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* AbortedArc: It's been shown that the "helmet" part of Megatron's head really is a helmet that hides a furled crest covered in Cybertronian symbols. The story treated it like it was a big reveal but its significance was never explained and it has been more or less forgotten.


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* AllThereInTheManual: Megatron is never shown transforming in his post ''Dark Cybertron'' body. Concept art shows that his alt-mode is a tank, although since it utilized his fusion cannon, which he destroyed, it would have had no offensive capability. An variant cover for Issue 3 of ''Lost Light'' showed him transforming into a different looking tank with a different cannon, but [[CoversAlwaysLie he never transformed into it in the actual comic]].


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* TheBusCameBack: [[spoiler:After Pharma opens a portal to the Functionist Universe, Megatron returns leading a huge fleet of ships.]]
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** Pretty much subverted as the series progresses, as nothing further comes to light (no pun intended) to suggest that Tailgate identifies as anything other than male.
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* OddFriendship: With Cyclonus and Getaway.[[spoiler:Both relationships become romantic, although Getaway's supposed interest in Tailgate turns out to be part of a sinister scheme to manipulate [[HeelFaceTurn the reformed Megatron]] into murdering Tailgate -- luckily for our heroes Cyclonus ultimately manages to deduce Getaway's plan and foils him]].

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* OddFriendship: With Cyclonus and Getaway. [[spoiler:Both relationships become romantic, although Getaway's supposed interest in Tailgate turns out to be part of a sinister scheme to manipulate [[HeelFaceTurn the reformed Megatron]] into murdering Tailgate -- luckily for our heroes Cyclonus ultimately manages to deduce Getaway's plan and foils him]].
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* OddFriendship: With Cyclonus and Getaway.

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* OddFriendship: With Cyclonus and Getaway.[[spoiler:Both relationships become romantic, although Getaway's supposed interest in Tailgate turns out to be part of a sinister scheme to manipulate [[HeelFaceTurn the reformed Megatron]] into murdering Tailgate -- luckily for our heroes Cyclonus ultimately manages to deduce Getaway's plan and foils him]].
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* ShipTease: She seems very fond of Swerve, which becomes more active towards the end of Lost Light.

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* AmbiguouslyBi: She had some ship tease with both Skids and Velocity.



* ShipTease: She becomes very close to Skids, dancing with him and they're often seen comforting each other. [[spoiler: She's completely devastated when he sacrifices his life in the second season finale]]. Her first interaction with Velocity comes as rather flirty too:
-->'''Nautica:''' Tell me your name. I want to worship you like a god.

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* ShipTease: She becomes very close to Skids, dancing with him and they're often seen comforting each other. [[spoiler: She's completely devastated when he sacrifices his life in the second season finale]]. Her first interaction She is also frequently seen solving mysteries with Velocity comes Nightbeat and acting as rather flirty too:
-->'''Nautica:''' Tell me your name. I want to worship you like
Brainstorm's lab partner. Coincidently, all three share a god.predominantly blue color scheme, as well as largely known for their quirky personalites; Skids an all-absorbing theoretician, Nightbeat a deep-thinking detective, and Brainstorm a perpetually-inventing scientist. All three bots reflect facets of her own personality; education, deduction and engineering.

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* BadassGay: Chromedome had several Conjunx Endurae before Rewind, all of them male.



* DoNotCallMePaul: After Rewind dies, he gets quite angry at being called Domey.

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* DoNotCallMePaul: After Rewind dies, [[spoiler:Rewind dies]], he gets quite angry at being called Domey.
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The former right-hand man of the warlord Galvatron, Cyclonus is a proud patriot who's disappointed by the current state of his homeworld and wishes to find the Knights to restore it to it's former glory. Extremely stern and abrasive, he has difficulty forming attachments to others and struggles with his increasingly strong friendship with Tailgate.

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The former right-hand man of the warlord Galvatron, Cyclonus is a proud patriot who's disappointed by the current state of his homeworld and wishes to find the Knights to restore it to it's former glory. Extremely stern and abrasive, he has difficulty forming attachments to others and struggles with his increasingly strong friendship ever-strengthening bond [[spoiler:(and eventual romance)]] with Tailgate.
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* YoungerThanHeLooks: He reveals to Cyclonus that he'd only been alive for two weeks before he fell into the Mitteous Plateau and spent the next six million years out of commission.

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* YoungerThanHeLooks: He reveals to Cyclonus that he'd only been alive for two weeks before he fell into the Mitteous Plateau and spent the next six million years out of commission.
commission, thereby missing out on all those millennia of life experience and maturation.
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Nicknamed as "Panic Button" thanks to his tendency to panic at various... ''everything,'' Tailgate is a naïve and child-minded bot who was trapped underground for millions of years before escaping and joining up with the Lost Light crew. Due to the massive change in the intervening time, he's struggling to adapt to the modern world and find a place to belong. He forms a close friendship with Cyclonus, [[spoiler:which eventually blossoms into a full-fledged romance]].

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Nicknamed as "Panic Button" thanks to his tendency to panic at various... ''everything,'' Tailgate is a naïve and child-minded bot who was trapped underground for millions of years before escaping and joining up with the Lost Light crew. Due to the massive change in the intervening time, he's struggling to adapt to the modern world and find a place to belong. He forms a close friendship with and Cyclonus, despite the latter's best efforts to suppress his feelings, form a close friendship, [[spoiler:which eventually blossoms into a full-fledged romance]].
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Nicknamed as "Panic Button" thanks to his tendency to panic at various... ''everything,'' Tailgate is a naïve and child-minded bot who was trapped underground for millions of years before escaping and joining up with the Lost Light crew. Due to the massive change in the intervening time, he's struggling to adapt to the modern world and find a place to belong. He forms a close friendship with Cyclonus.

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Nicknamed as "Panic Button" thanks to his tendency to panic at various... ''everything,'' Tailgate is a naïve and child-minded bot who was trapped underground for millions of years before escaping and joining up with the Lost Light crew. Due to the massive change in the intervening time, he's struggling to adapt to the modern world and find a place to belong. He forms a close friendship with Cyclonus.
Cyclonus, [[spoiler:which eventually blossoms into a full-fledged romance]].

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* DarkIsNotEvil: After the events on Necroworld, Rodimus converts to Spectralism and has himself repainted in shades of black, purple, and dark blue. He's still the same Rodimus, however, and the colours merely denote grief for a fallen comrade [[spoiler: in this case Skids]]. Played with though, as Drift also feels the need to point out that [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation the colours can also mean]] [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge "a promise to kill"]], and that Rodimus is planning to kill [[spoiler: Getaway]] upon returning to the ''Lost Light''. Rodimus ''seems'' to imply the new paintjob represents both, but is distracted before he can actually confirm it. Issue #6 of ''Lost Light'' heavily implies he intends to follow through on it.

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* DarkIsNotEvil: After the events on Necroworld, Rodimus converts to Spectralism and has himself repainted in shades of black, purple, and dark blue. He's still the same Rodimus, however, and the colours merely denote grief for a fallen comrade [[spoiler: in this case Skids]]. Played with though, as Drift also feels the need to point out that [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation the colours can also mean]] [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge "a promise to kill"]], and that Rodimus is planning to kill [[spoiler: Getaway]] upon returning to the ''Lost Light''. Rodimus ''seems'' to imply the new paintjob represents both, but is distracted before he can actually confirm it. Issue #6 of ''Lost Light'' heavily implies he intends to follow through on it. [[spoiler: The paint-scheme is burned off after Rodimus rescues Getaway from burning in the furnace of the ''Lost Light'', showing that he's discarded the vendetta.]]



* KarmicJackpot: [[spoiler: Asking Cyclonus to join them to Luna-1, and then agreeing to Cyclonus' request to bring Tailgate along, is what enables the team to rescue the Circle of Light, fend off Star Saber and stop Tyrest and his killswitch.]]

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* KarmicJackpot: [[spoiler: Asking Cyclonus to join them to Luna-1, and then agreeing to Cyclonus' request to bring Tailgate along, is what enables the team to rescue the Circle of Light, fend off Star Saber and stop Tyrest and his killswitch. Much, much, ''much'' later Cyclonus saves the day by severing Getaway's arm from behind just as he's about to use two unstable Nucleon rods to destroy the ship and everyone on it as part of a TakingYouWithMePlot against Rodimus. Rodimus owes quite a bit to Cyclonus after this.]]


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* NotSoDifferent: [[spoiler: Invoked by Getaway in their final fight, who rips into Rodimus about how similar the two of them are, to the point where Rodimus has been using his own team merely as an excuse to get one final shot at Getaway. Fortunately, Rodimus realizes Getaway's ''right'' and decides not to become anymore like Getaway, discarding the vendetta, and rescuing Getaway from being burned to death in the ship's furnace, with his darker paintjob being burned off in the flames, [[RuleOfSymbolism showing Rodimus' true colours.]].]]


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* PrecisionFStrike: [[spoiler: To Getaway, after Scorponok is teleported away to assist the Grand Architect by Tyrest, leaving the two of them alone.]]
-->'''Rodimus''': You know-'''cough cough'''-Drift's always going on about '''silvers'''. Not silvers. '''Slivers'''! Celestial mechs made of dappled light or trapped light or patterns of light or--I don't know. Whatever. Point is, they single out specific bots--the '''special ones'''-and act as their '''Protectors''': they save their lives and make their dreams come true. I was a skeptic. Not anymore. You know why? Because '''someone''' just made '''my''' dream come true: you and me, one on one, for as long as it takes. '''So buckle up, you son of a bitch.'''
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* BirdsOfAFeather: [[spoiler: He and Misfire hit it off ''very'' quickly after Team Rodimus and the Scavengers meet up in Mederi/"Cyberutopia" due to their love of recaps and puns.]]
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** TheBusCameBack: [[spoiler: Somehow, the Mederi illusion of him became the real deal after the whole place shut down. [[MST3KMantra Don't think about it too hard]].]]

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* UsedToBeASweetKid: Somewhat the impression he left on Orion Pax as a young miner writing speeches about society's injustices before the two would become mortal enemies.



* UsedToBeASweetKid: Somewhat the impression he left on Orion Pax as a young miner writing speeches about society's injustices before the two would become mortal enemies.



-->'''Rung''': "It's Rung. Forever."

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-->'''Rung''': "It's It's Rung. Forever."



* TheUnReveal: Just what ''is'' his alt-mode for? His body produces photonic crystals, but he does that in robot mode. Notably, the first story arc of ''Lost Light'' explores everything else, but never answers this. Nightbeat speculates on an answer, [[spoiler:but he dies immediately after he figures it out.]]



* NoSell: Proves immune to "Cyberutopia" trying to distract her with a hologram of Skids, thanks to erasing her feelings about him.




* AcheyScars: He has an old war wound in his shoulder that acts up on occasion. [[spoiler: Because it has one of Agent 113's data bullets lodged in it.]]
* AngstWhatAngst: Despite [[spoiler: the death of his best, and in fact only friend Skids during the events of Dying of the Light]], Swerve is remarkably chipper the very next day as Anode rather tactlessly points out. [[spoiler: It's because he, and some other members of Team Rodimus are having Velocity administer "mood suppressants" to suppress their feelings of grief over Skids' death rather than trying to actually process them.]]

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\n* AcheyScars: He has an old war wound in his shoulder that acts up on occasion. [[spoiler: Because [[spoiler:Because it has one of Agent 113's data bullets lodged in it.]]
* AngstWhatAngst: Despite [[spoiler: the [[spoiler:the death of his best, and in fact only friend Skids during the events of Dying of the Light]], Swerve is remarkably chipper the very next day as Anode rather tactlessly points out. [[spoiler: It's [[spoiler:It's because he, and some other members of Team Rodimus are having Velocity administer "mood suppressants" to suppress their feelings of grief over Skids' death rather than trying to actually process them.]]



* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler:In ''Lost Light'' issue 17, he figures out what Rung's alt-mode is for, which makes him content enough to "ascend" into the Afterspark, forcing his Spark out of his chest. Issue 18 reveals that the Cyberutopia everyone was in was fake, but Nightbeat is most definitely dead.]]



-->'''Megatron''':You failed. You solved the mystery, but only after everyone was taken. You were too slow to save them.
-->'''Nightbeat''':Yes, but at least I worked out what was happening. That has to count for something, doesn't it?
-->'''Nightbeat''':''(Dejected)'' [-Doesn't it?-]

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-->'''Megatron''':You -->'''Megatron:''' You failed. You solved the mystery, but only after everyone was taken. You were too slow to save them.
-->'''Nightbeat''':Yes, -->'''Nightbeat:''' Yes, but at least I worked out what was happening. That has to count for something, doesn't it?
-->'''Nightbeat''':''(Dejected)'' -->'''Nightbeat:''' ''(Dejected)'' [-Doesn't it?-]
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* {{Transgender}}

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* {{Transgender}}
{{Transgender}}: She was assigned as male since that was all Cybertronians ''knew'', but after leaving the planet and seeing the universe for herself she came to realize that she identified with female pronouns and got a modification of her chassis to match.



* {{Transgender}}

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* {{Transgender}}
{{Transgender}}: She was assigned as male since that was all Cybertronians ''knew'', but after leaving the planet and seeing the universe for herself she came to realize that she identified with female pronouns and got a modification of her chassis to match.
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* NamesTheSame: Over in [=RiD=] it turned out that the Fallen, a dreaded warlord of Cybertron's early days who almost took over the planet, was originally named Megatronus. Unlike other continuities (where Megatron would actively take his name from Megatronus), Optimus treats it as a coincidence while Alpha Trion believes it a dangerous warning of the tendency for certain themes to reoccur in Cybertron's history. [[spoiler:Turns out a time-displaced Shockwave gave Megatronus the name because [[StableTimeLoop]] he already knew who Megatronus was and what he would turn out to be.]]

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* NamesTheSame: Over in [=RiD=] it turned out that the Fallen, a dreaded warlord of Cybertron's early days who almost took over the planet, was originally named Megatronus. Unlike other continuities (where Megatron would actively take his name from Megatronus), Optimus treats it as a coincidence while Alpha Trion believes it a dangerous warning of the tendency for certain themes to reoccur in Cybertron's history. [[spoiler:Turns out a time-displaced Shockwave gave Megatronus the name because [[StableTimeLoop]] [[StableTimeLoop he already knew who Megatronus was and what he would turn out to be.]]]]]]
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* NamesTheSame: Over in [=RiD=] it turned out that the Fallen, a dreaded warlord of Cybertron's early days who almost took over the planet, was originally named Megatronus. Unlike other continuities (where Megatron would actively take his name from Megatronus), Optimus treats it as a coincidence while Alpha Trion believes it a dangerous warning of the tendency for certain themes to reoccur in Cybertron's history. [[spoiler:Turns out a time-displaced Shockwave gave Megatronus the name because [[StableTimeLoop he already knew who Megatronus was and what hewould turn out to be.]]

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* NamesTheSame: Over in [=RiD=] it turned out that the Fallen, a dreaded warlord of Cybertron's early days who almost took over the planet, was originally named Megatronus. Unlike other continuities (where Megatron would actively take his name from Megatronus), Optimus treats it as a coincidence while Alpha Trion believes it a dangerous warning of the tendency for certain themes to reoccur in Cybertron's history. [[spoiler:Turns out a time-displaced Shockwave gave Megatronus the name because [[StableTimeLoop [[StableTimeLoop]] he already knew who Megatronus was and what hewould he would turn out to be.]]

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* FailedASpotCheck: He spent a good chunk of the War trying to find a Titan and gain access to their Space Bridge technology and even created dedicated groups to hunt them for him. [[spoiler:Trypticon was one the entire time and had a working Space Bridge.]]



* HistoryRepeats: Unlike his Aligned self, he didn't take his name from the Fallen's true name (Megatronus), he just has a coincidentally similar one. That fact though is incredibly unnerving to both Optimus Prime and Alpha Trion who wonder is Cybertronian history is doomed to repeat over and over.

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* HistoryRepeats: Unlike his Aligned self, he didn't take his name from the Fallen's true name (Megatronus), he just has a coincidentally similar one. That fact though is incredibly unnerving to both Optimus Prime and Alpha Trion who wonder is Cybertronian history is doomed to repeat over and over. [[spoiler:Turns out in ''Optimus Prime'' they're entirely correct - because a time-displaced Shockwave manipulated it from the very beginning to be so - and he was the one who gave Megatronus his name because he knew the history]].



* : He spent a good chunk of the War trying to find a Titan and gain access to their Space Bridge technology and even created dedicated groups to hunt them for him. [[spoiler:Trypticon was one the entire time and had a working Space Bridge.]]



* NamesTheSame: Over in [=RiD=] it turned out that the Fallen, a dreaded warlord of Cybertron's early days who almost took over the planet, was originally named Megatronus. Unlike other continuities (where Megatron would actively take his name from Megatronus), Optimus treats it as a coincidence while Alpha Trion believes it a dangerous warning of the tendency for certain themes to reoccur in Cybertron's history.

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* NamesTheSame: Over in [=RiD=] it turned out that the Fallen, a dreaded warlord of Cybertron's early days who almost took over the planet, was originally named Megatronus. Unlike other continuities (where Megatron would actively take his name from Megatronus), Optimus treats it as a coincidence while Alpha Trion believes it a dangerous warning of the tendency for certain themes to reoccur in Cybertron's history. [[spoiler:Turns out a time-displaced Shockwave gave Megatronus the name because [[StableTimeLoop he already knew who Megatronus was and what hewould turn out to be.]]

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* AndIMustScream: [[spoiler:Lost Light issue 7 ends with Tailgate stuck in a tiny box, bombarded with radiation that might kill him, with the timer set for release in six ''million years'', thanks to Fangry, who then buries any trace of it. And since the radiation was designed to rob Tailgate of his super-strength, he can't get out, and no-one but Kaput knew he was there at all...]]

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* AndIMustScream: [[spoiler:Lost Light issue 7 ends with Tailgate stuck in a tiny box, bombarded with radiation that might kill him, with the timer set for release in six ''million years'', thanks to Fangry, who then buries any trace of it. And since the radiation was designed to rob Tailgate of his super-strength, he can't get out, and no-one but Kaput knew he was there at all... If he really ''did'' die in that box as Fortress Maximus says, then it got so bad his spark destabilized and exploded.]]



* KilledOffscreen: [[spoiler:His spark went unstable and the resulting explosion atomized his body]].

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* KilledOffscreen: [[spoiler:His spark went unstable and the resulting explosion atomized his body]].body... [[NeverFoundTheBody Maybe]].]]


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** BusCrash: [[spoiler: [[UncertainDoom Maybe.]] If Fortress Maximus actually is right about what happened then he's DeaderThanDead after his spark quite literally exploded while trapped in a tiny box where no-one could find him on the Necroworld.]]
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Trope is being renamed


* [[Main/{{Transsexual}} Transgender]]

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* [[Main/{{Transsexual}} Transgender]]
{{Transgender}}



* [[Main/{{Transsexual}} Transgender]]

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* [[Main/{{Transsexual}} Transgender]]
{{Transgender}}
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* BitchInSheepsClothing: [[AmbiguousSituation Subverted.]] [[spoiler: It was suggested in issue #6 of Lost Light that he might have intentionally given Terminus a false set of coordinates to take Megatron to, and ensure he got left behind in the Functionist Universe (and also destroying his reputation with at least Rodimus and who knows who else amongst the crew). Apparently, he didn't, and [[PoisonousFriend Terminus took Megatron to the wrong place intentionally instead]].]]

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* BitchInSheepsClothing: [[AmbiguousSituation Subverted.]] [[spoiler: It was suggested in issue #6 of Lost Light that he might have intentionally given Terminus a false set of coordinates to take Megatron to, and ensure he got left behind in the Functionist Universe (and also destroying his reputation with at least Rodimus and who knows who else amongst the crew). Apparently, he didn't, and [[PoisonousFriend Terminus took Megatron to the wrong place intentionally instead]]. [[WordOfGod Word of Roberts]] is that [[https://twitter.com/jroberts332/status/873683917362126848 "any ambiguity was wholly unintentional! (FWIW I don't think Roller's earned the right to be a contender for Mr Duplicitous)"]].]]
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** Just how badass is he? [[spoiler: Cyclonus managed to piece together at least the gist of Getaway's plan when Whirl tried to warn him, runs straight towards Megatron's quarters, kicks the door open, and fucking throws his sword into Megatron's chest. He then beats Ravage unconscious, tears off a chunk of Megatron's recharge slab, and bashes his fucking head in with it before grabbing Tailgate and making a run for it.]]

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** Just how badass is he? [[spoiler: Cyclonus managed to piece together at least the gist of Getaway's plan when Whirl tried to warn him, runs straight towards Megatron's quarters, kicks the door open, and fucking throws his sword into Megatron's chest. He then beats Ravage unconscious, tears off a chunk of Megatron's recharge slab, and bashes his fucking head in with it before grabbing Tailgate and making a run for it. Then the security team shoots him in the back about 50 times, and despite looking like Swiss cheese from behind, he's basically ''fine''.]]
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** Note that this pertains to designing them, but not firing them. He's fairly useless in a fight, and admits that throughout the entire war he's never actually killed anyone. Though weapons he's designed certainly have.

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!The Lost Light Crew


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!The Lost Light Crew

!Team Rodimus



* BerserkButton: Getaway. Even Minimus saying "We can't let him '''get away'''" is enough for Rodimus to [[spoiler:abandon Megatron]]

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* BerserkButton: BerserkButton:
**
Getaway. Even Minimus saying "We can't let him '''get away'''" is enough for Rodimus to [[spoiler:abandon Megatron]]Megatron]]
** Megatron, after [[spoiler:his apparent betrayal.]]



* DudeLooksLikeALady: Seriously. He has one of the most feminine bodies of the main cast besides Tailgate!
* FaceShip: The Rodpod is essentially this. He thinks it's awesome, everyone else...not so much.

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* DudeLooksLikeALady: Seriously. He has one of the most feminine bodies of the main cast besides Tailgate!
* FaceShip: The Rodpod is essentially this. He thinks it's awesome, everyone else... not so much.



* RageAgainstTheHeavens: [[spoiler:On apparently ending up in Cyberutopia, Rodimus goes into a HeroicBSOD until Whirl angers him into action. Cue Rodimus yelling at the heavens, and Primus in particular, about how pissed off he is, '''demanding''' Primus show his face in person. A nearby Ultra Magnus admits this is entirely how he'd expected any theological conversation with Rodimus to go.]]



* AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever: [[spoiler: Functionist!Rung uses the mass-displacement technology the Functionists used on him to grow to become bigger than a Titan to fight off the Luna-2 Harvester, though the strain of it causes him unbearable agony, and eventually kills him.]]

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* AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever: [[spoiler: Functionist!Rung [[spoiler:Functionist!Rung uses the mass-displacement technology the Functionists used on him to grow to become bigger than a Titan to fight off the Luna-2 Harvester, though the strain of it causes him unbearable agony, and eventually kills him.]]



* BodyHorror: [[spoiler:Issue 1 of ''Lost Light'' has him start suffering from painful convulsions, along with an ominous green glowing. It's him producing photonic crystals.]]
** Issue 3 and 4 of Lost Light reveal that [[spoiler:his alt mode is apparently a huge drill many times larger than his normal body. Maintaining a form that size causes him unspeakable pain, and he is seen falling to his knees and gasping hard after being ejected from his alt-mode. Visible cracks and wear are also present on his face and body in his normal mode.]]

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* BodyHorror: BodyHorror:
**
[[spoiler:Issue 1 of ''Lost Light'' has him start suffering from painful convulsions, along with an ominous green glowing. It's him producing photonic crystals.]]
** Issue 3 and 4 of Lost Light reveal that [[spoiler:his alt mode is apparently a huge drill many times larger than his normal body. It isn't. He's just been forcibly mass-shifted by the Functionist Council. Maintaining a form that size causes him unspeakable pain, and he is seen falling to his knees and gasping hard after being ejected from his alt-mode. Visible cracks and wear are also present on his face and body in his normal mode.]]



* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler: In 'Shadowplay', he's seen playing with a rather anachronistic model of the 'Lost Light', turns out it is because it was Future!Rung who traveled to the past.]]

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* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler: In [[spoiler:In 'Shadowplay', he's seen playing with a rather anachronistic model of the 'Lost Light', turns out it is because it was Future!Rung who traveled to the past.]]



** He was there at Megatron's descent into villainy, in fact him being assaulted was the event that started the chain of events that would lead to Megatron abandoning a pacifist approach and starting the Decepticon movement. In a way, Rung getting attacked in that oil house is what sparked the Great War. [[spoiler: It turns out this was Future!Rung]].
** In fact Rewind describes him as a "historical constant", somehow always present during significant events while remaining outside them. [[spoiler: Because he was time-traveling with Rodimus' team to said significants chasing Brainstorm]].

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** He was there at Megatron's descent into villainy, in fact him being assaulted was the event that started the chain of events that would lead to Megatron abandoning a pacifist approach and starting the Decepticon movement. In a way, Rung getting attacked in that oil house is what sparked the Great War. [[spoiler: It [[spoiler:It turns out this was Future!Rung]].
** In fact Rewind describes him as a "historical constant", somehow always present during significant events while remaining outside them. [[spoiler: Because [[spoiler:Because he was time-traveling with Rodimus' team to said significants chasing Brainstorm]].



