Generic Decepticons
in
Transformers Generation One seasons 1-3

All images, text, and nicknames on this web page are public domain

For whatever reason, fans love the Decepticon jets. Maybe it's because they were a tight-knit unit. Maybe it's because they had good characterization and cool powers. Probably because there were a lot more of them unnamed, giving the impression that the 3 we knew were really just part of something larger.

'Generic' Decepticon Jets appear in 4 places in Transformers, in seasons 1 and 3. A generic jet has the same animation model as a normal one, a new paintjob, and no name. This is a fast-and-loose documentation of all the generic jets from G1.

There are certianly other jets than this, we saw dozens that were colored like Starscream, Skywarp and Thundercracker who were not them- but for the purposes of this guide I'm only gonna track the guys who got unique color schemes, as well as I can discern.

Please note- none of the names I use here are real. They're my shorthand way of refering to these guys. It's so much easier to say 'Seafoam' than 'that kinda greenish guy in MtMtE part 2 in the snow, 2nd from the right.'

There are non-jet Generics out there. There are a few on this page even, mostly because I'm too lazy to put them on a seperate page.

We start with the non-generics.

Starscream
Starscream, traitorous Air Commander.
Skywarp
Skywarp, teleporting aerial ace.
Thundercracker
Thundercracker, the sarcastic one.

Take note; many of the generic jets in Transformers are based on Thundercracker's color model. Grey gauntlets, black feet and black shin-accents. Just a different basecoat color.

Rumble
Frenzy

More Than Meets the Eye

The Welcome Wagon
As the first episode of Transformers opens, Bumblebee and Wheeljack are attacked by a group of Decepticons.
The staging of the shots is very confusing, making it look like the three generics turn into Starscream, Thundercracker and Skywarp for some shots. But longshots show the group of Decepticons numbering at least 5 (which we round up to 6) The 2 trios are just never in the same shot where they're identifable.
Note that one of these 3 'Welcome Wagon' members is voiced by Frank Welker.
My Nickname: The Flamethrower
This guy takes point. He has a black backback whose underslung tube feeds into his right blaster, which he detaches and holds like a rifle, shooting flame-rings from it which entraps Wheeljack and Bumblebee.
My Nickname: The Rifleman
Stands behind Flamethrower, at the ready.
Note: Rifleman has no blasters on his arms, but carries one rifle-style, and it is colored a faint steely-blue not found anywhere else on his body. Note: I'm guessing on the coloring of the feet. As most generics are based on Thundercracker, this is the msot common color. His shinplates are colorless as shown.
My Nickname: The Goldenrod
Takes flank behind Flamethrower, holds his right blaster rifle-style.
Note: I'm guessing on the coloring of his feet and shinplates. Neither is visible, but this is the most common color-scheme found on Generics.

The Generics Jets of Earth in MtMtE 2-3
Monzo's Nickname: Harold
Monzo from the obscure-TF page calls this guy Harold. For lack of anything better to call him, so do I.
All Generics are equal, but some are more equal than others. Harold is that one.
Harold was the first Generic to appear on Earth. A lot of the group shots in MtMtE feature 4 seekers. Harold is inevitably the 4th one. In a few, glorious shots, Harold is in a 3-shot, replacing one of the other 'main' jets. Harold is the shit of geneics, he gets a lot of tailfin.
Harold (like all the generics) appears almost exclusively on energy-gathering missions. Harold first appeared on the 'cons first energy-gathering mission to the Dam, the only generic there, but he didn't follow the rest of his comrades inside the generator building, I speculate he's agrophobic. Harold also helped rob the Alaskan pipeline, and the Black Diamond reserve. He was seen mining in the Ruby Crystal Mines of Burma along with his brother (see below) and 2 other purple-shaded generics.
Probably Harold's biggest accomplishment is an action sequence all by himself. He and his brother (see below) got to attack Trailbreaker on the road. Harold was injured, and got to talk. Wow. Harold was was in the closing credits of the show, a 3 shot of generic jets transforming. He was the center one.
Take note: Harold's jet mode! Harold and his brother (see below) both sport the black-tailfin look when attacking Trailbreaker. But 2 Purple jets seen escaping the Ruby Crystal Mines in Burma sport the grey-tailfins look, a departure from the standard Thundercracker color model. The 2 greytails are presumably the other 2 purple generics seen in the mines, or could be LiP and DiP (see below.)

