Please list characters by the media/incarnation that the darkhorse is most associated with. And let it be known, these characters have The Touch
.
This page is for the Ensemble Dark Horse characters spanning all Transformers, Beast Wars, etc. media. Listed first are the characters who won fan voting in the Hall of Fame.
Hall of Fame selection process: Each year, starting in 2010, several characters and real life humans associated with the series are inducted into the Transformers Hall of Fame. One additional character is inducted, based on fan voting, out of 5 characters as choices. As the main characters are automatically inducted, and most of the choices are already on this page, this makes the winner a Breakout Character among the Ensemble Darkhorse characters. For 2010 and 2011, the choices were four G1 characters (each lumped with their other incarnations, if any) and one Beast Wars character.
- 2010 winner: Beast Wars' Dinobot, beating other characters Soundwave, Grimlock, Shockwave and Jazz.
- Dinobot is renowned for being one of the most complete and complex characters in all of Transformers history, from his Vitriolic Best Buds fights with Rattrap, to his Proud Warrior Race Guy and Honor Before Reason conflicts, to his Shout-Out to Shakespeare tendencies. His death episode "Code of Hero" is one of the most well received episodes ever, cementing this.
- 2011 winner: Beast Wars' Waspinator, beating other characters Grimlock, Shockwave, Jazz and Erector.note
- He was slated to be killed off at the start of the second season, but due to the unlucky Predacon's popularity among fans, he was spared. Waspinator continued as a supporting character, played for increasingly painful and humiliating comic relief, and his personality continued to develop. He also became just the third character outside of G1 to get an alternate version into another continuity (Wasp in Animated).
- 2012 winner: G1's Wheeljack, beating other characters Megatron (Beast Wars), Sky Byte (Transformers: Robots in Disguise), Arcee, and Rodimus.
- Don't let the last two years fool you; the fans aren't too formulaic. This selection also included several more major characters, proving the fan voting options weren't just about ensemble darkhorses. Wheeljack's not just popular for being one of the original Autobots from 1984. He was the first Transformer to ever speak, and is also a lovably wacky Mad Scientist with a Brooklyn accent. Even though some other popular 1984 'Bots, like Sideswipe, are basically cardboard cutouts, Wheeljack's got as much personality as Jazz, Bumblebee, Cliffjumper, Hound, Mirage, Prowl, Ironhide, Ratchet, and Optimus Prime.
- 2013 winners: Beast Wars' Megatron and G1's Ultra Magnus:
- And then the fans went and jumped back to the formula by voting for Megatron of the Beast Wars to get into the Hall of Fame. He's arguably one of the most successful bearers of the name Megatron, yeess...; where his namesake fumbled around with giant purple griffins and various gadgets, the Predacon of his name almost erased the Maximals from existance and was going to use the Nemesis to paradox humanity out of the picture, as well.
- Ultra Magnus can't deal with theatrics now.note
- 2014 winners: Arcee and Hot Rod/Rodimus Minor/Rodimus Prime/Rodimus Convoy
- 2015 winners: Prowl and Predaking
- 2016 winners: Optimus Primal and Cosmos
- 2017 winners: Galvatron, Barricade, and Trypticonnote
- 2018 winners: Blackarachnia and Battletrapnote
- 2019 winners: Skywarp and Omega Supremenote
- 2020 winners: Knock Out and Sky Lynxnote
- 2021 winners: Inferno and Tigatronnote
- 2022 winners: Lugnut and Motormasternote
- 2023 winners: Sky-Byte and Armada Optimus Primenote
Generation One
General
- Although it is connected to the various animated shows, most of the characters from the original G1 Transformers have been brought back in some form or another. Most notably are the "Seekers", Thundercracker and Skywarp in particular. Part of the reason for their popularity is the fact that they can be easily churned out via simply repainting a line's Starscream (which often leads to the awkward event where a line will feature all three of the original Seekers even when only Starscream appears in the actual cartoon being made to promote the line.
- The popularity of the Seekers came out at its clearest when Hasbro, having killed the popular Transformers Classic line to focus solely on the Broken Base Transformers live action movie, dumped the remaining Seeker figures (Dirge, Thrust, and Thundercracker) into an ultra-rare 2007 Botcon "Games of Deception" set. Needless to say, Transformer fans shat bricks over the fact that they were denied a chance to all the Classic versions of the Seekers, since Botcon sets are made in ultra-low quantity and the massive desire for the figures ensuring that the few that made it to the secondary market would sell for $100 and up PER FIGURE.
