Season 2 brings in new characters by the bucket load and annoyingly, despite the fact that the writers has nearly 50 episodes to play around with, many of these new guys just appear out of the blue with no explanation of how they got there. Anyway, with that gripe out of the way:

The Autobots get an absolute ton of new members in this season, and as well as getting the usual robots who can turn into cars there are a few more interesting vehicle modes for the side such as jets, boats and even microscopes.

Air Raid is one of the Aerialbots who has bought to life through the power of Vector Sigma. At first, he doesn't seem to want to be part of the Autobot cause, although he isn't as snobby as the likes of Slingshot. After seeing how the war between the Transformers started he then does his best to take on the Decepticons and as well as being able to transform into a F-15 Eagle he can also unite with his fellow Aerialbots to form Superion.




Alpha Trion is an old Autobot who lives on Cybertron, and he is first seen being a leader figure to the female Autobots in this episode. After that he is seen living on his own but is hunted down by the Decepticons as they are after something he has -the key to Vector Sigma. He loses that to them and is almost killed but Optimus Prime and a group of Autobots find and revive him, only for him to go and sacrifice himself by merging with the Vector Sigma computer just so the Aerialbots can be created. It is then revealed that his spirit now lives on inside the computer, and much more of his past is explained in the third season where it becomes clear that he is quite an important figure to the Autobot cause.



Autobot X was created by Sparkplug to be a new warrior for the Autobots and was made out of spare parts. Whilst it lacked a alt. mode it made up for it by being so big but when it was first activated it went on a rampage and had to be shut down. However, when Spike was injured, he had to have his mind transferred into Autobot X with less than stable results. As well as joining the Decepticons, Autobot X nearly destroys the other Autobots but disaster is averted and Spike's mind is eventually put back into his own body whilst Autobot X is taken offline for good.



Beachcomber can transform into a dune buggy and is the hippy of the Autobots, and would much rather be hanging out with nature than fighting Decepticons. This leads to trouble when he discovers the "golden lagoon" which is located in a beautiful forest full of wild-life, most of which is destroyed when the Decepticons find out about it.





Blaster is the Autobot equivalent to Soundwave and transforms into a tape-deck. Unlike the serious Soundwave, this Autobot rocks around the clock and enjoys listening to Earth music to the point where he'll happily play it for the other Autobots, if they want it or not. He doesn't really fully mature until the movie but in this season he still gets into plenty of fights and also helps to create the Aerialbots.




Bluestreak continues his first season role of doing nothing of interest for the majority of season 2. It isn't until the near end of the season where he gets a bigger role, starring alongside Tracks and Bumblebee in the episode "Trans-Europe Express" where he shows that he can deal with Decepticons just as well as any other Autobot, so good for him.





Blades is part of the Protectobot team, a sub-group which appears hopelessly too late in the season. He can transform into a helicopter, a mode he is seen more in than his robot mode for the two episodes in which he appears, and is quite good as putting out fires and rescuing people. He is only ever seen in robot mode in "B.O.T." for a incredibly brief amount of time. When the Protectobots form Defensor, Blades becomes the right arm.




Brawn used to be the strongest of the Autobots but with characters like Superion and Omega Supreme appearing this season he has been dethroned, which possibly explains why he isn't in a very good mood most of the time. He doesn't get along very well with new-comer Perceptor and thinks he is a coward but after going on an adventure inside of Megatron (Brawn's major moment in season two) he eventually finds respect for him.




Bumblebee is still the character for the kids to love and gets to tag along on the odd zany adventure this season, such as visiting a planet of giant aliens. However as his toy was older he would play second fiddle to newer characters who got the limelight instead.





Chromia is one of few female Autobots shown this season, and transforms into a Cybertronic truck. She is also Ironhide's girlfriend.






Cliffjumper is still the trigger happy Autobot from the previous season although in one episode he becomes a bit of a jerk and tries to prove that Mirage is a traitor who has joined the Decepticons. However when he learns that he was wrong he says sorry and after that he's usually shown taking part on battle scenes.





