10 Worst Robots in the ‘Transformers’ Movies, Ranked

If there’s anything the Transformers movies are infamous for, it’s the one-dimensional characters. The robots themselves can be quite terrible, sometimes being lazily adapted from their source material and becoming annoying or even useless. It even seems at times that certain characters were made as completely different versions from their original selves, with Michael Bay slapping a Transformer name onto them.

This uninspired approach is what made audiences believe the Bay films were less than ideal, which is putting their opinions lightly. Bay didn’t seem to care much about the robots themselves and just wanted to make an over-the-top action movie, using the Transformers gimmick to its fullest. It led to some pretty horrendous robots, most of which are well-known for all the wrong reasons. Whether they’re nothing like their source material, annoy the audiences whenever they’re on-screen, or are just downright offensive stereotypes, these are the worst robots in the Transformers movies.

10 Bonecrusher (Jimmie Wood)

First Appearance: ‘Transformers’ (2007)

Sometimes, the Transformers movies throw in characters that are interesting and pretty cool in the source material, only to use them as cannon fodder. Such is the case of Bonecrusher (Jimmie Wood), originally a performer of abundant destruction. He takes joy in showing off the pain he can cause, birthed from a twisted sense of perfectionism. He strikes fear in the heart of any Cybertronian he comes across and is essentially a walking hurricane that destroys everything in its wake.

In 2007’s Transformers, Bonecrusher shoves himself through a bus, cutting it in half, and fights Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) for a mere 40 seconds before he is brutally decapitated by the powerful leader of the Autobots. Transformers‘ de-facto king of destruction doesn’t even last a minute and barely got even a few good hits on Optimus. It’s a downright embarrassing showing, cementing him as one of the worst robots in this divisive franchise.

9 Jazz (Darius McCrary)

First Appearance: ‘Transformers’ (2007)

Jazz (Darius McCrary) was actually something of a fan favorite in the first Transformers film. However, the filmmakers treated him awfully as a character. Audiences have loved him since his first appearance in the cartoons, so when Jazz was so easily thrown away in the final battle of the first film, it’s safe to say many were more than upset.

This fan-favorite character barely got any development throughout the film, acting as little more than comedic relief and getting killed off for seemingly no reason. Normally, if a beloved character like Jazz died in action, he’d be sent out honorably. Not Jazz, though; he gets whipped around by Megatron (Hugo Weaving) and is subsequently torn in half. He was simply a waste of a great character, and his treatment did nothing but disappoint his fans.

8 Starscream (Charlie Adler)

First Appearance: ‘Transformers’ (2007)

Arguably, one of the worst character assassinations of a main character in the Transformers canon is Starscream (Charlie Adler). Although once subservient to Megatron, Starscream was still incredibly self-serving. But come Bay’s Transformers universe, Starscream turned into a weak lackey of Megatron who seemingly has zero character outside of being a disposable plot device.

Starscream can only be described as a shell of the robot he once was. Jumping away from the source material is not always a bad thing, but in the case of Starscream, it serves as a major insult to the character in pretty much every way. The closest he ever gets to his genuine character is a memorable moment in Transformers: Dark of the Moon before he is embarrassingly killed, just as his character seems to be turning for the better. Unfortunately, one good moment is not nearly enough to save this Dorito-shaped Cybertronian from the lineup of the franchise’s worst characters.

7 Grimlock

First Appearance: ‘Transformers: Age of Extinction’ (2014)

It doesn’t get much cooler than a robot that can transform into a dinosaur, and Grimlock is the perfect example of that. However, his potential goes to waste in the Transformers movies. Not only is this iteration a far cry from his original depiction, but Grimlock is also a poor character in the context of the film itself.

Not only is he far and gone from the noble, epic leader of the Dinobots that fans know and love, but he doesn’t even speak and has been relegated to a grunting beast. The character is such an odd addition to Transformers: Age of Extinction that he feels really forced into the plot and is essentially just a walking plot device with no independence as a character. Shoe-horned to the point of feeling like a deus ex machine, Grimlock is only part of the final battle for some spectacle.

6 Brains (Reno Wilson)

First Appearance: ‘Transformers: Dark of the Moon’ (2011)

The first introduction audiences get to Brains (Reno Wilson) in Transformers: Dark of the Moon confirms he is a major pervert. The robot audibly reacts as he looks up at the Transformers saga human protagonist, Sam (Shia LaBeouf), being intimate with his girlfriend, Carly (Rosie Huntington-Whiteley). He continues to make gross comments about Carly’s looks as the scene goes on and keeps up the weird behavior throughout the rest of the film.

