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Transformers: Robots in Disguise is an animated series in the Transformers franchise. It is a Sequel Series to Transformers: Prime, taking place within the Transformers Aligned Universe.

Taking place years after the events of its predecessor, Robots in Disguise follows Bumblebee acting as leader to a new team of Autobots as they return to Earth after a prison ship carrying hundreds of Decepticons crashes there.

Not to be confused with Transformers: Robots in Disguise, the American localization of the 2000 Car Robots anime.


Transformers: Robots in Disguise provides examples of:

  • Absurdly-Spacious Sewer: There's surprisingly a lot of indoor scenes involving the Transformers. This show has absurdly spacious everything!
  • Adults Are Useless: Subverted. Despite his comic moments Denny is a subversion, as his knowledge of the area helps the Autobots. He even helped try to take down Underbite with his pickup truck along with the Autobots. He even helps them keep their cover a lot by coming up with a lot of ridiculous disguises and excuses.
  • Advertised Extra: Optimus Prime joins the team at the end of the first season. Up until then, the opening theme would show and name Bumblebee, Sideswipe, Strongarm, Grimlock, and Fixit. From season 2, Optimus Prime is added to the list. However, Optimus is notably absent for whole sections of entire seasons, including Combiner Force.
  • Alien Arts Are Appreciated:
    • Sideswipe has developed a taste for Earth music.
    • Bumblebee has shown a love for Westerns and at least one Hair Metal band.
  • All Your Powers Combined: Bumblebee, Sideswipe and Strongarm in the season 1 finale, complete with nifty Super Mode armor and replicas of the Prime Decepticon Hunter.
    • In Season 3, Bumblebee, Sideswipe, Strongarm, Grimlock and Drift had gained the ability to combine into the unimaginatively named Ultra Bee.
  • Alternative Foreign Theme Song: The Japanese version of the show uses "Save the Future" by Mitsuhiro Oikawa as the opening theme and "Try Transformers: Adventure" as the ending theme.
  • Amazonian Beauty: Strongarm is a robot version of this.
  • Ambiguous Situation: In "Enemy of My Enemy", we get a brief look at the list of Autobots blacklisted by the Council, including those that appeared in the show, Prime, and Rescue Bots. However, quite a number of them are Autobots that never appeared in the shows, and the list includes dead characters (that is, Tailgate, Cliffjumper, and Seaspray). Though since this was a visual accompanying Optimus's explanation about how the Council has been discriminating against the Autobots, it can be assumed that it wasn't accurate and is meant to be taken in spirit or it didn't show everyone who survived up to the present day.
  • And the Adventure Continues: "Freedom Fighters" ends with Team Bee back on Earth, ready to round up any remaining Decepticons, and Steeljaw still scheming to make Earth a "Decepticon planet". In the very last scene, Steeljaw challenges his foes with his signature howl, and the Autobots roll out to face him.
  • Animal Motifs: Most of the Decepticons exhibit this in this series, with the following tropes applying:
    • Amphibian at Large: Springload is a Cybertronian frog, not to mention a Talkative Loon and a dangerous one at that.
    • Angry Guard Dog: While Underbite resembles a giant dog, he is actually a gorgonopsian, an extinct protomammal with a doglike appearance. Two Palette Swap versions of him serve this role literally, standing guard outside Glowstrike and Scorponok's command room.
    • Bat Out of Hell: Nightstrike is a bat-like Decepticon whose scream causes Transformers to witness their worst fear.
    • Bears Are Bad News: Polarclaw, who as his name suggests, resembles a polar bear and was even found in the Arctic Circle.
    • The Big Bad Wolf/Wolf Man: Steeljaw, who has a lupine appearance.
    • Big Creepy-Crawlies: Kickback resembles a grasshopper. The second season introduces Saberhorn, who is based on a rhinoceros beetle, and Glowstrike, who apparently draws inspiration from fireflies. The third season introduces Shadow Raker, Drift's former master, whose alternate form is a mix of a spider and a beetle.
    • Brutish Bulls: Terrashock, a Decepticon with buffalo-like features.
    • Bully Bulldog: Silverhound, a Decepticon that resembles a bulldog.
    • Extra Eyes: A so far unseen Decepticon that Grimlock decribes as covered in eyeballs.
    • Feathered Fiend: Making his return from Transformers: Prime, Laserbeak naturally fits this trope.
    • Giant Enemy Crab: Bisk, a Decepticon with a distinctly crustacean look, including eye stalks and snapping claws. Thermidor also counts, but unlike Bisk, he lacks eyestalks. Clampdown and Clawtrap, on the other hand, are more of a literal examples, lacking Bisk's humanoid shape and both looking like a straight-up robot crab.
    • Giant Flyer: Filch, a giant mechanical bird Decepticon that is strong enough to lift an RV and two Autobots. Similar with Boostwing, Jacknab, and Pilfer.
    • Giant Spider: Chop Shop, a combiner composed of five giant spiders that merge into a humanoid robot.
    • Insect Queen: Zizza, who takes several cues from bees.
    • Killer Gorilla: Groundpounder. Simacore is another example, though he more closely resembles an orangutan.
    • Lizard Folk: Crazybolt and his partner, Slicedice. This is later followed by Flamesnort.
    • Maniac Monkeys: Simacore's Minicons, Axiom and Theorem, are this, being smaller than their master.
    • The Marvelous Deer: Thunderhoof, whose otherwise humanoid look features some impressive antlers and cloven hooves on his feet.
    • Panthera Awesome: "Fancyclaws", a black panther-like Decepticon, and his Palette Swap, Razorpaw, intended to more closely resemble a cougar.
    • Puppeteer Parasite: Minitron, a tiny louse-like Decepticon, who is employed by Steeljaw to control Grimlock's behavior.
    • Sand Worm: An earthworm-like Decepticon named Ped.
    • Scary Scorpions: As is par for the course with previous characters that shared his name, Scorponok. Paralon also counts.
    • Smelly Skunk: Malodor and his gang of Skunkticons, who have the ability to produce debilitating toxins. Same with Zorillor, although unlike Malodor and his gang, he is more of a lone wolf.
    • Snake People: Vertebreak, a multiple-armed serpentine Mad Scientist.
    • Thieving Magpie: Filch, who is appropriately named, given she tends to steal shiny things. Her bird mode even has a corvid-like appearance. Boostwing, Jacknab, and Pilfer are thieves as well, albeit more scheming than Filch.
    • Threatening Shark: A shark-like Decepticon resembles a hammerhead, appropriately named Hammerstrike. The same applies with Ragebyte.
    • Tough Armored Dinosaur: Scowl, a Category Traitor, transforms into a ankylosaurus.
    • Wicked Weasel: Stockade, a General Ripper with badger-like characteristics.
