Cybertronian military insignia

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This key from Hasbro Pulse shows how the Autobot and Decepticon military insignias are combined out of three elements representing Division, Unit, and Rank. Both symbols represent the rank of Ground Command (or Ground Force) Infantry Captain.

The War for Cybertron Trilogy franchise brought many gimmicks to the fore of the Generations line, such as its Fire Blast effects, the C.O.M.B.A.T. System of modular weaponry, and a consistent robot mode scale. But it also introduced one innovation that no Transformers series has attempted to such an extent – a ranked hierarchy of the Autobot and Decepticon armies, matched with Cybertronian military insignias.

During the development of War for Cybertron: Siege, Hasbro employees met together and brainstormed the designs for the insignia system, with the plan of using these symbols to suggest at each character's backstory. Establishing these classifications at such an early point in the Cybertronian civil war's history would hint at storytelling potential and character development; examples given include Starscream, who would not yet be Megatron's second-in-command during the early stages of the conflict, and Red Alert, who at this time would be a medic instead of holding his usual function as the Autobots' Security Director.

The insignias were designed to be modular, with the possibility of adding even more divisions and units later on during the system's lifespan. The iconography of each element was designed to evoke recognisable concepts, while still appearing alien. Decepticon insignia are sharper, more intricate, and have a militaristic symmetry, while the Autobot sigils are blockier, with softer angles and asymmetric designs, representing their underdog status as an ad hoc force of labourers and civilians. The Decepticon counterparts to some Autobot units also have more sinister and ominous names. Rank elements are at their simplest at the “Private” level, and become more complex the further up the hierarchy.

Despite their differing designs, both factions follow a common system. Each insignia consists of three parts: the division (ground, air, sea, or space); the unit (infantry, intelligence/espionage, medical, engineering/applied sciences, special ops/black ops, artillery/weapons, or transport); and the rank (private/raider, specialist, sergeant, captain, major, or general).

A gallery of all known insignias can be found here.

War for Cybertron: Siege

[edit]

Insignias were at their most prominent in Siege, with every character's rank symbol prominently shown as part of their name tag on the front of their packaging (except in the Micromaster price point). Insignias were printed on the card behind each blister-packed toy; boxed toys and multi-packs included them in the same position on the card tray insert, as well as on the back face of the packaging. The majority of toys also included insignias on the instruction sheet, and they could also be found on Hasbro's Siege webpage for a select group of characters.

The generic, minimalist packaging of the Generations Selects toyline did not allow for each character to receive an individualised insignia; only two Selects toys released for Siege featured an insignia in their instructions.

Autobots

[edit]

Infantry
Intelligence<ref>Concept art on Hasbro Pulse shows that eight units were under consideration at some stage in development: infantry, intelligence, medic, engineer, special ops, artillery, recon, and transport. It was unclear whether this particular symbol represented intelligence or recon until The Art and Making of Transformers: War for Cybertron Trilogy confirmed it was the former.</ref>
Medical
Engineering
Special Ops
Artillery
Transport

General 		Ground Command:
Nemesis Prime<ref>Nemesis Prime's packaging uses many unchanged assets from Optimus Prime's, even including an instruction sheet for Optimus. It's not unusual for a TakaraTomy exclusive to use only minorly-altered packaging in this way, nor to be a black repaint with scant in-fiction justification, so it was easy to dismiss the idea that Nemesis Prime is really supposed to be a general in the Autobot army... until, either by coincidence or by design, the War for Cybertron Trilogy cartoon included a Nemesis Prime as a possible dark future incarnation of Optimus.</ref>
Optimus Prime
Classic Animation Optimus Prime

Space Command:
Galaxy Upgrade Optimus Prime

Space Command:
Galaxy Upgrade Optimus Prime<ref>Galaxy Upgrade Optimus Prime receives a unique Space Command Special Ops General insignia on the Siege webpage, but the accompanying text identifies him as a Space Command Infantry General, as do his box and instructions.</ref>

