Characters / Transformers: Generation One - Autobots - 1984 to 1985

G1 Character Index: Autobots ('84-'85) ('86-'87) ('88-'90) | Decepticons ('84-'85) ('86-'87) ('88-'90)

This character sheet is for listing the tropes related to Transformers: Generation 1 Autobots introduced between 1984 and 1985, most of whom debuted in Seasons 1 and 2 of the Sunbow cartoon.

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Ark Autobot crew

Optimus Prime (Convoy (コンボイ konboi))

Function: Commander

Alt Mode: White Freightliner WFT-8664T Cabover Semi-Trailer Truck

^{Click to see Powermaster Optimus Prime}

"Freedom is the right of all sentient beings."

Voiced by: Peter Cullen (EN), Laurie Faso (EN; Orion Pax), Tesshō Genda (JP), Wataru Hatano (JP; Robotmasters), Robert Belgrade (EN; Call of the Future)

Puppeteered by: Martin P. Robinson (Season 5)

The heroic leader of the Autobots who boasts great valour, resolve, and power; being equally compassionate and respectful to his brothers-in-arms and other beings (if they're not like Shawn Berger). He is also the bearer of the Matrix of Leadership, a legendary Cybertronian artifact said to have the power to "light their darkest hour". His alt mode can split into three components comprising of himself, his truck trailer which can serve as a combat deck and a drone stationed inside the trailer, but if one of them gets hurt, the other two will also feel the pain.

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• The Ace: He's one of the strongest and most capable Autobot around. Though Tech Specs aren't very consistent, it is worth mentioning that most of Optimus' ratings are full 10s, and of the two that aren't (Speed and Firepower), among his 1984 contemporaries he's tied for the fastest with Windcharger at 8, and only outdone in Firepower by Bluestreak.
• Adaptation Name Change: Zig-zagged. While every incarnation of the character is named Optimus Prime, some continuities established that he went by a different name before becoming a Prime: Orion Pax (in the G1 cartoon, the 2005 IDW comics continuity, the Aligned continuity and the 2019 IDW comics continuity) and Optronix (in the Dreamwave comics and the Shattered Glass universe).
• Adaptational Badass: In the original IDW continuity, he was a Super Cop as Orion Pax rather than a lowly dock worker.
• Adaptational Jerkass: While he's still the Big Good, his 2005 IDW counterpart has no problems being a Well-Intentioned Extremist, such as forcefully annexing Earth (for benign reasons) in All Hail Optimus. Being lied to by the Decepticons back when he was Orion Pax doesn't help.
• Alien Non-Interference Clause: Comic Optimus refuses to bring humans into the Cybertronian war, even though their just being on Earth makes it a battleground.
• All-Loving Hero: His compassion for all sentient life in the universe is one of his defining traits.
• Arch-Enemy: He is always portrayed as Megatron's primary nemesis in the war between their respective factions.
• Authority Sounds Deep: With some exceptions, he's voiced by Peter Cullen, giving him a very deep, powerful yet gentle voice.
• Back from the Dead:
  • If he ever dies, chances are he'll be back sooner or later. As Orion Pax, he was killed by Megatron before being rebuilt into Optimus Prime. He later died from his injuries in their fight in The Transformers: The Movie, but returned to life in the third season of the cartoon.
  • In the Japanese continuity, he dies and was resurrected three times each (His fateful battle with Megatron, a Heroic Sacrifice to save Cybertron, against Megatron in G2), and each of those times, he Came Back Strong.
• Badass in Distress: Several episodes of the cartoon had Optimus getting wounded or otherwise incapacitated, leaving it up to the other Autobots to save the day.
• Baritone of Strength: Courtesy of Peter Cullen. As scrawny Orion Pax, he had a much higher-pitched voice (and a different voice actor), which was upgraded into his current deep voice along with his stronger body.
• Bat Out of Hell: Subverted with his Beast◊ Wars◊ toys.
• Beware the Nice Ones: He's one of the nicest characters in the whole franchise, but you do not want him mad at you.
  Starscream: [After Optimus is knocked out by a lucky shot] He's just waiting to be put out of his misery... waiting for the final blow from Starscream—the leader killer!
  [Optimus recovers, dispatching the other Decepticons in a matter of seconds.]
  Optimus: Now, leader killer. We are alone. No lackeys to order or hide behind. Just you... just me... so kill me!
  [Cue No-Holds-Barred Beatdown]
• Big Badass Rig: He becomes one; even his trailer becomes some sort of dock/repair station housing a six-wheel drone.
• BFG: His Ion Blaster.
• Big Good: Prime is a very active leader of the Autobots who leads his team to defend freedom, peace and justice out in the front. When he's absent, villainy rears its ugly head more often.
• Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: The Marvel comics had Optimus perform a Heroic Sacrifice to stop Unicron. Good thing the Last Autobot revived him soon afterwards.
• The Cape: He stands for noble causes.
  Optimus: There is strength in mercy, Grimlock. The universe cannot run on fear.
• The Captain: He serves as the Autobot leader.
• Came Back Strong: In the Japanese continuity, after his Heroic Sacrifice in Transformers: The★Headmasters, he becomes Star Convoy, and eventually Battle Convoy^note Not to be confused with his original Diaclone incarnation of the same name.
• Cast as a Mask: Peter Cullen voices a Starstream-acting-as-Optimus in "Megatron's Master Plan, Part 1" until the unmasking in footage Spike gets when Chris Latta resumes Starscream's role. Roger C. Carmel (Motormaster) voices Optimus-acting-as-Motormaster in "Masquerade" when Autobots disguised as the Stunticons meet Megatron to deliver components, then Peter resumes when the disguises are dropped—after the real Menasor's energy-sword attack disassembles the "Menasor" the Autobots-acting-as-Stunticons turned into back to vehicles. For "A Prime Problem" Peter also voices a double of Optimus controlled by Megatron.
• Character Catchphrase: "Autobots, transform and roll out!" "Til all are one!"
• Characterization Marches On: He's less gentle in the pilot - when the other Autobots are worried about him after he's rescued from a roaring river, he impatiently shrugs them off, whereas in a later episode he would've calmly assured them that he was fine.
• The Chosen One: Optimus Prime is Primus' prophesied Chosen One, specifically to defeat Unicron and save their galaxy. The Last Autobot even outright refers to him as this in the aftermath.
  • Subverted in the movie, due to its different depiction of Unicron and the Autobot Matrix of Leadership, with Optimus dying in the first half of the story. Instead, Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime fulfills the prophecy to "light our darkest hour".
  • Ultimately though, angry fan letters would force the writers to resurrect Optimus near the end of season 3, leading to him using the Autobot Matrix of Leadership and "light our darkest hour". Seriously, even ancient Cybertronian destiny won't stop Optimus from being the hero.
• Deadpan Snarker: More than you'd expect, especially in the Sunbow cartoon.
• Death Is Cheap: Is it ever! The Transformers undid his death from The Transformers: The Movie by the end of the third season and since then it's been a tradition for nearly every incarnation of Optimus Prime to die and come back to life at least once.
• Distressed Dude: In "The Search for Alpha Trion". When trying to save Elita One from the Decepticons, he gets captured and hung over an acid bath where Elita will have a good view of his demise (and her demise-to-be). Elita One then activates her time powers to save him, which leads to him having to save her in return.
• Drone Deployer: A multi-wheeled autonomous cart called Roller is stored in Optimus' trailer, which serves as both a scout and an Attack Drone.
• Dub Name Change: In the Japanese continuities, Optimus' name is changed to Convoy as a homage to his original Diaclone incarnation Battle Convoy, and because the name is easier for Japanese kids to remember and pronounce ("Konboi" vs. "Oputimasu Puraimu"). The name would actually become one of Optimus' powerful forms after going beyond Star Convoy.
• Dub Personality Change: Optimus Prime in the original cartoon is a wise(cracking) father figure who keeps his composure under pressure. The Japanese cartoon dub replaced much of Optimus' wise statements with cheesier dialogue, alongside portraying him as more vulnerable in comparison. A good example is the movie; the original version had Optimus stay stoic and composed even when injured, whereas the Japanese version made him cry out in pain against Megatron's attacks.
• Et Tu, Brute?: Happens to him in the two-parter episode, "The Return Of Optimus Prime", when he discovers that Rodimus has fallen victim to the Hate Plague.
• A Father to His Men: As leader, Optimus has a fatherly affection towards the younger generation.
• Fighting Your Friend: Any time Optimus has to get involved with a post-Heel–Face Turn Megatron, it's due to outside forces beyond the latter's control. The same is true in the Japanese continuity where Megatron had his sanity repaired, and Megatron will start a war that he himself doesn't want, but sees it as a Necessary Evil.
• Flanderization: In the cartoons. Season 1 and 2 Optimus used casual language, wasn't entirely stoic, and hung out with his friends, even playing basketball with them at one point. Season 3 Optimus (and several iteration of Optimus after that) is an entirely stoic and serious sort, who never uses contractions. Though by that point Prime had died once or twice in the original cartoon, and resurrected into some nightmarish circumstances twice, so it's at least understandable why he was less jovial by then.
• Four-Star Badass: As leader of the Autobots, he is their highest-ranking member.
• Gentle Giant: He's the tallest of the Ark's crew, and as compassionate as he is huge.
• Good Is Not Soft: If left with no other option, he won't hesitate to use lethal force.
  Optimus: I know that whatever else I could do... you would continue to be an ultimate danger to Earth... to peace... to my fellow Cybertronians... and my fellow Earthlings. If I were like you — if I could think only of myself... I would never do this.
• Hammerspace: His trailer often appears to come out of nowhere. This is explained in various media by the trailer being kept in a sub-space pocket when not in use.
• The Hero: He's often the central character and fights to right the wrongs caused by villains.
• Honor Before Reason:
  • The most extreme example is when Optimus allowed himself to be killed over a videogame. He got better.
  • Downplayed, but despite declaring that "Megatron must be stopped, no matter the cost" in The Movie, Optimus' stoic attitude causes him to waste a sure chance in executing Megatron in their duel. Worse, it allowed Megatron to crawl towards an inexplicably convenient and random blaster, with Optimus not even shooting the ground to discourage him from moving. In the end, Hot Rod becomes a hostage from trying to stop Megatron's sneak attack, leading to Optimus being unable to avoid getting mortally wounded, much to Hot Rod's guilt. "Transformers: Deviations" even shows that this could have been prevented altogether if Optimus simply acted faster in executing Megatron.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Back when he was still Orion Pax in the cartoon, he thought that Megatron would be the best robot ever to be buddies with...at least before Megatron mortally wounded him, his girlfriend, and his best friend.
• Ideal Hero: He's selfless, compassionate, and courageous to the end in leading the fight against the Decepticons. This mostly applies to the cartoon; other iterations tend to make him more flawed or down-to-earth for the sake of Character Development.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Following his initial death in the movie, the Quintessions reanimated his corpse as a "zombie" to do their evil bidding. Said zombie still dies nobly sacrificing himself for the Autobots.
• Informed Attribute: His Transformers Universe profile claimed that he is the most intelligent Autobot of all. While he's certainly smart and wise, Optimus is rarely involved with scientific matters like Ratchet, Wheeljack, and Perceptor. In the Sunbow cartoon, Perceptor's Techno Babble could confound even Optimus.
• Large and in Charge: Out of the initial group, Prime was the largest of the Autobots. Subverted as new characters arrived, some of them dwarfing Prime (such as Jetfire/Skyfire, Fortress Maximus, and Omega Supreme).
• Laser Blade: Has a yellow/orange Energon axe. It only appears once in the cartoon, but it made a strong impression.
• The Leader: He's a Levelheaded and Charismatic one. His genuine goodness makes him effective at inspiring others and he displays a sense of responsibility, always making sensible decisions that protect the Autobots and Earth.
• Lightning Bruiser: In the cartoon, his vehicle mode is fast enough to outspeed a bullet train running at maximum speed. His strength and durability, obviously, need no introduction.
• Martyr Without a Cause: Varying Optimuses are known for their tendency to try and sacrifice themselves at any given opportunity. It gets a teasing nod in Last Stand of the Wreckers, where this is even a symptom of Primus Apotheosis.
• Meaningful Name: In Latin, “optimus” means “best” and he is usually recognized as the greatest Autobot of them all.
• My Greatest Failure:
  • When the Ark was boarded by the Decepticons, Optimus crashed the ship onto Earth in an attempt to stop the Decepticons on board. Not only did it fail, it ended up bringing the war to Earth, putting humanity in danger.
  • In Regeneration One when he learns what happened to Earth in the Autobots' 21-year absence, leading him to become The Atoner.
• The Nth Doctor: In his Origins Episode, "War Dawn," the younger Optimus Prime, or Orion Pax as he's called back then, is voiced by Laurie Faso. After he's badly wounded by Megatron and rebuilt into the Optimus we all know and love, Peter Cullen provides his voice like usual.
• Nice Guy: He's a very good-natured individual.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Transformers '84 portrays Optimus' decision to crash the Ark as having been secretly planned, so as to stop Megatron's forces, even at the cost of his friends and himself. Never mind how this completely failed and led to humanity's involvement in their war, but it also allowed several Decepticon warlords on Cybertron to take control over large swathes of their planet. It's especially jarring when one remembers Optimus' usual attitude in general.
• No Mouth: How he is usually drawn, instead of a mouth he has a mouthplate that moves when he talks. An animation error for the ages reveals just how true that is.
• One-Man Army: He's one of the few Autobots able to outfight Megatron in a fair battle, as well as capable of taking down squads of ordinary Decepticon soldiers with ease.
  Optimus: I'm sorry there are only three of you. Clobbering less than four Decepticons at a time is boring.
• Out-of-Character Alert: "A Prime Problem" had Megatron create a duplicate of Optimus so good even Teletraan 1 couldn't spot the fake. When Windcharger tells the Autobots Megatron has Spike, one Optimus says "He's unimportant!" This lets them know that Optimus is the fake (the real Optimus would have scrubbed the mission to save Spike).
• Papa Wolf: Whenever the chips are truly down, Prime will always try to save his soldiers. Notably, in "Prime Target", he goes all out with his sheer determination and insane strength to save Bumblebee and the others, while also being utterly livid at Lord Chumley for torturing them.
• Parental Substitute: He tends to act like a surrogate father towards the Autobots who are characterized as younger and more immature. This also extends to other characters as well, such as Spike and Chip.
• Primary-Color Champion: The Leader of the Autobots, an unambiguously heroic figure, and his body is mostly red and blue.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Powermaster Optimus Prime sports red eyes in both regular and super modes.
• Related in the Adaptation:
  • The IDW Publishing GoBots miniseries strongly implies at the end that his father is Road Ranger.
  • In many continuities he's related to Ultra Magnus, usually his brother.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: A robotic example. His voice usually has a twinge of sadness and weariness to it to show just how tired of war Optimus is.
• Sniping Mission: Near the end of G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers Optimus has to bring down the Solar-Powered Satellite as it has become a Kill Sat run wild. To do this, he rips the fusion cannon off the right arm of the defeated Megatron and puts it on his own right arm. With the Cannon mounted, the targeting data obtained from Mainframe and Sci-Fi, and a full energon cube to fuel the Cannon, he takes aim and destroys the Satellite.
• Super Cop: As Orion Pax in the first IDW continuity.
• Super Mode: As a Powermaster Prime could combine with his trailer to become Super Optimus Prime.
• Synchronization: Any damage caused to his Battle Deck/Roller is felt by him, and vice-versa.
• 10-Minute Retirement: In the Marvel Comics, Optimus' growing cynicism over the deaths of innocents slowly eroded his fighting spirit, causing him to give up as a soldier altogether after Ratchet died. Fortunately, a Hot Rod-related accident made Optimus rethink this decision, with him vowing to honor Ratchet and the others' sacrifices by stopping the Decepticons' tyranny.
• That Man Is Dead: For a time in the IDW comics, Optimus renounced his role as a Prime following the end of the Autobot/Decepticon war, going back to his original name Orion Pax. He later reclaimed the Optimus Prime name during Shockwave's Dark Cybertron scheme.
• They Killed Kenny Again: This guy dies. A lot. He also comes back to life. A lot.
• Transformation Trinket:
  • Hi-Q transformed into a power engine that enabled Powermaster Optimus Prime to transform into his robot mode.
  • In the Japanese continuity, the Matrix of Leadership becomes the Reconfiguration Matrix, and allows him to switch forms at will, from Star Convoy, Powermaster, Action Master, and Battle Convoy.
• Unwanted Revival: Usually, the guy takes his resurrections in stride, but Optimus in Regeneration One came to believe that the Last Autobot made a mistake in bringing him back.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: Whole-heartedly believes that the universe can be a kinder and gentler place, in spite of all the pain, horror and sadness that he has witnessed in his long life.
• World's Best Warrior: Among all characters, Optimus Prime's powers, experience, and wisdom cement him with this position.
• Worthy Opponent: His rivalry with Megatron transcends petty hate into respect and some understanding: So much so that whenever they fight side by side for a common goal, they are unstoppable.

Hi-Q (ハイ・Q hai kyū)

Alt Mode: Power Engine

• Living Battery: Like all Powermasters, he acts as a biological "engine" for his partner.
• Mental Fusion: In the Marvel series. In the lead-up to Unicron's arrival, both Hi-Q and Optimus started experiencing sudden, unexplained bouts of pain (which they believed was due to some sort of incompatibility between them). Just before Optimus sacrificed himself to destroy Unicron, he detached Hi-Q so he would live. Soon after, it was revealed that Optimus and Hi-Q were actually slowly merging into a single being. The process completed itself in Hi-Q's body, reviving and joining Optimus' consciousness with his own (with the Last Autobot later creating a new body for them).
• The Smart Guy: One of Nebulos' greatest minds. He was the one who invented the Powermaster process.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: His Marvel counterpart initially saw the Transformers as nothing but machines simply imitating life. But when he saw Optimus dying and in pain, he realized how wrong he was, and made amends by becoming his Powermaster partner.

Bluestreak/Silverstreak (Streak (ストリーク sutorīku))

Function: Gunner

Alt Mode: Datsun 280ZX Turbo Sportscar

"I never met a Decepticon I didn't dislike."

Voiced by: Casey Kasem (EN), Various (JP)

A good-natured, talkative marksman (or marksbot in this case) who boasts the highest firepower and aim accuracy among his comrades, despite being a pacifist. However, his habit of talking a lot may be hiding something he doesn't want to talk about...