Cosmos seems to be jinxed as generally speaking only bad things are ever shown happening to him, such as being locked into a collision course with the sun and then having to tow all the Autobots back to Earth in "Megatron's Master Plan", getting used as a battery in "Blaster Blues", shot down in "The God Gambit", shot down in "Sea Change" and nearly eaten alive by morphobots in "Quest for survival". When he isn't being shot/eaten/abused he spends his time in his UFO mode, usually giving reports on various things to Optimus Prime.




Defensor is the combined form of the Protectobots and only appears very late on in the final episode of the season, where he does nothing of any use apart from raise a forcefield which lasts for a couple of seconds. When it runs out the Decepticons just shoot him a few times and he falls over and separates, making this gestalt look rather weak and pathetic. Thankfully he gets a better run in season 3 and The Headmasters.



 

Devcon left Cybertron long ago to be a Decepticon hunter, and traverses the galaxy to do so. He finds his way to the gambling planet of Monacus where he teams up with Smokescreen and his compadres and gets to kick some keister. Despite being offered the chance to join the Autobots, he declines and chooses to keep up bounty hunting, doing so with his pal Slizardo, who returns in season 3 without him.

Elita One is first seen as the leader of the female Autobots who are all still on Cybertron, and she helps plan attacks on Decepticon bases to steal energon from them. However, she is eventually captured by Starscream and is almost killed when she uses her special power -the ability to stop time. She is saved however thanks to the help of Optimus Prime and her creator, Alpha Trion. It is later revealed in the episode "War Dawn" that she was originally a female robot called Aerial who was one of the first to fall when the Decepticon invasion began.



Fireflight is another Aerialbot who, at first, isn't interested in helping the Autobots that much, but after seeing how the war between the Autobots and Decepticons began he changes his mind. As well as being able to transform into a F-4B Phantom II jet he can unite with the other Aerialbots to form Superion.





Firestar is another female Autobot under the command of Elita One. Her truck alt mode is useful for carrying the cargo when her team go on energon raids, and if that wasn't enough she's also Inferno's girly friend.





First Aid is one of the Protectobots and I assure you that that was the best picture I could get of him in robot mode. He is only seen in robot mode in "B.O.T." and you either see him from a long shot or just the back of him. He's also the only Protectobot to not speak a word in season 2, leading me to believe that maybe no voice actor had been chosen yet although given how late this team were introduced in the season it comes as no surprise. At least he got an episode to himself in the next season to make up for it. He can transform into an ambulance.



Gears is one of the two annoying, moaning little twerps on the Autobot side, and whilst he isn't quite as bad as Huffer his constant complaining is something most of the other Autobots can't handle. He gets to star in the second episode of the season where it is revealed that his body houses a special chip that the Decepticons steal which makes Gears a bit more jolly. The chip is eventually reclaimed and Gears enters jerk mode again but he doesn't do much more after this other than be humiliated by a chubby little thing called B.O.T.




Grapple loves to build things but whilst he's good at making stuff he isn't that good at keeping it from being destroyed. He can also go overboard to try and get something done, such as teaming up with the Constructicons in "The Master Builders" to create the solar power tower which ends in disaster when the Decepticons double-cross him and Hoist. After this he is mostly in crowd-filler or battle scenes doing little of importance.




Grimlock is still the leader of the Dinobots, and is generally a misery-guts who doesn't like having to go around saving the other Autobots when they get into a mess. He and his team ruin part of the Autobot base in one episode and are sent to an island to practice their skills, where they get into a crazy adventure involving almost being killed in a tar pit and having to get real dinosaurs to attack Decepticons. In another episode, Grimlock and the other Dinobots are badly beaten and decide to leave the Autobots but after another adventure on Cybertron they resume to serve the forces of good once more.



Groove is another of the Protectobots who can transform into a motorbike and apart from those facts not much is revealed about him because like the other team members he is introduced far too late to get to do anything interesting, unless you count holding a door open to let humans inside a freezer as the Earth burns.





Hoist can transform into a pick-up truck and the main thing he does is save people, but when he isn't doing that he gets into all kinds of crazy escapades, such as helping Grapple build a solar power tower with the Constructicons, going back in time with Warpath to help an army, getting to star in movies and helping to create the Aerialbots. All of these certainly make him the Autobot with the most stories to tell.




