Wheeljack

"The Wreckers scattered a long time ago and alone is usually a lot less complicated."

- Wheeljack to Optimus Prime.

Wheeljack is an Autobot Wrecker, like a brother to Bulkhead and a semi-member of Team Prime. Unlike the rest of the Team Prime's members, Wheeljack is a cocky, reckless loose cannon who doesn't think very highly of human safety and rarely follow orders from his superiors like Optimus Prime and Ultra Magnus.

Wheeljack may be a wild card for the Autobots, but he is very helpful. After a little pep talk from Arcee, Wheeljack is slowly becoming more of a team player than he was before. He works with his team and becomes more adapted to their family ways. Wheeljack now respects his commander after fighting against Predaking.

Wreckers Service
Wheeljack was a member of the Wreckers alongside Bulkhead, Pyro, Rotorstorm, Roadbuster, Impactor and Seaspray during the Great War. Wheeljack and Bulkhead took part in an unnamed battle where they were both low on Energon and surrounded by Decepticons. Wheeljack then tossed a grenade into a heat exchanger which took out all the Decepticons at once. Wheeljack and Bulkhead also had an encounter at Sandokan where he refused to leave Bulkhead to die at Decepticons hands.

Bulkhead then left the Wreckers in favor of joining Team Prime in the battle of Thunderhead Pass but Wheeljack stayed with the Wreckers. He and several Wreckers fought at Darkmount Pass where they were caught between Decepticons and a smelting pit. Wheeljack took out the aggressors and used their bodies as a means of crossing the molten metal.

At one point the Wreckers fell under the command of Ultra Magnus in an effort to stabilise them, but Wheeljack refused to accept this development and abandoned the Wreckers. When the Great Exodus came to pass, Wheeljack and the Wreckers scattered across the stars. He took to traveling alone in his ship, traveling around the galaxy.

Finding Earth / Captured
Eventually, Wheeljack found his way to the Milky Way Galaxy where he made contact with Team Prime. Jackie was equally surprised to hear his old pal Bulkhead on the other end and sent coordinates to rendezvous, which were unfortunately intercepted by Soundwave, and Starscream called in the shapeshifting Makeshift for a mission. The Decepticons made it to Wheeljack first and captured him while Makeshift (disguised as the Wrecker) fooled the Autobots into bringing him to their base.

Wheeljack was put in a detention cell aboard the Decepticon Warship where he and Starscream traded insults but Starscream underestimated Wheeljack. After he left a guard to watch the Wrecker, Wheeljack tricked him into freeing him and met with the 'cons who were preparing to storm the autobot base once Makeshift opened a groundbridge to the autobot base. Wheeljack made it through first and got it closed. At once, Wheeljack dueled the imposter, knocked him out, and sent him through another groundbridge straight back to Starscream... with a grenade about to blow at the suggestion of Bulkhead. The resulting explosion killed Makeshift before he could blab the location of the bots' base to Starscream. Wheeljack was offered a place on Team Prime but he turned it down in favor of continuing his search for more autobot refugees. He offered Bulkhead to come along but he stayed for more reasons than one.

Search for Survivors
Wheeljack continued his search for more autobots and found one, a Wrecker, Seaspray. They made contact and arranged to meet up in the Andromeda System. But as Wheeljack's ship, the Jackhammer, approached Seaspray's ship, a proximity bomb on the latter's went off, thus killing Seaspray but Wheeljack had survived. The Decepticon had intercepted the transmission between the two Wreckers and had attempted to kill two bots with one stone. He picked up an ion trail that led him to Dreadwing and began shooting his ship in a chase.

Back on Earth
Wheeljack chased the con through several systems until at last they made it back to earth. Upon arriving, the two caused quite a ruckus that attracted the attentions of both Agent William Fowler and the Autobots. Seeing Fowler's jet, Dreadwing scanned it and flew off while Wheeljack accidentally blew up a gas station. He went back with the autobots to their base to get a little medical attention from Ratchet while he explained the entire events of what brought him and Dreadwing back to Earth. Bulkhead was devastated to learn about Seaspray's death.

