Wheeljack is a Autobot turned Decepticon, with a bitter rivalry with Hot Shot, and a recurring antagonist in Transformers Armada.
History[]
Backstory[]
As seen in Past and Past II, 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 could not lift the wreckage alone, and left to get some help, promising to return, but he never did. An Autobot officer forbade Hot Shot from returning. Wheeljack was saved by Megatron, and in return, Wheeljack became a Decepticon.
Armada []
A million years later, a black-coloured Wheeljack tracked down Hot Shot on Earth as his former friend was mentoring Side Swipe. Managing to aggravate the younger Autobot's temper Wheeljack led him on a chase before finally sending him off a cliff. Confronting Hot Shot, he explained what had happened so long ago and why he was here. In Past II, Hot Shot begged forgiveness, Wheeljack shot him.
Later, as Hot Shot tried to deal with these revelations, Wheeljack challenged his friend to a showdown at an abandoned oil refinery. Once again, Hot Shot tried to explain what really happened and asked for forgiveness, but the Decepticon was unwilling to listen and had been too bitter for forgiveness. At that moment, Side Swipe attempted to save Hot Shot, only to be taken hostage by Wheeljack, who shot Hot Shot in the leg before daring him to save his friend from the burning refinery. In a touch of what he perceived to be poetic justice, Wheeljack left Side Swipe restrained in the middle of the blazing inferno, as he believed Hot Shot would abandon Side Swipe. As Hot Shot limped through the refinery to save Side Swipe, Thrust, who had been watching the confrontation, attacked the Autobot. Wheeljack shot him out of the sky for daring to interfere, but soon discovered that Megatron had been there the whole time. Later, the injured Thrust protested Megatron's decision to allow Wheeljack to join the Decepticons, given his instability and violent disposition. Wheeljack swore loyalty to Megatron and the Decepticons.
After the bulk of the Autobots had been lured away from their base in Sacrifice, Wheeljack participated in the attack on the enemy headquarters. In Regeneration the Decepticons regrouped at their base. When Starscream walked in, he took out his frustration for being left behind on Thrust. Wheeljack showed concern over this turn of events, but Megatron put an end to the fight and sent his troops off. Cyclonus and Wheeljack rushed back to Megatron's throne room when they heard that Starscream was rebelling against Megatron. Starscream shot them both before they could intervene, and left to join the Autobots.
In Rescue, the Decepticons were gathered in Megatron's throne room when an alarm sounded. Wheeljack correctly suggested that the alarm meant the Autobots had infiltrated the base. He attempted to pursue his vendetta against Hot Shot when he turned up, but Hot Shot side-stepped Wheeljack instead of fighting him. Wheeljack then stuck to fighting the main Autobot force until they eventually retreated, having rescued nearly all of the Mini-Cons.
After the Hydra Cannon was constructed, Optimus and Jetfire arrived to stop it being used on Earth, in Crisis. Cyclonus, Demolishor, and Wheeljack dealt with Jetfire, pinning him down and preventing him from stopping Optimus sacrifice himself to stop the cannon. In Depart, Cyclonus was confused why Megatron seemed so upset after the death of Optimus. Wheeljack explained that the loss of a rival could be discomforting.
The Unicron Battles[]
In Miracle, when Cyclonus complained Megatron was turning the ship around to deal with their pursuers, Wheeljack firmly told him to never question their leader. In the battle that followed, Optimus Prime was revived, and forced them to retreat. Arriving on Cybertron ahead of the Autobots, In Uprising, the Decepticons took Cybertron by force. During a charge led by Galvatron (formerly Megatron), Wheeljack and the others came upon Optimus and Jetfire. The Decepticons retreated when the Autobots brought to their attention a black hole, and warned of Unicron.
In Dash, Wheeljack encountered Hot Shot trying to talk with Galvatron. Initially eager to continue his feud, Wheeljack was convinced to let Hot Shot deliver his message. The conversation led to Thrust revealing that Unicron was his true master, and took off with the Requiem Blaster and Skyboom Shield. Wheeljack seemed to finally forgive Hot Shot, and joined him in pursuing Thrust. In Drift, the two old friends delved deep into a series of organic-looking tunnels. When they heard the Requiem Blaster going off in the distance, the two sped towards it. They found Starscream protecting Rad, Alexis, and Carlos from a cave-in. The children informed the newcomers that the Mini-Cons had been spawned by Unicron in a bid to subjugate the Cybertronian race.
In Portent, Wheeljack continued to help Hot Shot track down Thrust, coming to a portal that transported them to Cybertron's moon. There, they tried to attack their quarry, only to be warded off by various organisms that populated the satellite's interiors. Thrust got away, but Wheeljack and his allies managed to make their way to the moon's surface. As the ground beneath their feet began to collapse, they were rescued by Jetfire, who flew them back to Cybertron. Looking back at the moon, they realised that the satellite concealed the awakening Unicron. Wheeljack bid Hot Shot farewell, and rejoined the Decepticons to prepare for the upcoming battle.
Though no longer vengeful, Wheeljack was still loyal to Galvatron. In Cramp, he joined Galvatron as he attacked Optimus's forces in a canyon. There, Wheeljack was kept occupied by the enemy soldiers while Optimus tried to reason with Galvatron. The firefight was interrupted by an energy discharge from Unicron, and soon after Galvatron was swayed by Starscream's death to unite with Optimus. In Alliance, Wheeljack attended a formal ceremony where Prime and Galvatron shook hands, uniting the Autobots and Decepticons into an armada that struck at Unicron together.
In Union, determining their best plan laid in attacking Unicron from within, Optimus and Galvatron infiltrated Unicron's body, while, Wheeljack and the rest of the troops kept Unicron occupied with their ships. In Origin, Wheeljack began to show his Autobot roots, being concerned for Optimus Prime. The troops on the outside struggled to keep Unicron occupied, as all the damage they inflicted on healed near-instantaneously. In Mortal Combat, the team inside Unicron succeeded in de-powering the Chaos Bringer. The armada then scrambled to eliminate Unicron before he recovered, but once Galvatron sacrificed himself, there was no longer enough hatred to sustain him, and he vanished. The war now at an end, Wheeljack and his fellow Cybertronians stood united, and begun rebuilding their war-torn planet.
Notes[]
- The name Wheeljack is usually reserved for a loyal Autobot, who usually functions as an inventor, as seen in the Generation One continuities, the Animated cartoon, the Film Series, and the Cyberverse cartoon. In the Prime cartoon, he is depicted as a warrior. In many ways, the Armada Wheeljack is a separate character, that only shares the name.