Major 		Ground Command:
Bluestreak<ref>Bluestreak's box (as well as his later Earthrise toy) identifies him as a Ground Command Artillery Private; his rank on his instruction sheet is copied and pasted from the earlier Prowl, of whom he is a redeco.</ref>
Prowl
Ultra Magnus

Captain 		Ground Command:
Ironhide 		Air Command:
Jetfire 		Ground Command:
Autobot Impactor 		Space Command:
Omega Supreme

Sergeant 		Ground Command:
Autobot Hound
Autobot Sixgun 		Ground Command:
Slamdance 		Ground Command:
Chromia
Autobot Mirage
Holo Mirage
Autobot Ratchet<ref name="ratchet">While Ratchet's box and instructions classify him as a Ground Command Engineering Private, his box's inner tray features a unique insignia that his profile on the Siege webpage clarifies is for a Ground Command Engineering Specialist. However, said website also erroneously gives him Mirage's insignia, for a Ground Command Special Ops Sergeant, despite this directly contradicting the corresponding text.</ref>

Air Command:
Autobot Springer

Ground Command:
Cog

Specialist<ref>The rank of "Specialist" was added to the insignia system after the other five ranks were already conceived; being absent from the concept art, its exact position in the hiearchy was unclear until the release of The Art and Making of Transformers: War for Cybertron Trilogy revealed it as being above Private and below Sergeant, as it is in the [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}Specialist|{{#if:real world U.S. Armed Forces|real world U.S. Armed Forces|Specialist}}]].</ref> 		Ground Command:
Autobot Ratchet<ref name="ratchet"/>
Omega Supreme<ref>As part of the webpage foulup that gave Ratchet Mirage's insignia, Ratchet's Specialist insignia was pushed onto Omega Supreme. Nonetheless, Omega's web profile reinforces his Space Command Transport Captain rank.</ref>

Private 		Ground Command:
Powerdasher Aragon
Red Heat
Road-Police
Sideswipe
Stakeout
Wheel Blaze

Air Command:
Ground Shaker
Overair

Ground Command:
Roadhandler
Swindler 		Ground Command:
Red Alert 		Ground Command:
Autobot Ratchet<ref name="ratchet"/> 		Ground Command:
Autobot Greenlight
Highjump
Autobot Powertrain
Covert Clone Sideswipe
Smokescreen<ref>In general, Generations Selects toys did not receive ranks as part of their packaging material. However, Smokescreen's toy was used as a model for his appearance on his Siege trading card.</ref> 		Ground Command:
Bluestreak
Crosshairs
Dazzlestrike
Firedrive
Flak
Lionizer
Rung
Smashdown
Autobot Topshot
Trenchfoot

Air Command:
Pteraxadon

Ground Command:
Irontread
Ricon
<references />

Decepticons

[edit]

Infantry
Espionage
Medical<ref>This particular symbol remained unused until it appeared on the packaging of Earthrise Roller Force and Ground Hog; we'd put it as Medical using educated guesswork, based on its similarity in shape to an early medic symbol, as well as Ground Hog's More than Meets the Eye bio describing him as repairing and improving his teammates. It was finally confirmed as being Medical by The Art and Making of Transformers: War for Cybertron Trilogy.</ref>
Applied Sciences
Black Ops
Weapons
Transport

General 		Ground Force:
Megatron
Classic Animation Megatron
Combat Megatron<ref name="selects">As noted, Selects toys did not usually include insignias. Combat Megatron and Galactic Man Shockwave are the two sole exceptions, as the instruction sheets for both toys feature the same insignias as their mainline counterparts.</ref>

Major 		Ground Force:
Soundwave 		Space Force:
Decepticon Shockwave
Galactic Man Shockwave<ref name="selects"/>

Captain 		Air Force:
Starscream 		Space Force:
Astrotrain

Sergeant 		Ground Force:
Barricade
Decepticon Impactor

Air Force:
Thundercracker

Air Force:
Skywarp 		Ground Force:
Soundblaster<ref>Soundblaster would later also be associated with the Mercenaries.</ref>

Raider<ref>The Siege website and trading card game make clear that the Decepticon equivalent to the rank of "Private" is "Raider".</ref> 		Ground Force:
Decepticon Blackjack
Hyperdrive

