Characters / Hot Wheels: AcceleRacers

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In General

A street racing gang themed around Japanese tuner car culture. The Teku are all about modifying in style and blasting sick beats while showing off sick moves on the track.

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• Badass Driver: All of them have driving skills that would make a professional driver proud.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Their team color is blue, orange and white.
• Hidden Heart of Gold: When Markie, member of the Metal Maniacs the Teku are constantly butting heads with, gets lost in the realms, almost all of the Teku volunteer to help out. Only Vert declined to help, and even that was more because he felt he would hold the mission back because of his leg injury, rather than any sort of enmity towards Markie.
• Improbable Weapon User: Their cars' speakers can be used for defensive maneuvers. It's most notable with Shirako, but Kurt and Nolo had done their share of this too.
• Steel Ear Drums: The Teku usually listen to incredibly loud music in their free time, especially Shirako. It's unknown how they're not deaf yet.
• True Companions: Much like the Metal Maniacs, Teku team members looks out for each other.

Tone Pasaro

The previous leader of the Teku and older brother of Nolo Pasaro. Tone's death has greatly changed his little brother.

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• Attention Whore: According to Karma, he liked to show off when driving. This resulted in his death, after losing control of his car while drifting.
• Cool Big Bro: To Nolo. Tone does not seem to have any enmity towards his brother, and in turn Nolo looks up to Tone. A lot of Nolo's dislike towards Tork stems from how he believes Tork had a role in Tone's death, even though the actual cause was a mistake Tone made himself.
• The Leader: The original leader of the Teku.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: He looks a lot like a Hispanic version of Tupac.
• Posthumous Character: He's already dead by the time of Ignition.

Nolo Pasaro

Current leader of the Teku after the tragic death of his older brother, Nolo is nearly consumed by his lust for revenge against Tork Maddox, whom he holds responsible. Despite his hot temper, Nolo is a very formidable driver.

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• Big Brother Worship: Downplayed. He seems to have cared and looked up to his brother, but doesn't seem to worship Tone.
• Character Development: Undergoes the most; he becomes more rational and clear-headed following his near-death experience in the Metro Realm, and gradually lets go of his grudge towards Tork, accepting that Tone's death wasn't his fault.
• Foil: While both are leaders of their respective teams, Tork Maddox is an experienced and calm while Nolo is hot-headed and feisty.
  • Like Wylde, Nolo is also a hotheaded young man who mellows out towards the end of the series and eventually makes peace with the opposing team's member(s) they have beef with. However, Nolo's enmity with the Metal Maniacs stems from a positive relationship with his already-dead brother, Wylde's enmity with Teku stems from a negative relationship with his still-living brother (who is in Teku, to boot). As Tezla put it, Nolo cannot forget his brother, while Wylde cannot forgive his.
• Hot-Blooded: Early in the series, he has quite a temper and is very hot-headed.
• The Leader: Of the Teku. He's not the greatest, though he gets better later on.
• Pet the Dog: Despite his hatred towards Tork and general hostility towards the Metal Maniacs, Nolo shows concern for Pork Chop following the latter's near-death in the Water Realm, claiming to hate only one of them, and shows respect for Taro when he narrowly beats the Water Realm. He later saved Tork himself from an overpass and RD-L1 in Metro Realm after Tork saved him.
• Tragic Keepsake: He has a collar with a broken ‘T’ that used to belong to his brother. He leaves it behind at the end of Ultimate Race, showing that he managed to move on from the loss.

Karma Eiss

The only female racer on either team, she is cold and precise, an absolute perfectionist. Bears an uncannily strong resemblance to Gelorum, leader of the Racing Drones.

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• Aborted Arc: Is implied to have some mysterious connection to the Racing Drones, most notably due to her resembling Gelorum and she can somehow sense that a drone is attacking the Sweeper she's in. Due to the film series being Left Hanging, we never got an answer for either of these scenes.
• Foil: Both her and Monkey are The Smart Guy of their respective teams, but she's the calm and collected to Monkey's jumpy and easily-scared. She also specializes in racing strategy, while Monkey is a Gadgeteer Genius who isn't as good of a driver.
• Hidden Depths: Can somehow sense that a drone is attacking the Sweeper she's in.
• Icy Blue Eyes: Fitting her unflappable nature, she has blue eyes.
• Meaningful Name: Her last name is "Eiss" (ice), and her personality is cool like it too.
• Out of Focus: Karma's role in Ignition is notably smaller than the other three films.
• The Perfectionist: She never considers herself good enough until she's got something down 100%.
• Ship Tease: After Taro doesn't try to get payback against her for what happened in the ice realm, despite not knowing yet that she’s innocent, Karma gets curious about why he isn't dating Lani anymore.
• The Smart Guy: Has shades of this when she was the first one to find out that you're not supposed to focus on winning Accelechargers- the real test was to learn from the realms and identify what skill they're trying to teach you.
• The Smurfette Principle: The only female Teku member, and the only female driver that goes into the realms, since Lani does not anymore.
• The Stoic: She never gives a whiff of emotion- the only time she shows any emotion was in the Ruins Realm, when she was visibly scared when a colossus was about to attack her.
• Wrench Wench: She knows her way around a car pretty damn well.

Kurt Wylde

Older brother of Mark Wylde, Kurt seems to have calmed down quite a bit since his Highway 35 days. He now functions as an effective group leader when Tezla is not around.

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• Big Brother Instinct: He usually looks out for his brother Markie, even though the latter hates his guts.
• Big "NO!": Has one in the Storm Realm right before he crashes into a drone car.
• Break the Haughty: He's responsible for Markie's Abandonment-Induced Animosity by bailing out on him in a business deal gone bad, but kept denying his role in it, blaming Markie for the latter's attempts to get even with him. Markie getting captured by the Drones finally gets Kurt to realize that he has been treating his brother poorly and abandoned him when he needed Kurt the most. This leads to him organizing a plan with the entire crew- bar Vert- on a dangerous mission into the Drones' headquarters to save Markie, and he reconciles with Markie in the end by accepting his role in the falling out.
• Icy Blue Eyes: Has these under his glasses.
• My God, What Have I Done?: After antagonizing his little brother one-time-too-many in the Junk Realm, Markie becomes enraged and tries to get even with him, only to end up crashing. Kurt, the closest of the drivers to his position, just leaves him in the realm, expecting Mark to use his E.D.R. to escape. Unfortunately for Kurt, the portal closes without Markie ever coming out of it due to the Racing Drones capturing him, and he looks on in abject sorrow and horror at the realization that he had left his little brother behind again.
• Properly Paranoid: He claims to Karma that one of the reasons he worked for Gelorum in World Race was that he knew he didn't trust Tezla. As it turns out, Kurt was very right to distrust Tezla, because Tezla has been risking the drivers' lives by not telling the full extent of the Racing Realms' danger, and even hiding how multiple drivers have been lost in them.
• Took a Level in Kindness: He's a lot less antagonistic in AcceleRacers compared to how he was in World Race, and what little antagonism he has left is reserved for his little brother Wylde (and usually only in self-defense as opposed to being the instigator). The vitriol between them is dropped entirely when he and everyone else rescue Wylde from the Racing Drones.

Josef "Vert" Wheeler

The protagonist of AcceleRacers. As the winner of the World Race, Vert is very confident in his driving skills. However, the challenges he faces throughout the series put that confidence to test.

