History NightmareFuel / Transformers

* From the original comics in the 80's comes the Smelting Pit. A place where Decepticons toss captured Autobots, and they melt and dissolve to death slowly over several days. Made worse as we see Scrounge, a character we'd gotten to know in the previous issue reduced to a torso, then melt to nothingness, while his friend Blaster tried to save him.

* ''NightmareFuel/TransformersRescueBots'' (2011-)

* ''NightmareFuel/TheTransformersLastStandOfTheWreckers''

[[folder:''Transformers'' 2007 live-action film]]
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%%Image removed per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1655925255008900400
%%Please start a thread to discuss a replacement.
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* The Decepticon tyrant, Megatron himself. Giant, genocidal lunatic made of jagged alien metal with a booming, snarling voice? Check. Can't be stopped or slowed down by normal means? Check. Ripped Jazz in half with his bare hands like it was ''nothing''? Check. CGI just a little ''too'' realistic? Megatron looks ''entirely'' too much like they actually had a giant alien war machine in front of the camera.
** Speaking of Megatron, the "I smell you, boy!" line that he said when chasing Sam up the abandoned warehouse in the first film manages to be quite creepy.
** What's makes it worse is that in the video game adaptation of the first movie, if you beat the Decepticon story, a cutscene shows Optimus' head gets crushed/caved in by Megatron's flail, Sam got killed along with his girlfriend and humanity have been made extinct. If the Decepticons [[TheBadGuyWins had actually won in the film]], then Megatron's villainy would be ''far'' more dangerous than his G1 counterpart.
* As memetic as it is, the "Username [=LadiesMan217=]" scene must have been terrifying for Sam. Imagine this from his perspective: You've just been chased down by a police car who happens to be an evil alien robot who tracked you through your Ebay account. That is so creepy on so many levels.
* You wouldn't want to listen to the track "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdfMlU-FN5U Cybertron]]" from the first movie alone in the dark. 0:51 is where the really chilling stuff starts.
[[/folder]]

* ''NightmareFuel/TransformersDarkOfTheMoon'' (2011)

* ''NightmareFuel/TransformersRevengeOfTheFallen'' (2009)

* Most 21st-century depictions of Shockwave. The G1 cartoon originally portrayed him as a yes-man loyalist who would follow Megatron's orders to the letter... though he wasn't always (i.e; ''rarely'') a match for the Autobots. The G1 Marvel comics portrayed him as a second Starscream with far more competency than the tropenamer, though he still gets foiled by his enemies. And then we have the aligned, movieverse and Animated continuity Shockwaves, which while still loyal to Megatron are far more competent and powerful. Then we have IDW's Shockwave, and no-nense tyrant and pathological harbinger of doom who masterminds just about every catastrophe known to everyone of his kind. This carries over to the War for Cybertron Trilogy series and the Cyberverse and [=EarthSpark=] cartoons, where his loyalty to Megatron is not steadfast and he is more than able to throw down with the best fighters possible.

* From the original comics in the 80's comes the Smelting Pit. A place where Decepticons toss captured Autobots, and they melt and dissolve to death slowly over several days. Made worse as we see Scrounge, a charecter we'd gotten to know in the previous issue reduced to a torso, then melt to nothingness, while his friend Blaster tried to save him.

* Megatron. Giant, genocidal lunatic made of jagged alien metal with a booming, snarling voice? Check. Can't be stopped or slowed down by normal means? Check. Ripped Jazz in half with his bare hands like it was ''nothing''? Check. CGI just a little ''too'' realistic? Megs looks ''entirely'' too much like they actually had a giant alien war machine in front of the camera.

%%Please see thread to discuss potential replacements.

