List of characters in Transformers: Prime

The following is a list of characters who are featured in The Hub's original computer-animated television series, Transformers: Prime.

Autobots

• Optimus Prime (voiced by Peter Cullen^[1]) - The stalwart leader of the Autobots. Originally known as Orion Pax, Optimus transforms into a long nose red and blue semi-trailer truck similar to what he transformed into in the Michael Bay live-action films. Optimus Prime has a human-looking mouth, as he did in Transformers: Cybertron, Animated and Michael Bay's films, unlike the smooth face plate in the original series; Optimus deploys the face plate over his mouth during battle. As told in Alex Irvine's Transformers: Exodus novel (which is set in the same franchise and continuity as Transformers: Prime), Optimus was once associated with Megatron.^[2] When it came to the awakening of Unicron, Optimus Prime uses the Matrix of Leadership's power to deactivate Unicron which also cost Optimus Prime his memories which caused him to think that he is Orion Pax again. Megatron takes the opportunity to have Optimus Prime to retreat back to the Decepticon ship.

• Arcee (voiced by Sumalee Montano^[1]) - A female Autobot that transforms into a motorcycle, like in most modern incarnations of Arcee. Although Arcee was originally pink in the original franchise and other various television incarnations of Transformers, Arcee's color scheme was changed to blue. This change resembles the character Chromia, another female Autobot. Arcee is the smallest and most agile of the Autobot team. She was traumatized by the female spider-like Decepticon Airachnid who killed her partner Tailgate, and is gravely affected by the later death of her next partner Cliffjumper. She is assigned to be Jack Darby's Autobot guardian, and convinces him to rejoin Team Prime when he wants out. Arcee later had another encounter with an Ex-Decepticon, Airachnid when she arrives on Earth. After a long battle, Arcee was able to defeat Airachnid, but Airachnid escaped, again. She is the only character to appear in all episodes.

• Bumblebee - Transforms into a yellow Chevrolet Camaro similar to the live-action films, except with a shaker hood. As in the films, Bumblebee communicates through electronic sound effects rather than specific human languages. He is partnered with Raf Esquivel, who appears to be the only human able to understand him. It is revealed in "Out of His Head" that Bumblebee drives Raf to school everyday. The reason how he lost his voice will be revealed in Season 2 of Transformers: Prime,^[3] although "Darkness Rising, Part 1" writer, Duane Capizzi said the reason will be the same reason, as told in Transformers: Exodus.^[4]

• Bulkhead (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson^[1]) - Transforms into a giant green ATV pickup. He is partnered with Miko Nakadai and acts as her protector (which is a good thing considering her adventurousness & reckless personality). He also has shown a dislike "jerks" like Agent Fowler and Vince, and was content to leave them to their doom. Like Ratchet, Bulkhead's appearance is similar to the Transformers Animated character, though his personality is slightly different. Like his Animated self, his appearance is highly inspired by the Marvel Comics character, The Thing. Bulkhead has a habit of breaking things (he usually breaks Ratchet's needed items), as he is very clumsy. Bulkhead left the Wreckers in order to join Optimus Prime on his journey to leave Cybertron.

• Ratchet (voiced by Jeffrey Combs^[1][5]) - The Autobots' team medic, he transforms into a white and red hybrid ambulance. His appearance and attitude is similar to his Transformers Animated character. A running gag is Ratchet yelling "I needed that!" since his needed items are often broken. He appears to be second in command of the Autobots on earth, as he often leads them when Optimus isn't around, and Optimus himself opens up to Ratchet first upon the death of Megatron.

• Wheeljack (voiced by James Horan^[6]) - Bulkhead's best friend from Cybertron, and a master swordsman. Wheeljack's appearance is similar to his Generation 1 counterpart, even more so when he deploys a face plate over his mouth in battle like Optimus. In "Con Job" he is captured by Starscream, but managed to escape and help defeat Makeshift, a Decepticon spy who pretended to be him. Wheeljack's nickname is Jackie. He was offered a spot on Team Prime, but didn't take it because he wanted to see more of the galaxy and find any other surviving Autobots. Wheeljack is scheduled to return in later episodes.^[6]

• Cliffjumper (voiced by Dwayne Johnson) - Transforms into a red Dodge Challenger decorated with bull horns on the hood. He is killed by Starscream in the first episode upon his capture. His body was used in testing Dark Energon in the second episode where it was sliced in half by Megatron. His zombified appearance was found barely alive by Arcee before it was caught in the explosion of one of the Decepticons' hideouts in the same episode. Cliffjumper will only appear in flashbacks from now on according to an interview about the upcoming episodes.^[7] Since Cliffjumper will now only appear in flashbacks, Dwayne Johnson might return to voice Cliffjumper in the flashbacks.^[8] Cliffjumper has currently appeared in only one flashback, with Johnson not voicing him.

