Wheeljack (G1)/2005 IDW continuity

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It may look like he's doing a "Sherlock" but he's actually doing an "Amadeus Cho".

Wheeljack is one of the premiere inventors and engineers of any Cybertronian age. Known for his innovation even among the Decepticons, Wheeljack had a dedicated laboratory reserved for him on the Kimia research satellite. Wheeljack is a consummate problem-solver, highly skilled at developing solutions to any situation he is presented with. He can also be a bit of a maverick, though—Wheeljack knows he's virtually indispensable to the Autobot cause, and this cockiness can lead him to ignore the chain-of-command in situations where he's sure he's right.

First appearance: Infiltration #3
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“ Sometimes I wish I wasn't right all the time...but mostly I just wish I wasn't the genius that has to fix everything. ”
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—Wheeljack{{#if:"Stick Together"|, "Stick Together"}}

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Fiction

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Joining the Autobots

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In the time preceding the war, Wheeljack worked for security control for Sentinel Prime's government. Megatron Origin #2 Wheeljack was a mechanoid as touched by the sacrifice of others as one could expect from this kindly future Autobot. It comes as no surprise then that he was front row at the state funeral of Kaon Security Service officers Fastback and Bumper. Megatron Origin #3 Around this time he was friends with his fellow engineer Ferak. Ferak's Squadron X profile Wheeljack upgraded Orion Pax in anticipation of a hostage exchange mission, providing him with a brand new body and warning him not to push it too hard. Omega's Conundrum He was working at the Technoversity of Ultirex when he caught a rallying call from Orion Pax, now transformed into Optimus Prime, asking all Cybertronians to stand with him in opposition of the Decepticons' control of Cybertron. Broadcast

They have the tools and they have the talent.

After joining Optimus Prime's Autobot army, Wheeljack was made part of Jetfire's science team and sent to investigate the remains of the destroyed Toraxxis mega-refinery in hopes of locating any energon. Fallout Delving into the caves opened up by the explosion of the refinery, they found ancient writings and depictions of a monster that Wheeljack interpreted as some sort of warning. They also located a large lake of energon that caused Ratchet to mentally regress into a mindless beast, but before they could study it they were attacked by vicious predators living in the caves. Fleeing into another cavern, the scientists found what the warning had been about: a gigantic, dormant monster. Underworld After safely making it out of the caves, Wheeljack and his comrades returned to Optimus Prime and reported their findings. Prey

Wheeljack played a role in curing the Dynobots' hyper-aggressiveness by purifying their tainted energon and restoring their original vehicle modes. Primacy #1 Early in the war, Wheeljack served as a mentor for a young Autobot named Ironfist, who would go on to become an expert in weapons engineering. Ironfist's profile 500,000 years ago, Wheeljack helped defend Metroplex during the Titan's last stand, a battle that ended with Metroplex's leaving of Cybertron. Hello Cruel World

On Earth

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Hollywood's latest spin on the buddy cop drama, Jazz & the 'Jack.

In 2006, Wheeljack was part of a detachment of Autobots that has operated covertly on Earth for at least four years, attempting to foil a Decepticon insurgency. In his role as technical scientist and gadgeteer for the Autobot detachment, he built a device that could interface the SM-40 palmtop computer with the systems aboard the Autobots' Ark-19 spacecraft. Infiltration #3 Wheeljack, like his fellow Autobots, would come to watch the showdown between Megatron and the Ore-13-powered Starscream. Infiltration #6

Aboard the Ark, Wheeljack briefed Optimus Prime and the Autobots about suspected Decepticon activity in the country of Latveria. The Decepticons had set up an array structure that was emitting an aggression wave. The wave was causing higher than normal level of violence amongst nearby costumed humans and was bringing the nations of Latveria and Symkaria to the brink of war. Optimus ordered 'Jack to guard the Ark while the rest of them rolled out. Man and Machine, Part One After the Autobots completed their mission and returned, Wheeljack noted that the Avengers' jet looked like it may have been a Cybertronian design. Man and Machine, Part Four

Later, after the incident outside Lebanon, Illinois, he and Jazz were sent to investigate a Springfield police impound lot which supposedly held Sunstreaker's remains. Unfortunately, members of the Machination had already arrived with the same purpose in mind, and attacked the bots wielding advanced weaponry eerily similar to their own. Wheeljack escaped mostly unharmed, probably because Jazz took a direct hit from a mortar meant for him. Escalation #2 Escalation #3 Wheeljack would get his first taste of real damage in Brasnya facing down Skywarp and Astrotrain, Escalation #4 Escalation #5 and eventually the drained form of Megatron. Escalation #6

"Make like one of my inventions and..."

