Are there any Autobots that would be willing to betray the Autobots for the Decepticons, and what would it take to convince the most loyal to join the Decepticons?
Mirage could be turned against the Autobots under the right conditions. Same thing with Grapple, although he wouldn't actually fight against the Autobots as so much as be potentially complacent. Red Alert could be turned against the Autobots by manipulating his paranoia. But I see this as a double-edged sword. While Blades is almost a Decepticon by way of his actions, he despises Decepticons far too much to betray the Autobots - so not so much him. There are others that might betray the Autobots under duress but most would try to find ways to still play the part of a hero because their ideals just don't match. Really, the best hope the Decepticons would have is complacency - promise their survival if they allow (and occasionally help by more mundane actions) the Decepticon Empire to flourish.
Wheeljack in Armada (Rampage in JP) joined the Cons when Megatron saved him after Hot Shot/Hot Rod left him pinned on a burning battlefield. Hot Shot wanted to go back in but his C.O. wouldn't let him on the logic 'we just lost one soldier we are NOT losing two' because from the outside of the inferno it definitely looked BAD for Wheeljack's survival chances. Roughedge, the Bounty Hunter in Starscream's crew in S2.5 of RID15 was an Autobot with his emblems scratched out, willing to help Starscream conquer in exchange for a paycheck. Since the war was over its dicey to consider whether or not that's a 'defection' but its absolutely morally bankrupt and he did wind up in stasis prison for it. Nightra in RID15 didn't join the Cons but she was a rogue criminal Autobot. Longarm Prime was a long term double agent in TFA but idk if that counts as 'being a traitor' since he was never truly committed to the cause. In TFA also Blackarachnia was an Autobot named Elita 1 who defected after being left for dead and mutated on a planet full of spiders. Wasp was unduly named a traitor and actually committed criminal acts upon his escape but he had been driven totally mad at that rate. When he became Waspinator I don't recall if Blackarachnia stamped him with a Decepticon emblem or not. Seems Autobots only defect when they feel righteously screwed by the cause in many of these cases.
Depends on your definition of 'would'. There's probably some who could be tempted, or threatened into betraying the Autobot cause in the right circumstances, or who could have ended up as Decepticons if things had gone a little differently. I can't think of any sitting in the Ark going 'well gee I hope the Decepticons show up soon so I can blow this joint and team up with them instead' - Punch/Counterpunch is a deep cover agent, and sometimes has been shown doing questionable things to maintain his cover. He could potentially one day get in 'too deep' with his cover identity and decide there was no going back to the Autobot cause for him. - Grimlock and the dinobots have been shown as shaky allies for the Autobots at times, especially in the G1 cartoon and TFA. It isn't impossible that some interpretation of Grimlock would one day get fed up with the restrictions that come with being an Autobot and join the Decepticons in exchange for more autonomy or power for the dinobots. - Mirage could potentially be tempted to work for the Decepticons if he thought that was his only chance at getting back to Cybertron, or worse, if he was convinced even if the Autobots won he'd be punished for the wealth/position he had before the war. Gears might also be tempted with a chance to go home. - IDW Whirl seems pretty committed to being an Autobot, even if his way of doing things might better fit a Decepticon. If he knew he'd have to stand trial and face punishment for all the things he did during the war and beforehand, though, that might shake his committment a bit. -Autobots like Chromedome or Fastlane or Sideswipe who have family/close friends/conjux endura/whatever that could potentially be taken hostage or put in danger could potentially but that individual's safety over the Autobot cause and commit an act of betrayal. -Theres lots of Autobots who were artists, scientists, tradespeople and civilians before the war, not soldiers. They aren't all necessarily heroic and brave in the face of death. If one of them were to get captured, and a gun put to their head, they might be willing to cooperate with the Decepticons and betray the Autobots out of fear. A good writer I'm sure could come up with all sorts of other ideas and cloak turns for the Autobots. There have been plenty of stories of Autobots disobeying orders or doing shady things because of what they thought was right, though. For the most part though, the Autobots we see seem really loyal to the cause and not really willing to capitulate to the Decepticons, though, even if that means their own death. Maybe that's out of their commitment to Optimus/their allies/the Autobot ideals, maybe it's because they know the Decepticons can't be trusted and want to destroy them, maybe it's just a storytelling trope to make the Autobots (and the Autobot side as a whole) seem more 'good', who can say?
