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Here are the characters tropes found in TFA Kaleidoscope. For the original Transformers: Animated series, see here.

Autobots

The Orion Crew

General

Almighty Janitor: The oldest members of the crew are way more combat capable than bots of their station have the right to be, as they are veteran fighters from the Great War.
The Exile: They were all assigned to space-bridge repair, but not of their own accord. For one reason or another, they were put there because they just don't belong anywhere else as far as their superiors are concerned.
Hero with Bad Publicity: This is ultimately zig-zagged when it comes to Detroit's perception of them. Detroit's opinion on the Orion crew is fickle and can turn at the drop of a hat. Thanks to the Beast Pretenders attacks combined with the prior Starscream incident, the general public were less fond of them. They still have a good working relationship with the police though. It's also noted that their bad publicity mostly comes from the media sensationalizing the negative aspects for the sake of viewership. The public is divided on them, but not as much as they think.
Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: They consist of a grouchy field medic, a borderline Mad Scientist who blows up everything he invents, a semi-amnesiac ex-teacher, a walking disaster area, a stoic cyber-ninja, and an overly energetic washout. Yup, they're a bundle of misfits alright.

Ratchet

A field medic from the Great War. He's the oldest member of the Orion crew, their medical officer, and the leader of the team. His vehicular mode is an ambulance.

Age Lift: While Ratchet was the oldest of the Earth crew in the actual show, he was fresh meat during the war compared to Arcee's experience in intelligence and Wheeljack having already been working as an engineer on various projects throughout the conflict. Here, Ratchet is ancient enough to have experienced the pre-war Cybertron's caste systems and is older than Arcee and Wheeljack.
Barrier Warrior: He prefers to use his electromagnetic fields to keep his foes at a distance and generate barriers to protect his teammates.
Cool Old Guy: He's a very tough fighter despite his old age and grouchy demeanor. Many seem to forget that him having been a field medic means he was out in live combat during the Great War.
Combat Medic: He was a field medic during the war, so he's seen plenty of action and still knows how to fight, even if he's out of practice.
Grumpy Old Man: He's the Cybertronian equivalent of one since he's the oldest of the crew by a country mile and being a cynical grouch who's always in a bad mood makes him this. All of his teammates even refer to him as an old grouch.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's a grouch who doesn't want anything to do with the Earth, but he deeply cares for his team, and he ultimately can't bring himself to let others suffer.
The Leader: He's the one everyone looks to for guidance and they all follow his orders (for the most part).
The Medic: His occupation during the war, and this carries over to his team as well since he has to patch them up after tough scraps, which happens more often than you'd expect.
Old Soldier: He was brought online prior to the Great War and lived/fought through all several million years of it.
Racist Grandpa: Out of all the crew, he's the oldest and also the most "anti-human" of them, advocating that the crew stay as far away from humans as possible. Though it won't stop him from trying to defend them.
We Have Become Complacent: While he did fight in the Great War, he hasn't seen live combat in a long time. As such, he does well enough in battle, but it's clear he's out of practice.

Wheeljack

A scientist from the Great War and an old friend of Ratchet's. He's not as good an inventor as he claims he is. His vehicular mode is a sports car.

Ascended Extra: He only had one or two cameo appearances in the series, only playing a non-speaking role, but he functions as one of the main characters here.
Boxing Battler: His fighting style wouldn't be out of place in a boxing ring. In fact, he was a boxer back on Cybertron.
Bungling Inventor: While certainly intelligent and played a pivotal part in the projects that would go on to end the Great War, his inventions that he makes all tend to explode...a lot.
Didn't Think This Through: A major part of why his inventions explode is that he rarely revises them and just goes with the first version he makes.
Hidden Depths: He can be pretty insightful and technologically sufficient when the need arises, as he gives good advice to Prowl when the younger bot was sorting out his feelings towards Arcee.
Required Secondary Powers: Averted. He never installed a recall feature to return his hands to him should he ever use his rocket punch. As such, Ratchet needs to use his electromagnetic fields to give Wheeljack a hand.
Rocket Punch: He upgraded his arms to fire his fists like rockets. Unfortunately, he didn't put in a recall feature to bring his hands back to him.
Stuff Blowing Up: Pick any of his inventions and nine times out of ten, it will explode. Everyone tends to be exasperated by this and often brace for cover when he whips out a new invention.

Arcee

Originally a teacher prior to the start of the war, she lost everything in the ensuing conflict. Worse, her central programming was damaged, leaving her unable to return to her past occupation. Her vehicular mode is a sleek super-car.

