Animated was mostly homage characters after the first season, so most of the unique or new characters came early in the series, and right at the end.

Some standouts of Animated...
Ultra Magnus - the first time the name was assigned to a character of higher rank than Optimus... and was a rather arrogant Autobot ruler.
Sentinel Prime - such an arrogant jerk, the character was more like a Decepticon than an Autobot.
Bulkhead - is now the stereotypical Autobot muscle/brute in Transformers... but was later made out to be highly intelligent.
Prowl - now a the stealthy ninja.
Lockdown - a bit like Deaths Head from the Marvel UK comics, but without honour.
Lugnut - a totally over-rated character in the fandom...
Angry Archer - the writers created it as a homage to the Hasbro Designer Aaron Archer.
Longarm Prime - it's a spoiler to those who haven't seen the cartoon yet... but the toy gives it away.
Wasp - you gotta feel sorry for this character... it was like a classic Greek Tragedy, or like a kid who gets bullied to the point of bringing a gun to school.
Starscream's Clones - could they be any funnier.
Professor Princess - if I had to pick the worst human in this series, it would be tough, but this one is probably it. (and what's worse, for a long time I thought it was a guy dressed up in drag... because like the word "doctor", the word "professor" is often presumed to be male)


Details of the Animated era can be read about here.


Who are your favourite characters in this era, and why?

Which characters were disappointing or over-used?

Who would you have liked to have seen more of in this Series for being under-used?