My Nickname: Bobby
This is Bobby, so called because he's the archetypical 'generic.' A blue jet, noticably lighter than Thundercracker. Bobbies were seen robbing the Alaskan pipeline, and in large numbers attackign the air force base in part 3. They are extremely unmemorable.
Derik notes: It's been said that this is a 'uniform' generic, the color scheme of a lowest-ranekd solider. I have to disagree. While there are a lot of bobbies running around, other group shots show that generics simply tend to range in color from purple to blue, we just got a lot of 'em in more-or-less this color.
My Nickname: Seafoam
Another jet attacking the oil pipeline. He has somewhat of a greenish cast to him, thus the name.
My Nickname: Chroma-Key
Another generic robbing the pipeline, he's an intense blue-purple. Was probably in the fight at the space launch too, but who can tell? All these subtle shades of blue hurt my brain.
My Nickname: Blueface
Another jet attacking the oil pipeline. The one furthest on the right, he appears (as well as I can make out on the DVD) to have a blue face. How decidedly odd. Was probably one of the jets attackign the Air Force base later, sicne by all accounts it looks like all the Decepticon Jets took place int hat attack.
My Nickname: Herald
This is Harold's brother Herald. Please don't get them confused, it upsets them so. Herald is a slightly duller shade of purple. He appears in the credits next to Harold, helped Harold raid the Black Diamond reserve and the oil pipeline, and helped shadow Harold back after the attack on Trailbreaker, getting a speaking part. Herald gets lots of sloppy seconds, but he also get a fair amount of screentime.
Herald was seen in the Ruby Crystal mines of Burma, mining alongside Harold and 2 other purple generics.
Herald has the same grey-tailfin thing going on in jet mode as Harold.
My Nickname: Midnight
A really dark blue jet. 2 jets of this color took part in the attack on the air force base, but we only saw them in jet mode. The picture on the left is my guess of what he'd look like in robot mode. His actual jet color-scheme is below.
Raksha's Nickname: Lady in Purple
Answering Megatron's call to combat the attacking Autobots at the space cruiser launch, this oddly-colored 'con jumped off a loading platform to do so.
LiP is a pet name, her lines are unusually soft in the one shot in which she appears. But actual sex in inconclusive, as is true, really, for non-speaking generics
I mean, it's not like you have to soften the lines of a Decepticon jet to make it female. Their chestplates are already vaguely... nevermind. And Starscream was dubbed as female in France, so it's not without precedent.
My Nickname: Dude in Purple
DiP here managed to get on the Decepticon spacecruiser when it launched in part 3. He's the last generic we ever see among Megatron's earth crew. Reinforcing the idea of his excellent survival skills, we see him carefully edging away from behind Megatron as he and Starscream come to blows. Heh.

Generic Casettes in MtMtE part 2

These guys appear in the 'Assault on the Dam' sequence in MtMtE part 2. 3 oddly-colored casette-bots and Rumble are lined up before the attack.
3 Rumble-colored casettes later take part in the raid on the dam, while Rumble himself is underwater outside. Presumably that is these 3, miscolored as Feature Character. (a sad fate which befalls many generics.)
Oddly enough, none of these guys can pass for Frenzy. Frenzy will not make an appearance until the 2nd to last episode of season 1, when he's complaining about being assigned scut work. I speculate Frenzy joined Megatron's command from Cybertron during The Ultimate Doom and is thus the low man on the totem pole.

My Nickname: Tussle
The blue casette-bot. At first blush you might mistake him for Rumble, but Tussle here is very blue, and Rumble is very purple. (Rumble also appears in the same shot as Tussle, making the distinction much clearer.)

Note: The image to the left is my guess what this casette should look like, as the actual image in the episode was very undetailed. (see below)

My Nickname: Julius
Yup, he really is road-flare orange. I think I like this guy best of the 3 generic casettes.

Note: The image to the left is my guess what this casette should look like, as the actual image in the episode was very undetailed. (see below)

My Nickname: Craven
See, 'cause he's yellow! He he he... (Hey, it was that or 'Citron'.)

Note: The image to the left is my guess what this casette should look like, as the actual image in the episode was very undetailed. (see below)

Generic Jets from Divide and Conquor

The Rainmakers

When Wheeljack takes a crew to Cybertron tog et into his old lab, Megatron calles these 3 lovable but ignobaly-colored jets to take care of the Autobots. They seed clouds to sprinkle acid-rain to destroy them. These 3 all have cybertronian jet-forms, of course.
My Nickname: Wetland
The guy in the center, who answers the phone calls. He has a darker face than the other two, like Starscream.
My Nickname: Greenspan
Ack, mine eyes! Turn him off, turn him off! This guy is green, very, very green. He's green. That's all.
My Nickname: Lemondrop
God, these 3 guys are hideous. Just- one solid color. Lemondrop has it worse than the others, his 'abs' aren't even grey, as I colored them here, but he just looked soooo hideous without them to break up his body...
Derik notes: These 3 jets probably aren't 'actually' this horribly colored. But they appear in robot mode in 2 shots. One is on a monitor, showing their head, chest and abs. This is where all the grey bits come from. (Goldenrod was missing his grey abs in this shot, but I assume he is supposed to have them as the coloring was very sloppy.) The other, wider shot has them all one solid color. I assume that's an error, and added in what showed on the monitor, but without another shot of them... this is as good as I can get.