Hot Spot is the leader of the Protectobots although you probably wouldn't have guessed this because you only get a decent look at his robot mode in "B.O.T." and he doesn't get to say much. And because his toy was newer it was probably the reason Inferno's toy was pulled off the shelves as both hand fire truck transformation modes, which totally isn't fair as Hot Spot is in a sucky blue colour rather than Inferno's saner red paint job. Anyway apart from shooting at Megatron and Soundwave at one point he does nothing cool apart from uniting with the other Protectobots to form Defensor, and he is the torso of the gestalt.



Hound used to use holograms a lot in the first season but he doesn't get to use them anywhere near as much this season and is generally just there to take part in battle scenes, which is a bit of a shame but when you've got a ton of new toys to put into the show that is the way things work. He can transform into a green military jeep.





Huffer is still the whiny one everyone hates, as he never has a good word to say about anything and is the first one to shout out any negative feelings he has about a subject. Unlike his fellow moaning buddy Gears, he never gets his own starring episode but is just generally seen in the odd one taking part in fights or doing other activities such as trying to guide wooly mammoths back to their own time.




Inferno can transform into a fire truck and he is usually paired with Red Alert in putting out any fires the Autobots happen to come across. However this isn't what Inferno wants to do with his life though as he'd much rather be trashing Decepticons with the other Autobots, much to Red Alert's annoyance. As well as putting out fires he gets to go on adventures to a world of giant aliens, a gambling city on an asteroid and is almost captured by some British big-game hunter.




Ironhide puts in plenty of appearances during this season despite his toy being one of the older ones at this point, and he's practically one of the Autobot's major characters. Strange to think that he nearly retires from duty at one point due to him thinking that he is useless but he later snaps out of it and rejoins the team. After this he is usually involved in major plots in some way, from taking over leadership of the Autobots when two Optimus Primes show up to helping create the Aerialbots and then being mean to them because they are being super jerks.



Jazz is one of the coolest Autobots around and instead of just solely relying on his gun to beat Decepticons with he also uses really loud music to defeat them. Like many of the other Autobots the things he gets up to this season aren't limited to just being on Earth as he also gets to head out to one of Saturn's moons and get involved in helping a bunch of rebels overthrow some evil cultists.




Mirage gets slightly more to do in this season as whilst his gimmick is still the whole invisibility thing one episode has him look like he may be a traitor to the Autobots but it's actually the work of the Insecticons that put him in a bad light and it doesn't help that he has Cliffjumper trying to bust him at every available opportunity. His last act of interest is when he and four other Autobots disguise themselves as the Stunticons to try and find out about Megatron's latest scheme.




Moonracer is another of the female Autobots and like Elita One and Chromia she can transform into a Cybertronic car. She's also Powerglide's love interest although she never did find out that he cheats on her for Astoria.

Just out of interest, in the sole episode the majority of the female Autobots appear in, "The Search for Alpha Trion" there are two extra female Autobots that never speak or are even named but they are there and do take part in one of the battles. See here.


Omega Supreme is a colossal Autobot who has traveled to Earth looking for his old enemies: the Constructicons. On Cybertron, Omega was the guardian of crystal city but it was obliterated by the Constructicons and he has sworn to destroy them ever since. His gigantic robot mode gives the Autobots something they need to be able to take on Devastator more easily and his space rocket mode finally give them a way of reaching other planets, such as Cybertron, without having to resort to trying to use the Decepticon space bridge.




Optimus Prime is the leader of the Autobots and listing all the things he gets up to this season would be mad so here are some of the highlights: saving his girlfriend, creating the Aerialbots, taking on a British big game hunter, saying the word "boobies", playing basketball, playing football, having to battle an identical clone, disguising himself as Motormaster, having his body made into an alligator robot and finding out he was originally called "Orion Pax" and looked like this. Unlike the last season the Autobots seem able to cope without him to the point where he doesn't even appear in two episodes but he's still the robot everyone remembers.



