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Transformers: Prime: Difference between revisions
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{{quote|''My name is Optimus Prime, and I send this message: Though we did not choose to be of Earth, it would seem that we are here to stay. If you approach this planet with hostile intent, know this: We will defend ourselves. We will defend humanity. We will defend - our ''home''.''}}
''Transformers Prime'' is the most recent TV series in the ''[[Transformers]]'' franchise. Set on Earth in the same continuity as ''[[Transformers: War for Cybertron]]'', ''Transformers Prime'' is the story of [[The Captain|Optimus Prime]], [[Kid Appeal Character|Bumblebee]], [[The Medic|Ratchet]], [[Action Girl|Arcee]], [[Boisterous Bruiser|Cliffjumper]], and [[The Big Guy|Bulkhead]], a skeleton crew of Autobots left to defend Earth in case the Decepticons come back. And, of course, they do.
Accidentally caught up in the action and befriending the Autobots are three humans: Jack, Rafael and Miko. They act mostly as [[Naive Newcomer|Naive Newcomers]] as they watch the robots battle it out, though they do prove useful in their own way due to the limited number of Autobots.
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** And to a lesser extent Unicron, though technically {{spoiler|his status as "alien" is debatable, since he is revealed to be the core of the Earth.}}
* [[Aliens Speaking English]]
* [[All Deaths Final]]: As stated by [[Word of God]], and consistently upheld so far (mindless Dark Energon zombies don't really count).
* [[All Webbed Up]]: Courtesy of Airachnid.
* [[Alternative Foreign Theme Song]]: The Japanese version has [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vM0afKKgC4Y&feature=relmfu "Feelings"] for the opening and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9b2MahE2LE "I Believe in All"] for the ending.
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{{quote|'''Breakdown:''' AGRATFDAZGTDSGRAD!!!
'''Airachnid:''' Sorry, can't understand you. }}
* [[Animation Bump]]: Comparing individual episodes, it's obvious that they were truly fine-tuning the animation while season 1 marched on. This is especially obvious in the season one finale, where the mouth animations -- best described as "okay" before -- become very accurate and almost pretty to look at.
** It's particularly evident in "Partners", but the lighting and the detail on the individual characters (dings, scrapes, paint scratches, etc.) has only improved as the series progressed.
* [[Animesque]]: Somewhat, it was animated by a Japanese company and the designs are a hybrid of this and [[Transformers (film)|the Live-Action film series]].
* [[Animal Motifs]]: Megatron's face looks fairly shark-like. [[Sarcasm Mode|It's not like we know how bloodthirsty he is anyway]].
* [[Apocalypse How]]: Cybertron itself endured a Class-6.
** [[God of Evil|Unicron]], {{spoiler|who is the Earth itself}}, endangers all life on Earth by performing a Class-X, then intends to cause a Class-Z.
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'''Arcee:''' [[True Companions|Family]]. }}
* [[Barehanded Blade Block]]: Pulled off by Megatron, while battling Optimus in [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E23 One Shall Fall|"One Shall Fall"]]. It helps that his hands are made of metal.
** Followed up by an EPIC [[Call Back]] in "Orion Pax, Part 3", with the striking and blocking positions reversed. Could also count as a [[Book Ends]] situation, since it effectively closes a storyline lasting ''seven'' episodes.
* [[Bare Your Midriff]]: To a certain extent, Arcee's design/color scheme can occasionally induce the impression that she's wearing lowriding pants and a crop top.
* [[Bash Brothers]]: Knock Out and Breakdown. Bulkhead and Wheeljack were this back on Cybertron as part of the Wreckers.
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** {{spoiler|Starscream's clone}} must really have had a death wish when he threw Cliffjumper's death in Bulkhead's face.
* [[Beware the Quiet Ones]]: In [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E24 One Shall Rise Part 3|"One Shall Rise, Part 3"]], Soundwave utterly wipes the floor with Airachnid for trying to [[The Starscream|usurp Megatron's position]]. Knock Out then quotes this trope, nearly word for word.
* [[Big Bad]]: During the first season the role gets handed back and forth between three villains- first Megatron, then Starscream, then Megatron again, then {{spoiler|Unicron, though technically he is the [[Bigger Bad]] of the series}}.
** [[Big Bad Ensemble]]: Season Two is setting this up with Megatron, Silas and {{spoiler|Airachnid}} all laying potential claim to this on an episode to episode basis. Starscream also tries from time to time.
* [[Big Damn Heroes]]: Happens a ''lot''.
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* [[Big Ol' Eyebrows]]: It would be safe to say that what ''[[Transformers Animated|Animated]]'' had in chins, ''Prime'' has in eyebrows.
* [[Bittersweet Ending]]: The ending of Season One. {{spoiler|The Autobots stop Unicron from awakening and the Earth is saved. However, Optimus loses his memories of the Autobot-Decepticon war, and Megatron uses this to get him onboard the ''Nemesis'' and away from Autobot hands.}}
* [[The Blade Always Lands Pointy End In]]: Cliffjumper's horn does this when broken off by the Vehicons, and Optimus's broken arm-blade does it in [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E5 Darkness Rising Part 5|"Darkness Rising, Part 5"]]. This also happens when one of Hardshell's mandibles gets knocked off.
* [[Blofeld Ploy]]: Starscream does this in [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E10 Deus Ex Machina|"Deus ex Machina"]]. When Knock Out tries to claim credit for retrieving the Energon Harvester, Starscream aims it in his direction and fires... killing a hapless Vehicon positioned behind them.
