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The war is over. Now the hard part begins.

"Prime never had to deal with this. And he never wanted to. But this is my world and I have to defend it—even if it doesn't want us here. No... Especially if Cybertron doesn't want us here."
Bumblebee

When the Transformers Ongoing ended with the Chaos storyline, the long civil war between Autobots and Decepticons finally ended as well. IDW launched two new series to chronicle events in the aftermath of that war.

One was The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye chronicling a group of Autobots in space, while the other was this comic.

Optimus Prime has left Cybertron, Galvatron is presumed dead, and Megatron is MIA. Thousands of neutral transformers who left the world before and during the war have returned, lead by Metalhawk. The Autobots have triumphed over the Decepticons, who are now leaderless and directionless. The ongoing split many of the transformers into two groups. One group went into space to discover their history, the other stayed on Cybertron. Robots in Disguise covers the troops left behind, and delves into the political side, as the Autobots, Decepticons, and Non-Aligned Indigenous Life-forms (NAILs) reach a tentative peace. Tempers are still high as everyone blames everyone else for the war, and some try to take advantage of the chaos to carve out a new position in the Post-War Cybertron.

It now has a character sheet. Feel free to add to it.

From November, 2013 to March 2014, Robots in Disguise was part of a 12-issue Crisis Crossover event with More than Meets the Eye called The Transformers: Dark Cybertron. Being a game changer for the series, you might be well-advised to visit that page.

As-of issue 35, it dropped the 'Robots in Disguise' subtitle and became just 'The Transformers',note  which made things... confusing in the short term (but as the show entitled ''Robots In Disguise'' had its own comic tie-in, will probably be helpful in the long-term). From March 2015 to May 2015 The Transformers was part of a 6 issue crossover with The Transformers: Windblade (which also launched the latter title as an ongoing) titled The Transformers: Combiner Wars. Tropes occurring in the crossover belong on that page.

After the Titans Return and Revolution crossovers the series was rebranded as Optimus Prime (without the Transformers branding), launching with a new issue #1 in December 2016. The series lasted until 2018, when it and Lost Light were ended in the wake of The Transformers: Unicron, which follows on from and wraps up many of this comic's plotlines, as well as the continuity as a whole.


Tropes:

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    A-M 
  • 0% Approval Rating: The people of Earth are united in opposition to Optimus Prime's annexation. He has to save the planet a couple of times just to move the needle to grudging resignation.
  • Above Good and Evil: Shockwave doesn't believe in good or evil, just logic. Later on, he changes this to a belief in chaos.
  • Adaptational Heroism:
    • The Decepticons that pull a Heel–Face Turn have seldom done that in any of their appearances, bar Tankor and Octane, who defected in the cartoon for less noble reasons. Similarly, Soundwave is made into a much more noble and sympathetic character than pretty much every previous interpretation.
    • Used to be the case with Shockwave, but Proteus found his old self a little too troublesome.
    • Megatron himself is convinced to pull a Heel–Face Turn at the climax of Dark Cybertron.
    • Soundwave is much nicer (usually), and eventually becomes an ally of Optimus.
  • Adaptational Villainy:
    • Prowl goes Jumping Off the Slippery Slope like you would not believe. Turns out much of this, including his apparent alliance with the Decepticons, is a result of being mind-controlled by Bombshell, but he's still done a lot of nasty stuff in the name of peace. Case in point, none of the other Autobots actually realized he was being mind-controlled because they didn't think the things he was doing while under Bombshell's control were morally any worse than his usual behavior.
    • Downplayed with Rattrap. He's not really that bad, but he's clearly not good, instead being more evocative of his Transformers: Animated counterpart, Rattletrap, though played without laughs.
  • After the End: Before the events of this series, Gorlam Prime was rendered dead by D-Void and its minions. By the time Orion and his team arrive, it looks like the planet itself is decaying.
  • Agent Peacock: Starscream is vain and at times quite flamboyant, but he's definitely not someone you want to underestimate.
  • All There in the Manual:
    • Victorion's introduction comes in a side-story of Windblade's title.
    • Centurion's appearance requires readers to have read Revolutionaries, where his story was told.
  • Ambiguous Situation:
    • In issue 11 it's deliberately left ambiguous if Shockwave was responsible for blowing the crap out of Omega Supreme like everyone thinks. Eventually, Prowl states that he did it while under Bombshell's control.
    • Is Optimus really the Arisen or isn't he? The Mistress of Flame thinks he is, Pyra Magna (and Victorion) doesn't, Shockwave reveals he made up the very concept of Primes just to discredit it. At the very end of the series, there's no answer either way. What matters is what Optimus did, not who he was.
  • Ambition Is Evil:
    • Double Subverted with Starscream, who is really as ambitious as ever.
    • Played with, in the case of Pyra Magna. She's not evil, but she is a jerk, and no-one outside her own team can stand her.
  • Anachronic Order: Syndromica (2). Holy crap.
  • An Arm and a Leg:
    • Arcee's favourite tactic in a fight is to slice off limbs.
    • Astrotrain runs Swindle over, knocking off his right arm and left leg.
  • And I Must Scream: Prowl was aware of everything he was being made to do while under Bombshell's control, but unable to do anything about it.
  • Anticlimax: Arcee's reaction after finding out other fembots post Dark Cybertron.
    Arcee: I always hoped there'd be someone like me... somewhere. And now that there is... I don't feel anything.
  • Antiquated Linguistics: Gets a mild mocking during a flashback to Nova Minor and Galvatron meeting. The former asks Galvatron "from whence" he came. Galvatron just mutters under his breath.
    Galvatron: "From whence". Primus be with us...
  • Anti-Villain: Prowl becomes an increasingly extreme example of this throughout the first season. While it's revealed he was being mind controlled during that time, he's done many questionable things since the days of The Transformers (IDW) and other series where he has made appearances.
  • Arc Number: Thirteen. Shockwave sent thirteen Regenesis ores out into the universe, later revealed to be for the thirteen Primes, who led a tribe each.
  • Arc Symbol: Hexagons, come "season 2". Solus Prime's Creation Lathe is noted to be hexagonal, and Blackrock makes a passing mention of them. Which given he's an agent of Onyx Prime is very suspicious.
  • Arc Welding: It is a John Barber book, after all.
    • Probably the best example is from issue 9 which deals with a longstanding IDW continuity error: the Reflector trio kept appearing alive despite having died in "Spotlight: Wheelie." The issue's end reveals that the Reflectors we saw die in "Spotlight Wheelie" were time travelers.
    • The portal to the Dead Universe on Gorlam Prime, the mysterious ruins Hardhead and Arcee found in "Heart of Darkness" and Shockwave's ores get tied together: The ore (Ore-2: Death) created the portal, allowing the Dead Universe a foothold - since as was established in "Chaos", it needs death to get through - and the city is actually a slumbering Titan.
    • The mysterious crystals of the planet Kup crashed on in Spotlight: Kup are connected to Shockwave's Regenesis program.
    • Optimus Prime Issue 18 implicitly confirms the long-running fan suspicion that the Solstar Order's homeworld had one of Shockwave's Regenesis ores on it. Unicron confirms it.
    • The very final issue has Arcee mention that after her transition she tried seeking out Anode, from Lost Light, only to find the Blacksmith had disappeared mysteriously, which was part of the reason for her infamous Ax-Crazy depiction in the Furman era.
  • Arc Words:
    • "When I feel doubt creeping in, I think of..."
    • "Wheeljack Wheeljack Wheeljack."
    • "A black star"
  • Are We Getting This?: In Vol. 2, issue #54, Cybertronian reporter Circuit asks his cameraman Longtooth if he's catching footage of Optimus Prime summoning Metrotitan from the Earth's ground.
    Circuit: Longtooth, old buddy...tell me you got that on camera.
  • Arms Dealer: One of the many arms of Garrison Blackrock's business empire, though it seems likely he deals exclusively with the EDC.
  • Art Evolution: Andy Griffith has polished his style a lot for season 2 compared to season 1 of RID.
  • Art Shift: Is there a flashback to long ago? Then the art changes to Raimondelli's artwork.
  • Asshole Victim: Just so we don't feel too bad about the Devisuns getting nommed by Unicron, Optimus Prime issue 23 reveals that their home planet had organic life on it, which they supressed, reduced to eking out a living in whatever small remnants of their original world was left.
  • Assimilation Plot / Loss of Identity:
    • Bombshell's plan is to use his cerebro-shells to override the minds of every Cybertronian, and make them all one.
    • Prowl has his mind overpowered by the Constructicons when they form Devastator. He does manage to briefly incapacitate them by ripping himself out of the gestalt, though.
  • The Atoner: Needlenose as of issue 21.
  • Ax-Crazy: Arcee, Bludgeon, and Monstructor. Actually Defied by Arcee herself; she only pretended to be Ax-Crazy to get in with Megatron and his loyalists so that she could get into position to kill Bombshell and sever his control over Prowl/Devastator. Seems killing Jhiaxus over and over for six years helped her straighten her head out.
  • Back for the Dead:
    • The last Mini-Constructicon, last seen in Spotlight: Ramjet, shows up again being tracked down and killed by Spike Witwicky and Jimmy (((Pink))).
    • The Throttlebots reappear in Optimus Prime, last having been seen in Spotlight: Metroplex. Wideload and Freeway are noted to have died from their wounds there. Searchlight is quickly killed off, and Rollbar follows him. At the beginning of the issue, Goldbug mentions they also managed to kill the Nigh-Invulnerable Sixshot.
    • Cliffjumper returns in issue 23, after several years away, in a recording of him arriving on Velocitron just as Unicron comes looking for dinner.
  • Back from the Dead:
    • The power of Ore-14.
    • Slug, thanks to Starscream and Flatline's tinkering.
    • Bumbleebee, and Optimus Prime, thanks to a mix of Wheeljack's science skills, and Trypticon's hot spot.
  • Badass Boast: From Optimus Prime issue 12, Marissa shuts up Elita One's demands of vengeance on Earth for the events of First Strike by pointing out the damage a mere forty-odd humans managed to cause, and asks whether Elita really wants to see what six billion more would do.
  • Bad Boss:
    • Turmoil made a group of aliens build him a time machine, then promptly murders them all. He's also a pretty big dick to his mooks.
    • Galvatron forgets the names of his troops, refuses to get Skywarp's fault teleportation fixed, and offhandedly suggests he'd have been fine with Arcee murdering Astrotrain. He later uses the Enigma on his own troops, and abandons Astrotrain to be sliced to pieces by Arcee.
  • Bait-and-Switch: Issue 31 ends with Jazz finding Alpha Trion, only for Prowl to sneak up behind him, put a gun to his head and say Alpha Trion isn't going anywhere... issue 32 begins with Prowl explaining that he just meant Jazz wasn't aware of the security systems. The gun to the head was just to make sure Prowl got Jazz's attention.
  • Bait the Dog: For a while, it seemed as though Starscream had begun to reflect, and was going to do good. Here, he shows why there's a trope named after him. Although after Combiner Wars it seems he is starting to reflect after all.
  • Based on a Great Big Lie: Starscream's claim of being the Chosen One comes from a prophecy that Metrotitan delivered, but during Season 2 Galvatron mutters that it was just something Alchemist Prime had said while tripping on bad engex. And then in Optimus Prime, Alpha Trion recounts that Alchemist told him he got the prophecy from Onyx Prime, who'd just made it up. Eventually, it turns out everything about the Primes was something Shockwave made up, as a social experiment.
  • Berserk Button:
    • Just thinking of Spike is enough to really drive Prowl mad.
    • The Constructicons carry a grudge against the human as well (He killed Scrapper in the previous ongoing), and when Prowl is used by Megatron as a new control unit for Devestator, the thought of Spike manages to unite all six transformers into a single personality, who then proceeds to go on a rampage.
  • Beyond the Impossible: It's been stated that only a Prime can kill a Prime, and would be impossible for anyone else. It doesn't stop Galvatron of the Darklands from killing Nexus Prime in the distant past, because he doesn't believe in Primes.
  • Big Bad:
    • The first "season" of the comic played around with this, with Prowl, Starscream, Metalhawk, Jhiaxus, and finally Megatron forming a Big Bad Ensemble of sorts. As the story gears up into The Transformers: Dark Cybertron, Shockwave takes the spot as the definitive Big Bad for the season.
    • Season 2's Big Bad is Galvatron, now leader of the Decepticons.
    • Onyx Prime for Optimus Prime.
