License plate

A license plate, officially a vehicle registration plate, also called a number plate or a Vanity plate, is a metal plate attached to a an Earth vehicle, usually a car, a truck or a motorcycle, that contains a unique registration ID with an official authority within the country the vehicle is operating in. It typically consists of numbers, letters or a combination of both. Some countries require license plates for the front and rear bumper of a car, while others (such as the USA) only require a rear license plate.

Since a lot of Transformers use Earth vehicles as their alternate modes, they often also sport a license plate as part of their disguise. Sometimes the license plates reveal the character's name, sometimes they contain a coded message, and sometimes they are just random numbers and letters.

Toys

Alternators/Binaltech

• Smokescreen has "S30WRT" for the Alternators and the "#8" variant of the Binaltech version and "S40WRT" for the "#7" variant of the Binaltech version. Both were the authentic license plates used by the real-life Subaru Impreza WRC cars during the 2003 Rallye Monte Carlo.
• Likewise, the Binaltech-only retool Smokescreen GT comes with the license plates "OT53 SRT" for the "#1" variant and "CT53 SRT" for the "#2" variant. Again, both were the authentic license plates used by the real-life Subaru Impreza WRC cars during the 2004 Corona Rally Mexico.
• Both Alternators Side Swipe and Binaltech Lambor have a rear license plate sporting an abbreviated form of the character's US name, "SIDE SWP", with an Autobot logo in the middle.
• Alternators Silverstreak and Binaltech Streak both have two license plates, with the front one only sporting an Autobot logo and the rear one sporting an abbreviated form of the character's then US name, "SLV STRK", again with an Autobot logo in the middle.
• Both versions of Hound only sported a license plate with an Autobot logo on the front bumper.
• Both versions of Dead End feature a rear license plate sporting his name, "DEAD END", with a Decepticon logo in the middle.
• Alternators Autobot Tracks and both the yellow and blue variants of Binaltech Tracks simply sport an Autobot logo on the rear license plate.
• All versions of Meister, including the Binaltech-only red version (aka "Zoom-Zoom"), feature a rear license plate that contains an Autobot logo followed by his name, "MEISTER".
• Similar to his mold-mate Hound, both versions of Swindle only feature a front license plate sporting a lone Decepticon symbol.
• Both versions of Grimlock feature a rear license plate sporting an Autobot logo followed by his name, "GRIMLOCK".
• Alternators Windcharger has the first difference with his Binaltech counterpart, what with them being different characters and all. He features a rear license plate sporting an Autobot logo followed by an abbreviated form of his name, "WNDCGR".
• Meanwhile, his Binaltech counterpart Overdrive has the same layout for the license plate, but sports an abbreviated form of his name, "OVRDRV", instead.
• Alternators Battle Ravage and Binaltech Ravage both feature a rear license plate sporting a Decepticon logo followed by an abbreviated version of the Japanese toy's (and Hasbro's Generation 1 toy's) name, "RVG". Early test shots of the Alternators version still sported an abbreviated form of the Hasbro name for the toy, "BTLRVG", which implies an intentional change.
• Alternators Shockblast features a rear license plate sporting a Decepticon logo followed by an abbreviated form of the character's Generation 1 toy's name, "SHKWAV". The Binaltech counterpart, Laserwave, replaces that with an abbreviated form of its Japanese name, "LWAVE".
• Both versions of Wheeljack feature a rear license plate sporting an Autobot logo followed by an abbreviated form of his name, "WHLJCK".
• The Alternators-only retool of Windcharger, Decepticharge, features a rear license plate sporting a Decepticon logo followed by an abbreviated form of his name, "DCHRG".
• The Alternators-only retool of Tracks, Swerve, features a rear license plate sporting an Autobot logo followed by his name, "SWERVE".
• All versions of Prowl, including the Binaltech-only blue civilian variant, feature a rear license plate sporting an Autobot logo followed by the character's name, "PROWL".
• Both versions of Skids feature a rear license plate sporting an Autobot logo followed by his name, "SKIDS".
• Alternators Sunstreaker features a rear license plate sporting an Autobot logo followed by his full name, "SUNSTREAKER", as does the Binaltech Asterisk version. In fact, the license plate is one of the two elements of the two versions' decos that are identical, the other being the paint mask for the head. An earlier test shot of Alternators Sunstreaker sported an abbrviated form of the name, "SUN STRK", in a different font, with an Autobot logo in the middle.
