Bulkhead (Animated)

The name or term "Bulkhead" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Bulkhead (disambiguation).

Bulkhead is an Autobot from the Animated continuity family.

Crumplezone called; he wants his head back.

The biggest and strongest of Optimus Prime's crew, Bulkhead appears to be little more than a big, dumb lummox at first glance. The second and third glances don't do much to improve that impression. Raised on a backwater energon farm, he joined the Autobot academy to achieve the lofty goal of becoming a lowly space bridge technician rather than a warrior. He also has an unfortunate tendency to break stuff by accident due to his sheer strength and natural clumsiness. He's wrecked major thoroughfares and toppled skyscrapers in his zeal to be helpful; when he gets angry, he's capable of berserker charges that even the Dinobots have learned to respect and fear. His penchant for being a little too eager to please others and getting a little too emotional at times further leads him to act without thinking. Add in a seeming lack of skills beyond "destruction", and it does not paint a pretty picture.

But despite all these shortcomings, one is hard-pressed to find a bot with a bigger spark, and he has astounding (if sometimes well-hidden) depths. He hates being thought of as the clumsy brute of the team, which has bred a certain amount of careful forethought and cautiousness. He's endlessly loyal to and protective of his friends, especially his best buddy Bumblebee and the human girl Sari, even if their impulsive behavior is sometimes annoying. Since coming to Earth, he has discovered a love of art and the urge to express his true feelings through it. He's not very good at it, but he keeps trying anyways. Perhaps most surprising of all is that he is Cybertron's foremost expert in space bridge technology, even though he may not be able to build one himself without accidentally breaking at least half the components.

You guys got it easy. All people want me to do is break stuff. I've got a sensitive side too, you know... but breaking stuff is kinda fun.Bulkhead meditates on his lot in life, "Home Is Where the Spark Is"

Fiction

Animated cartoon

Events from IDW Publishing or Fun Publications books are in italics.

Voice actor: Bill Fagerbakke (English), Kenta Miyake (Japanese), Alexander Kovrizhnykh (Russian), Tilo Schmitz (German), Ireneusz Załóg (Polish), Lorenzo Scattorin (Italian), Fábio Moura (Portuguese), Rolando Silva (Latin-American Spanish, seasons 1 and 2), Harold Leal (Latin-American Spanish, season 3), Ju-chang Lee (Korean), Julio Lorenzo (Castillo Spanish), Bruno Lähteenmäki (Finnish), Frédéric Cerdal (French, seasons 1, 2 and first half of 3), Gérard Rouzier (French, second half of season 3)

"I'm gonna love him, and hug him, and pet him, and call him George!"

Having read every space bridge schematic he could get his hands on, A Bridge Too Close, Part II the 'bot who would become "Bulkhead" left the energon farm to attend Autobot boot camp in the hopes that he could become a qualified space bridge engineer. It was there that he first met Bumblebee and their trainer, Sentinel Minor, who gave him his codename after deciding that the gentle giant was "all bulk and no brains". Bumblebee initially had no interest in befriending Bulkhead, mockingly calling him a "mudflap", but an unlikely friendship blossomed after Bulkhead saved Bumblebee from some "malfunctioning" turrets, accidentally dropping a building on Sentinel in the process. Although it seemed as though Bumblebee would go on to bigger and better things in the Autobot Elite Guard after outing their fellow Autobot cadet Wasp as a Decepticon spy, Bumblebee voluntarily took the blame for injuring Sentinel and the pair were both given the boot and reassigned to space bridge detail Autoboot Camp aboard the starship Orion under the command of Elite Guard washout Optimus Prime. While on maintenance detail, the team discovered Prowl meditating on an asteroid, and after accidentally blowing up his ship the stoic ninja joined their crew until they could return home to Cybertron. Endgame, Part I

While repairing one malfunctioning space bridge in an asteroid field far from Cybertron, Bulkhead got his wrecking ball stuck in a rock face and later had to be rescued by Optimus when the space bridge malfunctioned and threatened all five members of the crew with debris. In doing so, however, the team discovered the long-lost AllSpark, which had been deliberately hidden by the Autobots during the Great War. In doing so, however, the team had provoked Megatron's Decepticons, who had also been searching for the life-giving artifact. While trying to evade the Decepticon warship after Megatron seemingly perished aboard their ship, Bulkhead did his best to hang on while the Autobots flew their ship through the space bridge and splashed down in Lake Erie after the crew entered stasis pods to survive.

Let's see Grave Digger beat this!

Fifty years later, the ship's autonomous systems detected a glob of rogue nanotechnology and reactivated its crew. Although the five Autobots decided to intervene against the nanotech monster wreaking havoc in Detroit, the Autobots mistook human-built robots and machinery for Earth's dominant lifeforms and reformatted themselves with local vehicle modes to blend in. Bulkhead requested help from a group of local drones, then noticed Sari Sumdac trying to take her keycard away from her robot dog, Sparkplug. Assuming Sari was the pet, Bulkhead greeted her—which promptly sent her running and screaming. Although the monster was eventually defeated, Prowl was left gravely wounded and the Autobots retreated to their underwater vessel to repair him, unaware that Bumblebee had inadvertently smuggled Sari into their ship. Using the power of the AllSpark to energize her keycard, Bulkhead watched incredulously Sari used her "AllSpark Key" to save Prowl's life.

In the days that followed their arrival on Earth, the five Autobots became local celebrities as they tried to learn about Earth and its customs, with Bulkhead experiencing a traffic jam firsthand. Eventually, Sari helped fix up the Autobots with a more convineient base of operations by getting them to move into an abandoned automobile factory. The Autobots were later on hand to witness the unveiling of the Fully Automated Rapid Transit System, a ceremony that was interrupted by the arrival of Starscream, who sought to take the AllSpark. The Autobots engaged him in a fierce game of keep-away, and at one point successfully knocked the Decepticon flier out of the air with his wrecking ball. Although the Autobots now had a reputation as local superheroes, the team found that, in the wake of their destructive battle, they'd have to help repair the city. Transform and Roll Out

THICC BOI

The Autobots continued to settle into their new lives, although Bulkhead remained resentful that humans mostly just wanted him to break things—after all, he had a sensitive side as well, even if breaking stuff was fun. When Sari came to stay at their factory for a night, Bulkhead and Bumblebee played Twister and listened to a scary story before Megatron was able to hack into the deactivated machinery in an attempt to take out the Autobots, and although Bulkhead was able to get in touch with his inner breaker, he was captured and pinned down beneath a hydraulic press before Optimus Prime saved him. Bulkhead tried to catch a tiny machine that looked like it might be the culprit, but accidentally smashed the little robot when he grabbed it. Home Is Where the Spark Is

When Bumblebee had a bout with Colossus Rhodes that escalated into a parking lot brawl, Bulkhead arrived with the others to stop the mad giant and tease Bumblebee about his size. Bulkhead's size proved a liability, however, when he got caught in an opening in Sumdac Tower's defense shield. In a second bout with Rhodes, Bulkhead used his wrecking ball to send the brute flying, and when the shield was deactivated he was the first into the tower, scooping up Meltdown in his fist... a very bad mistake, since the villain was made of acid. Total Meltdown

