History Characters / TransformersAnimatedMainAutobots

* YouAreInCommandNow: [[spoiler: ''The Trial Of Megatron'' script reading reveals that in the Season 4 premiere, Ultra Magnus would have named Optimus his successor before going offline, and it's indicated the struggle between Optimus and Sentinel to claim the title of Magnus would have been one of the driving forces of the season.]]

* TookALevelInBadass: Ratchet sets his stingers to the full-power setting intended for combat bots. After this, his stingers become a genuinely useful weapon.

* MightyGlacier: Although he is slow, clumsy and not very agile, he is the biggest, strongest and most physically powerful of his team.

* GrumpyOldMan: His bad attitude and his age obviously slot him into this trope.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He may be a cranky old bot, but he's genuinely concerned about protecting the Earth from Megatron and the Decepticons, which he admits in a rather tearful confession to Sari.

* CharacterDeath: He sacrifices himself in the series finale, giving up his spark to create a field of [=AllSpark=] energy that will contain an explosion that would destroy Detroit otherwise.

* AlmightyJanitor: A rookie starship captain of a space bridge maintenance team who regularly fights the Decepticons' top fighters.

* BeingGoodSucks: Crass and ungrateful bots (namely, Sentinel) take advantage of Optimus' naive innocence and good nature to exploit his heroism for their own benefit.

* ClassicalAntiHero: This incarnation of Optimus is a rookie soldier, not an experienced war veteran, though the heroic spirit is still present. Early on, he has moments of self-doubt about his role as leader, though he [[CharacterDevelopment gradually evolves into]] [[TheHero the kind of hero an Optimus Prime should be]].

* AesopAmnesia: Like with Sentinel, some of his more humbling lessons don't quite stick with him. Though, unlike Sentinel, he at least tries to be better.

* TheBabyOfTheBunch: The youngest member of Prime's crew.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Second only to [[WesternAnimation/BeastWars Rhinox]]. Bulkhead may be easygoing most of the time, but he is not afraid to fight back against foes when pushed, especially to protect his friends or an innocent. He even outmuscled the Dinobots when they kidnapped Sari.

* TheBigGuy: He's the biggest, strongest, toughest, and heaviest of the group.
* BullyHunter: In the episode Elite Guard, Sentinel's mean attitude significantly upset Bulkhead, especially when he continued to insult Optimus. Likewise, Bulkhead clearly did not appreciate Wasp's bullying at boot camp.

** Also is one to Optimus Prime, who is in Cybertronian terms, young enough to be considered a son to Ratchet. Just check out "The Thrill of The Hunt" for proof.

* WeakButSkilled: Excluding Bumblebee, Prowl is less physically durable than the other main Autobots. In combat skill though, he probably takes the cake; though Jazz's arrival and Optimus Prime's growth later make this contestable.

** Ratchet and Prowl have actual experience as soldiers, whereas the rest of the team were simple repair bots. That said, Optimus' training at the Autobot academy still proved useful against the Decepticons.

* LanternJawOfJustice: He's a hero with a really big chin.

* TookALevelInBadass: Over the course of the series, he shapes up into a capable leader and combatant like all Optimus Primes have been.

* WellTrainedButInexperienced: In Season 1, with Blackarachnia referring to Prime's moves as "pure textbook Autobot Academy". Subverted over time, becoming skilled enough to fight Megatron in a duel by "Endgame", winning partly via outside factors.
* ThunderHammer: He uses the Magnus Hammer in the season 3 finale.

* BeingGoodSucks: His first course of action in his friendship with Bulkhead costs him his opportunity to get into the Elite Guard. Then again, it did lead to becoming a member of Optimus' crew...

* HiddenDepths: The rest of the cast is shocked to learn that Bulkhead is the top space bridge technician in the galaxy. It actually made Megatron remember his name.
* IJustWantToHaveFriends: [[http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Autoboot_Camp His backstory]] has him trying to make friends with the other four robots in the boot camp he attends. They ignore him and order him to leave them alone. [[note]]As the four were all trying to accomplish their dreams of joining the elite guard, while Bulkhead had the dream of becoming a Space-bridge technician.[[/note]] So he had to wait until joining Optimus Prime's group to gain friends.

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: The series completely rewrote Prowl's character into a nature-loving cyber ninja that cares deeply for lives, with CharacterDevelopment slowly causing him to shed his loner tendencies.
* AdaptationalPersonalityChange: In addition to his Cyber-Ninja background, this Prowl is much more spiritual than his ''G1'' counterpart, who was the Autobots' resident [[TheSpock Spock.]]

* DistressBall: In episode 2, he tells Optimus Prime that there's only one person he trusts. Himself. He promptly gets sucked into a nanite monster and almost killed were it not for his teammates. In fact, despite him being the best fighter of the team, Prowl catches the Distress Ball quite a few times in the series, usually after trying to do something alone. Maybe it's trying to send him a message?

* LonerTurnedFriend: He's standoffish and wants little to do with the rest of the team, especially at the beginning of the series before warming up to them. A flashback near the end of the series confirms that he isn't an official member of the repair crew and only joined them when they accidentally marooned him on an asteroid.

* MisanthropeSupreme: He finds most humans annoying to be around

* SurpassedTheTeacher: Jazz, being a fully-fledged cyber-ninja, resolves to help Prowl complete his training... although Prowl is able to master Processor Over Matter when [[EleventhHourSuperpower captured by Lockdown]].