- Hasbro finally rectified this in 2010-2011 by releasing arguably better versions in the mainstream toylines. Dirge received his proper delta wings, instead of reusing Ramjet's; Thrust's wings were modified a bit; and Thundercracker's wing paint was redone to match the previously-reissued Starscream's.
- Skywarp remains pretty rare, though, since he was only released in a box set with Ultra Magnus, exclusive to Target.
- The popularity of the Seekers came out at its clearest when Hasbro, having killed the popular Transformers Classic line to focus solely on the Broken Base Transformers live action movie, dumped the remaining Seeker figures (Dirge, Thrust, and Thundercracker) into an ultra-rare 2007 Botcon "Games of Deception" set. Needless to say, Transformer fans shat bricks over the fact that they were denied a chance to all the Classic versions of the Seekers, since Botcon sets are made in ultra-low quantity and the massive desire for the figures ensuring that the few that made it to the secondary market would sell for $100 and up PER FIGURE.
- Soundwave, who eventually became one of the few Transformers to survive all the way from "More Than Meets The Eye" to "The Rebirth" unchanged. His robotic but pretty vocoder-altered voice, his faceless look, the fact that he had a pretty dang articulate toy... Call him a snitch and the fanbase will eviscerate you. Even today, fans still adore his original, hilariously outdated alt-mode.
- Soundwave's cassettes are sort of mini-Darkhorses, especially Ravage, who made it into both Beast Wars and the Transformers Film Series.
- Sideswipe is another example; he very rarely did more than be in the background or get any starring appearances in the cartoon or comics, but he's still one of the most popular characters. A likely factor is that he's a Cool Car (a Lamborghini), so his toys tend to be the best. Particularly, in his film appearances, the fans clamored for more of him.
- His popularity can be boiled down to three words: "Damn, I'm good!"
- Try playing the game, Transformers: War for Cybertron, Sideswipe is only playable in the second Autobot chapter, but damn is he entertaining to play. Not because of any specific gameplay but his dialog and personality during the level make it extremely funny.
- Erector. Only ever had one toy, and never appeared in fiction save for a Japanese magazine story, but he recently experienced such a rise in popularity that the fans voted him into the final nominees for the Transformers: Hall of Fame, competing with such insanely popular and famous characters as Grimlock, Jazz, Shockwave and Waspinator. Hasbro even wrote a completely new character bio for him, seemingly having embraced his sudden importance, but handled him as more than a simple dick joke. Considering his reputation started because of his name, this can fully well be seen as a Moment of Awesome for the character.
- Nightbeat was just one of the small Headmasters released in the later years of the original line. Then Simon Furman got his hands on him, turning Nightbeat into an awesome Deadpan Snarker detective who was capable of defeating a Matrix powered Thunderwing via shooting a harpoon into his back and tossing him out the airlock. He eventually got seen as the secondary signature character for Furman besides Grimlock and eventually got a new toy in 2014.
- Despite most Pretenders being obscure, there are two that stand out.
- Bludgeon is a Samurai Skeleton Tank Robot who, like most Decepticon leaders in the comics, was far more effective than Megatron. This popularity landed him a brand new Voyager class toy that skips the inner robot and goes straight from tank to skeletal samurai!
- Thunderwing is also this for having some Noble Demon traits. Oh, and he also managed to hijack the Creation Matrix. This popularity also landed him a top spot in one of the newest Transformer games, and a new toy.
- Straxus was a character created specifically for the Marvel Comics, a deranged tyrant who basically existed to be killed off by Blaster after he killed Blaster's best buddy. However, Simon Furman revived him and had him retroactively hijack a lot of badass Megatron moments. He eventually got a rather awesome Deluxe class toy in Generations.
- Blaster himself is one of the most consistently beloved characters of Budiansky's run, with even fans who dislike the run as a whole rarely having anything bad to say about Blaster's storylines, which were on the whole far more ambitious and dark than most of the other issues. Budiansky himself agrees with this assessment, and it tends to be generally accepted that Budiansky's Blaster is by far the most interesting version of the character.