• Tailgate (voiced by Josh Keaton) - Tailgate was a member of the Delta Team, and Arcee's original partner back on Cybertron. During Airachnid's interrogation on Arcee, Tailgate was killed by Airachnid in front of Arcee traumatizing her.

Decepticons

• Megatron (voiced by Frank Welker^[1]) - Megatron is the leader of the Decepticons, and he transforms into a Cybertronian jet, that is similar to Megatron's alternate mode in Michael Bay's first live-action Transformers film. Originally naming himself Megatronus after one of the Thirteen Primes, he believes that Earth-style forms are beneath him and attempts to utilize the Dark Energon he acquired from his time in space to end the war with the Autobots in his favor. Megatron is far less tolerant of Starscream's treachery, purposely making Starscream beg for his life while he simply watched, and left Breakdown to die by MECH's hands for being captured by humans, although he is furious when he learns that Starscream has been captured by the Autobots. As told in Alex Irvine's Transformers: Exodus novel (which is set in the same franchise and continuity as Transformers: Prime), Megatron was once associated with Optimus Prime.^[2] He was as close as brothers to Optimus, in which they fought side-by-side. This lasted for a while, until Megatron's ideals were corrupted by the war, turning him into an evil tyrant. When Optimus Prime used the Matrix of Leadership's power to deactivate Unicron, it caused Optimus Prime to lose his memory before his was transformed from Orion Pax. Megatron takes the opportunity by telling Optimus Prime to retreat to the Decepticon ship.

• Starscream (voiced by Steven Blum^[1][9]) - Transforms into a silver-gray F-16 Fighting Falcon-like fighter. Unlike most of his persona and like Transformers: Energon and the live-action films, Starscream shows respect for his commander, but waits for a chance to kill Megatron and take over leadership of the Decepticons. Starscream assumes command of the Decepticons following Megatron's supposed demise in "Darkness Rising, Part 5", but he finds Megatron's barely living body in space. Starscream rips the shard of Dark Energon keeping his former leader alive to kill him, but Soundwave appears, forcing Starscream to rush Megatron to sick bay. Megatron eventually returns and punishes Starscream severely for his assassination attempt. When Starscream pretends to want to defect to the Autobot side, it was learned by Arcee that Starscream killed Cliffjumper though Starscream claimed that Cliffjumper wasn't well and asked Starscream to put him out of his misery. Starscream leaves Megatron's command as an independent. Starscream has announced to have been always scientifically curious. A notable feature about this incarnation of Starscream is that his Decepticon insignia is red rather than the standard purple, mimicking the Shattered Glass scheme, and is the only Decepticon shown to have this color insignia.^[10] Starscream is scheduled to return sometime in the second season.

• Soundwave- Transforms into a blue MQ-9 Reaper-type aircraft. His arms become the wings, resulting in them being very thin. According to his bio, he can use "deployers" that come out from his chest (one of which looks similar to one of his Generation 1 cassettes Ratbat, though named Laserbeak by producers) along with mechanical tentacles (used to hack or input information). He is loyal to Megatron and distrusts Starscream (though he pretends to aid Starscream and follows his commands), saving Megatron from Starscream on several occasions. Soundwave can speak, but he just doesn't choose to. Instead, he plays recorded information. In "One Shall Stand" Pt. 3, Soundwave objects to Airachnid's plans to carry on the Decepticon campaign without Megatron and manages to defeat Airachnid in combat. It has been said that Soundwave will speak at some point in the second season.
  • Laserbeak - A minion of Soundwave that deploys from his chest; differently from other versions, he is no longer a tape but an actual chestpiece. Laserbeak first appeared in the series in "Darkness Rising, Part 3" where he attacks Agent Fowler. Laserbeak later appeared for a second time in "Masters and Students" as Soundwave sends him out to follow a untrusted Starscream, as he goes to the location of a signal possibly sent by Megatron (who was assumed dead). Soundwave later used Laserbeak to help in putting Airachnid back in place by shooting at her.

