Characters / Transformers: Armada

Unicron Trilogy Main Character Index
Transformers: Armada | Transformers: Energon | Transformers: Cybertron

This is the page for characters in the Unicron Trilogy who were introduced in Transformers: Armada.

Spoilers are uncovered at your own risk.

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Autobots

Optimus Prime

Optimus Prime

Voiced by: Tōru Ōkawa (JP); Gary Chalk (EN); Luis Miguel Pérez (LA SP)

Prime, the Autobot commander of the forces on Earth, leads the team through the battles against Unicron (twice) and saves Cybertron and reality from Unicron.

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• A Father to His Men: Goes berserk after Smokescreen's near death. It's often seen throughout the show, making him a particular contrast to Megatron throughout the trilogy.
• Anti-Hero: Without question, while he's still a hero, it's worth noting that this Prime seems more willing to resort to violence compared to others. Sideways/Unicron exploits this and accuses Optimus of being as much of a Blood Knight as Galvatron, despite Optimus claiming he fights merely because he has to in the name of peace. Unicron is proven somewhat correct when Optimus and Galvatron have their final brawl in the Armada finale.
• Benevolent Boss: It's made clear that he views the Mini-Cons as friends and equals rather than slaves.
• Beware the Nice Ones: He may be a Benevolent Boss, but don't think that makes him soft. Unicron calls him out on this, saying the Matrix is the only thing keeping his nature from being the same as Megatron's.
• Big Badass Rig: A futuristic semi-truck in Armada; a car transporter in Energon; and a fire truck in Cybertron. In the last series, it even lets him fly.
• Big Good: He is the leader of the Autobots and leads them to battle against the Decepticons and Unicron throughout the entire trilogy.
• Blood Knight: Unicron points out he enjoys battle just as much as Megatron does. The Japanese version has him rub it in further by saying if it wasn't for the Matrix, Prime's nature would be the same as Galvatron's. Their final battle ends up proving Unicron right.
• Can't Shift While Shifted: Optimus Prime must be in his robot mode in order to assume his Super Mode, since he uses a stock Transformation Sequence each time that starts with him in robot mode.
• Death Is Cheap: He dies and is back three episodes later.
• Dub Name Change: As per the tradition, he is called Convoy in Japan.
• The Good Captain: As is tradition.
• Look What I Can Do Now!: In Armada, he powerlinx with Jetfire, and later the pair link with Overload. Usually, this equates to an instant win.
• Mighty Glacier: In the PS2 game. He is easily the slowest playable character in the game but has two extra energy slots for gear, meaning he can equip more powerful weaponry than Hot Shot or Red Alert.
• Nice Guy: Not only does he stress that the Mini-Cons are his equals, but he is generally a friendly guy.
• Papa Wolf: Act like this towards the Mini-Cons, who he views as equals and friends compared to the Decepticons treating them as slaves. In a way, this also applies to the kids.
  Optimus: "Leave these kids out of our battle Megatron, or face my wrath."
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: His Powerlinx colors change his eyes from yellow to red, around the same time Unicron points out his Blood Knight tendencies and his fight with Galvatron essentially proves him right.
• Super Mode: Optimus Prime: SUPER MODE!!! Formed by Prime and his trailer in Armada.
  • His Powerlinx forms count as well, always getting two Autobots per series that powerlinx only with Prime himself: In Armada, it's Jetfire and the (sadly uncharacterized) Overload.
• What You Are in the Dark: During the finale of Armada as Unicron awakens to destroy Cybertron, both he and Sideways call out Optimus as a hypocrite who deep down does enjoy the thrill of war and fighting and is just as much of a Blood Knight as Megatron. They even go as far as to mention that without the burden of the Matrix, he'd be no different than the tyrannical Megatron. Consumed by a sudden lust for fighting and hit by a realization of his true nature (accompanied with a darker color change (his Powerlinx toy colors), Optimus challenges Galvatron to a final fight, and they engage in a brutal battle, which is unfortunately precisely what Sideways and Unicron wanted (As the hatred between both of them are used to revive Unicron briefly) until Galvatron chooses to sacrifice his own life in defiance against Unicron.

Hot Shot

Hot Shot

Voiced by: Brent Miller; Dublin James (video game)(EN), Kousuke Okano (JP); Ezequiel Serrano (LA SP)

The resident team rookie, Hot Shot, has learned many hard lessons throughout his career, much to the chagrin of some of the older bots.

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• Big Brother Mentor: To Sideswipe, who starts referring to him as his brother. Possibly to the kids too.
• Break the Haughty: He gets very confident that he'll end the war once he receives the Star Saber. However, in the following episode, he struggles in a fight with Starscream that he wins primarily due to the sword before Scavenger defeats him. It's worse when Sideways, pretending to be an Autobot, lures him into a trap that allows the Decepticons to take the Star Saber and beat him within an inch of his life.
• Composite Character: Of Bumblebee, Hot Rod, and Cheetor.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Despite his rookie status, he is still very capable of kicking butt. He even gets to wield the Star Saber for a while in Armada.
• Cool Car: He usually becomes a blue-and-yellow sports car, but in the second half of Cybertron, he is revived and upgraded so that he becomes a blue Humvee-like vehicle instead.
• Dub Name Change: His Micron Legend name is Hot Rod (no connection to the G1 character, who's called Hot Rodimus in Japan).
• Fragile Speedster: In the PS2 game. He lacks Optimus's power and Red Alert's defense but is easily the fastest.
• Friend to All Children: He sure gets along well with the primary human children.
• Kid-Appeal Character: He is almost always sports-yellow in his color scheme and interacts with the young humans the most.
• The Lancer: His more reckless behavior contrasts with Optimus.
• Lightning Bruiser: Though not quite as fast as Blurr.
• My Greatest Failure: He views his failure of saving Wheeljack and causing his defection to the Decepticons as this.
• Pride Before a Fall: He lets the power the Star Saber grants him go to his head, and it ends painfully.
• Rebellious Spirit: He's an immature rookie, at least at first.
• Shoulders of Doom: That "wHy mY sHoUlDeRs huRt" meme? Guess where it originated.
• Young Gun: Probably not helped by how his first foray into human culture consisted of spaghetti westerns.

Red Alert

Red Alert

Voiced by: Brian Dobson, Daran Norris (video game) (EN), Ikuya Sawaki (Armada),Yasuyuki Kase (Cybertron) (JP); Rubén Pérez (All series) (LA SP)

The Combat Medic of the Autobots may seem like the Non-Action Guy, but harm his friends, and you will regret it.

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• Adaptational Badass: By the time of Cybertron, compared to his G1 and Armada counterparts, this version of Red Alert is a real beast in a fight.
• An Arm and a Leg: He lost his left hand prior to the series, hence the Swiss-Army Appendage replacement.
• Brains and Brawn: Red Alert's the brains, Hot Shot's the brawn.
• Badass Bookworm: Packs a hefty punch to Decepticons and is a genius and a medic.
• The Bus Came Back: After being absent in Energon, he returns in Cybertron.
• Combat Medic: Though he spent most of his time on the battlefield fighting, more than anything else.
• Dub Name Change: In Micron Legend, his name is Ratchet to connect him to a different Autobot medic. His Cybertron version is called First Aid in Japan, yet another G1 Autobot medic, and his Cybertron Defense body becomes First Gunner.
• Expy: He's more similar to Ratchet than he is G1 Red Alert (which makes sense, considering he is Ratchet in the Japanese version, and he was only named Red Alert for the English Dub).
• Genius Bruiser: He prefers not to fight, but make no mistake, his punch is just as big as his intellectual genius.
• Headbutting Heroes: With Hot Shot while on Velocitron, though the pair eventually come to an understanding. The same scenario happens in the Armada episode "Soldier".
• Jack of All Stats: In the PS2 game. He does have higher defense than Optimus or Hot Shot, but he also lacks the former's strength and the latter's speed, and as such, he comes off as this.
• Minored in Ass-Kicking: He usually stays back at the base in Armada, but he makes a pretty good showing in Cybertron.
• Mission Control: If you are playing as Optimus, Red Alert will serve this role in the PS2 game.
• Shout-Out: His Armada incarnation notably shares a few cues with Robocop.
• The Smart Guy: He better be if he wants to act as a medic during wartime.
• The Spock: Not entirely, but he is pretty reserved.
• Swiss-Army Appendage: Lost his hand in battle and got a cool new... thing.
• Took a Level in Badass: In Cybertron, his Mid-Season Upgrade is this in spades.
• Vocal Evolution: He's got a higher voice and a British accent in the dub of Cybertron.

