Sari Sumdac (Animated)

Sari Sumdac is a techno-organic humanoid Autobot from the Animated continuity family.

The most adorable little T-800 you ever saw.

Sari Sumdac, the technorganic daughter of robotics genius Isaac Sumdac, used to not get out much. She spent all her time within her father's laboratories, receiving her education from robots. Despite this, she doesn't seem like a shut-in. She's curious, excitable, adventurous, and knows that crying can sometimes get her what she wants. She's just never known what it's like to be around other kids. Fortunately, she has Bumblebee and Bulkhead to help with that, and she claims that 'Bee is the best friend she's ever had. In fact, she's become very possessive of all her robotic friends.

It was believed that Sari was a normal human, until it was revealed that she was made from a protoform and her father's DNA. Hence, the AllSpark viewed her with great regard, bestowing upon her a key with miraculous powers (though her guardian, the robotic dog Sparkplug, thought it was just another chew toy).

Since discovering her true origin, she has absorbed the power of her AllSpark-powered Key to gain Cybertronian abilities such as enhanced strength, speed, and the ability to create destructive spheres of energy with her hands, as well as the ability to transform into an armored form with several weapons (most of which Ratchet was forced to seal away after she proved unable to control them). She also owns a scooter which can transform into a jet pack.

Fiction

Animated cartoon continuity

Animated cartoon

Voice actor: Tara Strong (English), Laura Hale (BotCon 2015), Jon Bailey (BotCon 2015; burping), Satomi Akesaka (Japanese), Tanja Schmitz (German), Agnieszka Wajs (Polish), Tosawi Piovani (Italian), Flora Paulita (Portuguese), Vanesa Silva (Latin American Spanish, season 1 and 2), Shirley Marulanda (Latin American Spanish, season 3), Catherina Martínez (Castilian Spanish), Adeline Chetail (French), Sin-hui Park (Korean), Tiiamari Mikkola (Finnish)

Megatron was also a cute little protoform like this once. Makes you think, doesn't it?

Sari's origins are shrouded in mystery. She came into existence when a Cybertronian protoform appeared in Isaac Sumdac's laboratory. The baffled scientist reached out to touch the small, liquid metal creature, and received an electric shock that knocked him unconscious. When he awoke, the protoform had scanned his DNA and reconfigured into a techno-organic creature that appeared to be a human baby. Sumdac "adopted" the robot child and named it "Sari", and raised it as his own daughter over the next eight years. TransWarped Understandably, Sumdac was reluctant to let Sari out into the world, and instead kept her mostly confined to Sumdac Tower, educating her with robot tutors and creating robotic companions like her pet Sparkplug to keep her company. Transform and Roll Out Precisely how the protoform that became Sari appeared in Sumdac's lab is unknown; Sari herself seems to believe that she was one of the protoforms stolen from the Cyber-Ninja Corps by Lockdown millions of years ago and stored aboard the Nemesis, but given that those protoforms were blanks, and that it was a different size and shape to all the other protoforms seen, and the fact that the Nemesis wouldn't first arrive in Earth space until years later, this seems unlikely. Endgame, Part II

Nothing like a long car ride to help your kids fall asleep.

One day, when Sparkplug stole her security key card, Sari chased it outside and was confronted by the Autobots Bumblebee and Bulkhead, who hadn't quite yet fathomed what humans were, and spoke to her as if she were Sparkplug's pet. Naturally, she freaked out, but quickly befriended Bumblebee once he saved her from a giant bug that had grown from her father's nanite experiment gone awry. Stowing away on Bumblebee and coming aboard the Autobots' ship, she came across the AllSpark, which infused part of its power into her security key, creating the AllSpark Key. This allowed her to heal Transformers, such as the injured Prowl, earning her brownie points with the 'Bots. She also managed to talk the police down from shooting the Autobots, saying they were friendly (except Ratchet, who was grumpy, but not evil). Sari later helped teach the Autobots about Earth and humans, explaining their method of reproduction to a very startled Optimus Prime.

Prime was scarred for life.

During the unveiling of her father's new transit system, Starscream arrived and attacked. Bumblebee took a shot meant for Sari, allowing Starscream to capture him, Professor Sumdac, the Mayor, and Captain Fanzone. Sari came up with the idea to distract Starscream while she and Prowl rescued the others (even faking some tears to make it happen). The Key later saved Optimus Prime's life when she used it, in concert with the AllSpark itself, to revive his Spark. Transform and Roll Out Dispatches

Later Sari, dutiful daughter that she was, came over to her dad's private lab to bring him a cup of tea. She discovered that her key could do more than just fix Autobots as it interfaced with the lock to the lab, granting her access to it. She didn't get far in before bumping into her father, who sleepily reminded her that she wasn't allowed in his private workshop. He still drank the tea though. Sari then dragged her father away for some breakfast when it became clear he hadn't eaten in quite some time.

During her daily session with Tutor Bot, Sari continued to test the abilities of her key, and used it to open a comm-link with Bumblebee... oh, and mess around with Tutor Bot's circuitry to cut class-time short. Her afternoon now free, Sari left to aid the Autobots set-up their secret base. She also helped immerse them in Earth culture through the age-old custom known as the "slumber-party". The numerous activities in which she got her friends to participate in included a game of Twister™ and scary stories told by the glow of a flashlight. She used her key to activate some machinery to amplify the telling of one of her stories, scaring Bumblebee out of his wits. Suddenly, the base's machinery came to life without the influence of Sari's Key. Sari had to scramble for cover as part of the assembly line began firing bolts at her. She was rescued by Optimus, and she in turn rescued Ratchet from the hostile machinery. Bumblebee eventually managed to shut everything down. Certain that her key wasn't to blame for the attack, Sari and the Autobots pondered over who could have orchestrated it. She didn't let the night's events phase her for long, and played another game of Twister™ with Prowl and Bumblebee to relax later on. Home Is Where the Spark Is

Sari watched the policemen investigating a break-in to her father's company alongside the Autobots. The group learned that the break-in was the handiwork of the industrial saboteur Stiletto. The Autobots captured her after a brief battle, and Sari helped fix her friends with her key afterwards. Stiletto

