| “ | Megatron: You did me great honor tracking that ship to the Moon. [crushes a Lensmeter Decepticon to death with his hands] Your Human Collaborators have served their purpose, Soundwave. [stands up] It's time to eliminate loose ends. Soundwave: Laserbeak, kill them all. Laserbeak: With pleasure. |
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| ~ The Decepticons planning to kill all of the Human Collaborators since their purpose came to an end. |
| “ | Simmons: They infiltrate us, intimidate us, coerce us to do their dirty work. And once they're done, kadoosh. A double-tap to the cerebellum. Sam: So humans are working for the Decepticons. |
„ |
| ~ Sam Witwicky and Seymour Simmons conversing about the Decepticons' relationship with their "human allies". |
The Human Collaborators are the secondary antagonists of the 2011 sci-fi action film Transformers: Dark of the Moon, the third installment of the original continuity of the Transformers live-action film series.
They are a group of humans from both the American and Soviet governments that joined forces with the Decepticons. The motivations depend from member to member, but the most common reason is that they want to be spared once Megatron's plan with Sentinel Prime to bring Cybertron to Earth and enslave humanity is set into motion.
History[]
Origins[]
Transformers: Convergence[]
The Human Collaborators came to exist when Soundwave learned that humans were trying to investigate the Ark on the Moon. In 1965, he recruited a Soviet scientist known as Voskhod to help prevent the Soviets from exploring the ship.
After failing to prevent Apollo 11 from landing on the Moon, Soundwave came into contact with Gould, the founder of Hotchkiss Gould Investiments, and procured his help into making future NASA manned missions to the Moon financially unfeasible in exchange for lots of money, which was provided by tapping the stock market. Thanks to Gould's interference, the landing of Apollo 17 in 1972 was the last mission to the Moon for a long time.
In 1979, Soundwave met with Gould in person one last time, and informed him that he would leave Earth for some time due to believing that matters on the planet were secure, and expected him to keep his part of the deal. Gould also brought his son Dylan to the meeting because he wanted his son to take over his position in the future.
Upon his return in 2007, Soundwave re-stablished contact with all of the Human Collaborators, while also meeting Alexi, Voskhod's nephew.
Transformers: Rising Storm[]
In 2010, Soundwave revealed to Megatron everything he did in the last half-century, including the Human Collaborators, making Megatron realize there was still salvation for his original plan with Sentinel Prime, and so put it back into motion.
Transformers: Dark of the Moon[]
In 2013, Megatron decided that all the Human Collaborators have served their purpose, and ordered Soundwave and Laserbeak to kill all of them. Since Voskhod and Gould already passed away prior to this, only Alexi, Bob Singer and Jerry Wang were all killed off, though the latter gave Sam Witwicky information about the group's existence and the Decepticons' plan involving Sentinel.
The only ones who weren't killed were Dylan, his assistant, his executive and wife, and his five bodyguards. The American Government learned of Dylan's Assistant and Executive's involvement, leading to both of them being arrested and the latter's wife to begin her life again. This left only Dylan and his bodyguards to arrive in Chicago to help in the initial massacre. Sam asked for Simmons and Dutch's help to track him into the city.
When the Autobots were revealed to have survived, they helped Sam rescue Carly and kill all of Dylan's bodyguards. This only left Dylan himself as the only living Human Collaborator who wasn't behind bars. Eventually, Dylan met his end when Sam whacked him in the face to tumble backwards into the Control Pillar while it was still active, causing him to be electrocuted to death.
In the aftermath of the Battle of Chicago, all but one of it's members were either dead or arrested and the executive's wife no longer had connections with the Decepticons so she could restart her life, meaning that the Human Collaborators finally ceased from existing, and that all of the group's actions to help the Decepticons were in vain.
Post Dissolvement[]
Transformers: Age of Extinction[]
In spite of the group's dissolvement, the Human Collaborators, Megatron, Sentinel Prime and the Decepticons' actions are what caused the chance for humanity and Autobots to reconcile over the disaster they caused to go from slim to none, aside from the presumably huge damage on the already dying Cybertron. This was proven when Cemetery Wind, which was formed to kill the surviving Decepticons, began targeting the Autobots as well, because it's founder and director, Harold Attinger is xenophobic towards Cybertronians and saw the battle's aftermath as the perfect moment to put his plan into motion because nobody would care if all Cybertronians were extinguished due to humanity's grudge over what happened.
Though not directly, the group was responsible for the deaths of an untold number of civilians, including James Savoy's sister, leading to Savoy's start of darkness and turning him genocidally insane as Cemetery Wind's Field Commander. The crimes that Dylan, his father, assistant, executive and bodyguards commited to help the Decepticons and the fact they forced Jerry Wang, Bob Singer, Alexi Voskhod and his uncle, and the executive's wife into helping them despite not wanting to also be used by Attinger to convince humanity into helping him wipe out Cybertronian survivors on Earth (except Lockdown due to the deal between them) and manipulate Joshua Joyce and KSI as his pawns to do so by creating an army of artificial Cybertronians.