** Then there's what he does:[[spoiler: He's able to internally produce photonic crystals (the crystals that store Spark energy and a huge one being the core of the Matrix). The Functionists plan to use Alternate!Rung's crystals to mass produce a Cybertronian army with energy from Vector Sigma to ''conquer the galaxy''.]]

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** Then there's what he does:[[spoiler: He's does:[[spoiler:He's able to internally produce photonic crystals (the crystals that store Spark energy and a huge one being the core of the Matrix). The Functionists plan to use Alternate!Rung's crystals to mass produce a Cybertronian army with energy from Vector Sigma to ''conquer the galaxy''.]]



* {{Hypocrite}}: A tragic example; [[spoiler: when Rung calls out Froid on having become too close to Sunder, Froid snaps back that Rung is hardly in a position to throw such an accusation around, given that he himself got involved with a patient and concealed that fact.]]
* InsultBackFire: [[spoiler: Alternate!Rung is commonly hailed as 'The Useless One', with the Functionist Council calling him that as an insult. Once it's been revealed what Rung's function is revealed, and the Functionist Council as well, Rung returns the insult as the Functionist Council, as they're truly the useless ones.]]

to:

* {{Hypocrite}}: A tragic example; [[spoiler: when [[spoiler:when Rung calls out Froid on having become too close to Sunder, Froid snaps back that Rung is hardly in a position to throw such an accusation around, given that he himself got involved with a patient and concealed that fact.]]
* InsultBackFire: [[spoiler: Alternate!Rung [[spoiler:Alternate!Rung is commonly hailed as 'The Useless One', with the Functionist Council calling him that as an insult. Once it's been revealed what Rung's function is revealed, and the Functionist Council as well, Rung returns the insult as the Functionist Council, as they're truly the useless ones.]]



* MikeNelsonDestroyerOfWorlds: If [[spoiler: Functionist-timeline Rung's]] words are anything to go by, [[spoiler: Rung may be the indirect bringer of the apocalypse.]] Subverted. He tried to invoke this so that [[spoiler:the AVL would have a martyr and destroy the Functionist Council.]]

to:

* MikeNelsonDestroyerOfWorlds: If [[spoiler: Functionist-timeline [[spoiler:Functionist-timeline Rung's]] words are anything to go by, [[spoiler: Rung [[spoiler:Rung may be the indirect bringer of the apocalypse.]] Subverted. He tried to invoke this so that [[spoiler:the AVL would have a martyr and destroy the Functionist Council.]]



-->'''Nautica:''' "Tell me your name. I want to worship you like a god".

to:

-->'''Nautica:''' "Tell Tell me your name. I want to worship you like a god".god.



* WhatTheHellHero: When Ratchet refuses to let First Aid assist in fixing Ambulon, First Aid calls out him out on his supposed inflated sense of pride. Turns out Ambulon was already dead, and First Aid apologises for his rant, though Ratchet still agrees with him.

to:

* WhatTheHellHero: WhatTheHellHero:
**
When Ratchet refuses to let First Aid assist in fixing Ambulon, First Aid calls out him out on his supposed inflated sense of pride. Turns out Ambulon was already dead, and First Aid apologises for his rant, though Ratchet still agrees with him.him.
** [[spoiler:Whirl calls him out on apparently being the cause of everyone on Team Rodimus dying, since it was the desperation of his situation that made them fly into compressed space, which supposedly killed them. An exasperated Ratchet admits he has a point.]]



* DeathSeeker: As an Ex-Wrecker, this is inevitable. Website/TFWikiDotNet has suggested that he intended to [[DrivenToSuicide burn himself alive along with the sweep corpses]] before Cyclonus walked in on him.

to:

* DeathSeeker: As an Ex-Wrecker, this is inevitable. Website/TFWikiDotNet has suggested that he intended to [[DrivenToSuicide burn himself alive along with the sweep corpses]] before Cyclonus walked in on him. ''Lost Light'' issue 16 has him admit he was trying to get himself killed all these years. [[spoiler:Winding up in the Afterspark with everyone else disappoints and annoys him.]]



-->'''Whirl:''' "Even our colors are complimentary!"

to:

-->'''Whirl:''' "Even Even our colors are complimentary!"complimentary!



-->''"I am not a Decepticon. I want that on screen."''

to:

-->''"I -->''I am not a Decepticon. I want that on screen."''''



* MikeNelsonDestroyerOfWorlds: [[spoiler: He ends up [[ItMakesSenseInContext indirectly causing the start of the Great War by making Rung get him a curly straw]].]]

to:

* MikeNelsonDestroyerOfWorlds: [[spoiler: He [[spoiler:He ends up [[ItMakesSenseInContext indirectly causing the start of the Great War by making Rung get him a curly straw]].]]



* SkewedPriorities: If there's a mystery that needs solving, Nightbeat will usually be more interested in that than anything else going around, like [[spoiler: what's up with the alternate wrecked ''Lost Light'' than the fact that its version of Rewind is still alive and is the ship's only survivor.]]

to:

* SkewedPriorities: If there's a mystery that needs solving, Nightbeat will usually be more interested in that than anything else going around, like [[spoiler: what's [[spoiler:what's up with the alternate wrecked ''Lost Light'' than the fact that its version of Rewind is still alive and is the ship's only survivor.]]


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* MyGreatestFailure: ''Lost Light'' issue 16 reveals he feels guilty for not being at the precinct when Whirl's handlers came through and murdered everyone but Orion Pax, because of Pax refusing to release Whirl on the Senate's orders, when he was on secondment.

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Removed: 154

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He lied about killmaster


* CombatPragmatist: As Killmaster and Megatron found out, though Megatron comes away far better than the wand-wielder.

to:

* CombatPragmatist: As Killmaster and Megatron found out, though Megatron comes away far better than the wand-wielder.out.



** ''Cybertronian Homesick Blues'' reveals he killed Killmaster - the one with the wand. ''With'' the wand. By shoving it up his - [[CurseCutShort AHEM!]]
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[[/folder]]

[[folder:Anode]]
[[quoteright:100:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/anode.png]]
A treasure hunter with a mysterious past.

* BreakTheCutie: Cutie might be exaggerating things but she breaks down when she realizes Lug was [[spoiler:a hallucination]].
* BunnyEarsLawyer: Anode is ditzy and impulsive (among other things), but she does definitely know protoforms.
* ChekhovsGun: The snowflake she carries proves vital in [[spoiler:resurrecting Lug.]]
* CoolPlane: She turns into a Cybertronian bi-plane.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Her function in the GCT is "blacksmith", someone who helps mould protoforms who have trouble forming (essentially a Cybertronian midwife). That means she's ''second'' in ranking next to the Functionists. In issue #6 of ''Lost Light'', she finds a way to [[spoiler:use the Necrobot's flowers to bring Lug back to life.]]
* EasilyForgiven: She mentions that she [[spoiler:caused the death of a protoform due to her inexperience,]] and was let off the hook. Justified in that her coworkers were very sympathetic and understanding due to the difficulties involved in the job.
* {{Foil}}: To ''herself''. In the main timeline, she's a slacker who runs from responsibilities and wants money for herself and Lug. Alternate!Anode is a serious commander who's embraced her function to its full potential but gave it and her life of luxury up to help the impoverished.
** She's also one to Rung. The mystery surrounding him is what he ''can do''. Her's is what she ''did''.
* TheFriendNobodyLikes: While nobody hates her (except maybe Magnus), nobody on Necroworld seems to like her either.
* {{Hallucinations}}: [[spoiler:The Lug of the present day is nothing more than Anode hallucinating her old friend as a result of temporal energies playing havoc on her mind.]]
* ItsAllAboutMe: Velocity and Nautica have legitimate reasons to question and distrust her, but she just blows them off without an explanation and before that she tried to hijack the teleporter so she and Lug could escape, potentially stranding everyone else on Necroworld. Later when she's trying to find Lug, she interrupts Kaput, Velocity and Nautica during ''open surgery''.
* {{Jerkass}}: When she learns that the Necrobot performed a religious ritual on [[spoiler:Lug]] when she died to see off her Spark, Anode's response is to point out [[spoiler:Lug]] wasn't religious and the Necrobot had no right.
* TheLancer: Her Functionist Universe counterpart is one to Nine-of-Twelve.
* MysteriousPast: WordOfGod is that she's not from Caminus despite living there for some time and her presence on the Necrobot's list suggests that she lived on Cybertron at some point. ''Lost Light'' issue 8 reveals she's old enough to remember the days of the Primal Vanguard when they were big names, and like them realised she was transgender during her time exploring the universe.
* SelfDeprecation: While her coworkers forgave her, she didn't. Lug even postulates that Anode ''wanted'' to be hated so she faked a crime.
* SmallNameBigEgo: While working at the Lighthouse, she kept boasting about her skills despite still being in training. Deconstructed as everyone took her boasts as true and she was assigned a complex operation before she was ready. [[spoiler:She failed and the protoform died.]]
* TragicKeepsake: That snowflake? [[spoiler:It's the remains of the protoform she accidentally killed.]]
* [[Main/{{Transsexual}} Transgender]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Lug]]
[[quoteright:100:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lug.png]]
A treasure hunter partnered with Anode. [[spoiler:She's kinda sorta back from the dead now.]]

* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler:Anode uses her snowflake and a portion of Lug's Spark preserved in one of the Necrobot's flowers to bring her back, though it will take time for Lug to fully mould her new body into her old form.]]
* TheConscience: She always advised Anode to play it safe, [[spoiler:and Anode's hallucination of her chides her for her moral choices and being insulting to Ultra Magnus.]]
* EquippableAlly: She turns into a backpack for Anode to wear.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: The fact that she was [[spoiler:dead]] is cleverly planted throughout the first four ''Lost Light'' issues. Anode is the only one who speaks to her and while she's shown reaching for Anode's hand in issue #1, [[spoiler:she never takes it.]]
* HiddenDepths: She has some musical skill.
* ItsAllMyFault: She believed that Anode wanted to be with her and gave up her internship as a result. Lug subsequently felt guilty and that she should indulge Anode.
* ImaginaryFriend: [[spoiler:Anode hallucinates her on Necroworld.]]
* LadyLooksLikeADude: Absolutely ''nothing'' about her design suggests she's female. Her body is even based on a toy of Rewind. It's eventually explained that while Anode decided to have her body reformatted after deciding identifying as female was a better fit for her, Lug, who came to the same conclusion about herself, felt no need to do so.
* [[spoiler:PosthumousCharacter]]
* ThisIsUnforgivable: Subverted. It looks like she ran off after Anode confessed the truth, [[spoiler:but Anode's time travel induced hallucination of Lug just wore off.]]
* [[Main/{{Transsexual}} Transgender]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Roller]]
[[quoteright:100:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/roller_mtmte_7201.png]]
-->''You '''starting something''', buddy?''
Orion's partner on the force and best friend. He helps out Orion and the Senator but is suspicious of the Senator's intentions.

* AscendedExtra: Goes from being a flashback character to joining Team Rodimus.
* TheBigGuy[=/=]TheSmartGuy
* BitchInSheepsClothing: [[AmbiguousSituation Subverted.]] [[spoiler: It was suggested in issue #6 of Lost Light that he might have intentionally given Terminus a false set of coordinates to take Megatron to, and ensure he got left behind in the Functionist Universe (and also destroying his reputation with at least Rodimus and who knows who else amongst the crew). Apparently, he didn't, and [[PoisonousFriend Terminus took Megatron to the wrong place intentionally instead]].]]
* BrilliantButLazy: He's really fond of lounging around and watching TV, but is a good hacker and a fellow cop.
* CantCatchUp: Has issues being surrounded by Outliers with fantastic abilities when all he's got is built-in super-strength.
* FunctionalAddict: He's addicted to circuit speeders.
* TheHeart
* HeterosexualLifePartners: Was seemingly this with Orion Pax. In the Functionist Universe, he tries to contact him but Megatron already concluded that Alternate!Orion is either dead or off-world.
* HiddenDepths: As Issue #36 shows, he secretly feels inadequate compared to the Outliers.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold
* NeverFoundTheBody: [[spoiler:He disappears in an explosion defending the Alyon hot spot. And given that Chromedome wiped his comrades' memories after, it's unlikely that Orion and co. found him.]]
* ProperlyParanoid: He has his doubts regarding Senator [[spoiler:Shockwave.]] While the Senator was actually a nice enough guy at the time, [[ComicBook/TheTransformersDarkCybertron he's eventually proven right.]]
* PutOnABus[=/=]WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Ratchet mentions that the events of Shadowplay were the last time all three were together. His only other mention in the comics was as a candidate for a exploration mission, one that Wheelie ended up going on instead.
** Issue #36 ''strongly implies'' he might just be [[spoiler:Tarn.]] Issue 55 reveals that [[spoiler:He isn't, but instead he was rescued by a time traveling Necrobot, and put in stasis while he recovered from the imperfect time travel.]]
* RedHerring: Ratchet's mention that "Shadowplay" was the last time he, Roller, and Pax were all together was a feint by Roberts to add tension by implying Roller would die. [[spoiler:More importantly, "Elegant Chaos" {{fauxshadow}}s him becoming Tarn (which he doesn't).]]
* SuperStrength: As a Point-One Percenter, he's incredibly strong by design. He's able to absolutely tear through Functionaries later.
** Deconstructed, as he reveals that he feels inadequate to the Outliers, who have amazing abilities, while he's stuck with super strength.
* UnskilledButStrong
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** Saves [[spoiler:Tailgate again by attracting Cyclonus' attention with his holomatter avatar, to lead him to a message he'd left by resetting all the clocks in his room. And he did this while fighting to stay conscious, having had his memory erased by the "Nudge Gun".]]
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* KilledOffscreen: [[spoiler:His spark went unstable and the resulting explosion atomized his body]].
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[[foldercontrol]]

!The Lost Light Crew


!!Lost Light Command

[[folder:Rodimus]]
[[quoteright:100:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rodimus_3551.png]]
-->''They were known as they '''Knights of Cybertron'''. They're '''real'''. I'm going to '''find them'''. And I want all of '''you''' to come with me.''
The reckless, charismatic, and adventurous captain of the Lost Light. Despite his skill and high rank he's [[ManChild rather immature]] and rarely bothers planning ahead, much to the consternation of his crew. He believes that the Knights Of Cybertron will lead Cybertron into the future and made the choice to follow the Matrix Map and find them.

* AFatherToHisMen:
** He'd like to be one, but he lacks the maturity even now and his idea of good advice leaves something to be desired.
** Also, he's perfectly willing to make certain members do things that could seriously injure or kill them just to make things easier, like repeatedly making Chromedome inject, despite Rewind's objections.
* TheAtoner: Decides to become one after "Remain In Light," when he reveals to Magnus/Minimus that [[spoiler:he let Prowl and Drift talk him into letting Overlord onboard.]]
* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: He's ragingly jealous of Thunderclash, who is all the things Rodimus ''wishes'' he was.
* BerserkButton: Getaway. Even Minimus saying "We can't let him '''get away'''" is enough for Rodimus to [[spoiler:abandon Megatron]]
* BookDumb: Rodimus is not an idiot, but his grasp of science is non-existent, to the point that Perceptor has to take several tries to dumb down his explanations for Rodimus to understand it, and even then Rodimus still labels most advanced science "magic".
* BrilliantButLazy: Of a sort. He has shown great skill as a warrior and leader, but generally does not take his responsibilities seriously and is content to just delegate to Drift or Ultra Magnus - and later Megatron.
* {{Catchphrase}}: Till all are one! Lampshaded to hell and back by the other crew members, [[spoiler:[[ExploitedTrope and, at one point, weaponized.]]]]
* TheCharmer: Oozes charisma that lets him get away with making bad decisions and treating people poorly. Lampshaded by Megatron:
-->'''Megatron:''' The way you talk to them… I don't know how you get away with it.
* TheChosenOne: The Matrix certainly liked him far more than it ever liked Optimus, but beyond that the only one who believes he's chosen is Rodimus himself and Drift, based on a vision of the future he had during his near-death experience in ''Chaos''.
** TheChosenZero: No matter what might lie ahead for him, he's still a hilariously impulsive and egotistical jackass.
* CommanderContrarian: The best way to get Rodimus to not do something is to tell him to, something Rung notes as early as issue 6.
* CrucifiedHeroShot: The panel of him being rigged to the killswitch, in order to use him and his half of the Matrix to save the ones affected by it.
* DarkIsNotEvil: After the events on Necroworld, Rodimus converts to Spectralism and has himself repainted in shades of black, purple, and dark blue. He's still the same Rodimus, however, and the colours merely denote grief for a fallen comrade [[spoiler: in this case Skids]]. Played with though, as Drift also feels the need to point out that [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation the colours can also mean]] [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge "a promise to kill"]], and that Rodimus is planning to kill [[spoiler: Getaway]] upon returning to the ''Lost Light''. Rodimus ''seems'' to imply the new paintjob represents both, but is distracted before he can actually confirm it. Issue #6 of ''Lost Light'' heavily implies he intends to follow through on it.
* DudeLooksLikeALady: Seriously. He has one of the most feminine bodies of the main cast besides Tailgate!
* FaceShip: The Rodpod is essentially this. He thinks it's awesome, everyone else...not so much.
* FatalFlaw: His '''ego'''. Rodimus's egotistical nature tends to rub his allies the wrong way, nearly gets him manipulated by Atomizer, and causes more than one problem for the crew. For example, his Rodpod [[spoiler:outright provokes Getaway's scheme to get rid of him.]]
** Rodimus himself raises another interesting possibility: The idea that his FatalFlaw is his lack of self-control, and need for others to reel him back in when he goes too far.
* GloryHound: And he does not react well to it being pointed out. [[spoiler: Prowl uses that to make him accept to take Overlord on board, by deliberately making is seem that if Rodimus refuses, its him acknowledging he can't handle it. Rodimus later admits he was fully aware of what Prowl did, but fell for it nonetheless.]]
* GreenEyedMonster: He ''really'' dislikes Thunderclash, on account of the 'bot being noble, heroic, decent, inspirational, kind... or to put it another way, because Thunderclash is everything Rodimus ''isn't''. It gets to the point that when informed Thunderclash is dying Rodimus breaks out in a giddy grin, and is a few seconds away from dancing.
* HiddenDepths: He admits to Optimus during ''Dark Cybertron'' that he's ''scared'' of actually trying to be decent and noble.
* {{Hikikomori}}: Had become one after Megatron became co-captain the ''Lost Light''.
* HotBlooded
* InsaneTrollLogic: When the crew finds a coffin drifting in space with what appears Rodimus' corpse from the future, he notices that his dead self has two arms. He reasons that if he cuts off his arm, he will avert the future where he's dead.
* IJustWantToBeSpecial: Rodimus wants to be a great leader and a hero, which often leads him to take risks and make poor decisions for the sake of his ego. Even his name is this: It's one he made himself, to style himself more as like a Prime. His real name is Hot Rod.
* IndyPloy: All the damn time.
* InsistentTerminology: As he told Fortress Maximus and Getaway, he's "Rodimus" now, not "Hot Rod".
* IrrationalHatred: He really dislikes ''hats''.
* ItsAllAboutMe
* {{Jerkass}}: Drift mentions Rodimus has a tendency to swear at him if he doesn't answer Rodimus's calls instantly, before threatening to revoke his amnesty and have Ultra Magnus arrest him.
** JerkWithAHeartOfGold: While he makes some bad calls during his tenure as captain, his reaction to Red Alert's attempted suicide as well as [[spoiler: him trying to prevent Trailcutter's death]] establishes that he really ''is'' trying to be AFatherToHisMen.
* JerkassHasAPoint: He's not off base in accusing Megatron of running from his trial as Megatron had confessed to Ravage that he was keeping escape options open and trying to prolong the quest before he decided to stop running. As of ''Lost Light'' #6, [[spoiler:Rodimus has every reason to believe that he was right about Megatron.]]
* KarmicJackpot: [[spoiler: Asking Cyclonus to join them to Luna-1, and then agreeing to Cyclonus' request to bring Tailgate along, is what enables the team to rescue the Circle of Light, fend off Star Saber and stop Tyrest and his killswitch.]]
* TheKirk: Deconstructed, with Rodimus's Kirk-esque leadership causing many problems for himself and the crew, eventually leading to [[spoiler: a mutiny led by Getaway.]]
* {{Manchild}}: Borders on this until the back-to-back incidents concerning Overlord and Tyrest convince him to grow up. But then Megatron becomes captain, and he snaps right back. In fact, he might actually have gotten ''worse'', given Megs mentions he pretends to play dead when anyone asks him a difficult question.
* ManOnFire: He can temporarily set himself on fire, though he doesn't use it much for a variety of reasons.
* MeaningfulRename: Used to be Hot Rod. He renamed himself to sound more like a Prime.
* TheMole: [[spoiler: Confesses to Minimus that he agreed to have Overlord be brought onboard as part of Prowl's plan to create Autobot Phase Sixers.]]
** MoleInCharge
* NotQuiteDead: Interesting variation. Aside from flashbacks to before and during Megatron's trial, Rodimus didn't show up in MTMTE #28 or 29. And the revelation of what was in the coffin (a dead Rodimus with half of his head missing) made it ''seem'' that Rodimus was, in fact, dead. Turns out in issue #30 that Rodimus is still alive, albeit now he's a Main/{{Hikikomori}} (see above) and Dead!Rodimus is actually Rodimus' quantum duplicate.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: The reckless and childish antics conceal a surprisingly sharp mind. Part of it seems to be that if he pretends to be a juvenile jackass, Megatron and Ultra Magnus will do the hard parts of his job for him. Megatron sees right through it. [[SuperOCD Magnus...not so much.]]
--> '''Megatron:''' When did you first realize that he uses bad grammar to distract you whenever you raise an objection to something he wants to do?
--> '''Ultra Magnus:''' He does WHAT?!
* TheOnlyWayTheyWillLearn: Ultra Magnus wanted to scare him straight by having Rodimus track him to Tyrest. It kind of worked, but for the wrong reasons.
* OutOfFocus: In Season Two, he doesn't have much development as the season primarily focuses on Megatron's HeelFaceTurn.
* PortalCut: [[spoiler:How he died on the other ''Lost Light'' while trying to kill the Sparkeater, losing part of his own head in the process.]]
* PowerTrio: With Ultra Magnus and Drift. Subverted, however, in that while Rodimus considers them one, he'd just ignore both of them and do whatever he wanted. In the second season it consists of him, Magnus and Megatron - and is now played straighter in that he and Megatron are frequently at loggerheads with Magnus playing peacekeeper.
** FreudianTrio: While in charge, he's more of an inflated Id.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Gets one from Ultra Magnus on how bad his leadership is, in Issue 21. Getaway gives him another in issue 50 (which crosses over with WhatTheHellHero) which can basically be summarized as "You're an idiot."
* RedemptionEqualsDeath: Discussed by Rodimus. He finds the idea to be cheap, saying instead that if one really want to make amends, one should live and try to actually make up for one's mistakes.
* RedIsHeroic: That's the intent, anyway. In practice, Rody's got a long way to go yet.
* SirSwearsALot: Mention is made of him cussing, such as with Tyrest ("And that's when I started swearing."), or when Drift doesn't answer his calls, or when Ultra Magnus gave him some really bad news, though since the series averts the usual Transformers euphemisms, it's all kept off-screen.
* ShipTease: With Drift. Such as Drift giving Rodimus sword lessons, complete with a HandsOnApproach shot, [[spoiler:accepting full responsibility for the Overlord affair to shield Rodimus]] or the telporter scene in LL #1. Lug, [[spoiler:through Anode's hallucination]] even calls them Conjunx Endurae.
* SnapBack: "Remain In The Light" ends with Rodimus vowing to be more mature and responsible after the disasters that happened. He does try to follow through on this during Dark Cybertron, but once Megatron becomes (co)captain, Rodimus becomes if anything even more childish and irresponsible.
* TookALevelInDumbass: Early-IDW work had Rodimus as impulsive, yes, but nowhere near as bad as he's depicted here (though he started getting more impulsive and childish around the time of ''All Hail Megatron'').
* UnwittingInstigatorofDoom: Rodimus' "final goodbye" video starts off with him recounting how he believed that Getaway set him and the others up to be killed by the DJD. When the video reaches the Lost Light, [[spoiler:it's played in front of a handful of crewmembers before Getaway can stop it. This leads to Getaway enlisting Froid and Sunder to use Sunder's remote mnemosurgery abilities to alter the memories of his crew so that they don't turn on him, in exchange for killing off 25 crewmembers as a payment for Sunder's services.]]
* VitriolicBestBuds: Constantly argues and snarks with Megatron, but still gave him a Rodimus Star. One can't help but feel that the two have more in common than they like to admit. [[spoiler: Rodimus getting chummy with Megatron is even used by Getaway as another reason why the crew has decided he's unfit to lead them, amongst others. As of ''Lost Light'' #6, Rodimus now hates Megatron more than ever.]]
* WhatTheHellHero: He gets this and TheReasonYouSuckSpeech from Optimus after he confesses [[spoiler:his involvement on the Overlord affair.]]
** Gets another one [[spoiler: when Ratchet calls him out accessing the voting records. Then Ratchet reveals the voting records are actually fake because his name is not on the list.]]
** Gets one more from Ratchet [[spoiler: regarding how the crew is serving Brainstorm justice as compared to Rodimus' treatment of Drift.]]
** Receives yet ''another'' when [[spoiler: Getaway reveals that he and the rest of the crew are staging a mutiny against Rodimus, Megatron, and their inner circle (basically all the central characters). In part, it's because they cannot fathom how High Command could possibly let Megatron off the hook so easily for his numerous crimes, but it's also because Rodimus is a selfish, glory-seeking, inept captain.]]
** Ratchet keeps needling Rodimus about strong-arming Chromedome into performing mnemosurgery on the Pet, and when Rewind arrives to put a stop to it, he tries his best to play it off. Rewind responds with a well-earned slug to the face.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Ultra Magnus (Minimus Ambus)]]
[[quoteright:100:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ultramagnus_1656.png]]
[[caption-width-right:120:Click [[labelnote:here]]http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/minimus_125.png[[/labelnote]] to see Minimus Ambus.]]
-->''Let me be be less '''abstruse'''. Screw up and I will '''demolish''' you.''
The Duly Appointed Enforcer Of The Tyrest Accord and Rodimus' second-in-command. He takes everything far too seriously and is increasingly stressed by the chaotic nature of Post-War life. He's trying his best to keep the crew in line and failing spectacularly. Towards the end of Season One, he's revealed as a smaller robot named Minimus Ambus, who keeps the legacy of the lond-dead lawman alive by way of a suit of PoweredArmor.

