Beast Wars/Characters

See the Beast Machines character sheet for the characters introduced in that series.

Optimus Primal
""Sometimes, crazy works."

-- Episode "Other Voices, part 2"."

"Voiced by: Gary Chalk"

"The Maximal Commander with an alt mode of a silverback gorilla. Like his namesake (and possible ancestor) Optimus Prime, Primal is brave, noble and wise. However, unlike the more idealized Prime, Primal has no background as a military leader and this makes him imperfect. He signed onto the Axalon to command an exploration mission, and his crew ended up in a fight with Megatron solely because they were the only ones in range. Thus he is a much more cerebral, pacifistic commander than Prime was, and he's frequently questioned and undermined by his men. However, though he makes mistakes and doesn't win every battle, no one ever questions that his heart is in the right place and ultimately he wins the loyalty of every bot under his command, many of whom he takes on a paternal role towards."

""Well, that's just prime.""
 * A Father to His Men: Most notably with Cheetor. The two of them take up a surprisingly nuanced father-son dynamic that lasts until the very end of both series.
 * Amplifier Artifact: 's spark.
 * Authority Equals Asskicking: He could maul his troops if he feels like it.
 * Badass: More understated than his predecessors, but every bit as tough when it counts.
 * Beware the Nice Ones
 * Catch Phrase: Used both straight and sarcastically.
 * Beware the Nice Ones
 * Catch Phrase: Used both straight and sarcastically.

"Rattrap:.
 * Amusingly mocked by Rattrap once when with:

"Sometimes, crazy works.""

""Sometimes, crazy works.""
 * A secondary one used when he's forced to resort to less-than-ideal plans.
 * The Chosen One: Despite not actually being a Prime, the Oracle chose him to represent the will of the Matrix in Beast Machines.
 * Death Is Cheap: Primal dies four times over the course of Beast Wars and Beast Machines.
 * Dual-Wielding
 * Everything's Better with Monkeys: His altmode is an ape. Close enough, though.
 * Expy: Of Optimus Prime.
 * Genius Bruiser: It's hard to remember, but Primal isn't a soldier, he's a scientist.
 * Turns out he started out as a soldier and became a scientist when he got sick of it.
 * The Good Captain
 * Considerably less in Beast Machines, as he turns more into an aloof religious fanatic, at least for a few episodes. The Allspark itself calls him on it and offers him a chance to correct his actions.
 * The Hero
 * : Four times:
 * Albeit unwillingly: in the first season finale. But he got better...
 * Primal dies twice in "Fallout", the first episode of the second season of Beast Machines. Both times he chooses to return to life and pursue his Oracle-given mission rather than join the Allspark.
 * The fourth, and definitive one, happens in Beast Machines: on the Grand Finale.
 * Ideal Hero: He attempts to be this. Though he often falls short, he eventually earns the respect and admiration of all under his command.
 * Indy Ploy: One of his favored tactics as noted by his secondary catch phrase.
 * Legacy Character: He's a descendant of Optimus Prime.
 * Look What I Can Do Now!:
 * At the beginning of Season 2, after his on a flying surfboard and with a small turret on his back.
 * At the beginning of Season 3, after his, he becomes a giant jet-tank-monkey-robot with a turret in his chest.
 * Martial Pacifist: Optimus would much rather be off exploring the universe than fighting a war.
 * Meaningful Echo:

"Megatron: Oh well, come on, let's have it! The usual "destiny and honor" speech...
 * The Messiah: In Beast Machines, he becomes more focused on the religious following-the-commands-from-on-high aspect of messianic duty than on the being-there-for-your-fellow-bots side of it..
 * More Dakka: As befitting a commander.
 * In his original appearance: Arm-mounted cannons? Check. Shoulder-mounted missile launchers? Check. Dual scimitars? Check.
 * Post-transmetal replaces the above with dual pistols, shoulder-mounted machine guns, and dual maces.
 * After, Prime surprisingly has less overall Dakka, but it got a lot bigger.
 * My Country, Right or Wrong: When he becomes increasingly dependent on the Oracle in Beast Machines.
 * Shut UP, Hannibal:

Optimus: Speech THIS! (face punch)"


 * Tank Goodness: After, as an alternate mode.
 * Team Dad: Especially with Cheetor with whom he forms a notable father-son dynamic that evolves throughout both series.
 * Took a Level In Jerkass: He became an aloof fanatic in Beast Machines; he gets over that phase after the first season.

Rattrap
""Eh, command's a pain in the tail, especially with this pack of hyenas. You can keep it!"

-- Episode "Chain of Command"."



"Voiced by: Scott McNeil"

"Ostensibly the team's second-in-command, a world-class spy, master marksman and demolitions expert with an alt. mode of a rat. Rattrap is a malcontent - self-centered, sarcastic, arrogant and dismissive to just about everyone on the crew (with the singular exception of his best buddy Rhinox), but he's also among the most capable members of the Maximals and though few can stand him when the series begins, they all ultimately come to depend and rely on him. Though he can be cowardly and lazy, he always steps up when he needs to and has proven to be a remarkably capable and decisive leader when Optimus is presumed dead or otherwise in disposed."

""We're all gonna die."
 * Anti-Hero: Begins the series as Type III but becomes Type II fairly early on.
 * Butt Monkey: For the first five episodes of Beast Machines, since he can't grasp the new transformation method. From the sixth episode on, Rattrap proves that he still has what it takes to contribute to the team.
 * Catch Phrase:

"Oh, maaan!"

"What in the name of gouda?"

"For booting up cold!""

""Shut up, Rattrap.""
 * Phrase Catcher:


 * Combat Pragmatist: "You fight with a rat, you better fight dirty!"
 * Deadpan Snarker: This show has a pretty witty cast so many of them fit this, but there are whole episodes where this is all Rattrap does.
 * Fake Defector: He does a temporary Face Heel Turn in one episode of each show.
 * In Beast Wars.
 * In Beast Machines, Cheetor, Blackarachnia and Nightscream.
 * Fantastic Racism: He makes it clear that he absolutely hates Predacons or Decepticons moreso than normal for a Maximal.
 * Fire-Forged Friends: Despite his sardonic personality, he ends up having this relationship with pretty much every Maximal that isn't Optimus or Rhinox. Especially Dinobot (see Vitriolic Best Buds below).
 * Gadgeteer Genius: Moreso during Beast Machines. His role in Beast Wars was that of a spy and sharpshooter.
 * Guile Hero
 * Having a Blast: He carries a number of surprisingly powerful demolition bombs with him at all times.
 * How Do I Shot Web?: He had some difficulties figuring out his transmetal body.
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He whines, he moans, he mocks, he groans. He openly voice his disdain regarding missions and is the most cowardly member of the Maximal crew, even moreso than the childish Cheetor. And yet, he is possibly Primal's most loyal cadet and, though reluctantly, always eventually accepts his missions. All of this adds up to Primal naming him 2nd in command, over the likes of Rhinox and Dinobot, in the episode "Chain of Command".
 * The Lancer: In Beast Wars
 * The Smart Guy: In Beast Machines
 * The Nicknamer: Including but not limited to: Chopperface (Dinobot), Fearless Leader/Boss Monkey (Optimus), Spots (Cheetor), Stripes (Tigatron), Legs (Blackarachnia), Bird-Dog (Silverbolt), Charlie Tuna (Depth Charge). It's got its own section in his Wikipedia page.
 * Non-Action Guy: In Beast Machines, he's stripped of all of his weapons upon being reformatted. He compensates it by designing handy gadgets and using the environment to his advantage.
 * Robo-Family: He made a throwaway reference to his "Great Aunt Arcee".
 * Rodents of Unusual Size
 * Sarcastic Devotee: Primal favors him for sidekick duties.
 * Slap Slap Kiss: With Botanica in Beast Machines.
 * Undying Loyalty: Despite his many personality flaws and constant complaints, he'd rather die than betray the other Maximals. He reacts violently to any perceived or potential betrayals on the team.
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: With Dinobot. At the beginning, they basically hate each other and hurl insults back and forth at basically every opportunity. By the second season, though, they have formed a grudging respect for one another, with their comments serving more as Witty Banter than actual malicious intent. This continues even after Dinobot's temporary betrayal and, most notably,.
 * This goes so far that in the planned (but sadly unaired) Season 3 episode "Dark Glass," Rattrap was the one who went against orders to
 * You Dirty Rat: Subverted. He's not evil, but the weaseliest member of the team.