Bulkhead was with the rest of the team when they watched a news broadcast, showing Prowl and Bumblebee inadvertently exposing the Wraith's modus operandi. Later, when Bumblebee apprehended Colossus Rhodes, Bulkhead helped sign autographs for the grateful Detroiters. Later still, when the Autobots saw "Bumblebee" attack Michigan Stadium, Bulkhead helped clear the little Autobot's name by halting what was really a plot by the increasingly jealous and irrational Wraith. Attention Surplus Disorder

Bulkhead joined the rest of the Autobots into investigating a theft at Sumdac's laboratories. They found out that the crime in question had been committed by an industrial saboteur going by the name of "Stiletto". She soon attempted to collapse Detroit's Ambassador Bridge, prompting the Autobots to leap into action. During the confrontation, Bulkhead attempted to apprehend Stiletto by clobbering her with his wrecking ball weapon. As he swung it around, however, Stiletto severed the wrecking-ball's cord. This caused the weapon to fly into Bulkhead's head, knocking him out for the remainder of the battle. The Autobots nonetheless managed to capture Stiletto, and Bulkhead could later be seen being fixed at Autobot headquarters. Stiletto

After an embarrassing incident at the Dino Drive theme park, Prowl tried to help Bulkhead to become a more graceful warrior, but was unable to impart any of his Cyber-Ninja training on the lunkish green Autobot. Things got worse when Bulkhead tried to use Prowl's methods against the rampaging Dinobots, animatronic dinosaurs upgraded by Cybertronian technology. Finally, Prowl encouraged Bulkhead to do what Bulkhead would do, and Bulkhead's blunt, powerhouse approach proved to have its place and time for proper use and helped trap the Dinobots in molten tar. Prowl suspected the Dinobots were actually alive, not mere machines, so he enlisted Bulkhead's help in secretly transporting them from their prison to a deserted island on Lake Erie. Prowl had realized that just because something was big and lumbering and destructive was no reason to give up on it, and Bulkhead knew just what he meant. Blast from the Past

When Lockdown, a bounty hunter from Ratchet's past, appeared on Earth to abduct Optimus, Bulkhead and the other Autobots intervened. Though Bulkhead managed to get by the defenses of Lockdown's ship, Lockdown managed to paralyze Bulkhead with a quick-drying adhesive spray. Thankfully, Ratchet was able to best the bounty hunter and rescued Optimus while the rest of the team was indisposed. The Thrill of the Hunt

Bulkhead was trying to enjoy some fireworks while Bumblebee attempted to apprehend the petty thief Nino Sexton, and an argument caused the two Autobots to collapse the pier on which they were standing. The next day, Optimus had Bulkhead and Bumblebee join Prowl on a training exercise, but the three found that Sexton had resurfaced as the impossibly fast supervillain "Nanosec" and were forced to pursue him; during the chase, Bulkhead had to stop a speeding train from crushing his friend. To prevent Detroit's destruction after Nanosec's capture, Bulkhead hurled Bumblebee up into the Earth's atmosphere, where the unstable Destronium sample Nanosec had stolen could safely explode. Nanosec

On Halloween night, Sari tried to teach Bulkhead and Bumblebee the true meaning of the holiday by taking them trick-or-treating. Deciding that he wanted to be a ghost for the night, Bulkhead settled for dressing in a fumigation tent, but the three ran afoul of the Decepticon Blackarachnia. Bumblebee and Bulkhead were easily charmed and subdued by Blackarachnia's feminine wiles, allowing her to stun both of them. By the time they came to, Blackarachnia had already taken off with Sari; the duo rescued her after Blackarachnia threw her off a rooftop after unsuccessfully attempting to purge her own organic components from her systems. Along Came a Spider

While on a shopping trip for Sari's birthday present, Bulkhead worked with Sari to rein in the pesky Professor Princess. The next day, Sari's birthday party began poorly, as the guests were all children of Sumdac Industries employees who found Sari too weird for their tastes. The Autobots' arrival made things a little more interesting, but Bulkhead and Sari found themselves ignored while the kids took rides with the other Autobots. Bulkhead wanted to give Sari her gift, a xylophone, but was too embarrassed to do so when he saw Dr. Sumdac's gift, a musical robot named "Soundwave". For the next several days, Sari's attention was drawn away from her friend as she spent her free time plugging her key into the toy to upgrade it. Bulkhead realized that there was something off about Soundwave, but his attempts to prove it just forced a wedge between Sari and himself, a wedge that grew bigger when Megatron—the mastermind behind the Soundwave toy—began manipulating events to further divide the friends. Eventually, Sari upgraded the toy to the point where Soundwave gained sentience and attempted to spark a machine rebellion across Detroit. Bulkhead came to her rescue, and after feigning a change of heart to get close to Soundwave he smashed the musical menace to bits before the pair reconciled. Sound and Fury

Soon afterwards, trouble arrived in the form of Blitzwing and Lugnut. Answering their challenge, the Autobots confronted the pair in a construction yard. Bulkhead charged Lugnut and the two engaged in a grapple, but even Bulkhead's power wasn't enough against the massive Decepticon, who threw him aside. The second round didn't go too well either, as Lugnut never had a chance to fight before the Decepticons were defeated by the Autobot ship's main cannon. Lost and Found After Sari was abducted by the Dinobots, Prowl and Bulkhead went to Dinobot Island to investigate. What they found was Meltdown, who damaged Bulkhead to the point of unconsciousness and trapped Prowl and Captain Fanzone (who had been tailing them) underground. After restoring Bulkhead with her key, Sari showed him that she could take care of herself by kicking him, who pretended to be hurt and accidentally fell into the ship's hold. Survival of the Fittest

And now we know how the caged Bulkhead sings...

After destroying a good portion of a city block trying to stop a missile impact, Sari suggested to Bulkhead that he explore his more creative talents to show the people of Detroit that he could do more than smash things. Bulkhead had difficulty making his creations (his paint brushes kept snapping between his fingers) and panicked when he learned that Sari had arranged an art show for him. While lamenting his lot in life, he was knocked out cold by a sudden electrical surge. When he came back online, he found that his body had been stolen. As Bumblebee attempted to help him finish his art pieces in time for the show, the Headmaster used Bulkhead's body to take control of a solar fusion plant, intending to detonate it unless he was paid a hefty ransom. Optimus used the ransom delivery to sneak the Autobots into the plant, where they defeated the Headmaster and reattached Bulkhead to his body...backwards. As the reactor reached critical, Bulkhead came up with a drone that would set the rods back, but the drone melted in the process. Not to be daunted, Bulkhead added it to his art collection, showing the citizens of Detroit his art without them even knowing it. Headmaster

Porter C. Powell decided to use Bulkhead's image as a public figure to market the SWAT vehicle he used as an altmode as a vehicle for everyday citizens, such as "soccer moms". This infuriated Bulkhead, though Powell informed him that legally, there was nothing he could do about it. Powell rub salt in the wound by using highly doctored footage of Bulkhead to make it seem as though the Autobot endorsed the vehicle in Powell's commercials. The "Bulkheads" proved to be popular vehicles in Detroit, providing further grief for the same-named Autobot. It nearly spoiled a stake-out, when a couple mistook Bulkhead for their own vehicle, and led to further trouble when it turned out both Professor Princess and the Angry Archer possessed Bulkheads, using them to further their criminal careers. Powell's marketing plot was brought to an end when Bulkhead disguised himself as a contestant on a "Pimp my Bulkhead" competition, and managed to trick Powell into admitting that his vehicles were dangerous death-traps on-camera. The Insincerest Form of Flattery