• Knock Out (voiced by Daran Norris^[1][11]) - The Decepticons' egomaniacal medic. He and Breakdown were called in by Starscream in a plot to steal an Energon Harvester. Despite being a medic, he admits he is better at breaking than fixing when Starscream called him in to help with Megatron's recovery. Starscream offered him the second-in-command post if he convinced Soundwave to let them deactivate Megatron, to which Knock Out tried to do but failed because of Autobot interference. Knock Out is fastidious with his body, as he once forced a driver off the road after he scratched his paint job, insulted Optimus after he ripped off his door, and attempted to decapitate Bulkhead after painting symbols on his body. His robot mode appearance is reminiscent of Beast Wars Terrorsaur. He transforms into a red sports car, a custom aftermarket Aston Martin DBS V12.

• Breakdown (voiced by Adam Baldwin^[1]) - Knock Out's brutish assistant. Both Knock Out and himself were called in by Starscream to repair the heavily damaged Megatron and steal a Energon Harvester in Greece, he also shares a history with Bulkhead. His appearance may bear a strong resemblance to the DC Comics character Bane. After the events of "Operation Breakdown", in which Breakdown's right eye was removed by M.E.C.H. as they attempted to dismantle him, he now wears an eye patch. He attempts to redeem himself in "Metal Attraction", and instead of capturing the polarity gauntlet, is magnetised to Airachnid, whom he later becomes intrigued by. He transforms into a blue monster armored truck/van equipped with a missile launcher turret.

• Airachnid^[12] (voiced by Gina Torres^[13]) - A twisted, spider-like Decepticon who traumatized Arcee by killing her partner Tailgate in front of her very eyes. An homage to Blackarachnia. She left the Decepticons and became a collector of trophies from the heads of various species, and became stranded on Earth after an encounter with Arcee and Jack. She later collaborated with Silas and M.E.C.H. in a plot to take revenge on Arcee and Jack by using Jack's mother June as bait. She scanned a helicopter alternate mode in order to escape from Agent Fowler. Upon being forced to rejoin Megatron after being inadvertently captured by Breakdown, she quickly found herself in Megatron's favor for her intelligence and skill, and conspired to discredit Starscream. In the 3-part season final "One Shall Rise", Airachnid believes Megatron has abandoned them (and possibly been driven insane by his Dark Energon shard), and suggests they may need to consider in continuing on without him. Airachnid claims to the other Decepticons present that they have had to prepare an exodus, much to the objection of Soundwave who manages to defeat Airachnid. Her "beast mode" is actually her second robot mode in which the rotors can be unfolded and extended to be used as spider limbs for crawling.

• Skyquake (voiced by Richard Green) - A Decepticon that was entombed in stasis on Earth until released by Starscream. He is loyal to Megatron even though Starscream claims that Megatron is "dead." He transforms into an F-35 Lightning II-like fighter when Skyquake scanned agent Agent Fowler's fighter while fighting Optimus Prime and Bumblebee. He was shot down by Optimus Prime and Agent Fowler. Skyquake returns in "Shadowzone" where he is reanimated as a Terrorcon by Starscream using a piece of the shard of Dark Energon he stole from Megatron in order to turn Skyquake into his loyal Terrorcon servant, but ends up becoming trapped in a parallel dimension called the Shadowzone without an arm.

• Makeshift (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson) - A Decepticon who is able to assume any form, provided that he has data on whoever he is impersonating. Makeshift's normal form is never actually seen, except for a dark shadow. Makeshift is somewhat similar to Zartan from G.I. Joe. Since Makeshift was blown up on the Nemesis, it is very unlikely that he'll return in the series, after executive producer, Jeff Kline stated "When we kill a character, we kill a character."^[14]

• Dreadwing (voiced by Tony Todd^[6])

• Vehicons (Various Voices) - Decepticon Drones who serve as foot soldiers for the Decepticons. They transform into either purple muscle cars or space fighters. The Vehicons had been misnamed many times as "Eradicons" by the closed captionings and "Decepticon Troopers" in the credits. Unlike the Vehicon drones from Beast Machines, they are not mindless and appear to have personalities. Vehicons are adaptable to many different situations, including flight modes, security patrols, and mine workers.^[15]
  • Decepticon Miners - The type of Vehicons that are in the servant class.

