but he's one of the most conniving and treacherous Decepticons around.
Reimagining the Artifact: The major problem with the original Starscream is "why would Megatron let him live when Starscream keeps trying to betray him?" Various media over the years have tried to explain this by giving Megatron understandable reasons to keep Starscream around in spite of his treachery, or by making Starscream a more competent schemer who better masks his traitorous intentions. In some cases, Megatron tolerates Starscream's behavior because he (usually accurately) presumes that Starscream's incompetence ensures his plans never succeed and his cowardice will keep him from doing anything too detrimental out of fear of punishment. Then there's incarnations where Starscream's behavior isn't tolerated and Megatron casts him out of the Decepticons or destroys him once he's had enough of him.
G2 Megatron: "Why? That's what they all asked me. Why him... why Starscream? Why, of all Decepticons, did I decide to revitalize the one whose record of deceit and betrayal is legend? Because I'm an idiot. That's why!"
Small Name, Big Ego: While Starscream wants to command the Decepticons and considers himself the only one worthy of the position, whenever he gets the chance to be leader he is a terrible one — he lacks the power that made the Decepticons follow Megatron out of fear and he has no charisma to inspire genuine loyalty in them, which combined with his ego means that the Decepticons are openly contemptuous of him and dubious about taking orders from him. His plans against the Autobots also tend to never work out and end badly, making the Decepticons hate his leadership even more.
The Starscream: He's the Trope Namer. One thing that never changes across the franchise is that any time there's a Decepticon called Starscream, you can be assured that sooner or later he'll try to backstab Megatron and take over the Decepticons.
We Used to Be Friends: He and Jetfire/Skyfire used to be best friends when they worked together as scientists before the war. Naturally, their friendship went south when they joined opposite sides.

Seekers and Coneheads

The term "Seeker" refers to the recurring fliers of the Decepticon army. They usually resemble Starscream and as such they transform into jets; usually all the same model to make it easier to animate the cartoons and redeco the toys. The "Coneheads" are so named because they also transform into jets and may even have similar robot modes to the Seekers, but have some differences including the tip of their jet mode being on top of their heads, hence the name.

Skywarp and Thundercracker debuted around the same time as Starscream and are usually among the first named Seekers to arrive alongside him in any continuity. Other Seekers include Sunstorm, Slipstream, and the Rainmakers (Acid Storm, Ion Storm, and Nova Storm). The most recurring coneheads are Dirge, Ramjet, and Thrust.

Arm Cannon: Like Starscream, their weapons are arm-mounted blasters.
Color-Coded Characters: To tell the Seekers apart from each other since they tend to share the same body type and alt mode, they all have different colorations: Starscream is red, Thundercracker is blue, Skywarp is purple and black, Sunstorm is orange and yellow, Slipstream is purple and teal, Acid Storm is neon green, Ion Storm is neon blue, and Nova Storm is neon yellow. The Coneheads, having more visual differences to their designs (such as each having a different type of wing), don't need just the color-coding to tell them apart, but Thrust is usually red (though sometimes green), Dirge is blue, and Ramjet is white.
Composite Character: While they are often their own characters, there has been a couple times where they were condensed into being literal clones of Starscream in some shape or form.
Divergent Character Evolution: Thundercracker and Skywarp originally had little personality in G1 and were just violent, cruel thugs like most generic Decepticons. Otherwise their role could be summed up as "the two main Seekers who aren't Starscream". Later media make them more distinct from Starscream and each other; Thundercracker has a sense of honor and morals and Skywarp is dim-witted and cruel.
Fragile Flyer: The Seekers form the backbone of the Decepticon air forces and generally transform into fighter aircraft or spacecraft, but in most versions of the franchise when a firefight begins they'll most often transform into robot mode and join in the fight on land. Transformers: War for Cybertron and Transformers: Fall of Cybertron demonstrate why this is the case: when fighting fliers like Aerialbots or Seekers the fastest way to get rid of them is to damage their foot-mounted thrusters, which invariably sends them screaming into the nearest surface and a flaming, explosive death.
Mooks: In some incarnations, generic Seekers serve this function, forming the main Decepticon attack forces but only a few of them getting prominent roles.
Palette Swap: The Seekers tend to all have the same body type with maybe only minor differences besides color. This makes it easier for the animators to reuse the character models and the toy manufacturers to reuse their molds.
Purple Is the New Black: Skywarp is usually purple, but also sometimes black and purple.
The Smurfette Principle: Slipstream is usually the only female Seeker. Recent installments have sought to rectify this by either introducing new female Seekers or Gender Flipping existing ones. Both Cyberverse and EarthSpark have portrayed Skywarp as female.
We Are "Team Cannon Fodder": Truth be told, they usually don't contribute much other than being fodder.

Soundwave/Soundblaster

"Cries and screams are music to my ears."

The Decepticon communications officer, Soundwave is Megatron's most loyal and trusted soldier, carrying out any order with obedient efficiency. He commands a small army of mini-robots that store inside him, waiting to be deployed to aid him in operations. His alt mode varies constantly, due to attempts to avoid Sizeshifter mechanics, but the most iconic is a cassette tape player, with his assist robots turning into cassettes.

In some continuities, Soundwave is upgraded into Soundblaster, other times Soundblaster is a clone of him.