Air Force:
Seeker Acid Storm
Seeker Ion Storm
Nightflight<ref name="slyhopper">The instructions for Nightflight and Slyhopper swap their ranks over compared to the box. In situations where the box and instructions direcly contradict each other – such as Bluestreak above, or Sunstreaker, Hotlink, and Scrapface below – it's usually the box that is correct.</ref>
Seeker Nova Storm
Slyhopper
Spinister<ref>Spinister's instruction sheet is misprinted with the Autobot logo and colour scheme; despite this, he still receives a proper Decepticon system insignia.</ref>
Storm Cloud
Visper

Ground Force:
Apeface
Ravage
Refraktor
Decepticon Rumble
Spectro
Spyglass
Viewfinder

Air Force:
Laserbeak
Shrute
Terror-Daxtyl

Air Force:
Ratbat 		Ground Force:
Skytread

Air Force:
Nightflight
Slyhopper<ref name="slyhopper"/>

Ground Force:
Brunt
Cratermaker
Direct-Hit
Fireline
Power Punch

Air Force:
Aimless
Blowpipe
Caliburst
Decepticon Fracas
Singe

<references />

Toys with no insignia

[edit]

{{#if:true ||(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)}}

{{#if:SiegeSelects {{#if:SiegeSelectsSiegeSelectsSelects
Autobots }}{{#if:Siege

Selects

Decepticons }}{{#if:| Humans }}{{#if:Siege Others }}{{#if:| Misc }}{{#if:| Misc }}

Siege

Selects 

}}{{#if:Siege

Siege 

}}{{#if:|

}}

War for Cybertron: Earthrise

[edit]

Come Earthrise, the military insignias were increasingly downplayed. This series introduced two new factions in the form of the Mercenaries and the Quintessons, neither of which used the insignia system. While the insignias still featured on Autobot and Decepticon name tags (with Micromaster Class figures gaining them here for the first time), their usual position behind each individual toy was now taken up by a segment of a clip-and-save map of the Transformers' space journey from Cybertron to Earth. For boxed figures, this meant that the insignias were pushed to the bottom of the inner tray, underneath the toy's feet; additionally, certain figures began to omit the symbols from the back of their boxes. Insignias could still often, but not universally, be found on the instructions, and again a selection of characters was featured on Hasbro's Earthrise webpage. The webpage and Netflix cartoon would also introduce the mysterious Scorponok faction which, like the Mercenaries and the Quintessons, existed outside of the rank system.

The Generations Selects line dropped the Siege branding at this point, and transitioned its instruction sheets to using Earthrise design elements, albeit not actually using the Earthrise logo. None of these Selects add-ons included insignias; nor did the toys from the Earthrise supplemental subline, the Galactic Odyssey Collection.

Autobots

[edit]

Infantry
Intelligence
Medical
Engineering
Special Ops
Artillery
Transport

General 		Ground Command:
Optimus Prime

Major 		Ground Command:
Prowl

Captain 		Ground Command:
Ironhide 		Ground Command:
Autobot Grapple
Ironworks<ref>The inner tray of Ironworks' box features a Ground Command Engineering Captain insignia; the rest of the box, the instructions, and the Earthrise webpage all agree on them being a Space Command Engineering Captain.</ref>
Wheeljack<ref>The inner tray of Wheeljack's box also features a Ground Command Engineering Captain insignia; again, the box, instructions, webpage, and his later War for Cybertron Trilogy toy agree that he's a Ground Command Engineering Sergeant.</ref>

Space Command:
Ironworks

Ground Command:
Trailbreaker

Sergeant 		Ground Command:
Wheeljack 		Ground Command:
Arcee
Smokescreen

Private 		Ground Command:
Cliffjumper
Autobot Daddy-O
Sunstreaker<ref>Sunstreaker's instructions put him as a Ground Command Infantry Private, but his box and his webpage profile concur on Ground Command Special Ops Private.</ref>
Trip-Up 		Ground Command:
Hoist 		Air Command:
Soundbarrier 		Ground Command:
Sunstreaker