* [[Blood From the Mouth]]:
** In [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E1 Darkness Rising Part 1|"Darkness Rising, Part 1"]], Cliffjumper spits out a bit of [[Symbolic Blood]] when he's brought before Starscream.
** In [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E8 Con Job|"Con Job"]], after being tackled by Wheeljack, Starscream gets it.
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'''Arcee:''' (''dryly'') [[Sarcasm Mode|New York's finest soil themselves.]] }}
* [[Broad Strokes]]: Hasbro has stated that Prime is part of a "modern continuity" that also encompasses ''[[Transformers: War for Cybertron]]'' and the ''[[Transformers Exodus]]'' and ''[[Transformers Exiles]]'' novels, evidently meaning it is part of a continuity ''family'' (in much the same way that the Sunbow cartoon, Marvel comics, Dreamwave comics and IDW comics are all part of ''[[Transformers Generation 1]]'' without all being in continuity with one another) and later clarified this was the intent. See the [[Transformers Aligned Universe]] page for more information on that.
* [[Broken Faceplate]]: Inflicted on Soundwave by Wheeljack in "Triage"... and [[Feels No Pain|yet]] he manages to get right back up and keep on fighting, despite the fact the Wheeljack basically just put a crack in ''his face''.
* [[Bulletproof Human Shield]]: Bulkhead does this with several Vehicons when he attacks the ''Nemesis'' in [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E4 Darkness Rising Part 4|"Darkness Rising, Part 4"]].
** As does Arcee in "Orion Pax, Part 1".
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* [[Call Back]]: When Fowler finds the kids at the Autobot base in [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E3 Darkness Rising Part 3|"Darkness Rising, Part 3"]], Jack says they're interning for a science scholarship. When Fowler meets Jack's mom at the end of [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E17 Crisscross|"Crisscross"]], Fowler tells her Jack's ''his'' intern. (Jack then tells him not to bother; she already knows the truth.)
** Ratchet tells Bulkhead that he needed the tool that the latter had just crushed in the premier of Season 1. Bulkhead smashes a similar tool in the Season 2 premier and asks "What? You needed that?!"
* [[Can You Hear Me Now]]: [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E15 Shadowzone|"Shadowzone"]] gets a bit [[Zig Zagged Trope|schizophrenic]] with this trope. While stranded in another dimension, the kids try to use Miko's cell phone to call for help, but she left it at the base. Then, Jack realizes he still has his and uses that. The call gets through, but since they're in a freaking alternate dimension, the call is unintelligible. Then the kids realize they can get around this problem with texting. It works.
* [[Car Fu]]: Very common, thanks to the characters' need to keep their presence a secret. Particularly evident in [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E9 Convoy|"Convoy"]], where the Autobots' battle with [[Nebulous Evil Organisation|MECH]] gets several of the MECH cars run off the road, flipped over, ''[[Every Car Is a Pinto|blown up]]'', and otherwise disabled, presumably killing the drivers and passengers.
** Not that it's restricted to covert battles. One especially memorable instance involves Optimus turning into a truck, ramming Megatron, and ''grinding his wheels into his [[Arch Enemy]]'s face''.
* [[Cassandra Truth]]: In [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E17 Crisscross|"Crisscross"]], Jack tells his mother exactly what the deal is with him and his motorcycle. An [[The Masquerade|uncooperative]] Arcee ensures that she doesn't believe him. Later on in the episode, when said mother is kidnapped by Airachnid and Jack and Arcee come to the rescue, Jack says he can explain everything, before stopping and going, "Wait. I already did."
** Agent Fowler has a similar problem when debriefing his superiors after the incident with Nemesis Prime. Until Optimus Prime showed up in person to prove that he was alive and well, Fowler's superior was ready to send him away for psychiatric rehabilitation.
* [[Casual Danger Dialog]]: Fowler reacts very nonchalantly to being tortured, though it's mostly so he can mock Starscream. In the end, the torture leaves him so drained that he's delirious and saying how much he likes pie.
* [[Catch Phrase]]: Fowler often makes a patriotic reference like "You can eat my star spangled shorts!" or "Well, I'll be a bald eagle!" In "Stronger, Faster", Ratchet started using "Hooah!" for his own catch phrase, and previously would say "I needed that!" anytime his equipment had been broken (though neither has phrase really shown up much lately).
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** The piece of the Decepticon's ship Bulkhead rips off while protecting Miko turns out to be very important the next episode.
* [[Chekhov's Gunman]]: A nasty example in the form of several deceased characters' corpses. If the body hasn't been utterly destroyed (as in Makeshift's case) you'll be seeing them again. So far, Cliffjumper's body has been used as Mgeatron's Dark Energon test subject, Skyquake's corpse was resurrected by Starscream as another zombie, and {{spoiler|Breakdown}}'s remains have been reconstructed for MECH's nerfarious purposes... namely, {{spoiler|seemingly uploading the critically injured Silas' consciousness into them}}.
** Bonus points for Skyquake. His split-spark twin, Dreadwing, sensed his death and traveled to Earth to avenge him.
* [[Cliff Hanger]]: Good LORD. Several during season one, but special note goes to the last four episodes.
** And then there is "Triage" and "Toxicity", which get special note for using the same cliffhanger twice, but somehow making it work both times.
* [[Clip Show]]: "Grill."
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* [[Composite Character]]: Arcee has more in common in her general demeanor and [[Palette Swap|color scheme]] with Chromia than the original character. Likely an attempt to avoid the "[[Pink Girl, Blue Boy|Girls Wear Pink]]" cliche (she does have some pink highlights), while Arcee is still the best known female Autobot.