Fowler chewed out Wheeljack for his actions while the Wrecker blew off Fowler's comment, stating he's not one of Optimus Prime's people, then went out to his ship. Outside, Bulkhead had a talk with Wheeljack about the condition the bots were in against the cons, being outnumbered. Wheeljack stated he sees Prime as just a figurehead who wouldn't lift a finger to fight with everyone else when a transmission from Dreadwing came. The decepticon challenged Wheeljack, sending him coordinates. Bulkhead reluctantly came along. On site, the two Wreckers seemingly had Dreadwing trapped when the con blew a bomb, burying them in rubble and then kidnap Bulkhead.

Optimus showed up and chastised Wheeljack for endangering one of his own. They picked up a signal that led them to a strapped-down Bulkhead, outfitted with a bomb timed to blow. Wheeljack set to work in disarming it while Optimus confronted Dreadwing. Bulkhead freed himself and knocked Wheeljack away, intending to let himself blow up without endangering his two friends. Wheeljack wouldn't let him when Optimus captured Dreadwing, and managed to convince him to deactivate the bomb. Dreadwing promptly made his escape and Wheeljack returned to base, finally deciding to stay but wanted to explore the planet. He adopted an earth-based vehicle mode and drove off.

Iacon Relic Hunt
Optimus had told Ratchet to have assistance from Wheeljack in retrieving the next relic. Ratchet rendezvous with Wheeljack by the Jackhammer, and they headed out in the ship to find the relic. Wheeljack quickly got on Ratchet's nerve by calling him "doc" and "sunshine" but soon encountered Soundwave. The Wrecker engaged Soundwave in a dog fight using some fancy aerial flight moves, but against the advice of Ratchet, Wheeljack let Soundwave go and attacked Laserbeak.

After a lengthy dog fight, Wheeljack shot the Mini-Con down, but the Jackhammer was also disabled. On the ground Wheeljack found Laserbeak and suggested planting a grenade inside of the Mini-Con to kill Soundwave, but Ratchet had a better idea: A virus which would download the entire Iacon data base into their systems. While Ratchet set about implanting the virus into Laserbeak, Wheeljack went after Soundwave, soon locating and attacking the Decepticon.

Though he almost got the upper hand, Soundwave hit him with the Resonance Blaster, and Wheeljack barely had time to warn Ratchet before falling unconscious. Despite the damage, Wheeljack refused to return to base for treatment and instead set about fixing his ship. But before Ratchet left, Wheeljack finally acknowledged the doctor by name.

Avenging Bulkhead
Wheeljack was called in to the base when Bulkhead turned up critically injured. While he had full confidence in Ratchet's abilities, he decided to go find the responsible parties. Joined by Miko, he attacked an energon mine to draw out Hardshell. This succeeded, and Wheeljack left Miko in the ship while he faced the Insecticon. Unfortunately Hardshell was too much for him to handle, but as he was about to be killed, Miko interceded in the fight, blasting Hardshell with the Jackhammer's missiles.

After losing the rest of the Insecticon swarm by throwing a box of grenades at them, Wheeljack welcomed Miko to the ranks of the Wreckers. The pair returned to base, though Wheeljack didn't want to see his friend lying comatose and left. Ratchet held a grudge over Wheeljack's revenge stunt, and when Arcee suggested calling the Wrecker in to cover for Bulkhead, Ratchet objected.

Battle of Autobot base
After detecting the immense energy surge projected by the Omega Lock, Wheeljack returned to the Autobot base to find it under attack by Decepticon forces. He made peace with the Autobot's about his revenge stunt with Miko as he simply stated that they will always be on the same side and as Fowler joined in attempting to hold the Decepticons off, they remained as the Autobots only defense against the Decepticons. However, as he attempted to destroy other two Vehicons, his ship was then shot down by Starscream who mockingly commented " And that's how you wreck a Wrecker!".

Captured/Interrogation
Though the Jackhammer was completely destroyed, Wheeljack survived the crash but was immediately captured by Decepticons once again and presented before Megatron who in turn, ordered him detained and questioned. Starscream then took great pleasure in torturing Wheeljack for information. During the interrogation, Wheeljack tried to explain to Starscream that the Autobots did not tell him of their plans, as he arrived on his own whim before expressing interest in whatever other tactics Starscream had to torture him with.

