Wheeljack is a character that appears in Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers, The Transformers: The Movie and Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers: Victory.
Personality & Character[]
History[]
1984[]
Wheeljack was one of the original crew of Cybertrons aboard the Ark when it crashed into the Earth four million years ago. Originally a boxy-shaped transport affixed with retractable, bumper-mounted cutting blades, Wheeljack was reformatted in 1984 to be a speedy and rare Lancia Stratos Turbo custom racing car. More Than Meets the Eye, Part 1
Wheeljack was part of the battle unit organized by Meister to first challenge the re-awakened Destrons on Earth. More than Meets the Eye, Part 2
He was involved in the battle at an off-shore oil rig, where the Cybertrons would meet the Witwickys, human workers who would befriend the Cybertrons. Wheeljack developed an especially close friendship with Sparkplug Witwicky, as the two were both gifted mechanics. Wheeljack was next part of the team that attempted to stop the Destron plot to overload Sherman Dam. More than Meets the Eye, Part 3
A restless engineer, Wheeljack has developed all manner of contraptions and equipment for his personal use and for use by his fellow Cybertrons, often with catastrophic results. He designed the compact yet extremely powerful explosive that nearly trapped the Destrons in the ruby crystal mines of Burma, a magnetic inducer device capable of stopping Transformers cold in their tracks, and a gyro-inhibitor shell that could incapacitate even Megatron for short spans. Roll For It, Divide and Conquer
Upon discovery of dinosaur bones in caverns within the Ark's volcano, Wheeljack and Ratchet were inspired to construct robotic version of dinosaurs. The Dinobots were originally too dangerous and too primitive to control, leading to Convoy commanding that the project be abandoned, but Wheeljack secretly persisted. He developed memory components that increased the Dinobots' intelligence, turning them into valuable, if sometimes unpredictable, members of the Cybertron forces. S.O.S. Dinobots
Concealed in Wheeljack's left wrist is a fire suppression system, which no doubt came in handy when one of his devices would blow up in his face. Fire on the Mountain, The Ultimate Doom, Part 1, The Ultimate Doom, Part 2, The Ultimate Doom, Part 3, Countdown to Extinction, A Plague of Insecticons, Heavy Metal War, Autobot Spike, Changing Gears, City of Steel, The Immobilizer, The Autobot Run, Atlantis, Arise!, Day of the Machines, Enter the Nightbird, A Prime Problem, The Core, The Insecticon Syndrome, Dinobot Island, Part 1, Dinobot Island, Part 2, The Master Builders, Auto Berserk, Microbots, Megatron's Master Plan, Part 1, Megatron's Master Plan, Part 2, Desertion of the Dinobots, Part 1, Desertion of the Dinobots, Part 2, Child's Play, The Girl Who Loved Powerglide, The Girl Who Loved Powerglide, The Key to Vector Sigma, Part 1, War Dawn, Cosmic Rust, Masquerade, B.O.T.
2005[]
Wheeljack was severely injured during the 2005 Destron assault on Scramble City. Arcee pulled his body away from the crossfire. The Transformers: The Movie
When the Dinobots were injured in a Destron attack in the year 2005, Wheeljack headed to Earth to arrange the transplantation of Grimlock's mind into a new Binaltech body. On his return journey to the Cybertrons' moonbase, however, his shuttle was hijacked by time-tossed Destron Ravage, who had begun a plan to alter the course of history. Wheeljack was shown a brief glimpse of the near future—including the deaths of himself and many of his comrades—but managed to escape Ravage's clutches. Ravage himself promptly returned to Cybertron and exhumed the Kronosphere, using it to tip the balance of the decisive battle occurring at that time. Whereas the outcome would have originally favored the Destrons, leading to their total conquest of Seibertron, Ravage ensured an Cybertron victory, altering history and leaving the heroes to face the looming threat of Unicron alone.
Aware that history had been altered, Wheeljack was faced with a dilemma: Should he stop Ravage's plan and restore the timestream, even though it would mean the death of many Cybertrons, including himself? His salvation, he hoped, lay in the GT System, a device that allowed a singular spark to control many duplicate bodies simultaneously. Dubbing his original body the "Alpha Unit," he constructed the "Beta Unit" based on Grimlock's Ford Mustang body, as well as the ominous third "Omega Unit," a mysterious body about which nothing is known.
The subsequent arrival of Unicron prompted the Cybertrons to initiate "Operation: Distant Thunder," which saw Skids use the chronal warp on Dinobot Island to send Wheeljack's memory data back in time, in hopes of alerting the Cybertrons in the past and preventing alteration to the timestream. The plan didn't go as expected, and reality started to go into a severe state of whack, until a mysterious black Optimus Prime appeared and sealed the time portals that had been created. Operation: Distant Thunder had succeeded in preventing the mainline timestream's alteration, but the Binaltech timeline, first destined to be replaced and erased, had been saved by the newcomer and was now its own distinct, divergent universe.
The Headmasters[]
Wheeljack together of Cybertrons attacked the Destrons. Four Warriors Come out of the Sky
2025[]
Wheeljack, Perceptor and Minerva were summoned by Star Saber to save the life of the fallen Ginrai. Ginrai Dies!!
They succeeded, transforming the former transtector into the mighty Victory Leo. Fight!! Victory Leo, Ultimate Crisis!! Autobots, Awaken! Victory Leo, The Strongest! Victory Saber, The Tide is Turned! The Ultimate Weapon, the Victory Unification
Japanese Generation 2 manga[]
Umm... would you believe it was my identical cousin?
Wheeljack, along with Perceptor and Jetfire, discovered new properties of the Matrix which allowed Optimus Prime to revive himself as Laser-Rod Optimus Prime after a crushing defeat by Megatron.
Animated[]
Wheeljack attacked the Destrons. Transform and Roll Out
Binaltech[]
Relationships[]
Gallery[]
See Also[]
Notes & Trivia[]
- Wheeljack has the distinction of being the first Transformer to appear (and transform) in animation.
- Wheeljack's not-being-deadness is never addressed. Though to Japanese viewers during the original airings, this was not a noticeable discrepancy, as the movie where he died had not been shown in Japan until after Victory had aired. However, the original Movie storyboards show Smokescreen as the dead Autobot next to Windcharger). It is also possible that if Skids was successful with Operation: Distant Thunder then Wheeljack could have survived his apparent demise in the movie via Project Bodyshop.
References[]