Perceptor is an Autobot scientist and when he first appears it doesn't look like he wants to do much fighting -probably doesn't help that he has a microscope form for an alt mode. But it is soon shown that he will get stuck into battles against the Decepticons and plays an important part in stopping Megatron from conquering the Earth with the "Heart of Cybertron". As a scientist his knowledge with machinery comes in useful in episodes like "The Revenge of Bruticus" where he fixes the space bridge so the Autobots can save the Earth from crashing into the sun.



Powerglide comes in useful to the Autobot team because he is one of the few Autobots who can fly thanks to his plane mode. Unfortunately this has boosted his ego and he thinks that he is the king of the sky and generally acts as if he's the big-shot who can take on Decepticons with ease. Most of the time he can but only because he's with several other Autobots during attacks.




Prowl continues to not do much if interest in the second season, and is kind of just there most of the time -he'll take part in battles but never do anything more exciting than that apart from say the odd cheesy line. A shame really as his robot mode looks cool and his police car alt mode isn't to be sniffed at either.





Ratchet is still the Autobot's chief medic and is in charge of all of the repair work to the Autobots and can transform into an ambulance. When he isn't repairing Autobots he'll be taking part in battles against the Decepticons but never much more than that, apart from the times he gets to go to Cybertron to help build the Aerialbots one time and help bring them back through time in the other.




Red Alert is meant to be the Autobot's new security guy but he turns into being a bit of a nutcase after taking a missile to the head in "Auto Berserk". He goes completely crazy and believes all of the other Autobots are out to get him but is eventually saved. However, he's still a bit hyperactive and usually panics over nothing, often to Inferno's annoyance. He is often seen helping Inferno to deal with fires and can transform into a car.




Seaspray is the only Autobot who has an alt mode worthy of sea travel as he can transform into a hovercraft. His biggest claim to fame in this season however is the fact that in one episode he is changed into a human for a brief amount of time before changing back to his metal self. He also has a funny voice which makes him sound like he's always gargling whenever he speaks.




Sideswipe is just kind of there this season, never doing any important apart from taking part in the odd battle. The major things he does are stopping the Earth from colliding with the sun and fighting against the Combaticons in "The Revenge of Bruticus". He can transform into a red Lamborghini Countach.





Silverbolt is the only member of the Aerialbot team to not be a complete and utter jerk when first bought to life, which is one of the reasons Optimus Prime makes him the commander of the team. Despite the fact that he can transform into a concorde he has a fear of heights but this is something he just about manages to get over when he stops Megatron from taking the key to Vector Sigma by flying up really high to destroy it. He also forms the torso of Superion whenever the Aerialbots unite.




Skydive is another part of the Aerialbot team and is just as much of a brat as Slingshot is. However, when he and the other Aerialbots are taken back through time he gets to see how the war between the Autobots and Decepticons started, and he sees that he should stop being such a brat and start helping the Autobots, which he does. He can transform into a F-16 jet or the right leg of Superion.




Skyfire is only seen in a few episodes early on in season 2, due to the large amount of difficulties his toy was in from a legal point of view. Blame arguments between Hasbro and Takara for that one (see here for more info). The writers were told to only use this character when they had to and after a while he just vanished from the series completely, with Omega Supreme taking over the role of "big flying Autobot transport". Notes from the Transformers bible say that Skyfire was meant to be re-introduced into the series under the name of "Jetfire" and would have a new look but this never happened.



Slag is another Dinobot and he is usually happy to just follow Grimlock around, as long as he gets to fight Decepticons as that is all he cares about. He can transform into a triceratops.





Slingshot is the biggest jerk on the Aerialbot team, and thinks that Autobots are nothing compared to him, humans are a waste and Decepticons are really cool. However, when he and the other Aerialbots go back in time and see how the war between the Transformers started he sees how evil the Decepticons really are, this making him fight for good. He then gets to go on a zany adventure involving being almost completely taken apart and getting to be friends with a Prince. As well as being able to transform into a jet he can merge with the other Aerialbots to form Superion.



Skids is a rarely seen Autobot who only appears in two episodes of the season doing nothing more than being defeated by Decepticons and also getting through two different voice actors. Why he was never used much is a bit of a mystery, but the only other thing to say about him is that he can transform into a van.





