History YMMV / TransformersPrime

** [[ChessmasterSidekick Soundwave]] is Megatron's most trusted operative, an oft-silent head of Decepticon communications who uses his position to [[BigBrotherIsWatching spy on friend and foe alike]] to further the Decepticon cause. Regularly thwarting attempts to overthrow Megatron with both tactical surveillance and physical might, Soundwave is always on standby to supply Decepticon troops with transportation and strategic schemes, serving as the [[HypercompetentSidekick primary source of Decepticon victories]]. Always taking the most pragmatic ways to accomplish his goals, Soundwave contrasts fellow lieutenants Starscream and Airachnid's sadism and cruelty with his own brand of cold efficiency, often forgoing outright physical confrontations in favor of just teleporting entire armies of enemies out of his way. Even when captured and threatened with torture and interrogation by the Autobots, Soundwave just [[DefiantToTheEnd mocks his captors before wiping his own hard drives]], fully willing to perish to ensure Decepticon victory. Returning in ''WesternAnimation/TransformersRobotsInDisguise'', Soundwave still maintains his ruthless efficiency and loyalty to Megatron, procuring schemes that test the heroes to their limit in a bid to try and regain contact with his former master.

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Starscream: Though he's a jerk that loves hurting others, one can't help but pity him. Megatron treats him like garbage even though Starscream has taken care of his Decepticon army for 3 years. (without them being detected by the Autobots we might add!) Then poor Starscream had a chance to redeem himself, but he foolishly sold himself out by revealing to Arcee he killed Cliffjumper aka her partner. Despite the first five episodes alone showing how much of a threat Starscream can be, he gets treated by everyone (including the writers) as a universal punching bag. It doesn't help that the writers have exaggerated his cowardliness more and more as the show goes on...

** [[GeniusBruiser Shockwave]] is the [[MadScientist head scientist]] of the Decepticons, dictating his actions based not on personal feelings, but on logic and greatest chances for success. Established immediately as Starscream's far more competent, threatening rival, Shockwave survives an attempt by Starscream to leave him for dead, instead fully repairing himself and his lab of his own construction using [[MacGyvering nothing but ruins of Cybertron]]. Upon finding his way to Earth back into the Decepticon fold, Shockwave quickly proves his usefulness in furthering the groups' schemes, as he creates and unleashes Predaking, outwits the Autobots in retrieving Decepticon artifacts, and even concocts the final plan of the Decepticons in the series, adapting materials from a freak accident to reform Cybertron and return it to prosperity. As efficient physically as mentally, Shockwave thrashes any opponents he faces personally, and cements his status as a truly impressive Decepticon when he singlehandedly convinces the Predacons to fight Unicron alongside the Autobots for the good of Cybertron.

** Airachnid. While there is a consensus that she is scary and that Creator/GinaTorres' performance is good, fans are split as to whether or not she's too much of an expy of Blackarachnia/Lockdown/Tarantulas, particularly when she charms an Insecticon, or controls it. To say nothing of her [[spoiler:killing Breakdown]] or other potential MoralEventHorizon moments.

* MoralEventHorizon: See [[MoralEventHorizon/{{Transformers}} here]].

** One of the reasons [[spoiler:Breakdown's death]] is widely cited as one of, if not THE, low points of the show is that it resulted in multiple cases of this; his history/rivalry with Bulkhead went unexplained, his owing a favor to Starscream was never followed up on, his [[AntiVillain Anti-Villainous traits]] that hinted at a possible redemption arc ended up being superfluous, and his [[ShipTease attraction]] to Airachnid was [[spoiler: sunk in the most brutal way possible]].