Sari and the Autobots had to calm Bulkhead down when Porter C. Powell began to market Bulkhead's alt-mode as a vehicle for the everyday citizen, and further rubbed salt in the wound by using highly-doctored footage to have Bulkhead "promote" the vehicle. When Ratchet discovered that the "Bulkhead" vehicles were road-hazards, Sari and Bulkhead disguised themselves and entered a "Pimp my Bulkhead" contest to expose Powell's lies. Customizing Bulkhead to look like a shrine to Powell, Sari-in-disguise insisted that Powell check out her vehicle's interior. Bulkhead then took off, and had Powell admit on-camera that his vehicles were dangerous. Sari would later watch an announcement on television announcing that the Bulkhead line was being recalled. The Insincerest Form of Flattery

Sari would go on to be Bumblebee's usual partner in crime, encouraging him to engage in such questionable activities as high-profile wrestling matches. When Bumblebee was matched up against the bio-enhanced Colossus Rhodes, Sari helped him along, healing him as he took a pounding. Eventually, Rhodes went berserk, and Sari was unable to keep up to heal her friend. Thankfully, the rest of Autobots came to Bumblebee's rescue, and ended the fight in short order. The next day, Sari assisted her father in a presentation to the city's representatives, to pitch Sumdac Industries' new model of police drones. The presentation didn't go too well, as the drone exploded before anything could really be demonstrated. Sari suspected foul play, and after the Autobots confirmed her suspicions, headed back to warn her father. Her group's progress was interrupted when they encountered Sumdac Tower's force-field, erected in response to a business rival, now the mutated Meltdown, attacking the building. Sari and Bumblebee managed to get inside the shield, though further reinforcements were blocked off from joining the pair due to interference run by the returning Colossus Rhodes. Sari eventually managed to shut down the facility's force-field with her key and was then reunited with her dad... just in time for Meltdown to show up again and threaten them both. The Autobots managed to contain Metldown, using the same force-field that had kept them out of the tower. Total Meltdown

Sari invited the Autobots to visit her father's new theme-park, "Dino Drive", which featured robotic dinosaurs. She guided her friends through the park alongside Tutor Bot. The first visit ended in disaster for the animatronics... Though the event didn't compare to the Autobots’ second visit, which culminated in the animatronics attacking back! Bumblebee and Ratchet teamed up and unleashed an electro-magnetic pulse to shut down the "Dinobots". Intent on helping out, Sari added her Key's power to that attack, unwittingly granting the trio Sparks. With newfound intelligence, Grimlock, Swoop and Snarl rampaged once more, only to be stopped once more by the Autobots. Even as her father made his plan known to melt the Dinobots down to scrap, Sari was oblivious that she had granted them consciousness. Blast from the Past

Sari "borrowed" a couple of rocket prototypes from her father's laboratories, and offered them up to Bumblebee. Though Bumblebee was thrilled at the prospect of being able to go even faster, Ratchet would have nothing to do with attaching the rockets to his chassis. So Sari used her Key to do it instead. She rode along in Bumblebee's car mode for his first test drive with the boosters, but the pair soon found themselves driving completely out of control. This caused a heap of trouble, since the Autobots were attempting to apprehend the super-thief "Nanosec" at the time. After nearly driving off a bridge, and being saved by Optimus, Sari rather sensibly rode with the Autobot leader for the rest of the adventure. Once Nanosec had been caught and Detroit was safe once more, Sari was carried back to Autobot base by Bumblebee, at a decidedly slower pace. Nanosec

Trivia: Transformers used to look like this.

As Halloween rolled around, Sari explained the meaning of the night to her Autobot friends: getting dressed up, eating candy, and pulling pranks... especially on Optimus, when Sari found out that he had a fear of spiders. Before heading out for some trick-or-treating with Bulkhead and Bumblebee, Sari made sure that Optimus saw her costume, a likeness of Prime himself. Before the candy-gathering was in full-swing, the trio encountered Blackarachnia, who stunned both Bumblebee and Bulkhead with her "download" power. Optimus, having been listening in on Bumblebee's comm-link, arrived just in time to stop Sari from handing over her Key to the Decepticon, but was overpowered by Blackarachnia. Blackarachnia grabbed Sari, hauling her off to the top of a building, with Optimus in pursuit. The two robots scuffled anew at this new location, though this time around Blackarachnia succeeded in snatching Sari's Key, and using it on herself. This caused waves of energy to emanate from Blackarachnia, harming all nearby organic life. Including Sari of course, who shriveled up like a prune. In this weakened state, Sari was unable to run from Blackarachnia, who pitched her off the rooftop. Sari managed to grab a flagpole, and hung on just long enough for Bumblebee and Bulkhead to come to her rescue. Sari returned to normal when Optimus removed the AllSpark Key from Blackarachnia's systems. Upon having the Key returned to her, Sari promised Optimus she would try to not over-use the Key's powers anymore. Along Came a Spider

On Sari's eighth birthday, the only other kids who turned up were the children of her dad's employees. None of them really wanted to be there and soon focused their attention on the Autobots. Sari was left alone and shunned along with Bulkhead, both morose that the kids didn't like them. Her father's present, a music robot called Soundwave, cheered her up, and she soon began neglecting her friendship with Bulkhead in favour of her new toy. Repeated uses of the Key turned Soundwave into a malevolent, sentient being who tried to enslave humanity, and she learnt she'd been wrong to ignore her friend. Sound and Fury

When the Decepticons Blitzwing and Lugnut arrived on Earth, they manhandled the Autobots. Although they survived, it made apparent the fact that more would come looking for the AllSpark, so the Autobots decided to repair their ship and leave Earth. Sari's reaction to this was displeasure (in the form of a high-pitched shout of "NO!"). However, they needed the Key to assist Ratchet in repairing the ship. Sari was unwilling to help them leave, and neither was she pleased to work with a grouch like Ratchet (who was not that keen on working with a Protoform), but they managed to get her to the ship. While alone with the AllSpark, Sari decided to try and sabotage the ship, thereby keeping the Autobots on Earth (and dooming her species to enslavement and/or extinction) but the Key repaired the damage. After that, the AllSpark showed her an image of a giant Transformer. In her panic, Sari opened the air lock, nearly drowning, but Ratchet saved her. Ratchet then explained that they were leaving because they couldn't risk anything happening to Earth or her. Swayed by his compassion, Sari used the Key to reactivate the Autobot ship's decommissioned weapons, reducing Blitzwing and Lugnut to pieces. Lost and Found

