Transformers Armada/Characters

Note this page may contain details and tropes on characters who appear throughout the rest of the Unicron trilogy as well. Spoilers are uncovered at your own risk.

Optimus Prime
"Voiced by: Gary Chalk"

"The Autobot commander of the forces on Earth, Prime leads the team through the Minicon Battles, against Unicron (twice) and finally in an effort to save Cybertron and reality from the Unicron Singularity."


 * A Father to His Men: Goes absolutely berserk after near death.
 * Actor Allusion: This Cybertron toy has him become a gorilla.
 * Authority Equals Asskicking: And how.
 * Badass: Not as much as his other adaptations (initially), but when push comes to shove he's very prepared to hand you your ass on a platter.
 * Took a Level In Badass: In Armada, he was still a tough guy, but struggled a lot more in combat. By Cybertron,
 * Beware the Nice Ones
 * Big Badass Rig: A futuristic semitruck in Armada, a car transporter in Energon, and a flying fire truck in Cybertron.
 * : In Armada. He's back three episodes later.
 * Gary Chalk
 * The Good Captain: As is tradition.
 * The Hero: As is tradition.
 * Look What I Can Do Now: In Armada, he powerlinks with Jetfire, and later the pair link with Overload. Normally this equates into instant win. In Energon, he powerlinks with more or less the entire Autobot army, forming Optimus Supreme to fight
 * Papa Wolf: Act like this towards the Mini-Con's.

Hot Shot:
"Resident team rookie, Hot Shot has learned a lot of hard leasons throughout his career, much to the chagrin of some of the older bots."


 * Big Brother Mentor: To Sideswipe, who actually starts refering to him as his brother. Possibly to the kids too.
 * Brent Miller: In Armada and Energon. After that...
 * The Other Darrin: Voice actor changes to Kirby Morrow in Cybertron.
 * Cool Car: He normally becomes a blue-and-yellow sports car, but in the second half of Cybertron, he is revived and upgraded so that he becomes a blue Humvee-like vehicle instead.
 * Crouching Moron Hidden Badass: Despite his status as rookie, he is still very capable of kicking butt. He even gets to wield the Star Saber for a while in Armada.
 * Kid Appeal Character: He almost always sports yellow in his colour scheme, and interacts with young humans the most.
 * But in Cybertron, he's blue with yellow highlights. And in Energon the role is partially shifted to Ironhide, who disappears not too long after.
 * The Lancer
 * Lightning Bruiser: Though not quite as fast as Blurr.
 * Pride Before a Fall: ...and totally let the power that the Star Saber granted him go to his head. It ends painfully.
 * Shoulders of Doom: That "wHy mY sHoUlDeRs huRt" meme? Guess where it came from.
 * Young Gun: Probably not helped by the fact that his first foray into human culture consisted of spaghetti westerns.

Red Alert:
"Combat Medic of the Autobots, he may seem the Non Action Guy, but harm his bots and you will regret it."


 * Badass Bookworm
 * Took a Level In Badass: In Cybertron, his Mid Season Upgrade is this in spades.
 * Brian Dobson
 * Combat Medic: Though he spent most of his time on the battlefield fighting, more than anything else.
 * Minored in Asskicking: He usually stays back at base in Armada, but he makes a pretty good showing in Cybertron.
 * Mission Control
 * The Smart Guy
 * The Spock: Not entirely, but he is pretty reserved.
 * Swiss Army Appendage: Lost his hand in battle, got a cool new...thing.

Smokescreen:
"Smokescreen originally intended to be one of the team members who accompanied Optimus Prime to Earth, but he entered the spacebridge portal late, and as a result, he materialized some time later then they did."


 * Badass: If doesn't count, what does?
 * Big Fun
 * Boisterous Bruiser
 * Demonization: The kids all assumed
 * Intergenerational Friendship: Out of all the team, he and Hot Shot seem to be particularly good friends.
 * Nice Guy
 * Stout Strength

Scavenger:
"Scavenger is an old war veteran.."


 * The Big Guy
 * Caped Mecha
 * Badass Cape: Transformers as a whole don't need capes. His is purely for Rule of Cool.
 * Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Disappears after Armada.
 * Genius Bruiser
 * Old Master
 * Old Soldier
 * : Though given the folder he's been placed under you probably guessed this already.
 * Senior Sleep Cycle: in the middle of a training session..
 * Stealth Mentor

Blurr:
"Cool and aloof, Blurr is one of the later additions to the Autobot ranks. He initially thought of the mini-cons as mere tools, a thought which Hot Shot slowly shot down."