  • Big Bad Wannabe:
    • Ratbat tries to use his old position as senator to take control. It gets him killed within three issues.
    • Spike Witwicky views himself as a super-badass revolutionary who's a major threat to Cybertronians and the government. In reality he's a brat who relied on his daddy's connections to get anywhere in life and those who even acknowledge his existence hate him or view him as a slightly annoying punk who needs to slapped around a bit so he shuts up. Prowl wants him dead or captured, but out of a personal grudge rather than any belief that Spike is dangerous.
  • Big Damn Heroes: The Dinobots, Superion, and Ironhide try to do this in #15.
  • Big Damn Kiss: Arcee plants one on Aileron for rescuing her from a fatal plummet. Notable for being the first actual kiss ever depicted between two Transformers in official media anywhere ever.
  • Bigger Stick: Starscream wants Superion to be this for Cybertron, to combat the other combiners that currently exist (Monstructor, Devastator, and Menasor) and asks Wheeljack to repair and rebuild him.
  • Big "NO!": Ravage when Shockwave is about to shoot Soundwave, and Soundwave right after a Little "No" after Ravage leaps in front of him and is shot.
  • Bittersweet Ending:
    • The ending of Dark Cybertron, which serves as the conclusion to season one. Cybertron and the universe are saved, Nova Prime and Shockwave are dead, and Megatron finally decides to stop fighting and pulls a Heel–Face Turn, but New Iacon is in ruins, Bumblebee is dead, and Starscream is still ruler.
    • The series, and technically the continuity as a whole (since Optimus Prime issue 25 was the last issue of the continuity released). Cybertron and all the colonies are destroyed, and the survivors are left on Earth, unless they move to that duplicate Cybertron Rodimus and the Crusadercons found. Optimus and Starscream pulled their own Heroic Sacrifices in a successful attempt to stop Unicron, but Earth is rebuilding, and there's a sense of hope. Because, after all, it never ends.
  • Blatant Lies:
    • How Garrison Blackrock explains Spike's interruption of his Onyx platform to tell the world that there are still Cybertronians on Earth, and some of them are allied with the EDC, and that they need to examine what happened in Poverty Flat (scene of an earlier battle between the Autobots and Decepticons). Blackrock's explanation is that it's an early leaking of a video game trailer, but it remains to be seen if the lie is believed.
    • He later does it again, claiming he has no secrets. He does, in fact, have secrets.
  • Blood Knight: Arcee, and Galvatron. Arcee manages to develop out of this habit.
  • Bomb-Throwing Anarchists: The Decepticons prove that old habits die hard, using use torches and Molotov cocktails (Energon and oil are pretty flammable).
  • Bond One-Liner: Played with. Starscream was expecting Dirge to say a witty pun before the latter would punch the former.
  • Boom, Headshot!:
    • Prowl "kills" Bombshell this way, and later does the same to Wheeljack under Bombshell's control. Wheeljack barely survives.
    • When the battle for the City wages on, Bluestreak is shot in the head (having part of his crest blown off) and left in a puddle of his blood, and Hipotank is fatally shot in the face with Turmoil's cannon.
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: Prowl's been this ever since he encountered Bombshell. After breaking free he's rather disturbed by the fact that he's considered to be such a Jerkass normally by the other Autobots that they never noticed a change in his behavior.
  • Break the Cutie: Poor Bumblebee just keeps getting pushed farther and farther by all the things happening around him...
  • Break the Haughty: Prowl, during Issue 14 and 15.
  • Breather Episode: Starscream the Movie, the Optimus Prime Annual centers on Thundercracker's attempt to adapt Starscream's autobiography into an Earth movie.
    • The Holiday Special comes off this way in all three stories, but this series's contribution is the most relaxed since it's just Thundercracker sharing the first draft of his children's Christmas book with Marissa and Ayana.
  • Brick Joke:
    • Partway through "Conquerors", Ghost!Bumblebee calls Starscream a demagogue, and Starscream states he doesn't know what that means (not in a coy way, he literally doesn't know the meaning). A few issues later, Starscream mentions his vocabulary's been improving, thanks to a word-a-day calendar.
    • During season 2, Soundwave has a conversation with Thundercracker while randomly standing among a herd of elephants. During Optimus Prime, he absently mentions that they're his favourite Earth creature (right after humans).
  • Bullying a Dragon:
    • The NAILs hate and fear the Autobots and Decepticons after the Great War. Despite this, they seem to think that antagonizing them is very much a good idea. The Autobots (usually) have a strict moral code that keeps them from either beating the crap out of the NAILs to keep them in line or just leaving them to be slaughtered, but the Decepticons make clear that they're very much willing to break the NAILs' skulls open with their bare hands if they're provoked. In issue 1, Bumblebee actually has to kill Horri-Bull because Zetca felt the need to antagonize and provoke the massive Decepticon mobster who's at least two times his size.
    • Dreadwing decides to attack Soundwave, assuming that Ssoundwave would have deployed his cassettes already if they were with him and that he can take Soundwave alone. Unfortunately for him, Soundwave is not having any of that shit and promptly shreds Dreadwing to bits with his shoulder cannon. He's wrong about the cassettes, too.
  • Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Arcee, having curbed her violent impulses and most of her insanity, has become more focused as an assassin (with violent and insane tendencies) rather than a berserker, contrasting Whirl, whose insanity and violence is intrinsic to his efficiency.
  • The Bus Came Back:
    • Dirge comes back here ever since he disappeared in The Transformers: All Hail Megatron. Apparently he and Deluge were beaten up and left to themselves on the planet.
    • The Dinobots (sans Grimlock) return in issue 8 after leaving Earth at the end of The Transformers: Maximum Dinobots.
    • Alpha Trion returns after Dark Cybertron, having last been seen (chronologically) during Ironhide's miniseries.
    • Bludgeon disappeared after Dark Cybetron. He finally returns in Redemption.
    • Serena Bhawarney, from the Bumblebee miniseries, reappears in Optimus Prime issue 11. Thanks to the intervening years, she's grown up since her last appearance.
    • After being absent from the title since Combiner Wars, Prowl returns in Optimus Prime, accompanied by Wheelie and Garnak.
  • Bus Crash: Dirge implies that Deluge was eaten by the Swarm.
  • Cain and Abel:
    • Autobot Tracks (the Abel) and his estranged Decepticon younger brother Needlenose (the Cain).
    • Arcee (Abel... sort of) and her brother Galvatron (Cain).
  • Callback: Numerous. For example:
    • Ironhide is driven by the belief he will survive, having seen a vision of the future (in the last issue of the previous ongoing).
    • Swindle occasionally mentions his time on Earth where he was the Big Bad of the Police Action saga of the Ongoing.
    • The "Syndromica" arc takes this up to the level of Continuity Porn.
      • Syndromica (1) shows us Arduria, which was mentioned in one line back in Spotlight: Hardhead, as well as revisiting Shockwave's Regenesis plot, answering just what happened to all those other missiles he sent out. Monstructor's weak spot from Spotlight: Optimus Prime gets brought up, Jhiaxus having now fixed it, and the combiner's working with Bludgeon from All Hail Megatron: Coda is still going strong.
      • Syndromica (2) returns to the LV system, where Wheelie crashed. It explains just what was up with the Reflector trio, and where Wheelie's friend Varta got to.
      • Pax's team returns to Gorlam Prime, with Hardhead trying to tell Orion about what had happened to the natives (eaten by the D-Void in Heart of Darkness), but gets cut off before he can mention a pretty big detail about what they'd been calling their planet beforehand (which was, in fact, Cybertron).
    • Jazz's killing John Powell back in the previous ongoing greatly informs his character throughout the series, and not incidentally causes no end of headache whenever Jazz is on Earth.
    • An arc starting in Issue #50 is called "All Hail Optimus", a nod to The Transformers: All Hail Megatron.
    • Zilong Qian's hatred of Cybertronians stems from Skywarp's massacre in Beijing, also from AHM.
    • In Optimus Prime issue 13, Sunstreaker just shrugs off his injuries from First Strike with "I've had worse". That's not hyperbole, given his experiences at the hands of the Machination, way back when.
    • At the beginning of the 2012 annual, Cybertron is identified as "a tarnished jewel embedded in a ring of light". Come Optimus Prime, a good six years later, Onyx Prime identifies it the exact same way.
  • Calling the Old Man Out: Starscream does this to Megatron in issue 20.
    Starscream: My people control Iacon, and more Cybertronians will come home and join us. We'll enter a new golden age. A real golden age. Not the corrupt lines of Primes, not... not you. Because you were just as bad as them. At least they knew they were oppressing us. Might doesn't make right, Megatron. Not anymore.
  • Call to Adventure: How season 2 starts. Optimus and company get a signal, seemingly from Alpha Trion, telling them to come to Earth.
  • The Cameo:
    • In Redemption, the Dinobots unknowingly walk over the deactivated body of Trypticon, who was apparently left behind back when Thunderwing trashed Cybertron, and has long since been frozen over.
    • As Optimus Prime goes other, characters from other continuities start showing up in crowd scenes by the droves, to say nothing of the block-coloured swarms of Beast Wars characters.
  • Canon Immigrant: Sky-Byte from the Transformers: Robots in Disguise cartoon. Metalhawk, a Japanese-only G1 character as well as far as the fact that this is the first time he's appeared in US Canon outside of Botcon and the Transformers Fan Club fiction.
  • Category Traitor: Spike Witwicky's view of any who works with or uses Cybertronian tech, even if they didn't know what it was, even if it was thousands of years ago. Of course, he'll brush of the time he worked with them on the justification he was always working against them.
  • The Chains of Commanding:
    • Bumblebee feels them, big time. Nominally in charge, he's constantly ignored by Prowl and anyone else who wants to take action. And he's well aware that he simply doesn't have Optimus Prime's natural leadership abilities, or the respect that Prime had from everyone.
    • Optimus considers his decision to leave Cybertron to be an act of supreme selfishness, as opposed to the sacrifice everyone else believes he is making, because he was weary of The Chains of Commanding. He can finally stop being Optimus Prime and go back to being Orion Pax again.
    • Starscream, for the wrong reasons. Dirge warns him with him being the leader, everyone will be scrutinizing all his moves, making it much harder to operate in the shadows as he is normally used to.
  • Character Focus: The Redemption one-shot focuses on the Dinobots, along with Barricade. Salvation follows up on them, Sandstorm, and Trypticon.
  • Chekhov's Boomerang: Ore-13, which started off as the plot device of the Furman-era, keeps recurring, even long after Shockwave's plan unfolds, first in the Titans Return issues, then in Revolution, then again in Optimus Prime.
  • Chekhov's Gun:
    • Turmoil's ship, which just so happens to look exactly like the crashed ship Wheelie saw in his spotlight, and just happens to have a time machine on-board.
    • During Ironhide and the Dinobot's sojourn out into the wilderness, when the Dinos start getting mindless and violent, their eyes gradually turn yellow. The significance isn't stated outright, but several issues down the line Bombshell's victim has his eyes glow yellow when released from Bombshell's control.
    • After the end of Combiner Wars Prowl mentions that thanks to combining with him, a part of Prowl will always be in Optimus' mind. While not a concern at first, come "All Hail Optimus" the big guy has started acting more and more Prowl-ish...
    • The Decepticon space bridge, from Spotlight: Bumblebee reappears in issue 37 in Blackrock's possession. Prowl steals it and installs it on the Ark-7, where it lets him get to Cybertron during Combiner Wars. After that, it becomes a major point during "Conquerors", as the Decepticons use it to attack the ship.
    • The mutated energon responsible for the Dynobot's origins in Monstrosity comes back in Redemption. And again in Optimus Prime issue 13.
    • At the end of Autocracy, Prime ordered Prowl to destroy Zeta Prime's WMD stockpile, with Prowl's reaction suggesting he probably wasn't going to do it. Surprise, when Prowl returns in Optimus Prime, he's using a Vamparc Ribbon.
    • Trypticon's hot spot, which is used to give Optimus and Bumblebee new bodies and new Sparks, to fix their bad case of death.
  • Chekhov's Gunman:
    • Thrust and Ramjet both died on Earth in previous series; Ramjet was dismembered by Megatron in his self-titled Spotlight issue seven years ago and Thrust was killed by humans burning him alive in the Ongoing. Issue #32 shows that their remains were collected by the EDC and used to build an army of transforming drones based on the two Coneheads.
    • During "Redemption", the Dinobots unwittingly walk all over the frozen body of Trypticon. He comes back in a big way during the follow-up "Salvation".