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• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: In The Transformers: The Movie, Bluestreak is present among a group of Autobots who get trapped at the foot of Lookout Mountain when the Battle of Autobot City begins. The film depicts a couple of them surviving, though one of them (Huffer) is confirmed deceased in a later episode. Bluestreak, however, is never seen or mentioned again after this point in the film, leaving his fate ambiguous.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Before joining the Autobots, Bluestreak witnessed Decepticons laying waste to his hometown and was the only survivor, a memory that still haunts him in the present and is the reason why he has his Motor Mouth quirk.
• Doomed Hometown: His home city was completely destroyed by the Decepticons, leaving him the only survivor. Though initially unnamed, later continuities would settle on Praxus (from which the similar-looking Prowl also hails).
• Friendly Sniper: He has the function of Gunner, as well as the highest Firepower rating of the original 1984 Autobot lineup. Despite this, he's a Technical Pacifist with a disdain for combat, and can lighten up any situation with his personality.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: Bluestreak is often depicted as a sharpshooter, capable of wounding Decepticons with a single shot (and without harming hostages, if present).
• Killed Off for Real: Starscream kills him once the Decepticon is empowered by the Underbase in the Marvel comics.
• Lightning Bruiser: Moves fast and hits hard, just like a blue streak - "whatever that is".
• Lightning Gun: He has a laser gun that can fire a beam that's "lightning-like", and can reach up to 80,000 volts. It can reach up to 12 miles in range, though its accuracy is limited.
• Lighter and Softer: For understandable reasons, the cartoon never mentions his backstory at all, and Bluestreak is just the team jokester.
• Motor Mouth: He not only talks about anything at all, but he does so at a rate only Blurr outdoes. He even lampshades this during his Introdump in his first comic appearance. This is, in fact, a coping mechanism for the memories of his Dark and Troubled Past.
• Non-Indicative Name: Despite being named Bluestreak, he is usually depicted with a silver-and-red color scheme. Thanks to trademark laws, this was less blatant as he would go by the more accurate name Silverstreak.
• Palette Swap: Of Prowl. And, oddly enough, of himself.^ExplanationThe Diaclone figure on which he was based had a blue and silver car body, and this made it to the catalog, box art, and instructions, even though the actual Transformers toy had all-silver car body. To make matters worse, the cartoon model added black trim to the silver car mode, which was based on a second Diaclone color scheme.
• Reluctant Warrior: For all his skill and firepower, Bluestreak actually hates fighting.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: He has a score to settle with the Decepticons.
• Shoulder Cannon: He has two bomb launchers on his shoulders; these help to physically distinguish him from Prowl beyond his colour scheme.
• Sole Survivor: When the Decepticons destroyed his home, he was the only survivor. One continuity makes it worse for poor Bluestreak, as Megatron deliberately had him spared so he could spread word of the Decepticons' might to the rest of Cybertron.
• Stepford Smiler: Despite being haunted by his past, he puts on a jovial and friendly personality for his Autobot comrades. His Motor Mouth tendency is also used as something of a coping mechanism for his trauma.
• Technical Pacifist: He hates war, but doesn't let that stop him taking up arms to fight Decepticons. It does, however, sometimes impede his effectiveness in combat.
• Throw Down the Bomblet: His shoulder cannons can fire bombs for a range up to 8.3 miles.

Brawn (Gong (ゴング gongu))

Function: Demolitions

Alt Mode: Toyota Land Cruiser

"Might over microchips."

Voiced by: Corey Burton (EN), Yukata Shimaka (main), Toshio Ishii ("Fire on the Mountain"), Yuichi Nagashima ("Day of the Machines" and "Attack of the Autobots"), Minoru Inaba (The Movie) (JP)

An Autobot who possesses incredible strength despite his small stature. He has a challenge-seeking "macho man" personality to match his strength, but feels sorry for those not as strong as himself.

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• The Big Guy: Brawn is one of smallest Transformers, but he is also among the physically strongest.
• Bruiser with a Soft Center: Despite his hard exterior, Brawn has his soft moments. After Spike rescues Sparkplug in "The Ultimate Doom, Part 3", he reminds his dad that you never quit on the ones you love, to which Brawn admits that it's "mushy, but true".
• Challenge Seeker: He delights in having new challenges to overcome, and sees Earth as one such hostile world to put his skills to the test against.
• Fastball Special: Optimus Prime and Brawn use this technique in "A Plague of Insecticons".
• Informed Flaw: His toy bio says Brawn is vulnerable to electromagnetic waves, but this is rarely (if ever) brought up in any adaptation.
• Irony: For someone known for their physical strength, he has the scrawniest limbs◊ of the G1 toys.
• Killed Off for Real: In the Marvel comics and the movie.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He was downright mean to Perceptor, who he saw as a lab jockey who never went out into the field, but Brawn took it all back after seeing Perceptor risk his life to save the day in "Microbots."
• Meaningful Name: He's one of the strongest Autobots.
• The Napoleon: He's very sensitive about his height.
• Nigh-Invulnerability: The episode "Fire on the Mountain" features a A Day in the Limelight for Brawn. He is starring in most of its combat scenes, gives trouble to several high-profile Decepticons and even manages to wrestle control of Megatron's personal fusion cannon. Using it against Megatron himself. In the process Brawn shrugs off direct hits in several parts of his body, including his head.
  • Subverted in The Transformers: The Movie. He is supposedly one of several killed Autobots. While the deceased are typically shown taking massive damage, Brawn's death scene only depicts him taking a shoulder wound. Fans have long doubted if this was enough to kill him.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: He may be small compared to the other Autobots, but Brawn sure packs a mean wallop, and can easily take on opponents twice his size or more with sheer strength, to the point of almost having a Running Gag where he squares off against Soundwave (and often winning!) despite the latter's advantages in size and various special powers.
• The Rival: For some unexplained reason, he would often fight Soundwave during battles in the original cartoon.
• Super-Strength: He's a very strong Autobot despite his small stature, able to lift up to 190,000 pounds and demolish a building with just a single punch.
• Weaksauce Weakness: His componants revolve around sheer power. As such, his circuitry is lacking in sophistication, and thus vulnerable to electromagnetic and other kinds of waves.
• The Worf Effect: In Transformers: Generation 2, Megatron receives a series of upgrades and has more destructive abilities than before. He demonstrates said abilities by easily destroying the nigh-invulnerable Brawn.

Bumblebee (Bumble (バンブル banburu))Goldbug (Goldback (ゴールドバック gōrudobakku))

Function: Espionage (Bumblebee), Espionage Director (Goldbug)

Alt Mode: Volkswagen Beetle, Futuristic Soldier (Pretender Shell)

^{Click to see Goldbug}

^{Click to see Pretender Bumblebee}

Bumblebee: "The least likely can be the most dangerous."
Goldbug: "To know others you must know yourself first."

Voiced by: Dan Gilvezan (EN), Yoku Shioya (JP), Michitaka Kobayashi (JP; The Headmasters), Eiji Yanagisawa (JP; "The Rebirth")

A friendly yellow Autobot whose small stature is eclipsed by his bravery. In some continuities, he's rebuilt into the Throttlebot leader Goldbug.

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• The Artifact: His function as a espionage expert doesn't get much show in fiction, with his usual role being The Heart. The only piece of fiction to give it much lip-service was Infiltration. However, his position as Director of Intelligence has translated into a relatively high position in the Autobot senior leadership.
• Breakout Character: He was important in the cartoon (being the Kid-Appeal Character defined by being best friends with Spike), but he was generally treated as just one of many distinct Autobots. The first live-action film made him the most prominent Autobot (in part because Spielberg liked him in the cartoon), and he's been a main character in almost every entry in the franchise since.
• Character Development: Goldbug's bio mentions that he's become more serious and mature and has learned to value his own self-image rather than be concerned over what others may think of him.
• Death by Adaptation:
  • Transformers/G.I. Joe ends with Bumblebee and the Autobots deactivated from the Matrix's destruction taking out the Decepticons.
  • G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers kills him off in The Art of War.
  • Transformers (2023) he gets gunned down by Starscream while on stasis, not even being able to react.
• Death Is Cheap: Goldbug, and all the Throttlebots, were fried by Starscream in the Marvel Comics continuity. Goldbug came back, as Bumblebee, conveniently around the time Bumblebee's Pretenders figure came out...
• Decomposite Character: In the IDW continuity, Goldbug is a separate character from Bumblebee. IDW Goldbug's alt-mode is heavily based on Bumblebee's Cybertronian vehicle mode from the original cartoon.
• Fragile Speedster: Bee's a speedy little bug (his alt-mode can do at least 200 MPH. Try and see an actual Volkswagen that does that kind of speed), but his smaller size and weak physique means in a straight up fight, he's not much use.
• Friend to All Children: Always the guy working with the kids.
• Gold-Colored Superiority: His Goldbug form is usually considered a physical upgrade from his old Bumblebee body.
• Inexplicably Identical Individuals: In a case of "How many Bumblebees are there?" The episode "Five Faces of Darkness, Part 5" features concurrent battles between Autobots and Decepticons taking place in Cybertron and Earth. Bumblebee is depicted taking part in both of them, being in two places at once. Later (a) Bumblebee is reconstructed as Goldbug. But in "The Rebirth, Part 3", Bumblebee and Goldbug are depicted together, standing next to each other in the epilogue.
• Informed Attribute: His original bio claims that he's quite effective in underwater operations. This has hardly ever been backed up in canon. The cartoon episode "Sea Change" actually shows him struggling to learn how to waterski, and being unable to avoid capture by Soundwave while both are underwater.
• Interspecies Friendship: He was notably best friends with the Autobots' human ally Spike Witwicky in the Sunbow cartoon.
• Irony: He looks up to the bigger, stronger Autobots, unaware that, due to his own unyielding courage and indomitable spirit, some of them actually look up to him.
• Kid-Appeal Character: The former Trope Namer (The Bumblebee), a weak yet friendly bot who's best friends with the teenage Spike.
• Nerves of Steel: In all continuities, Generation 1 included, Bumblebee's "Courage" Score is consistently listed as 10, the highest number possible for any stat. This makes him braver than most Transformers, who are more often than not bigger and more powerful than he is.
• Nice Guy: According to tfwiki.net, he's one of the most-liked among his fellow Autobots, and while he looks up to others because of his size, his courage means at times they ironically look up to him. So he doesn't finish as "last" as the Nice Guy Label might otherwise say.
• The Nicknamer/Meaningful Rename: In the original cartoon he does this to himself after being repaired and rebuilt, he says he feels like a gold bug. Optimus chuckles and says that his name will now be Goldbug.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: In "More than Meets the Eye, Part 3" the Autobots are trying to lure the Decepticons into a trap. Creating a fake rocket base as a target to their opponents. Bumblebee disguises himself as a human scientist. By simply wearing a lab coat over his regular humanoid form.
• Plot-Relevant Age-Up: In most continuities, he gets injured and must be repaired into a more adult-like form, Goldbug.
• Related in the Adaptation: At the end of the GoBots miniseries by Tom Scioli, it is hinted that Bug Bite is his father.
• Sixth Ranger: Goldbug, to the Throttlebots.
• Status Quo Is God: In the Marvel comics. He was upgraded into Goldbug after a near-fatal incident, but later recreated as Bumblebee following the Underbase incident. Out of universe, this was done to tie-in with his Classic Pretender figure. In-universe, Ratchet arranged for it because he always liked his old friend's original form better.
• Took a Level in Badass: Comic Bumblebee takes one on becoming Goldbug. It sticks after his resurrection, meaning the little yellow guy, right after being brought back, points a gun at Megatron and then shoots him. In the aftermath, Bumblebee becomes the de-facto leader of the Classic Pretenders.
  • His Tech Specs (as Goldbug) show that his strength rating has skyrocketed from his original 2 to a very impressive 9.

Cliffjumper (Cliff (クリフ kurifu))

Function: Warrior

Alt Mode: Porsche 924 Turbo Sportscar

"Strike first, strike fast, strike hard."

Voiced by: Casey Kasem (EN), Takurou Kitagawa (JP)

A fanatically loyal, but violent and trigger-happy Autobot who, despite his small size, carries deadly weapons (such as his Glass Gas Cannon) and is eager to reduce Decepticreeps to scrap.

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• Ascended Extra: He's one of the main Autobots in the Energon-verse from Skybound Comics.
• BFG: Cliffjumper is tiny by Transformers' standards. But pulls out a huge rifle cannon in "More than Meets the Eye, Part 1".
• Blood Knight: His real Catchphrase is "Let me at 'em!" As a Hot-Blooded little 'bot who is consistently fighting a war, he's basically grown to be a small fighter with a huge punch wound up for any Decepticreep he sees. The 2005 IDW continuity takes it further: he adapts to being a weapons expert, and he adjusted to it very fast, to the point where he executed the ranking commander in a Decepticon post along with five other hapless warriors he met.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Was clearly one of the very few original Autobots to survive the events of The Movie, along with Bumblebee and Jazz, but never appears again in the animated series, with no explanation given. The out-of-universe explanation is that his voice actor, Casey Kasem, took offense at the depiction of Arabs in a succeeding episode, and resigned in protest.
• Conspiracy Theorist: In the episode "Traitor", Cliffjumper becomes convinced that Mirage is working for the Decepticons. He spends the episode interpreting any random event according to this theory. Comic book interpretations of the character generally depict him as paranoid, seeing traitors all around him.
• The Dreaded: In his IDW spotlight comic. A group of Decepticon reinforcements get called in, and their leader chews out the Decepticon who summoned them for not being able to handle a single Autobot. When that Decepticon calls him a little red guy, the reinforcement leader realizes that Autobot is Cliffjumper and immediately tries to tell his comrades to arm themselves. They were too late.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: He is easily irritable by even the slightest slights and very trigger-happy, so having Decepticons around will no doubt see him go wild against them.
• Hammerspace: His character description includes "He makes a habit of pulling ridiculously huge guns out of nowhere".
• Hot-Blooded: "I'm gonna kick those Decepticons in their turbo-charger!!"
• Ironic Name: Briefly Played for Laughs in the episode "Enter the Nightbird", where he was the only Autobot who, despite his name, had trouble with actual cliffjumping◊.
• Jerkass Ball: In "Traitor", where he angrily accuses Mirage for basically "betraying" the Autobots, especially when giving two Energon Cubes to the Insecticons. He lightens up by the end of the episode.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Being a Hot-Blooded, violent Blood Knight doesn't stop him from being friendly to his fellow Autobots or humans.
• Large Ham: Very aggressive and will go all out big and loud, even in speech.
• Leeroy Jenkins: Established as part of his characterization in "More than Meets the Eye, Part 1", the first episode of the animated series. Cliffjumper and Hound are sent on a scouting mission. When the two locate the main forces of the Decepticons, Cliffjumper takes a shot at Megatron (that misses), resulting in two Autobots facing a small army of Decepticons.
• Literally Shattered Lives: The effect of his trademark glass gas; whatever it's exposed to becomes a brittle, glass-like substance that can easily be shattered.
• The Napoleon: He's one of the smaller bots, but Cliff is aggressive, impulsive and trigger-happy.
• Non-Indicative Name: None of his Vehicle Modes are really built for off-roadin'.
• Palette Swap: The original toys for both characters are actually their own molds that just happen to have similar transformations. Bumblebee was a Volkswagen while Cliffjumper was a Super-Deformed Porsche 924. This isn't helped by the fact that each toy had its own Pallete Swaps in the form of red Bumblebees and yellow Cliffjumpers. ^note These variants were still carded by the actual toys' names, though. Hasbro seemed to take advantage of their similarities, as from 2006 onwards, most incarnations of Cliffjumper have been palette swaps of the corresponding Bumblebee. Reversed in War for Cybertron Trilogy where Cliffjumper's toy was released first (in a cartoon accurate mold no less!) and Bumblebee was retooled from Cliffjumper!
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: A small yet deadly Autobot warrior, mostly thanks to his weaponry instead of the raw physical strength that most of the other examples on this page possess.
• Red Is Violent: Looks like a red Bumblebee and is a lot more aggressive and combat-oriented than the latter, who is one of the nicest and friendliest bots around.
• Trapped in Another World: In the Classics continuity (which continues after Marvel US comics while ignoring the events of Marvel UK and other media), he ends up being trapped in Transformers: Shattered Glass universe, which he found very polarizing. He grows accustomed to it over the time.
• Trigger-Happy: His general Leeroy Jenkins demeanor combined with his heavy use of firearms makes him this. In "Transport to Oblivion", he fires at a vaguely Decepticon-shaped rock before getting close enough to see what it actually is.

Gears (ギアーズ giāzu)

Function: Transport, Reconnaissance

Alt Mode: 4WD Off-Road Pickup Truck

"Nobody wins a war - somebody loses."

Voiced by: Don Messick (EN), Toshiro Ishii (main), Ken Shiroyama ("Transport to Oblivion" and "Fire in the Sky") (JP)

A grumpy 'bot who is not fond of most things, but deep in his Spark, he's someone one can trust to lighten their day. He can detect infrared radiation.

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• Character Focus: Gears had a starring role in issue 3 of the Marvel comic, where he gets to hang with Spider-Man.
• Deadpan Snarker: He makes complaints and dramatic as possible while sounding serious at the same time.
• Death Is Cheap: Said starring role ended with Gears plummeting several miles and smashing to pieces. Fortunately, Early-Installment Weirdness meant he was fixed by the end of the issue.
• The Dissenter Is Always Right: Gears complains about everything, but the other Autobots actually like having him around. Partly because they find his complaints amusing and his behavior never leads him to trouble—and because, amidst all his complaints, he also point out legitimate flaws that need to be addressed and fixed, and sometimes they're things the other Autobots hadn't even noticed. (Amusingly, the one time he was content and helpful, it was because the Decepticons were controlling him.)
• Extreme Doormat: In the episode Changing Gears, the Decepticons capture Gears and remove one of his circuits to use in a new device. The removal of said circuit causes a change in Gears' personality, making him cheerful, overly polite, and willing to assist/obey anyone in his immediate vicinity. However, his flowery speech still includes various insults to Megatron. "How can I help you, Megatron, heh heh, you rotten hunk of scrap?"
• Hidden Heart of Gold: Most of Gears's grumpiness is an act to lighten the mood of the other Autobots, who cheer themselves up by trying to cheer him up. Reminders of Cybertron, however, can leave him depressed.
• Large Ham: He deliberately plays up his complaining and grumbling to ridiculous levels to ensure that Optimus Prime does not mistake his behavior for genuine disgruntlement.
• Meaningful Name: In addition to Gears' name referencing literal gears, it's also a nod to the phrase "grind one's gears," or to become annoyed with something—and Gears seems to always have something to complain about.
• Not Quite Flight: He can launch himself up into the sky and glide down on a cushion of compressed air.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Small he may be, he's still strong enough to rip out a chunk of ground larger than himself to hurl at Devastator.
• Sensor Character: More Than Meets the Eye, Part 2 reveals that Gears has in-built infrared sensors. Allowing him to trace the heat traces of Ravage, a stealthy infiltrator.
• We Want Our Jerk Back!: Subverted in "Changing Gears". As Optimus Prime prepares to restore Gears to his original, annoying personality:
  Trailbreaker: Uhh, just a minute, we took a vote and...uhh, well we decided we like Gears the way he is now.

Hauler/RoadHauler (ロードホーラー rōdohōrā)

Function: Transport, Resource Exploration

Alt Mode: Mitsubishi Fuso Hook-Crane Truck

An Autobot who helped Cliffjumper from being stuck in a pinch. In some continuities, he is a Decepticon who later left Megatron to join the Autobots.

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• Depending on the Artist: He's either purple-and-green (like his ex-fellow Constructicons) or orange. His profile establishes he's a fickle bot, prone to changes in mood which gets expressed as him changing his color scheme a lot.
• Dropped After the Pilot: Hauler only shows up in his vehicle mode in the first episode of the Generation 1 series.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: A theory is that Hauler and Grapple are the same person, as the Hauler seen in the cartoon is colored orange just like Grapple and they share the exact same vehicle mode. It's possible Hauler was an early intended name for the character before it was switched to Grapple.
• Expanded Universe: Despite his incredibly minor role in the show, a toy of him was released in 2003 and detailed origin stories followed.
• Heel–Face Turn: Most continuities that expand on his background have him as a Constructicon that defected to the Autobots, though in some of those, he didn't defect so much as he was the only one who escaped Megatron's Robo-Smasher.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: A single episode and no spoken lines. And he was in vehicle mode.

Hound (ハウンド haundo)

Function: Scout

Alt Mode: Jeep J59 Technical

"Observe everything, remember even more."