Rhinox
""When a spark comes online, there is great joy. When it is extinguished, the universe weeps...""

- Episode "The Spark"

"Voiced by: Richard Newman"

"The Maximals' Science Officer, mechanic, and all-around Team Mom with an alt mod of a rhinoceros. Rhinox is brilliant, beloved and respected by pretty much all on the team, and could possibly make the best leader of the team if he wanted to. But he doesn't. Rhinox has no ambition to be anything more or less than what he is. Intensely spiritual, and with a greater understanding of the Matrix than anyone else, Rhinox would much prefer to relax in a tranquil garden than march off to war, and would rather bring up the rear then lead the charge. Though among the more powerful of the Maximals, Rhinox is quiet, unassuming and the one least likely to be seen in the battlefield, instead prefering to stay back at base, monitoring the situation from his computer, developing new technologies and taking care of the homefront."

"That is, unless his moral code is stripped away, unleashing his devastatingly brilliant mind on Maximals and Predacons alike. But that's another tale for another time..."

"Rhinox: while he's arguing with someone else] I'm in a bad mood. Understand?
 * Badass: He never got upgraded to a Transmetal and yet he was still easily one of the most powerful Cybertronians in the series. If anything, every Transmetal had to upgrade to his level.
 * Beware the Nice Ones: He's happy in peacetime, likes smelling flowers, and mostly stays off the battlefield, despite the fact that he could lead the Maximals if he wanted. But don't piss him off... Anyone who can punch Megatron in the face, pick him up like nothing, then throw him out of a starship, is someone you do NOT want to mess with. Dinobot also had to learn that the hard way:

Dinobot: [cowed] Uh-huh..."


 * Brilliant but Lazy: Rhinox has shown multiple times that he is a capable leader and a powerful warrior. Optimus has stated that he could lead the Maximals if he wanted, but Rhinox is perfectly happy smelling flowers and toiling with his gadgets.
 * When given a Predacon aggression boost, Megatron finds out the hard way just what all Rhinox's brains and brawns can do to when not restricted by any morality and given an ample dose of ambition.


 * Dual-Wielding
 * Gatling Good
 * Guns Akimbo
 * More Dakka: In the episode The Low Road, right before the infection, Rhinox is seen unloading at the Predacons with his epic chainguns, with a large amount of spent shell casings at his feet.

"Megatron: This has to be my most humiliating defeat ever, yeeesssss"
 * Fartillery: In one episode, after Taranatulas infects him with a virus, as a finisher.


 * Gadgeteer Genius: He manages to create a virtually impenetrable defense system for the Maximal base after they'd already crashed, in spite of there being no raw materials around.
 * Genius Bruiser: He may be the Big Guy but he's also the mechanic and science officer. For instance, take the episode where he, Rattrap, Cheetor, and Dinobot all get flash-blinded. Rhinox takes command of the quartet, and eventually helps them fight off a Predacon ambush using only his hearing.
 * Gentle Giant
 * Martial Pacifist
 * The Medic
 * Combat Medic
 * Mission Control: Whenever he's not on the field, he acts as this.
 * Real Men Wear Pink: One of his favorite hobbies is smelling flowers.
 * Redemption Demotion: When he gets brainwashed, he proves to be a more effective villain than most of the rest of the Predacons put together. Happens again when.
 * Rhinox Rampage
 * The Smart Guy
 * Super-Powered Evil Side: Not exactly superpowered, but when he's reprogrammed as a Predacon, he's one hell of a competent villain.
 * Sparkjacked And Crazy: Aside of, there's the episode "Dark Designs" where he's turned into a Predacon.
 * Team Mom

Cheetor
""Ultra gear!""

- Episode "The Web"



"Voiced by: Ian James Corlett"

"You won't find many other Tranformers who can keep up with the brash young optimist of Primal's crew. Being the youngest Maximal, Cheetor is sometimes a bit of a handful, always trying to prove himself or rush off into a situation before thinking. He means well in everything he does, though, and he always manages to land on his feet. Cheetor arguably underwent the greatest amount of character growth in the series, both physically and mentally, but through all of it he kept his optimism, his spunk, and his love of blasting Predacons."

"Optimus: "It's a good thing you didn't just blast ."
 * Butt Monkey: Unusual for this type of series, rather than the kid turning out to be able to save the day better than the grown-ups. Cheetor, early on, pretty much sucks and needs to get bailed out constantly.

Cheetor: "Well, I would've, except it was carrying one of Airazor's feathers."

Rattrap: "Besides... he missed."

Cheetor: "Yeah... that too.""

""Ultra Gear!"
 * Catch Phrase:

"Time to fade, heroes!"

"Jumpin' gyros!""


 * Character Development: His progression from Kid Appeal Character to The Lancer and eventually taking Optimus' place as the leader of the group is seen as being the most logical development from Beast Wars into Beast Machines. Even then, it has its hiccups, though - there are instances of him ranting against pretty much everything Optimus says or does even at times when it makes little sense to do so, to the point that you'd start to be reminded of a certain Decepticon.
 * The Chosen One: Expanded universe material reveals that he is one of the few transformers eligible to hold the Matrix of Leadership.
 * Dreaming of Things to Come: He has four strange, vaguely-precognitive dreams over the course of the series.
 * Expy: For Hot Rod. (Or Bumblebee)
 * The Face: Of the Tagalong Kid variety. The youngest and most optimistic of the group in Beast Wars he has no regular foil. In Beast Machines however, he switches to The Lancer and contrasts Optimus' religious mojo with secular thinking.
 * Fragile Speedster
 * Hopeless Suitor: To Blackarachnia.
 * How Do I Shot Web?: He had some difficulties figuring out his new bodies in both the season 2 premiere and the middle of the season 3. In the latter, it's so ridiculously overpowered it overloads his brain and briefly reduces him to a feral animal.
 * Jet Pack: He has one in both of his Transmetal forms.
 * Just a Kid
 * Kid Appeal Character: Was this up until his transformation into Transmetal 2 (aka Cyber-puberty).
 * Look What I Can Do Now!: He does this twice, but the second time is the important one, since he takes a level in badass while he's at it.
 * Panthera Awesome: Though technically speaking, cheetahs aren't panthera genus.
 * Tagalong Kid: He starts out as this.
 * Took a Level In Badass: Post Transmetal 2. In Beast Machines, he's promoted to The Lancer and is the leader when Optimus can't be one.
 * Undying Loyalty: To Optimus.
 * Whip It Good: As a Transmetal.
 * Wolverine Claws: As a Transmetal-2.
 * Youthful Freckles: He has some spots on his face in his earliest bot mode form that serve this function.

Dinobot
""I am a warrior. Let the battle be joined.""

- Episode "Code of Hero"

"Voiced by: Scott McNeil"

""Conflicted" is the best word to describe Dinobot. Once a loyal member of Megatron's crew, he turned against his leader and was betrayed by Megatron. Joining the Maximals shortly afterwards, Dinobot never hesitated to show his disdain for the Maximal life and views, and (for a time) wished to replace Optimus as leader. Despite his gruffness, Dinobot is a man of honor (Bushido, to be precise), and showed his power, skill, courage and determination to defeat the Predacons time and again."