  • Arbitrary Skepticism: In True Colors Bumblebee seems somewhat dismissive of Russell's theory that Grimlock is being controlled somehow. This takes place in the same continuity where Bumblebee was possessed by the disembodied spark of Megatron at one point.
    • Actually Sideswipe asked Bumblebee this question but he does not answer. He just gets to work on finding Grimlock. So it would stand that after his own mind control experience he doesn't want to remember it nor would want to know about other forms of the process.
    • Played straight in the season 3 episode Sphere of Influence, where Optimus Prime dismisses the Sphere of Doradus as a myth and a metaphor for the destructive power of greed. This coming from a guy who made use of two mythical items (the Star Saber and the Forge of Solus Prime) and battled the Transformer God of Evil in the previous series. Unsurprisingly, it turns out the Sphere is real and really does have a map that leads to the mythical city of Doradus (which among other things contains a fountain of unlimited Energon), but Bumblebee's team stupidly and casually destroy it without bothering to even confirm its authenticity.
  • Art-Shifted Sequel: The series uses an aggressive mixture of low-framerate, cel shaded CGI with hand-painted backgrounds and the occasional use of 2D particle effects like smoke clouds, as opposed to the full CGI of Prime. The art style has also changed a little. Whilst recognizable traits from the previous series are present, it also looks to be incorporating a little of the cartoony expression of Transformers: Animated as well as bearing some similarity to Transformers: Rescue Bots.
  • Artistic License – Physics: The central conflict of the episode "Collateral Damage" is the prevention of fallout from nuclear FUSION rods. Supposedly, the four rods contained therein and their radiation are enough to "eradicate all life on Earth." Even though precautions are still taken to contain fusion radiation in real life, the maximum damage potential of fusion is a hundred times weaker than nuclear FISSION. Assuming the device in question that the fusion rods are powering is designed to propagate its power source's radiation, it doesn't have much to work with, and even then the radiation isn't as dangerous.
  • Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Like most depictions of the faction, the Decepticons rally behind the strongest among their number. This is best exemplified when all the Decepticons under Glowstrike's command immediately shift allegiance to Steeljaw after he takes her out.
  • Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Filch's fascination for anything shiny certainly gets her attention.
  • Ax-Crazy: Springload's first inclination when he meets someone (or something) new is to ask them to take him to Doradus. When they inevitably fail, he begins attacking them.
  • Bad Boss: Razorpaw treats his Minicons Swelter and Glacious with very little respect or courtesy, only leaving them "scraps" when he feeds. When they rightfully call him out on this attitude, demanding some sort of reward, he tells them the fact he lets them continue to exist should be reward enough.
  • Bears Are Bad News: Sideswipe is menaced by an ordinary bear at one point. He has to be saved by Slipstream and Jetstorm.
  • Big Bad: Steeljaw, a Decepticon revolutionary, is Bumblebee's Arch-Enemy and considered to be the main villain of the series overall, but he's more of distant threat, always present but also contending with other threats.
    • Season One initially has Steeljaw organizing a gang of Alchemor convicts to conquer Earth, until he's Demoted to Dragon a little over halfway through by the first Decepticon, Megatronus, who goes on to become the main villain for the two-part finale "Battlegrounds".
    • Season Two has Steeljaw again, who is seemingly Demoted to Dragon a second time by Glowstrike, the leader of Decepticon Island. But it turns out that Steeljaw is able to manipulate her into trusting him, allowing Steeljaw to successfully supplant her as leader for the two-part finale "Decepticon Island".
    • The six-episode mini-series initially has the Decepticon Scavengers led by Clawtrap, but he's quickly upstaged by the arc's true Big Bad, Starscream.
  • Big Bad Ensemble: Season Three, subtitled Combiner Force, has the Stunticons, a gang of speed freak Decepticons led by Motormaster, that want to control Earth's roads and the High Council of Cybertron (really Decepticons in disguise led by Cyclonus) who finally come to the forefront, looking to terminate the Bee Team using agents like Soundwave and Steeljaw.
  • Big Bad Wannabe: There's also one villain for every season who tries to make themselves a threat but are put in their place by the true villain.
    • Zig-zagged with Steeljaw himself, who is still a very competent threat on any other given day, but proves to be in over his head when the more powerful Megatronus (one of the original Thirteen Primes) makes him his lackey, and when Steeljaw realizes his intentions to destroy the Earth, he's easily dispatched by the fallen Prime. He's able to play Glowstrike and usurp her to become Big Bad in the second season but by the third season, Soundwave, who's part of the Big Bad Ensemble for that season, knocks him down to size again after Steeljaw tried to attack him out of anger.
    • Glowstrike is introduced as the leader of Decepticon Island in Season Two, but she's played like a fiddle by Steeljaw, and is powerless to stop him from usurping her when he gets ahold of the Decepticon Hunters.
    • Clawtrap and the Scavengers are a threat to the Bee Team for the initial episodes of the mini-series but quickly fall to the wayside and become little more than a hindrance when Starscream makes his move.
    • Motormaster is ultimately this despite being one of the main villains of Combiner Force. His goals are revealed to be very simple, having more to do with petty road crimes than world domination. Even Menasor, the Stunticons' Combiner, is more of a Clipped-Wing Angel due to their lack of coordination, and end up losing to the much less experienced Ultra Bee.
  • Big Eater: The Decepticon Underbite gets stronger by eating inorganic matter, and he once ate an entire city. Naturally, he's quick to start chowing down when he wakes up on Earth.
  • Big Guy Rodeo: What Sideswipe pulls on Terrashock.
  • The Blade Always Lands Pointy End In: Twice it has happened in episode 12 with characters Fracture and Drift.
  • Bomb-Throwing Anarchists: Quillfire conducts himself in this general fashion, though substituting bombs with venomous quills. He claims that any form of authority whatsoever is "oppression", and runs around trying to free all the animals at the zoo because he mistakes them for fellow revolutionaries who've been imprisoned by the "oppressors".
  • Bounty Hunter: Season 1 has Decepticon Fracture and Autobot Drift. Season 3 includes Decepticon Shadelock, renegade Autobot Roughedge and an Insecticon named Razorhorn hired by Starscream.
  • Broad Strokes: Like in Transformers: Prime, past fiction relating to the Transformers Aligned Universe is treated this way. Interestingly however, the series seems to be taking this approach to certain aspects of Prime itself and fiction relating to it (the Rage of the Dinobots and Beast Hunters comics as notable examples), despite being a direct sequel series.
  • Broken Pedestal: Fixit used to be a fan of the Decepticon wrestler Groundpounder, but lost all respect he had for him when he learned that he won all his matches by cheating.
  • The Bus Came Back:
    • Ratchet made his return in Decepticon Island, Part 1, partnered with a silent Mini-Con named Undertone.