This approach is, surprisingly, not a new idea for the smaller robots of the franchise. However, unlike Grimlock, Brains is relevant to the plot because he has incredible access to a huge array of knowledge and can transform into a laptop. Still, he’s a borderline insufferable character that still somehow detracts from the scenes he is in, no matter how much he is supposedly adding to them.

5 Wheeljack (George Coe)

First Appearance: ‘Transformers: Dark of the Moon’ (2011)

In all iterations of the franchise, Wheeljack (George Coe) has always been the Autobot’s resident inventor and its smartest member. For some reason, the Transformers movies decided to make him a bumbling ancient robot, which doesn’t make a ton of sense and adds nothing to the character, instead feeling like a useless change just for the sake of it.

In Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Wheeljack is actually referred to as Que, and no one really knows why. In fact, his true name is really only revealed through the toys made for the film and other related material. This bizarre change remains confusing to even the most loyal fans. The live-action version of Wheeljack is so far from the original that many fans across the internet didn’t even identify him until more hardcore fans came in to explain it. Thankfully, the character was much more accurately adapted in Transformers: Rise of the Beasts and Bumblebee.

4 The Fallen (Tony Todd)

First Appearance: ‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’ (2009)

One would think that getting the legendary Tony Todd to play the mighty character, who is literally the founder of all evil in the Transformers universe, would be a surefire equation for a great movie villain. Those people would be incorrect. Being a former Prime, The Fallen holds great power and none of the responsibility, to the point where Primes of his age decided to hide the legendary Matrix of Leadership on Earth to keep him from it.

The writers’ strike of 2007 could be partially blamed for the poor writing of Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen. But at the end of the day, regardless of the situations surrounding the production of the film, The Fallen is the ultimate example of a bad blockbuster film villain. He is built up across the entire film as this huge manifestation of evil and a terrible being, only to be defeated in an incredibly short final battle that lasts 2 minutes and 20 seconds. Lackluster in almost every single way.

3 Jetfire (Mark Ryan)

First Appearance: ‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’ (2009)

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen contains a plethora of terrible characters, one of the worst being Jetfire (Mark Ryan). In the source material, Jetfire is a former Decepticon dedicated to science and invention, always upgrading himself and his fellow Autobots, keeping them incredibly strong and up to date.

In the Bay films, Jetfire is another case of an incredibly cool and compelling character becoming a bumbling idiot. He’s incredibly incompetent in almost every way, only existing within the plot to give Optimus Prime his flight upgrades for the final battle, which he arguably doesn’t even need because the fight ends up being so short. In fact, Optimus only uses his new upgrade to fly to The Fallen before fighting him on the ground.

2 Wheelie (Tom Kenny)

First Appearance: ‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’ (2009)

The prime example of Transformers taking small robots and making them absolutely unbearable is Wheelie (Tom Kenny). A great explanation of the kind of character Wheelie is comes in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, when he literally humps Mikaela’s (Megan Fox) leg like a chihuahua, saying weird things like, “Say my name!”

Beyond this ridiculous and offensive joke showcasing the awful humor of mid-2000s movies, it’s also a remarkably lazy approach that has been done to death. Wheelie genuinely detracts from every single scene he is part of. The only positive thing that can be said about Wheelie is that he is an exposition character created for the sole purpose of spewing information to move the plot forward. He is useful but also terribly insufferable.

1 Skids and Mudflap (Tom Kenny and Reno Wilson)

First Appearance: ‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’ (2009)

Tom Kenny is a great voice actor, but he holds the unfortunate privilege of playing some of the most annoying characters in the Transformers universe. Skids and Mudflap (Reno Wilson) are, without a doubt, not only the worst characters in the franchise but some of the worst characters in modern cinema.

These two robots are walking offensive, racist stereotypes of Black people. They’re annoying, infuriating, and downright gross. Their writing depicts racist stereotypes, and the voice acting from Kenny and Wilson does the characters no favors. There is genuinely nothing good to say about Skids and Mudflap in any way whatsoever, making them the worst robots in the Transformers franchise by a considerable margin.

NEXT: The 10 Best ‘Transformers’ Villains, Ranked