List of Beast Machines characters

This is a list of characters from the television show, Beast Machines, the sequel to Beast Wars. The show is part of the Transformers franchise, based around alien robots transforming into animals and vehicles. Beast Machines follows on from the ending of Beast Wars, featuring the surviving heroes, the Maximals returning to their homeplanet of Cybertron to find it enslaved by the evil Predacon-Vehicon leader, Megatron. The characters are split into two battling factions, the Maximals and Vehicons. Some characters, although part of teams, are neutral.

Maximals

;Optimus Primal: Leader of the Maximals.Supreme troops commander. Beast mode is a technorganic gorilla. He was the first to transform into his new robot mode. Optimus is the stalwart and brave leader of the Maximals during the "Beast Wars" but his leadership degrades as his fanaticism to defeat Megatron grows he nearly kills the team during a battle against Vehicons in a factory. He blames himself for the current state of Cybertron and also for the loss of his comrades, Rhinox and Silverbolt. Upon discovering Tankor was Rhinox, Optimus made a choice to allow Rhinox to carry out his own goals, but that was a mistake he would realize later on. Optimus soon discovered the Plasma Energy Chamber to challenge Megatron's control over the Key to Vector Sigma. Tankor manipulates both but Megatron known of Tankor’s treachery and in the end, Tankor, Megatron and Optimus all perish in a panicked attempt to conquer each other. Optimus is later reborn with help from his friends and the Matrix. Becoming his old self again, he leads the Maximals to victory against Megatron, claiming his base and the sparks of Cybertron. Eventually, Optimus is the only Maximal left standing when the Vehicons capture the others in the series finale. Megatron takes on the body of Optimal Optimus and battles Optimus, using the Key to Vector Sigma to neutralize the planet's core. However, Optimus uses his power of the Oracle to attack Megatron and the two plunge into the core of Cybertron, acting as catalysts to reformat the entire planet into a technorganic paradise. Optimus could absorb incoming energy blasts and fire it right back at his attackers. He could also fire energy shurikens from his chest.

;Cheetor: Second-in-command. Infantry commanderBeast mode is a technorganic cheetah. He is the second to transform into his new robot mode. Cheetor has gone from an immature child at the start of the "Beast Wars" to a mature, but still hotheaded adult in the "Beast Machines". Cheetor is now second-in-command of Maximals, but still looks up to Optimus as his idol. However, the two can get into heated arguments when either of them make rash decisions. Cheetor's new beast mode allows him to move much faster than before and he can easily confuse a Vehicon drone (as seen in "Reformatting"). Cheetor was one of the four Maximals to appear on Cybertron with no memory of what happened before even though he hears the words of Optimus Prime's spirit before he disappeared to the stars. Cheetor survives the "Beast Machines" war and appears to become the leader of the Maximals, and the Oracle's new representative as Optimus was previously. Cheetor's weapons included an enhanced super speed (to the point of the original Transformers' Blurr) and a pair of sabers, which he pulled from his back. The sabers could be used to deflect incoming energy blasts, could be thrown as boomerangs and attached at the hilt to form a glider

;Blackarachnia: Saboteur. Beast mode is a techno-organic black widow spider. Despite her Predacon past, Blackarachnia is now a true Maximal, but still has her crafty and bad-girl personality. She is the third to figure out how to transform. She spends much of the first season looking for and freeing her beloved Silverbolt from the clutches of Megatron. She eventually frees him from his evil form Jetstorm, but he is bitter about his revival. In the end, Blackarachnia and Silverbolt are properly reunited. Her weapons include a very limber athleticism, venomous webbing and deadly fighting skills. She can use her webbing to create a shield to protect her from incoming fire. She has a pair of stingers which she could use to deliver powerful blasts of bioelectrical energy. She also had web stars which could cover vehicons in paralyzing webbing, hit them with paralyzing energy and cut them to pieces.