Voiced by: Ken Sansom (EN), Kenyū Horiuchi (main) & Ken Narita ("Attack of the Autobots" and "Day of the Machines") (JP)

A nature-lover who can make holograms and secretly desires to be a human. He's a very good tracker who can trace anything, including machinery, but any interference may scramble his circuits.

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• Become a Real Boy: According to his original Tech Specs, Hound is so enamored by Earth's natural beauty that he secretly wants to become a human.
• Everybody Hates Mathematics: His IDW incarnation is notoriously bad with numbers, having to count on his fingers for anything past five.
• Kid-Appeal Character: The cartoon's pilot slates Hound as the most relatable Autobot for the younger audiences; he's the first one to befriend the teenage Spike, and that relationship is highlighted throughout the pilot's three parts. This doesn't last, as Bumblebee quickly takes over this role afterward, and his many interpretations thereafter often have close human friendships as a defining trait.
• Master of Illusion: Thanks to his holographic projector.
• Meaningful Name: He's an excellent tracker, like a bloodhound.
• Nature-Loving Robot: His character description mentions a special bond to native life (humankind), tracking skills, and spending his free time exploring "the breathtaking caverns" and "mountainous expanses" of Earth.
• Odd Friendship: Somehow, this easygoing, nature-loving scout is good friends with the aloof and aristocratic socialite Mirage.
• Out of Focus: Hound is featured prominently in the first two seasons of the original series, but only got a cameo in The Transformers: The Movie and isn't seen at all in the third season. He was given a single speaking appearance in Transformers: ★Headmasters.

Huffer (Drag (ドラッグ doraggu))

Function: Construction Engineer

Alt Mode: Single-Axle Semi Truck

"Molecular structure is the key to success."

Voiced by: John Stephenson (EN), Masashi Ebara, Yu Shimaka & Toshiro Ishii ("The Autobot Run") (JP)

A pessimistic yet reliable builder who is unhappy with being stuck on Earth.

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• Deadpan Snarker: Very pessimistic and will state his bleak views in a very dead serious tone.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: Huffer makes his last appearance in The Transformers: The Movie, at the beginning of the Battle of Autobot City. His death in said battle is only mentioned in "Dark Awakening", taking place off-screen.
• The Eeyore: Huffer is constantly pessimistic and seems to view the world in gloomy colors. Unlike Gears, there's no hidden motive behind his sour attitude; it's genuine. The episode "Divide and Conquer" has Prime severely wounded in battle...to which Huffer is quick to cheer everyone up by outright stating Prime was "doomed" and he could feel it in his databanks. In "The Autobot Run", the Autobots participate in a charity race and fall victim to an ambush. Huffer's response?
  Huffer: I knew the racing bit was bad news, but would anybody listen to me? Oh, noooo!
• Everything Sensor: Those pipe-like arms of his have sensors that can detect and analyze all physical qualities of a material.
• Genius Bruiser: Is super strong and a construction engineer, with his Tech-Specs giving him an Intelligence spec of 8 and noting his superior skill in math and geometry.
• Killed Off for Real:
  • In the G1 cartoon he was one of the casualties of the Battle of Autobot City.
  • In Transformers (2023) he's gunned down by the Combaticons in issue 7.
• Pet the Dog: In "Heavy Metal War", he offers to carry the wounded Optimus's trailer back to base for him.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: In the episode "Dinobot Island, Part 2" Huffer wrestles with a time-traveling mammoth. He defeats the animal and lifts it over his head. Pointing out: "I'm not the biggest Autobot but I'm one of the strongest!"
• There's No Place Like Home: A lot of his sour personality is due to hating Earth for keeping him from returning to Cybertron.

Ironhide (アイアンハイド aianhaido)

Function: Security

Alt Mode: Nissan Sunny-Vanette Coach SGL Van

"High tech circuitry is no replacement for guts."

Voiced by: Peter Cullen (EN), Show Hayami (main) & Hiroaki Hirata ("Day of the Machines") (JP)

One of the older Autobots and a close friend and bodyguard of Optimus Prime. Even at his age, he's just as strong as the newer, younger 'bots in Prime's squad, if not stronger, especially with lots of weapons and equipment at the ready. Whenever Prime himself is out of commission, the responsibility of leadership more often than not falls on the broad shoulders of this gruff, ancient warrior.

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• The Big Guy: Ol' Ironhide often found himself fillin' this role. Might have to do with his Texas drawl, or the fact that he's one o' the Autobot mos' likely ta forgo usin' weapons an' start bustin' Deceptichops with his bare hands.
• The Blank: The toy mold for Ironhide lacks a distinct head. The reason for this is in Diaclone, the robots weren't sentient, but piloted mechs. In this case, the pilot would sit in the car seat. To try to compensate, the box are gave vague eye lines on the windshield (pictured above), while the toy itself had a sticker of a robot-like face to be placed on the car seat, implying that's where his head is. Later reissues would have a cut-out of Ironhide's cartoon head that could be placed on the chest while in robot mode, though this now made it seem like his arms connected to his abdomen. It would be decades before a cartoon-accurate toy of Ironhide was made.
• Bodyguarding a Badass: His official function is "Security", and his Tech Specs list him as bodyguard to Optimus Prime. In this capacity, he has taken more hits to save his commander than anyone else in the Autobot army.
• Boom, Headshot!: Megatron finishes off the badly-wounded Ironhide with a near point-blank blast from his fusion cannon to his head.
• Cool Old Guy: Not the oldest Cybertronian around, but by their standards he's middle-age-ish.
• Death Is Cheap: Comic Ironhide got fried by Starscream's rampage. He got better in time to fight Unicron.
• Defiant to the End: Even fatally wounded, Ironhide still has enough strength to grab and Megatron's leg and shout "No!" at Megatron's declaration the Autobots will be finished once Autobot City is destroyed. Megatron derides Ironhide for "such heroic nonsense" before finishing him off.
• Good Ol' Boy: Has his good ol' Texan accent an' is rather wise for his age and with a huge eagerness ta bust Deceptichops with his own two bare hands.
• Finger Firearms: On a few occasions, Ironhide has been shown to be able to shoot out blasts of corrosive liquid from his fingers.
• Freeze Ray: He can shoot liquid nitrogen from his water cannon to freeze Decepticons in their tracks.
• Killed Off for Real: Gets executed by Megatron in the movie.
  • He also dies fighting Unicron's hordes in the Grand Finale of the IDW comics' first continuity.
• Large Ham: His Southern-Texas-Drawl lends to this kind of performance.
• New Powers as the Plot Demands: He seems to have it more than the others. Along with his "Water Cannon" that shoots a wide variety of liquids, corrosives and such, he has been shown to pack a grappling hook, a jump jetpack, and a missile launching station concealed in his back.
• Old Soldier: He's one of the older Autobots and is still as strong and formidable as the others.
• Ship Tease: He's implied to be an item with his old friend Chromia when they reunite on Cybertron in "The Search for Alpha Trion".
• Super-Toughness: They don't call him Ironhide for nothing! He occasionally shows off his tough exterior in the cartoon (although not nearly to Brawn's extent), such as when protecting Chip from the meteor explosion in "War of the Dinobots", and his original bio describes his armor plating as being made of super-durable "Trithyllium-steel".

Jazz (Meister (マイスター maisutā))

Function: Special Operations Agent

Alt Mode: Martini Racing Porsche 935/76 Sportscar; Futuristic Patrol Officer (Pretender Shell)

^{Click to see Pretender Jazz}

"Do it with style or don’t bother doing it."

Voiced by: Scatman Crothers (EN), Kōki Kataoka (main), Kenyuu Horiuchi ("The Key to Vector Sigma, Part 2"), Toshio Ishii (Scramble City), Masato Hirano (The Headmatsers), Tōru Furusawa ("Attack of the Autobots") & Minoru Inaba (The Movie) (JP)

The Autobots' Special Ops agent and Prime's right-hand man (or 'bot in this case) who can make disorienting light shows and has an affinity for Earth's cultures. He likes doing things in style and often improvises nearly everything he does, including attacks and battle tactics.

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• Blinded by the Light: He can temporarily blind his opponents with his light shows.
• Cool Car: Jazz himself transforms into a Porsche 935, a famous racing car. Several of his animated appearances focus on his speed or depict him in a speed race.
• Death Is Cheap: Another Underbase victim. Jazz got brought back as a Pretender.
• Demoted to Extra: He survived the movie, but wasn't seen too much afterwards aside from occasional cameos due to the death of his voice actor, Scatman Crothers.
• Fire-Breathing Weapon: His Photon Rifle has occasionally been portrayed as a flame-thrower.
• Indy Ploy: Jazz is the master of improvisation among the Autobots, instantly adapting to even the most surprising situations:
  • One episode showcases him disabling a missile by using his super-loud speakers to create a sonic boom.
  • In the comics, it is he who is instrumental in forging the Autobot alliance with humans, negotiating on the spot with oil tycoon Blackrock.
• Jive Turkey: On account of being voiced by Scatman Crothers in the original cartoon.
• Klingons Love Shakespeare: He loves Earth culture and entertainment.
• Meaningful Name: He loves music. Also quite fitting given his reputation for improvisation, stylishness, and good old fashioned volume, as jazz music is unique in its embrace of the freeform solo.
• Nice Guy: He's well-liked (both in-universe and out) for being one of the most easygoing, good-natured Autobots, and rarely has a bad word for anyone outside the Decepticons.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Comic Jazz gave Sparkplug a heart attack by trying to block his path with a flamethrower (this was before the Autobots knew much about humans or their biology).
• Number Two: Alternates with Prowl as Optimus Prime's second-in-command, and acts as a Foil for the strategist.

Mirage (Ligier/Rijie (リジェ rije))

Function: Spy

Alt Mode: F-1 Ligier JS11 Racecar

"Who and what I am I hide from the enemy."

Voiced by: Frank Welker (EN), Takurou Kitagawa (main) & Kenyū Horiuchi ("The Ultimate Doom, Part 3", "Traitor", "Enter the Nightbird", "The Golden Lagoon", "The Core") (JP)

The Autobots' spy, who can create holographic illusions primarily used to make him invisible. His reluctance to fight and tendency to vanish makes him appear very suspicious to his comrades.

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• Be Careful What You Wish For: In some continuities, Mirage would finally get the chance to return to Cybertron. Sadly, his home and old life isn't what it used to be.
  • In the Dreamwave continuity, Mirage refuses to return to Earth and is content staying on Cybertron, not wanting to leave his home again. Trailbreaker told him point-blank that Mirage's fortune from his aristocratic days was probably gone, and his estate and possessions were divvied up and sold off by Shockwave's united government.
  • In the Classics continuity, Mirage found that most of his wealthy friends were dead, and the ones who remained had little to say, and the turbofoxes they used to hunt were on the brink of extinction. This would lead to his Character Development below.
• Character Development: In the Classics continuity at least. When the Decepticons resurfaced on Earth, Mirage joined Prime to return to the planet, finally realizing that he could no longer go on pretending that his old life still existed.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: While the storyboard for The Transformers: The Movie included a scene depicting Mirage wounded or killed, said scene was never animated. Leaving his disappearance from the series unexplained.
• Holographic Disguise: Technically this is his actual ability and he can change his superficial appearance any way he likes, but outside of a tiny handful of situations it's almost invariably used only for...
• Invisibility: He has a cloaking device that enables him to become invisible.
• Killed Off for Real:
  • Offed by the super-powered Starscream in the Marvel comics.
  • In the 2005 IDW continuity he was cut to pieces by Star Saber in The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: Comic Mirage spent the first four issues not wanting to fight, and trying to talk with the Decepticons, who weren't really interested in that sort of thing. By issue 4, he gets the point, and decides he's going to start giving the fight his all, beginning by shooting Ravage in the face after he's had his arm bitten off. ... and then he never does very much again.
• Master of Illusion: Mirage reveals an ability to project realistic holograms in "Masquerade". An ability typically used by Hound.
• Mistaken for Betrayal: In "Traitor", Mirage happened to be on patrol around the same place where the Decepticons stole the electro-cells. Cliffjumper immediately assumes the worst and accuses him of betrayal. Later on, he tried to go foil the Decepticons on his own while accidentally leaving "clues" that he may have defected, which results in Cliffjumper being even more hostile to him, and when the Decepticons find out about his suspicions, they decide to play along with "Mirage defected to the Decepticons" thing by having Bombshell brainwash him. Fortunately, after learning of the cerebro-shell, Cliffjumper warms up to Mirage and apologizes for doubting him.
• Odd Friendship: Despite his longing to return to Cybertron and somewhat chilly personality, he is a close friend to the genial and outdoorsy Hound.
• Reluctant Warrior: As a former member of Cybertron's wealthy elite, he's not a warrior at heart and would much rather be back hunting turbofoxes with his old friends.
• Spot the Imposter: In "Masquerade", Mirage infiltrates the Decepticons while posing as Drag Strip. Other Autobots impersonate the rest of the Stunticons, counting on the real Stunticons being incapacitated elsewhere. When Drag Strip and his fellows return, a typical Spot the Imposter episode takes place, leading to one of his rare uses of Holographic Disguise when the Autobots form their own Menasor.
• Vehicular Sabotage: In "More than Meets the Eye, Part 3", Mirage infiltrates the Decepticons' space cruiser and sabotages it in mid-flight. Instead of escaping Earth and flying out in outer space, the Decepticons sink to the bottom of the ocean.
• Writing Around Trademarks: The romanized spelling of his Japanese name changed from Ligier to Rijie to avoid copyright issues.

Prowl (プロール purōru or プラウル purauru)

Function: Military Strategist

Alt Mode: Datsun 280ZX Turbo Police Car

"Logic is the ultimate weapon."

Voiced by: Michael Bell (EN), Toshiro Ishii (main) & Keiichi Nanba ("Autobot Spike") (JP)

The Autobots' bureaucratic strategist who tries to see reason and logic in everything. He takes a by-the-book attitude to his job of formulating battle plans but his uptightness often puts off his comrades. Also, he gets easily thrown off if anything unexpected throws a wrench into his strategies.

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• Acid Attack: His gun fires acid pellets.
• Adaptational Jerkass: While still an Anti-Hero at worst, Prowl's IDW incarnation takes his usual pragmatism straight into amorality, showing him as a Well-Intentioned Extremist willing to make some morally questionable decisions if it means defeating the Decepticons.
• Anti-Hero: In the The Transformers: Robots in Disguise comic, until issue 14 where we realize he was under mind control by Bombshell the whole time.
• By-the-Book Cop: Is dedicated to following every single protocol in his duty to the letter. This is later subverted in the IDW and drifts into a Well-Intentioned Extremist.
• Character Focus: Prowl... wasn't very important in the cartoon or the original comics. He started becoming important in the late 80s, which established his grouchy, jerkass nature.
• Characterization Marches On: The Prowl of the 80s was just sort of there, more often than not. It wasn't until toward the end of G1 when he gets the additional detail of being a colossal Jerkass, which has been his default thing ever since.
• Cowboy Cop: The first IDW continuity has him ramp up his snobbish Knight Templar methods, disobeying orders to defeat the 'cons. The 2019 one has him actually want to be a By-the-Book Cop, but the escalating situation forces him to induce Police Brutality on his interrogated criminals.
• Depending on the Writer: He copped this hard in the IDW continuity. Simon Furman and Shane McCarthy wrote him as the Straw Vulcan Jerkass detailed below, Nick Roche's portrayal makes him a Manipulative Bastard, and Mike Costa initially went in a very different direction, before reverting him to Roche's portrayal, with a bit of beat cop thrown in. James Roberts and John Barber sought to meld the differing portrayals in Prowl's later appearances.
• Didn't See That Coming: His character description mentions that Prowl always estimates the most advantageous course of action in any situation. But when confronted by entirely unexpected situations, he loses it.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: In the comics (both Marvel and IDW), the other Autobots tend to treat him like this because of his less than pleasant personality. He's effective at what he does, but he's hard to warm up to.
• The Generic Guy: He's little more than a background character in the cartoon, where he has some Mandatory Lines and that's it. Other media, especially the Marvel and IDW comics, flesh him out a lot into an uptight and law-obsessed Jerkass.
• Inadequate Inheritor: In The Dark Ages, Prowl takes over when Optimus goes missing in a Space Bridge accident. The Autobots promptly fracture, since Prowl lacks the charisma to keep them together.
• Intelligence Equals Isolation: He is dedicated to logic and reason. But reportedly this negatively affects his social skills and isolates him from his fellow Autobots.
• Jerkass: His Straw Vulcan tendencies make him come off as this more often than not, which led to the widely-held belief that Prowl is a prick.
• Jerkass Has a Point: The final issue of the Marvel comic has him pointing out, at length, how much of an idiot Grimlock and the Dinobots had been by running head-first into a Decepticon trap (which had gotten all but five Autobots killed). And he's right.
• Killed Off for Real: Shot through the chest by Scavenger in the movie and presumably had his internals melted given how he belches smoke before collapsing in the movie.
• The Lancer: Alternates with Jazz as Prime's Number Two, though Prowl's usually higher-up the chain.
• Logical Weakness: Quite literally. His insistence on finding a logical way to handle things means he doesn't allow himself to deal with illogical situations, leaving him out of his depth should such a situation arise.
• Pragmatic Hero: Some continuities make him willing to do anything to help his comrades succeed, even if they're...well, less than moral.
• Sherlock Scan: His bio mentions he can track 5,000 moving objects at once. It didn't come up much (well, at all), until More Than Meets The Eye.
• Slowly Slipping Into Evil: In IDW's Transformers universe, Prowl has been morally ambiguous for some time, as his actions in Nick Roche-penned works will attest. During the late IDW continuity Prowl's character takes a darker turn with him taking antagonistic positions and the audience viewing the extent of his actions. Though in the end he pulls himself back from the brink and remains a good guy.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Any time he's forced to work with the anti-authoritarian Grimlock, who hates him right back.
• The Strategist: His bio even states that he's one to analyse and formulate complicated battle plans.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: This is how Prowl is presented in the IDW universe, being willing to do almost anything if it secures Autobot victory.

Ratchet (ラチェット rachetto)

Function: Medic

Alt Mode: Nissan Cherry Vanette SGL Coach Ambulance

"You break it, I'll remake it."

Voiced by: Don Messick & Wally Burr (EN), Masashi Ebara (JP)

The Autobots' medic who can easily fix his comrades in a short time once given the right tools. His want for a good time may interfere with his effectiveness, and he's not as mighty as his fellow brothers-in-arms, but is still courageous and determined in the face of adversity.