• The Alternators-only redeco of Swindle, Rollbar, was the first to feature a state-specific rear license plate, in his case his name, "ROLLBAR", registered in Colorado. Like Hound, he also features a front license plate sporting nothing but an Autobot logo.
• The equally Alternators-only redeco of Silverstreak, Ricochet, followed suit, with a rear license plate sporting his name, "RICO-CHET", registered in the Garden State of New Jersey. Like Silverstreak and Rollbar, he also features a front license plate with a lone Autobot logo.
• Alternators Optimus Prime features a rear license plate sporting an Autobot logo followed by the second half of his name, "PRIME", registered in California.
• Alternators Mirage features a rear license plate sporting his name, "MIRAGE", registered in the Great Lakes state of Michigan. His e-Hobby exclusive clear Binaltech counterpart, "Rijie Electro-Disruptor Mode", simply has an Autobot logo followed by his Japanese name, "RIJIE", with no state-specific plate.
• The Alternators-only redeco of Prowl, Camshaft, features a rear license plate sporting an abbreviated form of his name, "CAM SHFT", registered in the Ocean State of Rhode Island (also Hasbro's home state). Since the toy's deco was originally conceived with the Diaclone version of Generation 1 Bluestreak in mind, early samples sported an abbreviated form of that name, "BLU STRK", instead.
• The Hasbro Toy Shop/San Diego Comic-Con 2006 exclusive redeco of Optimus Prime, Nemesis Prime, has a rear license plate sporting the first half of his name, "NEMESIS", registered in California just like Optimus's plate, with a date of July 2006, the toy's release date. The Wonder Festival 2007 Winter exclusive Binaltech counterpart, Black Convoy, replaces that with his Japanese name, "BLACK-CONVOY", with no state-specific plate.
• The Walmart exclusive, Alternators-only mold Decepticon Rumble features a rear license plate sporting his name without a trademark-induced prefix, "RUMBLE", registered in the Aloha State of Hawaii.
• The second toy of Ravage (the Jaguar XK), equally Alternators-only, but only Walmart exclusive in the USA (it was available at mass retail in various European countries), features a rear license plate that sports his name "RAVAGE". Since Jaguar is a British manufacturer, it's the only license plate registered in the European Union, with a "GB" country identifier for Great Britain.
• The Hasbro Toy Shop/San Diego Comic-Con 2007 exclusive retool of Mirage, Rodimus, features a rear license plate sporting the slogan "TOO HOT", registered in the Golden State of California with a date of July, referring to the place and date of the toy's release.
• The final four Binaltech-only redecos simply feature license plates with white text on a black backdop, like vehicles on display at a car show. The redeco of Streak, "Bluestreak", has front and rear plates with the car's model, "IMPREZA", the redecos of Meister (with parts taken from his retool, Laserwave), "Argent Meister", and the redeco of Decepticharge, Arcee, both also have rear plates with the car's models, "RX-8" and "S2000", respectively, and Optimus Prime's Binaltech counterpart, Convoy, has a rear plate with the manufacturer's name, "DODGE". All names are matched to the official manufacturers' logos and fonts.

Binaltech Asterisk

• The Asterisk-only retool of Streak, Alert, again has a front plate only sporting an Autobot logo, and a rear late sporting an Autobot logo followed by his Japanese name, "ALERT".
• As mentioned above, Sunstreaker features a rear license plate sporting an Autobot logo followed by his full name, "SUNSTREAKER", just like his Alternators counterpart.
• Broadblast features a rear license plate sporting an Autobot logo followed by an abbreviated form of his Japanese name, "bRBL", with the lowercase first "b" and the uppercase second "B" being a reference to the vehicle's Japanese name, the Toyota bB.

Kiss Players

• Convoy features a rear license plate sporting an Autobot logo followed by his Japanese name, "CONVOY".
• Hot Rodimus features a rear license plate sporting an Autobot logo followed by his Japanese name, "HOT RODIMUS".
• The 1:24 scale toy of Autorooper features identical front and rear license plates sporting a Japanese kanji and a number, "子・・04". The kanji stands for "rat", one of the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac, identifying the Autrooper unit's platoon, whereas the number identifies the individual Autorooper unit. The license plate is registered to the Earth Defense Command's Tokyo precinct, as a shown by the kanji "東京" for Tokyo and the abbreviation "EDC".