Sludge is a Dinobot who can transform into a brontosaurus. However, since that type of dinosaur doesn't exist any more, he's actually able to transform into an Apatosaurus instead. He doesn't really do much other than follow the other Dinobots around and he's the dumbest of the bunch.





Smokescreen can transform into a sports car and his main power is the ability to send smoke everywhere, which is often used just to help the Autobots retreat from the Decepticons. Apart from this, his main adventure in this season is when he ends up on an asteroid which has a city full of casinos and gambling activities which he gets right into, which makes him some a great role-model for kids.




Snarl is like Sludge, apart from he gets to transform into a stegosaurus and is a bit smarter.






Streetwise is another Protectobot and like Groove, the main thing he does this season is hold a door open just to let some humans inside to a freezer. He can either transform into a police car, or Defensor's left leg.





Sunstreaker has a role which is much like that of his "brother", Sideswipe, as in he doesn't get to do much this season other than fight Decepticons. He does, however, get to star in a movie about evil alien robots from space but he isn't happy about doing nothing but stunt work and when he gets to play an actual part he isn't impressed that much either.





Superion is the combined form of all five of the Aerialbots and is the first gestalt the Autobots get. Of course, the only reason Superion is shown is usually just to get into a fight with a Decepticon gestalt, which is normally Menasor.





Swoop is another Dinobot and seems to be the one with the most amount of brains on the team. As well as being able to talk much more clearly than any of the Dinobots, he can transform into a pteranodon.





Tracks is a really snobby Autobot who actually likes his sports car mode a lot more than his robot mode, but when he isn't saying how great he looks he will get stuck into fights with Decepticons, and along with having a laser rifle and two missile launchers on the side of his head he can also use a type of beam which makes things completely dark. His sports car mode also has an extra transformation which allows him to fly.




Trailbreaker doesn't do much this season at all other than frequently use his forcefields, which do things like protect people from snow or push water away. That's about all he does as he never gets to "star" in an episode.





Warpath can transform into a tank and is remembered for being the one who would talk by putting in words like BANG and ZOWIE in his sentences for no reason. He often battles with Blitzwing as both can transform into tanks and when he isn't taking part in battle scenes he gets a chance to appear in a movie with several other Autobots.





Wheeljack is still the best Autobot scientist/inventor on the team despite facing competition from the likes of Grapple. He doesn't get to go on as many adventures as before until the near end of the season where he travels to Cybertron with several other Autobots, and ends up helping to create the Aerialbots.





Windcharger continues his first season role of standing around being useless and not getting to do anything exciting. His luck finally changes however when he and four other Autobots disguise themselves as the Stunticons, he pretends to be Wildrider.

The Decepticons have also got new members in their ranks, although not as many as the good guys.

Astrotrain is one of the two Decepticon triple-changers in this season, and can transform into either a robot, a space shuttle or a train. His space shuttle mode is the form he is often seen in as it is frequently used to transport other Decepticons to various places across the galaxy. If he ever does manage to do something other than carry passengers he is shown to be quite power-hungry and attempts to assume leadership of the Decepticons in "Triple Takeover" and also tries to become a God in "The God Gambit".




Blast Off was originally one of the renegade Decepticons who had his original body destroyed by Megatron whilst his personality component was stored away in the Decepticon detention center on Cybertron. However, Starscream finds his chip and puts it into a new body, and Blast Off is reborn with a new robot form and a space shuttle alt mode. He becomes part of the Combaticon team and can merge with the others to form Bruticus.




Blitzwing is the other Decepticon triple-changer and can either be a robot, tank or jet. Like Astrotrain, he is seen as power hungry in "Triple takeover" but as his bid for leadership also fails he just follows orders given by Megatron and gets into fights with the Autobots. He seems to have a small rivalry with Warpath as both of them can transform into tanks and take each other on a couple of times in the season.




Bombshell is the leader of the Insecticons, a small team that generally gets up to no good this season and is a hazard to both the Decepticons and Autobots. He can transform into a boll weevil and like any of the other Insecticons, he just wants to eat as much energon as possible and doesn't care how he gets it and who it belongs to.