""To defeat you in such a manner would be lacking in honor. I prefer to beat my opponents the old-fashioned way... brutally!""
 * Anti-Hero: Type IV with some moments of Type III.
 * Badass: Dinobot is pretty much able to take on any single Predacon in single combat short of being cheap-shotted by them. But in Code Of Hero, he shows he could take them all on.
 * Be All My Sins Remembered:, he explicitly tells the Maximals to NOT sugar coat his deeds if questioned.
 * The Big Guy
 * Blood Knight
 * Defector From Decadence: One of the definitive examples.
 * Even Evil Has Standards: Not technically evil, but he made it no secret that he would love to have Optimus's job, but refused to ever betray the big ape. However, after coming Back From the Dead, Optimus quite humorously mentions that Rattrap had moved all of his junk into Optimus's personal quarters after his supposed demise, a fact which even he finds appalling. (Enough to punch him square in the face)
 * Everything's Better with Dinosaurs: His beast mode is a raptor.
 * Everything's Better with Spinning: His raptor tail splits into two parts that spin to make a shield of some sorts; the segments of his sword also spin.
 * Eye Beams: His only built-in distance weaponry.
 * The Fatalist: He begins to think along these lines during Season 2, wondering whether a recorded future (such as the one in the Golden Disc) is immutable or not.
 * Guttural Growler
 * Heel Face Turn:.
 * Heel Face Revolving Door: Until which secured his place on the "face" side of the door forever.
 * Honor Before Reason: He considers betraying his code to be worse than death.
 * I Owe You My Life: The biggest reason he submitted to Optimus' command in the first place.
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold
 * Knight in Sour Armor
 * Let's Fight Like Gentlemen: His sense of honor, while a stark contrast to Silverbolt's (the most popular comparison would be bushido to chivalry, respectively), demands that he fight fairly in all his battles and to rebel against insane ambitions, even if it would garner him the upper hand to follow.
 * Manipulative Bastard: Not often, but he can be quite skilled at getting others to do what he wants in the right circumstances. In the episode "Equal Measures," he played Cheetor, Optimus, and Terrorsaur all like violins in a bid to destroy the Predacon base.
 * My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Despite his constant assertions of his Predacon honor, no other Predacon shown shares his code.
 * Proud Warrior Race Guy:
 * Manipulative Bastard: Not often, but he can be quite skilled at getting others to do what he wants in the right circumstances. In the episode "Equal Measures," he played Cheetor, Optimus, and Terrorsaur all like violins in a bid to destroy the Predacon base.
 * My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Despite his constant assertions of his Predacon honor, no other Predacon shown shares his code.
 * Proud Warrior Race Guy:

""""
 * Redemption Demotion: Averted hard after his Heel Face Turn.


 * Seppuku: He's seen strongly considering this in "Code Of Hero" to regain his honour after, but is ultimately unable to go through with it.
 * Shout-Out/To Shakespeare: He constantly quotes Shakespeare during his contemplative phase. The TF Wiki page for Dinobot captions pretty much every image with some kind of Shakespeare reference, including "Two households, both alike in dignity, in fair...wherever the hell we are."
 * Token Evil Teammate: Started out as this when he joined the Maximals, but mellowed out shortly.
 * Verbal Tic: A lot of his speech is punctuated by a deep, throaty growl.
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: With Rattrap. At the beginning, they basically hate each other and hurl insults back and forth at basically every opportunity. By the second season, though, they have formed a grudging respect for one another, with their comments serving more as Witty Banter than actual malicious intent. This continues even after Dinobot's temporary betrayal and, most notably, Ironically, each and every instance of this is an example of Scott McNeil arguing with himself.
 * Warrior Poet: Ideas of honor and pride strongly influence his fighting style. He quotes Shakespeare regularly in later episodes.
 * Warrior Poet: Ideas of honor and pride strongly influence his fighting style. He quotes Shakespeare regularly in later episodes.

Tigatron
""Remember, do not fight your beast instincts. Let them help your robot forms both in battle and in peace. But for now, let us maximize AND SLAG SOME BUTT!""

- Episode "Call of the Wild"

"Voiced by: Blu Mankuma"

"The first of the Axalon's protoforms to land planetside, Tigatron has no old life on Cybertron to return to (well, unless you count comic's retcons) and much prefers the beauty of nature, such that protecting it becomes his motivation to stay in the war. He prefers to work as a scout by himself - unless Airazor has other ideas."

""YOU. WILL. LEAVE. THE WILD. ALONE!""
 * An Ice Person: The majority of his weapons involve freezing the opposition.
 * Anguished Declaration of Love: To Airazor
 * Berserk Button: Harming nature is an easy way to get him angry.
 * Beware the Nice Ones: He's a hippie. A hippie with a BFG that has no compunctions about blasting your head off if you so much as torch a few trees. Just ask Inferno.


 * Big Brother Mentor: To Cheetor. Odd since he's technically younger than him.
 * Hot Skitty-On-Wailord Action: It was implied that he was in a relationship with a normal tiger.
 * Martial Pacifist: Does not like fighting, since it causes a lot of collatoral damage to nature and innocents.
 * Nature Hero: He identifies far more with his beast form than his robot heritage.
 * Official Couple: With Airazor.
 * Panthera Awesome
 * Ten-Minute Retirement: After a fight led to the death of the (female) tiger he got his altmode from, who he had grown... attached to.
 * The Stoic
 * Warrior Poet
 * Wide-Eyed Idealist: Had shades of this during his Ten-Minute Retirement. Dinobot and Inferno snapped him out of it though.
 * Wide-Eyed Idealist: Had shades of this during his Ten-Minute Retirement. Dinobot and Inferno snapped him out of it though.

Airazor
""She stoops to conquer!""

"Voiced by: Pauline Newstone"

""Born" out of one of the protoform pods jettisoned from the Axalon. Airazor's pod had been damaged in re-entry, and she was narrowly saved from spark failure by Rhinox and Cheetor, the latter of whom donated parts to keep her online."

"Always the first to remind Tigatron that sometimes you can be too alone, they end up spending a lot of time by themselves, away from the rest of the team..."

"Blackarachnia: Do Maximals always talk such slop?
 * The Ace: Shades of this, in large part due to being the best flyer the Maximals had at the time, or in the Beast Wars period.
 * Action Girl
 * Anguished Declaration of Love: Spirit if not the exact wording.
 * Big Badass Bird of Prey: Has a falcon as her beast mode.
 * Cool Big Sis: Due to the circumstances of her "birth" in which Cheetor donated parts to keep her damaged protoform online, she shares something of a sibling relationship with the young cat.
 * High-Speed Missile Dodge: Does this from time to time.
 * Official Couple: With Tigatron.
 * She's a Man In Japan: Canada-to-Japan version. Which makes the above tropes a wee bit more awkward.
 * Talk to the Fist: When she loses patience with Blackarachnia in the series one finale.
 * Talk to the Fist: When she loses patience with Blackarachnia in the series one finale.

Airazor: (face punch)

Rattrap: My sentiments exactly."

Silverbolt
""It's my duty, ma'am. As a Maximal and a heroic character.""