Wheeljack was assigned to work with Hot Rod in rescuing Ironhide, but yet again the Machination decided to interfere—this time in a confrontation with their army of experimental Headmaster clones. Devastation #1 Devastation #2 Wheeljack's constant tinkering paid off when he was able to escape the Headmasters using a gyro-inhibitor shell. Devastation #3 Devastation #4 The Headmasters eventually caught up with them, however, and incapacitated Wheeljack by knocking a pile of junk cars on him. Devastation #5 Hardhead arrived to retrieve Hot Rod and the others, blowing up a Headmaster that was attacking Hot Rod. Hot Rod refused to leave Earth though, wanting to see the Headmaster mystery to the end. Hardhead reluctantly let him go and took Wheeljack and Ironhide back with him. Devastation #6

Bumblejerk.

A year later, Wheeljack had returned to Earth and joined Optimus Prime's forces. After getting lured into a Decepticon trap and defeated, they were all dumped on the abandoned Cybertron to be finished off by the Insecticon swarm. All Hail Megatron #1 All Hail Megatron #7

Frustrated at being stranded on Cybertron, he listened to Tracks's story about how awesome and cool Jazz is to pass the time. Spotlight: Jazz

When Wheeljack and Bumblebee were sent to try and find energon, the pair discovered their Earth modes couldn't handle the terrain. Wheeljack came up with an idea for a polymer to solve the problem, but Bumblebee (rather rudely) pointed out he lacked any equipment. A moment later, Wheeljack spotted someone following them. In a desperate but sure-to-work attempt to call in back-up, Wheeljack signaled their base with a pulse that would last only 1/100th of a second. Confident help was on the way, he cautioned Bumblebee against going after the stranger on their own, but the young bot, lacking faith in Wheeljack's rather brilliant idea, ignored him. The scientist was proven right, however, when Ironhide and Cliffjumper arrived! All Hail Megatron #4 It turned out their follower was Hot Rod, who told Wheeljack and the others that he was part of an Autobot team that had recently crash-landed on the planet. All Hail Megatron #5

Wheeljack and Ratchet worked together to repair Optimus Prime, who had been heavily injured by the Decepticons. All Hail Megatron #9 When the Autobots were organizing a defense line against the Insecticon swarm, Wheeljack removed a cannon from the other team's crashed spaceship and modified it to be used as a mounted turret. However, since the cannon wasn't meant to be used like that, he warned Roadbuster that its power relay would probably burn out after only a few shots. All Hail Megatron #10 After hitching a ride back to Earth on Omega Supreme, Wheeljack and the others battled Megatron's forces in New York City. All Hail Megatron #11

Three years after the defeat of the Decepticons, Wheeljack and the other Autobots remained on Earth, just in case the Decepticons returned. Skywatch had figured out a way to lock Transformers in vehicle mode stasis for capture, but Wheeljack devised a way to counter the inhibitors. ...For All Mankind When Optimus Prime surrendered to the Skywatch following the death of Ironhide, the Autobots agreed to vote on a new leader, with Wheeljack in charge of tallying the votes. He eventually revealed that the winner was Bumblebee. New Arrivals, Old Encounters Shortly afterwards, Ultra Magnus arrived on Earth to investigate Optimus Prime's surrender, and Wheeljack and the others lined up to listen to him. A Rude Awakening

Surprise, Wheeljack hates being cautious.