    • Steeljaw, along with Underbite, Thunderhoof, Clampdown, and Quillfire return in Exiles, courtesy of unknown people who busted them out of stasis.
    • Bulkhead in Sick As A Bot.
  • By-the-Book Cop: Strongarm, who transforms into a police SUV. She repeatedly references the book by constantly citing and projecting a holographic rule book from her arm. This makes her similar to previous law enforcement-themed characters, such as Chase and Prowl.
  • Call-Back: Once again, it's Bumblebee who takes out the Big Bad.
  • The Cameo: "Enemy of my Enemy" features images of the Prime cast, along with the Rescue Bots and several G1 Autobots (all updated to match the show's aesthetics) as a part of the Council's blacklist. You can see this list here.
  • Casting Gag: Stockade attempts to take on Optimus Prime, only to fail miserably. His voice actor Gregg Berger voiced the original Grimlock in the G1 cartoon as well as the Transformers: Fall of Cybertron version of Grimlock. Both versions disliked Optimus Prime's leadership and thought they could do a better job as leader.
  • Category Traitor: Has a few examples:
    • First, there was Grimlock, who was a Decepticon prisoner in the Alchemor, before he became an Autobot.
    • Next was Scowl, a Decepticon Dinobot.
    • Third was RoughEdge, an Autobot who joins Starscream's crew.
    • Fourth was Nightra, although she never joined the Decepticons, she became a thief.
  • Cel Shading: All robot and human characters are CGI with a dose of cel-shading on them to make them more suitable to a painted background. Strangely, small creatures like birds and fish are cartoonized that makes them look weird when compared to their cel-shaded counterparts.
  • Chekhov's News:
    • A minor example, but when it is first brought up in the Pilot, the Autobots are unaware of Underbite devouring Nuon City. Later, in Brainpower, Grimlock uses this information to respond to Simacore's question with a Mathematician's Answer.
    • A more prominent example: in the episode Out Of The Shadows, Crustacion's stolen loot, the Shanix, was found by humans in the glacier back in the episode Defrosted. Jetstorm would later use that information to not only trick Shadow Raker into letting him and Slipstream free, but also recovering said loot so that humans would not discover anymore Cybertronians.
  • The Chosen Many: Bumblebee wasn't the only Autobot Optimus called to Earth...
  • City of Gold: Doradus is a Cybertronian version of this with limitless, super Energon replacing gold and jewels.
  • Combining Mecha: A recurring theme in the third and final season.
    • Chop Shop.
  • Composite Character: Several examples can be found in this series:
    • Bumblebee was already based heavily on the version seen in the films, but his being shoved into the role of a leader (which already began in the previous series) and his doubts over whether he can live up to Optimus's example are evocative of Rodimus Prime and Hot Shot during their stints as leaders of the Autobots. Bumblebee differs in that he's not the leader of the entirety of the Autobots, however.
    • Sideswipe mostly resembles his Generation 1 namesake, but wields a sword, much like how his live-action counterpart was equipped with arm blades.
    • Grimlock's design combines elements of multiple previous versions of the character, transforming almost exactly like the original and Transformers: Fall of Cybertron incarnations. However, his dinosaur mode has a prominent underbite like the Grimlock of Transformers: Animated, plus he's green like the film version of Age of Extinction and Robots in Disguise anime versions of Grimlock.
    • Jazz basically is a combination of many variations of his previous incarnations. He transforms into a Porsche, has speakers on his shoulders for weapons, speaking in the same usual slang, and is of the same blue, silver, and black colors from his Generation 1 incarnation. He also has a retractable visor to reveal blue optics based off his Transformers Film Series self.
    • Drift is based primarily on his Age of Extinction incarnation, with samurai-styled armour and facial hair, but sports a crest on his helmet shaped more like that of the original Drift that debuted in the IDW comics.
    • Soundwave has the following as well in Collateral Damage:
      • He now transforms into an SUV, very much like his counterpart from Transformers: Animated.
      • His new beefed-up robot form, in which he retains the head design in Prime, strongly resembles his G1 self.
      • Not unlike the Breastforce of Transformers Victory, Laserbeak can transform off of his chest.
    • The Activator Mini-Cons are similar to the Power Masters from G1. The only difference is that G1 Power Masters are human-sized aliens known as Nebulons in robot suits, whereas the Activator Mini-Cons are full Cybertronians. At the same time, the Activator Mini-Cons grant full-size Transformers to high-tech weapons in vehicle forms, very much like MechTech weapons from Transformers: Dark of the Moon.
  • Continuity Nod:
    • As has always been consistent in the Transformers Aligned Universe, the planet Cybertron bears the exact same design as originated in Transformers: War for Cybertron.
    • Tron Lines were a notable design feature of the Cybertronian forms of the characters in the games, and this series makes a return to using them more prominently.
    • Bumblebee makes a reference to saving the universe from Starscream, Megatron and Dark Energon.
    • Terrashock says he works for a Decepticon called Contrail. In the novel Exodus reveal a seeker called Contrail who was Council Secretary on the High Council in the days before the great war, but became one of Megatron's Decepticons.
    • In Episode 17, the human soldiers can be seen piloting models of the armored truck from the M.A.S.K. division, the same model that Optimus Prime scanned for his second alt-mode back in Transformers Prime.
    • In Episode 25 Bumblebee shouts Roll to the Rescue as his catch phrase before noting someone else is using it.
    • In Episode 26 Megatronus's great plan involves using the energy of Unicron, dormant within the Earth's core, to crash him into Cybertron, the revelation about Unicron was a huge reveal back in Prime.
    • During the Cyclone shorts, Slipstream mentions growing up on Luna-1, which was described as the homeland of the Minicons back in the novels.
    • Portals is the episode with the most nods to Prime to date, featuring the return of Soundwave and Laserbeak, along with mentions of his entrapment in the Shadowzone. While trapped in the Shadowzone himself, Bumblebee namedrops Jack, Miko, and Raf and recalls their own prior imprisonment there.
    • A season 2 ep has Bumblebee and Strongarm paralysed and then unknowingly impounded - alongside Knock Out.
    • The Scavengers find The Dark Star Saber in the ocean which is where it and Megatron landed after Megatron's death in Transformers Prime episode Deadlock.
    • In Guilty As Charged, Bumbleebee remembers the time his voice modulator was destroyed by Megatron in the previous series. Blastwave's voice modulator was destroyed, so he used Cybertronian Sign Language to warn the Bee Team about Nightra's treacherous motives.
  • Continuity Reboot: At least for the Japanese dub, given the recasting of the dubbing voice actors.
