Bulkhead

"After a long road trip, it feels good to get out of the car, stretch my legs, and kick some tailpipe!"

- Bulkhead in Convoy.

Bulkhead is one of the main protagonists, an Autobot warrior and the strongest, sturdiest and bulkiest member of Team Prime. He is the guardian of his human friend, Miko Nakadai. During the Great War, Bulkhead was formerly a Wrecker and became great friends with Wheeljack. Despite his loyalty to the group, Bulkhead left the Wreckers early on to accompany Optimus Prime and other Autobots on Earth. Bulkhead had a long-standing rivalry with Breakdown, prior to the latter's demise. After successfully defeating Unicron with the other Autobots and (unexpectedly) Megatron, Bulkhead and his teammates succeeded in restoring their leader Optimus Prime from his pre-Prime state Orion Pax.

Bulkhead partook in the race to obtain the Iacon relics, consisting of numerous weapons, and Bulkhead became heavily injured while trying to retrieve one and was cared for by his teammates. He welcomed Smokescreen into the group after a difficult beginning with him since their first meeting. Following the Decepticons' finding of the Autobot base's location, Bulkhead evacuated the Autobot base with Miko to evade capture. After staying with alone with Miko, he reunited with Wheeljack and soon Ultra Magnus, whom he had not seen since his arrival on Earth. Bulkhead and the other Autobots assaulted Darkmount, where they were soon saved by Optimus Prime, now in a new upgraded form, after they had been captured and planned for execution by Megatron. Bulkhead also worked with his fellow Wreckers to stop the Decepticons obtaining Predacon bones to re-create the deceased race into a new army and frequently fought the new adversary Predaking. Bulkhead then partook in the final assault against the Decepticons as Megatron tried to cyberform Earth once more with a rebuilt Omega Lock, resulting in Megatron's death and the rebirth of Cybertron and departed ways with Miko one last time as he and Team Prime returned home.

Shortly after their arrival to Cybertron Bulkhead partook in Team Prime's struggle against the return of Unicron, using Megatron's corpse as a vessel, and Team Prime found themselves teaming up with the Predacons and Decepticons to repel him until Optimus could eventually trap him and restore Cybertron with the Omega Lock, at the cost of his own life.

However, in Transformers: Robots in Disguise, Bulkhead made an appearance in Season 3 after being called by Optimus Prime himself who was revived by the Primes.

Cybertron
Originally, Bulkhead emerged from the Well Of All-sparks where he became a labourer in construction who simply viewed himself as an uneducated simpleton who could simply "build stuff and break stuff".

The Great War
During the war Bulkhead became a member of the Wreckers, an elite combat unit dedicated to fulling missions that no one else would accept, where he met Wheeljack of whom the two developed a close friendship with each other where the two fought together in many battles alongside many others. In one unnamed battle, he and Wheeljack were left with no communications as well as possessing low Energon thus were surrounded by Decepticons; however Wheeljack managed to save the pair by tossing a grenade into a smelter causing it to explode and take out their enemies.

At one point he and Wheeljack had an altercation on Sandokan additionally Bulkhead personally witnessed an entire unit wiped out by weaponized Tox-En orchestrated by Megatron. He also developed a long-time rivalry with Breakdown, whom Bulkhead personally stated to have caused him many painful losses when referring to Miko "You have no idea the things he's done."

Eventually during The Battle Of Thunderhead Pass, Bulkhead joined Optimus' forces despite his love of being a Wrecker he decided to put his strength towards a more noble cause as he considered him to be 'the real deal' he later became a member of Team Prime where he presumably met Ratchet and Bumble Bee, however, he often pondered whether Wheeljack felt that he deserted him. At one point he and the rest of Team Prime experienced an end run on Polyhex.

Human encounter and the return of Megatron
Bulkhead followed Cliffjumper's signal with the other Autobots. He arrived with Arcee, Bumblebee, Ratchet and Optimus Prime on the scene. They searched the area until Arcee found one of Cliffjumper's horns. The team held a little funeral outside of their base to honor Cliffjumper and hoped for the best of being on Earth.

Optimus instructed Arcee and Bumblebee to retrieve Jack and Raf when they were spotted by Decepticons. Along the way, they were spotted by a third human, a girl named Miko Nakadai. After they arrived, Miko had already questioned Bulkhead on his appearance and personality. Optimus explained to the three that the Autobots were there to protect their planet from the Decepticons and feared Megatron's return.

Optimus explained that the Decepticons were on Earth with them because their planet was uninhabitable at the moment and stated that if Megatron returned, then things would be worse.

When Agent Fowler came, Optimus told the humans to hide so that he doesn't get them out. In the short conversation, Bulkhead broke one of Ratchet's devices, which enraged Ratchet. When Agent Fowler left. Bulkhead stated Fowler's big bearings for being a human. Optimus informed him that Fowler was concerned for the people on Earth. When Cliffjumper's signal came back online, Optimus went with his team while Ratchet remained at the base with the humans. In a decepticon mine, they fought vehicons and killed several of them. In their desperate attempt to find Cliffjumper, they were too late and escaped the mine before it blew up. They groundbridged back to base, where Miko asked if she could come next time. Arcee was close to yelling at her, but Jack took Miko away. Optimus asked Arcee what she saw and she told him that Cliffjumper was experimented on by the Decepticons. Arcee fates near the floor, which caused the team to try to help her. Arcee said she was fine, but Ratchet had to check her. He examined her and found a strange colored liquid on her hand. Ratchet scrapped it off her hand and told her to take a containment bath to avoid any strange things. Optimus assigned Bumblebee with Raf, Bulkhead with Miko and Jack with Arcee to accompany them to their homes. Bulkhead took Miko for a little joy ride on their way to the base. As the humans and Autobots came to the base, Optimus perpared to roll out with Ratchet. Optimus puts Arcee in charge and she questions him on where he's going. Optimus said he was going with Ratchet to investigate and they went off.

Eventually, Agent Fowler was kidnapped by the Decepticons and caused Bulkhead to save him while the kids stay at the base. Miko managed to follow Bulkhead and he spotted her by his side. He told her to stay quite but a Decepticon trooper spotted her. Bulkhead swiftly killed the trooper and realized that Jack and Raf came along too. They hop inside Bulkhead's vehicle mode and went to save Fowler. Troopers caught Jack and Raf, but Arcee and Bumblebee saved them both. When Bulkhead reunited with Bumblebee and Arcee, they went to save Fowler and escaped with the kids unharmed.

They returned to base, Optimus helped Ratchet with his arm. Optimus found out that the humans went on a wild chase to get Agent Fowler back and Bulkhead told Optimus it won't happen again. Miko protested and showed Optimus a picture of a vehicon, which she thought was a Decepticon plan. Optimus explains that if Megatron uses Dark Energon to revive Cybertron's dead, the zombie army will come to Earth and destroy it.

Optimus assembled his team and they prepared to fight against the oncoming threat. They killed vehicons and Optimus fought against Megatron. While Optimus and Megatron fought each other, the team was disabling the space bridge. Megatron shot Arcee when he came around after fight Optimus. Optimus escapes with his team back to base. Miko ran over and hugged Bulkhead's hand. Arcee was damaged, but she is still standing. Optimus makes a speech on how they will vanquished any foe that comes in their way and that they will stand for their home.

Masters and Students
Bulkhead was helping Miko with her science project for school until Ratchet was involved in assisting the kids with their projects, which left Bulkhead and Arcee out of the fun.

Scrapheap
Bulkhead went with Bumblebee through the Arctic to find nothing to bring back to base. Ratchet examined both of them and Bulkhead insisted that they were fine to Ratchet. Bulkhead and Bumblebee were forced by Ratchet to work while Optimus was out with Arcee in the Arctic. Bulkhead, Bumblebee, and Ratchet shockingly witnessed as Raf brought a scraplet over. Bulkhead and Bumblebee deployed their weapons and huddled near Ratchet. The scraplet made its way to Bumblebee but it was soon destroyed by Raf. Bulkhead explains that scraplets eat metal, especially living metal. It was clear that their mission was to get the Groundbridge working, after the scraplets had tampered with its Energon pipe, in order to save Optimus and Arcee from freezing to their deaths. Bulkhead tagged along with Miko in a bug hunt to search and destroy the scraplets but ran into complications as the lights in the room that they were in turned off, to which Bulkhead screamed frantically like a little girl. When the lights came back on, Miko questioned if Bulkhead did and Bulkhead tried to cover it up, but was soon jumped by scraplets. However, Bulkhead, Bumblebee, and Ratchet managed to survive through the whole ordeal, with the aid of their human allies, the GroundBridge was working. Bulkhead acted as bait and managed to lead the scraplets into the bridge where he successfully gets them to the Arctic where he tells his comrades to duck down as he did so himself. After the scraplets were frozen, Bulkhead informed Optimus and Arcee that he would invite them in but the place was a mess. Bulkhead went back to base where he was looked at by the humans and witnessed Miko screaming like a little girl herself after seeing a spider.