* AnArmAndALeg: [[spoiler: When the DJD and Deathsaurus' men attack "Team Rodimus" on the Necrobot's planet, in their initial salvo an arm gets blown off the Magnus Armor. Worse, it's the arm containing the recall teleporter, which means no escape that way.]] Though Minimus in his base form was unaffected.
* BecomingTheMask: Being Ultra Magnus wasn't just a job for Minimus Ambus. It was his entire life. Ratchet even confides in him that he is the "true" Ultra Magnus to him.
* TheBore: For some reason, someone thought it was a good idea to put Magnus in charge of [[spoiler:explaining things to the mechs the Necrobot had saved.]] Cue a slideshow consisting of eight-hundred and fifty-one slides (and many, many bored 'bots).
* ByTheBookCop: Why he didn't go to Garrus-9 with the Wreckers, because his job can't condone the things they usually do.
* CantHoldHisLiquor: In his defense, it was weapons-grade nucleon.
* TheComicallySerious: Until it turns out he's having a nervous breakdown. Then it becomes tragic.
* ComplimentBackfire: In season 2, he notes people have lost respect for him now that they know he's Minimus Ambus, he even finds a caricature of himself placed outside his door to mock him. [[spoiler:Ratchet finds out that it was actually a figurine sculpted by Ten and given to him as a gift because Ten looks up to him. Ratchet tells him, and he, as Minimus goes out for drinks with Ten]].
* ConsummateProfessional:
** In his duty as an enforcer of the Tyrest Accord, he's utterly stoic and humourless, refusing to break or bend any laws in his pursuit of criminals (usually).
** He is the only member of the Lost Light's command crew who acts halfway decent towards Megatron, rather than engaging in petty sniping and bickering, and even reassures him when he has a nervous breakdown. He also served as Megatron's attorney during his trial; court appointed, but he performed his duty without complaint, and is probably just about the only Autobot who would even attempt to do so.
* TheDarkChick: Of Tyrest's group, as Minimus Ambus. Even after losing the Magnus Armour, he still considers himself a subordinate of Tyrest's, and works to clear Rodimus and his shipmates of the crimes Tyrest has imprisoned them for. He's also at odds personality-wise with pretty much every other member of Tyrest's FiveBadBand, and also not much to look at physically when compared to Star Saber and Lockdown, the two heavy-hitters. His position doesn't stop Tyrest from having a Legislator crush his head when Ambus protests his plan to use the Universal Killswitch.
** TokenGoodTeammate
* DeadPersonImpersonation: Ultra Magnus has been dead for millions of years, killed under unknown circumstances.
* {{Depower}}: Tyrest strips Minimus Ambus of his PoweredArmor form and his name. It doesn't stick.
* {{Determinator}}
* ExactWords: Magnus hates ambiguity in speech, and as a result picks his words ''very'' carefully.
* FelonyMisdemeanor: He tends to be pretty anal about minor infractions.
-->'''Tyrest''': ''Badge Inspections! Doorframe Audits! Nanocons! Hugging! Hedonia!''
* {{Flanderization}}: Justified in-universe: In earlier appearances (of this Magnus), he wasn't nearly so uptight a detail freak. In this series, he's become one as a result of not knowing his place after the Cybertronian Civil War ended combined with the stress of trying to monitor the [[DysfunctionJunction crew of the Lost Light]].
* {{Foil}}: To Rodimus.
* GoshDangitToHeck: Should Ultra Magnus be moved enough to swear, it winds up being incredibly outdated swears.
* GrammarNazi: Misuse of apostrophes is considered mutiny in his book. He distrusts metaphor and simile, and considers using them a moral lapse. He even writes missives in a special font, one that features a lot of right angles.
* HiddenDepths: ''Our Words Will Always Rhyme'' reveals that he's actually an amateur poet.
* IncrediblyLameFun: Believes several months of 'cripplingly intense study' might actually be fun.
* TheLancer: Second in command of the ship.
* LateArrivalSpoiler: Minimus's big reveal during the "Remain in the Light" arc has become more and more well known. Even Ultra Magnus's 2015 toy comes with a Minimus that fits in his chest.
* LegacyCharacter: There's been more than one Ultra Magnus, with the current incarnation being Minimus.
** LegacyImmortality: Magnus was known for miracle recoveries and surviving seemingly lethal injuries.
* LockedOutOfTheLoop: Regarding Tyrest's descent into madness and his plans for the Universal Killswitch before the start of Remain In Light.
* ManipulativeBastard: In a positive way, he manages to talk Rodimus down from attempting to try and hunt down [[spoiler: Megatron on Functionist Cybertron because Rodimus believed Megatron has played them to try and stay there to avoid his trial (which Ambus had earlier told Megatron he didn't think was true). He ''agrees'' with Rodimus, and says they cannot let him [[ExactWords "get away"]], which snaps Rodimus back to the fact that he has other concerns beyond Megatron; namely getting his ship back from the mutinous Getaway. This realization causes Rodimus to angrily tell them to activate the transporter and take them back to Necroworld.]] Somewhat karmic, in retrospect, given all the ways Rodimus has managed in the past to manipulate Magnus into getting him to go along with plans Magnus believes are bad ideas.
* MeaningfulName: [[spoiler:''Minimus'' Ambus, the real, "irreducible" Minimus Ambus, is actually about the same size as ''Rewind'' when not inside his suits of PoweredArmor. He barely comes up to Rodimus' waist.]]
* MemeticBadass: In-universe, he's one of the Autobots' greatest heroes, an epitome of law and order who is feared and respected by his allies and enemies in equal measure. It's the reason that [[spoiler:Tyrest chose to make him a LegacyCharacter after the original Ultra Magnus died, so that he could function as "the eternal lawman".]]
* MetaMecha: The Magnus armor works as a cross between this and PoweredArmor. The 2015 Generations toy, however, plays this straight with Minimus sitting in the chest and piloting Magnus.
* MidSeasonUpgrade: [[spoiler: After the Magnus Armor is badly damaged during ''Dying of the Light'', Brainstorm builds a new suit for Minimus to wear; it's an even bigger, more heavily armed version of the Magnus Armor called the Maximus Ambus Armor.]]
* MyGreatestFailure: He feels not going to Garrus-9 is this.
* '''NoSenseOfHumor'''
* NotQuiteDead: Survives getting his head crushed at one point. [[spoiler:But then, it's not his actual head...]]
** A recurring theme with Magnus was managing to survive injuries that for anyone else would've been fatal. [[spoiler:Though that's because Tyrest simply replaced the fallen Magnus, and no-one was the wiser.]]
* NumberTwo: To Rodimus and Megatron.
* ObsessedAreTheListmakers: Once tried to engage in casual conversation with Swerve (about statistics), only to get distracted by an out-of-place rivet, and tried to make a note of it. Only his promise to relax stopped him.
* OddFriendship:
** He has acknowledged twice his friendship with [[ComicBook/TheTransformersLastStandOfTheWreckers Verity Carlo]]. Not to mention using her as his holomatter avatar.
** He and Megatron have developed something resembling this after Megs joins the crew. By the time of the Holiday Special, Megatron even holds Minimus up so he can put the finishing touches on the Contrivance Engine (and Rodimus complains about their FinishingEachOthersSentences like it's a regular thing).
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickName: Even after TheReveal about his SecretIdentityIdentity, most of the Lost Light crew just tend to refer to him as "Magnus" rather than his true name of "Minimus Ambus". Given the nature of the Ultra Magnus identity, this could even be a very strange case of EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep.
* PintSizedPowerhouse: [[spoiler:Despite the fact that he's the same size as Swerve, Tailgate, and Rewind when completely unarmored, Minimus Ambus still has the superspark of a Point One Percenter, and thus has no problem picking up a {{BFG}} far bigger than himself, which not only allows him to disable Tyrest, but also to fight the horde of Legislators that get summoned afterwards. Minimus' superspark is also what allows him to wear two suits of PoweredArmour on top of each other without collapsing in on himself, because he's a special type of Point One Percenter called a "loadbearer" that allows him to withstand the strain the suits put on his frame]].
* PornStache: As Minimus Ambus, just like his brother Dominus. Apparently, it is a family trait. The Holiday Special shows the one on his outer shell is a fake (it gets knocked off when Nautica bludgeons him with her wrench).
* PoweredArmor: What "Ultra Magnus" technically is, with Ambus being inside of it. Although it turns out that the inner robot is ''itself'' a smaller suit of PoweredArmour with the actual, tiny Minimus Ambus inside that. It's how he survives his head being crushed by Tyrest's Legislator.
** MatryoshkaObject
* PowerTrio: With Rodimus and Drift.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Downplayed. It may not be immediately obvious due to his Super OCD, but when Red Alert is found headless in the oil reservoir, he's quick to call Rodimus and Drift on being idiots about Cyclonus' questioning.
** He's also one of few who gets on Swerve's case about his treatment of Ten. [[spoiler:Ten notices and appreciates it greatly]].
* RetiredBadass: [[spoiler:After the events on Luna-1 he decides to step down as Duly Appointed Enforcer of the Tyrest Accord, but does retain ownership of the Magnus Armor. Fortress Maximus becomes his successor.]]
* SecretIdentityIdentity: His real identity is Minimus Ambus, Dominus' brother.
* TheSpock: The member of the Lost Light's leadership who focuses more on logic and less on emotions.
* StatOVision: Not literally, but when looking at someone he's familiar with, he tends to envison their name and basic information, as well as likelihood of future criminal activity.
* SuperOCD: Magnus has an obsession with orderliness and organization. In several scenes he's seen obsessing over trivial things like the rivet count on a ship. While before he was able to keep his compulsions in check, his nervous breakdown and heightened anxiety have made his disorder much worse post war and he struggles at times. Though after the confrontation with Tyrest he's done a better job of managing his anxiety as well as his OCD.
* TaughtByExperience: After learning that Rodimus uses bad grammar to distract him, Minimus says "We can't let him '''get away'''" which is enough for Rodimus to not chase after Megatron and order their return to Necroworld.
* ThanatosGambit: Luring Rodimus to Luna-1 turns out to have been an attempt by Minimus at this; he'd been having serious doubts about Rodimus' ability to command ever since the start of the series, so when he was terminally injured by Overlord, he didn't simply teleport back to Tyrest, but instead let Tyrest take remote control of the armor and pilot it back to his location. This was because Minimus wanted Rodimus to follow his trail so Tyrest could read him the riot act for the way he'd been behaving and shock or maybe shame Rodimus into being a better commander; unfortunately, Minimus had no idea that Tyrest had gone insane or what he was planning. And he did all this with the expectation that he was going to die; he was genuinely surprised when Pharma was able to repair him.
** TheOnlyWayTheyWillLearn: He thought this was going to be the only way to get Rodimus to understand what he needed to change about himself. He did learn the lesson, but the cost was high.
* ThirdPersonPerson: Rodimus points out that he does this in the Annual and it makes sense once you know that Ultra Magnus is an identity, not a person.
* ToBeLawfulOrGood: He opposes Tyrest as soon as he learns of Chief Justice's plan to exterminate a significant portion of the Cybertronian race.
* TopHeavyGuy: The Maximus Ambus Armor is massive but to keep the weight distribution his legs are notably stockier and less proportionate to the rest of the torso than the Magnus Armor.
* TryToFitThatOnABusinessCard: Duly Appointed Enforcer of the Tyrest Accord and Director of Security, along with several other titles we haven't heard of. [[spoiler: He eventually gives up his title of Enforcer to Fortress Maximus.]]
* WhatTheHellHero: Gives one to Rodimus one on Luna-1, and later gives an impressive one to Prowl.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Megatron]]
[[quoteright:100:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/megatronmtmte_506.jpg]]
-->''I lost the war the moment I gave the order to fight.''
The founder and former leader of the Decepticons who's suffered a HeelRealization and became "co-captain" after convincing those at his trial that only the Knights Of Cybertron could fairly judge him. Though rigid and strict, he hopes to redeem himself through the crew's quest and to rekindle his writer persona. [[TheFriendNobodyLikes Is hated by almost the entire crew]].

* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Despite being a pretty adept captain, pretty much the entire crew hates his guts because he's ''Megatron''. In a twist however Skids and Getaway admit to one another that it's actually ''hard'' for them to hate Megatron - because his crimes are on such a large scale, it's almost impersonal (One death is a tragedy, a billion is a statistics) and hard to process an emotional response. On top of that Megatron is competent and rational on a personal level.
* ActualPacifist: Claims he's become this at the end of issue #49, having completely renounced the use of violence. This is foreshadowed earlier in the issue when dealing with Sunder; Tailgate yells at Megatron to pick up [[spoiler: Thunderclash's]] discarded gun and kill Sunder, but Megatron tries to unsuccessfully talk him down instead rather than shoot him. [[spoiler: It takes a lot, culminating with Ravage getting torn in half by Tarn, before he take up arms again.]]
* AdaptationalHeroism: While Megatron pulling a HeelFaceTurn isn't an alien concept on its own, no aspect of the mythos has ever run with it to this extent. He's also portrayed as being as far less of a clear-cut villain than his previous portrayals in the IDW continuity itself. [[PragmaticHero In his own words]]:
---> Here's a survival tip: When everyone's lining up to make sacrifices... always get to the back of the queue.
* AFatherToHisMen: Like Rodimus, he ''wants'' to be this, even to the point of holding lectures to try and educate and talk with the crew. These attempts are hampered by the fact that pretty much everyone except Ravage hates and distrusts him.
* AfraidOfNeedles: He's strongly against the idea of Chromedome performing Mnemosurgery on him during his trial. He also looks away in disgust when Chromedome performs Mnemosurgery on [[spoiler:the dead "Rodimus".]] ''Births, Deaths & Interventions", reveals that [[spoiler:Trepan attempted to conduct Mnemosurgery on him during his mining days.]]
-->'''Megatron''': Ugh.
-->'''Ultra Magnus''': Don't like needles?
-->'''Megatron''': Something like that.
* AmbiguousSituation: [[spoiler:How Megatron ended up being left in the Functionist Universe; the original teleporter Team Rodimus planned to use to get back to Necroworld and out of the Functionist Universe was broken, so Nine-of-Twelve led them to a second teleporter nearby. Megatron had separated from the group earlier to say goodbye to Terminus, who had decided to stay and help the Anti-Vocationists fight (which Rodimus was immediately suspicious of, since he suspected Megatron of trying to get out of his trial) so Roller was told to radio Terminus and let Megatron know about the change of destination. We only hear Terminus' side of the discussion before he tells Megatron to follow him to the new teleporter...which is a different one from the one Team Rodimus is using. This leads Rodimus to believe that Megatron has played them to stay and avoid his fate (since they have a rapidly-closing window of opportunity to leave) and have to go without him, taking Luna-2 with them. Did Roller give Terminus the wrong coordinates on purpose, or did Terminus, who had already expressed his desire to see Megatron stay and help the AVL, take Megatron to the wrong teleporter on purpose so he could lie and say the others had left without him to "give him a second chance"? Roberts eventually confirmed on twitter that Terminus lied to him.]]
* AndIMustScream: Frozen in mid-transformation by Wheeljack’s failsafe for the second part of RID Season One.
* ArmCannon: Averted. While he's still armed, his iconic cannon is absent from his new form as Optimus had him melt it down. This is a bit of an in-joke hearkening back to his novel "Towards Peace," where he states that it is his burden, and when the rejection of it is significant to no one else but himself, he will remove it from his arm. Unlike in his novel, this was removed in conjunction with him renouncing his ideals rather than fulfilling them and not needing it to fight. [[spoiler: He gets a new one during the "Dying of the Light" arc, but refuses to use it out of fear of reverting to his old ways until Ratchet convinces him otherwise. It gets destroyed before the end of the issue.]]
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: As the former leader of the Decepticons, he could trade blows and win with some of his Phase Sixers.
* AwesomeButImpractical: Anti-matter. Sure he can kill anyone and anything but it's monumentally unstable and unless he has a nigh-impenetrable forcefield, it'll blow up half a planet if left unchecked.
* BadassInCharge: As "co-captain" of the ''Lost Light''. Yes, really.
* BadassInDistress: He's captured and tortured by Shockwave during ''Dark Cybertron''.
* BadassLongCoat: His holomatter avatar materializes with one when he first projects it to "Swearth" (it fits with his avatar's stereotypically villainous look), though when his team reaches the bar he's removed it.
* BerserkButton: Being subjected to memnosurgery, big time [[spoiler: due to the aforementioned incident with Trepan in his past.]] When Optimus suggests using memnosurgery to help speed along Megatron's trial, Megatron flat-out tells Optimus that if they try it, he'll fight back and they'll have to kill him in his cell because his memories are all he has left. [[spoiler: Getaway was going to intentionally press this button with a duped Tailgate and some fake memnosurgery needles while Megatron was recharging to get him to murder Tailgate in a blind panic and then either be executed by security or be shipped back to Cybertron.]]
* BigBad: Of ''Robots in Disguise'' “City on Fire" arc. Obviously, he was also this in the Great War, making his role here a lot more surprising. However the Decepticons considered (and some ''still do'') him to be the BigGood.
* BigDamnHeroes: In the season two finale after coming to terms with his choices and self, [[spoiler: he saves the crew from the Decepticons when they were about to be overwhelmed.]]
* BodyHorror: Not immediately obvious, but his insides are now riddled with space bridge portals as a result of Shockwave's meddling in ''Dark Cybertron''.
* BrokenPedestal: In the past, to a young Orion Pax. In the present, to everyone who follows the Decepticon cause. [[spoiler: Unintentionally becomes one to Rodimus after Megatron is tricked into remaining in the Functionist universe; Rodimus believes that Megatron has played him specifically in order to avoid his eventual judgement, and it destroys any good feelings Rodimus had about his co-captain. Megatron, for his part, was dead-set on returning too, but is led to believe by Terminus (who may or may not have been the one who engineered all of this) that the rest of the Team left without him to "give him a second chance".]]
* BroughtDownToNormal: Megatron is using a low-yield Energon that has a toxin included in order to sap his strength. [[spoiler: Except not really. The fool's energon is a placebo meant to make Megatron ''think'' he's been weakened, as his damaged internals mean Ratchet can't safely give him such sedatives.]]
* ButNowIMustGo: [[spoiler:Freaks out after Ravage dies in front of him and tries to leave the crew for fear of murdering them all now that he knows the Fool's Energon was a sham and his newfound knowledge of antimatter has made him more dangerous than ever before.]]
* ByronicHero: A textbook example.
* CharacterDevelopment: Since joining the ''Lost Light'' crew, he seems to have become more empathetic towards others. [[spoiler: Best summarized in ''Lost Light'' #6. His wartime motto was [[LawfulEvil "Peace Through Tyranny"]]. At the end of that issue, he states the revolution in the Functionist Universe will be [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeVilified "Peace Through Empathy"]].]]
* ClassyCane: His holomatter avatar first materializes on "Swearth" with a cane, but when Rodimus points it out, Megatron lets go of it, causing it to dematerialize. He doesn't bring it back, probably because it reminds Megatron of how old he is.
* CoolOldGuy: One of the oldest crew members, both physically and mentally, but still a total badass. That said there's also a hint of deconstruction to it; his increasing age and self-doubt means his badassery is slowing slipping away from him.
* TheCorrupter: Views himself as this specifically to [[BigBad Tarn]], saying he turned Tarn to the Decepticons to "prove a point" and that doing so would "hurt someone", implied to be Optimus Prime. [[spoiler: The series' final arc confirms this, with Tarn turning out to be Glitch.]]. It's an act [[TheAtoner he now greatly regrets]].
* CrazyPrepared: He understands that he's a tad impulsive and plans ahead far in advance in preparation of his current goals being one day infeasible.
* CreateYourOwnVillain: He credits Whirl with teaching him the value of violence over peaceful protest.
** Becomes even more so when it turns out [[spoiler:a time-traveling Whirl is the one who preserved the timeline by putting the "point one-percenter" spark Brainstorm was carrying into Megatron's body after Rewind destroyed the original. Since the spark is a Cybertronian's soul, Whirl ''literally'' created Megatron]].
** Megatron's primary antagonists throughout season 2, Getaway and Tarn, were created by Great War. Tarn patterned himself off of Megatron and his ideology, and [[LoonyFan took to it]] [[PsychoSupporter a bit too well]]. Getaway was literally brought online to fight Decepticons.
* CreepySouvenir: Wanders out of the Cybertronian wilderness carrying a bunch of Sweeps' heads that he strung together.
* DeathSeeker: Was apparently resigned to be executed at his trial that he pleaded guilty of all charges right at the beginning of it. [[spoiler:Until Starscream's TheReasonYouSuckSpeech, ''intended'' to be the last nail in his coffin, restored his will to live, [[NiceJobFixingItVillain just to spite his former lieutenant]].]]
* DisabilitySuperpower: However dangerous the aforementioned portals might be to his own health, they also make it a [[PortalCut really bad idea]] to take him on.
* TheDreaded: He only needs to smile and Starscream will have a FreakOut.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler:It's doubtful we've seen the last of Megatron but he gets a chance to start over his revolution against the Functionists in the Functionist Universe as one of peace and empathy before being contacted by Alternate!Orion Pax.]]
* EvenEvilHasStandards:
** He finds Mnemosurgery repulsive, as well as the apartheid of the Constructed Cold. It's revealed that Megatron was [[spoiler:nearly [[MindRape mind raped]] by Trepan via Mnemosurgery, as well as being Constructed Cold himself (though has a Point-One Percenter spark).]]
** He considers the DJD to be monsters, based on the sadism they show on the [[spoiler:duplicate Lost Light]].
** This series' tie-in to the ''[[ComicBook/Revolution2016 Revolution]]'' event revealed he was disgusted by the [[ComicBook/RomIDW Dire Wraiths]] and hence steered clear of a Wraith-controlled area dubbed the Dark Nebula- not only that, a whole fleet of Worldsweepers went missing in there (as in, those ''giant'' ships shaped like the Decepticon emblem), so even more reason to stay the hell away from them.
* FantasticRacism: One of his defining traits was the belief that Cybertronians were superior to everyone else and had to rid the galaxy of anything organic. [[spoiler: In Issue 50, he's forced to hear the dying scream of every organic who's death he's caused and drops this completely.]] This doesn't apply to humans, though. When his holomatter avatar injures itself, he remarks on how humans are "fragile", then corrects Rodimus when he starts laying into Megatron, saying he didn't mean ''weak''.
* TheFriendNobodyLikes: [[BigBad For obvious reasons]], very few members of the crew genuinely like him, and most actively distrust and hate him, barring Ultra Magnus (who treats him with the appropriate respect due the captain of the ship) and Rung (who is genuinely interested to learn more about how he thinks/thought). This ''may'' be slowly changing the longer he's with the crew though; Skids and Getaway admit that even though Megatron's indirectly caused loads of death and suffering, they're having trouble actually personally hating Megatron himself. Nautica also observes that the surprisingly large number of the Lost Light's crew who were brought online directly because of Megatron's actions basically owe their very existance to him.
* GoodCostumeSwitch: Sort of. His body was reformatted after his change-of-heart, but nobody's about to call him "good" any time soon.
* GrumpyBear: Is frequently in a bad mood.
* HalfTheManHeUsedToBe: For a five-issue span of ''Dark Cybertron'' after Galvatron tears him in half.
* HandicappedBadass: His old form was severely damaged fighting D-Void's Deceptigod, and he spearheads the experiments in the wilderness as such before his upgrade. He also spends the better part of ''Dark Cybertron'' without his legs, but still beats Waspinator and even ''Galvatron'' without them. After the crossover, his insides are a mess of interdimensional portals after his space bridge broke down, to the point that it's impossible to safely extricate his spark or do anything else of much medical significance without killing him. He can still kick your ass despite (or maybe even with) them, as Whirl found out. He also mentions that he's really beginning to feel his age, even without the special fuel he's made to drink, and that his new body doesn't feel right.
* HeelFaceDoorSlam: While some of the crew are willing to put up with it, most make very clear that his talk of changing his ways ''doesn't'' excuse everything he did. They're so displeased that [[spoiler: Getaway, Atomizer, and a number of other crew members mutiny simply because Megatron being let off easy is so infuriating. He comes within a hair's breath of taking off on his own after Ravage dies, with the implication he'd have gone back to being a Decepticon. Then Terminus shows up.]]
* HeelFaceTurn: At the climax of ''Dark Cybertron'', he joins the Autobots, a move so unexpected that it blows Shockwave's logic circuits and causes the latter to revert to his pre-Shadowplay personality.
* HeelRealization: During the events of ''Dark Cybertron''.
* HeinzHybrid: [[spoiler: The reveal is that he has a forged point-one percenter spark, in a constructed cold body.]]
* HelmetsAreHardlyHeroic: He's still got that helmet of his, but at best it's anti-heroic.
* HeroicSacrifice: Attempted in "Dying of the Light"; [[spoiler: he offers himself up to Tarn in exchange for the safety of the rest of the crew, but Tarn isn't interested in deals.]]
* HesBack: In the second season finale, [[spoiler: Ratchet reveals that his strength was never sapped and that Fool's Energon was a placebo, meaning his choices since defecting were sincere and he truly has changed. After learning of how he was holding himself back, he personally storms onto the battlefield outside and saves the crew.]]
* HistoryRepeats: Unlike his Aligned self, he didn't take his name from the Fallen's true name (Megatronus), he just has a coincidentally similar one. That fact though is incredibly unnerving to both Optimus Prime and Alpha Trion who wonder is Cybertronian history is doomed to repeat over and over.
* HostileShowTakeover: He takes command of the crew's mission. Needless to say, they aren't happy about it.
* {{Hypocrite}}:
** He criticizes Rodimus for sulking around and contemplating his life rather than leading, but after the events of ''Elegant Chaos'' he does the exact same thing. [[spoiler: Averted in the final battle against the DJD: turns out his inactivity was him actually learning the necessary focus to use the antimatter powers that eventually destroy his former Justice Division.]]
** When the crew are sent back in time, he's perfectly willing to trust them when it appears that [[spoiler:Brainstorm]] went back in time to assassinate Optimus Prime. But when it turns out the target was ''him'', he freaks out and suddenly they aren't up to the task.
* IChooseToStay: ([[DownplayedTrope Though it wasn't exactly his choice]]) [[spoiler:He is left behind in the Functionalist universe (because either Terminus or Roller were lying) so he decides to make the best of it and guide the downtrodden of that world to [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeVilified nonviolent societal change.]]]]
* : He spent a good chunk of the War trying to find a Titan and gain access to their Space Bridge technology and even created dedicated groups to hunt them for him. [[spoiler:Trypticon was one the entire time and had a working Space Bridge.]]
* KarmaHoudini: Most of the crew see him as one, and do their damn best to make certain he knows it - some more... [[MurderIsTheBestSolution vocally]] than others. [[spoiler:He secretly kept one of the time briefcases for himself in case he ever needed an emergency escape route, but ditched it when he decided to stop running from his past.]]
* TheKirk: Stands between Rodimus's enormous ego and recklessness and Ultra Magnus's obsessively organized personality.
* LargeAndInCharge: By Cybertronian standards, he's pretty beefed-up. The "in-charge" part is a matter of debate between him, Rodimus and the rest of the ''Lost Light'' crew.
* LateArrivalSpoiler: It was blanked out on all the pages due to the story behind it still being underway, but there's no real way you're going to get around him joining the Autobots and becoming captain of the ''Lost Light''.
* LeaderFormsTheHead: After he gets his new body, he is able to combine and form the head of Devastator. He never really gets the chance to use it, though.
* LeaveHimToMe: [[spoiler:He orders his troops to leave Whirl alone for the entire course of the war, so that he might have the pleasure of giving the copter-bot an ironic death at his hands. Though WordOfGod also said that such an order could be disobeyed if one found themselves in a fight against Whirl with no choice but to kill him, this loophole is what Kaon uses to kill the Alternate Whirl.]]
* LivingMacGuffin: Becomes this for Shockwave, since his body houses space bridge technology.
* LovableCoward: ''Stet'' reveals he used to be this before his fateful meeting with Whirl. His reaction to Impactor starting a bar fight was to cower under a nearby table like a frightened child.
* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: The reason he's become so resistant to the idea of fighting for any reason is that he fears he won't be able to stop himself once he starts, thus causing him to slide back into being evil. [[spoiler: Subverted ultimately, as Ratchet reveals to Megatron that the fool's energon was a placebo, meaning Megatron has been holding back and stopping himself on instinct.]]
* JokerImmunity: Being an iconic UnpopularPopularCharacter in a MerchandiseDriven series, IDW isn't going to let him die, at least until the series ends.
* MadeOfIron: Is he ever. Megatron has, over the course of the war, been subject to all manner of injury. He's been shot, stabbed, smashed, crushed, reduced down to his bare wiring, even blown to pieces, filled with spacebridge portals that render any kind of treatment impossible, and yet he always recovers eventually. Even by the time he joins the Lost Light crew, and is supposedly weaker than he used to be, he's still amazingly tough. His fight with Tarn ends with him having a massive hole in his chest (going almost from neck to hip), and he's ''still'' able to crawl away to the Necrobot's house, being back on his feet, none the worse for wear, in only a few hours. Lampshaded in ''[[ComicBook/TheTransformersDarkCybertron Dark Cybertron]]'' when Megatron has this to say about his missing legs and waist:
-->'''Megatron''': [[MajorInjuryUnderreaction This scratch? I've had worse.]]
* MagicFeather: [[spoiler:His Fool's Energon, and the feeling of restraint it gives him, is all in his head. His energon is actually normal unfiltered energon. It tastes bad but it makes no difference.]]
* MidSeasonUpgrade: By necessity, as his old body was trashed fighting D-void during the events of [[ComicBook/TheTransformersIDW Chaos]]. This form also undergoes some noticeable changes in ''More Than Meets the Eye''.
* MindRape: [[spoiler:Nearly falls victim to this during his days as a miner to Trepan's attempts at Mnemosurgery. In a conversation with Orion Pax, he mentions that he fears something was done to him, and he has no way of knowing.]]
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: He's not proud of what the Decepticons did any more. The fact that Starscream has wound up in charge of Cybertron really doesn't help.
* MyGreatestSecondChance: [[spoiler: Though he's understandably saddened by being stranded in another universe, he's decided to make the best of it by starting a peaceful rebellion of words and ideas to overthrow the Functionist Council. He might even create a Tarn dedicated to peace instead of violence.]]
* NamesTheSame: Over in [=RiD=] it turned out that the Fallen, a dreaded warlord of Cybertron's early days who almost took over the planet, was originally named Megatronus. Unlike other continuities (where Megatron would actively take his name from Megatronus), Optimus treats it as a coincidence while Alpha Trion believes it a dangerous warning of the tendency for certain themes to reoccur in Cybertron's history.
* NobleBigot: Developing into this. Recent events and a harsh chewing out from Skids causes him to realize his bigotry towards organic races was wrong.
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Has a fondness for doing this every time he's repaired, always aimed at Starscream.
* NotSoAboveItAll: He acts aloof and grumpy, as if he's more matured than the rest of the crew, but nonetheless does things like performing slam poetry in Mirage's bar, accepting Rodimus Stars, or scheming with Rodimus to get out of going to Thunderclash's party. In the opening arc of ''Lost Light'', he joins the team back to Cybertron just so he can see Starscream's face when he reveals he's still alive.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness:
** Rodimus is understandably confused when Megatron decides to ''defend'' organics rather than kill them.
** When Megatron outright gives his word, a skeptical Rodimus agrees to give him time to say goodbye to Terminus. He also drops all banter and calls Rodimus [[YouCalledMeXItMustBeSerious "captain"]].
* OddFriendship: Briefly develops a respectful repartee with Trailcutter and [[spoiler: is visibly upset when Trailcutter is killed by Kaon.]]
* OneManArmy: When HesBack, he begins to tear through [[spoiler: Deathsaurus' army by himself and their leader is very well aware that they will not stand a chance against him.]]
* OutOfFocus: While the De-Facto BigBad of ALL the Decepticons, he was not seen for almost a year in ‘’Robots In Disguise’’, and while he returns with a bang, he's captured and imprisoned at the end of the arc.
* PoliticallyIncorrectHero: At first he won't risk his life to save non-Cybertronians, but a chewing-out from Skids causes him to realize that he's not making a big-enough effort to change and he reconsiders. Averted in regards to the discussion on the Forged and Constructed Cold, as he hates categorization.
** He abandons his anti-organic bigotry completely after [[spoiler: the psychic attack in "Dying of the Light" causes him to see every organic he's caused the death of screaming in horror and fear. This causes him to realize how much pain he caused to non-Cybertronians as well just how similar organics are to Cybertronians.]]
* PragmaticHero: Even as a good guy, he thinks mainly of the quickest, most practical way to get things done. His advice to Getaway is to always get to the back of the line when people are making sacrifices.
* PutOnABus: At the end of the first story arc of ''Lost Light'', [[spoiler:Megatron is left in the Functionist Universe because Terminus gave the wrong coordinates for the back-up teleporter. He decides to make the most of this situation by re-organizing the Anti-Vocationist League to fight against the Functionists through words, and diplomacy, and empathy.]]
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: He's much more reasonable than expected, working with Trailcutter to fix his problems rather than punishing him and [[spoiler: letting Tailgate and Cyclonus off the hook when it becomes clear that Getaway set them up.]]
* RebuiltPedestal: In the present, to Orion Pax. As of ''All Hail Optimus'', Soundwave seems to understand Megatron's desires to move away from violence.
* RedemptionDemotion: Obviously, he's no longer commanding armies, and his [[StoryBreakerPower space bridge]] broke down during ''Dark Cybertron''. Subverted on pretty much every mental level, however: Megatron's formidable leadership skills are still very much present, and when he becomes captain of the previously lax ''Lost Light'', things ''turn around.'' Subverted when he masters anti-matter.
* RedemptionEqualsLife: Abandons his cause at the end of ''ComicBook/TheTransformersDarkCybertron'', and makes it out of the crossover alive.
* ReformedButRejected: Amazingly, Megatron is completely sincere in his desire to make amends for his past deeds, and regrets what he did to the planet and to his people, going so far as to completely reject violence altogether. Sadly, many feel that his crimes are too severe for him to ever be forgiven on any level.
* [[RestoredMyFaithInHumanity Restored My Faith In The Cybertronian Race]]: Bumblebee manages to do this for him in ''Dark Cybertron'', [[spoiler:though Bumblebee doesn't live to see it.]]
* RestrainingBolt: Forced to consume low-grade, mildly toxic Energon to sap his considerable strength. In private, Megatron confides to Ravage it isn't really necessary with his advanced age.
* StraightMan: Like Ultra Magnus, his serious nature contrasts wildly with the eccentricities of the crew, leading to several situations that leave him face-palming or getting aggravated at everyone's antics. Even when Thunderclash is brought up and his ParodySue nature makes everyone practically worship the ground he walks on, Megatron's reaction is basically: "He's an important Autobot, I tried to kill him a few times."
* TakingYouWithMe: [[spoiler:One way or another, he didn't intend to walk away from his battle with the DJD. Even after he had killed Tarn and his remaining loyalists, Megatron was fully prepared to let the antimatter he had released kill him too if not for Rodimus' intervention. Of note, it's rather ambiguous as to whether he accepted Rodimus' attempt to save him or if the Autobot rescued him against his will.]]
* TaughtByExperience: ''Lost Light'' #6 shows that he's learned from his previous attempt at social upheaval [[spoiler:and is ensuring that the Functionist Universe has a peaceful transition to freedom as opposed to starting another war.]]
* UsedToBeASweetKid: Somewhat the impression he left on Orion Pax as a young miner writing speeches about society's injustices before the two would become mortal enemies.
* SixthRanger
* ThatManIsDead: How he views the old firebrand he used to be. Though Ravage raises the question of whether he really is. [[spoiler:In issue #55, he's practically back to being a Decepticon warlord, even wearing Tarn's Decepticon mask, before Terminus shows up. In ''Lost Light'' #6, he was every reason to believe the Autobots stranded him but he's still wearing his Autobot badge as opposed to reviving the Decepticons.]]
* ThinkingUpPortals: His insides are literally ''[[BodyHorror made]]'' [[BodyHorror of them]].
* TookALevelInKindness: Thanks to his experiences during Dark Cybertron and on the Lost Light, Megatron goes from someone who would mercilessly slaughter uncountable numbers and view all non-Cybertronians as less than inferior to a reformed social revolutionary who wishes to fight with words not fists, offers understanding and acceptance to his peers and would sacrifice himself to save lives whether they be Cybertronian or organic.
* TokenEvilTeammate: Naturally, being the former leader of the very faction the ''Lost Light'' crew are/used to be up against.
* TragicKeepsake: [[WordOfGod Roberts]] confirms he is wearing Bumblebee's old Autobot Badge.
* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: Some solicits for comics after ''Dark Cybertron'' gave away him joining the crew.
* {{Transplant}}: Leaves the cast of ''ComicBook/TheTransformersRobotsInDisguise'' after the ''Dark Cybertron'' crossover for this series.
* TronLines: His current body has lines of glowing energy (most noticeable on his shoulders), now an Autobot red rather than the Decepticon purple you'd normally expect.
* VillainousLegacy: His invasion of Earth is still a pretty sore point with the humans. His being an Autobot is enough for them to join Galvatron's Decepticon cell and most of G.I. Joe still has it out for him.
* VitriolicBestBuds: He and Rodimus bicker constantly and act like they hate each other, but it's rather telling that Megatron actually holds onto the Rodimus Star that Rodimus made for him.
* VisionaryVillain: What he became during his revolution.
* WarriorPoet: He used to write poetry. Lots of poetry. Just ask [[ComicBook/TheTransformersLastStandOfTheWreckers Impactor]].
** As of issue #40, it seems he's trying his hand at poetry again. Nobody appreciates it.
* WeUsedToBeFriends: With Impactor, who was his fellow miner before the War. This winds up saving Impactor's life on at least one occasion, when he manages to scribble a sardonic "Not more of your poetry," on a piece of rubble just as Megatron was about to kill him. The realisation that he was about to kill his old friend stunned Megatron enough for Impactor to escape.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: What do you expect from the founder of the Decepticons?
** NecessarilyEvil: He initially saw himself as this.
* WhatYouAreInTheDark: Was willing to give himself up to Tarn in "Dying of the Light" if he spared the rest of the crew stranded on the Necroworld, even refusing to fight back while Tarn was tearing him apart. None of the crew knew he was doing this, or knew the lengths he was willing to go to save them.
* WhereItAllBegan: Megatron's story started with him as a miner toiling away in the Energon mines beneath Nova Point on Cybertron, a slave to Functionism that would set him on the road to founding the Decepticons. His story starts ''again'' [[spoiler: beneath the Nova Point of Functionist Cybertron, left behind either through the actions of Terminus or Roller, as he re-organizes the Anti-Vocationist League which has recently lost its symbol of resistance in Rung, to fight the Functionists and their philosophy through words, diplomacy, and understanding, to achieve "peace through empathy", and with him receiving a call from the previously unheard-from Functionist version of ''Orion Pax''.]]
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: It is heavily implied that Megatron is terrified of being helpless, or being harmed while in a vulnerable state. The normally composed former Decepticon leader goes into a panic when Optimus offers to comb through his mind during his trial (claiming his very being was all he had left at that point, and would rather have been killed than let anyone into his head), flies into a rage when he realizes that [[spoiler:Brainstorm is out to kill him in the past when he's a helpless]], and [[spoiler:attacks Tailgate after the latter sneaks into his room with a pair of Mnemosurgery needle hands]]. This fear of being helpless likely comes from his near MindRape at the hands of Trepan during his mining days.
* WillfullyWeak: In ''Lost Light''. In the [[spoiler:Functionist Universe]], he rips his bonds apart like they're paper when prompted.
* WorthLivingFor: Starscream's speech at his trial lit up a fire inside him to live out of spite for his former lieutenant.
-->'''Megatron''': I'd sooner live than allow him to write my epitaph.
* YourMindMakesItReal: [[spoiler: Fool's Energon isn't real, it just tastes really bad. Megatron hasn't actually been weaker this entire season, he's just been restraining himself because he was told it would sap his strength and he believed that it did.]]

[[/folder]]

!!Scientists, Engineers, and Staff

[[folder:Rung]]
[[quoteright:100:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rung_7514.png]]
[[caption-width-right:120:Click [[labelnote:here]]http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mtmterung_1264.png[[/labelnote]] to see [[spoiler:him glassless.]]]]
-->''It's okay. It's alright. We're done. No more for today.''
The ship psychiatrist who's incredibly nice and well-meaning to just about everyone. Despite his affable personality he often goes unnoticed and secretly desires to be remembered. May or may not be more than he seems...

* HundredPercentAdorationRating: ZigZagged. While it's a running gag that people often ignore and/or forget about him, almost all of the characters around him do regard him as deeply empathetic and trustworthy. Fortress Maximus and Red Alert like him because he helps them cope with their trauma and underneath Rodimus's barbs it's clear he respects Rung to an extent. This is played much straighter in the Functionist Universe where Rung has become a planet wide symbol for resistance against the Functionist Counsel and he's admired by millions.
* AccidentalMisnaming: Rung is never correctly addressed by name when he is conscious or present. The other characters will either forget his name, mispronounce his name, or simply identify him based on his profession. However, characters do not seem to have this problem at all in prose stories or when he is not present.
** Skids utilises this to bring him out of his coma.
-->'''Rung''': "It's Rung. Forever."
** Even funnier when he misnames 'Quark' in Issue 37.
* {{Adorkable}}
* AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever: [[spoiler: Functionist!Rung uses the mass-displacement technology the Functionists used on him to grow to become bigger than a Titan to fight off the Luna-2 Harvester, though the strain of it causes him unbearable agony, and eventually kills him.]]
* TheBait: The Sparkeater sought him due to the brightness of his spark. When Rodimus figures this out he grabs him and uses him to lure the monster into the range of the ship's engines.
* BigOlEyebrows
* BodyHorror: [[spoiler:Issue 1 of ''Lost Light'' has him start suffering from painful convulsions, along with an ominous green glowing. It's him producing photonic crystals.]]
** Issue 3 and 4 of Lost Light reveal that [[spoiler:his alt mode is apparently a huge drill many times larger than his normal body. Maintaining a form that size causes him unspeakable pain, and he is seen falling to his knees and gasping hard after being ejected from his alt-mode. Visible cracks and wear are also present on his face and body in his normal mode.]]
* BrutalHonesty: The reason why Rodimus asks Rung to go with him to Luna-1, because Rodimus admits he needs someone to tell him things he doesn't want to hear, especially after Magnus goes missing.
* ButtMonkey
* CassandraTruth: Rodimus dismisses his concerns regarding the "voice coming from the basement". [[spoiler:Turns out Rodimus knew what was in the basement.]]
* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler: In 'Shadowplay', he's seen playing with a rather anachronistic model of the 'Lost Light', turns out it is because it was Future!Rung who traveled to the past.]]
* ChekhovsGunman: At first he appears to be a mere Psychiatrist used as a butt monkey, but several events have alluded that Rung is far more than meets the eye:
** He's positively ancient, being a contemporary of [[BadassGrandpa Kup]].
** His serial number is exactly 1 Million.
** He's met most of the famous Autobots (in fact, had most of them as clients).
** He's never changed his body since the beginning of the war. In fact, he's gone through it relatively undamaged (as commented by Ratchet) prior to getting his head shot off by Swerve.
** He was there at Megatron's descent into villainy, in fact him being assaulted was the event that started the chain of events that would lead to Megatron abandoning a pacifist approach and starting the Decepticon movement. In a way, Rung getting attacked in that oil house is what sparked the Great War. [[spoiler: It turns out this was Future!Rung]].
** In fact Rewind describes him as a "historical constant", somehow always present during significant events while remaining outside them. [[spoiler: Because he was time-traveling with Rodimus' team to said significants chasing Brainstorm]].
** He has the brightest (or possibly second brightest) spark on the ship, which draws the sparkeater to him.
** His Alt Mode is entirely unique and has no obvious function (the Functionist council classified it as an "ornament"). Even Nightbeat has tried figuring out what it is, with no luck. [[spoiler: In the alternate Functionist-dominated timeline created as a result of Brainstorm's timejumping, the Functionists and Rung both figure out what he does and apparently it is so horrifying, they sentence him to death for it.]]
** Then there's what he does:[[spoiler: He's able to internally produce photonic crystals (the crystals that store Spark energy and a huge one being the core of the Matrix). The Functionists plan to use Alternate!Rung's crystals to mass produce a Cybertronian army with energy from Vector Sigma to ''conquer the galaxy''.]]
* CoolOldGuy: He was a big name during Nova Prime's time, big enough that even a two-week old Tailgate knew about him, and big enough he was ''almost'' part of the Ark's crew (by sheer coincidence, the Senate called him away just before launch). So he's at least six million years old, if not more. [[spoiler:He's old enough that information creep has caused him to forget his purpose.]]
* TheConstant: Rewind refers to him as a "historical constant"; he's been present at numerous major events throughout history, but almost never plays a direct part in them, almost as if he's just an outside observers. ''Elegant Chaos'' reveals that at least a few of these instances were caused by [[spoiler: time travel]].
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Not a moron by any definition, but he isn't much of a fighter. He's surprisingly good with a staff.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: Issue 48 reveals that [[spoiler: he isn't actually a licensed psychiatrist like he claims. He was stripped of his license to practice after he became too close to one of his patients. The ship he was serving on crashed with Rung as the sole survivor, which he used to cover up his disbarment, much to his own shame.]]
* DistressedDude
* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler:It's briefly mentioned that Quantum Duplicate!Rung was killed in the initial quantum jump.]]
* EarlyBirdCameo: His first appareance in the IDW universe, even if text-only, was in the ''ComicBook/TheTransformersLastStandOfTheWreckers'' cast bios.
* EasilyForgiven: He has this attitude towards everyone.
--> '''Rung''': I've been around for awhile now... I've learned to forgive anything.
* EquippableAlly: Played for laughs, as Rung transforms into... a giant stick, which Swerves uses as a weapon to defeat Paddox in issue 22.
* ExplosiveOverclocking: [[spoiler: He uses the mass-displacement technology the Functionist Council used on him to grow to to absolutely Unicronian levels of size to take on the Luna-2 Harvester, though it's unspeakably painful to do, and he dies after only a few minutes of fighting.]]
* TheFogOfAges: Rung is somewhere around six to seven million years old and due to information creep has forgotten his true purpose. Then he remembers when exposed to trauma...
* {{Foil}}: To Drift, in a meta way. Drift was presented to the fandom as some really cool character (ninja, sleek car, respected Autobots shilling for him). Rung is simply psychiatrist, is considered the weakest crewmember, others don't take him seriously and even keeps getting called by the wrong name, and transforms into an office ornament, of all things.
** It may work in another way too. Whereas Drift was hyped upon his introduction, he has since been played down and integrated with the cast. Rung was introduced quietly and casually, and is gradually hinted that he is going to be very important later. For example, his alt mode is ''not'' actually an office ornament. No one knows what it is, so the Functionists invented a new and complete BS category for him.
* TheFogOfAges: He himself lampshades this in issue 5 of ''Lost Light''. He's been around so long, he's forgotten his purpose. [[spoiler: It's to produce photonic crystals. The same kind of crystal that the Matrix is and that can store the energies of Sparks.]]
* GeekPhysiques
* {{Hypocrite}}: A tragic example; [[spoiler: when Rung calls out Froid on having become too close to Sunder, Froid snaps back that Rung is hardly in a position to throw such an accusation around, given that he himself got involved with a patient and concealed that fact.]]
* InsultBackFire: [[spoiler: Alternate!Rung is commonly hailed as 'The Useless One', with the Functionist Council calling him that as an insult. Once it's been revealed what Rung's function is revealed, and the Functionist Council as well, Rung returns the insult as the Functionist Council, as they're truly the useless ones.]]
* KitschCollection: Of model spaceships.
* MeaningfulName: Rung's name is both a play on his alt form (which is, at first glance, functionally useless, much like how a ladder rung is useless without the rest of the ladder) and a reference to UsefulNotes/CarlJung. This is further confirmed by the name of the other Cybertronian psychologist, Froid, whose name is the last name of UsefulNotes/SigmundFreud as it is pronounced.
* MetaGuy: His [[AllThereInTheManual psychological analysis]] provided more background info for several characters in LSOTW, mostly the "Wrookies."
* MikeNelsonDestroyerOfWorlds: If [[spoiler: Functionist-timeline Rung's]] words are anything to go by, [[spoiler: Rung may be the indirect bringer of the apocalypse.]] Subverted. He tried to invoke this so that [[spoiler:the AVL would have a martyr and destroy the Functionist Council.]]
* MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning: [[spoiler: In the alternate timeline, Rung encourages his own execution at the hands of the Functionist One-of-Twelve, saying his death will herald the beginning of the end.]]
** Seems to actually be worried about this in the main timeline; [[spoiler: when he thinks he is about to die, he requests that if he should die in his alt mode, he be disassembled. "Put me beyond use"]].
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Implied to be how he feels about [[spoiler: covering up the fact that he was stripped of his license to practice psychiatry. After Froid dredges his feelings of guilt back up, Rung decides to quit psychiatry all together.]]
* NiceGuy: The best example among the ''Lost Light'' crew.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: [[spoiler:In ''Births, Deaths & Interventions'' he saves Megatron from a lobotomy at the hands of Trepan. Though Trepan was a sadistic mnemosurgen, it was one the major events that led Megatron to found the Decepticons, and everything that followed.]]
** Not to mention being accidentally responsible for Megatron's initial arrest, which made the Senate aware of his writings in the first place.
* NonActionGuy: Lampshaded by himself when his internal monologue reveals he was happy when he was forced to sit out during the Battle of Temptoria.
* NonStandardCharacterDesign: No other Cybertronian has his kind of build.
** He is also the only mech so far with eyebrows, enough to earn him a nickname for it. (They move independently too!)
* OnlyFriend: The sole member of the crew trusted by Red Alert.
* OpaqueNerdGlasses: Which actually are glasses, as it eventually turns out.
* RecurringExtra: Before the events of the series. He's been described in-universe as a "historical constant."
* TheRedBaron: [[spoiler: His alternate self in the Functionist-controlled Cybertron is known by his devotees as "The Useless One" because of his altmode that defies the Grand Cybertronian Taxonomy. Then however we find out what he's for...]]
* TheShrink: Formerly to the Wreckers and now to the crew of The Lost Light.
* SimpleStaff: His WeaponOfChoice, as seen in MTMTE #24 (Dark Cybertron #4).
* SpottingTheThread: He was able to deduce [[spoiler: the true identity of Minimus Ambus.]]
* TeamMom
* ThisIsADrill: [[spoiler:The alternate Functionist Council claim his alt-mode is a giant drill. It isn't, they just increased his mass and stuck some fake drill parts on him.]]
* ToylessToylineCharacter: Rung has no official toy as of yet, just a made-up figure featured on a comic cover. Though in the Combiner Wars Toyline, the Bios are written as Psych-Profiles by Rung.
* TreasureChestCavity: 90% of his body is made of compartments.
* WarriorTherapist: He knows how to study people and find physical and mental weak points, which he's more than willing to exploit in case he does get into fights.
* YouDontLookLikeYou: Rung's first appearance, back in ComicBook/TheTransformersIDW, doesn't match his present design (his chest is far more rectangular than it should be, for one), which doesn't gel with the idea that his form's remained unchanged.
* YourHeadASplode: Barely survives having his head blown off by Swerve.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Brainstorm]]
[[quoteright:100:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/brainstorm_2882.png]]
-->''Don't. Mock. The briefcase.''
An egotistical and amoral workaholic scientist who loves developing deadly and outrageous weaponry. He's an old friend/coworker of Chromedome's and is virulently jealous of fellow scientist Perceptor. He's one of the more [[WalkingSpoiler ...colorful]] crew members who tends to get inspired a little too easily...