;Rattrap: Intelligence, surveillance and computer expert. Beast mode is a technorganic rat. Wisecracking spy Rattrap appeared on Cybertron with no memory of how he got there, and hid aboard a cargo vehicle until he was discovered by Optimus, unable to transform like the gorilla. He is the last out of the original four Maximals to learn how to transform, because he was impatient, but he discovered his short wheeled robot mode has no weapons. He nearly became a Vehicon to get weapons from Megatron and out of bitterness at his vastly diminished position within the Maximals due to his comparatively weak form. He soon, however, realized his mistake and rejoined the Maximals. Rattrap soon learned he could access the computers of Cybertron and gain secret information. Near the end of the series, Rattrap fell in love with fellow Maximal, Botanica. Rattrap had no direct weapons to speak of, hence part of a character flaw, but he had a visor that he could use to scan his peripheral environment and use his onboard computer systems to hack other computer systems. He also has a built in toolbox located in his back which he can use to build various gadgets.

;Nightscream: Air-Troops Commander.Young impetuous hothead, Nightscream was the sole survivor of the eradicating virus that infected Cybertron and was inadvertently merged with the beast mode of a bat, later reformatted by Optimus to a technorganic form of the same animal. He often finds conflict with the others and hides his emotions more than the others, but still comes across as an hotheaded child, replacing Cheetor’s role in "Beast Wars" in this regard. His robot mode weapons included a hypersonic scream and a vampiric bite and sucks the energon out of his target.

;Savage/Noble: Although not considered an official member of the Maximals, Savage/Noble still does count along their number. After his discovery as the beast Savage, who was attacking both sides in the fight, Nightscream persuaded him to join their team. He accepted, but it was later revealed that he was, in fact, Megatron in a new, organic-based body. Megatron removed his spark from this body, and into a huge spaceship one. However later the allegedly comatose Noble reawakened as a true beast, loyal to Nightscream (though he could not speak). Unfortunately, Noble was killed soon after.

;Silverbolt: Combat Expert.One of the original six Maximals to survive the "Beast Wars" and Blackarachnia's lover. He disappeared when the Maximals returned to Cybertron, and it was later revealed he had been captured by Megatron, with Rhinox and later Waspinator, his spark implanted in the Vehicon General Jetstorm. Blackarachnia learned that Silverbolt actually had enjoyed the atrocities he commit while being Jetstorm. She managed to reformat him into a Maximal again with a samurai-like appearance and the beast mode of a condor. However, he was bitter to his friends about being his Vechicon experiences but still he helped the Maximals. In the last episode he survived and appeared to regain his former noble personality. His feathers can serve as throwing knives and explosive darts.

;Botanica: Botanist and Bioscientist.A strange Maximal that crashed landed on Cybertron during the Vehicon War and discovered and helped by the Maximals. Botanica is a calm minded peace oriented female who, due to being crossed with a plant, has an innate awareness of the new growth on Cybertron. She becomes Rattrap's romantic interest and battles with the Maximals in the final fight against Megatron and his Vehicons. She could control any form of plant life on cybertron and had a cannon mounted on each hip.

;Rhinox: Although never appearing materially in the show, Rhinox appeared several times. He was captured by Megatron alongside Silverbolt and became Tankor. Rattrap awoke Rhinox's memories, but instead of rejoining the Maximals, Rhinox shocked everyone by revealing he planned to cleanse the planet of all of this chaos and rule over it himself, his gentle Maximal personality having been completely overwritten by Megatron’s sinister Vehicon programming. He used Megatron and Optimus to activate the Key to Vector Sigma and the Plasma Energy Chamber to carry out his plan. Tankor/Rhinox was destroyed at the end of season one. Realizing his mistakes, Rhinox joined the Matrix despite his transgressions.

Vehicons

;Megatron: The antagonist of the "Beast Wars" series. Megatron has conquered all of Cybertron by incapacitating the population of the planet and overrunning it with his mindless Vehicon drones. Utilizing a system that connected him to the very core of Cybertron, he controlled the planet and his Vehicons from the Council Citadel, hunting down all organic life on the planet. Due to a side effect from the Key to Vector Sigma and the Plasma Energy Chamber, he became trapped for a short time in a purely organic body. He gained a new body in the form of a space fortress resembling his head and became even more powerful. When that body was captured by the Maximals, he eventually built a duplicate of Optimus Primal's previous Optimal Optimus form, minus the Beast Mode it once had, and used it to attack the Maximals, hoping to remake Cybertron as a purely metallic planet. Megatron was destroyed when Optimus sacrificed himself to throw Megatron into the Cybertronian core.