Space Command:
Autobot Blast Master
Fuzer

Ground Command:
Bluestreak
Rung

Air Command:
Smashdown

<references />

Decepticons

[edit]

Infantry
Espionage
Medical
Applied Sciences
Black Ops
Weapons
Transport

General 		Ground Force:
Megatron

Major

Captain 		Air Force:
Starscream 		Space Force:
Astrotrain

Sergeant 		Air Force:
Dirge
Doubledealer<ref name="doubledeal">In addition to being Decepticons, Doubledealer, Snapdragon, and Thrust have also been associated with the Mercenaries, either in marketing material or parts of their packaging.</ref>
Ramjet
Thrust<ref name="doubledeal"/>
Thundercracker

Space Force:
Decepticon Snapdragon<ref name="doubledeal"/>

Ground Force:
Decepticon Pounce 		Air Force:
Decepticon Airwave
Skywarp

Raider 		Space Force:
Decepticon Fasttrack 		Ground Force:
Decepticon Ground Hog
Roller Force 		Ground Force:
Decepticon Doublecrosser

Air Force:
Wingspan

Ground Force:
Decepticon Runabout
Runamuck 		Ground Force:
Direct-Hit
Power Punch

Air Force:
Bombshock
Decepticon Growl

<references />

Toys with no insignia

[edit]

{{#if:true ||(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)}}

{{#if:EarthriseGalactic Odyssey CollectionSelects {{#if:EarthriseGalactic Odyssey CollectionSelectsEarthriseGalactic Odyssey CollectionSelectsGalactic Odyssey CollectionSelects
Autobots }}{{#if:Earthrise

Galactic Odyssey Collection

Selects

Decepticons }}{{#if:| Humans }}{{#if:Mercenaries

Quintessons

Evil Autobots

Others }}{{#if:| Misc }}{{#if:| Misc }}

Earthrise

Galactic Odyssey Collection

Selects 

}}{{#if:Mercenaries

Quintessons

Evil Autobots

Mercenaries

Quintessons

Evil Autobots 

}}{{#if:|

}}

War for Cybertron: Kingdom

[edit]

For the subsequent part of the trilogy, Kingdom, the insignias almost vanished entirely. Kingdom integrated the Maximals and Predacons into toyline; two more factions which did not make use of the ranking system. Insignias were no longer present on the name tags, the instructions, or the printed cards of any figures released throughout Kingdom, with the Core and Leader Classes omitting them entirely, even for characters who had previously been seen with them. Only Deluxe and Voyager Class Autobots and Decepticons retained the symbol, included on the back of the packaging – but even this wasn't a hard rule, as characters with multiple modes like Tracks and Slammer apparently lacked the space to incorporate one. The Kingdom webpage no longer included insignias as part of its character bio line-up; in concession to the War for Cybertron animated series, it even included bios for characters who weren't in the toyline!

Autobots

[edit]

Infantry
Intelligence
Medical
Engineering
Special Ops
Artillery
Transport

General

Major

Captain

Sergeant 		Ground Command:
Wheeljack 		Ground Command:
Arcee 		Ground Command:
Warpath

Private 		Ground Command:
Inferno
Red Alert 		Ground Command:
Huffer 		Ground Command:
Autobot Pipes
<references />

Decepticons

[edit]

Infantry
Espionage
Medical
Applied Sciences
Black Ops
Weapons
Transport

General

Major

Captain 		Air Force:
Cyclonus<ref>Go get 'em, Cykes.</ref>

Sergeant

Raider
<references />

Toys with no insignia

[edit]

{{#if:true ||(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)}}

{{#if:KingdomGolden Disk CollectionSelects {{#if:KingdomGolden Disk CollectionSelectsKingdomGolden Disk CollectionSelectsSelects
Autobots }}{{#if:Kingdom

Selects

Decepticons }}{{#if:| Humans }}{{#if:| Others }}{{#if:| Misc }}{{#if:| Misc }}

Kingdom

Selects 

}}{{#if:|

}}{{#if:|

}}{{#if:|

}}

War for Cybertron Trilogy

[edit]

Released during Earthrise, the "main" part of the War for Cybertron Trilogy subline consisted of Deluxe, Voyager, and Leader Unboxing class figures intended to complement the Netflix series of the same name. With each of its three waves tying in to one third of the trilogy, it demonstrates the diminishing importance of the military ranking system.