After Starscream's methods failed, the newly arrived Shockwave used a Cortical Psychic Patch but had the same results as Starscream. As a result, Wheeljack became useless. Though Starscream was ordered to terminate Wheeljack, the Decepticon actually planted a tracker on him. Wheeljack was to be melted in a deep pit but the Wrecker used a Vehicon to escape and bailed out of Jasper.

Reunion with team/Predacon encounter
Wheeljack reunited with Bulkhead and Miko and discovered the tracker on him but Wheeljack used his own deception to draw the following strike force into a grenade trap and destroyed them. Wheeljack and his friends then went to a Decepticon mine to get attention from the other Autobots by blowing it up, but were forced to deal with a long thought extinct Predacon named Predaking. No matter what the Wreckers did, nothing could stop the beast until they were saved by the newly arrived Ultra Magnus in his ship who managed to lose the beast and got them to safety.

Thanks to Ultra Magnus, Wheeljack, Bulkhead and Miko were reunited with Bumblebee, Arcee, Ratchet, June, Jack and Fowler, though Smokescreen and Optimus Prime were still absent. Though they were all worried, Ultra Magnus stated that they could not wait around for Optimus to show up, forcing the Wrecker commander to take charge, much to Wheeljack's disapprovement. However a whole shelf full of weapons inside Magnus's ship later changed Wheeljack's mind.

Infiltrating/Attacking Darkmount
Bulkhead and Wheeljack were GroundBridged to Darkmount. As a distraction, Wheeljack continued to throw Energon Bombs. Starscream had sent some forces to attack attack them, which were destroyed by Bulkhead's Big Cannon and Wheeljack's Energon whip.

After blasting and groundbridging the Predacon to the Arctic, he and his fellow wrecker were confronted and defeated by Shockwave and were surrounded along with Bumblebee and Arcee after they were defeated. When Ultra Magnus announced that Optimus is online, Shockwave and the Vehicons were looking elsewhere, Bulkhead gave the signal and the Autobots attacked their captors, freeing themselves. Teaming up, Wheeljack stepped on Shockwave and transformed to clear the area along with the bots as well as dodging the scientist's blasts.

He was present among the Autobots at a military base when Agent Fowler was giving his thanking speech and welcomed his Wrecker commander to Team Prime.

Hunting Predacon remains
Following the destruction of Darkmount, Wheeljack and Ultra Magnus searched the former base for supplies but found only a single Energon cube and the lobbing ball. However tensions between Wheeljack and his former Wrecker commander soon emerged following a lobbing stunt to Bulkhead which almost killed Miko. But soon enough however, Optimus returned from a mission with the remains of yet another Predacon, much to everyone's shock as Predacons went extinct on Cybertron long before all life on Cybertron even existed. Soon after two Precdacon excavation sites where uncovered. The Wreckers were tasked with recovering one in Scotland.

Wheeljack jumped striaght into a battle with Vehicons, despite Ulta Magnus ordering him to wait for proper cover. This forced Bulkhead to play as a peace maker between the two. This was made more difficult when it turned out he brought Miko along in his chest cavity. The three Wreckers and Miko found themselves facing a returned and very angry Predacon. Miko climbed up to the ship to call for back up, the three then faced the beast. Wheeljack goaded it into shooting fire at him. This required it to open its mouth, which he intended to throw a grenade down. As he threw it, the Predacon closed its mouth and the grenade brought down the cavern. When the Wreckers came to, the Predacon was gone.

Magnus and Wheeljack nearly came to blows, before Bulkhead reminded them Miko was on the surface with the Predacon and probably with the Decepticon escort. When they reached the surface they found Miko in the Apex Armor beating up Starscream and his Vehicons. Wheeljack fed up with Magnus drove off. He called for a Ground Bridge back to base, where he was pushed onto another mission with Arcee. The two Ground Bridged in the middle of the Vehicon platoon and easily dispatched them. In the mine, the two talked about their war experiences and Wheeljack's ditching of his team. He admitted Ultra Magnus was not the cause of his leaving, but Bulkhead as he was going soft. Arcee told him not to push Bulkhead away as he would never forgive himself if something happened to him, reminding him of how he hunted down Hardshell.

The two got a call from Jack asking for Arcee's help because his mother and Fowler might be in serious trouble. The duo fond them being held by Knock Out. They each killed two Insecticons sent to help Knock Out and Wheeljack saved Fowler and June. When they returned to base, Wheeljack was talked into staying.