Adaptational Badass: She gets to do battle here and proves to be very capable, rather than be a Living Macguffin for the series who never engaged in combat.
An Arm and a Leg: She gets her arm sliced off by Megatron when she took a deadly hit for Prowl. However, it's eventually repaired.
Badass Teacher: She was a teacher prior to the events of the war and also happens to be an expert in swordsmanship. She apparently knew how to use those blades long before the war started.
Dual Wield: She uses twin energy sabers, which can slice through most Earth metals with ease.
Morality Pet: For Ratchet. While he's not a bad bot (just rough around the edges and a grouch), Arcee is the only bot that he seems to treat with complete kindness and doesn't get into frequent arguments with.
The Smurfette Principle: She's the only girl on the crew.
Team Mom: She acts like an overbearing mother to the youngest members of the crew and gets exasperated with Bumblebee's antics. She even acts this way toward Wheeljack when he's not behaving.
Wistful Amnesia: While she remembers who she is and some parts of her past, her damaged central processor resulted in her losing several of her memories. She can't recollect her life before the war or what happened during the war. She often watches propaganda from the war to try and get something out of it, but she never finds anything.

Prowl

An aloof Cyber-Ninja. His vehicular mode is a police motorcycle.

Adaptational Nice Guy: While still aloof, he's more overtly polite (if a bit snarky) with his crew mates and also proves to be one of the most heroic of the Orion crew. It also helps that since he's from the post-war generation, he doesn't have the issues involving being forcibly drafted like he was in canon.
Age Lift: He's from the post-war generation rather than being brought online somewhere in the middle of it.
An Arm and a Leg: He got his leg ripped off during his fight with Starscream. Sari was able to repair it and re-attach it after the Autobots rescued him.
Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: He tends to have a high opinion of his combat abilities due to his training in Cyber-Ninjutsu. This also leads to him underestimating his opponents frequently, which often bites him in the aft.
Badass in Distress: He gets captured by Starscream and held hostage in exchange for the AllSpark.
Cool Shades: His optics are behind the blue shades he wears.
Fragile Speedster: He's the most agile of the crew, but he can't take any heavy hits or he'll find himself too damaged too quickly. When Starscream got a hold of him, he tore off his leg without meaning to, not expecting his opponent to be that fragile.
It's All My Fault: He blames himself for Arcee's severed hand since she dove in to take Megatron's lethal attack to save him. Also, as shown after dealing with the Beast Pretenders, he tends to feel guilt whenever something bad happens that's connected to the Orion Crew and feels an immediate need to help out to make amends.
I Work Alone: He prefers to work by himself and struggles to rely on others.
Skewed Priorities: Downplayed. He was legitimately concerned with the Beast Pretenders crimes, but he seemed more concerned with how they sully the beauty of Earth's wildlife by wearing animal suits for their crimes.
Underestimating Badassery: He tends to be overconfident and underestimates his opponents.
- He went into the fight with Starscream overconfident, feeling that if they could beat Megatron, then Starscream wouldn't be an issue. He lost a leg for that one.
- He also didn't think Optimus was that tough after seeing his fight with Pyro Goblin. Said bot that "doesn't look so tough" is a front-line fighter from the Great War who killed powerful Decepticons and later proved to be a match for Starscream, who blasted his leg off.
Weak, but Skilled: He's the best fighter of the crew, but he lacks strength and durability compared to heavy hitters like Bulkhead, Starscream, and Optimus. This is shown with how he can dance around them and off balance them, but once they land a hit, he's out of the fight.
The Xenophile: Out of the whole crew, he's the most interested with their new surroundings. He frequently tries to observe nature whenever he's out of the ship.

Bumblebee

An impulsive ex-cadet who wanted to be in the Elite Guard, but couldn't make the cut for one reason or another. His transformation is a yellow hatchback.

Anti-Hero: Some of his heroic actions tend to have negative connotations behind them, such as getting popular. Still, he can be counted on to fight for what's right.
The Baby of the Bunch: He's the youngest of the crew, and can come across as an Annoying Younger Sibling.
Big Brother Instinct: He has this towards Sari, as he jumped in the way of a bomb to protect her.
Book Dumb: His learning skills are...definitely below average, given that a single tutoring session with Arcee was enough to leave his head spinning while Bulkhead and Prowl passed with flying colors. Though he can be smart where it counts, most obviously with how he could perform his repair duties.
Bratty Half-Pint: He's the shortest and most immature of the crew, with Prowl and Ratchet getting the most exasperated by his antics.
Fragile Speedster: Like Prowl, he can move fast, but not take a hit.
Hot-Blooded: He's incredibly energetic and refuses to sit still, which causes no end to the others' frustration with him.
Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: His stingers are designed for Space Bridge repair and don't have much in terms of combat abilities. On Earth, they have more utility thanks to the planet's lesser opponents compared to what Cybertronian warriors would typically face.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: He was a lot more sullen and serious when Arcee couldn't find anything on Sari. He felt responsible for getting her roped up into their problems, which Prowl didn't think was possible for Bumblebee.
Shock and Awe: His stingers blast electricity. Against Decepticons, they're about as useful as throwing rocks due to not being made for combat.