"Voiced by: Scott McNeil"


 * Beware the Nice Ones: Don't hurt Blackarachnia. Seriously, don't. Or he will become unhappy. Ask Tarantulas...
 * Butt Monkey: Y'know he has it bad when Waspinator is schooling him in battle... three different times. (The rare times that Silverbolt got the better of the insect were by pure accident.)
 * It's very striking, as Silverbolt was able to defeat Rampage despite being severely damaged.
 * Dating Blackarachnia
 * Expy: For Batman. The creators said that his behaviour in Beast Wars reminded them of Silver Age Batman, and that they made him more brooding and grim in Beast Machines to reflect the transition of Batman's character. Also, his relationship with Blackarachnia.
 * The Face: He stands out in the group by being a wolf/eagle chimera and he's even social with his enemies. One of them even Heel Face Turned because of his social chivalry.
 * Dogged Nice Guy
 * Heel Face Turn: Eh, sort of. After Silverbolt came on-line, Megatron got to his pod and took advantage of his naivety. Silverbolt felt increasingly uneasy about Predacon ideals before finally realizing where he really belonged.
 * Knight in Shining Armor: Well, technically the armor is feathered, but you get the idea. This is often Played for Laughs, due to the fact that he's surrounded by less idealistic characters.
 * Late Arrival Spoiler: By the time of Beast Machines you must know at least that he loved Blackarachnia.
 * Leitmotif: Knightly, heroic music accompanies him wherever he goes.
 * Love Makes You Crazy: Not only does he wind up openly assisting Blackarachnia in her schemes, but when Rattrap makes a fairly mild crack about the two of them Silverbolt tries to beat his head in. This from the guy who'd once declared that attacking your own teammates was totally unacceptable.
 * Love Makes You Dumb: His devotion to Blackarachnia made him do quite a few incredibly stupid things.
 * Minion with an F In Evil: He makes a really bad Predacon - not that he was trying to be.
 * Mix-and-Match Critters: Between a wolf and an eagle.
 * Official Couple: With Blackarachnia.
 * Sixth Ranger
 * Stupid Good: To the point where even his fellow Maximals wonder if his processor has a glitch.
 * And if you watch his debut episode it's suggested that it does.
 * Verbal Tic: In the Japanese Gag Dub, desu!
 * Wide-Eyed Idealist: Also Played for Laughs, usually.
 * Wife-Basher Basher
 * Wouldn't Hit a Girl: To the point where even the girl gets irritated. She shot him, and he somehow managed to rationalize it as a good thing. He wasn't quite as forgiving the second time, but she talked her way out of that. Worth It, though.

Depth Charge
""Gotta go. Protoform X is waiting and I don't want to dissapoint him.""

"Voiced by: David Sobolov"

"Once, Depth Charge was a sane and balanced Maximal. Then Rampage slaughtered Colony Omicron, where Depth Charge was chief security officer. The guilt-ridden DC spent four years hunting Rampage down, during which time Rampage managed to twist the knife even deeper by eating DC's friends at Starbase Rugby. When Rampage was apprehended, Charge demanded the Maximal council find a way to destroy his spark and was disgusted when they turned Rampage over to Primal's crew instead."

"He was unsurprised when Primal "screwed it up" by going after Megatron's ship, and set off in pursuit. Some kind of residual transwarp energy brought him to prehistoric Earth, where he took the form of a manta ray and resumed his hunt of Rampage, who was delighted to see his old "playmate" again."

""Raw energon! Right through your twisted spark! Take it! Take it straight to the pit, you SICKENING PIECE OF SLAG!""
 * Anti-Hero: Type IV or Type III on a good day.
 * Arch Enemy: Rampage. Its implied that this was Rampage's intention.
 * Badass: Can't be denied.
 * Deadpan Snarker
 * Determinator: He's out to kill someone presumed to be immortal. And before that, he spent four years hunting him and succeeded in capturing him.
 * Doomed Colony: Colony Omicron, which was destroyed by Rampage.
 * At one point, fans wondered just how Rampage could kill an entire colony by himself when six Maximals manage to fend him off or defeat him on a fairly regular basis. Word of God has it that Colony Omicron was a human colony, but they couldn't really make this clear in the show due to the implied level of violence.
 * Fallen Hero: According to Optimus, Depth Charge was once a model Maximal before Rampage's massacre of Omicron reduced him to a grim hunter.
 * Godzilla Threshold: Despite his frequent disagreements with Optimus, even he realizes how big a threat Megatron will be if he gets ahold of . When ordered by Optimus to stop him, complies without a single protest.
 * Good Is Not Nice: Though obsessed with Rampage, his better nature will eventually force him to aid the other Maximals when the time comes. He'll still be a jerk about it.
 * Ineffectual Loner: His sights are firmly on Rampage and whatever other goals the Maximals have mean little to him. As such, he's not too popular with his teammates and is usually on his own.
 * Pre-Mortem One-Liner/: When he kills


 * Revenge Before Reason: Rampage intentionally invoked this by slagging everyone near and dear to him. Revenge is literally all he has left. He'll blow off any order to hunt Rampage if the crab shows his face.
 * Roaring Rampage of Revenge: His crusade against Rampage.
 * Satellite Character: His personality is defined by his all-consuming hatred of Rampage. Granted, it's not like the monster left Depth Charge with anything else.
 * The Sixth Ranger
 * Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Fills the anti-hero spot left vacant by  several episodes before.

Tigerhawk
""Violence will not be tolerated. Surrender or be destroyed.""

"Voiced by: Blu Mankuma"


 * Biological Mashup: of
 * Blow You Away
 * Eleventh-Hour Ranger
 * Mix-and-Match Critters
 * Story-Breaker Power: In his short life, he proved to be the most powerful individual character by in the series by far.
 * Weather Control Machine: Tigerhawk is one.
 * Weather Control Machine: Tigerhawk is one.
 * Weather Control Machine: Tigerhawk is one.

Megatron
""Say goodbye to the universe, Maximals. The future has changed, Yessss. The Autobots, LOSE! Evil Triumphs! And YOU!!! YOU NO LONGER EXIST!!!""

- Episode "The Agenda, Part III".



"Voiced by: David Kaye"

"A smooth, calculating, Machiavellian mastermind, Megatron seeks to avenge the defeat of his ancient namesake and restore the Predacons to glory - with himself at the top of the pyramid, of course. Anyone who stands in his way or questions his method is to be eliminated regardless of faction."

"In Beast Machines, he actually takes over Cybertron almost single-handedly...and promptly abandons any concept of "Predacon" or "Maximal", instead taking his egomania to its natural conclusion: a Cybertron filled with sparkless, unfailingly obedient drones loyal only to him. He also develops serious problems with organic life, possibly because its life that isn't unfailing obeident drones loyal only to him."

""Treachery requires no mistakes.""
 * A God Am I: The entirety of Beast Machines consists of Megatron being this.
 * Assimilation Plot: His ultimate goal in Beast Machines.
 * Authority Equals Asskicking: He could maul his troops if he feels like it. According to the Manual, this is how Predacon leadership works. They value successful betrayals, believing that if the leader could not fend off the treachery, they obviously were not fit to lead. Thus, a successful leader must be able to kick-ass and take names.

""Welcome to the Predacons, Rampage! You shall be an honored member, so long as you never forget one important fact about your new life... Its. Mine. (Squeezes box). Welcome my new servant, Yesss.""
 * Badass: Often frighteningly so in the later seasons of Beast Wars. Just after "recruiting" Rampage (by quite literally cutting out a part of his heart/soul substitute and storing it in a collapseable box lined with energon blades), he states the following:

""The wise tyrant ensures his prisons are designed for his personal escape." (uses a code to open his cell)"
 * Bad Boss: Even more so than the other guys with his name. All of his (few) troops are expendable for him.
 * Big Bad
 * : His last word in Beast Machines. Poetic, given how many times he kept saying "Yess..".
 * : A few minutes before that, he gives one of these.
 * Body Backup Drive: In Beast Machines, Megatron goes through about four different bodies in a single episode. Throughout the entire series, he occupies his Beast Wars body, a big giant head, a tank Vehicon, a jet Vehicon, a random maintenance droid, and Optimus Primal's "Optimal Optimus" body (minus a beast mode).
 * Catch Phrase: He tended to add a drawn out "Yes" or "No" to the ends of his sentences. Qualifies as both a Big Yes and Verbal Tic, yeeessss. It's so popular, that even characters from both factions lampshaded it, yeeeesss!!! It even has a compilation video!!!, yeeess!!!
 * In Beast Machines, he doesn't say it nearly as often as he did in Beast Wars, but when he does, it's much more sinister and menacing.
 * The Chessmaster: To an impressive degree, towards his enemies and allies, especially towards Tarantulas. He actually incorporated several other character's plans into his own without their knowledge.
 * Dangerously Genre Savvy:

""Sometimes, Predacons gloat too much!""
 * He does, however, spend a little too much time gloating and laughing. He even lampshades it just before turning Rhinox back into a Maximal in 'Dark Designs'.