Con Job
While Miko and Bulkhead finished their chores, they were deciding what to do next when the Autobots received a call from another Autobot, who turned out to be Wheeljack. Bulkhead was very thrilled that his best friend and old Wrecker partner was coming to Earth. When Decepticons intercepted Wheeljack's ship, Bulkhead, Arcee, and Bumblebee went to back up Wheeljack, which the latter proved to not need any assistance as the three Autobots watched him finish up the Vehicons. Bulkhead hugged his old friend and they all went back to base to where Bulkhead introduced Wheeljack to Miko then they celebrated. Bulkhead and Wheeljack began lobbing with a Cybertronian ball in the base as the party was on. However, Bulkhead grew incredibly suspicious towards Wheeljack when he was revealing old war stories to the children but Wheeljack was left in silent, which made Bulkhead recognized it wasn't like Wheeljack to be. When Bulkhead questioned Wheeljack on the Battle of Darkmount Pass, the latter was caught as a Decepticon impostor named Makeshift, who was disguised as Wheeljack, when he revealed the story of the battle but made an error on one detail, which was that Bulkhead never took part in that battle as he joined up with Optimus. When the real Wheeljack arrived, he defeated the Decepticon and Bulkhead threw the impostor out via the GroundBridge. As the party for the real Wheeljack went on, Wheeljack was soon getting ready to leave, as Bulkhead stated some bots never change. Wheeljack offered Bulkhead to come with him to search for any other old members out there in space, but Bulkhead refused as he stated his place belonged with his other close friends on Earth, including Miko. Miko took a picture of Bulkhead with Wheeljack as she promised to Wheeljack to take good care of Bulkhead.

Convoy
In a mission to help Agent Fowler escort a device called D.N.G.S, Bulkhead took part with the other Autobots in the convoy. As the group traveled in their vehicle modes, they were attacked by MECH. Under Optimus's orders, Bulkhead stayed in his vehicle mode until they were soon attacked by several Vehicons after they succeeded in placing the D.N.G.S in a moving train. Bulkhead stated it felt good to get out, stretch his legs, and fight as he and the other Autobots rushed towards the Vehicons to fight them.

Deus Ex Machina
Bulkhead had, unknowingly, picked Miko up from detention. On their way to the Autobot base, Bulkhead had a conversation with Miko about neglecting her education. Miko simply wanted to be like Bulkhead, which Bulkhead stated she could be so many other things, even mentioning she could be a medic like Ratchet. Ratchet reported an energon signal in Greece, which Bulkhead took this mission as an educational trip for Miko. They arrived in Greece where Bulkhead told Miko to do some research for history report while he detects that humans have hit an energon vein then he sees something Cybertronian in an ancient fresco in the ruins. As Bulkhead identified the object in the fresco as the Energon Harvester, but as Miko snapped a picture of the fresco, they were soon confronted by Bulkhead's old nemesis, Breakdown. After a short fight, Bulkhead was knocked into the fresco by Breakdown before the Decepticon escaped. Miko showed Bulkhead the image she took off the fresco. The Autobots soon came up with a plan that involved the humans taking the relic inside the museum while the Autobots surrounded the museum. They were soon confronted by Knock Out and Breakdown, which resulted in the Decepticons getting away with the Harvester. Bulkhead opted to rescue Miko from the museum guard but was told by Optimus that Miko was safe from danger. Alone, Bulkhead went back to Greece where he managed to take out Knock Out and Breakdown single-handedly. Starscream used the Harvester on Bulkhead, which Bulkhead managed to punch Starscream and destroy the device. Optimus, Arcee, and Bumblebee came to aid Bulkhead. Later, Bulkhead picked Miko up from the museum where she told him interesting facts about Greece that she didn't even know. Bulkhead was glad to hear but when Miko mentioned that she can't wait to talk about how the Autobots interacted with ancient civilizations, Bulkhead stated it would not get her into college.

Speed Metal
Bulkhead covered for Jack and Bumblebee but failed to when Arcee asked him. Bulkhead was forced to go with Arcee where they met up with Bumblebee and Jack. In a conversation about saving Vince from Knock Out, Bulkhead stated they shouldn't because he heard Vince was a jerk. However, Bulkhead and Bumblebee fought Breakdown while Arcee attempted to save Vince from Knock Out. Bulkhead was able to hit Breakdown with a lamp post but was later scolded by Optimus along with Arcee, Bumblebee, and Jack.

Out of His Head
Later, Bumblebee and Bulkhead played basketball together in the base, though Bumblebee's behavior was very odd. Bulkhead, Optimus and Arcee traveled to the Arctic to find a lens the Decepticons had stolen from a telescope in Hawaii, and ended up tangling with a heat ray the Decepticons had built with it. They succeeded in destroying it, though it turned out Megatron had been resurrected in the meantime.

Shadowzone
Optimus took Bulkhead, Bumblebee and Ratchet to investigate a Dark Energon reading and found Starscream attempting to resurrect Skyquake. During the following ruckus, the Autobots found the kids had followed them and tried to send them back to base, only for them to disappear in a GroundBridge accident. It was only when Bulkhead spotted a text message on Miko's phone that Ratchet could engineer a way to get the kids back from the other dimension they were trapped in. Bulkhead gave Miko her phone and stated it was too bad that she couldn't get any pictures, though she explain the experience was enough for her brain.

Operation: Breakdown
During an altercation with Breakdown on the Kamchatka Peninsula, Bulkhead was knocked out and Breakdown abducted by MECH. Bulkhead stayed off Optimus's mission to rescue the Decepticon, but Miko persuaded him to go alone when they were watching a movie at the base with Agent Fowler sleeping during the movie. GroundBridging to Russia, Bulkhead forcibly infiltrated the MECH base and rescued Breakdown, though he was forced to pummel both Breakdown and Starscream when the Decepticon jet turned up and ordered Breakdown to destroy Bulkhead. Breakdown was left to attack Bulkhead, only to be defeated by him. Bulkhead engaged the Decepticons and swung Breakdown at them. The Autobots soon arrived to back up Bulkhead which the Decepticons retreated. Optimus scolds but commends Bulkhead for the whole ordeal and Bulkhead replies that he won the rematch with Breakdown.

Crisscross
Bulkhead made a non-speaking cameo at the end of this episode where June was brought into the base with Jack and while they were riding Arcee.

Metal Attraction
Bulkhead and Arcee, inadvertently joined by Miko, investigated a magnetic disturbance. They came across Breakdown and Airachnid fighting over a polarity gauntlet, and during the battle, Bulkhead and Arcee were magnetically fused together by the device. They followed the Decepticons to an abandoned gas station, where another fight broke out, and the two Autobots came unstuck. Airachnid tried to escape in her helicopter form, but Bulkhead grabbed her and threw her at Breakdown. He and Arcee returned to base triumphantly with the gauntlet.

Rock Bottom
Arcee and Bulkhead investigated an Energon mine with the kids. Bulkhead protected Miko from a cave in, but ended up having to support the ceiling. Miko banged a rock on his foot to attract help, but instead they were found by Starscream. Things looked grim for Bulkhead until Arcee came to his rescue, and the two Autobots and the kids escaped the mine.

Partners
Bulkhead joined the others in investigating a wrecked Decepticon ship and found Starscream all webbed up. Offering to defect, Starscream pointed them to the other half of the crashed ship, where they were attacked by Airachnid, wielding an experimental Decepticon weapon that froze Bulkhead in his tracks. Bulkhead was locked in position until the Autobots retrieved the weapon and Ratchet used it to unfreeze him.

T.M.I.
Miko and Bulkhead sneaked into a monster truck rally together. A week or so later, during a mission to secure a Cybertronian data cylinder, Miko accidentally discharged the cylinder into Bulkhead's brain. Though at first Bulkhead seemed fine, he began writing complex equations for synthetic energon, and it rapidly became clear that the cylinder's energy was overwriting his mind. While the other Autobots attempted to secure the cylinder, Miko tried to help Bulkhead retain his memories by taking him to the monster truck track. They were found there by Knock Out and Breakdown, who tried to take Bulkhead's head, but during the attempt, Miko again triggered the energy to discharge from Bulkhead into the sky. Bulkhead was left in a comatose state until Miko managed to wake him with her guitar playing.