---

• Adaptation Dye-Job: Media usually depicts the color of his helmet and chevrons in one of two ways: the white helmet/black chevrons from the cartoon or the red helmet/white chevrons from the comics.
• Adaptational Sexuality: He has a same-gender relationship with Drift in the first IDW continuity.
• The Blank: See the entry under Ironhide.
• Body Horror: Trapping Megatron in an exploding warpgate in the Marvel series resulted in a horrific half-melted-together fusion of their bodies◊.
• Characterisation Marches On: His initial toy bio describes Ratchet as being a party type. This has come up pretty much never.
• Combat Medic: While he is the designated medical officer, Ratchet can also kick some tailpipe when needed. For example, he fly-kicks Thundercracker in "Changing Gears" and beats the scrap out of Starscream in the Marvel comics.
• Deadpan Snarker: Several comic universes, most prominently in the IDW ongoing.
  "It is either very far away or you've invented the world's smallest drink."
• The Engineer: In the animated series, Ratchet is consistently partnered with Wheeljack when needed to upgrade various devices. The presumption being that the two share similar engineering skills.
• Fate Worse than Death: Being fused with Megatron in the Marvel series, and then his life being linked to Megatron's after they're separated. It gets worse in Regeneration One, where he's reduced to a head, and his medical knowledge is used by Megatron to create a zombie army.
• Head Swap: He shares the same body structure with Ironhide, but he's clad in white with red elements, has his alt-mode repurposed into an ambulance with a siren, and has different head shape.
• Informed Attribute: His original bio described him as a party bot. As of this writing, this trait has never manifested in any portrayal of him; he's usually quite serious and devoted to his job.
• Killed Off for Real:
  • Shot up by Megatron in the Movie.
  • In Regeneration One, Kup puts him out of his misery, giving Optimus the opportunity to finish Megatron.
  • He dies of old age near the end of the 2005 IDW continuity.
• The Medic: He repairs damaged Autobots.
• Screw the War, We're Partying: He's described as a party bot. Not that it comes up much.
• Spock Speak: Early Marvel Ratchet is prone to very high-falutin' talk, such as addressing a snake as "tubular carbon-based lifeform".
• Taking You with Me: In the comics, Ratchet manages to take Starscream, Shockwave and Megatron with him. ... sort of. The G2 comics have Megatron survive, and resurrect Starscream. Regeneration One has all three survive anyway, making Ratchet's attempted sacrifice accomplish nothing.
• Took a Level in Badass: In the Marvel comics, he goes from working as the Autobots' medic to successfully ruining one of Megatron's plans in the most epic way, ending it by beating up Starscream.
  Megatron: You suffer from the same flaw as the rest of your Autobot ilk — you are not a true warrior! A warrior thinks like a warrior! He finds a way to fight his enemy, not a way to trust him! But being a warrior is a claim you never made!
  Ratchet: All you say about me is true, Megatron — until now!
• Unstoppable Rage: In the Marvel comics, Starscream taunts him for not fighting back, claiming there's no fun in killing him when he doesn't resist. These words make Ratchet fly into an absolute rage, allowing him to easily outpower and deliver a brutal beating to Starscream.
  Starscream: Oh, come on! This isn't the way it's supposed to happen! Sure, you're supposed to die, but you have to run around a bit first, fight back! What fun is this?
  Ratchet: Fun? FUN?! How dare you? How dare you trivialize life and death! Is that all it's ever been to you, this war — FUN? How many, eh? How many have to die for you to get your jollies? HOW MANY?
• Worthy Opponent: Megatron's opinion of him in the comics, after Ratchet tricks him and then sets the Dinobots on him.

Sideswipe (Lambor (ランボル ranboru))

Function: Warrior

Alt Mode: Lamborghini New Countach LP500S Sportscar

"I don't break rules, I bend them - a lot."

Voiced by: Michael Bell (EN), Kōki Kataoka (JP)

An Autobot who enjoys fighting and often uses underhanded tactics to achieve victory. His rash actions may endanger his life, but he takes everything in stride.

---

• The Artifact: His rocket pack is a remnant of when he was originally planned to use Sunstreaker's mold, which repurposes the car's exposed engine as a backpack in robot mode. That's why in his current form, Sideswipe's jetpack isn't a part of his design.
• Blood Knight: His character description specifically mentions that Sideswipe is "more into battle for the sport of it" and "most craves a glorious fight to the finish as a test of his mettle".
• Boisterous Bruiser: Despite being a fierce warrior, his bio also describes a humorous, playful side and a tendency to prank others. In the episode "City of Steel", he beats Starscream in mid-air and gleefully forces him to say "uncle".
  Sideswipe: Say "uncle" or I'll shove your nose in your afterburner!
  Starscream: Uncle, UNCLE!
  Sideswipe: Gee, I didn't know Decepticons had uncles!
• Combat Pragmatist: He considers cheating in battle a valid option, "all in the name of possible victory".
• Didn't Think This Through: In comic book story "Power Play!" the Autobots are suffering from fuel problems. When the Decepticons attack, Sideswipe decides to use his energy-consuming rocket pack and expends all his energy in said battle. This action leaves him drained and powerless to stop Starscream from claiming a strategic victory for his side. According to his character profile is quite prone to such rash decisions.
• Dead Guy Junior: Following his death in the 2005 IDW continuity, Arcee names a protoform after him, as a Mythology Gag referencing the G2 version of Sideswipe.
• Depending on the Artist: In the cartoon, his piledrivers are never depicted the same way twice. They are either a large handheld jackhammer, small jackhammers that are attached to his arms or Rumble-like pistons that are attached to his arms.
• Dying Dream: In the 2005 IDW continuity. The 9th issue of Optimus Prime appears to show him making a full recovery from the injuries that put him into a coma, reconcile with his brother Sunstreaker and learn about how much has changed between the Autobots and the Decepticons since he was put out of commission, but the end of the issue reveals that this is only a dream he's experiencing as his comatose body finally goes off-line.
• The Generic Guy: He has next to no personality in the cartoon, being a secondary character who just delivers some lines now and again (in contrast to his twin Sunstreaker, who had some characterization as a vain Jerkass).
• Jet Pack: Sideswipe is equipped with a Rocket Pack ^note which Prime had to borrow to go after the Decepticons' spaceship at the end of the original Five-Episode Pilot, making him one of the few Autobots capable of flight.
• Robo Family: His brother (sometimes twin brother) Sunstreaker.
• Shoulder Cannon: Sports a white rocket launcher on his left shoulder.

Sunstreaker (サンストリーカー sansutorīkā)

Function: Warrior

Alt Mode: "Super Tuning" Customized Lamborghini Countach LP500S Sportscar

"They can't beat the best."

Voiced by: Corey Burton (EN), Kenyū Horiuchi (main), Takurou Kitagawa ("SOS Dinobots"), Keiichi Nanba ("Dinobot Island, Part 2", "Trans-Europe Express"), Koki Kataoka ("The Golden Lagoon") & Ken Shiroyama ("The Core") (JP)

Sideswipe's brother, a vain and egotistical warrior who is overly concerned about his paint job. In stark contrast to a certain other yellow Autobot, Sunstreaker is cold, arrogant, and unfriendly with humans.

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• Anti-Hero: An Autobot who's rather selfish, cold-blooded, and not too kind to humans, but an Autobot nonetheless.
• The Atoner: Responsible for the Autobots' dire straits during "All Hail Megatron" and its aftermath.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Survived the film but did not appear afterwards. Even in the film, he gets a minor role flying in Optimus and the Dinobots to help Autobot City, but says no lines and disappears after the battle is over.
• The Dandy: He complains about Decepticons damaging his new paint job. He worries that the colors of his new water skis don't match his base coat. He is definitely the most fashion-conscious of the Autobots and the most obsessed with maintaining the condition of his body.
• Death Is Cheap: Sunstreaker was taken out of action by Shockwave in issue 4 of the Marvel comic. He didn't reappear for years. Then he disappeared again, apparently damaged during the Underbase situation, reappearing when Grimlock revived most of the Autobot casualties... then he got killed again in the last issue (the Last Autobot revived him).
• Fantastic Racism:
  • In Megatron's Master Plan, Part 1, a public relations campaign by Megatron results in most of humanity turning against the Autobots. Sunstreaker expresses his racist views on humans.
    "I knew the humans would turn on us someday. They're such undependable creatures. Inferior lifeforms."
  • Taken to even greater extremes in the IDW continuity, where being vivisected by a human conspiracy and forced by necessity into a Psychic Link with a human ally traumatized Sunstreaker so much that afterwards he was willing to help Starscream overthrow Megatron in exchange for the Decepticons (a) limiting their empire to Earth, and (b) eradicating every last human on the planet.
• The Fighting Narcissist: He's vain about his paint job and he constantly butts heads with Decepticons.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: His ego and inability to work well with anybody but his brother does not endear him to his fellow Autobots.
• Jerkass: Sunstreaker is a narcissistic Blood Knight who's indifferent at best to his fellow Autobots and humans alike.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: While he doesn't get along well with all other Autobots, Sunstreaker still cares for his brother Sideswipe, though he's not above taking jabs at him.
• Losing Your Head: Decapitated and used as a template for Machination's headmaster army in the IDW comics.
• Not in the Face!: "I just had it chromed!"
• Palette Swap: Subverted. Despite Sideswipe and Sunstreaker being based on the same base model of car (a Lamborghini Countach), they both have completely different toy molds and visibly different robot modes.
• Put on a Bus: In the comics continuity, Sunstreaker does show up as soon as Issue 1, but is soon killed off within the first few issues. It isn't until a few dozen issues later that we finally see him again, but even then, he's still yet to be repaired. He does get revived, only to die again — and of course, he's alive again sometime later, except that time, he's finally there to stay. May also partly double as Commuting on a Bus, due to his latter appearances in the comic.
• Robo Family: He's twins with Sideswipe.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Sunstreaker's achievements don't quite match up with his immense self-importance.
• Sociopathic Hero: His bio states that he is cold and unfeeling towards his fellow Autobots (aside from Sideswipe), and he deeply enjoys scrapping Decepticons.
• Token Evil Teammate: Sunstreaker may be a loyal Autobot, but he's still a nigh sociopathic Blood Knight.
• Watch the Paint Job: He's quite vain about his appearance.

Teletraan I

Voiced by: Casey Kasem (EN), Masashi Ebara (JP)

The Ark's supercomputer responsible for reactivating both Autobots and the invading Decepticons in it, renewing their conflict on Earth. It possesses incredible communications functions and can monitor Earth's radio and television broadcasts.

---

• The Bus Came Back: He made a single reappearance in an episode of Transformers: ★Headmasters, being relocated at Planet Athenia.
• It Can Think: While he normally appears to be just an AI following Autobots' orders, he occasionally displays full-scale intelligence and even emotions at one point.
  Teletraan I: Autobots are noble. Your plan can never succeed.
  Megatron: Oh, it can't, eh? Autobots! Obey my first command: Silence that annoying computer!
  Teletraan I: Optimus Prime, NO—!
• Killed Off for Real: Destroyed along with the Ark by Trypticon.
• Magic Tool: Teletraan I manages to revive a small army of Cybertonians and reconfigure their forms without seeming to need any new mechanical parts or additional fuel sources.
• The Nth Doctor: After Casey Kasem quit the show in disgust over its Ethnic Scrappy portrayal of Arabs (Kasem was Lebanese-American), Teletraan I was replaced with Teletraan II, apparently exactly the same except for the voice.

Trailbreaker/Trailcutter/Trailblazer (トレイルブレイカー toreirubureikā)

Function: Defensive Strategist

Alt Mode: Toyota 4WD Hi-Lux Camper Truck

"An Autobot's as good as the fuel in his tank."

Voiced by: Frank Welker (EN), Ken Shiroyama (main) & Takurou Kitagawa ("The Ultimate Doom, Part 3", "A Plague of Insecticons") (JP)

An optimistic practical joker who makes it his life's mission to cheer up his fellow Autobots. He can make forcefields around himself, at the cost of his Energon reserves. The excessive amount of energy he consumes often makes him feel like a burden.

---

• Barrier Warrior: He has a protective forcefield. Unfortunately, it contributes to Trailbreaker's energy-efficiency problems.
• Forgot About His Powers: The number of times in the comics Trailbreaker gets into situations where he could've used his forcefield but doesn't is... a lot. TF.Wiki makes a running joke of it.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: He also has low self-esteem stemming from feeling that he's The Load. Sometimes he mopes about this.
• Hyperactive Metabolism: One of the most fuel-consumptive Autobots, a fact that doesn't help his already-low sense of self-worth.
• Incredibly Obvious Tail: In "More than Meets the Eye, Part 2", Trailbreaker has been assigned to maintain surveillance over the Decepticons' base and spy on their communications. He simply parks out of said base, making little to no effort to hide. Unsurprisingly, this attracts the attention of the Seekers, but only after he leaves.
• Killed Off for Real: In the 2005 IDW Continuity. He was dismembered by the DJD in The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye, and while the story presents a Hope Spot with time travel and helping him avoid his fate ultimately it still comes to pass.
• Mighty Glacier: A slow, bulky Autobot with high endurance and the ability to project a sturdy defensive forcefield.
• The Prankster: It's all stated in his bio: he makes light about serious situations and is their practical joker.
• Sad Clown: Despite his lighthearted, wise-cracking personality, he often feels like a liability due taking up lots of fuel.
• The Stakeout: His mission outside the Decepticons' base in "More than Meets the Eye, Part 2".
• What Happened to the Mouse?: After The Transformers: The Movie Trailbreaker was one of many characters who disappeared from the plot to make way for new toys. One draft of the film had him at Autobot City as a casualty of the battle while another had him survive. He was ultimately cut from the film altogether.

Wheeljack (ホイルジャック hoirujakku)

Function: Mechanical Engineer

Alt Mode: "Group 5" Lancia Stratos Turbo Sportscar

"Never do what your enemy expects you to do."

Voiced by: Chris Latta (EN), Osamu Saka (main), Katsumi Suzuki ("Day of the Machines") & Shinobu Satouchi (Victory) (JP)

The Engineer and Mad Scientist of the Autobots whose new inventions often blow up in his face.

---

• Back from the Dead:
  • A peculiar instance. In The Transformers: The Movie, Wheeljack is one of several characters killed. With his corpse depicted on screen. He re-appears and is actually given a major role in several episodes of Transformers Victory. With no explanation given for several years.
  • The comics have him just come back the normal way, revived by Grimlock, with Nucleon.
• Bungling Inventor: Zig-zagged; while many of his inventions end up malfunctioning and blowing up in his face, Wheeljack's successes are often game-changing for the Autobot/Decepticon war.
• The Engineer: He's the guy who's fixing and inventing things for the Autobots.
• Flechette Storm: One of his inventions is a projectile that breaks into multiple needle-thin, razor sharp pieces of metal.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Has created many marvelous machines, the Dinobots being the greatest of them.
• His Own Worst Enemy: He's more regularly harmed by his own experiments than by Decepticon attacks.
• Killed Off for Real:
  • In The Transformers: The Movie he was killed during the battle of Autobot City. Though several Japanese only continuations bring him back or retcon the death away.
  • In the 2005 IDW Continuity, he performs a Heroic Sacrifice during The Transformers: Unicron to save the people of Elonia. He teleports the population off but is ultimately consumed along with the planet.
• Mad Scientist: He's a good and likeable guy, but otherwise follows this trope to a T.
• Mr. Fixit: Tries to fix whatever is broken, from his comrades' weapons to his own inventions.
• Odd Friendship:
  • Wheeljack, a scientist, gets on pretty well with Grimlock most of the time (probably because of his fondness for making things go "boom"). And of course, Wheeljack (along with Ratchet) built the Dinobots on the television show. In the Dreamwave comics, he even joined the LSC with the Dinos.
  • In the IDW comics, Starscream actually considers him a friend. He and the Decepticon scientist Ferak were also friends before the war broke out.
• Ultimate Job Security: While at times Wheeljack's inventions seem to be more of a threat than the Decepticons, but he gets to keep his job for being exceptional at making them. In "S.O.S. Dinobots", Wheeljack is ordered to pull the plug on the Dinobots after a test run results in their wrecking the Autobot's headquarters, but continues working on them in secret. It pays off when the upgraded Dinobots turn out to be reliable Super Soldiers.
• Wrench Whack: Fitting for The Engineer of the Autobots, his 2011 Generations toy dual wields wrenches formed from the exhaust pipes of his car mode. This toy inspired Wheeljack's appearance in Transformers: Devastation, where wrenches are his default melee weapons.

Windcharger (Charger (チャージャー chājā))

Function: Warrior

Alt Mode: Pontiac Firebird Trans Am Sportscar

"Quick action equals quick victory."

Voiced by: John Stephenson (EN), Keiichi Nanba, Ken Shiroyama & Takurou Kitagawa (JP)

The fastest of the Autobots in the Ark, who can control magnetic fields. Despite his abilities, he is impulsive and his durability is low, especially when he keeps rolling on for long durations and distances.

---

• The Dreaded: In the 2019 IDW continuity, Windcharger is one of Pyra Magna's Torchbearers, and his very presence on the battlefield instills fear in low-level Mooks.
  Redwing: Windcharger? Nuh-uh. Didn't sign up for this. Get out of there, Nacelle!
  Nacelle: What? Who's Windcharger?
  Windcharger: Me, Seeker. ME.
• Fragile Speedster: His character description mentions that Windcharger is the fastest land vehicle among the original Autobots (at least for short distances). But he is not particularly durable.
• Good Is Not Soft: One storybook has Windcharger use his magnetic powers and strong arms to crush Starscream to death, complete with an entire page image◊ showing Starscream shrieking in pain as Windchrger kills him in plain sight. Issue #30 from the 2019 IDW continuity has him nearly pull Nacelle apart limb from limb, violently disassembling him with magnetism alone.
• Heroic RRoD: Keeping his top speed up for too long damages his systems. "Windcharger often finds himself stumbling home, reeking of ozone and burned insulation, and needing medical attention".
• Killed Off for Real: He was killed in the battle for Autobot City in The Transformers: The Movie. Arcee is seen moving his corpse to a shelter during the Decepticon attack.
• Large Ham: In "Masquerade," his perfect impersonation of Wildrider (voiced by Wildrider's voice actor Terry McGovern) causes Sideswipe to grouse, "He doesn't have to overdo it!"
• Mood-Swinger: Has a short attention span that affects his dedication to work. He can go from being enthusiastic to being bored quite rapidly.
• Selective Magnetism: Windcharger's arms can be used as "the poles of a precisely controllable electromagnet, powerful enough to levitate ten tons of steel 700 feet away".
• The Voiceless: Windcharger had no speaking part in the initial episodes. The first time he speaks was in "Divide and Conquer", the 6th episode of the series.

1984/85 Autobots

Beachcomber (ビーチコンバー bīchikonbā or ビーチコマー bīchikomā)

Function: Geologist

Alt Mode: 1982 M1040 Chenowth "Hellfire" Fast Attack Vehicle

"Know the conflict within before facing the conflict without."

Voiced by: Alan Oppenheimer (EN), Osamu Saka (JP)

A huge nature-lover who is not interested in the war.

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• Beatnik: His voice clearly evokes this, and his personality is midway between a beatnik and a hippy.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: His IDW incarnation was used by Bombshell and Soundwave as a Manchurian agent to kill Blaster. It almost worked, too.
• Demoted to Extra: Makes one voiceless appearance in Season 3 then disappears from the show altogether.
• Fertile Feet: After being exposed to forestonite in "Generation 2 Redux", he becomes green and gains the power to grow plant life wherever he walks.
• Friend to All Living Things: "The Golden Lagoon" shows him squatting in a meadow, surrounded by peaceful forest creatures.
• Irony: For as peaceful as he is, his alt-mode is one of the few outright militaristic ones among the Autobots, though fittingly, Beachcomber usually lacks the gun affixed to the roll cage that the vehicle is normally outfitted with.
• Nature-Loving Robot: He loves the flora and fauna of Earth.
• Pyrrhic Victory: At the end of "The Golden Lagoon", the Autobots have successfully driven off the Decepticons, keeping them from misusing the strange body of water's transformative properties. But as their battle has reduced the lake and its immediate environs to a smoking wasteland, the mournful Beachcomber can only give out an extremely unenthusiastic, lonely declaration of victory.
  Beachcomber: We won...
• The Quiet One: Often described as "mellow".
• Speaks Fluent Animal: Can understand and talk to birds.
• Super-Senses: He has a variety of built-in sensors that allow him to determine the chemical composition of an area, and thus locate valuable resources.
• Technical Pacifist: "He's a thinker, not a fighter."