When Decepticon energy signals were detected, the Autobots quickly realized that they were outnumbered. Bulkhead mentioned that the Dinobots might be able to help, not aware that Prowl hadn't told Optimus they had moved them to Dinobot Island. Prime was furious and ordered the two to take him there at once. After searching the island, the Autobots found the Dinobots. They were unwilling to help, so the Autobots left, unsure of their next move. When Bumblebee contacted Prime, saying that Starscream was at Sumdac Tower, he ordered him to stand down. When they arrived at the tower, they saw Bumblebee fighting Starscream. Prime dryly noted that disobeying orders was becoming a habit, but Bulkhead wasn't too insulted. He was too busy being shocked by Megatron bursting through Sumdac Tower. Megatron Rising - Part 1 Quickly regaining his composure, Bulkhead charged Megatron, only to have his wrecking ball severed and be thrown into a building. After the short battle, Sumdac told them how he had rebuilt Megatron. Bulkhead sounded as if he was about to crush the professor, but Prime told him that it was unimportant. Using excess key energy in Sumdac's equipment, the Autobots repaired themselves, and Prime apologized for his harsh words. Ratchet and Sari came by in the ship, picking up the Autobots, but they were shot down over Dinobot Island. During the subsequent battle, Bulkhead brought down Lugnut. The zealous Decepticon was stronger than Bulkhead, but as he activated his punch, Bulkhead used his wrecking ball to detonate it, sending Lugnut flying. Megatron Rising - Part 2

The Autobots managed to drive off the Decepticons, but at a high cost—not only had the AllSpark's physical container been destroyed, scattering fragments of its essence across Detroit, but despite their best efforts to rebuild Prime's Autobots also found that the human residents of the city now viewed them as potential menaces instead of heroes. As Bulkhead bemoaned their situation, Ultra Magnus, Jazz, and Sentinel Prime arrived on Earth to investigate, but Sentinel's refusal to believe Prime's story caused tension between the two Autobot teams. Eventually, however, Prime and his team proved their worth by helping Magnus defeat an endless army of police drones at a malfunctioning Sumdac factory. The Elite Guard Shortly afterwards, Bulkhead greeted Sari when she was thrown out of Sumdac Tower by Porter C. Powell and forced to live with the Autobots. He and Bumblebee tried to cheer her up by saying that living together would be like a non-stop party, making her food and teaching her about "stuff and how it works", but were met with limited success. Prowl intervened, and advised the pair to simply listen to their friend. Sari then let out her frustration over recent events, while Bumblebee and Bulkhead comforted her. The Return of the Headmaster Bulkhead later helped stop a runaway train powered by an AllSpark fragment. When Starscream stopped by again, Bulkhead tried to knock him out with his wrecking ball, to little effect. Thankfully, Jazz, Sentinel and Optimus were able to take down the AllSpark-powered Decepticon. Mission Accomplished

Bulkhead helped clear trash from the city of Detroit during a garbage dispute in an effort to mend strained Autobot/human relations. Garbage In, Garbage Out Later, he helped search for an AllSpark fragment, only for the mission to be interrupted by a group of illegal street racers, the Street Demons, zooming by. When one of the racers caused two others to crash, Bulkhead stopped to help Roxy Sparkles out of his wrecked vehicle. Seeing as he and Sari were fans of the Speed Demon broadcasts, he also took the opportunity to ask for an autograph. But as Captain Fanzone dropped by to arrest the criminals, Bulkhead realized that Sari had mislead him about the legality of the Street Demons' show. He confronted the girl, only for Bumblebee to step in and assure Bulkhead that he would straighten her out instead. Turns out, Bumblebee had become fixated on beating one of the racers, and planned to participate in the races himself. Bulkhead found out, and was none too pleased about this development. He was coaxed into allowing Bumblebee to go through with his plan but followed him to the race, just to be safe. Before he could step in, he was frozen solid by Blitzwing, and only freed later when the adventure was mostly over. Velocity

"Chug it, Bulky!"

While repairing a damaged overpass, Bulkhead had his life saved by the newly created Scrapper and Mixmaster, oil-guzzling construction machines who rescued him after he used dangerous outdated fixatives. Although Bulkhead maintained that these "Constructobots" meant well, their crass mannerisms didn't impress the other Autobots, and eventually Prime evicted the pair after a game of frisbee severed Sari's pigtails. The next day, Bulkhead went looking for his friends but discovered that they had fallen in with Megatron and stolen parts on his behalf. Despite Bulkhead's efforts to turn them back to the Autobots, the newly minted Constructicons eventually took Bumblebee hostage, and demanded the AllSpark fragments the Autobots had gathered. Bulkhead was able to outwit them by spiking their oil with the same outdated fixative he had used earlier, and the subsequent explosion scrambled their memory circuits. Bulkhead drove the amnesiac Transformers away and sadly admitted that he had been wrong to trust them. Rise of the Constructicons

Bulkhead accompanied Prowl to investigate reports of unusual behavior on Dinobot Island. Prowl discovered a spike wedged in Grimlock's foot, and he and Bulkhead worked together to remove it. Later, when Prowl decided to go off on his own after Starscream, Bulkhead attempted to talk him out of it unsuccessfully. Later still, the Autobots found Prowl, equipped with new Samurai armor, tied up in the middle of the street. After freeing him, Prowl urged them to go after Lockdown, believing that he had captured Starscream, but the Autobots encountered another Starscream shortly after taking off. It soon became clear that both Starscreams were clones of the original, and on discovering that the clones were rigged with bombs Bulkhead watched as Prowl used his armor to launch the clones into the sky, right into the flight path of the fleeing Decepticons. A Fistful of Energon When Nanosec went on another crime spree, Bulkhead took part in the chase, but the pursuit was abruptly cut short when Bumblebee was temporarily slowed to nothing. Later, Bumblebee alerted the rest of his team that a Decepticon had built a machine that could freeze any electronic machine within its range, just as he had been earlier that day. Bulkhead and the others sped out to take on the threat. They were all affected by the device's power before they could reach their destination, and were only able to take on Swindle once Sari had deactivated this weapon. SUV: Society of Ultimate Villainy

After Wasp escaped, Bulkhead tagged along with Bumblebee in an attempt to track a leaked signal, but 'Bee's attitude became unbearable, and Bulkhead stormed off. The kindhearted bot couldn't stay away, however, and helped Bumblebee out of a minor scrape. Bumblebee apologized, but Bulkhead shook it off; their friendship had rock-solid foundations. Reconciled, the two headed back to base, having missed a rather conspicuous mine shaft entrance. Autoboot Camp Bulkhead learned that Meltdown was broken out of prison through a news report and stayed behind at the Autobots' headquarters while Optimus, Prowl and Bumblebee dealt with the escaped criminal. Once Meltdown had been liquified by his own genetic modifier, Bulkhead accompanied Optimus and the others to explain what had transpired to Captain Fanzone. Black Friday