• Terrorcons - The Terrorcons are undead Cybertronians which Megatron raised from the dead using Dark Energon. Some were also initially created from a cybertronian graveyard on earth. The rest of them were raised from the Dead Cybertronians on Cybertron. Cliffjumper was one of these, but was not present for the final battle in the fifth part of "Darkness Rising" having been sliced in half by Megatron (and incinerated by the Energon explosion) in the second part. Skyquake was later reanimated into a Terrorcon by Starscream.

Humans

• Jackson "Jack" Darby (voiced by Josh Keaton^[1]) - A 16 year old boy who accidentally encounters Arcee in her motorcycle form and enters into the Cybertronian War as a strong ally. He is a bit of a reluctant hero and is at first hesitant to get involved in the Autobots' war with the Decepticons. He forms a strong bond with the Autobot Arcee, who acts as his protector. Jack's behavior and personality have shown to be very similar to Optimus' back on Cybertron, according to Autobot medic, Ratchet. He has been chosen to be the protector of the Key to Vector Sigma when it was identified by Ratchet. Jack learns from Ratchet that Optimus Prime entrusted the Key to Vector Sigma in the event that Optimus Prime doesn't come back.

• Miko Nakadai (voiced by Tania Gunadi^[1]) - A 15 year old female Japanese exchange student who seeks to be "in on the action" after seeing Arcee. Miko is very adventureous to the point of being reckless, causing nothing but headaches for Raf, Jack, and the Autobots. Later shows mechnical aptitude. She seems to like Bulkhead, her protector, the best and frequently follows him into dangerous situations. Miko's last name was misnamed at San Diego Comic Con 2010 as Tezuka, likely meaning that Miko's last name was changed during production.

• Rafael "Raf" Esquivel (voiced by Andy Pessoa^[1]) - A 12 year old computer whiz who is able to provide Ratchet the technical support for human technical devices that Ratchet cannot develop and uses his technical knowledge to support the Autobots in their fight with the Decepticons. Raf comes from a very large family, as he is hardly noticed, so he hangs out with Bumblebee. Every morning Bumblebee drives Raf to school. Ratchet comes to respect Raf rather than calling him a "fleshy", becoming actual friends who actively support each other in later episodes. He is the only human in the group who understands Bumblebee. In "One Shall Fall", Raf goes into critical condition after he is infected by Dark Energon after Megatron blast Bumblebee (who Raf was riding in at the time). Seeing Raf's condition makes Ratchet remember the line in the "doomday prophecy" from the Covenant of Primus, "the weak shall perish" and tells Raf to be strong, hoping that the prophecy isn't referring to Raf. Jack calls his mother to help Ratchet (who laments that he never took the time to study earth science or medicine, and had come to rely on Raf) save his life. The Dark Energon is removed via a transfusion of normal Energon (supplied by Bumblebee).

• Special Agent William "Bill" Fowler (voiced by Ernie Hudson^[1]) - The Autobots' liaison to the outside world who only visits when there are "issues" like that of the Autobots failing to keep their fight with the Decepticons off the radar. Initially he is quite hostile to the Autobots, but after they save him from the Decepticons, he warms to them, and provides aid to them on many occasions. Fowler is a capable pilot, able to fly both helicopters and jets (both regular and experimental). He has been shown to be able to out-fly a Decepticon and occasionally provides air support for the more ground-based Autobots. Both times, this has provided their enemies, Skyquake and Airachnid, with aerial vehicle modes.

• June Darby (voiced by Markie Post^[16][17]) - Jack's mother who was unaware of the existence of the Autobots, however she has encountered Arcee in vehicle mode and believes her to be a motorcycle her son had bought with his own money (she allows him to keep the bike with the stipulation that he must always wear a helmet when riding). In "Crisscross", June becomes aware of the Autobots when Arcee, Jack and Agent Fowler rescue her from Airachnid and Silas. June being an ER nurse, has much more knowledge of Human emergency medicine than the Autobots, in which she helped Ratchet when Raf had got in contact with Dark Energon, making him very ill.