  • Continuity Snarl:
    • Bumblebee, Sideswipe, and Grimlock—or rather, how they don't seem to know each other despite being set in the same universe as Transformers: War for Cybertron (where Sideswipe was on a rescue mission with Optimus and 'Bee) and Fall of Cybertron (where Sideswipe piloted Jazz and Cliffjumper on a mission to rescue Grimlock and the other Dinobots). If they're supposed to be the same characters, Bumblebee should be asking what happened to them between leaving Cybertron and now that caused Sideswipe to be a reckless racer and Grimlock to be in prison, and if they're different characters with the same names, Bumblebee should've said something about them sharing the names of other bots he knows. Producer Adam Beechen later said that Grimlock is a common name among Dinobots and that RiD Grimlock isn't FoC Grimlock, but a different character.
    • Sideswipe previously appeared in Transformers: War for Cybertron and its sequel with a clearly G1 influenced look. Sideswipe helped Optimus and Bumblebee pull a prison break in Kaon. He also appeared in the Exodus and Exiles prequel novels. TFWiki.net decided to presents the Sideswipes as separate characters as well.
    • Another issue is Megatronus, who was said to have left Cybertron after the death of Solus Prime as repentance. Here, he's a generic Big Bad with no mention of his previous interactions with Optimus Prime or self-imposed exile. His status as the "First Decepticon" also makes zero sense in this continuity, since the only connection he had to the group is that miner D-16 took the name Megatronus as a gladiator before shortening it down to Megatron.
  • Conveniently Empty Building: Industrial structures near Crown City such as the dam tend to be fully automated, allowing the Transformers to fight without witnesses.
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Fixit's various eccentricities and faulty wiring hides the fact that he is an incredibly skilled engineer and medic.
    • On another level, when Fixit's guard protocols are activated, it is revealed he has several inbuilt weapons, is strong enough to toss around a full sized Transformer like a rag doll and can dodge enemies incredibly fast in addition to remotely operating an arsenal of laser weapons and containment cages. And just to ice the cake, he intends to ruthlessly execute a Decepticon prisoner because he refused the order to be reimprisoned.
  • Cuddle Bug: Grimlock (at first) is just a big ol' cuddle bug... a large robot dinosaur cuddle bug. The rest of the team are understandably hesitant about him being so huggy.
  • Demoted to Extra: Happens to a ton of Autobots at the end of the series who are visually depicted to show all the loyal Autobots that the Council blacklisted.
  • Denser and Wackier: Whilst the show is by no means fully silly, compared to its predecessor, it definitely doesn't take itself anywhere near as seriously. There's a more comical tone to it, with sound effects and exaggerated animation and expressions at times, and a good number of the Decepticons are a lot less threatening and murderous than before, some of them even downright silly with their animal-based forms.
  • Desperately Needs Orders: In "As the Kospego Commands!", Thunderhoof is mistaken for a mythical creature by a group of gullible humans, and takes advantage by ordering them to gather parts for a makeshift Space Bridge. Bumblebee and Sideswipe manage to convince the humans to abandon Thunderhoof by pretending to be mythical creatures themselves. At the end of the episode, those same humans are shown wandering around the forest, dressed like Bumblebee and Sideswipe's disguises, and calling out for more commands.
  • Detachment Combat: Chop Shop can split apart into five robotic spiders — each of them seem to have a mind of their own. One of them even manages to make their escape even while the main body is frozen and later imprisoned inside of a stasis pod.
    • Fracture and Drift's Minicon partners work similarly; they transform into parts of their bigger counterpart's armour and detach to fight. The difference is that they're actually characters in their own right, rather than merely extensions of their partner.
  • Deus ex machina: Optimus Prime when he saves Bumblebee and the others by taking on physical form and bringing down Underbite in the most awesomest way possible!
  • The Don: Thunderhoof back on Cybertron, running a massive crime ring that even spread to half of Autobot police force. Notably, he has the accent for the part.
  • Dirty Coward: When Minitron returns to Steeljaw with only one stasis pod, Steeljaw's first (and correct) assumption is he encountered the Autobots, then ran away. Steeljaw even calls Minitron's justification (excuse) for failure "cowardly". Given he was in control of Grimlock at the time, by far the strongest bot of the group who could easily be capable of curb stomping them all if he wanted to, Minitron definitely doesn't come across as making the best of arguments in his favour.
    • Clampdown is even worse, actively betraying fellow Decepticons to Autobot authorities to avoid punishment, both on Earth and Cybertron.
  • Down in the Dumps: Denny runs a scrapyard. The Autobots set up their headquarters there.
  • Dumb Muscle: Grimlock, although he is not entirely idiotic like most of his past incarnations. He might not be the brightest bulb but he's so darn enthusiastic it's hard not to like him.
    • A number of the heavyweight Decepticons a pretty dim.
  • Enemy Mine: Fracture and Drift's Minicons team-up to fight the Cyclone Minicons. The Decepticons then invoke "Not it" to avoid capture.
  • Equippable Ally: Along with turning his arms into various instruments, Fixit can turn himself into a Cybertronian-sized set of tweezers and likely other tools as well.
    • The same applies to the Weaponizer Mini-Cons, who transform into specific weapons, but unlike Fixit, they can control your mind.
    • Season 3 (alternately called Combiner Force) features the Activator Mini-Cons, which transform into engines that give the normal-sized Transformers enhanced weaponry in vehicle forms.
  • Evil Brit: Chop Shop.
  • Extra-Strength Masquerade: The Autobots and the Clay family can manage some truly absurd cover stories. In just one episode, Filch makes a bird nest in a public monument and later on they fight her on a well-traveled bridge with the excuse that they're "bird-catchers".
    • The characters often use extremely flimsy cover stories to explain away their presence. Denny and Russell have claimed that the Autobots are simply giant animatronics multiple times.
  • Extremely Short Timespan: The entire series takes place over the course of one summer that shows no signs of ending even as the series concludes.
  • Failed Attempt at Scaring: In "Even Robots Have Nightmares", Sideswipe, Grimlock, and Strongarm are amazed that Russell is not scared by a horror movie and decide to scare him themselves. Sideswipe dresses up as a zombie and Grimlock dresses up as an axe murderer Decepticon who apparently hacked Strongarm to pieces (she just buried most of herself in the ground), both of which fail because Russell can see through their disguises.
  • Fantastic Racism: Hammerstrike loathes land-dwellers.
    • Fixit initially believes that humans are incapable of understanding Cybertronian technology. Denny proves him wrong and he quickly abandons this line of thinking.
  • Fighting for a Homeland: Steeljaw has claimed Earth as the new Decepticon homeworld after having lost Cybertron to the Autobots in the Great War.
  • Flat-Earth Atheist: Strongarm doesn't buy the idea that Windblade received her mission from Primus Himself.
  • Full-Name Basis: Fixit always calls Denny by his full name. None of the other Autobots do this and he doesn't do this when he talks to Russell.