Predaking battle / Destruction of Project Predacon
The Autobots investigated a potential Energon mine. When scouting the mine, Wheeljack and Ultra Magnus found Shockwave's laboratory. Thy found Shockwave in his labs and engaged him but heran away, but activated the Predacon clones. Through the use of a grenade and a large batch of Synthetic Energon, Wheeljack killed every single clone still in their tubes. The two were met by the Predacon, they faced before, now in robot mode and now calling himself Predaking. Once Wheeljack's grenade went off, Predaking became enraged at the deaths of his brothers and engaged the two Wreckers and crushed Ultra Magnus's hand under his foot. They were saved at the last minute by Optimus Prime who took them back to base for repairs. Wheeljack then stood over Ultra Magnus's bedside table as Ratchet attempted repairs on Magnus's hand. Wheeljack stated Magnus fought boldly like a Wrecker.

Capturing Soundwave / Omega Lock 2.0
When Magnus had his new claw repalced for his hand, Wheeljack was conerned that it wouldn't be well for battle. After the Decepticon began taking Earth technology, Wheelack was part of the team that totally failed to stop another Vehicon theft. Optimus, however shot down Soundwave. Wheeljack then stood with the other Autobots as they interogated Soundwave who crashed his own drives to avoid talking, befor doing so however Soundwave spoke for the first time which Wheeljack witnessed. For the second theft, Wheeljack persuaded Ratchet to let Magnus come. When Predaking showed up, Optimus ordered them to secure the objective while he faced the beast. Thanks to Wheeljack's grenades they caught up to Shockwave only for the Predacon to whisk him away.

Ratchet Captured / Finding the Nemesis
When they got back to base, Ratchet had been taken by Soundwave. Wheeljack deduced that Megatron was after the Sythetic Energon formula. He and Raf later built a drone out spare military hardware to track down the Nemesis. The probe was launched with Optimus following. The probe was later blown up by Starscream. Ratchet later sent them the coordinates of the Nemesis.

Battle of the Nemesis / Megatron's end
The Wreckers were ordered to secure the bridge. When they got there they were Ground Bridged by Soundwave to the lower decks. Soon after Megatron was destroyed by Bumblebee forcing the Decepticons to retreat which allowed the Wreckers to secure the bridge.

When they arrived they found Jack and Miko had claimed the bridge already. Ultra Magnus and Wheeljack then flew the ship to Cybertron and the Lock was used to restore their homeworld. When they packed up Wheeljack took his lobbing ball with him and saluted Fowler before stepping through the Ground Bridge to their homeworld.

Search for the AllSpark
Once on their homeworld Wheeljack witnessed the graduation of Bumblebee from scout to warrior and begun the party by destroying the statue of Megatron at Kaon. Soon after however Optimus informed the group that he must find the AllSpark which he jettisoned into space eons ago.

Wheeljack was chossen to fly Optimus there with Ultra Magnus's ship. Once in Theta Scorpia where it was located Optimus went after the AllSpark but they were soon troubled with a plasma storm but Optimus managed to grab the AllSpark before it hit, though Wheeljack's ship took a hit.

Unicron's return
Once on their way back to Cybertron Wheeljack and Optimus were contacted by Bumblebee and Arcee who told them that Unicron, possessing Megatron's corpse, had returned. Wheeljack was puzzuled, wondering why Unicron simply didn't just take Earth behind their backs but Prime elaborated that Unicron had in fact travlled to Earth to destroy his age old enemy Primus. Wheeljack and Optimus eventually returned to Cybertron where Unicron had caused considerable damage.

As Optimus engaged Unicron, Wheeljack attempted to fly the AllSpark to safety only to be shot down by Unicron. Jackie was carried to safety by Bulkhead and Arcee while Optimus emptied the AllSpark into the Matrix within him, using the container to seal Unicron's essence within. Wheeljack stood witness to Megatron (now free of Unicron's possession) abandoning his Decepticon ways and Starscream flying off.

Cybertron reborn / Optimus Prime's sacrifice
After the battle Wheeljack stood assembled with Team Prime (now including Knock Out) as Optimus stated that merging the AllSpark with himself now required him to sacrifice himself to restore new life to Cybertron. Wheeljack was there to witness Optimus dive into the Well of AllSparks with millions of new sparks exiting, possibly including Optimus Prime's.