Bulkhead found himself going crazy over a persistent dripping noise coming from somewhere in the Autobots' base... looking about, he discovered that the dripping was coming from Bumblebee, who had fallen into the habit of neglecting his chassis. Bulkhead and Ratchet pointed this out to the little 'bot, but Bumblebee was in complete denial over the fact that he might need a tune-up. The conversation was interrupted by Optimus, who informed the Autobots that Scrapper and Mixmaster had resurfaced. The Autobots searched Detroit for the pair, but without Sari's key to track their AllSpark signatures, the search proved fruitless. Then, Blitzwing dropped out of the sky and took on the whole crew. During the fight, the Autobots learned that Sari was dealing with the Construcitcons on her own back at headquarters. But having to deal with Blitzwing, they couldn't head back... until Blitzwing suddenly decided to ditch the battle. The Autobots then headed back to help Sari immediately, but on returning to base, they found out that Sari had taken care of the intruders all by herself. Sari, No One's Home

Bulkhead later made an abstract painting of Sari in the style of Picasso, but the other Autobots' suggestions ended up ruining the painting. He and Sari took a walk to clear his head, and Bumblebee came and genuinely tried to apologize. This went rather poorly, and got even worse when Megatron arrived to kidnap Bulkhead and take him to his base. Megatron revealed that his double agent had learned that Bulkhead was Cybertron's top space bridge technician, and forced Bulkhead to help the Decepticons repair a space bridge they had reverse engineered. If Bulkhead refused, Megatron would use a Headmaster unit to steal his body and kill all of Bulkhead's friends, starting with Professor Sumdac. Bulkhead agreed to help, but Professor Sumdac believed that Bulkhead was trying to sabotage the device, and told Bulkhead to let him give the instructions to avoid sounding preposterous. Furious at everyone doubting his skill, Bulkhead actually fixed the space bridge, allowing Megatron to teleport the Decepticons to an underdefended Cybertron. A Bridge Too Close, Part I

During a three-way battle between the Autobots, the Decepticons, and Starscream's clones, Bulkhead tried to shut down the space bridge, but was locked with stasis cuffs by a female clone. Trying to amplify the space bridge, Megatron tried to fix the problem by adding Starscream's severed, AllSpark-powered head into the power core. Unfortunately, this caused an overload which Bulkhead theorized would suck up all of Michigan. Fortunately, Ratchet had been able to successfully rouse their old starship to life, revealed to be the ancient Omega Sentinel Omega Supreme, who arrived and allowed himself to be sucked into the portal along with Megatron and Starscream. When the Autobots escaped, Bulkhead theorized that they had merely been transported somewhere in space, and hoped that Omega was still alive. Unfortunately, any effort to locate Omega was put on hold when Sari noticed that the skin of her arm had been torn, revealing robotic circuitry underneath! A Bridge Too Close, Part II

While Bumblebee and Bulkhead were surprised and concerned about Sari's revealed techno-organic nature, they remained focused on the more imminent problem; namely that their old friend Longarm was really a Decepticon spy. However, because Omega Supreme had been transwarped elsewhere in the galaxy, they no longer had a way to contact Cybertron. The Autobots eventually hit on the idea of building their own Space Bridge to Cybertron, and Bulkhead and Bumblebee set about salvage whatever they could find from the ruins of the Decepticon base, finding a plasma dynamic thruster and retrieval beacon generator. However, the malfunctioning thruster accidentally sent Bumblebee on a transwarp jaunt of his own through space, and while Bulkhead had his back turned he was attacked by Henry Masterson, having commandeered his old Headmaster unit to pilot Starscream's discarded body, easily trouncing Bulkhead and burying him under a pile of rocks.

Ratchet found Bulkhead and brought him back to base for repairs before Sari used her key to heal him, much to Ratchet's annoyance. When Bumblebee's energy signature could not be found on Earth, Bulkhead realized that he wasn't on Earth. The plasma dynamic thruster must have caught a stray transwarp field and sent Bumblebee to another part of the galaxy. Using the beacon generator, Bulkhead was able to reel Bumblebee back to Earth; Bumblebee, however, had been swallowed by a giant rock creature, who was also transported to Earth and attacked the city. Bulkhead proved unable to damage the alien without also hurting Bumblebee, and in a spur-of-the-moment decision Sari used her key to upgrade her own body, using her new form to quickly defeat the monster. Sari's powers quickly went wild, however, and the Autobots worked together to remove the key from her system after she accidentally stabbed Bumblebee. Although Bulkhead's advice nearly caused her to self-destruct, Ratchet was finally able to shut her down with his EMP generator.

Later, the group was at the plant, mulling over the events of the day, including Optimus revealing the Autobots' secret base to Professor Sumdac. When Bumblebee threatened to transwarp again, Bulkhead took the plasma dynamic thruster from Bumblebee's backpack and turned it off. But then Omega Supreme appeared, under the control of Megatron. The group headed for the river to keep Megatron from damaging more of the city. Bulkhead and Bumblebee acted as decoys while Prowl and Optimus worked on freeing Omega from Megatron's control. Their plan worked, only for Starscream's head, which Megatron was using as a battery, to take over Omega's body and toss out Prowl and Optimus. With them unable to get back in and Starscream threatening to transwarp to Cybertron and use Omega to take it over, Bumblebee and Bulkhead got the idea of using the plasma dynamic thruster on Omega Supreme. With a little teamwork from them and Optimus Prime, they attached the plasma dynamic thruster to Omega Supreme, causing him to go on an endless and random transwarp cycle throughout the galaxy. However, they still needed to find a way to contact Cybertron about Shockwave. TransWarped

Stop hitting yourself. Stop hitting yourself. Stop hitting yourself!

Construction on the space bridge began at Sumdac Tower, using an AllSpark fragment as an improvised power source—but Bulkehead's overconfidence led to an accident and the apparent loss of the AllSpark fragment. Realizing that he needed some architectural expertise, Bulkhead set about recruiting the Constructicons and was able to talk the resentful duo into some "off the books work" for him. At the tower, however, they discovered that the accident had combined the AllSpark fragment with a forklift and Sumdac's recovered Headmaster unit to create Dirt Boss, a mouthy little control freak with big dreams... and the power to force others to do his bidding. Dirt Boss and his new Constructicon henchmen set about stealing oil to hold the city for ransom, and—since the other Autobots were busy with Lugnut—Bulkhead pursued the trio and learned of their plan to destroy Detroit's fossil fuel refinery.