Smokescreen / Hoist

Smokescreen / Hoist

Voiced by: Dale Wilson (EN), Katsuhisa Houki (JP), Luis Lugo (LA SP)

Smokescreen originally intended to be one of the team members who accompanied Optimus Prime to Earth. He entered the space bridge portal late, so he materialized sometime later than they did. He is later involved in a serious battle that leads to a significant Mid-Season Upgrade.

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• Big Fun: A huge Autobot with a fun personality.
• Boisterous Bruiser: He's a huge, chunky Autobot with a penchant for brute strength and being energetic and fun.
• Commuting on a Bus: in the Dreamwave comics, he'd go long stretches without appearances.
• Demonization: The kids assumed that he was a Decepticon when he first appeared. Of course, the fact that he chased them all over the place and didn't introduce himself properly probably didn't help much. Micron Legend subverts this as the kids don't initially mention being with the Autobots, so Smokescreen might have thought they were with the Decepticons, and he later apologizes for attacking them by mistake.
• Disney Death: In the third season of Armada, he is the first and most unfortunate Autobot to be on the receiving end of the Requiem Blaster, which does a gruesome amount of damage to his body and forces Red Alert to transplant his spark into a new one, rebuilt as Hoist.
• Dub Name Change: He was initially named Grap (no connection to G1 Grapple) in Micron Legend but renamed to become Smokescreen/Hoist in the English dub of Armada. He retains the name Grap throughout the entirity of "Micron Legend".
• Intergenerational Friendship: Out of all the team, he and Hot Shot seem to be terrific friends.
• Nice Guy: Probably one of the kindest members of Prime's crew.
• Stout Strength: His bulky appearance gives the impression of a fat build, and he has the strength to match.

Scavenger

Scavenger

Voiced by: Ward Perry (EN), Keiji Fujiwara (JP), Rubén Leon (LA SP)

Scavenger is an old war veteran, who just so happens to be the Autobot who taught Optimus Prime everything he knows.

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• Adaptational Heroism:
  • Scavenger was a genuine Decepticon in Generation One, whereas he's a mole for the Autobots.
  • The Dreamwave and Panini comics entirely excise his time pretending to be a Decepticon.
• Badass Cape: Transformers as a whole don't need capes. His is purely for Rule of Cool.
• The Big Guy: The big muscle of the team.
• Caped Mecha: When he first shows up.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Disappears after Armada.
• Dub Name Change: He was initially named Devastor (the Japanese name of G1 Devastator) in Micron Legend and was renamed Scavenger in the English dub of Armada, one of Devastator's components.
• Genius Bruiser: He's one of the wisest and strongest Autobots.
• The Mole: Though given the folder he's been placed under, you probably guessed this already.
• Old Master: He taught Optimus Prime after all.
• Old Soldier: He's a veteran who once fought alongside Optimus back on Cybertron.
• Senior Sleep-Cycle: In the middle of a training session. Hot Shot is not impressed; neither is Carlos in Micron Legend.
• Stealth Mentor: Goes out of his way to teach the humans and his comrades about trust by seemingly giving the Decepticons a Minicon before whacking them hard in a battle. For Hot Shot, his encounters with the brash young warrior had him teaching the Autobot to steel himself prior to rejoining Optimus.
• Walking Spoiler: It turns out that he's an Autobot in disguise.

Blurr

Blurr

Voiced by: Brian Drummond (EN), Isshin Chiba (JP), José Méndez and Jesús Nunes (LA SP)

Cool and aloof, Blurr is one of the later additions to the Autobot ranks. He initially thought of the Mini-Cons as mere tools, a thought which Hot Shot slowly shot down.

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• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Disappears after Armada and never reappears again (unless you think the toyline character from Cybertron is him).
• Cold Sniper: Initially very aloof and one who attacks from far and away.
• Dub Name Change: He was initially named Silverbolt in Micron Legend after a G1 Aerialbot and Beast Wars wolf-eagle and was renamed Blurr in the English dub of Armada after a G1 blue car.
• Fantastic Racism: He initially thinks of the Mini-Cons as just weapons for a long while. He does get better, though.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Far from being the most friendly member of the Autobots and his aloof personality can rub others the wrong way, but his heart and intention are in the right place.
• Took a Level in Kindness: After his introduction, Blurr goes from outright aloof to merely cool, and becomes fast friends with Hot Shot after a rocky start.

Jetfire

Jetfire

Voiced by: Scott Mcneil, then Brian Drummond (EN), Susumu Chiba (Armada); Nobuyuki Hiyama (Energon), Hideo Ishikawa (Cybertron) (JP); Alex Orozco (Armada and Energon), Luis Enrique Poján (Cybertron) (LA SP)

He's the second-in-command of the Autobots on Cybertron. Jetfire left Cybertron and arrived on Earth to help Optimus and the others.

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• Afraid of Needles: He hates receiving injections which is why he ends up trying to avoid a jab in Cybertron. This nearly endangered his comrades due to Jetfire saying someone had to watch over Primus until Primus himself contacted everyone and told them not to worry about him, he'd be just fine.
• Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: Like this for a long while in Armada.
• Cool Starship: He becomes a space shuttle in both Armada and Energon.
• Cool Plane: In Cybertron, he becomes a cargo jet with a space shuttle front half.
• Deadpan Snarker: Definitely in Cybertron.
• Dub Name Change: Superlink changes his name to Skyfire, the name G1 Jetfire had in the cartoon because distancing him from his original toy to let Takara air the episodes he was in made him barely advertise his intended toy anymore. Galaxy Force calls him Dreadrock.
• Expy: His visual design in Armada largely pays homage to Galaxy Shuttle from Transformers Victory, himself already being an Expy to the original Jetfire/Skyfire.
• Incoming Ham: In the dub of Tactician, his first word is "TRAAAAAAAAANSFOOOOOOORRRRRRRRM!"
• The Lancer: While the Bots don't form a Five-Man Band per se, he has shades of this trope.
• Large Ham: In Armada, not so much in Energon (at least in the English dub) or Cybertron.
• Number Two: It does seem a little odd that Optimus would pick a hot-head like him to be second in command. That is, until you see them together in battle.
  • In the comics, however, he's much calmer and reserved.
• One-Man Army: Being so strong means combining with Optimus is a huge deal.
• Spanner in the Works: Thrust's first plan nearly destroys the Autobots until Jetfire shows up. Thrust's second plan also comes close to beating the Autobots even with Jetfire's presence, until it turns out that he and Optimus can combine, something Thrust couldn't reasonably anticipate.
• Token Flyer: In Armada, Jetfire was the only Autobot who could fly.
• Vocal Evolution: Sports an Australian accent in Cybertrons dub which according to supplemental materials was due to vacationing on Nebulos.

Sideswipe

Sideswipe

Voiced by: Samuel Vincent (EN), Nobuyuki Kobushi (JP), Héctor Indriago (LA SP)

Hot Shot's newest partner. It didn't take long for Sideswipe to be captured by Hot Shot's friend-turned-foe, Wheeljack. Sideswipe was saved, but the experience taught him a harsh lesson about war, leading him to sober up quickly.

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• Child Soldier: He is a young Autobot who entered the war, basically making him reminiscent of a kid soldier.
• Cute Bruiser: Though not much of a bruiser, he has his moments.
• Distressed Dude: In "Past II," after being abducted and chained up in a burning industrial complex.
• Dub Name Change: His Japanese name in Micron Legend is Stepper, named after a Targetmaster from Headmasters.^note  G1 Stepper is known in the western toyline as "ricochet"
• Genius Ditz: He's good at cracking codes, but not much else.
• New Meat: And it's very obvious to everyone.
• Tagalong Kid: Goes along with Sideswipe as the new guys in Optimus Prime's team.