** Bulkhead combines the general demeanor and construction-bot background of ''[[Transformers Animated|Animated]]'' Bulkhead with the heavy-hitter position filled by Ironhide in ''G1''.
** Wheeljack himself takes the name and general look of the ''G1'' character (with some of Ironhide's traits as well), while adding elements of an obscure comic character named Drift (the swords in particular).
** Airachnid, being a [[FemBot|female]] purple and black Decepticon with a spidery look, was initially thought to be an Expy of [[Dark Action Girl|Blackarachnia]] (from both ''[[Transformers Animated]]'' and ''[[Beast Wars]]''). However, her debut episode showed her to be quite different, being totally evil and combining ''Animated'' Lockdown's loner mentality, love of hunting, trophy collection with [[Beast Wars|Rampage and Tarantulas']] homicidal tendencies, only the arachnid appearance of Blackarachnia. Her color scheme is also reminiscent of G1's Insecticons.
* [[Conservation of Ninjutsu]]: Played with. The Vehicons are fairly tough; just two of them give Bumblebee and Arcee a rough time, and it's only the appearance of Bulkhead that forces them to run. When the Autobots fight together, an army of them gets gunned down in droves, but that can be applied to [[Bash Brothers]]. A major exception to the trope is Cliffjumper's last battle; it was seven-to-one, but he brought down three, with another two caught in the energon explosion that took him down.
** Likewise the first two times we see an Insecticon, they're considered nightmarishly strong and dangerous. The first one encountered on Cybertron has to be outwitted and the second one nearly beats Megatron in a 1v1 fight. A later episode has an entire army of them being gunned down by the regular bots with relative ease. It should be noted, though, that in the latter case, there was much more room to maneuver (as opposed to the fight with Megatron, wherein both combatants were trapped in an enclosed arena), and the Autobots had full access to their ranged attacks (unlike Megatron, whose powerful [[BFG|fusion cannon]] was webbed up and inoperable) as well as the fact that Insecticons are apparently highly vulnerable to blasterfire while airborne.
** As the series progressed, it seems that Insecticons are most dangerous in enclosed spaces because of their raw size and strength making maneuvering difficult. In open areas they are clumsy enough that smarter fighters are better able to avoid their attacks and strike back.
* [[Container Maze]]: Dreadwing sets up his third confrontation with Wheeljack in one of these.
* [[Continuity Cameo]]: Impactor, Roadbuster, Rotorstorm, and Pyro are briefly referred to as (deceased) Wreckers.
* [[Continuity Nod]]:
** The prequel graphic novel tie-in to the series has Cliffjumper and Arcee investigating Decepticon activity on Cybertron, with mention that the planet is still effectively a dead world, as it was left at the end of ''War For Cybertron''.
** Cybertron's design when shown in the series, is the exact same design used to depict the planet in ''War For Cybertron'' (just recoloured a little).
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** In "Operation Bumblebee, Part 1", Megatron mentions that he was the one who damaged Bumblebee's ability to speak, which happened in ''[[Transformers Exodus]]''.
* [[Convenient Color Change]]: Putting Dark Energon into himself changed Megatron's eye color, and doing the same to his ship, the ''Nemesis'', made it change from blue power lines and purple screens to purple power lines and red screens. Oh, and also sentient.
* [[Cool Big Sis]]: Arcee acts as this toward Jack, according to her official bio.
* [[Cool Bike]]: Arcee's altmode.
* [[Cool Car]]: Bumblebee turns into what is essentially a muscled-up version of a Chevrolet Camaro (called an "Urbana 500" in-series), while the ground-based Vehicons transform into sleek black vehicles. MECH is also outfitted with their own vehicles, seemingly with custom paint jobs.
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** Megatron is a Cybertronian jet.
* [[Cool Starship]]: The ''Nemesis'', which serves as the Decepticon base.
* [[Criminal Amnesiac]]: {{spoiler|Optimus}} in the first episodes of season 2.
* [[Cue the Sun]]: The end of [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E12 Predatory|"Predatory"]], set during a particularly heartwarming moment between Arcee and Jack.
* [[Curb Stomp Battle]]: It's been mentioned a few times on here, but it feels nice to sum it up here: Megatron or Optimus vs ANYONE (other than each other of course) equals this, not counting Airachnid's sneak attack on Optimus in [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E20 Partners|"Partners"]]. The best example is a literal version of this, with Soundwave totally owning Airachnid.
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** {{spoiler|Breakdown}} is positively ''sliced to pieces'' by Airachnid. One imagines that one only got through because the animators utilized [[Bloodless Carnage]].
** {{spoiler|One of Starscream's clones}}, while most of it is obscured, gets ''brutally beaten him to death'' by Bulkhead.
** The Insecticons can't seem to catch a break: in "Toxicity", one of them gets shards of Tox-En ''driven through his throat'' by an explosion, courtesy of Bulkhead's hidden grenade. You can see him writhing and choking in agony for several seconds before he finally kicks the bucket.
* [[Family-Unfriendly Violence]]: Despite the TV-Y7FV rating, there are several instances of explicit robot violence. In fact, the sole reason the series is rated TV-Y7FV with all this violence is because these are robots, which serves as an example of [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]].
** In [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E3 Darkness Rising Part 3|"Darkness Rising, Part 3"]], Bulkhead rips out a Vehicon's spark (or at least a fair portion of the vital components in his chest) onscreen. To him, he's ripping out the guy's heart, so he tells Miko (who's watching) to look away, seemingly to protect her [[Children Are Innocent|innocence]]. Naturally, she just looks on in awe.
