The Energon Pub

What are some of the terms for rank, and perhaps squads, that have been used in Transformers fiction?

Has there ever been a listing of ranks? As I have followed the fiction over the years I never paid attention to it more than giving it cursory attention, but now I am curious.

Here is what we have so far:

Primus

The 13 Primes
___________________

Autobots

Supreme Commander

Prime

Magnus (then Prime for Animated)

High Council

Maximal Elders

Commander (by itself or with an additional designation: City, Air, etc)

Duly Appointed Enforcer of the Tyrest Accord (separate political entity)

Sub-Commander

Chief of Security

Primal Vanguard

Elite Guard

Lieutenant Commanders

Special Ops

Sergeant

Troopers
___________________

Dinobots

The Wreckers

Combiner groups

Aerialbots
Protectobots
Technobots


___________________




Decepticons

Supreme Commander

Emperor of Destruction

Lord High Protector

Tri-Predacus Council

Emirate
___________________

Vehicon General

Seekers

The Sweeps

Triorian Guard

Squadron X

Drone


Combiner groups

Constructicons
Combaticons
Stunticons
Predacons
Terrorcons
Seacons





WFC – classes:
Scout
Scientist
Soldier
Leader

But classes aren’t rank, they are more size or job, even though one is called “leader."

The G1 Comic “Universe” and DW MTMTE had “function," but function is more like your job. The WFC classes are sort of like jobs. Leader class really just means big.

I know IDW is exploring social class and all of the social philosophies. While I wouldn’t mind this being mentioned, I am most interested in it from a military, tribal, or political ranking system perspective.

Supreme Commander was used for Armada Megatron

The Wreckers

In some of the Japanese series, the Decepticon that lead the faction held the title of "Emperor of Destruction".

Emirate

G1 had numbers in the tech specs. A bunch of other series too, so that means there are ten different ranks?

10 - Commander / Prime

And the rest... I dunno.

well at least in the IDW version of the G1 universe, Prime is a combination of Rank/Religious status (equivalent of Pope or something) and Commander in Chief.

Some of the Toys have had titles attached to sell, "Sergeant Kup" & "Special Ops Jazz" for example, and it's clear there is some heirarchy to each "unit" in play - again IDW references here - Bludgeon's Titan Hunter team, Hound in charge of the Thunderwing facility, Prowl in charge of the Earth-based team, all reporting to those above them, and Ultra Magnus' title as "Duly Appointed Enforcer of the Tyrest Accord" amongst others, and Red Alert then Trailcutter earning the rank of Chief of Security on the Lost Light.

There were also the pre-war ranks, the Functionist council, Senate & Senators, Orion Pax was a police Captain, and at one point at least had his own task force, there were also other units like the Elite Guard and Primal Vanguard, along with the Triorian Guard (sp?) - basically a bunch of triple-changers, and I'm assuming each of them had their rankings and chain of command.

Awesome! Thank you everyone! Seriously, I was reminded or learned something from everyone who posted. Very cool, thanks guys. I will drop the original post here, and update the first.

TK415 wrote:What are some of the terms for rank, and perhaps squads, that have been used in Transformers fiction?

Has there ever been a listing of ranks? As I have followed the fiction over the years I never paid attention to it more than giving it cursory attention, but now I am curious.

I only have a few vague memories:

• High Council

• Commander

• Elite Guard

• Starscream is the leader of the seekers

• Animated:
o Magnus
o Prime

• WFC – classes:
o Scout
o Scientist
o Soldier
o Leader

But classes aren’t rank, they are more size or job, even though one is called “leader."

The G1 Comic “Universe” and DW MTMTE had “function," but function is more like your job. The WFC classes are sort of like jobs. Leader class really just means big.

I know IDW is exploring social class and all of the social philosophies. While I wouldn’t mind this being mentioned, I am most interested in it from a military, tribal, or political ranking system perspective.

Any help and info would be interesting and appreciated, thanks.

TBH, I don't think that rank is so important for Transformers as it is for humans. There's more emphasis on multi-function troops. Specialism is great but not helpful when there are other priorities. Leaders have to do some manual labour. Medics have to fight off attacks. Builders have to become troop transports if no alternatives are available. And so on.

Squads are still fairly important, especially combiner teams or those with great power and ability.