Deluxe and Voyager (or "Battle 3-Pack") boxes consistently featured insignias on the back of the packaging. The instruction sheets for these toys included insignias for the first two waves, sans the fictionally factionless Bumblebee, but omitted symbols for the 3-Packs' diminutive members. The third wave included the unranked Maximal and Quintesson-aligned characters, but even the Autobots and Decepticons no longer featured insignias in their instructions. Insignias weren't part of the packaging design for the deliberately cryptic Leader Class Spoiler Pack assortment, but in the end, only the instructions for Ultra Magnus included a symbol, with none to correspond to similarly obvious characters like, say, Megatron, leader of the Decepticons.

Sundry other exclusives were branded with the War for Cybertron Trilogy logo, such as the Buzzworthy Bumblebee line, the Quintesson Pit of Judgement, and HasLab's Unicron; none of these items included any military insignias.

Autobots

[edit]

Infantry
Intelligence
Medical
Engineering
Special Ops
Artillery
Transport

General 		Ground Command:
Optimus Prime

Major 		Ground Command:
Autobot Elita-1
Ultra Magnus

Captain 		Ground Command:
Autobot Impactor

Sergeant 		Ground Command:
Autobot Hound 		Ground Command:
Wheeljack 		Ground Command:
Chromia
Decepticon Mirage<ref>In fiction, the toy of "Decepticon Mirage" is used to represent Mirage in disguise, hence his placement in the Autobot military despite being sold under Decepticon branding.</ref>

Private 		Ground Command:
Deep Cover
Fangtron<ref name="nemesis">The TakaraTomy release of Nemesis Prime with Fangtron and Giza was released in conventional windowed packaging, as opposed to the Hasbro version's "spoiler unboxing" design. As with Nemesis Prime's Siege toy, an unfitting insignia is used as a design element with no deeper meaning; in this case, (Autobot) Ground Command Infantry Private symbols are placed next to all three figures in the set.</ref>
Giza<ref name="nemesis"/>
Nemesis Prime<ref name="nemesis"/>
Sideswipe
Ultra Magnus<ref>Just like Nemesis Prime, Ultra Magnus' Japanese release was in windowed packaging, with the back of the box featuring a Ground Command Infantry Private insignia. Unlike Nemesis Prime's box, which featured three, Ultra Magnus's packaging only featured one insignia – leaving his pack-in partner, "Battlefield Rung", with no rank in all markets.</ref> 		Ground Command:
Red Alert 		Air Command:
Sheeldron 		Ground Command:
Captive Lionizer
Captive Pinpointer

Air Command:
Enerax

<references />

Decepticons

[edit]

Infantry
Espionage
Medical
Applied Sciences
Black Ops
Weapons
Transport

General 		Ground Force:
Hotlink<ref>Hotlink's box places him as an Air Force Applied Sciences Private, whereas his instructions give him a Ground Force Infantry General insignia. It is highly unlikely he's supposed to be the same rank as Megatron, so we're believing the box.</ref>
Megatron (Battle 3-Pack)

Major 		Ground Force:
Soundwave

Captain

Sergeant 		Ground Force:
Sparkless Bot<ref>Lending credence to the idea that rank insignias are, on some level, tied to each particular tooling, the Sparkless Bot features the same rank as Siege Barricade.</ref>

Air Force:
Sparkless Seeker<ref>Similarly, the Sparkless Seeker holds the same rank as Siege Thundercracker.</ref>


Raider 		Ground Force:
Scrapface 		Ground Force:
Ravage
Scrapface<ref>Scrapface's instructions give him the same rank as his moldmates Refraktor, Spectro, Spyglass, and Viewfinder. Given the precedent established by other erroneous instructions, we're willing to bet it's the box that has it right.</ref>

Air Force:
Laserbeak

Air Force:
Hotlink 		Air Force:
Sparkless Caliburst
Heartburn
Heatstroke
Sparkless Singe
<references />

