Editing Transformers (section)

==Main Guys==
As the series come and go, a certain bevy of characters seem to be archetypal to the Transformers. Not helped by the fact that, ever since the flop of ''Beast Machines'' and the riotous financial successes of the Bay, Hasbro seems to only ever stick with recycling Generation One, with some other characters jumping continuities. These are the Transformers who appear in some form or another in every iteration of the setting.

*'''Optimus Prime''': Leader of the Autobots, [[Lawful Good]] to the computer-core, the Big Red Hero-bot himself. There's always an Optimus leading the Autobots, and he usually turns into some kind of red truck or hauler.  His name is the Latin words for "best" and "first", and he really is both. In the original show (and in the Michael Bay movies -- one of the decent things about them -- and Transformers Prime and the Cybertron games), he was voiced by Peter Cullen, whose awesome deep voice you probably hear in your head whenever you read any of his dialogue.  Check it out: ''"Freedom is the right of all sentient beings."''  Also has the record of dying the most times out of anyone ever, making one wonder how the hell the GM lets him get away with it each time. Might be because he always goes out fighting, never like a punk.

*'''Megatron''': If there's an Optimus Prime, there's always a Megatron, the Evil (of some flavor, depending on the series) to his Lawful Good. Megsy remains pretty consistent throughout his appearances, usually varying only in what level of honor he has (which usually depends on his backstory; sometimes he started as a charismatic gladiator turned freedom fighter against the corrupt Cybertronian government -- [[Angron]], anyone? -- but sometimes he's just nuts) and/or how much of a cold-blooded psychopath he is.  He used to turn into a gun (which could inexplicably shrink down to be small enough to be wielded by another Decepticon or even the occasional ''human''), with the <s>barrel</s> scope giving him a wicked arm cannon in robot mode, but nowadays he usually turns into a tank or a jet.  He was first voiced by Frank Welker, whose versatile voice was also used for just about every other Decepticon except for Starscream (and probably at least one role in just about every cartoon made in the English-speaking world in the last half-century). David Kaye did a bang-up job voicing Predcacon Leader Megatron in Beast Wars, ''Yeeesss''.
**'''Galvatron''':Whenever there is a Megatron there is a Galvatron. He's everything you love about the M taken up to eleven. This guy is seriously bad news, he's probably insane and violent enough to give Doombreed pause and he's probably the strongest non-god transformer there is in G1 comics it takes a friggin' time vortex to finally put him down. After a dying Megatron found himself adrift in space, he had a lovely chat with the Cybertronian physical god Unicron, who reconstructed him into this indentity. Didn't work for long though; Galvy kind of went off the rails pretty quickly.

*'''Bumblebee''': The yellow kid-friendly one, he's usually the main one to interact with the resident token humans.  He usually turns into a compact or sports car depending on if they want to portray them as the cute kid or the young hero growing up. Can be surprisingly badass in some adaptations -- his ''Beast Wars'' counterpart, Cheetor, went on to basically take Optimus Primal's place as leader of the Maximals in ''Beast Machines''. In the Michael Bay movies, he became a mute who talks only in radio quotes/beeps and boops like a 60s robot which <s>just got ANNOYING</s> is kinda cool. His Prime Counterpart retained the mute quirk, but his voicebox was eventually repaired by the time of the sequel series. Then he starred in a prequel film which was so awesome, Hasbro decided to just reboot the Transformers film franchise. Way to go, little guy!

*'''Ironhide''': Optimus's number one in most storylines. He's typically an older bot, and a little hotheaded, always ready to bust some decepti-chops.  Usually transforms into a van or pickup of some kind. 

*'''Jazz''': His form is typically a very high end sports car, either a DP racecar or a European GT car.  Jazz is VERY into Earth culture, especially music.  His Soul Brother-tier cool attitude seems at odds with Optimus's lofty noble warrior schtick, but he's competent enough as a fighter to get away with doing everything with panache.

*'''Ratchet''': The Autobots' Medic. Usually some flavor of Kind yet Grumpy. Naturally his alt form is usually some kind of ambulance, often the same kind of van Ironhide is only painted white and red with emergency flashers bolted on. 