Overload

• The Big Guy: Dreamwave Overload serves as the largest of Jetfire's Cybertron contingent.
• Dark and Troubled Past: He became a Powerlinx junkie, which nearly killed him.
• Depending on the Writer: The nature of his relationship with Rollout varies. The Dreamwave comic doesn't give any indication whether Rollout is a separate individual, while the toy pack-in comics have them acting individually. Anime Overload doesn't say a word.
• Flat Character: Anime Overload is a set of guns for Optimus. Nothing more.
• Fusion Dance: He and Rollout were medically merged in order to save Overload's life.
• Mysterious Past: The fact he was an utter unknown was given a Lampshade Hanging with his Universe toy, which says he was looking into it.
• Remember the New Guy?: Just... shows up in the anime without fanfare. Lampshaded by the Universe toy. In the realm of the anime, The official word says that he was forged the same time Optimus Prime was resurrected out of the Matrix by the power of the Mini-Cons, explaining his sudden introduction as a brand new armament in the next episode. Toy-wise, he was a late addition shoehorned into the series for the sake of showcasing his Powerlinx ability with Prime, much like Tigerhawk was thrown into Beast Wars at the eleventh hour.

Rhinox

• The Cameo: Makes a one-off appearance in the anime.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: Ask Vector Prime confirms the show Rhinox was killed in the fight with Unicron.
• Number Two: In the Dreamwave comics, he's Jetfire's right-hand guy.
• Reforged into a Minion: Dreamwave Rhinox was abducted by Unicron alongside Cheetor, Airazor, and Terrorsaur and turned into one of his heralds.

Sentinel Minor

Sentinel Minor

Voiced by: Brian Dobson

Hot Shot's former platoon commander, whose attitude during a particular battle had far more reaching consequences than he realized.

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• Adaptation Deviation: This version of Sentinel is subordinate to Optimus Prime rather than his immediate predecessor.
• Adaptation Name Change: Most versions of Sentinel are called "Sentinel Prime", but this one is called "Sentinel Minor".
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: Like Animated Sentinel, he doesn't treat his subordinates with much respect when they disobey a direct order.
• Jerkass: He refuses to save Wheeljack because he felt it wasn't worth the waste of resources. When Hot Shot tried to go back and rescue his friend, Sentinel decked him for it; however, he's not nearly as bad as Animated Sentinel.
• Mythology Gag: His design is a reuse of Generation 1 Sureshot, while his color scheme inadvertently bears a resemblance to the more well-known version of Sentinel.
• The Nameless: Went like this for many years until he was confirmed to be a version of Sentinel.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Sentinel's refusal to let Hot Shot save Wheeljack gave Megatron a warrior he could use in his efforts to reclaim the Mini-Cons.
• Retcon: He went unnamed for years until the Ask Vector Prime Q&A confirmed this was Sentinel Minor.
• Small Role, Big Impact: He only appeared for a minute, but he essentially handed Wheeljack's loyalty over to Megatron and gave the Decepticons a mighty warrior in the process. It's also implied that Hot Shot ended up under Prime's command because of what happened.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Though he didn't know it at the time, Sentinel's refusal to allow Hot Shot to save Wheeljack gave Megatron a loyal soldier he could use in the war on Earth down the line.

Decepticons

Megatron

Megatron

Voiced by: Kiyoyuki Yanada (JP) (Armada), Junichi Endo (JP) (Energon), Joji Nakata (JP) (Cybertron); David Kaye (EN) (All series); Framk Maneiro (All series) (LA SP)

Armada Megatron

^{Armada Galvatron}

Leader of the Decepticons. Megatron is a malicious, all-powerful leader. He is a refined and focused general who treats his men with little care yet still infuses them with genuine respect for him and the Decepticon cause.

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• Adaptational Heroism: During the final arc of the series, he becomes an ally and sacrifices himself to stop Unicron.
• Adaptational Jerkass: Despite being one of the least evil incarnations in Armada, he is still this in his relationship with Starscream. Despite Starscream's loyalty, Megatron is downright abusive toward him. It takes Starscream's Heroic Sacrifice for Megatron to show him any respect.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: While Megatron is definitely a villain in Armada, he's one of the least evil incarnations of the character. He has a greater sense of warrior's honor, he respects his underlings who he feels are worthy of it, and he makes a Heroic Sacrifice to stop Unicron in the finale.
• Adaptational Villainy: By Cybertron he likely is the single most evil incarnation of Megatron intending to destroy the universe, including his own followers, and remake it in his image.
• Antagonist in Mourning: Optimus being dead wasn't nearly as fun as he thought it would be.
• Badass Armfold: His default pose in Cybertron.
• Badass Boast: From the comic - "You are in my way, and anything in my way, I GO THROUGH! My troops may have fallen, but I AM MEGATRON!"
• Bad Boss: Became more and more his shtick with each incarnation. In Armada, dents in his reign and planning started due to his abusive and control-obsessed treatment of his underlings. By Energon he is a pretty straight-up violent sociopath who will attack, reformat, or kill those who remotely defy him (though he occasionally shows genuine care for loyal followers). While in Cybertron, he is a callous manipulator who sees everyone serving under him as expendable pawns, leading his entire army to turn their back on him.
• Big Bad: Serves as the main villain the Autobots must defeat until Unicron shows up. Played straight in Cybertron, as Unicron has long since disappeared.
• Big Bad Ensemble: With Starscream in Cybertron.
• Blade Below the Shoulder: His left hand is more like a claw surrounding a compartment that hides his trench knife. It is only seen near the end of Armada, but it does massive damage when it finally shows up.
• Card-Carrying Villain: Tends to display snarky awareness of being an inflicter of evil, especially in the dub.
• The Comically Serious: His deadpan snark, despite his vicious disposition, leans him into this, especially in Cybertron.
• Control Freak: He chastises, threatens, or outright brutally beats down his men for not following his orders to a tee. Verges on A God Am I in his ambitions in Energon and Cybertron.
• Cool Car: One of his two alt-modes in Cybertron; he's a triple changer.
• Cool Plane: His main alt-mode in Energon, and one of his two alt-modes (again, he is a triple changer) in Cybertron.
• Create Your Own Hero: Arguably the Megatron incarnation most apt at making enemies out of his Decepticon troops due to his abusive, power-hungry ways. In Cybertron, all of his minions eventually Heel–Face Turn after he renders their lives meaningless.
• Defiant to the End: In all three series, he ultimately chooses death over submitting or accepting Unicron's control or another power. He may be a brutal, cruel tyrant, but at least he's damn well consistent about it.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?:
  • It was his death that stopped Unicron, in Armada and Energon.
  • In the comic, he defeated an alternate version of G1 Galvatron in one-on-one combat, albeit with help from the Star Saber.
• Dub Name Change: A rather complicated example. In the dubs for all three shows, he keeps switching back and forth between Megatron and Galvatron. He never changes his name to Galvatron in Micron Legend and stays Megatron the whole way through with the trade-off of naming him Galvatron during all of Superlink. Galaxy Force does have him start as Megatron and rename himself Galvatron the same way the dub does but adds "Master" in front of his name to result in Master Megatron and Master Galvatron.
• Dying as Yourself: In the finale of Energon, he manages to break from Unicron's control as Optimus prepares to ensure the death of both of them and commits suicide to ensure Unicron can never control him again.
• Energy Ring Attack: In the climactic battle of Cybertron, Galvatron fires a purple energy beam surrounded by rings at Optimus Prime. It doesn't kill the Autobot leader, but does significant damage.
• Evil Laugh: Likes to break into this when he's winning.
• A Father to His Men: He starts to slip towards this in Armada, particularly after his men start taking issues with his needless hostilities and prove themselves very capable of fighting back if pushed too far. Unfortunately, this doesn't stick after he gets reincarnated.
• Faux Affably Evil: Post Armada, any air of politeness to him is just an act; he is all about himself and has no respect for anyone else.
• Final Boss: After Unicron is successfully defeated, Galvatron becomes the final opponent for Armada, and his death seals Unicron's defeat at the end of the series.
• Graceful Loser: In the finale of Armada when he gives his life to stop Unicron, he graciously tells Optimus that he is the victor. Despite being far eviler in Energon, he willingly takes his own life to destroy Unicron.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: By far one of the most volatile incarnations of Megatron, with his minions often the brunt of his violent tantrums. He cooled down to befit his more manipulative tactics in Cybertron, but even then, he's hardly not this trope, especially when he's losing.
• Heroic Sacrifice: At the end of Armada, he chooses to fall to his death so that he can end the war and strip Unicron of the power he needs to revive.
• Horned Humanoid: A consistent trait across all three series is a pair of horns.
• Killed Off for Real: In the 2nd to last episode of Cybertron, he dies again, but unlike the previous shows, he never comes back.
• More Dakka: In Armada, he could activate his "Full Blast" mode, effectively turning him into a walking minigun.
• Mythology Gag:
  • His Energon design is based on Generation 1 Galvatron, which comes full circle when he becomes Galvatron again and takes on the classic color scheme.
  • Either as Megatron or Galvatron, he has some purple in his colors. Just like another Megatron played by David Kaye...Yeeeeees...
• Mysterious Past: Just appeared one day from out of nowhere, already in command of the Decepticon army he (presumably) founded. Neither Armada nor its followups delve into Megatron's pre-war past, his personal history from then remaining an enigma to this day.
• One-Man Army: The comic version manages to lay waste to four armies worth of Terrorcons in a matter of minutes.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Optimus Prime is his to destroy. Sixshot, in particular, suffered ruthless dismissal for trying to dispose of Optimus himself throughout Energon, a disposition that did not remotely waver when Sixshot half slagged Galvatron to do so.
  Sixshot: *charges and aims laser at Galvatron* Optimus Prime will be mine!
  Galvatron: NEVER!!!
• Pet the Dog: Challenges Starscream to a fight to the death to put him in his place but spares his life. After Starscream's death, he still defends him when the other Decepticons mock him, saying he was loyal to their cause.
• Pragmatic Villainy: In Cybertron. Despite his nasty attitude still being present, he is smart enough to keep most of his Decepticons motivated and capable, only truly disposing of those who betray him. Many of his minions even get upgrades of their choosing. He best exemplifies this through a Hannibal Lecture to Optimus later in the series, keeping his minions loyal to him until he finally achieved his goals and didn't need them anymore.
• Purple Is Powerful: His Energon Galvatron form, acquired by a dunk in Super Energon, is purple like original flavor Galvatron.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: In the Energon comics. Ten years of pent-up anger get spent in the space of a few minutes.
• Running Gag: At the start of the trilogy, he began life as Megatron. Then, partway through Armada, he'd be reformatted into Galvatron, die at the show's end, and be resurrected in Energon as Megatron in a new body, before he'd repeat the cycle twice.
• A Sinister Clue: In Cybertron at times, in particular how Nemesis Breaker forms his left arm in Dark Claw Mode (in comparison, Leobreaker formed Optimus Prime's right arm in Savage Claw Mode).
• Sorcerous Overlord: In Cybertron he drops the cannons and energon weapons in favor of straight-up firing bolts of lightning from the palms of his hands, presumably powered by the Armor of Unicron.
• Surrounded by Idiots: Comic Megatron's opinion of his underlings.
• Tank Goodness: His alt-mode in Armada. In Energon, he has an Arm Cannon/Blade Below the Shoulder that resembles his original tank form.
• Team Dad: A horrible abusive dad, but a dad nonetheless. This changes after Armada.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: In Energon, his Noble Demon and Affably Evil traits mysteriously vanish with no explanation, and he becomes even more ruthless than he already was. He gets even worse in Cybertron.
• Victory Is Boring: He falls into a deep depression after Optimus temporarily dies in Armada.
• Villainous Valor: Regardless of who is writing him, while Megatron will retreat when things don't suit him, he is not a coward. His deaths in Armada and Energon are both him dying on his terms. In the latter, he breaks free from Unicron's control as Optimus is trying to sacrifice himself to ensure Unicron's destruction so that he can take his own life to ensure Unicron will never control him.
• Villain Teleportation: Dreamwave's Energon comics have Megatron rebuild himself with a fancy teleportation ability that can take him across interstellar distances in seconds. It does come with the drawback of soaking up a lot of energy, though.
• Worthy Opponent: To Optimus Prime in Armada. To the point that he falls into a depression when he actually defeats him and hands control of the Decepticons over to him at the end of the series.

