This is the character page for the characters who appear in the anime Transformers: Robots in Disguise.
For the characters from the 2015 cartoon of the same name, see Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2015).
For the characters from the IDW comic with a similar name, see The Transformers: Robots in Disguise.
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Autobots
Optimus Prime (Fire Convoy (ファイヤーコンボイ faiyā konboi))
Voiced by: Neil Kaplan (English), Satoshi Hashimoto (Japanese)Other languages
The leader of the Autobots.
- Beware the Nice Ones: It's amazing how someone who prefers to solve things through diplomacy and understanding can be so dangerous in combat.
- Big Good: Leader of the Autobots and all that.
- The Captain: As usual, he's the one who leads the Autobots and tells them what to do.
- Cain and Abel: Magnus and Optimus are this in earlier episodes. The trope stops applying to them as Magnus becomes more heroic.
- Canon Immigrant: While he wasn't the first Optimus Prime to use the concept, nearly all other version of Optimus would combine with their trailer to form a Super Mode in all subsequent series. His design was also briefly used for the Armada Prime's Cybertronian design, and the character himself was featured in the Transformers: Animated guidebook "The Allspark Almanac" as "Fire Prime".
- Catchphrase: Like any incarnation of Optimus Prime, "Autobots, transform and roll out!".
- Freeze Ray: In Battle Mode, the ladder of his fire truck mode forms a massive back-slung cannon which he can tote to fire the "Blizzard Storm" attack.
- Gentle Giant: He's pretty tall like most Transformers and also very well-intentioned.
- Head Blast: He has small lasers mounted on each side of his face in Super Mode.
- The Hero: The main character, leader of the Autobots and the one with the most serious dedication at stopping Megatron.
- My Greatest Failure: He feels terrible about not being able to save the Decepticons from Megatron's Brain Washing,
- Nice Guy: He's very nice to Koji and is willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good.
- One-Man Army: One of the few Autobots who can fight Megatron without combining with anyone else.
- Papa Wolf: Don't mess with Koji and the Autobots if you know what's good for you.
- Parental Substitute: To Koji, while his dad was the prisoner of the Predacons.
- Super Mode: Battle Mode, by combining with his trailer. Actually quite smart about it, as he will often use it immediately, rather than as a last-ditch.
- Curiously, some episodes showed him in Battle Mode with no reason to be.
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: Whole-heartedly believes the Decepticons have it within them to change.
- Worthy Opponent: Scourge and Optimus respect each other as mighty adversaries.
Ultra Magnus (God Magnus (ゴッドマグナス goddo magunasu))
Voiced by: Kim Strauss (English), Takashi Matsuyama (Japanese)Other languages
One of the Autobots' greatest warriors. Although Ultra Magnus would remain a free agent for some time, he would still come to aid the Autobots whenever he felt they required assistance.
- Adaptational Jerkass: The original version of Ultra Magnus was a Humble Hero who was much more comfortable taking orders than giving them. This version is portrayed as incredibly arrogant. He is also being envious of Optimus Prime for being granted the Matrix of Leadership to the point of violent rage.
- Big Badass Rig: His alt mode is a huge truck.
- Blood Knight: Rare for an Autobot. Most of the time, all he cares about is fighting.
- Cain and Abel: Magnus and Optimus are this in earlier episodes. The trope stops applying to them as Magnus becomes more heroic.
- Canon Immigrant: His vehicle mode was later implemented for the War For Cybertron: Siege version of the character, while the rest of the character served as partial inspiration for the Animated version of Ultra Magnus's predecessor, P.C. Magnus.
- Comically Serious: Magnus is essentially the ultimate old-fashioned Straight Man, especially when paired with someone like Side Burn or Sky-Byte.
- Defrosting Ice King: It takes a lot of time and patience.
- Driven by Envy: Ultra Magnus hates that Optimus was chosen to wield the Matrix of Leadership instead of him. The Japanese version adds more irony to the situation - Magnus is jealous that Convoy was constructed with an Energon Matrix and he was not... but is in fact mistaken, with Magnus already having an Energon Matrix which wasn't able to activate while his heart was clouded by hatred.