* AdaptationalVillainy: [[spoiler:His ''Headmasters'' incarnation was a similarly frenetic idea guy, but with none of the whole "Decepticon plant" thing going on. However, his ultimate goal is noble and, despite being a Decepticon, he's not that bad a guy.]]
* AntiVillain: There's an awful lot of 'evil' tropes here, but he's really not all ''that'' evil.
* AlienBlood: Unlike the purple Energon everyone else has, Brainstorm's is reddish orange, possibly as a result of being a Dead Universe infectee.
* AliensOfLondon: He has a British accent, occasionally reflected in his speech patterns (using "maths" instead of "math", for instance.)
* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: How Perceptor is presented in relation to him. [[GreenEyedMonster It shows.]]
-->'''Brainstorm:''' Okay, '''confession time:''' I '''may''' have overstated my expertise in this area. [[BlatantLies Unintentionally and uncharacteristically]], that '''may''' be what I've done. Maybe it's the pressure to perform, maybe it's because you're all staring at me —maybe it's because you're asking me to juggle the fundamental building blocks of life and death— but I'm a '''teensy''' bit overwhelmed.
-->'''Rodimus:''' Hey, I totally understand. Who '''wouldn't''' be overwhelmed? Who '''wouldn't''' freeze up? I guess the only person I can think of is Perceptor...
-->'''Brainstorm:''' Oh, well played, Captain. Well played.
* ArcVillain: [[spoiler:His quantum duplicate is the one behind the DJD invasion in the "Slaughterhouse" arc, though to his credit he did try to keep the others safe. Once his other self is exposed, he takes a direct role as the main antagonist of the "Elegant Chaos" arc.]]
* BadassGay: Revealed in ''Elegant Chaos'' to be in love with [[spoiler:the deceased Quark.]]
* BeenThereShapedHistory: [[spoiler:Teleporting onto Messatine caused the evacuation that forced Megatron to abandon Terminus.]]
* BeneathSuspicion: [[spoiler:Sometimes, the best place to find the enemy is to look for the guy dreaming up creative ways to kill them.]]
* BewareTheSillyOnes: Insane as his inventions are, they usually tend to work. There's also the fact [[spoiler:that he's actually a Decepticon agent who invented GrandfatherParadox-free time travel.]]
* BreakoutCharacter: While mostly a supporting character in Season One, ''Dark Cybertron'' gives him more exposure, and he's at the heart of the first two arcs of Season Two.
* BunnyEarsLawyer: To put it mildly. On one occasion, Chromedome walks into his workshop to find him working on something while hanging upside down from the ceiling, and on another occasion wryly notes that "What is a giant naked human doing in your lab?" is a question most people would only need to ask once in a lifetime. In ''Lost Light'' he manages to find a way to teleport [[spoiler:across universes.]]
* CombatPragmatist: In Issue #33, [[spoiler:he walks into Swerve's and drops everyone by opening his his briefcase. It's later revealed that he'd been slowly contaminating the drinks over a period of time and opening the briefcase simply activated the toxins.]]
* CrazyEnoughToWork: His MO.
* DarkAndTroubledPast:
** It's implied in issue #16 that he once lost a Conjunx Endura, or somebody else he cared about.
** #38 reveals that [[spoiler:his unrequited crush, Quark, died in a Decepticon prison camp, and he never got over it.]] Of course, the ''rest'' of the series shows that this isn't the only think dark and troubled about his past...
* DeadAllAlong: More like undead all along -- you get the idea.
* DevilInPlainSight: [[spoiler:While morally ambiguous Autobots are by no means rare, Brainstorm ranks amongst the most gleefully amoral of the bunch. Turns out there's a ''reason'' for this.]]
* DirtyCoward: Doesn't like fighting, and in a bad situation he'll run away or cower, depending on his options. He also claims he's "allergic" to hostile environments. [[spoiler:As he could probably figure out to kill most people with little effort it's implied that this is his way of not being forced into using lethal force.]]
* DramaticUnmask: He's actually got a mouth, like his ''Headmasters'' incarnation. That much isn't a spoiler. [[spoiler: The Decepticon insignia painted on the inside of his faceplate most definitely is.]] Nautica (and virtually everyone else) didn't think he actually had one (similar to Empurata victims like Whirl).
* TheEngineer: He's the self-proclaimed "ship's genius."
* EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor: As one of the more more morally dubious members of the crew, he's a wellspring of ComedicSociopathy. His second scene in the series has him crack a joke about the horrific death of Ore. [[spoiler:When we find out he's a Decepticon spy, he becomes a straight example of the trope.]]
* EvilIsNotAToy: Honestly, how else was keeping Nova Prime's corpse in his lab going to end?
* FaceFramedInShadow: After [[spoiler:knocking out everyone in Swerve's Bar following TheReveal he's a Decepticon mole.]]
* FanBoy: Of Perceptor. A highly conflicted fanboy. [[spoiler: With the later revelation that he's in love with Quark (who was based off of ''[[WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated Animated'' Perceptor]]), he's implied to be somewhat attracted to Perceptor due to his similarities to Quark.]]
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** The sparkeater passing him over in favor of another target. However high-functioning they may be, zombies' souls evidently don't taste that great.
** His preferred method of consuming Energon and Engex involves pouring it directly into a port on his forearm, as opposed to using a mouth or mouth port like everyone else. Though it's possibly justified by his altered physiology, [[spoiler:he can't safely unclip his faceplate in view of anyone else to do the same.]] In addtion, [[spoiler:it's revealed that he poisoned the Engex in Swerve's, in case he needed to incapacitate the crew.]]
* GadgeteerGenius
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: [[spoiler:Alternate Brainstorm informed the DJD where Overlord was, but demanded that no one else got hurt, claiming it would blow his cover. Tarn claims they originally planned to uphold the deal, but Drift's presence triggered a killing frenzy that ended with the Alternate Lost Light crew dead. Since the two Lost Lights were essentially crewed by the same people, Brainstorm knows his Alt would have done this since this is what ''he'' would have done.]]
* GodzillaThreshold: He excels at designing weapons which would only be used if the universe itself were threatened.
* GrandfatherParadox: [[spoiler:Found a way to override it, and tries to prevent the Great War from happening.]]
* GunNut: It's even his title in his newer "Meet the Crew" bio.
* HeroicComedicSociopath
* HiddenDepths: Comes off as a bit of a {{Jerkass}}, which he often is, but is surprisingly couth when comforting Chromedome after Rewind's death. The reason for his surprising sympathy becomes tragic [[spoiler: when you learn that his crush Quark died in a Decepticon prison camp after the war started and Brainstorm has a ''really'' bad case of UnrequitedLoveLastsForever.]]
* {{Hikkikomori}}: At the end of ''Remain In Light'' he's holed himself up in his lab to obsess over the Point One Percenter spark he harvested from Luna-1, though he does emerge briefly in the prose story "Sound of Shattered Glass" to talk to Swerve.
* InsufferableGenius: A brilliant scientist, but he insists on behaving like Primus' gift to the Cybertronian race.
* {{Irony}}: Despite building his whole career off of making horribly deadly weapons that get people killed, [[spoiler:Brainstorm has deliberately never personally killed anyone.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: His interactions with Chromedome following Rewind's apparent death seem to establish him as this -- even after the reveal that [[spoiler:he's a Decepticon spy]] we find that [[spoiler: his goals were much more noble than what was expected]]. He's also surprisingly nice to NaiveNewcomer Nautica, modifying her wrench with various doodads of dubious usefulness and chatting with her often.
* LackOfEmpathy: For the most part.
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: He supplies the first words in the first issue taking place after ''Dark Cybertron''.
-->'''Brainstorm:''' ''(as Nautica returns from an errand)'' And-- we're back! You were ages.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: [[spoiler:The reason why he decided to unilaterally change the course of history was because [[AllLoveIsUnrequited Quark]] died in a prisoner camp during the war. To be fair, his original plan was simply to save Quark, but Rewind's death and Chromedome's subsequent emotional breakdown inspired him to change plans and just prevent the whole thing.]]
* MadScientist: Brainstorm is the sort of guy who'll ask, "Can it be done?" rather than, "Should it be done?" And even if the answer to the second question is a resounding "NO!", he'll probably go through with it anyway just to see what would happen.
* MakeWrongWhatOnceWentRight[=/=]SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: [[spoiler:His endgame is to travel back in time and prevent the war from starting at all. Initially he doesn't want to kill anybody at all. While he views this as the latter doing so would turn Cybertron into a Functionist-dominated dystopia.]]
* MetaGuy: Brainstorm has commented on story pacing, infodumps, and how often their titular race is called on to save the universe from destruction. He even creates a "Meta-bomb", which makes those affected by it believe they're part of a comic. [[CrazyEnoughToWork It works]].
** He comes up with a new "Early Early Warning System", which basically taps into meta-fiction and gives warnings like "Uh-Oh" or "Run for your life!"
* TheMole: Drift's accomplice.
* MoreDakka: After various disasters, Swerve asks him to provide his bar with a defense system. He takes this as an opportunity to install ''guns in the walls,'' activated by a big lever.
* {{Narcissist}}:
-->'''Brainstorm''': I'm too smart to die!
* NonActionGuy: He has mentioned throughout the series that he's too smart to die young and that he's allergic to hostile environments. In fact issue 38 reveals that [[spoiler: he's never taken a life by his own hand.]]
* NoodleIncident: His first foray into the joys of DisposingOfABody, apparently something Whirl asked him for help with.
* ObfuscatingInsanity: As Issue #33 shows, Brainstorm's manias aren't all they seem.
* OddFriendship: With Nautica. She's a [[GenkiGirl bright]], [[NaiveNewcomer innocent]] WrenchWench from a long-lost Cybertronian colony that completely missed the War. He's a Jerkass [[ComedicSociopathy Comedic Sociopath]] whose inventions are probably responsible for more death and destruction than most Transformers put together. They get along swimmingly, [[spoiler:and this relationship is the reason why Nautica takes the discovery of Brainstorm's treachery particularly hard.]]
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: "Brainstorm" is just a nickname given to him at the New Institute, though like Chromedome, he seems to have adopted it as his actual name. [[spoiler:His real name is Genitus of Operation: Solar Storm.]]
* OurZombiesAreDifferent: A flashback reveals that a lab accident with Nova's corpse rendered him undead right before the beginning of the series.
** NonHumanUndead
** TechnicallyLivingZombie: Inverted. While undead, he still continues to function pretty normally.
* PassFail: When the topic of Constructed/Forged Cybertronians comes up, Brainstorm quickly says that he was forged, hastily adding that he supported rights for Constructed Cybertronians. However, when the Universal Killswitch is activated, Brainstorm is shown writhing in pain along with the other Constructed Cold Cybertronians.
** And later on, he's revealed to be an MTO, meaning he wasn't even alive at the time anyway.
* PetTheDog: When grief begins forcing Chromedome toward a morally questionable solution, Brainstorm steps in and does his level best to persuade him otherwise. And of all the crew, ''he's'' the one who ends up taking Nautica under his wing.
* PragmaticHero: [[spoiler: He becomes a Decepticon specifically because Decepticons had greater access to resources he needed for his projects (he attributes this to the looting and raiding) and exchanges minor or outdated information for ties to their network.]] Rodimus eventually makes him stop this.
* RedOniBlueOni: Whereas Perceptor favours caution and restraint, Brainstorm will always ask whether or not something ''can'' be done, rather than if it ''should'' be done. Case in point: harvesting the Superspark.
* ReverseMole: Brainstorm spied for the Decepticons, but deliberately never gave them useful information, so that he could [[spoiler: acquire the materials from both sides to build his Time Machine.]].
* SayingSoundEffectsOutLoud: Does this on Luna-1 after the hot spot ignites. [[MetaGuy He would, though]].
* ShipTease: It been implied he has a thing for Perceptor (from owning various microscopes based on Perceptor's alt mode, being refered as a "conflited Perceptor fanboy" and the fact [[spoiler:Quark's design is based on TFA Perceptor]]).
* TheSmartGuy: MadScientist variety.
* StraightManAndWiseGuy: The incorrigible smartass Wise Guy to joyless and by-the-book Perceptor's StraightMan.
* TalkingTheMonsterToDeath: [[spoiler:Rung is ultimately able to talk him out of killing Megatron.]]
* TechnicalPacifist: [[spoiler:He's ''never'' taken a life by his own hand, in spite of the fact that he was ''literally'' built solely to kill. As he says: not by chance. By ''choice.'']]
* TragicVillain: It turns out [[spoiler: he only used the Decepticons to further his plan to go back in time and prevent the war from happening at all.]]
* {{Troll}}: [[ComicBook/TheTransformersLastStandOfTheWreckers Back on Kimia]], he was fond of building horrendously over-the-top weapons solely to piss off the Ethics Committee.
* UnrequitedLoveLastsForever: [[spoiler:Quark may not have have even realized his affections, but Brainstorm was willing to create GrandfatherParadox-exempt- TimeTravel to save him. ''Our Worlds Will Always Rhyme'' reveals that he was constructed cold during the war, so he intended to ''sacrifice himself'' along with the timeline to save Quark.]]
* WalkingSpoiler: So many significant things are revealed about him that it's like a running gag without the laughs. In ascending order of importance, he's a former employee of the New Institute, Drift's chief accomplice, a high-functioning zombie, [[spoiler:a Decepticon plant]] [[spoiler:(except not exactly)]], and indirectly behind a ton of the series' mysteries and events.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler:In the end, his goal was simply to save Quark and everyone else killed by the war, even if it means never being born due to a paradox.]]
* YellowEyesOfSneakiness: Well, yellow-orange, but he's still one of the most morally ambiguous members of the crew.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Via his Quantum Duplicate.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Nautica]]
[[quoteright:100:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nautica-mtmte_3703.png]]
A cheerful if shy engineer with a love of machinery and literature. She desires to learn more about how the universe works and its history. Rarely seen without her trusty wrench.

* {{Adorkable}}: All the time.
* AmbiguousDisorder: She seems to have difficulty socializing with others and has issues with telling when others don't want to be touched.
* AmbiguouslyBi: She had some ship tease with both Skids and Velocity.
* AudienceSurrogate: For season 2.
* {{Bookworm}}: She read 4.3 million years worth of history in three weeks.
* BreakTheCutie: In ''Slaughterhouse, Part 2'', she's devastated upon finding out that [[spoiler:Brainstorm is a Decepticon mole.]] And then in ''Dying of the Light'' when [[spoiler:Skids dies.]]
* CannotTellAJoke: Actually, she ''can'', they're just completely inaccessible to people who aren't quantum engineers.
* CargoShip: [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] in a meta-example by [[WordOfGod James Roberts]] in an interview, saying that her relationship with her wrench is the same as Guzzle's with ''The Judge'', his favorite gun.
* CutenessProximity: When she first meets Ravage, she thinks he's ''adorable''.
* DeadpanSnarker: Has her moments.
-->'''Nautica:''' If I had sarcasm-powered legs, I'd do a happy dance.
* ExtremeDoormat: Gets pushed around by Firestar fairly easily and is in general a very quiet, non-combative person.
* FacialHorror: [[spoiler: In the season 2 finale, she's injured when the Rod Pod is shot down. The metal skin on the left side of her face has been damaged exposing the circuitry. Though her left optic is fine, the metal around it has fallen away leaving an exposed circular lens in the vein of WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated Megatron]].
* FemBot
* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: In ''Slaughterhouse, Part 2'', she honestly believes ''Ravage'' would be willing to sacrifice himself to save some non-Cybertronians.
** And that he's an [[CutenessProximity adorable widdle kitty cat]].
* MagicTool: Brainstorm basically converts her wrench into a [[Series/DoctorWho Sonic Screwdriver]].
* NiceGirl
* [[NonActionGuy Non-Action Girl]]: She's a mechanic, not a soldier. Best demonstrated in issue 42, where she desperately attempts to fight the Personality Tics, only to [[CurbStompBattle get decked with a single punch]]. By the season finale, however, she proves quite capable when given a power boost.
* NoSenseOfPersonalSpace: She seems to have trouble understanding when people don't want someone near them. This is especially bad with Ravage.
* NoSocialSkills: Case in point, ''trying to see if Megatron was ticklish''.
* ShipTease: She becomes very close to Skids, dancing with him and they're often seen comforting each other. [[spoiler: She's completely devastated when he sacrifices his life in the second season finale]]. Her first interaction with Velocity comes as rather flirty too:
-->'''Nautica:''' "Tell me your name. I want to worship you like a god".
* SixthRanger: Joins up with the crew after ''Dark Cybertron''.
* SociallyAwkwardHero: There's petting Ravage and accidentally insulting him in the process, avoiding the rave on the ''Vis Vitalis'', and ''tickling Megatron to find his ticklish spot''.
* TheSmartGirl: There's a reason she's known as "The Savant" in-universe and out.
* SuperIntelligence: To the point that she may possibly be an Outlier.
* TertiarySexualCharacteristics: Her bright purple lips and navel.
* [[ThoseTwoGuys Those Two Bots]]: Had something like this with Chromia when she first appeared in ''Dark Cybertron''. Seems to have established something similar with Brainstorm (and later Nightbeat) on the ''Lost Light''.
* ToylessToylineCharacter: Initially, given that she was a wholly new character created for the series when she first appeared in Dark Cybertron. She eventually received a toy of her own as part of a Titans Return box-set that is a redeco of that line's Blurr figure, although the lack of effort in retooling the figure to actually look like Nautica left many fans and collectors displeased.
* WrenchWench: She has a tendency to brandish her wrench as a weapon. Take even further with her holomatter avatar, which has her dressed as a plumber.
** [[MrFixIt Ms FixIt]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Chromedome]]
[[quoteright:100:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/chromedome_2150.png]]
-->''Try "Get out of my '''head'''." Or even better "Get out of my '''memories'''."''
A mopey and depressed mnemosurgeon with a DarkAndTroubledPast. He hopes to move on and make a new life for himself with his Conjunx Endura Rewind, whom he heavily relies upon. He resents his own talents as others constantly pressure or exploit him because of them.

* AntiHero
* AnArmAndALeg: Loses an arm in the slow cell door as he reaches for Rewind. [[spoiler:Loses an arm a second time when Rewind cuts it off to stop him killing himself trying to save Dominus Ambus.]]
* BerserkButton: Any harm coming to Rewind. Prowl's emotional abuse and manipulation gets him fired up almost as much.
* BrainwashingForTheGreaterGood: The excuse for his old job at the New Institute. [[CorruptPolitician Zeta]] [[BitchInSheepsClothing Prime]] claimed that kidnapping and brainwashing insurgents and sympathizers was necessary for the greater good, but it was for ''Zeta's'' greater good, certainly not the people's.
* BrokenBird: Used to be [[DarkAndTroubledPast a major one]]. Happens again when Rewind dies.
* BreakTheHaughty
* CantHoldHisLiquor: According to Rewind, who would know, Domey gets hammered pretty quickly.
* CartwrightCurse: ''Four times''. [[spoiler:Eventually, though, the last time undergoes a reversal of sorts thanks to Rewind II.]]
* CatapultNightmare: One side-effect of reading dead-people's minds is reliving their last moments (which are often fairly gruesome, considering what it takes to kill a Transformer).
* TheCynic
* DarkAndTroubledPast
* DarkSecret: He's got one, though we don't know what it is yet. Evidently it's so bad that Chromedome promptly [[MindRape Mind Rapes]] Prowl for trying to blackmail him with it.
* DeadpanSnarker:
-->'''Chromedome:''' Short answer: No. Long answer: No, don't be an idiot.
* DeathSeeker: He's not as ''proactive'' about it as Whirl, not since he met Rewind at an assisted suicide facility, but he still doesn't seem to be especially eager to go on living. Mnemosurgery slowly kills its practitioners, and despite repeatedly promising Rewind he'd give it up, he keeps doing it, and not always because it's vitally important to the survival of the ship. He gets decidedly reckless with Overlord, to the point where he stops telling people he's going in for a session. [[spoiler:When he finds Dominus Ambus, it takes Rewind severing his arm to prevent him from killing himself to bring Dominus back from domestication.]]
* DoNotCallMePaul: After Rewind dies, he gets quite angry at being called Domey.
* EyeScream: [[spoiler:His quantum duplicate was killed by Vos this way, using his own finger needles.]]
* FunctionalAddict: He could stop performing mnemosurgery, yet continues to do so, even when it isn't strictly necessary. His repeated promises to Rewind that he'll quit never stick, regardless of the fact that he's aware mnemosurgery will likely result in his death. Other than the nightmares, he seems to function decently most of the time.
* HappilyFailedSuicide: He probably would have gone through with it if Rewind hadn't distracted him. They ended up getting together.
* {{Hikikomori}}: Starts off Season 2 depressed and isolated in his hab suite.
* IllBoy: Every time Chromedome injects somebody, it weakens him severely, and it takes longer and longer for him to recover. By issue #52 he's still recovering from injecting Tailgate, an act that happened ''months'' previously and needs rest. As Rewind sadly says, one day he won't recover.
* InterrogatingTheDead: He can read dead people's memories, but it's incredibly unpleasant for him. [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything Rewind is worried that one day it'll kill him]], and urges him to quit.
* [[spoiler:IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: Was willing to sacrifice his own life to save Dominus Ambus' for Rewind's sake. Rewind ensures that doesn't happen, killing Dominus, but saving Chromedome.]]
* KillTheOnesYouLove: Blows up a cell with Overlord and Rewind in it in order to spare Rewind a worse death at Overlord's hands. [[spoiler: Overlord claims it didn't save him, but he may have been lying to spite him.]]
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: He couldn't deal with losing his past conjunx endurae, so he erased his memories of them.
* LooseLips: His blabbing that Megatron was still alive gave Overlord the motivation to break free. Also, non-discriminantly speaking your mind seems to be a side effect of having it read, especially if it's a memory both parties share.
* MindMeld: His specialty.
* MindRape: His response to Prowl trying to blackmail him was to forcibly invade Prowl's mind and delete the information that let him make the threat.
* TheMole: Brought into Drift and Brainstorm's Overlord operation at the last minute.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: His actions in ''Remembrance Day'' result him breaking things in both comics series at the same time. He allows Overlord to find an opening during mnemosurgery, which allows for his escape. And his hasty mnemosurgery on Prowl allows for things to go really bad on Cybertron during the events of ComicBook/TheTransformersRobotsInDisguise.
* OfficialCouple: With Rewind.
* OnlyFriend: Brainstorm's.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: His real name is "Tumbler," but his head-themed nickname, a carryover from his work at the New Institute, is so pervasive even Rewind, his Conjunx Endura, calls him by it.
* ReplacementGoldfish: Has worried that he's this to Rewind since they got together. [[spoiler: When he tries to save Dominus Ambus at the cost his own life, Rewind proves its not the case by saving his life over Dominus'.]]
* SuicidalOverconfidence: Drift explained to him that Overlord's cell [[YearInsideHourOutside slowed down its content]]. That way, if Overlord managed to break his restraints, the people outside would have plenty of time to sound the alarm and escape. Therefore the rule was that anytime somebody visited Overlord, somebody else had to remain outside. Chromedome was so sure he could handle Overlord, he went to see him alone.
* TheSmartGuy
* TalkingInYourSleep: Leads Rewind to suspect that something is up.
* TooCleverByHalf: He's a damn good mnemosurgeon, but Overlord probably wouldn't have escaped if he hadn't let it get to his head.
* VisualPun: His real name is Tumbler, and he transformers into a Cybertronian vehicle with no small resemblance to the Batmobile from ''Franchise/TheDarkKnightSaga''.
* WhatTheHellHero: Rewind displays minor shades of this toward Chromedome as the latter's explaining how he can get Overlord off-ship. Subtly played later by Brainstorm when he advises Chromedome not to wipe his memory of Rewind, because Rewind would truly be dead then.
* [[WeUsedToBeFriends We Used to Be Boyfriends]]: However close he and Prowl may have been in the past, it clearly doesn't extend into the present day.
* WorthLivingFor: Rewind is basically the only reason he's still alive. [[spoiler:Which makes Rewind's death incredibly hard on him and Rewind II's arrival all the more heartwarming.]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Velocity]]
[[quoteright:100:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mtmte_velocity.jpg]]
A somewhat naive scientist/medic and old friend of Nautica's. Initially serving on the Vis Vitalis as Thunderclash's doctor, she joins up with the Lost Lighters as part of the medical staff.

