Gold

SO many Twinkies.

Gold is a soft, shiny metal that is highly valued by humans. This often confuses Transformers, who don't think it is very useful unless they can use it to their advantage in dealing with the earthlings.

Fiction

The Transformers cartoon

A group of Autobots and Decepticons were transported back in time to the year A.D. 543. Starscream soon took over Sir Wigend of Blackthorn's castle and estate. Sir Wigend was betrayed when one of his subjects, Sir Wulf, presented Starscream with a chest full of Sir Wigend's personal gold treasure. Starscream immediately created wire out of it which he needed for his makeshift energy generator. A Decepticon Raider in King Arthur's Court

Octane was hiding out in Carbombya nursing Trypticon back to health. The leader of Carbombya, Abdul Fakkadi got angry with the two Decepticons due to Trypticon's large consumption of his oil. Octane convinced Fakkadi to let them stay when he had Trypticon steal Fort Knox as payment. Metroplex and the Autobots eventually defeated Trypticon and returned Fort Knox to the United States. Thief in the Night

The Quintessons used monsters created from Daniel Witwicky's nightmares to try to kill both Autobots and Decepticons. Springer and Razorclaw were captured by a dragon and taken to a castle. A princess was there chained to a dungeon. She offered gold to any of the Transformers who would free her. Springer told her he would free her without the gold, but Razorclaw seemed interested. Nightmare Planet

The Galactic Credits used by the Earth Defense Command resembled gold. Money Is Everything

Marvel The Transformers comics

Berko asked Sky Lynx if he had any gold ingots to pay for his and the Spacehikers's admission into the Cosmic Carnival. When Sky Lynx couldn't procure any currency, he was forced to work as an attraction at the Carnival. The Cosmic Carnival

Big Looker Generation 1 coloring books

Megatron set out to collect gold from shipwrecks dating to the Alaskan gold rush. With the gold he would buy human factories. This part of his devious plan is... probably not even illegal—with the proper permits. He then planned to use the factories to create a Decepticon army to rule the world. Megatron collected a sizable treasure, which he was going to transport in a truck that was parked nearby. However, that truck was Optimus Prime with a squad of Autobots hiding in his trailer! A battle was fought with the Autobots emerging the victors. It was not revealed what they did with the gold. Search for Treasure Under the Sea

Beast Wars Neo comic

Magmatron offered Archadis a bounty of 1,000,000 gold for each Maximal he could destroy on the planet Greengard. Mortal Combat! Twenty Thousand Meters in the Sky

Transformers/G.I.Joe

As the Decepticons aided their Cobra allies in a military raid, Megatron insisted his troops steal all the energy they could while the humans wasted their time collecting worthless pieces of paper and "yellow metal". The Line

Hearts of Steel

Thinking the Decepticons were here for the benefit of mankind, the inventor Tobias Muldoon was aiding them in adapting to 19th century technology. Tobias mentioned to Starscream that they would need money to buy the supplies they need. Starscream didn't understand the concept of currency and had Tobias explain it to him. Once he understood, he sent the Insecticons rob a train shipment of cash and gold. The Federal troops that were guarding it could do nothing to stop the Insecticons from taking it all. Hearts of Steel #2

Animated

Crossroads held the city of Detroit hostage by controlling all of its robots. He demanded all of the city's gold and the destruction of the Autobots. Animated Comic #3

Live-action film series

The Veiled Threat

Starscream was able to synthesize gold coins which he used to hire a band of mercenaries called the Human Accessory Force. The Veiled Threat

Titan Dark of the Moon comics

The fabled lost city of El Dorado was made entirely of gold. Soundwave sought it out to use it to crash the world's economy, but it was destroyed by the Tanto Gang after Soundwave double-crossed them. Gold And Blood