** [[Characters/TransformersPrimeMegatron Megatron]] is the leader of the [[Characters/TransformersPrimeDecepticons Decepticons]] who balances might with cunning to repeatedly orchestrate new schemes to aid him with his goals of conquest. Formerly known as a Kaon gladiator D-16, Megatron sought to shift a hierarchy balance within Cybertron--rallying up thousands of loyal troops to serve his cause. Formulating several schemes that conflict the Autobots, Megatron usually leaves the heroes with a narrow victory or an [[TheBadGuyWins outright loss]]. With the resurrection of Unicron imminent, Megatron forms a truce with the Autobots to combat the Chaos Bringer--[[BrutalHonesty being completely honest that once the truce ends, the dynamic they have will return to normal]]. To combat Optimus' Star Saber, Megatron forges his own--grafting his arm with that of a Prime's to be able to wield it. Forging the Omega Lock, Megatron intends on using to restore Cybertron to allow the masses to return--with the restoration granting him the leadership of the planet. To combat the Primus and Unicron dynamic of only dominion over one planet, Megatron also has the Lock almost convert Earth--with the effect of wiping out all organic-based life. Despite losing the lock, Megatron manages to formulate an assault against the Autobot's base, leaving it in ruins and the Autobots disbanded. When Predaking reveals his sapience, Megatron concurs with his command staff that they are outnumbered by the Predacons, and terminates the Predacon pods with a scheme to frame the Autobots and enrage Predaking against them. [[Recap/TransformersPrimeTVMBeastHuntersPredaconsRising Slain after coming within a breadths width of utilizing the Omega Lock's power, Megatron finds himself trapped as a puppet and vessel for Unicron]]. Desiring to thwart Unicron's quest of complete destruction, Megatron convinces him to approach Predaking under the pretence the beast will serve him--knowing that Predaking would attempt to destroy Megatron's body. Free from Unicron's control, [[HeelFaceTurn Megatron dissolves the Decepticons--understanding the true meaning of oppression and thus losing the taste for conquest--before departing to parts unknown]].

** Starscream. Sure, you can sympathize with him for how often he gets beaten down by Megatron, but he's still someone who shows no hesitation at backstabbing others, executing captured and wounded prisoners, or threatening human children.

** The possibility of Starscream becoming an Autobot in "Partners".

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Starscream: Though he's a jerk that loves hurting others, one can't help but pity him. Megatron treats him like garbage even though Starscream has taken care of his Decepticon army for 3 years. (without them being detected by the Autobots we might add!) Then poor Starscream had a chance to redeem himself, but he foolishly sold himself out by revealing to Arcee he killed Cliffjumper aka her partner. Despite the first five episodes alone showing how much of a threat Starscream can be, he gets treated by everyone (including the writers) as a universal punching bag. It doesn't help that the writers have exaggerated his cowardness more and more as the show goes on...
* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Miko, mainly in these episodes: "Rock Bottom", "T.M.I." and "Hurt"... We are supposed to feel bad for her, when she's crying about Bulkhead being hurt, but in "Rock Bottom" and "T.M.I.", he got hurt because of her reckless behavior which she never learns from. And in "Hurt", both she and Wheeljack want to destroy the insecticon that nearly killed Bulkhead, even though we were told previously in the series that revenge wasn't the answer...

* CreepyAwesome: Soundwave, Megatron, Starscream, Airachnid and Predaking.
* DracoInLeatherPants: Megatron, Starscream, and Knock Out. With Knock Out, this has been taken up to eleven by most of the fandom after [[spoiler:Breakdown died]].

** Shockwave, for his great redesign, and for taking traits from the G1 & Animated's genius intellect, and the Bayverse's [[GeniusBruiser incredible killing power.]] He gets plenty of badass moments along the way, especially when he teams up with fellow dark horse Soundwave. Plus, ''[[BadassBaritone that voice.]]''

* MoralEventHorizon:
** Megatron crossed the line prior to this series and just keeps on going. Aside from ''instigating the very war itself'' back on Cybertron, he developed a cybonic plague and a bioweapon out of toxic Energon, both of which wiped out most of the Autobots (and lord knows how many innocent Cybertronians) gradually turning the '''entire planet''' into what is essentially a '''graveyard'''. On present day Earth, [[spoiler:he shoots Bumblebee with Dark Energon, nearly killing Raf in the process.]] While Megatron was unaware of [[spoiler:Raf's presence]] at the time, his reaction later on establishes he has no problem inflicting off-world casualties. [[spoiler: Finally, during the climax of the final battle in "Deadlock", he fires THREE shots at Bumblebee, completely burning through the poor scout's spark chamber. The absolute glee on his face is what seals the deal for Optimus, who you can tell has decided, ''Megatron must die!'' [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking He also came dangerously close to finishing off Optimus as well]], only for Bumblebee, who CameBackStrong, to impale his spark as poetic justice.]]
** "Predatory" reveals that Airachnid crossed it millennia ago when she tortured Arcee and murdered Tailgate. Beyond that, we learn she's spent Primus-knows-how-many years hunting species and committing genocide. For fun. Whether this started before or after Tailgate's murder is unclear.
** Silas crosses it when he works with Airachnid to kidnap June Darby and then shows he's willing to let Airachnid kill her and Jack, dismissing them as collateral damage.
** [[spoiler: In "Evolution", upon discovering Predaking's transformation, Megatron and his command staff plan the eradication of the newborn Predacon clones, before said clones are given the chance to turn on the depleted Decepticons. Starscream suggests they set it up so the Autobots would look entirely responsible and turn Predaking's anger towards ''them'' instead of his creators. Even Shockwave, ''the creator of the clones'', is coldly in favor of the idea, though that's perfectly in keeping with his own nature: If an idea is logically sound (which Starscream's claim was), it's alright with him, be damned the morality of it.]]