The Artifact: Despite the fact that the franchise's main demographic (young kids) probably won't know what a cassette player is, new toys of Soundwave with that alt mode continue to be released. Nostalgia aside, this makes sense because of his central character trait and toy gimmick — having smaller Transformers that store inside him, which perfectly fits a cassette player with tapes. Whenever Soundwave has a different alt mode, he usually retains this gimmick even if it doesn't make much sense, and the writers tend to just not draw attention to or explain why he's the only Decepticon who can do this.
Benevolent Boss: Compared to Starscream and Megatron who can easily and commonly veer into Bad Boss, or Shockwave who's just downright apathetic to his underlings, Soundwave is generally depicted as caring and loyal to his minicons.
Big Badass Bird of Prey: Laserbeak and Buzzsaw transform into large birds of prey.
Co-Dragons: Generally depicted as one of Megatron's main lieutenants, alongside Starscream and Shockwave, and usually the most loyal.
Communications Officer: This is his role in the Decepticons.
The Creon: Soundwave's loyalty to Megatron is absolute. In media where Megatron vacates his position for whatever reason (killed, exiled, lost and left for dead, or renouncing the Decepticon cause entirely), Soundwave will try to get him back.
Decomposite Character: While Soundblaster is usually an upgrade of Soundwave, more recent media has made him a clone.
Depending on the Artist: Soundwave's general robot mode aesthetic has remained the same throughout the franchise but his alt mode has varied wildly in order to keep him to date. His alt mode has ranged from a cassette tape to a truck to a satellite to a spy drone.
Drone Deployer: He commands a crew of smaller Transformers that store inside him and are deployed for specific missions. The most recurring ones are Rumble and Frenzy (humanoid robots with piledriver arms), Laserbeak and Buzzsaw (birds of prey), Ravage (a panther), and Ratbat (a bat).
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Some iterations show that he genuinely cares about his minicons and treats them as a family.
Foil: To Starscream. In many stories and adaptations, Soundwave essentially serves as an inverted mirror to Starscream's character. Whereas Starscream is treacherously ambitious, Soundwave is a devoted loyalist. Whereas Starscream is cowardly, Soundwave is brave. Whereas Starscream is hilariously incompetent, Soundwave brings in serious results. Megatron recognizes this, and often praises Soundwave and his minions as many times as he insults Starscream. And if Megatron is taken out of commission, expect Soundwave to be the one standing in Starscream's way to become leader of the Decepticons.
Genius Bruiser: Granted, he's never at Shockwave's level in terms of intelligence, but Soundwave is typically treated as one of the smarter and more competent Decepticons.
Machine Monotone: His voice often has a metallic distortion to it.
One-Way Visor: He usually has one instead of traditional eyes.
Only Sane Man: How much so is a case of Depending on the Writer, but Soundwave is much more sane than Megatron, Starscream, and Shockwave because he lacks their megalomania, cowardice, and obsession with logic, respectively. On a different level, at times you'd think the Decepticon faction would fall into barbarism without him.
Private Military Contractors: In instances where Soundblaster is depicted as a Decomposite Character from Soundwave, he is oftentimes depicted as a Mercenary rather than as a Decepticon.
Red and Black and Evil All Over: Soundblaster's color scheme is predominantly black with his translucent parts such as his visor and chest window becoming red.
Shoulder Cannon: His signature weapon is a concussive cannon mounted on his shoulder.
Sizeshifter: In his original G1 incarnation, Soundwave transformed from a towering robot to a handheld cassette player, and his mini-robots which were approximately the size of humans transformed into his cassettes. Over the years Hasbro has decided to downplay mass-shifting like this across the franchise, resulting in Soundwave getting other alt modes like a satellite, a stealth bomber, armored cars, and space fighters. None of them really stuck however, and he's still often a cassette player no matter how uncommon mass-shifting may be otherwise.
The Stoic: He almost always speaks in a calm, robotic monotone, further helped by his visor and mouthplate hiding his facial expressions.
Undying Loyalty: To Megatron. While other Decepticons might turn from Megatron under various circumstances, Soundwave would never abandon his commander.
Viewer Name Confusion: invoked One that happened in-universe; in the original G1 toyline and the Marvel comics, Frenzy was the blue cassette robot and Rumble was the red one, but in the G1 cartoon Rumble was blue and Frenzy was red. Whatever the source of this discrepancy, it spawned the "FIRRIB" and "FIBRIR" acronyms^note and in the decades since various Transformers media — including toylines, cartoons, comics, and video games — have gone back and forth on which robot is which color, sometimes even within the same work. For their part, Hasbro has pretty much thrown up their hands and stopped caring; product descriptions for Soundwave's minions in the War for Cybertron toyline in 2020s declare "now it's up for you to decide which Decepticon is red or blue!"
Villainous Friendship: With Megatron. Because Megatron is correctly assured of Soundwave's absolute loyalty, and because he is an efficient and competent soldier, Soundwave is consistently one of the few Decepticons Megatron genuinely trusts and respects.

Shockwave

"Ultimately, I serve only one master: pure logic."

Shockwave is the Decepticons' resident Mad Scientist, always experimenting to develop new, more dangerous weapons of warfare for the Decepticons. His alt mode varies but is almost universally a vehicle of Cybertronian design.