Transformers: The Last Knight[]
Because of the group's actions, Izabella's parents were also killed during the Battle of Chicago, orphaning her untill she met Sqweeks and Canopy. The tension between Cybertronians and humans that the Human Collaborators posthumously built did not lessen after Cemetery Wind's dissolvement and the Battle of Hong Kong, as the Transformers Reaction Force, also known as TRF, was formed to continue it's predecessor's legacy. Things would remain this way until the battle to save the Earth from Quintessa finally fixed relations for good and thus the legacy of The Human Collaborators, Cemetery Wind, Harold Attinger, Dylan Gould, and Sentinel Prime had all but perished in the end and thus leaving their actions permanently in vain.
Members[]
Willingly[]
Dylan Gould[]
Dylan Gould
Dylan Gould is the current leader of the group's American division. He is the CEO of Hotchkiss Gould Investiments, and wants to rule over humanity once the Decepticons enslave them to rebuild Cybertron. He is also Sam Witwicky's arch-nemesis.
He was portrayed by Patrick Dempsey, who also played John Carver in Thanksgiving.
Gould[]
Gould, better known as Dylan's father, was the former leader of the group's American division. He is the founder of Hotchkiss Gould Investiments, who used to make budgeting review and accounting for NASA. It was because of his actions that the Moon Program was shut down upon being considered too expansive to continue after the landing of Apollo 17 in 1972.
Dylan's Assistant[]
Dylan's Assistant
Dylan's Assistant is, as her nickname suggests, Dylan's right-hand woman. She first appeared while Sam was visiting Carly at her job, and said "She's adorable" to defend Dylan when he called Carly as his dutchess. She was present during a party that Dylan threw at his family's estate, where she assured Dylan that it wasn't his fault when he asked if the revelation was "too forward", and oversaw as he blackmailed Sam into becoming a double-agent to spy on the Autobots against his will. She didn't appear after that, but Charlotte Mearing told Sam that he was right about the Decepticons having humans working for them, which means that her involvement with the Decepticons was uncovered and she was arrested for the crimes she commited to help the Decepticons.
She was portrayed by Jennifer Williams.
Dylan's Executive[]
Dylan's Executive
Dylan's Executive is, as his nickname suggests, Dylan's executive at Hotchkiss Gould Investiments. He and his wife were present at a party that Dylan threw at his family's estate. When they both saw Sam shouting for help due to Carly being trapped inside Soundwave, the executive assured Dylan that he was behaving that way because he was young, adding that he would learn. He then thanked Dylan for the party while shaking hands with him, something his wife saw with disgust. He then left before Dylan blackmailed Sam into becoming a double-agent to spy on the Autobots against his will. Much like Dylan's assistant, he didn't appear after that, but Charlotte Mearing told Sam that he was right about the Decepticons having humans working for them, which means that his involvement with the Decepticons was uncovered and he was arrested for the crimes he commited to help the Decepticons.
He was portrayed by Christian Baha.
Dylan's Bodyguards[]
Dylan's Bodyguards
Dylan's Bodyguards are, as their nickname suggests, Dylan's henchmen and personal guards. They first appeared when Dylan revealed his true colors to restrain Sam from attacking Dylan when he blackmailed Sam into becoming a double-agent to spy on the Autobots against his will, before dragging him out of the Gould Estate. They then followed Dylan to Chicago, where they helped Sentinel set up the Space Bridge Pillars. When Sam invaded Dylan's penthouse to rescue Carly, one of the bodyguards restrained Carly when she tried to prevent Laserbeak from droping Sam from the penthouse to his death, but they were all shocked to learn that Sam is still alive thanks to Bumblebee piloting a stolen Orbital Assault Carrier, which allowed Carly to free herself and escape. In anger because of what they've done, Bumblebee fired at the penthouse; while Dylan managed to duck for cover, they weren't that lucky because all five of them were killed anyways despite ducking for cover.
The bodyguard with glasses was portrayed by Mino Mackic. The other bodyguards were portrayed by unknown actors.
Unwillingly[]
Alexi Voskhod[]
Alexi Voskhod
Alexi Voskhod is the current leader of the group's Soviet divison. He was the nephew of Soundwave's original Soviet catspaw within the Soviet space programm, and inherited the position after his uncle's passing, quietly working to keep the Ark´s wreckage on the Moon from being discovered. When Soundwave returned in 2007, Alexi found himself pressed into much more active service. In 2013, Voskhod set up a meeting with Colonel Lennox and NEST to bring them and Optimus Prime to Pripyat and recover the Ark´s fuel rod inside the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. When asked why he wasn't wearing protective gear, Voskhod stated that it didn't matter and tried to give additional information, but gave up upon noticing Laserbeak watching over them in the power plant. After Optimus' fight with Shockwave and the Driller, Voskhod tried to escape in his car, but was brutally shot to death by Laserbeak.
He was portrayed by the late Ravil Isyanov.