Bulkhead

A close friend of Bumblebee who was apparently too much of a safety hazard to be out among the public of Cybertron. His vehicular mode is an armored police van.

The Big Guy: He's the muscle of the crew and is also the largest member.
Destructive Savior: He tends to cause a lot of damage whenever he fights.
Epic Flail: His main weapons are wrecking balls attached to retractable steel cord.
Gentle Giant: Well, he's sort of this. While he is one of the nicest of the crew, he's also prone to causing accidental destruction due to his sheer size and clumsiness.
Mighty Glacier: Befitting a bot of his size, he can hit like a super-powered truck, but he's not very fast.
Super-Toughness: Not much can hurt him. The laser weapons employed by the police drones couldn't so much as dent him.
Walking Disaster Area: He was reportedly so much of a walking safety hazard that he couldn't even be allowed among the general public of his home planet.

Unaffiliated

Optimus

An old soldier from the Great War. He ended up trapped in stasis for four million years while guarding the AllSpark. He awakens on the Orion and escapes with the AllSpark into Detroit. His vehicular mode is a firetruck.

Adaptational Badass: In the main series, Optimus was an Elite Guard washout and, while certainly powerful, wasn't on the same level as the Decepticons early on. This Optimus is a veteran from the Great war who has fought and killed plenty of powerful Decepticons in his time and proves to be a match for Starscream, the 2nd-in-command of the entire Decepticon army.
Adaptational Jerkass: This Optimus is kind of a jerk. He lacks the Nice Guy qualities that his show counterpart had as well as the Ideal Hero aspects that almost every other iteration of the character possesses, instead being very abrasive. Not to mention he tries to kick Sari out of her only home. Granted, he's got enough trauma from the war to justify why he's not exactly a people-bot.
Almighty Janitor: He can face off against the three most experienced members of the Orion crew, multiple powerful Decepticons at once, and even match Starscream in single combat. However, he doesn't hold the rank of Prime and it's implied that he was a low-rank soldier given that none of the bots who lived through the Great War seem to recognize him.
Anti-Hero: He's got good intentions and really isn't a bad bot once you get to know him, but he's much more ruthless and pragmatic than the rest of the Autobots and can come across as rather callous.
Arm Cannon: Sometime before he fought Ratchet, Wheeljack, and Arcee, he upgraded his water cannon to also function as a laser blaster that can damage Deceptions like Starscream and even destroy the AllSpark should he need to. It can get jammed though since it's rather makeshift.
Came Back Strong: His second reconstruction after his near-death experience brought him back to the same level as he was in his physical prime, making him the strongest Cybertronian on Earth barring Megatron (who's a disembodied head in a lab at the moment) and Starscream.
Classical Anti-Hero: Of a different variety than his show version. While Animated Optimus was a rookie with a lot of doubts in his abilities, Kaleidoscope Optimus is a veteran combatant struggling to find some semblance of normality and peace after a long life of death and misery. He also frequently struggles in connecting with others and finds himself trying to push them away despite letting them in being better for his mental well-being.
Cool Mask: Unlike other incarnations, he doesn't start with his mask initially. Instead, he constructs one himself using the equipment at the factory.
Composite Character: He has the appearance of his Animated version, but he has a wartime background as a front-line soldier and is stated to have a baritone to his voice, drawing in elements of his G1 version.
Dark and Troubled Past: He was born into a totalitarian caste society where he had no free will, was forced to fight in a multi-millennia long war where he killed many of his own kind on the front-lines, and witnessed death, destruction, mutilation and worse on both ends.
The Exile: A self-imposed case. He willingly chose to take the AllSpark from Cybertron during the Great War to keep it out of the wrong hands, knowing full-well that doing so would cut him off from everyone and leave him with no allies.
Facial Horror: During the war, he got most of his face blasted off by enemy Decepticons during a massive battle. This carried over to present day and wouldn't be fixed until his second reconstruction using the Allspark key.
Glass Cannon: After his first reformatting, he still retains his strength and speed, but his durability took a massive hit thanks to being reconstructed with weaker Earth metals. It's noted that even the police drones that the Autobots and police took on were more durable. After Sari manages to fully repair him, he returns to the same level he was during the war and is now a full-fledged Lightning Bruiser.
Heroic Neutral: He's a good bot at heart, but he just wants to live in peace and keep Sari out of harms way. Unfortunately for him, the universe typically throws him a curve-ball that spurs him into action.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He does everything he can to push others away, but beneath all that sternness and trauma is the same Optimus who will give it his all for the sake of others. His protectiveness of Sari is perhaps the biggest example of this.
Lightning Bruiser: After his second reconstruction from the AllSpark key, he becomes this. He now has the strength to take on the likes of Starscream and can shrug off Pyro Goblin's attacks, which can incinerate police drones with ease.
Loners Will Stay Alone: Subverted. He originally wanted to live out the rest of his days in complete isolation, even in stasis if need be. But all this changes when he meets Sari and begins to form a bond with her. It becomes clear that for as much as he tries to push others away, he hates solitude as much as Sari does.
Nominal Hero: While at heart he is a noble bot whose intentions are morally right, he only has two priorities: protecting the Allspark and protecting Sari. He doesn't really care about anything beyond that yet he finds himself dragged into the fights of others because 1.) either Sari or the Allspark are in danger and 2.) deep down he really can't bring himself to just sit back while others suffer.
Older Than They Look: He was born in a pre-war Cybertron and fought through the Great War for millions of years since it started, so he should be comparable in age to Ratchet, if not a bit younger. However, he physically appears as a much younger bot despite his old age. It is likely that his second reconstruction using the Allspark Key restored him to the prime of his youth, explaining why he appears young. The fact that he spent most of this time drifting through space in stasis might also be part of it.
Old Soldier: He's been around since the pre-war Cybertron and fought in the Great War since it first began, and all he wants now is peace from the conflicts that have plagued his life.
One-Man Army: He singlehandedly took out three extremely powerful Decepticons during a flashback of one of the many battles of the war. He's even fought off the three veteran Orion crew members and matched Starscream, who was thrashing the Autobots before he showed up.
Papa Wolf: Don't even think about hurting Sari if you value your ability to function.
Parental Substitute: He's effectively become Sari's guardian and the closest thing to a father figure that she has.
Rocket-Powered Weapon: His battle-axe has rocket engines on it to give its strikes some extra power.
Shell-Shocked Veteran: The Great War has caused him a boat-load of trauma, as he has PTSD flashbacks and nightmares from his time during the war.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: He's responsible for ensuring the loss of the Allspark during the war, but he did so because he saw it as the root of the inequality caused by the pre-war Cybertron's caste-system. In addition, power corrupts, and he viewed the AllSpark as being able to corrupt anyone who uses it. Not to mention it being able to create a limitless number of Cybertronians would effectively render them to being expendable units. He's also displayed a willingness to sacrifice innocent lives if it means keeping the Allspark out of Decepticon hands.
Worf Had the Flu: He doesn't do to well against Pyro Goblin the first time around. However, his armor was made of weak Earth metals, his axe starts the fight without power, and they were fighting in a tunnel where he had no room to move about. Needless to say, the odds weren't in his favor.
Would Hit a Girl: He has no issues fighting and killing either gender if he needs to. When Wheeljack calls him out on this, he has this to say in rhetoric:
Optimus: You really didn't partake much on the battle during the war, did you.