 * Elemental Powers: His Transmetal two body can alternate between fire and ice attacks.
 * Everything's Better with Dinosaurs
 * Evil Counterpart: To Optimus. See Amplifier Artifact for details.
 * Evil Gloating: Megatron likes to make sure his enemies know they've been beaten. This bites him in the ass more than once (he tries to "make the Maximals suffer" in the first episode, which gives them the opportunity to shoot them down too and thus start the Beast Wars, and later on he gives a gloating speech to a heavily damaged Dinobot, who uses the opportunity to make an improvised hammer and beat him down.)
 * Evil Is Hammy: Just watch the episode where he and Tarantulas try to out-Evil Laugh each other.
 * Evil Knockoff: He likes making evil knockoffs of Dinobot. Though Dinobot 2 was his greatest success, there were others, including one in the first season who couldn't transform out of beast mode, and a squad of Cyber Raptors in the third season. All of these knockoffs came to bad ends (with the real Dinobot actually  his evil clone in one case.)
 * Evil Plan: The ultimate one in Beast Wars being to restore the predacons to glory on Cybertron. The one in Beast Machines is a little diferent...
 * Evil Laugh
 * Evil Sounds Deep: Yeeeess...
 * Expy: For Megatron(duh). In-universe, this gets him sneered at by Ravage.
 * Fantastic Racism: At some point after returning to Cybertron, he acquired an intense hatred of all things organic.
 * Faux Affably Evil: He's charming, erudite, and eager to grind his enemies underneath his heel even if he has to sacrifice all of reality to do so.
 * Genius Bruiser: Seeing as he has a great big purple Tyrannosaurus Rex as his alt-mode, it's a given that he'd be a bruiser. He also appears to be one of the smartest Megatrons.
 * He Is The Queen: He is called Queen by Inferno, despite giving the latter repeated warnings to stop doing so.
 * Large Ham: He wouldn't be Megatron otherwise, though he's generally quieter in Beast Machines than he was back on Earth.
 * Large and In Charge: Generally played straight with him. However,
 * Legacy Character: He's a descendant of the original Megatron.
 * Look What I Can Do Now!: At one point, he's dropped into a lava pit by in an attempt to kill him. However, instead of dying, this actually makes him stronger and crazier than ever. This was because he also had the spark of his namesake inside him at the time.
 * Look What I Can Do Now!: At one point, he's dropped into a lava pit by in an attempt to kill him. However, instead of dying, this actually makes him stronger and crazier than ever. This was because he also had the spark of his namesake inside him at the time.

""Cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of war!""
 * Manipulative Bastard: Many of his greatest advantages were unwittingly supplied by his more treacherous underlings.
 * Near Villain Victory: Several times. For all of his intelligence and chessmastering, he just can't... win.
 * At the end of season one, he kills . This carries over to season 2 and he would've killed the rest of the Maximals had
 * In the Grand Finale, he  If not for  's Heel Face Turn and subsequent Redemption Equals Death moment, he would've won.
 * But his best one of all had to be in the season two finale: He's been captured by Ravage and, with some help from the Maximals. His troops are either incapacitated or pursuing their own agendas. To top it off Ravage has instructions from the Tripredacus Council to eliminate all the witnesses, and what does Megatron do?   Really, his only mistake was keeping   alive long enough to betray him.
 * In Beast Machines, he's is literally seconds away from
 * Obfuscating Stupidity: How he usually manipulates his more traitorous minions to his own ends. Acts completely unaware of their intentions, but slyly plays his own Batman Gambit. Usually pretty obvious to the viewers, but done very subtly in.
 * Omnicidal Maniac
 * One-Winged Angel / Amplifier Artifact: 's spark.
 * Our Dragons Are Different: His beast form in the second half of the third season of Beast Wars and the first season of Beast Machines.
 * : Gets within seconds of achieving this state. Twice.
 * Purple Is Powerful
 * Right-Hand-Cat: Variation - it's his actual hand. In his first and third bodies, his beast mode head becomes one of his arms, and he's seen treating his T-Rex head like one of these. There's also his rubber ducky, to a lesser extent.
 * Rollerblade Good: As a Transmetal
 * Shout-Out/To Shakespeare: Regarding a bunch of Dinobot clones:
 * Rollerblade Good: As a Transmetal
 * Shout-Out/To Shakespeare: Regarding a bunch of Dinobot clones:


 * Tyrannosaurus Rex
 * Our Dragons Are Different: His Transmetal II upgrade.
 * Verbal Tic: According to the franchise wiki, 166 bouts of that tic. Yeeeess...
 * We Have Reserves: He seems to value his troops' lives slightly less than a normal person does pocket lint and would probably kill them all in a second if they proved to be no longer useful. An impressive feat, since at no time does he have more than a handful or so Predacons, even if some are Made of Iron and being blown to bits is more of an inconvenience than anything else.

Scorponok
"Voiced by: Don Brown"

"Scorponok was the original second-in-command of the Predacons. He was the only Pred at the start to display full loyalty to Megatron, which in Megatron's eyes made up for his lack of real intelligence. His undying loyalty to Megatron meant that he would clash with Terrorsaur and Blackarachnia at times."


 * The Dragon: In defiance of typical Transformers dragons, he is utterly loyal to Megatron.
 * He also has some elements of The Brute.
 * Gadgeteer Genius Ditz: He was kind of an idiot and his speech would frequently degenerate into the monosyllabic, however he seemed to show some savant-like talents when it came to inventing. When they don't go horribly wrong.
 * Hulk Speak: Occasionally he'd slip into caveman talk, usually when he was excited or angry. In "Chain of Command" he proclaims "Megatron back! Megatron back! Scorponok alone with Tarantulas and Terrorsaur! Very bad!" after Megatron recovers from being knocked out by an alien probe.
 * Number Two: To Megatron during Season 1.
 * Scary Scorpions
 * Static Character
 * Undying Loyalty: His loyalty was his only consistent personality trait.
 * Yes-Man
 * Undying Loyalty: His loyalty was his only consistent personality trait.
 * Yes-Man

Tarantulas
""You shouldn't take your eyes off a spider. They tend to be venemous.""



"Voiced by: Alec Willows"

"Tarantulas is the kind of mad scientist who makes other mad scientists feel like they need a shower. He's taken to his beast form to the point where he likes to lay traps for wild animals and then suck the blood out of them while they're still alive (not onscreen, obviously, but still). His habits don't endear him to his teammates, who generally find him disturbing."

"Despite his perversions and general creepiness, Tarantulas is likely the smartest character in the show (in terms of raw intelligence, that is, Megatron probably has him beat in cunning) and is an invaluable member of the Predacons, despite Tarantulas not being remotely interested in their goals. While he seems to only be out for himself at first, we learn more of his agenda as the show progresses."