 * Brian Drummond
 * Cold Sniper
 * Defrosting Ice King: Towards Hot Shot.
 * Fantastic Racism: Thinks of the Mini-Cons as just weapons for a long while.
 * Grumpy Bear
 * Ineffectual Loner: In his introduction.
 * Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Disappears after Armada and never reappears again (unless you think the toyline character from Cybertron is him).

Jetfire
"The second-in-command of the Autobots on Cybertron, Jetfire departed Cybertron and arrived on Earth in order to help Optimus and the others."


 * Arrogant Kung Fu Guy: Like this for a long while in Armada.
 * Boisterous Bruiser: Very very boisterous.
 * Cool Starship: He becomes a space shuttle in both Armada and Energon
 * Cool Plane: In Cybertron, he becomes a cargo jet with a space shuttle front half.
 * The Lancer: While the Bots don't form a Five Man Band per se, he has shades of this trope.
 * Large Ham: In Armada, not so much in Engeron or Cybertron.
 * Number Two: It does seem a little odd that Optimus would pick a hot-head like him to be second in command. That is, until you see them together in battle.
 * One Man Army
 * Scott McNeil: Until Cybertron, in which his VA changed to...
 * Brian Drummond

Sideswipe
"Hot Shot's newest partner, it didn't take long for Sideswipe to be captured by Hot Shot's friend-turned-foe, Wheeljack. Sideswipe was saved but the experince taught him a harsh lesson about war, and he quickly sobered up."


 * Adorkable
 * Cute Bruiser: Though not much of a bruiser, he has his moments.
 * Child Soldier
 * Genius Ditz: He's good at cracking codes, but not much else.
 * Sam Vincent
 * New Meat: And it's very obvious to everyone.
 * Tagalong Kid

Megatron:
"Leader of the Decepticons. Megatron is a malicious, powerful leader. A refined, focused general who treats his men with little care, yet still infuses them with genuine respect for him and the Decepticon cause."


 * Actor Allusion: This Cybertron toy has him become a Tyrannosaurus Rex.
 * Affably Evil: Armada. When it comes to the next two series, however...
 * Faux Affably Evil
 * Antagonist in Mourning: wasn't nearly as fun as he thought it would be.
 * Badass: Hell yeah.
 * Bad Boss
 * Big Bad: . Played straight in Cybertron, as.
 * Blade Below the Shoulder: Only seen near the end of the Armada series, but it becomes very crucial to that series.
 * Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu:.
 * David Kaye
 * Evil Laugh
 * Noble Demon: During Armada only. Afterwards, it got worse, much worse, and with more or less no explanation why.
 * Tank Goodness: His alt-mode in Armada.
 * Cool Car: One of his two alt-modes (he is a triple changer) in Cybertron.
 * Cool Plane: His main alt-mode in Energon, and one of his two alt-modes (again, he is a triple changer) in Cybertron.
 * Team Dad: A horrible abusive dad, but a dad nonetheless

Starscream
"Megatron's poorly-treated second in command. He loathed Megatron, because of the sheer mistreatment and contempt Megatron often pilled onto him, Megatron always seemed to expect to much from him."


 * Anti Villain:
 * Badass: From the middle of Armada, and all the way through Cybertron.
 * Adaptational Badass: No Starscream since then has come close to doing what he's done in Cybertron. Fights Primus twice and lives? Check, though he still loses both times. Check. Fought off eleven Autobots to steal the Omega Lock? Check. While his living up to the trope he named has been done by other Starscreams, he's done the best to date.
 * Break the Haughty: Though he wasn't as much of a jerk as most other examples.
 * Cool Plane: Becomes a futuristic fighter jet in Armada, an F-22 Raptor in Energon, and a G1-inspired tetra-jet in Cybertron.
 * , though only temporarily.
 * Mr. Fanservice
 * : Twice. The second
 * Michael Dobson
 * Noble Demon: In Armada and in Energon. Not so much in Cybertron.
 * One Man Army: In Cybertron, mixed with Villainous Valor.
 * The Starscream:
 * Token Good Teammate: He's the only Decepticon with a sense of honor.
 * Token Good Teammate: He's the only Decepticon with a sense of honor.