Cybertron

Ultra Magnus

The leader of the Autobots and the head of Cybertron's council.

Big Good: He's the defacto leader of the Autobots.
Reasonable Authority Figure: In contrast to Sentinel, he's courteous and open-minded with the Orion Crew, listening to them and sending aid when requested.

Sentinel Prime

A rather smug and jerkass member of the Elite Guard.

Adaptational Nice Guy: Downplayed. He's still an asshole, but he doesn't have the toxic history with Optimus and has more affability with his fellow Elite Guard members.
Jerkass Has a Point: Yes, he's a dick, but he isn't in the wrong when saying that the higher ups are whitewashing the many acts of insubordination and civilian endangerment that the Orion Crew committed to become outcast spacebridge repair-bots in the first place. He's also not wrong when he says that the loss of the Allspark is the main reason why the peace of their race has lasted as long as it has.
The Proud Elite: He holds his rank in the Guard with immense pride, looks down on those not within their ranks, and tells his fellow Elite Guard members not to associate with those lesser than them.

Jazz

One of the Elite Guard and far more laid back than his superiors.

Cool Shades: Much like Prowl, his optics are behind his shades visor.
Light Is Good: He has a predominantly white color scheme and he's one of the nicest bots in the story, being shown to be a pretty chill drinking buddy.
Nice Guy: He's overall polite and laid back, not being one to get high strung on anything.

Longarm Prime

A member of the Elite Guard whose specialization is Decepticon intelligence.

Adaptational Heroism: He's decomposited with Shockwave, so he's a genuine Autobot and good guy here rather than a mole for the Decepticons.
Decomposite Character: He's a completely separate character from Shockwave in this story.
Interclass Friendship: He, a Prime, is close friends with some members of the Orion crew, who are exiles and bottom-of-the-barrel nobodies.