Bonecrusher is one of the Constructicons and can transform into a bulldozer. If he isn't helping to build something, he'll be in a battle with his fellow team members and usually the order is given at some point for the team to unite into Devastator. He forms the gestalt's left arm.





Brawl was originally one of the renegade Decepticons who had his original body destroyed by Megatron whilst his personality component was stored away in the Decepticon detention center on Cybertron. However, Starscream finds his chip and puts it into a new body, and Brawl is reborn with a new robot form and a tank alt mode. He is made into part of the Combaticon team and is eager to take revenge on Megatron but he has his memory re-programmed to be totally loyal to Megatron instead, and after that he is just shown to love getting into fights. When the Combaticons transform into Bruticus, Brawl becomes the left leg.



Breakdown was created by Megatron as part of the Stunticon team, and he can transform into a Lambourghini Countach. When he is first activated by Vector Sigma, there is some reluctance in his voice when he pledges to obey Megatron, but any doubts in which side he is on is cast aside after this, as he and the other Stunticons soon get up to no good on the Earth. He can also merge with the other Stunticons to form Menasor, and he becomes the right leg.




Bruticus is the combined form of the Combaticons and at first is Starscream's super warrior he planned to use to de-throne Megatron. This plan nearly worked but a surprise attack by Menasor defeated Bruticus and all of the Combaticons were banished to an asteroid. However, they make it to Cybertron and form into Bruticus to take control of the planet, defeated Shockwave in the process. However, both Autobots and Decepticons arrive and fight Bruticus, and he is eventually defeated and seemingly destroyed. The Autobots believe he is dead and leave but the Bruticus they saw was a hologram, the real one is re-programmed to be totally loyal to Megatron.



Buzzsaw is one of Soundwave's cassettes and is just a clone of Laserbeak but has yellow colours instead of red. He isn't seen as much as the other cassettes because his toy actually came with Soundwave's so there wasn't as much point having him in the show to advertise when other cassette characters who were sold separately like Frenzy or Ravage could be shown instead.




Dead End is another Stunticon and can transform into a car. He is given life by Vector Sigma and turns out to be quite a depressed character, who doesn't really seem to care about anything. A prime example of this would be in "Starscream's brigade" where he isn't bothered when Megatron is in danger. It is often up to the other Stunticons to convince him to do things. He forms Menasor's left arm.




Devastator is the combined form of the Constructicons and should be a really powerful enemy no Autobot could defeat but bad things usually happen to him this season, and he is often beaten up on various ways such as having a transformation lock beam hitting him which causes him to fall apart or being attacked by Bruticus. Thankfully his luck changes in the movie where he is much more successful.




Dirge is one of the new Decepticon jets who looks like Ramjet or Thrust in robot mode but has a blue paint job. His deep, monotone voice is hilarious and he often runs into trouble, such as crashing when trying to simply transport something to the Decepticon base. He can transform into a jet and is often seen attacking with any of the other seekers.





Drag Strip is another Stunticon who can transform into a Tyrell P-34 racing car which has six wheels. You never learn much about his personality this season other than he seems to like demolition derbies. When the Stunticons form Menasor, he becomes the right arm.





Frenzy is basically Rumble but has red and black colours instead of purple. Other than that he's the same as Rumble right down to the voice, only he never gets to be in as many episodes.





Hook is another Constructicon and can transform into a crane, and also becomes the shoulders of Devastator whenever the Constructicons unite. He doesn't do much this season apart from take part in battles but he does install the Heart of Cybertron into Megatron.





Kickback is another Insecticon, who can transform into a robotic locust. In this mode he can use his powerful legs to knock over things which occasionally comes in handy, such as in "The Insecticon syndrome". Like the other two Insecticons, eating as much energon as possible is all he cares about.





Laserbeak is one of Soundwave's cassettes and is still an annoying nuisance to the Autobots, although he appearances in this season get less and less towards the end. If he isn't taking part in battles he is used to go on spying missions.





Long Haul is another Constructicon and he isn't very happy, mainly because he wants to have a role of greater important in the Decepticons, but instead he is often assigned cargo carrying tasks or just plain hard work, which he hates. It doesn't help that his alt mode is a dump truck. He forms the lower part of Devastator's torso.





