List of Transformers: Animated characters

Transformers: Animated is an American animated children's television series produced by Cartoon Network Studios. It is based on the Transformers toy and entertainment franchise created by Hasbro, about a race of giant, sentient robots that come from the fictional planet Cybertron and are able to change their appearance into cars, planes and other machinery. Transformers: Animated debuted on Cartoon Network on December 26, 2007, running for three seasons and with the final episode airing on May 23, 2009. Like most pieces of Transformers fiction, Transformers: Animated focuses on the conflict between two warring factions of Transformer robots, the heroic Autobots and the evil Decepticons, who bring their conflict to Earth. The following is a list of characters, Autobot, Decepticon and human, who appear in the series.

Autobots

The Autobots are the main protagonist of the series. Many Autobots on Cybertron are employed with a military force called the Autobot Elite Guard, with the main leader holding the title of "Magnus" and high-ranking lieutenants holding the title of "Prime". The main cast of Autobots in the series are a team of low-ranking maintenance workers led by Optimus Prime, who discover the Allspark (the legendary source of all life on Cybertron) hidden on an asteroid. The majority of Autobots in Transformers: Animated transform into non-military terrestrial vehicles and carry non-projectile weaponry such as swords, shields, shurikens, stingers, nunchucks, axes, etc. The Autobots in this series do not possess the capability of flight, with the exception of Jetfire, Jetstorm, their combined form Safrguard, Omega Supreme, Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Prowl, Swoop, Springer, Sky Garry, Metalhawk, Delta Supreme, Alpha Supreme, Beta Supreme, Gamma Supreme, Epsilon Supreme, Zeta Supreme, Eta Supreme, Theta Supreme, Iota Supreme, Kappa Supreme, Silverbolt Major, Air Raid, Slingshot, Skydive, Fireflight, Topspin, Scattorshot Major, Strafe, Blades and Sari. The only Autobots in the show that transform into tanks are Warpath, Rampart, Scattorpart, Rainstorm, Snowstorm, Wing Saber, Nosecone, and Twin Twist.

Main Autobots

• Optimus Prime (voiced by David Kaye) - Optimus Prime is the leader of the Earth-based Autobots and transforms into a red and blue fire truck. He is noble, compassionate and chivalrous, but often doubts his own leadership skills. His weaponry includes a battle axe, retractable grappling hooks and an arm-mounted cannon that shoots fire-dousing foam, and in the series' third season Prof. Sumdac builds Optimus a jet-pack, enabling him to fly, also getting arm gauntlets and shoulder cannons, which he doesn't even use.
• Ratchet (voiced by Corey Burton) - Ratchet is an elderly Autobot medic and veteran of the war against the Decepticons. He is grouchy and short-tempered, often having little patience with his younger team mates and initially being hostile towards humans, but he becomes calmer and more tolerant as the series progresses. Ratchet transforms into a white and red ambulance, and is armed with retractable, wrist-mounted magnets that generate electro-magnetic blasts.
• Bulkhead (voiced by Bill Fagerbakke) - Bulkhead is a large and powerful Autobot who transforms into a green SWAT armoured truck and wields two wrecking balls that are stored in his arms. Despite his size and intimidating appearance, he is a gentle, intelligent and passive Autobot, but can often be clumsy and hot-headed. Ironically (or at least from the Decepticons point of view), he is the most knowledgeable Autobot when it comes to Space Bridges. His colour scheme is an homage to the Transformers: Generation 1 Autobot Hound. He's best friends with the Autobot Bumblebee.
• Prowl (voiced by Jeff Bennett) - Prowl is a reclusive Autobot ninja who transforms into a black and gold motorcycle and is trained in the Cybertronian martial art of Circuit-Su. He is fascinated by organic life, and enjoys spending time around plants and animals on Earth. In the series' first two seasons, Prowl's weaponry included a pair of shuriken stored in the wheels of his motorcycle mode, and in the third season he acquires a suit of samurai armour that transforms into a sidecar and features retractable swords, after he finds out Lokdown was the one who murdered Yoketron and took almost all of the protoforms for the Decepticons. In the finale of the third season, Prowl sacrifices himself to reassemble the shattered Allspark and destroy the "Lugnut Supremes" (three Omega Supreme-sized robots built by the Decepticons), and his dead body is returned to Cybertron.
• Bumblebee (voiced by Bumper Robinson) - Bumblebee is the youngest member of Optimus Prime's team. He transforms into a yellow hatchback car and is armed with two electric "stingers" that are stored in his arms. Although they're not shown to be as effective against Decepticons, until they were upgraded at Season 3. He is impulsive, self-confident and takes great pride in his speed, but he also tends to be reckless, hyperactive and obnoxious. He's best friends with the Autobot Bulkhead, and Sari Sumdac.