Humans

Allies

Sari

Sari Sumdac

An orphan who's been on her own for two years. She seems to have an immense hatred for Powell. Close contact with the Allspark modified her pendant into a key that can manipulate/modify any form of machinery and heal Cybertronians.

Action Survivor: She's just an orphan with no fighting experience, but she frequently throws herself into danger to help others and manages to help out more often than not.
Dark and Troubled Past: She's been forced to live on the streets for the past two years, and her lack of "existence" as far as the legal system is concerned causes her a lot of grief.
Drives Like Crazy: Her driving of Kelly's police car is rather erratic and out-of-control, which makes sense since she's a child.
Hates Being Alone: She gets angry when this is brought up and begs Optimus not to leave again. Not just because she doesn't want to lose him, but also because she can tell that he also doesn't want to be alone anymore either.
Healing Hands: Her key allows her to repair any Cybertronian, even from near death. However, it requires that all the components be in there proper position. So while she can repair physical and internal damage, she can't just make a new arm or leg out of nowhere.
Nice Girl: Despite her harsh circumstances, she's a very kindhearted person. She sought to help Bumblebee with the police drones without any questions and helped Optimus when she saw how hurt he was in spite of him having just tried to kick her out of her only home.
Only the Chosen May Wield: The AllSpark key only works when she's using it, which baffles the other Autobots, especially Ratchet.
Le Parkour: Her time on the streets has allowed her to develop some impressive parkour skills that let her evade police drones with ease.
Tears of Joy: Upon seeing that Optimus defeated Starscream and survived his battle, her response is to climb his arm, hug his face tight, and cry in happiness.
Un-person: She literally doesn't exist as far as the world is concerned. Arcee's attempts to find any information on her failed because there is no information on her in any network.

Fanzone

Captain Fanzone

The captain of the Detroit Police. He doesn't like machines.

Adaptational Nice Guy: He's less gruff here, and his dislike for machinery comes less from semi-technophobia and more from Powell being the main robot maker in Detroit. It's not helped by the guy threatening to make his police force obsolete with his security drones and lay them off. He's also more amicable with the Autobots and is one of the first to acknowledge that they are indeed living machines with souls and personalities.
The Commissioner Gordon: He serves as this to the Orion crew, since he frequently helps the Autobots in taking out whatever threatens Detroit and is civil with them despite his gruff nature.
Distressed Dude: Fanzone ends up in mortal peril a lot. It's to the point where the author has decided to call him the April O'Neal of Transformers Animated.
Reasonable Authority Figure: He's a good cop and one of the Autobots foremost allies on the force. He helps them out and is civil with most of them, with the exception of Ratchet, and that's mostly because the old bot's as much of a grouch as he is.

Kelly Junko

Lieutenant Kelly Junko

A member of the Detroit Police and one of Fanzone's lieutenants.

Adaptational Badass: Her Robots in Disguise 2001 counterpart was just a civilian, while here she's a trained police lieutenant.
Ascended Extra: In RID 2001, she was just comic relief and never had any major role. Here, she's more central to the plot in story arcs like "Fire Convoy" and "Beasts of Burdens".
Butt-Monkey: Whenever the Cybertronians are around, expect her to be the source of a good chunk of slapstick.
What Measure Is a Non-Human?: She had this mindset at first when it came to the Cybertronians. Since she never encountered an alien, let alone a sentient machine, she didn't really believe that they were alive. After seeing Optimus console Sari while he was dying, she realized she was wrong.

Lander

Officer Lander

A rather laid-back member of the Detroit police.

Adaptation Species Change: Lander in the Super-God Masterforce series was a Pretender. Here, he's a human.
The Casanova: He's a ladies man, and boy does it get on everyone's nerves.
Chivalrous Pervert: He may flirt with woman at the drop of a hat, but he's nonetheless dedicated to his job and takes the protection of Detroit and its citizens very seriously.
Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Despite his flirty nature and laid-back attitude, he's one of the best officers on the force.

Enemies

Powell

Porter C. Powell

The current CEO of Sumdac Systems and a corrupt corporate scumbag.

Butt-Monkey: With how unsympathetic he is, it makes it all the more satisfying when he's either pelted with rotten tomatoes, manhandled by Starscream, or watch his PR slowly fail him.
Corrupt Corporate Executive: He's had numerous illegal dealings and sweeps them all under the rug, not to mention willfully allies himself with other corrupt business owners to line his pockets.
Fat Bastard: He's rather obese and is the biggest jackass in the story so far.
Faux Affably Evil: Oh he certainly tries to maintain the polite facade, but he quickly loses it and resorts to aggressive bullying when things don't go his way.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: His cutting corners with Sumdac designs allows Megatron to start taking control of them, which he couldn't do before since the previous designs were too heavily modified away from their original base (i.e. Megatron himself).