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• 10-Minute Retirement: In the middle of Speed of Silence Vert leaves after failing a few races. He returns in "Breaking Point" in time for the Junk Realm, after a pep talk with his father.
• Anime Hair: Though in his defense, he may have gotten it this way through hair gel.
• Badass Decay: In-universe. Despite being the winner of the World Race, Vert's less-than-stellar performance throughout the series (he never won a race once, flunking his golden opportunity in Water Realm by being overconfident, and the last race he participated in ended with a broken leg) Combined with seeing other drivers being more successful than him made Vert lost a lot of self-esteem and began to doubt his abilities, to the point that he temporarily leaves the group at one point.
• Badass Family:
  • His father, Jack Wheeler, is a US Air Force Major and as revealed in The Stinger, the leader of the Silencerz.
• Broken Ace: Vert, being a very young man who nevertheless managed to win the World Race, believes that he is supposed to be the best and should deliver results that are expected of one. As a result, when he repeatedly falls short of his expectations in Acceleracers (e.g. failing to save Kadeem in the Storm Realm and later getting his Deora II cut in half because he exited said Realm just in time, failing to complete the Swamp Realm and only managing to make it out because of the realm being "deactivated" by a driver- in this case, Nolo- crossing the portal first, losing Power Rage in the Water Realm due to his recklessness, and also costing the team an Accelecharger he would have easily won otherwise), it demoralizes him, especially when he began seeing other drivers pull their weight (best seen in his reaction to Taro managing to finish the Water Realm in record time without a Hyperpod, where he acknowledges Taro's skill but was also very clearly unhappy that he lost Power Rage attempting to do what Taro casually did). This causes Vert to believe that he had become The Load, unable to do anything helpful to his fellow drivers and unable to help much in the effort to stop the Racing Drones. He returns finding his motivation and showing that he was always capable after all after a pep talk with his father while he was away, though- he manages to identify the skill needed to win the Junk Realm and only got cheated out of a win by an encounter with a Silencerz, though Vert still feels like a failure for finishing last. Despite making a mistake in the Ruins Realm by wrecking his motorbike and injuring his leg, he recovers in time for The Ultimate Race, managing to keep up with Gelorum who was abusing the hell out of Accelechargers through the realms, and being chosen as an Acceleracer over her because he got through all of the realms purely on his own merit, showing that despite doubting himself at one point, Vert very much was still the same very skilled, gifted driver that he was in the World Race.
• Foil: To Taro. Both have expertise in action sports (Skateboarding and surfing for Vert, skiing for Taro) while ironically failing a realm related to said sports thanks to their cockiness (Lava and Water, respectively), have returned to the realms they raced before where they flawlessly completed them (Water for Taro, Ultimate Race for Vert), and have been cheated out of victory by a Silencerz (in the Junk Realm for Vert, and in the Ice and Pipeline Realms for Taro). The difference is that Taro has had a ton of experience and is calm under pressure, while Vert is a bit of a newbie and loses his confidence after failing a few races. Both also have exited a realm when the portal closed, getting a part of their car cut, but the difference is Vert brought a Drone to the Acceledrome due to going back from the finish line, losing half his car, while Taro was taken to the Racing Drones HQ and thus had to start over a whole realm again, only getting his car's rear bumper tip cut.
• The Gift: He's the best driver in World Race and yet he has little to no experience driving.
• Green-Eyed Monster: For a time, Vert was envious of the other drivers for being better than him, though in a twist, he does not hold it against them and simply internalizes the negativity, believing that he has become The Load to them. A good example would be when Taro goes through the Water Realm in record time, something Vert lost his car attempting to achieve, and Taro did it without a Hyperpod.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: He has blonde hair, and is one of the nicer people around the Acceleracers cast.
• He's Back!: He finally regains his edge in The Ultimate Race when it's down to only him racing against Gelorum herself through the Gauntlet, where he proved to have learned from all his previous mistakes, allowing him to pull off a flawless race and keep up with Gelorum even her abusing the Accelechargers in every realm while he has to drive only with his own skills. Even before that there's a hint of this in Junk Realm, where he was leading and he knew the skills required to win the realm, only that he got cheated out of a potential victory by a Silencerz.
• Missing Mom: In the third movie, by means of a sentimental family photo, we learn Vert's mother is implied to have either passed or separated from his father, and this estranged Vert's relationship with his father.
• Nice Guy: Best shown at the end of World Race and Acceleracers. After he wins the World Race he gives his five million dollars to Kadeem. At the end of Acceleracers he goes back for his friends who were in trouble, despite being offered to become an Acceleron.
• Worthy Opponent: Is acknowledged as such by the Acceleron themselves after he went through the Ultimate Race using only his own driving skills, as opposed to Gelorum who only managed to keep the lead by abusing the Accelechargers. The Acceleron marked Vert as a true Acceleracer and invited him to race in their own world.

Shirako Takamoto

The Teku's nearly silent mechanic who appears to care more about looking cool than winning races, yet the first driver to ever beat the previously undefeated Pork Chop. He loves his techno music, and loves it LOUD.

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• AM/FM Characterization: His first scene in "Ignition" (Aside from his brief appearance in the Coast race between Nolo and Tork) shows him driving to the Acceledrome while blasting thumping Techno music from Bassline's subwoofers, befitting his cool and slick style.
• All Asians Know Martial Arts: He's Asian, and is seen using a flying kick at the end of The Ultimate Race to take down a drone.
• Flat Character: We don't know much about him, outside of the fact that he likes loud music.
• Foil: To Pork Chop, being a quiet, skinny man to Pork Chop who is loud and muscular. Shirako is loud with his music, while Porkchop dislikes him because of that loudness, implying he prefers quiet environments.
• The Gadfly: He mainly blasts his music and pisses off a lot of the other drivers for being obnoxious and oblivious about the volume. Best shown in the Cavern Realm where in response to Pork Chop ramming him for using very bright rainbow lights and accidentally blinding Pork Chop, he turns up the music to get Pork Chop to leave him alone, which works.
• Loud of War: His car, Bassline has speakers along its back that can play techno music loud enough to disorient a giant mosquito, giant bats, racing drones and Pork Chop.
• No Social Skills: Implied to be this as seen in Vert's confused reaction to his behavior after taking him on a ride out of the realm.
• OOC Is Serious Business: Shirako usually keeps his headphones on with music blaring at full volume, all while ignoring those who try to talk to him. When Taro makes his second lap through the Water Realm in The Speed of Silence, he takes his headphones off to pay attention, which shows how impressed he is by the latter's driving skills.
• Pet the Dog: Brings back Monkey a pair of drone legs from the Junk Realm that ended up on Bassline's windshield so that Monkey can use them to fix up Sparky.
• The Quiet One: Shirako is quiet and rarely speaks without his music.
• Skewed Priorities: Would rather listen to music than win a race. Also, in the Water Realm he decides to videotape the scenery rather than drive.
• Steel Ear Drums: There is no other explanation on why despite listening to very loud music all day long, Shirako has not lost any of his hearing.
• The Stoic: Very rarely emotes- the only notable times he does are when he is visibly angry when a drone rips out his speakers in the Cosmic Realm, and when he visibly panics after accidentally ramming Monkey's Sweeper and losing control of his car in the Racing Drones headquarters.

In General

A reckless and raucous street racing crew as rough and tough as the muscle cars they drive. Their machines are what you get if you combine junkyard parts with jet engines.

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• Badass Driver: Much like the Teku, they could pull off moves that would make a professional driver proud.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: The team colors are red, black and gray.
• Heroic Build: They're heroes and every one of them, save Monkey, is built like a big slab of beef.
• Hidden Heart of Gold: All of the drivers in the Metal Maniacs deeply care for one another. Except for Markie of course, though this might've changed after the Metal Maniacs and the Teku go to save him from the drones.
• True Companions: All of the drivers would go through hell and back to save one another. Their motto is "we're welded".

Tork Maddox

The level headed leader of the team who keeps the other boys in line, which makes him markedly more responsible than one would expect a gang leader to be. Tork is plagued by guilt over the accidental death of the Teku's previous leader, Tone Pasaro.

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• Ambiguously Brown: His complexion is noticeably darker than most other racers'.
• The Atoner: Is haunted with thinking that he may have been responsible for Tone's death; despite Nolo's hatred towards him, Tork shows immediate concern when Nolo crashes in the Metro Realm, and goes to great lengths to save both him and Monkey from the Drones. Fortunately for him, Nolo returned the favor later to save him from an overpass (while atop a Sweeper) and RD-L1.
• Characterization Marches On: He can be more coarse in Ignition when compared to the next movies, trash-talking Tone (pre-race) in a flashback with Taro and refering to Nolo as "Teku-trash", while he stays cool-headed against his hostility in the next movies.
• Face of a Thug: Looks rather intimidating, being all rugged, thuggish looking, and muscular. To say nothing of being a street racing gang leader and dressing in red and dark clothing akin to a villain; he would not look out of place as a cartoon henchmen. Yet he is actually a pretty level headed and reasonable guy underneath that and deeply loyal to his friends. This actually sets him up as a foil to Nolo, who looks and dresses much less rugged and wears colors more associated with heroes such as blue and gold, yet is the more overtly hostile and immature of the two.
• A Father to His Men: Cares greatly for his teammates. Upon learning what the Drones did to Taro, Monkey, and Wylde, Tork sets out to avenge them.
  Tork: After what you said the Drones did to you and Taro; no way. Nobody does this to my guys: we're welded!
• Fire-Forged Friends: He and Nolo started out as bitter rivals, but after both saving each other in the Metro Realm, they begin to move past that. They finally make peace for good during the mission to save Mark.
• Foil: While both are leaders of their respective teams, Tork Maddox is an experienced and calm while Nolo is hot-headed and feisty.
• The Leader: Of the Metal Maniacs. He briefly loses the title after he loses a race with Markie, but regains it after Markie fails as a leader.
• Nice Guy: Is essentially this and may actually be one of the outright kindest of all the racers. He cares greatly about his team to the point of coming to help race the drones immediately upon being called, after learning what they did to his friends. He risks himself to save Monkey and even Nolo from a Drone Sweeper in the Metro Realm, despite Nolo basically wanting him dead due to blaming him from his brother’s death, which leads to him and Nolo becoming friends at the end. Tork even has nightmares about that incident and is shown to hold guilt over it, despite it not being his fault, and lets Mark when the race for leadership, not wanting to repeat what happened to Nolo's brother. He is also usually, surprisingly calm and level headed even when Nolo tries to antagonize him. Not bad for a street racer gang leader.
• Scary Black Man: Subverted. Tork is a muscular, tough looking black man but he’s a calm and experienced leader, and he rarely gets angry unless someone else aggravates him first.

Taro Kitano

Previously the leader of the Scorchers back in Highway 35: World Race, Taro has since settled for second in command of the Metal Maniacs by the time of the series.