While Bumblebee was elected as the new Autobot leader, the little Autobot's moping over their current problems was perceived by Wheeljack to be a weakness, and thus he had little respect for Bumblebee as his leader. After being reprimanded by Ratchet, Wheeljack came across a message from rogue Skywatch Colonel Gordon Horiuchi, who claimed that he wished to work with the Autobots to capture Decepticons. Without consulting Bumblebee, he initiated contact with the colonel, and when Bumblebee and Ratchet found out, he bluntly told his "commander" that if he doesn't do something, more Autobots would leave their group. The Hanging Sword

However, Horiuchi was not as trustworthy as he had seemed, outfitting the Autobots with badges to listen in on them and incapacitate them if they didn't follow his orders. When Bumblebee's badge was damaged, freeing him from the watching eyes of Horiuchi, the Autobots made plans to deactivate the rest of the devices as well. To keep their plans secret from Skywatch, Wheeljack cooked up a text-based comm system using a frequency the humans didn't monitor and used it to guide Bumblebee on his mission. The Impossible Knot

When Bumblebee located one of the control boards for the badges, Wheeljack told him to take it back to base so that he could alter it and cause it to burn out the devices instead. Bumblebee began protesting, since what he was doing was basically lying to a little girl so he could steal from her father, which a frustrated Wheeljack saw as poor thinking for a leader. Ratchet eventually set him straight and convinced him to provide Bumblebee with instructions so that he could tamper with the board on the spot. The Gift Horse

Surprise, Wheeljack has bad news regarding technology.

As Bumblebee finished and began returning to base, Skywarp suddenly tracked down the control board and attacked the humans. Wheeljack and the other Autobots tried to stop Bumblebee from turning back to save them, but he wouldn't listen. Having no other choice, they all rolled out to help him fight the Decepticon only to reach him just as he activated the control board, burning out his and Skywarp's power sources along with their badges. Even after repairing him and upgrading his body, Wheeljack expected Bumblebee to still be "just that little guy", but he seemed to have grown as a leader from the experience. Wings of Wax

Following the Autobots' second, successful alliance with Skywatch, Galvatron crashed a ship full of zombies in Las Vegas. A team of Autobots and Skywatch units went in, and Wheeljack put up a force dome around the area to contain the outbreak. The Transformers: Infestation #1 He later reported that it was running low on energy, though it all turned out alright in the end. The Transformers: Infestation #2

Later, Wheeljack was among the troops picked for the mission to fight the Combaticons in North Korea. He was responsible for mounting giant guns on the other Autobots' vehicle modes, as they were forced to fight in disguise. Ranks of Bronze Despite some unexpected trouble in the form of the Predacons, the Autobots were victorious, and Wheeljack listened to a short speech by Optimus Prime. All My Sins Remembered

After returning to America, Wheeljack repaired Thundercracker, who rather rudely commented that he'd rather have Ratchet. Wheeljack replied that Ratchet was busy tending to the wounded who weren't Decepticons. He later had a chat with Prowl about how unwise it had been to have both their mechanics on the same away team. Enemy Mine Alongside the rest of the Autobots, Wheeljack watched in surprise as Hot Rod (now known as Rodimus) returned from space, bringing news that Cybertron was now habitable once again. All of them volunteered to return to their home planet and liberate it from Galvatron's army. Orphans of the Helix

As they traveled on board Omega Supreme's rocket mode, all the Autobots were curious what would happen to the captured Megatron, and Wheeljack lost 50 Shanix betting with Ratchet that they could listen in on Optimus Prime's private chat with the prisoner. He was also offered a job at Kimia Facility by Xaaron, but it's unknown if he accepted. Not that it mattered considering what happened to Kimia just afterwards. Chaos Theory #1 On Earth, Prowl and Streetwise required Wheeljack's help when Brawl went into stasis lock during an interrogation. Appearing via hologram, he figured that someone had placed a failsafe within the Decepticon, so that if he was captured he'd be knocked offline before he revealed any sensitive information. Only Forward On Cybertron, the Autobots fought against Galvatron's Sweeps. Numbers

After the war

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"That reminds me to install the anti-Kool-Aid Man defenses."

Upon their victory, Cybertron was left at peace, but the planet itself had been "reset", transformed into a primordial and hostile world—a world to which factionless Transformers from all across the galaxy soon began returning. Bumblebee established a provisional government, and Wheeljack became part of his inner circle of confidants, at first helping to direct the arriving ships to appropriate landing zones. The Death of Optimus Prime Once things settled down a little, Wheeljack outfitted his fellow Autobots with new Cybertronian alternate modes, and began working with Ironhide to explore the extent of the changes to the planet. How to Say Goodbye and Mean It The Autonomy Lesson He was responsible for "upgrading" Bumblebee's walking stick into a powerful taser and was present for the memorial service dedicated to the crew of the Lost Light, which had disappeared in an explosion just after launch. The World & Everything in It

They have a Latta in common.