;Jetstorm: Raving, sarcastic and all around thorough villain, the Vehicon Jetstorm always had something to say with a very vicious snap to it. He controls the Aero-Drones. During the first season of "Beast Machines", Blackarachnia uncovered that he was actually Silverbolt, his spark moved into a new body. Upon returning to a Maximal form, Silverbolt regretted being changed back as he loved the freedom from the shackles of his normally intense nobility that that form brought. He also experienced intense guilt due to the acts he had committed as Jetstorm.

;Tankor: Large, powerful, but dull witted, Tankor was usually the first and most blunt of the Vehicons to attack the Maximals. He controlled the Tank-Drones. His slow witted thinking was actually the opposite of his true Maximal personality as the spark that resided in him was none other than that of Rhinox. After awakening, he subscribed to Megatron's belief that organic - or, indeed, autonomous in any form - life had no place on Cybertron, However he further realized that Megatron himself was the biggest flaw in his own plan, being partly organic himself. He spent the rest of season one playing both sides against the other until his own demise at the season’s end.

;Thrust: Smooth talking and confidant and the only truly loyal Vehicon General, Thrust had a very low, whispery voice when he spoke. He controlled the Cycle-Drones. He was very adrenaline-charged and often enjoyed attacking the Maximals, though he was cautious and didn't attack them alone as often as the others did. It was uncovered by Blackarachnia that his spark was actually that of Waspinator, although she believed him to hold Silverbolt's spark up to this discovery.

;Diagnostic Drone: Diagnostic Drone was a drone built by Megatron to help him remove all organic elements in his body. Built with artificial intelligence but no spark, he was programmed to obey only Megatron. He continuously failed to remove the organic elements from Megatron's body time and time again. He is equipped with several tools built into his arms. When Tankor gained the memories of Rhinox, he reprogrammed the drone to serve him only. The drone obtained the Key to Vector Sigma from the Oracle and sent false visions to Optimus Primal. Megatron later destroyed him along with Tankor. Several other Diagnostic Drones were later seen, one serving briefly as a body even for Megatron's spark.

;Obsidian: Remembered as a masterful strategist and tactician during a war with the Predacons sometimes after "The Great War" along with Strika, Obsidian was awakened by Megatron to assist in the defeat of the technorganics. Though he briefly played the part of a brain-washed machine similar to Tankor, his true intelligence was revealed when victory seemed inevitable, though the Maximals escaped shortly after. After participating in several battles he and Strika were launched into Cybertron's orbit shortly before the reformatting of Cybertron. In a cut scene, he and Stryka would have returned to Cybertron but refused reformatting as punishment for their transgressions.

;Strika: Also a strategist during the war with the Predacons, Strika shared an existence parallel to that of Obsidian as his partner and consort. It is important to realize that they believed they were serving Cybertron as Megatron had reprogrammed them to think he and the planet were one and the same. During Megatron's absence and presumed demise, during the second season, the two Generals operated much like Maximals, even forging a temporary alliance with them.

;The Drones: The entire force that makes up Megatron's army of Vehicons, the drones are sparkless and are all programmed to follow orders from their generals or Megatron. The drones are split into groups: Aero, Tank and Cycle – with Assault and Copter replacing Aero and Tank in the second season but serving the same function. Mole and Diagnostic Drones, which oddly did not transform, directly served under Megatron without generals of their own. All the other drones resembled their generals by with slightly different coloring and smaller size. Presumably they were all reformatted at the end of the series into bodies for the freed Maximal sparks. In the toyline, the only Aero, Tank and Cycle Drones were released.

Predacons

;Waspinator: Besides Megatron, Waspinator was the only surviving Predacon from the "Beast Wars". After being dethroned from his position of ruler of the humans on prehistoric Earth (which he achieved at the end of "Beast Wars"), Waspinator returned home to Cybertron and was soon after made into the Vehicon General Thrust, in whose form Waspinator spent the majority of the series. In the series finale, after the final battle, Waspinator is returned to his original identity. Very oddly, no mention at all is made of the missing Predacon population of Cybertron.

Others

;Optimus Prime: Famous leader of the Autobots whom Optimus Primal took his name from. Prime appear twice, once as a metallic statue which is destroyed by Vehicons, and once as holographic statue of Prime used by Megatron to fool Optimus into giving him the power of the Oracle.