*'''Grimlock''': A fuckmothering [[AWESOME|robot Tyrannosaurus]] that usually breathes fire. He's the leader of a pack of other robot dinosaurs called the '''Dinobots'''.  He's not exactly smart (well sometimes, he's either a stupid beast or a no nonsense leader with a speech problem), but who cares about that?  HE'LL FUCKING EAT YOU. No seriously he once ripped Shockwave's arm off and ate it.

*'''Arcee''': The Girl Robot. Her form and role in the story can often be seen as a barometer to how women are treated in fiction. I.e.: G1 Arcee was mostly there to be pink and pretty, while ''Prime'' Arcee was more of a kickass Big Sister-type. Speaking of which, Arcees tend to have soft spots for young human males. Maybe they should change her name to Ara-Aracee. 

*'''Jetfire/Skyfire''': His most basic description is "Autobot flyer", and is often shown as being a friend to Starscream before one of them switched sides. His most defining legacy, however, is his character design -- The original ''Transformers'' line was taken primarily from two Japanese toylines; "Diaclone" and "Microchange". But they also grabbed other cool-looking transforming toys and threw them in. And the one they chose for Jetfire was none other than a VF-1S Valkryie with FAST Packs from the anime ''Super Dimension Fortress Macross'', a.k.a. ''[[Robotech]]''(you ''[[Battletech]]'' fans may recognize this as the Unseen basis for the ''Phoenix Hawk'' BattleMech). Naturally, when the time came for the cartoon, the Japanese toymakers didn't want to feature a design from a rival toy company, so they changed the name to "Skyfire" and altered his design to get around copyrights. But since then, 90% of all following Jetfire toys, even though they're all original, tend to have attachments like the Macross FAST Packs. 

*'''Windblade''': Another prominent Autobot Flyer, after Jetfire and the Aerialbots. Another rare female Autobot, she debuted in the IDW comics, and has appeared fairly steadily in toylines and cartoons since, usually with no deviation from her original design. 

*'''Sentinel Prime''': Typically the former leader of the Autobots before Optimus. Needless to say, he didn't do a good job of it, thus the "former" part. Often portrayed, especially recently, as arrogant, condescending, and/or a jackass. 

*'''Omega Supreme''': The Autobots' Bigger Beat-Stick. He is typically depicted as having an arm cannon on one arm, and a claw (usually with another cannon) on the other arm. His alt forms are typically a large space transport, and is usually used by the Autobots for that purpose. Because of his size and power, writers are constantly sidelining him in order to maintain the Decepticons' threat, or taking him out of action early to establish their present threat. 

*'''Hot Rod/Rodimus(Prime)''': A brash and hotheaded young Autobot who, in G1, became Rodimus Prime and took over command of the Autobots after Optimus Prime died. Since he wasn't that popular, later series' tend to switch off between keeping him as Hot Rod, or making Rodimus a secondary leader, typically off somewhere else. 

*'''Starscream''': Megatron's loud-mouthed, whiny, scheming, sneaky, backstabbing second-in-command who always wants to lead the Decepticons. He is neither strong enough to bump Megsy off, [[Sindri Myr|smart enough to trick him to his death]], or [[Eliphas|charismatic enough to persuade others he's a better boss]]; and to boot, he knows if Megatron can't beat Optimus he sure as hell can't either, so he's basically looking for any chance to get Megatron to die killing Optimus... so he can take over.  Sometimes Megatron himself wonders why he keeps Starscream around, but (when the writers remember) he is actually an extremely competent air commander who leads The '''Seekers''', Decepticons who are typically recolors of him with the most prominent being '''Skywarp'''(black and purple) and '''Thundercracker'''(blue and red). In Animated, the Seekers were replaced by actual clones all named after classic Seekers with the only one original to the series being [[Rule 63]]. Starscream usually turns into the latest and greatest fighter jet (unless he's turning into some Cybertronian future-jet) historically an F-15, F-16, or F-22.  In the original cartoon, his catchphrase (delivered in the classic 80s-villain screech as his first voice actor also voiced the similarly screechy Cobra Commander in G.I. Joe) was probably ''"Decepticons, RETREEEAT!"''  Was also voiced by fucking Tom ''"Spongebob Squarepants"'' Kenny in Animated; man, is that a blow to your dignity.  Nowadays, though, he's more consistently competent (and given a more menacing voice by [[Steve Blum]] in Transformers Prime). Is such a total backstabbing traitor that "The Starscream" has entered pop-culture as a term to describe someone who seems more dedicated to fucking his own team over in ostensible pursuit of power than to actually beating the guys he's supposed to fight.