** One of the reasons [[spoiler:Breakdown's death]] is widely cited as one of, if not THE, low points of the show is that it resulted in multiple cases of this; his history/rivalry with Bulkhead went unexplained, his owing a favor to Starscream was never followed up on, his [[AntiVillain Anti-Villainous traits]] that hinted at a possible redemption arc ended up being superfluous, and his [[ShipTease attraction]] to Airachnid was [[spoiler:[[ShipSinking sunk]] in the most brutal way possible]].

** How was Raf always able to hack into government computers anyway?
*** Raf had Agent Fowler to back him up during these operations (such as providing password for Damocles satellite), so that would not count. The closest to hacking by Raf was done during Darkness Rising Arc, and that was to track down Fowler's location using the chip.
** Airachnid gaining the ability to control the minds of Insecticons comes out nowhere and is never explained or elaborated on and just feels more like a convinient way for her to acquire her own army.

--> "''Yowza'', this would be a tough episode to start watching the series."

-->'''Silas:''' Ah, the mother lode.\\

-->'''Ratchet:''' [[spoiler:I will ''not'' allow Optimus to pass knowing that Megatron will outlive him!]]

* HeartwarmingInHindsight: Knock Out was hinted at being gay during the show's run, but given the UnfortunateImplications of a comment made at Botcon 2011, the show runners appeared hesitant to confirm him as gay. Several years later in ''ComicBook/TheTransformersWindblade'', Knock Out is not only confirmed to be gay in the IDW-verse, but he's also got a Conjunx Endura in the form of a ''Prime''-based Breakdown, who was always shipped with Knock Out during the show and was widely suspected to be more than friends with him. Now the two are an openly OfficialCouple, which is especially heartwarming given [[spoiler: Breakdown's untimely death in season two.]]

--> "So, who's the boyfriend?"

-->'''Starscream''': ...Well then.
-->'''Knock Out''': Should be going.

** Every time Prime himself was in a life-threatening situation. Given the legacy of almost every single Optimus dying and being ressurected in some form going against the promise that any character that died would stay dead (or at least not ressurected in a form that would be themselves, such as a zombie), many people wondered exactly how Optimus would survive these to continue the legacy. [[spoiler: They eventually ended up playing with this three times; first by having Optimus lose his memory, thus effectively "dying" as a character but not actually dying, making his "ressurection" easy. The second time they actually did kill Optimus, when he was caught in the base's explosion at the end of season 2. However he stayed dead for all of about 3 seconds before the MacGuffin revived him. Then they inverted the whole thing and actually ''kept their promise'' by having Optimus merging his own spark with the Allspark, and then jumping into Primus, meaning he's about as dead as you can get at that point. Given that was the end of the series, he's not likely coming back.]]

---->'''Miko''': "Whoa, that's a pretty good idea!"
---->'''Arcee:''' "Oh, well, if ''Miko'' thinks it's a good idea..."

* ParanoiaFuel: Soundwave. In this series, he's a voiceless, faceless character, which is creepy enough, but Starscream and the other Decepticons are ''terrified'' of him, due to the fact that he always has the ship under subtle surveillance...and it's not always ''the ship'' he's on, as he's a Scout, meaning he spies on much more than his own subordinates. The [[CurbStompBattle smackdown]] Soundwave delivers to Airachnid in the first season finale all but ''justifies'' that paranoia.

* TheScrappy: Miko Nakadai in season 1. Many fans disliked her because she was TheLoad and was always InHarmsWay (and as a result the main source of problems), thought that [[ItsAllAboutMe her fun was the most important thing]], [[NeverMyFault blamed others if anything gone wrong]] and [[AesopAmnesia never learned from her mistakes]]. Thankfully, [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap authors fixed her later]].