Arm Cannon: His signature weapon is a cannon replacing one of his hands.
Co-Dragons: Almost always depicted as one of Megatron's top lieutenants, along with Starscream and Soundwave. His loyalty varies, but when he's The Starscream he'll probably be more successful than the Trope Namer.
Cyber Cyclops: His signature head design is one single, large, glowing eye.
Depending on the Artist: The general aesthetics of Shockwave's robot mode (angular head with one eye, horns, broad chest, Arm Cannon) have stuck through different incarnations, but the various series can't seem to agree on what his alt mode should be. He's been a laser pistol, a Space Fighter, a traditional tank, a Spider Tank, and he's adopted an Earth vehicle as an alt mode on occasion too. Fortunately, Shockwave is one of the Transformers who usually retains his Cybertronian alt mode, and Cybertronian technology tends to look strange and unusual anyway, so the creative team can fold him up into pretty much whatever form they want that vaguely resembles some sort of vehicle, and it'll fit the character.
Depending on the Writer:
- Shockwave's loyalty to Megatron across different incarnations has run from "as treacherous as Starscream" to "as loyal as Soundwave".
- Whether his Arm Cannon is his real hand, a replacement crafted after an injury, or something else, varies by continuity.
Early-Installment Weirdness: In the original G1 cartoon, he wasn't much of a threat at all and in battle was even less effective than Starscream, regularly getting overwhelmed by the Autobots in small numbers in less than a minute.^note As later adaptations emphasized him as one of Megatron's top generals, his power levels increased dramatically to make him a much more serious threat. Conversely, the Marvel G1 comics had Shockwave as a badass from day 1, nearly wiping out the Autobots single-handed (they were badly weakened at the time) and usurping control of the Decepticons for a time.
Evil Genius: He's the tech expert of the Decepticons and usually the smartest among them.
Genius Bruiser: While usually portrayed as being anywhere from "puny" to "average", some versions of the character have had the bulk to match his genius.
Hidden Badass: Sometimes. He isn't sent on field missions often, but his cold efficiency still makes him a worthy fighter if the need arises. This is also why he often lacks an earth altmode; if he is needed on earth, it's either for his mind or combat skills - either way, he's not going to need to hide among humans.
Paper-Thin Disguise: Shockwave is one of the Transformers that almost never adopts a traditional Earth alt mode and sticks to his Cybertronian alt mode, even though Cybertronian technology is very different from Earth technology and Shockwave's alt modes look like nothing seen on Earth.
Purple Is Powerful: Moreso than any other Decepticon, Shockwave's primary color is purple, and he's often depicted as one of their strongest members on-par with Megatron.
The Reliable One: Often portrayed as someone who takes his job - whatever it may be - extremely seriously as long as he agrees with its goal.
The Spock: Shockwave follows cold, impersonal logic in all his decisions. In the original G1 Marvel Comics, he overthrows Megatron and declares himself leader of the Decepticons not out of personal ambition, but because he has calculated that he is better-suited to the job. Then when Megatron presents a logical argument that he has failed in that position, Shockwave agrees and steps down. Comics writer Bud Budiansky even admitted the trope by name — he wrote Shockwave as Spock, if he was a Decepticon.
Shockwave: Clarity of thought before rashness of action.
Sizeshifter: Much as with Soundwave, this is why Shockwave's alt mode has varied so much over the years. His original G1 alt mode turned into a laser pistol (though distinct enough from a real gun that it didn't cause legal problems like Megatron), and later incarnations try to give him a more to-scale alt mode to avoid this trope. Though clearly designed as a pistol, his alt-mode has typically been depicted the size of a full freestanding cannon.
Undying Loyalty: Typically Shockwave has loyalty to the Decepticon cause itself but not to Megatron, as such, he's liable to betray Megatron or side with anyone that overpowers the former if the occasion should happen. Otherwise, he's pretty reliable to get the job done.
Writing Around Trademarks: Almost literally — the Unicron Trilogy incarnation of the character was named "Shockblast" because at the time Hasbro didn't have a copyright on the name "Shockwave". They got such a trademark for later appearances and Shockblast has been formally acknowledged as Shockwave just under a different name.

Blitzwing

"Ze name is BLITZWING, insect! REMEMBER IT! Because it's the last thing you'll hear before I- *switches personality* express my feelings in song!"

A Triple Changer with two alt modes, a tank and a fighter jet.

Cool Plane: His first alt mode is some sort of jet aircraft.
Depending on the Writer: He can be a Noble Demon, a Blood Knight, or a Psycho for Hire depending on the incarnation. And sometimes, all of the above.
Split Personality: A relatively recent development for this character, to coincide with him being a triple changer.
Tank Goodness: His second alt mode is a tank.
Transforming Mecha: He can change between tank, jet, and robot forms.

The Insecticons

The Insecticons are a group of Decepticons who turn into various insects. Their role in the Decepticon war machine is twofold: they provide a seemingly endless source of Mooks for Megatron to sic upon his enemies, and they possess the capability to convert any sort of matter into Energon to fuel the Decepticon war effort.

Big Creepy-Crawlies: Their alt modes are giant insects and they're part of the Decepticons.
Depending on the Writer: Sometimes the Insecticons consist of just a few named individuals, a mindless swarm, or a mix of both (a few individuals with an army of clones).
Explosive Breeder: As another explanation for their mass numbers, the Insecticons can duplicate themselves.
Hive Mind: They tend to lack in individuality and act like a stereotypically single-minded insect network.
Horde of Alien Locusts: A robotic example (seeing as they like all other Transformers are alien robots). Some of them even turn into locusts.
Zerg Rush: When they appear, they usually appear as a swarm to overwhelm the Autobots through sheer numbers.

The Constructicons

"Prepare for extermination!"

The Constructicons are a team of Decepticons that take the form of human construction vehicles. Their number, names, and personalities vary, but they are well-known for one constant — the ability to combine into Devastator, an awesomely powerful and gigantic Decepticon that strikes terror into the hearts of the Autobots. Their usual lineup is as follows:

Scrapper (Front-end loader)
Hook (Crane)
Long Haul (Dump truck)
Scavenger (Excavator)
Bonecrusher (Bulldozer)
Mixmaster (Cement mixer)

Arch-Enemy: Devastator is occasionally depicted as this to the Dinobots, as they're among the few Autobots that can consistently give Devastator an even fight without being Combiners or Titans themselves.
Combining Mecha: There are many Combiner teams on both the Decepticons and Autobots, but Devastator was the first and most well-known.
Depending on the Writer: The individual Constructicons vary in names, appearance, and personality, and there may be as few as three or over a dozen.
The Dreaded: As one of the most powerful forces in the Decepticons, the Autobots greatly fear Devastator and his presence is often a cue that the threat level has been raised.
Dumb Muscle: Despite the individual Constructicons being rather intelligent given their background as combat engineers, their combined form as Devastator is completely lacking in intelligence.
The Engineer: The Constructicons collectively tend to hold this position, due to their own skill at construction and the fact that the size and strength of Devastator makes such jobs easier.
Humongous Mecha: As a Combiner, Devastator stands tall over all other Transformers short of other Combiners and Titans.
The Juggernaut: As a Combiner, Devastator is immensely powerful and simply shrugs off lesser attacks by weaker Transformers. Without other Combiners or Titans to stand against him, beating him is usually an exhaustive team effort.
Secondary Color Nemesis: Their iconic color scheme is lime green and purple.