  • Full Set Bonus: Megatron genetically modified Minicons to powerlinx and amplify the power of any Transformer, that can together boost a single Transformer to a level surpassing a Prime. Trying to merge without the complete set risks destroying both parties. Luckily for the Autobots, he never got round to completing the experiment and didn't realise it was successful.
  • Gender-Blender Name/Only Known by Their Nickname: Russell's new friend, Hank. Her real name is Henrietta (but she does not like being called that).
  • Genre Shift: The show is more along the lines of a cop show (albeit with a continuous story) where Bumblebee leads a team of Autobots to capture Decepticons, than the war story Prime was.
  • The Ghost: Megatron becomes this after being the primary antagonist in Transformers: Prime. He is mentioned, but never appears onscreen and we receive no update on his current status. In spite of this, a number Arc Villains are motivated by finding him either for revenge or to return him to leadership of the Decepticons.
  • Ghost Town: Bumblebee takes the team to one in the Old West for a fun outting, unfortunately an Alchemor prisoner is hiding there as well.
  • Gotta Catch Them All: Hundreds of fugitive Decepticons have escaped from stasis pods, and the team has to catch them all.
    • Fixit even has the Pokedex-like prisoner manifest to provide exposition.
  • The Ghost: Megatron, who went into self exile in Prime's finale. Many of the Decepticons' schemes revolve around finding him so that he can lead them again or, in Starscream's case, to get revenge for all the abuse suffered under his command. However, Megatron never puts in an appearance in the series of any kind.
  • Graceful in Their Element: Aquatic Decepticons, like Hammerstrike and Octopunch, are still dangerous on dry land, but they are much stronger below the waves.
  • Grand Finale: "Freedom Fighters" serves as the finale, with Bumblebee and his team of Autobot allies taking down the group of Decepticons who disguised themselves as the Autobot High Council and Optimus Prime stepping down as leader of the Autobots.
  • Greater-Scope Villain: Like Unicron in the previous series, the finale of the first season brings in an ancient and far more dangerous evil to contend with; Megatronus, otherwise known as The Fallen.
    • Despite leaving peacefully at the end of the previous series, Megatron is sometimes treated as this. When he briefly escaped from the Shadowzone, Soundwave's first order of business was to try to contact Megatron (and even this act is treated by Bumblebee as very bad news).
    • Season 3 has the unknown benefactors on Cybertron, who are revealed to by five Decepticons and had released Steeljaw and 4 others, and want the Bee Team hunted down.
  • Happy Ending Override:
    • While Predaking hasn't officially made any appearances in this show yet, he's still subject to this, mainly due to Starscream managing to kill Darksteel and Skylynx, once again leaving Predaking as the last of his kind.
    • Averted with Cyclonus and his compatriots. The Council's infiltration by Decepticons comes very close to rendering the Autobot's victory in the Great War meaningless, but they ultimately do foster a thriving society on Cybertron and their plans are thwarted before they can really get started.
  • Heroes Gone Fishing: Bumblebee takes the team on a field trip to a Ghost Town in the old west only to find a Decepticon hiding there. Something similar happens when he takes the crew to Autobot base in Jasper only to find a Decepticon already there scavenging for artifacts and weapons.
  • A House Divided: In "Decepticon Island, Part 2", as part of his plan to take control of Glowstrike's army, Steeljaw notes that the Decepticons under her command are divided between wanting to conquer Earth and wanting to leave the planet, and that some of them are also displeased with her leadership. In the second season finale, Optimus and Bumblebee butt heads over who can more adequately lead the Autobots, with Optimus arguing that he is more experienced, and Bumblebee expressing greater knowledge of his teammates and Steeljaw. Bumblebee even lampshades this trope.
    Bumblebee: You said you wanted to be equals on this team. Fine, I respect your voice above all others. But right now I need you to have my back, because if a single voice does not lead, it means disaster for all of us. Do you remember who said that?
    Optimus: I did.
  • Human Popsicle: How the prisoners of the Alchemor were stored on the ship.
  • I Choose to Stay: All of the Autobots agree to stay on Earth and continue to help round up the escaped Decepticons after Megatronus has been neutralized.
  • Idiot Ball: Russell channels Miko as he stupidly decides to get a trophy during a fight between Bumblebee and Saberhorn.
  • Irony: Following Cybertron's resurrection, Cyclonus overthrew the newly-instituted Council in order to not only renew the Decepticon cause but also corrupt the minds of the populace into falling under their rule; the very thing Megatron fought against when establishing the Decepticon cause.
  • It's Quiet… Too Quiet: Referenced by Sideswipe in "Ghosts and Impostors". Defied by Drift...
    Drift: A location cannot be too quiet. It is either quiet or it is not.
  • Is This Thing Still On?: The Decepticons running the High Council make an announcement to the entire planet. Once they are exposed, the camera is still running meaning the civilians won't react. The second it is taken down, all of Galvatronus's Villainous Breakdown rant is captured on tape and revealed to the public, not to mention their identities, enabling them to be removed from power.
  • Jerkass: Drift's perfectionist tendencies and strict code of honor causes him to clash heads frequently with the other Autobots...
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Nonetheless, Drift has honor, which is more than can be said for his rival bounty hunter, Fracture. By the end of Hunting Season, he sees Bumblebee for the honorable warrior that he is, and compliments Jetstorm and Slipstream on their performance in the last battle of the episode.
  • Jumped at the Call:
    • Denny eagerly throws himself into helping the Autobots, providing them with supplies, lodging, and intel.
    • Bumblebee himself eagerly abandons his position and life on Cybertron to return to Earth when Optimus appears to him. Strongarm does the same when she follows Bumblebee through the Space Bridge.
  • Just One More Level!: Fixit becomes addicted to playing one of Russell's video games in the episode "Defrosted".
  • Keystone Army: The Decepticons downplay this trope after Megatron states his intention to disband the faction and goes into self-exile. While the lack of a central leadership does cause the faction to fragment into several smaller groups, all looking out for their own interests, they still remain a numerous and highly threatening force, contrary to Megatron's intentions.
  • Leeroy Jenkins:
    • Grimlock by far. Even though he gets along well with the others, his first (often only) thought is to jump into a fight and start punching.
    • For all her obsession with the law, Strongarm's not above jumping into situations she's not fully prepared for. In the second part of the pilot, she shows signs of this by shooting at one of Underbite's lunches, thus ruining Bumblebee's sneak attack.
    • Sideswipe is also prone to this due to his cocky attitude.
  • Legendary in the Sequel:
    • Bumblebee is a beloved war hero at the start of the series.
    • Optimus Prime has statues dedicated to him on Cybertron.
  • Let Us Never Speak of This Again: Fracture at the end of the Cyclones series of shorts. Given what happens to him in them, it's not unreasonable.