* ActionGirl: Of a CombatMedic variety.
* ADegreeInUseless: Due to the culture of her birthworld, she thinks that her medical studies are this.
* AffectionateNickname: "Lotty", used mostly by Nautica.
* ArmCannon: She has two small guns located in her wrists, though she averts BottomlessMagazines by mentioning they don't have a lot of ammunition.
* BookDumb: She's clearly pretty intelligent, but it's noted that she took so long to get her medical license because she kept flunking her exams and book work.
* CombatMedic
* DoesNotLikeGuns: Averted. Like Pyra Magna, Velocity does have wrist mounted projectile weaponry, in spite of her culture being predominantly anti-gun.
* HeroicSelfDeprecation: Due to Caminus's emphasis on performing arts as worthy, Velocity grew up believing that her medical studies and lack of interest in performance was weird and worthless.
* IChooseToStay: She decides to go with Nautica and the rest of the Lost Light, rather than return to Caminus.
* TheMedic: A newly graduated one and becomes the ship's main medic for the latter part of season two after Ratchet and First Aid's departures and before Ratchet's return.
* [[TheSmartGuy The Smart Girl]]
* SixthRanger: Joins the crew towards the last quarter of Season Two.

[[/folder]]

!!Recreation

[[folder:Swerve]]
[[quoteright:100:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/swerve_4756.png]]
-->''I'm here for the quest. Love a good quest. Haven't been on a quest since the whole Luna-1 thing. The Moonquest.''
A metallurgist and the ship bartender who joined the quest in hopes of doing something notable in his life. He's a MotorMouth who loves talking with everyone but is secretly very lonely and desperate for companionship. He loves pranking and irritating his fellow crewmembers.


* AcheyScars: He has an old war wound in his shoulder that acts up on occasion. [[spoiler: Because it has one of Agent 113's data bullets lodged in it.]]
* AngstWhatAngst: Despite [[spoiler: the death of his best, and in fact only friend Skids during the events of Dying of the Light]], Swerve is remarkably chipper the very next day as Anode rather tactlessly points out. [[spoiler: It's because he, and some other members of Team Rodimus are having Velocity administer "mood suppressants" to suppress their feelings of grief over Skids' death rather than trying to actually process them.]]
* ATeamFiring: He's a terrible shot, particularly in the heat of the moment.
* BadBoss: He's quick-tempered and rather callous towards Ten. In fairness, he doesn't think that Ten is sentient.
* TheBartender: Wanted to be one since before the war broke out.
* BreakoutCharacter: Quickly became a fan favorite and is now heading up the recaps at the beginning of each issue.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Has a few such moments, such as dispatching a Legislator or knocking out [[TheMole Paddox]] with Rung.
* DeadpanSnarker: A pretty good one at times. Though given the sheer volume of stuff he says, probability dictates that at least some of it has to be this.
* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife
* EpicFail: Star Saber is standing right in front of him when he shoots. Star Saber is ''several'' times his size, and Swerve still manages not to hit him even once. Not to mention…
* FacialHorror: That time he '''''shot his own face off'''''.
* FanBoy: Of Blurr, particularly the speedster's pre-war racing career. He can quote the exact statistics of every single one of Blurr's races from memory.
** Subscribed to [[ComicBook/TheTransformersLastStandOfTheWreckers Fisitron's Wreckers Declassified]], though he complained about the repetitive phrasing.
* HeelRealization: The psychic assault he underwent in issue 50 (which causes the target to experience things they secretly feel guilty for) had him imagine Ten was yelling at him for treating him as less than sentient. Swerve felt awful about this, and bringing Ten along on the trip to the Necrobot's planet was an attempt to make it up to him.
* IJustShotMarvinInTheFace: He accidentally shoots Rung in the head, and later blows his own face off (fortunately neither case was fatal).
* IJustWantToHaveFriends: He's secretly very lonely and desperately wants true friendship. Deconstructed as he's quick to take any kind action towards him as a sign of genuine friendship.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: While Swerve can be a bit mean and doesn't believe himself to truly make friends, there are bots he truly cares about. Demonstrated in Issue 18, where Swerve is concerned over Skids' safety after the ''Lost Light'' is overrun by Legislators.
* KickTheDog: He treats "Ten" horribly. Tellingly, "Ten" has not made a replica of Swerve in his diorama. By the end of season two, however, this ends up being subverted as he comes to treat Ten like an equal and a friend.
* MediumAwareness: While under the effects of Brainstorm's Meta-Bomb.
** Seems to still be going on. Issue 43 reveals that the issue recaps are ''canon'', and that he occasionally just turns to the wall and explains what's going on, because he [[MetaGuy suspects that there are readers observing him]]. And the entire issue ([[ItMakesSenseInContext involving him subconsciously creating an entire holographic earth that runs on sitcom tropes]]) was his way of dealing with his growing awareness that he is OutOfFocus in Season 2.
* MotorMouth: His nickname at the academy was Shut The Hell Up and he's ''literally'' incapable of doing so for more than a few seconds. [[JustifiedTrope This turns out to be because he has]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logorrhea_(psychology) Logorrhea]].
* NonActionGuy: Describes himself as one of the weakest bots on the Lost Light and, according to Sunstreaker, he was voted "ship's coward." All of this is on top of his poor marksmanship and small size. Despite all this, he's had a few awesome moments of his own knocking Paddox out with a transformed Rung and destroying a legislator that was unfortunate enough to teleport into his bar with assorted weaponry.
* NonstandardCharacterDesign: Swerve has FourFingeredHands.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: Most people forget that he was a researcher in Kimia. [[spoiler:In fact, he's the one that actually unravels Pharma's notes on how to treat Cybercrosis, Ratchet then makes the cure based on Swerve's theory.]] Lampshaded by Swerve himself.
-->'''Swerve''':''Who says you can't be a metallurgist '''and''' a bartender?''
* OutOfFocus: In the first half of season 2 he does notably little compared to season 1, largely staying in the bar. This turns out to be for a rather dark reason; see MediumAwareness above.
* SadClown: For all his jokes, he feels incredibly isolated, and is no stranger to loss. He mentions Cyclonus killed some of his friends during his [[ComicBook/TheTransformersIDW takeover of Kimia]].
* SecretStabWound: Seriously wounded in ''Spotlight: Hoist'' when the shuttle crashes, but he deliberately hides the injury to keep the others from panicking.
* TheSmartGuy: Mostly [[Downplayed]], but his metallurgy expertise proves critical in [[spoiler:deciphering Pharma's notes on cybercrosis]] and realizing that Metroplex is infected with an alchemical virus.
* StepfordSmiler
* StraightManAndWiseGuy: The Wise Guy to Skids' StraightMan.
* WallOfBlather
* WateringDown: He does this to the drinks in his bar. [[spoiler: It ends up saving the crew when Brainstorm poisons the bar so he can time jump out.]]
* WeaponOfChoice: ''My First Blaster'' [[TradeSnark ™]], a large gun designed to look like a children's toy, courtesy of Brainstorm.
* WhatDoesThisButtonDo: When examining the Shoomer, he puts pressure on what he thinks is a secondary grip, but in reality it's the trigger (since it was Whirl's weapon, the trigger had to be sized up to accommodate his wider claws). It's what leads to the above FacialHorror.
* YourHeadASplode: [[spoiler:Gets his head crushed by Tarn on the duplicate ''Lost Light''.]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Ten]]
[[quoteright:100:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ten_2.png]]

-->''Ten.''

A reprogrammed Legislator who Swerve uses as a bouncer. Due to his brain being damaged, he can only say "Ten." Though Swerve writes him off as a mindless drone and accordingly treats him poorly, there's a lot more to "Ten" than there initially seems.

* {{Adorkable}}: Ratchet asks if he likes Ultra Magnus. Ten's response is to look away and quietly stammer "ten" repeatedly.
* AnnoyingArrows: Apparently fought Atomizer when the Legislators stormed the ship. As a bouncer the arrows still stick out of him, and he moves around fine. Though in ''Our Steps Will Always Rhyme'' he gets cleaned up and has the arrows removed when he goes drinking with Minimus.
* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: Ultra Magnus is the only one who takes Swerve to task over treating Ten like dirt. It does not go unnoticed.
* ButtMonkey: Ten suffers a number of humiliations at Swerve's hands, including not being allowed to sit on bar stools, being whacked across the head, and getting the words "I failed the Ambus Test" spray painted on his back.
* TheDogBitesBack: A subtle, but very poignant example of this. It's very telling that he's not made a toy of Swerve, who's been humiliating him since day one.
* EyelessFace: Like his fellow Legislators, he doesn't really have eyes.
* FanBoy: He's a huge fan of Ultra Magnus.
* HiddenDepths: Ten isn't the mindless drone he appears to be. He's actually capable of independent thought, and artistic expression. Also, he really doesn't like his new "boss" Swerve.
* MookFaceTurn: A damaged Legislator that Swerve patched up and reprogrammed to act as the bar bouncer.
* MoreThanMeetsTheEye: Pun intended. Despite appearing as a mindless drone, he's not only sentient, but a gifted artist. Turns out [[spoiler:he can speak in complete sentences and is suprisingly eloquent]].
* PerpetualFrowner: Due to damage around Ten's eye dents, and the way his mouth is structured, it makes his face look sad all the time.
* PokemonSpeak: "Ten."
** VerbalTicName: Got his name because it was the only thing he could say.

[[/folder]]

!!Others
[[folder:Ratchet]]

[[quoteright:100:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ratchet_923.png]]
-->''I've been doing this '''too long'''.''
The grouchy and snarky chief medical officer, Ratchet is starting to feel the effects of age and joined the crew in their quest in the hopes of finding a worthy successor. His staunch atheism and rational personality cause him to often bicker with the overly-superstitious Drift.

* ADayInTheLimelight: The Delphi two-parter and ''Our Steps Will Always Rhyme'' revolve around him - notably, the latter was the first time he'd been in the spotlight for quite some time.
* AwesomeByAnalysis: He figured Ultra Magnus was a LegacyCharacter from the very beginning.
* BadassGrandpa: Ratchet has very much an old man POV on life and is so worndown that his hands are seizing up. He also kicked the crap out of Pharma and his immediate reaction to Overlord popping up behind him was to turn on a dime and shoot him in the face.
* ChronicHeroSyndrome: Used to have this, back when we first saw him in this continuity.
* ColdBloodedTorture: On the receiving end of this, courtesy of Pharma, though Ratchet refuses to scream or give Pharma any satisfaction. ''Spotlight: Orion Pax'' reveals that Ratchet been tortured before by Bludgeon, who's "hurt him in ways only a doctor could understand," which may explain Ratchet's ability to resist here.
* CoolOldGuy: On full display in ''Our Steps Will Always Rhyme'', where he helps a majority of the main cast with their issues [[spoiler: such as Nautica forgiving Brainstorm or helping Minimus with his poetry before leaving the ''Lost Light''.]]
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler:His quantum duplicate suffered a nasty one, where Helex forced him to swallow his brain.]]
* DeadpanSnarker
* DualWielding: Two pistols, WesternAnimation/TheTransformersTheMovie style.
* {{Expy}}: If Pharma is [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries the Joker]], then Ratchet is NOT Batman, but rather [[ComicBook/TheKillingJoke Commissioner Gordon]]. Especially considering the torture he receives at the hands of Pharma is a means of breaking him, and just like Gordon, he endures it.
* FanBoy: Turns out he was subscribed to the [[ComicBook/TheTransformersLastStandOfTheWreckers Fisitron's Wrecker Files]].
* FireForgedFriends: As of the season two finale, he's come to develop respect for Megatron, acknowledging that he's really never had second thoughts about his HeelFaceTurn as evidenced by [[spoiler:never refusing the placebo Fool's Energon]] and always holding back when attacked.
* FlatEarthAtheist: He doesn't believe in the creation mythos.
* {{Foil}}: To Pharma.
* GrumpyBear: According to Roberts, a large part of this is because of the breakdown in his hands, though Ratchet does also have to deal with a lot of other problems; Drift, violence, Pharma, the fact that peace feels like an anti-climax to him, Megatron being on-board.
* IWillFindYou: He leaves the ''Lost Light'' to track down Drift and bring him home.
* LosingYourHead: Pharma removes his head (and spark) to show off his surgical skills after they meet again on Luna 1.
* TheLostLenore: Believes he could've been able to save [[ComicBook/TheTransformersLastStandOfTheWreckers Ironfist]].
* {{MacGyvering}}: Rigging Ambulon's corpse to make a one-shot energy gun to dispatch a Legislator.
** CombatPragmatist
* {{The McCoy}}
** CombatMedic: Make no mistake, Ratchet's perfectly willing to fight, as Pharma learns.
* TheMentor: To First Aid, whom he sees as his replacement.
* MythologyGag: When he returns from his bus trip, he's got a design that bears quite a few similarities to his ''[[WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime Prime]]'' counterpart - namely the white helmet with an orange crest.
* NervesOfSteel: Ratchet's been held hostage by experts. He's long since gotten bored of maniacs holding guns at him.
* NotGoodWithPeople: Ratchet is one of the best doctors in the business, but his interpersonal skills are kind of terrible (having to make up cockamamie excuses just to help people with their problems).
* PutOnABus: Leaves to find Drift on his own in issue #40.
** TheBusCameBack: [[spoiler: He and Drift return in issue #51 to help battle the DJD.]]
* SecretSecretKeeper: He's known all along that "Ultra Magnus" has actually been a succession of 'bots in PoweredArmor, all the way back to the very first, original Magnus, but never saw a point in letting people know. He also considers Minimus, the longest holder of the title to be the "true" Ultra Magnus.
* ShellShockedVeteran
* SherlockScan: Can pull these off, such as figuring out First Aid's transformation cog wasn't working when they met at Delphi. Given he's one of the most skilled medics alive, it's not surprising.
* TakeUpMySword: He's been training First Aid to become his replacement, which finally happens when he leaves the ''Lost Light'' in ''Our Steps Will Always Rhyme'' to find Drift.
* TookALevelInCynicism: He used to be more pleasant, though everything that's happened to him throughout the ''four million year war'' has evidently taken its toll on him.
* {{Tsundere}}: A non-romantic version towards Drift. Ratchet does honestly care about him, but is unwilling and unable to admit it before he left. This might just have something to do with Drift's history of mass-murder, given Ratchet mentions he thinks about the time he and Drift met constantly.
* VitriolicBestBuds: With Drift.
* WhatTheHellHero: When Ratchet refuses to let First Aid assist in fixing Ambulon, First Aid calls out him out on his supposed inflated sense of pride. Turns out Ambulon was already dead, and First Aid apologises for his rant, though Ratchet still agrees with him.
* WhenHeSmiles: A smile from Ratchet is vanishingly rare, what with his general grumpiness, but when it does happen, it's amazing to behold.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Drift]]
[[quoteright:100:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/drift_3615.png]]
-->''My faith will protect me. My faith and my sword.''
An ex-Decepticon and Rodimus' former third-in-command, Drift recently found religion after a near-death experience. Relentlessly and offensively upbeat ([[StepfordSmiler on the surface]]), he was the most spiritual member of the crew and frequently clashed with the atheistic Ratchet. Following the Overlord debacle, he was exiled for his part in it. He has his own miniseries covering the interim, ''ComicBook/TheTransformersDrift: Empire of Stone]]''.

* TheAtoner
* {{BFS}}: His Great Sword, though he rarely uses it.
* TheBigGuy: Among the bots in charge.
* TheBusCameBack: His appearance in ''Empire of Stone'' is his first in about a year and a half. [[spoiler:Later, he returns to ''MTMTE'' in issue #51, a whopping ''three years'' since his departure.]]
* CanonDiscontinuity: [[spoiler:He's sporting an Autobot badge when he and Ratchet re-appear in issue #51, which suggests the plot-thread from Empire of Stone, where Drift no longer identified as an Autobot, is being quietly ignored.]]
* ConMan: It's implied that before he switched sides, he stole at least a billion Shanix from the Decepticons war funds.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Underneath his annoyingly positive exterior is one of the deadliest warriors in Cybertronian history.
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler:On the duplicate ''Lost Light'', Helex forces him, Ratchet and Hound to eat their own brain modules.]]
* DeadpanSnarker
* DependingOnTheWriter: Generally, when his creator Shane [=McCarthy=] is writing him, he becomes more of a brooding FlatCharacter as opposed to the more fleshed-out take on him written by James Roberts.
* DisposableVagrant: Nearly. Sonic and Boom tried to kidnap him as a test subject for the institute, but were stopped by Orion Pax.
* DreamingOfThingsToCome: He confesses to Rodimus that when he stabbed himself during the events of ''[[ComicBooks/TheTransformersIDW Chaos]]'', he saw a future where [[spoiler:Rodimus was needed to save it, which is why he decides to take the fall for Rodimus.]]
* EasilyForgiven: Deadlock was one of the most prolific murderers the Decepticons had. Ratchet's treatment of Drift is probably a deliberate aversion of this.
* TheExile: After issue 16. Issue 21 reveals it was prearranged.
* FacialMarkings: [[spoiler:The new body he's sporting when he shows up on the Necrobot's planet has them. They are not too dissimilar from Windblade's, who also has Japanese-style markings on her face.]]
* FallGuy: He takes the blame for Rodimus.
* TheFriendNobodyLikes: No-one in the cast has an especially high opinion of Drift. Not even Rodimus, who Drift mentions berates and insults him frequently, or even threatens him with being jailed for his crimes just for not answering his calls quickly. When Drift takes the fall for Rodimus, a mob forms to boo him out of the ship.
* FromNobodyToNightmare: Before his HeelFaceTurn, he was a homeless junkie who managed to become one of the most dangerous mass-murders the Decepticons had.
* TheFundamentalist: Although it's implied to be at least partially an act.
* ICannotSelfTerminate: He begs Ratchet to kill him when infected with the red rust virus and he thinks the DJD might be coming. Ratchet refuses.
* IOweYouMyLife: Ratchet saved his life back before the war, and Drift is fairly protective of him in the present.
* InsigniaRipOffRitual: Rodimus strips him of his Autobrand before exiling him.
* KaleidoscopeEyes: apparently he can change his eye colors, as noted by Thunderclash. The art doesn't reflect this, though.
* KatanasAreJustBetter
* TheKirk
* TheMole: Worked with Prowl to smuggle Overlord on board the Lost Light.
* TheNeedsOfTheMany: He says he will take the blame for Overlord, so that Rodimus can continue with the Knight quest, as Drift believes something ominous is approaching and Rodimus, and the Knights of Cybertron are needed to stop it.
* OccidentalOtaku: At the end of his first mini, his paintjob sports ドリフト, the katakana for "Dorifto", and is seen posing with his swords among cherry blossoms.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: When it becomes obvious that Crystal City was attacked, he's clearly ''pissed.''
* ParodySue: Not as obvious as Thunderclash, but every now and then he has flashes of this.
* PowerTrio: With Rodimus and Ultra Magnus.
* PutOnABus: Following his exile due to his involvement in the Overlord affair.
** TheBusCameBack: [[spoiler:He and Ratchet return in issue #51 to help battle the DJD.]]
* ReformedButRejected: To a far lesser extent than, say, Cyclonus, but he still isn't widely liked or trusted. Magnus in particular has to resist the urge to arrest him on sight.
* ReligiousBruiser: Ever since he survived skewering himself, he's become far more religious.
* SophisticatedAsHell: Especially in ''Empire of Stone''.
* StepfordSmiler: When asked if he has any regrets, he just buries his face in his hands. And during the Shadowplay arc, he briefly mentions what Rodimus says about him, before instantly breaking out a wide grin and changing the subject.
* TakingTheHeat: He claims sole responsibility for the Overlord fiasco, only naming himself and the Duobots (both of whom are dead by that time) as the ones involved.
* ThatManIsDead: In ''Spotlight: Drift'', he declares that Deadlock is dead, [[MyNameIsInigoMontoya and that his name is Drift.]]
* UnreliableNarrator: Deliberately, to get on Ratchet's nerves, and Ratchet names the trope while calling him on it.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: [[spoiler:''The Permanent Revolution'' reveals that the DJD were planning to leave and spare the alternate ''Lost Lighters'' after killing Overlord, but the sight of turncoat Drift set them off and they went into a psychotic killing spree.]]
* VitriolicBestBuds: With Ratchet.
* WarriorPoet: He writes most of Rodimus' speeches.
* WhatTheHellHero: Is called out by Ratchet after his first instinct towards Dent was to kill him.
* YesMan: Ratchet comments that he was appointed to the command structure for only telling Rodimus what he wanted to hear.
* ZillionDollarBill: His currency card seems to have at least 1 '''BILLION''' shanix of funds in it.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Rewind]]
[[quoteright:100:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rewind_5447.png]]
-->''Everyone's shape serves a purpose.''
A friendly and trusting archivist and Chromedome's Conjunx Endura. He discovered the Matrix Map and supposedly joined the crew to find the Knights, but actually joined in hope of finding his long-missing previous Conjunx Endura, Dominus Ambus. He's highly protective of Chromedome and wants him to quit using mnemosurgery. Midway through Season One, he apparently dies trying to halt Overlord's rampage, but his body is never conclusively found.

At the beginning of Season 2, the crew finds the remains of a second ''Lost Light'' created in the quantum mishap at the beginning of the series. Its Rewind, the sole survivor of a DJD massacre, unexpectedly survives the overwriting of his ship and joins the crew.

!!Tropes which apply to both Rewinds:
* {{Adorkable}}
* CameraFiend: Keeps his camera on at all times, in case what he films is significant.
* CoolOldGuy: He's actually pretty old, but seeing as he has the outlook and enthusiasm of a much younger bot, you'd be forgiven for thinking otherwise.pts o
* CrazyJealousGuy: A benign version, but he doesn't really react well to Chromedome bringing up his past relationship with Prowl.
* CunningLinguist: He has a pretty good grip on Old Cybertronian and its predecessor language, though he still mistranslates something fairly important.
* TheCutie: Is he ever.
** BreakTheCutie:
* DefiantToTheEnd: [[spoiler:Before the Functionists detonate his obsolescence chip in the alternate timeline, he throws a pretty badass speech their way.]]
* {{Determinator}}: It doesn't matter that Dominus has been missing for millions of years, or that there's absolutely no evidence as to where he's gone, Rewind is gonna keep searching until he damn well finds him.
* HeroicSacrifice:Each version of him attempts at least one.
** Rewind I locks himself in the slow cell with Overlord while disengaging it from the hull. This one seems to have stuck, as we haven't seen him since Chromedome destroyed the cell.
** Rewind II attempts one in his introductory arc by way of pressing the ResetButton, but he somehow survives. Later he attempts this [[spoiler:on behalf of the ''entire Cybertronian race'' by trying to stop the architect of the Great War from ever coming to be.]]
* {{Keet}}: Though usually quieter than most.
* LivingEmotionalCrutch: Chromedome's.
* MadeASlave: Was around when the Functionist Council came up with the Grand Cybertronian Taxonomy, which reclassified 'bots like him as Disposable, not considered proper Cybertronians.
* NiceGuy: [[BerserkButton So long as you're not Prowl]].
* NonActionGuy: Officially, though his search for Ambus usually leads him into battles anyway.
* OfficialCouple: With Chromedome.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Old enough to remember Nova Prime ''before'' the guy went off the deep end. That's somewhere to the order of six million years old. It doesn't exactly show.
* [[PluckyGirl Plucky Guy]]: Despite being for all intents and purposes male, he fits this trope better than {{Determinator}}.
* SitcomArchNemesis: His and Prowl's attitudes towards each other are certainly reminiscent of this.
* TheSmartGuy: Archivist-style.
* UniquenessValue: One of the last few living Disposable class Cybertronians, and with his sheer wealth of knowledge, he's too valuable to risk in combat.
* YourHeadASplode: [[spoiler:Suffers this fate at the hands of the Functionists in the alternate timeline.]]