- I Was Just Passing Through: In his earlier appearances, he only helps the Autobots fight the Predacons because the Predacons get in the way of his plans to get the Energon Matrix.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He eventually becomes nicer and a full-time ally to the Autobots.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: In his earlier appearances, he always has a selfish ulterior motive to helping Optimus Prime and the other Autobots, such as dealing with the Predacons and Decepticons solely because he wants to fight Optimus himself. As mentioned above, he grows out of it.
- Proud Warrior Race Guy: He really embraces fighting and being aggressive.
- Related in the Adaptation: He and Optimus are brothers in this show.
- The Rival: To Optimus. The feeling is not mutual.
- Robo Family: Optimus Prime's brother.
- Sibling Rivalry: He and Optimus are brothers in this continuity and they initially don't get along.
- Token Flyer: Ultra Magnus is the only Autobot in this series that can fly.
T-AI (Ai (アイ))
The Tactical Artificial Intelligence, sentient computer A.I. of the Autobot base. Responsible sending out certain bots for perticular missions.
- Benevolent A.I.: She's friendly enough and only loses her temper when other Autobots are acting out.
- Mission Control: She mainly stays at Autobot HQ to dispatch the Autobots and inform them of their missions.
- Pink Means Feminine: She wears pink clothes.
- Projected Man: Well, projected girl. She's basically a hologram.
- The Smurfette Principle: Even though she's not technically a female, or an Autobot. She's the only female bot/machine regular cast member.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To Teletraan I, both being an artificial intelligence aiding the Autobots. Somewhat justified in that she is canonically a daughter programme of theirs.
Tow-Line (Wrecker Hook (レッカーフック rekkā fukku))
Voiced by: Lex Lang (English), Masami Iwasaki (Japanese)Other languages
An Autobot tow truck who is really strict about the "no parking" rules.
- Adaptational Heroism: The original Car Robots is set in the same continuity as Generation 1, and another "Wrecker Hook" appeared in the Robotmasters branch of the line, but as a Destron. It was eventually confirmed they're the same character, with Wrecker Hook having lost his memory at some point and joined the Destrons in the hopes of getting it back. Robots in Disguise conversely takes place in it's own continuity, with Tow-Line remaining an Autobot to the very end. This is nodded to when the Transformers: Legacy line gave Tow-Line a figure, marked as an Autobot, and specifically designated him as coming from the "Robots in Disguise 2000 Universe".
- Blade on a Rope: Tow-Line's alternate mode is a tow truck. In robot form, his towing cable can be used as a weapon to restrain opponents.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: He's briefly captured and reprogrammed by the Predacons into thinking the Autobots were the evil ones, causing him to try and capture X-Brawn. When X-Brawn damages him in the midst of this though, his memory banks get screwed up and he starts just dumping any Autobots he can find in an abandoned powerplant, doing so to X-Brawn, Side Burn, and Rail Spike. Optimus and Prowl have to restrain him so they can remove the programming, whereupon he quickly realizes he messed up and works to fix it.
- By-the-Book Cop: Even Prowl notices he may go somewhat overboard.
- Catchphrase: "No parking means no parking!"
- Literal-Minded: His idea of "No parking means no parking" extends to anything that qualifies as parking and anywhere. Which means parked bicycles, wedding cars, ambulances, broken-down buses, funeral escorts, parade floats, campaigning senators, and mailmen must be towed away. Prowl has to keep him in line and direct his efforts towards only towing illegal parking, or dealing with Side Burn and his flirting.
- Simpleton Voice: His voice is kind of dim-witted sounding.
Skid-Z (Indy Heat (インディヒート indi hīto))
Voiced by: Michael Lindsay (English), Jin Nishimura (Japanese)Other languages
A competitive Autobot racing car.
- Speed Demon: When Skid-Z arrived on Earth, he scanned a race car belonging to deceased driver Auggie Cahnay. It was believed that the car had absorbed Cahnay's personality and when Skid-Z scanned it for his Earth vehicle mode, he developed an obsession with participating in any race he saw.
- Xtreme Kool Letterz: His name is pronounced "Skids" but is spelled with a hyphen between the "d" and "Z".
Fortress Maximus (Brave Maximus (ブレイブマキシマス bureibu makishimasu))
Voiced by: Steve Blum (English), Masayuki Kiyama (Japanese)
A colossal Autobot guardian hidden on Earth. Strong and durable, Fortress Maximus is an unstoppable force for good.