Elite Guard

• Ultra Magnus (voiced by Jeff Bennett) - Ultra Magnus is the supreme commander of the Autobots and leader of the Autobot Elite Guard. He transforms into a blue and white Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck, and wields the Magnus Hammer, an enormous hammer passed down to each new Magnus and capable of summoning lightning. Ultra Magnus was trained in learning how to use melee weapons by Yoketron. In the third season, Ultra Magnus is attacked and nearly killed by Shockwave with him ending up in a coma.
• Sentinel Prime (voiced by Townsend Coleman) - Sentinel Prime is Ultra Magnus's second in command and Optimus Prime's former friend and rival. He transforms into a blue and orange pick-up truck fitted with a snowplough, and is armed with a lance and shield that can project force-fields. Sentinel is hot-headed and arrogant, often rushing into situations without thinking, and acting rudely towards Optimus and his team. Following Shockwave's attack on Ultra Magnus, Sentinel becomes a temporary Magnus, but gradually turns Cybertron into a military dictatorship.
• Jazz (voiced by Phil LaMarr) - Jazz is a laid-back member of the Autobot Elite Guard, and transforms into a white and blue sports car. Like Prowl, he was trained in Circuit-Su by Yoketron, and his signature weapons are a pair of nun-chucks. He joins Optimus Prime's team on Earth in the final few episodes of the third season where he helped Prowl to complete his training and reassemble the Allspark. If the planned fourth season had been produced he would have become a regular cast member.
• Blurr (voiced by John Moschitta, Jr.) - Blurr is an Elite Guard intelligence agent who transforms into a light blue race car. He is extremely fast in both vehicle and robot modes, and also speaks quickly, so much so that others often find it difficult to understand what he is saying.
• Jetfire and Jetstorm (voiced by Tom Kenny and Phil LaMarr) - Jetfire and Jetstorm are twin Autobots who transform into Cybertronain fighter jets (being the result of an experiment to create flight-capable Autobots upon obtaining the data on Starscream) and combine into a larger robot named Safeguard. Jetfire is orange, white and yellow, and has fire-based powers, while Jetstorm is blue and has wind-based powers. Both twins are naive, hyperactive, and speak in stereotypical Russian accents.
• Warpath (voiced by David Kaye) - A member of the Cybertronian Elite Guard who reported to Yoketron about Prowl trying to flee during the Great Wars. Warpath transforms into a red Cybertronian tank.

The Dinobots

Main article: Dinobots

The Dinobots are three Transformers that transform into mechanical dinosaurs. They were originally animatronic dinosaur props at a theme park, but were accidentally brought to life and given the ability to transform by Sari's Allspark key. They were also tricked by Megatron into hating the Autobots. The Dinobots rarely become involved in the conflict between the Autobots and Decepticons, preferring instead to live peacefully on a remote island.

• Grimlock (voiced by David Kaye) - Grimlock is the largest and most aggressive Dinobot, as well as the only one capable of speech; however, he speaks in the third person, and his sentences aren't any better than a toddler's. He transforms into a grey, red and gold mechanical Tyrannosaurus that breathes fire, and he wields a flaming sword in robot mode.
• Swoop - Swoop transforms into a grey, red and gold mechanical Pteranodon and wields a flaming flail. He never speaks, and is the only Dinobot in the series not to be openly referred to by name.
• Snarl - Snarl transforms into a grey and red mechanical Triceratops and wields a flaming club. He is based on the Generation 1 Dinobot Slag, and was renamed for the series and toy-line because the word "Slag" is an offensive term in countries such as the United Kingdom and Australia. This is referenced in the episode "Human Error, Part 2", in which Scrapper nicknames the Triceratops Dinobot "Snarl", originally going to nickname him "Slag", but deciding not to in case Snarl found it offensive.

Team Athenia

• Rodimus Prime (voiced by Judd Nelson) - Rodimus Prime is the leader of a Cybertron-based Autobot team called "Team Athenia", who work closely with the Elite Guard. He wields a bow and arrows, and while his vehicle mode is never shown in the series itself, the action figure depicts it as a red, orange and gold sports car.
• Hot Shot (voiced by Bill Fagerbakke) - Hot Shot is a pyrotechnician armed with welding torches that double as flame-throwers. While his vehicle mode is never shown in the series, an action figure was designed with a sports car vehicle mode, however this toy was never mass-produced or released at retail. Hot Shot was originally going to be part of the series' main cast, but was replaced with Bumblebee.
• Red Alert (voiced by Tara Strong) - Red Alert is a medic who transforms into Cybertronian ambulance. Unlike previous incarnations of the character, Red Alert is a female Transformer in this series. She was originally going to be part of the series' main cast, but was replaced with Ratchet.
• Ironhide (voiced by Corey Burton) - Ironhide is an Autobot security officer who transforms into a red Cybertronian armored truck and has the unique ability to change his exterior body armor into a dense, near-indestructible alloy, in a similar fashion to the Marvel Comics superhero Colossus. He makes several minor appearances throughout the series' second and third seasons, and if the planned fourth season had been made, he would have joined Optimus Prime's team and become a regular cast member, with his Earth vehicle mode being a pick-up truck.
• Brawn (voiced by Corey Burton) - Brawn is a short and stocky, yet incredibly strong Autobot who transforms into a green Cybertronian armored truck.