• M.E.C.H. - A terrorist organization bent on starting a newer world order. M.E.C.H. made an attempt to steal the nuclear device called the D.N.G.S. only to be stopped by the Autobots. After their initial encounter with the Autobots, they (along with their field commander, Silas) have become primarily focused on the capture and study (via dissection) of any & all Cybertronians they can (both Autobots & Decepticons alike), to create an army of living machines under MECHs control (a plan Silas refers to as Project Chimera). Optimus Prime described MECH as "Earth's own Decepticons in Human skin". In "Operation: Breakdown", they capture and dissect Breakdown, gaining much information for their agenda. In "Crisscross" they ally with Airachnid, and attempt to dissect Arcee, but are stopped when the Autobot escapes on her own, and flee when Agent Fowler arrives on the scene.
  • Silas (voiced by Clancy Brown^[18]) - Silas is the field commander for M.E.C.H. (or to put it simply, their "Megatron"). He has grey hair and has scars on his face. His origin remains currently unknown. In his first appearance, Silas led some M.E.C.H. soldiers into stealing the D.N.G.S only to be thwarted by Agent Fowler and the Autobots. He and his soldiers later abduct Breakdown to learn "what makes them [Cybertronians] tick." That time, Breakdown was saved by Bulkhead and the unexpected arrival of Starscream and the Vehicons. Thanks to the data from Breakdown, Silas begins his plan which he calls "Project Chimera". Silas later collaborates with Airachnid in order to take out Arcee and Jack by using June, Jack's mother, as bait. This partnership is short lived and unsuccessful, but Silas learns from this how Cybertronians get their alternate modes.

• Sierra (voiced by Alexandra Krosney^[19]) - Sierra is Jack's love interest, and is the head-cheerleader in their school. In "Speed Metal", she asked Jack for a ride, but turned her down only for Arcee to change his mind.
  • Sierra's Friend - Sierra's friend, who often makes silent cameos in the background of an episode.

• Vince (voiced by Brad Raider^[20]) - Vince is a red-haired, freckled and arrogant bully at Jack, Miko and Raf's school. He drives around in a flash car and generally does whatever he can to belittle Jack, in front of others - especially Sierra if he can manage it. He is also involved in an illegal street racing contest called "The Circuit". It was on a race like this that he was abducted by the Decepticon Knock Out, who mistook Vince for Bumblebee's human friend.^[20] Later on, Vince was saved by Jack and the Autobots.

• Fast Willy (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson^[21]) - Fast Willy is a participant in illegal drag races. He's an automotive enthusiast, and he doesn't like people with nicer cars than him - especially if they're too good to trade banter. He scratched a fellow racer's car for ignoring him. Unfortunately for him, the other racer was the Decepticon Knock Out, who proceeded to run Fast Willy off of the road, trashing his car in the process.^[21]

Others

• Primus - The creator of the Cybertronian race. The Incarnation of Creation. By creating the Thirteen was Primus finally able to defeat Unicron and cast him out. Primus then became one with the very core of Cybertron, creating life through the Well of All Sparks. It would later be Primus to bestow Orion Pax with the Matrix of Leadership, making him Optimus Prime.

• Unicron^[22] (voiced by John Noble^[23]) - The Incarnation of Destruction. In early episodes of the series Unicron was mentioned a few times with his "rightful" name "Unicron the Destroyer". He is the source of the Dark Energon that Megatron uses emanates from and is believed to represent the Anti-Spark: the most likely counterpart to the AllSpark. Dark Energon can bring back the dead, which makes them behave like zombies. After Megatron injects himself with the Dark Energon, he states it is as if he can hear Unicron's very thoughts, which may indicate that Unicron may be influencing Megatron's actions. Executive producer Jeff Kline has hinted that we will physically see Unicron, saying that the creators try to pay off on every hint they drop in "some way, shape or form."^[24] Unicron makes a cameo in the episode "One Shall Stand", as he is seen in Megatron's visions. The physical appearance of Unicron first appears in the episode "One Shall Rise, Part 1". It is later revealed that when Unicron was defeated by the Thirteen Primes he went under a slumber in the Earth's core, explaining massive storms, and a volcano erupting with Dark Energon. He is later defeated by Optimus Prime (with the help of Megatron), when Optimus blasts the Power of the Matrix into Unicron's spark chamber.

• Thirteen Primes^[25] - Primus created the Thirteen Primes - the thirteen original Transformers who preceded Optimus Prime - eons ago to assist him in his battle against Unicron. With their strength, Unicron was defeated and cast out into the universe.

• Scraplets - Cybertron's most dangerous vermin. Scraplets consume all forms of metal but show a preference for living metal, particularly Cybetronians. They travel in large swarms and have the ability to fly. They caused some damage to the Autobot Base before it is discovered that Scraplets are vulnerable to the cold. Bulkhead showed particular fear of Scaplets, citing having seen swarms of them consume the entirety of other transformers. Transformers: Prime marks their first appearance in other media, outside of Marvel Comics' Transformers: Generation 1 comics where they were first introduced.

References