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• The Ace: Like Kurt, he was this in World Race, having done fantastically in every leg of Highway 35. He continues the streak in ''Acceleracers, where he almost wins the Metro, Ice and Pipeline Realms had it not been for the Silencerz, and his most famous feat is when he finishes a second complete run of the Water Realm in less than 20 minutes in the nick of time, without a Hyperpod. Notably, unlike Vert, he isn't burdened with any issues or conflicts, and is far more levelheaded than he is.
• Catchphrase: "I'm gonna pass you.", much like in World Race. However, it is notably less used here, likely because something bad happens every time he said the phrase; the first time he said it, he left Kadeem to fend for himself against the Racing Drones and this resulted in Kadeem's loss/stranding and subsequent capture, while the second time he said it, he lost control of his car and was sent flying off the track, which would have gotten himself killed in the Lava Realm had it not been for Vert's intervention.
• Cultural Personality Makeover: Downplayed. Taro has always known he’s Japanese, but his redesign emphasises his Japanese heritage more, with a chonmage-like ponytail, metal shoulder pads like Samurai armor and his gear shift resembling an Eastern Dragon.
• Foil: To Vert. Both have expertise in action sports (Skateboarding and surfing for Vert, skiing for Taro) while ironically failing a realm related to said sports thanks to their cockiness (Lava and Water, respectively), have returned to the realms they raced before where they flawlessly completed them (Water for Taro, Ultimate Race for Vert), and have been cheated out of victory by a Silencerz (in the Junk Realm for Vert, and in the Ice and Pipeline Realms for Taro). The difference is that Taro has had a ton of experience and is calm under pressure, while Vert is a bit of a newbie and loses his confidence after failing a few races. Both also have exited a realm when the portal closed, getting a part of their car cut, but the difference is Vert brought a Drone to the Acceledrome due to going back from the finish line, losing half his car, while Taro was taken to the Racing Drones HQ and thus had to start over a whole realm again, only getting his car's rear bumper tip cut.
• Hidden Depths: Taro may look like the Aloof Ally, but if he sees a fellow driver in trouble, he would forgo winning and go back to help them; best seen with Lani in World Race and Monkey in Breaking Point. The only exception is Kadeem, where Taro did not know the full gravity of the situation, and Kadeem wasn't in trouble by the time Taro passed him, with Taro also reminding Tezla about Kadeem when he only installed the EDR after the drivers won Accelechargers.
• How Did You Know? I Didn't: Taro invokes this at the Junk Realm against a Silencer posing as Kurt, after Kurt asks him how he knew which of the two was the Silencerz.
• Inscrutable Oriental: The Stoic and The Quiet One, and Japanese. However, his ethnicity is never mentioned in dialogue.
• The Quiet One: Best said in a few words in World Race.
  Taro: (to Kadeem) Are you going to talk through this entire race?
• Ship Tease: In the Pipeline Realm, Taro doesn't try to get back at Karma, despite him thinking that she did something bad to him in the Ice Realm (at this point, no one is aware of the Silencerz' existence).
• Shoot the Mage First: He often ends up an unfortunate target of the Silencerz' shenanigans, due to him being ahead of others and almost winning Realms.
• The Stoic: He never gives out any secrets through his face, and rarely speaks.

Mark Wylde

Apparently could not come up with a better nickname than his last name. Kurt Wylde's headstrong and spunky little brother graduated from his role as a hotheaded, feisty kid in the previous franchise entry to a pseudo-psychopath with a growth spurt and a grudge against his big brother after he seemingly betrays him in a bad business deal that led to him serving jail time before.

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• Abandonment-Induced Animosity: After the World Race, Markie's brother Kurt had gotten both of them involved in a shady business deal. When the police interrogated Kurt about it, he kept quiet about his part of the scheme to avoid the consequences, while Markie was sent to jail for two years. After his 2-year sentence, Markie became a vengeful and bitter person, vowing to settle the score with his brother for abandoning him.
• Annoying Younger Sibling: He has become even more of this to Kurt Wylde than he was in World Race, going out of his way to antagonize his big brother by accusing him of keeping Accelechargers for himself or acting as a spy for the Racing Drones, which Kurt doesn't take so lightly.
• An Arm and a Leg: He lost his left arm sometime after the drones captured him. A robotic arm replaced it as he's in the process of being converted into a drone before Kurt saves him. Mark doesn't seem to mind it that much, though.
• Asshole Victim: Subverted; while many of them find his personality very off-putting and thus he would be a perfect target of this trope, when he gets lost in the Junk Realm, all the other drivers (save Vert, and it was more because he thought his leg injury would hold him back in the mission rather than any enmity towards Wylde) put aside their differences and join in on the mission to save him.
• Badass Transplant: While it was an unwilling one, the Drone arm Markie gets to replace his left arm proves to be very capable, being able to easily tear out the speakers in Battle Spec and punch the head of an RD-S1 off with an uppercut.
• Beneath the Mask: Breaking Point makes clear that his more temperamental attitude is his means of looking tough after having been stuck in prison. This is especially prevalent when he was shown to have met Tork and joined the Metal Maniacs, where he softly remarks to Tork that he has nowhere else to go. Lo and behold, when he is saved from the Racing Drones headquarters, he drops the temperamental facade entirely.
• Big Brother Worship: He used to worship his brother quite a bit in World Race because he wanted to be a driver since Kurt was one. This gets undone in AcceleRacers due to Kurt ditching Markie right when he needed his older brother the most (the botched business deal). Fortunately, this becomes a Rebuilt Pedestal when Kurt embarks on a mission with the other drivers to save him from the Racing Drones.
• Break the Haughty: Frustrated that Tork bars him from settling his score with Kurt, he challenges Tork to a race for leadership of the Metal Maniacs, and wins. However, he proves a poor leader due to his tendency to let his emotions and Control Freak style of leading get the better of him, and he later crashes due to letting his vendetta with Kurt get the better of him, culminating in getting smacked off the track by a wrecking ball and getting knocked unconscious, resulting in his capture by the Drones. To his credit, he learns from this by The Ultimate Race, thanking Kurt for coming back for him and accepting Kurt's attempt to reconcile with him.
• Control Freak: How he "leads" the team in Breaking Point. He's more concerned of getting others to obey what he tells them to do, even when it's something detrimental like keeping the slick tyre in the Junk Realm.
• Cynicism Catalyst: He's mean and angry because his brother Kurt ditched them when Markie needed him most.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Briefly becomes this in Breaking Point. The Teku members don't have a high opinion of him to begin with, but after Mark contested with Tork for the leader of the Metal Maniacs and won, even his fellow team members don't give him any respect anymore. It's probably this reason, along with him messing up trying to take out Kurt in the Junk Realm, why he doesn't use the EDR and allows himself to be captured by the drones. That being said, he still mattered enough for both teams to put aside their differences and try to save him from the drones in The Ultimate Race.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: He spends a good portion of his screentime getting angry at many things.
• Hot-Blooded: Can get angry very easily.
• In-Series Nickname: He insists that others call him "Wylde" after he rejects his brotherhood with Kurt. Others do so except Kurt and Vert. Fans of the movies still prefer to call him "Markie".
  Markie: The name is Wylde!
• Jerkass: He is prone to getting angry and confrontational with the other drivers, especially Kurt, with his excuse being that his brother made him this way. He mellows out into a Jerk with a Heart of Gold after the racers come to save him from being converted into a Racing Drone.
• Leader Wannabe: Briefly becomes leader of the Metal Maniacs. He fails at it and the Metal Maniacs return to Tork as their leader.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: In Breaking Point, after hearing about the Silencerz using supposedly copied technology from Dr. Tezla, states that there's probably a spy in their midst, and immediately assumes it's his older brother's doing, given that the latter has a shady past and also used to secretly work with Gelorum during the World Race. He was right that there was a spy among them, but Kurt isn't the culprit by a long shot. It's Gig, who admits to leaking all of Tezla's work to the Silencerz the whole time.
• Say My Name: Wylde yells out Monkey's name as the latter drives the former's Spine Buster into the Metro Realm.
• Skewed Priorities: Tork sums it up the best regarding this in Acceleracers. Deconstructed as his vendetta against Kurt leads to him being careless and getting directly hit by the giant wrecking ball in Junk Realm, ending up lost there.
  Tork: You can race, as soon as you put winning ahead of settling the score with your brother.
• That Man Is Dead: In The Speed of Silence, he tells Kurt his little brother died in prison.

Deezil "Pork Chop" Riggs

A long-haul trucker with an ambiguously Southern accent who did not appear until halfway through Ignition. Raucous, loud, and mean, the only thing that seems to let this ornery fellow keep his cool is his little buddy, Monkey.

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• American Accents: Has a Southern one.
• Awesome McCoolname: ironically, his real name, “Deezil Riggs”, sounds even more manly and cool than his preferred name.
• Big Damn Heroes: Pork Chop and Monkey use Old Smokey to save the Metal Maniacs from a few Sweepers.
• The Big Guy: Is the most big and most buff member of the Metal Maniacs, and has the strength to boot.
• Fiery Red Head: Is quick to anger and sports both short red hair and Horseshoe Mustache.
• Foil: The loud to Shirako's quiet. It shows in that Shirako's loud music annoys Pork Chop to no end.
• Foreshadowing: Him not wanting to go the watery route in the Swamp Realm foreshadows that he is afraid of water. He is afraid because his father drowned.
• Horny Vikings: Porkchops' racer helmet bears the classic Viking horn aesthetic.
• Irony: Despite having a Viking-style helmet and overall Viking motif, Porkchop is aquaphobic and deathly afraid of water.
• Leitmotif: whenever Porkchop is doing something awesome or epic, you can always count on Jack Hammer is playing in the background.
• Pet the Dog: Despite his dislike towards the Teku (particularly for their loud music), he saves Karma from a sentient stone giant in the Ruins Realm. Likely because Karma isn't as into loud music as the rest of the Teku.
• Real Men Wear Pink: Has a stuffed animal named "Ms. Piggy".
• Taking You with Me: When three Sweepers appeared in the Junk Realm, Porkchop and Monkey decided to even the odds for the Drivers by using Old Smokey (which is loaded with Nitrox 3.5) to destroy one of the Sweepers (while the one behind it was knocked off the track trying to drive over the wreckage). Averted in that neither he or Monkey died as they used the E.D.R. to escape at the last minute, but played straight for Old Smokey which got caught in the explosion.
  Porkchop: Sweep This!
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Revealed to suffer from aquaphobia (fear of water). This was because his father drowned when he was a young boy.