Deciding that Sari, as keeper of the Key, would likely be a target for the Decepticons in the future, the Autobots began to train her in combat techniques. Sari was ecstatic about learning "ninja nerve blows" from Prowl, though she did not pick up the techniques quickly, often missing her target by a wide margin. Bulkhead was kind enough to feign injury whenever she kicked him though. When the time came to use what she had learned, Sari was too in awe of her aggressor to put her training to good use; Swoop kidnapped her from her room at night. As it happened, Swoop was forced to kidnap Sari for Meltdown. The super-villain planned to transform Sari into a "human transformer", though the experiment was put on hold when Prowl, Bulkhead and Fanzone discovered his secret base on Lake Erie. Sari was left in the charge of Colossus Rhodes. She easily outsmarted her captor by telling him she needed to go to the toilet, only to lock him up in the washroom by giving him the run-around. Sari then used her Key to muck about the facility's security, allowing Prowl and Fanzone to join up with her. The three pals managed to make it back outside, though barely, and get to Bulkhead's side. Bulkhead had been severely injured by Meltdown, but Sari's Key took care of the damage. Meltdown and his goons were defeated, the Dinobots were freed, and Sari promised not to reveal too much as to what had happened to Optimus or the rest of the Autobots, keeping Prowl and Bulkhead's part in the Dinobots' initial escape a secret. Survival of the Fittest

After Bulkhead's latest rescue mission ended in destructive disaster, Sari attempted to cheer him up by suggesting he pick up a creative hobby. This way, he could prove that he could create as well as destroy. Bulkhead settled on painting, and Sari proved herself to be extremely supportive of her friend's new calling. She even managed to book Bulkhead an art show at a local gallery... though her announcement came at a bad time, leading to Bulkhead fleeing out of embarrassment. Later, Henry Master, aka "The Headmaster" took possession of Bulkhead's body, and used it to hold the city of Detroit ransom. The authorities pretended to comply to Masterson's demands, though it was a ruse to get the Autobots close enough to battle the super-villain. Sari accompanied her dad into the power plant to help him shut down its systems, and stop the core from overloading. Collateral damage caused by the Autobots' fight with Masterson made this impossible, unfortunately. Once the Autobots finally forced Masterson to flee, Sari reattached Bulkhead's head to his body with her Key, and everyone present brainstormed over how to stop the plant's core from overloading. The Autobots quickly built an "art piece" robot, which Sari animated with her Key, to go into the core to shut it down manually. The city now safe, Sari accompanied Bulkhead to his art show, which proved to be a success judging by the amount of people who attended it. Headmaster

When a non-sentient Cybertronian energy signature was detected in the woods outside of Detroit, Sari volunteered to accompany Prowl and Bumblebee on the investigative mission to track it down. She saw this development as the perfect excuse to have a camping trip with the two of them. But Sari's idea of a camping trip was based off what she had seen on television and movies, and she was woefully unprepared for the real experience. The camping trip proved not to be the usual kind anyways, as a "monster" soon stumbled upon their camping ground. The creature, as it turns out, was a mutated colony of "space barnacles" that had infected some Earth machinery. Though the group managed to fell the "monster", Prowl was himself infected by the parasites, and begun to chase down Bumblebee and Sari. The pair wound up taking refuge in one of the local mines owned by Sari's father. Within, they found a boiler room, and Sari used the scalding water to kill the barnacles, who now controlled both Bumblebee and Prowl. The splash-back drenched her though. Without any dry clothes to change into, Sari wound up catching cold on her way back to civilization. At least she got the final word when Bumblebee began to argue with Prowl on the subject of nature versus technology, reminding them that the two concepts working together in harmony yielded the best results. Nature Calls

Eventually, Optimus Prime decided that the Key was no longer safe in Sari's hands, and he ordered Ratchet to take it from her. Distraught, Sari ran off crying, only to be captured later by Blackarachnia, who was looking for the Key herself. Sari basically told her "too little, too late", and the two seemed to have a heart-to-heart about their gripes with the Autobots. Megatron Rising - Part 1

Isaac isn't the world's best dad, but he does know a good dentist.

While Sari was leading Blackarachnia in circles around the frozen Lake Erie, she was grabbed by Ratchet as he brought the Autobots' ship out of the lake. She was ticked that Ratchet had lost the Key and that her dad had helped rebuild Megatron, but the blame game ceased after the ship crashed on Dinobot Island. Prime told the Sumdacs to stay with the ship while they went to fight off Megatron. Fearing that they might die, Isaac Sumdac said that there was something that he needed to tell Sari, but she was more interested in finding something else the AllSpark could charge. The AllSpark refused to respond, other than cryptically displaying an image of a DNA strand. Suddenly, Megatron and Prime burst through the hull of the ship, and during their fight, the Key once again fell into her hands. Sari tossed it to Optimus Prime, who used the Key to partially destroy the AllSpark and disperse its energy. Acknowledging that he had been wrong in taking it from her, Optimus Prime gave the Key back to Sari, saying that since it was now the most powerful Cybertronian artifact in existence, it was too important to be left in the hands of an Autobot.

Unfortunately, all was not well, for Sari could not find her dad... as he was now a prisoner of Megatron. Megatron Rising - Part 2

The tide has turned!

After her father's disappearance, Sari took over running Sumdac Systems. Board chairman Porter C. Powell opposed her, saying that she was too young and wasting company resources searching for her father. When the Cybertron Elite Guard arrived, Sari was cut off from the Autobots and her only source of emotional support. She soon needed them, as police drones coming out of a Sumdac assembly line began to malfunction, and Powell was unwilling to do anything about it. Sneaking aboard the Elite Guard flagship, Sari put the fear of god into Jazz before Bulkhead explained that Sari was okay (and Bumblebee explained that Sentinel Prime was a jerk). With Optimus, Prowl, and Jazz's help, Sari managed to get into the plant's assembly line and shut down the systems. When she returned home, she found that she had been locked out of her office, as Powell was now CEO and Chairman of Sumdac Systems. Insisting that it was still her company, Sari was shocked when Powell revealed that she had no birth certificate, no adoption papers, and no social security number. Powell's smug revelation made Sari realize that not only was there no proof that she was Sumdac's daughter, there was no legal proof she even existed. The Elite Guard

After that, Powell kicked Sari out of Sumdac Tower, took Tutor Bot and Sparkplug, and gave her room to Henry Masterson as an office. With nowhere else to go, she went to Autobot headquarters. Bumblebee and Bulkhead tried their best to cheer her up, employing such methods as loud music, inedible food, and unedifying teaching lessons. All they did was make things worse. Eventually, Prowl put the two bots in their place and told them to listen to her. Sari opened up about all her frustrations, such as her missing father, being kicked out of her home, her fear of Powell ruining her father's company, and the fact that there was no record of her existence. Bumblebee promised that they were there for her, no matter what, and Sari finally started to feel a little better. The Return of the Headmaster

Peekaboo!

