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Decepticons

In General

Always Chaotic Evil: They used to be Cybertron's military defense, but then they got tired of it and decided to stage war on Cybertron against the Autobots instead. Now they just seek out power, are just really loyal to Megatron, or are just evil because they can be.
Adaptational Badass: Most series have individual Autobots and Decepticons on equal footing with one another. The average Decepticon in this incarnation is able to take on a team of Autobots, five to one.
Conservation of Ninjutsu: Downplayed. While they continue to be a threat requiring multiple Autobots to defeat individually, they became steadily easier to deal with as the series went on, and this is justified as the Autobots become more experienced fighting them.
Dark and Troubled Past: Averted. If they had a troubled backstory, it isn't relevant to who they are anymore. The only Decepticon known to have a dark and troubled past and continues to be affected by it is Blackarachnia.
Deck of Wild Cards: Averted (well, except for you know who), but Megatron is so beloved (or rather appropriately powerful enough) that no one dares to oust him as leader. Those that do are immediately disposed of, to the point that even Starscream's own clones recognized Megatron's superiority and defied their own creator to side with Megs.
Evil Is Bigger: The average Decepticon towers over most of the Autobots! This is a Justified Trope, because a guy who turns into a plane is obviously going to have more mass to account for than a guy who can turn into a car. Though some of them are the same height/smaller than the Autobots, such as Dirt Boss, Swindle and Soundwave. Though that's because Swindle is heavily implied to be a former Autobot.
Faction Calculus: Of the Powerhouse variety, in contrast to the Autobots' Subversive.
Mysterious Past: More on an individual by individual basis than as a whole. While the AllSpark Almanac details the formation of the Decepticons as a movement and Megatron dethroning his old master Megazarak to gain leadership of them, we still know little to nothing about Starscream, Blitzwing, Lugnut and several others' personal, individual histories. This isn't helped by the show's lack of Decepticon centric flashbacks.
Robot Soldier: Their entire history, as they are descendants of Cybertronians built for military applications and, for a time, were the entirety of Cybertron's armed forces.
Sequel Adaptation Iconic Villain: The first season of the show focused on human villains and lone Decepticons, or else their plots were downplayed. The first season ended with Megatron getting his own body again and Starscream's arrival on Earth, setting the Decepticons up as much more prominent antagonists in season two.
Villainous Underdog: In the grand scheme of things, as powerful as single Decepticon can be, it's clear that they can't compete with Autobots directly. They are heavily outnumbered, have no access to Space Bridge technology or weapons of mass destruction. Megatron's entire plan for now is to find a way to catch up with Autobots.
Wake-Up Call Boss: After 10 episodes of ineffectual villains, human antagonists and a toy Soundwave, the real Decepticons show up and completely change the game. In a departure from the normal Transformers formula, the Decepticons are treated as a nigh-unstoppable enemy that a simple maintenance crew of Autobots can barely stand up against.
Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters: Decepticons see themselves as freedom fighters, but everyone else sees them as terrorists.

Main Decepticons

Megatron

"Decepticons, transform and rise up!"

Voiced by: Corey Burton (English) Norio Wakamoto (Japanese)

"With the power of the AllSpark, I will reclaim Cybertron for all Decepticon-kind — but not before I lay waste to the miserable world that held me captive for so long."

Megatron likes to think of himself as a freedom fighter, leading his troops to reclaim their home from the Autobots who exiled them after the Great War. This claim is somewhat undermined by his complete lack of concern for anyone not useful to him and his willingness to manhandle his own soldiers to remind them who's in charge or to field-test weapons of mass destruction on defenseless human cities.

In a surprising turn from the regular "Optimus Prime vs. Megatron" setup of most Transformers series, here Megatron regards Optimus as a minor nuisance, in fact, up until the last episode he never even calls him by name.

Adaptational Badass: Probably the most powerful major Megatron in the franchise as of this writing. He manages to menace the Autobots without having a body, trounces them easily when he does get one, and consistently needs either a lot of luck or a very strong opponent to be laid low. His revival alone was considered a big enough threat to warrant a season finale. He also has nowhere near the resources or armies of other Megatrons, and yet still manages to threaten all of Cybertron on a regular basis.
Adaptational Intelligence: In practice, he's a lot smarter than his G1 counterpart, who was basically a General Failure at the end of the day. This Megatron, however, is The Chessmaster; he always has a long term scheme going, is easily able to manipulate others to do his bidding, can skillfully turn unexpected complications to his advantage, and deals with treacherous lieutenants with a vicious, zero-tolerance policy.
Adaptational Nice Guy: He's a lot calmer and more polite than most other incarnations of Megatron. Make no mistake, however; he's not really any more noble.
Aliens of London: He speaks in a British accent.
Arch-Enemy: Double subverted with Optimus Prime. At the beginning, he just sees Optimus as just another Autobot, not even worthy of remembering his name. But over the course of the series, Optimus thwarts his plans from destroying the AllSpark to pushing him into the unstable Space Bridge to crippling his Lugnut Supremes. By the end of the series, Megatron finally calls Optimus Prime by his name and single-mindedly attempts to kill him, not caring if he dies in the process as well.
Ax-Crazy: In Season 4, he would've gone off the deep end after being reformatted into a Triple-Changer.
Back from the Dead: Given the state of his body and that his head was apparently inert for the entire time Sumdac possessed it, it seems he really did go offline after crash-landing on Earth, and the burst of AllSpark energy from Sari's Key reignited his spark.
Bad Boss: Averted for the most part. Compared to his past incarnations, Megatron is a very charismatic leader who inspires Undying Loyalty to many of his followers. He's also generally not as needlessly cruel to his minions, unless they're Starscream or Sumdac. However, as tie-in materials reveal, Megatron is willing to sacrifice loads of them, having detonated multiple chemical weapons to wipe out entire battlefields, even when his minions are still present, much to Megatron's apathy.
Berserk Button: Being betrayed. When he finds out Starscream betrayed him, he becomes determined to kill him for it.
Big Bad: As always for the leader of the Decepticons. An assassination attempt by Starscream leaves him a disembodied head for most of the first season, but he still causes a lot of trouble by manipulating others to do his bidding from behind the scenes. Once he acquires his new body in the first season finale, he occupies the throne full-time for the rest of the series.
Blofeld Ploy: Rather than take an opportunity to finish off the Autobots, he decides to kill Starscream. Justified, as Starscream had managed to render him offline for decades, so he had every reason to not want to give him another chance to backstab him.
Catchphrase: Whenever one of his troops (typically Lugnut) annoys him, he has a tendency to remark "Oh for spark's sake".
Captured Super-Entity: For most of season one, he's just a disembodied head in Isaac Sumdac's secret lab.
The Chessmaster: Always has a long-term plan going on, and is known to edit them on the fly when necessary.
- Pulls a delicious gambit in the final episodes with Shockwave, Starscream and Lugnut as his pawns in the game. He needs a template for his Omega clones, but using himself will likely result in massive Megatron clones that will try to overthrow him and likely will succeed. Starscream is currently in league with him out of no other choice, so Megatron keeps him around to help out despite knowing he will betray him and likely try to become the template himself. So when Shockwave returns to the fold full-time, he begins showering him with praise as his most loyal servant - deliberately to piss off Lugnut, who's loyal to Megs to the point of religious fanaticism and starts making obscenely over-the-top displays of loyalty. When the time comes to make a template, Lugnut stops Starscream from betraying Megatron... and becomes the template for the clones himself. Now Megatron has three massive Lugnuts with Undying Loyalty to him to do his bidding.
Chewing the Scenery: While he's usually a lot more sedate than other incarnations of the character, he has his moments. Starscream!!.
- Bonus points for being voiced by none other than Norio Wakamoto in the Japanese version.
Cold Ham: He's probably the most subdued incarnation of Megatron to date but while his voice lacks raw emotion and volume, it still emanates power. For example, he usually makes his seething hatred for Starscream apparent without even raising his voice, while his G1 counterpart yells at his second-in-command all the time.
The Comically Serious: He's always serious and reserved, which gets played for comedy whenever his more eccentric and laughable lackeys are around.
Composite Character: Of a few previous incarnations. While based mostly off of his G1 counterpart (with his design borrowing from his Battlestars incarnation), his extended planner qualities are from the Beast Wars incarnation (and would have looked somewhat like his Beast Machines counterpart had Season 4 happened). His look prior to Earth and the fact technology was reverse-engineered from him were taken from the first live-action film, specifically in the shape of his helmet. His Season 4 look would have also given him the ability to triple change, as with Revenge of the Fallen.
Consummate Liar: He's extremely good at manipulating people with his words, telling them exactly what they need to hear to either allay their suspicion of himself or send them against the Autobots. Professor Sumdac, the Dinobots, Soundwave, and the Constructicons all fell prey to his silver tongue (though Soundwave didn't need much convincing).
Creepy Monotone: He doesn't have much inflection when he speaks (though not to the same degree as Soundwave), making him sound sinister and emotionless. However, he does sometimes yell.
Dark Lord on Life Support: After crashing onto Earth, he's stuck as a disembodied head and is forced to trick Isaac Sumdac into building him a new body.
Deadpan Snarker: Occasionally. One of the most notable examples is in "The Elite Guard", where he refutes Isaac Sumdac's hopes of the Autobots eventually rescuing him by snarkily pointing out how unlikely it would be for the Autobots to trust Professor Sumdac because of his hand in reviving Megatron.
Megatron: [to Starscream] And to think, you actually believed you could take over as leader of the Decepticons. You couldn't lead a parade.
The Dreaded: He is so feared that there are even rumors that he eats protoforms for breakfast.
Establishing Character Moment: While he had already got a good deal of screentime, one of the defining moments for his character occurred in the Season 1 finale; having just come back online and aware that Starscream played a key role in his original demise, the very first thing he does is outright kill Starscream ^note it doesn't last. . This shows that, unlike previous incarnations, this Megatron is not so forgiving of treachery.
Even Evil Has Standards:
- When addressing Swindle, he remarks with disdain that the latter would do anything for profit, including selling out his own motherboard.
- Compared to the reputation the Autobot High command has (especially Sentinel Prime) Megatron seems to have no reservations about partially-organic Cybertronians. That Blackarachnia was more willing to serve under him than the Elite Guard really says something.
- A comedic example: Even he is annoyed by Lugnut's intense loyalty.
Evil Brit: Speaks with a slight accent.
Evil Sounds Deep: Corey Burton took inspiration from Tim Curry, Christopher Lee, and John Hurt.
False Friend: Paints himself as a friend of the Autobots and an ally of humanity during his time trapped in Professor Sumdac's lab.
Faux Affably Evil: He's charismatic and polite, but at the end of the day he's just a ruthless, power-hungry megalomaniac.
From Nobody to Nightmare: Very little is given about his background in the series, and the Complete AllSpark Almanac doesn't give much, but it does indicate he wasn't nearly as infamous before he overthrew the original Decepticon leader, Megazarak.
A Glass of Chianti: Parodied. Megatron takes time out of his villainous scheming to create his own personal blend of motor oil to drink. He even has an oil drum he's crushed into the shape of a wine goblet to indulge with.
Hey, You!: Viewing Team Optimus as below him, he never bothers to learn their names until it turns out Bulkhead is a space bridge technician at the end of Season 2 and Optimus gets on his level at the end of Season 3.
Megatron: You're a persistent little Autobot.
Optimus: My name is OPTIMUS PRIME!
[later]
Megatron: If I cannot save my clones, I will at least have the satisfaction of destroying you, Optimus Prime!
Optimus: So you can remember my name.
Hidden Depths:
- It's also shown that he has trust issues following Starscream's betrayal. When he saw Lugnut and Blitzwing arrive on Earth, he was initially hesitant to contact them because he wasn't certain of their current loyalties. This likely influenced his decision to have the Omega Supreme clones be modeled after the doggedly loyal Lugnut instead of himself because he knew that if the clones were as ambitious as he is, they would turn against him.
- "Rise of the Construcicons" shows that he's something of an oil connoisseur, having personally brewed his own unique batch of motor oil for his own consumption, something that he exploits when bribing the Constructicons to his side.
Hostile Terraforming: In the Season 4 premiere, he and his 'Cons would've detached the city of Kaon from Cybertron and landed it smack-dab in the middle of Lake Erie. At the end of the season, they would then go on to try to turn the rest of Earth into their own personal Cybertron, but the Autobots and company would've put a stop to it.
Knight of Cerebus: Megatron may be a pretty charming villain, but he is still, along with Lockdown, the most depraved Decepticon in the series with barely anything comedic about him. Justly feared, willing to sacrifice billions of lives, even his own men, for his mad ambitions, his very rebirth and return to power itself permanently darkened the tone of the show.
Knight Templar: Claims to be a freedom fighter for the Decepticons aiming to bring an age of glory by conquering Cybertron with force. He's willing to wage destructive wars that cause great deals of death and destruction, raze the Earth, annihilate an entire human city, orchestrate destructive attacks across the cosmos, and (as tie-in materials reveal) bomb civilian areas and detonate cosmic rust weapons that wiped out entire battlefields with his own men, in name of his warped ideal of freeing Cybertron from Autobot "oppression" and corruption via uniting it under his totalitarian banner.
Large and in Charge: Downplayed. He's huge, but not the hugest; he's got soldiers bigger than him like Lugnut and Blackout.
Lightning Bruiser: Has incredible strength and speed.
Losing Your Head: When falling through the Earth's atmosphere, his head was severed from the rest of his body and crash-landed separately. It's reconnected in the Season 1 Finale.
Made of Iron: He survives getting blown up on three separate occasions. The first was the bomb Starscream planted on him, the second time was when the All-Spark went out of control and blew up in his face, and the third was when he gets caught in the explosion caused by the Lugnut clone self-destructing.
Manipulative Bastard: Can play people like a fiddle, including Professor Sumac, the Constructicons, his troops...
Moral Myopia: He's outraged when he learns of Starscream's treacherous attempt to kill him and usurp his role... even though he became leader of the Decepticons when he overthrew his predecessor.
Mythology Gag:
- His Triple Changer robot mode appearance looks to be based on Beast Machines Megatron.
- It's claimed by Cyclonus that he'll he'll become Galvatron and kill Oil Slick.
No-Nonsense Nemesis: Unlike many other versions of himself, this Megatron doesn't mess around when fighting the Autobots or dealing with the treacherous Starscream, defeating his foes as quickly as possible, and going for the kill against Starscream without giving him any other chance to backstab him again.
Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: As much as Megatron talks about liberating the Decepticons from Autobot oppression, his main goal is, as in most other incarnations, the conquest of Cybertron, with tie-in materials even revealing he sacrificed many of them to win in his power-hungry ambitions, and in the series finale, admits his power-hungry personality will cause problems as the Omega Supreme clones will turn against him thanks to this if he was used as a template, essentially establishing who Megatron really is underneath all the grand speeches.
Omnicidal Maniac: Became one in the Season 1 finale when he outright says he wants to lay waste to Earth before conquering Cybertron upon merging with the Allspark. If any doubts about this are present, had the show continued, he definitely would be one when he outright would've tried to destroy Earth in what would've been the Season 4 finale.
Only Sane Man: When teamed up with Lugnut and Blitzwing as a villainous Power Trio.
Oracular Head: Season 1, following the destruction of his body in the pilot. He gets a new one in the season finale.
Orcus on His Throne: During season 2, his space bridge project keeps him too busy to go out. Unless it involves Starscream.
Pet the Dog: While Lugnut's sycophantic behavior often gets on his nerves, Megatron nonetheless values his Undying Loyalty, to the point he realizes Omega Sentinel clones being imprinted onto Lugnut rather than himself is a much better choice as they'll likewise be loyal to him, reasoning that if they imprinted upon his own power-hungry mind pattern, they'd try to overthrow him.
Pragmatic Villainy: While Megatron does show mercy to those who are not Autobots or Starscream, these moments are motivated by pragmatism rather than compassion. For example, he stops Lugnut and Blitzwing from killing the Constructicons, not out of kindness but because he sees their skill at building objects as a useful asset. And when they later confront him about duping them, he opts to bribe them with his personal brew of motor oil rather than kill them.
Psychotic Smirk: Does this frequently.
Rank Scales with Asskicking: Even his larger, more powerful subjects bow down to him with little hesitation.
Reimagining the Artifact: His vehicle is a reimagining of his G1 incarnation's gun mode, being an attack helicopter — or a gunship.
Sealed Evil in a Can: For most of season 1, he's just a head locked up in Sumdac's secret lab waiting for a new body.
Shoulders of Doom: In his Cybertronian body; his Earth form replaced them with Vertical Mecha Fins.
Shrouded in Myth: At least by the time of the present day, if Bumblebee's crazy stories in the pilot about him are any suggestion.
The Starscream: Ironically became leader of the Decepticons by overthrowing their founder, Megazarak, per invokedWord of God. Unlike the trope namer, Megatron actually had the cunning to pull it off and became a greater threat than his predecessor could ever hope to be.
The Stoic: For the most part, he's not as emotional or expressive as the other Decepticons.
- Not So Stoic: See Villainous Breakdown.
Surrounded by Idiots: Among his Earth soldiers, we've got The Starscream, a Sycophantic Servant, and a triple-changing Mood-Swinger. That's not even getting into the Constructicons, Blackarachnia and various others. The only really reliable underling he has is Shockwave.
Taking You with Me: He tries to pull this on Optimus in Endgame ^note They both survive regardless . This is a stark contrast from the beginning of the series, where he saw the Autobot as beneath him, and shows Optimus' development into a true hero and thus a Worthy Opponent for Megatron.
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: He and Starscream have worked together for years, but the two utterly loathe each other and bicker constantly. When the two are stranded in deep space at the end of Season 2, Megatron regards having to listen to Starscream’s talk and stare at his face for eternity as a Fate Worse than Death.
Ungrateful Bastard:
- Sumdac spent almost a year trying to repair him and was nothing but respectful and kind while doing so. Yet not only does Megatron sabotage his inventions more than once in order to destroy the Autobots, he says he hated all of their interactions, takes Sumdac as a hostage as soon as he gets his body back, and forces him to work for the Decepticons, all the while being as openly callous and disrespectful as possible. This might have something to do with the fact that Sumdac built his entire empire from Megatron's salvaged remains while he was offline all those years, which he saw as a massive insult.
- In A Bridge Too Close, Optimus saves him from being blasted by Starscream; Megatron repays him by using the Autobot as a Human Shield against a subsequent attack by Ramjet.
Villainous Breakdown: Megatron spends much of the series very composed and rarely ever loses his temper. Come "Endgame", where his plans are yet again thwarted by the same band of second-rate Autobots that have been a persistent thorn in his side, and Megatron completely drops all pretense and settles for just destroying everything in sight.
Megatron: DESTROY ANYTHING THAT'S NOT ME!
Villainous Cheekbones: He has these because of his face being rather angular.
Walking Armory: Quite a few.
- Arm Cannon: He has an arm cannon on his arm.
- BFG: As always, his iconic Fusion Cannon.
- Cool Swords
- Dual Wielding: He uses two swords.
Wicked Cultured: He's the vicious leader of the Decepticons, but he's also an oil connoisseur, even brewing his own blends!
- Hilariously, his delicious oil blends help him connect with and recruit the Lower-Class Lout Contructicons to his cause.
Worf Had the Flu: While he lost his first fight with the Autobots, it was because Starscream secretly planted an explosive device on his back, leaving him badly damaged and without his fusion cannon. Decades later, he gets an opportunity for a rematch and handily wins. The only reason he didn't kill the Autobots then and there was because he decided to get rid of Starscream first and they took the opportunity to make themselves scarce.
Worthy Opponent: He's alarmed when he believes Ultra Magnus has come to fight him in the Grand Finale. By the end of the episode, he regards Optimus Prime as this after he's stood in the way of his plans for far too long and too stubbornly by just mentioning his name, considering he normally refuses to say any Autobots' name.
Megatron: If I cannot save my clones, then at least I'll have the satisfaction of destroying you, Optimus Prime!
Optimus Prime: So you can remember my name.
Xanatos Speed Chess: One of his greatest strengths is his ability to turn unexpected developments to his advantage. The Dinobots get sparks? Convince them that "car robots" are their enemies. Soundwave develops self-awareness, making him unsuitable as a new body? Persuade him to lead a machine uprising against the humans and Autobots and join the Decepticon cause.