  • Lighter and Softer: The series has been purposefully made to be tonally more "fun" than its predecessor. Cybertron is restored, and Bumblebee's team focus on catching criminals with no war going on. The humans take on a more comedic role but still being active in helping the Autobots.
  • Locked Out of the Loop: In "Portals", the first thing Soundwave does after escaping the Shadowzone is attempt to contact Megatron, no doubt so he can serve him again. After being trapped for so long, he is completely unaware that Megatron went through a Heel–Face Turn some time ago, and no longer requires servants.
  • Look Behind You: In the first part of the "King of the Hill" two-parter, Slipstream attempts to distract Russel while he's practicing football kicks by claiming to see Megatronus stealing candy from a baby.
  • Meet My Good Friends Lefty and Righty: Underbite names his fists "Thundercruncher" and "Boltsmasher".
  • Metronomic Man Mashing: Or Bot Mashing; done by Guard Fixit to Bumblebee when Bee tries to stop him from "forcibly deactivating" Chop Shop.
    Bumblebee: Owwh, Wow! You're stronger than I would've guessed!
  • Monster of the Week: Nearly every episode is about Bumblebee's team taking on a new Decepticon.
  • Morph Weapon: The Decepticon Hunter.
  • Mythology Gag:
    • While a possible coincidence, the series' theme of Autobots facing enemies with beast-like forms, coupled with the name of its subtitle, brings to mind another Transformers' series.
    • Grimlock is not the first Dinobot to start out among the villains.
    • In the first episode, Optimus's spirit helps Bumblebee get to Earth by showing him the planet engraved on a circular golden disk. Golden disks are a common plot device in Transformers media, going all the way back to Beast Wars.
    • Sideswipe's primary weapon is a sword, which is evocative of the blades used by his live-action movie counterpart.
    • In "Sideways", Strongarm's big embarrassing secret is a car wash, which alludes to a G1 comic storyline that the hardcore fans would consider a big embarrassing secret as well.
    • The premise of a gorilla (Groundpounder) fighting a T. rex (Grimlock) has been done in Transformers before as Beast Wars fans can attest too.
    • The new Dinobot Scowl holds firmly to the S- alliterative theme naming enforced for all Dinobots that aren't Grimlock, and in deference to Transformers: Age of Extinction, he's a completely original name and dinosaur species.
    • Like Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen, Megatronus, aka The Fallen, has a face and helmet that resembles the Decepticon insignia, has telekinetic powers and also fights using a staff as one of his weapons. He's also referred to as "the First Decepticon" akin to the movie, despite Megatron being the faction's founder in this universe.
    • Grimlock's "crane mode" may be a nod to the Build Team member of the same name in the OTHER RID (though that Grimlock was a different construction vehicle, it was the same color).
    • "Bumblebee's Night Off" features a battle between Bumblebee and Bisk in the middle of a rock concert, with the humans who witness the clash believing it to be All Part of the Show. This has shades of a similar conflict from #14 of the Marvel Comics series, appropriately named "Rock And Roll Out."
    • "Brainpower" is an almost Whole-Plot Reference to the G1 episode "Grimlock's New Brain".
    • In Season 3, Strongarm visits Mount St. Hilary, the first ever Autobot base on Earth. Mount St. Hilary is where the Ark crashed in the G1 Transformers series, starting the Autobots' presence on Earth to begin with.
    • A novel reveals Drift's backstory as a Decepticon named Deadlock prior to his Heel–Face Turn, in akin to his IDW counterpart.
    • Soundwave's new appearance in "Collateral Damage" is based off of his appearance in Transformers: Animated.
    • The Autobot Mini-Cons from the toyline (e.g. Aerobolt and Hi-Test, Optimus Prime's Mini-Cons) are depicted working with the Decepticons initally before the Scavengers and Hi-Test do a Heel–Face Turn like in the U.K. comics and Transformers: Generation 2 depicted Catilla, Leadfoot and Manta Ray respectively as Decepticons who had a Heel–Face Turn and joined the Autobots.
  • Nobody Here but Us Statues: Used by Grimlock and Fixit to conceal themselves if they can't hide when someone visits the junkyard.
    • Righty does this when he infiltrates the scrapyard to free the rest of Chop Shop. And to drive the point home, he does this next to some cherub statues that he clashes against.
  • Oh, My Gods!: Bumblebee uses "By the Primes!" upon seeing Vertebreak's Mad Scientist lair. Makes sense, given that the Thirteen would probably be akin to a pantheon in Transformer culture.
  • Oil Slick: Both Grimlock and Bumblebee suffer this in the third ep, but were able to use this to their advantage to capture Hammerstrike.
  • Old Hero, New Pals: Aside from Bumblebee and Optimus, this show features a new cast of Autobots and humans from Transformers: Prime. Arcee, Bulkhead, and Ultra Magnus do make appearances in the spin-off comics, however.
  • Our Founder: A statue of Optimus Prime, who made it possible for Cybertronians to continue as a society, has been constructed in his honor.
  • Our Ghosts Are Different: We don't know much about Optimus other than he can't materialize for more than moments when most needed, as determined by the Thirteen.
  • Out of Focus: Optimus Prime during season 1. The entire stealth team during season 2.
  • Out of the Inferno: Bumblebee plays this straight in Season 3 episode Bee Cool with the unconscious Stunticons Dragstrip and Wildbreak in his arms.
  • Palette Swap: A few generic Decepticons seen in Glowstrike and Scorponok's lair are recolored versions of Underbite, the Cyclone Minicons, Airachnid, and the Vehicons. Also, Razorpaw shares the same body type as "Fancyclaws", minus a tail. Swelter and Glacius are this for each other, which is not surprising, as their toys originate from the same mold, which has simply been recolored between characters. In fact, most Season 2 Decepticons are recolors of Season 1 characters, sometimes with new heads. This is at least in part a reference to the practice of doing the same with the toys.
  • The Paralyzer: In the first episode, before leaving Cybertron, Bumblebee specifically states that his gun is set on "stun". The guards' setting doesn't matter, as they had Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy training.
  • Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Drift and Fracture's Minicons are more than capable of fighting Transformers three times their size. When Fixit's guard abilities are reactivated, he is capable of taking on every Autobot in the junkyard by himself! This seems to be a recurring trait among the Minicons in this show.
  • Primal Stance: Pretty much Terrashock's default posture. He even runs on all fours.
  • Private Eye Monologue: While looking in a museum for a stasis pod, Russell begins talking to himself calling himself "McPlank" as though he was a detective.
  • Punny Name:
    • Bisk, the lobster-like Decepticon. As in lobster bisque.
    • Later, another Decepticon with the same body-type named Thermidor appears.