- Been There, Shaped History: In the Japanese G1 continuity, Brave Maximus fell through time and landed on the Planet Master, giving Fortress the technology to become Fortress Maximus. This isn't the case in the US dub of the show, since Robots in Disguise is a separate continuity from G1.
- Doomed Upgrade: In the Legends mini-comics, Brave Maximus is upgraded into a new body and became Neo Brave Maximus.
- Humongous Mecha: Biggest bot in the series.
- Last of His Kind: Only one of his kind really, since there are no other Headmasters in the series and it isn't stated whether or not there have been others.
- Losing Your Head: The only Headmaster of this series.
- Living MacGuffin: Megatron's original goal was to locate the giant Autobot to seize his power for himself.
- More Dakka: The amount of firepower Maximus possesses, is considerable.
- Terse Talker: Says very little and always gets to the point.
Autobot Brothers
Side Burn (Speedbreaker (スピードブレイカー supīdobureikā))
Voiced by: Wally Wingert (English), Punch UFO (Japanese)Other languages
One of the smaller Autobots, who frequently chases after cute little sports cars.
- Abhorrent Admirer: Towards the human Recurring Extra Kelly. Played with in that he's actually attracted to her red car due to mistaking it to be sentient.
- Animal Sweet on Object: His crush on Kelly's car.
- Bash Brothers: What it means to be an Autobot Brother.
- Badass Family: Along with his brothers Prowl and X-Brawn.
- Freudian Trio: The impulsive Side Burn is the Id.
- Fun Personified: A likable young fella who just happens to be a Stalker with a Crush for anyone driving a cute red sports car. (Or rather, cute red sports cars themselves.)
- Friend to All Children: Always the guy that lets Koji talk him into taking him along.
- The Heart: His main responsibility is to keep his older brothers in line.
- Kid-Appeal Character: He's said to be the youngest of the three brothers and is often very impulsive.
- Lovable Sex Maniac: He has a thing for red cars and thinks that every single one he encounters is a gorgeous woman.
- Morality Chain: All the Autobot Brothers are this for Ultra Magnus, though Side Burn warms up to him sooner than the others.
- Nice Guy: For all his faults, he's a pretty decent 'bot.
- Primary-Color Champion: Side Burn's armor is blue in base. In Super Mode, his armor turns red and his flames turn yellow.
- Robot Kid: Teenager at least. He's still the youngest of the Autobot Brothers.
- Sibling Team: They're not called the Autobot Brothers for nothing you know.
- Super-Speed: He's described as the fastest of the brothers.
Prowl (Mach Alert (マッハアラート mahha arāto))
Function: Cop
Voiced by: Wankus (English), Takayuki Kondō (Japanese)Other languages
An Autobot officer, who always goes "by the book".
- Badass Family: Along with his brothers Side Burn and X-Brawn.
- Bash Brothers: What it means to be an Autobot Brother.
- Berserk Button: You break the traffic laws, ''he will show no mercy!''
- By-the-Book Cop: Not always.
- Everyone Has Standards: Even he thinks that Tow-Line's too much a stickler for the rules.
- Freudian Trio: Prowl's attachment to the rules makes him the Superego.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's a good guy, but his strict nature can make him act like a jerk.
- The Lancer: Alternates with X-Brawn.
- No Indoor Voice: But only when he's really upset, or he sees somebody breaking the law.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: He understands when the others are doing the right thing.
- Sibling Team: They're not called the Autobot Brothers for nothing you know.
X-Brawn (Wildride (ワイルドライド wairudoraido))
Function: Demolitions
Voiced by: Bob Joles (English), Masahiro Shibahara (Japanese)Other languages
The eldest of the Autobot Brothers, X-Brawn's a rugged outdoorsman type, who loves driving off-road.
- Adaptation Name Change: His Generation One counterpart was named just "Brawn". Here, he goes by X-Brawn.note
- Badass Family: Along with his brothers Prowl and Side Burn.
- Bash Brothers: What it means to be an Autobot Brother.
- Big Brother Instinct: You mess with his younger brothers, you mess with him.
- The Big Guy: May have something to do with his Texas drawl.
- Boisterous Bruiser: He's very easy-going and fond of battling the Predacons.
- Cool Old Guy: While not really that old, he's much older than his two brothers and is every bit as formidable as they are.