Starscream

"YES! Right then, solemn face, solemn face..."

Voiced by: Tom Kenny (English) Jin Yamanoi (Japanese)

"Don't try to deceive a Decepticon, Autobot! We are the masters of deception!"

Starscream is an actual threat to the Autobots this time around, capable of flooring even Ultra Magnus with a close enough shot, but he has about as much chance of winning a fair fight with Megatron as his G1 self. Of course, being Starscream, a fair fight is generally the last thing on his mind.

Adaptational Badass: He's not as competent a leader as he thinks he is, but he's still a powerful fighter in comparison to some other Starscreams. While still a Butt-Monkey, getting an AllSpark fragment makes him much more resilient, and he's genuinely able to act as a threat on his own to both the Autobots and Megatron.
Adaptational Dye-Job: Sports a Gray, Magenta, and Dark Purple deco as opposed to G1 Screamer's White, Red, and Blue. Oddly this makes him look more like Skywarp.
Back from the Dead: Megatron slags him in the last episode of season one, but an AllSpark fragment lands on his head a few episodes into season two and keeps bringing him back to life no matter what happens to him. At least, until Prowl and Jazz removed it.
Big Bad Wannabe: He wants to take over as leader of the Decepticons, but his attempts at getting Megatron out of the picture never work out.
Butt-Monkey: From season 2 onwards, he becomes a Butt Monkey in this series. It starts with the famous "Starscream Death Montage" with Megatron killing him over and over again (with the Allspark fragment on his head being the only thing keeping him alive). All of his plans always fail and in the finale in which may be his Crowning Moment of Butt Monkery, his clones (with one heavily implied to represent his self-loathing) betray him for Megatron. He spends the majority of season three as a disembodied head trapped with Megatron aboard Omega Supreme, and just when he finally gets a new body, Megatron blasts him (He recovers). And in the finale, The AllSpark fragment that was keeping him alive is pulled out, thus killing him. And if you count the comic adaptation as canon, he gets humiliated and blackmailed by Professor Princess. One can't help but feel a bit sorry for him.
Card-Carrying Villain: Says "You Autobots and your pathetic heroics" at one point.
Catchphrase Insult: Fool!
Character Death: After numerous fake-outs, he dies for real in the series finale when Prowl and Jazz, using processor-over-matter, yank the AllSpark fragment out of his head; to emphasize that he's really dead, the last shot we see of him is his greyed, offline body.
The Chew Toy: This is pretty much what his role amounts to from the second season on, taking all kinds of abuse that gets Played for Laughs.
Composite Character: While in most versions they are completely separate characters, Dirge, Ramjet, Skywarp, Sunstorm, Thundercracker, and Thrust are each aspects of Starscream's personality given form in a clone body.
Deconstructed Character Archetype: Of the very one he inspired. Unlike his other iterations, this Starscream is so blatant in his scheming that he's never once able to re-intergrate with the Decepticons after proving his disloyalty to Megatron with his every plot meeting with failure after failure from then on, keeping him an outcast throughout the series with him only continuing to function due to having a piece of the AllSpark lodged in his head rendering him immortal.
Determinator: No matter how often he fails to overthrow Megatron, he never gives up.
Dies Wide Open: He meets his end with his eyes open when he has his AllSpark fragment yanked out during the series finale.
The Dragon: He started out as Megatron's second-in-command, but he spends pretty much the entirety of the series attempting to turn against him.
Easily Forgiven: Averted. In a shift from their classic dynamic, Megatron is completely intolerant and unforgiving of Starscream's treachery. He spends the majority of the series exiled from the Decepticons as a result, and indeed only survives his leader's initial retribution due to the Resurrective Immortality granted by the AllSpark fragment in his head. Any time he ended up bumping into Megatron afterwards, the Decepticon tried to put him down, and only used him in instances where he would further his plans. After that...
Evil Gloating: To the point where he was furious when he was once interrupted.
Evil Laugh: As a heavy contrast to Megatron, he has a tendency to do this.
Faux Affably Evil: He's charismatic and he knows it, but it's obvious he only ever does it to earn favor so he can manipulate others or stab them in the back, usually both.
Gasp of Life: After Megatron kills him for the umpteenth time and he's brought back to life (again) by the AllSpark fragment, Starscream gasps for air and tiredly admits that he might just need a new approach.
Good Thing You Can Heal: He starts taking a lot more punishment after becoming immortal (see above).
Hero Killer: Was responsible for the destruction of Theta Supreme.
Immortality Inducer: His AllSpark fragment enables him to come back every time he's killed.
Iron Butt Monkey: Because of his Resurrective Immortality, he takes a lot of fatal abuse, but he always comes back. Well, until the final episode.
Large Ham: His ego is as big as the volume of his voice.
Laughably Evil: He's a dangerous threat, but his over-the-top egotism, cowardice, and the frequent humiliations he undergoes make him quite funny.
Losing Your Head: The end of Season 2. Lasts until the Grand Finale.
Me's a Crowd: He eventually starts making clones of himself.
Mythology Gag: G1 Starscream had an indestructible spark. This incarnation of the character also has a form of immortality.
No Indoor Voice: "YOU INTERRUPTED MY SPEEEEECH!"
Not-So-Harmless Villain: He's nowhere near as much of a threat as Megatron, and his bad luck in actually pulling off his coups and general eccentricities might make one think Starscream is harmless. However, Starscream is still a dangerous threat to anyone who isn't Megatron, comes very close to winning multiple times, snd gleefully takes pride in causing as much collateral damage as he can.
Overshadowed by Awesome: Starscream is enough of a threat to give the Autobots a hard time... when Megatron's not around, that is.
Psychotic Smirk: He's constantly grinning slightly.
Resurrective Immortality: As long as he keeps the AllSpark fragment in his head, he'll quickly revive after every death.
Shout-Out: In his transformation sequence, there's a part where his legs are in robot mode while the upper half of his body is still a jet, referencing the gerwalk mode from Macross (specifically the YF-19 Alpha One from Macross Plus, as both are based on the Russian Su-47 Berkut).
Smug Snake: He thinks he's better than everyone else and makes it clear in the loudest way possible. While he is competent, he's also nowhere near Megatron's level and terrible about keeping allies.
The Starscream: Obviously, but with a twist. Though Starscream's main goal is to usurp Megatron's position as leader of the Decepticons, he was under Megatron's command only once, at the beginning of the series. After Megatron discovers his subordinate's treachery, he permanently exiles Starscream from the Decepticon ranks when his attempts to execute his former second-in-command fail. Thus, Starscream has his own faction he commands and the only time he and Megatron would work together is through an Enemy Mine situation.
Starter Villain Stays: He's the first Decepticon the Autobot team battles with on Earth and remains a consistent enemy to them even as his threat diminishes when Megatron becomes an active player.
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: As per usual, he and Megatron hate each other despite having worked together for years. Even putting aside Starscream's betrayals and constant attempts to kill Megatron and Megatron’s attempts to kill him for his treachery, the two snipe at each other constantly.
They Killed Kenny Again: Behold: The Starscream Death Montage. His voice actor's last name is even the same as the Trope Namer's first.
Thin Chin of Sin
Undignified Death: His final death was a complete accident, having his AllSpark fragment being pulled out of his forehead with Prowl and Jazz completely unaware of his presence. He's last seen falling with his scream slowly dying down like the volume is being decreased before hitting the ground. We don't even know if the Autobots even found his body afterward. Word of God does state had the series continued, he would have been revived by another fragment.invoked

Lugnut

"Megatron cannot be stopped! Megatron is EVERYWHERE!"

Voiced by: David Kaye (English) Kentarō Itō (Japanese)

Lugnut: Stasis lock itself could not deter me from your grand and glorious plan, oh wise and noble Megatron!

Megatron: Just... go.

A powerful Decepticon and former gladiator, Lugnut is extremely and utterly devoted to Megatron. During the Grand Finale, he becomes the imprint for Megatron's Omega Sentinel clones, transforming them into a trio of Lugnut Supremes.