Blaster (Broadcast (ブロードキャスト burōdokyasuto)/Twincast (ツインキャスト tsuinkyasuto))

Function: Communications

Alt Mode: Boombox

"When the music is rockin', I'm rollin."

Voiced by: Buster Jones (EN), Keiichi Nanba (JP)

The Autobots' Communications Officer and response to Soundwave, complete with sonic weapons and mini-cassettes of his own. He has an affinity for Earth's music, particularly rock 'n' roll.

---

• Character Development: He started as the Communications Officer for the Autobots, then during The Movie, he stayed on Earth to rebuild Autobot City. In Season 3 of the US series, Blaster takes a more "serious" mode as he's appointed Autobot City Commander, but was found out when he happened to lean against a control panel and set off some 20-year-old tunes on the sound speakers. Everyone shared a laugh.
• Death Is Cheap:
  • In the Marvel comic, he was one of the many Autobots fried by an Underbase powered Starscream. He came back just in time to fight Unicron.
  • Also happened to him in Transformers: ★Headmasters, he is killed in a battle with Soundwave, but is reformatted as the more powerful Twincast.
• Depending on the Writer: Contrast his Boisterous Bruiser cartoon schtick with his ultra-serious, almost brooding loner persona in the comics^note The broodiness in the Marvel comics can be at least partially attributed to being one of the few Autobots left on Cybertron, which was ruled by the Decepticons, and the fact that Perceptor, who was in charge, preferred to stay at home and dwell on the past rather than risk fighting the Decepticons, as well as Scrounge's death. After being brought back to life under Simon Furman, Blaster began talking and acting more like his cartoon counterpart.
• Drone Deployer: Much like Soundwave, Blaster can deploy Mini-Cassettes. However, it wasn't until The Transformers: The Movie where he finally got his own set of cassette-bots.
• Gale-Force Sound: His beats are more than enough to force Soundwave to the ground in one scuffle with that 'Con.
• Good Counterpart: To Soundwave (well, Soundwave came first), in terms of abilities. To fight Soundwave on more even footing, he later gets his own Autobot cassettes as well.
• Incessant Music Madness: In the cartoon, most of the Autobots find the music he plays to be overly-loud and annoying, with Optimus himself telling Blaster to "SHUT UP!"
• Intrepid Reporter: In the IDW comics. He was initially a reporter for the Iacon Newsfeed Service. When the Decepticons shut this program down, Blaster formed a pirate news service that reported the truth about Decepticon atrocities.
• Klingons Love Shakespeare: He enjoys Earth music, the kind few other Autobots appreciate.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: In the Marvel UK Comics, Blaster is pretty much singlehandedly responsible for Galvatron going irrevocably insane. The guy was barely holding on to what was left of his sanity when Blaster hit him with his electro-scrambler. The rest was history…
• No Indoor Voice: Seems to have no idea what normal volume talking is owing to his likes...
• Odd Friendship: His incarnation from Classics continuity (which is Marvel US continuation) managed to get along surprisingly well with Shattered Glass incarnation of Straxus, showing no sign of distrust and having a peaceful conversation with him, despite the fact that he's an alternate version of the one who killed his friend Scrounge.
• Only Friend: His Marvel comic incarnation is this to Scrounge. He was the only one to ever treat him with respect and trust him when nobody else did. To this day, his death continues to affect him.
• Rhymes on a Dime: Occasionally. Becomes permanent in Season 3 save for multiple occasions where he talked normally. Averted with his comics incarnation, who talks normally.
• Robo Family: Has had at least three siblings across the franchise, those being Toaster, Karmen, and Bluster.
• Sizeshifter: Transforms into a boombox, inexplicably shrinking down to a 100th of his normal size as a robot.
• Vocal Evolution: In Bee in the City 2: Electric Boogaloo, Buster Jones's voice for Blaster is far more laid back and unenthusiastic after not having done the role in 20 years.
• Voice of the Resistance: Becomes this for the Autobots in the IDW comics.
  Blaster: You hear me, Autobots. You go out there today and give 'em hell! Just remember, big those 'cons may be, but they're not clever. We got the moves! The smarts! The spirit! Nothing and no one is ever gonna stop us!

Cosmos (Adams (アダムス adamusu))

Function: Reconnaissance & Communications

Alt Mode: Adamski-Style Flying Saucer

"Reach for the stars, but never leave your friends."

Voiced by: Michael McConnohie (EN), Osamu Saka (JP)

A 'bot who spends his time traveling through space as part of Autobot communications operations. He can see over very long distances and has an extremely accurate beam.

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• Arm Cannon: He sometimes uses his thrusters this way, as they're located on his arms in robot mode.
• Big Damn Heroes: He reveals himself to have been disguised as a Martian spacecraft at the climax of the Mars Attacks: The Transformers one-shot and deals a decisive blow to the Martian forces.
• Captain Crash: While not remarked upon in the TV show, Cosmos is rarely in an episode without crashing into something. One of the few times he got through an episode without it, it seems like Optimus is Tempting Fate by sending him out into space a third time in a day.
• Flying Saucer: He transforms into one.
• Graceful in Their Element: Is best suited to traveling through space or even the air, but is slow and awkward on the ground.
• Heroic Sacrifice: In The Transformers: Unicron, he alongside Sky-Byte, Buzzsaw and Laserbeak make a last stand to defend Sanctuary Station from Unicron's hordes, dying in the process.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: The cartoon tries to make him to sound like Peter Lorre. Emphasis on "tries".
• Sizeshifter: A mini-bot whose alt-mode is big enough to ferry around a few of his comrades.
• This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: He was only ever really used to shuttle two or three Autobots around deep space, and since he's nowhere near as powerful a fighter as Omega Supreme and later, Sky Lynx, he can't do that much else. Even Megatron only put him to use as a power booster after capturing him once.

The Dinobots (ダイノボット dainobotto)

A quintet of wild and powerful Autobots with dinosaurs as their altmodes. They tend to dislike Optimus Prime, and are prone to going off on their own to do their own thing. Their members include their leader, Grimlock (a tyrannosaurus rex), Slag (a triceratops), Snarl (a stegosaurus), Sludge (an brontosaurus) and Swoop (a pteranodon). In some continuities, they were known as the Dynobots before coming to Earth and taking their dinosaur altmodes. One, GI Joe Vs. the Transformers, had them as five Autobots who got reformatted into their Dinobot forms by Teletran 3.

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• Adaptational Intelligence: In nearly all comic portrayals, most of them seem close to average intelligence and forgo their caveman-like speech patterns originated in the Sunbow cartoon.
• Adaptational Wimp: In the cartoon, the Dinobots were a near-unstoppable force, capable of overwhelming multiple Decepticons with ease. The Marvel comics depicted them as far less capable, with both Shockwave and Megatron being able to handle all five of them at once.
• Aloof Ally: The team is very distant from the other Autobots and prefer not to take orders from them, much less from Optimus.
• Anti-Hero Team: How anti-heroic varies, but they're never clear-cut goody-goods. Except Slag, who's all the way down to Nominal Hero.
  Sludge: We used to be heroes!
  Slag: No. We used to be the guys the heroes sent in so they could stay heroes.
• Artistic License – Paleontology:
  • As a lot of people like to point out whenever Swoop is brought to the conversation, pteranodons are not dinosaurs.
  • Grimlock also falls under this, as he transforms into the tail-dragging depiction that was scientifically accurate at the time, but as discoveries progressed, newer depictions of Grimlock have been been depicted with the more correct posture of the species, save for toys meant to be fully accurate to the cartoon or Marvel comic (such as his Masterpiece or Studio Series 86 figures).
  • Given the ever-present debate over the existence of the brontosaurus, one could argue Sludge falls under this. Some later incarnations instead have called him a brachiosaurus, leading to other inaccuracies.
• Awesome, but Impractical: In any depiction where the Autobots are trying to keep their presence on Earth under wraps, the Dinobots are this. Giant talking robot dinosaurs nuke the whole "disguise" thing. But at the same time... dinosaurs.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: The Dinobots rarely get any respect or appreciation from their fellows Autobots, so when someone gives them some basic respect it goes a long way to them. Unless it's Optimus Prime, in which case, they usually respond with begrudging appreciation.
• The Big Guy: Collectively, they fill this role in relation to the other Autobots. They are also literally humongous in most versions, since as dinosaurs, they are much bigger than automobiles.
• Big Damn Heroes: Their most frequent role in all generations is to show up in the nick of time to save the day in an incredibly violent, yet awesome way. In fact, their debut episode is a textbook example of this trope.
• Blood Knight: Snarl finds only happiness in war, but Slag really takes the cake in how much he enjoys fighting.
• Breakout Character: Aside from Optimus and Bumblebee, these are the Autobots that everyone knows. After their debut in Season 1, they are featured first and foremost in the Season 2 opening. Grimlock, as their leader, tends to be depicted as one of the core Autobots in later adaptations, especially ones directly based on G1.
  Chris McFeely: Robots are cool. Dinosaurs are cool. Rebellious anti-heroes are cool. Ergo, is anything cooler than rebellious anti-hero robot dinosaurs?
• Breath Weapon: They all breathe fire, and it's even hot enough to melt through the durable outer hull of Unicron!
• Bully Hunter: The main reason they're loyal to the Autobots despite their contempt for most of their ideals is that the only thing they hate more than weakness are those who abuse their strength.
• Combining Mecha:
  • In The Beast Within, they were able to merge into monstrous combiner known only as "the Beast".
  • The Power of the Primes toyline introduces a much less monstrous combiner named Volcanicus.
• Cool Sword: Four of the Dinobots have energon swords, with Swoop being the odd one out, having only a thermal sword instead.
• Death Is Cheap: In the comics, all five are destroyed by an Underbase-powered Starscream. Grimlock is revived by Ratchet, and then goes on to revive the others a few issues later.
• Demoted to Comic Relief: In Season 3, their status as powerful warriors is downplayed and their stupid manchild traits are played up, most evident in the case of Grimlock.
• Determinator: When Slash chases down her target, she never gives up. She always finds her target.
• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: During the 80's movie the Dinobots have a spectacular scene where they arrive to fight Unicron, who is already in the process of destroying Cybertron and has already killed lots and lots of Transformers. Grimlock procceds to literally kick Unicron's ass while the other Dinobots smash, blast and melt Unicron's outer hull, then they all retreat when they notice they are only causing scratch damage at best.
  Grimlock: Me Grimlock kick butt!
• The Dreaded: The moment the Dinobots decide to show up in a story is the moment when the bad guys stop laughing and start looking for the nearest exit, because they know it's never a good move to mess with this group of savage brutes.
  • In the IDW continuity, when veteran Decepticons want to scare new recruits, they tell Dinobots stories. Some Autobots also admit to be horrified by them.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: One of the reasons why the Dinobots usually dislike the Autobots is because even after they save their hides from a hopeless battle or do crazy dangerous tasks that no Autobot wants (or dares) to do, they feel that said Autobots don't give them the respect they deserve.
• Dumb Dinos: The Dinobots are incredibly strong, but also (in the cartoon, at least) they have subpar intelligence and are very difficult to control. Sludge, the sauropod Dinobot, is openly described as being stupid.
• Dumb Muscle: While all Dinobots are this to some extent, Sludge really takes the cake.
  • Though the G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers version of them hints they were originally Cybertron-built Autobots and not QUITE as stupid initially (emphasis on "initially"; Grimlock goes to his traditional characterisation in the third mini-series, though he admits at the end of it, G.I. Joe didn't fit the "puny and weak" characterization he had of humans).
• Fatal Flaw: Grimlock has arrogance, Slag hostility, Sludge stupidity, Swoop with insubordination and Snarl carelessness.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: A running theme is that the rest of the Autobots do not like the Dinobots. Which is okay for the Dinobots because they do not like the rest of the Autobots either.
  • The Autobots' human allies aren't very fond of them either, caused by the Dinobots (except Swoop and Sludge) being hostile to "weaker lifeforms".
• Gentle Giant:
  • Sludge is probably the best example; he's the biggest of the Dinobots but also much friendlier and less aggressive than Grimlock, Slag or Snarl. Swoop, while the smallest Dinobot, is also the nicest and most easy-going, and has on occasion functioned as as a Gentle Giant to smaller Autobots or even humans.
  • Yes, Grimlock is a violent killer who respects only strength, which also means he hates anyone who abuses strength to bully the weak (i.e. the Decepticons), giving him a brutal sense of compassion that eventually allowed him to soften into a, still-savage-but-kind-hearted warrior.
• Godzilla Threshold: The Dinobots are violent, unruly and impulsive, so if the Autobots send them to a mission it's because something really, really bad is going on.
• Good is Not Nice: Just because the Dinobots are willing to help out the noble Autobots doesn't mean they will behave like them. However, and while they will mince no words to complain about the situation, the Dinobots still will help out people on need.
• Hidden Depths: Anyone willing to look beyond their violent, brutish and unruly personalities will discover a lot of unexpected camaraderie, compassion for the weak and unbreakable honor bonds.
• Horrifying the Horror: A running theme through all Generations is that even the most vicious Deceptions will try to stay at a safe distance from the Dinobots. The G1 cartoon has a couple of episodes where Megatron himself is visibly horrified when he's forced to face them.
• Hulk Speak: Me Grimlock talk this way most of time. Other Dinobots too, mostly, even referring to their leader as "him Grimlock" in the cartoon.
• I'm a Humanitarian:
  • Me Grimlock think one approach to fighting Decepticons is to EAT Decepticons. At least, me threaten them.
  • In the G2 comic, this applies to all the Dinobots, who get into an eating competition with the Terrorcons. The entrées? Cybertronian Imperial troops, falling out of the sky.
• Irrational Hatred: None of them like Optimus. In Slag's case it's because he's a jerk, in Grimlock's it's because he thinks he can do better. Swoop, Snarl and Sludge meanwhile just seem to hate 'im on general principle. In the Marvel UK stories, Swoop refused to follow any of Optimus's orders back when Optimus was in charge of the elite flying corps of which Swoop belonged. That said, the Dinobots do acknowledge his noble character and strength to some extent, hence why they continue to work under his command.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: They're rowdy, insubordinate, don't like humans very much, and barely get on with any of the other Autobots, but they're still (mostly) good deep down.
• Mighty Glacier: Most of the Dinobots, with Swoop being the notable exception, are relatively slow in keeping with their large size and great strength.
• Multiple-Choice Past: It varies by continuity:
  • Were me Grimlock and other Dinobots built on Earth in 1980s by puny Wheeljack?
  • Did we Dinobots exist already and get stuck in black sticky stuff when fighting Shockwave in distant past? Or were we fighting the Insecticons rather than Shockwave?
  • Or were Dinobots originally time-warped Autobots sent to dinosaur time on Earth by Teletraan 3 to be made into Dinobots? (as was shown in G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers Volume #2 Issue #4.)
• My Species Doth Protest Too Much: They have extremely different core values from the rest of the Autobots, being battle-hungry warriors who value strength above all.
• Never My Fault: The Dinobots' arguments that the Autobots don't respect them can come across as this, considering their very brutish and insubordinate attitude. Their attitude towards Optimus Prime really doesn't help either, considering how the rest of the team openly admires him.
• Not in This for Your Revolution: In the cartoon, being newly-created on Earth, the Dinobots have no history or attachment with the Autobot-Decepticon war and have to be nudged into providing the Autobots assistance.
• Odd Friendship: The Dreamwave comics had them form their own faction alongside Ironhide, Wheeljack and Kup when Optimus went missing.
• Oh, Crap!: Their foes tend to get this reaction when facing them. For example, the episode "War of the Dinobots" ends with Megatron making a terrified "Oh crap!" face and ordering a quick retreat before the furious Dinobots attack him as a team.
• Playing with Fire: This is the primary ranged attack for all of their beast modes, but Slag particularly likes burning things (or, as some might call them, "Decepticons"). His function is "flamethrower" after all.
• Rule of Cool: The first IDW continuity's explanation for their alt-modes. They needed an organic-based mode in order to survive on an Earth oversaturated with energon. Grimlock refused the initial suggestion of Ice Age wildlife ("unless the plan is to make Shockwave die laughing), but was far more amenable when Slag found some dinosaur fossils.
• Saved by Canon: They are deactivated in the Secrets & Lies miniseries and the ending narration implies that Grimlock isn't coming back, but the fact that the miniseries is a prequel to the Marvel Comics continuity means that they are destined to eventually be uncovered and revived by Ratchet.
• Shapeshifter Default Form: A rare case in the cartoons where the Dinobots seem to actually prefer their transformed dinosaur forms over their robot ones. In Season Three they seldom ever change from the former.
• Sixth Ranger:
  • In the cartoon, Grimlock, Slag and Sludge are built first before Snarl and Swoop are added to the team in their next appearance.
  • Paddles the Elasmosaurus, in his self-titled one-shot story, comes from an offshoot timeline from the cartoon with a slightly altered Dinobot roster, replacing Swoop as part of the second batch of Dinobots and acting as a Suspiciously Similar Substitute to Sludge (who doesn't exist in that continuity either.)
  • The Power of the Primes toyline introduces a new Dinobot, Slash the Velociraptor.
  • The Legacy toyline features a six-piece version of Volcanicus which adds an ankylosaurus Dinobot named Scarr to the team. Though in his original fictional appearance, "Skar" was instead a member of the team in their "Dynobot" days who was accidentally killed by a berserk Grimlock.
• The Smurfette Principle: 2017 introduced Slash, the first toy of a female Dinobot (but not the first to appear ever, that title goes to IDW's Strafe).
• Spanner in the Works: Any story that involves the Dinobots and a bad guy enacting his carefully crafted master plan tends to end with said master plan utterly ruined because the Dinobots did something that nobody could have predicted.
• Super-Strength: They always are shown to be abnormally strong, even by Transformer standards.
• Super-Toughness: The Dinobots can often take beatings that would destroy most Transformers. They can be destroyed, but they'll take a lot of punishment before they fall.
• Sword and Gun: Their weapons of choice in robot mode, with Grimlock's energo-sword and twin-barrel grenade launcher arguably being the most famous example.
• Tail Slap: The Dinobots are fond of using their tails as an extra attack limb while they are on dinosaur mode. Sludge in particular can hit hard enough to crack Unicron's outer hull.
• Theme Naming: Except for Grimlock, all the Dinobots' names are monosyllabic and begin with the letter S.
• The Rival:
  • To the Constructicons in the cartoon, as both groups debuted as the powerhouses of their respective factions.
  • To the Terrorcons in the pack-in manga for the Generations Selects Volcanicus giftset, given both were Combiners for the Power of the Primes toyline with a bestial nature.
  • The Marvel comic depicted them as clashing with the Predacons, giving Swoop in particular a fierce rivalry with Divebomb. Transformers: Earth Wars would also go by this, introducing Volcanicus as Predaking's opposite.
• Token Good Teammate: Swoop is generally regarded as the friendliest and least antagonistic member of the the team. Also Sludge to an extent.
• Toxic Friend Influence: In the cartoon, Swoop and Snarl were created as more stable Dinobots to keep the other three in line. They still tended to follow Grimlock however, leaving them still unruly until their leader underwent Character Development.
• True Companions: In one comic, the Predacons kidnap Swoop so Divebomb can resume their rivalry on Earth. The rest of the Dinobots come to Swoop's aid because, in Grimlock's words, "Dinobots look out for one another!" They certainly don't object to having to fight the Predacons either.
• Underestimating Badassery: A running theme is how their foes initially refuse to take them seriously and just label them all as incompetent brutes or think they are soft because they wield the Autobot insignia. They quickly learn how wrong they were.
• Undying Loyalty: The Dinobots don't really like or get along with the other Autobots, and the Autobots in general are at best wary of the Dinobots, and frequently minimize interaction with them unless they need the collective Big Guy called in. This results in the five (or sometimes more) Dinobots being fanatically loyal to each other, far more so than any other leader, cause, or fellow. If orders or protocol or personal safety stand in the way of one Dinobot aiding another, orders and protocol and safety will be ignored. If the Dinobots turn on one of their own, something exceptionally bad has happened. This particularly so in the Marvel comics, where Grimlock ignored orders to get his deactivated Dinobots to the Nucleon energy source, then tested Nucleon on himself rather than risk the side effects on them. In the Regeneration One comics, the side effects hit anyway, and Grimlock went on a long personal quest to cure them (and all the other Autobots suffering from Nucleon). He was forced to serve Scorponok to see this done... only for the Dinobots to turn on Grimlock for crossing a line, since Scorponok wanted to brainwash all Autobots into Decepticons.
• The Unfettered: One of the (many) problems with letting the Dinobots lose is they will not hold back. In the Marvel UK comics, Rodimus learns this the hard way when he brings them to Junk, and the Dinobots go to town on the brainwashed Junkions without a moment's hesitation.
• Violence is the Only Option: No matter the continuity or Gen, stories involving the Dinobots tend to be solved this way.
• Violence Really Is the Answer: They live and breathe this trope, which is why their enemies fear them and even the Autobots feel wary of them.
• Wild Card: They're nominally loyal to the Autobots, but are prone to going rogue for whatever reason.