- And in yet another case of "Decepticon leader who's better than Megatron," we have Shockwave. In the cartoon, he was just a dull Yes-Man, essentially a poor man's Soundwave. In the comics, he was the Big Bad for most of Budiansky's run, and his reason for constantly and successfully usurping Megatron? It's because he simply deems it logical, whilst also averting the Straw Vulcan trope in actually being logical.
- Me Grimlock! It helps that he is regarded as Simon Furman's signature character in the comics. It wasn't always that way, though, particularly in the Marvel US comics; although he had a couple of Crowning Moments of Awesome (helping to take down Megatron in issue 8, and Trypticon in issue 27), he degenerated into a Jerkass Bad Boss that was later Flanderized into a variation of his season 3 cartoon self, before getting blasted by Starscream. Furman's takeover of the US book came just as the Classic Pretenders (including Grimlock) hit the shelves, allowing Furman to show the Grimlock he'd written in the UK book, creating the foundation for all future G1-based portrayals.
- The Dinobots as a group in general, whenever new incarnations of the whole team appear, they're usually met with a lot of fanfare. As for why? In a few words:
Chris McFeely: "Robots are cool. Dinosaurs are cool. Rebellious anti-heroes are cool. Ergo, is there anything cooler than rebellious anti-hero robot dinosaurs?" - Heh heh, the Battlechargers, Runabout and Runamuck, have a decent fan following due to being some of the only Decepticons who are genuine friends. Not to mention the fandom meme that has them associated with Beavis And Butthead. Uh huh huh huh.
- It's become an Ascended Meme as Runabout and Runamuck are deliberately drawn visual Shout Outs to Beavis and Butthead, respectively, for the Transformers: Animated source book. Yes, really.
- It's become an Ascended Meme as Runabout and Runamuck are deliberately drawn visual Shout Outs to Beavis and Butthead, respectively, for the Transformers: Animated source book. Yes, really
- Galvatron in the Marvel UK run of the Generation 1 comic. An outright nigh unstoppable badass whose popularity effectively gave him Joker Immunity up until the Time War storyline, where he was finally Killed Off for Real.
- Black Shadow is a surprisingly popular character, despite appearing in very little fiction (he originated in Japan in 1989, but didn't appear in any western fiction until the IDW continuity, where he still had a very minor role, and he didn't get a toy in the west until 2011). Part of his appeal is his function is the highly unusual "Space Gangster," coupled with being a more robotic retool of the already popular Thunderwing.
- Speaking of Japanese-exclusive Generation 1 characters, Star Saber has become a fan favorite on both sides of the Pacific by standing out among other Autobot leaders as a Badass Robot Samurai and Master Swordsman who turns into a space fighter (being effectively the Transformers version of Sanger Zonvolt). The fact that he is basically the closest the franchise has gotten to a proper Super Robot only serves to make him stand out more. He is popular enough among the fandom that James Roberts's portrayal of him in More Than Meets the Eye as a Egocentrically Religious Fundamentalist Knight Templar caused considerable outcry and became one of the few unanimously despised elements of his otherwise fan favorite run (not helped by the fact it stemmed from him being given the Ron the Death Eater treatment in Roberts's fan circle). On a more positive note, his popularity led to him becoming the first Japanese-only character to receive a Masterpiece figure and the second Transformers project on HasLab alongside his combining partner Victory Leo for the Legacy line (the first project being Greater-Scope Villain Unicron), as well as making it to the semifinals of the Power of the Primes Fan Poll (where he lost to Optimus Primal),
- Death's Head, the eccentric Freelance Peacekeeping Agent from the Marvel UK comics was one of first Ensemble Darkhorses of the franchise. Made the jump (with a little Gallifreyan assistance) from those comics into mainstream Marvel Universe, up to and including getting multiple comic series. Admittedly, many of those series were of 90's successor, but can't have everything, right? The original proved popular enough to be brought Back from the Dead at least twice and is now finally getting an official action figure of his own. Happy endings, yes?
- Banzai-Tron is far and away the most popular Action Master (at least, until Krok became more notable in More than Meets the Eye), surprising given that Action Masters are generally reviled. An interesting look and a neat bio were all well and good, including the incredibly badass motto of "To the victor go the profits," but what really sealed it was the fancomic Transformers: Chronicles, where he was basically Kenshiro as a Decepticon. Since then, he's received far more toys than any other Action Master, including a convention-exclusive, a retail figure, and a high-end Alternity release. Perhaps his most notable showing is in Transformers Ultimates, a non-transforming licensed line where he managed to show up in the first wave, and his accessories include parts clearly based on that old fancomic.