Mitchell "Monkey" McClurg

Meek, mild-mannered and easily frightened, Monkey is the odd one out of the Metal Maniacs as the only guy willing to back down from a fight or run away. He is the quintessential Butt-Monkey of the series, as his name would suggest.

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• Abhorrent Admirer: To Lani. She doesn't seem to like him back.
• Big Damn Heroes: Pork Chop and Monkey use Old Smokey to save the Metal Maniacs from a few Sweepers.
• Big "NO!": After learning from Gig that he's not getting paid to race.
• Butt-Monkey: He's usually getting scared by a lot of things and much of the comedy value in the movies is something bad happening around or to him, or his reactions to these.
• Cowardly Lion: Despite his (justified) fear of the Drones, he joins the Metal Maniacs and the Teku when they set out to rescue Wylde after the latter's been captured. Later on, he saves Karma from a Drone by holding on to it (thus immobilizing its limbs) from behind.
• Crazy-Prepared: Installs an EDR and a Nitrox Booster into Porkchop's big rig Old Smokey in case they need to bring it into a realm. Lani is skeptical of this choice but it ends up being the right call, as it proves pivotal to taking out the Drones Sweepers in the Junk Realm.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Seems to be this at the end of Acceleracers. He boldly takes on a drone, albeit from behind.
• Damn You, Muscle Memory!: after their mission to rescue Mark Wylde from the Racing Drones HQ was successful, the Metal Maniacs and Teku begin to leave by returning to the Acceledrome using their cars E.D.R.s Monkey tries to activate the E.D.R. for him to escape, forgetting that he is driving a Racing Drone Sweeper (who don't have E.D.R.s on any of their vehicles).
• Do Not Call Me "Paul": He hates being called by his real name, which Tezla has a tendency to do much to his chagrin.
• Expy: He's basically Shaggy Rogers as a gearhead.
• Foil: To Karma. Both are The Smart Guy of their respective team, but Monkey is very scared and jumpy while Karma is cool and calm. Monkey also acts as the Gadgeteer Genius while Karma is a racing strategist.
• Hero Stole My Bike: His car Rollin' Thunder had its windshield smashed by Nolo during an altercation between him and Tork, so Tork told Monkey to take Wylde's Spine Buster to the Metro Realm, much to its owner's rage. It gets destroyed by the Sweeper after it captures Monkey.
• Hidden Depths: Monkey is shown to be quite competent at card games as shown in the Collectible Card Game Special Feature where he plays and wins against a Racing Drone.
• Loud Gulp: Does this before he goes into the Acceledrome for the first time.
• Lovable Coward: At least, if you're not Lani.
• Meaningful Name: His name is Monkey. You know, Butt-Monkey?
• Oh, Crap!: The neurotic Monkey often has his moments where he freaks out whenever he finds himself in danger.
  • When he sees a Sweeper closing in on him from behind in the Pipeline Realm, he immediately floors it and uses up all of his Nitrox before Lani tells him to save the boost. He rebukes with a panicked "Hey! I'm trying to save me!"
  • As he and Pork Chop drive Old Smokey into the Junk Realm with the intent of taking out the Drone Sweepers with the truck, Lani warns them that they won't make it through the entire track before the portal closes, to which Monkey confidently replies that they can just use E.D.R. to return safely. As he continues his attempt at impressing her with his heroics, Tezla tells him that the E.D.R may not bring back more than one driver, causing his expression to take a 180 turn.
• Potty Failure: Monkey drinks from a huge cup before entering the Metro Realm, and ends up needing to go to the loo halfway into the race. When Tork offers to hitch him a ride back to the lab in his Hollowback (which Monkey temporarily borrowed after losing Spine Buster to a Sweeper), Monkey reveals that he had already made a mess in the car, which makes Tork politely retract his offer in response.
• Say My Name: Says Pork Chop's name for a few seconds before they go into the Swamp Realm, and again as they enter the Junk Realm in Old Smokey.
• The Smart Guy: He creates a new Nitrox, something never been done before, and reprograms a drone and names it Sparky.
• Tempting Fate: In the Storm Realm Monkey says, "This track's not so tough!" and right after that lightning almost hits him.
• Token Good Teammate: Despite being part of the Metal Maniacs, Monkey is the only racer of the group that isn't shown to be antagonistic towards the Teku or any of its members.
• Unsportsmanlike Gloating: Monkey engages in quite a bit of taunting and namecalling against the Racing Drone as he gains the advantage during the card game.

Gelorum

Back from outer space or the Racing Realms or wherever she went after the events of Highway 35, this super-intelligent robot shed most semblances of her humanoid disguise and got real ugly.

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• Ancient Evil: Like the other drones, she's thousands of years old, and very much evil, being the reason why the Drones turned against the Accelerons.
• Badass Driver: She proves no slouch when she gets behind the wheel of her RD-09.
• Bad Boss: Disposes of her Drone minions when they slack off on the job even a little. Given that they are ultimately expendable mass-produced robots, though, it is more justifiable than other examples.
• Big Bad: Of both World Race and Acceleracers.
• Cheaters Never Prosper:Technically, she is the winner of the Ultimate Race. However, she only kept the lead by abusing the hell out of Accelechargers in every realm, while her opponent Vert raced using only his own skills and still managed to keep up with Gelorum for most of the race despite the latter having an overwhelming advantage and even a head start over him, a fact that the Acceleron pointed out before marking Vert as the true winner. Gelorum, being a Sore Loser, suffers a Villainous Breakdown tries to eliminate Vert out of spite, causing the Acceleron to throw her into the void as a punishment.
• Competition Freak: Is this to racing. She firmly believes winning is everything because it's what she was literally built for. This put her in conflict with her creators the Accelerons who put the spirit of friendly competition first.
• Cool Car: RD-09, her personal vehicle and the most advanced of all the Racing Drones cars made. Notably, it seems to be completely immune to the overload that happens if any other teams' cars use an Accelecharger for too long, because Gelorum was able to continuously use the Accelechargers without anything bad happening to RD-09.
• Dark Action Girl: In the few times she's shown fighting someone, she is more than capable of pushing them around like they're made of feathers.
• Evil Counterpart: To Karma. Both are among the female strategists of their factions and know their way around a car. Both have a startlingly uncanny resemblance to each other. What makes her stand out is that Karma is a positive version of The Perfectionist, always trying to improve herself, whereas Gelorum adopts a Never My Fault attitude and tries to cheat her way to victory. Karma studies the skills, and Gelorum cheats with Accelechargers. Karma also keeps calm, in a manner unlike a machine, while Gelorum undergoes a Villainous Breakdown and even shrugs like a human - proving that she behaves like a human without clearly understanding why. To say nothing to contrast Karma sharing her strategies and supporting her teammates, while Gelorum is a Bad Boss to the other drones.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Her true form's voice is a menacing and deep tone.
• Expy: Of the Borg Queen from Star Trek: First Contact
• Foreshadowing:
  • Her white hair foreshadows that she's not normal. This series establishes that she's a robot.
  • At the end of World Race she says to Vert, "Let's see how well you drive in half a car. Ignition shows Vert's Deora II getting sliced in half because of the portal closing on it.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Gelorum was originally an ordinary Racing Drone (back when the Drones were designed to be test drivers made by the Accelerons for the Racing Realms that the Humans were intended to race on), only for Gelorum to grow beyond her programming and strive to become the true inheritors of the Accelerons' legacy, with the intent of wiping out their creators and later Humanity afterwards.
  Accelerons: The Drones have forgotten the purpose of competition: the important thing is not winning, but striving to win.
  '''Gelorum:We were created to win! Winning is all there is!
• Grew Beyond Their Programming: Seems to be the case. She, like other drones, was apparently built to serve as test drivers of for the realms but at some point turned on their creators and went rogue. Its hard to fathom that the Accelarons intended for one of their test robots to develop evil tendencies and try to take over the world.
• Hate Sink: Gelorum has absolutely no redeeming qualities, and only exists to show that the Drones are a very real threat that must be stopped.
• Kick the Dog: When Dr. Tezla is captured and asks her to bring him with her during The Ultimate Race, she nonchalantly denies his requests while promising to kill him once she returns and is victorious, all the while stating that she's only sparing him so that he's Forced to Watch her win.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: Acceleracers doesn't bother to hide that she's a Drone, and their leader at that, given that she has robotic components over half her body.
• Meaningless Villain Victory: She actually manages to obtain all the Accelechargers and initiates the Ultimate Race to reach the Accelerons, only to be rejected by them for cheating and sent to the void when she tries to attack Vert.
• Mystical White Hair: The only character in the entire series with a weird hair color. Justified because she's an alien robot.
• Non-Action Big Bad: She mostly spectates activity in the realms and leads the drones from behind the scenes for most of the series. Subverted in the fourth movie, where she finally goes behind the wheel.
• One-Winged Angel:Her true form is a towering, hulking robot, which she unleashes to kill Vert after he wins the Ultimate Race.
• Rank Scales with Asskicking: She's the leader of the Drones, and is also their best driver with the most advanced vehicle ever made by them.
• Really 700 Years Old: She looks like a woman in her mid-20s, or, following her Robotic Reveal, a highly advanced and futurstic cyborg, but is actually thousands of years old.
• Robotic Reveal: Near the end of World Race reveals that she's a robot. In Acceleracers, she sheds her human Cyborg guise and transforms into a full-blown machine several feet taller than her female persona as her real body uncompresses. It was foreshadowed in the Ruins Realm flashbacks to the Racing Drones where her real form was seen in full, but not yet identifiable as Gelorum herself.
• Robots Enslaving Robots: She's a drone herself, and all of the other drones take orders from her and try to win Accelechargers for her.
• Satanic Archetype: If the Accelerons are the equivalent of God and Vert is The Champion, then this makes Gelorum the Devil. Gelorum has a very Luciferian element to her character. She was created by the Accelerons but rebelled against them when told by them that the Racing Realms were created for living creatures and not for machines. Her main motivation is to destroy the Accelerons, paralleling Satan's goal to usurp God.
• Second Place Is for Losers: In her own words, Gelorum states that The Racing Drones were "Made To Win" and that winning "is all there is."
• Sore Loser: She does not take her loss in the Ultimate Race well and tries to murder the winner (Vert) for it. The Accelerons promptly showed her why attempting to attack a living creature in their presence is a very bad idea.
• Spikes of Villainy: Her real form features spiky protrusions sticking off from her back and she has a spiky helmet.
• The Stoic: Usually never shows any emotion. Until the end of Ultimate Race.
• Uncertain Doom: Gelorum's ejection from the conflict at the end of "The Ultimate Race" is very open-ended. When she transformed into her true form and attacked Vert before the gateway to the world of the Accelerons, the lone Acceleron present used Telekinesis to send her flying into the white void and she disappeared into the abyss, fate unknown.
• The Unfettered: As she herself put it in Breaking Point, "we (that includes her) would do anything to win".
• White Hair, Black Heart: She has white hair, is the Big Bad of the series, and is pretty much a heartless and selfish robot to the core.
• Xenomorph Xerox: Gelorum's real form shown in "The Ultimate Race" has shades of this. Her head, unlike other Racing Drones, features an elongated, crown-like appearance quite similar to the Xenomorph Queen.