Megatron is the leader of the Decepticons and can transform into a gun. His role in this season is to be the one who thinks up ways to either destroy the Autobots or to create energon, no matter how ridiculous his ideas are. Good ideas include turning the Autobots evil or creating a clone of Optimus Prime, bad ideas are things like trying to steal things of Wheeljack's that he has no idea on what they do and building giant purple griffins. The other major thing he does this season is create the Stunticons after getting fed up of the Autobots ruling the roads.



Menasor is the combined form of the Stunticons and is usually just around to fight his rival, Superion. Occasionally he gets to fight other foes though, such as himself (see "Masquerade" and Bruticus ("Starscream's brigade").





Mixmaster is the slightly loopy one of the Constructicons and can transform into a cement mixer. He never mixes cement however as he's a genius with mixing chemicals to use in various ways. When the Constructicons form Devastator, he transforms into the left leg.





Motormaster is bought to life by Vector Sigma and he is the leader of the Stunticons. A loud mouth, he wants to take on Optimus Prime to become King of the road and gets his big chance in "Masquerade" only to be defeated. When the Stunticons transform into Menasor, he becomes the torso.





Onslaught was originally one of the renegade Decepticons who had his original body destroyed by Megatron whilst his personality component was stored away in the Decepticon detention center on Cybertron. However, Starscream finds his chip and puts it into a new body, and Onslaught is reborn with a new robot form and a missile truck alt mode. He becomes the leader of the Combaticons and puts together a plan to destroy Megatron by having the Earth crash into the sun but his plan eventually fails and he is reprogrammed to only serve Megatron. He becomes the torso of Bruticus whenever the team merge, and must have a magical colour changing chest that can go from blue to white.



Ramjet is one of the new Decepticon jets and instead of just using lasers and missiles in battle he enjoys crashing into things at top speed. He doesn't seem very good at doing this without taking large amounts of damage himself however but that doesn't stop him from doing it anyway.





Ravage is one of Soundwave's most used cassette robots, and transforms from a tape to jaguar. He's is usually sent out to hunt down things and also gets to go to a planet full of gigantic aliens in one episode.





Reflector is still a stupid little camera guy who isn't use much at all this season, mainly because the writers were told to stop using him as it didn't look like his toy was ever going to be released outside Japan. It eventually was released but you could get it only via mail order (in America anyway) and it was only available when the movie had just come out, so that was pretty pointless.




Rumble is yet another one of Soundwave's cassettes and continues his role from the first season of annoying Autobots thanks to his ability to cause earthquakes with his pile-driver arms.





Scavenger is another Constructicon and can transform into excavator. If he isn't helping the rest of the team to build something he can transform into Devastator's right arm whenever the Constructicons unite.





Scrapper is the leader of the Constructicons and is the main speaker for the team. At one point in the series it looks like he and the other Constructicons may be traitors to the Decepticon's so they can help Grapple and Hoist to build a solar power tower but in reality they were actually planning to double cross them once the tower was complete. Scrapper can either transform into scoop loader or Devastator's right leg.




Shockwave is still stuck on Cybertron and whilst we get to see him in action more often this season he often loses any battle he is in and also proves that he's a really terrible shot. In other words, he's still a bit of a waste and nowhere near as good as his comic book counterpart. He can transform into a Cybertronic cannon.





Shrapnel is another Insecticon and can transform into a stag beetle. Like his buddies Bombshell and Kickback, his single goal in life is to go out and eat as much energon as possible, no matter where it came from and even if it could be deadly.





Skywarp looks like Starscream or Thundercracker bus has a black and purple colour scheme and has the ability to teleport. There isn't much more I can say about him as the only reason for him to appear in an episode is usually just to take part in a fight scene.





Soundwave can transform into a cassette player but the main reason he is remembered is for the cool voice he had. In this season he goes on several adventures, such as being transported to a planet of giant aliens and going to Cybertron with Megatron to give the Stunticons life. He has several cassette robots to send out during battle which he can store in his chest compartment.