** The "Terrorcons" are effectively zombies; robotic limbs and parts are flying. Optimus impales one, then morphs his still-imbedded arm into a gun to blast the head off of another.
** In [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E1 Darkness Rising Part 1|"Darkness Rising, Part 1"]], Starscream punches a hole in Cliffjumper's chest with his claws. Fluid leaks out and splatters on the ground in a manner not unlike blood.
** In [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E2 Darkness Rising Part 2|“Darkness Rising, Part 2"]], Arcee leaps on a Vehicon's shoulders and rips his head off with her ankles.
** Not to mention Fowler's torture by Starscream, which manages to be deeply disturbing even though it's not directly shown onscreen.
** In [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E9 Convoy|"Convoy"]], we see various vehicular crashes with ''human'' mooks inside the cars. While the first car that crashes clearly shows the mooks surviving, the others don't, and one of the cars clearly ''[[Stuff Blowing Up|explodes]]''. And then there's the mook that Fowler accidentally kills by holding him in the path of a tree branch. And the one that falls off a car.
** The next time MECH shows up, this continues. Breakdown and Bulkhead have a [[Back-to-Back Badasses]] moment that is not shy about showing them smashing and exploding clearly manned cars and helicopters.
** In the next expisode, Arcee smacks around MECH soldiers... outside the cars into walls. Owch!
** Starscream effectively guts Arcee at the start of their fight in [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E20 Partners|"Partners"]]. He almost finishes her off... but then she gets a [[Heroic Second Wind]] and beats him down.
** Starscream's back up to his old tricks in the [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S2 E1 Orion Pax Part 1|season 2 premiere]], {{spoiler|killing off a pair of Vehicons in brutal fashion.}}
** Similar to the Starscream example above, Megatron guts Ratchet in [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E22 Stronger Faster|"Stronger, Faster"]].
** Airachnid cuts {{spoiler|Breakdown}} to pieces. The actual violence is offscreen, but we get a glimpse of his mangled remains.
** The brawl between Megatron and the rogue Insecticon from the same episode is also pretty brutal. It ends with Megatron tearing two of the Insecticon's forelegs off, and then decapitating it; and this happens onscreen.
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** [[The Dragon]]: Normally Starscream. {{spoiler|Following his defection in [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E20 Partners|"Partners"]], the role seems to rotate among Soundwave, Knock Out, and Airachnid, depending on Megatron's mood.}} As of the start of Season 2, Soundwave takes this place {{spoiler|but in "Crossfire," Dreadwing is promoted to second-in-command.}}
** [[Evil Genius]]: Soundwave (espionage) and Knock Out (medic and tech advisor).
** [[The Brute]]: Breakdown. {{spoiler|[[Killed Off for Real|But not anymore.]]}}
*** Skyquake had a ''very'' brief tenure as one before he died.
*** Hardshell has now taken this role.
** [[Dark Chick]]: Airachnid, since she pretty much joins the main 'Cons at the end of [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E18 Metal Attraction|"Metal Attraction"]]. {{spoiler|She's gone rogue as of "Crossfire".}}
*** Makeshift was one as well before his death.
** [[Sixth Ranger]]: {{spoiler|Orion Pax, AKA amnesiac Optimus Prime}} Only lasts a few episodes, though.
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* [[Forced to Watch]]: Airachnid threatens to kill Tailgate in order to get Arcee to talk. [[Interrogated for Nothing|Arcee doesn't actually have the information Airachnid's after]]. This leads to a [[Gory Discretion Shot]].
* [[Foreshadowing]]: Dark Energon has been confirmed as the blood of Unicron in this series, and Megatron plunges a raw shard of it into his own spark in the second episode, after which he comments that he feels as if {{spoiler|he can hear Unicron's thoughts}}.
** When Megatron {{spoiler|has a hallucination of Unicron}} in [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E23 One Shall Fall|"One Shall Fall"]], there seems to be a rush down through layers of earth just before we see {{spoiler|Unicron}}; the next episode revealed {{spoiler|Unicron was the Earth's core.}} So Megatron essentially has a mental journey to the {{spoiler|centre of the Earth to reach him, which is what he does with the 'Bots two episodes later}}.
** A couple instances in "Darkness Rising", in relation to "One Shall Rise":
*** Megatron claims to be able to {{spoiler|hear Unicron's thoughts}}. He says the exact same thing 20 episodes later, in "One Shall Fall".
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** Starscream is a slightly tougher version of this for the 'Cons.
** In general, the bigger you are the more damage you can absorb. The smaller you are the faster you are.
* [[Fun with Acronyms]]: The DNGS (Dynamic Nuclear Generation System), a.k.a. the Dingus. Presumably the case with the terrorist organization out to steal it, MECH.
** Subverted in one of the tie-in comics. When Ratchet builds a training area for the Autobots called the "Safe," Raf asks if the name's short of "'''S'''ystems '''A'''nd '''F'''iring '''E'''valuation." Ratchet says no, the name just means that it's a safe place to train, but he likes Raf's idea too.
* [[Funny Background Event]]: In [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E23 One Shall Fall|"One Shall Fall"]], during Megatron's opening monologue, Knock Out is in the background checking his nails.
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* [[Genre Savvy]]: Megatron. When Dreadwing declares that he's going to kill Optimus, Megatron warns him that 'Cons who try that and aren't named Megatron tend to end up dead. He eventually relents and lets Dreadwing give it a shot... then hangs up the comm signal, turns to Soundwave, and notes that he'll be very surprised if they ever see Dreadwing again.