Stronger, Faster
During an energon shortage, Bulkhead and the other Autobots took part in a number of missions to try to intercept the Decepticon energon shipments. When Ratchet developed Synthetic Energon and tried it on himself, the medic was amped up enough to knock Bulkhead through a wall. Their medic accompanied them on another mission, but his changes in personality began to concern Bulkhead and the others. After he knocked Bulkhead flying and went off on his own, the other Autobots were forced to track him down before he could damage himself.

One Shall Fall
The Autobots attempted to stop the Decepticons stealing a space bridge power supply from a military base. When Raf was gravely injured, Optimus and Bulkhead went on alone, stealthily infiltrating the Nemesis and Bulkhead bridged back to base with the power supply while Optimus went after Megatron. Bulkhead watched as Ratchet and June Darby fought to save Raf's life. He was relieved when Raf woke up but was worried when he discovered Optimus required backup.

One Shall Rise, Part 1
As the Autobots attempted to rescue Optimus from a zone flooded with Dark Energon, Bulkhead kept Megatron busy while the others pulled Optimus out. Back at base, the Autobots and their human friends puzzled over the natural disasters suddenly plaguing Earth, and discovered that Unicron resided at the center of the Earth. Bulkhead and the others began investigating the sites of the earthquakes that had struck when the Dark Energon volcano erupted.

One Shall Rise, Part 2
Bulkhead, Arcee and Bumblebee came to Optimus's aid as he battled stone Unicron avatars. To their great surprise, help came in the form of Megatron, who offered to help them fight Unicron. Together with the Decepticon leader, the Autobots stepped through the GroundBridge into Earth's core.

One Shall Rise, Part 3
Though Bulkhead was hampered by the influence of the Dark Energon, and during their fight against Unicron's antibodies almost fell from the walkway, they reached Unicron's spark chamber. Bulkhead, Bumblebee and Arcee stayed outside to fend off the antibodies. Following Unicron's defeat, they entered the spark chamber, only for Optimus to fail to recognize them, and they had to GroundBridge back to base without him.

Recovering Optimus
Upon losing Optimus Prime to the hands of Megatron, the three returned to base to seek guidance from Ratchet, who explained their history together. As Arcee concluded that Ratchet's statements did not make any sense, Bulkhead was reminded that Optimus and Megatron were almost that of best friends during their time on Cybertron together until the latter's dissension to the Decepticons. Ratchet explained to the group that Optimus had reverted to his pre-Prime state, that being of Orion Pax. Bulkhead, Arcee and Bumblebee dispatched to stop Decepticons Knock Out and Breakdown . After Knock Out made a comment regarding Optimus's joining of the Decepticons as Orion Pax, Bulkhead and the two pointed their guns at the group. Of the three, Arcee made her way through the GroundBridge and failed to find Orion, instead being teleported off base by Soundwave. At the base, Bulkhead angrily destroyed one of Ratchet's devices. As the latter began to assert his dependence on the device, Bulkhead quickly assumed he needed it and exclaimed that he needed Optimus back. He and the other Autobots began to argue, especially with Arcee, whom told him that he was pretty good at stating the obvious and asked him if he would like to say anything else the other Autobots knew before Bulkhead told her that he could not say anything in front of the children. As Jack Darby concluded the Autobots allow the Decepticons to finish work on their Space Bridge, Bulkhead quickly questioned why the group would allow them to do so. However, his plan was to use it to access Cybertron and use the Key to Vector Sigma.

While Bulkhead asked if it was Optimus, Ratchet found out it was Starscream. In the message, Starscream claimed he had information on Optimus and merely requested that Ratchet come alone and bring a medical kit. Upon their arrival, Starscream reminded Ratchet that he stated for him to come alone, to which Bulkhead rhetorically asked since when did the two listen to him. As Ratchet questioned Starscream, Bulkhead angrily asked Starscream where Optimus was before the rogue Decepticon revealed that he was on Megatron's warship. As Starscream revealed to the two that Optimus believed himself to be a Decepticon, Bulkhead revealed in turn that the two Autobots already knew of their leader's amnesia. As Starscream questioned how they could have known that, Bulkhead and Ratchet believed themselves to be wasting their time and prepared to depart through their GroundBridge before Starscream began to exclaim his dependence on them. Bulkhead stated that unless he knew where Megatron was keeping his Space Bridge, he could stay alone and die.

However, the group ran into hardships when Breakdown contacted the Autobots, under the belief that they were the Vehicons the group had previously taken down. As Bulkhead prepared to speak, Ratchet told him not to, as he believed his longtime enemy would recognize his voice. He lowered it and tried to convince Ratchet before the group allowed Agent Fowler to talk to and convince the Decepticon that the Space Bridge was secured. Following Arcee and Jack's departure, Bulkhead, Bumblebee and Ratchet monitored Arcee and Jack's affairs on Cybertron. He immediately recognized that Jack was being attacked by an Insecticon upon the latter's reference to it as a giant bug and had a gape from shock. However, their hardships continued as Decepticon leader Megatron arrived to attack the three after finding out that the Autobots had been the one's monitoring the GroundBridge. Though Bulkhead and the others shot at Megatron with all their might, he was outclassed when the Decepticon socked him in the stomach and caused him to plummet near the GroundBridge. As Bumblebee and Ratchet were nearing defeat as well, Bulkhead lunged at the Decepticon leader, referring to him as bucket-head and indicating to the latter that he would be defeated. As Bulkhead raised his wrecking ball, Megatron grabbed him by it and threw him against a wall, withdrawing him from the battle and thus, allowing Megatron to emerge victorious after defeating the three Autobots. However, Arcee arrived with Jack and Orion was restored to Optimus Prime. As Optimus stood, Bulkhead and the other Autobots surrounded him and aided him in shooting at Megatron. Before leaving through the GroundBridge, Bulkhead declared that Optimus would be coming with them that time instead of Megatron and returned to the Autobot base.

Bumblebee's dilemma
Following the removal of Bumblebee's T-Cog at the hands of MECH, Bulkhead arrived to the latter's location and asked him who had injured him. As Bumblebee stated he couldn't remember, Bulkhead concluded their only way of finding out would be to follow the aggressor and raced off in vehicle mode before coming back to Bumblebee and questioning why he was not doing so as well. After taking him back to the Autobot base, Bulkhead watched with the humans and Arcee as Ratchet scanned over Bumblebee. As the group discovered that Bumblebee's T-Cog had been stolen, Bulkhead was the first to realize the abductors were that of MECH, referring to them as the one's whom previously captured Breakdown. As Bumblebee became saddened over the loss of his organ, Bulkhead concluded that none of the Autobots transform until Bumblebee got his T-Cog back before Arcee figured that while Bulkhead's heart was in the right place, the group would serve better if not limiting themselves.

Bulkhead was deployed to stop Decepticons from securing a relic. Though he planned to go alone, Bumblebee managed to convince him to take him along. Upon arriving at the scene, he cleared Bumblebee to proceed through the GroundBridge and questioned how Bumblebee was able to talk him into bringing him, stating that he was worse than Miko. Bulkhead detected the relic, noting that it was coming fast before seeing Knock Out come out of the cave. Bulkhead planned to chase after him before telling Bumblebee to after seeing Breakdown and beginning to fight with him. Ultimately, Bumblebee failed to recover the relic and instead began to tumble over the mountain while on top of a car he had used to chase the Decepticon.

Bulkhead returned with Bumblebee to the Autobot base, where he was scolded by Ratchet for taking their scout into a possible chase scenario with the knowledge that he had lost his T-Cog. After Bulkhead told him that he had improvised, Optimus confined Bumblebee to base and Ratchet offered his own T-Cog to Bumblebee, knowing that he rarely used his transforming mechanism to begin with. After Optimus agreed to the arrangement, Ratchet sought out someone to preform the operation. He did not chose Bulkhead, much to his relief. After Arcee preformed the starting phases of the operation, the Autobots detected an Iacon homing beacon. Bulkhead stated that if they were detecting it, that would mean the Decepticons would be unearthing one as they spoke.

Their relic in question was that of the Forge of Solus Prime, which Optimus revealed to Bulkhead and Arcee to be the hammer of one of the original thirteen, causing Bulkhead to expressed surprise. Bulkhead asked Optimus if the Autobots had the Forge of Solus Prime, they could pound any weapon into existence before the latter was reminded that the team could construct a new T-Cog for Bumblebee. After the Autobots attacked the Decepticons, Bulkhead fought Breakdown while Optimus and Arcee fought against Knock Out. He hit Breakdown with the Forge of Solus Prime, remarking that his hammer was bigger. Bulkhead would soon take a shot in the back from Megatron, who took the Forge of Solus Prime and pointed his fusion cannon at the Autobot to cover his escape. Bulkhead would later express happiness at Bumblebee regaining his T-Cog after having attacked Starscream and MECH alone to do so.