    • Rhinox, who briefly appears in a minor role in Alpha Trion's flashback in issue #34, and then disappears. Until Optimus Prime, where he turns out to still be alive and working for Onyx Prime in the present day.
  • The Chew Toy: Zetca, Dirge, and Waspinator have lots of bad things happen to them, most of which aren't their fault. Sky-Byte too.
  • The Chosen One:
    • In the annual, the crashed Metrotitan reveals that Starscream may become one in the future. Possibly subverted when Galvatron contemptuously says that Alchemist Prime, who apparently first uttered the prophecy of the "Chosen One" was tripping on rancid Engex when he said it, which might mean it's a load of hogwash. Eventually, Shockwave confirms that it is in fact hogwash, made up so Starscream could wind up in the right place to do the most damage.
    • Nova Prime is a subversion/deconstruction. Alpha Trion intended him to be the chosen one who would bring peace to Cybertron but Nova wasn't able to handle the task, devolving into an egomaniac with a god complex.
  • City of Adventure: New Iacon.
  • Cliffhanger Copout: Issue 31 ends with Prowl pointing a gun at Jazz's head, just as he finds Alpha Trion, declaring Alpha Trion isn't going anywhere. Issue 32 begins with Prowl explaining that the old coot is rigged up to a security system, and Prowl didn't want Jazz setting it off. The gun-to-the-head was just to make sure he had Jazz's attention.
  • Cold Sniper: Arcee seems to rather enjoy having a group of unwitting Decepticons in her sights before whispering to them that she let them live.
  • Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: Starting with issue 14, Combiners get their speech balloons coloured in to represent them (for example, Devastator's are green bubbles with purple lettering).
  • Combining Mecha:
    • The concept is touched on more heavily here than any other point in the IDW storyline. Monstructor returns as Jhiaxus' lackey, the Aerialbots are found fused and insane in the woods, and the Constructicons return, although as Scrapper is dead they can't really do much combination-wise. Turns out that Megatron's trying to rectify that. After seeing D-Void use the energies of Cybertron to form a massive combiner in the previous ongoing, he sets his sights on harnessing them, enlisting Bombshell and forcibly subjecting Prowl and the Aerialbots to the process before becoming a component of Devastator himself.
    • The flashbacks to Shockwave's past show that Megatron had in fact brought Shockwave in to the Decepticons for the very purpose of making a Decepticon combiner.
    • The second "season" explores the concept further, with the appearance of the new combiner Victorion, and the ancient artefact known as "the Enigma of Combination".
  • Continuity Nod:
    • Swerve mentions that he and Blurr were gonna open a bar once the war is over. Swerve opens a bar aboard the Lost Light, and Blurr opens one in Cybertron.
    • In issue 12, Staxx tries drag Wheeljack to Turmoil. Back in Drift, Staxx was shown to be one of Turmoil's troops in the war.
    • In an early issue of MTMTE, Bludgeon was said to have once created an army of "deviants and half-forms". Come Redemption, he's messing with mad science again, messing with Trypticon's energon.
    • Issue 52 contains the second mention anywhere ever that Spike has a sister who died in the Decepticon invasion.
    • In Optimus Prime issue 10, a descendant of John Henry appears, mentioning her ancestor had some encounters with Cybertronians (well, brainwashed Eukarians, but hey.) It doesn't have anything to do with the story, it's just to remind / inform folks that Hearts of Steel has been folded into the IDW continuity.
  • Continuity Porn: John Barber is famous for tackling messy continuities, so there's some of this to be expected. Probably the best example is the explanation of why the Reflector trio showed up again after they canonically died: they're time travellers.
  • The Coroner Doth Protest Too Much: Prowl tries to pass off Ratbat's death as a suicide. It doesn't work, on account of his death involving Arcee slicing him to bits first.
  • Corrupt Corporate Executive: Garrison Blackrock has shades of this. When Marrissa Faireborn and one of her soldiers shows up at his Tokyo offices after the Onyx launch is interrupted by Spike Witwicky, Blackrock isn't angry that Spike has potentially leaked the existence of the EDC/Decepticon alliance to the public, he's mad that only two EDC agents showed up to investigate since if there'd been more, it would have resulted in an even larger social media boom regarding the Onyx interface. He then warns Marrissa that the EDC wouldn't exist without his support, expecting them to fall in line to catch Spike.
  • The Corruption: Trypticon's energon and Cybertronians don't mix, mutating anyone who goes near the stuff into a vaguely dinosaur like thing, then making them go berserk. Also, if someone happens to have a Void Scepter to hand, they can control anyone with it in their fuel.
  • "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: Immediately after Combiner Wars, Optimus tells Arcee that if she'd told him what was going on, they could've avoided some of the preceding events.
  • Covers Always Lie: Issue 50 depicts Superion with a repaired Slingshot (In his Combiner Wars body) as his arm. The issue proper features Alpha Bravo as his arm with no mention of Slingshot.
  • Creepy Souvenir: Megatron emerges from the Cybertonian wilderness carrying a bunch of Sweeps' heads.
  • Crossover: Dark Cybertron, a 12-issue Crossover miniseries with its sister series The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye.
  • Darker and Edgier: Has a more consistently somber tone than sister series The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye. At least until The Transformers: Dark Cybertron, where this series got Lighter and Softer at about the same time More Than Meets The Eye became somewhat Darker and Edgier. It goes back to being darker in Optimus Prime.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: Most of the normal, frontline Decepticon soldiers aren't evil in any way, they're simply fighting for a cause they believe in like the Autobots. Now that the war is over most of them just want to live in peace and stop fighting. The Autobots having trouble understanding this trope after so many years of war is what generates a lot of the conflict in the comic.
  • Darkest Hour:
    • Issue 14, fittingly named "Before the Dawn". Megatron is stronger than ever, leading the Decepticon forces and the new Devestator, with Prowl at its head, to destroy the last remaining Autobots, taking Cybertron for Decepticons, once and for all. And the only thing standing in his way are Ironhide, the damaged Dinobots, and an insane Superion.
    • Issue 16. The Autobots manage to stop Devastator and Megatron, but Starscream kills Metalhawk, gets the upper hand and casts the Autobots and even the other Decepticons into exile.
    • Issue 47: Jazz, Kup, Sky Lynx and Jetfire are missing, being melted alive by Blackrock. Arcee, Sideswipe and a still-damaged Alpha Trion are facing a Decepticon boarding party, and Tracks is bleeding out after being shot by Brawl.
  • Dawn of an Era: Optimus Prime issue 10 has Alpha Trion recapping the beginning of the Age of the Primes.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Soundwave has some pretty good moments.
    Megatron: Keep an optic on him.
    Soundwave: Yes my lord. Only one?
  • Decapitation Presentation: After killing Galvatron, Optimus takes his head and shows it to the President of the United States.
  • Defector from Decadence: Thundercracker went AWOL from the Decepticons in the previous ongoing and has been living on Earth ever since. Humanity believes that he's this for all Transformers, since the true First Contact between humans and Transformers went... pretty badly
  • Defrosting Ice Queen: Metalhawk, who noticeably loosens up a bit as the series progresses. However, his death kind of puts a halt to that.
  • Department of Redundancy Department: In issue 19, as Orion Pax and his crew are stranded on Gorlam Prime, Garnak asks if he's got a plan about the death wave that is about to "death [them] to death".
  • Desperately Seeking A Purpose In Life: Galvatron confides in Soundwave that ten million years ago he was "lost", until Alpha Trion provided him with a cause worth fighting for. In the aftermath of Dark Cybertron he now seeks another cause worth fighting for and this leads him to taking up the Decepticon cause as his own as their new leader.
  • Disproportionate Retribution:
    • Galvatron threatens Sanjay Bharwaney with this if he ever activates the Mind Bomb again; not only will Galvatron kill Sanjay, he'll also kill everyone else in Sanjay's home state of New Mexico, as well as the entire population of Old Mexico as well.
    • Thundercracker successfully talks Soundwave into deactivating the EDC Seeker Drone army by pointing out if they attack Galvatron, he'll level the entire planet in revenge.
  • Dolled-Up Installment: The First Strike tie-ins focus largely on the Revolutionaries cast, because one of them was originally meant to be a Revolutionaries tie-in, until the series ended.
  • Double Reverse Quadruple Agent: Scavenger feigns being The Mole for the Decepticons on Prowl's orders as part of his gambit.
  • The Dragon: Arcee to Prowl, Bludgeon to Jhiaxus, then later on for Onyx Prime, only to then turn out to be really working for Unicron.
  • Dragon Ascendant:
    • At the end of everything, Soundwave is the leader of the Decepticons. Starscream is different in that he's in control of everything except his original faction, and he hasn't been The Dragon for some time.
    • With the death of Scrapper, normally the head, or at least spokes person of the Constructicons, Hook (normally the second in command), has taken his place at the forefront.
  • Dragon with an Agenda: Shockwave, ever since his days as Jhiaxus' student. By the time of the modern day, Jhiaxus has accepted that he's now his student's Dragon.
  • Dreaming of Things to Come: Optimus, in issue 50, has a dream of several alarming things happening, including a Worldsweeper crashed into the White House, Arcee and Galvatron standing side-by-side, Aileron as the Mistress of Flame, a Titan's hand bursting out of the desert, and him standing on a stage holding Galvatron's head, all while a prophecy about the "false prophet" is read out.
  • Driving Question: In the season 2 comics, Ironhide's driving question is "how was Shockwave able to change the future during Dark Cybertron", since its events render the subject of Ironhide (and Jhiaxus') vision of Gorlam Prime and the Pax Cybertronia moot. Issue 34# reveals a few more: Does Galvatron know the Enigma of Combination is on Earth, and if he does, what does he intend to do with it if he finds it? And finally, is it mere coincidence that Cybertronian history appears to be constantly repeating itself, or is there some kind of great pattern to it all?
    • Galvatron is revealed to know the Enigma's location and has abandoned his strict opposition to its abilities. Now he's perfectly willing to use them for his benefit and against his foes.
    • The last question eventually gets an answer in Optimus Prime: Yes, because Shockwave's been manipulating everything.
  • Dropped a Bridge on Him:
    • Issue 4 drops a bridge on the remaining Constructicons and Bombshell. In issue 11 Triggerhappy is killed by Arcee without fanfare, which comes off as bizarre considering she spares and captures the other Decepticons, and Arcee admitted that she did it for fun. In issue 12 Staxx is unceremoniously blown to bits by Prowl to show that Prowl has gone completely off the deep end. The end of issue #13 reveals that the Constructicons, and Bombshell at least, are still alive.
    • During Devastator's rampage, Sky High is crushed in the Combiners hand whilst calling for back up and Broadside is reporting from a communication tower before it's unceremoniously crushed with him still inside. Though this is subverted when both turn up alive later on.
    • Hardhead's Surprisingly Sudden Death in Dark Cybertron is mentioned by Arcee as one of the reasons she's so anti-social. He died, and no-one really seemed to notice, or even care. Except her.
  • Dude, Not Funny!: Marissa to Optimus, when he makes a quip to Pyra that she would've enjoyed his press conference at an energon mine, what with getting humans to do his bidding.
    Marissa: The last thing we need is somebody leaking video of you being flip. The world does not have a sense of humor about that stuff.
  • Dying Dream: Issue 9 of Optimus Prime initially appears to show Sideswipe recovering from his coma, but ends with the revelation that it is just a simulation constructed by Jetfire, Sunstreaker and Arcee in order to let him Go Out with a Smile.
  • Dynamic Entry: Lampshaded when Dreadwing tries and succeeds in pulling a sneak-attack on Soundwave.
    Soundwave: Reveal yourself. I can hear you. In ways you cannot imagine, I can hear you.
    Dreadwing: I know. I just wanted to make a cool-ass entrance.
  • Easily Forgiven: Invoked and Zig-Zagged. There are numerous Decepticons who've caused all sorts of trouble during the war, and the Autobots hesitate to try them for fear of looking too oppressive to the neutral majority, something which Metalhawk uses to his advantage. Metalhawk is extremely slow to trust Turmoil, having first hand accounts to what he's done. Blanket amnesty is offered to many, and tensions flare because of it. Tankor, who tried to nuke all the Autobots in New York, and Swindle who orchestrated much of the conflict in the Ongoing have their deeds looked past because everyone needs to come together in the new world order.
  • Eldritch Location:
    • LV-117 became this as a result of Shockwave's Regensis project. Though the natives eventually managed to stabilize the planets position in the time stream.