- Nightbird only appears in a single episode of the original cartoon, but her popularity from being a robot ninja Action Girl has given her several toys in later years.
2005 IDW Continuity
- Most of the characters from The Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers became this, but the biggest example is Ironfist. He even got incarnations in both Animated and the Aligned Universe complete with their own exclusive toys!
- Even those who didn't much care for Mike Costa's run on IDW's Transformers ongoing seemed to like one character: Bob the Insecticon, a spiky yet adorable abomination of science who becomes Sunstreaker's pet. When Bob showed up in the fourth issue of James Roberts' ongoing, which followed Costa's, a number of fans were rather excited to see that he was still around.
- Many, many characters in The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye are adored by the fandom, to the point where it's basically a bunch of Ensemble Darkhorses crammed together on a ship.
- Whirl, for both his hilarious Jerkassery and the sheer scope of his Crazy Awesomeness.
- Cyclonus also has a share of fans, in part because he matches Whirl's badassness on the field and his Tsundere personality.
- Swerve. He's gone from being used in past continuities as a filler character with no real distinct personality, to being a very chatty mischievous smartass with a Boisterous Bruiser personality packed into a minibot body.
- Roberts' original character Rung, the Autobot psychologist, is also gaining a fangirl posse, due mainly to his adorkably gangly and goggle-eyed design and his equally Adorkable and slightly naive personality. It helps that he's a bit of a Parody Sue, what with his frequent Butt-Monkey moments.
- Also in this vein, we have original character Ambulon, himself a bit of a Take That! to the whole "Ex-Decepticons are cooler" notion that became so unpopular with Drift. His life frankly sucks, he's not that well-liked In-Universe, and to top it all off, his altmode is a leg... Naturally, he's very popular with the fandom, though unfortunately, it wasn't enough to save him.
- Brainstorm. Can't imagine why...
- Surprisingly, Drift of all 'bots has become this. It's kind of amazing that a former Creator's Pet has become popular among many of his haters due to having a good writer behind him. It doesn't hurt that he's become a hell of a Deadpan Snarker. Having had a spiritual reawakening that makes him "offensively upbeat" and that Ratchet absolutely hates him gives him some extra points too.
- Getaway *BOMP* became a huge hit with the fans after his introduction scenes in issue 20. Though he would later on become a Hate Sink due to his manipulative and treacherous actions and egotistical demeanor.
- The entire Decepticon Justice Division gets this treatment due to their badass designs and frequent Creepy Awesome moments, but among their number, Tarn, Kaon, and Vos are particularly popular. Tarn himself would go on to receive both a Flame Toys and Ultimates figure before eventually getting his first proper figure for the second year of the Legacy line. He would also make the jump to Cyberverse, initially as an army of Super Soldiers that resembled him before finally appearing in person as the Big Bad of the Finale Movie.
- Misfire, the hilariously incompetent Cloudcuckoolander has become popular with fans thanks to his many funny moments.
- Nautica isn't as important as the other two fembots introduced in Dark Cybertron, as they go onto be the leads in Windblade while she's put in MTMTE's ensemble cast. Yet she remains the most popular for her Adorkable, endearing personality, and for easily blending in with the comedy dynamics of her series.
2019 IDW Continuity
- Flamewar, formerly an obscure Arcee redeco exclusive to Collectors' Club fiction, is upgraded in this series to a recurring antagonist; between her new, non-recolor design, her dynamic with Shadow Striker and her newly mischievous personality, her popularity has been massively boosted to the point that some are calling for her to join the Transformers franchise's stock female antagonists like Blackarachnia, Strika and Slipstream. Tellingly, she's also Ruckley's favorite character to write. She would go on to receive a figure in the Shattered Glass Collection, which while representing her Mirror Universe counterpart is all but identical to her regular self.
- Red Wing, one of many Seekers, thanks to being an Only Sane Man among Decepticon attack forces and having genuine common sense, such as knowing to retreat when he knows he's outmatched against the magnetic-power Windcharger, and also sticking to the reconnaissance mission protocol of seek, find and report that he and two others got sent in, which the other two ignore in favor of attacking, resulting in one of them getting horribly killed; both instances found Red Wing escaping unscathed and into the good graces of many a reader.