Starscream

Starscream

Voiced by: Jin Yamanoi (JP); Michael Dobson (EN), Matt Herrington (video game), Luis Carreño (LA SP)

Megatron's poorly-treated second in command; he loathed Megatron because of the sheer mistreatment and contempt Megatron often piled onto him. Megatron always seemed to expect too much from him.

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• Adaptational Heroism: His Armada incarnation is by far the most sympathetic version of Starscream ever ^note  not counting ''Shattered Glass'' versions ; his character even borders on heroic at times, as opposed to his Transformers: Generation 1, Transformers: Animated and Transformers: Prime incarnations, all of whom were firmly evil.
• Adaptational Personality Change: Starscream in most Transformers series is an ambitious, cowardly Smug Snake. In Armada, Starscream is the opposite: stubborn, impulsive, and loyal unless pushed past the breaking point.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: This Starscream lacks any of the ambition that typically defines the character and loyally follows Megatron, only turning on him when he's had enough of his abuse.
• Adaptational Sympathy: In Armada. Starscream, in most continuities, is an Asshole Victim when punished by Megatron. As Starscream is a loyal follower in this series and is instead beaten for his failures and disobedience, his relationship with Megatron has the air of a son trying to earn the approval of his abusive father.
• Adaptational Villainy: He lacks any of his redeeming traits from the show in the comics and game.
• Adaptation Name Change: In the original Japanese edit of Energon, he gets renamed Nightscream. The dub has him keep the name Starscream in all of his appearances.
• Anti-Villain: His loyalties are conflicted after returning to the Decepticons.
• Breakout Character: For Armada. He was easily the show's most popular character, to the point where his design was used for another more heroic Starscream. He has even considered one of the greatest incarnations of Starscream to date.
• Break the Haughty: Though he wasn't as much of a jerk as most other examples.
• Co-Dragons: With Demolishor to Megatron in Armada. They fight over who should be second-in-command at one point.
• Composite Character:
  • His Armada characterization is essentially a mix of classic Starscream and Beast Wars Dinobot.
  • He also inherits the "conflicted loyalties" and "feels sympathy for humans" traits of Generation One Thundercracker, even getting a similarly blue-color scheme towards the end of the series. Said blue-color scheme was released as Thundercracker in the Hasbro Armada toyline.
• Cool Plane: Becomes a futuristic fighter jet in Armada.
• Deconstructed Character Archetype: Of the treacherous subordinate, albeit in a more sympathetic way. His anger towards his boss comes less from a desire for power and acclaim and more from a desire for self-respect.
• Defector from Decadence: He joins the Autobots for a few episodes in Armada. It doesn't work out for a mix of reasons, and he soon rejoins the 'Cons, but his loyalties are conflicted afterward.
• De-power: He manages to become planet-sized in Cybertron, only to blow it when Primus hands him his tailpipe and makes him cry for his mommy.
• The Dog Bites Back: Throughout Armada he is disrespected and humiliated by Megatron in various ways, despite his loyalty to him. This ranges from just speaking down to him to beating him senseless to even conspiring to turn the other Decepticons against him so he could take the Starsaber from him. This culminates in "Sacrifice" when Megatron and Thrust use Starscream as bait against the Autobots and then abandon him to retrieve the Requiem Blaster. In the next episode Starscream returns to the base and beats up Thrust for abandoning him and trying to lie to his face about it, and shortly afterwards overhears Megatron and Thrust laughing at him behind his back, planning to humiliate him further and use him as Cannon Fodder. This finally causes Starscream to snap and go on a rampage through the base against all the other Decepticons and leads to Starscream joining the Autobots (though only temporarily).
• The Dragon
• Evil Sounds Raspy: His voice in the English dub.
• Expy: Of Dinobot from Beast Wars, though he also shares some traits with the original Starscream.
• Heel–Face Revolving Door: He briefly defects to the Autobots in Armada, then returns to the Decepticons after some problems force him to leave, then sacrifices himself to end Galvatron's ignorance of the threat of Unicron.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Starscream shoots at Unicron to convince Galvatron that both sides must team up.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: In Armada. He's not openly friendly, but Starscream shows a surprisingly good streak in him once he defects to the Autobots, implying Starscream might've been a better person if he weren't a Decepticon, and especially if he didn't have to endure Megatron's abuse.
  • Even before defecting to the Autobots, he is shown to care about his Mini-Cons, primarily his partner Swindle and the Star Saber Mini-Cons. They later reciprocate by showing concern for Starscream, convincing the kids and Optimus to give him a chance.
• Only Sane Man: In Armada, he's pretty much the only Decepticon who's both sane and competent.
• Proud Warrior Race Guy
• Redemption Equals Death: After dealing with his conflicted loyalties for most of Armada, he ultimately dies a hero, sacrificing himself to prove the threat of Unicron is real to Galvatron, ensuring that the latter allies himself with Optimus to save Cybertron.
• The Starscream: Subverted in Armada - while he has his conflict with Megatron, it's born more of a desire to gain his approval (and then just plain hatred and resentment) than any ambition to usurp him as Decepticon leader.
• Token Good Teammate: In Armada, he's the only Decepticon with a sense of honor. He even pulls a Heel–Face Turn at one point and later gets a Redemption Equals Death.
• Weak, but Skilled: Starscream is not the physically strongest Decepticon around but he is nevertheless one of Megatron's most skilled warriors, serving as a contrast to Demolishor's Unskilled, but Strong. This is shown in episode 03 where the two get into a fight with the former using his speed and flight to pound him into the ground after which the latter grabs Starscream's leg and swings him to the ground. As Demolishor straddles him to deal another blow, Starscream whips out his sword, winning the fight.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Strongly gives off this vibe towards Megatron's derogatory treatment of him in Armada.