Wheeljack Returns
Bulkhead and the other Autobots received a transmission from William Fowler, whom was angry over the Autobots seemingly having a member engaging in a battle with a Decepticon that caused collateral damage, something he had agreed with the Autobots that would not occur during their battles. However, Optimus told him and evidently showed that all five of the Autobots were present at the base. With Fowler giving the Autobots footage of the ongoing-fight, Bulkhead recognized the body shape of one of the contenders as that of Skyquake's, but dismissed it as him, recalling that Optimus and Bumblebee had previously defeated and unwillingly killed him. The Autobots soon discovered that Wheeljack was the Autobot fighting, causing Bulkhead to happily proclaim that he was back before playfully slamming his teammates in the back. Bulkhead and the other Autobots arrived on the scene to aid Wheeljack and soon met Dreadwing, whom escaped from the Autobots. However, Wheeljack's shooting caused him to hit a gas station and soon enough, cause a large explosion, of which he believed was caused by Dreadwing rigging the place to blow. However, Bulkhead assured him that was not the case, telling him that gas stations were sort of like energon deposits and that they did not mix well with blaster fire. Though Wheeljack intended to continue his pursuit, Optimus stopped him. Optimus told Wheeljack to follow his lead and Wheeljack returned to the Autobot base with Bulkhead and the others.

Bulkhead was delighted to hear of Wheeljack's recent contact with Seaspray, but disappointed and shocked to hear of his death at the hands of Dreadwing. In addition, he also explained to Wheeljack that the Autobots were robots in disguise on Earth and that he would need an Earth-based vehicle mode. Upon the Autobots being scolded by Agent Fowler and the latter telling Optimus that he needed to keep a tighter leash on his people, Bulkhead tried to stop Wheeljack from telling Fowler off before his fellow Wrecker proceeded to do so. Bulkhead would confront Wheeljack by himself, telling him that even if the humans were not present, the Autobots still would not be able to defeat the Decepticons and reminded him that they were outnumbered. After Wheeljack name-dropped some deceased Wreckers, Bulkhead told him that was what he was talking about and that Wreckers were Autobots, telling him that there just were not many of them left before stating that if they rallied behind Optimus they would have a chance to end the war, once and for all. After Wheeljack expressed his negative feelings about the Autobot leader, Bulkhead told him that he did not know Optimus like he did and told him that being a Wrecker meant everything to him, continuing that he left it behind before being cut off by Wheeljack, whom mocked him by saying that he left because Prime was the real deal. Wheeljack soon received a transmission from someone willing to challenge him, being questioned by Bulkhead if it was Dreadwing before cutting him off again and telling him that it was. After Dreadwing sent him coordinates to met at and Wheeljack expressed interest in going there, Bulkhead told him that it was trap. Wheeljack said that he knew before questioning Bulkhead as to when that ever had stopped him in the past and asking him if he was coming with. Bulkhead told him to at least let him call for back up before he and Wheeljack recited the Wrecker motto. Bulkhead remained over the two in their battle, in order to ensure that Dreadwing did not fly away. However, Dreadwing had placed a bomb below him and detonated it.

Kidnapped by Dreadwing, Bulkhead had a bomb placed on his chest and was later found by Wheeljack and Optimus Prime. After Wheeljack told him that he had really found himself in a dire situation, Bulkhead warned him to stay back as Wheeljack began working to save him. Though Bulkhead told Wheeljack that if he did not abort, the two would both require clean-up, Wheeljack insisted that he was trying to focus before questioning where Optimus had gone. Though Wheeljack wished to recall his previous statements regarding Prime, Bulkhead assured him confidently that Optimus would not leave the two behind.

In an act of both desperation and irritation, Bulkhead socked Wheeljack out of his way and proceeded to remove himself from his restraints, telling Wheeljack that he was sorry and that he had done it because he loved him. Making his way to the ocean, he planned to jump in the water and cause an explosion there, which can be seen somewhat as a suicide attempt. Apologizing to the fishes as he made his way to the water, he was soon blocked off by Wheeljack, whom explained to him that he was right in his assumption that Dreadwing was the only one who could defuse the bomb and that Optimus was aware as well, having trapped the Decepticon and had him in a stand off that would led in Bulkhead having his bomb defused in order for his freedom. After having the bomb removed, Bulkhead, Wheeljack and Optimus shot at Dreadwing as he proceeded to fly away after having detonated a multitude of bombs around them. Upon returning to the Autobot base, Bulkhead and the other Autobots tried to convince Wheeljack that he should stay, telling him that if he left he would most likely just be come back again. Wheeljack concluded that he was not sure if he was ready to give up his freedom just yet, causing Bulkhead to suggest that he would need an Earth-based vehicle mode while on the planet.

Insecticon and Nemesis Prime
Intercepting a message and meeting request from Starscream, Bulkhead arrived at the coordinates, stepping out of the GroundBridge before Ratchet to ensure it was safe and telling him to come through. Starscream revealed to the two that Airachnid had gone rogue and offered her coordinates before Ratchet told him that he did not believe the rogue Decepticon. However, Starscream soon began to press his trustfulness, telling the Autobots that he had given them the coordinates to the Decepticon space bridge so that they could rescue Orion Pax. However, Bulkhead reminded him that he had also allied himself with MECH, whom stole Bumblebee's T-Cog. As Bulkhead and Ratchet began to leave, they discovered from Starscream that MECH had taken his T-Cog in exchange for his failure to secure Bumblebee's and also learned that Airachnid was in possession of an Insecticon, with Bulkhead questioning how. Bulkhead and Ratchet returned to the Autobot base, where they underwent aggression by Arcee, whom questioned if the two had gave him repairs and sent him on his way. Bulkhead questioned her in return, asking if she would have preferred the two to bring him to the Autobot base. Arcee was reminded of the death of Cliffjumper at Starscream's hands, which Bulkhead defended by telling her that she was not there and that Starscream was weak. Arriving at the scene with the other Autobots, Bulkhead and the others watched as Megatron fought against an Insecticon. Upon seeing Megatron, Bulkhead told the group that Starscream did not mention Megatron before Optimus told him that it would seem he had sent the Autobots there to be defeated and ended alongside the rest of his enemies, with Bulkhead becoming disappointed over having fallen for his trickery. After Megatron defeated the Insecticon, Bulkhead, Bumblebee and Optimus moved in on him before being dropped in on by Dreadwing and Vehicons. Though Dreadwing offered to have Optimus and the two allowed to leave without attack in exchange for their leader, Bulkhead told him to never trust a Decepticon and furthered by telling him to kill Megatron. However, the Decepticons soon went against their word under the instructions of Megatron, whom ordered them to shoot the Autobots. After having narrowly escaped their wrath, Bulkhead told Optimus that at least Megatron had taken care of the Insecticon, unaware that Airachnid had stumbled across an entire armada of them shortly afterwards. Soon after, Agent Fowler was attacked by vehicle that bore a striking resemblance to Optimus Prime. Bulkhead and the other Autobots sans Optimus were present at the Autobot base and contacted by Fowler as he drove away from the vehicle. Bulkhead and the others arrived to aid Fowler, with Bulkhead remarking that the vehicle looked like Optimus before Arcee went off to chase after it. While trying to life Bumblebee back up, the scout lost his grip on Fowler, whom started to plummet to the ground before Bulkhead jumped and got to the ground before Fowler, catching him upon landing and asking if he was okay. Returning to the Autobot base, Bulkhead and the others met Optimus with suspicion upon his return. Bulkhead told him that the Autobots had not been able to reach him before Optimus told him that he had been outside of their reach in a subterranean energon deposit. As their leader prepared to show his findings, Bulkhead and the other Autobots met him with their weapons before realizing that it was him.

Upon hearing of an attack by the Optimus Prime impostor on a military base, Bulkhead and the other Autobots responded to it before being shot at and deciding to retreat. Upon their return to the base, Ratchet told the Autobots that MECH ha had also done operations on Breakdown before Bulkhead told him that he was there. Bulkhead and the others searched for the impostor and came up with no results. Bulkhead, Arcee and Bumblebee were all defeated by the impostor before Optimus succeeded in defeating him. After returning to the Autobot base, Miko asked Bulkhead and the others what it was like to be defeated by someone with the appearance of their leader, being answered by Bulkhead, who groaned.

