Robots in Disguise

Optimus Prime has assembled the 19 new transformers pictured here to help him construct the Ultimate Transformer. Although some of these transformers may be able to transform in more than one of the ways listed below, there’s only one configuration that will allow each of them to be used exactly once. Of course, we can’t tell you the transformers’ real names (it’s a secret!), but we can tell you that they’ve been living undercover as humans for dozens of years. They’re more than meets the eye!

Transformation Ultimate Transformation
Remove all my even letters, and I transform into a kind of publication. This publication is the starting point for the Ultimate Transformer.
Remove a bigram (two consecutive letters) from within me, and I transform into a local cable channel. Find the channel’s initial bigram within the Ultimate Transformer. Replace it with the channel’s final bigram.
Say me out loud, and I transform into a bird. Identify the two letters that appear in this step’s original transformer but don't appear in the bird. Add them in alphabetical order to the end of the Ultimate Transformer.
Change my first letter into a new letter and anagram me, and I transform into an adjective meaning “faithful.” Double this new letter, then add both of them to the Ultimate Transformer immediately before its last letter.
Add a new letter somewhere within me, and I transform into the last name of a literary title character. Remove this new letter from the Ultimate Transformer.
Remove two nonconsecutive letters from me, and I transform into a cartoon character. Replace the Ultimate Transformer’s second consonant with this cartoon character.
Replace a well-known heavy metal band with a single letter, and I transform into another, lesser-known heavy metal band. Remove the Nth letter of the Ultimate Transformer, where N is the number of members in the original lineup of the more well-known band.
Add the letter P to the front of me and a four-letter adjective to the end of me, and I transform into a trial-related verb. This verb is a kangaroo word (a word whose letters include its own synonym, like UnsiGhtLY or conTAmINaTe). Add the shorter synonym to the front of the Ultimate Transformer.
Shift one of my bigrams to a different position within me, and I transform into a six-letter adjective. Add this adjective’s initial trigram to the Ultimate Transformer immediately after its sixth letter.
Remove my first letter and anagram me, and I transform into a color. Add this color to the Ultimate Transformer immediately after its third consonant.
Remove my Xth letter and anagram me, and I transform into something edible. Remove the Ultimate Transformer’s Xth letter.
Replace my final bigram with a new letter, and I transform into something that’s in the same category as what I started as. Find that new letter and that bigram within the Ultimate Transformer. Move that letter into the middle of that bigram.
Copy one of my bigrams, reverse it, and add this new bigram somewhere within me, and I transform into something a trucker might say. Add this new bigram somewhere within the Ultimate Transformer such that when you’re done, it contains two pairs of doubled consonants.
Remove a trigram from within me, and I transform into a cartoon character. Find both the trigram and the cartoon character within the Ultimate Transformer. Move the trigram into the cartoon character so this step’s original transformer appears within the Ultimate Transformer.
Reverse one of my bigrams, and I transform into a word meaning "ordinary." Anywhere the new bigram appears within the Ultimate Transformer, reverse it so it becomes the original bigram.
Replace my initial bigram with a new letter, and I transform into something into which I can be plunged. Add this new letter to the Ultimate Transformer immediately before each occurrence of doubled letters.
Replace my doubled letter with a new doubled letter, and I transform into things you don’t want in your garden. Remove any palindromic sequence of three or more letters from the Ultimate Transformer if that sequence immediately follows a single instance of this new letter.
Replace one of my letters with a new letter, and I transform into a villain in a 2000 superhero film. Repeat this replacement as often as possible within the Ultimate Transformer.
Remove one of my letters that’s from the second half of the alphabet, and I become a word meaning “change.” Find a body of water within the Ultimate Transformer. Replace it with the removed letter.