 * Arachnid Appearance and Attire
 * Bunny Ears Lawyer: Tarantulas is actively working against Megatron to advance his own nefarious agenda and makes no secret of it, however Megatron consistently spares him because Tarantulas' scientific knowledge exceeds even Megatron's own, and Megatron simply can't win this war without him.
 * The Chessmaster: Towards Megatron, the Maximals and the Predacons. Out-Gambitted several times by the former.
 * Characterization Marches On: The Tarantulas of the first half of season 1 is markedly different than the Tarantulas of the rest of series. Initially Scorponok was portrayed as more of the tech guy, while Terrorsaur was the Starscream substitute. Tarantulas' role was that of a ninja and his creepiness and gluttony were his most prominent characteristics. This is illustrated in the original toy specs which listed Tarantulas IQ as very low, lower even than Waspinator's. Eventually this changes - Scorponok is turned into an idiot valuable only to Megatron for his loyalty and firepower while Terrorsaur remains backstabbing but his competency is ratcheted way down, and Tarantulas sort of absorbed both those roles and became the brilliant scientist with secret agendas and murky loyalties. Whatever ninja skills became nonexistent, and the creepiness and gluttony is massively downplayed, especially in the case of his apparent cannibalism that exists in the third episode and then is never mentioned again.
 * Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: He's probably the least trusted character in the series for this reason alone, but his scientific know-how inevitably forces others to try and depend on him. It rarely ends up going well for them.
 * Enigmatic Minion: He once defected from Megatron's crew then offered his assistance against a greater threat in the same breath.
 * Evil Counterpart: To Rhinox. As well as Blackarachnia after her Heel Face Turn.
 * Evil Genius
 * Evil Laugh
 * For the Evulz: The reason for his dining habits. He doesn't actually need to eat, he just enjoys the suffering he inflicts on his prey as he slowly kills them.
 * Gadgeteer Genius: He made an entire lab and several little machines, such as a laser drone that forces a Mode Lock.
 * Giant Spider
 * Giggling Villain
 * I'm a Robotarian: He tried to devour Cheetor.
 * Insufferable Genius: Nobody likes or trusts Tarantulus, but his scientific knowledge makes him invaluable.
 * Macross Missile Massacre: His Transmetal form has at least four missile launchers in his shoulders, which he tends to fire all at once. Strangely, he stopped using them later: the episode where he died had him try to fend off his killers with guns in his shoulders (they fired like his old 'gun-legs' in his pre-Transmetal form).
 * The Mad Hatter: NOT Played for Laughs.
 * Mad Scientist
 * Manipulative Bastard
 * More Dakka: Pre-Transmetal, his spider legs acted as machine guns in robot mode.
 * Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant
 * Oh Crap: While, his face is a study in this trope.
 * Shot in the Ass: He has a somewhat disturbing habit of doing this to others with whatever new weapon he's conceived.
 * The Starscream: This seems to be the main reason for all the plans he doesn't tell Megatron about, and given that he has actually managed to acquire allies (who aren't Waspinator) Megatron sees him as more of a threat than Terrorsaur, enough to keep an eye on him when ever he shows signs of having one in the works.
 * Status Quo Is God: Thoroughly averted. Tarantulas alienates literally every other character in the series, and while it's somewhat implied that Megatron leaves him alive because of his utility, Tarantulas' betrayals get him exiled.
 * Villainous Glutton: Primarily in the first season, but Tarantulas loves to eat -- especially living creatures -- and his "snacking" is always used to highlight just how gross and terrifying he is. To say nothing of his explicit interest in eating other Cybertronians. The character profile in the DVD boxset actually focuses more on Tarantulas being a "twisted gourmand" than on his scheming side or his Mad Scientist side.
 * This aspect is a little bit of Early Installment Weirdness. By the end of the first season this aspect of him is pretty much gone, replaced by his Evil Genius and Chronic Backstabbing Disorder persona (see Characterization Marches On above)
 * Villainous Glutton: Primarily in the first season, but Tarantulas loves to eat -- especially living creatures -- and his "snacking" is always used to highlight just how gross and terrifying he is. To say nothing of his explicit interest in eating other Cybertronians. The character profile in the DVD boxset actually focuses more on Tarantulas being a "twisted gourmand" than on his scheming side or his Mad Scientist side.
 * This aspect is a little bit of Early Installment Weirdness. By the end of the first season this aspect of him is pretty much gone, replaced by his Evil Genius and Chronic Backstabbing Disorder persona (see Characterization Marches On above)

Terrorsaur
"Voiced by: Doug Parker"


 * Big Bad Wannabe: He was desperate to take control of the Predacons, but just didn't have what it took to do the job.
 * Butt Monkey: He rivaled Waspinator in being blown to pieces! Unlike the former, he at least managed to remain a genuine threat, if only due to having one of the biggest arsenals in show.
 * : In the beginning of the second season,
 * A bit of Real Life Writes the Plot there:.
 * Everything's Better with Dinosaurs
 * Expy: of Starscream. His success rate is about as good as the original's, although the original managed to stay second in command. On the upside, Terrorsaur at least realized that the treachery thing wasn't working and stopped.
 * Hoist by His Own Petard: Both times he manages to oust Megatron from command, his arrogance and lack of intelligence brings him back down. The second time convinced everyone he sucked, and he never tried again.
 * Ptero-Soarer
 * Red Eyes, Take Warning
 * The Starscream: He even almost sounds like him. Hell, he even succeeded once or twice, but couldn't control the troops or prevent Megatron from returning. Ironically, it was  who was
 * Took a Level In Badass: In one episode, he gains a raw energon booster and manages to open a can of serious whoop-ass on Megatron and almost does the same thing to Optimus Primal.
 * Walking Armoury: Try counting all of Terrorsaur's guns sometime.
 * Walking Armoury: Try counting all of Terrorsaur's guns sometime.

Waspinator
""Inferno blow up, Waspinator must salvage. Waspinator blow up, nobody salvage. Why universe hate Waspinator?""

"Voiced by: Scott McNeil"

"Waspinator's joint status as fate's chew toy and one of BW's most iconic characters came about completely by accident. The creators found his distinctive speech pattern annoying but had to include him for merchandising reasons, so they decided that he'd spend most of his screentime being blown to bits. The ensuing fan adoration saved him from joining Terrorsaur and Scorponok in death, although he might have preferred that to the two seasons of punishment and humiliation that followed."

"Waspy's own universe may hate him, but ours can't get enough of the guy. He ended up with the last line of BW, a (much, much scarier) TFA counterpart and, most recently, a place in the Transformers Hall of Fame. Waspinator...happy at last?"


 * Adaptational Badass: Inverted. In the toyline, Waspinator is described as a ruthless, highly competent and much-feared warrior to the Maximals. He got even more frightening when he got his Transmetal upgrade. The cartoon version of Waspinator... well, see the other tropes here.
 * Butt Monkey
 * The Chew Toy
 * Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Defeated Silverbolt three times. Waspinator actually has a pretty good aim, and has done things like shoot down Optimal Optimus as well as shooting Dinobot's rotating blade out of his hand. It's just that bad things happen to him first. And sometimes immediately after he shoots (the propeller blade disarm resulted in Dinobot landing on him, then jamming him into the barrel of Rampage's cannon).
 * Dark Chick: He sticks out of the rest of the Predacons due to becoming a comic relief character.

""I said NO!!!""
 * Everything's Worse with Bees: Subverted in that while he is a Predacon, his presence rarely makes the situation worse. It's usually a sign something funny (his destruction) is about to happen.
 * Glass Cannon: Despite his Butt Monkey status, Waspinator actually had a pretty high hit rate. He actually shot down Optimal Optimus at one point. It's just that people tend to blow him up before he gets the chance to fire.
 * Grand Theft Me: He got hijacked by the spark of G1 Starscream in a season 1 episode.
 * The Starscream: Became this literally.
 * Losing Your Head: He gets blown into pieces constantly.
 * The Nicknamer: Except for Megatron and Optimus, all the other characters have nicknames from him such as "ant-bot" (Inferno) and "two-face" (Quickstrike). Megatron got one in the penultimate episode.
 * Only Sane Man: Out of the Predacons.
 * They Killed Kenny
 * Third Person Person: With one exception:

Blackarachnia
""Even when I'm good, I'm still bad.""



"Voiced by: Venus Terzo"

"Hot. Poisonous. Deadly. Emphasis on that last one. Tarantulas may have picked her beast mode - and had, in Megatron's words, "ulterior motives" for doing so - but if he was expecting a lackey, he got exactly the opposite. Up there with Waspinator in terms of iconic Beast Era characters, B.A's legacy lives on in Animated (and Prime's Airachnid, arguably)."