Demolishor:
"Demolisher is extremely strong and acts very serious at all times. He is wholly devoted Megatron and the Decepticon cause, unquestionably following orders at every turn."


 * Battle Butler: To Megatron.
 * Crouching Moron Hidden Badass: Saves Megatron numerous times, but.
 * Hand Blast: His fingers are gun barrels.
 * : In Energon.
 * Dumb Is Good: He's the closest thing to a "nice" Decepticon that you're going to find.
 * Only Sane Man: Compared to the rest of the Decepticons, he definitely feels this way.
 * Tank Goodness: In Armada. In Energon, he becomes a dump truck instead, but reverts back into a tank in Cybertron.
 * Undying Loyalty: Played mostly straight to Megatron, but the writers do subvert it at the end of Energon., he and don't bother to do the same.
 * Yes Man

Cyclonus:
"Cyclonus has a very "trigger happy" personality, laughing and cackling as he fires his weapons almost completely at random on the battle field."


 * Axe Crazy: Though it comes across as more annoying than genuinely frightening.
 * Bunny Ears Lawyer
 * Butt Monkey
 * Dark Chick
 * Evil Laugh: Has a mad cackle until in Energon.
 * For the Evulz: Seems to have almost zero sence of comradery, and an even smaller grasp of wright-and-wrong.
 * Genre Savvy: "Morale? We've never had morale around here!"
 * The Hyena
 * Leeroy Jenkins
 * Minor Injury Overreaction: He screams like a little girl everytime he gets hit while in vehicle mode, which as you can imagine... happens a lot.
 * Stupid Evil
 * Trigger Happy: He loves to waste all of his ammo all at once.

Thrust:
"Thrust is Megatrons' top Intelligence officer and master Tactician."


 * Dirty Coward:
 * : Squesh!
 * : He definitely got what was coming to him.
 * Jerkass: The other Cons often get sick of him for this reason.
 * Kneel Before Zod
 * Professional Butt Kisser
 * Smug Snake
 * : It probably helps that in that continuity,
 * Stupid Evil:
 * The Strategist: He's actually pretty good at strategy, just not very good at improvising.
 * Unwitting Pawn
 * Villain Team Up
 * Would Hurt a Child: Don't forget that earlier on,
 * Villain Team Up
 * Would Hurt a Child: Don't forget that earlier on,
 * Would Hurt a Child: Don't forget that earlier on,

Tidal Wave:
"The lumbering giant Tidal Wave is the largest of the Decepticons, and proved himself a very powerful foe for the Autobots."


 * The Brute
 * Dumb Muscle
 * Elite Mook: He's not just big, he's really tough to beat.
 * Evil Sounds Deep: He's a giant Decepticon, what did you expect?
 * Giant Mook
 * Hulk Speak
 * Sci Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale: In Energon, his recoloured form is also much smaller, making him a little taller than Cyclonus. Yeah...
 * Undying Loyalty: To Megatron. Which may come across as oddly amusing, considering his VA voiced the treacherous (and much higher pitched) Terrorsaur

Wheeljack:
"Wheeljack, formerly an Autobot serving under Hot Shot. When Wheeljack was pinned beneath some debris during a fire, Hot Shot was forced to leave him to get help, but was prevented from returning to help. Wheeljack believed that Hot Shot had abandoned him, and when Megatron found and rescued him, he swore loyalty to the Decepticon commander."


 * Best Served Cold: He's not here for revenge. Except he is.
 * Evil Former Friend: Hot Shot's, though when they fight side by side he does seem to be warming up to him again.
 * Mistreatment Induced Betrayal
 * Noble Demon: He does grant Hot Shot an audience with Megatron.
 * Poor Communication Kills: He wasn't abandoned quite as completely as he thinks he was.
 * Revenge By Proxy: He takes Sideswipe hostage to get revenge on Hot Shot.
 * Scars Are Forever
 * That Man Is Dead

Bradley "Rad" White
"Rad is the one who reactivated the Mini-Con ship while exploring some caves, and is inadverdently responsible for the restarting of the Autobot/Decepticon war."


 * Audience Surrogate
 * Battle in The Center of The Mind: He once helped
 * Beware the Nice Ones: May only be a human, but he's got guts.
 * Ordinary High School Student

Carlos Lopez
"Carlos is Rad's friend and was with him when he reactivated the Mini-Con's."