- Deadpan Snarker
- Freudian Trio: X-Brawn is the Ego, more level-headed than Side Burn, yet not as strict as Prowl.
- Good Ol' Boy: He has a somewhat Southern vibe.
- Sibling Team: They're not called the Autobot Brothers for nothing you know.
- "X" Makes Anything Cool: Per
Word of God, X-Brawn has "X-" in his name to make it sound cooler.
Team Bullet Train
Railspike, Midnight Express, Rapid Run
Combined Form: Rail Racer
Railspike
Midnight Express
Rapid Run
Rail Racer
Voiced by: Mike Reynolds (Railspike, English), David Lodge (Midnight Express and Rail Racer, English), Keith Diamond (Rapid Run, English), Shōji Izumi (J-Five and JRX, Japanese), Naomi Matamura (J-Four, Japanese), Eiji Takemoto (J-Seven, Japanese) Other languages
A combiner team made up of trains.
- Big, Thin, Short Trio: Though they're all pretty much the same height.
- Combining Mecha: They come together to form Rail Racer.
- Cool Train: All three of them turn into Japanese Bullet Trains.
- Dub Name Change: In the Japanese version, their team name is Team Shinkansen and their individual names are J-Five (Railspike), J-Seven (Rapid Run), and J-Four (Midnight Express). The Japanese for their combined form Rail Racer is JRX.
- Energy Ring Attack: Rail Racer can fire a beam of yellow rings from his chest.
- The Klutz: Midnight Express.
- Power Trio
- Sibling Team: Just like the Autobot brothers team.
- The Leader: Railspike
- The Big Guy: Rapid Run
- Super-Speed: They possess this ability as Rail Racer.
Spychangers
Hot Shot (Art Fire (アートファイヤー āto faiyā))
Voiced by: Michael McConnohie (English), Eiji Takemoto (Japanese)
- The Leader: He's in charge of the Spychangers.
Crosswise (X-Car (エックスカー ekkusu kā))
Voiced by: Dan Woren (English), Junichi Miura (Japanese)
- Brought to You by the Letter "S": Has a large "X" on his vehicular hood.
Ironhide (Ox (オックス okkusu))
Voiced by: Michael McConnohie (English), Eisuke Yoda (Japanese), Jorge Ornelas (Latin Spanish)
Mirage (Counter Arrow (カウンターアロー kauntā arō))
Voiced by: Wally Wingert (English), Ryō Naitō (Japanese)
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's a bit of a loner, but is still pretty tight with Ironhide.
R.E.V. (Eagle Killer (イーグルキラー īguru kirā))
Voiced by: Steve Kramer (English), Kizatomi Nimura (Japanese)
- Fun with Acronyms: His name stands for Racing Exertion Vehicle.
W.A.R.S. (Wars (ウォーズ wōzu))
Voiced by: Steve Blum (English), Riki Kitazawa (Japanese), Herman López (Latin Spanish)
- Dub Name Change: Downplayed. His name is not an acronym in the Japanese version.
- Fun with Acronyms: His name stands for Wicked Attack Recon Sportscar.
- Mythology Gag: His name is written on his side, and taken from the "Wars" in the Beast Wars logo.
Build Team
Combined Form: Landfill
Function: Construction, Leader: Wedge, Members: Heavy Load, Grimlock, Hightower
Wedge
Landfill
Voiced by: Michael Reisz (Wedge and Landfill, English), Daran Norris (Heavy Load, English), Tom Wyner (Grimlock, English), Joe Ochman (Hightower, English), Yukiko Tamaki (Build Boy and Build King, Japanese), Yoshikazu Nagano ((Build Typhoon, Japanese), Hiroki Takahashi (Build Hurricane, Japanese), Masami Iwasaki (Build Cyclone, Japanese)Other languages
A combiner team made up construction vehicles who to act as the space bridge repair crew.
- Blood Knight: Wedge is sometimes a little too eager to prove himself as a warrior.
- Combining Mecha: Together they form Landfill.
- Dub Name Change: In the Japanese version, their group name is Buildmaster, Wedge is called Build Boy, Hightower is called Build Cyclone, Heavy Load is called Build Typhoon, Grimlock is known as Build Hurricane, and their combined form is called Build King.