** Starscream as well. {{spoiler|During "Triangulation", even though he's got the Apex Armor and has become basically unkillable, and thus his arrogance starts going through the roof, he retains enough awareness to realize that Optimus and Dreadwing have something planned to try and stop him. Too bad it didn't kick in until just a moment too late.}}
* [[Gentle Giant]]: Bulkhead.
* [[Give Me a Reason]]: Defied/Inversed in [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E20 Partners|"Partners"]], Arcee doesn't need convincing to strike the finishing blow on Starscream, at least until Bumblebee shows up.
* [[Glowing Eyes of Doom]]: Megatron, when the Dark Energon in his system ''really'' starts working.
* [[God Is Evil]]/[[God of Evil]]: {{spoiler|Unicron. As Optimus puts it he is, metaphorically speaking, the parent of humanity and all life on Earth. He agrees with Optimus on this, and then Unicron declares his creations parasites unworthy of living}}.
* [[Good Scars, Evil Scars]]: Wheeljack has several scars on his cheek and lower lip, indicating his past as a Wrecker.
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* [[Great Offscreen War]]: There was apparently a fairly elaborate conflict between the two factions on Earth long ago, and considering Megatron's plans, Optimus correctly assumes he would test out Dark Energon on the site of an unexplained battlefield.
* [[Green Rocks]]: Dark Energon, which generally has similar properties within the show but is quite different to the stuff shown in ''[[Transformers: War for Cybertron|War For Cybertron]]''.
* [[Grievous Harm with a Body]]: Starscream blows off Arcee's arm in the prequel comic and proceeds to smack Cliffjumper around with it.
** Wheeljack chops off a Vehicon's arm and smacks another Vehicon with it.
* [[The Grovel]]: Starscream does this in [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E19 Rock Bottom|"Rock Bottom"]] when he, well, hits rock bottom and Megatron is sick of putting up with him.
** He does it again in [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E20 Partners|"Partners"]], although at one point, [[I Surrender, Suckers|he uses it to catch Arcee off guard.]]
** Megatron himself does it in "One Shall Rise, Part 1" when {{spoiler|Unicron rejects his offer.}}
* [[Gun Kata]]: The second, Wing-Chung-y style shows up in [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E23 One Shall Fall|"One Shall Fall"]], when Optimus Prime and Megatron have an epic duel at the foot of {{spoiler|a Dark-Energon-spewing volcano}}.
* [[Harmful to Minors]]: Bulkhead tells Miko to look away before finishing off a Vehicon by ripping out its equivalent to a heart. She doesn't.
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* [[Hurricane of Puns]]: [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E18 Metal Attraction|"Metal Attraction"]], regarding the situation Bulkhead and Arcee are in (stuck to each other via [[MacGuffin]]).
* [[Hypercompetent Sidekick]]: Soundwave to this to both Megatron and Starscream. Unusual is that while Megatron is competent in his own right, he is more of a broad schemer and uses brutal tactics while Soundwave takes care of the fine details. Starscream clearly knows it and is careful around him; Airachnid did not and learned a hard lesson.
* [[Hypocritical Humor]]:
** [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E7 Scrapheap|"Scrapheap"]] has two such instances in one scene. At the end of the episode, Miko freaks out over a tiny spider, when earlier she'd mildly made fun of Bulkhead for his fear of Scraplets. (The difference is Bulkhead has a ''genuine reason'' to be afraid of them: The little things are ''lethal''.) Bulkhead also comments that she [[Screams Like a Little Girl]], when he'd done the same thing earlier (and of course, Miko actually is a girl).
** In [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E19 Rock Bottom|"Rock Bottom"]], when Bulkhead tells Starscream that he isn't going to beg for mercy, Starscream (who was doing exactly that with Megatron earlier) nervously comments that begging for mercy would be "quite pathetic".
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* [[Impaled with Extreme Prejudice]]: How Starscream dispatches Cliffjumper.
** In "Nemesis Prime", the titular character '''guts''' the real Optimus. Fortunately, the wound was neither fatal nor enough to prevent Optimus from getting a [[Heroic Second Wind]] and opening a can of whoopass on Nemesis.
* [[Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy]]: The Vehicons ''rarely'' manage a solid hit.
** Airachnid demonstrates ''very'' good aim when it comes to shooting webs, though not so much with her hand blasters.
** The Autobots would succumb to this whenever a named Decepticon shows up, although averted hard whenever it is Megatron, who is just that tough to withstand every single shot.
* [[In Harm's Way]]: Miko, full tilt. She's constantly sneaking onto the battlefield to watch the Autobots fight, and is almost killed every single time.
* [[In Medias Res]]: The Autobots have been on Earth for some time and have contacts with the human governments, and references are made to an initial Autobot/Decepticon conflict on Earth several years prior.
* [[In Memoriam]]: [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E20 Partners|"Partners"]] was dedicated to the memory of Captain H.L. "Larry" Cullen, the brother of [[Peter Cullen]] who died four months before the episode aired. While Captain Cullen was never personally involved with the ''Transformers'' franchise, Peter has said he looked to mirror Larry in his performance. In short, the inspiration for Optimus Prime passed away.
* [[Info Dump]]: The explanation of Dark Energon in "Darkness Rising, Part 2" is ''very'' informative for people who haven't played ''[[Transformers: War for Cybertron]]''; the Transformers Wiki pointed out that the Infodump was to the point that it sounded like Megatron and Starscream had never encountered it before, which they have. Of course, given the [[Broad Strokes]] relationship between this series and WFC, the exact properties of Dark Energon are also up to change.