Aboard the Nemesis
Bulkhead went to intercept an energon signal, alerting the other Autobots that he would be doing so. However, he was soon beamed up by mistake by the Decepticon warship and soon snuck his way around before running into Starscream, who he asked for the directions to getting off of the Nemesis. Though he tried to talk nice to the Decepticon, he was soon clawed by Starscream in the stomach, causing him to spiral in rage and attack Starscream with all his might. While beating the Decepticon to death, he issued that the beating was for Bumblebee, Cliffjumper and for everything else he had done to him and the other Autobots in his lifetime. The truth was that the Starscream killed by Bulkhead was a clone and instead the real one could only be subjected to the clone's agony, not dying however like his counterpart.

Following this attack, he narrowly dodged that of Megatron and soon found the ship's power core and decided to disable the ship, using his wrecking ball and finding himself able to drive to the Autobot base. After making his way to the Autobot base, he told his comrades that they would never believe the day he had before seeing the captured Airachnid and alluding that they had also had a strange and hard day. With the Decepticon's warship now grounded, Optimus Prime believed that the Autobots would be able to use the Spark Extractor on the Decepticons and if successful, end the war. However, the Autobots were attacked by the ship when trying to reach it and soon Bulkhead and the others were put in stasis themselves. They would later return to their normal states after their human allies managed to get aboard the Decepticon ship and retrieve four Iacon coordinates. Bulkhead would remain at the Autobot base when Arcee and Bumblebee were deployed by Optimus Prime to go after the first relic and would depart for the next.

Relic Hunt/ Near Death
Bulkhead arrived in a volcanic area, where he expressed immediate distaste in how the area smelled and soon afterward, stated sarcastically that it was a fine place to hide a relic. After looking around, Bulkhead contacted Raf Esquivel on his com-link and told him that he could not find any sign of the relic. Raf assured him that he was at the correct location before Bulkhead brought up the possibility of the coordinates being wrong, due to nothing being there. Determining that something was coming after hearing a strange quaking sound, he was soon met by the Insecticon Hardshell, whom quickly grabbed him as Bulkhead shot at him before being dropped. After Hardshell charged at him, Bulkhead quickly made his way towards the Insecticon and engaged in a head-on battle against him. While fighting, he remarked to leave it to Megatron to send a bug to do his dirty work while being told by Hardshell that he knew a thing or two about dirty work himself, whom also revealed his knowledge of Bulkhead being a Wrecker. After Bulkhead questioned if he knew him, Hardshell told him that he knew his kind and admitted to have slain a few Wreckers. Bulkhead told him that the thing about bugs his size was that they made a bigger mess when he smashed them as he drew his wrecking balls out and charging at the Insecticon, landing several hits before throwing a single fist at him and having it caught, allowing Hardshell to stab him in the stomach. After having wounded the Insecticon, Bulkhead drove off and reported to the Autobot base that he had a beat on the relic, being taken care of by Fowler as Raf was busy talking with Ratchet.

Bulkhead proceeded to ask Fowler how his beauty sleep was before expressing his belief that the lava flow in the area may have carried the relic downhill. He soon found himself with a new difficulty, he was leaking energon, telling Fowler as he recalled his recent encounter with the Insecticon. However, he would again be met by Hardshell, whom he had claimed was in worse shape than he was when he was talking to Fowler. Bulkhead would soon encounter Tox-En, which he told Fowler the origins of and how it could potentially hurt the rest of the group after Fowler suggested bringing it back to the Autobot base. Bulkhead hanged up on Fowler, telling himself that he would need to handle it Wrecker style. Bulkhead intended to carry it, explaining to Agent Fowler that he was going to throw it into the volcano and get rid of it before assuring him that he was fine when the special agent asked him about Hardshell and the other Insecticons.

Hardshell and the Insecticons knew that Bulkhead was under injury after they saw a small pool of energon and Hardshell tasted it. While carrying the Tox-En, Bulkhead started to undergo a senile-like state as he talked to Agent Fowler, whom revealed to him his past spent training as an Army Ranger. Bulkhead was surprised to see the two were so alike before Fowler was called away to help Optimus momentarily. Fowler returned and asked him how he was holding up. Bulkhead in turn asked him about Miko before his ally to told him to not worry about her and that he needed to focus on his own mission. Fowler claimed to understand the difficulty of Bulkhead's situation before the latter momentarily passed out and soon woke up, telling the agent that he could not do it. However, Fowler told him that he had made it through worse, recalling his past experiences with Scraplets, Breakdown and the Energon Harvester. Though Bulkhead continued to express disbelief in having harder missions than the one he was on, Fowler reminded him of Miko and after thinking of some of her past sentiments to him, Bulkhead told him that he should continue to put aside his pains and keep the mission flowing. As Bulkhead made it to the top of the volcano, he was attacked again by Hardshell, whom had come with several other Insecticons as well.

Bulkhead held his own against them adequately, even at one point placing the Tox-En on one of them and telling them to hold it before beginning his second fight against Hardshell. After Fowler asked him if he was still with him, Bulkhead told him that he was in the scrap and questioned humorously that he put him on hold. Before fighting Hardshell, he learned that Miko was safe and expressed satisfaction before charging at his enemy. Bulkhead threw the Tox-En at Hardshell before he fell into the volcano, concluding the battle and allowing Bulkhead to begin limping through a GroundBridge to the Autobot base before being shot in the back point-blank by Hardshell and knocked unconscious upon falling through the GroundBridge.

Healing
Upon Bumblebee and Arcee's return to the base, Ratchet had began trying to stabilize Bulkhead while Miko instantly expressed immense concern for her partner. In an act of vengeance, she teamed up with Wheeljack and after Hardshell engaged Wheeljack and came close to killing him in combat, Miko killed Hardshell in order to save Wheeljack. Upon Miko's return to base, Ratchet reported that while Bulkhead would live, he may never again be fully-operational. During his healing, he was coached by Miko, whom insisted on his continuing to perform sit-ups. Bulkhead would soon find himself in his most jealous state when rookie Autobot Smokescreen arrived on Earth.

Meeting the young recruit last of the then-current Autobot group, he walked in on the Autobot questioning to the others how hard it would be to end the war with Optimus Prime present by showing himself as an example of how difficult it was. After Smokescreen went with Jack on a tour of the base, Bulkhead questioned his teammates as to why they could not just replace him with Wheeljack, stating that he could have lived with that. However, the other Autobots insisted that Smokescreen would not be replacing him and cited his inexperience as a primary reason as to why. Arcee, Bumblebee and Optimus Prime went to secure some red energon. The three ran into trouble with the arrival of Starscream, whom cloaked himself in the Apex Armor. Bulkhead initially wanted to aid his outmatched teammates, but was restricted to base by Ratchet so that Smokescreen could use the Phase Shifter to take Starscream out of the armor. After Smokescreen returned to the Autobot base with the others, Miko noticed Bulkhead came out to see Smokescreen's success. Bulkhead secretly stated that Smokescreen had done alright before continuing to walk off seemingly depressed, as Miko tried to cheer him up but failed to.

Settling with Smokescreen
Since the arrival of the young Autobot had Bulkhead cast a sign of jealousy and anger over him, whom he had believed was there to take his place. Their feelings towards each other were not mutual, as Smokescreen offered Bulkhead the Apex Armor as a means of keeping his strengths in check even with his injuries. Bulkhead was angered, asking Smokescreen if he thought he needed a crutch before smashing the Apex Armor and causing it to hit an essential of Ratchet's equipment. Bulkhead proceeded to exercise before the Autobots learned from Agent Fowler of Cylas's new plans involving Project Damocles. Though Bulkhead prepared to roll out with the other Autobots and charge into battle with them as well, Ratchet restricted him, stating that he had not yet cleared him for active duty. As the Autobots began to face difficulties with their situation, Bulkhead told Ratchet that he had to send him in. However, Ratchet questioned if he wanted to be sent in as an easier target, reminding him that he had yet to regain his full range of motion. Bulkhead told him that Breakdown was back, reminding him that he was his arch-enemy and that even the kids were in on the action. Looking at their predicament, Ratchet uttered that Bulkhead was cleared for active duty, something that made Bulkhead express excitement before he revealed that the duty would be of his choosing. Bulkhead was chosen by Ratchet to aid their ally Raf by stopping Cylas from attacking him while he was trying to stop the Decepticons with the use of his computer. Bulkhead did just that, slamming into Cylas and stating that Ratchet had made a good call on curbside duty for him.