The Stunticons

"Welcome to the end of the road! Courtesy of Menasor!"

Another Decepticon Combiner team built to combat the Autobots' rule of the road. They transform into various types of high-end civilian cars, save for their leader Motormaster, who turns into a semi-trailer truck. They combine into the towering, powerful, and very angry Menasor. Their exact members vary in different incarnations, and occasionally Menasor has been a separate character and not a Combiner, but the basic line-up is as follows:

Motormaster (semi-trailer truck)
Drag Strip (race car)
Dead End (Porsche)
Breakdown (Lamborghini)
Wildrider (Ferrari)

Arch-Enemy: The Stunticons are often depicted as the nemeses of the Aerialbots. Both teams turn into alt modes normally associated with the opposing faction and are capable of forming a Combining Mecha, being the first of the so-called "Special Teams" or "Scramble City" type Combiners.
Bad Boss: Motormaster is often portrayed as extremely abusive towards his Stunticon subordinates.
The Berserker: Menasor is usually extremely angry, violent, and mentally unstable.
Evil Counterpart: Intentionally intended to be civilian cars to rival the Autobots, since the Decepticons are usually aircraft and military vehicles.
Shapeshifter Baggage: In the original G1 cartoon, Motormaster was an awful case of this. He didn't transform into a semi-trailer truck, he transformed into the truck and its entire trailer. Despite this obvious additional bulk in his alt mode, in robot mode Motormaster was roughly the same size as Optimus and Megatron. Then when he combined with the other Stunticons into Menasor, the other Stunticons (usually) didn't form his arms and legs like most other Combiners, his limbs were indistinct grey rectangular prisms that the Stunticons attached onto. The result is that Motormaster suddenly got way bigger when he combined into Menasor, and it seemed like he didn't even need the other Stunticons to do it because they were just armoring for arms and legs that came out of nowhere. Later toys usually just make Motormaster the semi-trailer truck without the trailer and have the Stunticons form the full limbs of Menasor like other Combiners; occasionally they split the difference and have the trailer be a separate piece, possibly with limb pieces, that the team integrates with to form Menasor.
The Sixth Ranger: The G1 Motormaster toy came with a mini roller car that attached to his chest in Menasor form to make a chestplate. Some later media have since given the Stunticons a sixth team member with their own name and personality that fills the same role as the roller car in their combined mode.

The Combaticons

"The road to conquest is paved with Autobot wrecks."

The Combaticons are another Decepticon Combiner team, who turn into various military vehicles such as tanks and helicopters. As with most combiner groups, their members vary across continuity, but the constant is that they combine into Bruticus (or Ruination), a unstoppable juggernaut of a combiner only hindered by his intellect. Their usual lineup is as follows:

Onslaught (Artillery vehicle)
Blast Off (Space shuttle)
Vortex (Helicopter)
Brawl (Tank)
Swindle (Humvee)

Backpack Cannon: Onslaught (who is usually the Combaticon leader) sports these, which are then incorporated into Bruticus himself.
Badass Crew: The Combaticons are often portrayed as a team of elite Decepticon commandoes who are called in for the most dire of missions.
Combining Mecha: All of them combine into one huge Decepticon, Bruticus.
Depending on the Writer: The individual Combaticons vary in names, appearance, and personality, but they’re usually a team of five.
Dumb Muscle: Just like Devastator, Bruticus is often portrayed as being extremely unintelligent, barely capable of any thoughts other than smashing whatever he gets told to destroy.
Humongous Mecha: As a Combiner, Bruticus stands tall over all other Transformers short of other Combiners and Titans.
Tank Goodness: Some of the Combaticons turn into tanks.

The Predacons

The Predacons are a subfaction of Decepticons who, as their name suggests, are able to turn into monstrous beasts. Sometimes they are a specific Decepticon Combiner team while othertimes they encompass any and all Decepticons with an Animal Mecha alt mode, but in the Beast Era, they end up becoming the successors of the Decepticon faction itself.

Animal Mecha: As their name suggests, Predacons have a tendency to turn into a wide range of animal forms.
Arch-Enemy: Are the nemeses of the Dinobots and, in the Beast Era, the Maximals.
Combining Mecha: In iterations where they are a Combiner team, the Predacons can merge to form Predaking, an atavistic and primal Combiner feared by the Autobots.
Cybernetic Mythical Beast: Some Predacons can turn into robotic mythical beasts, most notably dragons.
Evil Counterpart: Oftentimes they are the counterparts of the Dinobots given that both are teams of bestial Transformers with Animal Mecha alt modes who prefer to tear apart their enemies in close combat.

Cyclonus

"Come out and die like a warrior! How dare you disgrace your ancestors by cowering like a pocket computer!"

Cyclonus is a high-ranking Decepticon, usually being the right hand to the current Decepticon leader. His alt mode is usually some sort of spacecraft, though he sometimes turns into a helicopter.

Combining Mecha: Sometimes, Cyclonus is able to combine with other Decepticons to form Galvatronus.
Cool Spaceship: His alt mode, which is either a space fighter or cruiser.
Noble Demon: He is noted as being particularly honorable for a Decepticon.
Proud Warrior Race Guy: He often places great emphasis on an honorable confrontation and has a noted disdain for cowards.
Purple Is Powerful: His signature color scheme is predominantly purple.
The Spymaster: Sometimes he plays an underhanded role in the Decepticon army. His original G1 incarnation was given the role of saboteur, whereas his Aligned incarnation covertly masterminded the takeover of Cybertron only to be foiled.
Undying Loyalty: Unlike Starscream, he shows complete loyalty to his master, be it Megatron or Galvatron.

Scourge

"But remember, we belong to [Unicron]."

Another high-ranking Decepticon, Scourge is usually a subordinate to Galvatron. He sometimes leads a group of his own fighters (or Sweeps), and is occasionally an Evil Knockoff of Optimus Prime.