    • The wilderness surronding New Iacon. It's filled with mutated animals and gives off a signal that drives people crazy if they spend to long in it, before making them combine together. Subverted in issue 14 where its strange properties are revealed to be caused by Megatron and his Decepticon loyalists.
    • Onyx Prime's modern day hideout is a dead planet orbiting a black hole.
  • Elite Mooks: The Constructicons, even in their individual modes. They take on Arcee, who took on the Combaticons and dropped two with ease, twice and are able to match her, and they can take on the Dinobots, sans Grimlock, who're established as one of the most powerful Autobot groups and hold their own.
  • End of an Age: Issue #34 shows us the end of the era of the Thirteen Original Primes, after most of them die or disappear from Cybertron, save one, Alpha Trion, who becomes The Mentor to Nova Major, making him the first in a new line of Primes to usher in a "Golden Age" for Cybertron.
  • Enemy Civil War: When they've been kicked out of Iacon, the Decepticons fracture. Shockwave and Dreadwing go off to initiate Shockwave's plan, and the Decepticons under Soundwave chafe, with Astrotrain and Blitzwing wanting to go after Starscream and fight Soundwave for leadership. Needlenose has to calm them down, but he points out that as a warrior force, they're all done.
  • Enemy Mine: Seems to be a common theme in this post-war Cybertron, with unlikely alliances propping often in order to advance all the agendas.
  • Emotions vs. Stoicism:
    • Shockwave plays both sides, with the emotional Shockwave being the one before Shadowplay, and the stoic side being the one after.
    • The conflict between Shockwave and Soundwave is a variation on this. Both are The Stoic, but Shockwave is emotionless and considers emotion a weakness, while Soundwave both embraces and learned to control his emotions, finding strength in them.
  • ET Gave Us Wifi: According to Blackrock, the Enigma of Combination caused human civilisation, the Manhattan Project, and DARPA.
  • Et Tu, Brute?: Shockwave does this to Dai Atlas. Interestingly enough, it actually saved Dai Atlas' life, when the Decepticons kill most of the Senate.
  • Everyone Has Standards: Spike, Spike of all beings, thinks Blackrock needs professional help after a conversation with him.
  • Evil Power Vacuum: With Megatron's defection, the Cons are left disenfranchised and stuck living in ghettos with the new Cybertronian ruler, Starscream, not caring about them. The cons are left leaderless, and when Needlenose comes to recruit them for the new army on earth, many are willing to sign up under Soundwave and Galvatron's leadership.
  • The Evils of Free Will: The Annual reveals that Nova Prime planned to free the galaxy from the tyranny of free will before he was lost to the Dead Universe.
  • Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!:
    • Optimus, on finding Monstructor frozen on Arduria. See, the last time Monstructor showed up, he was working for the Decepticons, and Bludgeon in particular. Before Optimus can finish the sentence, he realises Bludgeon's not only nearby, he's trying to get on-board their ship to free Jhiaxus.
    • As the situation with Onyx Prime gets increasingly tense, Alpha Trion points out he's done nothing but talk. The old bot trails off as he realizes where this is heading.
  • Explosive Leash: Inhibitor/deterrence chips are in the heads of every Decepticon. They stop transformation, stop powers, and will blow up the Con's head if they get out of line. Bumblebee eventually deactivates them on Ironhide's advice.
  • Expositing the Masquerade: The Earth Defense Force, to the point they have mass-produced clones of Ramjet and Thrust and have kept it secret from all cybertronians.
  • Expy: Garrison Blackrock has been reimagined as a Steve Jobs pastiche (in keeping with the trend from Transformers: Age of Extinction). His true self however is an amoral (though not evil) Tony Stark.
  • Extreme Doormat: Bumblebee has diffuculty standing up for himself and many people (especially Prowl) are perfectly willing to exploit that.
  • Eye Patch Of Power: Turmoil now has one after an encounter below. Garnak had one to help with the healing process of his eye.
  • Eye Scream:
    • Blitzwing bashes half of Tappet's face with a rifle he found, smashing one of Tappet's eyes.
    • Turmoil gets his optic punched out by Orion Pax, who had gone back in time.
    • Garnak loses an eye to Bludgeon, however Word of God states that his healing abilities allowed him to grow it back. When he reappears in Optimus Prime, he seems to have lost it again.
  • Face–Heel Turn:
    • Subverted with Prowl and Arcee. It's revealed the former was being mind-controlled by Bombshell, and the latter was merely playing the Fake Defector card in order to kill Bombshell and break said mind control.
    • In the post-Dark Cybertron comics, Scoop has apparently defected to the Decepticons. Later on, on Earth, we discover former Autobot human ally Jimmy (((Pink))) has developed a grudge against all Cybertronians for the death of Hunter O'Nion and then just up and abandoning him and has joined forces with Spike Witwicky to fight them.
  • Fake Defector: Arcee only went along with Megatron and his Decepticon loyalists in order to get close enough to kill Bombshell.
  • Faking the Dead: At the very least, Bombshell and the Constructions.
  • Fallen Hero: Nova Prime. The earliest points in the timeline show that he used to be a genuine Nice Guy who truly believed in helping others. Over time he devolved into egotism and a belief that he knew better than everyone else. When he arrived at the Benzuli Expanse, the Darkness exploited his egomania to corrupt him completely.
  • Fall Guy: Rattrap sabotaged the Iacon Power Grid, and managed to get Scoop arrested for it. Subverted, in that Starscream could tell Scoop was innocent, and recognized Rattrap right from the start as a liar and the true culprit, but played along because Scoop's altruism made him unpredictable, whereas Rattrap gets offered a government job.
  • Fingore: Prowl crushes Needlenose's hand in the first issue. In issue 21 Ravage bites down on Astrotrain's fingers, but Astrotrain punches him off before any real damage can occur.
  • Flanderization: Galvatron, to a degree. When the original IDW run started, he was a pretty intelligent tactician under Furman, as series progressed (Infestation, Heart of Darkness, et al), he's been losing that characteristic and replaced with bloodthirsty savage barbarian, to the point it got retconned to be that during the Prime Wars. Justified in that the D-Void entity was suppressing his savagery in favour of his smarts. Without it influencing him, he's back to his normal self.
  • Flat Character: The Monstructor Six don't have any character aside from be threatening and combine into big scary combiner. This can happen to many combining teams in fiction where their sole purpose is to turn into the Combining Mecha, but here it's explained as Jhiaxus had their minds destroyed for the combination process, and that combining causes the individuals to start loosing their identity.
  • Foil: Issue 23 of Optimus Prime reveals the Eukarian colonists were one to the Devisiuns. While the Devisiuns utterly destroyed the organic biosphere of their planet and drove the native organics to the brink the Eukarians instead coexisted with the native life and left much of it's nature intact.
  • Forced to Watch: Prowl, being controlled by the constructicons and Bombshell.
  • Foreshadowing:
    • In issue 8, Wheeljack suggests something can't possibly be controlling Prowl, then wonders about why no-one in Iacon is afflicted by the problems outside the city. He initially figures it's something to do with all the people there. He changes his mind seconds later. It soon turns out he was wrong on the former, right on the later.
    • Something destroyed LV-117, Jhiaxus makes mention of "true chaos" coming, and the MTMTE Annual has Cyclonus making mention of Primus's opposite. Whatever this thing is (probably Unicron), it's coming and it can destroy entire planets with ease. Before all that, issue 31 of the previous series establishes that Wheelie saw "The Great Destroyer", one of Unicron's titles.
      • Notably, when LV-117 is shown in the middle of destruction, the sky is red and things are being dragged upward by something. Like how Unicron destroyed Lithone back in the 1986 film.
    • One of the teaser pages for the release of the comic features Bombshell, with the subtitle Takes Control, alluding to his ability to control the minds of others. Not to mention his role controlling Prowl, and, by extension, the new Devastator.
    • The Constructions' survival is foreshadowed when their heads are enveloped in flame as opposed to simply exploding, like Horri-Bull's.
    • During the same issue, Prowl's internal monologue stops after his confrontation with Bombshell.
    • During the "City on Fire" arc, Shockwave goes missing while everyone's busy. Turns out a few issues later he'd buggered off with Dreadwing to attend to his own plans.
    • During Shockwave's flashbacks in Issue #17, one of the corpses hanging from the ceiling has a black-and-yellow striped torso resembling a bumblebee. Guess who Shockwave kills at the climax of Dark Cybertron?
    • Blackrock's very name, even before the fact he doesn't remember his past. A black rock is an onyx, and he's an unwitting agent of Onyx Prime.
    • While talking with Spike, Blackrock tells him an angel showed him a world of rust. Rust turns out to be a big thing with Onyx Prime.
    • Optimus' vision in issue 50 is filled with it.
      • One panel has a Titan's hand bursting out of the desert. A few issues later, Optimus raises Metrotitan.
      • The last panel has him holding Galvatron's head in one hand. Five issues later, all that's left of Galvatron is his head, which Optimus displays to the U.S. President.
      • "And he shall stand alone, but not alone." From issue #50 onward, Optimus's actions and deeds start alienating his long-time friends and allies. Alternatively, if it's referring to Onyx, he's alone... but also has the Liege working with him nearby.
      • "And thus the adversary will rise." The end of First Strike has Unicron awoken thanks to Joe Colton's attack on Cybertron, provoked by Optimus' bringing Earth into the Council of Worlds.
      • "A black star." The phrase becomes associated with Onyx Prime, and the black hole his base of operations lives in orbit of.
    • On returning to Cybertron, Onyx offers to fix the problems with energon everyone's been having since Colton's attack, despite having shown no scientific inclination previously. And then the big reveal comes along.
  • Freudian Excuse: Many characters have accused Prowl's outright fanatical hatred for the NAILS to be based upon the fact that he was all ready to bail on Cybertron and become a NAIL himself upon the rise of Zeta Prime, but was forced against his will to aid Optimus Prime in staging a coup against the evil Zeta Prime and was guilted by Optimus to become his second-in-command. Since Prowl was unable to cut and run like he wanted to, he wants to punish all of the Cybertronians who did for not having to endure millions of years of unending war like he did.
  • Fun with Acronyms: Arcee mentions the original Ark designs were made by C.A.D.R.E., Nova Prime's nastiest scientists.
  • Gallows Humor: Bluestreak jokes around when Megatron's smirk begins freaking Starscream out. Jetfire tells him it's not funny and Bluestreak name-drops the trope.
  • Gender Bender: Arcee.
  • Good Is Dumb: Poor Scoop.
  • Good Thing You Can Heal: All who are under the effect of Ore-14. Dreadwing has the unfortunate distinction of demonstrating it the most.
  • Greater-Scope Villain:
    • Shockwave is responsible for a good chunk of the problems in the IDW comics. His regeneration Experiment was the reason for the Ultra-Energon/Ore-13 which kicked off the conflict on Earth, as well as the resurrection of Thunderwing. This series establishes him as the one who seeded a particularly nasty Regenesis Ore on the planet Kup was trapped on in his spotlight, which lead to the death of many Autobots, and Guzzle's subplot in Wreckers, and his pods have driven the Syndromica arcs. He's also responsible for the events in Spotlight Wheelie, his pod having altered the time stream. He downgrades himself to Big Bad in the Dark Cybertron Arc where he takes a direct role.
    • Onyx and Nexus Prime. Pretty much everything from Season 2 onwards is in some way related to or caused by them, even though one's long dead and the other is missing. And then it turns out Onyx is Shockwave.
  • Green-Eyed Monster: Rattrap describes Scoop as such to Starscream, being jealous of 'bots with bigger, more important jobs, and how he always wanted more. He's actually describing himself, which leads him to frame Scoop for sabotaging the power grid.
  • Grey-and-Gray Morality: Not all Autobots are clean cut and good, and some Decepticons just want to get on with their lives. The NAILs blame the warriors for dooming the planet, and the Cons and Bots blame the NAILs for leaving when the planet was being fought over, and now they want to take it back when they haven't fought in the war. Metalhawk, leader of the NAILs, is a massive prick, but he does have a point.
    • Prowl lampshades this during an Inner Monologue as he attacks Autobots as the head module of Devastator.
  • Gut Punch: Bombshell making Prowl murder Wheeljack in cold blood. Subverted in that the scientist survives.
  • Half the Man He Used to Be: Superion undergoes this at the hands of Devastator, but ultimately survives.
  • Hates Everyone Equally: Galvatron. Turns out he's a giant racist, specially hating on the lower classes, like cassettes and headmasters.