When mysterious explosions began erupting across the planet, Wheeljack was called upon to investigate, in the process having to save Dirge from a furious Silverbolt, who blamed the Decepticons for the blasts. Unconvinced, Wheeljack put his head together with Starscream's and deduced that the explosions were being caused by unanchored energy the primeval planet was supposed to be transmitting to its absent moon. Wheeljack hastily constructed a rocket and launched it into low orbit to safely draw the energy off into space, then set to work putting a replacement satellite together. Impressed by Starscream's selfless actions during the crisis, he developed a bit of respect for the Decepticon and convinced Bumblebee to allow him into their government. Stick Together He was later given the unenviable task of informing Prowl about the murder of Skydive and accompanying him to the crime scene, Devisive and was present at the Autobot base for the arrival of Sky-Byte. A Better Tomorrow

When a Decepticon ship materialized above Cybertron from out of seeming nowhere, Wheeljack's scientific curiosity was piqued, and he volunteered to sneak aboard the craft to learn what kind of secret cloaking technology the craft's curiously beneficent commander Turmoil was hiding. Upon discovering that the ship did not have a cloaking device, but rather a time machine built using slave labor, Wheeljack was attacked and badly wounded by Turmoil. Although he was able to seal the Decepticon in one of his newly created containment fields, Wheeljack was then confronted by his vengeful troops, only to be saved by Metalhawk. Using another containment field to protect himself and his rescuer as they escaped the ship, Wheeljack concluded that despite its dubious origins, the time machine was too valuable to destroy. Interference Patterns

Following a damaged Sky Lynx's return from the Cybertronian wilderness, Wheeljack investigated and found that staying out there at night would somehow corrupt your mind. He offered Bumblebee several theories on why Iacon was safe from this influence: either they were lucky, the ruins in Kimia were protecting them, or Cybertron itself wanted everyone to stay together. To get his mind off things, Wheeljack then returned to experimenting with Turmoil's time machine... only for the ship to disappear from right under his nose. Night and the City

This was followed by the discovery of Metrotitan, a Titan stuck in an underground cave containing Crystal City, and so Wheeljack came with Prowl to investigate. He deduced that the titan had warped there via space bridge, but the charged anti-protons released by the teleportation was mixing with the city's regular protons, threatening the collapse of local reality. This left the Autobots with two options: contain the imminent explosion and let the Titan die, or stop the anti-proton flow and risk destroying the entire planet. They went with the former. All Good Things

Once the Iacon Communication Service got going, Wheeljack and the rest of High Command watched an interview with Starscream, who was gaining popularity after having been recognized as a great Cybertronian by the Titan. The End of the Beginning of the World All thoughts on the upcoming election were halted when Megatron returned for the first time since the war ended, however. Wheeljack captured the Decepticon leader in a containment field and had him searched for hidden weaponry, but while he appeared harmless, his mere presence was causing the rest of the Decepticons to riot. Worried that Starscream may have a hand in this, Metalhawk sent Wheeljack to check up on things, which offended Starscream who was in fact trying to calm the other Decepticons down. Wheeljack assured Starscream that he trusted him, but was pulled away by reports that Prowl had gone missing and that his quarters wouldn't show up on security cameras. Wheeljack left to check personally, but unfortunately his presence on the streets aggravated the Decepticon rioters, who attacked and would have killed him if not for the sudden arrival of Prowl. City on Fire

Promising that he had everything planned ahead in advance, Prowl brought Wheeljack to his Black Room... where he revealed that he was on Megatron's side and captured him. The Verge When Bumblebee arrived and bore witness to the unbelievable scene, Wheeljack called out to him to "remember what's most important", but before he could finish, the brainwashed Prowl shut him up by shooting him point blank in the head. Before the Dawn His lifeless body remained on the floor as Megatron's Decepticon invasion of Iacon began. Plan for Everything Bumblebee later realized he'd been referring to what he joked were "the three most important words in the Cybertronian language", which served as his password for his system bypasses—"Wheeljack Wheeljack Wheeljack". When Bumblebee, Ironhide and a restored Prowl uttered this password, it activated a force field belt inside hidden inside Megatron's spark casing by Wheeljack during his examination, incapacitating the Decepticon leader and saving Cybertron. Heavy Is the Head