Other Autobots

• Omega Supreme (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson in Season One, Phil LaMarr in Season Two) - Omega Supreme is an enormous robot who transforms into the spaceship of Optimus Prime's team. He was the result of "Project: Omega", an Autobot experiment to create a living weapon of mass destruction that could defeat the Decepticons. Because Omega Supreme's processors were not advanced enough to guide himself, Ratchet was assigned to be his guardian. Omega remained dormant in the form of the team's ship after the war, but re-activates and transforms again in the season 2 finale to fight off the Decepticons on Earth.
  • Teletran-1 (voiced by Tara Strong) - The online computer of Omega Supreme.
• Yoketron (voiced by George Takei) - Yoketron is an Autobot martial arts master who taught martial arts to aspiring cyber-ninjas for the Cyber Ninja Corps. He mentored Jazz, Lockdown, Prowl, Heavy Load, and Road Rocket in martial arts, Ultra Magnus, Springer, Dai Atlas, Drift, and Star Saber in melee weapon using, Sky Garry, Devcon, Star Upper, Tap-Out, and Kick-Off in boxing, and Roadhandler, Grandus, Motorarm, and Powerhug in wrestling. During the war, he protected a cache of Protoforms (blank Transformer bodies without sparks) in his dojo, with the Autobots planning to use these Protoforms in the event Project: Omega failed to defeat the Decepticons. The treacherous Lockdown murdered Yoketron and stole most of the Protoforms for the Decepticons.
• Arcee (voiced by Susan Blu) - Arcee is an intelligence officer for Cybertron Intelligence and former teacher. During the war, access codes to activate Omega Supreme were stored in Arcee's memory to keep them safe from the Decepticons, but after an electro-magnetic blast from Ratchet's EMP generator accidentally erased most of her memory, Ratchet extracted the codes and stored them in his own head. Despite making her first appearance in the season 1 episode "Thrill of the Hunt", she only appeared in Ratchet's flashbacks, and did not become part of the series' main story until season 3. While Arcee's vehicle mode is never shown in the series itself, the action figure depicts it as a pink and white sports car.
• Wreck-Gar (voiced by "Weird Al" Yankovic) - Wreck-Gar is an absent-minded robot made of junk and scrap metal who was brought to life by an Allspark fragment. He transforms into a garbage truck and carries a large bin full of junk on his back.
• Alpha Trion (voiced by Phil LaMarr) - Alpha Trion is a member of the Autobot High Council and the head of the Guilds Domesticus (which is in charge of the Autobot military).
• Cliffjumper (voiced by David Kaye) - Cliffjumper makes several minor appearances throughout the series' second and third season. He has a similar body design to Bumblebee, but is red and has a differently shaped face and longer horns. Following the fact that Shockwave had been posing as Longarm Prime and escaped, Cliffjumper was sworn in as the new head of Cybertron Intelligence and gained a seat on the Autobot High Council.
• Highbrow (voiced by David Kaye impersonating Terry-Thomas) - An Autobot who was the head of Cybertronian Intelligence during the Great War. He worked on Arcee's body following Ratchet's fight with Lockdown. He wasn't seen after the war and his spot was filled by Shockwave (who was posing as Longarm Prime).
• Perceptor - Perceptor is a high-ranking Autobot scientist in the Autobot Ministry of Science. He oversaw both Project: Omega and the experiment that created Jetfire and Jetstorm. He transforms into a Cybertronain SUV that can convert into a research station with a large microscope. His voice is not performed by a real actor, but an electronic synthesizer on PlainTalk. This is an homage to the electronic voice synthesizer Stephen Hawking uses.
• Rattletrap (voiced by Tom Kenny) - Rattletrap is a cowardly Autobot forger who steals important information to sell on. His character design and personality are a parody of the Transformers: Beast Wars Maximal Rattrap.
• Autotroopers - The Autotroopers are the Autobot's police force that safeguard the streets of Cybertron.

Autobot cameos

The series also features many cameo appearances from several classic Autobots from the Generation 1 toy-line and television series where they were featured in crowd appearances. Some of their names and purposes were revealed in the Allspark Almanac II. Among the Autobot cameos are:

• Beachcomber -
• Botanica - According to Derrick J. Wyatt, Botanica was planned to appear as a member of the Autobot High Council only for the plan to fall through. The AllSpark Almanac II picked up on this and established her as a member of the Autobot High Council after all.
• Bumper -
• Carrera - According to the Allspark Almanac II, Carrera longs to be an announcer for Cybertron's sporting events.
• Cosmos -
• Flare-Up (voiced by Susan Blu) - She is a recolored version of Tap-Out.
• Freeway -
• Glyph - An Autobot who is close friends with Tap-Out.
• Grandus (voiced by Jeff Bennett) - An Autobot who was trained in wrestling by Yoketron and is a fan of Rosanna.
• Huffer - The older brother of Pipes.
• Lightbright - According to the Allspark Almanac, Lightbright is a search and rescue Autobot who transforms into a dual-purpose hovercraft/submersible
• Mainframe -
• Pipes - The younger brother of Huffer.
• Powerglide - An Autobots redeco of Air Raid
• Rosanna - An Autobot who is Cybertron's resident singer and is admired by Grandus.
• Seaspray -
• Searchlight -
• Sedan -
• Steeljaw - A Cybercat that is owned by Rosanna.
• Tap-Out - An Autobot who was trained by Yoketron and is close friends with Glyph.
• Tracks (voiced by Townsend Coleman) -
• Wheeljack -
• Zaur - A Brotobot that is owned by Rosanna.