War For Cybertron Trilogy
- Impactor won himself some fans as a representative for the common grunts who make up the Decepticon army.
- Soundblaster gained a few fans for being made a separate character from Soundwave, as a self-serving crime boss with Clone Angst. His appearance here is the basis for later versions of Soundblaster in Transformers (2019) and Transformers: Cyberverse.
Beast Era
- Take a look at who the Hall of Fame winners are.
- Megatron's Rubber Ducky. No lines, not interaction with anyone else, but one of the 3 fully loyal Predacons. And the only one of those three (the others being Inferno and Scorponok) to get transmetallized.
- The Rubber Ducky has his own page on the wiki.
- The Rubber Ducky
- Inferno, largely due to his Large Ham qualities. He would eventually make it to the Hall of Fame in 2021.
- The fact he was a fire ant with a few screws loose didn't hurt.
- In Beast Machines, this role was taken by Jetstorm due to his gleefully evil, sarcastic, arrogant personality. A keen sense of wit and the fact that his voice actor played him as a Large Ham didn't hurt, either.
- Rampage and Depth Charge. The former for being an immortal psychopath who is basically the Transformers take on Hannibal Lecter, the latter for being the only one badass enough to take him on. They are drawn to each other like matter and antimatter, and are about as safe to be around when it happens. Put them in a scene together and watch the awesome.
- Of the toy-only characters who didn't make it into the show, Razorbeast is quite popular with fans. This is largely due to Simon Furman's usage of him in IDW's Beast Wars comics, where he's portrayed as a snarky and stern yet kind-hearted Guile Hero. (And the fact that Will Smith was looking for him since October.)
- Particularly among female fans, Terrorsaur seems to be oddly popular, considering that he rarely got any focus and wound up dying at the start of the second season. It likely owes to him being The Starscream, and his somewhat effeminate character design.
- While the Japanese Beast Wars II/Neo anime filler series received much criticism, the characters of Lio Convoy and Magmatron were well-received by fans, so much so that the former got many toy representations to himself while the latter was imported to the states via Beast Machines. Both of them even made it to the Legacy toyline, with Lio Convoy (under the name of Leo Prime) a Voyager in Legacy: Evolution and Magmatron in Legacy: United as the line's Commander Class.
Robots In Disguise (2001)
- Mirage. Being a cool F1 car that is a lone sniper helps a lot.
- Scourge, the evil clone of Optimus Prime. These days other evil clones of Optimus Prime are typically called Nemesis Prime, but Scourge is still immensely loved as one of the few of them to have an actual personality.
- Sky-Byte for being a hilarious Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain with equally spread moments of badassery and kind gestures alongside his funny moments. It also helps that his color scheme and character were received far more positively than that of the mold's first iteration, Transmetal II Cybershark. Much like with the later Animated Swindle, the grief from the fandom after the passing of his original voice actor, Peter Spellos, took everyone hard.
Unicron Trilogy
Armada
- Starscream. This incarnation of him was easily the show's most popular character, to the point where he has received toys in both the Thrilling 30 and Legacy Milestone Celebration toylines. Unlike the typical treacherous versions of him, this version was the most honorable, often compared to Beast Wars Dinobot. His relationship to Alexis and the Minicons really help highlight his popularity.
- Sideways, the mysterious Playing Both Sides servant of Unicron, with his own Eldritch Abomination tendencies. That later media played up the idea of all the various characters in the franchise to have name Sideways may be the same guy hopping between universes also helped his cool factor.
- Demolishor. A rare example of not-overtly villainous Decepticon grunt in Armada who early on the Sequel Series Energon exhibits conflicting loyalties between both sides that he gained from living in an era without the war, and losing that is considered to be one of the worst mistakes the show made.
- While Tidal Wave is only known for a few things, it's for these exact same reasons that the fans love him; he towers over other Transformers, he splits into several marine vehicles (aquatic Transformers have become infamous for being rare in the franchise), and he can combine with Megatron/Galvatron. It says a lot that fans immediately sought out his new Titan Class toy once Legacy: United made the reveal.
Cybertron
- Since his first appearance a fan club story, Cannonball became this for being a freaking Space Pirate, since then he's gotten a few cameos, and even got a new retooling and starring role as the Big Bad in the 2014 Botcon story.