  • Purple Is Powerful: The Deceptibrand is purple, as usual, and many of the powerful Decepticons (Fracture, Underbite, Megatronus, etc.) have this as their color motif.
  • Rag Tag Bunch Of Misfits:
    • As opposed to Team Prime from the previous series, who were close enough to consider one another family, Bumblebee's unit consists of himself, a cadet-in-training, a "turbo-revving young punk", a Mini-con from a crashed vessel, and a criminal Dinobot, all of whom were more-or-less thrown together by circumstances of fate.
    • Steeljaw's Pack is a villainous version of this. As opposed to the large, organized army from the previous show, Steeljaw's gang is made up of a failed revolutionary, a short-tempered mob boss, a lone bounty hunter with Mini-Con helpers, an egotistical bodybuilder, and a cowardly snitch.
  • Random Transportation: For most of season 1, the Autobot's Space Bridge does not work reliably and is just as likely to send them somewhere random as opposed to where they want to go. Later on, a Decepticon named Underbite takes a bite out of their Space Bridge and began teleporting to random locations around the world, to all the places they'd previously teleported to over the course of the series.
  • Reassignment Backfire: The secret Decepticon council made a point of keeping Autobots closely associated with Optimus Prime away from positions of power to support their propaganda campaign against the Autobot leader and suppress anyone who might try to oppose their plan to restart Cybertronian expansion. They couldn't foresee that this would set off a series of events that would put a small team of Autobots on Earth, away from their manipulations and positioned to oppose them when their plans got underway.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: When Fixit's guard abilities are unintentionally reactivated, his eyes change color from blue to red.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni:
    • The officious and rule-oriented cadet Strongarm repeatedly clashes with the rebellious punk, Sideswipe. Their colors even match.
    • Icy, cool Glacius and fiery, temperamental Swelter.
  • The Remnant: Even though Megatron, the leader of all Deceptions, officially disbanded the faction at the end of the last series, there are still plenty of Decepticons that do not recognize this, and are still trying to achieve their goals regardless, thus ensuring that the faction continues to exist. Just because the boss decided to call it quits, doesn't mean everyone else will.
  • Robot Hair: Sideswipe's helmet resembles a spiky hairdo with a set of sideburns, befitting his role as a punk and public miscreant.
  • Running Gag:
    • Bumblebee's attempts to come up with a Battle Cry (similar to Optimus Prime's classic "Transform and roll out"), which are always terrible.
    • Fixit stuttering and needing to be tapped to continue speaking.
    • Denny crafting outlandish (but still accepted) characters and stories to cover the Autobots activities.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Many of the Decepticon escapees have no interest in conquering Earth or rampaging and simply try to find ways off planet.
  • Sealed Evil in a Can:
    • Each of the Alchemor's stasis cells, with one exception, contains a dangerous Decepticon criminal.
    • Soundwave is treated as this when he briefly escapes in Portals. He's resealed into the Shadowzone at the end of the episode. Unfortunately for the Autobots, he's somehow found new friends to help him escape.
  • Sealed Evil in Another World: Predecessor Villain Megatronus shows up halfway through the first season and kicks Big Bad Wannabe Steeljaw into a subordinate position despite being trapped in a prison dimension. He forcibly recruits Steeljaw and his followers into trying to find a way to free him.
  • Secret Other Family: When the team comes upon a Decepticon who's already been bound and gagged, Grimlock asks Bumblebee if he has a another secret team working to catch Decepticons.
  • Sequel Series: As stated above in the heading, this show is a continuation of Transformers: Prime.
  • Shockwave Stomp: Thunderhoof's main power and presumably the source of his name.
  • Shout-Out:
    • Sideswipe calls Clampdown "Krusty".
    • Grimlock uses the same tail-sliding dropkick against Groundpounder as Godzilla uses in one of his file. The fight is also evocative of Godzilla's match against King Kong.
    • When 'Bee tries the rally, "Let's roll to the rescue!", he discards it, saying that "Wait, no, somebody's already using that battle cry."
    • Zizza's name sounds similar to DC Comics' first Queen Bee (Zazzala).
    • Grimlock, on busting through a hangar wall with Chop Shop inside, preens for the camera while yelling "Oh, yeah!"
    • In "Metal Meltdown," one of the items Kickback is searching for is a plush pony doll, a nod to My Little Pony, Hasbro's other long-lived franchise.
    • In "Misdirection," Russel's magician costume resembles the Star Swirl the Bearded outfit worn by Twilight Sparkle in the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic episode "Luna Eclipsed."
    • In "The Buzz on Windblade," Grimlock climbs an air control tower and swats at aircraft, a la King Kong.
  • Smash the Symbol: Steeljaw slashed his Decepticon insignia which he says served a dual purpose, both to separate himself from the Decepticons and to disable the tracker device the Autobots have on him. He also does this to any Decepticon he recruits.
  • The Smurfette Principle: Strongarm and Filch (with a shared voice actor, Constance Zimmer) are this for the Autobots and the Decepticons, respectively. At least, for the first half of season 1. Later on, Windblade and Zizza appear for both the Autobots and the Decepticons.
  • Sorting Algorithm of Evil: Averted. Underbite, the Starter Villain, is able to take on and hold the entire team with his raw power, while consecutive villains, like Hammerstrike, can be beaten by one or two team members. The Big Bad, Steeljaw, is shown to be reasonably equal with Bumblebee, which would actually make him fairly weaker than most of the villains, but he compensates by being far more intelligent and resourceful.
  • Spanner in the Works: Bumblebee and his team towards the main series antagonists. They simply don't expect to encounter Autobot resistance on such a backwater planet.
  • Spirit Advisor: Optimus Prime.
  • Spot the Imposter: Thanks to Pseudo. The first round is won by Drift himself, since he can deploy Slipstream and Jetstorm, and Pseudo can't. The second round is the more standard Something Only They Would Say.
    Pseudo-Grimlock: I thought it was a trick question.
  • Stumbling in the New Form: Due to a series of events (including being bathed by nuclear radiation and the presence of a so-called Crash Combiner), the Bee Team unexpectedly discover they can now combine (with Bumblebee forming the torso, Strongarm and Sideswipe the arms, Grimlock the legs and Drift the sword). Unlike traditional combiners, the resulting "Ultra Bee Team Combiner Form" apparently has no mind of its own, and so is completely useless unless the components are all united in purpose.
  • Subverted Rhyme Every Occasion: In the episode "Mighty Big Trouble", Sideswipe attempts to apologize by reciting a poem.
    Sideswipe: Autobots are good
    Decepticons are bad
    I'm so very sorry
    That I made you...angry.
    Other Autobots: (silently stare at Sideswipe)
    Sideswipe: I couldn't think of anything that rhymes with "bad". What?