Drones

Gelorum's helpful minions, robots created by the Accelerons for one explicit purpose: to win no matter what. Originally intended as test drivers for the Accelerons, they were banished to Earth due to their violent and ruthless nature. As a result, they've harbored a grudge against both the Accelerons and humanity. They seek to win the Accelechargers for Gelorum, so that they can Take Over the World and get rid of their enemies.

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• Ancient Evil: Are thousands of years in the making, and very much evil.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Sweepers. Built like a tank and capable of deploying drones to aid it, as well as being capable of sweeping up cars to break them apart, and capturing the drivers of said cars, they're nevertheless lumbering slabs of metal unable to stop or turn very quickly, making them sitting ducks for realm hazards or wily drivers. As a result, their track record is atrocious- ever since they began seeing action in the Metro Realm onwards, not a single realm they were deployed into ends without something bad happening to them ^note  One fell off the track in the Metro Realm after Karma tricked it into overshooting a sharp turn, one fell off the Cliffside Realm after it followed Kurt (who was using a Swamp Realm Accelecharger) and fell off the too-narrow-for-it vine track, one got stuck in a narrowing pipeline section in the Neon Pipeline Realm, one was pulled by a crane-mounted magnet in the Junk Realm, one was destroyed when Porkchop and Monkey rammed Old Smokey pulling a tanker half-full of Nitrox 3.5 into it (with the two surviving the crash via EDR), one fell off the track when it drove over the wreck of the one Old Smokey blew up and lost control, one was picked up by a Colossus in the Ruins Realm and subsequently destroyed when said Colossus threw it at Nolo's car (fortunately, Nolo managed to avoid the thrown Sweeper), one was hijacked in the Cosmic Realm by Monkey and Porkchop to allow the Acceledrome racers to get to the Drones' headquarters and rescue Wylde, one was thrown off the track into a black hole by colliding head-on with two Hyper-pods that Porkchop and Tork were riding in (both had ejected by that point, fortunately), and two fell off the track avoiding Monkey's sweeper that had gone sideways due to a meteor hit (and went airborne sideways due to Monkey's impulse reaction to that hit), with one being destroyed by two meteors slamming into it
• Body Backup Drive: Gelorums' highest-ranking Drone Drivers that have proven themselves worthy have their memories backed up should they be destroyed while in a Racing Realm. However, this privilege can be revoked should the Drone prove itself too incompetent.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: The drones themselves as well as their vehicles are black and green.
• Cyber Cyclops: The RD-W1 have this.
• Dark Is Evil: They are colored black, and are very ruthless in achieving their goals.
• Death of Personality: Maybe. RD-L1 is threatened with this for failing in the Swamp Realm, and fails in the next realm. We see multiple RD-L1's later in the series, so it's not clear.
• Determinator: They are absolutely determined to win a race by any means. Cheating or pushing their own teammates to death is of no concern to them.
• The Dragon: RD-L1, the highest ranking of the drones, and Gelorum's second in command.
• Dragon Their Feet: After Gelorum loses the race and vanishes, RD-L1 takes command of the drone army and siccs them onto the Teku, Metal Maniacs, and Dr. Tezla.
• Elite Mooks:
  • RD-L1 units are more intelligent drivers and stronger combatants than other Drone units, thanks in part to being Gelorum's lieutenant(s). Their cars, RD-05 and RD-08 are generally capable of being on equal footing with even Silencerz vehicles, with one of the former even able to last most of the Cosmic Realm against the latter.
  • To a lesser extent, RD-02 cars are this, being more advanced vehicles and generally performing better against the other teams than the more common RD-06.
• Extra Eyes: Most of the Drones have these.
• Giant Mook: Sweepers, which are the largest vehicles to be deployed by any team into the realms.
• Glass Cannon: Most of the Drones are this in a head-on fight; they can easily punch through glass and fling around people with little effort. However, they are also more fragile than they look, and a good hit to the torso or head will offline them.
• Gone Horribly Right: The Accelerons wanted robots that could win every single race and test the tracks they built. They got exactly that with these things, but they also realized that they took the fun out of racing. Worse, they also found out that when the Drones wanted to win, they would do it in any way they could...
• Killer Robot: Aside from being very skilled drivers, they are also built to kill the other teams' drivers, having built-in weapons such as blades.
• Madness Mantra: One of the drones near the end of World Race keeps repeating to itself,
  Drone: Wheel of power... w-wheel of power!
• Mecha-Mooks: They're mechanical, expendable, and serve as Gelorum's henchmen.
• Mighty Glacier: Sweepers. This is why they're Awesome, but Impractical as their inability to stop or turn very quickly is a major weakness.
• Mook Lieutenant: RD-L1 (the 'L' in its name stands for Lieutenant) units serve as Gelorum's top enforcers. In the realms, they're usually shown leading formations of RD-06 and RD-02 cars, and receive orders directly from Gelorum.
• Mook Maker: Sweepers are this, which can deploy sabotage RD-W1 drones as well as RD-07 motorbike drones.
• Mook Mobile: Literally with their mass-produced cars, especially the RD-06 and RD-02 model.
• Noisy Robots: They make loud clanging noises whenever they walk.
• Rank Scales with Asskicking: RD-L1, in contrast to most other drones, is far more intelligent (including being capable of actual speech), and gives the other teams' drivers an actual run for their money. Even the cars it drives, the RD-08 and later the RD-05, are far more capable than the run-of-the-mill RD-06, being much more durable and faster to boot. At one point, a latter unit is shown managing to hold off and compete against a couple of Silencerz cars for almost the entire Cosmic Realm.
• Really 700 Years Old: Text in the Ruins Realm reveals that they're thousands of years old, created by the Accelerons to test-drive through the realms.
• Transforming Mecha: RD-L1 and the RD-S1 units can transform into part of their vehicles.
• Turned Against Their Masters: Following Gelorum's orders, they rebelled against the Accelerons only to be banished alongside their leader.
• Undying Loyalty: They are built and programmed to serve Gelorum, so this is no surprise.
• The Unfought: RD-L1, who has confronted the humans several times, only to be taken out by outside circumstances (by the swamp beast in Swamp Realm, by an overpass in Metro Realm, by Gig in Ultimate Race).
• Weaponized Car: All of their vehicles have built-in weaponry, usually plasma or beam weaponry.
• We Have Reserves: Any drone or vehicle that is lost in a realm is of no concern, as Gelorum can simply have more drones and cars built to replace them.
• You Are Number Six: All drones and their car models are named as "RD" followed by designation numbers, helping to establish their nature as expendable machines.
• Zerg Rush: Their primary strategy is to rush for the finish line with their superior numbers, destroying any opposing teams' cars in the process, in the hopes that one of them can win and take a realm's Accelecharger for themselves.