After the two transformed and landed on their legs, Bulkhead told Cylas, whom he still believed was Breakdown that he had been itching to trade paint with him and asked where he had been before Cylas spoke and Bulkhead realized that he was not Breakdown. Upon the impostor recognizing him as Bulkhead, he in turn realized that it was Cylas as the Decepticon before the latter confirmed that he was and charged at him. Hitting the Decepticon wanna-be with everything he had, Bulkhead soon fell against a wall after he had been punched and became angered as Cylas taunted him. Despite having full rage, Bulkhead was unable to defeat Cylas and told by him that he should have stayed in bed before the arrival of Smokescreen, who pushed the Decepticon away in his vehicle mode and offered Bulkhead a helping hand, calling it an assist and stating that it was what the new guy was for.

After Bulkhead and Smokescreen dodged a single missile from Cylas, the latter fled through a GroundBridge, leaving them to watch as his plans were ruined and gladly high-five each other on their success. After Smokescreen revealed that he had studied every one of the Wreckers's battles, Bulkhead told him that there was hope for him yet.

Star Saber
Smokescreen got into an altercation with a human while driving and the man soon took a picture of him and Bumblebee, whom tried to stop him. While the Autobots discovered the picture, Optimus told the group that even though Smokescreen had done this, he believed the entirety of the Autobots were to blame for the event, with Bulkhead stating that they were not present when it occurred before reminding Optimus that Bumblebee was and being hit in the stomach by his comrade.

Optimus reasoned that they had been desperately trying to handle multiple crises and in their attempts to evert those catastrophes, they had overlooked teaching Smokescreen how to manage himself on Earth.

Optimus decided that human ally Jack Darby would assist him in learning how to manage himself on Earth, with Bulkhead telling Smokescreen after the decision was made that all of the Autobots had been put on curbside duty and that it was part of the gig. Bulkhead went with the Autobots to an Iacon locator beacon, where he remarked that there was no sign of the Decepticons. Bulkhead and the others were soon reached by Ratchet, whom explained to the Autobots that Smokescreen and Jack were in trouble after having responded to the second Iacon locator beacon. Bulkhead and the Autobots rushed to the scene, where he shot a Vehicon that prepared to attack Smokescreen and told the latter that he had his back. He and the other Autobots bore witness as Optimus used the Star Saber to destroy a large boulder and used it to attack the Nemesis. After returning to the Autobot base, Optimus Prime told the Autobots that he was receiving a message from Alpha Trion while holding the Star Saber. Once Optimus finished with his hearing of Alpha Trion and returned to his senses, Smokescreen asked him if Alpha Trion had said anything about him before Bulkhead knocked him out of the way and asked what he had said. After hearing that the Autobots would have the possibility of returning home, Bulkhead and the others expressed extreme excitement before realizing that he would miss Earth, questioning who would have known that the Autobots would become so accustomed to their new home before saying that he had been fighting for so long to the point where he did not know if he could do anything else. Ratchet suggested that he go back into construction, reminding him that the war had taken a heavy toll on their cities and most of which would require rebuilding. After Optimus decoded more signals, Arcee and Smokescreen went to investigate one. However, they were attacked by Megatron, whom seemingly killed Smokescreen and only allowed Arcee to live so that she could relay the message to Optimus. Upon hearing of his comrade's seeming death, Bulkhead and Bumblebee prepared to embark to kill Megatron, with Bulkhead stating that they should take a piece of him in return before Optimus stopped the two, not wishing to have any more lives lost. In actuality, Smokescreen had actually used the Phase Shifter to get away from the Megatron's attack and soon arrived to aid Optimus Prime during his fight with the Decepticon, whom promptly broke the Star Saber. After Smokescreen bragged about the Phase Shifter being his signature weapon, Bulkhead told him that he got his and that Optimus had lost his own.

Omega Key
While Optimus decoded more of the Iacon database for the remainder of the relics, Smokescreen proclaimed that he would become a great warrior someday, just like Optimus. Bulkhead in response told him to train hard and that he was sure it would happen if he did so. Smokescreen told the Autobots that becoming a great warrior like Optimus was his destiny, due to him at first merely working for Alpha Trion and soon finding himself with Optimus and the other Autobots aboard Earth. Just then, Optimus announced to the Autobots that the set of Iacon coordinates had been decoded and ordered Arcee and Bumblebee to prepare to engage.

When Smokescreen began to express disbelief in not being chosen by Optimus, Bulkhead made a remark, causing Smokescreen to include him in his questioning of why he was being left behind. After Optimus explained they would remain in order for quick response to another relic being decoded, Arcee and Bumblebee left. Following their departure, Bulkhead told the turned-around Smokescreen that the Autobots called it a pit-stop before smacking him playfully in the back and telling him that the two would get back in the race. Arcee and Bumblebee were defeated by Knock Out, whom had usage of the Resonance Blaster and was able to force the two into submission with it before making off with the Omega Key. After they returned to the Autobot base, Smokescreen recalled in the face of the wounded Arcee that he had a good track record with recovering relics. This caused Bulkhead to tell him that Arcee and Bumblebee were no slouches and that Optimus had managed well for eons without the big sword before being reminded and telling Smokescreen insultingly that he had been locked the entire time the Autobots had been fighting the war. Smokescreen told him that he was ready to make up for lost time, causing Bulkhead to tell him that he would do so when Optimus said he was and that he would have to be it for the long haul, telling him that slow and steady wins the race as he glanced over to Optimus, whom continued his decoding. Bulkhead and Smokescreen were selected by Optimus for the next Omega Key. However, he was stopped from going through the GroundBridge by Arcee, whom told him that he had forgotten his tracker. Though he held it, Arcee pulled him back and told him to make sure he kept an eye on Smokescreen, whom she dubbed as destiny's child. Bulkhead told her that compared to Miko, he would be of little difficulty before running into the GroundBridge. Arriving at the location with guns drawn, he told Smokescreen to stay focused and expressed his meaning when the latter gave him a quick response.

The two soon ran into Dreadwing, whom rigged the forest to blow. Shortly before the subsequent explosions, Bulkhead told Smokescreen that the two would have to get out of there. After getting away from the exploding bombs, Bulkhead told Smokescreen to get away from the two and find the Omega Key before assuring him that he would fight Dreadwing. After Smokescreen departed, Bulkhead told Dreadwing that he loved doing his dirty work from a distance before stating that he would never do it up, close and personal. The Decepticon was willing to make an exception and lunged at Bulkhead. While the two fought, Dreadwing placed a bomb on Bulkhead's back. He told Bulkhead that he had forgotten how their last encounter ended before Bulkhead told him that he had not and Dreadwing realized that the bomb he put on Bulkhead was now on him. After Dreadwing left, Bulkhead went after Smokescreen and discovered that the Autobot had been knocked out. As Smokescreen lamented being defeated and reminded Bulkhead that he had promised Optimus that he return with the Omega Key, Bulkhead told him that Alpha Trion had said they needed all four Omega Keys to revive Cybertron before telling him that they would need to hang on to the one they already had. After returning to the Autobot base, Smokescreen expressed disappointment in himself. However, Arcee began to scold him for putting himself above the team and worrying about his destiny, causing Smokescreen to leave disenchanted with the Autobot cause. Bulkhead opted to go after him before Optimus told him to leave him be. However, the Autobots soon discovered that Smokescreen was mysteriously the last Omega Key before departing to find him, only to see the latter be taken off by Soundwave.

The ultimate loss
Following Smokescreen's capture, Bulkhead and the other Autobots tried to determine the meaning of the final Omega Key being decoded in his image. Bulkhead expressed confusion, questioning how Smokescreen could possibly be an Omega Key before Ratchet suggested that he may possibly be merely the container of the key and not the actual relic itself. After doing some deductive reasoning with the others, Bulkhead learned that Smokescreen had been taken out by Alpha Trion himself, who wished for him not to know that he was carrying the Omega Key inside of him and realized that Alpha Trion tried to give the Autobots a clue, being that of Smokescreen's mugshot. Bulkhead and the others tried to assist Smokescreen after he contacted the Autobot base and told them that he was hovering in the sky before expressing sadness after believing him to have crashed and happiness after learning that he had survived.

