Wreck-Gar (TFA)


 * Wreck-Gar is a very confused individual from the Transformers Animated continuity family.



Recently brought to life by the power of the AllSpark, Wreck-Gar is simple-minded and highly suggestible. As he attempts to learn more about his identity, he never loses his sense of humor. His trash bin is an impressive bag of tricks, able to stash and deploy many useful (and even more useless) items at a moment's notice, or make them seemingly disappear forever. This ability is a bit of a mixed blessing, as Wreck-Gar will frequently confuse your request with something that sounds vaguely similar.

Wreck-Gar's primary goal in life is to acquire an identity. Additionally, he is eager to help people and be liked. He will automatically take on whatever role is suggested to him. This makes him rather unpredictable and prone to making the wrong move at the wrong time. However, if he can learn to think for himself instead of relying on others, there's potential in this friendly mix-and-match bot.

"I am Wreck-Gar! I dare to be stupid!"

- Wreck-Gar

Animated cartoon

 * Voice actor: "Weird Al" Yankovic (English), Joachim Kaps (German)



Wreck-Gar emerged from a garbage scow, activated by a shard of AllSpark energy that was close to Sari Sumdac's Key, self-aware but with no sense of history or identity. He tried to figure out what he was by studying objects in his environment and was briefly tricked by a food label into thinking he was high-fructose corn syrup. Spying a blimp proclaiming the Detroit Metro Police Department was "here to help", Wreck-Gar went off in search of the police for help. Once ashore, Wreck-Gar's clumsy curiosity prevented police officers from apprehending the Angry Archer, and the villain quickly conscripted Wreck-Gar as a sidekick, even giving the confused mechanoid his new, shorter name (as "worthless-wreck-walking-pile-of-garbage" was a bit overlong). Wreck-Gar helped the Archer disable an armored car, allowing him to steal a canister of unknown content right in front of the Autobots Ratchet and Bumblebee.

Upon seeing the Autobots and overhearing that they protected life and caught bad guys, Wreck-Gar decided he wanted to do that, slapped an Autobrand on his chest, and chased the escaping Archer. Throwing the Archer high into the air in order to "catch" him, Wreck-Gar only got the canister, as the Archer used a grappling arrow to escape. After being harshly told by Ratchet he was only good for one thing, GARBAGE!, Wreck-Gar proudly declared he was good for only one thingGARBAGE!and set about trying to deliver the stinky stuff to the entire citizenry of Detroit. (Detroit just happened to be in the middle of a garbage strike as well. Hooray!) The Autobots gave chase, having discovered the canister Wreck-Gar held contained experimental Sumdac Systems garbage-eating microbots, which Ratchet worried would be dangerously mutated by Wreck-Gar's AllSpark energy.



This mission became much more dangerous when he was approached by Lugnut, who was out to retrieve the AllSpark shard from Wreck-Gar's body. Thanks to Wreck-Gar's habit of repeating everything said to him (specifically, Ratchet's proclamation that "you're not an Autobot, and you never will be an Autobot!"), Lugnut believed the newcomer was just as much a loyal Decepticon as himself. When Ratchet accosted Wreck-Gar, Lugnut prepared his explosive punch, which Wreck-Gar took to mean the Universal Greeting, so he gave Lugnut a high-five that left a colossal impact crater. As the Autobots ran for it, Wreck-Gar hopped on the pursuing Lugnut, pulling out the now-cracked microbot canister he'd gotten. A small amount spilled on Lugnut and began eating through his tail section. Wreck-Gar helpfully disassembled the tail, sending Lugnut plummeting somewhere in Detroit, with himself and the tail landing in a full garbage scow, which the nanobots quickly began to consume. From the shore, a group of bystanders began cheering as they saw the scow's load diminish. Now supplied with a fresh load of garbage and mistaking the cheers as intended for his delivery of said garbage, Wreck-Gar pushed the scow full steam ahead.

Wreck-Gar's attempt to deliver it was impeded by Ratchet, who first screamed at the junk-bot that the nanobots would destroy the entire city should they reach shore, but Wreck-Gar was adamant. Ratchet then did the hardest thing he'd ever had to do: apologize for his insults and bad attitude. Ratchet told the now-even-more-confused robot that he could be whatever he wanted and to not let others decide for him who he was. Wreck-Gar decided he truly wanted to be a hero, and slapping the Autobot symbol on his chest once again, began vacuuming up the nanobots. The nanobots began to overload within his backpack, however, and as Wreck-Gar tumbled off of what was left of the scow, he cried out his thank-you to Ratchet. An explosion of AllSpark energy burst from the water, and all Ratchet's magnetic power could retrieve was random junk...

And, at the bottom of the lake, Wreck-Gar smiled to himself, a hero. Despite being buried up to his shoulders, he assured the fish passing by he was there to help...but first...could somebody give him a hand or a fin?

Animated

 * Wreck-Gar (Voyager, 2008)


 * Wreck-Gar transforms into a garbage truck with articulated lifting arms. The extent of his gimmickry is currently unknown.

Trivia

 * Originally, the creators wanted Eric Idle to play Wreck-Gar, as he was the original voice for his Generation 1 namesake. As Idle was busy with the production of Spamalot, Weird Al was selected instead.


 * Wreck-Gar's head is an old-fashioned portable TV set, complete with channel selection dials, aerial and a handle for transport. As Derrick Wyatt has admitted to being heavily influenced by Gainax shows, this may well be a visual cue to FLCL, along with the resemblance to the original Wreck-Gar's head and his "TV talk" persona.


 * When Lugnut was about to use his power fist on Ratchet, Wreck-Gar mistook it as the Universal greeting and replied with "Bah weep graaaaagnah weep ni ni bong" before giving Lugnut an extremely explosive high five.


 * Wreck-Gar's line "I dare to be stupid!" is something of a double-callout, as the Weird Al song "Dare to be Stupid" was featured in the original Transformers movie, and Wreck-Gar himself is voiced by Al.