Grimlock (グリムロック gurimurokku)

Function: Dinobot Commander

Alt Modes: Tyrannosaurus rex; Armored Warrior (Pretender Shell)

^{Click to see Pretender Grimlock}

"Among the winners, there is no room for the weak."

Voiced by: Gregg Berger (EN), Takurō Kitagawa (main), Masaharu Sato (The Headmasters) (JP)

The leader of the Dinobots who is often slow, obstinate and rather dumb, but is very strong. Now has his own self-demonstrating page.

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• Affectionate Nickname: In the old Marvel continuity, the Dinobots used to call him "Boss" or "Chief".
• Arch-Enemy: Shockwave for Grimlock, though the intensity of the rivalry fluctuates.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Other Dinobots follow me Grimlock because me Grimlock strongest! Me Grimlock king! The only reason Grimlock doesn't just take over the Autobots is not because Grimlock isn't physically stronger than Optimus Prime, but because Optimus is one of the few 'bots Grimlock respects. In the cartoon, he does try to take over after Megatron convinces him that he's stronger, but learns his lesson after Optimus saves his life.
• Bad Boss: Grimlock during his first stint as Autobot Commander; while he was able to get the Ark spaceworthy, he was far more concerned with making Blaster and Goldbug pay for deserting (because they wouldn't harm humans in order to recover stolen Autobot tools) than fighting the Decepticons.
• Detrimental Determination: A recurring problem for Grimlock. He has an incredible amount of willpower, which coupled with his tremendous strength and endurance makes him a terror on the battlefield. Unfortunately, this also means he's incredibly pig-headed and will keep pushing on long after he really ought to have reassessed the situation. Among other things:
  • Marvel Grimlock was desperate to revive his Dinobots (who had been destroyed by Starscream during the Underbase Saga), Grimlock sought out the "miracle cure" Nucleon. He fought his way past several guardians, ignoring warnings that Nucleon was a poisoned chalice, and used it to not only revive his Dinobots but also the many other Autobot casualties inflicted by Starscream in the same conflict. At first, he smugly thinks that his determination was proven right, but then he discovers his body seizing up at inopportune times and becomes terrified he's made a terrible mistake. Much later when he succeeds Optimus Prime as Autobot leader, he blindly leads the Autobots into an ambush so complete that when a revived Optimus Prime arrives on the battlefield, there are only five Autobots left out of the entire army.
  • IDW's Grimlock has a grudge against Shockwave, going so far as to lie to his team that Optimus Prime sanctioned their pursuit of the cyclopean Decepticon. When they corner him on prehistoric Earth, Shockwave defeats them but Grimlock remotely commands their ship to bombard the battlefield from above, burying all of them. Upon being revived in the modern era, the other Dinobots are furious that Grimlock was happy to get all of them killed for the sake of his vendetta. Notably, after their falling out the Dinobots are henceforth led by Slug, and Grimlock never learns that the entire team (except for Swoop and Strafe) dies fighting against Unicron during the Grand Finale.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?:
  • Me Grimlock beat Tornedron! Grimlock saved universe! Grimlock hero!
  • Comic Grimlock stands as so far being the only character to try ramming Unicron with a spaceship. And it worked.
• Flanderization:
  • In the first two seasons, Grimlock, while by no means a genius, had perfectly functional intelligence and simply preferred using brawn over brains. Come the movie and third season, he's almost completely brainless.
  • In a comic specific example, Grimlock had normal speech patterns in the early issues of the Marvel comic, but by the time he became the Autobots' "Barbarian King", he was talking like his cartoon counterpart.
• "Flowers for Algernon" Syndrome: In season 3 episode "Grimlock's New Brain", he gains Super-Intelligence after suffering an energy blast from the Autobots' new generator infused with anti-electrons put in there by Galvatron's mercenaries. The intelligence boost allowed him to solve multiple problems that even Perceptor struggled with, but, unfortunately, it alienated him from his fellow Dinobots. At the climax, Grimlock builds the Technobots to counter the Terrorcons, and eventually transfers his intelligence to their combined form, Computron, reverting back to his dumb self.
• Heel–Face Revolving Door: Grimlock has joined the Decepticons in more than one continuity, though he always returns to the Autobots.
• Hidden Depths: Comic Grimlock tends to hide his intelligence under the dumb caveman speech.
• Kick the Dog: In "Desertion of the Dinobots, Part 1", he attempts to stomp on Sparkplug, Spike, and Carly for annoying him, which was only prevented by Swoop's intervention.
• Leader Forms the Head: In the original version of Volcanicus, Grimlock forms the head and torso, as is tradition for leaders of Combiner teams.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Most versions of Grimlock tend to be pretty smart. Not Perceptor smart, certainly, but cunning. He just hides behind the "Me, Grimlock" schtick so as not to be mocked for being intelligent.
• Odd Name Out: Grimlock is the only Dinobot whose name is neither monosyllabic nor begins with S.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Grimlock tends to think too highly of himself. At times, he even boasts superiority over Optimus of all bots.
• Smug Super: He's the strongest of the Dinobots, and one of the strongest Autobots. He not only knows this, but revels in it.
  Grimlock: Me Grimlock greatest warrior!
• The Starscream: A rare heroic example. Though not as prominent as Trope Namer, Grimlock doesn't like Optimus Prime's more peaceful and moral methods of handling things, preferring to use brute force to achieve victory. And due to his pride, he thinks he would make a better leader than Optimus. However, he doesn't act upon this belief unless prodded by outside forces. And Megatron, seeking to destabilize the Autobot forces, gladly exploits this to his advantage.
• Sudden Name Change: His Titans Return toy called him Clobber before reverting back when his Power of the Primes toy was released.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Grimlock hated Prowl before hating Prowl was cool. And Prowl hates him right back. Understandable, given the Dinobots represent all the things Prowl hates.
• Terrifying Tyrannosaur: Transforms into a Tyrannosaurus rex and is consistently depicted as an unruly brute, eager to challenge Optimus for leadership. In the Marvel Comics, when he actually does become the leader of all Autobots, his ill-tempered and tyrannical methods cause many Autobots like Goldbug and Blaster to revolt against him.
• Took a Level in Dumbass:
  • In season 3, Grimlock started to become more of a comic relief than anything, Becoming a lot dumber in the process. Inverted in one episode where he briefly gains high intelligence.
  • In the comics, Grimlock loses a great deal of his intellect the minute he gets put in charge. His death and revival manages to bring most of it back.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Downplayed. His pure prowess may rival Optimus Prime, Megatron, Rodimus Prime, and Ultra Magnus. However, it's clear that he doesn't quite match up in leadership or combat skills.

Slag/Slug (スラッグ suraggu)

Function: Flamethrower

Alt Mode: Triceratops

"I have no need for friends, even less for enemies."

Voiced by: Neil Ross (EN), Toshio Ishii (JP)

A rash, headstrong Dinobot who resents any form of authority. He can breathe fire to melt any foe (or friend) he sees.

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• Adaptation Dye-Job: Slag has been redesigned many times, but a consistent flip flop has been his head color. The original toy had a black head with red eyes whilst the cartoon design gave him a red head with blue eyes. Since then different continuities and toys go back and forth over which version to use.
• Ascended Extra: Slag (renamed Slug) in the 2005 IDW Continuity, starting with The Transformers: Robots in Disguise, gained a much larger role in the series. When Grimlock was separated from the team, Slug became the leader; he received a lot of character development and screen time, even getting a few arcs to himself.
• Bowdlerise: The mid-2010's and on would see him more often named "Slug", namely due to one definition of "Slag" being a British slang term used in Slut-Shaming.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Slag all the way. Just about anything will set him off. Anything.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: The rudest and most outwardly hostile Dinobot, something he's actually proud of. In certain stories there's also a degree of goodness underneath Slag's hostile exterior.
• Kill It with Fire: He is the group's flamethrower after all. The "it" in question is his enemies.
• Meaningful Name: Slag as in the byproduct of smelting. Fitting for the guy who breathes fire, and as the TFWiki puts it, a swear word, also fitting for the team jerkass.
• Number Two: He's usually next in line to take charge of the Dinobots after Grimlock, such as after the latter's presumed death in "Call of the Primitives", or in IDW's comics, as mentioned above.
• Odd Friendship: In the IDW 2005 continuity, Slug has a strangely fond relationship with Trypticon of all people after the latter had a change of heart and decided to stop being a planet-conquering battleship.
  Slug: You know what Tryp? You're my favorite robot space tyrannosaurus.
  Trypticon: I enjoy your company as well.
• Off with His Head!: Slag has a habit of taking his enemies' heads, starting from Dreamwave's comics. Even the other Dinobots think that's more than a bit creepy.
• Personality Powers: An aggressive, hot-tempered 'bot who breathes fire.
• Temper-Ceratops: Slag is a Triceratops and he certainly has a very short temper. It gets worse in Regeneration One, where Nucleon exposure has turned him into a mindless, raging beast.
• Token Evil Teammate: While all the Dinobots tend to be arrogant blood knights, Slag has a decidedly sadistic streak in how he takes pleasure in using his alt-mode's fire breath to melt enemies, and frequently threatens to do the same to his allies. His behavior tends to unnerve his fellow Dinobots, nevermind the Autobot faction as a whole. But do tell, what exactly were you expecting from a 'bot whose very name is a Cybertronian curse?
• Use Your Head: When he's not burning things, Slag uses his massive bulk and weight to simply ram into his foes and let his head and horns take care of them.

Sludge/Slog (スラージ surāji or スラッジ surajji)

Function: Jungle Warrior, Demolitions

Alt Mode: Brontosaurus/Apatosaurus

"Stomp your enemy, crush him under your feet."

Voiced by: Frank Welker (EN), Kenyū Horiuchi (JP), Ken Shiroyama (JP, "Dark Awakening"), Ken Yamaguchi (JP, "Webworld"), Keiichi Nanba (JP, "Grimlock's New Brain"), Toshio Ishii (JP, "Call of the Primitives"), Minoru Inaba (JP, The Movie)

A dumb but surprisingly nice Dinobot who is strong enough to create fissures in the ground just by stomping his feet.

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• Aquatic Sauropods: Though he spends most of his time on land like his comrades, Sludge is the most adept at swimming of the Dinobots. His ability to thrive in wet environments like swamps and jungles is reflected by his designation of "Jungle Warrior".
• Beat Them at Their Own Game: In the episode "S.O.S. Dinobots", during the Dinobots' first battle against the Decepticons, Rumble tries to take him down by creating a giant fissure in the ground, only for Sludge to knock down the diminutive Decepticon by stomping the ground to make an even bigger fissure.
  Rumble: Hey! No faaaairrrr!
• The Ditz: As "the dumb one" on a team not very reputable for their intelligence to begin with.
• Dumb Muscle: Stupid, but also the strongest of the Dinobots. If it came down to a fight based on raw strength alone, he could take Grimlock.
• Gentle Giant Sauropod: As mentioned under Gentle Giant, Sludge the brontosaurus is the biggest of the Dinobots, and usually the least aggressive.
• Interspecies Romance: In the UK Comics, Sludge fell for a human reporter.
• Kindhearted Simpleton: The dumbest Dinobot (and that's saying a lot) as well as a contender for the nicest and gentlest.
• Shockwave Stomp: His specialty; he can create massive tremors with just one stomp.
• Sudden Name Change: He was referred to as Slog for a few years due to Hasbro's inability to get the trademark for Sludge until 2018 when he got his old name back alongside Grimlock.

Snarl (スナール sunāru)

Funciton: Desert Warrior

Alt Mode: Stegosaurus

"Only in war is there happiness."

Voiced by: Hal Rayle (EN), Ken Shiroyama (JP), Yoku Shioya (JP, 2010), Ken Yamaguchi (JP, "Call of the Primitives")

A careless loner who is only happy when engaged in battle. An extremely tough warrior, his armor plating shrugs off the attacks of most missiles and his spinal plates absorb incoming energy attacks.

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• Beware My Stinger Tail: Rather than having a Breath Weapon like the rest of the Dinobots, he fires laser beams from his tail. As a Stegosaurus, his tail is spiked and can also be used as a traditional melee weapon.
• Demoted to Extra: Unlike the other Dinobots, he barely appears in the movie, with no real reason for his absence. He just shows up for a scene or two then disappears.
• Energy Absorption: His plates can absorb incoming energy blasts and redirect it to his tail.
• Informed Loner: Despite his Tech-Specs bio describing him as such, he's rarely seen apart from the rest of the Dinobots.
• Loners Are Freaks: Snarl rarely, if ever, displays any sort of emotion. And he's just as expressive when it comes to talking.
• Nasal Weapon: When he is in his dinosaur form, Snarl can shoot fire out of his nostrils.
• Out of Focus: Of the five original Dinobots, Snarl is the one with smallest amount of individual focus.
• The Power of the Sun: The plates on his back allow him to refuel by drawing in solar energy. It boosts his strength and endurance to much higher levels than conventional energon.
• Sword Beam: He's the only Dinobot to regularly wield his sword in the cartoon, lacking a proper ranged weapon as result. To make up for this, he can fire energy beams from it.
• Tough Armored Dinosaur: A fierce Stegosaurus bruiser who only loves fighting. In the cartoon series, he and Swoop even matched the other three Dinobots.

Swoop (スワープ suwāpu)

Function: Dinobot Bombardier

Alt Mode: Pteranodon

"Fear can hit targets unreachable to bullets."

Voiced by: Michael Bell (EN), Yoku Shioya (JP)

The only flying Dinobot, Swoop is a terrifying presence in the air, weaponizing the fear of his enemies. He is not good at following orders.

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• Adaptation Dye-Job: In the cartoon, his chest is blue instead of red (a holdover from his original Diaclone toy), contrasting with the Dinobots' otherwise uniform color scheme.
• Adaptational Jerkass: Cartoon Swoop was one of the nicer Dinobots. In the Marvel UK stories, he was far less amiable, and held an intense dislike for Optimus Prime.
• A Day in the Limelight: In the cartoon, he gains a larger role in "Desertion of the Dinobots, Part 2" when he escapes being captured with the rest of his team and joins Spike and Carly in their adventure. Together, the three find out about the history of the Transformers millions of years ago and restore the rest of the Dinobots, escaping Cybertron with cybertonium to restore the Autobots on Earth.
• Commander Contrarian: UK Comic Swoop hates Optimus so much that Optimus managed to use it to break Swoop out of being mind-controlled. Giving him an order was enough to piss Swoop off enough to snap out of it, if only to tell Optimus what he could do with those orders.
• Fragile Flyer: Because of his sleek and slender flying Pteranodon, Swoop is the fastest and most agile of all Dinobots, but at the same time, he is the most fragile of the five. Keep in mind, he is still way stronger and durable than the average Autobot or Decepticon. In fact, Cartoon Swoop and Snarl evenly matched the other three Dinobots in their initial encounter.
• Hot Blade: His blade is a thermal sword that can reach a max temperature of 4000 degrees Centigrade.
• Informed Attribute: His original profile makes a point of claiming his alt mode is the most terrifying of the Dinobots. However, none of Swoop's fictional appearances back this up; he's never regarded as any more or less intimidating than his brethren.
• Logical Weakness: Swoop's wings are easily his most vulnerable point.
• Primary-Color Champion: His cartoon color scheme is red, blue, and gold.
• Razor Wings: Swoop is sometimes depicted as having razor-sharp wings allowing him to slice through metal with them.
• Sudden Name Change: Got his named changed to first Strafe and then Ptero for a few years before getting it back in 2017.
• The Rival: Swoop with the Predacon Divebomb, in the comics. It began when Swoop's name was Divebomb and that 'Con defeated him and took his name.
• Terror Hero: His original Tech-Spec bio mentions how he uses fear as a weapon against his foes, but this trait is never really focused on in most media.
• Token Flyer: Swoop is a Pteranodon and thus the only Dinobot who can fly. His flight is what allows him to escape being captured with the other Dinobots in "Desertion of the Dinobots, Part 2".
• Wind from Beneath My Wings: He can summon wind by flapping his wings.

Grapple (グラップル gurappuru)

Function: Architect

Alt Mode: Mitsubishi Fuso Hook-Crane Truck

"Beauty is in everything except war."

Voiced by: Peter Renaday (EN), Kenyū Horiuchi (JP)

A self-proclaimed artist who can carry heavy weights which regular human machinery cannot.

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• Awesome, but Impractical: He can sometimes be so enamored with his creations that he fails to see their flaws. In the cartoon episode "The Master Builders", he proposed the creation of a "solar power tower" to provide the Autobots with a near-limitless source of energy. Optimus shot down the idea, pointing out that the tower would be a major target for Decepticon attacks.
• The Engineer: Comic Grapple managed to single-handedly (heh) build Omega Supreme.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Hoist.
• Mad Artist: A benign (mostly) version of this.
• Palette Swap: It's difficult to determine who came first without consulting the original Diaclone line, but Grapple is a recoloring of Inferno. In addition, Grapple exchanges the cherrypicker, hose, and decorative wings in robot mode for a bulky crane arm, complete with a hook.

Hoist (ホイスト hoisuto)

Function: Maintenance

Alt Mode: Toyota Hi-Lux Pickup Truck

"You have to be rolling before you can be fighting."

Voiced by: Michael Chain (EN), Koki Kataoka (main) & Yoku Shioya ("Triple Takeover") (JP)

A jovial Autobot who is rather finicky about everyone's maintenance schedules. Despite not looking like it, he's actually pretty strong and can determine the scientific properties of any material he examines through a cranial sensor at the back of his head.