  • Hate Sink: Spike Witwicky. In a setting with the deranged murderous Galvatron, the morally questionable humans, the still quite evil Decepticons, and Prowl, Spike is framed as just a loathsome prick. His attempts at seeming badass and anti-heroic are undercut by his selfish smug "bad boy" nature, and him bragging about his work for his country before executing the harmless Mini-Constructicon. The Decepticons, Constructicons, the humans and Prowl all despise him, and Blackrock's self-serving dismissal of him as a punk who's functioning as a thorn in everyone's side, is an accurate summation of his worth.
  • Healing Factor: Ore-14 allows Cybertronians to recover from otherwise lethal injuries. It can also restore an entire city from being atomised.
  • Heel–Face Turn:
    • Dirge, Swindle, Tankor, and Squawkbox. Horrifically subverted with Starscream.
    • The Constructicons switch sides in issue 18, though they make it clear that they're only doing it because they like Prowl, not because they want to be Autobots.
  • Heel Realization: Needlenose comes to terms with the fact that, in-spite of living under the Autobots, they probably could have had peace and they blew their chances. He agrees with the NAIL thinking that all they do is destroy.
  • The Hero Dies: Optimus sacrifices himself to destroy Unicron in the eponymous mini-series, and the final issue of the series, Post, focuses on him reflecting upon his life during his last moments.
  • Hero of Another Story: Alpha Trion describes the ancient Cybertronian soldier Eucryphia as one of these, while being important in other tales, not being one in the story he's telling Optimus because this is the story where Eucryphia dies early on.
  • Heroic Lineage: GB Blackrock claims to have one. Specifically that he's descended from Gilgamesh and that his surname comes from the walls of "black rock" that Gilgamesh erected around his city of Uruk. This turns out to be a gigantic lie. Blackrock isn't even human.
  • Hero with Bad Publicity: The events of All Hail Megatron and The Transformers, particularly the Police Action arc, have left the humans with a distaste towards the Autobots. It's made worse when the EDC learns that Megatron is now an Autobot which prompts an alliance with Galvatron to defeat the Autobots. Optimus trying to forcibly bring Earth into the Council of Worlds doesn't make things any better.
  • Hijacked by Ganon:
    • Prowl isn't actually becoming a villain, he's being mind controlled by Bombshell. Although he was quite the ass, and had a very questionable agenda, before being mind controlled.
    • Near every. Damn. Thing can be traced back to Shockwave sooner or later.
  • Hold the Line: The Battle of the Citadel of Light had Nova Major and Galvatron do this against an entire army (Nova even saying "hold the line").
  • Hold Your Hippogriffs:
    • Garnak tries doing one of these in issue 19, based on the odd sayings used in the first two seasons of the 80s cartoon. Since the 'bots in these series don't do that so much, Hardhead just gets confused.
    • At one point, Roulette declares Slider has "programmed her slab, let her charge." (made her bed and has to lie in it)
  • Homeless Pigeon Person: Soundwave's backstory. He was found, alone, suffering from Sensory Overload, and not knowing where he came from or even what his name was. Ravage, Buzzsaw and Laserbeak happen upon him, and Ravage's advice helps him to control his Super-Senses through focus. After that he lives with them on the streets, and they remain loyal to each other, even coming with him when he was employed by the state and later when he joined the Decepticons.
  • Hope Spot: From Starscream, at least, during Optimus Prime issue 18. Devastator and Metrotitan's words convince him that maybe he's Megatronus reborn, justifying his life-long belief that he truly is special. And then Shockwave reveals he made up the whole prophecy of the Chosen One solely so Starscream would end up in charge of Cybertron, making a crap job of it.
  • Hope Springs Eternal/Villainous Valor: Soundwave in issue 21 notes that Megatron has filled all of the lower classes with hope, and to him the Decepticon cause is the pinnacle of that hope. For that reason they'll stand against Shockwave.
  • Hostile Terraforming: Although unintentional, Shockwave's Regensis project completely altered the environments of some of the planets that were seeded. Ore-2 and Ore-6 deserve special mention for outright destroying the planets they were placed upon.
  • Humans Are Bastards: In the opening arc of Season 2, Prowl outright states he assumed everyone on Earth wanted to kill the Autobots when he planned the mission. Though downplayed the trope is largely played straight.
  • Humans Are Special: Issue 46 lightly deconstructs this. Optimus has believed this trope since Infiltration and, while she doesn't outright disagree, the Mistress of Flame wants to know why he thinks that.
  • Hyperspace Is a Scary Place: In the past Waspinator was dragged along side a dying Metrotitan as it teleported to another location. He describes the experience as mind-bending and disturbing as if it is simply incomprehensible to mortal beings. He describes the place the Metrotitan landed after it's teleportation is described as "death itself".
  • Hypocrite:
    • Megatron's revolution started as him standing against the bigotry of the corrupt Senate, who discriminated against Cybertronians with certain alt modes and bots who were constructed cold. He apparently didn't see the parallels between this and the extreme bigotry towards organics that he gleefully endorses in the present...
    • Prowl lashes out at Chromedome for the botched and forced memory extraction that eventually led to Bombshell hijacking him, because to him it was personal. Never mind that the only reason Chromedome did that was because Prowl was trying to blackmail Chromedome with personal information. Or that he generally does things like that all the time (he actually caused problems over in MTMTE by ordering the Diplomatic Corps to try and brainwash Chief Justice Tyrest into retiring).
    • Galvatron rails about how combiners are unnatural. This doesn't stop him turning his troops into one.
  • I Did What I Had to Do: Prowl and Arcee have this feeling regarding them killing Ratbat. Not many agree.
  • "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight:
    • Ironhide to Prowl, when he's part of Devastator.
    • Orion Pax to Shockwave, in the past, after the events of Shadowplay.
    Pax: I know the real you - you can overcome what they did! I believe in you!
    Shockwave (narrating): One day Orion Pax would stop believing...
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Ratbat, courtesy of Arcee. Bludgeon does it to Wheelie, but non-fatally. Ironhide gets impaled by Slag's horns through the back and Swoop's sword through the front. Arcee again pins Sideswipe to a wall during her time aiding the Decepticon takeover... only to reveal it was carefully done to avoid vitals so he could provide surprise fire support for her.
  • Insistent Terminology:
    • Orion Pax makes a point of stressing his new name, even when in the heat of battle.
    • Come Season 2, everyone makes a point of stressing that Cybertronians are not "robots".
  • Insult Backfire: Prowl insults the Constructicons in Issue 18, they take it as a compliment.
    Prowl: You're the worst of the worst. The cruelest, vilest Decepticons I've ever encountered.
    Hook: It's like poetry when you say it, Prowl!
  • Internal Reveal: In Optimus Prime issue 17, Onyx reveals to everyone that Soundwave killed Horri-Bull. Needlenose takes this about as well as could be expected.
  • Introdump: Gloriously done in flashback with Cyclonus, Galvatron, Dai Atlas, Jhiaxus, and Nova Prime. It's clunky, it's cheesy, and it, and much of the art in the flashbacks, is a homage to the old Marvel comics (which had huge introdumps pretty much whenever a new group of characters was introduced).
  • Irony:
    • Flatline states that the Aerialbots are considered heroes for decrying factionalism and stopping Devastator. While the latter is true, the Aerialbots left because of their factionalism, with Silverbolt accusing and trying to murder Dirge because of the explosions on the grounds that he was a Decepticon.
    • Issue 21 reveals that Megatron never trusted Soundwave and was always suspicious of him, constantly suspecting that Soundwave was spying for the highest bidder. At the same time, we learn that Soundwave is easily the most loyal Decepticon in existence, and part of the issue involves Soundwave standing by Megatron's beliefs even when no one else does.
    • Needlenose angrily declares he refuses to work with the people who killed the only being he ever loved... he doesn't know that the I/C Chips were disabled when Bumblebee tried to use them, and Soundwave was the one who killed Horri-Bull to keep up appearances.
  • I See Dead People:
    • After Combiner Wars, Starscream starts seeing and talking with an imaginary version of Bumblebee. One who appears to know things he and Starscream probably shouldn't... The Optimus Prime annual confirms it really is Bumblebee, but it's not until "The Falling" that we get the full explanation of what's going on - Bumblebee's reaching out from Infraspace, where his mind still exists.
    • In a turnaround, the final issue of Optimus Prime has a now alive again Bumblebee talking to a possibly imaginary, possibly real Starscream.
  • It's All About Me: Both Bumblebee and Prowl get this both here and in the Backstory for this series and The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye.
  • I Will Fight No More Forever: Optimus after he willingly exiles himself from Cybertron. He even casts aside the name "Optimus Prime" which he earned during the war and reclaims his civilian identity as "Orion Pax."
  • Jerkass: "Peace Enforcers" Needlenose and Horri-bull.
  • Jerkass Has a Point: Played with Metalhawk. In many ways, Metalhawk is similar to Dai Atlas, both are stuck up pricks who oppose the Autobot in authority. Both have reasons to distrust both factions, and both sew seeds of distrust. The difference is their goals, Dai Atlas wanted to abandon the planet, which would scatter their people, but would keep them safe from the war, and his distrust and criticism of Optimus were part of his desire to abandon the war, and separate. Metalhawk wants everyone to come together, but his distrust and insults at the Autobots is counterproductive to that goal.
    • Similarly, Prowl has several valid points regarding the Decepticons and Nails, but he ends up taking it way too far.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Metalhawk, Swindle, Needlenose, and to a much lesser degree Soundwave.
  • Kick the Dog:
    • Arcee murdering Sunstorm, a hapless con who had been mind controlled. She had even subdued him by slicing off his legs. When he grabbed her leg, she casually stabbed him through the head.
    • Starscream and Rattrap framing and falsely arresting Scoop.
    • Again with Arcee, who brutalises one of the Badgeless (admittedly before the Decepticons would have done the same), drags him to Starscream and then stabs the poor goon through the chest, killing him.
  • Kill It with Fire: Needlenose tries with Streetwise, but it doesn't work.
  • Kill Sat: The People's Republic of China have several, which are very good at destroying Cybertronians.
  • Killed Off for Real: Horri-bull, Ratbat, Barrel Roll, Sunstorm, Bombshell, and Turmoil. Dark Cybertron adds Hardhead, Nova Prime, Bumblebee, Jhiaxus, Metalhawk, and Shockwave to the list. The second season also reveals that the Slingshot component of Superion was killed when Devastator ripped Superion apart (and so new character Alpha Bravo can take Slingshot's place.)
    • Suberted with Bumblebee, who was revealed to be alive in the 2017 annual.
    • Optimus Prime ends with Sideswipe, Alpha Trion, Scoop and the Constructicons, Cosmos, Laserbeak, Soundwave, and even Optimus himself gone thanks to Unicron.
  • Knight in Sour Armor / Knight Templar: Prowl views himself as a Knight in Sour Armor, whereas in reality he's more of a Knight Templar. Even before getting mind-controlled by Bombshell.
  • Lack of Empathy: [[Invoked]] with the once-righteous Shockwave, who had his emotion centers forcibly removed at Proteus' behest.
  • Leader Forms the Head:
    • Megatron's new body can serve as the head of the new reformatted Devastator, but he does not get the chance.
    • Prowl's Devastator compatible body forms the head.
  • Leaning on the Fourth Wall: When Rhinox reappears in Optimus Prime, he gets a caption stating he hasn't been seen in a while.
  • Lesser of Two Evils: Blurr pretty much quotes this word for word to Starscream, telling him that's the only reason why they tolerate him as their self-appointed leader.
  • Loss of Identity:
    • Explained as being the fate of everyone "recruited" into Galvatron's army, save Cyclonus. They all turned into Sweeps.
    • Galvatron also mentions combining as he knows it rots away the individual. Indeed, this happens to the Constructicons, who begin talking and acting alike.
    • Meanwhile averted with Pyra Magna and the Torchbearers, though in Optimus Prime issue 13, Pyra Magna states they don't like being apart for very long, suggesting a variant (that the combined form hates being broken up) is in play.
  • MacGuffin: In season 2, the Enigma of Nexus Prime, an ancient Cybertronian artifact that can apparently bestow stabilized combination on Cybertronians that was hidden on Earth at the dawn of man by Galvatron is this for both sides.
  • Made of Iron: Characters on all sides can take an amazing amount of punishment. Several big cliffhangers have had 'bots taking punishment that look amazingly like it's killed them, only for them to turn up alive sooner or later.