Decepticons

The Decepticons are the primary antagonists of the series. Despite being a military force, unlike the Autobot Elite Guard they have no clear hierarchy, Megatron is the sole leader and every other Decepticon is his inferior. The majority of Decepticons transform into military vehicles, mainly aircraft, and carry projectile weaponry such as guns, cannons and missile launchers. The Decepticons in this series are shown to be bigger, stronger, and more powerful than the Autobots. It takes a group of Autobots to defeat one lone Decepticon. But, Optimus Prime is the first Autobot shown to defeat Megatron by using Ultra Magnus' hammer, Starscream by using energy waves from the Allspark when it opened, and Soundwave by using Laserbeak's guitar mode as a makeshift axe to slice Soundwave in half by slicing him in half the old fashioned way alone, while Bulkhead did the same to Lugnut by hitting Lugnut's Punch Of Kill Everything button using his wrecking ball, Shockwave by using a strong running punch, Mixmaster, Scrapper and Dirt Boss by using Mixmaster's cement to stick Scrapper's right arm and transporting the Constructicons and a burning tankor half empty of oil to the distance of Dinobot Island, Jazz defeated Blitzwing, Sunstorm and Ramjet on the Elite Guard flagship's decontamination tank hoses switched to deep freeze, Bumblebee defeated Swindle using a forcefield to ricochet a blast from Slo-Mo's timepiece to hit Swindle, leaving him in stasis lock and stuck in vehicle mode, Prowl defeated Lockdown using his martial arts moves, and Rodimus defeated Strika and Spittor using his bow and arrows.

Main Cast

• Megatron (voiced by Corey Burton) - Megatron is the ruthless, manipulative and tyrannical leader of the Decepticons, and the main antagonist of the series. He transforms into a grey helicopter gunship, and is armed with two swords (which form the rotor blades of his helicopter form) and a large fusion cannon. In the pilot episode "Transform and Roll Out! Part 1", an explosive planted by Starscream tries to destroy Megatron, and his remains fall to Earth, where they are discovered by Isaac Sumadc. His disembodied head remains in Sumdac's laboratory for fifty years, until energy from Sari's Allspark key accidentally brings him back to life. Megatron then tricks Sumdac into thinking he is an Autobot and manipulates him into building a new body for him, which is completed in the season 1 finale. If the planned fourth season had been made, Megatron would have upgraded into another new body, this one a triple-changer with a tank and fighter jet for vehicle modes. An action figure was designed for this new body, but was never mass-produced or released at retail.
• Blitzwing (voiced by Bumper Robinson) - Blitzwing is a triple-changer, able to transform into two different vehicle modes, a fighter jet and an assault tank. He also has a split personality represented by three different faces which spin around in a similar fashion to the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe character Man-E-Faces. They include a red face who is always angry, a blue face who is calm, rational and hardly ever expresses emotion, and a black face who is comically insane. All three of Blitzwing's faces speak in a stereotypical German accent with the angry face having similar speech patterns to Arnold Schwarzenegger.
• Lugnut (voiced by David Kaye) - Lugnut is a large, hulking Decepticon who transforms into a purple military bomber plane and has immense physical strength. He is fanatically devoted to Megatron, agreeing with everything he says and regarding any Decepticon who questions or doubts him as a traitor. He is shown to be enemies with the Autobot Bulkhead.
• Starscream (voiced by Tom Kenny) - Starscream transforms into a red and silver harrier jet, and like most incarnations of the character he is a scheming traitor whose main goal in life is to overthrow Megatron as the Decepticon leader. In the Pilot episode "Transform and Roll Out!, Part 1" Starscream attempts to kill Megatron by planting an explosive on his back. When Megatron returns in his upgraded body, he kills Starscream for his treason. A scattered shard of the Allspark later brings Starscream back to life, but when Prowl and Jazz re-assemble the Allspark in the third season finale, he dies again when the shard keeping him alive removes itself.
• Shockwave (voiced by Corey Burton) - Shockwave is a Decepticon spy and double-agent who poses as an Autobot named Longarm Prime with his mission being to sabotage Autobot Elite Guard operations on Cybertron. As Longarm Prime, Shockwave transforms into a construction crane, and when out of his disguise his vehicle mode is a tank. In both forms, he has the unique ability to stretch his arms and legs to great lengths, which is why his Autobot form was dubbed "Longarm". His natural color scheme is purple and black, but while in his disguise he changes his colors to grey, teal and black.

Predacons

Main article: Predacon

• Blackarachnia (voiced by Cree Summer) - Blackarachnia is a Decepticon who transforms into a techno-organic spider. She was once a female Autobot named Elita One, who was close friends with Optimus and Sentinel, and had the ability to temporarily imitate the abilities of other Transformers. During a scouting mission on an alien planet, Elita One, Optimus and Sentinel were attacked by giant spider-like aliens, and as they escaped Elita fell into a cave full of the spiders, so Optimus and Sentinel left the planet believing she was dead. She tried to fend off the spiders with her imitation ability, but became infected with their venom and mutated into a techno-organic. Calling herself "Blackarachnia", she joined the Decepticons. Blackarachnia's sole motivation is to return to her normal self, with her hatred for both her mutation and Optimus (whom she blames entirely) driving her close to insanity.
• Waspinator (voiced by Tom Kenny) - Waspinator was once an Autobot Elite Guard cadet named "Wasp" who attended Elite Guard boot camp with Bulkhead, Longarm (Shockwave) and Bumblebee. To cover his own tracks, Longarm manipulated Bumblebee into framing Wasp as a Decepticon spy, and the disgraced Wasp was wrongly imprisoned. Becoming insane and blaming Bumblebee for ruining his life, he eventually escapes from prison and goes to Earth to get revenge. Blackarachnia used Wasp as a test subject in her experiments to create techno-organic Transformers, fusing him with wasp DNA, and upon becoming techno-organic, he takes the name "Waspinator". As Wasp, he transforms into a hatchback car similar to Bumblebee, but green instead of yellow, and as Waspinator, he transforms into a giant green wasp.