After Smokescreen returned to the base and revealed that he had acquired three of the Omega Keys, Bulkhead concluded that the fourth was still on the Decepticon warship. When the Autobots received a message from Starscream, Bulkhead expressed distaste upon seeing that it was him and believed that he was in possession of the fourth Omega Key after the Decepticon's message read that he had something that may be of interest to them and not of anything to him. Bulkhead and the others responded to Starscream, with Bulkhead accompanying Optimus and Ratchet. The three realized they had been tricked after Starscream snuck aboard their base with the use of Red Energon and soon found himself running from the Autobots after he grabbed the three Omega Keys before escaping their grasps with the use of a GroundBridge. Bulkhead and the rest of the Autobots began to question what Starscream would do with the Omega Keys before receiving a message from Dreadwing, who gave the Autobots the Forge of Solus Prime and only wished in return that they use it wisely. After the Decepticon left, the Autobots prepared to depart for Cybertron. Bulkhead equipped himself with the Immobilizer and used the device on several Vehicons when the Autobots launched against them and Megatron on Cybertron. During his battle against the Vehicons, he managed to get an Omega Key. As he and his allies began to appear victorious, Megatron revealed to him and the others that he had their human allies in custody.

Against their hopes, the Autobots found themselves with no choice to save their human allies other than giving their Omega Keys back to the Decepticons. Bulkhead went first, at the request of Knock Out in exchange for Miko Nakadi and at the permission of Optimus Prime. While getting Miko, Bulkhead threatened Knock Out that Miko better be okay or else he would make him eat the Omega Key before returning to the other Autobots. As the group prepared to depart to Earth and return their human allies home, Bulkhead and the others were forced to remain there when the Decepticons made it known that they intended to use their new advantages to restore Cybertron and transfer it near Earth, making the inhabitants of the planet slaves. After Optimus destroyed the Omega Lock, Bulkhead and the other fleeing Autobots returned to Earth, where they told Ratchet of Optimus's decision.

The Autobots soon discovered that the Decepticons had discovered the location of their base. After being attacked by several Insecticons and being aided in their fight against the Decepticons by Wheeljack, Optimus ordered that the Autobots split up with their human allies, with Bulkhead going with Miko and driving out while being viewed by Jack and Arcee. The Decepticons succeeded in destroying the Autobot base as the Autobots themselves scattered across the globe.

On the run/Series finale
During a drive, Miko began to use her cellphone, alarming Bulkhead. Bulkhead was quick to reinstate the rules before Miko revealed that she was merely playing a game on her cellphone, of which she had already downloaded. Bulkhead apologized and stated that he was on edge before Miko asked where the two were going. Though Bulkhead stated they were following standard Wrecker protocol, Miko was still confused. He explained to her what it was and stated that if Wheeljack was still alive, he would be there. After a while of waiting, Bulkhead and Miko reunited with Wheeljack and they witnessed as Wheeljack explodes a bunch of Decepticon Vehicons who were in pursuit of Wheeljack. Soon after, Bulkhead and Wheeljack covered a Decepticon mine with explosives but they were attacked by a Predacon. Luckily the three of them managed to escape it when Ultra Magnus arrived in his ship to rescue them. Bulkhead gave Arcee a bear hug while Miko hugged Jack. After escaping the Predacon, the team reunited with the humans other Autobots except Smokescreen and Optimus Prime remained unaccounted. However, after Ultra Magnus's plan to infiltrate Darkmount and destroy it resulted in the Autobots being captured, Optimus Prime returned in a new body and helped the Autobots destroy the citadel. Bulkhead went back to the new base with the Autobots in welcoming back Optimus and Ultra Magnus to the team.

Bulkhead and Wheeljack provided a diversion at the base of Darkmount, lobbing grenades and destroying Decepticons while the other Autobots attacked by other means in Rebellion. The pair were eventually captured by Shockwave, but when Optimus Prime returned and joined the assault, they renewed their attack on the Decepticons. Following the destruction of Darkmount, the Autobots assembled at a human military base.

In Project Predacon, Bulkhead was not ready when Wheeljack lobbed their old lobbing ball at him, and it bounced off his chest, nearly crushing Miko when it landed. Ultra Magnus took the two Wreckers to Scotland with him, to investigate Decepticon activity there. In Chain of Command, Bulkhead found himself playing conciliator between Magnus and Wheeljack, as the pair continued to get on each other's nerves. The fact that Wheeljack had brought Miko along didn't help, but when they encountered the Predacon, Bulkhead found himself battling the beast with his fellow Autobots while Miko went for help. The fight didn't end well, as one of Wheeljack's grenades brought the cavern down on them, and as a result Bulkhead was disappointed when Wheeljack opted to leave the team rather than remain under Magnus's command. By the time Magnus and Bulkhead had flown back to base, Wheeljack had been talked into staying, in Plus One.

In Evolution, during a mission to secure energon, Bulkhead teamed up with Smokescreen to scout out an abandoned energon mine. They emerged without finding anything. Bulkhead was there to see Ratchet repair what was left of Ultra Magnus's right hand and to support his fallen comrade. In Minus One, when the Decepticons started stealing technology to repair the Omega Lock, Bulkhead was part of a team which turned up too late to prevent a theft, but at least he got to see Prime defeat Soundwave. He and Smokescreen were left at base to guard the prisoner while the others went to Antarctica, however Soundwave reactivated, knocking the pair out. In Persuasion, when they recovered, they found that Soundwave had abducted Ratchet. Fortunately it turned out a piece Smokescreen had blasted off of Laserbeak would be useful in finding the Decepticon warship.

In Deadlock, they launched the probe and monitored it and Optimus's progress from the base. Though the probe was destroyed, Ratchet was able to send them the coordinates to the Decepticon warship, and Bulkhead and the others geared up in preparation to assault the Nemesis. Synthesis The three Wreckers were ordered to take the bridge, however no sooner did they reach their target than Soundwave bridged them to another part of the ship. By the time they reached the bridge again, it had already been captured by Jack and Miko. With the warship until their control, the Autobots flew it to Cybertron and used the Omega Lock to restore their home world. After Optimus's obligatory speech, Bulkhead and Miko had a tearful farewell before he returned home.

In Predacons Rising, following the aftermath of Cybertron's rebirth, Bulkhead sets to work on building a new space port, assisted by Vehicons. With the discovery that there were two new Predacons on the loose, Bulkhead and the other Autobots attempted to persuade Predaking to help them, but were unsuccessful. After encountering Unicron, in possession of Megatron's rebuilt form, the Autobots realized that the dark god intended to destroy their world. After foiling an attempt by Starscream to retake the warship, the Autobots attempted to defend the Well of All Sparks from Unicron's onslaught. It was only when Optimus returned that Unicron was defeated, and Bulkhead was later present when Optimus sacrificed himself to restore the AllSpark to Cybertron.

Season 1
Though he survived the battle against Unicron, Bulkhead's current whereabouts or activities are currently unknown. After Cybertron's rebirth, a statue was build in Bulkhead's honor which could be seen when Bumblebee and Strongarm were pursuing Sideswipe in Pilot (Part 1). As Optimus reveals in Enemy of My Enemy, Bulkhead himself would end up blacklisted by the new High Council for being a supporter of Optimus Prime.

Season 2
In Brainpower, after Grimlock accidentally absorbed the contents of a data cylinder, Bumblebee was reminded of Bulkhead's own experience with such a device which references the events in T.M.I. as well.

In History Lessons, Bumblebee later recalled a time when Bulkhead challenged him to arm wrestling and they almost destroyed two levels of Omega One.

Season 3
In Sick as a Bot, Bulkhead himself was later summoned to Earth by Optimus Prime, and while he arrived ahead of the Prime, his appearance through the GroundBridge was timely, coinciding with Bumblebee, Strongarm, Sideswipe and Fixit being infected with a malware virus carried by the Energon vampire, Wingcode. Bulkhead reined in the panicked Grimlock, who had run off to do something to help (but with no idea what), engaging him in a brief fight before physically dragging Grimlock back to the scrapyard unconscious. After settling him with some calming car-smashing, as well as tranquil thoughts about Sharkticon-punching, the two Autobots set about formulating a plan - although the pair were forced to admit they were "not really thinkers." In spite of this, Grimlock came up with a clever ruse to trap Wingcode based on her hunger for more Energon, trapping her in a cave where she could not fly, caught between the two Autobots. Once pummeled into submission, her nano-cells were used as an antidote, restoring the sick Autobots, and with the mission wrapped up, Bulkhead declared he'd like to hang around until Optimus' arrival. He and Grimlock went off for some recreational granite-punching - although Bulkhead was less than gruntled to hear the Dinobot's critique of his kicking technique.

In Five Fugitives, Bulkhead encountered Steeljaw when called in by Bumblebee to aid in the Decepticon's capture, initially underestimating his lupine adversary. When the Bee Team became distracted (i.e. arrested) by the arrival of Dropforge, he pursued Steeljaw to a natural gas refinery, only to find himself locked out of the facility by one of the Decepticon's subsonic force fields. He cleverly switched to "plan B", sneaking in via one of the empty pipelines, but Steeljaw detected this cunning via the refinery's security system and detonated the gas in the pipe. Bulkhead punched his way out of the pipe, then regrouped with the other Autobots who had captured the mind-controlled Dropforge and made their way to his location. Together they confronted Steeljaw and defeated his plan to blow up Crown City, but were unable to stop his escape.