Prometheus Black

A biologist who specializes in "biochemical makeovers" and owns Biotech Unbound. He's an "ally" of Powell, but he has a strong distaste for machines.

Corrupt Corporate Executive: He's just as shady as Powell and frequently employs criminals to serve him.
Evilutionary Biologist: He's as corrupt as Powell and a biologist who specializes in evolving humans through his "biochemical makeovers" and firmly views human evolution as superior to technological evolution.
For Science!: One of the reasons for his experiments is because of this.
Greater-Scope Villain:
- He was the one who hired Pyro Goblin for the jobs she did during the "Fire Convoy" arc.
- He's the one responsible for the mutations of the Beast Pretenders and by extension the destruction caused during the "Beasts and Burdens" arc.
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: With Powell, as the two are on the same side yet constantly butt heads thanks to their different ideologies on technology. He even hires Pyro Goblin to steal data from a Sumdac office just so the place would get torched, as he snapped the USB it was on rather than actually look at the data once she left.

Pyro Goblin

Emberly Perona / Pyro Goblin

A deranged criminal who's obsessed with fire, viewing it as her art. She was initially hired by Prometheus Black to steal some data from Sumdac Systems.

Arc Villain: Of the "Fire Convoy" arc.
Ax-Crazy: This doesn't even begin to describe her. She kills and burns people alive for shits and giggles, and views her actions as creating art. Ironically, she hates being called this.
Berserk Button: Don't call her crazy, even though it's completely true.
Clothes Make the Superman: All of her abilities are derived from her suit.
Didn't See That Coming: After Optimus is fully repaired, she wasn't expecting him to be durable enough to tank her strongest fire blasts in part because 1.) nothing has ever done so before and 2.) he was kind of a Glass Cannon previously. She's actually elated that she doesn't have to hold back.
For the Evulz: Besides her love of seeing things burn, the reason she causes so much destruction is because she just likes it, and doesn't hesitate to admit so to Optimus.
Hypocrite: She loathes being called crazy, but as made clear from her deranged behavior, she doesn't have much of a leg to stand on in that regard.
Lean and Mean: She's very skinny and is a psychotic pyromaniac.
Obviously Evil: Obsessed with burning innocent people to cinders? Check. Wears a mask with a creepy as all hell smile with black lifeless eyes? Check. Does everything she does For the Evulz and openly admits that? Check, though she hates being called crazy because of her behavior. Yep, she's a villain.
Playing with Fire: Obviously, it's in the name after all. She can even amp it up to completely vaporize whatever's in her way.
Psychopathic Manchild: Her behavior gives the impression of an overemotional angry teenager than a grown woman, then there's the burning everything she sees aspect...
Pyromaniac: She's obsessed with fire to an unhealthy degree, and she loves burning people alive.
Samus Is a Girl: Her tall, lanky frame, combined with the vocal distortion provided by her mask and hunchback fuel tank, make her appear like a man at first glance, surprising the cops once they take her mask off. Even the narration refers to her with male pronouns before the reveal.
Starter Villain: She's the first super-villain Optimus and Sari face off against and the first outright super-villain to appear in the story.

Nanosec

Nino Sexton / Nanosec

A criminal who uses Super-Speed to commit his crimes. He works under Prometheus Black.

Adaptational Superpower Change: His Super-Speed is implied to be a natural part of his abilities rather than be derived from an experimental Speed Suit. He still wears the suit, though it's implied to simply be a super-villain outfit and not have any special properties besides maybe protecting him from friction.
Lean and Mean: He's rather skinny and lithe and serves as one of Prometheus's enforcers.
Super-Speed: He has super speed that lets him move faster than the eye can track, cause whirlwinds, and effortlessly dodge gunfire of varying types, even at point blank range.

Stiletto

A silent mercenary who works for Prometheus Black. She fights using weaponized stiletto heels.

Adaptational Badass: Thanks to Prometheus's experiments, she's a genuine superhuman rather than a case of Charles Atlas Superpower like she was in the comics.
Beware the Quiet Ones: She's completely mute, but she can easily take out superpowered mutants when they try to fight her.
Combat Stilettos: Quite literally, as her heels can slice through metal like a hot knife through butter.
Curb-Stomp Battle: Easily mops the floor with a mutated Dauros when he tries to fight her.
Nerves of Steel: Dauros, as a Minotaur mutant, roared in her face. She didn't even flinch and kneed his chin in retaliation.
The Voiceless: She doesn't talk and only communicates through sign language.