- Scourge, the Might Makes Right leader of the Jungle Planet. Somewhat like Dinobot above, though he changes into a dragon.
- Signal Lancer, who is a minor joke character at best and doesn't even get named in the English dub, became famous and even a tad memetic when, in the show's final episode, he dramatically revealed his robot mode and left his spot to find his great destiny. His disguise was a mundane stoplight in the middle of the desert.
- Scattershot and Vector Prime maintain strong popularity after the show: the first appearing in Transformers: War for Cybertron and the second for being one of the Thirteen original primes and a powerful sacrifice.
- Jetfire. It's the accent.
- What is probably the most liberal take on the character of Metroplex, as aside from a few superficial similarities the only thing this version shares with the original is the status of being an Autobot of GARGANTUAN proportions. But let's face it, he is several times larger than the average transformer and can change from a large construction vehicle to a giant scottish-accented robot who wields an equally large staff topped with a sawblade. There's a reason he was the Titan-class figure for the first year of Legacy.
- Override, the leader of Velocitron, is fairly popular as a notable female character in a time in the franchise that was otherwise a drought of female Transformers. Her surrogate Cool Big Sis relationship with Lori also helped. Almost two decades later, she'd receive a very screen-accurate updated toy as part the Milestone Celebration Legacy toyline in 2022.
Transformers Film Series
- Dispensor, the Mountain Dew vending machine turned into a homicidal robot by the power of the Allspark, despite being Product Placement, not being named, and barely appearing for more than a few seconds. Dispensor eventually got his own (short flash) game, where he infiltrates human facilities Looney Tunes style and takes over the world in the name of Mountain Dew. He also got a toy, although, tragically, it doesn't transform and isn't poseable.
- As of Takara's Age of Extinction lead-in toyline, Dispensor has graduated to full Transformer-dom (even if it is now as a delivery truck for a Bland-Name Product Shout-Out to both MTMTE and TV Tropes itself, "Mood Wiplash (sic)").
- Scalpel, the German-accented Mad Doctor.
- Ejector the evil toaster, who is also an Ascended Meme (he originally appeared in a Mountain Dew commercial for the first film). He too has a toy.
- Jolt from ROTF has a large fanbase due to his minimal screentime.
- DOTM introduced a large background Decepticon named Devcon, who resembles the Cloverfield Monster.
- Most of the Decepticons from the first film (barring maybe Frenzy) are very, very popular.
- Bonecrusher is this for hating everything.
- Blackout managed to stand out from the mostly characterless Decepticon minions featured in every movie. His Establishing Character Moment of destroying the military base was a Signature Scene for the first film and helped establish how dangerous he was. Long after his debut he'd still occasionally receive toys and was even brought into the Animated and Aligned continuities.
- Barricade, the police car Decepticon is easily the most popular of the film-verse bad guys. In the video game adaptations, he's voiced by Keith David, and plays a memorable Sensei for Scoundrels in the well received DS versions. He's easily the most recurring Decepticon after Megatron, appearing in the first, third, and fifth movies and he's been adapted into various other media with even his G1 related appearances drawing from the movie. In 2017 he got into the hall of fame being the first movie creation to do so.
- Laserbeak, the coldblooded assassin who works for Soundwave.
- Flatline quickly became this in the Extended Universe comic book tie-ins. Essentially the Decepticon equivalent to Josef Mengele, he's arguably more vile than his universe's Megatron - Which is saying something. A lot of fans want to see a toy of him that turns into a hearse.
- The Wreckers (Roadbuster, Topspin, and Leadfoot). They're a trio of jerkasses that change into heavily modified NASCAR stock cars covered in firepower.
- To a lesser degree there's also Glenn from the first film, due to Anthony Anderson's hilarious performance.
- Hound. Of the new Autobots in the fourth film, Hound is incredibly popular for his boisterous personality and some of the best lines. "I'm a fat ballerina!" reached meme status. Being voiced by John Goodman certainly adds to his personality.
- Nitro Zeus is, by far, the most popular of the new Decepticons in The Last Knight. It helps that he resembles Shockwave and has a little more personality than the rest. Also, he's the only new Con to make it to the final battle with Megatron and Barricade.
- Burke, The Big Guy of Lennox's squad in the first movie, is never even referred to by name onscreen and only has a few minutes of screentime. Nonetheless, he has a notable fanbase.