Toys with no insignia

[edit]

{{#if:true ||(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)}}

{{#if:AutobotsMaximals {{#if:AutobotsMaximalsAutobotsMaximalsPredacons
Autobots / Maximals }}{{#if:Decepticons

Predacons

Decepticons / Predacons }}{{#if:| Humans }}{{#if:*Kranix

Quintessons

Others }}{{#if:| Misc }}{{#if:| Misc }}

Decepticons

Predacons 

}}{{#if:*Kranix

Quintessons

Quintessons 

}}{{#if:|

}}

Transformers Trading Card Game

[edit]

After the launch of the War for Cybertron Trilogy in toy form, its character models and design sensibilities soon filtered into other Transformers media, first with the 2019 ongoing comic book and later with the Netflix-original cartoon on the horizon. It's no surprise, then, that Wizards of the Coast's Transformers Trading Card Game also adopted some of War for Cybertron's conventions, beginning with its third wave, entitled "War for Cybertron: Siege I". While broadly following the same ranking system as the toyline, the card game has its own idiosyncrasies: for starters, the actual insignias are not used, and while each character receives a division and rank, units are usually absent. Each character also receives a function; for example, Optimus Prime's Siege I card is named "General Optimus Prime – Infantry · Leader", where "Leader" is his function.

Siege I Autobots

[edit]
Infantry Intelligence Medical Engineering Special Ops Artillery Transport
General Optimus Prime
Major Prowl
Ultra Magnus
Captain Ironhide Wheeljack Elita-1
Sergeant Hound Chromia
Overdrive 		Cog
Specialist Ratchet
Private Red Heat
Sideswipe
Stakeout
Trailbreaker 		Red Alert Arcee
Camshaft
Downshift
Mudslinger
Tote 		Flak
Top Shot

Ground Command:<ref name="artillerycommand">In what is going to become a recurring theme for Battle Masters, the cards for Firedrive, Lionizer, Pteraxadon, and Smashdown all use a "division · unit" layout instead of the standard "unit · function". Since all four have the "function" of "Artillery", this table has elected to put them in the Artillery unit.</ref>
Firedrive
Lionizer
Smashdown

Air Command:<ref name="artillerycommand"/>
Pteraxadon

<references />

Siege I Decepticons

[edit]
Infantry Espionage Medical Applied Sciences Black Ops Weapons Transport "Air Force"<ref name="needlenose">The cards for Needlenose and Triggerhappy list "Air Force" as their unit, when it usually considered a division. Unlike the Battle Masters, their functions do not concretely correspond to a proper unit: Needlenose's function is "Soldier", while Triggerhappy's is "Gunner".</ref>
General Megatron
Major Soundwave Shockwave
Captain Starscream
Sergeant Skrapnel Sparkstalker
Skywarp
Specialist Flamewar
Raider Detour
Ion Storm
Road Hugger
Runabout
Runamuck
Storm Cloud
Visper 		Laserbeak
Ravage 		Cindersaur
Flamefeather 		Ground Force:<ref name="artilleryforce">As with the Autobot Battle Masters, the cards for Aimless, Blowpipe, and Nightstick list their division "Ground" or "Air Force" as their unit and the unit "Weapons" as the character's function.</ref>
Nightstick

Air Force:<ref name="artilleryforce"/>
Aimless
Blowpipe

Needlenose<ref name="needlenose"/>
Triggerhappy<ref name="needlenose"/>
<references />


The fourth wave of the card game expanded the roster with "War for Cybertron: Siege II". As with the toyline, the importance of the ranking system saw a decline, introducing many inconsistencies with the units and divisions that came before it. Siege II also introduced the Mercenary faction in advance of the Earthrise toyline; none of the Mercenaries made use of the ranking system.