Colossus Rhodes

Cyrus the Colossus Rhodes

One of Prometheus Black's main servants and strongest minion. He has superhuman strength thanks to his biotech enhancements.

Even Evil Has Standards: Even he considers Pyro Goblin to be too insane to work with.
Hulking Out: His steroid mutation involves injecting himself with the injectors on his back and becoming a huge mutant man.
Super-Strength: His steroid mutation amplifies his strength, letting him overpower anyone with Powered Armor.

The Beast Pretenders

The Beast Pretenders (Dauros, Blood, Glimer)

A group of criminals who dress as animals for their crimes. They were mutated by Prometheus Black into animal-mutant hybrids.

Adaptational Villainy: Their show counterparts were implied to be standard societal workers, albeit amoral ones. They start as thieves and hoodlums long before they become mutants.
Amoral Attorney: Blood was a lawyer who was pretty lacking in morals already, and is now a bank robber.
Animal-Themed Superbeing: After their mutations.
- Dauros becomes a mutant ox monster that greatly resembles a Minotaur.
- Blood becomes a bat monster and later starts developing into a full-blown vampire.
- Glimer is turned into a fish monster.
Ax-Crazy: After their mutations, they become more and more violent to the point where they turn into feral beasts who only crave destruction.
Dumb Muscle: Dauros isn't very bright, especially after he mutates into a Minotaur monster.
It's Personal: After the Autobots stop them the first time, Dauros develops an obsession with seeing them destroyed.
The Leader: Blood is the most intelligent and capable of the crew, often being the one to come up with ideas.
Power Armor: They wear high-tech armor for their heists, which carries over to when they become mutants.
Sanity Slippage: Their mutations took a large chunk of it already, but their increased mutations due to steroid stimulation caused them to turn into feral beasts. Prometheus doesn't see the difference.
Small Name, Big Ego: With how much Dauros talks up his crew and his superiority, you'd think he was king of the world or something.
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: How they've managed to work together this long is frankly a miracle. You'll find that they're at each other's throats as often as they are committing crimes.
Took a Level in Badass: They start as moderately competent thugs, though rather goofy and hard to take seriously. After their mutations, they become a serious threat.
Unskilled, but Strong: Dauros may be the powerhouse of the group, but his fighting skills are completely lacking, further playing up his Dumb Muscle status.
Unwitting Pawn: They're all just test subjects to Prometheus's experiments and they didn't even know it.

Decepticons

In General

Adaptational Badass: Like in Animated, individual Decepticons are much more threatening and powerful than the norm. During the war, while they were outnumbered, their ranks had far more experience in battle and fought by choice, leading to them either stalemating or outright winning against their enemies until near the end.
The Resistance: They started out as this, opposing an oppressive galactic empire, but they eventually became far worse than those they fought against.
The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized: They started out as rebels against the oppressive caste system enforced by the Autobots (who in turn were outright galactic conquerors at the time). This would spiral into an all out war that engulfed several planets. By the end, the Decepticons became the villains of the war. The only reason it never became a Full-Circle Revolution was because the Autobots won and became better morally speaking while the Decepticons lost and never conquered Cybertron.

Megatron

The leader of the Decepticons. He has been hunting the Allspark for thousands of years. After crashing on Earth, he became the basis for Sumdac Systems technology.

Big Bad: He's the leader of the Decepticons and the most powerful among them.
False Friend: Was this with Isaac Sumdac, pretending to be his friend and manipulate him into helping him regain his body. After his death, he comments that Sumdac's reaction to what has become of his company would warm his spark.
Losing Your Head: After crashing on Earth, he was left decapitated, but alive, rendering him as an inanimate head in Sumdac's private lab during the present day.
One-Man Army: Even while cripplingly damaged, the Autobots could barely do anything to him and had to resort to opening the airlock while the ship was crashing to win. Despite their victory, they consider themselves just plain lucky.
Sanity Slippage: Downplayed. He hasn't completely lost it, but his isolation in Sumdac's lab without a body has caused him some mental issues, as he frequently talks to himself since there is nothing else in his isolation but extensions of his will.
Technopathy: He can control any Sumdac machine that has programming similar to his original code. Since Issac's inventions managed to deviate heavily from him, he couldn't control anything until Powell's scientists took over the research and started cutting corners.
You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: When he sees the Orion crew's personalities and behaviors aboard their ship, he has this reaction to learning that the protectors of the Allspark and the ones to defeat him were a bunch of misfits and not seasoned warriors.
Megatron: You Autobot fools are the keepers of the AllSpark? This must be some cosmic joke.

Starscream

The traitorous 2nd-in-command of the Decepticon army. His vehicular mode is a harrier jet.