- The socialite who is attacked by her steering wheel when it is brought to life by the AllSpark in the same scene as Dispenser's creation. It's mainly due to her resemblance to Megan Fox.
- Transit, a Decepticon who fights Optimus Prime in Transformers: Rise of the Beasts' original opening sequence, has amassed a big following for the novelty of a Decepticon who turns into a public transport bus and putting up a good fight against the Autobot leader. Despite being entirely cut from the final film, many have clamored for Hasbro to make a toy of him.
Transformers Animated
- Who became one of the most popular Transformers: Animated characters after his ten second appearance in the pilot episode? Not Prowl, not Bumblebee, not Megatron... it's the wacky, Split Personality villain Blitzwing. The fact that he's made appearances in almost every one of the The Arrival tie-in comics may show that the writers are listening to the fandom.
- To be fair, he does a lot in those ten seconds.
- To be fair, he does a lot in those ten seconds.
- I am Wreck-Gar! I am widely liked for my humorous attitude and being voiced by "Weird Al" Yankovic despite only appearing twice, and I DARE to be stupid!
- The Animated version of Waspinator took our favorite little Cosmic Plaything and made him a legitimate threat.
- Lockdown proved to be an exceedingly popular original creation even if he was only in three episodes. A combination of Lance Henriksen's voice, a cool design, and a creepy MO of stealing other Transformers' body parts to add to his own, made him especially memorable. Lockdown would go on to be added into the G1 continuity and was modified to become the villain of the fourth live action movie.
- A human example can be found in Captain Fanzone, the badass police captain who's Born in the Wrong Century and gives some of the show's funniest moments.
- A case could be made for Lugnut, quite possibly the most gloriously loyal Decepticon to date. He received a Generations-styled figure in 2010 and would eventually make it into the Hall of Fame in 2022 (as a tribute to Derrick J. Wyatt, the art director of Animated, who had passed away the previous year).
- Amongst the non-Decepticon villains, Meltdown seems to be the most popular due to being a terrifying Knight of Cerebus who can actually hold his own against the Autobots rather than being a joke villain like Angry Archer or Professor Princess. And he can dance!
- Swindle only appears in two episodes, but he’s a deliciously smarmy but lovable salesman played to absolute perfection by the late Fred Willard in a role he was made for.
- Slipstream, the first canonical female Seeker, who unlike her creator and clone brethren managed to avoid falling into Autobot custody by the end of the series.
- Alternate mode example: Megatron being a twin-rotor attack chopper. Since most G1-based Megatrons before and after had mostly been tanks or "Cybertronian jets", many look fondly to this break in tradition, given that it allows the Decepticon leader an aerial vehicle mode that doesn't have to be excused as being "Cybertronian/alien", but carrying the tankiness and firepower of the tank he's had to generally be since Generation 2. Enough that many were happy to see the Megatron of Transformers Earthspark adopt a different but still twin-rotor armored aircraft.
Aligned Universe
War For Cybertron/Fall Of Cybertron
- Metroplex, the Humongous Mecha Autobot city. The fact he gets to slam Megatron into the ground, four times, in fact, probably helps.
Transformers Prime
- At least half of all the named characters, namely Wheeljack, Knock Out, Breakdown, Dreadwing, Cliffjumper, Vogel, Shockwave, Ultra Magnus, and Airachnid.
Transformers Rescue Bots
- The entire main cast counts as this due to their strong bonds with each other, but the most prominent amongst them is Blades. The big guy is pretty much a child with the voice of an adult and the body of a giant, and his cute demeanor and tendency to reference popular culture do little to dissuade opinions.
- Salvage, who can only be best described as a combination of Boulder and Animated Wreck-Gar. Not only does he have one of the most unique alternate forms in the franchise (A recycling truck transformer? That's rare), but his chipper demeanor and his fascination with junk make him very endearing. It also helps that he is far more patient than Blurr, and as such is much more effective as a Rescue Bot.
- Quickshadow, the show's sole fembot. Her character and vehicle mode is very much James Bond, and the fact that she is one of the most competent Cybertronians in the series is very much a high point. And let's not forget the almost endless variety of gadgets she has built into her frame.
