Octane

Octane is a Decepticon Triple Changer in the Generation 1 continuity.

Octane is considered vile, even by Decepticon standards. This triple changing bully is a cheat, a liar, and a coward who thinks only of himself and can't be trusted any further than Megatron can throw him. The only reason that this invenerate thief is allowed to continue functioning is that he has an uncanny ability to locate stores of fuel for his fellow Decepticons, and is usually able to spin a fairly convincing excuse for why he was unable to assist them in their latest battle. As annoying and frustrating as he may be to work with, most of his allies will grudgingly admit that he does perform his job as a fuel transport quite well... if he could just get over his annoying habit of making them beg for every drop.

Animated Continuity
Voice actor: ??? (US), ??? (Japan)

Octane first came to the Autobots' attention while doing what he did best - thinking about himself. When Trypticon had been defeated by Metroplex and hurled into the ocean, it was Octane who first discovered that the giant Decepticon had not been destroyed, but had actually survived his untimely dunk in the water. What happened next depends on who you believe: Octane tells a tale of great heroism, where he came across the weakened and dying Trypticon and, for the glory of the Decepticon Empire and out of the good of his own heart, nursed the injured giant back to health. The rest of the world prefer to take a less charitable look at his actions, and claim that Octane merely took advantage of Trypticon to secure himself a source of high-quality energon from the Socialist Democratic Federated Republic of Carbombya. Whatever his motivation, it was not long before Octane and Trypticon were trading fuel for protection (even going so far as to assault passing cruise ships and then claiming they had been invading sovereign waters). When that was no longer enough to keep their new landlords happy, Octane quickly came up with a scheme to use Trypticon in stealing all of the world's most important monuments and presenting them as gifts to the nation's leader. That got the attention of Rodimus Prime and the rest of the Autobots, who quickly crashed Octane's party. Worse, Galvatron caught wind of what had been happening, and was not amused with how selfishly Octane had been keeping Trypticon to himself. All the wheeling and dealing in the world failed in the face of Galvatron's rage, and Octane soon found himself ousted from the Decepticons (a fate he shared with his fellow Triple Changer, Blitzwing. Apparently Astrotrain was the only one of them worth keeping).

Alone and on the run, Octane soon discovered that Galvatron was less than willing to let bygones be bygones. The Decepticon leader had placed a price on Octane's head, and countless bounty hunters and assassins were closing in on him. After a close call on the planet Junk, where he narrowly avoided being blown to pieces, Octane quickly decided to seek asylum with the Autobots. It was here that he met and befriended Sandstorm, a fellow Triple Changer who had recently joined the Autobots after leaving his home planet of Paradron. After being attacked by the Combaticons at Autobot City, the pair fled to a nearby space station, where they were assaulted once again by paid assassins (who were fortunately so incompetent that the two robots barely noticed they were there). Eventually settling on Cybertron, Octane still found no peace, as Cyclonus and the Sweeps tracked him down yet again. Fleeing into a forgotten Decepticon tomb, Octane stumbled onto the ghost of the most famous Decepticon traitor ever known: Starscream. Quickly realising kindred spirits in each other, the two joined forces in an attempt to let Starscream possess Cyclonus and take over the Decepticons. Needless to say, their coup attempt failed rather miserably, and both traitors found themselves once again fleeing from Galvatron's wrath.

It should be noted that Ocane is one of the few Decepticons who seems to have no problems dealing with the Autobots. Of course, Octane is so selfish that he likely doesn't care what allegiance somebody is as long as they can help him, but he is still one of the only Decepticons who can claim to have an Autobot for a friend (Starscream might be another, but he and his friend had a bit of a falling out before they switched sides).

Marvel Comics Continuity
Events in italics happened in the Marvel UK comics

Octane was one of the many Decepticons left on Cybertron after Megatron's departure. Along with several others, Octane worked for the tyrant Straxus in the giant fortress known as Darkmount. ''When Optimus Prime was accidentally transported back to Cybertron and joined forces with the Wreckers, it was Octane who delivered the bad news to his master. In usual fashion, the bald-faced liar greatly overexaggerated his own role in the battle.''

''Octane's habit for telling tall tales and blatant lies would continue when he found himself confronted by Ultra Magnus during one of his fuel runs and led the Autobot through a military testing ground filled with mines. Both Transformers were lucky to survive, and Octane only managed by jettisoning his entire shipment. Obviously, this was not how he presented the case when asked what had happened to him.''

Aside from providing valuable background appearances and occasional comic relief, Octane is also worth noting for one important thing: during a battle in the Arctic that had been set up by Starcscream, Octane managed to kill the Autobot known as Mirage.