Captured by the three Decepticons after getting his wrecking ball stuck in Mixmaster's cement mixer, Bulkhead was dragged to the refinery and nearly brainwashed into igniting the spark that would light the oil tank, even fighting the other Autobots when they arrived to stop Dirt Boss. When the fire proved impossible to contain, Prof. Sumdac came up with the idea of transporting it with the plasma dynamic thruster. The tank, as well as the Constructicons who were on top of it, was transwarped over Lake Erie near Dinobot Island, where it exploded harmlessly. The Autobots still needed to cart away Lugnut, but discovered that he had been freed by someone. Three's a Crowd

When Wasp came to Earth, he attacked Bumblebee and traded identities with him by switching helmets and using an electronic paint job. Even Bulkhead was confused by the ruse and nearly smashed "Wasp" with his wrecking ball. Fortunately, Bumblebee was able to make Bulkhead realize who he really was by reminding them of their time at Autobot boot camp together, and after a brief misunderstanding with Sentinel Prime and his new cadets Jetfire and Jetstorm, the Autobots returned to the plant to confront the impostor, pitting the two against one another in a round of Ninja Gladiator to prove who was the real Bumblebee. When it became clear that Wasp's cover would be blown, Wasp panicked and threatened to slag Bumblebee, claiming that he had once been a good 'bot—but Bulkhead told him that he had always been mean to the two of them and had never been a good bot. Wasp then shot the lights out and made a break for it. Bulkhead found him outside lying on the ground and jumped on top of him, only to find that Wasp had switched identities again and Bulkhead had pounded Bumblebee. Oops. Where Is Thy Sting? Bulkhead later witnessed Optimus Prime tell Jetfire and Jetstorm to stop taunting Sentinel behind his back, but later was instructed by Ratchet to roll on home along with Bumblebee and Prowl so Optimus and Sentinel could speak in private. Predacons Rising

While celebrating Christmas Eve with Sari, the Autobots fell victim to Soundwave's new scheme, where, after consuming some spiked oil nog, the Autobots were all trapped inside an elaborate virtual construct. Within this digital simulation, it appeared as though the Autobots had been mysteriously transformed into humans, and the five set off for Sumdac Tower in the hopes that Professor Sumdac could help them. While on the way there, the group stopped off at a nearby Burger-bot restaurant, where Bulkhead stuffed his face with hamburgers and wound up having to go the bathroom to deal with an embarrassing "malfunction". Finally, after taking the bus to Sumdac Tower, the team dicsovered that the Decepticons had seemingly launched a full-scale attack on Detroit! Realizing that this couldn't be real, the human Autobots were able to defeat the virtual Decepticons and revert to their true forms, only for Soundwave to directly intervene and blast them with electricity. Human Error, Part I

Although momentarily freed when Sari damaged Soundwave's system, the Decepticon quickly regained control over the network and turned the Autobots back into humans. Ratchet explained that they needed to find Soundwave's interface with the system, and pursued an avatar of Soundwave's alternate mode throughout the city in some conveniently placed vehicles, although their driving skills were poor. They eventually cornered Soundwave in a drive-in movie theater parking lot, but Soundwave had actually trapped them there, and he succeeded in reprogramming the Autobots. Under Soundwave's control, Bulkhead battled the Substitute Autobots and wound up getting frozen by Scrapper. Once freed from Soundwave's control, Bulkhead joined the rest of the Autobots in watching the Disposal Droids (and Wreck-Gar) clean up the city. Human Error, Part II

Bulkhead and Sumdac eventually finished building a space bridge in record time, but soon got into an argument over whose fault it was that the bridge wasn't already operational. After Sari settled the matter by getting the bridge running, Optimus received a call for help from Sentinel. Bulkhead located a transwarp field on the Elite Guard flagship that they could use to transwarp Prime to the ship, though it took Sari's skill to lock the space bridge onto the field. Bulkhead was unsure if they'd be able to transwarp Optimus back to Earth, but his leader insisted on going. Before long, the transwarp field separated from the ship, and Bulkhead seriously began to doubt he could transwarp Optimus back—but Sentinel gave Optimus a direct lift back to Earth, so it wasn't necessary. Decepticon Air

Bulkhead eventually helped Bumblebee transwarp to the Moon in order to spy on the Decepticons. 'Bee learned of their ultimate plans for Omega Supreme and managed to open Arcee's com-link, allowing them to listen in on the Decepticons from Earth. Bulkhead and his buddy discovered that the Decepticons were almost ready and warned the others. Endgame, Part I When the Lugnut Supremes attacked Detroit, Prime ordered Bulkhead, Bumblebee, and Ratchet to go to the Moon and sever Lugnut's connection to the clones, and Sari came with them. On the Moon, Bulkhead and Bumblebee took on Shockwave, while Ratchet and Sari got Arcee inside of the real Omega Supreme. Once they defeated and captured Shockwave, Bulkhead and Bumblebee took Sari to the part of the Nemesis so she could see the protoforms there for herself and better understand her origins. Bulkhead rode back to Earth on Omega Supreme to battle the Starscream Supremes, and was later stunned to hear that Prowl had sacrificed himself in order to save the city. After witnessing Optimus ultimately defeat and arrest Megatron, Bulkhead joined the Autobots when they went back to Cybertron, and he helped carry Prowl's coffin in their return victory/funeral parade. Endgame, Part II

Bulkhead attended the Stunti-Con's show in Kaon, unaware that the entire affair was a Decepticon plot to break Megatron out of the nearby Trypticon Prison. Thankfully, Sideswipe and Cheetor interrupted the show, and with Optimus's help thwarted the Decepticons' plans. The Stunti-Con Job

Animated shorts

Bulkhead saw a mime performance along with Sari and Bumblebee. Sari had to explain to the two confused Autobots what a mime was. After Bumblebee successfully upstaged said mime, the audience applauded. Bulkhead decided to join them... and clapped with such force the shockwaves and wind blew most of the crowd away, prompting Bumblebee and Sari to sneak away in the chaos. Mime Time

He played fetch with Grimlock once, using a tree. Grimlock liked that. Catch

Prowl attempted to jump over him and the other Autobots as part of a stunt. Evel Knievel Jump

Bulkhead was the subject of some less-than-delicate surgery at Ratchet's hands once, with Sari playing nurse. Rather declared the operation a success, though Bulkhead wondered just what all those other internal parts lying around were all about. After a brief pause, Ratchet quickly scooped them up and stuffed them into Bulkhead's mouth, forcing him to swallow, then strolled away, whistling nonchalantly. Operating Table

Be the Hero books

The following summarizes one or more multipath adventures. Details vary depending on the paths taken in-story. See the book's page for information on alternate paths.

Prime Suspect

Bulkhead met the rest of the Autobots outside HomeTech's laboratory, after Prime was caught on camera breaking in the night before. He knocked a hole in the side of the building to allow Sari and another kid to venture inside in search of the footage. When that line of inquiry turned up a sample of oil, the Autobots headed for HomeTech's main warehouse, where they encountered Blitzwing, the actual perpetrator behind the crime. Bulkhead helped defeat him. Prime Suspect

Quest for the AllSpark

Bulkhead's favorite places in Detroit were the City Art Gallery and Detroit Sculpture Park. When Megatron made an attempt to obtain the AllSpark by taking control of Detroit's robot workforce, the Autobots came up with a plan to hide useless copies of the AllSpark, and Bulkhead opted to head for one of those locations to hide it. Bumblebee managed to find him at the Sculpture Park, trapped in a force field dome created by the AllSpark and, with Prowl's help, extracted him. Quest for the AllSpark

Web of Deception

When Bulkhead, Bumblebee and Prowl found the Autobot ship inactive, Bulkhead briefly considered using his wrecking ball to "nudge" a power conduit — an idea swiftly shot down by Ratchet. After they discovered Optimus was missing, Bulkhead set out with Bumblebee, Prowl, Sari and a friend to investigate the presence of Lockdown's ship on the lake bed nearby. While fighting the bounty hunter, they discovered the involvement of Blackarachnia, who wanted revenge on Prime. They hunted for Blackarachnia, but Bulkhead took a moment to admire an engraving on a cave wall, which inadvertently led to them finding their foe and her downfall. Web of Deception

Time-Quake

After strange time disturbances began appearing across Detroit, the Autobots searched the city using special scanners. Bulkhead finally struck pay dirt when he encountered a time-displaced Tyrannosaurus rex. After dealing with the beast, he and a human tracked the signal back to the Lions Tower in Detroit's financial district where they met up with Bumblebee. On the top floor, the trio found an unstable time machine, that sent Bulkhead and his human friend hurtling back through time. The pair encountered several historical figures, retrieving the time machine's two missing control spheres before returning to the twenty-second century. The culprit behind the time machine's activity turned out to be the Decepticon Blast-X, whom Bulkhead subsequently defeated with a good solid punch. Time-Quake

Titan Magazines

Toy companies have made an action figure of him! Crossroads!