Wheeljack was presumed dead by all involved other than Starscream, who in secrecy spirited him away and placed him in a life-saving CR chamber in hopes that the scientist would support him in his new position as leader of Iacon. Three Monologues

Reawakening

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Wheeljack finally awoke after months in stasis to find that Cybertron had changed greatly. Starscream told Jackie about everything he had missed: how he had become Cybertron's leader, how Shockwave had almost destroyed everything, how Megatron had became an Autobot, and how Cybertron had made contact with other Transformers from lost colonies. Starscream later explained the current situation involving Prowl and the Constructicons on Earth, and the growing number of combiners that could potentially pose a threat to his nascent government. Starscream brought Wheeljack to the bowels of Metroplex to show him the comatose Superion. Starscream then gave Wheeljack his task: rebuilding Superion so that Starscream's government could have a combiner of their own. Following a bit of soul-searching, including a talk with Windblade and his old pal Ironhide, Wheeljack decided that trusting Starscream and following his plan was the best choice he had, knowing that he had friends to back him up if things got too rough. The World of Tomorrow

Wheeljack was also responsible for operating Metroplex's space bridge, which he and Windblade found could reach the long-lost colonies established by other Titans. On the night that they made first contact with the colonies, Wheeljack was given the Enigma of Combination, whose power he used to quickly repair and upgrade Superion. First Contact As Cybertron was reconnected with Caminus, Wheeljack continued to place his trust in Starscream, rejecting Optimus Prime's suspicions that he had ulterior motives in reaching out to the colony. The Possible Light Starscream pressured him to contact other colonies given that they "might be in danger", though Wheeljack made it clear that he could only do so much with the space bridge without Windblade's Cityspeaker skills. You, Me, and the Universe He and Windblade later defended the space bridge from a throng of Decepticons who wanted control of it, and worked to regulate the damaged bridge as it changed destinations repeatedly while several combiners fought their way in and out of the portal. All That Remains In the immediate aftermath, Wheeljack helped Rattrap try to save the life of Swindle, who had dirt on Starscream but had been severely injured in the battle. They couldn't save him from going brain-dead, however, and hid him away instead. Things We Said We'd Never Do

Once the mess was over, they had coordinates to a bunch of other colonies, allowing Wheeljack to send Windblade and her party to Velocitron. Windblade vol. 2 #4 While Windblade thought she'd gotten one over on Starscream this way, Wheeljack informed her Starscream had simultaneously visited Devisiun. Race Against the Light Windblade and Starscream then agreed to stop going behind each other's backs and had Wheeljack send both of them to the next two colonies, Eukaris and Carcer. Windblade vol. 2 #6 The Will of the Few When Starscream created Chosen One Day only to find that nobody cared about celebrating him, Wheeljack came to the rescue, scrounging up some people who were willing to at least pretend to like Starscream for a day. Choose Me He was at the space bridge when it was besieged again by a group of Galvatron-loyal Decepticons who sought to use it to join their leader on Earth. He shut off the bridge, cutting one particularly unfortunate Decepticon in half, then held out with Windblade and Chromia the best he could until Starscream's reinforcements arrived. Perihelion

With the Decepticons on Cybertron neutralized, Wheeljack followed Optimus Prime to Earth to help battle Galvatron's forces, bringing along a device that shielded the Autobots from the Earth Defense Command's mindbomb weapon. Once Upon a Time on Earth After returning to Cybertron, he watched a disturbing broadcast from multiple crew members of the Lost Light who were facing death and recording their final messages to the world. How Bright Their Frail Deeds Later, the Combaticons found out about Wheeljack's role in Swindle's disappearance and attacked him in his home, forcing him to spill the beans by threatening to kill Chromia. He and Rattrap then had to lead the Combaticons to the brain-dead Swindle, who they combined with in an attempt to access his memories. Things We Said We'd Never Do Wheeljack and the others quickly made themselves scarce as the newborn combiner, Bruticus, started attacking everything in sight. The Line Between Us