** Another IDW-given form of NightmareFuel is the Cybertronian punishment of empurata. Those found guilty of heinous-enough crimes are modified extensively to remove most forms of their outward identity. Their hands replaced with unwieldy clamps or other job-appropriate appendages, their outer chassis swapped around quite a bit, and their face rendered a single, mostly unemotive optic. The questionably sane Autobot Whirl is one to have suffered this fate, and occasionally thinks back to a time he looked normal. The most prolific victim of this process, however, is a senator who prided himself on looking good, could scarecely keep a single paintjob, and was a good friend of Orion Pax. The one who gave the order did so soley out of spite after finding out he was helping Pax in his movement to change Cybertron's government. The result of this process? ''[[StartOfDarkness Shockwave''.]]
*** Oh, and that spoilered character above? He was also subjected to Shadowplay. A process that inverts the personality of the victim. Turning Shockwave from an emotional, compassionate being to the coldly ruthless logical monster we all know now. They didn't just maim his body, they butchered his mind and soul.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lennoxscorponok.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: WHOA!!]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tumblr_o2glozynu51trm5gzo1_1280_1.jpg]]

* '''''MEGATRON.''''' Giant, genocidal lunatic made of jagged alien metal with a booming, snarling voice? Check. Can't be stopped or slowed down by normal means? Check. Ripped Jazz in half with his bare hands like it was ''nothing''? Check. CGI just a little ''too'' realistic? Megs looks ''entirely'' too much like they actually had a giant alien war machine in front of the camera.

%%* ''NightmareFuel/TransformersGeneration2'' (1993-1994)

%%* ''NightmareFuel/BeastMachines'' (1999-2001)
%%* ''NightmareFuel/TransformersRobotsInDisguise'' (2001-2002)

%%* ''NightmareFuel/TransformersEnergon'' (2004)
%%* ''NightmareFuel/TransformersCybertron'' (2005)

%%* ''NightmareFuel/TransformersAllHailMegatron'' (2008-2009)

* ''NightmareFuel/TransformersCyberverse'' (2018–2020)

* From IDW's ''Spotlight'' mini-series comes the Kup issue. The story begins innocently enough with Kup fighting off zombie-like Cybertronians, before retreating to his rough hut/shelter. Initially it seems like he's merely surviving a rash of zombified Cybertronians alongside Outback after having crash-landed on a strange planet, but then the true horror element shines through: [[spoiler:Kup has actually been driven insane by the radiation coming off the exotic variants of Energon Crystals glowing on the planet, and Outback is actually dead - ''Kup does not notice this fact as he brags to Outback's own corpse while using his arm as a crude club!'']] The way the art style takes on a surreal, dreamlike approach when the narrative is in Kup's [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness point of view]] makes it even creepier. The later parts of the story add a bit of a forlorn horror to it, [[spoiler:as it turns out Springer was sending Autobots in hazard gear that made them look like zombies to the addled mind of Kup in an effort to rescue him, and in the end it takes Trailblazer's forcefield ability to get Kup out of that brown hellhole, at the cost of Kup nearly busting his Spark chamber's containment field in a fashion akin to a stress-induced cardiac arrest]]!
** Another IDW-given form of NightmareFuel is the Cybertronian punishment of empurata. Those found guilty of heinous-enough crimes are modified extensively to remove most forms of their outward identity. Their hands replaced with unwieldy clamps or other job-appropriate appendages, their outer chassis swapped around quite a bit, and their face rendered a single, mostly unemotive optic. The questionably sane Autobot Whirl is one to have suffered this fate, and occasionally thinks back to a time he looked normal. The most prolific victim of this process, however, is a senator who prided himself on looking good, could scarecely keep a single paintjob, and was a good friend of Orion Pax. The one who gave the order did so soley out of spite after finding out he was helping Pax in his movement to change Cybertron's government. The result of this process? [[spoiler: ''[[StartOfDarkness Shockwave]]''.]]
*** Oh, and that spoilered character above? He was also subjected to Shadowplay. A process that inverts the personality of the victim. [[spoiler: Turning Shockwave from an emotional, compassionate being to the coldly ruthless logical monster we all know now.]] They didn't just maim his body, they butchered his mind and soul.

** More horror from the IDW series: Anti-Personal Mines. (Not a misspelling.) In first part of the "Speak, Memory" storyline, Skids is talking to a psychiatrist about his past as a bomb negotiator. When questioned about what a bomb negotiator is, Skids said "Defusing a landmine was hard enough at the best of times--- But the Decepticons found a way to make it harder. They were building mines that [[spoiler: begged for mercy." ]] The Decepticons took live Autobots and [[spoiler: hard-wired their heads and other vital components into landmines.]] Skids' job as a bomb negotiator was essentially [[spoiler: keeping the victim that the landmine was made out of calm while he mercy-killed them. If they panicked, they'd blow up.]] And that's just the start of the horror in that issue...