Generic Jets from The Ultimate Doom part 3

Shockwave's Posse

Shockwave had a lot of generic decepticon Jets in The Ultimate Doom. When all 3 main jets (except maybe Skywarp) were accounted for on Earth, Shockwave had jets running around getting coffee for him. These were mostly colored like the 3 main jets, how frustrating. But oddly enough for his security guards in part 3, who helped dent Brawn's fist with their faces, he got unique color schemes! Cool!
My Nickname: Thole
Shockwave is backed up by 2 jets on 2 different occasions in this episode. This bluish-purple guy is there both times, managing to endure the first beating and come back for more.
My Nickname: Bluetooth
This is the other bodyguard on the first occasion. Brawn beats him up. Apparently badly enough to put him out of comission, since he wasn't there later...
My Nickname: Conifurious
This guy replaced Bluetooth for the second beating. He's green, dark green, pine green actually. How cool is that? I think this is my favorite generic color scheme ever. It just looks so damn nice.

Decepticon Generics in... season 3?

Five Faces of Darkness

My Nickname: Ghost Dawg
Five Faces of Darkness part 3, as the Quintessons attack the Autobots on Goo, we see this plae fellow firing under Soundwave. Neat! the only season 3 seeker whose color scheme is not lifted off another TF. (Lazy colorists tended to apply other characters color models willy-nilly to generics ins eason 3 instead of coming up with their own.)
I'm guessing on the color scheme below the knees.
My Nickname: Ultra-Montane
From Five Faces of Darkness part 4 (pointed out by Zobovor) comes this poor jet. He's sporting Onslaught's colors, in the most error-riddled Tf miniseries ever. I'd be inclined to ignore it but for a few simple, glaring facts.
1) He's a skyraider. There ought not have been ANY skyraiders in season 3 except the differently-animated coneheads, yet here the animation model is used.
2) The Decepticon army at this point numbered about 30-40 guys (everyone toy released, minus the dead guys,) but it was 'filled out' in crowd shots by other animation models, creatively colored. (The 8 Constructicons come to mind, as does the Decepticon Snarl colored like Rodimus Prime...)

I'm sure him getting Onslaught's color scheme was a colorist's mistake. But- he was unquestionably intended as a generic crowdfiller, and he has a distinct color scheme, so there you are.

Note that UM here was lacking his blasters as animated. I colored them based on the 2 huge cannons off Onslaught's back.

For anyone who was wondering, my nickname 'Ultra-Montane' is of course a Mega-Octane gag, and refers to the Catholic doctrine of papal supremacy. (Sort of the religious version of Federal power over the States.)


My Nickname: BaleenMasher
Hey, it's Shockwave, and he joined the Constructicons, ...or something! Again, as the Quints attack the Autobots, we see this guy.
I'm guessing on the color of the chestplate, BaleenMasher's pose perfectly obscured it. Purple seems to fit the constructicon theme.
My Nickname: Forager
More Constructicon-themed Shockwaves! Two guys int ehse colors salute Galvatron during the 'Hail Galvatron' sequence in part 4.
I'm guessing ont he color scheme below the knees. Plain purple doesn't look right.

My Nickname: Sundowner
This bright, cheery Decepticon is based on Snarl. With Rodimus Prime's color model. Oh my. I'm guessin on the proper color of the sword, I made is grey like Rodimus's rifle, but it might also be bright red liek all the Dinobot energo-swords.
My Nickname: War-Lock
Octane! With... Grimlock's colors! One figure so impossibly different from another that even the color artists couldn't foul it up by accident. Another crowdfiller.
My Nickname: PsiClonus
Breakdown, in Cyclonus's colors. I'm tempted to call him Armada. I don't have much to say about this guy, but I speculate he's neurotic.

Dark Awakening

My Nickname: Monody
Out of the blue in season 3, we have this guy. Galvatron's troops are traveling in space as a fleet, flanked by Dirge, Thrust and... this guy. Yup, the original season 1 jet model used for a generic in season 3, with Dirge's colors. But he's in the same shot as Dirge, so he must be someone else. This is really bizare, why not Ramjet? Starscream, Thundercracker and Skywarp were all gone by season 3, but apparently one of their body model held on, because here he is.
He appeared only in jet-mode. The picture on the left is my guess of what he'd look like in robot mode, based on Dirge's color model, and what we saw in jet mode.

Generic Cons in Headmasters

There were actually quite a feew generic 'cons in Headmasters, virtually all of them appearing in one flashback sequence where the Autobot Targetmasters battle a Decepticon horde.
But- only one of those 'cons is a recolor of a 'real' one. 'ow bizare. This is him. He's not a Skyraider body type, but I like his muted earth tones, so I'm including him here.

My Nickname: Bushjumper
A recolor of the Deception Targetmaster Misfire, this guy fought the Autobot Targetmasters sometime before the Headmaster series. He has muted Earth tones, which I rather like.
Below is my (very accurate) guess what his jet mode would look like.
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