And then Ultra Magnus decided that the Autobots couldn't be there for her, as the Decepticons had begun attacking the fringes of Autobot space, so Prime's crew were needed elsewhere. The Autobots decided that Captain Fanzone was the best human with whom to leave her. (Granted, their list of known humans was rather short and included Prometheus Black and Nanosec.) Before anything close to adoption could occur, they managed to convince Magnus that there were Decepticons on Earth (mostly because Starscream fell out of the sky and landed about ten feet in front of them), allowing them to stay on planet. Mission Accomplished

Sari accompanied her Autobot friends when they worked towards clearing trash from the city streets during a garbage dispute, in an effort to mend strained Autobot/human relations. Their progress was somewhat hampered by Ratchet's sour attitude, so Optimus assigned Sari and Bumblebee to coach the old 'bot towards projecting a more pleasant attitude. During their training, the three encountered the newly created Transformer Wreck-Gar, who proceeded to cause all sorts of havoc throughout Detroit. The Autobots chased Wreck-Gar across the city to retrieve the experimental nanobots he had in his backpack, but Sari was not present during Ratchet's final confrontation with the confused 'bot. Garbage In, Garbage Out

Sari amused herself after settling in with the Autobots by hooking up illegal satellite TV, which she used to watch pay-per-view races. (The races were also illegal, as the Autobots found out from Fanzone.) When Bumblebee wanted to join the races to compete against a mysterious blue car, Sari came along with him. Sari discovered that man in charge of the races, Master Disaster, had a remote control containing an AllSpark fragment, which he used to control the blue car. Blitzwing showed up to take the fragment, so and Bumblebee had to run for their lives. Eventually, she used the remote to get rid of Blitzwing, allowing the Autobots to get the AllSpark fragment. After that, Bumblebee severed her satellite connection, saying that he had to set a better example for her. Sari advised him not to try too hard, or she wouldn't recognize him. Velocity

Don't mess the 'do.

Sari was awakened from her night's rest by the loud cavorting of the "Constructobots". A game of flattened-oil-barrel frisbee severed her trademark pigtails, which left her none too pleased. Rise of the Constructicons Subsequently, she proved that she was still more mature than Bumblebee in a number of ways, warning him off of taking on villains solo just to prove a point. Sadly he wouldn't realize this until the Decepticon behind the villains' success, Swindle was revealed. By then it was too late, and she had to team up with those same villains to take his immobilized chassis to Sumdac Tower. Alarmed that the receptionist robot was now declaring it to be Powell Tower, she utilized the Key to rectify that little situation before heading off and successfully disabling Swindle's technology jamming device. SUV: Society of Ultimate Villainy

Thinking that the criminal Meltdown might have some dirt on Porter C. Powell, Sari and Bumblebee visited him in prison, to try and coax some information out of him. Meltdown informed them that Powell was too slick to ever be caught red-handed, though he insinuated that if Sari and her friends found a way to spring him from prison, he could take care of Powell... permanently. Sari turned down the offer, and left immediately. Later, Sari and the Autobots learned that Meltdown had been broken out of prison via a news report. She stayed behind at the Autobots' headquarters while Optimus, Prowl and Bumblebee dealt with the situation. After Meltdown's threat had been neutralized, Sari accompanied her Autobot friends to explain what had transpired to Captain Fanzone. Black Friday

A while after, Prowl and Sari were honing their agility using the factory's old assembly line. Sari claimed she could complete the exercise at full speed, like Prowl, but it was set to a quarter-speed, which proved to be too much for her at that and got a massive whack upside the head for her pains. After the Autobots discovered the return of the Constructicons, Sari was left at the base at the command of Optimus, who told reminded her that they had almost decapitated her the last time they met. Also, he doubted she would be able to take on a pair of two-story robots. At first Sari sulked at her situation, before realizing that she was completely alone in the base and did what any eight-year-old kid would do in an abandoned factory: raid the vending machines, use cranes as miniature G-force slings and try to take on Prowl's obstacle course at full speed (which went as well as last time).

They're here to kick aft and drink oil. And they're all out of oil.

While listening to her music, Sari failed to notice the alarms going off, which heralded the invasion of the Constructicons who were looking for a drink. After the two louts accidentally crushed her cell phone and left her with the option of sneaking to the communications room to call the Autobots for help, Sari decided—after a council of war with her teddy bear—to take on the two bots using her trusty hockey stick (which shatters soon after she strikes them with it). She escaped and made it to the communication room, contacting Bumblebee who told her to hide and wait until they finish fighting off the recently appeared Blitzwing, who was also looking for the Constructicons. Sari concluded that it would be too long and set up a trap for the two invaders, using three barrels of oil to trip them up and the plant's assembly line to knock them around for a while, forcing Mixmaster and Scrapper to flee. The Autobots returned to find the place in ruins, but Sari showed them that she was all right. Optimus both apologized for his previous comments and lauded her for her bravery, and all was well for Sari—if she could just explain away the mountain of candy wrappers Optimus discovered.... Sari, No One's Home

Sari later posed for a Picasso-style picture done by Bulkhead. The results were...interesting, to say the least. After criticism by the Autobots, a depressed Bulkhead walked out, and Sari and Bumblebee went to cheer him up. During a walk in the park, Megatron attacked them, carrying an imprisoned Isaac Sumdac with him, and Sari realized that Megatron had kidnapped him all those months ago. (Apparently, that hadn't occurred to anyone else.) While she looked on helplessly, Megatron managed to kidnap Bulkhead. When she returned to the plant, she heard the Autobot Blurr reveal that Professor Sumdac was helping the Decepticons build a space bridge to conquer Cybertron. Sari refused to believe that her father was willingly helping the Decepticons and got a promise out of Optimus Prime to bring him home alive. Heading to Dinobot Island, Ratchet and Sari worked to bring the Autobots' ship back online. Ratchet realized that they would need riskier repairs to bring achieve their goal. A Bridge Too Close, Part I

It's a strange thing when the human companion's story arc is more interesting than the robots.