!!!Tropes which apply to the first Rewind:
* KillTheCutie: Seems like it, though we're not sure yet.
* DeadManWriting: Issue #22 is mostly the rough cut of a movie Rodimus had him put together.
* MercyKill: Chromedome blows up the slow cell with him and Overlord in it to spare him a worse death at Overlord's hands.
* NeverFoundTheBody: He was inside the Slow Cell when Cromedome blew it up. The only visible part of him was him camera. [[spoiler:Forty odd issues later, Overlord ''claims'' he murdered him, but we've only got his word for it.]]

!!!Tropes which apply to the second Rewind:

* BackFromTheDead: Sorta. He's a Quantum Superpositional duplicate, as real as the other Rewind, and one that survived the DJD massacre when they attacked his own Lost Light.
* BreakTheCutie: In his own way, and he gets it arguably even worse than the original Rewind.
* DeathSeeker: Becomes one after "his" Chromedome is killed, but ceases to be so when he survives his attempted HeroicSacrifice and is united with "our" similarly bereaved Chromedome.
* DoppelgangerReplacementLoveInterest: He and "our" Chromedome become this for each other.
* EasilyForgiven: The ''Lost Light'' forgives his [[spoiler:shooting the unborn Megatron]] in ''Elegant Chaos'' by virtue of him still coping with the trauma of the DJD massacre, among other things.
* MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch: In ''Lost Light'' #5, he despairs that Cybertronians have so much hatred for their various divisions, and invariably end up turning that hate on the rest of the universe.
* TheNeedsOfTheMany:[[spoiler:As horrible as Functionist Cybertron is, only Rewind realizes that preventing the war will save untold billions more organics.]]
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: [[spoiler: Shoots an unborn Megatron, creating the [[BadFuture Functionist world]].]]
* ReplacementGoldfish: Worries that he and this ''Lost Light'''s Chromedome will devalue each other as these.
* ShellShockedVeteran: Witnessing the DJD's atrocities has traumatized him.
* PowerOfLove: Nightbeat jokingly states that's the reason why he survived/remained after the Quantum Engines were shut off on the duplicate ''Lost Light''.
* ResetButton: Presses one and avoids falling victim to a RetGone thanks to [[spoiler:Brainstorm's paradox free time machine.]]
* RetGone: [[spoiler:Brainstorm's BadPresent slowly starts overriding him, much to his horror.]]
* SoleSurvivor: The only one who survived the DJD's rampage.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Whirl]]
[[quoteright:100:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/whirl_2835.png]]
-->''If I'd known '''that''' was the best you got, I'd have said something '''genuinely''' offensive.''
An ex-Wrecker with (possibly) Borderline Personality Disorder, who loves to fight and antagonize others. He claims to hate everyone (himself included), but this is sometimes thrown into question through his actions. He joined the crew pretty much by accident (on the basis that Rodimus couldn't just leave him lying around where he might hurt others) and has a strong rivalry with Cyclonus. This later develops into a FriendlyRivalry, and eventually what could almost be considered a friendship.

Despite his abrasive personality and violent tendencies, [[HiddenDepths there's a lot more to him than he lets on.]]

* AlwaysSecondBest: [[spoiler:To his arch-rvial Killmaster.]]
* AnArmAndALeg: Shears off one of his own arms in Megatron's malfunctioning internal space bridge while trying to kill him.
* AxCrazy
* BashBrothers: He and Cyclonus certainly aren't buddies, but they fight pretty well as a team.
* BerserkButton: Senate goons will set him off. And doorknobs. And asking him the time. As his history is revealed this third one becomes clearer.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Even when he's giving good advice, the way Whirl looks at the world is a little different to everybody else...
--> '''Whirl:''' ''(kicking open a door)'' Time to weapon up, wallflowers! Rewind! You're wanted up front!
--> '''Rewind:''' ...By who?
--> '''Whirl:''' By me! I want you to take some footage of me limbering up before I land on foreign soil and start killing for the greater good! It's for my biopic: Harder, Faster, Wrecker.
* BloodKnight
* TheBigGuy: He's by far one of the tallest and strongest crew members; Rodimus finds him extremely useful for his fighting skills and readiness to fight.
* BreakTheHaughty[=/=]BreakTheBadass: Forced to question his own abilities when Megatron reveals Whirl only survived the war because Megatron ordered his troops to leave him alive.
* BrokenAce: WordOfGod [[https://twitter.com/jroberts332/status/491619477390643200 confirms]] that he used to have hands as masterful as Ratchet or Pharma before he was subjected to Empurata. Issue 47 implies that it may be a mental obstacle rather than a physical one; Whirl's room is revealed to be filled with well-made clocks he's been building only to throw them aside, saying they're "not right".
* BrutalHonesty: Whirl always says exactly what he thinks, with no regard for the opinions of others. It's the reason why Cyclonus seeks him for advice.
* CombatPragmatist: As Killmaster and Megatron found out, though Megatron comes away far better than the wand-wielder.
* CyberCyclops: After Empurata was inflicted on him as part of a concentrated effort to punish him for daring to change jobs.
* DeadpanSnarker: He possesses the perfect poker face, and even he doesn't know if he's being sarcastic - or maybe he's being sarcastic about that; it's ''impossible'' to tell.
** Depending on the artist, Whirl can betray some degree of emotion through his body language and the tilt of his single optic, but it's still very hard to tell.
* DeathSeeker: As an Ex-Wrecker, this is inevitable. Website/TFWikiDotNet has suggested that he intended to [[DrivenToSuicide burn himself alive along with the sweep corpses]] before Cyclonus walked in on him.
* {{Determinator}}
* DrillSergeantNasty: He spent some time as a flight instructor, and apparently scarred [[ComicBook/TheTransformersLastStandOfTheWreckers Rotorstorm]] for life.
* EpicFail: Almost everybody on the ''Lost Light'' is some kind of failure. Whirl's schtick is that he is ''so'' crazy and impulsive that he managed to get himself kicked out of the Wreckers. An Ex-Wrecker is usually a corpse.
* EveryoneHasStandards: Whirl has a long line of despicable and / or violent acts to his name, but even he [[spoiler:objects to tricking Tailgate into aggravating Megatron into killing him just to get Megatron kicked off the ship for murder.]]
* EyepatchOfPower: His holomatter avatar has one, representing his [[CyberCyclops face]] on a human body.
* FearlessFool: There doesn't seem to be anything that Whirl won't fight, any odds he won't challenge, nor any battle he'll leave. You don't send Whirl into a fight you might want him to pull out of later.
--> '''Whirl:''' So this is what running away feels like? I'm not keen. It's like fighting, but in the wrong direction.
--> '''Cyclonus:''' Rodimus told us not to engage.
--> '''Whirl:''' He did, yes, he absolutely did. And I'm going to interpret that as a veiled order to attack... Care to join me?
* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Whirl can be a real jerkass, as well as impulsive and violent. He likes hanging around with the others, but doesn't seem to understand (or care) just how hard he makes it for people to like him. At one point, Swerve threw a theme party where everyone dressed up as the person they most wanted to punch in the face. Everyone except Rodimus (who picked Megatron) dressed up as Whirl.
* FreudianExcuse: He's a {{Jerkass}} because the Senate ruined his life, mutilated him, used him as an enforcer, and hung him out to dry.
* GirlishPigtails: On his holo-avatar.
* GunNut: Loves hearing Brainstorm talk shop. He has a particular fondness for the smell of new guns.
* {{Foil}}: To the calm, stoic Cyclonus. Even their armour is a foil - Cyclonus' style is like a samurai, while Whirl's is more like a ninja.
* HeroicComedicSociopath
* HiddenDepths: Who knew a guy like Whirl would become a fan of Creator/JeanLucGodard?
* HiddenHeartOfGold: Every so often he shows concern for the other members of the Crew in his own special, rather obnoxious way. More importantly, when he does something nice, he has not yet been known to ask for anything in return. For example, when he donates a Jump-Start to Rewind...
-->'''Chromedome:''' Thank you. If I can ever do anything - '''anything''' - I mean it Whirl, you saved two lives today.
-->'''Whirl:''' ...Okay, enough with the hugging.
* IJustWantToBeNormal: ZigZaggingTrope. It is true that Whirl would like his hands back, but at the same time, he uses the PowerOfHate to cushion himself from having to act normally or feel bad about the bad things he's done.
* IJustWantToHaveFriends: Not very obvious at the beginning, but it becomes increasingly clear throughout the series that Whirl is not a deliberate loner.
* ItsAllAboutMe: He's presented with a choice. Let Megatron never exist so the War doesn't happen with trillions of innocent organics living but the Functionists still being in power or let the Great War happen killing trillions and twelve people who wronged Whirl. He hates Megatron, but not as much as he hates the Functionists and he ensures Megatron's existence so they'll burn. Turns out it was the right thing. And he makes the decision so nobody else has to.
* {{Irony}}: He's partly responsible for Megatron. [[spoiler:Not just for showing him the importance of violence when he beat him up when he was a cop, but by giving him a forged point-one percenter spark after his original spark was destroyed by Rewind]].
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: As early as ''Spotlight: Trailcutter'' it was being shown that Whirl can care about other people, and by the ''Transformers Holiday Special'' story ''Silent Light'','' and ''MTMTE'' ''#48,'' there is no doubt that he has a conscience - even if he does keep it to himself and likes to pretend it doesn't exist.
* KickTheSonOfABitch: Shooting Nautilator in the head in ''Before & After''. Granted, Nautilator was pretty AffablyEvil, but then remember [[ImAHumanitarian what the Decepticons were doing to the natives]].
** ''Cybertronian Homesick Blues'' reveals he killed Killmaster - the one with the wand. ''With'' the wand. By shoving it up his - [[CurseCutShort AHEM!]]
* KlingonsLoveShakespeare: Loves the works of Creator/JeanLucGodard.
* LargeHam: Instructs Trailbreaker on the importance of this. It's kind of understandable that he would be one too, because if you don't have a face to express yourself with, that you need to do it in other ways.
* LeanAndMean: His design is very unique in that he's drawn pretty "skinny" for a robot, with his legs and arms as thin as [[GeekPhysiques Rung's]], but still unusually strong.
** The "lean" part is averted with his appearances in the past, where he was slightly more blocky, though the mean part is still there.
* LittleMissBadass: ''Inverted.'' Whirl is one of the tallest characters in the series, but his ''human avatar'' is a skinny little pre-teen girl with pigtails and an eyepatch. Sending Whirl into battle is like handing dual semis to an eight-year-old.
* MarkOfShame: The Empurata. He's never had it fixed because he's worried he might start feeling bad about all the really bad things he's done.
* MyGreatestFailure: It's implied a few times that being indirectly responsible for the war weighs on him much more than he would like to admit.
* NonstandardCharacterDesign: Most of the characters in the IDW continuity are based heavily on their simple, rather blocky G1 design. Whirl's design is distinctly skinnier and rather birdlike, as well as being radically different from his occasional comic portrayals in Marvel.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: A lot of people, himself included, blame Whirl for turning Megatron into the mech he is today. [[SarcasmMode It's almost as if Megatron shouldn't be blamed for the war at all!]]
* ObfuscatingInsanity: On the surface, he's pretty much all about violence and bloodshed, but he's got a good brain under the crazy. Best exemplified when Fortress Maximus takes him hostage, and his badgering Max to kill him is both a completely insane course of action and an attempt to get Max to identify with him.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: Despite normally acting pretty much batshit insane all the time, and a complete jerkass, there are times when Whirl comes up with some really smart ideas - it makes sense since you'd have to be pretty smart to make watches.
* OddFriendship: With Cyclonus. Both are hyper-violent, but [[{{Foil}} with incredibly differing personalities.]] However, Whirl having all the subtlety of a jackhammer makes Cyclonus trust him for advice, and they both [[BashBrothers work together surprisingly well, whether it be in a fight against Legislators, or fixing a big gun.]] Whirl even lampshades it:
-->'''Whirl:''' "Even our colors are complimentary!"
* PayEvilUntoEvil: In ''Stet'' he brutally murders a Senate mook to vent his anger at the Senate mutilating him. He [[spoiler:may have turned him into a sparkeater. Oh dear.]]
* PetTheDog: Despite how much of a jerk Whirl can be, he's still an honest Autobot. In issue 12, he turns out to be the only person with a compatible spark to jump-start Rewind's, and volunteers even though we're told the process can be painful and risky. Later, he [[spoiler:gives Cyclonus the HealingShiv idea which saves Tailgate's life.]]
* PoliceBrutality: His shtick as an agent of the senate in the past. Not all of it was done willingly on Whirl's part.
* PortalCut: Loses an arm in this fashion while trying to kill Megatron.
* PoliticallyIncorrectHero: Makes disparaging remarks about monoformers in Issue #13, and appears to be bigoted on the whole forged/constructed cold issue as well. It is sometimes suggested he says these kinds of things to irritate people, more than because he believes them.
* ThePowerOfHate: Has rationalized that all the bad stuff that has happened to him means he can feel angry and bitter all the time, and if he got his hands fixed he wouldn't know how to deal with feeling otherwise.
* PsychopathicManchild: Not to mention his holo-avatar is a little girl brandishing a pair of uzis.
* RightForTheWrongReasons: Zig-zagged. It's all about perspective. [[spoiler:Whirl certainly ''sounds'' selfish in his reasons for saving Megatron - but while a data-slug like Rewind would have a lousy life without Megatron to take down the Senate, Whirl wouldn't have lost his job as a law-enforcer, empurata wouldn't set him apart as a freak since it was so common, and on the whole he would have been much better off. They both make sacrifices. It's just that they're different people.]]
* RoboticPsychopath
* ShipperOnDeck: Revealed to have become one for Tailgate and Cyclonus by ''The Dying of the Light''.
* SmarterThanYouLook: He's much more intelligent than his [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold personality]] would suggest - he manages to talk Fortress Maximus down, and he works out within minutes that [[spoiler: Tailgate [[DoesNotKnowHisOwnStrength seriously wounded Cyclonus.]]]]
* TeethClenchedTeamwork: When he fights beside Cyclonus.
* UncannyValley: This is the intended effect of Whirl's Empurata on other Cybertronians - we don't see it because he's a robot anyway, but to other Cybertronians Whirl is a freak, and his disfiguration makes people see him as an object.
* WeaksauceWeakness: Door handles.
* WhatTheHellHero: Gets vetoed out of the Wreckers by Roadbuster for trying to MercyKill a [[ComicBook/TheTransformersLastStandOfTheWreckers comatose Springer]] right before the events of the series. He explains that he hated the idea of Springer just fading away in a coma.
* WoundedGazelleGambit: He tries to bait Megatron into attacking him, as part of a scheme to get Megatron kicked off the ship. Megatron sees through it and refuses to bite.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Cyclonus]]
[[quoteright:100:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cyclonus_2849.png]]
-->''Everyone can die. Trust me, I know about these things.''
The former right-hand man of the warlord Galvatron, Cyclonus is a proud patriot who's disappointed by the current state of his homeworld and wishes to find the Knights to restore it to it's former glory. Extremely stern and abrasive, he has difficulty forming attachments to others and struggles with his increasingly strong friendship with Tailgate.

* AnArmAndALeg: [[spoiler:In ''Lost Light'', he gets one of his arms torn off, along with ''[[FacialHorror half his face]]]]''.
* BackFromTheDead: At the end of ComicBook/TheTransformersIDW, Vector Sigma restores him to [[OurZombiesAreDifferent proper life]], for aiding in stopping Galvatron. [[spoiler:It actually becomes a plot point in Issue 21, where he uses the residual energy to cure Tailgate.]]
* BadassGay: He falls in love with Tailgate.
* BadassGrandpa: One of the oldest Cybertronians still alive.
** Just how badass is he? [[spoiler: Cyclonus managed to piece together at least the gist of Getaway's plan when Whirl tried to warn him, runs straight towards Megatron's quarters, kicks the door open, and fucking throws his sword into Megatron's chest. He then beats Ravage unconscious, tears off a chunk of Megatron's recharge slab, and bashes his fucking head in with it before grabbing Tailgate and making a run for it.]]
* BashBrothers: With Whirl. Whenever they fight together, they can bring down almost everything around them.
* BerserkButton: Being analysed by Nightbeat made him angry enough to threaten to kill everyone present, which also included Optimus, Rodimus and Hardhead.
* {{BFS}}: He gets to keep one at the end of "Remain in Light".
* BlackSpeech: His singing in primal vernacular sounds like this.
* BloodFromTheMouth: Starts vomiting up black Energon when the Dead Universe infects him.
* BoomHeadshot: [[spoiler:Helex kills his quantum duplicate this way.]]
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Back when he was working with Galvatron. A lot of 'bots tend to overlook this fact when they bring up the things he did during that time, though it doesn't help that Cyclonus is unapologetic about what he did.
* [[BulletproofHumanShield Bulletproof Cybertronian Shield]]: Plants himself between Rewind and a bomb, and later [[spoiler:blocks Tailgate from a barrage of fire from security.]]
* BullyingADragon: In Issue 12. Cyclonus repeats his desire to kill Whirl very clearly even after he suggests they leave it behind them, so can you really blame Whirl for locking him in a room with a bomb?
* CharacterDevelopment: He's slowly doing almost a complete 180 in terms of kindness thanks to his deepening friendship with Tailgate.
* CoolOldGuy: On occasion. It starts to happen more and more frequently as the series goes on.
* TheCorruption: Reinfected by the Dead Universe during ''ComicBook/TheTransformersDarkCybertron''.
* DarkIsNotEvil: He's grim and brooding, served Galvatron and has the appearance of a Decepticon, but he proves to be one of the most noble, heroic, and sensible members of the cast.
* {{Determinator}}
* EarAche: Loses one of his horns in a fight with Whirl in the first issue. Because of his religious beliefs, he doesn't get it fixed until the end of "Remain in Light."
* EverythingsBetterWithSamurai: Proud Warrior? Check. Puts a lot of emphasis on honor? Check. Looks like a living Tosei Gusoku armor of the samurai? Check.[[spoiler: Has a {{BFS}}? Check!]]
* FacialHorror: In a sense. Those black patches on Cyclonus' cheeks aren't part of his paint scheme, they're actually empty cavities. It's especially noticable during his duel with Star Saber and when talking to Whirl on the Lost Light afterward. When he starts yelling, the corners of his lips separate and make it look like he ripped his mouth open.
* FishOutOfTemporalWater: Not to the same extent as Tailgate, but he's from a much different Cybertron than everyone else on board, and spent several million years stuck in the Dead Universe. Part of the reason he joined the Lost Light is because he didn't feel at home on the reborn Cybertron.
* {{Foil}}: To Whirl, clearly deliberately. They are both enthusiastic, courageous and skilled warriors with pasts that weigh heavily on them, and both can prove difficult to control for High Command. However, Cyclonus is calm and rational while Whirl is brash and AxCrazy, Cyclonus can plan ahead while Whirl is extremely impulsive, Cyclonus is subtle but forthright, while Whirl can be obnoxious but cunning, and Cyclonus is an honourable warrior while Whirl will do almost anything to win his battles.
** Even their designs are foils; Cyclonus has a distinctly Samurai-based motif, while Whirl's design appears to be more ninja-orientated.
* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Thanks to the crew stereotyping him as a Decepticon. The fact he participated in several notable Autobot massacres after the war doesn't help. However, as his CharacterDevelopment goes on, he is accepted by the crew after events like saving Rewind and Tailgate's lives. He even leads the crew in a sing-along of "[[Film/BackToTheFuture The Power of Love]]" at the end of ''Elegant Chaos''. Rodimus thinks he's so responsible that he is willing to put him temporarily in charge of the crew.
* HandicappedBadass: Gets impaled by a Legislator during the "Remain in Light" arc, and receives what could only have been a rushed fix from the Circle of Light. He spends the next few issues helping them destroy a horde of Legislators, and he's the one who ends up forcing Star into a retreat. During ''ComicBook/TheTransformersDarkCybertron'', he's infected by the Dead Universe and begins bleeding out corrupted Energon. He ''still'' manages to take on Nova Prime long enough [[spoiler:for Orion to get a HeroicSecondWind.]]
* HeelFaceTurn: Formerly served under the war-mongering Galvatron; now a respected founding member of the ''Lost Lighters''.
* HopeIsScary: He apparently was more idealistic and optimistic when younger. Until the Dead Universe changed that.
* HornedHumanoid
** HornAttack: Right in Star Saber's eye. Ouch.
* {{Hypocrite}}: But heartwarmingly so. [[spoiler:He explicitly told Tailgate not to hope for a cure in case he would be let down, but Cyclonus obviously isn't following his own advice.]]
* ImagineSpot: Has one of these when he imagines killing Whirl by pushing him into a smelting pool following his duel with Star Saber, but ultimately agrees to call off the vendetta.
* InsistentTerminology: He is '''Not A Decepticon'''. He wants it on screen.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: This trope becomes evident in ''Before & After'' when he befriends Tailgate and saves Rewind's life. It shines through more as the series progresses.
* KarmicJackpot: Deciding not to kill Whirl, even though he fantasized about it, is why he was able to save Tailgate, as it was Whirl the one with the idea of trying the HealingShiv method to cure Tailgate. In fact loads of great things happen to Cyclonus because he didn't kill Whirl, so by now they've just given up and become friends.
* KickTheDog: His behavior towards Tailgate in issues 4-12.
* MadeOfIron: He walks away with a patch job after an explosion that very nearly killed Rewind, who he was deliberately shielding. Later, a Legislator impales him on a {{BFS}}, which he immediately shrugs off. It's a JustifiedTrope-- he's basically supercharged with the energies of Vector Sigma, making him pretty damn hard to kill.
* MercyKill: [[spoiler: Tailgate asks him to give him one. At one point, it seems Cyclonus is going through with it, but is instead a case of using a HealingShiv method to try to cure him.]]
* NightmareFace: He outright looks demonic when facing Star Saber.
* NoSocialSkills: Played subtly. He has extreme difficulty forming attachments and the friendships he does forge either take a long time to develop or begin as very awkward. When problems start arising between him and Tailgate (due to [[spoiler: Getaway's manipulations]]), they get worse very quickly because Cyclonus is too stoic to actually talk to Tailgate and fix things. In the season two finale, he claims that important things are ''felt'', not said, which is likely why he and Tailgate are not Conjunx Endura despite the two having fallen in love.
* NotGoodWithPeople: Best demonstrated by his reaction to [[spoiler:Tailgate's illness.]]
* OurZombiesAreDifferent: Was undead for all of ComicBook/TheTransformersIDW, then Vector Sigma restored him to life due to his actions against D-Void. Is back to being undead due to a mishap during his incursion to the Dead Universe during the events of ''ComicBook/TheTransformersDarkCybertron''.
* PerpetualFrowner
* PetTheDog: It becomes clear that he's not a completely bad person in ''Before & After'' when he starts treating Tailgate better and saves Rewind from the bomb in Snap Trap's base.
* PurpleIsPowerful
* ProudWarriorRaceGuy
* TheQuietOne
* RedEyesTakeWarning
* ReformedButNotTamed
** EasilyCondemned: Whenever something bad happens, he tends to get the blame for it, like when Red Alert tried to kill himself, or when everyone and everything starts disappearing.
* ReligiousBruiser: Downplayed. While spiritual, he comes in pretty toned down vis a vis Drift and the Circle of Light.
** NayTheism: He seems to believe there's something larger out there, perhaps the Guiding Hand itself, but thinks they're not the infallible figures myth makes them to be.
** RageAgainstTheHeavens: Since he feels whatever God is out there allows [[spoiler:Cybertronians like Star Saber seemingly go on forever doing their atrocities with impunity, and on whatever deity's behalf, while innocents, like Tailgate, go on to die in cruel and pointless ways.]]
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: When Rodimus left the ship along with Megatron and Ultra Magnus, Rodimus personally took time to let Whirl know that Cyclonus was being left in charge. Despite once taking part in heavy fighting against the Autobots at Galvatron's side, Cyclonus is considered both reliable and honourable.
* SecretlyWealthy: At least, there's a rumour going around the ship that Cyclonus is fabulously wealthy due to "Tetrahexian real estate". However, this rumour was started by Tailgate back when he was lying about being a badass soldier and bomb disposal soldier who served with the Primal Vanguard, and Cyclonus has never commented on the matter himself (or how he could possibly still have such a fortune after his time in the Dead Universe and Cybertron being devastated by the war), so it's questionable how true it is. At least the newer members of the crew, like Velocity and Nautica, seem to believe it.
* SelfHarm: After he finds out [[spoiler:Tailgate is dying]], Cyclonus slices his claws across his own face, seemingly to help deal with how he feels. [[spoiler:He begins to do it again in issue 7 of ''Lost Light'' after Tailgate rejects him and decides to remain on Necroworld, but is gently stopped by Whirl, who sits with him instead.]]
* ShipTease: Season Two makes it increasingly clear that he's in love with Tailgate, and he admits it privately to Whirl in the season finale.
* TheStoic
** NotSoStoic: He does feel, he's just awful at expressing himself constructively.
* SugarAndIcePersonality
** {{Tsundere}}: with Tailgate.
* SustainedMisunderstanding: Everyone seems to think he's a Decepticon for some reason. Must be the purple.
* TakingTheBullet: In ''Before & After'' he throws himself in front of Rewind to protect him from the bomb in Snap Trap's base. Both survive and it's strongly implied that Rewind would've died had Cyclonus not done so.
* TookALevelInKindness: Post ''Remain in Light.''
* TrueNeutral: Of the 'balance' variation. Cyclonus doesn't want to be an Autobot, but whenever it comes up he is very insistent that he's not a Decepticon either.
-->''"I am not a Decepticon. I want that on screen."''
* WhenHeSmiles: Cyclonus' benign smiles are rare, but always significant. Of course, he indulges in [[PsychoticSmirk other]] [[SlasherSmile smiles]] which should always be considered an invitation to cut and run.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tailgate]]
[[quoteright:100:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tailgate_8335.png]]
-->''"I've got a panic coming on."''
Nicknamed as "Panic Button" thanks to his tendency to panic at various... ''everything,'' Tailgate is a naïve and child-minded bot who was trapped underground for millions of years before escaping and joining up with the Lost Light crew. Due to the massive change in the intervening time, he's struggling to adapt to the modern world and find a place to belong. He forms a close friendship with Cyclonus.