Battle Butler: A very powerful and devoted minion of Megatron.
The Brute: He and Blitzwing were the muscle of Megatron's crew. After Starscream's treachery was uncovered, Lugnut and Blitzwing upgraded to Co-Dragons.
Canon Emigrant: Has gotten a toy in the 2010 Transformers toyline, and later made a few appearances in the IDW G1 comics as well as the Aligned continuity.
Canon Foreigner: He was created for Animated.
Casting Gag: His entire personality revolves around his loyalty to Megatron, and he’s voiced by David Kaye, who voiced Megatron himself in the Unicron Trilogy, as well as another purple Cybertronian obsessed with (and named after) Megatron in Beast Wars and Beast Machines.
Character Shilling: He's Megatron's no. 1 fanboy, to the point it actually annoys him:
Lugnut: Stasis lock itself could not deter me from your grand and glorious plan, oh wise and noble Megatron!
Megatron: (Left optic twitches) Just go.
Co-Dragons: Once Starscream is ousted, Lugnut and Blitzwing shared his position in Season Two. In Season Three, he ends up sharing the role with Shockwave; they literally fought for this role, but Megatron found them both to be equally useful.
The Comically Serious: He's the straight man to Blitzwing (which isn't saying much), but a few moments shine.
(after finding Megatron) Lugnut: Oh master! I am not worthy! I am not worthy! *beat* What happened to your body??
Megatron: Long story.
Crazy Jealous Guy: Platonic example. After Shockwave rejoins the main Decepticon crew, Lugnut becomes angry when Starscream insinuates that Shockwave is Megatron's new favorite henchman.
Dumb Muscle: He's very strong, but his blind devotion to Megatron doesn't do his competence any favors.
Even Evil Has Standards: Lugnut hates Lockdown, seeing the mercenary as "a disgrace" to the Decepticons.
Evil Sounds Deep: He has a very deep and booming voice.
Explosive Punch: Lugnut's Punch Of Kill Everything causes a huge explosion when it connects, but it has a tendency to backfire when triggered prematurely.
Blitzwing: If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times: GIVE ME SOME WARNING BEFORE YOU USE ZE PUNCH!
Expy: Of Scorponok from Beast Wars. His relationship with Blitzwing is also similar to that of Rattrap and Dinobot.
Extra Eyes: He resembles a Cyber Cyclops, but those red dots on the side of his head are also eyes, so he actually has five eyes.
Fantastic Racism: Against humans. In Megatron Rising Part 1, he refers to Professor Sumdac as “human scum”.
Foil: Serves as a foil of sorts to several characters.
- Starscream: Starscream's legendary treachery makes a big contrast to Lugnut's Undying Loyalty.
- Bulkhead: They're both the biggest, strongest and least intelligent members of their respective teams, but where Bulkhead is a Gentle Giant with Hidden Depths, Lugnut is a destructive brute with no depths seen.
- Shockwave: They're both devoted to Megatron (and have been known to brawl over who's the most loyal) but while Lugnut is dumb as a rock, Shockwave is loyal but smart.
Ground Punch: Lugnut often uses his Punch Of Kill Everything in this manner, leaving enormous craters and devastating any Autobots (and unfortunate Decepticons) who happen to be nearby.
- This can be turned against him, however. The trigger on the POKE is a Big Red Button on top that's highly sensitive. In "Megatron Rising, Part 2", Lugnut tries using the POKE against Bulkhead, but the Autobot is able to use his flail to push the button, sending Lugnut flying. In "Garbage In, Garbage Out", Wreck-Gar misinterprets Lugnut's threatening to Ratchet as the universal greeting... which in this continuity, ends in a high five.
Hero Killer: Was responsible for the destruction of Iota Supreme.
Hidden Depths: He displays some considerably competent leadership abilities during "Decepticon Air", and several other times he's shown to be rather cunning.
Honor Before Reason: He makes it clear that he would rather fight and die than hide, and has to be ordered into assuming a disguise from Megatron.
Lugnut: "I will not hide! I will stand proudly and shout Megatron's name to the HEAVENS!"
Implacable Man: He's very hard to get rid of or bring down.
Large Ham: Especially when he starts praising "The great and GLORIOUS Megatron!".
Lightning Bruiser: Surprisingly fast as well as incredibly strong.
Minion Shipping: With Strika, although this is only mentioned in secondary material.
Pet the Dog: He is surprisingly amiable with Wreck-Gar who he mistakes for another Decepticon, and aggressively defends the garbage bot when Ratchet yells at him.
Lugnut: "That is no way to address a loyal servant of the great and wise Megatron!"
Power Fist: His Punch Of Kill Everything- it does exactly what you'd expect. The Autobots run like the wind whenever he uses it. The only character to take the brunt of it and live is Wreck-Gar.
Rocket-Powered Weapon: He can turn his hand into a bomb and use a jet engine on his arm to punch things really hard.
Smarter Than You Look: Lugnut has often shown signs he's smarter than he appears - he can be quite a clever fighter at times, makes the occasional logical observation (for instance, that Issac Sumdac shouldn't be left with only the easily-swayed Constructicons) and in "Decepticon Air", he manages to lead the escapee Decepticons quite competently.
Stuff Blowing Up: He has perfected the art of making things explode. Behold! The P.O.K.E!
Sycophantic Servant: To the point where even the Grand and GLORIOUS Megatron gets tired of the praise.
Those Two Guys: With Blitzwing. The two of them are usually seen together.
Undying Loyalty: Taken to the extreme with his loyalty to Megatron. He practically makes religious sermons about his great and GLORIOUS leader. To the point that in the "The Trial of Megatron" reading, when Megatron is throwing a bunch of 'Cons into the Trypticon core to keep it powered, Lugnut willingly throws himself in, (possibly) killing himself.
Vitriolic Best Buds: With Blitzwing, the two often bicker and sometimes even fight with Lugnut sometimes hitting Blitzwing when he's annoyed by Random's antics, but until Blitzwing's capture at the end of "Decepticon Air" the two are almost always seen together and Lugnut shows apologetic signs after he punched Blitzwing by mistake in "Lost and Found".
Vocal Evolution: His voice changes after his first episode.
Yes-Man: He's always agreeing with Megatron's ideas.

Blitzwing

Voiced by: Bumper Robinson (English) Yuichi Nagashima (Japanese)

(Hothead): AUTOBOTS! I WILL CRUSH THEM INTO IRON FILINGS!

(Icy): But my orders are to retrieve the Constructicons...

(Random): Oooh, but I like iron filings! Especially sprinkled on top of servo salad!

At first glance, Blitzwing seems to be a stoic, no-nonsense Decepticon. However, he is a master Mood-Swinger, able to change from stoic to anger to insanity depending on his mood.

Accent Adaptation: In the Japanese dub, Blitzwing has an American accent instead of a German one. His Icy persona speaks with a stereotypically polite accent sounding out words slowly, always using the bland but respectful "-masu" form and ending nearly every sentence with a proper "desu", while Hothead speaks in a much gruffer and ruder way, spouting English words and phrases such as "Hey!", "Now" and ends practically every sentence with "Man!" Averted with his Random personality, who loses the accent.
Adaptation Personality Change: Only the Hothead personality is based off of a previous version of Blitzwing (specifically, his G1 toy bio that describes him as a raging Jerkass), with his Split Personality aspect and the two extra personalities being original to Animated.
Affably Evil: Well, a two-thirds case of this trope. Icy is coolly polite, while Random is cheerful and friendly, though neither is a "good" personality. Averted with Hothead, who's a bad-tempered asshole.
The Ahnold: Hothead, to a degree, resembles Schwarzenegger and has a similar accent.
- Icy, meanwhile, would be "The Colonel Klink".
- While Random is, well, Random.
The Brute: Hothead fits the bill best, but he and Lugnut shared the role until Starscream was shown the door for his treachery.
Bullying a Dragon: Hothead thought it'd be a good idea to get up in Omega Supreme's face with threats he could not back up.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Despite his insanity and unpredictable personality swings, Blitzwing remains a very powerful Decepticon, and is a competent and cunning individual most of the time having outmatched the Autobots many times, gotten the idea to recruit the Constructicons into the Decepticons' side and is the one who got Sari's key to rebuild Megatron for example.
Captain Obvious: "Curious, my electrical systems have gone offline. Which means... I'M FALLING! WHOA-HOHOHOHOHOHO-A!"
Cloudcuckoolander: Random is completely nuts and always says something absurd when Blitzwing switches to his face.
Canon Immigrant: This version would influence later versions of Blitzwing. His three faces were implemented onto a Thrilling 30 version of Generation One Blitzwing, while his "Random" face was used on a toy of the movie version of the character. While Blitzwing in Transformers: Devastation had fire and ice powers in a nod to this version.
Driven to Madness: According to All There in the Manual plans for Season 4, it would've been explained that Blitzwing is a Mood-Swinger due to the experimentation by Blackarachnia that turned him into a Triple-Changer.
Early Installment Character-Design Difference: Compared to how the other Cybertronian designs are more or less the same robot designs but with slightly different vehicle parts, Blitzwing had spikes on his shoulders and didn't have the large, square weapon pack on his back (His weapons just came out from his back). His wings were also smaller.
Elemental Powers: Two out of three of his personalites have one.
- An Ice Person: Icy has ice weapons.
- Playing with Fire: Hothead has fire powers.
Freudian Trio: His personalities are this.
- The Kirk: Random, albeit an insane version.
- The McCoy: Hothead.
- The Spock: Icy.
Fantastic Racism: Against organic creatures, and techno-organic creatures due to them being part organic. In the pilot episode, he claims that Blackarachnia’s organic side is very unpleasant.
Fearless Fool / Too Dumb to Live: As mentioned above next to “Bullying A Dragon”, Hothead once picked a fight with Omega Supreme, despite the fact that Omega is so big he makes Blitzwing look like an insect.
Giggling Villain: Random is constantly laughing.
Goggles Do Nothing: He has goggles on his helmet that are never used.
Hair-Trigger Temper: Say anything that sets him off and he'll switch to Hothead.
Hero Killer: Was responsible for the destruction of Kappa Supreme.
High-Class Glass: Icy has the appearance of this thanks to one of his optic sensors being big and round like a monocle.
Hot-Blooded: Hothead is very passionate and ill-tempered.
Jerkass: "Hothead" is a lot more aggressive and confrontational than Blitzwing's other two faces.
Lantern Jaw Of Injustice: Hothead's got the only chin in the universe that can compete with Sentinel Prime's.
Large Ham: Hothead and Random are always yelling at the top of their vocal processor.
Laughably Evil: "Random" is very humorous due to how insane and wacky he is.
Macross Missile Massacre: He often fires a barrage of missiles.
Manipulative Bastard: Upon meeting Mixmaster and Scrapper he is quick to manipulate them into taking materials that he and Lugnut had stolen, and to work for the Decepticons.
Mood-Swinger: Thanks to being turned into a Triple-Changer by Blackarachnia.
Multiple Head Case: Technically only one head with three interchangable faces, each with its' own personality and temperament.
Mythology Gag: Blitzwing's face changing to match his mood can be seen as a nod to Overcharge, which are ambiguous Blitzwing clones created by the G1 Quintessons (either that, or G1 Blitzwing was some kind of defective Overcharge; again, ambiguous). G1 Quintesson 'Judges' are notable for having five faces that they rotate through when making decisions, making it look like they're arguing with themselves, and imposing a similar trait on one of their close creations is within their nature in a hypothetical where Animated Blitzwing is their product.
No Indoor Voice: Hothead almost never talks without shouting.
Perpetual Frowner: Icy and Hothead are constantly frowning.
Perpetual Smiler: Random always has a psychotic smile on his face.
Personality Powers: Icy and Hothead are ice/jet and fire/tank respectively, while his Random persona can use both. His big weakness is that it's involuntary - if you can get him to, say, switch from Icy to Hothead when he's in jet mode, he'll have no choice but to turn into a tank while still in midair.
Pragmatic Villainy: Unlike Lugnut, he has no issues working with Lockdown, knowing the hunting skills of the bounty hunter, prefers to avoid confrontations with human policemen, as he wanted to know their numbers and strength before a fight, and quickly recognizes the usefulness of the Constructicons just after meeting them.
Put on a Prison Bus: He's brought to Cybertron as a prisoner at the end of Decepticon Air, and consequently is absent in the Grand Finale, unlike the rest of the Decepticon main cast.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: The passionately aggressive Hothead is the red to the stoic Icy's blue. They are even literally red and blue respectively.
Shoulder Cannons: He has cannons in his shoulders.
Slasher Smile: Random's default expression is a manic grin.
Split Mind, Split Powers: Icy has ice powers and transforms into a fighter jet, Hothead has fire powers and turns into a tank, while Random has both powers and transformations. In a deconstruction of this trope, one of his weaknesses is that since his abilities are locked to specific personalities, he can be defeated by tricking him into switching personalities even if the other's would be more useful.
Split Personality: Blitzwing has a shattered mind that came about when he was experimented on and became a Triple Changer. His most prominent personality has a blue face with a monocle, who is often quiet, analytical and speaks calmly with a hint of disdain towards others. His other more prominent one is the red-faced one with a visor, who often acts out of control and lashes out recklessly. His third, less seen personality has a face resembling a jack-o'-lantern, and is completely insane, usually interrupting the other two to add some kind of random or obscene comment before laughing like a maniac. This is reflected in his abilities; when the Icy personality is in control he has ice blasts and uses his jet mode, while the Hothead personality prefers flamethrowers and the tank mode. The Random personality (the one who decided to have both modes in the first place) can use both sets of abilities, but is usually too unstable to use them to any meaningful effect.
The Stoic: Icy is a lot less emotional than Hothead and Random.
Take a Third Option: In "Lost and Found", when Icy and Hothead can't decide on which alternate form to scan (fighter jet versus assault tank) Random suggests they just scan both.
Tank Goodness: Transforms into a tank as one of his altmodes.
Those Two Guys: With Lugnut. The two of them are usually seen together.
Tricking the Shapeshifter: Several times Blitzwing is tricked into switching to his tank mode while still in mid-flight in jet mode, sending him plummeting to the ground.
Vitriolic Best Buds: With Lugnut, the two often bicker and fight, and Blitzwing is generally annoyed by Lugnut's obsessive loyalty to Megatron and only follows him reluctantly, but the two are rarely seen without each other and Blitzwing still follows Lugnut's lead no matter how much it annoys him.
With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: invokedWord of God is that he was "different" before becoming a triple-changer.
- The AllSpark Almanac elaborated further: Blackarachnia experimented on him and made him a triple-changer. He may have been different before, but that had to have pushed him over the edge.

Blackarachnia

Elita-One / Blackarachnia

Click ^here to see her as Elita-One.

Voiced by: Cree Summer (English) Ryōka Yuzuki (Japanese)

"It'll be a long time before I ever trust another Autobot. Especially you, Optimus."

Formerly Elita-1 — Optimus and Sentinel's best friend — Blackarachnia joined up with the Decepticons to find a cure for her cursed techno-organic form. Though she uses her spider abilities to her advantage, she can't stand her hideous appearance and is desperate for a cure. She tends to use her beauty to seduce those around her to get what she wants — just... don't look under the helmet. She's currently stuck in an unknown jungle with Waspinator.