As Ratchet worked, he explained that the ship was an Autobot who had sacrificed his spark two million years ago. Sari was doubtful that it would come back online... until it spoke to her. She proceeded to use the Key on several of the ship's systems, under Ratchet's direction, until it was able to take off. Taking it to the mine where the Decepticons were based, Sari managed to give the ship enough power to transform into its robot mode, Omega Supreme. The massive Autobot turned the tide of the battle, but sacrificed himself to save the others from being sucked into the space bridge. The Autobots managed to escape, with both Sari and Isaac in tow, and Isaac revealed that he had been forced to work with the Decepticons. Overjoyed that her father was safe and still a good guy, Sari dubbed Isaac Sumdac the most honest and trust-worthy guy that anyone could hope to find. It was at that point that everyone assembled noticed that the skin on Sari's elbow had torn away, revealing robotic circuitry underneath. A Bridge Too Close, Part II

Although Sari was at first scared by this strange discovery, her fear quickly gave way to anger at her father for having kept the secret that she was a robot from her for years. As they returned to Detroit, Sumdac explained how he had found Sari in his lab years before, but the girl remained incredulous, and things only got worse when the pair confronted Porter C. Powell and Henry Masterson back in Sumdac Tower. When the two men refused to vacate the building, Sari's strained patience snapped, and her hands suddenly transformed into energy projectors, which created a shock wave that knocked the pair of do-badders into the elevator. Struggling to comprehend her true nature, Sari went with the Autobots to their headquarters, unable even to be in the same building as the man she could no longer even think of as her father. Optimus Prime did his best to patch up the damaged family relationship by tricking Sari into meeting with Sumdac at Burger Bot, but it wasn't until Masterson returned with his Headmaster unit attached to Starscream's body that the bonds between father and daughter were repaired, as Sari and Sumdac defended each other from the villain.

Okay Sari, focus. Let go of old thinking, focus on the transformation within. The key is finding the balance in yourself. Then, and only then, can you truly say...

Sari quickly began to get a handle on her new Cybertronian abilities, learning to project beach ball-sized spheres of pure energy from her hands, but the Autobots still refused to allow her to accompany them into battle against a rock-like alien creature that had just transwarped into the middle of Detroit. Seeking a means to strengthen her abilities, Sari turned her Key upon herself and underwent a surprising metamorphosis: the key upgraded her into a teenager with a wide array of powers and battle armor.

"...I am transformed!"

Although Sari's new abilities amazed the Autobots when she made short work of the rock-alien, things soon started to go wrong, as the Key's energy began overloading Sari's circuitry, causing her to run out of control. Unable to control her own body and causing objects around her to explode with her merest touch, Sari nearly killed Bumblebee by stabbing him with one of her blades before the Autobots were able to remove the key from her system. Even with the Key extracted, Sari's energies were still running wild, and she was in danger of exploding and destroying the entire city before Ratchet knocked her out with his EMP generator. Once they returned to the Autobot base, he bypassed the circuitry responsible for her overload.

As Sari convalesced, her father at her side, Megatron returned to Earth in control of Omega Supreme. Optimus Prime was forced to contemplate undoing the repairs done to Sari and using her to stop the rampaging superweapon as a last-ditch desperation play. When Starscream took control of Omega away from Megatron and locked down all the entrance hatches to prevent the Autobots from infiltrating the robot (again), he came to the point of ordering Ratchet to do so. Fortunately for Sari's (and Detroit's) continued existence, Ratchet refused, and the Autobots ultimately transwarped the threat off of Earth. Soon after, Sari awoke and apologized to her friends for her foolishness, while her father apologized to her for holding back the truth for so long. TransWarped

You've been hit by/ You've been struck by/ A smooth criminal

After convalescing, she was next seen on Christmas Eve, making some oilnog for the Autobots and warning them to stay off Santa's naughty list. When they went to bed early, thanks to a Sound Wave toy spiking the 'nog, she called them a bunch of party-poopers, but wished them a Merry Christmas and went home.

The next morning, she wasn't happy to receive another Sound Wave toy from her father, given what had happened with the last one, and was further disappointed when she was given a motor scooter rather than a car... until she found out that it transformed into a jet pack. Overjoyed, she transformed to her robot mode and flew off to show Bumblebee. When she arrived at the Autobots' base, she found it apparently deserted, and was further puzzled when the base's scanners showed their energy signatures in the factory itself. The appearance of a creepy robot bird, leading a number of Sound Wave toys from an elevator in the floor (which she'd not known about before), didn't help matters, so she used her palm blasters on them and took the lift down.

In the basement, she found the Autobots wired into a VR machine by a fully rebuilt Soundwave. With most of her weaponry offline, she was no match for him and his instruments when she tried to stop him. She was forced to retreat, promising to come back for her friends.... Human Error, Part I

While she was flying back to Sumdac Tower, Soundwave decided to take over the whole city of Detroit, using the small Sound Waves to carry his hypnotic tunes, since reprogramming the Autobots was taking too long. As such, she arrived back to find a Sound Wave toy blaring hypnotic music at her... and kicked it out of the way. Soundwave deduced that her techno-organic nature made her immune to the music, and he shifted focus to trying to force everyone else to kill her, starting with her father!

Matter-Eater Lass.

After reluctantly dropping a shelving unit on her dad to make her escape, she flew to Dinobot Island for help. Her initial foray met with little success, since Grimlock and his pteranodon comrade refused to help, tried to kill her, then left her alone when she blasted at them. Grimlock's mention that the third member of his group had been kicked out for becoming someone's "pet" raised her curiosity, though, and she soon found Scrapper, separated from the other two Constructicons by a big explosion, on the island's shore playing with "Snarl", and she managed to conscript the two into rescuing the other Autobots.