Demolishor

Demolishor

Voiced by: Koji Yusa (Japanese), Alvin Sanders (English), Dale Wilson (Union, mistakenly), unknown voice actor ("Scorpinok", "Starscream the Mysterious Mercenary" only), Doron Bell Jr. ( "Distribution", "The Omega Train", "Decepticon Army" and "Ironhide Team") Guillermo Martinez (Latin American Spanish)

Demolishor is extremely strong and acts very seriously at all times. He is wholly devoted to Megatron and the Decepticon cause, unquestionably following orders at every turn.

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• The Brute: Demolishor starts out as the physically strongest and mentally slowest among Megatron's soldiers while also being undyingly loyal to the Decepticon leader. He later shares this role with Tidal Wave.
• Came Back Wrong: When he gets revived in his dump truck body in Energon, all of his memories stay in his old body.
• Canon Immigrant: He'd go on to appear in the Bayverse series, the Aligned Continuity and G1.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Saves Megatron numerous times, but the first time he does in Energon, much tragedy ensues.
• Co-Dragons: Shares this post with Starscream in Armada until Thrust arrives.
• Dub Name Change: He was initially named Ironhide in Micron Legend, making him not a Canon Foreigner in Japan but rather a new version of a G1 character. His dump truck body from Energon is called Irontread.
• Dumb Is Good: He's the closest thing to a "nice" Decepticon that you will find, aside from Starscream. Though interestingly, those two don't get along at all.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Despite his fierce loyalty to Megatron, Demolishor disapproves of Megatron's abusive treatment towards Starscream.
• Expanded Universe: He doesn't appear in Cybertron, though a recolor of his original form was released as part of the toyline.
• Hand Blast: His fingers are gun barrels.
• Heroic Sacrifice: In Energon, he saves Megatron's life at the cost of his old body getting wrecked. He gets very poorly repaid for this.
• In Name Only: Played With, but only apparent in the Japanese version where he's named Ironhide. His G1 counterpart is a gruff and fierce autobot that's old but still a very powerful soldier that happens to be one of Optimus Prime's closest friends who takes over leadership from time to time whenever Prime is not around. This Ironhide is a Token Good Teammate along Starscream who has nothing to do with Optimus and has Undying Loyalty towards Megatron. Eventually averted once he obtains his dump truck body in Energon, along his personality change.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: In Energon, he saves Megatron's life and gets his old body wrecked. Rather than repair him and leave it there, Megatron transplants him into a body he doesn't want to be in and tampers with his memory.
• Pet the Dog:
  • An especially memorable one in Armada; following a defeat, Megatron decides to pass his nerves on Starscream by taking him to a room and delivering him a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown. Demolishor, realizing Megatron might kill Starscream, breaks through the door to take his defense.
  • In Micron Legend, Demolishor briefly lamented and mourned Starscream's death; And as much as Demolishor was a Decepticon and was often at odds with Starscream, Demolishor still empathized with his comrade's plight and wished things ended differently.
• The Rival: To Starscream, for the position of Megatron's right-hand man.
• Spell My Name With An S: Demolishor's name is sometimes misspelled as "Demolisher", which is how his name is officially spelled in the G1 continuity.
• Tank Goodness: In Armada. In Energon, he becomes a dump truck instead.
• Took a Level in Dumbass: After his body gets destroyed in Energon, he is rebuilt into a far dumber ape-like format with little of his memories, usually playing an incompetent comic relief role alongside Snowcat.
• Undying Loyalty: Played primarily straight to Megatron, but the writers do subvert it at the end of Energon. When Galvatron hurls himself into the sun to stop Unicron and Starscream and Mirage follow, he and Snowcat don't bother to do the same.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Demolishor is clumsy and widely seen as an idiot but he's one of Megatron's strongest minions, serving as a contrast to Starscream's Weak, but Skilled. This is shown in episode 03 where the two get into a fight with the latter using his speed and flight to pound him into the ground after which the former grabs Starscream's leg and swings him to the ground. As Demolishor straddles him to deal another blow, Starscream whips out his sword, winning the fight.
• Villainous Friendship: Demolishor gets along fairly well with Cyclonus, especially in Energon, where there are still tensions between Autobots and Decepticons ten years later.
• Yes-Man: Rarely questions Megatron, although his Pet the Dog moment proves he's not wholly obedient.

Cyclonus/Snowcat

Cyclonus/Snowcat

Voiced by: Isshin Chiba (Japanese), Don Brown (English, series), Daran Norris (English, video game), Frank Carreño (Latin American Spanish, until Episode 27), Renzo Jiménez (Latin American Spanish, rest of the series)

Cyclonus has a very "trigger-happy" personality, laughing and cackling as he fires his weapons almost entirely at random on the battlefield.

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• Ax-Crazy: Though it comes across as more annoying than genuinely frightening.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Despite being cowardly and crazy, he's efficient when it comes to combat... usually.
• Butt-Monkey: A lot of bad stuff happens to him. Sometimes he deserves it.
• Dub Name Change: His original Japanese name in Micron Legend is Sandstorm, after a G1 Triple Changer who could also turn into a helicopter. Snow Cat is called Snowstorm in Japan.
• Evil Laugh: Has a mad cackle until Megatron changes him into Snowcat in Energon.
• For the Evulz: Seems to have almost zero sense of camaraderie and an even smaller grasp of right and wrong.
• In Name Only: The original Cyclonus was a tall, purple, and otherwise loyal Decepticon whose personality was that of a fierce and cunning warrior, reformatted from either Bombshell or Skywarp by Unicron to serve as Galvatron's right hand. This Cyclonus is a cackling madman (er, bot) who's pretty much there to shoot as many foes as he can; this becomes less of a case, however, when he's reformatted into Snowcat.
  • This is also played straight when looking at the Micron Legend side: he's named after g1 Sandstorm, who is a triple changer and a thrill-seeking Autobot who was never a decepticon nor crazy. The only thing in common with the g1 character is the color scheme and the fact both bots can transform into a helicopter.
• The Hyena: Laughs like an absolute madman. Until he becomes Snowcat, at which point he yodels.
• Laughably Evil: Cyclonus's sheer lunacy and penchant for maniacal laughter provide a lighthearted side to the Decepticons.
• Leeroy Jenkins: There's no strategy for him beyond wildly shooting at things.
• Minor Injury Overreaction: He screams like a little girl every time he gets hit while in vehicle mode, which, as you can imagine... happens a lot.
• Shout-Out: His reformatting and new name in Energon are taken from a vehicle from G.I. Joe.
• Trigger-Happy: He loves to waste all of his ammo all at once.
• Wild Card: His allegiance is best-described as "Whoever lets him shoot the most things." After having worked with the Autobots between Armada and Energon due to having nothing better to do, it takes all of one sentence to convince him to immediately turn on the people he's worked alongside for years.