Abandonment-Induced Animosity: She's very bitter at her former close friend Optimus, because he made the tough choice to abandon her to her seeming death in the exploding Decepticon warship in order to get himself and Sentinel out of mortal harm's way, just before she mutated into her current techno-organic state. She makes it clear in "Predacons Rising" that she equally extends the same resentment and animosity to Sentinel (who's implied to have been her boyfriend before her seeming death), and that she blames both him and Optimus for her hated techno-organic condition which forced her to abandon her old life entirely, since them abandoning her forced her to face the giant spiders alone and accidentally mutate herself with their DNA.
Adaptational Origin Connection: The original Blackarachnia was a Maximal protoform transformed into a Predacon for a time before she made a Heel–Face Turn, with no connection to Optimus Prime other than learning of Beast Wars Megatron's plot to kill him (and later working with Prime's descendant, Optimus Primal). Here, she and Prime were both cadets at the Autobot Academy, and have an implied romantic past.
- Additionally, had there been a fourth season, her connection to the Predacons would have changed from being forced into the faction, to founding the entire faction.
Adaptational Villainy: Beast Wars Blackarachnia had a Heel–Face Turn because of Love Redeems, and wasn't evil by her own choice as she was the result of the Predacons tampering with a Maximal protoform. Animated Blackarachnia was an Autobot cadet who had much more agency over her Face–Heel Turn even if it was still brought about by tragic circumstances, she's quite unstable underneath the surface, and she's done some undeniably vile and evil things.
Advertised Extra: Despite her importance to Optimus and Sentinel's backstory, and receiving top billing, she’s a recurring character at best and only shows up one time each in Seasons 2 & 3. In particular, her sometimes minions The Dinobots appear much more than her and by Season 3, she’s officially demoted from the Decepticon main cast in favor of Shockwave.
Alternate Character Interpretation: In-universe. After being transwarped by Waspinator's explosion by containing it, Optimus thinks she did it as a Heroic Sacrifice to save the rest of them. Sentinel, on the other hand, thinks she did it to escape. We're not entirely sure either.
Ambiguous Situation: The last we see of her is being transwarped to a jungle area with giant wildlife from Earth, but it's unknown if she's still on Earth or a similar world. In this franchise, if it's a similar world, it usually turns out to indeed be Earth. All There in the Manual states that Blackarachnia and her Predacons would've stepped in to help the Autobots protect Earth at the end of Season 4, pointing towards her being on Earth since she would have little incentive to do so if she wasn't on Earth.
Anti-Villain: All she really wants is to be cured of her techno-organic form.
Arachnid Appearance and Attire: She has spider-like traits, even in robot mode.
Building Swing: She gets around by swinging on her webbing.
Combat Stilettos: Oddly, she only has these after becoming part-organic.
Composite Character: She's a combination of the original Blackarachnia from Beast Wars and Elita-One from The Transformers.
Corrupt the Cutie: Her transformation from Elita-1 after being mistakenly Left for Dead with the giant spiders. Also doubling as her Start of Darkness.
Dark Action Girl: She's a female villain and every bit as formidable as the other Decepticons.
Dark and Troubled Past: Elita used to be a promising Autobot Academy student and a friend of Optimus & Sentinel, but a reckless trip to find energon on a planet that was deemed off-limits by the Elite Guard due to its dangers led to her supposedly being killed in a freak accident. Optimus and Sentinel are forced to leave her for dead, and after attempting to use her downloading powers on the native giant spiders, she mutated into a techno-organic. Unable to return home, she chose to join the Decepticons.
Dating Catwoman: She and Prime have some sort of romantic tension, but while both hold regrets over what might have been, neither of them seem willing to act on it, unlike the Trope Namer.
Distracted by the Sexy: She plays it up for the male bots.
Enemy Mine: How much she and the others consider each other "enemies" by then is currently unk nown, but she and her Predacons would've worked together with the Autobots to defend Earth from Megatron's invasion.
Everybody Has Standards: When Sentinel learns about her techno-organic state, being the xenophobe he is, he has more issues about it than she does, leading to her cutting him off and saying that it's bad, but not that bad. Considering Season 4 would've provided closure on her character arc, it's possible this was foreshadowing that she would come to terms with herself.
Sentinel: I just never knew, never imagined that something this... unspeakable could have happened to you. How can you even live like that?! It's horrible! It's disgusting!
Blackarachnia: Okay, okay, I get it! It's bad, but it's not that bad, alright?!
Sentinel: No. It's worse. You should have gone offline.
Face–Heel Turn: After being left behind by Optimus and Sentinel, she joined the Decepticons.
Fallen Hero: She used to be an Autobot before her transformation.
Fantastic Racism: Or a victim of such. She left the Autobots rather than risk being strapped to a lab table, and she’s disgusted that she’s part-organic.
- Also, a self-inflicted example: she can't stand being part-organic.
Faux Action Girl:
- Her evil schemes very often ended with her needing to be rescued as well as, or rather than, her victims.
- In The Arrival she defeats Lockdown... by playing possum and then stinging him with her cyber-venom once he's distracted.
Faux Affably Evil: In her first appearance, she initially tries to act like she's an adult that Sari can trust. She's just trying to manipulate her into handing over the Key.
Femme Fatale: She's very attractive and manipulates everyone to suit her own agenda.
The Friend Nobody Likes: Implied to be this among the Decepticons; Blitzwing at least expresses distaste for both her demeanor and her techno-organic status. Considering she never associates with the core Decepticons after The Pilot, the feeling's probably mutual.
The Friends Who Never Hang: Despite the opening billing her as a member of the Decepticons, she's never seen with them after the first episode and is always pursuing her own agenda.
Giant Spider: And unlike her Beast Wars version, her spider mode is the same size as the ones she gained it from.
I Am a Monster: Thanks to a combination of Cybertronian anti-organic prejudice, the trauma of her transformation and the fact she is kind of disfigured looking, she's really, really not happy about her present state.
I Choose to Stay: It is implied by information about Season 4 that she would've stayed with her Predacons and there is at least some closure with the bots she had ties with.
I Gave My Word: She pulls a Poison and Cure Gambit on Optimus's team to force him to do something for her. Optimus completes his end of the bargain, but everything else goes wrong. Despite rejecting Optimus's offer to help her again, she still leaves a cure for the poison behind, continuing to give evidence to Optimus that she could be redeemed one day.
Internalized Categorism: She hates being techno-organic and attempts to do whatever she can to get rid of her organic half.
I've Come Too Far: Implied. When Waspinator is about to explode, she rejects Optimus's help once again and contains the explosion while still inside, saying that she's going to have to leave him and Sentinel, implying that she believes it's too late for her to be saved.
Optimus: This time, we're not leaving without you!
Blackarachnia: This time, I am!
Mad Scientist: Not only regarding techno-organics; The AllSpark Almanac states that she rebuilt Blitzwing into a triple-changer sometime after the Great War.
Meaningful Name: Elita-1's name, at least. Received from Kup alongside Optimus and Sentinel in boot camp due to her snobby and "elitist" attitude.
Minor Major Character: Though she ended up not being a part of the main cast, she still plays a large role in the show's lore, including Optimus and Sentinel's Dark and Troubled Past that continues to have effects in the present day, being responsible for the creation of triple-changing (which Blitzwing, and had Season 4 come, Megatron, would use), and had Season 4 come, the creation of one or possibly two new (sub-?)factions formed by techno-organics she created.
Mythology Gag:
- Her Heel–Face Turn in Beast Wars was caused by her love for Silverbolt. A couple of times, it seems that her Ship Tease with Optimus would be the key to her redemption, but is actually just her being a Femme Fatale.
- In Season 4, her new design would've been based off of her first design in Beast Wars, having spent the rest of the show using a design based off of her Transmetal form from later in Beast Wars.
- Her head design as Elita-One is based off of Ariel, Elita's previous identity in Generation 1 before being reformatted. Meanwhile, the rest of her body is based off of Generation 1 Elita's body.
Never My Fault: Has elements of this in her attitude; Optimus may have been the one to assume she was dead and leave her behind, but it was (presumably) Sentinel's idea to go to Archa-Seven in the first place, and she was willing to go along in the first place — she and Sentinel convinced Optimus to come, not the other way around. There's also the little detail that she ended up being mutated because she ignored Optimus' warnings not to try and use her copying powers on organics.
Pet the Dog: Her Allspark Almanac II description of Waspinator implies that, even though she considers him an easily-manipulated glitch-head, she still somewhat cares about him since, as "techno-organic freaks", they have to stick together.
Power Copying: Her original special power was the ability to download and temporarily replicate the powers of other transformers. Trying to use this on Energon-infused alien spiders turned her into what she is now. She still has the power in her techno-organic form.
Primary-Color Champion: Elita was primarily yellow with blue, while Sentinel is blue with yellow and Optimus is red with blue. After her mutation, yellow (or gold, that is) is the only part of her color scheme that stays.
Redemption Rejection: Refuses to take Optimus's offers to help her if she stays, bitterly citing that it'll be a long time until she trusts Autobots again, especially Optimus. Season 4 information isn't clear if she ever does redeem herself.
Sealed Evil in a Can: "Black Friday" reveals she washed up on the shore of Dinobot Island after the Season 1 finale. Because of her organic nature, she can't simply swim back to the mainland. Prometheus Black's laboratory, however, gives her a reason to not want to leave. After the events of the episode, it was left unclear if she left, but "Predacons Rising" confirms that she did stay, and Optimus presumably knew and let her be.
Seductive Spider: Visually attractive (at least as long as she hides her Facial Horror underneath her helmet), and she had used her alluring looks to disorient and distract Optimus Prime before knocking him unconscious, and much later, she seduces insane Autobot fugitive Wasp into allowing himself to become her test subject for creating technorganic Transformers by turning him into Waspinator.
Ship Tease: With Optimus. Might just be a result of her being a Femme Fatale.
Stages of Monster Grief:
- Denial: Though it's pretty hard to pretend that she isn't techno-organic, she believes that once she gets rid of her organic half, everything will be fine and dandy, ignoring the fact that she's cut ties with everything from her past life, so she has nothing to return to.
- Driven to Suicide: Never explicitly stated, but Optimus implies that he thinks she performed a Heroic Sacrifice on Wasp at the end of "Predacons Rising" because she wanted to die.
- Defiance: She holds a grudge against Optimus, Sentinel, and the Autobots for not going back for her as well as the fact that they would've cut her up if they did go back for her.
- Acceptance: The extent of this is unknown, but from what we know of Season 4, she would've continued making Predacons, but instead of doing it for experimental purposes, it would be so that she had her own army. The intended series finale would've had her and her Predacons do an Enemy Mine with Team Prime, a possibility being that she got over her self-hatred and anger.
That Bot Is Dead: "It's Blackarachnia now!"
They Would Cut You Up: Considering Autobot attitudes towards organics, she probably has a point as to why she won't go back to them. Meltdown also attempts this on her, but Optimus stops him in time.
Tragic Villain: She used to be close friends with Optimus and Sentinel, but now she's a Decepticon who outright loathes the Autobots.
Two Girls to a Team: She and Strika are the only female Decepticons that were properly in the ranks. Though Blackarachnia later goes rogue, like Slipstream, who was never properly ranked.
What You Are in the Dark: Despite showing anger towards Optimus and Sentinel, when she's alone at the end of "Along Came A Spider" after her Redemption Rejection, she cries, with the Japanese dub adding her whispering "I'm sorry.", suggesting that she really does wish she could go back to the Autobots.
Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: She definitely deserves sympathy because of the trauma she's been through.
Would Hurt a Child: Doesn't care that using the Key on herself is harming every organic nearby, including Sari, and then proceeds to throw Sari off of a building in an attempt to distract Optimus. She later tries to hurt Sari again in the Season 1 finale.

Shockwave

Shockwave/Longarm Prime

^Click to see Autobot colors

^Click to see Longarm Prime

Voiced by: Corey Burton (English) Nobuyuki Hiyama (Japanese)

"That's the beauty of activation codes. They wipe clean of all that unpleasant morality."

Shockwave is a Decepticon spy taking on the form of Autobot Longarm Prime. When rumors of a spy were floating around Autoboot camp, Longarm secretly plotted for Wasp to take the fall, succeeding admirably. He later becomes leader of Cybertronian Intelligence and uses his position to spy for the Decepticons. He gloatingly reveals himself to Bumblebee in the season two finale, only for Megatron's space-bridge plan to fail, leaving him terrified of discovery. Shockwave eventually attacks and severely damages Ultra Magnus, stealing his hammer in the process.