In Enemy of My Enemy, Optimus finally made the rendezvous on Earth, bringing Ratchet, Windblade, Jazz and Drift with him, having determined that the High Council were mind controlling the population of Cybertron and were planning to invade Earth. While the Bee Team traveled to Cybertron to expose the council, Bulkhead and the others remained on Earth to fight the invasion. A signal led them to the steel mill that had just been burgled by a Cybertronian advance force. Within, they found a list of items pointing to the fact the advance force was building a space bridge receiver, and also a bomb which promptly exploded.

In Freedom Fighters, the group was saved by Ratchet's Triage Shield. They continued to follow the trail to the Crown City docks, where Bulkhead was the first to locate the advance force, concealed by a Light Bender. During the ensuing battle, he was hit by weapons fire, but the damage was minor enough that he recovered in time to watch the destruction of the space bridge portal that had opened. The team returned to Cybertron where Optimus nominated the rest of the group as a provisional council.

Personality and traits
Bulkhead is a rather nice and peaceful Autobot, though most known for his lack of intelligence. Making up for it, however, is his complete and utter strength, being seen as a powerhouse on the Autobot team on Earth. He is better at breaking things than repairing them, which he as proven time after time and is often useful. He knows to follow under Optimus Prime's leadership, which made Bulkhead depart from the Wreckers to join up with Optimus as he believed that Optimus could end the war with the Decepticons.

Bulkhead's temper can increase dramatically if his opponent, like Breakdown, comments negative feedback to mess with Bulkhead's emotions. In Operation: Breakdown, Breakdown and Bulkhead engaged each other during their first fight where Breakdown mentioned paying Miko a visit after he was done finishing with Bulkhead. This provoked Bulkhead to attack Breakdown more, only to enable Breakdown to get the upper hand in the fight. In the end, Bulkhead had won a rematch with Breakdown after he was willingly convinced by Miko to save Breakdown from M.E.C.H..

Besides his anger, Bulkhead is very friendly, loyal, caring, fun, and protective Autobot, who also seems to also like Slash Monkey, partying, and giving warm welcoming hugs when he sees his fellow Autobot friends, like Wheeljack and Arcee. Bulkhead usually breaks Ratchet's tools, and Ratchet would respond by stating "Bulkhead I needed that!!" Bulkhead is quite clumsy at times, but he is very bold and kind warrior inside and outside of his spark.

Powers and Abilities
Bulkhead is one of the toughest Autobots alive as he's the main powerhouse of Team Prime. He has shown to be incredibly strong being able to knock Starscream out with one punch, and even go toe-to-toe with Dreadwing whom he defeated. Bulkhead has faced Megatron twice although being able to do some damage to him, he was easily defeated. He's armed with two arm mounted wrecking balls and energon blasters. He's also armed with a large energon cannon adding his overwhelming firepower. Weapons:
 * Bulkhead's mace weapons
 * Energon Blasters

Quotes

 * "Bulkhead."
 * "Team Prime knows when to use force, and how much to use."
 * "It won't happen again Optimus. I promise."
 * "Scraplet! Scraplet!"
 * "Did she just scream like a little girl?"
 * "Feeling constricted without the use of my fists here boss."
 * "I'm sure that won't get you into college Miko."
 * "What I heard the guy's a jerk."
 * "Bee is the best scout there is."
 * "Whoa."
 * "Call them? Yes."
 * "Yeah Breakdown. It must be your lucky day."
 * "Getting you out of here."
 * "Where's Arcee?"
 * "Autobots don't need to breathe, remember."
 * "And I been lobbing with the Fallen."
 * "Miko!"
 * "I don't wanna hurt you Ratch."
 * "Crazy coincidence. Right?"
 * "Just let go kid."
 * "For Optimus!"
 * "Optimus are you okay?"
 * "Arcee!"
 * "What you needed that?"
 * "And since when do we listen to you?"
 * "You're going down Buckethead!!"
 * "This time he's coming with us."
 * "Who did this? Cons?"
 * "He improvised."
 * "I'm fine."
 * "Haha Jackie's back!"
 * "Never trust a con kick Buckethead's bucket!"
 * "Doesn't look like Optimus."
 * "What the-"
 * "This is for Cliffjumper! For Bumblebee!!! For everything *rages*"
 * "Communications huh."
 * "Fowler! How was your beauty sleep?"
 * "That's my girl."
 * "I'm sorry Miko. My legs still hurt."
 * "He's in, I'm a door stop."
 * "The newbie did alright."
 * "Looks like there's hope for you yet, newbie."
 * "Well, Bee was."
 * "Now!!!"
 * "Did he just..?"
 * "You love doing your dirty work from a distant don't ya?"
 * "Too bad you don't have the ball bearings to fight up close and personal."
 * "The kid escaped the warship."
 * "You lost me."
 * "Optimus destroyed the Omega Lock."
 * "Jackie!! Where you been buddie??"
 * "That's my Jackie."
 * "Arcee!"
 * "Ultra Magnus?! It's an honor."
 * "Totally different."
 * "Jackie wait up. Ultra Magnus wants us to..."
 * "Guards never look up."
 * "Commander Magnus, sir."
 * "He's gone."
 * "Miko. I guess this is..."
 * "Primes never party."
 * "How can you sit there? That's some bad mojo."
 * "Hold tight."
 * "Brace for impact."
 * "Ratchet's restored planets he'll find a way to save you."

Robot Mode
Bulkhead is bigger than most other Autobots except for Optimus Prime. He is also much wider and stronger. He has a dark green and black paint job as well as blue eyes. He has a wrecker belt including a bomb and has opening doors to his cockpit. He has a black bar going through the top of his head, and a metallic jaw.

Vechicle Mode
Bulkhead transforms into a dark green SUV. He has two red lights at the sides, two yellow lights in the front, and four clearish white headlights at the front and back. He has two side mirrors and tainted windows. On the inside, he has the Autobot insignia on his steering wheel.

Trivia

 * Bulkhead is of course an homage to Animated Bulkhead, even using a wrecking ball-like mace.
 * When Derrick J. Wyatt was briefly brought in early in the design process of Prime, Bulkhead was originally intended to be Ironhide. However, as the show evolved, the writers said they realized that they were essentially writing a new Bulkhead, and the character was brought in. Later, on a featurette on the Transformers: Prime Season 1 Blu-ray, Rik Alvarez admitted that because of the death of Ironhide in Dark of the Moon, they didn't want to confuse kids with a living Ironhide. It's likely that the former story was a cover for the latter, for spoiler reasons.
 * For such a big guy, he runs really fast.
 * Bulkhead's chin piece is actually a cover for his lower lip, as is evident whenever he smiles and in his Robots in Disguise character design.
 * Bulkhead's body parts are available to use in the Hub website's Vector Sigma Bot Builder online game. Normally, you cannot configure a generic 'bot using all Bulkhead parts, but you can see what one would look like at right through the magic of Photoshop. While all the characters in the game are hue-shifted from their normal colorations, Bulkhead ended up noticeably less-different than his peers.
 * Another Bulkhead seems to have completely borrowed the look of this Bulkhead.
 * An almost-realized BotCon exclusive from Fun Publications was a redeco of First Edition Bulkhead into Bruton.[3]
 * With the exceptions of Optimus and Bumblebee, Bulkhead and Ratchet were the only Autobots from Transformers: Prime to have speaking roles on Transformers: Robots in Disguise.
 * Bulkhead seems to pass down Ironhide and Hound's traits from the live action movies.
 * Hound from Transformers: Age of Extinction greatly resembles Bulkhead, albeit with a lot more weaponry on his body.
 * Bulkhead stands as the third tallest Autobot of the series succeeded by Ultra Magnus and Optimus Prime.
 * Bulkhead alongside Wheeljack possess a chest compartment.
 * In terms of Cybertronian sport Bulkhead most notably enjoys Basketball and 'Lobbing'.
 * Through Miko, Bulkhead has gained a likeness for rock music and monster truck rallying.
 * Bulkhead's relationship with Miko shares similarities with his Animated counterpart with Sari Sumdac.
 * Out of all the Autobots, Bulkhead has engaged in the most battles with the highest number of Decepticons including Breakdown, Starscream, Hardshell, Dreadwing, Shockwave and Megatron.
 * Bulkhead alongside Smokescreen are the only Autobots who have not appeared in the aligned continuity video games or novels.