Constructicons

Main article: Constructicons

• Mixmaster and Scrapper (voiced by Jeff Bennett and Tom Kenny) - Mixmaster and Scrapper are a pair of construction vehicles that were brought to life and made into Transformers by a scattered fragment of the Allspark. Mixmaster transforms into a cement mixer truck, while Scrapper transforms into an excavator. Both are dim-witted, addicted to motor oil, and speak in stereotypical Brooklyn accents. When they are first activated, Bulkhead befriends them, but Megatron later manipulates them into joining the Decepticons and building a space bridge.
• Dirt Boss (voiced by John Mariano) - Dirt Boss is accidentally created when an Allspark fragment fuses a forklift with Henry Masterson's Headmaster unit. He is short-tempered, bossy, and has a small device in his forehead that he can send out to attach to other Transformers, giving him direct control over their motor functions.

Team Chaar

Team Chaar is an elite Decepticon strike force stationed on the alien planet Chaar.

• Strika (voiced by Tara Strong) - Strika is a large female Decepticon and the leader of Team Chaar. She transforms into a magenta and gold Cybertronian armored truck, and is based on the Beast Machines character of the same name.
• Oil Slick (voiced by Phil LaMarr) - Oil Slick uses chemical weapons such as acids, toxins and poisons, and specialises in vehicular combat (attacking a foe while they are in vehicle mode). He transforms into a black Cybertronian motorcycle, while the action figure depicts his Earth vehicle mode (which never appears in the series) as a green low-riding motorcycle decorated with a ram skull in place of the headlight.
• Spittor - Spittor transforms into an all-terrain walking vehicle that resembles a frog and the "mouth" of this form contains several tentacle-like cables and a foul-smelling, explosive slime. He is based on the Beast Wars character of the same name, a Predacon who transformed into a blue poison arrow frog.
• Cyclonus - Cyclonus is a skilled Decepticon warrior who wields two swords and transforms into a purple Cybertronian fighter jet.
• Blackout (voiced by Bumper Robinson) - Blackout is a colossal Decepticon with the ability to generate electromagnetic pulses by stomping the ground, which cause nearby machinery to deactivate. He transforms into a Cybertronian spaceship, and the action figure depicts his Earth vehicle mode (which never appears in the series) as a helicopter. If the planned fourth season was made, Blackout would have come to Earth and scanned this helicopter vehicle mode.

Starscream's Clone Army

Main article: Seekers (Transformers) § Transformers Animated

In the second season, Starscream creates several clones of himself using an Allspark fragment and blank Protoforms stolen from Yoketron's dojo during the war. Each clone's personality is an embodiment of one of the original Starscream's own personality traits. None of the clones are referred to by name in the series, the names below come from the toy-line, and the name "Slipstream" was retroactively given to the character by Hasbro.

• Skywarp (voiced by Tom Kenny) - Skywarp embodies Starscream's cowardice, and as such is terrified of everything around him. His color scheme is black, purple and silver.
• Thundercracker (voiced by Tom Kenny) - Thundercracker embodies Starscream's ego, and constantly brags about his superiority. His color scheme is blue, silver and red.
• Ramjet (voiced by Tom Kenny) - Ramjet embodies Starscream's dishonesty, and speaks entirely in lies. His color scheme is cream and burgundy. He later receives a helmet from Swindle.
• Sunstorm (voiced by Tom Kenny) - Sunstorm embodies Starscream's sycophancy, and constantly praises those around him, even his foes, for their actions. His color scheme is yellow, red and cream. He later receives a helmet from Swindle.
• Slipstream (voiced by Tara Strong) - Slipstream is a female Starscream clone with an aggressive and sarcastic personality, and has complete disdain towards the original Starscream. Her color scheme is purple, teal and silver.

Other Decepticons

• Swindle (voiced by Fred Willard) - Swindle is a greedy and manipulative arms dealer whose sole motivation is making a profit from valuable items he acquires, often resorting to theft and trickery to get what he wants. He transforms into a tan brown and purple military SUV, and is armed with a large arm-mounted cannon.
• Soundwave (voiced by Jeff Bennett) - Soundwave is an emotionless Decepticon who sees machines as superior to humans and desires for them to overthrow humanity as Earth's dominant race. Megatron creates Soundwave as a musical toy robot for Prof. Sumdac to give to Sari for her birthday, but this seemingly kind act had an ulterior motive: Megatron anticipates Sari would use her Allspark key on the robot until it upgrades into a new body for him. However, the Allspark energy instead makes Soundwave self-aware, and he develops the ability to control other machines with sound. In his fully upgraded form, Soundwave transforms into a blue SUV fitted with several subwoofers.
  • Laserbeak - Laserbeak is one of Soundwave's flying minions. He transforms from an electric guitar to a black and red robot resembling an eagle.
  • Ratbat - Ratbat is one of Soundwave's flying minions. He transforms from a keytar to a purple and black robot resembling a bat.

