Bulkhead (Energon)

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 Energon portion of the Unicron Trilogy continuity family.

Hula warrior.

Bulkhead might seem like a daft old codger at first. And, to be fair, he kind of is. But he's also a seasoned veteran of countless battles, and is still more than capable in his role as an aerial defense soldier; precious few are his equal. His strength and firepower are backed by a long lifetime of hard knocks that have given him incredibly skill and knowledge of aerial combat strategy.

Despite his age, he's impulsive and eager to spring into battle, loving a good brawl. This is in stark contrast to his cousin and occasional teammate Quickstrike, who prefers a much more strategic attack plan to make sure battles are as short as possible.

“	I may be old, boys, but I've still got what it takes. Age before beauty, gentlemen!	”
——Bulkhead, "Jungle Planet"

Japanese name: Sprung

Hungarian name: Tűzfal ("Firewall")

Fiction

Cartoon continuity

Energon cartoon

Voice actor: French Tickner (English), Nobuo Tobita (Japanese), Stefan Berglund (Swedish)

Bulkhead is old. REALLY old. He was still capable of serving as a commanding officer in the Autobot army, however, and was given the mission to find Optimus Prime and his team on the other side of the rift Unicron created near Cybertron. Bulkhead was given command of two young soldiers, Downshift and Cliffjumper, to help in his search for Prime. They followed the trail from Iron Planet to Jungle Planet just in time to fight the Decepticons. Bulkhead allowed the young bots to do most of the fighting, prefering instead to sit back and cackle like a maniac while watching the enemy. Jungle Planet He really got into the swing of things in the next battle, however, shaking his hip-cannons like there was no tomorrow. Cliffjumper tried to escort his (extremely) senior officer inside to safety, but Bulkhead wouldn't hear of it. When the Decepticons launched an attack on Jungle Planet, Bulkhead unleashed his Powerlinx Brute mode to even the odds. Bulkhead

Bulkhead and Jetfire were stationed on Ocean Planet as the Autobots established energon towers on all their new planets. Unfortunately they were ill-prepared for Mirage's underwater sneak attack, and the tower fell. The second tower sent from Cybertron was better defended, and the Autobots were able to bring it online. Bulkhead defended the tower against Shockblast, easily whipping the crazed Decepticon into shape with his rotors. Farewell Inferno

Force of Habit

With the Unicron Singularity forcing the evacuation of Cybertron, Bulkhead and a number of Autobot leaders were summoned to the Iron Hope, where Ultra Magnus dispatched them across the galaxy to locate the lost Autobot colony worlds. Bulkhead was given commend of the Eclipse and sent to the Gamma Kreuger region. Force of Habit

Energon comic

Bulkhead was a member of the Autobots who got involved in defending the Earth from the Terrorcon invasion. He joined Jetfire in Los Angeles, California, fending off the hordes of Insecticons attacking the city. Multiplicity, Pt. 2

Pack-in mini-comics

When Slugslinger and Sharkticon raided an Autobot energon refinery, Bulkhead and friends were waiting for them. Bulkhead sent out his drone unit first to greet the invaders, and then he and Tow-Line introduced themselves as well, with laser fire. The coup-de-grace came from Omega Supreme, and the Decepticon plot was left a total failure.

Toys

Energon

• Bulkhead (Ultra, 2004)
  • Japanese ID number: SC-20
  • Accessories: Artillery drone, 4 missiles

Bulkhead transforms into a large Cybertronic assault helicopter somewhat resembling an Apache. He has a double-barreled spring-loaded missile launcher on each stabilizer wing, plus pulling the trigger on his tailfin activates a gear that spins his rotor blades. Both gimmicks are available in robot mode, though the rotor mechanism becomes a hand-held weapon.

Bulkhead, like Landmine, cannot Powerlinx with other Autobot toys; instead, his size-class' gimmick is to Powerlinx with extra parts to form a "brute mode". In this case, Bulkhead comes with an artillery drone that features electronic light-and-sound action. This drone can attach to the underside of Bulkhead's copter mode to form a sort of thruster pack. In robot mode, it forms a large backpack, with the thrusters unfolding to become large cannon/claw arms. These arms also become legs for the drone's "walker" mode, giving it something to do when not attached to Bulkhead.

Springer homage? Yes. Triple Changer? No.

The Japanese release of Bulkhead has a variety of minor plastic-color differences, mainly making him a little more primary-colored and turning his legs a more blueish-gray. This has the effect of making him very dimly look like Springer, who the Japanese version is named after.

This mold was also used to make Energon Quickstrike.

• More information on Bulkhead at TFU.info

Notes

• According to Aaron Archer, Bulkhead's goggles-and-mustache look was inspired by Paul Teutul Sr. from American Chopper.