The Brute: He's typically defined as a brutish Decepticon who's good at taking orders and not much else.
Cybernetic Mythical Beast: He sometimes turns into a robotic dragon.
Evil Is Angular: One of the few consistent traits he has displayed is his tendency to sport spiked edges in his design.
Evil Knockoff: In the Robots in Disguise anime, he's an evil clone of Optimus.
Mook Commander: Scourge is oftentimes depicted as commanding hordes of minions known as Sweeps.
Out of Focus: He was made as part of a trio with Galvatron and Cyclonus, but he tends to get less attention in media than both of them and isn't as consistent in design or characterization.
Wolverine Claws: He oftentimes sports clawed hands in his robot mode.
You Don't Look Like You: His design changes a lot, depending on the version of him. He's blue with a Beard of Evil in the original G1 cartoon, a dark clone of Optimus in Robots in Disguise, a colorful cybernetic dragon in Cybertron, and a grim, gray Terrorcon in Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. It is to the point that Scourge is less a consistent character and more several unrelated characters who share the same name as a way for Hasbro to maintain the trademark.

Bludgeon

"To a master of Metallikato, your clumsy attack is almost slow motion."

A Decepticon who resembles a giant skeletal samurai, Bludgeon is a monstrous warrior adept at the Cybertronian martial art of Metallikato. His alt mode is always a tank.

Breakout Villain: While Bludgeon debuted in the sunset years of the G1 toyline, his usage in the Marvel comics by Simon Furman coupled with the Samurai skeleton look of his toy resulted in him becoming one of the more popular characters from that time. He has since made multiple appearances across various Transformers toylines.
Gashadokuro: A robotic example, seeing as he is basically giant samurai skeleton.
Katanas Are Just Better: His preferred weapon.
Meta Mecha: His original G1 toy was a Pretender, with the outer shell being the iconic samurai skeleton and the inner robot turning into a tank.
Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Almost literally this trope embodied. He’s a Samurai Skeleton Transforming Mecha who turns into a tank. Had he made an appearance in Transformers: Animated, he would also have been a Space Pirate.
Non-Indicative Name: Despite being named Bludgeon, his preferred weapon is usually a katana (a cutting weapon) rather than any sort of crushing weapon. The closest he’s had to a crushing weapon was a kanabo club in his Power of the Primes toy, which itself was less a proper figure of him and more his Pretender Shell being used by Quintus Prime.
Samurai: His robot mode is evocative of samurai armor.
Secondary Color Nemesis: His signature colors are green and orange (with a little bit of purple for the Decepticon insignias).
SkeleBot 9000: His signature appearance is that of a robot skeleton.
Tank Goodness: His alt mode.
Toyline-Exclusive Character: Bludgeon didn’t make an appearance in any Transformers media outside of comics until 2018’s Transformers: Cyberverse, but he’s shown up in a variety of toylines such as for Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen (which was backported into G1 media such as Forged to Fight) and the Aligned Continuity.

Blackarachnia/Airachnid

"Practice deception with clear intent."

A spider-themed female Decepticon.

The Beastmaster: Usually associates herself with other bestial Decepticons (oftentimes the Insecticons), and may be responsible for their creation.
Dating Catwoman: She often has a romantic connection to a member of the Autobots or Autobot equivalent faction (in Beast Wars, it was part of why she had a Heel–Face Turn and defected to the Maximals).
Fem Bot: She's a prominent female Cybertronian and is on the villains' side.
Femme Fatale: As Blackarachnia herself put it, she's hot, poisonous, and deadly.
Heel–Face Revolving Door: Sometimes turns against the Decepticons for one reason or another.
Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Can use her spider legs as extra appendages in robot mode.
Spiders Are Scary: She's a villainess strongly associated with spiders in her character design, and most of the time it's her alt mode.
Verbal Tic: In Japanese dubs, she usually makes a hissing tshaaaa noise, courtesy of Ryōka Yuzuki.

Sideways

"Everything you think you know about me was a lie told by me to confuse someone, or conjecture from someone who'd be in no position to know."

Sideways is an enigma of an entity, but his presence is usually a sign of trouble to come. Regardless of which side he’s working on, Sideways is usually working for a much greater evil, usually Unicron.

Consummate Liar: Plays both sides in order to benefit his master, Unicron.
Depending on the Artist: His design and alt-mode has varied wildly throughout the franchise, which fits his unpredictable nature. Sometimes he's a motorcycle, a space fighter, or a sports car.
Dimensional Traveler: Originally implied to be this, but after the Shroud, all the versions of Sideways throughout the franchise are their own distinct entities.
Double Reverse Quadruple Agent: Sideways's allegiance is as unpredictable as his own personality. He will change allegiance from Autobot to Decepticon to everything in between, but ultimately serves one master: Unicron.
The Dragon: To Unicron.
The Starscream: Will backstab whoever he’s working with at some point. Of course, this isn’t the case for his true master, Unicron.

Barricade

"Are you username LadiesMan217?!?"

A corrupt cop turned Decepticon enforcer. His alt mode is usually a police car.

Breakout Character: While the name has been used for various Decepticons since 1990, the iconic version of this character debuted in the 2007 movie as Bumblebee's rival and gone on to become one of the more iconic Decepticons in the franchise, receiving iterations in multiple continuities since then.
- The toyline for the War For Cybertron Trilogy takes it further by not only including a G1 version of Movie Barricade as a repaint of Prowl, but by also renaming the original G1 Micromaster Barricade to “Runner” to avoid confusion.
Cool Car: He turns into a Saleen Mustang police car.
Dirty Cop: He’s an evil Decepticon who turns into a police car. His backstory usually makes him this before the war. Sometimes, he's a full on Rabid Cop as well.
Evil Counterpart: To Prowl. Incidentally, the iconic 2007 movie version of the character ended up replacing Prowl during the film’s production.
Face–Heel Turn: Sometimes, he’s a defector from the Autobots. In the 2019 IDW comics, he originally worked as Prowl's partner in security operations.
Palette Swap: Given his status as the Evil Counterpart to Prowl, some versions of Barricade are redecoed from their respective continuity's Prowl.