- In Name Only: The original Grimlock was one of the Dinobots and had a T-rex alt mode. This series' Grimlock is colored green and turns into a construction vehicle (though the Transformers: Robots in Disguise iteration of the character would borrow from this one, primarily his green color scheme and using a construction vehicle to hide his dinosaur mode).
- Lost in Translation: They're supposed to be a young samurai lord and his honorable retainers in the Japanese version.
- Kid Hero: Wedge is the youngest of the group and is implied to be even younger than Side Burn.
- Nice Guy: Grimlock, he's certainly a far cry form that other Grimlock for being much more cooperative and nowhere near as egotistical.
- Only Sane Man: Heavy Load as for instance in Fortress Maximus, he's the only one to contact Optimus Prime about the hallucinations.
- This Is a Drill: Hightower has drills as weapons.
Predacons
Megatron (Gigatron (ギガトロン gigatoron))
Galvatron (Devil Gigatron (デビルギガトロン debiru gigatoron))
Galvatron (Devil Gigatron (デビルギガトロン debiru gigatoron))
Voiced by: Daniel Riordian (English), Yōichi Kobiyama (Japanese)Other languages
The leader of the Predacons, and later the Decepticons and one of the most powerful Transformers in existence.
- A Father to His Men: Believe it or not, albeit a gruff one. He will praise his warriors when they've done a good job.
- Adaptational Villainy: The English dub removes his Heel–Face Turn at the end.
- Ax-Crazy: He wasn't the most rational individual as Megatron but he becomes even worse after he is resurrected as Galvatron.
- Bad Boss: Whereas Megatron genuinely respected his warriors, Galvatron had a tendency to suddenly try and kill his troops.
- Bat Out of Hell: One of his alt modes is a giant bat.
- BFG: He's got quite a few in his collection.
- Big Bad: Like all Megs, he is still on this role.
- Breath Weapon: In his dragon mode.
- Composite Character: Like the original Megatron, he undergoes an upgrade into Galvatron, but leads the Predacons like his Beast Era descendant.
- Cool Car: One of his alt modes is a Cybertronian roadster. It's rarely used throughout the show.
- Cool Plane: One of his alt modes is a Cybertronian jet with dragon-like wings.
- Cruel Elephant: Gains a Mammoth mode after becoming Galvatron.
- Dragon-in-Chief: Answers to the unseen Predacon Council, who are only mentioned in the English dub.
- Dragons Are Demonic: One of his alt modes is a two-headed dragon.
- Evil Laugh: The sheer creepiness his laugh is really noticeable when he's on a roll.
- Evil Is Bigger: Megatron is taller than most of the non-combiner Transformers in the series. Team Bullet Train and Fortress Maximus are the only bots bigger than him.
- Evil Overlord: His goal is to conquer the entire universe.
- Giant Hands of Doom: One of his alt modes (the one in which he first appears) takes the form of a giant hand.
- Head Blast: Megatron can fire the "Cutter Beam" from the crest atop his head, an attack which changes appearance almost every time it's used.
- Heel–Face Turn: In the Japanese continuity, Devil Gigatron decided to turn over a new leaf after being imprisoned.
- Humanity Is Infectious: In the Japanese finale Devil Gigatron comes to believe that Cybertronians suffer from Creative Sterility which traps them in an endless cycle of conflict, but that absorbing the spirits of human children will allow him to evolve into a new form of life and escape his shackles. The dub removes this and has him just Mind Rape human children For the Evulz.
- Large and in Charge: Megatron is larger than all of his minions, with Mega-Octane being the only one who comes close to his height.
- Large Ham: His dialogue is often loud and bombastic.
- Light Is Not Good: As Galvatron, he becomes mostly white.
- One-Man Army: Frequently portrayed as an unstoppable force on the battlefield.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: As Galvatron, Scourge and the Decepticons were toast.
- Purple Is Powerful: Megatron's color scheme has a lot of purple in it.
- That Man Is Dead: Boasted that he as Galvatron was a distinct entity from Megatron, which is rather silly considering the only apparent physical change was his paint job. However, his personality did get some severe adjustment.
- We Used to Be Friends: Gigatron and Fire Convoy used to be buddies. After he turned good again, they tried rebuilding their friendship.
- Would Hurt a Child: In the finale, his cyber-bats painfully Mind Rape every kid on Earth, with Galvatron threatening to kill them if the Autobots interfere with his plans.