Siege II Autobots

[edit]
Infantry Intelligence Medical Engineering Special Ops Artillery Transport Other units
General Optimus Prime<ref>Optimus Prime's card completely omits any kind of unit, calling him only "General Optimus Prime · Galactic Commander", representing his "Galaxy Upgrade" toy. As such, we can confirm that he is a general, and infer that he is in the Space division, but any choice of unit would be speculative.</ref>
Major
Captain Jetfire Impactor Omega Supreme
Sergeant Mirage
Springer 		Crosshairs
Six-Gun
Specialist Sandstorm
Private Hot Rod Greenlight
Smokescreen 		Ground Command:<ref>Another Siege Battle Master, Dazzlestrike's division and unit are misrepresented as their unit and function respectively.</ref>
Dazzlestrike 		Battle Patrol:<ref name="micromasterii">The previous wave had placed Micromaster characters into various suitable units; this wave instead replaces the units with individual Micromaster Patrols.</ref>
Sidetrack, Sunrunner

Off-Road Patrol:<ref name="micromasterii"/>
Highjump,<ref>Though we don't have a proper unit for many of these Micromasters, Highjump's function is "Infiltration", one only previously used by Autobots in the Special Ops unit.</ref> Powertrain

Rescue Patrol:<ref name="micromasterii"/>
Fixit,<ref>Similarly, Fixit's function is "Medic", suggesting a connection to the Medical unit.</ref> Seawatch

Ground Command · Advance Guard:<ref name="actionmaster">These two Battle Master cards do not originate from the Siege toyline; rather, Vanguard and Turbo Board are reimagined Action Master partners. Instead of giving their unit/function, or even their division/unit like previous Battle Masters, Vanguard and Turbo Board get the combination of division/function, meaning they cannot be concretely placed into a unit. If nothing else, Vanguard's function of "Advance Guard" is shared with Specialist Sandstorm.</ref>
Vanguard

Air Command · Evac:<ref name="actionmaster"/>
Turbo Board

<references />

Siege II Decepticons

[edit]
Infantry Espionage Medical Applied Sciences Special Ops<ref name="skytread">Skytread is the only Special Ops Decepticon in Siege II... and, in fact, the only Special Ops Decepticon ever, as the rest of them use the more sinister appellation "Black Ops".</ref> Weapons / Artillery<ref name="sights"/> Transport Other units
General
Major
Captain Astrotrain<ref>A lot like the Battle Masters, Astrotrain's card lists "Space Force" as his unit, with "Transport" as his function. We've put him in the Transport unit.</ref>
Sergeant Barricade
Thundercracker 		Soundblaster
Raider Chop Shop
Kickback
Nova Storm
Spinister 		Apeface Skytread<ref name="skytread"/> Brunt

Air Force:<ref name="sights">At the risk of repeating ourselves, the Battle Masters Caliburst and Sights list the "Air Force" division as their unit. Sights is also listed as being "Artillery", which is the Autobot name for the "Weapons" unit.</ref>
Caliburst
Sights

Air Strike Patrol:<ref name="decepmm">Just like the with the Autobots, the Decepticon Micromasters in this wave are organised into patrols instead of units.</ref>
Nightflight, Tailwind

Sports Car Patrol:<ref name="decepmm"/>
Blackjack, Hyperdrive

Spy Patrol:<ref name="decepmm"/>
Ratbat, Rumble

Ground Force · Demolitions:<ref>Needler follows the pattern set by Vanguard and Turbo Board in that he is given a division and function, but no unit.</ref>
Needler

<references />

Cards with no rank

[edit]

Discounting the deliberately rankless Mercenaries, only two characters ended up with no place in the military structure: noted non-combatant Alpha Trion, and a variant of Megatron that drops his "General" and "Infantry" titles for the more evocative "Lord Megatron – Conqueror of Cybertron". {{#if:true ||(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)}}

{{#if:Siege I {{#if:Siege I
  • Alpha Trion|| style="background:#ffdddd;" valign="top" |
Siege I
Autobots }}{{#if:Siege II Decepticons }}{{#if:| Humans }}{{#if:Siege II Mercenaries }}{{#if:| Misc }}{{#if:| Misc }}

Siege II 

}}{{#if:Siege II

Siege II 

}}{{#if:|

}}

The Art and Making of Transformers: War for Cybertron Trilogy

[edit]

The Art and Making of Transformers: War for Cybertron Trilogy was released in late 2022, as an art book and retrospective of the production of the War for Cybertron Trilogy and the accompanying animated series. It featured a chapter on world building that included a two-page spread of military insignias, which answered a lot of unanswered questions about the system... while bringing in a whole bunch of other oddities!