A shadowy, ostensibly government-run team. Only two drivers are ever identified (Banjee Castillo, whose Ballistik was seen wrecked in the Swamp Realm, who now drives Technetium, and Major Jack Wheeler, the team leader and driver of Iridium)., though there was speculation in the Accelepedia forums as to who the others were planned to be. Sadly, the final two movies were never made and we're left wondering who they are, although they're most commonly believed to be Dan Dresden and Alec Wood.

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• All There in the Manual: Apparently they try to rescue drivers "lost" in the racing realms and are working toward a enlightened motive regarding a truth about the Accelerons. They managed to save and recruit Banjee Castillo, and many fans believe they did the same for Dan Dresdan and Alec Wood, but the Drones managed to get to Kadeem and Wylde before they could save them.
  • According to a poster, whose description was archived on the Acceleracers Wiki, they are situated somewhere in Europe and use "vertical frame technology" (VFT) to mimic other cars. Implicitly, this means, assuming they are a Government Conspiracy, they could be funded by NATO.
• Ambiguously Evil: Their morality is never actually established and is only speculated on in In-Universe. They're after the Accelechargers just like everyone else, and seem to have no issue deceiving others to do so, some seeming to specifically target Taro for some reason, and while Dr. Tezla claims they are just thieves who stole technology from him, Gig reveals he was an Unreliable Narrator and that Tezla stole from them. Add on how the driver of Iridium went out of his way to save Shirako from a Racing Drone, lent aid to Vert when the Racing Drones take over the Acceledrome, and that Major Jack Wheeler and Banjee Castillo are among their numbers, it leaves their morality and goals rather suspect. The series was Cut Short before it could be revealed who or what they are, leaving it a Riddle for the Ages.
• Ambiguous Situation: Their relationship with Dr. Tezla; implicitly, he is still working for this group during the World Race, or whatever entity funds them. Given the funding going into the World Race to provide the facilities and cars to the drivers, as well as the fact Jack Wheeler shows up at the end, apparently still on decent terms with Tesla, its implied that Tesla was at least still working for them back then and that they could be the ones funding the whole thing to begin with. Gig, their mole/spy for Tesla, is here to. Its not really clear when or why Tesla broke off from them.
• Anti-Villain: Heavily implied. Despite their above-noted Ambiguously Evil status, there are several confirmed factors that at least paint them in a better light than the Drones. They, despite having messed with the other human racers before, avoid trying to actually kill them and have actually aided them a few times, notably during the final battle with the drones in the fourth movie, particularly the driver of Iridium (Major Wheeler) blasting drones away from Vert. Additionally, the driver of Iridium goes out of his way to save Shirako from drones in the Pipeline Realm. Furthermore, they do not threaten to kill Lani when they infiltrate the Acceledome. On top of all of that, at least two are confirmed allies of the other teams, such as Major Wheeler and Banjee Castillo, so whatever their end goals maybe, it at the very least threw a wrench into the Drone's world conquest plans, so it is certainly better than what Gelorum would have done to the world.
  • Even more implicit, given the type of organization they are. If they are indeed a Government Conspiracy, as evidenced by their clandestine nature and advanced technology (which implies a lot of funding, of which only something like a government or MegaCorp could provide) as well as a confirmed member of the armed forces being in their ranks (Major Wheeler), then it could reasonably be assumed they are indeed trying to stop the Drones' plans to conquer the world. Their end goal and what they actually wanted with the racing realms is never made explicit, but at the very least, them winning means the Drones lose and the world is in better off state than if the Drones won.
  • They could very well be anything from a case of Pragmatic Villainy (again, assuming that they have sinister intentions for the world or the Accelechargers) or even a defense force of some sort simply trying to prevent the Drone's invasion of the Earth as a primary goal.
• Badass Driver: They all have the coordination and skills of a professional. And unlike the other teams, they are capable of pulling off extremely coordinated moves with almost military precision.
• Big Damn Heroes: In The Ultimate Race, three of their drivers save and later help Vert against the Drones when the latter take over the Acceledrome.
• Canon Character All Along: While it's initially believed that they are a group introduced for Acceleracers, two of them are confirmed to be returning characters from Highway 35. Iridium's driver is Vert's father, Major Jack Wheeler, and Technetium's driver is Banjee Castillo. Because Lani mentioned Banjee as one of the drivers Dr. Tesla had recruited but was lost to the Racing Realms like Kadeem was, many fans believe that two of the other drivers Lani mentioned, Alec Wood and Dan Dresden, are also part of the Silencerz now.
• Chrome Champion: Both their cars and their driver uniforms use plenty of silver. And consequently, their cars and equipment are some of the most advanced and powerful in the series, even surpassing the drones in some aspects.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Their vehicles, equipment, and uniforms are silver and purple.
• Cool Car: Notable in that, in a series full of these, theirs are probably the ones that stand out the most, advanced tech and all. They're the only ones with an Invisibility Cloak, equipment that allows for posing as other teams' cars, their EDR returns their entire vehicle alongside the driver instead of just the driver, and they use materiel that no other team uses such as EMP weaponry, magnetic undercarriages to help stick to metal surfaces, magnetic bombs, and more. Only Dr. Tezla comes close to rivaling them in terms of equipment, and only because he used to work for the Silencerz in the first place.
• Covert Group: They are a secret government group racing in the realms.
• EMP: Their cars come with built-in EMP devices which can disable other vehicles near theirs.
• The Faceless: All of their drivers and support staff wear helmets and masks that conceal their identities. The sole exception is Jack Wheeler, Vert's father, who takes off his helmet at the end of the last movie.
• Glamour Failure: Breaking Point establishes that, while they may be amazing shapeshifters, the disguises aren't perfect, as when one Silencerz turns into Kurt and Taro is forced to Spot the Imposter, the Silencerz notably has a different visor on their helmet compared to Kurt's, being purple in coloration with a single red eye line compared to Kurt's transparent visor. The same applies to their cars in general, as while other drivers have transparent windows and windshields, shapeshifted Silencerz have theirs completely opaque.
• Government Conspiracy: Given that Jack Wheeler, a member of the US Military is apparently the leader of the group, as well as their secretive nature, massive amounts of advanced technology, personnel, and resources, this is all but stated to be the case.
• Invisibility Cloak: Their cars, and even their drivers' suits, are capable of camouflaging themselves during and outside of races in order to avoid being detected.
• Laser-Guided Karma: In the Junk Realm, the Silencerz who is driving Accelium (disguised as Kurt) attacks Vert with an EMP blast... and promptly gets knocked off the track by a giant wrecking ball shortly after. To add insult to injury, Vert seeing this gives him an "Eureka!" Moment on the Junk Realm's intended driving skill lesson- driving the perfect line and hitting the apex in every turn.
• Master of Disguise: Their cars are able to disguise as those of other teams, or even the Realm Cars of the Metro Realm, almost seamlessly, thanks to advanced holographic technology built into them.
• Mysterious Purple: The Silencerz are a mysterious group of racers who venture into the realms independent of both Dr. Tezla's group and the Racing Drones, to win Accelechargers for their own unspecified goals. Their most notable trait is their heavy use of silver and purple in their uniforms and vehicles, which doubles as Purple Is Powerful due to the very advanced weapons and technology that they use, ranging from an Invisibility Cloak, to the ability to disguise as other teams' cars and drivers, and even EMP weapons to disable other vehicles and machinery.
• Nanomachines: Implied to be what composes their cars, given the malleable nature of the material and the numerous abilities they can pull off.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: For lack of a better term to describe them or an official one, at least according to Tezla.
• Purple Is Powerful: Their cars and uniforms have purple in them, and they are easily the most powerful of the teams and use the most advanced technology.
• The Reveal: Quite a few important plot points are related to this team in the final movie.
  • Gig confirms that Dr. Tezla used to be part of the Silencerz, explaining why his car, Nitrium, looks and behaves exactly like those used by the Silencerz. The former also reveals that he was stolen and reprogrammed by the latter, only to secretly still be following the Silencerz. Demonstrated when he suddenly turns purple ala the Silencerz support drones and helps a Silencerz agent, later revealed to be Major Wheeler, attempt to get the Accelechargers.
  • spoiler:Vert's father, Major Jack Wheeler, is one of them, and heavily implied to be their leader.
  • spoiler: Banjee Castillo, according to series producer, is one of their drivers.
• Stealth Expert: Thanks to their built-in cloaking devices, they can evade visual detection efficiently. Best demonstrated when they effortlessly infiltrate the Acceledrome as well as the Racing Drones HQ in the fourth movie.
• Theme Naming: All of their cars have an elemental, scientific, or metallic theme to them.
• The Voiceless: The Silencerz never speak aloud while seen on screen (save for radio garbles), and it's implied that they're utilizing completely private communication lines. It's subverted at the end of Ultimate Race when Jack Wheeler reveals himself to be as one of the Silencerz to Vert and tell his son they need to talk.
• Walking Spoiler: Quite a number of important plot points center around them.
• Weaponized Car: All their vehicles come with built in weaponry, either in the form of an EMP shockwave designed to stun or destroy opponents, or special magnetic bombs.
• Xtreme Kool Letterz: They're called the Silencerz.

Silencerz Field Leader/Major Jack "John" Wheeler Jr.