Wheeljack was walking the streets with Chromia when a returned Sentinel Prime went on a murder spree, The Last Autobot and participated in relief efforts afterwards. White Heat

Wheeljack eventually hired the Velocitronian Breakdown as his new lab assistant. After the city of New Prysmos had been created, Windblade sent the two to examine the Talisman. Before they could enter the alien city however, a portion of the device's energy disintegrated Breakdown's arm forcing Wheeljack to amputate the limb and take him to a medical bay. As Breakdown convulsed, Wheeljack ran more scans on the Talisman's energy signaure finding that the device itself was tunneling down to Vector Sigma, apparently intent on completing the terraforming process. When Kup and Ironhide arrived after a failed attempt at negotiating with the Prysmosians, Wheeljack informed the two of his findings prompting Ironhide to storm back to New Prysmos. Schismatic Once Breakdown had recovered, he and Wheeljack were able to learn more about why magic induced necrotic symptoms in Transformers but glumly concluded that they lacked sufficient time to come up with countermeasures before the Talisman reached Vector Sigma. As they reported this to Ironhide, the exiled Spectral Knights arrived to propose an alliance which the Cybertronians reluctantly agreed to. Cybertron No More

As Wheeljack continued to study magic, he found it to be essentially gamma radiation but augmented with inconsistent variances that all seemed to break down molecular structure. After attaching a new arm to Breakdown and explaining his findings to his assistant, Wheeljack neutralized the baseline gamma radiation surrounding Breakdown's severed limb, restoring it to pristine condition. Though the limb soon began decaying again, Wheeljack realized that it was the Transformers' best chance at keeping their planet. Desperate Measures After constructing a bomb powerful enough to neuter the Talisman, the scientists installed it within Quickswitch. Once it was properly strapped in, Wheeljack joined the drilling team. Quickswitch was soon confronted by the Talisman's energies and expired but not before he managed to overtake the device and reach the outer core of Vector Sigma. As Wheeljack began to prime the bomb, Arzon, now a Darkling Lord arrived and sliced the explosive in two. Good Men After the traitor had been tackled down, Wheeljack found the explosive module was still intact but now needed to be much closer to the Talisman to work. As Ironhide carried the bomb, the Talisman's energies began to rip him apart forcing Galadria to apply a healing spell to the Autobot. The exotic cocktail of energies somehow mediated the directives of the Talisman and the bomb, preserving Vector Sigma but raising New Prysmos up to the surface of Cybertron. In the aftermath, Wheeljack examined both Waspinator and Ironhide, advising the former to go get drunk and forget about the Prysmosians. The Curtain

A few days later, Wheeljack harvested photonic material from Trypticon's former resting point so he could build new bodies for Optimus Prime and Bumblebee. Unstopped and Unstoppable

The victory over the Prysmosians would soon prove a hollow one as the magics unleashed within Cybertron had served to summon Unicron. The Chaos Bringer began targeting Cybertronian-affiliated planets, each extinction increasing his power. As he turned his sights on Elonia, Wheeljack joined the crew of the Ark-Zero, bringing with him a new form of space bridge that could teleport all the Elonians off their homeworld. Orbital jumping down to the planet's surface, Wheeljack and Bumblebee set up the master control pylon only for a space bridge counter-signal to prevent teleportation. When the counter-signal ceased, Wheeljack realized a Titan had just died before solemnly accepting his fate, warping his friends to safety while he remained behind. As Unicron consumed the planet, Wheeljack noted there were worse ways to go than saving billions of lives. Our Darkest When Soundwave sacrificed his own life to help defeat Unicron, the last thing he saw was a vision of Wheeljack and many other spirits of the dead welcoming him into the Afterspark. Ceremony

Notes

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  • Wheeljack was one of the characters whom both James Roberts and John Barber wanted for their respective books.<ref>James Roberts: As for the divvying up, we both started off with two or three characters that had been dictated – actually, that’s the wrong word – by IDW editorial, then came up with a core cast wish list. There were only a few clashes. I would have liked Prowl and Wheeljack and I think John would have liked Magnus and Ratchet. We compromised.</ref>

References

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