** Ratchet takes almost an entire segment between commercial breaks to explain the history between Megatron and Optimus. [[Art Shift|It works, though.]]
* [[The Inner Reveal]]: In the episode [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E17 Crisscross|"Crisscross"]], Jack does this with his mom twice. The first time [[Cassandra Truth|doesn't work out so well.]] The second time she buys it, but she's also seen "Jack's motorcycle" duke it out with a giant mechanical spider-bot at that point.
* [[Instrumental Theme Tune]]: Courtesy of Mr. Tyler; no "More than meets the eye/Robots in disguise!" to be found here.
* [[Intergenerational Friendship]]: The Autobots (who lived for many, many years) and their human allies who range from pre-teens to teens.
* [[Ironic Echo]]: In [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E23 One Shall Fall|"One Shall Fall"]], right before Megatron beats the scrap out of Optimus:
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* [[Kibbles and Bits]]: It's ''[[Transformers]]'', so it's required. However, even the Transformers that explicitly don't have vehicle modes clearly have vehicle kibble, most likely to save money on character models.
* [[Killed Off for Real]]: Jeff Kline, a producer of the show, says "When we kill a character, we kill a character." This seems to have held true, and even taking the zombifications of Cliffjumper and Skyquake into consideration, it's not technically "them" anymore, they're just nigh-unstoppable mindless berserkers now.
** Many fans are worried that this trope will apply to even Optimus, since it has become almost tradition for the big guy to die in each continuity only to be quickly revived soon after.
* [[Killer Rabbit]]: Scraplets. Cute to organics, deadly pests to mechanisms, with a particular sweet tooth for Transformers.
** [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E7 Scrapheap|"Scrapheap"]] is practically the Transformers' version of [[Star Trek: The Original Series|"The Trouble With Tribbles"]]... if [[X Meets Y|they were crossbred with flying metal piranhas.]]
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* [[Magic Skirt]]: Averted in [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E11 Speed Metal|"Speed Metal"]] when Jack drag races Vince down a long strip of road. The blast from their vehicles whips up a breeze that looks to blow Sierra and her friend's skirts up, but they immediately pull and hold their skirts into place as soon as they starts to billow.
* [[Magnetic Plot Device]]: In the first season, several episodes were dedicated to fighting over some Cybertronian artifacts that seemed to be randomly on Earth somehow. The second season clarifies that as the Cybertronian Civil War got worse, Autobot officials took a lot of culturally and technologically significant artifacts and scattered them into space to prevent Decepticon usage in case the Iacon Archives were compromised (and some artifacts were too dangerous/valuable for even Autobot use), providing a handy justification for a new [[MacGuffin]] every so often.
* [[Makes Us Even]]: Starscream name-checks this trope when he {{spoiler|frees Arcee from Airachnid's webbing in "Crossfire"}}.
* [[The Masquerade Will Kill Your Dating Life]]: In the [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S2 E1 Orion Pax Part 1|season 2 premiere]], Jack is talking to Sierra at his job. She's obviously interested but never sees him around. As Jack tries to make an excuse, Arcee chooses this moment to broadcast her voice over the intercom so she can pick him up. She obviously thinks it's his girlfriend, an assumption which is not dissuaded by Arcee's holographic driver in skintight leather.
* [[Mecha-Mooks]]: The Vehicon drones, who function as generic footsoldiers for Megatron and Starscream. They're actually dangerous, though, as they captured Cliffjumper and give Bumblebee and Arcee a hard time.
* [[Mechanical Lifeforms]]: When properly introduced to the Autobots, Raf asks, "So, if you guys are robots, who made you?" Ratchet is insulted by the question. Optimus then explains that they are "autonomous robotic organisms from the planet Cybertron." It's shown later in the series that they have an approximation of the same nervous system and "vital components" that regular organic life has. They have limits to the amount of damage they can take, and even cold arctic weather can be dangerous.
** Further attention is brought to this when Arcee feels nauseous after coming into contact with Dark Energon.
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'''Arcee:''' You're a human, Jack. Can you build me a small intestine? }}
** Another factor is the description of T-Cogs (which control a Cybertronian's ability to transform into their alt-modes or access their built-in weapons) when Bumblebee's was stolen in "Operation Bumblebee". While mechanical in nature, T-Cogs are essentially biology, meaning they can't make one from spare parts any more than humans can replace a kidney with a chunk of beef (although transplants are an option). To anyone like MECH (who are making their own Cybertronian inspired robots) they're useless without a flow of Energon, as a result of being biology and not technology. This also means that Bumblebee {{spoiler|and later Starscream}} essentially became victim to ''organ theft''.
** Several episodes have described the use of biological weapons being used in the Cybertronian war. Cybonic Plague is a poisoned form of energon transmitted via interpersonal contact and Tox-En is a more carpet bomb type of bio-weapon.
* [[Merchandise-Driven]]: Played with, as the toys came out over a year ''after'' the premiere date because of the debacle a few years ago concerning on the delay of the ''[[Transformers Animated]]'' toy line because the movie line was still selling well. Even then, the toy line is fairly minimal as they are a subline of the greater "Robots in Disguise" line rather than being their own set (like the movies or ''Animated'').
* [[Meteor Move]]: {{spoiler|An Insecticon, under the influence of Airachnid,}} pulls a uniquely vicious variation of this move on Megatron. It slams the Megs into a cave wall and kicks him into the air, flying after him and bloodily ripping a chunk of his shoulder off with its mandibles ''in mid air,'' before raining [[More Dakka|a hail of laser fire after him]] as he crashes to the ground. This has the undesired effect of ''seriously'' ticking him off.