The Dinobots saved him and the others from Starscream clones, which was good. They then didn't leave and Bulkhead's sleeping space was taken up by Grimlock, which was not good. Dino-MIGHT!

Later, the Autobots were buried by the villain Quake-Maker. Bulkhead's great strength freed them from the ground, and then he vanished completely from the battle. Burnout

On his day off, Bulkhead was dragged to a basketball game by Sari, Prowl and Afterburn. Bulkhead didn't see the point of the game and was being mistaken for a litter bin by the humans. Luckily a demented supervillain attacked Detroit and they had to leave the game—but as a diversionary tactic, the evil Crossroads blackmailed Detroit into trying to destroy the Autobots! The Autobots saw through this and intercepted the villain at Sumdac Tower, with Bulkhead taking down reprogrammed security drones. After beating the villain, Bulkhead now enjoyed basketball and happily watched the game for no reason. Crossroads!

When the Decepticons raided the Autobot base, Bulkhead joined the gang in successfully driving them back out. Megatron's Revenge

When Prowl and Bumblebee decided to have a race to see who was fastest, Bulkhead was eager to join in, much to Bumblebee's mockery. Nevertheless, off Bulkhead went... and, thanks to the other two being distracted by Decepticons, he won and was officially King of Speed. Optimus and Ratchet lifted him up in a display of victory (their shoulders hurt!). The Race

The Cool comic

Witnessing the mysterious Allspark being uncovered, Bulkhead along with the rest of Optimus Prime's crew fled through a space bridge gate in order to keep the artifact out of Decepticon clutches. Unfortunately, Megatron was able to board their ship and left Bulkhead defeated on the floor, leaving Optimus to deal with the Decepticon leader by himself. The Cool Extra issue 3

Bulkhead was among the Autobots who traveled to the Earth city of Detroit in order to protect the AllSpark from the Decepticons. When Starscream, Lockdown and Blackarachnia attacked, Bulkhead joined in the fray. The Cool Episode 1

Bulkhead proved unable to prevent Starscream from seizing the AllSpark (the Decepticon snatching right out of his hands) and was subsequently helpless to defend himself from Starscream's AllSpark-powered aerial attacks. When Optimus Prime died stopping Starscream, and was quickly revived by the power of Sari's key, Bulkhead was there to greet him. The Cool Episode 2

Bulkhead later took part in defending Dinobot Island from a Decepticon raid. He was unable to counter Lugnut's aerial bombardments, however, and proved little more than a rather large target. Once the Dinobots saved the day, however, Bulkhead saw them off along with the rest of the Autobots. The Cool Episode 3

After Blackout buried Optimus under tons of rubble during a Detroit battle, Bulkhead aided Bumblebee in digging their leader out. The Cool Episode 4

Bulkhead was present at Sumdac Systems headquarters when Megatron was resurrected in a new body. Megatron made short work of Bulkhead, grabbing his mace weapon and yanking him to the ground. Bulkhead survived the altercation and later joined Optimus Prime in greeting the Elite Guard. The Cool Episode 5

Bulkhead later joined the Autobots in a battle against Clone #2716057. The Cool Episode 6

Bulkhead joined in the battle for the Decepticon Space Bridge. When Megatron attempted to power it with Starscream's AllSpark fragment, Bulkhead warned him not to, as the power would cause an overload. Bulkhead's prediction came to and he was powerless to stop the Space Bridge, which was sucking everything and everyone into itself. Luckily, Omega Supreme arrived and sacrificed himself to save the day. The Cool Episode 8

When Starscream attacked Detroit in Omega Supreme's body, Bulkhead was the first to wonder where Optimus Prime had gone to. Prowl informed him that Prime would be back soon, but until then, it was up to them to fend off the villain. The Cool Episode 9

When Optimus returned with the Magnus Hammer and his flight pack, Bulkhead stood heroically beside him, along with the rest of the Autobot crew, ready to face off against the Decepticon threat. The Cool Extra issue 1

Upon Megatron's defeat, Bulkhead accompanied the rest of the Autobots back to planet Cybertron, where they were all hailed as heroes by the citizenry and even Sentinel. The Cool Episode Final

Kre-O online comic

What mouthplate? All I see is his wiiide smile.

Bulkhead was one of the Autobots who left Cybertron in the Ark in search for energy blocks to alleviate their hunger. Thanks to the boarding of the Ark by Decepticons, the Ark crashed and the Transformers fell into a four million year-long sleep. They woke up to a world filled with blocks. Kreon Story

Precursor World

Warriors of the Seven Lights resembling multiple incarnations of Bulkhead were members of the Green Order. One was taking in the natural splendor of the Green Planet when his commander Green Tender Convoy was warned of the fall of the Blue Order and the threat of the interdimensional warlord Ultra Megatron Omega by the Primus Vanguard's eponymous supreme leader.

Another looked on when the dimension-hopping pirate Sea Phantom arrived to plunder the Green Order's Creation Matrix. God Neptune comic 1

Games

Transformers Animated: The Game

Voice actor: Bill Fagerbakke (English), Antoine Tomé (French)

After Optimus decided some more training was in order, Prowl set up the factory as an obstacle course and Prime, Bumblebee and Bulkhead tackled it. No sooner had they finished than word arrived that the robots at a Sumdac Systems factory had gone haywire. They traveled there with Sari and blasted their way through the rogue robots until they found the problem — an AllSpark fragment lodged in a control console. Some of the drones escaped, so Prime left to take care of them while Bumblebee and Bulkhead continued at the plant. It turned out Megatron was planning to assault Cybertron, so the three Autobots scoured the plant for more AllSpark fragments before tracking a Decepticon Transmitter Drone to the Decepticon lair.

After fighting their way into the mine, Optimus, Bumblebee and Bulkhead confronted Megatron, who TransWarped out after they managed to defeat him. The Autobots used the AllSpark fragments they'd gathered to power up Megatron's Space Bridge and step through, however on arrival, Optimus and Bulkhead realized that Bumblebee had been left behind when the Space Bridge closed. They searched fruitlessly for Megatron until Bumblebee arrived, having found a way to repower the bridge. Bulkhead intercepted a Decepticon transmission indicating that the Decepticons had captured a bunch of Space Bridges, and the trio made their way to the Space Bridge Nexus, where they used Cybertron's defense system against him. Megatron was again forced to flee. The Autobots returned to Earth, where Bulkhead announced that he needed a nice long stasis nap. Transformers Animated: The Game

Transformers Animated: Action Packs

Bulkhead is featured as a playable game card. He is a green card, has a value of 9 points, and has no additional powers.