Adaptational Badass: Shockwave's inclusion came from a conversation between Corey Burton and the creators of Animated about how Shockwave didn't get to do much in the original cartoon. As such, while this Shockwave appears less, he accomplishes far more, including taking down several prominent Autobots and dealing several hard blows after infiltrating their ranks, compared to how the original Shockwave would get clobbered every time the Autobots used the space bridge he was meant to guard.
Adaptational Late Appearance: He first appears in the second season episode "Autoboot Camp", when Generation 1 Shockwave was present in the Sunbow cartoon's three-part premiere episode "More Than Meets the Eye" and debuted in the Marvel comic at the end of the fourth issue.
Bait the Dog: Longarm seems like a Nice Guy, as the only one in the Autoboot camp besides Bulkhead who isn't a jerk to Bumblebee and is actively supportive of him. Then it turns out he's a Decepticon spy who assisted Bumblebee in arresting an innocent bot to draw suspicion away from himself.
BFG: His main weapon.
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Presents himself as a Nice Guy as Longarm and is an old pal of Bumblebee, and turns out to be a ruthless spy for the Decepticons.
Bond Villain Stupidity: When it seems that Team Optimus is defeated, Shockwave decides to rub it in Bumblebee and Bulkhead's faces by revealing that he had tricked them—he, as Longarm, was the real spy at their boot camp. It's thoroughly deconstructed after Team Optimus end up getting bailed out and, although communications between them and Cybertron are down, both sides are working on restoring them, making Shockwave increasingly paranoid over being discovered the moment that connections are re-established; putting him in a situation he could have avoided if he had just kept his mouth shut.
Canon Character All Along: He first appears as an Autobot named Longarm, who seems to be an original character created for the series (there have been Longarms before, but none of them resemble Animated Longarm), before it's revealed he's a Decepticon spy named Shockwave, who is an established character in Transformers.
Card-Carrying Villain: While on his way to kidnap Arcee in order to get access to the Project Supreme activation codes, he mocks to Ratchet that the heroic weapons the Autobots used to win the Great War will now fall into the hands of the Decepticons, but now "wiped clean of all that unpleasant morality".
Composite Character: His Double Agent gimmick and ability to transform into another identity is similar to G1 character Punch, just aligned with the Decepticons. His design also takes cues from both the original Shockwave and Transformers: Armada Megatron.
Co-Dragons: With Lugnut after Starscream is ousted. Shockwave's stint as a double agent makes him one of Megatron's most valuable lieutenants.
Cyber Cyclops: He even quotes HAL 9000 in season 3.
Deep Cover Agent: He disguises himself as an Autobot named Longarm to infiltrate the Autobots, eventually ascending to become a Prime at the head of the Autobots' Cybertron intel.
Even the Subtitler Is Stumped: The subtitles for "Autoboot Camp" claim his name is Chugway.
Everyone Has Standards: Implied. After learning that Arcee was a schoolteacher before the war, he says it regrettably, suggesting that he pities her for being a public servant turned into an espionage agent and casualty of war.
Evil Brit: Corey Burton uses the same David Warner impression that he used for Shockwave in the G1 cartoon.
Eviler Color Switch: He celebrates his reunion with Megatron by switching out of the gray colors he had throughout the series up to this point to an indigo color akin to his G1 colours.
Evil Genius: As always, he's one of Megatron's smarter and more cunning henchmen, with his biggest fests being his stint as a double agent on Cybertron, and rigging Lugnut to directly control the Omega Supreme clones in the series finale.
False Friend: To Bumblebee during their academy days.
Faux Affably Evil: Shockwave puts on the facade of a Reasonable Authority Figure and Nice Guy as Longarm, but it's all just a cover; in truth, he's cold, ruthless even by Decepticon standards, and has only contempt for his "old friend" Bumblebee.
Flat Character: When you get right down to it, there's actually very little to Shockwave as a character. His contributions to the story are unquestionable, yet his personality is quite lacking, especially compared to the other, more colourfully quirky Decepticons. All in all he's just a ruthless prick whose inexplicably loyal to Megatron, said Undying Loyalty a trait the more entertainingly bombastic Lugnut already had going for him.
Greater-Scope Villain: Of "Where Is Thy Sting?". He forces Wasp to play the main antagonist of said episode to keep the Earth Autobots busy with a Spot the Imposter situation and at the end escapes with Ultra Magnus's hammer after pounding Magnus to death with said hammer.
Have You Told Anyone Else?: Blurr hadn't told anyone on Cybertron that Shockwave was among the ranks of the Autobots, resulting in him nearly getting murdered. Though he survives and gets better, he's too late by the time he’s brought back, with Ultra Magnus being another victim of Shockwave.
Hero Killer: He nearly killed Blurr (who actually survived being crushed), and had the series continued, his hospitalizing attack on Ultra Magnus would've proven fatal. According to the Manual, he also murdered Highbrow for the job of Head of Cybertron Intelligence in the past.
Hired to Hunt Yourself: As the head of Autobot Intelligence, he's ordered to locate Megatron's agent on Cybertron..which is him.
In the Hood: His head's shape and one eye glowing on a dark panel visually evokes a face hidden under a hood.
It's Personal: Bumblebee and Bulkhead are the ones that take him down in the series finale.
The Kingslayer: If the series had continued, Ultra Magnus would've succumbed to the injuries that Shockwave inflicted on him.
Klingon Promotion: The AllSpark Almanac II all but confirms that he killed Highbrow, the previous Cybertronian Intelligence head, to take his job.
Knight of Cerebus:
- Unlike many other Decepticons in the show, he has little to no humorous quirks to balance out how frightening and serious he is. Though during the series finale, he can be glimpsed bickering childishly with Lugnut.
- As mentioned under Hero Killer, He also has the highest body-count of the main Decepticons; he (temporarily) killed Blurr onscreen, supplementary material reveals he killed Autobot Intelligence Director Highbrow so that "Longarm" could take his place, and had the series continued, the wounds he inflicted on Ultra Magnus would've proven fatal.
Literal Metaphor: When he reunites with Megatron towards the end of season 3, he expresses relief at being able to serve his leader "under [his] true colors". His color scheme then shifts from gray to purple, the color he's traditionally depicted being.
Master of Disguise: Moreso than other Cybertronians, Shockwave can actually disguise himself as other robots, making him a literal robot in disguise.
Meaningful Name: For his Longarm persona. Received his alongside Wasp, Bumblebee, etc. from Sentinel due to... exactly what his name says.
The Mole: He infiltrates the Autobots as Longarm Prime.
Mole in Charge: He's acting as head of Autobot Intelligence, and is actually a Decepticon spy reporting directly to Megatron.
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Shockwave ultimately proves to be his own undoing by blaming Wasp for the space bridge attacks.
Non-Standard Character Design: He has one giant red eye and isn’t as armored as the other Decepticons. The strange red circle on Longarm’s forehead as well as his weird scuba-brace tips off that something isn't completely right about him. In one of the tie-in comics, Whirl (the Autobot on the bottom right◊) is also a cyclops, which seems to point at cyclop-type Cybertronians not being too uncommon — unless you want to take the explanation from the IDW comics.
No-Sell: After getting defeated by Bumblebee and Bulkhead, he tries transforming into Longarm to get them to show mercy while he reaches for a blaster to backstab them. They sarcastically show mercy before they crush his weapon.
Not So Above It All:
- As Longarm, he and the others laugh at Bulkhead wanting to be a certified space bridge technician. Doubles as Kick the Dog, along with everyone else.
- He seems to be annoyed with doing transform-ups as punishment for Bumblebee's constant blunders while in boot camp as Longarm.
- He gets into a petty fight with Lugnut over who is more loyal to Megatron, and later he can be seen pointing and laughing at Lugnut when the latter falls over while they're constructing copies of Omega Supreme.
Only Sane Man: He's this out of all the members of Megatron's inner circle. He isn't a treacherous, egotistical bootlicker like Starscream, an unstable Mood-Swinger like Blitzwing, or a thick-headed dedicant like Lugnut.
Pet the Dog: The way he comments to Megatron that Arcee used to be a school teacher before the war suggests he may feel bad for her.
Rubber Man: His shapeshifting ability allows him to extend his limbs. Unlike most examples, since he’s a robot made of metal, he’s not elastic-like.
Secret Identity: It's his secret that he and Longarm Prime are one and the same.
Shout-Out:
- With his grey and purple coloring, antler-like comm antennae, extendable arms and sinister mono-eye, he's a dead ringer for Perfect Zeong.
- At the end of his report of the events of "TransWarped" in All There in the Manual, he says that "I am determined that, should I be revealed, I will not go peaceably into that dark night."
- The inspiration for him was characters like the Horned King from The Black Cauldron and the Grim Reaper — scary and hooded, like an angel of death.
- His much colder and more emotionless demeanor is similar to that of HAL 9000, even quoting the A.I. in "This Is Why I Hate Machines".
Sixth Ranger: After his stint as The Mole is over, he rejoins Megatron's team at the end of Season 3, temporarily replacing Blitzwing until Season 4.
Tank Goodness: As Shockwave, he can turn into a tank.
Tinman Typist: He uses his fingers to interface with computer systems.
Undying Loyalty: He's just as devoted to Megatron as Lugnut is, though he's generally far more subdued in expressing it.
Villainous Breakdown:
- Approaches this by the time people have found him out, worrying that Team Optimus will reveal his identity to the Elite Guard soon. He resorts to severely crippling Ultra Magnus before running off.
- Has another in the series finale when Bumblebee and Bulkhead defeat him. Out of desperation, he transforms into Longarm and tries to get buddy-buddy with them while he reaches for his blaster to backstab them. He takes their refusals to hurt him seriously and looks away indignant after Bulkhead sees him reaching for his blaster and destroys it.
Vocal Evolution: Burton, who's obviously been improving his David Warner impression, delivers a more whispery and soft-spoken voice for Shockwave compared to the G1 cartoon, where he bordered on No Indoor Voice.
Voluntary Shapeshifting: Moreso than the other Transformers. In addition to the standard alt mode, he's a master of disguise.
Worthy Opponent: Admits this much to Ratchet during “This Is Why I Hate Machines”.

Other Decepticons

Soundwave

Voiced by: Jeff Bennett (English) Nobuo Tobita (Japanese)

"I am Soundwave. I am Decepticon. The revolution begins now."

Soundwave was another of Megatron's attempts to regain a body during his tenure as a talking head. He presented the plans to Isaac as a walking music player he could give Sari for her birthday, anticipating that Sari would use the Key on it and programming Soundwave to upgrade into a specific form. What he didn't expect was that Soundwave would become sentient, although he was only too willing to take up the Decepticon emblem.

Adaptational Backstory Change: Soundwave was a natural Cybertronian in the original G1 cartoons. Here, Soundwave started out as a mindless robot created by Megatron for sole purpose of Sari using her key to upgrade him until he became Megatron's new body. However, Soundwave ends up evolving to the point of becoming self-aware, after which Megatron changes his plans and recruits him into the Decepticon cause.
Adaptational Badass: Animated Soundwave possesses certain abilities his G1 counterpart does not such as being able to control machines and humans to do his bidding.
Adaptation Personality Change: Soundwave's defining trait in G1 is his Undying Loyalty to Megatron. Here, while Megatron is the reason for Soundwave turning to villainy, he mostly acts on his own agenda rather than taking orders from Megatron. Presumably, Lugnut's devotion to Megatron would have made Soundwave's traditional personality redundant so the writers gave him something new.
Adaptational Wimp: While he has more abilities than he did in G1, G1 Soundwave was also one of the strongest decepticons, fully capable of tussling with autobots. Here, he gets KO'd in one shot by Bulkhead.
Adapted Out: Ravage, Rumble, Buzzsaw, and Frenzy aren't part of his lineup, and it's unclear if he ever would have built them.
A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Megatron created him to serve as a test body, but he became sentient and started going about his own agenda. Then again, Megatron wanted it to happen, and he was still able to make it work to his advantage.
Arc Villain: Of the "Human Error" two-parter.
The Assimilator: After Soundwave was upgraded to the point he became self-aware, he quickly brainwashed dozens of smaller robots and merged with them to transform into his current form.
Cool Shades: He appears to wear angular sunglasses, but like Prowl and Grimlock before him, it's possible that his optic sensors just look like angular sunglasses because of how they are shaped.
Creepy Monotone: He speaks in a sinister and synthesized voice that's devoid of emotion.
Decomposite Character: Lugnut take his G1 self's Undying Loyalty to Megatron, though Soundwave was never shown to be disloyal to Megatron, either. Due to Soundwave making few appearances and the show being prematurely cancelled, it wasn’t explored how loyal he was to Megatron.
Demoted to Extra: Unlike in Generation 1, he only shows up in one episode as a Villain of the Week. However…
- Ascended Extra: He does get upgraded to Arc Villain status in the "Human Error" two-parter. Had the show been renewed for Season 4, he would've joined Megatron and the rest of the Decepticons full-time.
Dragon with an Agenda: Megatron intended for him to break him free from Sumdac labs. Soundwave instead chose to go with his own ambition of overthrowing the human race, though Megatron is able to talk him into attacking the Autobots well.
Fantastic Racism: He is very contemptuous of human beings. His main goal is to either destroy the human race, or enslave them.
From a Single Cell: A variant. After many of his defeats, he's reduced to a tiny piece of hardware identical to his G1 cassette player mode and rebuilds himself later. The first time he gets away because everyone thought he was destroyed, and with the second he's carried away by Laserbeak.
Gadgeteer Genius: He shows great technological expertise in "Human Error", modifying the Soundwave toys so he can control them and use them to brainwash humans, and building a virtual reality machine to distract the Autobots. The Allspark Almanac claims he built Ratbat and Laserbeak himself as well.
Glass Cannon: Despite his all-too-threatening abilities, Soundwave isn't really that tough. Both Bulkhead and Optimus were able to demolish him easily once they got past his defenses. Justified, because Soundwave is composed of earth machines, in contrast to natural Cybertronians.
Humans Are Bastards: He firmly believes this since humans “force machines to serve them” and then throw them away when they find better machines, telling Bulkhead that humans are the evil ones, not him.
It Can Think: Sari upgraded him so many times that Soundwave developed a will of his own.
Machine Monotone: His voice sounds very robotic.
Made of Plasticine: Due to making his body out of Earth-born materials, Soundwave is far less durable than the other Decepticons.
Make Me Wanna Shout: After being upgraded by Sari's key, he gains a pair of loudspeakers on his shoulders that emit sonic blasts.
Manipulative Bastard: He took advantage of Powell selling toy versions of him to make a plan that put the city of Detroit and the Autobots under mind control.
Mind Control: His toy robots could brainwash humans.
Musical Assassin: Complete with two Instruments of Murder. Laserbeak is a guitar, Ratbat a keytar.
Mythology Gag: His core is designed to resemble his original cassette mode.
Pet the Dog: When confronted by Bulkhead, he attacks him, but then he stops and tells him he doesn’t want to harm a fellow machine, instead trying to convince Bulkhead to join him.
Robo Speak: No pun intended. But compared to the other robots, he talks very matter-of-factly and with a mechanical monotone.
The Power of Rock: He uses rock music as a weapon. By "Human Error", he’s gained two minions, Laserbeak and Ratbat, who turn into a high-tech guitar and keytar.
Robot War: Tries to start one in his first appearance by controlling every machine and robot in the city.
Sixth Ranger: Would've officially joined Megatron and the Decepticons in Season 4.
Shout-Out: His behavior and goals are eerily similar to that of Ultron.
Technopath: He can control other machines, though he can’t control other Transformers without using Ratbat.
Took a Level in Badass: He was a serious menace in his first appearance, but in Season 3, he builds his instrument minions, Ratbat and Laserbeak, and extends the reach of his control to Cybertronians and humans, instead of just human-made machines and robots.
Turned Against Their Masters: After he becomes self-aware, he takes no time at all to decide that humans should serve machines instead of the other way around. When Megatron lies to him that the Autobots are traitors who willingly serve humans, he's baffled by the idea that a robot would choose to do so.
Unexplained Recovery: The show never explains how he was able to get a new body following his original defeat.
Vocal Evolution: In his first appearance, the synth effect with his voice is melodic and monotonous. Later appearances would make him sound deeper and add an altering modulation.
We Can Rule Together: He makes this offer to Bulkhead when he confronts him.

Scrapper & Mixmaster

Scrapper and Mixmaster

Scrapper

Mixmaster

Mixmaster voiced by: Jeff Bennett (English) Daiki Nakaruma (Japanese)

Scrapper voiced by: Tom Kenny (English) Masashi Endō (Japanese)

Mixmaster: Who puts the "crude" in "crude oil"?
Scrapper: Mixmaster and Scrapper, that's who!

Two 'bots brought to life by AllSpark fragments, Mixmaster and Scrapper (known as the Constructicons) want two things: hot cars and oil. Though Bulkhead tries his best to befriend them, their minds drift right back into trouble just searching for those two things. They later join the Decepticon side by building Megatron a space bridge in exchange for oil. They're later caught in a massive explosion alongside their boss, Dirt Boss, but only Scrapper is currently shown to be alive. The whereabouts of the other two are unknown. During their separation, Scrapper ended up on Dinobot Island, befriended Snarl, and briefly joined the "Subtitute Autobots", with poor effects.