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** In [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E19 Rock Bottom|"Rock Bottom"]], Starscream initially writes Megatron off after the cave-in... but then almost immediately remembers that Megs has survived worse, and he decides that rescuing him would probably earn him some points.
* [[No Ontological Inertia]]: Averted; breaking the Immobilizer does ''not'' unfreeze Optimus and Bulkhead.
** Played straight when Unicron is defeated and all the natural disasters he was causing on Earth just stop.
* [[No Sense of Humor]]:
{{quote|'''Jack:''' Uh, Optimus! You wanna see something funny?
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** In [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E15 Shadowzone|"Shadowzone"]], Jack, Raf, and Miko have this reaction to learning that [[It Makes Sense in Context|they're trapped in a parallel dimension with a Decepticon zombie.]]
** In "Orion Pax, Part 3," Megatron himself has this reaction when {{spoiler|Orion Pax goes back to being Optimus Prime.}}
** A hilarious one from Miko and Raf in "Operation Bumblebee, Part 1" when they try to distract Bee with TV. What are the odds they'd see ''that'' car commercial, right then?
** Two consecutively in "Crossfire". One by Bulkhead when Dreadwing shows up with an army of Vehicons to assist Megatron, and right after that, Arcee when she realizes that she has fallen in Airachnid's trap.
** Silas gets two Oh Craps in quick succession in "Nemesis Prime". {{spoiler|The first one when he realizes his fistfight with Agent Fowler has caused him to step away from Nemesis' control chair and given Optimus the time to recover and start kicking his copy's ass, from which Silas proves unable to counter even when he manages to get back into the control chair, causing him to visibly panic. The BIGGER one comes when Nemesis comes crashing through the ceiling of MECH's base... directly above Silas.}}
** Airachnid gets a few as well. Her first one comes when [[Badass Normal|Jack]] blows up her ship... which Airachnid was standing on top of at the time.
*** The second is during her fight with Soundwave, when she sees that Laserbeak isn't resting on his chest. Cue being shot in the back.
*** The big one, though, comes in "Armada," when she realizes {{spoiler|she's standing on a primed stasis pod. The pod activates before she can get away, freezing her in a permanent [[Oh Crap]] expression}}.
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** Also counts as [[Non-Human Undead]].
* [[Outrun the Fireball|Outrun the Cave In]]: Starscream fails this in [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E19 Rock Bottom|"Rock Bottom"]], [[Big No]] and all.
* [[Palette Swap]]: In proud ''Transformers'' tradition. One of Arcee's old partners, Tailgate, is a recoloring of Cliffjumper in a white primary with red accents. They manage to hide it by showing sharp camera angles on him so it isn't so obvious.
** Dreadwing is a recoloring of Skyquake, [[Justified Trope|justified]] because they are brothers (split from the same spark).
** Happens with the titular character of "Nemesis Prime."
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* [[Police Are Useless]]: In "[[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E10 Deus Ex Machina|Deus ex Machina]]", the museum guard calls the police before he finds Miko and takes her into the security room for questioning during the night. At the end of the episode, ''morning comes'' and the police never arrive, when realistically, it should only have taken them a few minutes to get there. ''Fowler'' manages to get there before they do, and he was supposed to be ''on break'' at the time.
* [[POV Cam]]: The show is fond of showing the view of an Autobot, usually Bulkhead, while he's firing at Decepticons. Sometimes it's closer to an over-the-shoulder view, possibly in homage to ''[[Transformers: War for Cybertron]]''.
** A literal one is used during Bumblebee's trip into Megatron's mind, which later proves to be more than just giving a reason why the others know of Bumblebee's adventures.
* [[Power Trio]]: The three human kids are an excellent example of the Freudian kind:
** Jack: [[The Kirk|Ego]]. He's the most down-to-earth of the three kids and serves as the voice of reason. He's a perfect balance between Raf's intelligence and Miko's emotion.
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* [[Punch Catch]]: Megatron grabs Ratchet's second [[Psycho Serum|synthetic Energon]]-powered punch, twists his arm, and punches a hole in Ratchet's gut with his free hand.
* [[Punch-Punch-Punch Uh-Oh]]
* [[Punctuated!
** And in [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E11 Speed Metal|"Speed Metal"]], a much louder example: "IT. IS. LORD!!!!"
* [[Punctuated Pounding]]: Accompanies the above examples of [[And This Is For]] and leads into [[Punch-Punch-Punch Uh-Oh]] for the first one.
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* [[Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness]]: Bulkhead breathes this trope when he becomes a walking encyclopedia in [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E21 TMI|"T.M.I."]].
* [[Send in the Clones]]: {{spoiler|Starscream does this with five clones of himself. Unlike ''[[Transformers Animated]]'' though, they aren't that distinct from each other, which probably contributes to why they come within a few seconds of actually terminating Megatron if Airachnid hadn't chosen to attack as well.}}
* [[Serious Business]]: Ratchet and the science fair projects.
* [[Ship Tease]]: The writers have made a few ''[[Getting Crap Past the Radar|questionable]]'' dialogue choices in some scenes featuring Jack and Arcee. Just look at Jack when he first meets Arcee (who was disguised as a motorbike); if he talked and behaved that way to her [[FemBot|robot form]], he'd come across as quite the [[Robosexual]] [[Casanova]]. Also, there was his heartfelt confession to Arcee that ''[[A Man Is Not a Virgin|she was his first]]...[[Less Disturbing in Context|bike]]."