  • Mad Scientist: Shockwave, Jhiaxus, possibly Soundwave and Bombshell. Wheeljack counts to but in a far more benovelent way.
    Wheeljack: I was just messing around with science.
  • Mark of Shame: Pretty much what both the Decepticon and Autobot badges are.
  • Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Played With for the 13. They're present here as in many other continuities, but their status as gods or servants of god have been changed (the creation stories featured in MTMTE being the myths). Now the thirteen are great warlords who united Cybertron and each leads a different faction that has different physiologies (beast modes, combiners, etc). They're closer to normal Transformers than another continuity, but there's a lot of ambiguity as to how they were able to diversify Cybertron and their abilities to do so. Galvatron says it's magic, Jhiaxus believes its science.
    • That said, Alpha Trion, one of said Thirteen, claims the items of the Thirteen are beyond normal Cybertronian technology.
    • In Robots in Disguise issue 50, Optimus has a prophetic dream, seeing several events that come true over the events of the next several years. Despite Optimus Prime and Unicron revealing most of the things about the Primes as being baloney, this never gets a handwave of any kind.
  • The Medic: Fixit, Flatline.
    Scattershot: ...48 injured Autobots. About 60 NAIL's. A few Decepticons too. Should I prioritize-
    Fixit: Prioritize by seriousness of injury.
  • Merchandise-Driven: Transformers has always been this way. In this series the characters here are initially reworked to look like their aligned bodies partially to promote Transformers: Fall of Cybertron. In Universe the explanation given for the change could harken back to The Transformers: All Hail Megatron, where the earth forms lacked the traction to cope on Cybertron's smooth surface, making the upgrades necessary.
    • Bumblebee gets badly damaged and is upgraded into a new form, which just happens to look like that Goldfire Bumblebee that had come out at the same time.
    • Waspinator gets a new toy for the "Thrilling Thirty" line, so Waspinator gets dragged into Jhiaxus' schemes. Meanwhile, Rattrap gets his own toy, so the vermin suddenly shows up working with Starscream. Rhinox as well, with him showing up in a random extended cameo in Alpha Trion's flashback.
    • Starscream becomes particularly prone to this, often changing bodies to match his newest toy.
    • During Dark Cybertron, Arcee changed her colour-scheme to red, since that was the initial plan for her toy. When it actually became the more standard (((pink))), Arcee changes back again. And when she got another toy in the Combiner Hunters set, Arcee spends two issues going around looking like that toy.
  • Mexican Standoff: Arcee has one with Blurr when she breaks into his bar, with Squawkbox, Tankor and Jazz also pointing guns at her, the situation is soon diffused.
  • Midseason Upgrade:
    • Bumblebee out of necessity, after a thorough beating at the hands of Megatron. He ends up looking like his Goldbug form.
    • Starscream, during Dark Cybertron gets one to look like his Transformers: Armada self. Around Combiner Wars, he changes it for a new one that looks more like his G1 form.
  • Mind Screw: "Syndromica (2)". Optimus Prime issues 17 and 18. That both of these involve time-travel and Shockwave might have something to do with that.
  • The Mole:
    • Scoop is Starscream's mole in the Decepticons, though the two still have a rather adversarial relationship.
    • Rattrap is secretly working for Prowl.
  • Moral Event Horizon: In-Universe, Soundwave seems to view Shockwave's Evil Plan as this, especially after he refuses to let Soundwave heal Megatron with Ore-14.
  • Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: Shockwave. And this was even before becoming a Decepticon, but it was a lot more toned down.
  • My Friends... and Zoidberg: Going to confront an apparent case of their being shut out, Dreadwing declares there are four Decepticons going. Tracks chimes in that there are five, counting himself, Dreadwing, Soundwave, Needlenose and Swift. Dreadwing repeats that there are four of them.
  • Mythology Gag:
    • Sky-byte recites a haiku to the head of a sweep (holding it in an Alas, Poor Yorick kind of way), and comments that it reminds him of someone. All the Sweeps resemble Scourge, and Sky-byte is reminded of him. In the Transformers: Robots in Disguise there was a character named Scourge as well, who was Sky-byte's rival (They look nothing alike, but the similar name and knowledge of Sky-byte function as the gag).
    • Turmoil mentions that Drift's defection, from his miniseries, occurred on the planet Dabola, previously mentioned in a one-off line in Armada as somewhere the Decepticons won a decisive victory over the Autobots.
    • In Syndromica (2), when Orion travels to LV-117 during the time of its destruction by an as of yet unknown force, the entire planet appears to be bathed in an ominous red light, and chunks of it appear to be flying upwards into the sky. This is very similar to what happened to planets devoured by Unicron in the 1986 movie, which is probably another indicator that it's him.
    • Ironhide's prediction of the future invokes the phrase "The Transformers are all dead".
    • Bumblebee looks like his Goldbug form after the repairs from the beating he took.
    • When the Decepticons turn on each other and fight for leadership, Blitzwing and Soundwave are the ones fighting, just like in the movie.
    • The dog that Thundercracker adopted on Earth is named Buster, in reference to Buster Witwicky, one of the Autobots' human allies from the Marvel comics.
    • The last panel of issue #29 features Kelly, Radd White and Carlos Lopez running away from Devastator. Also, weirdly, Homer Simpson.
    • The Decepticon's new flagship bears a strong resemblance to the Revenge, Galvatron's Unicron-gifted starship from the 1986 film. It's later revealed to be called the Nemesis, the classic Decepticon ship that's long been absent from IDW's continuity.
    • Furthermore, Galvatron's ancient "Barbarian" body greatly resembles his G1 toy, though his arm cannon is based on the blaster rifle accessory the toy came with and not the more familiar sleek orange barreled weapon.
    • Ancient Cybertronian lore says that only a Prime can kill a Prime, which was first established in Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen though it's not true here.
    • When they meet, Victorion lists off all but one of the Thirteen to Optimus. The reason she doesn't list the thirteenth is because in the Aligned continuity, the thirteenth was Optimus himself. This later becomes a plot point, as the Mistress of Flame is convinced this holds true for this version of Optimus as well.
    • Victorion also names the Matrix as "the Matrix of Light", an incredibly obscure name from an old stickerbook for the 1986 film. Prime, meanwhile, calls it the Creation Matrix, the name it was called by in the comics.
    • A flashback shows someone in a Cybertronian bar ordering a "Grand Uprising", named after the war from Beast Wars: Uprising.
    • A story in "Salvation" states Mortilus, supposed former death god of the Guiding Hand, wielded a Void Scepter, the same name Hasbro's website gave to The Fallen's staff from Revenge of the Fallen.
    • The poem from Pyra Magna's origin story is the same one from "Cosmic Rust", as well as the one printed in cyberglyphics on the Rust Renegades' toys.
    • The beginning of Optimus Prime issue 9 has Optimus tell Sideswipe "fate has called upon you at the moment of its choosing". Sideswipe says this is a typical statement of Optimus.
    • Onyx Prime's ship is the Nemesis, specifically the giant eyeball-shaped ship from Beast Wars II.

    N-Z 
  • Named by Democracy: Bumblebee asks Wheeljack to stop calling him "King Bee" expressly to avoid this.
  • Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Flatline. Not that bad in and of itself, but a terrible name for someone who works as a medic.
  • Narm: In-Universe example. Nobody takes Bumblebee seriously as a leader and pretty much either go around him to do what they want or just browbeat him into submission. Even Bumblebee himself notes that it's kind of hard to take him seriously considering that just a few months ago he was just the Tag Along Kid to the Autobots and his self esteem has been practically destroyed.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Chromedome, who managed to break things on two comics at once. In this case, his hasty mnemosurgery on Prowl allowed Bombshell to mind control him.
  • Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
    • Shockwave thinks of this of Proteus, concerning the Shadowplay performed on him. In this case, a villain fixes someone else to become a bigger villain. It's not hard to see why. Pre-Shadowplay Shockwave was merely dodgy and untrustworthy. Post-Shadowplay Shockwave becomes The Unfettered, willing to do anything to anyone, without those pesky emotions getting in the way.
    • While it served as a useful object lesson to the rest of the Earthbound Decepticons (especially after Starscream's attempted coup with Ore-13) seven years ago, it turns out Megatron probably shouldn't have left the torn apart remains of Ramjet scattered around various human installations since the Earth Defense Command was able to get ahold of enough of those discarded remains to put together a whole drone army of Ramjet knockoffs along with their Thrust-based drones.
  • Noble Bigot: Nova Prime was an extreme racist who believed that Cybertronians were superior to all other life. He wasn't completely evil at first, he simply genuinely believed that the galaxy would be a better place under Cybertronian rule. Unfortunately, unlike most examples though he did not redeem himself. Instead he was taken by the Dead Universe which caused him to jump off the slippery slope due to it's influence.
  • No Name Given: Repeated mention is made of Primus having some kind of opposite, but whenever the subject comes up people either get interrupted, or don't give a name.
  • The Nose Knows: Ravage can smell people and figure out how they feel from their scent. Soundwave can do it too, but with all of his other senses as well as smell. Neither can locate Shockwave with their powers, as he has no scent.
  • No Social Skills: Arcee. The experiments performed on her by Jhiaxus, which included getting her sex changed against her will while she was conscious, have left her mentally unstable and having difficulty understanding how other people emote (she doesn't understand why Bumblebee is freaked out by her scrawling an Autobot symbol onto her shoulder with a sword for one thing).
  • Nothing Is Scarier: What destroyed LV-117? We don't see it, but it's not Jhiaxus or Shockwave's fault, but something else. Something worse...
  • Not Quite Dead: After Metrotitan proclaimed Starscream The Chosen One, he was thought to have been lost to an explosion, but he shows up again in Season 2 on earth. It's not until Optimus Prime that we get an explanation: Shockwave used his Ores to teleport the guy there.
  • "Not So Different" Remark:
    • As Zeta unleashes the Omega Destructors on Nyon, Starscream wonders out loud if he and Megatron aren't more similar than the Decepticon leader had realised.
    • Before the war Orion believed that he and the miner-cum-revolutionary Megatron had a lot in common with their ideas on freedom and on taking on the caste system and senate. As the conflict began building, Orion learned more and more that he and Megatron were irreconcilably different. Post-war, Megatron's pulled a Heel–Face Turn, and many characters accuse Optimus of becoming a fascist in-lieu of Megatron and the previous Primes when he annexes Earth. Him going to an alien world and forcibly including them into a government without their or the government's consent lead many to compare him to the Knight Templar phase of the Decepticons.
    • Galvatron compares his annexation of Earth as something Prowl would do.
    • The President later notes that Optimus wouldn't have been out of place in the Civil Rights Movement.
    • An infuriated Needlenose points this out with regards to Soundwave and Starscream, noting that given Soundwave was seconds away from murdering Starscream to keep him away from control of the surviving Decepticons, the two only do things for the adulation/attention of others (albeit Soundwave genuinely believes it's for a greater good).
  • Oh, Crap!:
    • In Issue 11, Starscream's reaction when, just as things were looking really good for his political future, Megatron comes back.
    • He has an even bigger one at the end of issue #13 when he finds out what's really in the Black Room. Notably, the first bullet in the "Notes" section of that issue on the TFWiki is simply "WHAT THE FFUUUUUUUUUUUU--"
    • Even more in issue 14.
    • Astrotrain has a more downplayed moment when he points out the sorry state the cons are in, and what they'll do when the DJD come and find them like this.
    • Thundercracker has this reaction at the end of issue #32 when he discovers the EDC's army of Ramjet and Thrust drones so hard that he actually ends up running away.
  • One-Steve Limit: There are two different Cybertronians named Skydive, an Autobot and a Decepticon respectively. The Decpeticon is murdered and when Prowl is called in to investigate he repeatedly confuses the two.
  • Only Friend: Starscream did consider Metalhawk his only friend, but he justifies killing him by claiming he's doing it the greater good, using his death as a catalyst to unite all NAILs and exile both Autobots and Decepticons.
    • In light of Metalhawk's death, Starscream now looks at Wheeljack as his only friend.
  • Only Known by Their Nickname: Played for Drama with Soundwave. "Soundwave" isn't his real name, it's the name he took after he got his powers under control. Because of his severe synesthesia he can't even remember his real name.
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
    • Bumblebee remarks to Prowl that he's been anything but logical since they were exiled from New Iacon. Ironically enough, Prowl was actually hurt/offended that Bumblebee couldn't Spot the Thread when he was being controlled by Bombshell.