On their way back to the mainland on a makeshift raft, Wreck-Gar abruptly popped up from the lake's bottom and immediately became the fourth member of the troupe of Substitute Autobots. Once they were ashore, Sari's chaotic attempt to get them to transform and roll out nearly had them leave her behind, but it became moot before too long when Soundwave flew out of the ground, followed by the brainwashed Autobots. Initial attempts by her group at fighting them went badly, as the Substitute Autobots proved incapable of working at a team, while the zombie-Autobots acted as a single, elegant machine under Soundwave, and Soundwave could even control her own jet pack. Sari then changed tack, abandoning efforts to co-ordinate her group and ordering them to attack as individuals. Soundwave's single, elegant machine had trouble multitasking, apparently leading to Prowl saving Sari from death at Bumblebee's stingers in an attempt to deliver his own blow.

This lasted until, with four Autobots down, only Optimus Prime remained... whereupon Soundwave could concentrate on controlling just one Autobot properly. As a result, Sari was almost killed by the enslaved Optimus—but was saved again by Prowl, who openly revealed that he'd broken Soundwave's control in knocking Ratbat away from him. Shortly after, Soundwave was again shattered into many pieces, and Sari could once again concentrate on celebrating Christmas with her adopted family and her father. Human Error, Part II

Ghost in the Shell? Don't you mean Ghost in the Machine?

When Bulkhead and her father belatedly completed the space bridge they'd been working on (after the purpose they'd been making it for had been accomplished), Sari objected that they would have gotten it working sooner if they'd let her help. They scoffed and went back to bickering about the final tweaks... so Sari took it upon herself to head over to the console, where her eyes glowed white, her hands separated into wires, and she finished the setup in seconds. When Optimus asked just how she'd managed that, she replied that she didn't know how, she just... had. Further, when Sentinel Prime sent an encoded message to Optimus that things had gone horribly wrong on the Elite Guard's ship, Sari managed to lock onto the transwarp signature of Swindle's personal storage dimension to get Optimus aboard, after Bulkhead wasn't sure it was even possible.

"I'm Sari Sumdac. I know stuff."

Later, after Swindle had departed the ship and Bulkhead wasn't sure he could retrieve Optimus, she claimed she could fix it and that she'd figured out why, guessing she must have upgraded her "processor... or brain or whatever" as part of her wider upgrade. However, putting it to the test wasn't necessary, as the ship dropped off Optimus at Sumdac Tower, safe and sound. Decepticon Air

When Optimus Prime abruptly decided he needed a jet pack of his own, Sari, along with Ratchet and her dad, was called into service to make it happen, which included Sari diagnosing a problem just by touching it. Endgame, Part I The flight pack soon got its baptism of fire when Megatron unleashed a trio of Lugnut Supremes on Detroit. Initially, Sari wanted to confront the giant Decepticons with Optimus and Prowl, but Optimus told her no. As she began to throw a hissy-fit about being kept back for her own safety again, he cut her off and told her he wanted her to help protect her "fellow organics" with the other Autobots. Embarrassed, she backed down.

Later, when Ratchet, Bumblebee and Bulkhead were about to depart for the Moon in an attempt to take back the original Omega Supreme, she insisted on transwarping there with them. Her worried father attempted to forbid her, but she told him that she knew there was something there she needed to do, and flew into the space bridge. Once there, Sari could hardly believe she was really on the Moon, but her amazement was soon tabled when Ratchet spotted Arcee, leading to the quartet being ambushed by Shockwave. While Bumblebee and Bulkhead held the shape-shifting Decepticon off, Sari and Ratchet headed into Omega Supreme's inactive body with the damaged fembot and found the lab Shockwave had been using. Although slightly freaked out by the female robot's mindless repetition of lessons for young Cybertronian 'bots, Sari was able to use her technopathy to tell Ratchet how to restore her mind. Shortly after Arcee came fully back online, Bumblebee and Bulkhead came in with news for Sari. They took her down into the hold of the Decepticons' ship, where several blank protoforms lay. Believing that this was where she had come from, Sari reached out to touch one of the protoforms, confirming for herself that there really had been a reason for her to be there.

Meanwhile, Ratchet and Arcee had broken Lugnut's hold over Omega Supreme and reactivated the giant Autobot, and Sari joined the others in flying back to Earth aboard the ship. As he fought with his purple duplicates, those inside were shaken about. After a particularly hard hit from the last clone standing, which forced Omega to transform to ship mode and crash-land, he checked that those inside were all right, whereupon Sari noted that "all Autobots, half-bots and almost-bots" were present and accounted for. Shortly afterward, Prowl gave his spark to shield the city from the last Omega-clone's detonation, and Megatron was defeated and arrested. Sari accompanied the Autobots back to Cybertron to share in their triumphant return and learn of her true origins. Endgame, Part II

Sari used her "tech-savvy" powers to restore Arcee's lost memories. Arcee then took Sari along with her class on a field-trip to Cybertron's Metroplex. Before the fieldtrip was under way, Sari received some Burger-bot take-out from her dad via the spacebridge. She pulled out her meal during the field-trip, grossing out her classmates Siren, Hosehead and Nightbeat. Embarrassed, Sari snuck away from the group to dispose of her soda cup. Though she found a disposal hatch, she lost her balance upon opening it, and tumbled down into the facility's recycling center. There, dormant AllSpark energy within her brought back to consciousness Blurr, who had previously been crushed into a cube by Shockwave, something that Sari was informed about over and over by the talkative Autobot. Grabbing the Blurr-cube, Sari poked around for an exit. She found an access panel, but when she used her tech-savvy powers to activate it, she inadvertently awakened Kremzeek, a Decepticon trojan virus and energy being. Kremzeek activated the center's systems, leading to Sari and Blurr finding themselves strapped down on a conveyor belt, heading towards all sorts of cutting, crushing and melting machinery. Thankfully, Arcee and the rest of the class turned up at the last possible moment and rescued them both. But Kremzeek continued to sow chaos. It jumped from Autobot to Autobot in order to escape, and make its way to Fortress Maximus, where it could deal great damage to Cybertron. Using her scooter/jet pack, Sari pursued Kremzeek, then in the body of Hosehead. But Kremzeek transferred itself to Sari's jet pack, and left the two of them behind. Hit by a sudden idea, Sari plugged the Blurr cube into her back, allowing her to access his super-speed powers somehow. Arcee grabbed hold of Sari before she took off, and both Blurr and Arcee took turns playing backseat driver as Sari made her way to Fortress Maximus.