Lockdown

"Autobots, Decepticons, like little children. Always fighting, making a mess out of the universe. Then I've got to clean it up."

A bounty hunter who usually finds himself aligned with or in the company of the Decepticons. He turns into a black (and sometimes green) muscle car.

Arch-Enemy: To Ratchet. His original incarnation was a rogue from Ratchet's past who was responsible for some of his past trauma, his film incarnation is the one who ultimately executes Ratchet, and his IDW incarnation leads a group of mercenaries hired to track down Ratchet and the crew of the Lost Light.
Bounty Hunter: He usually works as a ruthless rogue mercenary who answers only to the highest bidder.
Breakout Villain: He only appeared in three episodes of the show he debuted in, but his scarily effective Bounty Hunter shtick made him very memorable to fans. Since he went on to be the Big Bad in the fourth live-action film and made appearances in the IDW comics and Cyberverse, it's safe to say he's made his mark.
Cool Car: His typical alt mode is a sports car of some kind, usually that of a ramshackle muscle car.
Cool Starship: Usually has access to one to allow him to traverse the galaxy for his targets.
Good Colors, Evil Colors: His primary colors are green and black.
Hook Hand: His signature weapon tends to be a large hook in place of his right hand.
Spikes of Villainy: He usually sports spikes on both his robot and alt modes.
Your Size May Vary: Despite being a car, he’s usually much taller in robot mode than what his alt mode might indicate. Sometimes, he’s just as tall as Optimus himself (who has a much bigger alt mode).

Scorponok

"What's wrong with the Headmasters? Can’t they fight without Chromedome? Fortress Maximus has come himself! Okay, then I shall get Fortress Maximus to fight me, huh huh huh!"

A Decepticon who turns into an oversized scorpion. His personality and role varies quite wildly depending on the continuity.

Arch-Enemy: To Fortress Maximus. Not only are the traditional iterations of both characters Titans, they also both lead their respective faction's Headmasters.
Beware My Stinger Tail: Has an oversized one that he can use in both robot and alt mode.
Depending on the Writer: Depending on which iteration you’re looking at, Scorponok can go from an animalistic minion (if not outright swarms of them) to a hulking brute to an Evil Overlord on par with Megatron himself.
Genius Loci: Some versions of the character are large enough to turn into cities.
Horde of Alien Locusts: Some versions of Scorponok are little more than a type of expendable mook that the Autobots end up facing swarms of.
Humongous Mecha: At his largest, he is one of the Decepticon Titans. This entails that he towers over his standard-sized brethren.
Large and in Charge: Scorponok is usually one of the larger Decepticons around (even when he is not a proper Titan), and he sometimes takes command of the Decepticons.
Meta Mecha: Traditionally, Scorponok is a Headmaster - meaning a much smaller Transformer forms his head. In recent years, to bring him up to scale with Fortress Maximus, his Headmaster also has another Transformer form his head as well. In some continuities, Scorponok is a much smaller Transformer who pilots a much larger body into battle.
Power Pincers: His alt mode pincers oftentimes carry over into his hands in robot mode.
Scary Scorpions: His alt mode.
Secondary Color Nemesis: His iconic color scheme is green, orange, and purple.
The Starscream: As one of the higher-ranking Decepticons, Scorponok often vies for the position of leader, which he has held in some continuities. Sometimes, he also covertly works for a much greater evil.
Your Size May Vary: Scorponok's size has varied drastically across continuity. His size has ranged from a small drone to slightly bigger than Optimus to only being just a bit shorter than Fortress Maximus.

Trypticon

"Trypticon cannot be stopped! Nothing can stand in my way!"

A Titan, Trypticon is a city-sized Transformer that turns into a towering dinosaur.

Arch-Enemy: To Metroplex. Since Metroplex is the Titan the Autobots have easiest access to in most incarnations, whenever the Decepticons bring in Trypticon, the Autobots summon Metroplex to even the odds. Though there are times when he has been pitted against the other Autobot Titans such as Omega Supreme and Fortress Maximus.
Breath Weapon: He has access to one in dinosaur mode.
Cool Starship: Sometimes, Trypticon can turn into a full fledged battleship which then serves as the Decepticon flagship.
Dark Is Evil: His main color scheme is black and purple.
Genius Loci: As a Titan, he turns into a city.
Humongous Mecha: As a Titan, Trypticon is the largest class of Transformer in the series.
Kaiju: Fits the bill in his robot mode, as a towering dinosaur that stomps on even Transformers like bugs.
Not Zilla: He is basically the franchise's equivalent to Mechagodzilla, being a giant robotic tyrannosaurus.

The Fallen

"I offer FORBIDDEN fruit, timelost secrets, power...BEYOND MEASURE!"

One of the Thirteen Primes, Megatronus Prime betrayed his fellow Primes and was cast out, in the process earning the moniker of the Fallen. In spite of his defeat and exile, his actions would lead to him being seen as the first Decepticon and thus the progenitor of the faction of the whole, and it is from his name that Megatron would take his name from. And sometimes, he is still around to the present, working to bring about his apocalyptic goals.

Based on a Great Big Lie: Some media imply that the incident that caused the Fallen's exile was either an accident or he was set up, and the truth has been lost to time.
Dark Is Evil: His color scheme is predominantly black, with purple and orange mixed in.
Depending on the Artist: The Fallen’s appearance (both in robot and vehicle modes) has varied throughout his appearances. Sometimes he turns into a spacecraft, othertimes he turns into a tank.
Evil Counterpart: To Alpha Trion, being a member of the Thirteen who associates himself with the Decepticons.
Evil Versus Oblivion: Sometimes, he turns out to be eviler than the Decepticons themselves, prompting them to turn on him.
Fallen Angel: The imagery he evokes, being the Prime who betrayed the others and was cast out. The fact that he usually appears Wreathed in Flames and sporting dark metallic colors only serves to amplify this imagery.
Greater-Scope Villain: Some incarnations make him the progenitor of the Decepticons and forerunner to the Big Bad Megatron.
Monster Progenitor: Sometimes, he is the first Decepticon.
Nepharious Pharaoh: His robot mode occasionally sports a subtle Egyptian motif to evoke this imagery.
Satanic Archetype: He is a child of Primus, Cybertron's equivalent to God, who was cast out for his evil and became a corrupted villain Wreathed in Flames. However, his position as the traitor to the Thirteen makes him the analogue to Judas Iscariot.
That Man Is Dead: Megatronus' name was stricken from history when he betrayed the Thirteen, and he was thereon known only as The Fallen.
Villainous Legacy: In his betrayal of the others and being cast out, The Fallen became the first Decepticon. Some incarnations say his face was the inspiration for the Decepticon insignia, and almost universally Megatron took his name from The Fallen, once called Megatronus.
Wreathed in Flames: His design oftentimes has him engulfed in flames, if not having vents that radiate heat.