* AndIMustScream: [[spoiler:Lost Light issue 7 ends with Tailgate stuck in a tiny box, bombarded with radiation that might kill him, with the timer set for release in six ''million years'', thanks to Fangry, who then buries any trace of it. And since the radiation was designed to rob Tailgate of his super-strength, he can't get out, and no-one but Kaput knew he was there at all...]]
* AscendedExtra: In a meta-sense for the entire franchise, this is the first time that a character with the name of Tailgate has ever gotten a starring role, let alone characterization (at least on the scale he has).
* {{Adorkable}}
* AmbiguousGender: There's been several hints ([[ThrowItIn mostly accidental]], according to James Roberts) that Tailgate might actually be a "she".
* AnArmAndALeg: Lost both of his legs when he fell into that pit.
* AudienceSurrogate: He SleptThroughTheApocalypse, so there's a lot of things he missed - the various social upheavals leading to the War, the events of the War, and the very existence of Autobots and Decepticons. He's prone to asking questions that few others would in-universe, which works for the benefit of the readers.
* BadButt
** TookALevelInBadass: If working on the bomb enough to reduce its blast radius wasn't enough, [[spoiler:slowing down Tyrest on his own]] long enough for the others to recover should seal the deal.
* BigDamnHero: At the end of ''Remain in Light''.
* BreakTheCutie: Life started ganging up on Tailgate from two weeks after his birth, and hasn't really let up since.
* BreakHisHeartToSaveHim: [[spoiler: After Whirl tells Tailgate that he's the one who's been grievously injuring Cyclonus every time he recharges, Tailgate decides to end his relationship with him by pretending that he no longer feels anything for him and has decided to remain on Necroworld, but urges Cyclonus to carry onto Cyberutopia without him. In reality, he just wants Cyclonus away from him while he has Kaput try to figure out a way to DePower him to ensure that he cannot hurt Cyclonus anymore. Unfortunately, [[NotSoHarmlessVillain Tailgate wasn't aware that Fangry was still nursing a grudge]].]]
* CrosscastRole: While the AmbiguousGender trope is getting played up more and more as of late, currently male (as far as we know) Tailgate is played by Susan Blu in the Botcon 2014 script reading.
* CuteBruiser: [[spoiler: After his Outlier powers activate. He's still small and adorable looking, but now also strong enough to ''bench press the Rodpod''.]]
* DeadManWalking: [[SubvertedTrope Not anymore!]]
* DeadpanSnarker: Torturous sessions with Ultra Magnus tend to bring this out.
** DisabledSnarker: While he would be snarky every now and then, he becomes a lot snarkier when he found out he was dying.
* DisabilityImmunity: His cybercrosis renders him deaf to certain frequencies... like the one Tyrest uses for his "weapon of mass suggestion".
* DoesNotKnowHisOwnStrength: After his Point One Percenter super-strength manifests, Tailgate certainly realizes he's strong, but fails to grasp just ''how'' strong he is, or the ramifications of such strength (or what it might do to him). Cyclonus shows him a battlefield littered with the bodies of dead Decepticons on Necroworld early on in Season Three, and reveals that this is entirely Tailgate's handiwork; everyone else was busy fighting elsewhere at the time, meaning all the dead Decepticons here died by Tailgate's own hand. [[spoiler: He's also been tearing Cyclonus limb from limb every time he recharges because he's been suffering fits where he tries to tear his own Spark out, and mauls Cyclonus when he restrains him. Finding this out from Whirl finally clues him into just how strong he really is, and Tailgate resolves at that point to get rid of his super-strength.]]
* FallGuy: [[spoiler: Due to his naïveté, he's groomed by Getaway to be this and basically sets him to do something really stupid to Megatron that would likely end up in his death.]]
* FishOutOfTemporalWater: By six million years. Tailgate's understandably a bit behind on modern events.
* HumanPopsicle: Except not quite. He spent most of that time unconscious, but not frozen or suspended.
* IJustWantToBeSpecial: The reason why he lied about being a bomb disposal expert. All he really wanted was to be a hero for once.
** IJustWantToBeNormal: After finally doing a heroic deed, he confesses to Cyclonus that being a hero is overrated and he would give anything for another movie night.
* [[IllBoy Ill Bot]]: Sitting in a hole for six million years was not good for Tailgate's health.
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: [[spoiler:This was done to his quantum duplicate by one of the DJD.]]
* MercyKill: Asks Cyclonus to give him one to spare him the agony of the final moments of the cybercrosis. Cyclonus does seem to come through with it, but is instead a case of Cyclonus trying a HealingShiv method to cure him.
* MikeNelsonDestroyerOfWorlds: [[spoiler: He ends up [[ItMakesSenseInContext indirectly causing the start of the Great War by making Rung get him a curly straw]].]]
* NaiveNewcomer
* NonStandardCharacterDesign: He's seen "crying" in an exaggerated fashion whenever he gets upset or scared, with his optics sparking. Other characters are shown doing this, but only rarely or much more subtly. This is [[FridgeBrilliance most likely because]] he's basically a child. InUniverse, he's noted to be built different from most cybertronians since he was never around to get upgraded.
* NotNowKiddo: When he and the other members of the team are imprisoned on Luna 1, he offers some suggestions for escaping their cell, which are promptly ignored. Two issues later, escapologist Getaway has joined them and comes up with a successful plan to escape... which bears a striking resemblance to the ideas Tailgate had.
* OddFriendship: With Cyclonus and Getaway.
* PhonyVeteran: The "-osal" writing on his arm isn't part of "bomb disposal" like he claims, but "waste disposal". He was never a member of the Primal Vanguard.
* PutOnABus: Absent throughout the whole of ''ComicBook/TheTransformersDarkCybertron'', while he's recovering from Cybercrosis. He returns once it's over[[note]]This was because James Roberts initially intended Tailgate to succumb to cybercrosis, and would have been, well, dead.[[/note]].
* SecretlyDying: For a while after his diagnosis, though he later comes out about it and is cured not too long after.
** YourDaysAreNumbered
* SeriesMascot: Tyrest refers to him as the "ship's mascot" when he threatens to kill Tailgate, who he's using as a HumanShield.
* ShipTease: By the end of season two, he's fallen in love with Cyclonus.
* ShootTheHostage: Invoked by him, asking Rodimus to just shoot him anyways when Tyrest takes him hostage as a HumanShield.
* SleptThroughTheApocalypse: He fell into a pit millions of years ago and fell in out of stasis lock while trying to escape. Meanwhile, Cybertron suffered a massive, planet-killing, civilization-ending civil war. When he finally reached the surface the war was over and the planet was healing itself.
* SpannerInTheWorks: To Tyrest in a big way. Tailgate's cybercrosis deafens him to the frequency that Tyrest's paralyzation command travels on, leaving him unaffected. This allows him to surprise Tyrest from behind and shut off the signal paralyzing the rest of the crew who aren't being killed by the activation of the killswitch, which ultimately leads to Tyrest's defeat and the stopping of the killswitch. And then, after Tyrest is defeated but the crew is being swarmed by his Legislators, Tailgate is able to use his extensive knowledge of the Tyrest Accord that he learned from Ultra Magnus to revert the Accord back to its original form, causing the Legislators to cease their attack, saving the crew.
* SuperStrength: [[spoiler: His Outlier power.]]
* TemptingFate: Played with. He is discharged, gets his Autobot badge, others acknowledge him and treat him with respect, which promptly causes him to question how his day could get any better... then a Legislator appears right on top of him. Fortunately it turns out to be Swerve's bouncer.
* TraumaticSuperpowerAwakening: [[spoiler:The combination of quantum radiation from Brainstorm's time case and the shock of seeing Cyclonus getting injured causes Tailgate's latent Outlier powers to activate.]]
* YoungerThanHeLooks: He reveals to Cyclonus that he'd only been alive for two weeks before he fell into the Mitteous Plateau and spent the next six million years out of commission.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Skids]]
[[quoteright:100:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/skids_1912.png]]
-->''Let's '''Dance!'''''
An amnesiac theoretician/diplomat searching for the answers to his past. Skids is highly protective of his fellow crewmembers and tries to be friendly despite his fatalistic worldview. He's a "super-learner" capable of mastering skills that he picks up in a matter of minutes.

* TheAce
* AmnesiacHero: When we first see him, he's forgotten everything about himself. He quickly remembers the essentials, but two large chunks of his life remain missing.
* TheAntiNihilist: Despite having a very fatalistic view of the world, he always strives to do the right thing and helps others.
* AwesomeByAnalysis: Described as a "super-learner" and capable of picking up skills quickly and easily. Case in point: he quickly masters the attack patterns of Legislators and defeats an army of them alone.
** It also makes him incredibly bored once he learns everything about a subject.
* BadassAbnormal
* BadassAdorable: He was quite TheCutie in the "Shadowplay" flashbacks.
* BiTheWay: Flirted with Firestar, is important to considere when the later happend, he thought she was a "he".
* BlessedWithSuck: While his Outlier power of picking skills up impossibly quickly and easily makes him one of the most capable bots on the Lost Light, ([[RagtagBunchOfMisfits Not that that's saying much]]) it also makes him easily bored and unfulfilled when he's learned everything about a subject.
* CatchPhrase: He has a motto, but he doesn't think much of it.
* CombatPragmatist
* TheCynic
* DarkAndTroubledPast: Even though he doesn't remember it. If Chromedome says your past sucks, then it probably does. [[spoiler:It's eventually revealed that he spent time in Grindcore Prison, a glorified death camp, and was tricked into helping murder five hundred fellow prisoners while there.]]
* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler: Recovering his memories of Grindcore sends Skids hurtling over this. His spark shrinks to a pinprick and while Ratchet is distracted talking to Megatron, he begins desperately trying to crawl away to find Brainstorm, to tell him about Quark, all the while sobbing about how he's scum. He dies soon after, hating himself and what he did.]]
* GrapplingHookPistol: One of his hands turn into this.
* HollywoodAtheist: Issue 49 reveals that his loss of faith in Primus was caused by [[spoiler: his horrific experiences in Grindcore. His narration notes that when Tarn murdered Quark and hundreds of other prisoners in front of him, his faith died alongside the prisoners.]]
* InnocentBlueEyes: Back when he was a student at the J.A.A.T. before the war.
* {{Irony}}: In the conclusion of Season 1 of MTMTE, Skids was able to pass through the barrier, because his mind was free of guilt after discovering who he was. Come the climax of Season 2, [[spoiler:Skids, consumed by guilt over his part in the death of Quark and hundreds of others at the hands of the DJD, dies.]]
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Courtesy of the Nudge Gun, around a year's worth of memories before he first appeared are gone, completely.
* LightningBruiser
* MysteriousPast: While much of his past was explained in "Remain In Light," a pretty big chunk of his earlier memories were subconsciously removed before then.
* OneManArmy: Dispatches swarms of Legislators during "Remain In Light."
* OnlyFriend: Appears to be Swerve's.
* OnlyTheWorthyMayPass: [[spoiler:Of the three 'bots who try to enter Tyrest's space bridge-- himself, Rung, and Pharma-- only Skids is actually able to pass through because he carries no "guilt", and not just because he's not a criminal. Rung hypothesizes that only those who are truly at peace with themselves and carry no self-doubt or anguish can pass through. Skids is able to enter the portal because since discovering the truth of his identity, he is completely at peace.]]
* PintsizePowerhouse: While being only average-to-short height for a Cybertronian, he's disproportionately powerful among the lot.
* PlatonicLifePartners: James Roberts have confirmed that Skids relationship with Nautica wasn't romantic at all, and that they loved each other as friends.
* ReligiousBruiser: Was this at one point.
* ShellShockedVeteran: Part of the reason he's lost so much of his memories; he went through something so traumatic that [[spoiler: when he used his nudge gun on himself, he wiped his memories of Grindcore Prison to escape the mental torment]].
* ShipTease: He becomes very close to Nautica and seems disappointed when she makes him her Amica Endura, and is often seen with her. [[spoiler: His last moment with her is them holding hands before he sacrifices himself, and she's devastated by his death]].
* StraightManAndWiseGuy: StraightMan to Swerve's Wise Guy. Same with Getaway.
* ThatManIsDead: Subscribed to this at first, taking his amnesia as an excuse to act however he felt like, but after the visit to the Crystal City he reconsidered, and decided to try and find out who he was.
* TookALevelInBadass: Skids started off as a puny theoretician, easily intimidated by large 'bots like Roller. Compare that to the WalkingArmory badass secret agent he is now.
* TraumaInducedAmnesia: A large part of his memory is still missing, and whatever it was that caused it, Chromedome refused to see. All we known is that a piece of music known as 'the Empyrean Suite' is involved. [[spoiler: Issue 48 and 49 reveals that it involves him being sent to Grindcore Prison, one of the worst prisons in the galaxy, and getting tricked by by Tarn into helping execute hundreds of fellow prisoners. The music plays in his head constantly because, no matter how much memory he's lost, the events associated with it are seared into his mind. In issue #54 he finally asks Chromedome to bring the memories back so the trauma it will cause him will cause a spark surge that will temporarily power everyone else up like what happened to Tailgate, but the shock of those memories kills Skids shortly afterwards.]]
* WalkingArmory: Has many, many concealed weapons on him.
* YellowEyesOfSneakiness: Might be a clever bit of {{Foreshadowing}}. Present-day amnesiac Skids might not be that sneaky, but in all likelihood, Diplomatic Corps Skids was. Kinda comes with the job.
* YouBastard: Says this verbatim to [[spoiler: Getaway]], after being told that [[spoiler: Getaway interviewed him about whether or not Megatron deserved a second chance (Skids apparently felt he did) or where he'd stand in a coup against Rodimus and Megatron (he apparently wouldn't stand with Getaway) and then got shot with a nudge gun, removing his memory of the conversation.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Nightbeat]]
[[quoteright:100:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nightbeat-mtmte_2563.png]]
-->''Not worried. '''Intrigued'''.''
A brilliant but antisocial detective who was believed (and sort of) dead for many years. He's obsessed with solving mysteries and riddles and desires to use the Lost Light's quest to solve the biggest mysteries of the galaxy.

* AllergicToRoutine: If he's not facing a mystery or riddle of some sort he seems disinterested and detached, as if he spontaneously becomes lethargic. In issue 41 he spends a fun party literally staring at the ceiling until getting fed up and going off to snoop around.
* BackFromTheDead: ''Maybe''. It's still a little unclear how Brainstorm got all the Dead Universe infectees functional again. The important thing is that Nightbeat and the others ''are'' functional.
* BoomHeadshot: How he originally died.
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: When Orion and co. find him in the Dead Universe, he's still Nova's ManchurianAgent, though he hides this fact to lead them into a trap. Rodimus eventually devises a way to free him.
* BrutalHonesty: Tact is not his strong point.
* ComicBookFantasyCasting: His holomatter avatar resembles Idris Elba's portrayal of ''{{Series/Luther}}''.
* CoolOldGuy: Since he's one of the first Constructed Cold, that makes him one of the oldest Cybertronians still functioning.
* CrisisOfFaith: In issue 44 he reveals that he's been suffering one ever since his near-death, which has caused him to fear that the afterlife doesn't exist. He overcomes it thanks to a talk with [[spoiler: the Necrobot.]]
* DeadpanSnarker: In a WorldOfSnark, Nightbeat still manages to be head and shoulders above almost everyone else. He even does it while BrainwashedAndCrazy.
-->'''Nightbeat:''' I'm sure if I was in full control of my mental faculties, I'd feel bad about betraying you.
* DefectiveDetective: His deep love of solving mysteries has clearly left him with difficulty socializing.
* [[IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Riddle]]: Rodimus poses a question to him in an attempt to shake his ManchurianAgent programming. It works.
* {{Jerkass}}: While not of the venomous variety, it's clear that his mysteries and riddles mean more to him than his fellow crew members do, and he's casually dismissive of their emotional attachments.
** JerkassHasAPoint: As antisocial and insensitive as he can be, a lot of the minor things he has investigated have turned out to be pretty significant in the long run.
* ManchurianAgent: The reason why Hardhead killed him in the first place, but his manchurian programming is gone thanks to Rodimus.
* TheMole: Albeit completely unwillingly, and he's later freed from this programming.
* NoSell: Swerve tried to outsmart him during the bogus Crewditions. Didn't end well.
* NoSocialSkills
* NotAGame: Gets called out by Megatron for caring more about the riddle than what was actually happening.
-->'''Megatron''':You failed. You solved the mystery, but only after everyone was taken. You were too slow to save them.
-->'''Nightbeat''':Yes, but at least I worked out what was happening. That has to count for something, doesn't it?
-->'''Nightbeat''':''(Dejected)'' [-Doesn't it?-]
* TheNothingAfterDeath: He doesn't remember seeing any sort of afterlife when he was shot in the head. This has caused him to fear that the afterlife may not exist at all.
* OddFriendship: With Nautica.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Was one of the first of the first to be Constructed Cold, during the age of Nova Prime.
* OurZombiesAreDifferent: Thanks to the Dead Universe, although he can function normally now thanks to Brainstorm.
* SherlockScan: Well, ''duh''.
** SherlockHomage:
* ShoutOut: Hyper Intelligent DefectiveDetective, with a questionable grasp on morality, so of course his Holomatter Avatar is [[{{Series/Luther}} John Luther]] as played by Creator/IdrisElba. Who [[SherlockHomage were you expecting?]]
* SkewedPriorities: If there's a mystery that needs solving, Nightbeat will usually be more interested in that than anything else going around, like [[spoiler: what's up with the alternate wrecked ''Lost Light'' than the fact that its version of Rewind is still alive and is the ship's only survivor.]]
* SmallNameBigEgo: He's smart, but not nearly as smart as he thinks he is.
* TheSmartGuy: Detective flavor.
* SixthRangerTraitor[=/=]SixthRanger: Starts off as Nova Prime's brainwashed lackey, but immediately reverses allegiances when freed. He later becomes the SixthRanger in a different sense, joining the crew after the events of ''Dark Cybertron''.
* VillainHasAPoint: He found himself agreeing with a lot of the pre-war Decepticon ideology. Lampshaded when Megatron discusses Decepticon double agents and suggests that Nightbeat's the type.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Ravage]]
[[quoteright:100:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ravagemtmte_6839.jpg]]
A calm and collected spy who's stowed away on the Lost Light following Megatron's trial, than became an honorary member of the crew after being caught. He's undyingly loyal to Megatron and is a master of stealth who can detect people's emotions through smell.

* AlienArtsAreAppreciated: Notably averted. He thinks Swerve and Bluestreak are wasting their time on human culture. In fact he seems to be one of the only crew members who doesn't enjoy human movies.
* AmbiguousSyntax:[[spoiler:His last words are "Don't change back", said to Megatron as Ravage lays a paw on Tarn's Decepticon mask that Megatron has appropriated as a badge. Ravage either touched the mask fondly and asked Megatron to remain a Decepticon or indicated that he made peace with Megatron's desire to abandon the Decepticons and was encouraging him to continue on his non-violent path.]]
* BerserkButton: Don't treat Ravage like an animal -- that includes petting him.
* CatsAreMean
* ChangedMyMindKid: After [[spoiler: using Ten as a distraction to escape the DJD, he ends up returning to save him, Ratchet and Drift.]]
* CharacterDeath: [[spoiler: Dies as a result of being torn in half by Tarn at the end of ''Dying of the Light''.]]
* CharacterFocus: Continuing his characterizaton from ''Robots In Disguise'', this version of Ravage has received more focus and screentime than most, who are usually just snarling beasts.
* DisappointedInYou: Outright says this to [[spoiler: Megatron, after he Megatron initially refuses to help fight the DJD. Notably it's the only time in the comic so far that Ravage has had ''any'' sort of genuine criticism for Megatron.]]
* EvenEvilHasStandards: He's far from the most heinous of Decepticons and genuinely believes in the best the cause has to offer. Which is why he decides to stay on the ''Lost Light'' after seeing the aftermath of a DJD rampage.
* [[EvilDetectingDog Evil Detecting Cat]]: His enhanced senses cause him to notice the invisible monsters on the Vis Vitalis.
* HalfTheManHeUsedToBe: [[spoiler: During the final battle with the DJD, Tarn rips him in half at the waist. Ravage survives it thanks to Megatron's intervention, though he only hangs on long enough to beg Megatron not to change back into his old self before expiring.]]
* HatesBeingTouched: Or more accurately, hates being petted like a cat. Since Nautica is a minor CuddleBug who thinks Ravage is adorable, she annoys him greatly.
* LivingLieDetector
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Yeah he's a Decepticon, but he genuinely believes in the cause and thinks that they'll lead the galaxy into an age of peace and equality. And while he's dour and stoic towards others, if you actually get him to open up you see that he's a decent person deep down.
* KickTheDog: On the Necrobot's planet, while attempting to scout [[spoiler: the forward base set up by Kaon, Helex, and some of Deathsaurus' Decepticons for their ship, he reveals he knows that Ten has followed him, because Ten actually has a good idea to hold off the Decepticons, but keeps being told to be quiet by everyone else. Ravage acknowledges that Ten wants to help, and ''can''...but then asks Ten to remind him how tall he is. When Ten stands up, he's spotted by the Decepticons who proceed to attack him en masse just so Ravage can take advantage of the distraction and search the base. Ten puts up a decent fight, but ultimately gets mutilated by the Decepticons and is about to be executed, only being saved via the timely arrival of [[BigDamnHeroes Ratchet and Drift]].]]
* TheMole: He's spying on Megatron and the rest of the crew for Soundwave.
* MookFaceTurn: He was originally a henchmen for Soundwave. By the end of issue 33, though he hasn't gone as far as to renounce his Decepticon membership, he's genuinely joined the crew due to seeing how monstrous the DJD is.
* NobleDemon: Was this during the war.
* NonStandardCharacterDesign: Whereas most Transformers are at least vaguely humanoid, he's built like a cat. This is due to him being part of the "beast" class; a Transformer who's forged or constructed body is designed to look like an animal of some sort.
* TheNoseKnows
* OnlyFriend: For Megatron. He's been slowly warming to the rest of the crew. [[spoiler:His death sets Megatron off to the point that he tries to murder the Autobots with his destroyed cannon.]]
* PantheraAwesome
* PerceptionFilter: He uses attention deflectors to help himself hide. In a bit of light deconstruction, he got so used to being able to hide whenever he wanted that he nearly suffered a panic attack when he encountered the personality ticks, which could see through his deflectors.
* PragmaticHero: His proposed solution to the [[spoiler: alternate Lost Light's]] spreading quantum foam (which may or may not have devastated Ofsted XVII if not stopped) is to get back in the shuttle and fly away as fast as possible.
* TheSneakyGuy: He's a master of stealth and often hides or spies on the rest of he crew when he doesn't want to be bothered. He does it so much that Getaway has Brainstorm make a device to counter his attention deflectors in order to see if Ravage is spying on him.
* StealthExpert
* TheStoic: He doesn't talk very much, though he [[NotSoStoic breaks somewhat during a heart-to-heart with Megatron]].
** NotSoStoic: He absolutely ''freaks out'' when he encounters the monsters on the Vis Vitalis. [[spoiler: When the DJD arrive to execute Megatron, he's almost in tears, having narrowly survived an attack from Tarn.]]
* TastesLikePurple: Although to a lesser degree than his boss, Soundwave.
* {{Transplant}}: Leaves the cast of ''Robots in Disguise'' after ''ComicBook/TheTransformersDarkCybertron''.
* TwoferTokenMinority: A fantastical version; he's both constructed cold and a beast class mech.
* UndyingLoyalty: To Megatron. It's why he followed him onto the ''Lost Light''. He also makes it clear that if Megatron said so, he and Soundwave would just kill Galvatron in a second.
* [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman What Measures Is A Non Cybertronian?]]: In the past he suffered from discrimination under the Functionist regime because of his beast class body. Averted in the present; after Functionism died out everyone treats basically as any other Cybertronian, with the only exception so far being Nautica for an extremely brief time when she first met him, as Caminus doesn't have beast class Cybertronians and she didn't know he was sentient.

[[/folder]]

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