Predacon Field Squadron
Predacons
Predacons: Sky-Byte, Slapper, Gas Skunk, Dark Scream
Sky-Byte
Gas Skunk
Dark Scream
Slapper
Voiced by: Peter Spellos (Sky-Byte, English), Peter Lurie (Slapper, English), Jerry DeCapua (Gas Skunk, English), Steve Blum (Dark Scream, English), Konta (Sky-Byte, Japanese), Ryō Naitō (Goosher, Japanese), Norio Imamura (Gas Skunk, Japanese), Hiroki Takahashi (Gildor, Japanese)Other languages
A quartet of Predacons who are powerful (though very stupid), all possessing savage(?) beast modes.
- Amphibian Assault/Amphibian at Large: Slapper is a large animal mecha with a frog alternate mode.
- Breakout Character: Sky-Byte ended up becoming the most popular character in the entire series, to the point that he's appeared in several other continuities since then.
- Breath Weapon: In shark mode, Sky-Byte can fire missiles from his mouth. Gas Skunk can fire a foul-smelling gas from his mouth.
- Butt-Monkey: To the point that they could give Waspinator a run for his money, the Predacon minions get their skid-plates handed to them regularly. Especially Sky-Byte.
- Chest Blaster: Sky-Byte and Dark Scream can fire laser beams from the gems on their chests.
- The Chew Toy: Mostly Sky-Byte suffers a lot of misfortunes.. Poor, poor Sky-Byte...
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Sky-Byte has Undying Loyalty to Megatron. Specifically Megatron. Scourge is fair game; he's just not very good at it.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Sky-Byte, he's actually a pretty good fighter when he puts an effort into it. It's just that he has the worst/dumbest allies ever!
- Dressing as the Enemy: They disguise themselves as Autobots on two occasions. While both fail miserably, the second goes better because at least they chose to be different Autobots that time.
- Dub Name Change: Their group is called the Destrongers in the original Japanese version. Individually, Sky-Byte is referred to as Gel Shark, Slapper is known as Goosher, and Dark Scream's name is Gildor (Gas Skunk is still Gas Skunk).
- Dumb Muscle: All of them qualify to one degree or another due to being completely incompetent in spite of their great strength.
- Even Evil Has Standards: In an alternate future depicted in Ask Vector Prime, the Predacons refused to serve the monstrous MegaZarak and escaped his forces and later showed up to aid Defensor during his final battle with the madman.
- I Meant to Do That: In the all Spychangers universe, Sky-Byte pretended he poisoned all the Energon on Earth on purpose after seeing it caused the Autobots to have to downsize into Spychangers.
- Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: You have to feel bad for Sky-Byte, like you would for any self-proclaimed Warrior Poet who's so hopeless at actually being impressive or dignified that one episode has him reduced to barking like a seal and balancing a ball on his nose
◊ in order to prove to the Autobots that he's telling the truth. - Informed Ability: They're (supposedly) a quartet of four vicious, robots with savage animal modes who have destroyed many planets. Their incompetence suggests otherwise.
- Laughably Evil: Being completely inept, their screw-ups often make for very hilarious moments.
- Noble Demon: Crosses over with Minion with an F in Evil. Despite being a minion who works for Megatron, Sky-Byte is noticeably quite a nice person and has lines he won't cross unless he has to. By the later episodes, he ends up helping the Autobots several times(not completely by his own choice). Such as the time when he helped hold up a tower full of innocent civilians,(That he accidentally damaged) while telling Scourge to get lost when he shows up and starts firing at it in order to coerce Optimus into giving into his demands. He also did help free Koji's father. Eventually, even children are not afraid to go up to him and greet him when they see him on the streets. Even telling him that they don't see him as an evil person and is actually quite nice."Koji:" Nice to see you again Sky-Byte! Thanks again! (After saving Koji from falling to his death).
- Overly-Long Tongue: Slapper's tongue can shoot out to wrap around enemies.
- Smelly Skunk: Gas Skunk. See Breath Weapon and Weaponized Stench.
- The Strategist: Sky-Byte at least tries to form a plan, but it's always screwed up by either bad luck or the incompetence of Slapper, Gas Skunk, and Dark Scream.
- Token Competent Minion: Sky-Byte is this to a limited extent in the earlier episodes. While he doesn't always win fights, he is depicted as a much more intimidating and competent fighter than the other three Predacons, and is much smarter. This gets downplayed over time and ultimately vanishes before the Decepticons show up and completely outclass him and the other Predacons.