Transformers Animated: Action Packs

Toys

Animated

Voyager Class

And the world wants his kibble to turn into a chair. (Hasbro Version Pictured)

Then new villains came along, and blew away his powers! Bulkhead was in a fix, and now has gone Metallix! (TakaraTomy Version Pictured)

• Bulkhead (Voyager Class, 2008 / 2010)

• TakaraTomy name: Ironhide
• TakaraTomy ID number: TA-03
• TakaraTomy release date: March 27, 2010
• Known designers: Eric Siebenaler (Hasbro)

Released in the first wave of Hasbro's Transformers Animated Voyagers, Bulkhead transforms from an armored, six-wheeled military-type van into a robot mode that is a bit on the short side for a Voyager, due to the stout, stocky nature of the character. The toy features two "automorph"-style gimmicks in its transformation: after flipping down the back doors, pulling down on them retracts a pair of black tabs holding his arms into pace, allowing them to spring forward into position; and moving his chest into place automatically causes a panel to flip over, exposing his head.

The figure's left arm contains the character's signature gimmick, his wrecking ball. A concealed lever activates a pressure-launch system that fires the ball, which is attached to Bulkhead's arm by a sturdy string. Bulkhead's right arm, meanwhile, features a rather strange gimmick: after straightening the arm at the elbow, pressing the black lever on the upper arm causes Bulkhead's forearm to flip upwards. It might be an uppercut or some other sort of punch attack (although mentioned in the Transformers Animated "Starting Dash" DVD Promo as a "punching action"), but whatever this feature is supposed to be, it is not mentioned in either the toy's instructions, or on its packaging.

A pre-release sample features a normal expression before it was changed in the final product.

No, his kibble can't transform into a chair. Aww.

The TakaraTomy version of Bulkhead (titled "Ironhide"), also (and naturally) released in their Animated line, replaces all his matte green with a blueish green, coats the majority of it with very shiny metallic green paint, and replaces his silver Autobot symbol with a more traditional red and white one. It's kind of a lot.

• More information on Voyager Bulkhead at TFU.info

• Hard Sound Showdown: Ironhide / Soundwave (VS pack, 2010)

• Release date: April 24, 2010

In the Takara Animated line, "Ironhide" was also available in a "Hard Sound Showdown" (剛音の対決, go-on no taiketsu, also called "Rockin' On Battle" on English on the box-back) two-pack with Soundwave.

Released in the second wave of Animated product, both toys are identical to their individual releases.

Bulkhead, el Hijo del Acero. LUUUCHAAARAAAAN!

• Mudbuster Bulkhead (Voyager Class, 2010)

A redeco of the original Bulkhead in green and black, with caution stripes on the sides of the vehicle.

At least one "Mudbuster Bulkhead" test-shot ended up in reviewer hands in 2009 before the figure was ultimately canceled. Supposedly it also went by the working name "Workzone Bulkhead".

Your bargaining posture is highly dubious. Proceed on your way to oblivion. This item has been canceled, with no current plans for release.

Leader Class

Tired of being known as "the big guy with a gentle heart", Bulkhead became more trigger happy than Triggerhappy. (Hasbro version pictured)

NOBODY CALLS ME TUBBY!
(TakaraTomy version pictured)

• Bulkhead (Leader, 2008 / 2010)

• TakaraTomy name: Ironhide
• TakaraTomy ID number: TA-43
• TakaraTomy release date: October 2, 2010
• Accessories: Four "air torpedoes", Headmaster unit
• Known designers: Eric Siebenaler (Hasbro)

This version of Bulkhead, released in the first wave of Animated Leaders, is decidedly more heavily armed than others, sporting several rather uncharacteristic weapons over his body; designer Eric Siebenaler envisioned them as alterations the Headmaster would have made if he had possessed Bulkhead's body longer. Additions to his arsenal include a double-barreled turret for his vehicle mode, two missile racks (one per arm, each holding two removable "air torpedoes"), and a buzzsaw in his right hand which spins when a black tab on his forearm is pressed. He doesn't have a wrecking ball, but his other hand does feature a "grabby" action, allowing you to clench and open his fingers by sliding a tab in his arm.

Bulkhead is outfitted with a significant array of electronic light and sound gimmicks. Pressing the Autobot insignia on his chest in robot mode causes his head to turn and his mouth to open as he speaks one of three sound clips—"Sorry, my bad", "You can do it, buddy!", and "Time for the big guns!"—accompanied by flashing yellow lights in his chest, shoulders and eyes. During transformation, when the vehicle mode turret is snapped into or out of place, the classic transformation sound effect plays as his lights flash. In vehicle mode, pressing the Autobot insignia activates a siren noise, which lasts as long as the button is held down and is accompanied by flashing red LEDs that illuminate his vehicle's light bar. Bulkhead also comes packaged with the Headmaster unit, which can fit over the figure's head, altering his sound and changing his yellow lights to red, except for his eyes. Once in place, the Headmaster will scream "Ownage! Total ownage!", and all of Bulkhead's lights flash, illuminating the villain's translucent horns. This is the Headmaster's only phrase; pressing Bulkhead's insignia repeats the effects. The Headmaster accessory fits over all other Leader class figures, but only changes the lights and speech of Bulkhead.

The packaging photography and lineart indicate that Bulkhead's electronic lights shine a more show-accurate blue (well, accurate for his eyes, anyway). The final produced toy has yellow lights instead, because blue LEDs are apparently really expensive.

This version of Bulkhead can transform his kibble into a chair! Hooray!

The TakaraTomy version of the toy, released in the ninth wave of their Animated line, is quite the exception to the usual trend of "brighter, shinier decos". Instead, this one actually goes for "grubbier, dulle decor". Ironhide now features "dirt-wash" paint applications on his green parts, as well as painted mud on his feet. (The Headmaster unit is still pristine, though.)

This mold was used to make the second prize of the Hasbro UK exclusive limited Edition Handmade Samples.

• More information on Leader Bulkhead at TFU.info

Activators

"Whoa, I thought I was super-deformed before..."

• Bulkhead (Activator, 2008)

• Known designers: Bill Rawley (Hasbro)

Part of the first wave of Animated Activators, Bulkhead autotransforms from a compressed version of a SWAT military van into his robot form when the middle siren bar is pressed. The vehicle mode lacks the back section's doors and bumper to better accommodate the gimmick, which leaves his robot mode's hands sticking out. Unlike all other Activators, Bulkhead lacks knee articulation.

His kibble is unable to become a chair as well. Awww. Unless you take the backpiece and switch it around and have him sit on it in a kind of... warped way.

• More information on Activators Bulkhead at TFU.info

Unfortunately, Starscream isn't here to do jelly-fishing with Bulky.

• Animated Super Collection Vol. 2 (Multi-pack, 2010)

• Release date: October 2, 2010

Released in the ninth wave of TakaraTomy's Aniamted line, the "Animated Super Collection Vol. 2" giftset contained very slight redecos of Activators Bulkhead, Bumblebee, Grimlock and Starscream. Bulkhead's insignia went from silver to a more traditional red and white.

While the stock photography of the individual toys showed Animated Super Collection Bulkhead as being a darker green than its American counterpart, this seems to have been a trick of the lighting, as the released toy remained its standard color.