Personality and Traits
As a member of the Wreckers, Wheeljack is a highly accomplished soldier who has seen plenty of actions and gained plenty of scars doing so. However, Wheeljack is also a cocky, uncouth, and reckless loose cannon who rarely chooses to follow orders from Optimus and hardly takes human well-being into consideration. He also tries to avoid the complications of teamwork, choosing to do his own way most of the time. However, Wheeljack is still trustworthy enough to know that he will return when the Autobots need him as proven when they needed Wheeljack to help with finding an Iacon relic and taking part in the base defense.

Wheeljack has been shown multiple times not taking human safety into consideration when he brings Miko on his vengeance mission against Hardshell and again in their mission against Predaking. The one exception was when the Autobots were on the run from Decepticons and Jackie had Bulkhead with him too. However he does not wish to kill humans.

Wheeljack's trait for not following orders is strained when Ultra Magnus, his former unit commander, arrives on Earth and is stuck with him as his ship is gone. From episodes 3 to 6 Jackie and Magnus are at each other's throats as Jackie cared only for his own teammates and not his commanders. However, in episode 7 when he accompanies Arcee on a Predacon hunt she manages to talk some sense into him and Wheeljack becomes more of a team player. This helps escpecially when Ultra Magnus in turn becomes less of a drill sergeant and more a family member. By episode 11 - 13 as well as Predacons Rising Wheeljack follows Optimus and Magnus's respective orders without much hassle.

Powers and Abilities
As a Wrecker, Wheeljack is one of the toughest Autobots online and has displayed great skill in combat, and could even fend off against Predaking alongside Ultra Magnus, as well as that he has proven to be efficient in dual-swordsmanship as he is able to wield his two Katanas with great proficiently to the point where he could even engage Soundwave in battle. He possess a great amount of endurance to the point where he can resist interrogation even from Shockwave

Though he often prefers to use combat he is skilled in marksmanship and has proven to be a crack shot as he is equipped with two convertible Energon blasters. Additionally he has demonstrated to be a demolition expert as within his inventory he carries explosive grenades which he can use in variety of ways to cripple his opponents, he often refers to this tactic as is signature move 'One grenade, One shot'.

He has also proven to be an escape artist having escaped captivity several times, as he is able to utilize various tactics to confuse and trick his captors, following he was un-hesitant to use anything including using his feet to strangle a Vehicon and blast the console and also utilizing a Jet Vehicon flight abilities near a smelting pit to escape Darkmount.

He is a skilled pilot as he can captain various ships including his personal vessel the Jackhammer which he is able to pilot with exceptional ease and maneuverability, having explored the galaxy and deepest corners of space even Optimus commending him for his ability. His skill aided him as proven by outflanking Soundwave and Lazerbeak whom he defeated.

He is a talented mechanic and experienced in his experiences during the Great War, which gives him the ability to craft things like the DIY that he and Raf built to find Ratchet prisoner of the Decepticons.

Quotes

 * "I've had warmer welcomes from Decepticons combat brigades."
 * "Bulkhead? That you?"
 * "If you're trying to ruin my day, you're gonna have to try harder."- Makeshift to Vehicon troopers
 * "He got the warm and fuzzies and decided to switch sides."- Makeshift to Starscream
 * "Time to take out the trash."
 * "Nice lob."- Wheeljack to Bulkhead
 * "I had a feeling the gang might show."
 * "The Wreckers scattered a long time ago and alone is usually a lot less complicated."
 * "So, who do we call for cleanup?"
 * "Whatever you say, sunshine."
 * "Choke on that Con!"
 * "Just resting my optics and my audio receptors."
 * "See around, Ratchet."
 * "What's the damage doc?"
 * "I watched you work. You're a maestro."
 * "Nice work kid."
 * "Didn't think I let Team Prime have all the fun did ya?"
 * "We're on the same side doc, always will be."
 * "Like I told ya, they weren't expecting me. Never bothered to fill me in. So go ahead, knock yourself out."
 * "I can take it."
 * "You..."
 * "Guess we'll have to sneak pass enemy lines, Wrecker Style."
 * "You call this not much."
 * "Blah blah blah."
 * "It just burns me up when a Wrecker goes soft."
 * "Magnus fought like a Wrecker."
 * "Doc, commander's ready."
 * "Maybe Buckethead's after the techno babble."
 * "For the doc."
 * "When do we leave?"
 * "I kinda figured it be bigger."
 * "How we gonna get that thing to safety?" - Last line of the series

