- Wheeljack is a Decepticon from the Armada portion of the Unicron Trilogy continuity family.
"My vengeance will be long-winded and repetitive!"
Wheeljack isn't here for vengeance, he's here for vengeance.
A former Autobot, Wheeljack wears the scarred insignia as a constant reminder of what he left. He believes the supposedly-noble Autobots left him on the field of battle to die (and he's not entirely wrong about that, either), and particularly blames his former friend Hot Shot (that, now, he's got dead wrong). He's a fierce soldier with a lot of tricks up his sleeve.
He's accompanied by his Mini-Con partner Wind Sheer, who also used to be allied with the Autobots, but followed Wheeljack over to the dark side.
- Japanese name: Rampage
- Polish name: Prasownik
Fiction
Armada cartoon
- Voice actor: Michael Daingerfield (English), Susumu Chiba (Japanese)
Because you're mine, I walk the... oh, wait. Wrong caption.
Wheeljack was once an Autobot in the same military unit as Hot Shot, looking up to his peer due to his own inexperience in battle, and they considered each other good friends. However, that friendship was broken one day when Wheeljack was trapped under rubble in the middle of an intense fire. Hot Shot alone could not lift the wreckage, and left to get some help, promising to return, but he never did. An arrogant Autobot officer forbade Hot Shot from returning, claiming the fire was too intense and they couldn't risk more lives.
"Soon, we'll all go home... you, me, Optimus, some guy—no... not some guy, he's—Wheeljack?"
Meanwhile, Wheeljack saw a figure approaching through the flames, thinking that at last, Hot Shot had returned. But it was Megatron who saved him that day, and in return, Wheeljack became a Decepticon.
A million years later, a black-coloured Wheeljack tracks down Hot Shot on Earth as his former friend is mentoring another young Autobot, Side Swipe. Managing to aggravate the younger Autobot's temper by laughing evilly and (ha) sideswiping him off the road, Wheeljack leads him on a chase before finally sending him off a cliff. Confronting Hot Shot, he explains what had happened so long ago and why he was here. As Hot Shot begged forgiveness, Wheeljack shot him at point-blank range. Past, Part 1
"This what you get for being a G1 reference!"
Later, as Hot Shot tries to deal with these revelations, Wheeljack challenges his friend to a showdown at an abandoned oil refinery. Once again, Hot Shot tries to explain what had really happened and asks for forgiveness, but the Decepticon is both unwilling to listen and has been too bitter for too long to simply let bygones be bygones. At that moment, the hapless Side Swipe attempts to save Hot Shot, only to be taken hostage by Wheeljack, who shoots Hot Shot in the leg before daring him to save his young friend from the burning refinery.
In a touch of what he perceives to be poetic justice, Wheeljack leaves Side Swipe restrained to the main oil tank in the middle of the blazing inferno as he believes Hot Shot will abandon his new friend just as he allegedly did to Wheeljack on Cybertron. As Hot Shot struggles through his injuries and limps through the refinery to save Side Swipe, Thrust, who had been watching the confrontation, attacks the helpless Autobot. An enraged Wheeljack shoots him out of the sky for daring to interfere, but soon discovers that Megatron had been there the whole time.
On the Moon, an comically-injured Thrust protests Megatron's decision to allow Wheeljack to join the Decepticons, given his unstable temperament and violent disposition. Wheeljack swears loyalty to Megatron and the Decepticons, to the unease of Starscream. Past, Part 2
On Cybertron, he seems to have finally forgiven Hot Shot. When Hot Shot goes for Decepticon help against Unicron, Wheeljack pleads with Megatron to let him speak, and later goes with Hot Shot.
Dreamwave comics continuity
Armada comic
Wheeljack, along with Skywarp and Sideways, guarded the rocket site that was used to launch Megatron's solar scalpel into orbit. Fire & Ice
Energon comic
Millions of years ago, Wheeljack was part of a squad of Decepticons under the command of Scorponok. No Exit
Toys
Armada
Revenge is a dish best served with pinto beans and muffins.
- Wheeljack with Mini-Con Wind Sheer (Deluxe, 2003)
- Japanese ID number: MD-07
- Accessories: 2 missiles
- Wheeljack transforms into a gullwing-doored supercar of vague origin. He is cast in dark charcoal plastic in vehicle mode, with white and yellow for robot parts. His most distinctive feature is the large, scarred Autobot symbol on the center of his chest. When his Mini-Con Wind Sheer is attached to his active rooftop Powerlinx port, both doors either side of the vehicle mode open up like wings, which also give access to the triggers for his door-mounted missile launchers. In robot mode, these missiles can be held in his hands as melee weapons. Unusually, his right wrist features a swivel joint while his left wrist is immobile.
- The Takara release of Wheeljack, named Rampage, has some deco differences. His predominant vehicle mode plastic is now solid black, with the large yellow paint striping replaced with much smaller light blue stripes, and his eyes are painted blue, matching his cartoon model.
- This mold was also used to make a proposed, but unreleased, Universe Battle in a Box Drench. The deco was later used for the BotCon 2008 exclusive Timelines Sideswipe.
- Rampage and Hawk with Air Assault Micron (Multi-pack, 2003)
- Japanese ID number: MS-08
- Accessories: 2 missiles
- In Japan, Wheeljack was available both as an individual release, and in a multi-pack with the Air Assault Mini-Con Team, likely to mirror how his rival Hot Shot had a multi-pack with the Air Defense Mini-Con Team.
Trivia
- According to Aaron Archer, the final head design for Armada Wheeljack is unintentional, at least to Hasbro. Unbeknownst to the American toy company, Takara had designed and sculpted the head to resemble Generation 1 Sideswipe, no doubt due to the similarity of the robot modes on both toys, and Hasbro's team were surprised when they received the prototype toy from Japan.
- Also according to Aaron Archer, during his ORSON stint, it seems some other things about the final sculpt were unknown to the Hasbro team.
- When a fan asked about Wheeljack having only one articulated wrist, Archer did not know why this was done.
- When asked about Wheeljack having knees whilst most other Armada figures seemed to lack them, the reply was "Wheeljack has knees?"
- At OTFCC 2003, Hasbro noted they had vague plans to release the Takara version of Wheeljack as a running change. This never materialized, however.
- Out of the Armada Decepticons who came to Earth in the animated continuity who were not shown to be killed off, Wheeljack is the only one who did not reappear in Energon. As a result, his eventual fate is unknown.
- The original plan for Wheeljack was for him to be Hot Shot's brother. Even after the episode aired, Aaron Archer, posting as ORSON, was unaware of this change.
- Wheeljack possessed a teleportation power in the cartoon which was not reflected in his MTMTE profile.