Voskhod[]
Voskhod
Voskhod, better known as Alexi's uncle, was the former leader of the group's Soviet division. He was the sole survivor of the Pretender's attack at the Soviet Research Station Oktober in 1965, and in exchange to continue living, he accepted Soundwave's offer of working for Decepticons and derail further Soviet attempts at exploring the Ark on the Moon. He continued working at the station after it was rebuild and, when the Soviets were ready to send a manned mission to the Moon in 1972, Laserbeak "persuaded" him to pull the plug on the project. Sometime after Soundwave's departure from Earth in the late 70s, Voskhod passed away, and his mantle of Human Collaborator Soviet Leader was passed to his nephew.
Dylan's Executive's Wife[]
Dylan's Executive's Wife
Dylan's Executive's Wife is, as her nickname suggests, the wife of Dylan's Executive. She and her husband were present at a party that Dylan threw at his family's estate. When they both saw Sam shouting for help due to Carly being trapped inside Soundwave, she was disgusted by the fact her husband shook hands with Dylan. She then left before Dylan blackmailed Sam into becoming a double-agent to spy on the Autobots against his will. She didn't appear after that, but Charlotte Mearing told Sam that he was right about the Decepticons having humans working for them, which means that her husband's involvement with the Decepticons was uncovered and he was arrested for the crimes he commited to help the Decepticons, and she was finally free to restart her life.
She was portrayed by Danielle Fornarelli.
Bob Singer[]
Bob Singer
Bob Singer also known as the Engineer, is an engineer at NASA who helped the Decepticons keep the Ark hidden on the Moon, and lived with his wife and daughter Julia and Madeline. He was working on his laptop at home when Laserbeak paid him a visit. Though Bob demanded to know what he was doing at his house, Laserbeak insisted that was just visiting and then killed him.
He was portrayed by Rich Hutchman.
Jerry Wang[]
Jerry Wang
Jerry Wang is a NASA employee who was blackmailed by Laserbeak into becoming a Decepticon agent and sabotage NASA's satellite's to conceal the Ark on the Moon. He quit NASA and went to work at Accuretta Systems to try and escape, but was found by Laserbeak again, which caused him to begin losing his sanity. One day, Jerry recognized Sam from his appearance in photos taken in Egypt, and gave him documents about the Apollo 11 and several individuals linked to NASA and the Soviet Space Programm to clue him into investigating the conspiracy that the Decepticons created to keep the humans from discovering the Ark. Due to Sam talking to Jerry about the papers while he was being interrogated by Laserbeak in disguise, Laserbeak discovered what Jerry did, and after he drove Sam away, Laserbeak informed him that he outlived his usefullness and must be terminated. Jerry tried to defend himself with two pistols hidden beneath his desk, but Laserbeak disarmed him and threw him out the window to his death. His attempt at redemption wasn't in vain, however, as his betrayal gave Sam and his friends some insight on what the Decepticons were up to.
He was portrayed by Ken Jeong, who also played Leslie Chow in the The Hangover trilogy, King Argotron in Role Models, Neil Lyman in Furry Vengeance, Ben Chang in Community, Dr. Yap in Bob's Burgers, Mr. Greene in Norm of the North, and Sprout Cloverleaf in My Little Pony: A New Generation.
Trivia[]
- The group's actions in the film are most likely a reference to the idea of the The Transformers two-part episode "Megatron's Master Plan", in which a human helped the Decepticons banish the Autobots from Earth and raid the planet.
- Jennifer Williams and Danielle Fornarelli were both credited as "Dylan's Assistants", but the character that Fornarelli portrays is the executive's wife.
- The Executive's Wife's hair is blonde instead of black. Either the actress dyed her hair or used a wig for the role.
- Due to Dylan's assistant working for the Decepticons at her own accord unlike the executive's wife, she is one of three villains from the original continuity of the film series to be female, alongside the Pretender and Quintessa.
- Despite Dylan's Assistant and Executive working for the Decepticons, it was never revealed which crimes they both committed.
- IMDb page of the film refers to the actors who played Dylan's Bodyguards as "Dylan's Henchmen".
- While it's left ambiguous in the film itself, the novelization implies that Laserbeak killed not just the Human Collaborators but all of their familiy members to eliminate witnesses, meaning that Julia and Medeline were killed as well.
- While Bob and Julia were unnamed in the film and were credited as Engineer and Enginner's Wife, their names comes from the novelization. Only Madeline has her name mentioned in the film, right when her mother found her with Laserbeak inside the house. Despite this, she's still credited as Engineer's Daughter.
- Alexi and his uncle's last name is rather on-the-nose, as "Voskhod" (Восход, "sunrise" or "ascent") was the second Soviet spaceflight programme.
- The novelization revealed that Alexi's wife and children died in the Chernobyl Disaster, and he thanked Laserbeak for putting him out of his misery.
- In the film's Japanese Dub, Voskhod is his first name, with his last name being Radonuv (ラドヌフ, "Radnow").