Thrust

Thrust

Voiced by: Koji Yusa (Japanese), Colin Murdock (English), Armando Volcanes (Latin American Spanish, only in Episodes 25 and 26), Gonzalo Fumero (Latin American Spanish, rest of the series)

Thrust is Megatron's top intelligence officer and master tactician.

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• Adaptational Badass: The original Thrust was little more than a generic goon. This Thrust is a brilliant strategist, noted for several key victories against the Autobots.
• Adaptational Heroism: In the comics, Thrust is not as cowardly or treacherous, and by the time of Energon he's one of the few Cons still loyal to Megatron.
• Adaptational Intelligence: G1 Thrust was a fairly low-ranking Decepticon and just a simple-minded thug at the end of the day, whereas Armada Thrust is a renowned military tactician. However, he's not as smart as he thinks he is.
• Adaptational Villainy: While Thrust is a Decepticon, this series kicks up his villainy with him siding with Unicron over Megatron. He is even worse in the English dub, where he does not care if Unicron destroys Cybertron.
• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: He begs Galvatron to help him as he's getting crushed by Unicron's mechanisms, trying to pass off his earlier "The Reason You Suck" Speech as just a joke. It doesn't work.
• Butt-Monkey: The Dreamwave version spends most of his screen time getting his ass kicked.
• Canon Immigrant: His color scheme was implemented on the Bumblebee version of the character.
• Composite Character: While he has characteristics of Generation One Thrust (an overconfident exterior that hides the Dirty Coward underneath, the cone-head design, etc.), he inherits several of G1 Starscream's traits as well, being Megatron's outwardly sycophantic second-in-command who in actuality desires only personal power and who betrays Megatron to get it. Since Armada went in a different direction with their version of Starscream, it's likely Thrust was created to fill the "treacherous Decepticon" void.
• Dangerous Deserter: Defects to serve Unicron.
• Dirty Coward: Thrust talks a big game when he thinks Unicron will help him, but the moment he gets in trouble, he's begging Galvatron to save him.
• The Dragon: He supplants Starscream as Megatron's second-in-command soon after he arrives.
• Family-Unfriendly Death: He gets crushed by Unicron. Squesh!
• Jerkass: The other Cons often get sick of him for this reason.
• Karmic Death: Mocks Galvatron to his face about how pathetic he is and how much better Unicron is, only to get caught in some of Unicron's mechanisms and is crushed to death with his new master paying no attention and his old master ignoring his request for help and leaving him to die.
• Killed Off for Real: Unlike many other slain Decepticons, Thrust does not come back.
• Kneel Before Zod: Tries to pull it on Galvatron and gets crushed shortly after.
• Professional Butt-Kisser: He's incredibly sycophantic when it suits him.
• Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Thrust dies by being crushed to death during Unicron's transformation, just after gloating to Megatron about his betrayal no less.
• Smug Snake: He's a decent strategist but not good at improvising, which means his ego far overshadows his ability.
• Spared by the Adaptation: The Energon comic shows him as in charge of Cybertron's security systems and one of only two Cons to not immediately defect at the start. It probably helps that in that continuity, he didn't defect to Unicron and is much more loyal.
• The Starscream: Justified. Being made into The Butt Monkey by Megatron for his continued failures, Thrust accepts Sideways' proposal to betray Megatron and ally himself with Unicron to consolidate more power. Ironic - in Armada, he's actually more of a Starscream than Starscream himself is.
• Stupid Evil: He overestimates himself far too much when he defects.
• The Strategist: He's pretty good at strategy, just not very good at improvising.
• Undignified Death: Gets crushed feet first inside Unicron and spends his last moments begging and whimpering to Galvatron not to leave him, shortly after bragging to him about his betrayal.
• Unwitting Pawn: Sideways manipulates him like a pro.
• Villainous Breakdown: Reduced to pathetically begging for his life as Unicron starts crushing him.
• Villain Team-Up: He breaks away from the Cons to ally with Sideways and Unicron.
• Would Hurt a Child: Don't forget that earlier on, to escape the Cons and Autobots he threatened the kids.

Tidal Wave/Mirage

Tidal Wave

Voiced by: Jin Yamanoi (Japanese) Doug Parker (English), Armando Volcanes (Latin American Spanish)

The largest of the Decepticons, the lumbering giant Tidal Wave, proved a mighty foe for the Autobots.

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• The Brute: For the Cons, being their go-to muscle. He is a rare example of The Brute being the strongest of the villains, almost single-handedly defeating the Autobots in his debut. He has overpowered Optimus multiple times in later appearances.
• Canon Foreigner: He was created for the show, though other versions were introduced into other continuities.
• Cool Boat: Turns into an aircraft carrier.
• Dub Name Change: His original Japanese name in Micron Legend is Shockwave. No connection to the Decepticon Cyber Cyclops, who's called Laserwave in Japan. Mirage's original name is Shockfleet.
• Dumb Muscle: He's not very intelligent but is by far one of the toughest.
• Elite Mook: He's not just big; he's really tough to beat.
• Even Evil Has Standards: In Energon, when he sees the Terracons attacking Cybertron, he still fights to defend the planet despite feeling a lack of purpose in life due to Megatron's death.
  • Also from Energon, he despises Shockblast, having watched him kill members of their unit after no more Autobots were left to fight.
• Evil Sounds Deep: He's a giant Decepticon. What did you expect?
• Flat Character: Doesn't talk much and just acts as a dumb loyal brute.
• Giant Mook: Even after being sized down, he still towers over most of the other cons.
• Hulk Speak: Tidal Wave is one of the least eloquent characters in the franchise.
• The Juggernaut: Tidal Wave is almost unstoppable, with it typically taking the Star Saber, Requiem Blaster, or some other desperate plot by the Autobots to stop him.
• No-Sell: Tidal Wave is virtually indestructible. The Star Saber and the Requiem Blaster are the reliable ways to hurt him.
• One-Man Army: Wipes out the Autobots almost single-handedly when he first appears, only being stopped by the Requiem Blaster.
• Pokémon Speak: Tidal Wave tends to repeat his own name in certain circumstances, particularly as a Battle Cry.

Tidal Wave: Tidal Wave... Tidal Wave... Tidal Wave...

• Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale: In Energon, his recolored form is also much smaller, making him a little taller than Cyclonus. Yeah...
• Undying Loyalty: To Megatron. Upon being offered a chance to revive his leader by Scorponok, Tidal Wave eagerly accepts. He along with Starscream follows Galvatron into the sun to stop Unicron at the end of Energon. This quality may come across as oddly amusing, considering his VA voiced the treacherous (and much higher-pitched) Terrorsaur.
• Vocal Evolution: Tidal Wave's voice becomes deeper and more guttural in Energon.
• Your Size May Vary: In Armada, Tidal Wave's size could vary from completely dwarfing the other Cybertronians to only being slightly taller than them, and in the Armada-based videogame, Transformers (2004), he's so colossal that Optimus and the Decepticons could walk around inside his hull. His size stays more consistent in Energon where he's once again only slightly taller than the average Cybertronian.

Wheeljack

Wheeljack

Voiced by: Susumu Chiba (Japanese), Michael Daingerfield (English), Juan Guzmán (Latin American Spanish)

Wheeljack was formerly an Autobot serving under Hot Shot. When Wheeljack was pinned beneath some debris during a fire, Hot Shot was forced to leave him to get help, but his superiors prevented him from returning. Wheeljack believed that Hot Shot had abandoned him, and when Megatron found and rescued him, he swore loyalty to the Decepticon commander.