    • Making his reappearance in front of Goldbug, Prowl - who hates Decepticons more than anything that isn't Spike Witwicky - declares Onyx Prime's forces are worse.
  • Organ Dodge: Sludge survived being decapitated because he was in his beast mode at the time. His brain was in his robot mode's head.
  • Overshadowed by Awesome: Bumblebee. Lampshaded by himself when he says he has to do things 10 times better than Optimus Prime just because of whom he is.
  • Pay Evil unto Evil: Prowl seems to have settled on this mindset regarding the Decepticons, which is kind of unfair as judging by the way things are going both here and in MTMTE, a large number of the Decepticons aren't really all that evil.
  • Pet the Dog:
    • Shockwave injured Dai Atlas in his home to make sure that he wouldn't attend the Senate meeting and be slaughtered with the other members of the corrupt regime. It's our first hint that there might be some of his original personality intact.
    • After Wheeljack is shot in the head during Megatron's siege of New Iacon, Starscream works to have him repaired and brought back online when he was on the brink of death.
  • Plot Armor: Ironhide thinks he has this because of a vision he had of the future, in which he describes "Pax Cybertronia". He invokes it at one point to try and scare off an attacker.
  • Police Brutality: Needlenose and Horri-Bull indulge in this while serving as enforcers of the peace. Then Prowl completely flips out and tries to murder Bombshell and the Constructicons in cold blood (though they all turn out to have been Faking the Dead later on).
  • Pinball Protagonist: Bumblebee is viewed as this by everyone in-universe. It's noted that his biggest flaw is that he doesn't know to take action until it's too late.
  • Poor Communication Kills: After one too many grumble from Slide, Aileron tries to get her to tell Optimus about what happened on Earth during the events of First Strike. Just as Slide starts to speak, Optimus assumes she's still mourning Oiler, and interrupts.
  • Portal Cut: Wheeljack closes the space bridge leading to the Ark-17, just as one Decepticon is going through. His legs remain on Cybertron.
  • Prophecy Twist: In issue 50, Optimus has a vision of things to come, with the prophecy of the "false prophet" Scoop had recited during Dark Cybertron (with some alterations and additions), which points to him being the "uncreator" it spoke of, not Shockwave. Eventually, Optimus Prime confirms that the uncreator isn't Shockwave either. It's Unicron.
  • Put on a Bus: In issue #35, Optimus departs from Earth to attend to some matters on Cybertron that have cropped up (like the Acrolight bombing from the Windblade mini-series), which was covered in the Transformers Punishment motion comic released previously.
  • Pyrrhic Victory: The Autobots stop Megatron, but end up losing the support of the population, with Starscream coming up as the overall winner.
  • Our Time Travel Is Different: For one thing, according to Wheeljack, it can't move you back and forth through time, it moves you sideways through time. It can also cause you to bounce randomly through various points in history (Orion ends up bouncing between various events over the course of fifty plus years before he can come to a stop). Oh and it can affect entire planets.
  • The Remnant: Soundwave gathers up many of the A-lister cons, including the remaining members of the Earth Infiltration team, throwing their lot in with Galvatron, and heading to earth to ally with the humans and get in the Autobot's way. They claim to be the Decepticons, following their principles in the absence of their founder, even if their ranks only have a few dozen members.
  • Replacement Scrappy: Galvatron is an in-universe example. An issue of MTMTE strongly suggests that he's just a figurehead for Soundwave, and that if Megatron were to come back, the Decepticons would instantly fall back under his command.
  • The Resenter:
    • Prowl due to the fact that he wanted nothing to do with the war, but was pretty much forced into it by Optimus Prime, since he's good at whatever he does. It's pretty much the reason why he hates NAILs, because he didn't get to be one of them and escape the war like them.
    • Starscream suggests that Rattrap harbors resentment towards the Autobots because he spent centuries, if not millions of years, stuck on an unimportant, dead-end backwater world fighting Decepticons, and as a result wasn't able to move up the command structure to become someone important, like one of Optimus Prime's inner circle. So Starscream offers him a job in his government.
  • Retraux: The flashbacks from the first annual are designed to imitate the original Marvel comics, right down to the colouring style, and the clunky exposition as every character stands and explains who they are.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Shockwave unleashes a blistering one on Starscream in Optimus Prime issue 18, on how he's been Shockwave's patsy all along.
  • The Reveal:
    • Issue 9 ends with the reveal of Superion. Oh and the Reflector components appear to have time traveled away.
    • Issue 11 featured Starscream witnessing a heavily-damaged Megatron striding out of the wilderness towards New Iacon.
    • Issue 13 ends with the revelation that Megatron is apparently working with Prowl, and that they've gathered together a group of Decepticon heavy-hitters...including the previously thought-dead Bombshell and Constructicons.
    • Issue 14 has Prowl had been under Bombshell's mind control since Issue 4.
    • Issue 20 has Starscream working to revive Wheeljack.
    • In issue 33, it initially looks like Starscream has been talking to himself, only for it later look like he was actually talking to Scoop. Issue 43 reveals that actually, it's neither. He's talking to Bumblebee.
    • Optimus Prime issue 14: Pyra Magna is conferring with Prowl.
    • Optimus Prime issue 18 finally clues us in as to how Metrotitan survived going boom: Shockwave used some of his regenesis ores to move him before he could blow up, as part of his plan.
  • Riddle for the Ages:
    • Bludgeon is re-introduced working for Jhiaxus, neatly explaining why the Coda issues of All Hail Megatron had him working with Monstructor. However, exactly when, where and how they met isn't clear.
    • Shockwave's regenesis ores apparently landed on the same planets the Primes fled to. How he knew isn't explained. Optimus Prime issue 18 reveals the truth - he didn't. It's part of a Stable Time Loop. His future self orchestrated it so the Thirteen ended up on those planets (with the handwave that Alpha Trion got a separate planet despite never leaving Cybertron when Onyx chose one for him.
  • Running Gag: Cybertronians, and the colonists, mistakenly calling Earth "Eart".
  • Saying Too Much:
    • Arcee, in issue 18, accidentally spills the beans on Prowl sending her to kill Ratbat before he got mind-controlled by Bombshell, which aggravates Prowls standing with the other Autobots. Oops!
    • Galvatron did this during Nova Prime's reign when he argued against Nova allowing Jhiaxus to try and perfect combining by attempting to re-create Nexus Prime's Engima of Combining. When Galvatron argues-in front of Alpha Trion, another member of the Thirteen like Nexus-that he searched Nexus' empty fortress and found no sign of the Enigma and that Nexus fled with it, Trion enquires why Galvatron would assume it was an object and not an idea as everyone else is. When Galvatron can only sputter that he meant the idea was lost with Nexus, Trion suddenly realizes that Galvatron has been hiding the Engima all this time, which is in fact an object, because he took it from Nexus after secretly killing him. (Un?)fortunately, Galvatron also realizes he's made Trion suspicious and soon rectifies that by firing the Engima into space, perhaps intentionally at Earth, or perhaps it merely landed there by accident.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Thundercracker appears to do this when he flees Bikini Atoll with his pet dog after discovering that the EDC has secretly built an army of transforming drones based on his dead wingmen Ramjet and Thrust.
  • Self-Deprecation: Season 2 opens up with a deliberately terrible in-universe script that pokes fun at John Barber's own writing style (specifically his tendency for monologues and inner narration) and some of the divisive aspects of season 1 (characters acting pointlessly angsty).
  • Series Continuity Error: In the Annual. When Omega reveals the existence of the Last Titan on Cybertron to Dai Atlas. Yet Metroplex appeared at a later time during the events of Autocracy.
  • Shell-Shocked Veteran: Bumblebee. He even walks with a cane, and favors a leg, even though Ratchet says he is completely fine, not to mention he even got a panic attack when Ratchet told him he was leaving.
  • Shout-Out: Rumble and Frenzy's disguises in Optimus Prime issue 11 are Jules and Vincent from Pulp Fiction.
  • Shrouded in Myth: Discussed between Alpha Trion and Optimus, as to why nobody seems to remember anything concrete about things like the Thirteen, despite the fact Alpha Trion is one of the Thirteen. It's because of the concept of Information Creep, causing the knowledge to be distorted or lost.
  • Shut Up, Kirk!: Starscream gives a speech about the old ways of violence are wrong, nobody seems to care, Acid Storm voices his distaste.
    Starscream: Everyone, wait a minute. Think about what you're doing. This has been a terrible night... we have lost some of our best and brightest, but we can carry on... if we don't lose sight of what we fought for. Our cause was just. Our war was for equality. We fought for so long, and we stared defeat in the eye... and we didn't look away. Now we stand on the precipice of victory. We've lost allies, we've lost leaders... but change has always been our way. We must leave behind our destructive past. Violence is the old way—Megatron is the old way. I am the new—when I'm elected leader, this will be a victory for us, and for all Cybertronians—because we'll prove we were right. Not through the superiority of our firepower... but through the superiority of our ideas. A validation not for the methods that long tarnished the Decepticon dream, but for the dream itself. Victory is at hand—and it is ours to lose. Will you stand with me?
    Acid Storm: Blow it out your sprocket, 'Chosen One.'
  • Shown Their Work: Issue 21 reveals that Soundwave has a form of Synesthesia, a neurological condition that essentially causes one to display a "hidden sense" and perceive letters, numbers, smells, and other such things as colored. All in all, it's portrayed fairly realistically even with a moment where Soundwave has to step away from a group of Decepticons because their emotional behavior is causing him to suffer a sensory overlord.
  • Sibling Fusion: Oiler and Slide are twin siblings who have a shared alt-mode of a fuel truck (Oiler is the front half while Slide is the back half). When Oiler was killed during the Junkion invasion, Slide was left unable to transform and very bitter as Optimus had made peace with the Junkions.
  • Sliding Scale of Plot Versus Characters: Definitivelly Plot driven, specially compared to its sister series, More Than Meets the Eye.
  • Small Role, Big Impact: Eucryphia, a minor soldier under Prima who falls fighting alongside Nova Prime in the flashback issue 34. While his importance is nil, MTMTE reveals that he wrote The Empyrean Suite, a haunting, mysterious song that's used as the leitmotif of the DJD. It recurs constantly; Skids has heard it, it's apparently Ultra Magnus's favorite song, and Rung whistled it before he was attacked; it's connections and mystery hang over the series.
  • The Smurfette Principle: Arcee is the only "female" Cybertronian in the whole series, and for a good reason. Jhiaxus' experiments with Arcee's CNA ended up introducing an alternate gender into what was previously a One-Gender Race. Subverted later on as other female Cybetronians exist on the colony worlds and it's clear that they once existed on Cybertron. Galvatron even says Jhiaxus' experimentations on Arcee was an attempt to reintroduce gender to Cybertron after the women were all killed off (probably by Galvatron).
  • The Snark Knight: Shockwave, moreso than most portrayals.
  • Something Only They Would Say: As Orion Pax and his team defend Waspinator from Monstructor, the bug-bot calls him "the One True Prime", while Jhiaxus had been calling him. It takes Orion a moment to realize this, by which point it's a little too late.
  • Spanner in the Works: Wheeljack to Megatron.
  • Spell My Name with a "The": The Superion.
  • Spotting the Thread: Averted. Prowl is actually hurt that Bumblebee failed to notice he was under Bombshell's control. However, Arcee did notice the change and set about working to free him.
  • Stable Time Loop: All of Cybertronian history. No, really. After Dark Cybertron, Shockwave wound up going back in time to before the Age of Primes, killed the real Onyx Prime and took his place, becoming the Onyx seen in all the flashbacks, and making sure that history happened as he remembered it.
  • The Starscream: Imagine!
  • Start of Darkness: Shockwave's concludes here. Shadowplay showed how he came to think as he does now, and the issue "Shockwaves" showed how he fell in with the Decepticons.
  • Stealth Pun: Garrison Blackrock's new Onyx social media interface. "Onyx" being a black rock.
  • Stupid Evil: Starscream cites this as the reason he's willing to screw over Ratbat.
    "Here's the thing about Ratbat's plan... it's terrible."
  • Stylistic Suck:
    • Thundercracker's horrendous screenplay.
    • The annual, where the flashback pages were deliberately written and drawn to resemble the old Marvel comic. Nova Prime even gives an Introdump where everyone stands around and says what they do. It actually works very well.
  • Surpassed the Teacher: Shockwave to Jhiaxus.
    Shockwave: I did not ask, Jhiaxus... I commanded.