0% Approval Rating: Zig-Zagged. He is stated to have a strong following among the Decepticons, but among Megatron's inner circle, he's a complete No-Respect Guy.
Adaptational Badass: Aside from his increased competence, Shockwave notes that he also has a strong following in the Decepticons and could prove to be a legitimate threat to Megatron.
Arc Villain: Of the "Starscream Descending" arc.
Composite Character: He bears the look and personality of his Animated version, but he has some traits taken from his Prime incarnation such as his deceptive cunning and the use of his claws as weapons.
Flying Firepower: He can fly incredibly fast and has more than enough strength and firepower to take out the Orion crew by his lonesome.
One-Man Army: He hands the Autobots their collective skidplates without trying. He's also reportedly slain countless others during the Great War as well.
Sanity Slippage: Granted, he never had much sanity to begin with, but getting blasted into a transwarp and spending the next fifty years alone searching for a cosmic source of power did not do his mind any favors.
The Starscream: Betrays Megatron in the first chapter. It's nothing new people.
Villainous Breakdown: Starts losing it when he failed to gain the Allspark. Even before this, he'd lapse into bouts of a mix between laughing and crying while he was searching for the Allspark in deep space.
Villain Respect: It's small, but he gives kudos to Optimus for actually being a challenge compared to all the other Autobots.

Soundwave

The Decepticons' Head Communications Officer and a member of Megatron's inner circle.

Adaptational Badass: Combined with Age Lift below, being a natural Cybertronian who's millions of years old grants him far more experience than his Animated version had. In addition, being a natural Cybertronian also means that he's far more durable compared to Animated Soundwave, who was a Glass Cannon due to being composed of Earth alloys rather than Cybertronian ones.
Age Lift: Unlike the main series, where he was a newly-created Earthborn Transformer, this Soundwave is a Cybertronian and approximately the same age (i.e. millions of years) as the rest of the Decepticons.
All Animals Are Dogs: His Mini-cassettes, Ravage and Laserbeak, display this behavior when their master and Blackarachnia fawn over them.
Attack Animal: Laserbeak and Ravage, which he shows off on Starscream during the first chapter.
Machine Monotone: As usual, he speaks in a synthesized voice.
Only Sane Man: He's the only Decepticon who refrains from bickering on the bridge of the Nemesis, instead shaking his head in annoyance.
Truer to the Text: He has much more in common with his Generation One Counterpart than his Animated one thanks to being Megatron's Communications Officer and right-hand rather than being an Earth-born Decepticon that began as a birthday present.

Lugnut

A large, brutish Decepticon whose power is only matched by his unwavering loyalty to Megatron.

The Brute: He's the biggest and one of the most powerful Decepticons in physical terms.
Right for the Wrong Reasons: He is correct in that Megatron is still alive, but he has no actual evidence on this and his reasons for believing so are rooted entirely in his zeal and unwavering loyalty.
Undying Loyalty: His faith in Megatron is absolute, and any who even slightly doubt the Decepticon leader are infidels in his eyes (he has five).

Blitzwing

A triple changer who with three distinct personalities: Calm and rational, angry and hot-blooded, and just plain crazy.

Ax-Crazy: His insane personality is just that, insane.
Hot-Blooded: His angry personality, which spends most of the time yelling and threatening anyone who pisses him off (which is everyone).
Personality Powers: His calm side has An Ice Person abilities, while his angry side has Playing with Fire. His crazy side can use either.

Blackarachnia

A Decepticon with an organic alt-mode in the form of a spider-like alien.

Animal Motifs: Spiders, thanks to her organic transformation.
Fantastic Racism: Due to her half-organic nature, she tends to be on the receiving end of this from her fellow Decepticons.
Mad Scientist: She's a scientist among the Decepticons and has done some unsavory work that even the others can be squeamish about.

Shockwave

The Decepticon Head Scientist who serves logic and reason.

Arm Cannon: His entire left arm is a massive cannon.
Decomposite Character: He's an entirely separate character from Longarm here, rather than Longarm being his cover identity.
Truer to the Text: He's the Decepticon Head Scientist rather than the mole for Megatron on Cybertron. His physical appearance is more in line with his G1 comic version.

Sky-Byte

A shark-like Decepticon that Optimus fought in the Great War.

Ambiguous Situation: It's left unknown if he survived the Great War or not after his last bout with Optimus.
Animal Motifs: Sharks.
Arch-Enemy: Seems to have been this for Optimus, as they've fought each other the most throughout his flashbacks and he spends a good deal of time trying to brutalize Optimus, signifying a personal hatred of sorts.
Villain Ball: He had the perfect opportunity to take the Allspark to Megatron, but he instead chooses to beat Optimus to death, which gave him time to escape and keep up the fight.

Characters / TFA Kaleidoscope

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