 * Audience Surrogate
 * Ordinary High School Student
 * Plucky Comic Relief: He's full of jokes... most of them bad.
 * Twofer Token Minority: He's the only character who obviously isn't white.

Alexis Rhodes/Thi Dang
"Alexis, along with Rad and Carlos befriended the Street Action Team Mini-Cons and Autobots on Earth. She frequently helped them by teaching them the ways of Earth."


 * Audience Surrogate
 * Deadpan Snarker
 * Only Sane Man: She thinks she is anyway.
 * Ordinary High School Student
 * Ordinary High School Student

Unicron
"A primal force of evil, his origins lost to the mists of time. He is the embodiment of all darkness and hate that lurks in the hearts of all beings."

Voiced by: Mark Acheson, David Kaye (when Megatron is possessed in Energon)


 * : This happens an incredibly frequent amount of times. You honestly wonder why the bots try to put him down again when he just gets back up.
 * The first is implied at the end of Armada, when his planet form is seen floating behind an unknown body. It's later confirmed at the start of Energon that he's just mentally inactive.
 * The second and third attempts happen during Energon. Then after that he possesses Megatron yet again,
 * A fourth and seemingly definitive example from the Cybertron comic: This time, he flees before Primus and the Autobots can defeat his weakened body.
 * Dangerously Genre Savvy: See 's fourth example.
 * Eldritch Abomination: As is tradition, though this helped to codify this part of his character.
 * Evil Sounds Deep: Voiced by Mark Acheson in Armada (and a ridiculously small amount of Energon). Downplayed when he's voiced by David Kaye.
 * Omnicidal Maniac: This is the trilogy that established this trope best for him.
 * Planet Eater: Though unlike his debut appearance, he doesn't physically eat them, rather breaking the planet into smaller pieces and then devouring them. Energon shows this best.
 * Sci Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale: Not as bad as his first appearance due to the fact that he rarely engages any Cybertronians physically, but when Thrust is perched/standing on his shoulder you do run into some fairly notable issues, notably the fact that he should theoretically be a speck from the distance we see him.
 * Sci Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale: Not as bad as his first appearance due to the fact that he rarely engages any Cybertronians physically, but when Thrust is perched/standing on his shoulder you do run into some fairly notable issues, notably the fact that he should theoretically be a speck from the distance we see him.

Sideways
"An intergalactic drifter, Sideways transforms into a motorcycle. His consciousness is apparently housed within the smaller robot head that rides his alternate mode, which can split into two components."


 * Anti Villain: In Cybertron.
 * : In Cybertron, though nobody can remember him from Armada and despite the Unicron Singularity, we're not really given an explanation why.
 * A Wizard Did It:
 * Badass Biker: Well, he is a badass bike.
 * Canon Foreigner: Was popular enough to get an appearance in Transformers Animated and the film series (though just as a regular Decepticon).
 * Technically, he first appeared in Robots In Disguise with a toy from that show's line, though he was just an Autobot warrior
 * Digitized Hacker
 * The Dragon:
 * : In both Armada and Cybertron, though both times he does have different agendas.
 * Expy: Averted with his other appearances- possibly.
 * Faux Affably Evil
 * Kick the Dog: He enjoys doing this. Particularly when it simultaneously helps his goals and hurts others.
 * Laughably Evil: In Cybertron, he becomes outright hilarious.
 * Manipulative Bastard
 * Mind Screw:  Of course, he enjoys running on this.
 * The Mole:.
 * Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: A Badass Biker whose altmode is a Cool Bike, who also exists as a Digitized Hacker. This also goes with the fact that he's a Transforming Mecha.
 * Paul Dobson: In Armada.
 * Pet the Dog: His relationship with Soundwave could be seen as this.
 * Pop Cultured Badass: Cybertron shows him giving a Shout Out to "I Will Survive" which Starscream rudely interrupts. Not to mention his cassette player is a Shout Out to G1 Soundwave.
 * Troll
 * Undying Loyalty: Refuses to leave Soundwave's side when they both risk a dash for the Omega Lock.
 * Woobie Destroyer of Worlds: In Cybertron, avenging his dead planet alongside Soundwave.
 * Woobie Destroyer of Worlds: In Cybertron, avenging his dead planet alongside Soundwave.