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• Adaptational Badass: The original Wheeljack didn't lack by any means, but he was far from the Autobots' greatest warrior; this one is a ninja who can cloak himself or make multiple copies of himself using holograms and put up a good fight.
• Adaptational Villainy: Wheeljack's previous incarnation was a Gadgeteer Genius firmly on the Autobots' side; however, in Armada, Wheeljack is an ex-Autobot turned Decepticon seeking revenge on a comrade that actually tried to help. He does eventually reform, or at least forgives Hot Shot. Played straight in Dreamwave's comics which outside of More Than Meets the Eye guidebook, he's a Decepticon through and through.
• Best Served Cold: He's not here for revenge—Except he is.
• Demoted to Extra: The Dreamwave comics utterly ignore his history (save for the questionably canon More Than Meets the Eye), just showing him in the background on occasion.
• Dub Name Change: He's called Rampage in the original version, a name thrown around between different villains of no shared theme.
• Et Tu, Brute?: He assumes that Hot Shot betrayed him when the latter went to get help. This was played somewhat straight in the Japanese Micron Legend run, as Hot Shot did actually betray his trust by abandoning him to die out of cowardice and fear for his own life, and Hot Shot was just using getting help as an excuse. In reality, Hot Shot doesn't try to help him until his superiors tell him they're not sending any rescue. Hot Shot eventually realizes that abandoning Wheeljack was a terrible idea, but at that point, it's too late.
• Evil Costume Switch: His colors go from white to black when he joins the Decepticons.
• Evil Former Friend: Hot Shot's, though when they fight side by side against Unicron, he does seem to be warming up to him again.
• Fallen Hero: In something of a rarity for the franchise, Wheeljack is a former Autobot turned Decepticon.
• Fire-Forged Friends: After initially wanting to kill Hot Shot, he grants him an audience with Megatron, and their dialogue when fighting against Unicron indicates that their friendship may be restarting.
• Heel–Face Turn: Seemingly by the end, he's back with the Autobots again, or as at least forgiven Hot Shot.
• I Owe You My Life: Regardless of what he knows and doesn't know about the incident, Megatron truly did save him. After joining the Decepticons, he never leaves or betrays them, no matter what amends are made. This proves helpful once the Autobots determine that Unicron is the more significant threat.
• In Name Only: He has very little in common with other versions of Wheeljack - not personality, not his design, not even his faction allegiance.
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: He believes that Hot Shot abandoned him to die earlier in the war. The reality is somewhat different. The original Japanese Micron Legend somewhat subverts this, as Hot Shot did leave Wheeljack to die out of cowardice and fear, and Hot Shot telling him he was going to get help was just an excuse; making Wheeljack's grudge towards Hot Shot more justified in Micron Legend.
• Mythology Gag: His design is based on Generation 1 Sideswipe, allowing the Transformers: Shattered Glass writers to use this Wheeljack's design as the basis for their version of Sideswipe.
• Poor Communication Kills: He wasn't abandoned quite as entirely as he thinks he was. Not that he gave Hot Shot much of a chance to explain himself.
• Revenge by Proxy: He takes Sideswipe hostage to get revenge on Hot Shot.
• Scars Are Forever: He has a giant scar over his old Autobot logo.
• That Man Is Dead: He does not like being reminded about his old allegiance, almost viewing it as a different life.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Out of all the Decepticons that survived the show, Wheeljack is noticeably missing from Energon. It is likely that he reformed, given how he's forgiven Hot Shot by the end. He does show up in the Dreamwave Energon comics, still a Decepticon.

Humans

Rad White

Bradley "Rad" White

Voiced by: Masataka Nakai (Japanese), Kirby Morrow (English), Juan Carlos Vásquez (Latin American Spanish)

Rad is the one who reactivated the Mini-Con ship while exploring some caves and is inadvertently responsible for the Cybertronian War restarting.

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• All There in the Manual: When Armada starts, he and Carlos are 12 years old. He is also a Nature Lover and enjoys outdoor sports.
• Audience Surrogate: His reactions are similar to ours throughout the war between the Autobots and the Decepticons.
• Battle in the Center of the Mind: He once helped the Mini-Cons break Unicron's' mental hold on them.
• Beware the Nice Ones: May only be a human, but he's got guts.
• Put on a Bus: The comic pretty much ignores the kids once Simon Furman takes over writing duties.
• Ordinary High-School Student: He attended school with his friends when they suddenly got caught up in the war.
• Spanner in the Works: His interactions with High Wire in the ancient past are what ruined Unicron's original plans to use the Mini-Cons.

Carlos Lopez

Carlos Lopez

Voiced by: Yukie Maeda (Japanese), Matt Hill (English), Héctor Indriago (Latin American Spanish)

Carlos is Rad's friend and was with him when he reactivated the Mini-Cons.

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• All There in the Manual: He and Rad are both 12 at the start of Armada, and they've known each other since kindergarten. He loves sports, hip-hop, and rap. He is also not a great student but an excellent mechanic, something the cartoon omits but is featured in the comics.
• Audience Surrogate: His character and reactions are very relatable to us when it comes to seeing things between the Autobots and the Decepticons.
• Ordinary High-School Student: Also attended school when he got caught up in the war.
• Plucky Comic Relief: He's full of jokes... primarily bad ones.
• Put on a Bus: Along with Rad and Alexis in the comics.
• Skintone Sclerae: Except for a couple of times when the show was having its Off-Model moments and gave his eyes whites.

Alexis Thi Dang

Alexis Thi Dang

Voiced by: Akira Tomisaka (Japanese), Tabitha St. Germain (English), Rebeca Aponte (Latin American Spanish)

Alexis, along with Rad and Carlos, befriended the Street Action Team Mini-Cons and Autobots on Earth. She frequently helped them by teaching them the ways of Earth.

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• All There in the Manual: Her surname, Thi Dang. She's also 11 years old when Armada begins.
• Audience Surrogate: Provides some reactions which we can relate to on some of the show's biggest moments.
• Child Prodigy: She always gets excellent grades, which probably explains why Alexis is in the 8th grade at age 11. Plus, she's a natural computer whiz as she interfaces with the Autobot base's system through her laptop.
• Deadpan Snarker: Has a tendency to make comically snide remarks when dealing with her friends' wacky antics.
• Dub Name Change: Her original Japanese name in Micron Legend was Alexa.
• Interspecies Romance: It's hinted that Alexis developed something of a crush on Starscream during his brief stint with the Autobots. Needless to say, she's left pretty distraught when he goes back to the Decepticons, and even more so after his death.
• Put on a Bus: All but ignored by the comic with the other kids after Furman takes over writing duties.
• Only Sane Man: She thinks she is anyway.
• Ordinary High-School Student: Also attended school when she gets caught up in the war.
• Ship Tease: with Starscream.
• Suddenly Ethnicity: Official sources say Alexis is Asian, specifically Vietnamese American; she's the daughter of Vietnamese boat people. But for some unknown reason, she's designed to look white.

Billy

Billy

Voiced by: Tarusuke Shingaki (Japanese), Andrew Francis (English), Víctor Díaz (Latin American Spanish)

Billy and Fred start as bully classmates of Rad, Alexis, and Carlos but become their friends after the trio and the Autobots save them from the Decepticons.

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• All There in the Manual: The producers planned to write him and Fred out of the show at some point but never got around to it. Hence, their staying through to the finale was accidental.
• Useless Protagonist: Compared to the main three children, and even compared to Fred, Billy brings absolutely nothing to the table as far as pushing the narrative goes. He has no particular skills, personality or really much of anything, he's simply there just to be seen from start to finish.

Fred

Frederick "Fred"

Voiced by: Nobuyuki Kobushi (Japanese), Tony Sampson (English), Juan Guzmán (Latin American Spanish)

Fred is a classmate of Rad, Alexis, and Carlos, who bullies them alongside Billy as his right-hand guy as Billy has the dominant personality. Fred eventually becomes friends with them and joins the Autobot team.

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• All There in the Manual: The producers planned to write him and Billy out of the show after some time but never got around to it. Hence, their staying through to the finale was accidental.
• Cowardly Lion: He's not much of a fighter, but he does have moments of this when Megatron captures Rad as a hostage after receiving the Autobots' Mini-Cons as ransom. Fred uses Laserbeak to taze the tyrant for breaking his promise and successfully buy the Autobots a brief chance of saving Rad.
• Dub Name Change: He was named Jim in Micron Legend and renamed Fred in the English dub of Armada.
• Fat Comic Relief: Fred provides some of the more lighthearted moments in the series, particularly when referencing his love for food exclusive to the English dub.
• Lovable Coward: While he's generally very cowardly and reluctant at times, Fred also has moments that hinted at his more good-hearted nature:
  • He's one of the few characters that show genuine sympathy and understanding for the Decepticons' Mini-Cons' perspective of how they also hate being used as instruments of war (maybe because he can relate to them, being pushed around by Billy and all).
  • When Optimus Prime calls the Decepticons' Mini-Cons enemies despite sympathizing with them in Micron Legend, Fred calls him out on it, proclaiming that Optimus doesn't understand their nature whatsoever since fighting the Decepticons is all he knows.