Other Cybertronians

• Sari Sumdac (voiced by Tara Strong) - Sari is the young adopted daughter of Prof. Isaac Sumdac, and a close friend and ally of Optimus Prime's team. She is curious, excitable and adventurous, but lacks social skills because of a sheltered upbringing. In the series' first two seasons, she believes herself to be human, but in the third season she discovers she is a techno-organic robot, created from a small Cybertronian Protoform scanning Professor Sumdac's DNA. When Sari first discovers the Autobot ship, the Allspark fills a security key she was wearing around her neck with some of its own energy, making the key able to control machinery and create Transformers. After discovering she is a robot, she uses the key's power on herself, upgrading her body into a teenage version of her former self with battle armor and an array of retractable weaponry.
• Lockdown (voiced by Lance Henriksen) - Lockdown is a ruthless bounty hunter who is aligned with neither the Autobots or Decepticons, but often aids the Decepticons in return for spare parts to upgrade himself. He trained in Cybertronian martial arts at Yoketron's dojo during the war, but betrays and murders Yoketron to steal the cache of Protoforms he was guarding. Lockdown transforms into a black, green and silver muscle car, and wields a vast arsenal of weaponry stolen from past victims. Lockdown commented that the Decepticons pay more than the Elite Guard.

Humans

Main Cast

• Professor Isaac Sumdac (Tom Kenny) - Father of Sari Sumdac. He is a good-natured but a bit of scatter-brained scientist who designs and tests robots at Sumdac Tower. He is incredibly slow on the uptake where Megatron is able to keep him satisfied with flimsy excuses, and when Bulkhead is ordering him around in a transparent attempt to keep him safe from Dirt Boss, even winking and explaining himself in private, Isaac still takes his cruel behavior as genuine. Fifty years ago, Isaac found Megatron after he crashed onto Earth. It is through studying Megatron that many of Sumdac's technologies are introduced. He is convinced by Megatron (who until now had been inactive and silent) to keep his existence from his "friends" (the Autobots) a secret until Megatron can get a new body built unaware of the true origins and motivations of the Decepticon leader. While he did not like that Megatron added the fire-breathing capability to the Dinobots without telling him about it first, he was sympathetic in understanding that Megatron was simply experimenting with the Earth technology in order to make a new body for himself. But when he learned about the Decepticon's true origins, he was horrified and began to regret what he was doing. Before the event with the Allspark, it can be inferred that Professor Sumdac was going to tell Sari that she was a robot. After the events of "Megatron Rising" Pt. 2, Megatron is holding Sumdac captive, forcing him to help construct a Space Bridge back to Cybertron. He is also coerced into creating a dampener system that prevents the Decepticon's energy signatures from being detected by the Autobots. In "Autoboot Camp" he transmits part of Megatron's conversation with Shockwave to the Autobots, alerting them to the presence of the double agent, though the transmission was too blurry to show a clear image of the spy. In "A Bridge Too Close" Pt. 2, Isaac had to use a Headmaster unit to cut off Starscream's head so he himself could destroy Megatron, though this ultimately fails. He is eventually rescued in the end. When Sari notices robotic circuitry in her arm, Isaac tells Sari that they need to talk, and in "Transwarped" it is revealed that he found Sari as a Cybertronian Protoform which patterned itself after him; his initial encounter with Sari is also responsible for causing the white streak in his hair. At first, Sari is initially furious with him for withholding the truth from her. However, when he protected her from the Headmaster, they were able to reconcile. Professor Sumdac has been stated on numerous occasions to be a "genius" when it comes to reverse-engineering technology, and this seems to hold true.
• Captain Fanzone (Jeff Bennett) - The Captain of the Detroit Police Department who dislikes new, advanced machines, including the Autobots in general. He is in charge of the Detroit police force. His on-duty vehicle is a yellow sports hatchback, which was scanned by Bumblebee for his Earth mode. One of the recurring themes of his character is the destruction of his hatchback in one episode (by the Dinobots in "Blast from the Past" and by Blitzwing in "Velocity") and its sudden reappearance a few episodes later - all in the same beat-up condition. In "Total Meltdown", he is shown to be in charge of deciding which tech the police department will use, and has had problems with both Prometheus Black's bio-tech and Isaac Sumdac's robots. In "Survival of the Fittest", he was forced to team up with Prowl (who Fanzone later respects) and Bulkhead at the time when they went to Dinobot Island to investigate a lead on Sari's kidnapping which was orchestrated by Meltdown. His catchphrase, usually uttered when a machine malfunctions on him, is, "This is why I hate machines!" Despite his dislike for machines he has a somewhat friendly working relationship with the Autobots. He officially aids the Autobots (and Sari) in protecting the city of Detroit, (directly or indirectly) as a law enforcer. He is usually on hand to arrest the various supercriminals defeated by the Autobots. He is one of few "friendly humans" to have regular contact with the Autobots, besides Sari and Prof. Sumdac. His most recent adventure with the Autobots has him accidentally transported to Cybertron, along with Ratchet in "This is Why I Hate Machines".