Autobots

[edit]

Infantry
Intelligence
Medical
Engineering
Special Ops
Weapons<ref>Characters with Artillery insignias are placed in the Weapons unit, apparently using the Decepticon terminology, despite the Artillery symbol being correctly identified by a key overleaf.</ref>
Transport

General 		Ground Command:
Optimus Prime 		Space Command:
Optimus Prime (Galaxy Upgrade)<ref>Galaxy Upgrade Optimus Prime's insignia from the Siege webpage turns out to be not completely unfounded, though evidently it was finalised to a Space Command Infantry General.</ref>

Major 		Ground Command:
Prowl
Ultra Magnus

Captain 		Ground Command:
Ironhide 		Air Command:
Jetfire 		Ground Command:
Impactor 		Space Command:
Omega Supreme

Sergeant 		Ground Command:
Hound
Sixgun 		Ground Command:
Chromia
Mirage

Air Command:
Springer

Ground Command:
Cog

Private 		Ground Command:
"Fireshot"<ref>"Fireshot" shares the same rank as Stakeout's otherwise absent partner, Red Heat, suggesting this was an earlier attempt at a trademark-friendly name.</ref>
Sideswipe
Stakeout 		Ground Command:
Roadhandler
Slamdance<ref>Here, Slamdance is a Private instead of a Sergeant.</ref>
Swindler 		Ground Command:
Red Alert 		Ground Command:
Highjump
Powertrain 		Ground Command:
Big Shot<ref>This guy is referred to by his original name rather than his trademark-friendly name, "Topshot". His partner Flak is completely missing.</ref>
Firedrive
Lionizer
<references />

Decepticons

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Infantry
Espionage
Medical
Applied Sciences
Black Ops
Weapons
Transport

General 		Ground Force:
Megatron

Major 		Ground Force:
Soundwave 		Space Force:
Shockwave

Captain 		Air Force:
Starscream

Sergeant 		Ground Force:
Barricade

Air Force:
Thundercracker

Corporal<ref>The included key for deciphering these rank insignias adds the rank of Corporal–equivalent to the Autobots' Specialist–and then doesn't assign it to anybody.</ref>

Private<ref>Despite the prevalence of "Raider" elsewhere (including the key overleaf), the lowest ranking Decepticons are referred to as Privates.</ref> 		Ground Force:
Blackjack
Hyperdrive

Air Force:
"Flyspy"<ref>As with the Autobots' "Fireshot", "Flyspy" apparently takes the place of Storm Cloud's otherwise absent partner Visper.</ref>
Storm Cloud
Skywarp<ref>Unlike his final position as a Air Force Black Ops Sergeant, Skywarp is ranked down here.</ref>

Ground Force:
Laserbeak<ref>Laserbeak's finalised ranking puts him in the Air Force, with he and Ravage being the first Micromaster pairing to feature different ranks. Here, he is in the Ground Force with Ravage.</ref>
Ravage 		Ground Force:
Brunt

Air Force:
Aimless
Blowpipe
Caliburst

<references />

Notes

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  • An early version of the Decepticon insignia placed the division symbol within the center of the insignia and the unit around the outside top, similar to the Autobot insignia. A development image from Hasbro Pulse shows a Decepticon medical unit symbol under this framework, seen to the right.
  • With Maximals and Predacons not making use of the rank system, the area on the back of their boxes usually reserved for an insignia is instead used for a "cave painting"-style design representing the character's beast mode.
  • The division symbols for the Decepticon Sea Force and Autobot Sea Command have not been used for any toys. It is unknown whether they were designed for purely in-universe reasons, or if a seafaring character like Tidal Wave or Broadside was planned at any point. The Transformers Trading Card Game, which makes use of the insignia system's units and ranks, features the rescue boat character Seawatch... but since the card game doesn't use divisions or pictures of insignias, the Sea Command symbol remains unused.
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