Starscream still fancies himself as the leader of the Decepticons and he has many attempts at overthrowing Megatron during this season but they always either fail or eventually fail. He came closest to gaining leadership when he built the Combaticons to fight Megatron with but even his new army was eventually defeated they were all banished to an asteroid. However, he eventually rejoins the Decepticons by helping Megatron defeat Bruticus again and have him reprogrammed to be totally loyal to Megatron.




Swindle was originally one of the renegade Decepticons who had his original body destroyed by Megatron whilst his personality component was stored away in the Decepticon detention center on Cybertron. However, Starscream finds his chip and puts it into a new body, and Swindle is reborn with a new robot form and a jeep alt mode. He becomes one of the Combaticons and can form Bruticus' right leg whenever the team unite. In "B.O.T." he shows that he doesn't seem to care that much about the other Combaticons and sells there parts to whoever wants them, but he eventually has to get them all back when Megatron finds out.



Thrust is another new Decepticon who can transform into a jet and looks a lot like Dirge or Ramjet only he has a red colour scheme and instead of having the usual red eyes the Decepticons have, he gets yellow, like his toy. His main moment is being accidentally transported to a world of giant aliens but he eventually makes it back to Earth.

If you want a quick interesting fact about Thrust, Dirge and Ramjet, the instructions that came with their toys have the user pull down their nose cone to complete their head transformations, like with Starscream. But in the cartoon, the cones are left up, which was probably done just to make them look different from the original three jets.


Thundercracker is like Starscream only coloured blue and without the desire to try and assume command of the Decepticons. He's often only there to take part on battle scenes and is often seen with Skywarp.





Vortex was originally one of the renegade Decepticons who had his original body destroyed by Megatron whilst his personality component was stored away in the Decepticon detention center on Cybertron. However, Starscream finds his chip and puts it into a new body, and Vortex is reborn with a new robot form and a helicopter alt mode. He becomes one of the Combaticons and can form Bruticus' left arm whenever the team unite.




Wildrider is another Stunticon and as soon as he is bought to life by Vector Sigma his exact first words are "I'm Wildrider! And I wanna bust somethin' up!" so as you can imagine from that he likes to get into fights, whether it be in his robot mode or car mode. He can also unite with his fellow Stunticons to form Menasor, and he becomes the left leg of the gestalt.

OTHER CHARACTERS

All three of the main human characters from the last season appear in this one along with some extra characters, although their presence isn't as great and it's much more about the Transformers this time round.

Carly is introduced early on in the season where she is saved by Ironhide, and goes on to appear in several mode episodes. She becomes Spike's love interest and the two often get to go on adventures together, the main one being a journey to Cybertron where they try to get cybertonium for the Autobots. After that she appears in a few more escapades, such as going to the moon and witnessing several Autobots trying to appear in a movie.




Chip Chase is a computer expert who appears in a few of the earlier episodes in this season before being fazed out and never seen again in the history of Transformers cartoons. Y'see Carly is also a whiz with computers and Hasbro wanted her in to try and get girls to watch Transformers, and when you already had Spike to fill the male character kids could relate to, Chip got the boot.




Raoul is a street punk who knows a thing or two about cars and gets caught up in a Decepticon plot in "Make Tracks" where he befriends and repairs Tracks. He also appears in another episode, "Auto Bop" and gets involved in another Decepticon plot, this one being about controlling people with loud music but thanks to his efforts along with the help of Tracks and Blaster the Decepticon's scheme is foiled.




Sparkplug is Spike's father and is often seen helping Ratchet repair things such as other Autobots. It is shown that he also has a garage in New York which has a secret passage to an Autobot base inside it. Other than that he doesn't get to do much adventuring and often has to take a back seat whilst his son gets to go out and have all the fun instead.





Spike is Sparkplug's son and is the main human character in the series. He doesn't appear in as many episode this season as you may think but when he does he often gets to go somewhere exciting, such as a trip to the moon, a journey to Cybertron, finding the city of Atlantis and more. He even has his own mind transferred into a robot in the first episode of the season but things don't go well at all as he is tricked into helping the Decepticons but he eventually snaps out of it and his mind is restored into his own body once more.