- Only for him to later go through a downplayed case of Redemption Promotion. As while he never joins the Autobots, he ends up helping them on several occasions. (Be it by choice or just on impulse). Some fans even joke that Sky-Byte is more of an Autobot than a Predacon, given how he is most effective when he's helping someone.
- Undying Loyalty: Sky-Byte's loyalty to Megatron is unquestionable, although that won't stop him from ruining Megatron's plans in order to undermine Scourge.
- Villainous Friendship: They tend to get along pretty well, except for Sky-Byte, who is usually The Friend Nobody Likes.
- Warrior Poet: Sky-Byte, or he'd like to think he is anyway.
- Weaponized Stench: Gas Skunk can fire a foul-smelling gas from his mouth. Whether or not he can actually spray from the base of his tail like a normal skunk depends on the dub: in the Robots in Disguise he says he can't, but in Car Robots he establishes he can, it'd just be 'indecent.'
Scourge (Black Convoy (ブラックコンボイ burakku konboi))
Voiced by: Barry Stigler (English), Taitem Kusunoki (Japanese)Other languages
Scourge is arguably Megatron's second in command, leading the Decepticon forces.
- Arch-Nemesis: To Optimus Prime.
- Big Bad Wannabe: On a sliding scale, he's the type of villain who happens to be legitimately powerful and competent enough that he could be the Big Bad of the series if Megatron weren't present. Unfortunately for him, Megatron is present, is still the main villain of the series, and has just about every counter-measure ready in the event Scourge tries to betray him, making sure that Scourge is never able to reach that top-tier level of villainy.
- Big Badass Rig: His alt mode is a huge truck.
- Blood Knight: He really loves fighting.
- Breakout Character: He was not the first evil Optimus, but he defined all later ones. The recurring Nemesis Prime from other universes takes much more influence from Scourge than he does Gilthor and Black Lio Convoy, and any Laser Optimus Prime figure made today is guaranteed to get a Scourge repaint.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: At one point pretends to reform only to deceive the Autobots.
- Evil Counterpart: Serves as one to Optimus Prime, partly because Optimus was scanned at the same time his alt mode was scanned.
- Evil Sounds Deep: He speaks in a very deep voice.
- Expy: He is somewhat based on Starscream due to being a complete sycophant to Megatron while secretly planning to overthrow him as leader.
- Heel–Face Turn: In the Legends mini-comics, Black Convoy gets the evil sucked out of his by a reformed Devil Gigatron only to be subverted when later, their version of Ai restored him back to his evil personality.
- Hidden Agenda Villain: He does a good job at hiding his plan of becoming the new leader.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Once he thought he'd managed to oust Megatron from command, his arrogance and lack of control over Fortress Maximus brought him back down. Megatron then wiped away his memories, and he never tried again.
- Informed Ability: He was stated by Megatron to be a battle hardened warrior. But as the series continued, he would be sent running away in defeat by the Autobots every bit as much as Sky-Byte in spite of his proclaimed power.
- Smug Snake: Scourge believes himself to be deadlier, and a more capable warrior than the rest of the Decepticons and Predacons. He has frequently been portrayed as more than a match for most of the Autobots. Unsurprisingly, he may actually be correct in his assumptions.
- The Starscream: At one point, he attempts to destroy Megatron and usurp his position as Predacon leader using Fortress Maximus.
Decepticon Commandos
Commandos
Mega-Octane, Ro-Tor, Armorhide, Rollbar, Movor
Combined form: Ruination
Voiced by: Bob Papenbrook (Mega-Octane and Ruination, English), Neil Kaplan (Ro-Tor, English), Richard Epcar (Armorhide, English), Michael Lindsay (Rollbar, English), Robert Acelrod (Movor, English), Holly Kaneko (Dolrailer and Baldigus, Japanese), Masao Harada (Hepter, Japanese), Takayuki Kondō (Dangar, Japanese), Riki Kitazawa (Greejeebar, Japanese), Hidenori Konda (Shuttler, Japanese)Other languages
A group of Autobots turned Decepticon thanks to Megatron's meddling. They transform into combat vehicles and serve as Megatron's top generals.
- Combining Mecha: Their combined form, Ruination.