*'''Soundwave''': A major character for the Decepticons as Megatron's legitimately loyal number two.  Is also the biggest source of nostalgia because he turns into a fucking tapedeck. <strike>Even though he lacks a personality</strike>'''SOUNDWAVE SUPERIOR; PAGE WRITER INFERIOR''', he manages to be awesome merely through dogged determination and because he's the one guy who'll never give anyone any bullshit. He has a number of minions who turn into cassettes (or goddamn guitars in Animated's case), but the main ones are '''Rumble''' (Whose arms turn into piledrivers so he can cause earthquakes), '''Frenzy''' (Who has a sonic scream), '''Ravage''' (A fucking robot jaguar who turns into a cassette), '''Laserbeak''' and '''Buzzsaw''' (robot birds), and '''Ratbat''' (a robot bat). The IDW comic gave him an origin about how he used to be homeless due to his mind reading powers until Laserbeak and Ravage found him and helped him control them. In the Marvel G1 comics he acted as toady to whichever Decepticon had usurped Megatron that month while steadily scheming to increase his own power, making him like Starscream but actually competent. He also spoke in complete sentences and had a functioning mouth.

*'''Shockwave''': The real mad scientist of the Decepticons, whose arm is a gun and also turned into a gun in G1 (a giant flying gun)(Modern incarnations either turn him into a tank like Megatron, or a flying vehicle with a huge gun stuck on the front).  While he's also pretty loyal to Megatron, he's nowhere near Soundwave levels because his true loyalty is to pure logic. The three watchwords for him are Brilliant, Competent, and Utterly Amoral. There are several times where he became a bigger threat than Megatron, requiring both Autobots and Decepticons to stop him. Most series have him involved with the Dinobots, either by creating them, or just they have major beef with him (he doesn't give a shit as he has better things to do).  He's another guy who happened to be blessed by [[Steve Blum]] in the Cybertron series.  The IDW comics gave him an origin about how he used to be an idealistic Noblebright senator (and Optimus' BFF) until he got unpersoned and mutilated by the corrupt Cybertronian government. Ouch. His Prime adaptation is fucking badass and intimidating, both in voice work and design, but unfortunately he suffers from Villain Incompetence Syndrome whenever the good guys show up, like so many other good bad guys.

*'''Unicron''': Unicron was originally introduced as the big bad for the '86 movie, a planet-sized, planet-eating bringer of doom (basically, if Galactus was the Death Star), voiced by ''the'' Orson Welles in his last role. The third season episode "Call of the Primitives" revealed his original, long since abandoned, origin as a planet-destroying creation of an alien mad scientist. Later media, beginning with the Marvel comics, changed his origin to Transformers' Satan, a god-like destroyer tricked into trapping himself inside a planet, but learned how to possess the world and reshape it into his own image. That fucking anime trilogy not only pulled this interpretation back, but made it "official", saying there's only one Unicron in the entire multiverse - at least, they tried. The comics pay more attention to it, but the shows tend to avoid it; witness Prime, where Unicron is actually sleeping at the heart of Earth instead of running around eating planets.

*'''Primus''': The Emprah to Unicron's Chaos God, except he's an actual god... who actually transformed into a planet and fell asleep for a fuckton of years. In this form, he became Cybertron and created the Cybertronian race. Like his evil counterpart, Unicron, he hails from the 80's comics and didn't make an appearance on screen (other than references to a pseudo-Bible named the "Covenant of Primus" in ''Beast Wars'') until the Energon Trilogy, which is where he's stayed.