Other

Spike Witwicky

Spike Witwicky is often the main human ally of the Autobots on Earth. He's usually depicted as a young teenage boy.

Adaptation Name Change: The live-action films famously changed his name to Sam.
Audience Surrogate: As a young man who gets to hang out with the Autobots and go on adventures with them, every kid would love to be in Spike's shoes.
Distressed Dude: Being a tiny, squishy human with no weapons or fighting prowess that can stand up to the giant robots, Spike tends to be endangered a lot.
Legacy Character: While Spike doesn't always appear in every incarnation of Transformers, there is often a human character comparable to him as the young human friend of the Autobots.
Official Couple: He's usually a couple with a girl named Carly.
Only Known by Their Nickname: Spike is sometimes his nickname, rather than his real name.

Nemesis Prime

An evil incarnation of Optimus Prime that possesses power and courage comparable to Optimus, but holding none of his honor or morals.

Ax-Crazy: Freed of Optimus' restraint, Nemesis Prime is often just as big a war-monger as Megatron, if not moreso.
Depending on the Writer: Nemesis Prime's origin varies wildly across continuity. Sometimes, he is an evil clone of Optimus made by either the Decepticons or some other party, a long-lost Prime who became corrupted with power, or even the evil alter-ego of Optimus himself.
Evil Counterpart: Of Optimus Prime, naturally: Nemesis is what Optimus might become if he discarded his sense of honor and used his power for destructive purposes.
Eviler than Thou: It's not uncommon for Nemesis to make an enemy of Megatron as well as Optimus, since he usually wants to lead the Decepticons himself.
Evil Knockoff: He's usually cloned from Optimus in some manner, or is built to emulate him.
Legacy Character: Nemesis Prime doesn't always appear in every incarnation of Transformers, but when he doesn't it's still common for there to be some Decepticon that acts as a stand-in by having a semi-trailer truck alt mode to draw the same sort of parallel to Optimus, such as Motormaster or Scourge.
Red and Black and Evil All Over: His color scheme is a black and dark grey recolor of Optimus Prime's red and blue, and red eyes, windows, and weapons.

Quintessons

The role of the Quintessons vary in the series, but they are universally adversaries of the Transformers, Autobot and Decepticon alike. As a faction or individuals they may ally with one side or the other for a time, but ultimately are enemies of the race as a whole. Their reason for their animosity lies buried deep in Transformer history, so long that even the Transformers themselves may have forgotten it, but it is occasionally revealed they're servants of Unicron and/or are the creators of the Transformers themselves before they rebelled and the Quintessons fled Cybertron.

Ambiguous Robots: In some incarnations they're entirely mechanical, or implied to be, but other incarnations say they're organic beings encased in mechanical exosuits.
Depending on the Writer: Aside from being enemies to the Transformers regardless of faction, the role of the Quintessons varies from incarnation to incarnation.
Fridge Logic: invoked They exist to explain it; the Aligned continuity materials state that the reason many of the Transformers have cockpits or the like in their alt modes is because the Quintessons intended to sell them to other races, who would utilize such interfaces.
Kangaroo Court: They hold trials for their captives, during which they are not necessarily told what they're being charged with, they have no one to speak on their behalf (and may not be allowed to speak themselves), and the verdict of guilt or innocence is irrelevant to if the Quintessons intend to kill them or not. Across various media there's no pattern to the verdict and the sentence, so its likely they really are just holding the trials for their amusement before doing what they want anyone. The "prosecutor" practically lampshades this in the 80s movie where the race made their debut.
"Before the imperial magistrate reaches a verdict, would you like to beg for your lives? It sometimes helps but not often."
Luke, I Am Your Father: The G1 cartoon revealed in "Five Faces of Darkness" that the Quintessons are the creators of the Transformers. Different adaptations may or may not retain this.
Meaningful Name: "Quint", as in five, referring to the five-faced Judges that lead them.
Mook: They have a massive army of Sharkticons they employ as their main soldiers.
Multiple Head Case: The leaders of the Quintessons, the Judges, have ovular bodies with five masks on it that each have their own distinct personality (which head represents what varies Depending on the Writer).
Non-Action Big Bad: While they're often a major threat, Quintessons aren't really fighters themselves and are easily overpowered.
No Name Given: Most media don't give individual Quintessons individual names and they are differentiated in out-of-universe materials by their roles in society.
Starfish Aliens: The Quintesson Judges have large bodies shaped like an upside down egg, on the sides of which rest their rotating faces, multiple tentacles extending from the bottom of their bodies, and if they don't use those tentacles to move around, they just float in place. Other Quintessons have more roughly humanoid forms, but still look rather odd.
Token Good Teammate: Usually, there is at least one Quintesson who is either not as bad as the rest of its race, or a genuine ally to the Transformers.
Turned Against Their Masters: In fiction where they created the Transformers, they fled Cybertron when the slave robots they lorded over rose against them. On the other hand, the Quintessons tend to turn on their creator just as often, and according to some of the comics went against Unicron's orders to destroy Primus in the name of building Cybertron around him for their own use.