 * Action Girl: Her decision to change sides was mainly out of pragmatism, but she gradually drops the 'dark' part anyway, without losing much competence. In Beast Machines, she's this from the beginning.
 * Arachnid Appearance and Attire
 * Badass Bookworm: She's cooked up more than a few nifty gadgets, she's well rounded in Cybertronian history, she's a serious player in the intrigue game, and despite her minimalistic physique, will kick your ass in hand-to-hand combat with her mad ninja skills.
 * Battle Couple: With Silverbolt.
 * Black Eyes of Evil: Her first body had solid black eyes.
 * Breakout Character: After playing a fairly supporting role in Seasons 1 and 2, she's suddenly the star of the show in Season 3 and half the episodes become about her.
 * Boobs of Steel: She's a female robot, she kicks ass and she has possibly the second roundest, most noticeable chest of any female Transformer in the entire franchise, just below Thunderblast.
 * Her Transmetal 2 toy incarnation caused a minor controversy because it had a piece that was molded like a bra that was removeable. Guess where it pegged into her chest?
 * Further controversy? The cast needed a model, so they went to a strip-club!
 * The Chick: In Beast Machines she's the only female on team until Botanica shows up. Also the final episodes of Beast Wars.
 * Dark Action Girl: She beats Dinobot to a pulp, kicks Inferno's red robotic behind in a three-minute awesome fight scene, and there's a whole episode devoted to her fighting a Transmetal 2 and nearly winning (which she surely would have if Rampage's spark weren't powering him). She's the toughest and most important female character in televised Transformers history to date.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Especially towards Silverbolt.
 * Distaff Counterpart: For Tarantulas.
 * Distaff Counterpart: For Tarantulas.


 * Femme Fatale
 * Gadgeteer Genius
 * Giant Spider
 * Heel Face Turn
 * High Heel Face Turn: Subverted actually. Dinobot switched sides long before her.
 * Kick Chick: If she's not firing her back mounted machine guns or her poison tipped pistol, she's kicking someone.
 * Late Arrival Spoiler: By the time of Beast Machines you must know at least that she loved Silverbolt.
 * Look What I Can Do Now!: The following episode after has her take on 1/2 the Predacon team (though one at a time) with a myriad of new powers and abilities.
 * Love Redeems: It had a fight on its hands, but it eventually won.
 * Manipulative Bastard: And how.
 * Mind Over Matter: She develops telekinesis in her Transmetal 2 body, cold-cocking Rampage out with a flying girder.
 * More Dakka: Pre-Transmetal, her spider legs acted as machine guns in robot mode.
 * Ms. Fixit
 * Official Couple: With Silverbolt.
 * Redemption Promotion: She gets an upgrade straight to Transmetal-2 a few episodes after changing sides, and single-handedly kicks Rampage's aft twice.
 * The Smurfette Principle: She's the only female Predacon throughout the entire series, (and the only female Maximal left after her Heel Face Turn) and the only female Transformer for the most part of the time, namely before Airazor's existence. This was carried over to Beast Machines until the second half of the second season, where she's joined by Strika in the Vehicon side and, near the end of the series, by Botanica, among the Maximals.
 * Tiny Girl to Silverbolt's Huge Guy.

Inferno
""BURN, MAXIMALS!!!""

"Voiced by: Jim Byrnes"

"It's not clear why Inferno is more defined by his beast mode than any other character (even Tigatron). Maybe the ant's collective-worshipping, drone-like mindset is just too strong for his sense of self. As far as Inferno is concerned, he is an ant, the Predacon base is his colony, and Megatron is his queen. And yes, that's what he calls Megatron. Constantly, and despite repeated warnings."

"""For the Royalty!"""
 * Ax Crazy: He is completely out of his mind.
 * Badass Boast: "Fool! Pain is my friend! Allow me to introduce you to it!"
 * Battle Butler
 * Co-Dragons: Essentially this with Scorponok for much of Season 1. He's the muscle, Scorponok's the Number Two.
 * Big Creepy-Crawlies: His beast mode is a fire ant.
 * Catch Phrase: Spouted off quite a few of his own, but the most iconic is probably:


 * Cloudcuckoolander: He's firmly convinced that he is an ant and Megatron is his Queen.


 * Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Despite being mostly crazed up and Laughably Evil, he's one of the most competent and dangerous Predacons.
 * The Dragon: To Megatron. This is a major departure in this trope in Transformers lore, where previous Dragons were typically The Starscream. Inferno may be insane and his devotion to his "queen" is hilarious, but his loyalty is unwavering and he's lethal in combat. His predecessor, Scorponok, was also like this.
 * Elite Mook: After the Transmetalisation of several other characters, he still manages to be pretty much the most trusted (and one of the most Badass) soldiers Megatron has.
 * Evil Counterpart: To Tigatron. Both were originally Maximal protoforms who identify with their beast modes more than their robot forms and use temperature-based weaponry, but they are polar opposites otherwise.
 * Evil Is Burning Hot
 * Fangs Are Evil
 * In Name Only: He's like an inversion of the original character. Predacon vs. Autobot. Fire-spewing flamethrower that incinerates everything vs. fire truck that puts fires out. Utterly insane vs. good. The only similarity is that both are red.
 * Large Ham
 * Laughing Mad: May double as The Hyena.
 * OOC Is Serious Business: Inferno is so freaked out by the condition of Transmutate's stasis pod and it giving off weird energy that he quickly contacts Megatron. The catch? He refers to Megatron by his actual name.
 * Psycho for Hire
 * Playing with Fire
 * Pyromaniac: He's not called "Inferno" for nothing. But again, he is a delicious inversion of the Generation 1 character with the same name, who was an Autobot, sane, and a fire truck.
 * Red Eyes, Take Warning
 * Slasher Smile
 * Yes-Man
 * Slasher Smile
 * Yes-Man

Quickstrike
""Call me... Quickstrike! And good's got nuthin' to do with it.""

"Voiced by: Colin Murdoch"


 * Agony Beam: Fired from his cobra mouth.
 * Arm Cannon
 * Ax Crazy
 * Badass Boast: "There is nothin' that crawls, walks, swims or flies that I'm afraid of!"
 * Beware My Stinger Tail: In beast mode, his cobra head fires lasers.
 * Blood Knight: Notably, he wasn't so much concerned with a fair fight as getting the chance to beat on someone to prove how tough he was.
 * The Brute: Personality-wise he fits the trope well but he is far from the toughest or strongest Predacon.
 * Card-Carrying Villain: As the above quote shows, he knows that he's far from good.


 * Cowboy
 * Dumb Muscle: He doesn't think much beyond the next "kiester" he's going to kick.
 * Evil Counterpart: To Silverbolt. Both are Mix-and-Match Critters with an unusual code of honour and regard for the ladies, though in his case it's an evil Cowboy as opposed to a Knight in Shining Armour.
 * Fearless Fool
 * Hair-Trigger Temper
 * Hot-Blooded
 * Mix and Match Critter: Between a scorpion and a cobra.
 * Psycho for Hire: He's ready to follow whoever gives him more opportunities to kill.
 * Red Eyes, Take Warning
 * Scary Scorpions
 * Sociopathic Soldier: Type 2.
 * Wouldn't Hit a Girl / Wife-Basher Basher: In his first apperances, he pretty much freaks out anytime someone attacks Blackarachnia...
 * Would Hit a Girl: ...but his charity towards her takes a complete 180 after she joins the Maximals; after that he revels whenever he gets the chance to try to destroy her.
 * Would Hit a Girl: ...but his charity towards her takes a complete 180 after she joins the Maximals; after that he revels whenever he gets the chance to try to destroy her.

Rampage / Protoform X
""Is that fear you're feeling, Maximal?""

"Voiced by: Campbell Lane"

"Rampage is the result of Maximal experiments intended to replicate the immortal, indestructible mutant spark that let Starscream survive as a ghost. While he's certainly nigh-unkillable, he's also a cannibalistic serial killer armed with a rocket launcher (who decided to give the experiment high-powered weapons, and who let him keep them after they dumped him in a prison pod?) He racked up a sizeable body count before Depth Charge finally caged him."

"Rampage is fully aware of what a nightmare his life is ("I regret everything, my sweet,"), but can't seem to think of a more constructive reaction than inflicting as much pain as possible on everyone around him."