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• Arm Cannon: His original toy's removable heat-seeking missiles are portrayed as a permanent arm cannon in most fiction. He's more often seen using it as welding torch than a weapon.
• The Blacksmith: In "A Decepticon Raider in King Arthur's Court", he's able to forge Spike a full suit of armor from just a sheet of metal.
• Character Focus: "Hoist Goes Hollywood" for the cartoon, while his introductory issue in the comics has him foiling the Decepticon plot of the week.
• Everything Sensor: Behind his head is a full spectrum multi-sensor that can analyze any object's physical properties.
• Head Swap: To Trailbreaker. In addition to becoming green and orange with safety stripes, Hoist has a new head with a faceplate and eschews Trailcutter's rear canopy for towing equipment.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Grapple.
• Meaningful Name: He transforms into a tow truck, specifically the kind that hoists the towed vehicle.
• The Medic: A variation, his toy bio indicates that his specialty is in maintenance (making sure that his fellow Autobots are in tip-top shape) rather than repairs, but this distinction never shows up in the cartoon.
• The Watson: To Grapple, often cheering him on to make his creations.

Inferno (インフェルノ inferuno)

Function: Search & Rescue

Alt Mode: Mitsubishi Fuso F-Series FT Fire Ladder Truck

"Where there's smoke, there's me."

Voiced by: Walker Edmiston (EN), Takurou Kitagawa (main), Show Hayami ("The Gambler"), Kenyū Horiuchi ("The Search for Alpha Trion") (JP)

An Autobot who enjoys battles and fighting fires and can endure even the hottest blaze, though he doesn't follow orders very well...

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• Arm Cannon: His original toy's arms had missiles that could replace his hands and be shot from his arms. The cartoon and subsequent fiction often portrays this as a permanent arm cannon that shoots out either lasers or fire-extinguishing foam.
• The Big Guy: Of the 1985-vintage "Season Two" Autobots, being one of the Autobots best-suited to combat among the Season Two crew thanks to his strength, but also the most selfless and heroic.
• Boisterous Bruiser: Very big, very loud, and fun to have around, but also an extremely competent fighter—you don't get to be a Wrecker without some serious ass-kicking credentials, after all.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: A mild sufferer—he wants to help everyone, perhaps even more than Optimus Prime since Inferno's specific function is Search & Rescue. He does tend to be slightly more aware of it than most, however, even if it occasionally gets him in trouble.
• Firemen Are Hot: Often drawn with the robotic equivalent◊ of a Heroic Build, giving him a powerful appearance.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: He and Red Alert are CLOSE.
• Heroic Fire Rescue: His stock in trade. It's actually what gets him captured during "Prime Target," as he couldn't not stop and render aid when he sees a child trapped in a burning building, unaware that it was actually a trap until it was too late.
• Hot-Blooded: No subtlety, oozes intensity in everything he does. The guy throws himself into burning buildings simply because stopping fires and rescuing people is the right thing to do, personal safety be damned. This goes double for combat, where he fights Decepticons with everything he has, again, because it's the right thing to do. Also a neat pun, what with him turning into a fire engine.
• Immune to Fire: His armor plating is extremely heat-resistant, allowing him to rescue people from fires completely unharmed.
• Ironic Name: As a firetruck, he's more liable to quell an inferno than start one.
• More Expendable Than You: In "Legacy of Unicron", he throws Smokescreen out of the shuttle they're in so he'll live, while Inferno flies it into the middle of an army of Decepticons.
• Playing with Fire: For a short time in Regeneration One, he was unable to control his body temperature thanks to Nucleon corruption and was igniting things by proximity alone, meaning that there was a period of time where both of the heroic fire trucks in the setting could set other people on fire.
• Rage Breaking Point: His temper. For someone so hot-blooded he is surprisingly slow to anger thanks to his upbeat, positive nature, but when he finally snaps, well...he blew the heads off of quite a few Decepticons.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The boisterous Red Oni to Red Alert's reserved Blue Oni—at least when Red Alert's not having a moment. When Red Alert is having one of his excessively paranoid spells, they zigzag positions: now Inferno is the composed, reasonable, and logical one, whereas Red Alert becomes loud, defiant, and a little bit off-kilter.
• When All You Have Is a Hammer…: While Inferno has a laser cannon replacing his hand, the cartoon often has him shoot fire-retardant foam from it or a head-mounted spray nozzle instead (possibly to make him less threatening and more overtly define him as a rescue specialist). A number of his appearances in the cartoon involve him spraying foam on the problem of the day, almost to the point of it being a Running Gag, including one memorable moment in Dinobot Island where he helped repair a rip in time-space by spraying a bunch of cowboys with foam.

Jetfire (ジェットファイアー jettofaiā)/Skyfire (スカイファイアー sukaifaiā)

Function: Air Guardian

Alt Mode: Macross VF-1S Super Valkyrie (Jet and Gerwalk/Guardian Modes)

"Among mysteries of science lies the key to victory."

Voiced by: Gregg Berger (EN), Osamu Saka (main) & Kunihiko Yasui ("Attack of the Autobots" and "Day of the Machines") (JP)

A former Decepticon turned Autobot dedicated to advancements in science and technology which he believes is the only way to defeat the 'Cons. He often carries high-tech weapons and, as a jet, is among the fastest of the Autobots.

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• Adaptation Name Change: Because Jetfire was a repaint of a Macross Valkyrie from Bandai, the Takara-supported cartoon named him Skyfire. Interestingly, the character in the Marvel comics had Skyfire's appearance but was named Jetfire.
• Adventurer Archaeologist: In the Dreamwave comics.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Disappeared during the early part of Season 2 of the original cartoon, most likely due to the legal hassle involved from his toy being exported from Takatoku Toys (whose molds used for the Transformers line are now the property of Bandai) rather than Takara.
• Cool Mask: His Classics figure and every significant mainline figure that came afterwards includes this, based on the face of his G1 Macross Valkyrie derived figure, as an accessory. Said figures are largely based on, and have the face of, his cartoon Skyfire appearance. As such, the mask, along with the other included armor pieces, are meant to allow the figure to assume an appearance more in line with the character's G1 toy.
• Composite Character: Starting from the Classics toyline and continuing in the Generations and Siege lines, Jetfire's figures are typically based on his cartoon Skyfire appearance, but come with a Cool Mask and armor pieces that can be put on him to make him resemble his G1 Macross Valkyrie derived toy. It is thus up to the figure's owner to decide what look they want their toy to sport.
• Cool Starship: And it is most definitely not a VF-1S Super Valkyrie.
• Cyber Cyclops: His original toy had this sort of look with a single visor-shaped optic.
• Disney Death: Of a sort. Crashed into the ice in his debut episode and the Autobots and Spike certainly thought he had perished. However, the 'Bots would return in a later episode to dig him out and revive him.
• Flat-Earth Atheist: Rejects the myths about Primus and Unicron (unless it's a continuity where he has first-hand experience with either of them).
• Gentle Giant: Consistent across all his appearances is Jetfire's large size — he towers over most individual robots, even sometimes matching heights with many combiners. Yet, despite his bigness and his status as a former Decepticon, Jetfire is quite a friendly, ethical scientist.
• Heel–Face Turn: One of his most defining characteristics is to have been initially a Decepticon that joins the Autobots.
  • When he willingly sides with the Decepticons in the Sunbow cartoon, it's only because of his friendship with Starscream, and he inevitably comes to see that his friend made the wrong choice; he never actually buys in to their cause.
  • In the Marvel comics, he was a lifeless drone created by Shockwave; when Optimus Prime used the Creation Matrix to give him proper life, Jetfire chose to join the Autobots.
  • In the first IDW continuity Jetfire signed up with the fledgling Decepticon movement before the war erupts, but after witnessing their gunrunning and dangerous actions, he joins the reforming Autobot faction.
  • In the War for Cybertron cartoon he's a ruthless general who commands the Seekers, but even he was disgusted by Megatron's plan to genocide all Autobots and use a virus that would turn everyone else in the planet against their will into Decepticons, making him switch sides.
• Legacy Character: The Transformers '84 miniseries heavily implies that Marvel Jetfire was created in the image of a Decepticon scientist named Skyfire, whom Shockwave held in high regard (and had recovered his brain module following his death at the Dinobots' hands).
• Multiple-Choice Past: Is he a scientist from Cybertron (as said in the cartoon), or was he built on Earth by Shockwave (as said in the Marvel Comics)? In any case, he still is a Decepticon who did a Heel–Face Turn and joined the Autobots.
• Sizeshifter: Downplayed since he's already huge as a robot, but in the cartoon, he's able to serve as a transport vehicle for the entire Autobot team, being noticeably bigger than his robot mode size.
• We Used to Be Friends: He was best friends with Starscream when they worked together as scientists before the war. Said war ended their friendship when they took opposite sides, making them enemies ever since.

Omega Supreme/Omega Spreem (オメガ・スプリーム omega supurīmu)

Function: Defense Base

Alt Mode: Rocket Base with Rocket and Tank

"Unyielding resolve has no conqueror."

Voiced by: Jack Angel (EN), Tesshō Genda (Season 2), Masashi Ebara (Season 3) (JP)

A huge, brave, strong, durable, terse Autobot who is the last of the Guardian Robots online and takes his duty as the Autobots' last line of defence very seriously with an undying loyalty to all of his comrades. He seems to have something against the Constructicons, or Buzzsaw in the comics...

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• Arm Cannon: Location: Left Arm.
• Badass Boast: Comic introduction: Dramatic.
  I AM THE GUARDIAN OF THE GATES… THE JUNCTION OF YOUR DESTRUCTION… THE LASER LIGHTING THE WAY TO YOUR DOOM… THE PLANNER OF YOUR OBSOLESCENCE… THE FURNACE THAT FIRES YOUR DEMISE… I AM THE NUMBER YOU CANNOT COMPUTE, DECEPTICON.
• Baritone of Strength: Voice: Very deep. Strength: Undeniable.
• The Comically Serious: Sense of humor: Absent. Comedy: Still present.
  Jazz: (to fuel-less and stranded Omega Supreme) We'll find Cosmos, and his energy source, then come back for ya! Just don't move.
  Omega Supreme: Sarcasm: Not appreciated.
• Depending on the Writer: Terse Talker: Sometimes. Others: Normal speech.
• Deus Exit Machina: Plot vulnerability: High.
• Hold the Line: Role: Last line of defense. Requirements: Exceeding strength and courage. Duty: Protect all Autobots. Priority: Save all comrades. Course of action in sub-optimal situations: Stand ground. Other actions to take: Hold defenses and eliminate Decepticons. Failure to take said courses of action: Defeat.
• Humongous Mecha: Status: Indisputable. Dimensions: Questionable.
• Killed Off for Real: In two continuities, status: Deceased.
  • Continuity: Marvel. Cause of death: Underbase-powered Starscream.
  • Continuity: IDW. Cause of death: Unicron.
• Last of His Kind: Guardian model: Discontinued.
• More Dakka: Firepower: Considerable.
• Meaningful Name: Omega: Last. Supreme: Best. Function: Last line of defense.
• One-Man Army: Comic introduction: Dramatic. Decepticon troop capacity: Greatly reduced.
• Revenge Before Reason: Hatred of Constructicons for Crystal City: All-consuming. Judgement: Clouded. Consequence: Near-destruction of San Francisco.
  Optimus Prime: You caused that thing to hatch! You're responsible! It's happening again, Omega! It's happening right here on Earth! San Francisco's going to be destroyed! Are you going to let it all happen again for something as useless as revenge?
• The Rival: Greatest foe: Devastator.
• Strong as They Need to Be: Status: Unbeatable. Sometimes◊.
• Terse Talker: Page quote: Achieved.
• Weaponized Headgear: Torso composition: Tank hull. Head composition: Tank turret. Cranial terminus: Tank cannon. Lethality: Well-documented◊.
• We Used to Be Friends: In cartoon: Constructicons. Formerly: Friends. Currently: Enemies. Cause of hatred: Three reasons. One: Permanent Robo-Smashing of the Constructicons. Two: Their destruction of Crystal City. Three: Failed Robo-Smashing of Omega Supreme.

The Omnibots (オムニボット omunibotto)

Function: Scout (Camshaft), Security Agent (Downshift), Strategist (Overdrive)

Alt Modes: Mazda RX-7 Series 2 (Camshaft), Toyota Celica XX (Downshift), Ferrari 512 Berlinetta Boxer (Overdrive)

Camshaft

Downshift

Overdrive

The Omnibots are a trio of Autobots whose distinctive feature is an advanced "armored car" mode involving the deploying of weapons and/or wings from their otherwise-nondescript automobile modes. Due to being mail-order exclusive means their original toys are rather obscure.

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• Ascended Extra: Overdrive tended to appear in the Japanese G1 continuity more often than the other two.
• Big Damn Heroes: Somehow the three Omnibots helped defeat Predaking and the other Decepticon combiners.
• C-List Fodder: Downshift's only appearance in the IDW comics is getting his face caved in by Cyclonus.
• Cool Car: All of them turn into armed cars.
• Dimensional Traveler: Binaltech shows them traveling between dimensions.
• Flying Car: Overdrive's alt mode has wings to fly.
• Mauve Shirt: Their relative obscurity means they're often used as background characters and crowd fillers in american comics.
• Non-Indicative Name: Camshaft's original toy doesn't actually have a camshaft.
• Uncertain Doom: They might have been killed in the Dreamwave comics by Menasor when Shockwave unleashed him on Iacon.
• Weaponized Car: All three of them have weapons in their alt modes.

Perceptor (パーセプター pāseputā)

Function: Scientist

Alt Modes: Microscope, Laser Cannon

"One's ultimate truth lies in one's molecular structure."

Voiced by: Paul Eiding (EN); Chikao Shiroyama (JP, Cartoon), Masaharu Sato (JP, Victory)

An erudite Autobot scientist who can be rather longwinded in his explanations.

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• Badass Bookworm: He's an Autobot scientist who transforms into a microscope, which gives him the capacity to be an effective and precise marksman.
• Breakout Character: Besides the Dinobots, Perceptor would be one of the few 1985 Autobots to become a major fixture in the franchise, with incarnations of him often appearing in future incarnations as a prominent character.
• Cold Sniper: Becomes one of these in the IDW universe after a brush with death. He decides to upgrade himself to be more useful on the battlefield.
• Friendly Sniper: Though he starts off as a Cold Sniper in the 2005 IDW comics, with a more dour demeanor and quiet efficiency, Perceptor eventually opens up again and becomes his friendlier and chattier self while still being a deadly shot.
• Goggles Do Something Unusual: Sticks his welding torch into an eye socket in The Transformers: All Hail Megatron to widen it. His new optic is much larger with a targeting retinal to assist in aiming and resembles a monocle. Though originally it's simply an enlarged eye, later Perceptor would return to his original eye and the targeting retinal would be more of a conventional monocle he placed over it.
• Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Downplayed. While most other science bots have only one field of specialty, Perceptor's Tech-Specs note that he is an expert in three scientific fields (metallurgy, molecular chemistry, and electrical engineering).
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Known to talk in a verbose manner, which the other Autobots find exasperating.
• Shoulder Cannon: His microscope lens becomes a shoulder-mounted light cannon in robot mode.
• Sizeshifter: Though usually remaining large in microscope form^note unlike most other Transformers who turn into handheld objects, his alt-mode can shrink to a size usable by humans.
• The Smart Guy: The Autobots' resident genius and is the de facto "smartest Autobot" in Season 3 after the deaths of Wheeljack and Ratchet.
• Sniping Mission: The end of "Microbots" has him turn into a larger version of his microscope form (actually a mobile cannon), with his lenses used to snipe the Heart of Cybertron at 2000 miles in the sky. (It's this sniper ability that gives him respect from Brawn.)
• Spock Speak: He never uses informal terms in his vocabulary or exposition.

The Powerdashers (パワーダッシャー pawādasshā)

Function: Multi-purpose specialists

Alt Modes: Cybertronian Jet (Cromar), Cybertronian Drill Tank (Zetar), Cybertronian Racecar (Aragon)

Cromar

Zetar

Aragon

A new group of multi-purpose specialists, the team is made up of Cromar, Zetar and Aragon. Due to being mail-order exclusives their original toys aren't very well known among fans.

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• Adapted Out: While Zetar and Cromar get to play minor supporting roles in Transformers (2019), Aragon is completely absent.
• Cool Car: Aragon's alt mode is a Cybertronian race car.
• Cool Plane: Cromar's alt mode is a Cybertronian jet. He's also technically the very first of this type of plane to debut in the toyline.
• Drill Tank: Zetar's alt mode.
• Equippable Ally: In Transformers (2019), due to being a Weaponizer in this continuity, Cromar was used to empower both Hound and Javelin at different points in the war.
• Mauve Shirt: Like the Omnibots, the Powerdashers tend to be used as minor characters and crowd fillers with little individual focus. The 2019 IDW continuity was the first time in years the characters actually had a role.
• Palette Swap: Their War for Cybertron trilogy toys are redecos and retools of previous characters, with Cromar as a redeco of Sixgun, Aragon of Cog and Zetar of Brunt.
• Primary-Color Champion: Cromar and Aragon are mainly colored red while Zetar is colored blue and yellow.
• This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: In Transformers (2019) Zetar's drilling abilities were very much useful in helping to prevent Exarchon from infecting Cybertron's core.

Powerglide (パワーグライド pawāguraido)

Function: Warrior

Alt Mode: A-10 Thunderbolt II "Warthog" Jet

"To stop me, you have to catch me first."

Voiced by: Michael Chain (EN), Hirotaka Suzuoki & Kenyū Horiuchi (JP)

A self-professed Ace Pilot who can fly at breakneck speeds and can engage Decepticons in death-defying dogfights.

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• Ace Pilot: Not as much as he thinks he is, though.
• Boisterous Bruiser: Very loud and dramatic, but still knows how to give those Decepticreeps a run for their money.
• Character Catchphrase: "And awayyyyyy we go!"
• Equippable Ally: In IDW, he's modified by Wheeljack to form a gun for Superion. His Combiner Wars figure also likewise groups him with the Aerialbots.
• Interspecies Romance: With Astoria Carlton-Ritz in "The Girl Who Loved Powerglide"...which is pretty awkward, considering his thing with Moonracer (see below).
• Ship Tease: He and Moonracer are shown to be very close when he meets up with her in "The Search for Alpha Trion".
• Sixth Ranger: The Combiner Wars toyline adds him to the Aerialbots as an additional member that transforms into a gun which can be held by Superion on its own, or mounted on Superion's rifle for added firepower.
• Your Size May Vary: Though he's usually one of the smaller Autobots despite transforming into a plane, his 2008 Universe toy is a massive Ultra-Class figure.

Red Alert (Alert (アラート arāto))

Function: Security Director

Alt Mode: New Countach LP500S Fire Chief's Car

"Caution can never be overused."

Voiced by: Michael Chain (EN), Yoku Shioya (main), Koki Kataoka ("Dinobot Island, Part 1"), Keiichi Nanba ("Desertion of the Dinobots, Part 1"), Show Hayami ("Blaster Blues") (JP)

A watchful but paranoid Autobot who can detect even the slightest senses.