- Dub Name Change: They are referred to as Combatrons in the Japanese version. In addition, Mega-Octane is called Dolrailer, Ro-Tor is called Hepter, Armorhide is called Dangar, Rollbar is called Greejeebar, Movor is called Shuttler, and their combined form is known as Baldigus.
- Elite Mooks: Compared to the Predacons, they're far more competent, possessing a better grasp of military tactics, fielding better weaponry, and can combine into a gestalt of firepower that can give the Autobots a fight. They're a marked improvement over the Predacons in just about every way, despite their similar success rates.
- Expy: They're the G1 Combaticons with a different paintjob and different names altogether. However, unlike the Combaticons as they appear in The Transformers cartoon, their robot mode appearances in the anime drew closer to their original toy models.
- Heel–Face Turn: In the Legends mini-comics, Combatrons get their evil sucked out by a reformed Devil Gigatron, only to be subverted when their version of Ai restored them back to their evil personalities.
- Leader Forms the Head: Actually averted, Scourge is technically the leader, but not part of Ruination at all. Mega-Octane forms the key component of Ruination. However, as second-in-command of the Decepticon group, he's still the superior of the other four components.
- The Psycho Rangers: They were pretty much made because the Autobots outnumbered the Predacons. They all used to be Autobot protoforms to boot.
- Reimagining the Artifact: Movor carries over Blast Off's odd-man-out deal of being a space shuttle among a group of military vehicles. The anime has the military base the Predacons scan vehicles from fuel space shuttles, with Sky-Byte scanning one by accident but Megatron thinking it was intentional and running with it.
- Surveillance as the Plot Demands: When an episode needs the Decepticons to find about some Autobot activity, it turns out Movor is spying from space.
Humans
Koji Onishi (Yuuki Ohnishi (大西勇気 ōnishi yūki))
The best bud
Voiced by: Jason Spisak (English), Akiko Kimura (Japanese)Other languages
A young boy who befriends the Autobots and occasionally helps them on missions. He gets involved with their conflict because of his dad being kidnapped by the Predacons.
- Kid Hero: He's just a child but still has occasions where he proves himself a useful ally.
Dr. Kenneth Onishi (Daichi Ōnishi (大西ダイチ ōnishi daichi))
Voiced by: Kirk Thornton (English), Shōji Izumi (Japanese), Herman López (Latin Spanish)
Koji's father, who is captured by Megatron in order to find out secrets on how to get more power. He is eventually inadvertently rescued by Sky-Byte and reunited with his son.
- All There in the Manual: His English given name is only given in official Fox Kids episode summaries.
- Disappeared Dad: Becomes this to Koji due to being kidnapped until accidentally being freed by Sky-Byte.
- Good Parents: It's shown that he cares a lot about his son.
Kelly (Junko Shiragami (白神 ジュンコ shiragami junko))
Voiced by: Philece Sampler (English), Chieko Higuchi (Japanese)Other languages
A woman who appears in nearly every episode suffering a misfortune.
- All There in the Manual: Her English name is only known from official Fox Kids episode summaries and from the Italian dub of one early episode.
- Butt-Monkey / The Chew Toy: Pretty much every one of her appearances has her either suffer a misfortune or be relentlessly pursued by Side Burn while she's driving her red car.
- Doomed New Clothes: One episode had her walking around wearing an expensive new hat she bought, only to have it knocked off and run over.
- She also wears a red business suit in a few episodes, notably the episode "An Explosive Situation," where she is chased for a powerful battery in the trunk of the sportscar she was driving.
- Dub Name Change: Kind of. Her name was never given in the Japanese version, but supplementary material for the Japanese Generation One continuity featured a character based on her named Junko Shiragami, who was eventually confirmed to be the same character after the Car Robots anime was considered to be part of the Japanese Generation One continuity rather than a separate continuity.
- Ms. Fanservice: At times, most notably in "Volcano" where she spends the entire episode wearing a swimsuit. She also becomes a race queen model in Binaltech Asterisk.
- Once an Episode: She appears (and suffers) in every episode as a brief cameo.
- Recurring Extra: She's never a major character and her appearances are mainly done for the sake of some quick comic relief.
- Unlucky Extra: She appears Once an Episode only to either suffer a misfortune or be relentlessly pursued by Side Burn while she's driving her red car.