* ''NightmareFuel/TheTransformers'' (1984-1987)
%%* ''NightmareFuel/TheTransformersMarvel'' (1984-1991)

[[folder:''Transformers'' live-action film series]]

** Megatron's mutilated face in DOTM. Not to mention that he has several Scalpel-esque robots crawling around in his giant gash.

* [[spoiler: Ironhide's]] death. Here's what happens. [[spoiler: Right after the Highway Chase scene and the Mexican Standoff scene, Sentinel Prime reveals his role as the BigBad of the film and shoots Ironhide two-three times. You'd think that would be the end of it. But no, you witness Ironhide rusting up and dissolving to the point where his head falls off his shoulders and the rest of his body just sags apart. It's such an emotional punch and to hear Ironhide groaning and letting out his last breath is nightmare inducing.]]
** It's also horrifying because it happens completely out of the blue. It is completely unexpected.
* The Decepticons' [[spoiler: borderline apocalyptic takeover of Chicago.]] Complete with genocide and screaming survivors. And people getting vaporized ''onscreen''! A skull even falls after one person is shot.
* '''''LASERBEAK.''''' [[ParanoiaFuel He could be]] ''[[ParanoiaFuel anywhere]]'', [[ParanoiaFuel pretending to be anything]], not to mention the fact that he's a merciless, coldblooded killer. During the film, Laserbeak takes on a series of insidious disguises, including [[spoiler:a printer, a flat-screen television and a computer monitor]]. However, the following quote comes from when he turns into [[spoiler:a pink Bumblebee-esque robot]] and befriends a little girl to kill her father.
--> "Is your daddy home?"
* Shockwave's "pet", The Driller. Imagine a mechanical worm that's ''bigger than Devastator'', with a mouth made of a series of buzzsaws and grinders, and able to dig and hide underground and unleash terrifying destruction.
** It also becomes a bit of FridgeHorror when you learn that it's actually a ''domesticated Cybertronian beast'' (similar to Laserbeak, Ravage, and the Insecticons). Meaning that at one point there were ''hundreds of them'' burrowing through Cybertron.
* Remember that car your girlfriend's boss gave her? [[spoiler: It's a Decepticon, specifically Soundwave, and he's just kidnapped your girlfriend, threatening her with his tentacles.]]
* "No prisoners... Only trophies..."
* That blue energon in the first movie that's supposed to be MachineBlood...In ROTF and DOTM, it's been replaced with red energon. Seeing giant gobs of blood-colored energon flying at you whenever an Autobot or Decepticon got ripped apart...
* "Laserbeak, kill them all."
** "With pleasure."
* [[spoiler: Starscream's death.]] Just imagine all the pain he went through. First one eye is ripped out and then another has an explosive device stabbed into it. He spends his last seconds blindly screaming before having his head blown in two.

** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzz-dUYVres The Fallen]]", from the second film, is even ''worse''. Synthesizers and vocals don't mix, kids.
* And how could we forget the Decepticons' ace in the hole, Soundwave? While he is extremely vulnerable while in space, he has full control over Earth's communication system, and his minions Laserbeak and Ravage keep an eye on anyone on the ground, making him one of the most dangerous Decepticons leaving even [[TheStarscream Starscream]] unnerved. This line sums up how powerful and nightmarish he is:
--> "Nothing moves on the orb below without '''my''' being aware of it. I see and hear everything, be it out in the open or behind closed doors. My reach is invisible, intangible. My grip...cast-iron."

** Speaking of Megatron, the "I smell you, boy!" line that he said when chasing Sam up the abandoned warehouse was quite creepy.

** What's makes it worse is that in the video game adaptation, if you beat the Decepticon story, a cutscene shows Optimus' head gets crushed by Megatron's flail, Sam got killed along with his girlfriend and humanity have been made extinct. If the Decepticons [[TheBadGuyWins had actually won in the film]], then Megatron's villainy would be far more dangerous than his G1 Counterpart.