The Thirteen Primes

The Thirteen are the progenitors of the Transformer race, the first ones created by Primus eons ago. They are all Primes, designating them as the most powerful and honored of the Transformers. Their exact members vary between incarnations, but the usual lineup (known as the Covenant Thirteen) is as follows:

Prima
Vector Prime
Alpha Trion
Solus Prime
Micronus Prime
Alchemist Prime
Nexus Prime
Onyx Prime
Amalgamous Prime
Quintus Prime
Liege Maximo
The Fallen (AKA Megatronus Prime)
The Thirteenth Prime (AKA Optimus Prime)

Depending on the Writer: The exact identities of the Thirteen tends to shift around between media. There are always at least a few key members you can be assured will be among them, but the rest are up in the air.
Disposable Woman: Solus Prime is usually killed off as part of Megatronus's Start of Darkness.
Monster Progenitor: Quintus Prime is responsible for the creation of the aforementioned Quintessons.
The Smurfette Principle: Solus Prime was the sole female among the Thirteen.
13 Is Unlucky: In an obvious bit of Biblical symbolism, the Thirteen Primes were followers of the god Primus, and one of their number betrayed them and became The Fallen.
- Inverted with the Thirteenth Prime himself, who (in most continuities) has turned out to be Optimus Prime.
Token Evil Teammate: Two — the Fallen, the traitor Prime who was cast out, and Liege Maximo, a scheming liar who manipulated the others to his own ends. Sometimes, Onyx Prime qualifies.
Transforming Mecha: Amalgamous Prime was the originator of the transformation cog that allows Cybertronians to transform.

Primus

The God of the Transformers. He originally created the first Transformers, the Thirteen Primes, to battle Unicron, and the race propagated in the name of defending the universe from Unicron. In modern times, Primus is the core of the planet Cybertron, and his essence lingers in the Spark of every Transformer, and in the Matrix of Leadership.

Big Good: As the God of the Transformer race and their creator. Also doubles as the embodiment of order and good.
Cain and Abel: He's the good Abel to Unicron's evil Cain.
Depending on the Writer: Sometimes, Primus has a more mundane origin as being merely the first Transformer rather than a deity. Though sometimes, these origins are combined.
Divine–Infernal Family: If portrayed as deities, he and Unicron are brothers.
Genius Loci: Most of the time, his alt mode is Cybertron.
God: Officially, he is one and the guy who made the Transformer race.
God's Hands Are Tied: Unlike Unicron's active villainy, Primus is often relegated to the background despite usually having power described as equal to his Evil Counterpart at full strength, relying on just empowering the Autobots to win the day. This is usually explained by the fact that not only would Primus fighting usually result in cataclysmic destruction since he is Cybertron and transforming alone would risk killing many of the inhabitants, to say nothing of any damage he'd take in a fight, but he's often sacrificed much of his power in creating the Transformer race and returning to "full strength" would likely mean killing most of them in the process, meaning he's often at a disadvantage in a straight brawl with Unicron.
Humongous Mecha: In some media, not only is his consciousness housed within Cybertron, but Cybertron is his body that he can transform into a robot mode.

Unicron

The Greater-Scope Villain of the franchise. Unicron is Primus' brother who desires the destruction of all reality. Taking the alt mode of a gigantic planet, Unicron travels the universe devouring anything in his path until all is extinguished.

Ancient Evil: In most continuities Unicron is the ultimate evil that has existed since the creation of the universe and seeks to destroy life across the universe.
The Anti-God: Primus' brother who seeks to destroy all existence and may make deals with lower beings or offer them power to make them his servants and corrupt them to his will. One of his servants is even the franchise Satanic Archetype.
Cain and Abel: The evil Cain to Primus' Abel.
Chaos Is Evil: He is also known by his epitaphs the Chaos Bringer and the Lord of Chaos, he's considered the universal/multiversal embodiment of both chaos and evil, in contrast to his twin and eternal arch-enemy Primus who embodies both order and good, and he's also an Omnicidal Maniac whose goal is to consume everything. The Transformers: Prime incarnation in particular was fond of making boasts that include the word "chaos".
Depending on the Writer: Sometimes, Unicron has a more mundane origin as the creation of a rogue alien scientist.
Divine–Infernal Family: If portrayed as deities, he and Primus are brothers.
Genius Loci: He turns into a planet.
Greater-Scope Villain: He is the highest evil ever seen in the franchise, but it's not all that often he gets involved in stories directly. When he does, it's usually a sign that particular incarnation of the franchise is about to end, since Unicron is the biggest threat a writer could pit the Transformers against and thus a battle with him would be suitable as a Grand Finale.
Humongous Mecha: He's a planet-sized Transformer and his alt mode often is a planet.
Mechanical Abomination: Unicron may look like a planet-sized transformer, but he is oh so much more. He's more like what would happen if a Great Old One were a Transformer. He's a multiversal singularity with various aspects scattered throughout the continuities and timelines. His very blood, dark energon can do all sorts of things like reanimate the dead into vicious zombies. And the machinery making up his physical form includes devices impossible to comprehend.
Metal Muncher: A rather drastic example, as he regularly eats entire planets made of metal — along with the robotic inhabitants of said planets.
Planet Eater: His introduction to the series in the G1 movie has him devour a planet as a snack. Unicron tends to devour worlds both as sustanance and because he's an Omnicidal Maniac who wants to destroy existence. Several continuities go even further with the Cosmic Horror trappings and state Unicron isn't merely devouring planets, but fundamental concepts of existence in his goal to end the universe/multiverse.
Plot Hole: No, really. Unicron is a multiversal constant, existing in all timelines simultaneously as an embodiment of chaos and evil. However, in Armada it marks the first time Unicron is unambiguously killed and not simply defeated or sealed away. Because of this imbalance, it created the Unicron Singularity, which is officially credited for all inconsistencies across the Transformers franchise.
Spikes of Villainy: Unicorn is always adorned with lots of pointy bits, most iconically his horned head.

Characters / Transformers

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Characters / Transformers

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Animation, Film, and Web Series

Comics

Video Games

Recurring characters

Autobots

Decepticons

Other

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