The Silencerz's (supposed) leader, as far as can be gleamed from what little information there is.

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• Action Dad: Revealed to be Vert's father Major Jack Wheeler, and he's certainly highly competent at racing too.
• Big Damn Heroes: In the Neon Pipeline Realm, Shirako gets his motorbike totaled by a MD-01. Just as it is about to shoot him again while he is completely defenseless, Major Wheeler rams his Iridium (disguised as Rolling Thunder) into the MD-01, destroying it and saving Shirako.
• Foreshadowing: You can see the key to his Silencer Car in his briefcase in a Freeze-Frame Bonus when he is at home with Vert. He also warns Vert against racing with his friends in an oddly specific way. Considering he is Vert's father racing in a life or death race against killer drones in crazy dimensions with deadly monsters and traps, it's understandable he does not want Vert to get involved, especially as both are technically on opposite sides (albeit Vert does not know that last part at the time).
• Papa Wolf: Goes out of his way to save his son Vert during the final battle with the Drones. Notably, he also tries to warn Vert to stay out of the racing when he sees him at home and never makes any attempt to harm him during the race. Even when technically racing against Vert, albeit unknowingly from Vert's end, he seems to have his team mates avoid harming Vert.
• Pet the Dog: While opposed to the Teku, Metal Maniacs, and Dr. Tezla, he isn't a heartless monster by any means, and in fact has saved the lives of the other drivers on numerous occasions.
  • He saves Shirako from the Drones in the Pipeline Realm, albeit while initially disguised as Monkey's Rollin' Thunder.
  • He aids Vert during and after the Ultimate Race by distracting and taking out a number of Drone cars.
• Walking Spoiler: It's impossible to talk about him without discussing his true identity.
• Wham Line: Delivers the only line of the faction.

• Wham Shot: He unmasks himself at the end of The Ultimate Race... Revealing himself to be none other than Major Jack Wheeler, Vert's father, completely shocking Vert.

Dr. Peter Tezla

A scientist of the Scrim Corporation and former Silencer who opens the realms for the drivers. He makes cars and wanted to recruit people in World Race because he couldn't get through the realms with just better cars, he needed better drivers.

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• 0% Approval Rating: As the races keep going, he becomes increasingly distrusted by the racers. Kurt doesn't trust him to begin with, but everyone else except Vert begins to have second thoughts about trusting him. As it turns out, this is for very good reason, as Tezla is ultimately responsible for the loss of Dan Dresden, Alec Wood, Banjee Castillo, and Brian Kadeem, as he did not put an EDR in their cars despite it being well within his capacity, Pork Chop becomes incensed with him due to him not caring about Monkey's endangerment, he doesn't warn the drivers about the presence of the Silencerz despite knowing about them from the start, and is more focused on the Accelechargers and Accelerons instead of caring about his drivers. This comes to a head in The Ultimate Race, where all the drivers (bar Vert, who only stayed back because he felt his leg injury caused him to feel that he wouldn't be of any help to them) bail on him to rescue Wylde.
• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: He's so fixated on his goal of meeting the Accelerons that he is willing to beg Gelorum to take him with her when she gets a hold on the Accelechargers and is about to leave to complete the Ultimate Race. She replies that, when she returns, Tezla will be the first one she will kill.
• All Just a Dream: His dream at the beginning of Speed of Silence. A clue to this is Tezla not wearing his motorized suit.
• Anti-Hero: He will save the world, but only by virtue of the fact doing so is a side effect of his want to get to the end of the realms and further his research into the Accelerons. He is willing to send in drivers into dangerous realms without much information or preparation to further that research, to keep them onboard with his goals.
• Big Good: All the known human casts answer to him, though The Ultimate Race reduced that a bit, and he directs/manipulates/motivates them.
• Chekhov's Gun: The suit Tezla uses to get around. It is eventually snagged by the one drone that had the lower half its body Portal Cut when the Storm Realm suddenly closed to make up for the loss of its legs and lower torso. When the Drone is once again taken offline, now even more damaged, Monkey has it reprogrammed into Sparky, and uses some of the parts from Tezla's first broken body braces to supplement some destroyed bits like its arm and jaw. Tezla, meanwhile, acquires a spare set of body braces.
• Cool Car: His Nitrium, which is technologically on par with the ones used by the Silencerz and can even see through and remove their disguises. Given that Tezla himself used to work with them, this makes perfect sense, given that Nitrium and Gig were both stolen after he (Tezla) quit them.
• Fascinating Eyebrow: Does this to Lani in Speed of Silence when she says that they shouldn't put Tork and Nolo on the same track. It makes her find out that he wants trouble between the drivers.
• Foil: He has one in Lani, another Acceledrome crew that were former racers. Lani is more concerned about the drivers' well-being, while Tezla is more concerned on researching the Acceleron and Accelechargers.
• Foreshadowing:
  • His dream foreshadows that the drones will get all of the Accelechargers.
  • Him interrupting Lani when she was explaining why they couldn't go back for Kadeem foreshadows that he doesn't want the Lani to say that they've been through the realms before.
• Handicapped Badass: At the very beginning of the series, in an Ironic Echo of the autopilot car wrecking at the beginning of World Race, Tezla is brutally injured in an accident after an RD-L1 unit forcefully rams his Nitrium off the road. The vehicle tumbles several stories below and takes a thrashing, and so does Tezla, who is so badly injured he is forced to use a robotic exoskeleton to walk as his body slowly recovers. It is meant to convey the much more dangerous threat the Racing Drones pose to the human drivers at large.
  Tesla: Look what they did to ME.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Subverted. Gig takes control of his exoskeleton however and makes him leave with Lani, detonating the Acceledrome himself instead.
• It's All About Me: Most of his actions in the series aren't motivated by his wanting to save the world, but to benefit himself and his research into the Wheel of Power.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: While he may be an egotistical Manipulative Bastard who is willing to sacrifice his drivers if it mean gaining Accelechargers, he isn't completely heartless, and this is shown in his interactions with Vert. After Vert returning sets off the security alarm and alerts Tezla and Gig of his arrival, Tezla lets out a gentle smile. And while he does initially act cross with Vert for just running off, he makes clear to Gig it was just to give him motivation. Finally, when the Acceledrome is invaded by the Racing Drones and Vert wants them both to escape together, he tells Vert to go on without him and entrusts him with stopping Gelorum, whispering him good luck as the Drones come to capture him.
• Lack of Empathy: He simply seems to just not care much for others' lives, only seeing them as assets to be used for the most part, and will do anything to maximize efficiency in them, morals and methods be damned.
• Mad Scientist: While polite and not one for cackling, it's pretty clear he has some screws loose if his tropes are any indication.
• Manipulative Bastard: He wants to create more trouble between the drivers so that they will feel more incentive to be better than the others and win races, like between Kurt and Markie. As he puts it "competition leads to greater effort." And while we're at it, he is actually the one who stole technology from the Silencerz- he just twisted the story around.
• Meaningful Name: He's very smart for a guy named "Tezla".
• Morality Pet: Vert becomes this for him once he comes to the Accleredrome. While he does show concern for Lani and Gig, Vert is the one who tends to bring out the best in him and gets him to temporarily turn down the egotism.
• Nominal Hero: He is technically saving the world and is the Big Good but he is doing all sorts of morally screwed up things to achieve ultimately self-centered goals of researching the realms and Accelerons.
• OOC Is Serious Business: Interestingly, when Monkey and Pork Chop take Old Smokey into the Junk Realm, he uncharacteristically calls Monkey by his nickname when warning him that the EDR was designed for a single driver and may not work for two. Given how he almost always calls the racers (and especially Monkey) by their legal names, it shows that while he may not care for the racers’ safety much, he still does not wish to send them into certain doom.
• Parental Substitute: He is sort of this to Vert, who is a teen whose father is often gone due to being the armed forces (in actuality, he was working for the Silencerz). In World Race, he takes a special interest in Vert and personally addresses him when Vert accepts the idea of being a leader. In Accleracers, he confides in Vert more than anyone else, personally giving him a pep talk and lecture after he returns to the Accleredrome after running off from it. Later in Ultimate Race he gives Vert encouragement in the way a parent might, as well as adding an afterburner to his car to help him. Effectively speaking, he is looking out for Vert in a way that he does not for most other drivers.
  • This makes sense, when one considers that Jack Wheeler, Vert's dad, is a former colleague of Doctor Tesla's. As far back as World Race, Tesla could have been keeping an eye on Vert for Jack Wheeler in a sense. To be fair, Tesla at least informed Jack of what happened with the race by the time the World Race was over, as seen in the ending. It could be that he feels responsible or is doing Jack a favor as a colleague by helping and looking out for his son.
• Skewed Priorities: He cares more for the Accelechargers and the Accelerons than the drivers. Lani notes that this is the reason why he didn't add in the EDRs into the cars sooner. Had he done so, Kadeem could have been saved, as well as Dan Dresden, Alec Wood, Banjee Castillo, and possibly others..
• The Smart Guy: He built a ton of cars, all with unique skills and tools. Also, without Tezla the drivers of the World Race wouldn't even know about Nitrox. Plus he has technology that can teleport you to safety or open portals to an alien realm to race in; you have to be a genius to be able to do this.
• Took a Level in Cynic: While not rude or volatile, it's clear his trauma at the start of the series has made him a lot more sour, as he's not as warm as he was in World Race.
• Unscrupulous Hero: He withheld tons of vital information from his drivers, and sent drivers (albeit it's likely they knew the realms were dangerous but chose to join Tesla on their own volition for their stated love of racing as seen in World Race) into the realms, resulting in their (supposed) deaths. At no point did he show any concern about this.