* AdaptationalKindness: The series completely rewrote Prowl's character into a nature-loving cyber ninja that cares deeply for lives, with CharacterDevelopment slowly causing him to shed his loner tendencies.

* AdaptationalWimp: While competent and efficient from the start, he is less powerful and experienced than G1 Optimus Prime and poses very little threat to the Decepticons... at first. Over the course of the series, he undergoes massive CharacterDevelopment, [[TookALevelInBadass Takes Multiple Levels in Badass]], and becomes an Autobot worthy of the name "Optimus Prime".

* PapaWolf: This Prime is as noble as his other incarnations, but hurting one of his crew members is a surefire way to significantly piss him off.

* TookALevelInBadass: Over the course of the series, he shapes up to be into a capable leader and combatant like all Optimus Primes have been.

* ThatsAnOrder: Often pulled this phrase on his teammates during the early days of the show, when they were less willing to obey his commands.

* BeingGoodSucks: His first course of action in his friendship with Bulkhead costs him his opportunity to get into the Elite Guard.

* BoisterousWeakling: For all of his grandstanding in the early episodes, it's plainly clear that he isn't a very powerful bot, having stingers that are barely strong enough to cause any significant damage. This eventually goes away later in the series, when his stingers are upgraded to military-grade weapons.

* TheLoad: While he is okay at fighting human super-villains, he is utterly ''useless'' when fighting Decepticons on his own, as his one weapon (nodes that shoot out beams of electricity) are too weak to even make any of them flinch. Well, until he gets the limiters on them taken off and they become the most powerful weapon on the entire team.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Second only to [[WesternAnimation/BeastWars Rhinox]]. He may be easygoing most of the time, but he will best anyone who tries to harm Sari or his fellow Autobots.

* HiddenDepths: The rest of the cast is shocked to learn that Bulkhead is the top space bridge technician in the galaxy.

* CoolOldGuy: He's an old mech, but he's definitely not some rusted-up has been.

** ReassignmentBackfire: Then he finds the [=AllSpark=] and fights Megatron himself.
* RedOniBlueOni: The blue to Sentinel Prime's red.

** DropTheHammer: During the season three finale, he wields the Magnus Hammer.
** RocketPoweredWeapon: His axe has engines on the back of it. They can add some extra force to his strokes -- handy, as it's mostly used for carving through rocks -- but its main use is to serve as a propulsion unit in zero gravity environments.

* DropTheHammer: After taking the Magnus Hammer from Shockwave.

* {{Hunk}}: He looks like the Cyberteonian version of this, due to his HeroicBuild and LanternJawOfJustice.

* BenevolentBoss: His team may be somewhat exasperating, especially early on, but he's still a very patient and reasonable authority figure.

* HeroicBuild: He sports a classical superhero-build, with a much larger chest than legs.

* AdaptationalWimp: While competent and efficient from the start, he is much more inexperienced than G1 Optimus Prime and poses very little threat to the Decepticons... at least at first. Over the course of the series, he undergoes massive CharacterDevelopment, [[TookALevelInBadass Takes Multiple Levels in Badass]], and grows into a formidable leader and warrior in his own right.
* AFatherToHisMen: He develops into a caring father figure to the other Autobots as the series progresses.

* CruelMercy: [[spoiler: Why he spares Megatron in the GrandFinale; the Decepticon leader doesn't deserve the "easy way out" that is death.]]

* DeconReconSwitch: He's what happens if a young hero is too lenient, naive, and innocent that jerks like Sentinel find a way to take advantage of it and end up ruining his life while they run scot-free. Despite this, Optimus continues to be a good person, and learns on his own how to become the hero everyone was expecting him to be in spite of the odds and losses.

* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Downplayed, but Optimus tends to see goodness in people that's either just not there, or if it does exist it's extremely hidden beneath layers of terrible behaviors and habits that the people involved refuse to change. [[JustifiedTrope It's not unjustified]], given that the two characters most prone to receiving this have had a history with him, [[MyGreatestFailure his own guilt complex for how badly things turned out for both of them]], and the fact that they ''do'' have moments where it's clear that they can be much better people if they wish to be seems to fuel his leniency.
** He regards Sentinel as a JerkWithAHeartOfGold rather than the plain {{Jerkass}} he really is, constantly covering for his numerous failings as a person even when it's painfully clear that Sentinel barely understands the concept of gratitude, and is not inclined to [[UngratefulBastard reciprocate the good done for him.]]
** He believes Blackarachnia has the capacity for redemption from her current status as a Decepticon due to their past history as cadets, even though she keeps backstabbing him.
* HonorBeforeReason: Even though it was Sentinel's idea to go to that organic planet, Optimus took the fall for what happened to Elita-1 because he was the ranking cadet. Then again, it didn't help matters that Sentinel pinned the blame on him entirely.

* NiceGuy: He's a very good-natured individual and wishes to protect both humans and other Autobots.

* TookALevelInBadass: Over the course of the series, he shapes up to be as capable a leader and combatant as previous Optimus Primes have been.
* UnknownRival: Megatron knows he exists, but spends almost the entire series calling him "Autobot." Megatron calling him "Optimus Prime" in the finale is when he finally acknowledges Optimus as his greatest enemy.