* SeasonalRot: The second season is considered the weakest of the three by a fair portion of the fanbase, with some outright hating it. Most of the seems to stem from [[spoiler:killing off complex and/or interesting characters e.g. Breakdown and Dreadwing]] as well as wasted plot potentials like Bulkhead's injuries and various other plots that could have lasted longer. It also doesn't help that the second season made use of the tired treasure-hunting trope which plagued the Anime/UnicronTrilogy, where the heroes had to go hunting for the Omega Keys and generally go back-and-forth with the bad guys over a gimmick which had [[DorkAge more than worn out its welcome]] from Anime/TransformersArmada to Anime/TransformersCybertron.

* CompleteMonster:
** [[Characters/TransformersPrimeUnicronAndTheTerrorcons Unicron]] is an [[AbusivePrecursors ancient entity]] that shared an existence with Primus before both developed their own viewpoints and feelings towards the universe, Unicron choosing to see all life as pointless and beneath himself. Unicron [[OmnicidalManiac waged a path of destruction across the universe]], destroying countless worlds before being plunged into a deep slumber from which the Earth formed around him and gave life to humanity. Upon being awoken by Megatron's efforts, Unicron immediately [[UngratefulBastard denounces the loyal Megatron as worthless to him]], and reveals his plans to destroy the entire Earth and personally enjoy the annihilation of humankind. Although Unicron was beaten, his essence attached to Megatron, and soon takes control of Megatron's corpse--in the process [[BarredFromTheAfterlife barring the Decepticon from the afterlife]] and keeping him as a toy to be tortured--after which Unicron plans to destroy Cybertron as a final act of spite against his former brother Primus.
** Colonel Leland "[[RightWingMilitiaFanatic Silas]]" Bishop is leader of MECH, a terrorist group researching Cybertronian technology. His crimes include capturing Breakdown, torturing him, trying to have him vivisected, and removing one of his eyes; and allying MECH with Airachnid to get his hands on another Cybertronian, Arcee, and was perfectly willing to let Airachnid kill Jack Darby, a sixteen-year old teenager, and his mother to do it; he even states a few human lives are worth it for Arcee's tech. After his men upload him into the now-dead Breakdown's empty shell, saving his life in the process, he thanks them for that and their years of loyal service by thanking them personally and then [[UngratefulBastard slaughtering them]]. He then, taking the name CYLAS--[[FunWithAcronyms "CYbernetic Lifeform Augmented by Symbiosis"]]--[[TranshumanTreachery betrays the human race to Megatron]]. Seeing himself as [[AGodAmI a superior being]], he razes a military base just to get Megatron's attention, then attempts to blow up everybody inside Raf's house.
** [[ArachnidAppearanceAndAttire Airachnid]] is a self-styled "ex-Decepticon" who spent her time in the Great War capturing, torturing, and slowly killing any Autobots she could find [[ForTheEvulz for fun]]. For certain victims, like Arcee, she'd go out of her way to find people they cared for and murder them before their eyes as part of her fun. After the war left Cybertron, she struck out solo to pursue a new hobby: [[EgomaniacHunter hunting endangered and soon-to-be extinct species]]—or species [[OmnicidalManiac she will make extinct]]--for sport and collecting grisly "trophies" of her kills. Should she find an attractive species that isn't endangered, she'll ensure that they are by the time she's done, deciding to make humans her new toys, starting with the teenage Jack Darby. Forced back into serving Megatron, Airachnid barely hides her dissatisfaction, [[TheStarscream trying to usurp control from Megatron at times]]. She finally breaks free when she finds an Insecticon hive, murders fellow Decepticon Breakdown along the way, and plans to use her new servants to destroy Megatron. Sadistic, merciless and terrifying while enjoying her atrocities, Airachnid is one of the worst to wear the Decepticon logo.
** ''Beast Hunters'' comic's issues #1-2: [[TheSocialDarwinist Airwave]] is an Autobot who, after the Great Civil War, [[FaceHeelTurn abandoned the Autobots' ideals]] in favor of an "everyone out for himself" philosophy, due to believing that Optimus Prime and the others left them to die on Cybertron. Forming one of the Autobots cities underground, called Lost Spark, Airwave found an easy way to get Energon for himself by secretly killing his own followers and then draining their bodies of Energon in the morgue. Thus killing several dozen of his own people and closest friends, Airwave planned to feast on all inhabitants on the Lost Spark, until he was discovered by Sludge and Snarl, after which he shot Firestar in the back and framed them for it, leading to his followers attacking them. Trying to kill Sludge and Snarl, Airwave didn't care when he killed dozens of his own people in the crossfire.

* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** Some fans of the franchise tended to be much more critical of Frank Welker's performance as Megatron in the [[WesternAnimation/TheTransformers G1 cartoon]], finding it too screechy and not very intimidating, which wasn't helped by the voice generally not being modified in various tie-ins for the [[Film/TransformersFilmSeries live action films]] where he played the role. In ''Prime'', Welker's voice for the character was [[VocalEvolution completely overhauled]] to be lower and more guttural, which makes Megatron more intimidating, and as Welker himself admitted, gives more emotional range to the character.
** A lot of fans were upset when [[spoiler:Breakdown]] was killed off. The Japanese-exclusive comic series ''Unite Warriors'' takes strides to fix this. In the comic it's revealed that [[spoiler:Breakdown's empty husk still continued to wander the Earth as an Energon-hungry zombie. This drew the attention of Unicron from another dimension, who resurrected Breakdown in a new body. After the events of the comic Breakdown returns to his own dimension and shares a joyful reunion with Knock Out.]]

*** Raf had Agent Fowler to back him up during these operations(Such as providing password for Damocles satellite),so that would not count. The closest to hacking by Raf was done during Darkness Rising Arc, and that was to track down Fowler's location using the chip.

** Of the three human children, the only one who seems to really divide the fandom is Miko. (Jack and Raf seem to mostly just be quietly tolerated.) Particularly early on in the series, she shows a [[TooDumbToLive serious lack of survival instinct]] and [[LeeroyJenkins willingness to jump into chaos]]. This may be an attempt to make her an AudienceSurrogate, with her wanting adventure and loving giant robots, but many found it more like she's borderline detached from reality, giving no care for the danger she drags herself and others into. However, throughout season two (but particularly in the second half), Miko gets a little better in the survival instincts department (or at least, it seems that way) and while she still has her brash moments, her obnoxiousness has been toned down considerably. This CharacterDevelopment has arguably improved her status amongst the fans.

** Though not technically ''alive,'' [[spoiler:the Decepticon's massive fortress, Darkmount]] only lasts 5 episodes. Shame.

* UnfortunateImplications: At 2011's Botcon, one of the speakers fielded a question as to whether or not Knock Out was gay. Their answer started out playful, noting Knock Out ''is'' a knockout, that the ''Nemesis'' has a strict "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Then they said that on the day Knock Out was born, there was a "glitch" in the Allspark. ''[[http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Knock_Out_%28Prime%29 Yikes]]''.

* RelationshipWritingFumble: Jack and Arcee. They're supposed to come across as LikeBrotherAndSister. Needless to say, all the AccidentalInnuendo and Jack's SheIsNotMyGirlfriend moments don't help.

** The [[Wiki/TFWikiDotNet wiki]], of course, lampshades this in its "Thirst" article, which is a big example of it: The events of "Armada", "The Human Factor", and "Stronger, Faster" receive payoff, the third particularly after the second season seemed to quietly ignore it.

** Bumblebee gets a bit of this from time to time, as some fans feel (not entirely without reason) that he's more of a transplant of Movieverse 'Bee than a nuanced character in his own right for the sake of kid appeal, and the ungodly amount of merchandise revolving around him doesn't help this perception in the least. He did, however, lose a lot of detractors in Season 3 when he TookALevelInBadass, and was more or less RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap entirely in "Deadlock" and ''Predacons Rising'', where his awesomeness is taken UpToEleven.

* CatharsisFactor: Silas's fate in "Nemesis Prime". Over the course of Season 1 and the first half of Season 2, he mutilates Breakdown for his parts, helps Airachnid try to murder a teenage boy and his mother, nearly disables Bumblebee for life by stealing his T-Cog, tries to personally kill Agent Fowler by sending him off the side of a bridge, and shanks Optimus Prime through the stomach with a sword. And throughout all of these evil acts, he always manages to escape unscathed as a KarmaHoudini. In the climax of "Nemesis Prime", [[spoiler:[[KarmaHoudiniWarranty he finally gets exactly what he deserves]] when Optimus causes his very own Frankenstein's monster to fall on top of him from several stories up, and it very nearly crushes him to death.]] It is immensely satisfying.
** It gets taken UpToEleven at the end of "The Human Factor" as he's hauled away for dissection, the same fate he attempted to inflict on Breakdown, Arcee, Bumblebee and Starscream.

* DracoInLeatherPants: Megatron, Starscream, and Knock Out. With Knock Out, this has been taken UpToEleven by most of the fandom after [[spoiler:Breakdown died]].