There, Kremzeek attempted to gain control of Sari herself, but was unable to do so because of Sari's techno-organic nature. Sari contained Kremzeek within her soda cup, saving Cybertron from destruction. The Return of Blurr Sari gave the Blurr cube to Cliffjumper, and accompanied her Autobot buddies to the latest performance of Team Stunticon, where she and her friends were honored with a special box seat. The Stunti-Con Job Sari was later present when Optimus Prime used the AllSpark Matrix to restore Blurr, and everyone else learned a valuable lesson about not judging someone based on their appearance. The Return of Blurr

Be the Hero books

Prime Suspect

When Optimus Prime was framed for a break-in at HomeTech, Sari had the idea to break into the police station to look for clues. Teamed up with another kid, she was almost caught, but the Autobots rescued them at the last moment. The pair then entered HomeTech's laboratory to look for the security tape on which Prime's image had been captured, and they found a vital clue which led them to HomeTech's main warehouse. There Sari was interested in the Pixie-6 robots HomeTech was due to release, but was menaced by Blitzwing, the real perpetrator of the break-in. She was able to utilize her key to zap Blitzwing via the controller he was using on the Pixie-6 'bots. Prime Suspect

Quest for the AllSpark

Distraught after the Autobots went missing without telling her, Sari visited their base on the urging of another kid she'd just met. After being attacked by a rogue cleaning 'bot, she found Bumblebee, who revealed that Megatron had taken control of Detroit's fleet of robot workers and the Autobots had come up with a plan to keep the AllSpark safe, but the rest of the Autobots hadn't reported back. Sari and her new friend helped Bumblebee track down the others and defeat Crush-A, a clearance 'bot Megatron was using to try to obtain the AllSpark. Quest for the AllSpark

Web of Deception

Sari was testing one of her father's inventions, the Sumdac Aquaskimmer Mk 1, on Lake Erie with a young friend when they were attacked by a Sparkseeker torpedo. After a quick rescue by the Autobots, the group found the Autobot ship offline and Optimus Prime missing. Ratchet's scans revealed the involvement of Lockdown, and Sari and her friend accompanied Bumblebee, Prowl and Bulkhead in an attempt to rescue their leader. After tangling with Lockdown, the two humans caught up with Blackarachnia, who'd hired the bounty hunter in order to get her revenge on Optimus. Sari used her key to shock the Decepticon before she could complete her plan. Web of Deception

Titan Animated comic

Why said pizza didn't fly out of the box is another story.

When Starscream and his clones seized the Autobot base, Sari immediately went to Dinobot Island to get help. She found out the Dinobots were being made grouchy by the constant rain, so she promised they could stay in the Autobot base until it stopped if they drove out the Decepticons. That made Sari Grimlock's friend and left the Autobots crying when they saw the weather forecast. Dino-MIGHT!

Being present for Quake-Maker's first attack on Detroit, she got to see the arrival of shiny new hero Afterburn. She was smitten at first sight. Burnout She even got to hang with him on a mission to Dinobot Island! As well as be stunned by his ace moves, she used her Key to heal a wounded Grimlock and suffered emotional abuse when Ratchet faked his death to test Afterburn. Ratchet & Grimlock Are DEAD?

Later, while watching a basketball game, Sari had to help stop an attack on the city by the villainous Crossroads. She'd met the supervillain when he'd worked at Sumdac Systems but his awesome disguise of a blue strip of cloth on his head threw her for a few minutes. Once she'd worked it out, she was able to inform the Autobots he was heading for Sumdac Tower and helped see to his defeat. Crossroads!

Sari hit on a solution to Bumblebee and Prowl's macho posturing, setting up a race between the two in Crazy Coyote Canyon to determine who was the fastest. And she drew an adorable little map of the race track. The Race

Timelines

Voice actor: Tara Strong (English)

When her father's Bi-directional Unified Transit Terminal device malfunctioned, Sari, Bumblebee and Optimus Prime found themselves transported to Axiom Nexus, a place where Cybertronians from all sorts of universes sometimes wound up. Officer Flareup hoped to give them a fine and deport them, but Sari and her crew were soon beset upon by Shockwave. Hoping to experiment upon Sari, Shockwave took her Key. Bumblebee teamed up with "Joe Convoy" to rescue Sari, but Joe turned out to be Megatron in disguise, who was also after the Key. Hijinks ensued, but thanks to the power of bureaucracy, Shockwave was made to send Sari and her pals home.

Upon returning home, all agreed to never speak of the incident again. Bee in the City

Later, Sari had discovered everything there was to know about her mysterious origins, and was just about to fill in Arcee about it when Arcee was whisked away to another dimension. Prevenge

Legends comic

Sari, in her teenage form, was among the heroic female Transformers who appeared in one of Tigatron's dreams to protect him from the evil female Transformers. Bonus Edition Vol. 11

The real Sari was one of the many women brought to the Legends World by Tigatron using the ultra-drill in an attempt to get women who liked him better than Springer. It did not work out, as all of the women brought over eventually swooned over Springer. Bonus Edition Vol. 19

The Cool comic

Hug Players

While roaming aimlessly around the middle of the street, Sari was nearly run over by a fleet of vehicles. To her astonishment, they transformed into robots. Terrified, she asked who they were, and Optimus Prime introduced them as the heroic Autobots. Suddenly, Starscream, Lockdown and Blackarachnia attacked, attempting to steal the AllSpark. Prime scooped Sari up, protecting her from a violent explosion as the Autobots and the Decepticons clashed. The Cool Episode 1

Starscream eventually succeeded in stealing the AllSpark from Bulkhead and nearly made off with it. Prime, however, stopped him by releasing all the energy within it. Prime plummeted to the ground and died, but was instantly revived by Sari's key. Sari and Prime then properly introduced themselves as Sari wept and gave Prime a big, snuggly hug. Unbeknownst to Sari, though, she was being observed via closed circuit TV by the disembodied head of Megatron, who was very interested in the power of her key. The Cool Episode 2

"In the name of Detroit, I will punish you!"