In Prime, Megatron was able to convince Ratchet to work with the Decepticons to finish perfecting his synthetic energon.
In Eugenesis Doubleheader is portrayed as a spy who was playing the long game and attempts to use a bomb placed inside of him to take out Rodimus during a troop inspection after shaking hands with him. I'd like to see this concept explored more in the fiction.
I imagine that when Cybertron was suffering from low energy levels during the 4M year gap (when Optimus and Megatron were offline on Earth) that some Autobots (potentially facing starvation) could betray their fellow Autobots, but maybe Punch could have informed the Autobots of Traitors before the Autobot Traitors could have informed the Decepticons that CounterPunch was also Punch.
I remember Mudflap turned in TF Cybertron. He was already frustrated with being on Earth, and after a brief battle and dialogue with Starscream and Thundercracker, he switched sides.
I like the idea of Sunstreaker joining Knockout as a decepticon not because he turned evil, but because he doesn’t care for humans, leading to an eventual battle with his brother Sideswipe, twin against twin.
Speaking of G1: Mirage is homesick and tired of the war. He is not out of his mind to believe that the Decepticons can be trusted or to find a peaceful resolution to the war, without compromising his lifestyle. The idea of Decepticon supremacy does come into odds with his viewpoint in life, more than in does fighting for the Autobots. Grimlock despises the Decepticons for abusing their own power more than he despises the weak, so thats again a no. Counterpunch is the only valid candidate/wildcard for one reason: He might go irrevocably insane one day and lose to the con personality. That said, in G1 both Cons and Bots are programmed into their very cores as to what allegiance they will eventually drift towards. Its not to say that they dont have a choice: They do, but their personality programming gravitates towards the faction they were created for due to the Quintesson conditioning. Even the dinobots who are not Vector Sigma / Quintesson products, according to Optimus have trace Autobot programming ergo they gravitated towards that choice, eventually... Thus defections are virtually unlikely. Blitzwing was expelled and with the threat of death hanging above his head, yet he refused the one asylum that could save his hide: To join the Autobots. In his own words he would never do that.
If you want to count Maximals instead of Autobots, there’s that Beast Machines ep where Rattrap betrays the other Maximals. But that ep is widely hated for Rattrap being completely out of character, so most would prefer to pretend it doesn’t exist
That's actually a really good episode because it fleshes out Rattrap's underlying insecurities, especially since he's been disarmed. He was the bombs and guns guy and STILL terrified of death back on Earth. So skittish that it took awhile for him to really become a team player alllll the way back in BW Season 1. How else would he handle it having been totally disarmed and, in his words, 'sold a lemon' by Optimus? He was never going to betray the Maximals. He exchanged a single night of protection for new weapons. Plus Rattrap/Megatron were right to say that Optimus, at that stage at least, would never attack a defenseless opponent. Plus, Optimus put Cheetor and co in their place over how they treated RT when he diffused the situation. There's a LOT of character driven stuff in that episode that I suppose must go over the head of the average Transformers fan. It also shows a little growth on Megatron's part. He believes the Vehicon Genocide is the RIGHT thing to do and he gambles on its value, hoping Rattrap will CHOOSE his side. Rattrap doesn't. Mech to mech, Megatron respects Rattrap enough in the moment to let them walk away. It's so fucking stupid that so many people say that Beast Machines 'mischaracterized' the BW cast when all it did was thrust them into an incredibly dire, comprising situation. Beast Machines broke the Beast Warriors and everyone's behavior after their traumatic return to Cybertron make sense if you consider how real people have been chronicled reacting to similar situations and who the Beast Warriors were and had become before they got there. Rattrap nearly does fall into darkness but he rises above it. He even leaves the weapons behind! 'The monkeys right, I am stronger than you know'
And then there's the time later when Rattrap compromises the mission out of love for Botanica. Rattrap was always a bit of a wildcard, and in Beast Machines we start seeing more times where his own interest don't align with those of the group, and he starts looking out for himself and what he wants in ways he talked about, but never really had to in Beast Wars. Don't forget basically the first time we basically see Rattrap he more or less disobeys a direct order out of a sense of self-preservation and gets chewed out for it.
In IDW, Sunstreaker did betray the autobots, by cutting a deal with Starscream. Tailgate did choose originally in IDW to be a decepticon Scoop joined the constructicons, replacing scrapper Sandstorm also went decepticon The Dinobots always seemed like folks who could be converted. Tracks as well based on his vanity.