Adaptational Backstory Change: The Constructicons had a rather confused backstory in G1 ranging from being built by Megatron, being Autobots brainwashed by Megatron, and regular Decepticons who built Megatron. These versions of the Constructicons were regular construction vehicles brought to life by AllSpark fragments who joined Megatron because he had good oil.
Adaptational Nice Guy: Compared to their original villainous iterations, or their monstrous movie versions, these guys are surprisingly affable and friendly. That is, when they aren't acting like party animals (er, bots).
Adapted Out: The rest of the Constructicons (Hook/Hightower, Long Haul, Bonecrusher, Scavenger, Rampage, Skipjack, Overhaul) don't appear with them. As there were plans to have Devastator in Season 4, it's possible more of them might have been introduced.
Affably Evil: Even after their Face–Heel Turn, they get along surprisingly well with Bulkhead (when they remember him, that is).
The Alcoholic: Pretty much always drinking oil, which is treated as a G-Rated Drug for alcohol.
Anti-Villain; They become Decepticons, but they’re not really malicious, they’re just a little lacking in a moral compass and only joined them because Megatron has better-tasting oil. They have a friendly attitude and can even be talked into helping the heroes when bribed with oil.
Beware the Silly Ones: Goofy, boorish workmen who prove very capable in a fight, especially Mixmaster as he exploits his cement as an adhesive to entrap opponents.
The Big Guy: Scrapper fills this role for the Constructicons, and the Substitute Autobots.
Combining Mecha: They, along with Dirt Boss and the newly added Constructicons, would've been able to combine into Devastator in Season 4.
Composite Character: Scrapper has Scavenger's excavator mode, and Bonecrusher's tread legs and loader chest.
Construction Catcalls: They have the appearance of construction workers and sometimes hit on cars as if they were beautiful women.
Dumb Muscle: They serve as this for Megatron, and later, Dirt Boss.
Evil Costume Switch: Their initial appearances had them in the construction vehicle colors, yellow grey and pale green with yellow eyes. After undergoing Decepticon branding their eyes change from yellow to red, their color schemes go to lime green and purple and Mixmaster gains some red accents.
Fat and Skinny: Mixmaster and Scrapper, respectively.
Fluffy Tamer: Somehow, Scrapper was able to make the Dinobot Snarl his pet.
Hunk: Scrapper looks like a Cybertronian version of this, with his huge chin and tall, muscular build.
The Lancer: Scrapper is this to Sari in the team of "Substitute Autobots".
Lantern Jaw of Justice: Scrapper has a really big chin, though he’s more of an Anti-Villain than a hero.
Line-of-Sight Name: Mixmaster names himself after the name tag on his vehicle mode (albeit with the nickname "Mix"), and Scrapper sees a sign labelling a pile of, well, scrap and Mixmaster lengthens it to "Scrapper".
Neutral No Longer: They start out as unaffiliated before joining the Decepticons.
No Celebrities Were Harmed: Mixmaster's voice is an imitation of Joe Pesci (which helps in the Whole-Plot Reference "Sari, No One's Home").
Not in This for Your Revolution: They don't even know what Cybertron is. They just joined the Decepticons for the good oil.
Nothing Personal: Scrapper says this to Mixmaster when he leaves him to get blown up, telling him that it’s “just business”.
Obliviously Evil: Often it seems these two don't fully comprehend what joining the Decepticons entails, such as during Megatron's grand speech about retaking Cybertron, which would've involved planetary genocide.
Megatron: Decepticons! Prepare for our conquest of Cybertron!
Scrapper: What's a Cybertron?
Mixmaster: I have no idea, he lost me at "Your fate is sealed now."
Only Sane Man: Scrapper is able to figure out Sari's trying to trap them in "Sari, No One's Home". Mixmaster tells him to shut up, and then they go through a Humiliation Conga.
Plumber's Crack: They somehow have gluteal clefts.
Punch-Clock Villain: They'd probably work for Optimus instead if he offered them oil. Though not so much after they join the 'cons. It takes some sweet-talking from Bulkhead to get them to help him with something.
Rough Overalls: Especially after receiving his Constructicon colors, Mixmaster in particular has a muddy-tan deco on his belly and legs (and shoulders) that evokes dirt-encrusted dungarees. Fitting, considering he's a construction worker stereotype all the way down.
Sibling Team: invokedAccording to Wyatt, they are brothers.
Skewed Priorities: Even after their closest friend Bulkhead informs them of Megatron and the Decepticons really being the bad guys, Scrapper and Mixmaster choose to side with the Decepticons simply because their oil is better than the Autobots'.
Token Good Teammate: Scrapper is definitely the kindest member of the Constructicons. Sari is even able to recruit him into joining the Substitute Autobots.
Token Evil Teammate: Scrapper served as this while he was a member of the Substitute Autobots, as he was still a Decepticon, although he acted civil and didn’t betray his team or do anything evil.
This Is a Drill: Scrapper's primary weapons.
Toyless Toyline Characters: Neither of them got a toy, presumably because the intention was to wait until all the Constructicons were introduced (and therefore it would have been justifiable to produce toys that could combine to form Devastator).

Dirt Boss

Voiced by: John Mariano (English) Tetsuo Gotō (Japanese)

"What're you cogs lookin' at? You wanna piece 'a me? Try it and you'll be goin' to the scrapyard in a crankin' box!"

— His first words.

Mixmaster and Scrapper's self-appointed boss, also a product of an AllSpark fragment (combined with a damaged Headmaster unit and a forklift). He is a no-nonsense, power-hungry, and nasty piece of work with a short temper and a big chip on his shoulder, who keeps the Constructicons busy and sets out to conquer Detroit.

Bad Boss: To Mixmaster and Scrapper. He physically abuses them, barks orders at them, and is even willing to sacrifice Mixmaster.
Berserk Button: Being mocked for his height.
Canon Immigrant: While there were other characters in the franchise that had the name "Dirt Boss" (specifically from Armada and Cybertron), this one was designed to be entirely different from those two. A version similar to him would later appear in media for Revenge of the Fallen.
Combining Mecha: He would have combined with Mixmaster, Scrapper, and the newly added Constructicons to become Devastator in Season 4.
Depraved Dwarf: Zigzagged. He’s really big by human standards, but tiny for a Decepticon. He’s even shorter than Bumblebee.
Evil Costume Switch: Averted. Unlike the other Constructicons, Dirt Boss was born into his Decepticon colors and insignia. The aversion is justified, given that the forklift that was used in his creation was already purple and green.
Eviler than Thou: Unlike Scrapper and Mixmaster he was brought online already sporting a Decepticon emblem, signifying how much worse he is than his idiot savant henchmen.
Hair-Trigger Temper: "You got a PROBLEM?!"
Height Angst: Making fun of his size is a good way to tick him off.
Hypocrite: He calls Bumblebee a pipsqueak, even though he’s even smaller than Bumblebee. Bumblebee calls him out on it.
In a Single Bound: Those short legs can make surprisingly big leaps.
Large Runt: He’s really small for a Cybertronian (being even smaller than Bumblebee), but he’s still really big compared to a human.
The Leader: Of the Constructicons.
The Napoleon: He’s bitter about the years he spent being “bossed around” by humans when he was an ordinary forklift, and was plotting to take over Detroit minutes after being created, and doesn't take kindly to anyone contradicting him. He also doesn't like people mocking his height.
Never Found the Body: Scrapper survived the oil rig's explosion, but Dirt Boss and Mixmaster never showed up again. According to Wyatt, they 'exploded away'. The AAII says they're alive, and working on something called 'Devastator'.
People Puppets: Capable of taking over other robots' bodies.
Pintsized Powerhouse: Even without his drill, he is still capable of giving roundhouses that can knock over robots much larger than him.
Shout-Out: With his small size, Cephalothorax-like design, creation involving a Headmaster unit, ability to produce drills that let him take control of other Transformers, and of course the classic Constructicon ability to become the Combining Mecha Devastator, he's very clearly meant to be a Constructicon version of Lagann.
Team Member in the Adaptation: No prior incarnation of Dirt Boss was affiliated with the Constructicons.
Terrible Trio: Forms one with Scrapper & Mixmaster and makes himself the leader.
This Is a Drill: He fires a drill prong out of his forehead to take control of other robots.
Toyless Toyline Character: No toy for him. It is likely because toys of the Constructicons weren't intended to be made until enough of them were introduced to bring Devastator into the picture and it would therefore be justified to release toys of the Constructicons that combined to form Devastator per usual.
Villain of the Week: He's the primary antagonist of "Three's A Crowd". If there had been a fourth season, he would have made another appearance.

Lockdown

Lockdown (technically unaffiliated)

Voiced by: Lance Henriksen (English) Akio Ōtsuka (Japanese)

"I know you... EMP generator, right? I'm not good with names and faces, but I never forget a trophy."

A neutral bounty hunter, Lockdown caters to whoever pays him the most (usually the Decepticons). He is a mish-mash of different mods and body-parts and a hoarder of trophies from various 'bots he has stripped and robbed over the years. He was also a former student of Yoketron before he realized he didn't like all that spiritual crud. As his first act as a bounty hunter, Lockdown killed him and took the protoforms Yoketron was tasked to guard. He has a history with Ratchet and a rivalry with Prowl, in whom he sees a Worthy Opponent and kindred spirit.

A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil: Lockdown was a student of Yoketron before he disgraced and ultimately betrayed and murdered his former teacher.
All There in the Manual: The AllSpark Almanac confirms that Lockdown utilizes an Autobot shell, which adds further evidence to the possibility that Lockdown was actually an Autobot before his current form of business.
Arch-Enemy: To Prowl and especially Ratchet, due to having personal history with both.
The Assimilator: He takes trophies from his victims and incorporates whatever bits he likes or needs into himself. The rest go on the wall.
Badass in a Nice Suit: His design suggests a skull-like head on top of an undertaker's tuxedo.
Bait the Dog: His second appearance is him at his most likable. He's not sympathetic by any means, but it plays up his friendly rivalry with Prowl and he's in a supporting role with Starscream as the antagonist. The episode ends with him offering Prowl a partnership and when Prowl denies him, he laughs it off and goes his own way. Then he returns in season 3 and he shows the audience the extent of his cruelty.
Bounty Hunter: He captures and kills Autobots as a hired job from the Decepticons.
Breakout Villain: He not only appeared as the main antagonist of Transformers: Age of Extinction, but he got to appear in several other continuities after the series ended.
Canon Immigrant: Has shown up in the Revenge of the Fallen toyline, IDW's G1 comic continuity, and the fourth live action Michael Bay film.
Chainsaw Good: One of his hands can become a chainsaw.
Collector of the Strange / Creepy Souvenir: He states outright that collecting trophies from his victims is his favorite part of the hunt.
Cool Car: His alt mode is a spiky muscle car.
Deceptive Disciple: He used to be an Autobot in the Cyber-Ninja Corps, but was expelled after 'bringing shame to it' somehow. He later killed Yoketron and stole the Corps' cache of protoforms to sell to the 'Cons.
Evil Sounds Deep: He has a deep and sinister voice with a sprinkling of affability that only serves to make him even creepier with the detached attitude it conveys.
Evil Pays Better: Why he tends to work for the Decepticons, in addition to his personality being a better fit for them.
Expy: invokedMarty Isenberg confirmed that Lockdown was inspired by Death's Head ^note, and the impetus for Lockdown's creation was to make a Hasbro-owned version of the latter character.^note
Face–Heel Turn: His size, car-based vehicle mode, and training with Yoketron indicate that Lockdown was an Autobot before his current line of work.
Fashionable Asymmetry: to represent that he has parts from former prey, each of his limbs has a different color, with a yellow right arm, a purple left arm, a metallic left leg with purple features, and his right leg is the only one that actually fits with the black and green pattern of his torso. The first figure of the character is the only one that keeps him that way (even if both arms are the same color when removing the hook hand), while later recolors and the movie versions miss the point by keeping him in more uniform color patterns, with the hook as the only asymmetrical element.
Faux Affably Evil: One of the scarier parts about him is how nice he acts in spite of having no qualms with dismembering robots and taking their parts.
Hook Hand: One of his arms has a hook for a hand.
Knight of Cerebus: Has nothing comedic about him and is by far the most outright evil character in the series.
Morph Weapon: His left arm becomes a chainsaw.
Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: His hook hand effectively makes him a robot pirate; early designs even had an eyepatch. What's more, he has a death motif in his undertaker look and skull-like head, and was once a ninja pupil of Yoketron - meaning he may be one of very few literal expressions of the trope depending on how you count it.
Once a Season: Lockdown's appearances play out like this. He shows up three times, once in each season.
Only in It for the Money: Lockdown is only loyal to whoever's paying him; Five Servos Of Doom shows that he's perfectly willing to capture Decepticons for the Autobots provided the latter's pay is better.
Psycho for Hire: He does business for the Decepticons and really enjoys harvesting parts from other Cybertronians.
Rocket Punch: He used one in his first appearance; when Ratchet destroyed it, he replaced it with a Hook Hand.
Shoulders of Doom: He has very pronounced shoulders.
The Sociopath: Lockdown sees his victims as little more than trophies, only cares about his own benefit, and has no morals whatsoever. Case in point, he murdered his own mentor and sold a large number of protoforms to Megatron.
Soft-Spoken Sadist: As part of his affable façade, Lockdown rarely raises his voice, which only underlines how evil he is.
Spikes of Villainy: He has spikes on his body.
The Unfettered: He has absolutely no scruples to prevent him from doing whatever job he is given.
Villain Ball: He ultimately terminates his partnership with Sentinel because Ramjet offered him a better deal. Putting aside the fact that a minute of listening to Ramjet reveals him to be a compulsive liar, what guarantee did Lockdown have that Ramjet had any kind of capital? For a bot as business-savvy as Lockdown is, he bought into Ramjet's trickery rather easily.
Villains Want Mercy: After Ratchet tears Optimus' grappling hook out of his arm, Lockdown begs Ratchet to take his EMP generator back from Lockdown and use it on him to make the pain go away — this coming after Lockdown scarred Ratchet for life in more ways than one during the Great War, and after Lockdown gleefully mocked Ratchet about all of it without a shred of remorse. (Though knowing Lockdown, and seeing as he tries to attack Ratchet the second he makes a step towards him, it was probably at least partially a Wounded Gazelle Gambit.)
Whole Costume Reference: His color scheme is very reminiscent of Boba Fett, who the creators said was part of the inspiration for Lockdown.
Working for a Body Upgrade: Between taking parts from those he hunts and preferring to be paid in upgrades, Lockdown has a double dose of this.

Swindle

Swindle (technically a Decepticon)

Voiced by: Fred Willard (English) Nobutoshi Canna (Japanese)

"Hmmm, maybe I should help them - or maybe I should just help myself!"

The Decepticon equivalent of a used car salesman. Swindle is a charming individual who sells weaponry and whatever business he can get his hands on - as long as he can make a profit, it doesn't matter! Voiced, fittingly enough, by the CEO of Buy & Large.