A good deal of time later, as the Autobots fought to keep the Space Bridge out of Decepticon hands, Sari joined Ratchet in piloting the Orion into battle, desperate that their allies could hold out until their arrival. The Cool Episode 7

They arrived just in time and transformed the Orion into Omega Supreme. They trounced the competition and won the day. After being reunited with her father, Sari suggested they all go home. However, her joy was short-lived, as Bumblebee pointed out to her that she had some robotics sticking out through her flesh. Sari turned to her father, who admitted he had a very important story to tell her.The Cool Episode 8

After a full body-scan at Autobot HQ, and a heart-to-heart with her dad, Sari learned that she was originally a Transformer protoform that had scanned DNA from Professor Sumdac, resulting in an entirely new lifeform. Sumdac begged for her forgiveness and Sari was quick to give him a big hug, assuring him that no matter what, he'll always be her dad. Then, suddenly, Starscream attacked in Omega Supreme's body! Sari decided that now was the time to join the fray with her friends and, using her key, upgraded herself into a teenager! Firing an energy-ball from her hands at the Decepticon, she then proceeded to use her newfound powers to flee in mortal terror as Starscream fired missiles at her, completely unaffected by her attack. The Cool Episode 9

At an unknown point after that, a gleeful Sari joined the Autobots in defending Detroit from an invasion of Lugnut Supremes. The Cool Extra issue 1

Upon Megatron's defeat, Sari accompanied the Autobots back to planet Cybertron, where they were all hailed as heroes by the citizenry and even Sentinel. The Cool Episode Final

Transformers Generations 2011

Something's going down.

Sari, along with Optimus Prime, faced against Motormaster and her evil counterpart. Transformers Generations 2011 Vol. 1

Kre-O online manga

Oh, hey, Sazae-san.

Sari Sumdac was surprised by a large explosion coming from Wheeljack's lab. Wheeljack's Bizarre Invention! Optimus Power Up!?

Games

Transformers Animated: The Game

Voice actor: Tara Strong (English), Véronique Picciotto (French)

Sari was at the Autobot base when they decided to do some training, and offered up the services of her key to repair them if need be. She got a call from a Sumdac Systems factory, alerting them to the fact that the robots there had started going haywire, and accompanied Optimus, Bumblebee and Bulkhead to the plant to help them quell the robot resistance. She kept them updated on the drone problems, including when a bunch of them escaped, and let them know there were AllSpark fragments at the factory when they were in need of some to power up Megatron's Space Bridge.

After Bumblebee was accidentally left behind when Optimus and Bulkhead transwarped to Cybertron, she pointed him to some more AllSpark fragments. His fragments were stolen by Lockdown, so he and Sari had to hunt the bounty hunter down so he could get them back. Once they'd done so, they went to the Decepticon mine lair, and Bumblebee fought his way to the Space Bridge terminal. Though Sari was keen to see Cybertron, Bumblebee was responsible enough not to let her go, and she had to ride back to base on Prowl, an event sadly not visually recorded. After Optimus's team returned victorious from Cybertron, Sari enticed Bumblebee into some gaming by revealing she had a prerelease copy of Mage Master Maze Knight. Transformers Animated: The Game

Transformers Animated: Action Packs

Notes

NOT show accurate.

I d-d-don't think th-this is s-such a g-g-good idea, Scott!

• A promotional image of Sari from the Cartoon Network Transformers Animated press kit showed her with different shoes, a different Key design, and a slightly darker skin tone.
• In a preliminary version of the title sequence, Sari appeared riding on a tricycle which she used the AllSpark Key to transform into a jet pack. The footage was dropped from the finished credits, but was screened at conventions and was later included on the DVD packaged with the Optimus Prime and Megatron "The Battle Begins" action figure two-pack. The concept was later recycled as a Christmas present from her father in "Human Error, Part I"; instead of a tricycle, she has an orange scooter which transforms into a jet pack compatible with her robotic body. She may have been gone for four episodes, but now she can fly!
• Sari's pigtails do not grow back overnight... or do they?
• Sari has a transformation noise shared only with her scooter/jetpack, likely because of her rather unique origin.
• Sari did not appear for four episodes in season 3—between "Three's a Crowd" and "Predacons Rising"—after her almost-disastrous upgrade, the longest time she had been absent in the series. Well, considering the shift in focus... not to mention Sentinel Prime's presence on Earth for three of those episodes, perhaps it's just as well. He'd probably have totally freaked out as soon as he saw her.
• Ever since her "TransWarped" upgrade, she has what appear to be articulation lines on her sleeves and stockings/socks.
• Sari's hands can transform into several different modes, two of which pay homage to the anime Ghost in the Shell and Iron Man.
• From "TransWarped" onward, her eyes are an inverted version of Autobot eyes, with the lighter shade of cyan as the "whites" and the darker shade as the "iris".
• Despite the controversial AllSpark Key being written out of the series, it can be argued that in the third season, Sari was slowly turning into a deus ex machina just like it in her own right, merely by virtue of "knowing stuff" crucial to the storyline (often without a proper explanation), as well as being able to diagnose mechanical problems merely by touching a given machine.
• Sari's Cybertronian nature was planned from the very beginning.^[1]
• Sari is one of the few Transformers with a human alt-mode and is one of three techno-organic Transformers in the Animated continuity, the other two being Blackarachnia and Waspinator.
• In "TransWarped", Sari showed off her skills with twin white energy blades that came from her forearms and an energy hammer. After being knocked out by Ratchet's EMP, those weapons vanished for the rest of the series, leaving her with only her energy sphere-throwing attack.
• According to Transformers Animated: The AllSpark Almanac II, Sari's post-upgrade weapons and tools include Master Blades (a reference to Grand Maximus's weapon in Masterforce), a Hyperspace Mallet, Azusa Skates (a reference to the Timelines starship), and a Skyboom Shield (which, like Sentinel's, is a reference to the Armada weapon). She also uses Micron Boosters (borrowing the name from an out-of-universe product) to make powered jumps.
• Derrick J. Wyatt drew up a design for teenage Sari in the style of his then-current series, Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated. The design managed to make a number of cameos over the course of that series, most obviously in "The Hodag of Horror".
• In the Transformers Animated profile shorts, Sari introduces Bumblebee to the audience in "Meet Bumblebee".

Foreign names

• Japanese: Sari Sumdac (サリ・サムダック Sari Samudakku)

References