  • Synchronous Issues: Issues 18, 20, and 21 all seem to take place at about the same time focusing on the Autobots, Decepticons, and NAILs in the aftermath of Starscream's seizure of Iacon.
  • Take That!: During their last fight, Galvatron tries quoting the '86 Transformers movie, only for Optimus to cut him off with "no more clichés".
  • Take That Us: Marissa Fairborne criticises Thundercracker's screenplay for, among other things, using a voice-over, which she decries as "tacky". This series makes extensive use of voiceovers.
  • Taking the Bullet: Ravage jumps in front of Shockwave's blast to protect Soundwave. of course, since they're fighting in in Crystal City which is surrounded by Ore-14, he returns to life almost immediately.
  • Talking to the Dead: In the "Three Monologues," Starscream talks to the corpse of Metalhawk to thank him for all his support and justify his betrayal.
  • Tastes Like Purple: Soundwave has the Cybertronian equivalent: he can hear the color of failure, and smell the emotions around him.
    I shut out the acrid, grunting blue that comes with losing an eons-long war.
  • Tears of Blood: Issue 17's cover shows Shockwave's old cranium, with it's forehead gone and eyes missing, dripping a Single Tear of Energon, while his current head looks on unmoved. The inside features something similar.
  • That Man Is Dead:
    • "Optimus Prime is dead...and Orion Pax is reborn."
    • Shockwave's benevolent former persona.
    "You should give up on me, Orion Pax. I am not he who 'befriended you."
  • The Needs of the Many: Starscream claims that this is the reason he killed Metalhawk, but it's left ambiguous if he really believes it or is just trying to relieve his personal guilt.
  • They Killed Kenny: Averted. This is the series where Dirge, a character who repeatedly dies in numerous continuities so often, it's become a joke, gets character development and survives numerous deadly encounters.
    • Played Straight with Dreadwing. Ore-14 keeps bringing him back.
  • Time Skip: The story resumes six months after the events of The Transformers: Dark Cybertron.
  • Those Two Guys: Swindle and Dirge seem to be developing into this.
  • Timey-Wimey Ball: Issue 10 gets like this. Reflector has taken a ship with time travel capabilities, Orion Pax's ship, Jhiaxus's ship converge on a planet. Time shifts all over the place, including a split second where Viewfinder has died (which he and the other Reflector bots say was weird), they arrive at the ship, then it cuts to them having left the ship, then Jhiaxus leaving the planet, then Monstructor attacking some giant creatures, then it was all a vision which soon comes true. Throughout it, Optimus get's flown to the past, then back with Turmoil, a slaver decepticon he meets, right up until Jhiaxus grabs a synthetic Energon Warhead and leaves.
  • Trap Is the Only Option: Orion Pax and his crew on Gorlam Prime, although as Orion Pax said...
    Orion Pax: It's not a trap if you know it's a trap.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Monstructor had his pesky one-hit-defeat weakness fixed and is much harder to deal with. Devastator was rebuilt and able to shrug off enemy gunfire this time he actually wins his one on one fight.
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: The Thirteen Primes, from what we've seen of them, don't seem like they were the paragons of Cybertronian virtues in other continuities. Alpha Trion is an arrogant manipulator, Nexus Prime seemed openly contemptuous of those he believed were below his station, and Alchemist Prime apparently liked to trip out on rancid Engex. Not to mention all of them save Trion and Nexus (who was killed by Galvatron) up and abandoned Cybertron millions of years ago, as well as all of their followers for reasons that have not yet been made clear.
  • Torture Cellar: Though not explicitly stated, the mysterious "Black Room" that Prowl mentions in issue 11 certainly seems to be this, which dosen't bode well for Shockwave and the other Decepticons. Subverted when it turns out the Black Room isn't a torture chamber at all, but it still serves a very sinister purpose.
  • Troubled Production: In-universe. Starscream: The Movie sufferes every misfortune possible most notably, the imprisonment of the film's subject.
  • Two-Faced: Soundwave was shot in the head in the previous ongoing. He was rebuilt, but his visor and faceplate are still damaged, giving him this look. No longer true as of the end of issue 13, since it seems he's been repaired in the Black Room. His depiction in the flashback in Issue 21 only features a cracked faceplate though.
  • Two Lines, No Waiting: Throughout the first year of the series we switch back and forth between following Bumblebee's attempts to keep Cybertron at peace and Optimus Prime's hunt for Jhiaxus, Bludgeon, and Monstructor.
    • Third Line, Some Waiting: After Dark Cybertron, it splits between the Decepticons and the Earth Defense Force's storyline, Optimus and his team's storyline and Starscream and the others on Cybertron.
  • Übermensch: Shockwave, more so than any other continuity. Pre-war he was The Fettered, rejecting the belief that some were born better than others, and fully believed that everyone was equal. Post Empurata he's The Unfettered. Morality has no place in his mind after its removal, and he rejects the ideals of the Decepticons in both conquest and equality. Through cold Science he's placed himself above all others, and with his experiments, he can alter the fabric of the universe. To him, life and death are just concepts that he can manipulate.
  • Unexplained Recovery: In the fight to stop the Decepticons, Arcee and Sideswipe get quite brutally beaten. The former is crushed by Brawl, and the later is caught in an explosion that reduces his arms to skeletons and is then finished off by a Coup de Grâce, also by Brawl. Next issue they're hurt but fine; Arcee is just dinged up rather than having her chassis caved-in, and Sideswipe's arms are not only fine, but his serious head wound has been changed to a, still serious but not fatal, chest wound. Subverted, with Sideswipe, as his injuries do turn out to be fatal.
  • Ungrateful Bastard: Starscream to pretty much everyone but Wheeljack.
  • Unreliable Narrator:
    • Everything where Prowl is the narrator/point of view after Issue #4.
    • Played with Starscream in issue 20. He expresses himself aloud, without being suspected, rebuked or second-guessed, but only by talking to the dead, the paralyzed, and the comatose. And since this is Starscream, you never know.
    • Optimus Prime issue 18 has Starscream's biography as the voiceover, and naturally it has Starscream portraying himself as a victim, and Optimus as an egotistical villain.
  • The Un-Reveal: The Syndromica arc explores some of the Regenesis Ores, as does Dark Cybertron, but Ores 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 11 and 12 go unidentified, along with where they landed. It isn't until Transformers: Unicron that Ore-12 is confirmed to be the source of the Space Knight's armor, and Optimus Prime issue 18 identifies Ore-9 and 10.
  • Unwitting Pawn: Orion Pax and his crew fall for Jhiaxus, except it was Orion Pax's plan to fall for Jhiaxus' plan in the first place.
  • Vagueness Is Coming: Onyx Prime recites a poem about how "the end is coming" and "danger is near". Alarmingly, Revolutionaries suggests Onyx isn't talking about himself.
  • Villain Decay: Subverted with Spike Witwicky who, despite his delusions otherwise, was never a genuine threat on his own, simply a spoiled and childish brat who was given too much power. Without Skywatch or his influential father covering his ass or providing resources, he's nothing more than pathetic protestor who thinks he's being a total badass when he kills a robot that couldn't even hurt him if it tried.
  • Villain Episode: Issue 17, 20, and 21 focus on Shockwave, Starscream and Soundwave respectively.
  • Villain with Good Publicity: Starscream, and how! He even has films and memoirs published to burnish his image.
  • Villainous Friendship: Soundwave's issue has a type 1 with his cassettes, they respect him and he treats them as equals, bar Ratbat. He also has a type 4 with Shockwave, respecting him, and both working together well, but never trusting each other and coming to blows in the present. He has a type 1/3 hybrid with Megatron, as he's completely devoted to Megatron and his ideals, and Megatron trusts him more than most bots, but, as Soundwave notes, not completely. This changes when Megatron leaves the Decepticons.
    • Needlenose and Horri-bull seemed to have a type 1.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: Swindle and Dirge seem to have become this though the it comes mostly from Dirge.
  • The Voiceless: Soundwave's voice chip was damaged, so he doesn't speak until its repaired later on.
  • War Is Hell: A major theme of the series.
  • War Refugees: NAILs.
  • Was It Really Worth It?: Needlenose comes to this realization following the Decepticons takeover, their party is shattered, their superior officers are either dead or MIA, and they just lost the one chance for peace, even if it was under the Autobots. He tells Soundwave the Decepticon movement is all out of soldiers.
  • We Hardly Knew Ye: Barrel Roll.
  • We Will Spend Credits in the Future: Averted. Issue 3 has mention of a mundane and not often explored problem in science fiction. People from different planets and star systems using different currencies.
  • Wham Episode:
    • In Issue 4, Prowl goes off the deep end, murdering Bombshell and the Constructicons, and Dirge becomes the only witness and thus a fugitive.
    • In Issue 11, Megatron returns...
    • Issue 13 ...And is working with Prowl to take over Cybertron.
    • Issue 14: ...And Bombshell was mind controlling Prowl... who now serves as the head module for Devastator!
    • Issue 16: Starscream kills Metalhawk, and then "wins", exiling both Autobots and Decepticons out of New Iacon.
    • Issue 28: Galvatron is leading the Decepticons, and has struck an alliance with the Earth defense forces.
    • Issue 50: Optimus declares Earth is under his protection, and absolutely no-one is happy about that. Spike is put back in charge of the EDC. Prowl returns, determined to oppose Optimus. And the big guy has a vision suggesting he's just screwed up royally...
    • Annual 2017: Onyx Prime isn't returning. He's already back. And Pyra Magna came face to face with him years ago.
    • Optimus Prime issue 16: Onyx kills Alpha Trion, and frames Soundwave for it.
    • And then issue 17 reveals Onyx is actually Shockwave.
    • Issues 18 and 19 continue the whamming: Shockwave survived Dark Cybertron and was thrown back to the beginning of the Age of Primes, killed the real Onyx and took his place, and engineered all of Cybertron's history in a Stable Time Loop. And that prophecy of Starscream being the chosen one? It's BS he made up so Cybertron wouldn't be able to stand against him.
  • Wham Line:
    • From Issue 17:
    Shockwave: Ore 14: resurrection.
    • From Issue 28:
    Marissa Fairborn:In the name of the Earth/Decepticon Alliance, you are under arrest.
    • Issue 32: The Revelation that the Earth Defense Force has an army of Ramjet and Thrust clones, oh, and that Trion was not the source of their technology, someone else predates him.
    • Alpha Trion gets a good in-universe one too in issue #34.
    Alpha Trion: They call me Alpha Trion. And I believe I am the last Prime on this world.
    • From Issue 49:
    Optimus Prime: Earth is mine... and under my protection. I hereby annex Earth into the Cybertronian Council of Worlds. Now and forever, we stand united against tyranny... and against you, Galvatron. Now and forever, war is over.
    • From Optimus Prime issue 13: Bludgeon refers to a "master".
    • Optimus Prime 17: "The title of Prime is trivial... simply a means to an end... old friend."
  • Wham Shot:
    • The final issue of issue #32 when Thundercracker discovers the EDC's army of Thrust and Ramjet drones.
    • The end of the 2017 annual: Bumblebee lives!
  • Wide-Eyed Idealist: Metalhawk. He ends up needing a reminder in the annual.
  • Wounded Gazelle Gambit:
    • Waspinator pulls this on Orion Pax.
    • Onyx Prime pulls one on his return, making everyone else look bad while painting himself as reasonable, dividing everyone. Then he sets off a bomb, killing Alpha Trion and making it look like Soundwave did it.
  • Xanatos Speed Chess: Orion Pax at Gorlam Prime.
  • You Are What You Hate: Played with. Prowl wanted to be a NAIL and couldn't.
  • You Dirty Rat!: Rattrap.
  • Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: The Constructicons leave the Decepticons because they liked what they felt when they fused with Prowl. Prowl isn't happy about this.
  • Your Head Asplode:
    • The Deceptions all have inhibitor/deterrence chips in their heads to prevent them from using their powers and transforming. If they get out of line, their heads will explode. When Horri-bull almost beats a neutral to death, Bumblebee detonates his chip. Ultimately subverted with the Constructicons in Issue #4: They show up alive and well later, despite Prowl detonating their chips, but it turns out they were Faking the Dead with a little help from Prowl himself.
    • Wheeljack barely survives this in Issue 14.
    • Shockwave shoots an already badly wounded Metrotitan in the face, blowing up his head.

When I feel doubt creeping in...
I think of...

Alternative Title(s): Transformers Robots In Disguise, Optimus Prime

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