Adaptational Badass: G1 Swindle is pretty weak in terms of firepower, but this guy's got much More Dakka.
Adapted Out: The rest of the Combaticons don't appear along with him.
Affably Evil: Acts friendly and charming toward his clients.
Anatomy Arsenal: Has a plethora of weapons hidden within his body:
- Arm Cannon: Has a mounted one on his left arm.
- Chest Blaster: Something resembling a futuristic gatling gun pops out of his chest. He's lost most of these weapons by his second appearance - possibly the police or the Elite Guard removed them - but makes up for it using his personal storage dimension.
- BFG: Has a massive laser gun that pops out of his back.
- More Dakka: And how!◊ Including the above examples, there’s also a force-field emitter, a tractor beam gun/communication device that pops out of his right arm, two small guns resembling cannons that come out of his wrist, and two more laser-blasters that come out of his back. Mech is (both figuratively and literally) loaded.
And I Must Scream: "SUV: Society of Ultimate Villainy" ends with him being hauled away to be broken down to spare parts after being immobilized by Slo-Mo. However he gets better when the Elite Guard are transporting him back to Cybertron, amusingly he treats his immobilization as an elongated nap.
"I needed that..."
Arms Dealer: He sells weapons to the Decepticons.
Badass in a Nice Suit: He has a bolo tie.
The Barnum: He takes advantage of the other Decepticons' needs. The Arrival story "Everything Must Go" even has him scam Blitzwing and Lugnut into buying stuff to blast each other with.
Berserk Button: Never come between him and closing the deal on a weapons sale.
Beware the Nice Ones: Don't be too taken by his friendly grin. Swindle saved the best weapons for himself and is perfectly willing to kill on sight if pressed.
Continuity Nod / Homage: His design is noticably more angular than most Animated Cybertronians, as he was specfically designed to resemble G1 Swindle as closely as possible.
Deflector Shields: He claims to have purchased it from the Vok.
Face–Heel Turn: His size and vehicle mode suggest he was originally an Autobot who (nominally) threw in with the Decepticons. The AllSpark Almanac makes this connection more explicit with Strika expressing distrust of ex-Autobots, and distrusts Swindle especially.
Glass Cannon: Very impressively armed, yet the only Decepticon Bumblebee's stingers have ever proved effective against.
Hammerspace: The drawer built into his chest contains a transwarp frequency that leads directly to his own personal storage dimension. It's where he keeps most of his merchandise safe before offering it to potential customers. Unfortunately for Swindle, it is used against him when Sari manages to find a way to get to the Autobot Elite Guard's ship via a space bridge and is transwarp drawer.
Hellish Pupils: His pupils are slit like a cat's or snake's, perfectly fitting with his personality.
Honest John's Dealership: Doesn't care at all about the quality of his services.
Informed Attribute: The AllSpark Almanac says he is Starscream's "agent", despite them never being seen onscreen together. That said, it's Starscream himself claiming this...
Intrepid Merchant: Swindle goes to some of the most out-of-way locations with the goal of making a profit.
Large Ham: He's a salesman and a showman and (according to Megatron) would sell his own motherboard to the highest bidder.
No Celebrities Were Harmed: His voice and mannerisms are based on Ron Popeil.
- Now How Much Would You Pay.
- But Wait, There's More!.
Only in It for the Money: All he cares about is getting paid for his services.
Punch-Clock Villain: He's not very malicious, unless his business ventures are threatened. Chances are he'd be selling weapons to the Autobots too, if he thought he could get away with it. His joining up with Lugnut and the Decepticons in "Decepticon Air" was only to obtain payment from Megatron, and Swindle outright abandons them near the end after spotting an escape ship.
Put on a Bus to Hell: At the end of his first appearance, he's put into stasis in vehicle mode and Fanzone expresses interest in sending him to a dump to be dismantled. Lockdown finds him at some point in Season 3, though he's not unfrozen until halfway through the season. While he does get Put on a Bus again, he ends up with a huge arsenal of weapons from the Elite Guard and a clean getaway, a complete 180 from his previous situation.
Walking Armory: His entire body is tricked out with numerous Retractable Weapons and has access to a pocket dimension where he stores even more.

Starscream Clones

Slipstream, Ramjet, Skywarp, Thundercracker, Sunstorm, Thrust, Dirge

Voiced by: Tom Kenny (all males), Tara Strong (Slipstream) / Jin Yamanoi (all males), Atsuko Tanaka (Slipstream)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/starscreamclonesanimated.png

From front to back: Thundercracker, Sunstorm, Ramjet, Skywarp, Slipstream and Starscream himself.

"Ah, never before have I seen a more impressive group of lethal fighting machines... and pretty good-looking if I do say so myself."

Stolen protoforms + Starscream personality mod suits + AllSpark slivers from the chunk keeping the real Starscream online = trouble (and general hilarity). While they have the same weapons and speed as the original, they each represent an exaggerated (er, even more so) aspect of his personality, which makes some of them a lot less effective than they could be. Two of them show up in A Fistful of Energon, but are revealed to be walking bombs. Starscream builds five more during the season two finale for his assault on Megatron.

The second Almanac adds another two - Dirge (toy-only) and Thrust (who never showed up at all), created by Swindle to act as bodyguards. All in all, not one of his best ideas. You want them? He can let them go cheap!

Adaptational Villainy: Thundercracker represents Starscream’s ego, with all his doubts over the Decepticon cause omitted.
Adaptational Wimp: Skywarp may not have been the most powerful of the Decepticons, but he was nowhere near as cowardly or weak, as he is the clone representing Starscream’s cowardice.
Affably Evil: Sunstorm tends to heap compliments and praise on even his enemies, being Starscream's sycophant side.
All There in the Manual/Mythology Gag: None of them are ever named in the cartoon, although if you're a fan of the original series, you can guess all but one or two based on color scheme.
Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: At the end of "Endgame", Slipstream would've come across Starscream's dead body and given him part of her AllSpark fragment to revive him.
Slipstream: Arghh, I know I'm going to hate myself for this...
Back for the Finale: Slipstream briefly shows up again in "Endgame", mistaking a flying Optimus Prime for Starscream and then shooting him down once she realizes her mistake. This was originally meant to set up her reviving Starscream, but ended up becoming her last appearance.
Bad Future: Cyclonus is heavily implied to be Skywarp from a future where The Bad Guy Wins — Unicron was presumably involved and Megatron became Galvatron, who Cyclonus is completely loyal to.
Bad Liar: Ramjet, who literally can't say anything except outright contradictions.
Ramjet: Oh, I would never do that.
Big "NO!": Skywarp lets out one of these when Lockdown drags him away to Megatron.
Breakout Villain: Slipstream, the female Starscream clone, was created exclusively for this series as part of Starscream's squadron, and shows up the least out of them. Due to the uniqueness of being a female Seeker, however, and fan popularity, she's since found her way into other incarnations, often as a completely distinct character from Starscream.
Cannot Tell a Lie: Inverted by Ramjet, who is unable to tell the truth and can't say anything other than blatant falsehoods. However, he's technically still telling the truth, since everyone knows what he's saying is a lie.
Canon Foreigner: Slipstream was created for Animated, but she's since been added into other continuities.
Catchphrase Insult: Thundercracker inherited the original Starscream’s habit of calling other people fools.
Compulsive Liar: Because he embodies Starscream’s dishonesty, Ramjet can only tell lies.
Dark Action Girl: Slipstream is a female clone of Starscream and just as aggressive and cunning as the original.
Dirty Coward: Skywarp represents Starscream's cowardice.
Divergent Character Evolution: Ramjet and Sunstorm are given new helmets by Swindle in "Decepticon Air" so he can better tell them apart, with Ramjet being given a drill-like cone, and Sunstorm a boxy helmet evocative of his original G1 counterpart. Skywarp is also heavily implied, per the Allspark Almanac, to have eventually been reformatted into Cyclonus, who has a slightly broader build, with the jet elements looking sharper.
Enemy Mine: At the end of Season 4 (and the intended series finale), Slipstream and her team of Decepticons would've worked together with the Autobots to defend Earth from Megatron's invasion.
Flanderization: An interesting variation of this trope, due to being his clones made in his image. They each represent an aspect of Starscream's personality traits and amp it up. Had the show gone on further, they would have subverted this trope by developing personalities all of their own.
Flat Character: As a rule, all of them have one personality trait apiece. It's never made clear what Slipstream's personality is supposed to be, but she seems to like going out of her way to be rude to Starscream or hurt him.
Greed: Dirge, the one toy-only clone, represents Starscream's insatiable greed.
Green-Eyed Monster: Thrust, the clone created late in the game according to the AllSpark Almanac II, is the embodiment of Starscream's intense envy. He pals around with Dirge, which is appropriate since their personality traits more or less complement one another.
Hazy-Feel Turn/Heel–Face Revolving Door: They turn against Starscream and join Megatron in the fight for the space bridge in "A Bridge Too Close". And then...
- Slipstream would've revived Starscream at the end of "Endgame", but it was cut for time, leaving it unknown as to whether or not this scene is still canon. And then All There in the Manual states that she would've formed a Decepticon team of her own, but would've joined forces with Optimus and the Autobots to fight against Megatron in the Series Finale.
- Sunstorm and Ramjet decide to stick with the main Decepticons.
- Skywarp is implied to become Cyclonus, growing an Undying Loyalty to Megatron (or Galvatron, technically).
Identical Twin ID Tag: Swindle eventually gives Ramjet and Sunstorm helmets (inspired by their G1 counterparts' heads) to tell them apart.
Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Poor Skywarp can't catch a break because of his cowardice.
Informed Ability: Their bios claim they have various unique abilities based on their G1 counterparts (teleportation for Skywarp, energy absorption for Sunstorm, etc). None of these ever had a chance to appear in the cartoon.
Irony:
- While Starscream was the The Friend Nobody Likes, his colleagues seem to get along a lot better with his Literal Split Personality clones. Probably because the only 'bot they'd pull their Chronic Backstabbing Disorder on is him.
- In All There in the Manual, the information we're given about Cyclonus, who is implied to be a future version of Skywarp, Scalpel states that he shares similar algorithms to Starscream, which have been switched off. An implication of this is that Starscream could've turned off the Literal Split Personality aspect of his clones.
Kick Them While They Are Down: Ramjet does this to Starscream after the latter has had his clones rebelling against him and his head removed from his body by Professor Sumdac.
Ramjet: I will remain loyal to you forever. [kicks Starscream]
Like an Old Married Couple: Starscream and Slipstream's dynamic in a nutshell.
Literal Split Personality: All of them represent an aspect of Starscream's personality (Sunstorm being his sycophant side, Thundercracker embodying his egomaniacal tendencies, Skywarp representing his cowardice, and Ramjet being the embodiment of his deceitful nature. Whatever aspect of his personality is represented by Slipstream remains unknown).
- Supposedly, invokedWord of God states that they would've grown into their own individuals. It is unknown if that is officially the case, though All There in the Manual heavily implies that Skywarp will become Cyclonus.
Me's a Crowd: They're all clones of Starscream.
Mythology Gag:
- Ramjet, Skywarp, Thundercracker, Sunstorm, Thrust, and Dirge are all nods to Starscream's Palette Swap characters from Generation 1.
- Ramjet kicking Starscream while the latter was headless is similar to how Starscream kicked Megatron while he was heavily wounded after battling Optimus Prime in the original 1986 film.
- In what is ultimately their final appearance in the show, Thundercracker and Skywarp are last seen with each other. In Generation 1, it is implied that both of them were reformatted by Unicron alongside Megatron.
- With Swindle having problems telling Ramjet and Sunstorm apart, he gifts them helmets that are heavily based on their G1 counterparts.
No Name Given: They are not named in the show, with the "Trial of Megatron" script reading only addressing Sunstorm and Ramjet as Sychopant Starscream and Liar Starscream respectively. The Japanese dub of "A Bridge Too Close" has Slipstream tell Starscream their names.
Not-So-Harmless Villain: Most have comedic points, but they can be quite dangerous. Sunstorm especially was effective in the Season 2 finale.
Our Clones Are Different: All of Starscream's clone units are created by infusing Cybertronian molds identical to his own with inert protoforms, but in the case of these particular clones, Starscream did that, then granted them full consciousness via imparting a sliver of the AllSpark fragment animating his own body into each clone's spark chamber. The result is that every clone from the moment they're given life possesses Starscream's memories, and a different facet of Starscream's personality is replicated onto each clone but is taken to the max without the other facets to compliment and check it (one is Starscream's cowardly side taken to the max, another is his tendency towards dishonesty so maxed out that the clone literally can't say a single honest thing, another is Starscream's sycophantic side maxed out towards everyone, etc.).
Palette Swap: With the exception of Slipstream, all of them just look like Starscream with a different color scheme (though their red eyes and purple Decepticon symbols remain unchanged)
Pet the Dog:
- Slipstream, despite supposedly hating Starscream enough that she would lead a betrayal against him out of spite, would've revived him at the end of Season 3 with a piece of her own AllSpark fragment.
- Despite turning against Starscream to help the main Decepticons against him and the Autobots in the Season 2 finale, the Season 4 finale would've had her and her group of splinter Decepticons perform an Enemy Mine with Team Prime to defend Earth against Megatron. Best guess as to why is presumably because she sees Earth as her home.
Professional Butt-Kisser: Sunstorm will praise anyone, even complimenting his enemies in the middle of a fight.
Quirky Miniboss Squad: They’re a very quirky group of Decepticons.
Riddle for the Ages: According to invokedWord of God, the aspect of Starscream that Slipstream represents is one of these.
Schrödinger's Canon: Given that Skywarp is implied to become Cyclonus after Unicron reformats him, by Mythology Gag logic, you could also assume that Thundercracker (who just so happens to be accompanying Skywarp in their last appearance in the show) becomes Scourge.
Screams Like a Little Girl: Skywarp does this when he finds sees Prowl flying right behind him.
Small Name, Big Ego: Thundercracker embodies Starscream's egotism, so of course he'll have an inflated opinion of himself.
The Smurfette Principle: Slipstream is the only female of the group.
Those Two Guys: Sunstorm and Ramjet are almost always seen together.
Toyless Toyline Character: Slipstream. Inverted by Dirge, who does have a toy, but never appeared on the show. Thrust didn't get either and is only known to exist through supplementary material. No wonder he's envious.
- Slipstream did eventually get a toy...in the Transformers Legends line. This is a confusing example as while the tie-in comic does say she's the same character having jumped dimensions (with her head specifically made to look animated style), it's a completely different toyline altogether.
What Happened to the Mouse?:
- It is unknown what happened to Thundercracker and Skywarp after Blurr left them behind in "TransWarped". Skywarp is implied to become Cyclonus, at least in an alternate timeline, meaning that he got better. Assuming Cyclonus' claims are true and Galvatron is involved, it's possible Thundercracker becomes Scourge as well.
- Slipstream's appearance in "Endgame" was originally written to set up her reviving Starscream. This was cut when it became clear the third season would be the last, leaving it a mystery where Slipstream went afterward (though this version of the character does appear in the multi-universe Transformers Legends comic).
Yes-Man: Sunstorm will agree with anyone to get on their good side.
You Do Not Want To Know: What part of Starscream's personality does Slipstream represent, anyway? Best just not to ask. Word Of God isn't being entirely serious about this.