Others

Unicron

Unicron

Voiced by: Katsumi Chō (JP; Armada), Nobutoshi Canna (JP; Energon), Mark Acheson (English), David Kaye (when Megatron is possessed in Energon), Matthew Yang King (video game), Johnny Torres (LA SP, Armada)

A primal force of evil, his origins lost to the mists of time. He is the embodiment of all darkness and hate that lurks in the hearts of all beings.

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• Back from the Dead: This happens an endless amount of times. You honestly wonder why the bots try to put him down again when he just gets back up.
  • The first is implied at the end of Armada when his planet form is seen floating behind an unknown body. It's later confirmed at the start of Energon that he's just mentally inactive.
  • The second and third attempts happen during Energon. He manages to reactivate his body form and possess Megatron, then dies a few episodes later at the hands of Optimus Supreme. After that, he possesses Megatron again, turning him into the huge Galvatron in an attempt to recreate his body, but Galvatron hurling himself headfirst into a sun thwarts this plan.
  • A fourth and seemingly definitive example from the Cybertron comic: Unicron frees himself from the Black Hole by hijacking a smaller Transformer's body, then recreates his body sometime later. This time, he flees before Primus and the Autobots can defeat his weakened body.
• Brown Note: In the comics, Unicron speaking causes everyone pain.
• Evil Is Not a Toy: Takes over Shockblast and later Megatron (who really should have known how dangerous he was after Armada) in Energon.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Voiced by Mark Acheson in Armada (and a minimal amount of Energon), and Katsumi Chō in Micron Legend. Downplayed when David Kaye voices him.
• Greater-Scope Villain: To Megatron. While Megatron may be the Big Bad of the show, Unicron eclipses him in terms of threat level while detached from the main show. And the Mini-Cons? They're his creations instrumental to help him achieve maximum power to destroy the universe (in the cartoon at least).
• Omnicidal Maniac: This is the trilogy that established this trope best for him.
• Planet Eater: Though, unlike his debut appearance, he doesn't physically eat them; instead, he breaks the planet into smaller pieces and then devours them. Energon shows this best.
• Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale: Not as bad as his first appearance because he rarely engages any Cybertronians physically, but when Thrust is perched/standing on his shoulder, you do run into some pretty notable issues, notably the fact that he should theoretically be a speck from the distance we see him.

Sideways

Sideways

Voiced by: Takahiro Sakurai (Japanese) and Paul Dobson (English; in Armada), Susumu Chiba (Japanese) and Ted Cole (English; in Cybertron); Johnny Torres (Latin American Spanish; all series)

Sideways, an intergalactic drifter transforms into a motorcycle. His consciousness is seemingly housed within the smaller robot head that rides his alternate mode, capable of splitting into two components. A two-timing Transformer whose allegiance follows his own agency or whims at the time and eventually fell into the servitude of a dark menace. By Cybertron, he is back in action and traded the heads for a faction symbol that switches on the cuff.

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• Ambiguous Situation: Every Sideways throughout the multiverse claims they are the same Sideways as everyone else, but given the character is a born-manipulator, it's impossible to tell if they're lying.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: One time on Jungle Planet, as the other Decepticons were being picked off, he was singing a mindless tune and deliberately not giving a frag.
• Anti-Villain: He was out to avenge his planet, turning to Unicron, hoping that this would help him achieve his goals. The Dark Side Will Make You Forget soon kicked in afterward, although by Cybertron he remembers again.
• Back from the Dead: In Cybertron.
• Badass Biker: Well, he is a badass bike.
• Bait the Dog: Is introduced in Armada as a new Autobot, existing to even out the ranks with Scavenger joining the Decepticons. Then it turned out he was a Decepticon pretending to be an Autobot to lure Hot Shot into a trap and take the Star Saber. And later it turns out he was a minion of Unicron.
• Breakout Character: He became so popular that several later Sideways were treated as this Sideways dimension-hopping.
• Canon Immigrant:
  • This characterization of him was popular enough to get an appearance in Transformers: Animated and the film series (though just as a regular Decepticon).
  • Technically, he first appeared in Robots in Disguise with a toy from that show's line, though he was just an Autobot warrior.
• The Dark Side Will Make You Forget: Servitude to Unicron seems to have caused him to forget that he was hoping to avenge his planet, and turned him into the Jerkass we see him as in Armada. It's subverted in Cybertron where he remembers again.
• Demoted to Extra: The Dreamwave comics have him hanging around in the background, even when Unicron shows up.
• Digitized Hacker: It allows him to survive getting sliced up until Optimus got a lucky shot and took him out for good. Or so it seemed...
• The Dragon: To Unicron in Armada.
• Double Reverse Quadruple Agent: In both Armada and Cybertron, though both times he does have different agendas.
• Dub Name Change: His original Micron Legend name is Double Face. In Galaxy Force, he is known as Noisemaze.
• Earn Your Happy Ending:The credit sequence of the final episode of Cybertron shows he and Soundwave found an intact copy of Planet X within the void they'd been sent into in their last appearance.
• Expy: Averted with his other appearances- possibly. It's thought to be the same guy throughout the multiverse.
  • Also one to Tarantulas from Beast Wars, inheriting his purple colour scheme, duplicitous nature, ability to turn into a motorcycle and connection to Unicron. Then again, it's not entirely impossible they're also the same guy.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: It is implied that Unicron was in possession of Sideways during Armada, thus temporarily draining any sense of compassion the latter may have had. In Cybertron, with Unicron destroyed, it is shown that Sideways does has the ability to care; in this case for the inhabitants of his destroyed world, including Soundwave and Laserbeak.
• Evil Sounds Deep: When played by Paul Dobson.
• The Heavy: After he appeared, he gradually shifted towards this, mainly as most of the series did not show his boss. Even when his boss appears, he serves as the representative and does most of the fighting.
• Horned Humanoid: In Armada, he sports a pair of horns along the side of his head, which foreshadows who his master is.
• Kick the Dog: He enjoys doing this, mainly when it simultaneously helps his goals and hurts others.
• Knight of Cerebus: In Armada. His introduction leads to the Autobots losing the Star Saber and suffering a string of major defeats. Any time Sideways does take an active role in future plots; it's a sign things will go for the worse with him manipulating Thrust into convincing Starscream to rejoin the Decepticons, taking the Minicon weapons with him.
• Manipulative Bastard: He can quite quickly turn people into his puppets when he needs to (not literally). Even in Cybertron, he tends to do this, as he manipulates both sides again, taking advantage of their amnesia due to the Unicron Singularity.
• Meaningful Name: Both his English and Japanese Armada names (Sideways and Double Face) represent his Playing Both Sides nature.
• Mind Screw: Unicron, Sideways, Sideways' Mini-Cons. It's kind of hard to tell where they each end and the others begin, which isn't helped by the shaky dub. Of course, he enjoys running on this.
• The Mole: To Unicron, betraying the Autobots and then the Decepticons in the process.
• Mouth of Sauron: His boss Unicron can talk, but to an extent, Sideways still serves as this.
• Never My Fault: Planet X started the war against Gigantion and blew themselves up. Sideways and Soundwave blamed Gigantion and went to Unicron.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: A Badass Biker whose alt-mode is a Cool Bike, who also exists as a Digitized Hacker; this also goes with the fact that he's a Transforming Mecha. Also implied that he is the same character throughout the whole multiverse.
• Playing Both Sides: He initially screws over the Autobots by pretending to be a Decepticon, then, in turn, he screws the 'Cons over by leaking information of theirs to Unicron.
• Troll: He enjoys screwing people over, mainly when it helps him advance his plans. And he loves to flip his faction symbol to mess with his enemy's heads.
• Unperson: His existence in Armada was erased from memory due to disturbances in time caused by the black hole. Nobody remembers him, and he doesn't refer to his role as Unicron's servant, simply saying he's a native of Planet X.
• Villain Decay: In Cybertron; He started as a shadowy manipulator, playing both sides through sheer cunning. He became a bit of a joke in the later episodes, being outwitted and fooled by the humans (though he gets better during his last few appearances). He even lampshades it at one point:
  "I'm the one who's supposed to be pulling everyone's strings!"
• Yellow/Purple Contrast: Sideways stands out for his bright purple and yellow color scheme. Cybertron makes him black and orange.

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