Bumper Battlers

Bulkhead now knows how Han Solo feels.

• Bulkhead (Bumper Battler, 2008)

• Known designers: Vickie Stratford (Hasbro)

Bulkhead is part of the second wave of Bumper Battlers. Pressing on the vehicle mode's front bumper activates electronic noises and pops up the roof, revealing a relief of Bulkhead's robot form. Pressing on the Autobot faction symbol on the hood activates a randomly-assembled collection of sound effects and voice samples.

• More information on Bumper Battlers Bulkhead at TFU.info

Now all he needs are some tiny ninja turtles.

• Workzone Bulkhead (Bumper Battler, 2009)

• Known designers: Vickie Stratford (Hasbro)

This construction-themed redeco of Bumper Battlers Bulkhead was relased in the fifth wave of Bumper Battlers.

However, this wave, which includes Stealth Ninja Jazz, functionally never made it to US shelves. It saw release in Australian stores, and eventually saw some extremely limited release in North America (Canada and the US) in 2010.

Kre-O

Why does my jaw feel so weak?

• Bulkhead (Micro-Changer, 2013)

• Collection: 2
• Bag number: ***** 66
• Accessories: Logo brick (2013 release), logo plate (2015 release), 2 clip-on rifles
• Known designers: Ed Masiello (Hasbro)

As part of the second wave of Kre-O blindpacked Kreon Micro-Changers, Bulkhead can be rebuilt into a military vehicle of some sort. He uses the Hound helmet.

Care must be taken from his vehicle mode: His face's tampograph (which it serves as his bumper joint) is prone for being scratched off if the toy's vehicle mode is "rolled" on the flat surface. Try to replace it with a black/grey 1x1 cylinder block will amend this, or you can just turn the head around and make sure to lift the cockpit off before taking the head off again.

This Collection was still in circulation at "dollar" stores and drug stores up through 2015. They eventually lost the individual-identifying bag codes, but other changes were hidden inside the bag. The 2015 releases replaced the 2x4 logo stand-brick with a new 3x4 logo plate. The Kreon was also given the slight retooling to the arm seen in the 2014 Kreons, making the "cuff" parts more sharp-cornered and better adapted to being used as studs. Some of the add-on pieces may also be slightly off-color, possibly due to a change in factories in mid-production.

• More information on Bulkhead at TFU.info

• Bulkhead (Kreon Micro-Changer, 2016)

• Collection: 2
• Accessories: Logo plate, 2 clip-on rifles

In 2016, Collection 2 was re-released in a whole new production run for Dollar General stores in the US as part of a large collection of re-released Kre-O sets. But where most of these releases are nigh-identical to the originals, the re-released Micro-Changer blind-bags use the almost-entirely-retooled 2015 Kreon, with slightly-differently-hued plastics than the originals; Bulkhead's olive plastic is particularly lighter than his first release. (It is possible for some of the add-on pieces to be in the older hues.) Bulkhead's tampographs also got a bit of a tweak, changing the "toe" paint to black, the tummy-grille gray to shiny silver, and adding a white outline to his Autobot symbol.

Sadly, this release has no individual-identification code on the bag, requiring you to use the feel-through-the-bag method or just buy blind and hope.

Merchandise

• Transformers Animated Game Collection (2008)

Released as part of the board game set, this Bulkhead is a (very) show-accurate, but out-of-scale mini-figure figure based on his animation model.

Bulkhead is also sold with Bumblebee, Optimus Prime, and Prowl minifigures, and of course: 3 board games (Transformers Animated Game, Checkers, and Tic Tac Toe), and a 100-piece puzzle.

Notes

Bulkred. Redhead? Big Red! Wyatt totally got paid for this.

• Bulkhead's design and demeanor likely owe themselves to Crunch from Mighty Orbots, a series Derrick J. Wyatt has admitted as being an inspiration.

• Another big lug with a similar voice, Bulkhead is best friends with a little yellow guy. Obviously this analogy only goes so far.

• Upon seeing a red test shot of Bulkhead's Voyager-class toy, Derrick J. Wyatt recolored a Bulkhead character model in the test shot's colors—on company time!

• After his reformatting into his APC mode, Bulkhead's robot mode kibble changes from the front of his vehicle mode (where it forms the scoop of the bulldozer) to the back, where it forms the doors of the truck.

The next step in Transformers evolution is here!

• Bulkhead can form his kibble into a chair. This is awesome.

• Bulkhead has a storage place in his chest which opens in at least two ways, like a drawer or like a door.

• Bulkhead's eyes can extend from his face and act as a microscope, as shown in "Rise of the Constructicons". This is slightly strange, but also awesome.

• In spite of the visual differences, it would appear that rather than simply swapping out his hands for his signature wrecking balls, Bulkhead's hands actually transform to become the wrecking balls. Although most episodes show his hand simply retract and then be replaced by the ball, a few instances show it actually stay in place, blur and change into the ball. Furthermore, in cases where Bulkhead has had the tether-line of his wrecking ball severed, he remains conspicuously handless until the ball is re-attached, such as in "Transform and Roll Out" and "Megatron Rising - Part 2".

• Bulkhead's vehicle mode design was used as the basis for Generation 1 Blurr's personal transport in Spotlight: Blurr.

• Of all the vehicles that Teletran 1 scanned, the SWAT vehicle Bulkhead was reformatted into was the only one that didn't match his color scheme.

• Bulkhead's vehicle form strongly resembles a futuristic version of the real world: "2007 DURO IIIP 6x6 (Protected Military Tactical Vehicle)" made by General Dynamics: European Land Systems (MOWAG). This mode also has some design traits from the "Unimog" by Volvo.

• For the Japanese release of Animated, Bulkhead was renamed "Ironhide" to keep the names of the primary Animated Autobots consistent with the names of the primary Movie Autobots. Animated Ironhide was in turn renamed "Armorhide" to escape confusion.

• TakaraTomy marketing director Masahiko Yamazaki stated that Bulkhead actually was Movie Ironhide, as Animated was supposed to be reworked in order to take place within Movie continuity, and Bulkhead would have his "world view" modified appropriately. The actual dub of the series contradicted Yamazaki's statements, as Bulkhead remained a big dumb lug as opposed to a psychotic gun enthusiast. In fact, he was played off as even dumber than in the English version, being prone to screaming things such as "Mommy!" when frightened. The only documented change to Bulkhead to make him more similar to Movie Ironhide was a brief statement in his TakaraTomy online bio, which said that he was "something of a weapons specialist".

• Bulkhead has the honor of being one of the few Autobots whose name Megatron actually remembers, the others being Ultra Magnus, Omega Supreme, and eventually, Optimus Prime.

• In the Transformers Animated profile shorts, Bulkhead is introduced to the audience by Optimus in "Meet Bulkhead" and likewise introduces Prowl in "Meet Prowl".

• An almost-realized BotCon exclusive from Fun Publications was a redeco of Voyager Class Bulkhead into Strika.

• In fellow Derrick J. Wyatt-produced show Ben 10 Omniverse, a Bulkhead toy can be seen in the background of Ben's bedroom.

• In the unproduced fourth season, Bulkhead would have remained on Cybertron with Sari while Ironhide took his place.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Ironhide (アイアンハイド Aianhaido)
• Russian: Tverdoloby (Твердолобый, "Hard Head")