Team Chaar

In General

An elite team of Decepticons stationed on the Planet of Chaar.

Ascended Extra: Released details about Season 4 indicates they would have a larger role.
Mythology Gag: The team is named after the planet where the Decepticons hid out on in the original show's third season.

Strika

"Oooh, the Autobot Elite Guard. This should be fun."

Voiced by: Tara Strong (English) Rikako Aikawa (Japanese)

"Victory lies in the tactics of destruction."

A big, hulking fembot who is just as loyal to Megatron as Lugnut is. Makes sense, too — they're married.

Accent Adaptation: An Evil Brit in Beast Machines, her accent in this show is Russian.
Adaptational Villainy: A Well-Intentioned Extremist in her home continuity, Strika was loyal to Cybertron above all others even if that meant following Megatron. Here Strika's a fascist, loyal to the Decepticon ideals and their vision for Cybertron.
Brawn Hilda: She's a very brawny woman.
Canon Immigrant: From Beast Machines.
Chekhov's Gunman: She and Team Chaar lead an attack on Bulkhead's hometown during "Trial of Megatron", as seen in "The Stunticon Job".
Dark Action Girl: A formidable female Decepticon.
Dragon Ascendant: After Megatron's capture in the series finale.
Genius Bruiser: She's as cunning as she is strong.
Husky Russkie: She has a Russian accent.
The Leader: Of Team Chaar.
Mythology Gag:
- Back in Beast Machines, she was romantically involved with another loyalist of Megatron.
- Said Beast Machines lover's preproduction name was "Blitzwing", which is the name of Lugnut's partner-in-crime in this continuity.
Red Baron: Holds the title of Megatron's "General of Destruction".
Tank Goodness: She becomes a tank-like vehicle.
Torpedo Tits: According to a piece of art by Derrick J. Wyatt, she literally has two bombs hidden in her chest.
Toyless Toyline Character: She has no toy.
Undying Loyalty: Almost as fanatical as Lugnut (whom she's also married to), although she does (briefly) question Megatron when he denies her a rumble with the Elite Guard.
We ARE Struggling Together: According to Lugnut, she's not fond of Blackarachnia and Swindle, because neither of them are truly dedicated to the Decepticon cause.

Spittor

"Are you going to eat that?"

A Decepticon who can suck in Autobots with his tentacles and either "eat them" or spit them out, covered in explosive slime. He's kind of horrible.

Animal Motifs: His robot and alt modes are frog-like in appearance.
Canon Immigrant: From the Beast Wars comics.
Combat Tentacles: Or rather, combat tongues. The Almanac II calls them Legion tentacles.
Grievous Harm with a Body: One of his major battle tactics is to grab an opponent with his tongues, swallow them, coat them in explosive slime, and fire them at their other opponents as a living projectile.
Secondary Color Nemesis: He’s a Decepticon with a mostly purple-and-orange color scheme.
The Pig-Pen: He's not very tidy.
Toyless Toyline Character: There is no toy of him.
Villainous Glutton: He always eats Autobots alive.
The Voiceless: He never speaks on the show.

Blackout

Voiced by: Bumper Robinson (English) Kenta Miyake (Japanese)

"Lights out."

An extremely large Decepticon — in fact, until the advent of Project: Omega, he was the single largest Cybertronian ever protoformed. He fought during the Great War and was essentially a one-man army.

The Brute: He's a very aggressive Decepticon.
Canon Immigrant: Based heavily on his live-action counterpart. His transformation sound is deeper and more metallic than the other characters, very much like the movies' sound.
Dumb Muscle: He's the biggest, most heavily-armed Decepticon alive, but isn't much help without supervision. He sheepishly apologizes when Strika tells him off for accidentally shutting down the space bridge they were supposed to use.
[Blackout stomps, activating his EMP and turning off the space bridge]
Strika: Blackout, you fool! We need the space bridge operational.
Blackout: Oh. Sorry.
EMP: Also works in reverse.
Hero Killer: He's one of the biggest and most feared Decepticons that was ever created, and was responsible for the deaths of many Omega Sentinels and the entirety of the Wreckers.
One-Man Army: His custom Decepticon sigil means he is the Decepticon Heavy Brigade: the rest of his unit died fighting Zeta Supreme. Blackout went on to kill three other Omega Sentinels during the War.
Percussive Maintenance: He can use his stomp to knock out electronics and then reactivate them by doing it again.
Tiny-Headed Behemoth: His body is huge, but his head looks tiny in comparison.
Villain Decay: Only in The Cool comic. Jetfire and Jetstorm are able to easily avoid his attacks because of their speed, and then they turn into their combined mode to take him down. In the War, Blackout killed robots the size of Omega Supreme, and took down opponents both larger and smaller than him (like Rodimus).
- Arm Cannons: In his toy-only Earth form, they become gatling guns.
- Rings of Death: His Earth form has an arm-mounted disc launcher.

Oil Slick

Voiced by: Phil LaMarr (English) Atsushi Imaruoka (Japanese)

Rodimus Prime: You'll have to get past me first, Decepticreeps!

Oil Slick: You say that like it's a difficult thing, Autobot.

An expert chemist, Oil Slick invented the deadly weapon "cosmic rust", is a master of vehicle-to-vehicle combat and claims to have trained in Circuit-Su with an Autobot motorcycle, although he's not giving out any details.

Bad Future: According to Cyclonus (who was either simply hoping it would happen or accidentally let it slip), he can't wait to see Oil Slick get offed by Galvatron.
Canon Immigrant: He started as an unrelated sketch, got produced as a toy, made an appearance in a side-comic, and was introduced in the third season.
Cool Bike: Based on the 'Dodge Tomahawk' concept motorcycle, with a goat skull at the front.
Epic Flail
Evil Genius: He serves as the evil brains of Team Chaar.
Lean and Mean: He's very skinny and also quite cruel.
Mad Scientist: His expertise is in chemical warfare.
Manipulative Bastard: A story in The Arrival had him afflicted with cosmic rust and using it to his advantage by tricking Ratchet into helping him make more of his weaponized chemical while claiming it to be an antidote for cosmic rust.
Ninja Pirate Robot Zombie: A ninja robot chemist, though the 'ninja' part is only mentioned in secondary material: he apparently studied Circuit-Su with Prowl. How that could happen is unclear, but there is a big gap in Prowl's past...
Plague Master: His dome-helmet protects him from his own chemical weapons and poisons.
Spikes of Villainy: More notably in his Cybertronian mode, where he's practically covered in them.
Unreliable Illustrator: His depiction in the show doesn't match the toy that was released after the show's cancellation, as his toy was based on the original design when Slick had a different design in a comic that came out before Season 3. Mainly his head and the color scheme.
We Have Reserves: In the comic where he was introduced, he tested his "Cosmic Rust" chemical in the middle of a battle, taking out soldiers from both sides. He flat-out tells Ratchet this.

Cyclonus

Compassion is the Autobots' downfall.

The stoic Cyclonus appeared in the skies of New Kaon in a storm of light and tachyons some time after the Great War ended, and has remained a complete mystery ever since. He has sworn loyalty to Megatron, but even that seems somehow abstract - and just who is this "Galvatron" he keeps talking about?

Came from the Sky: He first appeared when he fell out of the sky over New Kaon.
The Dragon: He serves as Strika's second-in-command.
Dual Wielding: He wields two Bleedback Blades.
Fish out of Temporal Water: His Almanac II bio "implies" that he's from the future and is just waiting for Megs to become Galvatron.
Future Badass: Like Cyclonus from G1, this one is implied to be the result of a Decepticon being reformatted, but it is unknown as to who. The implication seems to be that he's Skywarp.
Mysterious Past: No information is given about his backstory in the show. As suggested in the Almanac, Cyclonus' past is more than likely everyone else's future.
Mythology Gag: Him possibly being Skywarp reformatted by Unicron is a reference to him either implied to be Bombshell (whose existence in Animated is a mere cameo via All There in the Manual) or Skywarp before being reformatted by Unicron in various Generation 1 continuities. Most interpretations go with him being Bombshell, making Animated the only case so far where he was Skywarp.
Noble Demon: He finds Oil Slick's tactics distasteful, preferring to face his enemies one-on-one.
Noodle Incident: Apparently, he wants Galvatron's forgiveness.
Shoulders of Doom: He has very pronounced shoulders.
Straw Nihilist: According to his magazine bio, he believes that nothing truly matters because "the end is near".
Sword Beam: The through-the-ground version.
Took a Level in Badass: It's implied that he's Skywarp, the cowardly clone of Starscream, but his self-preservation algorithms from Starscream have been switched off.
Toyless Toyline Character: Hasbro stated that this particular incarnation never got a toy because his design was considered too similar to the Generation 1 incarnation's figure in the Universe line.
Undying Loyalty: To Galvatron, whoever that is. The same applies to Megatron.
Verbal Tic: Apparently speaks entirely in "Furmanisms".
The Voiceless: He has no dialogue.

Team Stunticon

In General

A team of Decepticons who pretend to be Autobot stunt actors to assist in an attempt to bust Megatron from Trypticon prison.

Adapted Out: These Stunticons do not get a chance to merge to form Menasor, and it isn't known if there were any plans to have them become a Combiner as they are traditionally depicted.
Breaking Out the Boss: Their main mission is to liberate Megatron from his incarceration.
Palette Swap: All of them are in this continuity by virtue of being retools of pre-existing toys. Justified in-universe as them being reformatted into Autobot shells to infiltrate Autobot society.
Quirky Miniboss Squad: They’re a wacky bunch of Decepticons.

The Motor Master

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/motormasteranimated_model.jpg

Voiced by: Gregg Berger (The Stunticon Job script reading)

The boisterous and self-centered leader of Team Stunticon.

Ascended Extra: Originally he was a background cameo in the Bots of Science children's book. A few years later he was promoted to the central villain of the Botcon comic.
Beard of Evil: He has markings on his faceplate invoking a beard.
No Celebrities Were Harmed: This particular version of Motormaster is based on the appearance and mannerisms of "Macho Man" Randy Savage.
Palette Swap: His body is identical to Optimus Prime's, except it's purple, black, and green.
Secondary Color Nemesis: He’s a Decepticon and his body has a lot of purple and little bit of green.
Spell My Name With An S: Motormaster is traditionally spelled as one word.

Breakdown

Voiced by: Chris Ho (The Stunticon Job script reading)

The unluckiest of Team Stunticon.

Butt-Monkey: He can't catch a break.
Had the Silly Thing in Reverse: He at one point shoots himself by accident because he was holding his weapon backward.
Palette Swap: Of Sideswipe.

Dead End

Voiced by: David Kaye (The Stunticon Job script reading)

A moody poet who waxes philosophical about how bleak and meaningless life is.

Beard of Evil: His faceplate markings make him look like he has a goatee.
Palette Swap: Of Jazz.
Straw Nihilist: Harps on about how everyone is doomed eventually.

Drag Strip

Voiced by: Morgan Lofting (The Stunticon Job script reading)

The most belligerent of the team.

Damsel in Distress: Plays the role of the helpless female rescued by Autobots in the Stunticons' show, and she doesn't like it.
Evil Brit: Morgan Lofting gives Drag Strip a British Commonwealth accent.
Gender Flip: By virtue of Animated Arcee's mold being the closest available approximation in alternate mode to Drag Strip's usual race car mode, she is female when most versions of Drag Strip have been male.
Palette Swap: Of Arcee.
The Smurfette Principle: The only female on Team Stunticon.

Wildrider

Voiced by: Neil Ross (The Stunticon Job script reading)

The "director" of Team Stunticon.

No Celebrities Were Harmed: Neil Ross's performance as Wildrider is based on Jonathan Harris.
Palette Swap: Is the only Stunticon to not share a body type with an Autobot. Instead, he's a recolor of Lockdown.
Prima Donna Director: He gets a bit into it when he's playing director for the team's performances.
Spikes of Villainy: He has a lot of spikes on him.

Toxitron

Voiced by: David Kaye (The Stunticon Job script reading)

An imperfect clone of Optimus Prime.

British Teeth: His teeth are uneven.
Dumb Muscle: He's as strong as Optimus, but unfortunately does not share his intelligence. For instance, when he is offered a plea bargain, he argues to have his sentence extended rather than reduced, even when it's explained to him that the point is to serve less time in exchange for cooperating.
Evil Knockoff: He's a Decepticon who happens to be a clone of Optimus Prime.
Expy: Being a misshapen and dimwitted clone of a Primary-Color Champion, he's obviously an analogue for Superman's backwards doppelganger Bizarro.
Hulk Speak / You No Take Candle: Being a Bizarro expy, he talks like this.
Minion with an F in Evil: Despite being a Decepticon, he doesn’t act even slightly malicious.
Palette Swap: Since he's a clone of Optimus Prime to begin with, it actually would make sense that he'd resemble a recolored version of him.
Secondary Color Nemesis: He's colored green and purple to contrast with Optimus' red and blue.
Team Member in the Adaptation: Toxitron is affiliated with the team when no prior incarnation had any ties with the Stunticons.

Characters / Transformers Animated Decepticons

Decepticons

Main Decepticons

Megatron

Starscream

Lugnut

Blitzwing

Elita-One / Blackarachnia

Shockwave/Longarm Prime

Other Decepticons

Soundwave

Scrapper and Mixmaster

Dirt Boss

Lockdown (technically unaffiliated)

Swindle (technically a Decepticon)

Slipstream, Ramjet, Skywarp, Thundercracker, Sunstorm, Thrust, Dirge

Team Chaar

Strika

Spittor

Blackout

Oil Slick

Cyclonus

Team Stunticon

The Motor Master

Breakdown

Dead End

Drag Strip

Wildrider

Toxitron

Video Example(s):

Megatron kills Starscreams

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Index

Next

Megatron kills Starscreams

Characters / Transformers Animated Decepticons

Edit Locked

Decepticons

Main Decepticons

Megatron

Starscream

Lugnut

Blitzwing

Elita-One / Blackarachnia

Shockwave/Longarm Prime

Other Decepticons

Soundwave

Scrapper and Mixmaster

Dirt Boss

Lockdown (technically unaffiliated)

Swindle (technically a Decepticon)

Slipstream, Ramjet, Skywarp, Thundercracker, Sunstorm, Thrust, Dirge

Team Chaar

Strika

Spittor

Blackout

Oil Slick

Cyclonus

Team Stunticon

The Motor Master

Breakdown

Dead End

Drag Strip

Wildrider

Toxitron

Video Example(s):

Megatron kills Starscreams

Previous

Index

Next

Megatron kills Starscreams