Trivia

 * Since his revenge stunt with Miko, the Autobots have been hesitant to call him in for assistance in the battlefield, despite facing two extreme situations where his help would have been most useful. In Darkest Hour, Wheeljack even said that a team has to stay together; no one even called him especially Bulkhead. This was mentioned when the latter was interrogated by Starscream.
 * Wheeljack's bio claims that he is a mechanic, but that has yet to be extensively seen. It has been alluded to in "Triage" with him fixing his ship in very short time. In "Evolution" he further adds to this by performing maintenance and upgrading Ultra Magnus' ship and in "Persuasion" by aiding Raf build his transponder with Laserbeak's clipped wing.
 * Since Season 3 begun, Wheeljack has thus far been present for all episodes (minus Thirst), thus finally making him a main character in Transformers: Prime series
 * Wheeljack (and Starscream) are largely responsible for Cybertron's restoration. He was captured by Starscream and allowed to escape to kill both he and Bulkhead, which resulted in him killing the Seekers sent to destroy him, the Predacon was sent after him. This prompted Megatron to clone more, which prompted Starscream's alternate super soldier project, which made all the Decepticons Synth-En placed in Shockwave's lab. When Wheeljack blew up the Synth-En it bonded with Predacon CNA and created Cyber Matter. This prompted Megatron to rebuild the Omega Lock and restore Cybertron.
 * Wheeljack and Bulkhead are the only Autobots in the series to use grenades.
 * Wheeljack never has flashbacks about him and Bulkhead in the Wreckers during the war. He only mentions about their time in the Wreckers.
 * Wheeljack has been shot down in a ship four times now, first by Vehicons in his debut in the Jackhammer, second in Triage by Laserbeak again in the Jackhammer, third by Starscream again in the Jackhammer in which it was also destroyed, fourth in Ultra Magnus's ship by Unicron.
 * This incarnation of Wheeljack is very different from most others. Wheeljack is generally well known for being the G1 Autobot inventor whose inventions are either very good or very bad. This trait was carried on to his Dark of the Moon counterpart Wheeljack/Que. The one other exception is Armada Wheeljack who was an old friend of Hot Shot who believed the scout to have betrayed him and joined the Decepticons. This is also the first Wheeljack to be a Wrecker.
 * Of all the Autobots Wheeljack has had the most encounters with Predaking. Ironic for someone who only occasionally appeared before season 3.
 * Wheeljack is the only Autobot who has not seen or faced Megatron in person in the series.
 * Wheeljack may be based on a Samurai. (His swords and battle mask) His appearance also resembles his G1 incarnation.
 * Interestingly enough, Wheeljack has been shown with Earth alternate mode elements (such as car wheels on his shoulders and legs) before even coming to Earth.
 * Wheeljack's "one grenade, one shot" strategy is hinted at by the fact that he does carry a single grenade on his hip.
 * In Season 3 after Wheeljack left and called for a bridge back to base in Plus One. He about went back to his old self into being alone. It was only thanks to Arcee after the two talked about his problem with Bulkhead which helped Wheeljack not to distance himself from Bulkhead.
 * Wheeljack got captured twice in the series and escaped in both occasions.

Games

 * Transformers: Fall of Cybertron (Multiplayer exclusive only)

Novels

 * Transformers: Exodus

Transformers: Prime
Season 1: Season 2: Season 3: Beast Hunters:
 * Con Job (First appearance)
 * T.M.I. (Picture only)
 * Loose Cannons
 * Triangulation (Mentioned only)
 * Triage
 * Hurt
 * New Recruit (Mentioned only)
 * Darkest Hour
 * Darkmount, NV
 * Scattered
 * Prey
 * Rebellion
 * Project Predacon
 * Chain of Command
 * Plus One
 * Evolution
 * Minus One
 * Persuasion
 * Synthesis
 * Deadlock

TV Movie

 * Predacons Rising