** Considering what June said when she found out that Optimus Prime wasn't around makes you wonder if it runs in the family.
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* [[Sword Over Head]]: Arcee has such a moment when faced with a critically damaged Megatron, but stands down when she learns Megatron has information the Autobots need. [[Subverted Trope|As soon as Bumblebee gets what they needed, Arcee cuts Megatron's life support.]] Megatron survives, however.
** She has Starscream at her mercy several times after finding out he killed Cliffjumper, but ultimately refuses to murder him once she sees Bumblebee giving her the [[Puppy Dog Eyes]].
** This trope is played [[Incredibly Lame Pun|to the hilt]] in [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E23 One Shall Fall|"One Shall Fall"]].
** This happens virtually every time Megatron and Optimus have a one-on-one fight.
* [[Symbolic Blood]]: Much like in the movies, the robots tend to bleed a blue fluid that appears to be energon.
* [[Taken for Granite]]: Subverted in [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E17 Crisscross|"Crisscross"]]. Airachnid gets covered in cement which hardens, but she breaks out within seconds.
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'''Breakdown:''' Say Uncle! Say it! }}
* [[Trainstopping]]: Optimus in [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E9 Convoy|"Convoy"]].
** Knock Out is rammed by a train in [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S2 E12 Tunnel Vision|"Tunnel Vision"]] and does this as an unintended result, at great pain and and at great cost to his paintjob. ''[[Berserk Button|He's not happy afterwards]]''.
* [[Trust Me, I'm an X]]:
{{quote|'''Ratchet:''' It's all right, [[Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner|I'm an emergency vehicle!]]}}
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* [[Undying Loyalty]]: Soundwave to Megatron. Unlike Starscream, who is, [[The Starscream|well...]]
** Likewise, Dreadwing and especially Skyquake are both loyal to Megatron, though Dreadwing's loyalty is initially overshadowed by his desire to avenge his fallen brother. He seems to have left this attitude behind at the end of his introductory episode.
* [[Unobtanium]]: Dark Energon, by the time of this series, is an extremely rare substance. It's so rare that it took Megatron a three-year trip into deep space to find any, and characters who have experienced it before have no idea supplies even exist anymore.
* [[Unusual Euphemism]]: Per ''[[Transformers]]'' tradition, various car parts are substituted for more inappropriate normal words. Arcee in particular seems fond of using "scrap" to stand in for a slightly shorter word.
** Also, they may be using it as a substitute for the more classic Cybertronian curse "slag", as it's quite insulting in the United Kingdom, Australia, and Ireland.
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** Silas has one in "Nemesis Prime" when {{spoiler|he realizes that Agent Fowler has successfully distracted him from the fight with Optimus; he starts panicing as he loses control of the fight, which ends with Nemesis being dropped ''on top of him''}}.
* [[Villainous Rescue]]: Toyed with in [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E19 Rock Bottom|"Rock Bottom"]]. When Bulkhead and Miko are found by Starscream, the entrance resembles a legitimate rescue, along with a prepared speech. Then Starscream realizes he's found the wrong person.
** [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E14 Out of His Head|"Out Of His Head"]]. Megatron inadvertently saves Optimus from Starscream's wrath... if only because he wants to kill Optimus himself, and because he is currently deciding whether to kill Starscream for his treachery.
** Again in [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E16 Operation Breakdown|"Operation: Breakdown"]], when Starscream and a bunch of Vehicons show up just in time to drive off Silas and the MECH goons, saving Bulkhead and Breakdown... at which point Starscream orders Breakdown to kill Bulkhead.
** In [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E25 One Shall Rise Part 2|"One Shall Rise, Part 2"]], {{spoiler|Megatron saves Optimus from Unicron}}.
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* [[Villain Team-Up]]: Silas and Airachnid in [[Transformers Prime/Recap/S1 E17 Crisscross|"Crisscross"]].
** MECH's at it again in "Operation Bumblebee" with Starscream, who appears to be helping them build an earthborn Transformer in exchange for his own supply of Energon.
* [[Vocal Evolution]]: [[Frank Welker]] has purposefully reimagined his classic Megatron voice into something that's not quite as screechy, (some would say a voice that almost sounds ill) but more of a softer, controlled evil instead. As he has said, "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAi_MJay5Xw&feature=player_embedded More of an acting place...]" Of course, [[Peter Cullen]]'s voice has only become more dignified as he's aged.
* [[We Hardly Knew Ye]]: Cliffjumper, Skyquake, Makeshift.
* [[We Have Reserves]]: Megatron revives Cliffjumper, turning him into a zombie, and simply stands back and watches with a smile on his face as the creature tears apart two Vehicons.
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* [[What Were You Thinking?]]: Jack asks this of Miko. Repeatedly.
* [[Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?]]: When an exhausted Megatron is at the mercy of Optimus, the latter aims his ion cannon and prepares to fire with ''just'' enough hesitation for Dreadwing and the Vehicons to pull a [[Big Damn Villains]].
** Constantly averted with Arcee who spares both Starscream and Arachnid. Although she did attempt to take out a comatose Megatron, so she does make some exceptions.
* [[Wild Card]]: Wheeljack. He's an Autobot through and through, but he's used to operating as a Wrecker with no chain of command but your own team.
* [[World Building]]: Every episode is trying to build up this incarnation by constantly referring to previous events, characters and other things that are common knowledge to them but unknown to the human characters. In that regard, they sort of act as [[The Watson]].
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