  • Suspiciously Specific Denial: By Grimlock after wrecking an old arena with a Decepticon Dinobot to relieve his boredom.
    Grimlock: My patrol was totally uneventful, too. Completely free of Decepticons, and no smashing of any kind.
  • Starter Villain: Underbite is the first Decepticon faced by Bumblebee's team in the series.
  • Super Mode: Granted to Bumblebee, Sideswipe and Strongarm by combining their Decepticon Hunters.
  • Swiss-Army Weapon: In the first episode, Fixit hands Bumblebee a weapon that looks like a simple taser rod, but it proceeds to malfunction repeatedly over the course of several episodes. By episode six, they finally get it working and revealed to be this instead, with multiple weapon forms that include an an axe and a laser sword.
  • Stock Scream: The Wilhelm scream can be barely heard from a Decepticon who got crushed by Grimlock.
  • Tank Goodness: Quillfire and Springload gain one in the ep "One of Our Mini-Cons Is Missing". Luckily Bee's team was able to recapture the two before the tank exploded.
    • Megatronus's alt mode.
  • Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Sideswipe has this with Strongarm and, to a lesser extent, Bumblebee. The only reason he's on the team is because they arrested him and brought him along in the pilot two-parter. His carefree attitude towards rules clashes with Strongarms heavy belief in obedience and Bumblebee's own attempts at projecting authority.
    • Thunderhoof and Steeljaw clash frequently over orders and what to do with Clampdown. A lack of options and desperation is the only reason they're working together.
  • Teleporter Accident: Most of the space bridges in this show are built by amateurs with substandard materials. As a result, they tend to fail more often than not, sending users to the wrong location (the arctic, an erupting volcano, etc.) One jury-rigged Spacebridge produces a black hole that nearly destroys the planet.
  • Third Party Stops Attack: A turbocharged Underbite defeats three Autobots and Grimlock, then taunts them by slowly crushing the truck with their human ally inside. Then a hand lands on his shoulder and he turns around to see the one Autobot no Decepticon ever wants to meet alone: Optimus Prime! Who then tosses him into the nearby quarry one handed, knocking Underbite out (he gets to say "Ow" before passing out) and catches the truck with his other hand.
  • Time Skip: This series takes place after Transformers: Prime, though its still unclear how much time has elapsed.
  • Token Minority:
    • Among the Decepticons, Fracture fulfills this role, being the only one on the show to date without beast-like characteristics.
    • Headlock may also qualify.
  • Tomboyish Name: Hank.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Bumblebee is now acting as a new Autobot leader, and he also has a much buffer, more physically imposing form. Looking at his new body head-on, he even seems to have a few design traits in common with Optimus Prime himself.
  • Undying Loyalty: Cyclonus and Soundwave still retain loyalty to Megatron as the leader of the Decepticons, even though he abdicated and went to exile years ago.
  • Ungrateful Bastard: The new High Council is revealed to have a fierce dislike of the Autobots, especially Team Prime, and were responsible for demoting Bumblebee to a police officer. This backs up the fans belief that the new body is corrupt, as Optimus announces his intent to investigate the new body.
    • In Freedom Fighters, the new High Council are revealed to be five Decepticons lead by Cyclonus.
  • Unreliable Voiceover: Starscream describes his defeat of the Predacons while the Flash Back shows him fleeing in terror and accidentally leading them into a Booby Trap. Interestingly, what he says is largely true, and it is only his choice of misleading adverbs that imply his role was more heroic than in reality.
  • Villain Decay: Steeljaw's pack is hit with this pretty hard in Sideways. 'Cons like Fracture, Underbite, and Thunderhoof have all given the Autobots a hard time alone, so together, you'd expect them to be even more dangerous. Well, you'd be wrong, the Bee team beats them quite soundlessly in their first match.
  • Villain Team-Up: Quillfire and Springload join forces in "One of our Minicons is Missing", though this partnership was doomed from the start because of how unbalanced they both are.
  • Visual Pun: Strongarm projects a copy of the rulebook from her palm whenever she quotes from it. She literally keeps the book in hand.
  • Wacky Parent, Serious Child: Denny and Russell, respectively.
  • Waking Up Elsewhere: The case for all of the Decepticons who break free from their stasis pods, only to find themselves on Earth. This is explored when Terrashock breaks free in a museum and finds himself confused and mystified by the showcasing of human culture. Springload, on the other hand, is so disoriented upon awakening that he believes himself to still be on Cybertron.
  • Walk, Don't Swim: The Autobots, being too heavy to float, have to walk whenever they operate underwater. The Decepticons tend to be capable of swimming.
  • Weirdness Censor: The humans of Crown City buy the flimsiest cover stories about how the giant robots running around are actually, uh, "animatronics".
  • Wendigo: Thunderhoof's appearance allows him to masquerade as one, allowing him to form a cult out of some gullible humans who believe him to be a supernatural creature and trick them into helping him build a space bridge back to Cybertron.
  • Wham Episode:
  • "What Do They Fear?" Episode: "Even Robots Have Nightmares" has all the Autobots experience hallucinations of their worst fears. Bumblebee is afraid of disappointing Optimus, Strongarm is afraid of becoming a criminal herself, Sideswipe suffers from claustrophobia, Fixit is afraid of being deemed obsolete, and Grimlock is afraid of... kittens.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?:
    • Raf, Bumblebee's human best friend from Prime, is never even mentioned in the series. The same is true for Jack and Miko.
    • Agent Fowler, the Autobots' government contact, is also never mentioned in the series.
  • What the Hell Is That Accent?: Whether Hammerstrike's accent is British or Australian is unclear.
  • Where the Hell Is Springfield?: Unlike previous "Aligned continuity" shows, it's never noted what state Crown City is in.
  • Wolverine Publicity: Optimus Prime is shown in the main credits of Season 3 Combiner Force as a main character, but his appearances during the episodes are special guest appearances, he's completely absent from most episodes.
  • You Don't Look Like You: Most of the returning characters look quite different compared to their appearance in Transformers: Prime. The most prominent example has to be Starscream. Not only that he looks much bulkier compared to how he looks in the previous series, his color scheme is more similar to G1 Starscream as well. This is lampshaded by Fixit when he meets Starscream, noticing that his current appearance doesn't match the one from his records.
    • Adding to the confusion, Bumblebee refers to it as "his original body".
      • Though Bumblebee could be referring to Starscream's appearance in War For Cybertron, whose form and color scheme are more similar.
  • Zerg Rush: The Decepticons appear to rely on their superior numbers to gain an advantage over the Autobots. Bumblebee even flat-out states that despite how strong his team may be, invading Decepticon Island is a risky proposition, as they stand no chance against the hundreds of Decepticons inhabiting the base in a straight-up fight.

Alternative Title(s): Transformers Robots In Disguise

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