** What's makes it worse is that in the game, if you beat the Decepticon story, a cutscene shows Optimus' head gets crushed by Megatron's mace, Sam got killed along with his girlfriend and humanity have extincted. If the Decepticons [[TheBadGuyWins had actually won in the film]], then Megatron's villainy would be far more dangerous than his G1 Counterpart.

* [[spoiler: Ironhide's]] death. Here's what happens. [[spoiler: Right after the Highway Chase scene and the Mexican Standoff scene, Sentinel reveals his role as the BigBad of the film and shoots Ironhide two-three times. You'd think that would be the end of it. But no, you witness Ironhide rusting up and dissolving to the point where his head falls off his shoulders and the rest of his body just sags apart. It's such an emotional punch and to hear Ironhide groaning and letting out his last breath is nightmare inducing.]]

* The Decepticons' [[spoiler: borderline apocalyptic takeover of Chicago.]] Complete with genocide and screaming survivors. And people getting vaporized ''onscreen''! A skull fell after one person was shot.
* '''''LASERBEAK.''''' He could be ''anywhere'', pretending to be anything, not to mention the fact that he's a merciless, coldblooded killer. During the film, Laserbeak takes on a series of insidious disguises, including [[spoiler:a printer, a flat-screen television and a computer monitor]]. However, that quote comes from when he turns into [[spoiler:a pink Bumblebee-esque robot]] and befriends a little girl to kill her father.

* Megatron. Giant, genocidal lunatic made of jagged alien metal with a booming, snarling voice. Can't be stopped or slowed down by normal means. Ripped Jazz in half with his bare hands like it was ''nothing''. CGI just a little ''too'' realistic, there... Megs looks ''entirely'' too much like they actually had a giant alien war machine in front of the camera.

* The death of [[spoiler: Ironhide]]. Here's what happens. [[spoiler: Right after the Highway Chase scene and the Mexican Standoff scene, Sentinel reveals his role as the BigBad of the film and shoots Ironhide two-three times. You'd think that would be the end of it. But no, you witness Ironhide rusting up and dissolving to the point where his head falls off his shoulders and the rest of his body just sags apart. It's such an emotional punch and to hear Ironhide groaning and letting out his last breath is nightmare inducing.]]

* The Decepticon's [[spoiler: apocalyptic takeover of Chicago.]] Complete with genocide and screaming survivors. And people getting vaporized ''onscreen''! A skull fell after one person was shot.
* Laserbeak, full stop. He could be ''anywhere'', pretending to be anything, not to mention the fact that he's a merciless, coldblooded killer. During the film, Laserbeak takes on a series of insidious disguises, including [[spoiler:a printer, a flat-screen television and a computer monitor]]. However, that quote comes from when he turns into [[spoiler:a pink Bumbelbee-esque robot]] and befriends a little girl to kill her father.

* And how could we forget the Decepticon's ace in the hole, Soundwave? While he is extremely vulnerable while in space, has full control over Earth's communication system and his minions Laserbeak and Ravage keep an eye on anyone on the ground, making him one of the most dangerous Decepticon leaving even [[TheStarscream Starscream]] unnerved. This line sums up how powerful and nightmarish he is:

* ''Nightmarefuel/TransformersFallOfCybertron'' (2012)

* ''NightmareFuel/TransformersCyberverse'' (2018–)

* Laserbeak, full stop. He could be ''anywhere'', pretending to be anything, not to mention the fact that he's a merciless, coldblooded killer.During the film, Laserbeak takes on a series of insidious disguises, including [[spoiler:a printer, a flat-screen television and a computer monitor]]. However, that quote comes from when he turns into [[spoiler:a pink Bumbelbee-esque robot]] and befriends a little girl to kill her father.

* Remember that car your girlfriend's boss gave her? That $300,000 car. [[spoiler: It's a Decepticon, specifically Soundwave, and he's just kidnapped your girlfriend, threatening her with his tentacles.]]

* [[spoiler: Starscream's death.]] Just imagine all the pain he went through. First one eye is ripped out and then another has an explosive device stabbed into it. He spends his last seconds screaming while blind before having his head blown in two.