Gig

A X-88 robot that serves as Tezla's Non-Human Sidekick.

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• Becoming the Mask: Though he only agreed to aid Dr. Tezla and the Acceledrome drivers as a spy for the Silencerz, he seems to eventually enjoy their company, when he agreed to Vert that he would like to spend more time together with them before his Heroic Sacrifice.
• Disney Death: Seems to have short-circuited at the end of World Race when an electrical surge from the Wheel Of Power hits him but gets better. However, in Acceleracers, he dies for real.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Blows himself and the Acceledrome up in The Ultimate Race, saving Dr. Tezla and the other racers from the Racing Drones.
• The Mole: He's been spying on Dr. Tezla for the Silencerz after the former stole him when he quit the team.
• Non-Human Sidekick: To Tezla, being there by his side from the beginning of World Race until the end of The Ultimate Race, five movies later.
• Traitor Shot: He turns purple when Lani finds out his affiliation with the Silencerz.
• The Stoic: As a robot, he doesn't show much emotion.

Lani Tam

The Girl Friday for Tezla and once a Wave Whipper in the World Race.

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• Ditzy Genius: She's pretty intelligent and knows a lot about cars and basic computer skills. However, she thinks driving a Wave Ripper car through lava is a good idea.
• Foil: Lani is a foil to Tezla. Lani is young, Tezla is old. Lani cares for the drivers, Tezla only cares for the Accelechargers and Accelerons.
• Girl Friday: In the Acceleracers movies she doesn't work behind the wheel. Instead, she does stuff for the drivers through tips and calculations with Tezla.
• Nice Girl: Cares for all the drivers. Metal Maniac or Teku.
• Non-Action Guy: Not in World Race but in Acceleracers she never seems to race in the realms herself, instead of being tech support and mechanic for other racers. This is despite the fact she was part of the winning race team in the world race.
• The Smart Guy: As shown in the World Race she easily calculates how fast you're supposed to go to get through the giant wheel. In Acceleracers she's smart enough to work beside Tezla, who is also The Smart Guy.
• Team Mom: This is best shown when the drivers are in trouble, she is worrying over them.
• Too Dumb to Live: In World Race she tries to go through lava, despite her car not having the same utilities as the Scorchers.
• Wrench Wench: Is sometimes seen taking care of the cars.
• Working with the Ex: Despite the Ship Tease Taro and Lani had in "World Race", it's revealed that during the two-year time skip, they broke up, and while there is some tension between them, Lani still shows her concern and care for Taro.

Brian Kadeem

A fellow driver, who comes back after World Race. He has been working with Tezla and meets up with both racing teams in Ignition.

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• Black Dude Dies First: He's the first of the drivers to fall off the track in the Storm Realm. He doesn't actually die though, he gets captured by Gelorum and made into a drone himself. He reappears later and falls from a high building by the end of Ultimate Race, leaving his fate is unknown.
• Body Horror: The state of his body after his Unwilling Roboticization isn't pretty. While his right arm and lower body have been replaced with parts of an RD-S1, his torso and left arm are shown to still be organic to an extent. His stomach area however is filled with glowing cables making it look like his guts are hanging out, his back has a variety of wires and protrusions sticking out with the wires going into the base of his skull, and his eyes have been replaced with cybernetic ones, with the right one occasionally twitching involuntarily. The end result looks like more like Kadeem's body was grafted onto a drone like a skinsuit.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: He's forced to side with Gelorum after she turns him into a Cyborg and messes with his mind.
• Call-Back: During their rematch in Ultimate Race, Drone Kadeem reminds Kurt about the last time they fought in the World Race, and tells to him that he won that time.
• Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: The fate of him. He becomes half-robot by the end of all AcceleRacers movies.
• Death of Personality: While he initially responds to "Kadeem" after being Reforged into a Minion, when Kurt tries to save him from a Disney Villain Death, he proclaims that "Kadeem is gone!" before letting himself fall, Laughing Mad the entire time. Just prior, Kurt had tried reaching out to him by reminding him of his "people", but he had no idea what Kurt was talking about. It becomes clear that Brian Kadeem died before they could save him, and all that was left was a Racing Drone wearing his skin.
• The Heart: The real asset he brought was his kindness and levelheadedness. When he shows up the tension notably dips between the Metal Maniacs and the Teku, and things are more relaxed. When he goes down in the Storm Realm, things immediately take a turn for the worse, and the tension between the two teams flares up again and would not cool down until Breaking Point.
• Lightning Bruiser: Unlike regular Drones, Kadeem as a Drone can take far more punishment while still being just as fast and strong as them.
• Nice Guy: Kadeem is one of the most selfless characters in the series, to the point he does not break under Gelorum's torture and doesn't give her the location to the Acceledrome. Then this gets cruelly subverted when he earns an Unwilling Roboticization that leaves him Brainwashed and Crazy, and by the end of it he's an aggressive, manipulative, evil Racing Drone with only a fragment of Human! Kadeem's kind, polite personality.
• Reforged into a Minion: Gelorum turns him into a willing pawn by grafting Drone components onto him and messing with his mind.
• Sacrificial Lion: Him going down in the Storm Realm both shows how much more dangerous the Racing Realms are compared to Highway 35, and how the Drones are a legitimate threat to the human drivers.
• That Man Is Dead: Implied. Just before his Disney Villain Death;
  RD-Kadeem: (to Kurt) Kadeem is gone!
• Too Powerful to Live: Downplayed, but noticeable. He is unquestionably one of the best drivers of the World Race and has few peers among the Metal Maniacs or the Teku^note In the World Race, he got 2nd place in the first leg despite being cheap-shotted early on, in the second leg he tied with Taro, and conceivably could have caught up with Kurt regardless of his antics as Zed-36, in the third leg he got last due to trying to keep a fake Wheel of Power, but would've only had to fight Kurt for 1st place before Kurt knocked it away, and in the fourth he's Out of Focus and mostly trying to help combat Kurt and the CLYP drivers, and in terms of skill his only peers were Banjee, Vert, Kurt, Taro, and including the new racers, perhaps Karma, Nolo and Tork. With his skills combined with The Heart role he provides, had he stayed longer, the humans would be likely unstoppable early on, as shown when they get over their differences in Ultimate Race.
• Unwilling Roboticization: Gets turned into part-Drone by Gelorum after she has him captured.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: We never know what happens to him after his fall after his fight with the Wylde brothers.

Sparky

"Hello!"

A Racing Drone reprogrammed by Monkey from the wreckage of an RD-S1 unit that came with Vert.

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• Ace Custom: Sparky has the upper torso and chassis of the RD-S1 Racing Drone that was attacking Vert in the Storm Realm, but has a Right Arm built with a cybernetic brace similar to what the Acceleracers and Dr. Tezla use, and later on gets a functioning set of legs taken from an MD-01 recovered by Shirako in the Junk Realm.
• All of the Other Reindeer: Gets a short moment as this when all of the other regular drones see Sparky dancing. They just stop and stare in awe or pity.
• Character Tic: How he got his namesake; the random sparks he emits due to his poor repair. It's a mild annoyance to few of the drivers, namely Pork Chop and at one point, Lani brings up the big risk of him being in charge of filling up a tanker with highly flammable Nitrox fuel.
• Heel–Face Brainwashing: Began as a Racing Drone, then was reprogrammed by Monkey to be an assistant.
• Last of Their Kind: Largely implied to be the case with the (supposed) death of Gelorum followed by the majority of the Racing Drone hierarchy being destroyed within the Acceledrome when it blew up, Sparky is arguably the last of the still-functioning Racing Drones.
• Mook–Face Turn: Began as just another Racing Drone, was reprogrammed into the Metal Maniacs sidekick.
• Non-Human Sidekick: To the Metal Maniacs, and later, to Vert. He's also the one who tells the drivers a bit about where Vert went at the end of AcceleRacers.
  • Irony: The RD-S1 unit that came with Vert after Storm Realm and attempted to attack him is the one that would become his sidekick much later.
• Noodle Incident: In the middle of Breaking Point, Sparky was working on Pork Chop's motorcycle and as a result, in Pork Chop's words; "It's in hog heaven."
• Token Heroic Orc: Due to Sparky having its' original programming wiped; he is the only Racing Drone that is actually a part of the Metal Maniacs.

The Accelerons

The Eminently Enigmatic Race who created Highway 35 and the Racing Realms.

• Extra Eyes: Averted, they only have two real eyes. The Extra Eyes on the Racing Drones are based on small indentations on their forehead.
• The Greys: They originally looked like this in the Highway 35 comics, but AcceleRacers would retcon their appearance.
• Humanoid Aliens: They are blue-skinned, silver-eyed and they have blade-like horns on their head.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: In Highway 35, Tezla came up with the nickname Accelerons. In AcceleRacers, Gelorum also uses the name.
• Precursors: They are thousands of years older than humanity.
• Serious Business: They created two different sets of alternate dimensions for racing in, as well as a group of robots designed for racing. Clearly they are obsessed with racing.