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• Conspiracy Theorist: Thinks that everyone's out to get him.
• Depending on the Writer: In Henkei! Henkei! Volume 12, he's a lot more hot headed, acting more like Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. Most likely due to him and Sideswipe being brothers in Japanese Generation 1.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Him and Inferno are CLOSE.
• Improbably Cool Car: His altmode is a fire chief's car. Do you know any fire chiefs who drive Lamborghinis?
• I Will Only Slow You Down: In a cut scene from the movie, which was later retold by Runabout and Runamuck in the Collectors Club Comic: He, Tracks, Sideswipe and Ultra Magnus bring down Devastator. However, the Constructicons separate and attack. Red Alert is shot in the back and left behind, telling the others to go on without him. They and the Constructicons leave him as he slumps over, dead.
• Killed Off for Real: In Transformers: Generation 2 and in a scene cut from the movie that was recognized as canon in the Collector's Club comic.
• The Medic: In Transformers: War for Cybertron Trilogy, the Transformers Trading Card Game (his second and third cards because his first card has him in his traditional security chief role) and Transformers (2019), most likely as a Mythology Gag to the Unicron Trilogy and Transformers: Animated.
• Palette Swap: Of Sideswipe. Red Alert is decorated to resemble a fire chief's car — although, most fire departments would find a Lamborghini too expensive for this role. He also received roof lights to complete the look. Due to this, he's depicted as Sideswipe's brother in Japanese media.
• Properly Paranoid: Zig-zagged: some of his paranoia is on the mark, some is just paranoia.
• Super-Senses: He can spot a microchip from 1200 feet away, and hear a pin drop at 1.4 miles.

Roadbuster (ロードバスター rōdobasutā)

Function: Ground Assault Commander

Alt Mode: M16-Mounted Cybertronic Jeep

"War is a dirty business... and I'm as dirty as they come."

One of two Deluxe Vehicles and a perennial member of the Wreckers (in every Transformers continuity, to boot), Roadbuster's life is defined by his involvement in the war. To wit, he has no clue what to do with himself when not in combat. He thus quickly goes from charismatic and quick to lead to reserved, bored, and deeply depressed between skirmishes.

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• The Big Guy: This is his main role on the Wreckers with his great size and multitude of guns. Unfortunately, this has led to him suffering a bad case of Big Guy Fatality Syndrome in most continuities he appears in.
• Blood Knight: He's not happy unless he's fighting Decepticons. Else, he can be downright gloomy and depressing. His friends tend to worry about what will become of him after the war is over.
• A Day in the Limelight: The text story Zero Point.
• Flat Character: In-Universe, when he reads the Wreckers: Declassified, he finds all sorts of changes, one he isn't happy with is that he's always portrayed as "The Gun Guy", and has no other characteristics.
• Guns Akimbo: His box picture shows him with a gun in each hand.
• Hidden Depths: In Sins of the Wreckers. And it turns out that's for a damn good reason.
• Killed Off for Real: Roadbuster has a bad case of Big Guy Fatality Syndrome.
  • In the original Marvel comics he injured Galvatron with the Pathblaster gun. Unfortunately it exploded shortly afterwards, killing him.
  • In the Marvel UK Elseworlds Peace story he's one of the first casualties of the Autobot Civil War with Scattershot shooting him in the head.
  • In Transformers: Generation One he and Whirl are killed by Menasor during his rampage.
  • Though he survives Regeneration One, the story's Deadly Distant Finale meant that all of the Cybertronians died out at some point, including Roadbuster.
  • The 2005 IDW Continuity killed him off in Sins of the Wreckers. Tarantulas shrinks and enters into his head before enlarging to his regular size; exploding out of Roadbuster's cranium and killing him.
• Never Learned to Read: He struggles with literacy in the IDW text story "Zero Point".
• Secondary Color Nemesis: Inverted. Roadbuster stands out with his green and orange paint job, but is an Autobot through and through, albeit one who can only find purpose on the battlefield.
• Toyline-Exclusive Character: He and Whirl were not in the cartoon because their toys were imported from a different Japanese company than the bulk of the toy line; since Takara (makers of the bulk of the toy line) helped bankroll the cartoon, only Takara toys (and Shockwave, Omega Supreme and Jetfire) ended up on TV, lest Takara promote toys belonging to their competitors.
• Walking Armory: Befitting his obsession with combat, Roadbuster carries several guns of various sizes and makes. His Generations toy makes no effort to hide them in either mode, and he has numerous ports to position them wherever he could want.

Seaspray (シースプレー shīsupurē)

Function: Naval Defense

Alt Mode: Hovercraft

"Be unyielding as the ocean waves and your enemies shall fall."

Voiced by: Alan Oppenheimer (main) & Wally Burr (PSA) (EN), Masashi Ebara (main) & Toshiro Ishii ("The Master Builders") (JP)

A naval battle specialist who loves the Earth's oceans, which his aquatic hovercraft mode is perfectly suited for exploring.

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• A Day in the Limelight: "Sea Change" is about the only time he's ever done anything.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: Seaspray was one of the survivors of Starscream's Underbase rampage, only to be deactivated off-panel somehow.
• Graceful in Their Element: In the water, he's a highly skilled combatant. On land, he's slow and not too agile.
• Interspecies Romance: With Alana, from planet Tlalak.
• Mauve Shirt: Easily identified in crowd shots but hardly ever gets the spotlight.
• Primary-Color Champion: Seaspray is easily identified by his yellow, blue and white paintjob.
• This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: He does have some functionality on land due to his vehicle mode being a hovercraft, but he's still usually only called upon for aquatic missions.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: To prove to Alana that he was a living being with a soul, he braved the Well of Transformation and used it to transform himself into a male Tlalakian. He had to change back later when the Decepticons came after them.

Skids (スキッズ sukizzu)

Function: Theoretician

Alt Mode: Honda City Turbo

"Deep down, we are more like than unlike humans."

Voiced by: Michael Chain ("Quest for Survival") & Dan Gilvezan ("Triple Takeover") (EN), Keiichi Nanba ("Quest for Survival") & Ken Shiroyama ("Triple Takeover") (JP)

A daydreamer who can remember a lot of things though he's rather absentminded about his surroundings.

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• Amnesiac Hero: The 2005 IDW comics continuity establishes him as having forgotten his past.
• Ascended Extra: In the cartoon, he had exactly two lines of dialogue across two episodes of the entire series. In the G1 comics, he gets his own Day in the Limelight issue and is an integral part of the end of the Robot-Master storyline. He becomes even more important in the IDW ongoing Transformers: More than Meets the Eye, where he's one of the main characters.
• Badass Bookworm: Who apparently knows Earth's Football.
• Demonic Possession: In the Marvel UK comics. After finally being brought back from Limbo, it was discovered that his body had been taken over by the parasitic creatures that dwelled there.
• Demoted to Extra: Like many Autobots in the Marvel comics, he was pushed to the wayside after getting a few issues in the limelight, relegated to mere background appearances.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Of a sort. Skids' toy was released long before the 1985 assortment (some reports say he was released in December 1984, replacing the second Mirage that would come in shipping cases). This is the reason he got the short-end of the stick.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: He has special brakes that can bring him to a fast stop no matter what his current speed is. Unfortunately, these frequent sudden stops do a number on his inner mechanisms.
• Put on a Bus: In the UK comics, he was shunted off to Limbo so Galvatron could return from the future. And since Galvatron stuck around for a great long while...
• Technical Pacifist: In the G1 comic series, he preferred not to fight unless he had to.

Smokescreen (スモークスクリーン sumōkusukurīn)

Function: Diversionary Tactician

Alt Mode: Datsun 280ZX Turbo (Electramotive Davendorf/Sharpe Touring Car)

"A look can be deceiving; a touch can be lethal."

Voiced by: Jack Angel (EN), Masashi Ebara (main), Takurō Kitagawa ("The Master Builders", "Trans-Europe Express", and "Masquerade"), Kōki Kataoka ("Microbots" and "Quest for Survival"), Yoku Shioya ("The Golden Lagoon" and "The Key to Vector Sigma, Part 1"), Kenyū Horiuchi ("The Secret of Omega Supreme") (JP)

A sneaky Autobot who can distract Decepticons with thick smoke from his tailpipe and uses his charm and amiability to hide his motives. He also possesses a special built-in gadget that allows him to win big through underhanded means.

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• Anti-Hero: Smokescreen's not above some dodgy dealings. His Dreamwave incarnation hung out with the Dinobot-led Lightning Strike Coalition during the Dark Ages.
• Face–Heel Turn: The extended Japanese cartoon continuity had him go over to the Decepticons by the Generation 2 era due to complications from an upgrade designed to let him control multiple bodies. (The G2 Smokescreen partnered with Dreadwing is the same guy as G1 Smokescreen in JG1, but just another guy called Smokescreen in western media.)
• The Gambler: His Day in the Limelight episode is even called this. He even has a built-in gadget used to cheat slot machines.
• Palette Swap: Of Bluestreak. Smokescreen not only has a new color scheme, but his car mode has a larger front fender. He was also given a rear spoiler, a trait usually unique to him until many later toys gave it to Prowl and Bluestreak.
• Paranormal Gambling Advantage: He has a built-in wire that overrides non-sentient machinery, which he uses to hack slot machines. Unfortunately, it's not that well-hidden and can easily be pulled off, which costs Smokescreen everything in "The Gambler".
• Shout-Out: His toy is based on a Real Life touring race car from the 1980s.
• Smoke Out: Can create clouds of magnetic smoke from his tailpipe to help himself and his fellow Autobots escape pursuers.
• Weak, but Skilled: His strength is nothing to write home about, but his tricks and cleverness still make him a valuable ally.
• We Need a Distraction: His specialty, using his Smoke Out ability to cover his comrades.

Topspin (トップスピン toppusupin) and Twin Twist (ツインツイスト tsuintsuisuto)

Function: Land & Sea Assault (Topspin), Demolitions (Twin Twist)

Alt Mode: Amphibious Cybertronic Vehicle (Topspin), Cybertronic Twin-Drill Tank (Twin Twist)

Topspin (left) Twin Twist (right)

Topspin: "The thrill is the journey."

Twin Twist: "War is wherever I want it to be."

A duo of impulsive Autobots collectively called the Jumpstarters who can transform into their robot modes within a fraction of a second, unlike regular Autobots. Topspin is a challenge-seeker who takes his thrill from the journey to complete any feat and Twin Twist is a violent and destructive, but surprisingly effective fighter.

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• Badass Bookworm: Topspin is a former cartographer who mainly joined the Wreckers to keep an eye on his brother.
• The Berserker: Twin Twist is a vicious and unstoppable opponent in battle.
• Blue Is Heroic: They're easy to identify thanks to the blue on their color schemes.
• Challenge Seeker: Topsin is always on the lookout for rough terrain to travel over.
• Drill Tank: Twin Twist's alt-mode.
• Eye Scream: Twin Twist is tortured in The Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers, and one of his eyes is gouged out, the other has the lens shattered.
• Off with His Head!: Topspin got his head shot off by Megatron in Time Wars, and Twin Twist fared little better when Galvatron physically ripped his head off bare pages later.
• Synchronization: In The Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers.
• They Killed Kenny Again: As Wreckers, Topspin and Twin Twist are often called upon to show up in some brutal battles, and often die in some manner: both lose their heads in Time Wars, and both die after Topspin sacrifices their shared spark in Last Stand of the Wreckers. Separately, Twin Twist gets the stuffing kicked out of him by Soundwave in the deplorable The Beast Within comic, and in the Dinobots Strike Back Find Your Fate Junior book, Topspin takes a direct missile hit from Skywarp and crashes.
• This Is a Drill: Twin Twist has two, befitting his name.
• Toyline-Exclusive Character: Despite their toys' Diaclone origins, neither of the Jumpstarters were featured in the cartoon ^note they were apparently planned to appear in the cartoon, getting as far as animation models being made, possibly because their gimmick wouldn't translate well to animation, and they were also neglected in the Marvel US series. Marvel UK and the 2005 IDW continuity were more than happy to pick up the slack.

Tracks (トラックス torakkusu)

Function: Warrior

Alt Mode: Corvette Stingray with Fold-Out Wings

"Looking good is what life is all about."

Voiced by: Michael McConnohie (EN), Show Hayami (main), Masashi Ebara ("Dinobot Island, Part 2", Megatron's Master Plan, Part 1", "Triple Takeover", "Hoist Goes Hollywood"), Kōki Kataoka ("The Secret of Omega Supreme") (JP)

A narcissistic Autobot in love with his stylish car form, which can also fly.

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• Ambiguously Gay: His vanity and posh accent led to much speculation, though to date nothing has come of this. Officially subverted in the G1 cartoon at least, where his voice actor Michael McConnohie clarified he is meant to sound similar to Jim Backus' portrayal of snooty millionaire Thurston J. Howell III from Gilligan's Island.
• Backpack Cannon: Has twin launchers mounted to his backpack kibble.
• The Fighting Narcissist: Though not quite as narcissistic as Sunstreaker, he's definitely very vain about his looks and abilities, and still capable of giving Decepticons a hard time fighting him.
• Flying Car: His alt mode can sprout a pair of wings.
• Hot Paint Job: Sports a wicked flaming Autobot symbol on the hood of his Corvette mode.
• Robo Family: His IDW version is Needlenose's brother.
• Step into the Blinding Fight: He has a "black beam" gun that can blind his enemies.
• Watch the Paint Job: His first remark within minutes of being activated in the comics, once the 'bots go out on the road? "My hubcaps need polishing".
• Wings Do Nothing: Zig-zagged. His wings allow him to fly in car form, but are purely decorative in robot mode.

Warpath (ワーパス wāpasu or ウォーパス wōpasu)

Function: Warrior

Alt Mode: General Motors M551A1 Sheridan ARAAV Tank

"A good shot is worth more than a good intention."

Voiced by: Alan Oppenheimer (EN), Takurō Kitagawa (main), Yū Shimaka ("Dinobot Island, Part 2"), Show Hayami ("Prime Target") (JP)

A boisterous Autobot fighter who likes explosions, battles and having fun. He likes loading his tank barrel with all types of ammunition, especially if they're explosive, but any damage to said cannon, no matter how slight it is, will leave him spending a long time trying to fix it.

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• Adaptational Jerkass: Downplayed in the IDW comics. Warpath is still a good-guy but the fact that he's very obviously built for combat contrasts the non-threatening image the Autobots have. It's notable that his demeanor is played a lot more seriously as a soldier and his more humorous traits are pushed to the back.
• Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: As one of the first Autobots shown to use a military vehicle as his alt-mode, Warpath wears his status proudly by having the tank turret become his chest. It fits his combative personality by being permanently deployed and ready for use at a moment's notice.
• Blood Knight: It's significant that he is one of the very few Autobots to have a military vehicle alt-mode. Most of these go to the Decepticons, while Autobots get civilian vehicles.
• Boisterous Bruiser: A jolly and likable fella who just happens to be a combat junkie.
• Chest Blaster: He's got a tank barrel mounted in his chest.
• Depending on the Artist: The Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers issue 4 takes his status as a "Mini-Vehicle" incredibly literally, as he's very tiny and is easily rolled over by tank-mode Blitzwing when in the cartoon, he was the same size as the guy and could easily hold his own.
• Flipping Helpless: His profile states that he's helpless if upended in tank mode. In the episode "Microbots", Heart of Cybertron-empowered Megatron took advantage of that weakness by destroying the ground beneath him, leaving him upended as a result.
• Hollywood Tourette's: Used as a pun (the tank has Tourette's/turrets). Actually more realistic than most examples. His tics are completely random and none of them are swears (by virtue of being marketed to children, but still).
• Large Ham: To name one example from the original cartoon: "They don't call me Warpath 'cause I'm gentle! HRAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
• Minor Injury Overreaction: He becomes deeply depressed if his barrel suffers even a scratch in battle.
• Non-Standard Character Design: Warpath converts quite differently compared to other tank Transformers. Most have their tank turrets end up on their backs or disassemble to become various parts of their bodies. Warpath's turret, meanwhile, remains whole and becomes his upper torso. This design choice gives him his signature chest cannon.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Warpath's toy was that of a mini-vehicle, much smaller than the average Transformer. Some fiction utilizes this with Warpath being a powerful warrior in spite of his stature, though most media tends to avert this and give him a much larger frame.
• Super-Toughness: Being a tank, he's very durable and resistant to damage. In the episode "Microbots" he rolled out to meet the Heart of Cybertron-empowered Megatron and shrugged off two direct hits from his hand blasts while bombarding Megatron with shells, only being defeated when Megatron targeted the ground beneath Warpath, upending him as a result.
• Swiss-Army Weapon: He can fire multiple types of shells from his turret, from explosives to freeze bombs to sonic grenades.
• Tank Goodness: One of the first Autobot tanks in the G1 series.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: In the 2005 IDW Continuity. At the start of the war Warpath engaged in protests over the unjust shooting of a Decepticon by Autobot police. At the end of the war, the idea of Decepticons asking for civil rights disgusts him. Millenia of combat changes a bot.
• Verbal Tic: He makes booming sounds between sentences. (BLAM!) (POW!)
• Your Size May Vary: Issue 4 of the Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers manga takes Warpath's status as a Mini Vehicle literally, showing him as being tiny in vehicle mode to where Blitzwing casually runs straight over Warpath. In the cartoon, Warpath was the size of the other Autobots and The Golden Lagoon had Warpath getting into a tank mode duel with Blitzwing.

Whirl (ホワール howāru)

Function: Aerial Assault

Alt Mode: Cybertronian Attack Helicopter (Based on a Bell AH-1 Cobra)

"If used logically, madness makes a great weapon."

One of two Deluxe Vehicles and a perennial member of the Wreckers, Whirl is a wild fighter. In combat, he purposefully flies in reckless, unpredictable ways. Crazy as his strategy may seem, it is not born from a lack of skill—it's a concentrated effort to terrify his opponents into submission, making Whirl a dreaded presence for his enemies on the battlefield. As a person, he is as wild as his battle strategy, being anger-driven, combative, eccentric, and mildly unhinged. All these qualities make him notably morally ambiguous among his fellow Autobots.

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• Ascended Extra: The IDW comics have given Whirl his biggest amount of screen time and character focus than any previous fiction by a long shot.
• Ax-Crazy: James Roberts took the above quote about madness and spun it into Whirl literally being insane.
• Characterization Marches On: In Whirl's early appearances in the IDW-verse, while we admittedly didn't really get inside his head, Whirl was simply another badass Wrecker. It was only when James Roberts got a hold of him in The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye that the other tropes here really started to apply.
• Cyber Cyclops: An Autobot counterpart of Shockwave.
• Dark and Troubled Past: In that same series he was a watchmaker who had his business destroyed and he was pressed into service.
• Heroic Comedic Sociopath: From messing with a comatose patient's facial expressions to making graffiti in Ultra Magnus's head when he was shrunk into it, to Punching himself in the face to prove he's super-invincible... to casually blowing off a surrendering enemies head while trying to get a quote from the Transformers Movie right.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: In the IDW series, he's responsible for, among other things, teaching Megatron to use hatred and violence instead of more peaceful means, thus making him ultimately responsible for the Great War itself.
• Non-Standard Character Design: Unlike other thinly-built Transformers, Whirl bears next to no kibble — almost everything from his helicopter mode becomes part of his lithe physique. It gives him an unusually streamlined appearance. Other oddities include pincers instead of hands and a Shockwave-esque face. Some incarnations take Whirl's nonconformity even further by giving him double-jointed knees and an even skinnier, almost birdlike build.
• Obfuscating Insanity: His usual battle strategy is to fly towards the enemy as madly as possible, in order to unnerve them and throw them off balance.
• The Paralyzer: One of his weapons is a leg-mounted "paralyzo-box" that temporarily freezes its targets.
• Robotic Psychopath: He's an Ax-Crazy Autobot whose fighting style is also just as crazy, if not more.
• Shoot the Dog: After the events of The Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers, Springer went into a coma. Whirl believed he wouldn't wake up and tried to euthanize him, Roadbuster caught him, and kicked him off the team.
• Sociopathic Hero: In spite of his reckless love of inflicting violence on others, he's still considered a good guy, by virtue of being an Autobot.

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