Human villains

• The Angry Archer (voiced by Jeff Bennett): - Aaron A. Archer is a Robin Hood-styled human villain who uses a bow and arrows (with the arrows being somewhat similar to Green Arrow's trick arrows) to commit crimes. He appeared briefly in "Home Is Where The Spark Is" robbing an armored car until he was captured by Optimus Prime and given to the authorities. He later appeared in "Garbage In, Garbage Out" briefly teaming up with Wreck-Gar, giving him his name in the process. He was a member of the Society of Ultimate Villainy in the episode of the same name.
• Nanosec (voiced by Brian Posehn) Appeared in the episode of same title. Nino Sexton is a petty crook who Megatron drafted to help him acquire Destronium to recreate his body. The reward was all the money from Dr. Sumdac's private account. He provided Sexton with Sumdac's experimental speed suit, which enables the user to speed-skate at blurring speeds. However, overuse of the suit's abilities results in Sexton's body displaying symptoms of old age (as if he was speeding through time). Only a recently upgraded Bumblebee (with Sari’s help) could match Nanosec's speed, tricking the crook into chasing after him until he completely aged to a weak old man. Captain Fanzone then took him into custody. In "S.U.V.: Society of Ultimate Villainy" his youth was restored by Slo-Mo (whom he expressed a romantic interest in) and joined the SUV. It was Nanosec who coined the groups name, after briefly considering "The Fast and The Villainous".
• Meltdown (voiced by Peter Stormare) - First appearing in the episode "Total Meltdown", Prometheus Black was a biotechnology engineer who attempts to replace robots on the Detroit police department with humans with bio-amplification tech, with Porter C. Powell supplying the test subjects. After Cyrus Rhodes went wild upon his attack on Bumblebee, Black's funding was cut by Powell for not even the prisons will lend him any more test subjects. He soon developed acidic powers after augmenting Bumblebee's hydraulic fluid with his steroids in his research to find a means to penetrate Cybertronium alloys, accidentally breathing in the vapors when the now-acidic liquid spills over his lab. He could melt through practically anything, while donning an anti-melting suit to control his abilities. With his new-found abilities, Meltdown attempted to kill Isaac Sumdac for his outdoing of him. Only by Ratchet containing him in a magnetic field was he stopped from assassinating Sumdac. He returned in "Survival of the Fittest" forcing the Dinobots to attack intruders while he was working on a way to create transforming humans. Attempts on adult subjects (including his own lawyer) failed, so he kidnapped Sari to use, both as a more successful subject and as part of his ongoing vendetta against her father. He was beaten after Fanzone tied an acid-proof blanket around his body. He is broken out of prison in "Black Friday" by the Dinobots under the orders of Blackarachnia, who wanted Meltdown to remove her organic half. Meltdown instead attempted to remove her technological half and use her in his experiments, but was stopped by Optimus Prime. In the struggle, Meltdown's acidic body made contact with his genetic modifier, which reduced him to a puddle while destroying the device itself. However, Meltdown eventually started regenerating himself.
  • Cyrus "the Colossus" Rhodes (voiced by Corey Burton) - A small old man with gray hair and former wrestler, he uses the biotech steroid pistons provided by Prometheus Black to stimulate the steroids injected in his body and grow in size and strength. Sharing the same ideology as Black, Cyrus first appeared in "Total Meltdown" to grapple with Bumblebee to show the superiority of Black's research. However, Cyrus went on a berserker rampage as a result before Prowl took out his steroid pistons. However, Meltdown rebuilt the pistons to withstand Cybertronium metal (of which Prowl's weapons are made off) and recruited Cyrus to prevent any interference as he went after Sumdac. But once it was revealed that loud sounds are his weakness, the Autobots used this to their advantage to defeat him. When Meltdown organized Sari's kidnapping, he had Cyrus guard Sari to the point where he was tricked in the bathroom. After being beaten up by the Dinobots along with the mutants, Cyrus is taken into custody. His name is a reference to the Colossus of Rhodes, while his abilities are similar to those of the DC Comics villain Bane.
  • Meltdown's Experiments - They are two hybrid creature that were created by Meltdown in order to make transforming humans. The bat-headed hybrid used to be Prometheus Black's lawyer. The sea creature hybrid (which had a shark-like head, octopus tentacles, and a crab claw) used to be Prometheus Black's stockbroker as revealed in the Autobot Almanac.
• Professor Princess (voiced by Kath Soucie) - A villain who appears during the episode "Sound and Fury". Her appearance is that of a young girl riding on a model horse called Powdered Sugar (who is similar to a My Little Pony doll), and she uses toy-themed weaponry. Her only motivation so far seems to be the destruction of violent toys and games. She was defeated by Bulkhead (whom she believed was a giant toy) who decapitated Powdered Sugar. She returned in "S.U.V. Society of Ultimate Villainy" as a member of the villainous group.
• Headmaster (voiced by Alexander Polinsky) - Henry Masterson is an ex-employee of Sumdac who was fired for his Headmaster exosuit being a potential war machine which Sumdac Systems doesn't make. He has an intelligent but arrogant personality, and has a habit of using netspeak. Masterson seems to enjoy the destruction he causes. Using Bulkhead's body, Headmaster held the city hostage to promote his invention by taking over the power plant. Though the day was saved, the Headmaster escaped when he activated his "back-up systems" and changed into a small robot (similar to the original Headmasters). He was later rehired by Porter C. Powell, with his criminal actions nulled, to spearhead Sumdac Systems' entry into the military weapons business, with Masterson taking Sentinel Prime's body for his experiment. After being caught by Optimis Prime and Sentinel Prime, Captain Fanzone was unable to arrest him due the various loopholes Powell pointed out like the ship that the fight occurred being property of Sumjac Systems and that Masterson can't be arrested for assault because aliens don't have rights. One of Masterson's Headmaster units was confiscated by Megatron to use on Bulkhead, but during the battle over Megatron's space bridge, Isaac Sumdac uses it to behead Starscream in a failed attempt to use his body. Following Isaac's return, Masterson and Porter were fired and Sari angrily "evicts" them both from Sumdac Tower using her energy blast power. He attempted revenge on the Sumdacs using his Headmaster on Starscream's body, but Optimus Prime was able to protect them, eventually egging Masterson into activating Starscream's transformation sequence, which severed the incompatible Headmaster unit. He was then arrested by Fanzone. His Headmaster unit later combined with a forklift and an Allspark fragment to become the Constructicon Dirt Boss.
• Master Disaster (voiced by Bill Fagerbakke) - A host and organizer of a pay per view television show named Speed Demon in the episode "Velocity". He invited racers to race in an underground racing circuit for his pirate broadcast and earned his money through the audiences. He possessed an Allspark fragment remote control that enabled him to control the cars to fix the races but solely used it to control a blue color racing car Bumblebee deemed "Blue Racer" to do his dirty work. During the scuffle between the Autobots and the Decepticons, Master Disaster was arrested by Captain Fanzone and his illegal racing ring was shut down.
• Slo-Mo (voiced by Tara Strong) - First appears in "S.U.V. Society of Ultimate Villainy". Her costume is Roaring Twenties-themed and she speaks with a Chicago accent that goes with that era. A former worker in a clock factory, She discovered a piece of the Allspark imbedded in a timepiece, which had the power to slow down and reverse time around anything and anyone she used it on. She gathered together the criminals of Detroit to form a crime syndicate. It was revealed at the time that she used her timepiece on Nanosec's speed-suit to restore him to his rightful age (on a related note, she does have an interest to him). After allying her group with Swindle, who wanted to use the Allspark fragment to power his new weapon, she was doublecrossed and lost her timepiece. She and her criminal allies then joined forces with Sari and Bumblebee to defeat Swindle. She was later arrested by Captain Fanzone when she and the other villains attempted to get away in a time-frozen Swindle.