 * Arch Enemy: To Depth Charge. Unlike the former, he seems to greatly enjoy this set-up.
 * Attack Its Weak Point: His gun barrel and treads in tank mode have both been exploited to take him down.
 * Ax Crazy
 * Badass
 * The Brute: Though subverted in that he's much more dangerous than The Dragon.
 * Break Them by Talking: He likes to do this while torturing his victims.
 * Cold-Blooded Torture: Anybody Rampage gets his claws on can only pray for a quick death.


 * Death Seeker: His final act implies this was part of his motivation.
 * Evil Laugh
 * Evil Tastes Good: He is genuinely quite happy causing mayhem and destruction. It only sucks when he thinks about how much he hates serving and being tortured by Megatron.
 * Expy Of Hannibal Lecter.
 * For the Evulz: He often ignores orders to relieve his boredom by inflicting horrific torture on any convenient victim.
 * Gatling Good: Meets rocket launcher.
 * Genius Bruiser: In a Hannibal Lecter sort of way.
 * Giant Enemy Crab
 * Gone Horribly Right: The Maximals' scientists wanted an immortal super-soldier. They got their wish.
 * Healing Factor / Nigh Invulnerable: Since he has an immortal spark based on Starscream's, he can't be killed by normal means.
 * I'm a Robotarian: Depth Charge had friends at Starbase Rugby, as he recalls. Tasty ones, too.
 * I'm Having Soul Pains: Megatron keeps him in check by jamming crystallized energon into the other half of his Spark until he submits to Megatron's orders. Rampage is only able to survive this because he's almost indestructible, but it's still incredibly painful.
 * Implacable Robot
 * Informed Ability: He is described as being brilliant, but he's never really shown using that intelligence to any extreme degree.
 * The Juggernaut: In his first appearance. It says a lot about how Nigh Invulnerable you are when Implacable Man is the result of Villain Decay.
 * Knight of Cerebus
 * Meaningful Name: "I'm called Rampage now! A bit obvious, but to the point, don't you think?"
 * Not Quite Dead: He was essentially "dead" in his first appearance before a nearby engergon explosion jostled him back to consciousness.
 * Pet the Dog:
 * Psycho for Hire: One of the reasons why he's so scary. Applied Phlebotinum version. Without Megatron's precaution, he'd likely have eaten him.
 * Serial Killer
 * Shout-Out: Averted. A reference to Hannibal Lecter's "Census Taker" was cut from the episode "Bad Spark".
 * Sixth Ranger
 * Slasher Movies: His introduction episode (Bad Spark) is almost a Slasher Episode.
 * Soul Jar: Megatron keeps half of Rampage's spark in torture device just so he can control him.
 * Spider Sense: He somehow sensed Depth Charge's impending arrival even before his Starhopper emerged from that anomaly.
 * Stealth Pun: He's a Predacon with an immortal spark and a crab altmode. When you think of him, you're thinking about the immortality of the crab.
 * Tank Goodness: Next to his huge crab mode he can also transform into a tank with a huge three-barreled canon. His toy-incarnation is one of the few Transformers toys with working treads.
 * Tank Goodness: Next to his huge crab mode he can also transform into a tank with a huge three-barreled canon. His toy-incarnation is one of the few Transformers toys with working treads.

Ravage
""I served under the original Megatron! You have his name, but not his army.""

"Voiced by: Lee Tockar"


 * Blasting It Out of Their Hands: Does it do the entire Maximal crew when he first arrives, then apologizes, saying he only did so to avoid any "unfortunate accidents".
 * Catch Phrase: "DECEPTICONS FOREVER!"
 * Expy: Averted. He also uses this trope against Beast Wars Megatron, explicitly mocking him for having the original's name but not his army.
 * Future Badass: Of a rather odd sort. He's technically from the future (so is everyone else, for that matter), yet at the same time is older than the entire main cast several times over. Played rather straight in that he's waaay more badass now than he was during the Great War.
 * Guest Star Party Member
 * Heel Face Mole
 * Lzherusskie: Given a Russian accent to keep up the spy/agent theme.
 * Mythology Gag: His ship bears some resemblance to Lazerbeak. He also transforms into his cassette form using the G1 transforming sound.
 * Older and Wiser: He survived the Great War. Back then, he was just a mostly-silent minion, almost an extension of Soundwave. Now... he's learned.
 * One Arc Wonder
 * Panthera Awesome
 * Stealth Expert: He can cloak himself. His ship also has the same ability.
 * Stealth Expert: He can cloak himself. His ship also has the same ability.

Dinobot II
""I AM the plan!""

"Voiced by: Scott McNeil"


 * Blood Knight: A fondness for battle is just about the only personality trait he shares with the original.
 * Cloning Blues: Averted. He knows he's not the original Dinobot and has no problem with that at all.
 * The Dragon: Becomes Megatron's Number Two and most lethal weapon after his creation. Nothing short of Rampage is a match for him.
 * Evil Knockoff: Megatron created him using a cocktail of Dinobot's DNA, half of Rampage's spark, and the Transmetal 2 driver.
 * Eye Beams: Only one eye this time, and it fires a pulse instead of a continuous beam, but it's much more powerful than the first Dinobot's eye beams.
 * Replacement Goldfish: Of Dinobot.
 * Sixth Ranger
 * Sociopathic Soldier: The original Dinobot was a Blood Knight with a sense of honor. This version is a Psycho for Hire with a steady job.
 * Undead: His skeletal beast mode definitely has this look to it.
 * Undead: His skeletal beast mode definitely has this look to it.

Transmutate
""Friend...good. Friend...dark.""

"Voiced by: Susan Blu"


 * Ill Girl: If you consider it female by what little gender-definition it has.
 * Make Me Wanna Shout
 * Morality Pet: For Rampage.
 * Morality Pet: For Rampage.

The Vok
"Voiced by: Blu Mankuma, Richard Newman"


 * All There in the Manual: Their origin story. (They're what happened to the Swarm from Generation 2 comics, after the Matrix purified them. Or what all life in the universe will evolve into. Both creators had different visions of what they were.)
 * Cosmic Horror
 * Energy Beings
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: Their intentions are to guide other species to a higher level, much like they did. Despite their... unusual methods, they are much more good-intentioned than certain other beings...
 * You Cannot Grasp the True Form: They claim this about themselves at first. It seems to have been dropped as the series progressed.
 * At one point they appear using A Form You Are Comfortable With, the only problem is that its the form of Unicron which has truly terrifying implications about just how much more powerful/bizarre they are than anything in Cybertronian experience.

The Tripredacus Council

 * All There in the Script: Their names: Ram Horn, Sea Clamp and Cicadacon.
 * These are, of course, the toys' names. The character models didn't come close to matching the toys (they were under a strict deadline), however, so Hasbro requested the names not be mentioned.
 * The Omniscient Council of Vagueness
 * Pragmatic Villainy: They declared Megatron a dangerous rogue and dispatch an agent to bring him in. They still want to take over Cybertron and start another Great War, but prefer to do so through patient planning that Megatron's actions threaten.

Snowstalker

 * Distressed Damsel: Her first episode had her and Tigatron being used as hostages by the Predacons. Her only other appearance led to her death.
 * Dropped a Bridge on Him / Back for the Dead: She came back just to be killed in an avalance on accident.
 * Kill the Cutie
 * Put on a Bus: Not seen again until the episode in which she died.
 * Sacrificial Lamb

Una and Chak
"Voiced by: Susan Blu (Una)"


 * Cheerful Child
 * Cool Big Sis: Una certainly views Blackarachnia this way. The spider herself seems greatly annoyed by this.
 * Little Miss Badass: Una takes apart Waspinator. In flight. Granted, everybody can do that, but she is no killer robot.
 * She also uses a lever (which Cheetor taught her) to purposefully knock heavy equipment on top of Tarantulas.
 * Never Work with Children or Animals: As Megatron finds out first hand.
 * The Unintelligible: Though by their last couple of appearances, they have learned to say a few actual words (such as Cheetor's name).