- Rounding things off is High Tide. One of the few transformers with an aquatic alternate mode (and in another case of rare vehicle modes he transforms into a submarine) with the accent to match, his crusty attitude makes him very memorable... once you get past his Drill Sergeant Nasty phase. He also combines with a gargantuan ship to form an equally titanic robot mode, which quickly elevates the scale of the episodes whenever he appears on the screen. And to top it all off, he is voiced by Michael Bell, in his first Transformers cartoon role since the original 80s classic.
Robots in Disguise (2015)
- With his debut Fracture was praised as one of the more interesting new Decepticons with his cool appearance, high skill level, and minicons. Many positively compare him to past Darkhorse bounty hunter Lockdown. It's especially notable because of all the Pack, Fracture's easily the least important falling out of the series post-season 1.
- Thunderhoof also quickly became popular for his voice, design, and crime boss occupation, which helped him stand out from some of the other 'Cons. His shippings with Steeljaw may have also helped.
- Strongarm, the By The Book rookie Cop assigned to Bumblebee's team. Also praised for her more masculinely hulking body frame, a breakaway from the traditional female Transformer design. As such, the fact she got a toy in the cross-franchise Legacy toyline drew great fanfare from the fandom.
- While Steeljaw has his fair share of detractors, his design, voice, and personality make him a very memorable Decepticon. It also helps that, unlike Starscream, he is more than capable of pulling off his schemes solo. The fact that the Last Bot Standing comic book series features him as the Big Bad should also probably bring more people around.
Transformers Rescue Bots Academy
- Whirl, the sole female of the main five recruits, simply for being endearingly energetic and her soft demeanor around other beings. It also helps that she is almost as dorky as Rescue Bots Blades if not more so.
Transformers: Cyberverse
- Maccadam, due to being incredibly friendly, managing to effortlessly intimidate Megatron, and later revealed to be Alchemist Prime, one of the Thirteen.
- Thundercracker, for being an amusing Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain.
- Swoop, the Gender Flipped Gadgeteer Genius of the Dinobots. Being the only other Dinobot, aside from Grimlock, who doesn't speak in the faux-caveman speech helps also.
- While the first season rarely delved into his character, Soundwave's antics in season 2 and beyond quickly endeared him to fans, bolstered by the fact that he is one of the most genuinely competent Decepticons in the series. It says a lot that his death in the final finale movie ends up as one of the franchise's biggest TearJerkers.
- Although there were pre-existing characters with the names, the Cyberverse incarnations of Clobber and Shadow Striker's personalities and designs (not to mention the latter's Tragic Backstory) instantly gave them decently-sized fanbases. This is also true for many characters in similar positions, namely Cheetor, Astrotrain, Rack'N'Ruin, Slipstream, Lockdown, Gnaw, Pereptor, Whirl, Hot Rod, Drift, the Dweller, and Dead End. This can also be applied to entire factions and subgroups, including the Dinobots, Quintesson Army, and the Mercenaries. Shadow Striker in particular was popular enough to earn a doppelganger in IDW's 2019 comic series, while she later received a toy in the Legacy line to seal the deal.
- Despite barely making significant appearances in the series, the characters of Meteorfire, Iaconus, Teletraan-X, Wild Wheel, Thunderhowl, Hammerbyte, and Croaton instantly landed fans for their personalities, abilities, designs, and concepts. The fact that they were fresh faces for the franchise meant that one of the show's biggest gripes - namely the non-union voice talents - was allowed some leeway when it came to these characters.
Transformers Shattered Glass
- Ravage is one of the biggest examples of this. He was originally just a joke in Shortpacked! about how a Mirror Universe Ravage would be a Motor Mouth Keet instead of a silent assassin. Then his creator started up a Twitter feed in which he was portrayed as the living incarnation of LOLCats. Eventually, the little guy became so popular, he was made canon and received a toy at Botcon 2010!
- It has occurred to me that this page is dreadfully absent of the cunning and debonair Grimlock, wot?
Transformers: EarthSpark
- The Terrans have all received unanimous praise for being well-written characters with loveable personalities and unique alternate modes (a Cybertronian drone, a motorcycle, a special agent communications van, an owl, and a Stygimoloch), but fans immediately praised Nightshade for their status as an officially canon non-binary Transformer in mainstream fiction. While this has mired the series in controversy, Nightshade's own personal quirks still make them a lovable character, especially their semi-dramatic forms of speech.