Other humans

• Porter C. Powell (voiced by Bumper Robinson) - He is the Chairman of the Board of Directors at Sumdac Systems. He was first seen when he cut off Prometheus Black's experiment fundings. After Isaac Sumdac was abducted by Megatron, Porter had disapproval of Sari running the company in his absence. After he found no legal documents on Sari Sumdac, he ended up taking over as the CEO of Sumdac Systems as a result. Once CEO, Powell rehires Henry Masterson to use his Headmaster units to begin Sumdac Systems' entry into military weapons making. Porter even used loopholes to keep Masterson from being arrested. In "Garbage In, Garbage Out", he and Mayor Edsel get into an argument about the recent garbage crisis (since Porter won't repair the malfunctioning Trashbots until the mayor agrees to a renegotiated and more lucrative contract) which ends with Ratchet threatening to throw both of them into the river. In "SUV: Society of Ultimate Villainy," he had the name of Sumdac Tower changed to "Powell Tower". In "Black Friday", he is approached by Grimlock and Optimus Prime, who wanted Meltdown's genetic modifier. Initially refusing, Powell is convinced to give it to them after Grimlock attempts to eat him. He attempts to have the Autobots arrested for this, but Captain Fanzone refuses to do so. Following the return of Isaac Sumdac, he and Henry Masterson were fired and Sari angrily "evicts" them both from Sumdac Tower by hurling them into an awaiting elevator via a "shockwave of energy". However, as revealed in the "Human Error" 2-parter, Powell obtained full rights to Soundwave's original schematics while CEO, and mass-produced a massive toyline for Christmas with Sumdac legally powerless to stop it. However, due to Soundwave using the toys to control the minds of the citizens of Detroit, Powell is bankrupted when he has to refund every customer starting with Sumdac.
• Mayor Augustus Edsel - The Mayor of Detroit. He is first seen in "Transform and Roll Out" trapped in a train by Starscream. He returns in "Return of the Headmaster" at a town assembly, where he shakes hands with Optimus Prime and Sentinel Prime; Sentinel, however, quickly sprays his hand with a disinfectant after the handshake. In "Garbage In, Garbage Out", he and Porter C. Powell get into an argument about the recent garbage crisis which ends with Ratchet threatening to throw both of them (alongside Adias) in the river. His Aide appears to do all the speaking for him. The Mayor is named after the late Edsel Ford (son of Henry Ford) and his first name is revealed in The Allspark Almanac.
  • Miss Adrias (voiced by Tara Strong) - Adrias works as Mayor Edsel's press secretary and does the talking for him. Her name was revealed in The Allspark Almanac.
• Witwicky Family - The Witwicky Family made various cameos in this show.
  • Spike Witwicky (voiced by Corey Burton) - The husband of Carly and the father of Daniel.
  • Carly Witwicky (voiced by Tara Strong) - The wife of Spike and the mother of Daniel.
  • Daniel Witwicky (voiced by Tara Strong) - The son of Spike and Carly.
• Sparkplug (voiced by Bumper Robinson in "Nature Calls," David Kaye in "Sari, No One's Home," John Mariano in "Three's a Crowd") - He made cameos in this show as a construction worker. He is a homage to Sparkplug Witwicky from The Transformers.

Earth Robots

• Sparkplug (voiced by Frank Welker) - A robot dog that serves as Sari's pet. His name is an homage to Sparkplug Witwicky from G1.
• Tutor-Bot (voiced by Tom Kenny) - A robotic teacher that Isaac uses to educate Sari.
• News Bot (voiced by David Kaye in "Headmaster," Townsend Coleman in "Return of the Headmaster") - A reporter robot