Knock Out (Prime)

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

Knock Out is a Decepticon from the Prime portion of the Aligned continuity family.

I'm super, thanks for asking.

Sure, other Decepticons may scoff at his decision to go with a land-based alternate mode, but Knock Out couldn't care less. He knows the value of looking good and isn't afraid to let others know it. It's not simply his own lines he's interested in; he has an appreciation for well-built mechanical bodyforms of all sizes and functions... and a nasty penchant for tearing them apart after he's done admiring them. Slick, sly and snobbish, he's ostensibly the Decepticons' "medic", though he professes both a preference and proficiency for dis-assembly.

Both in the operation room and on the battlefield, Knock Out is rarely without his brutish partner Breakdown. Knock Out is the speedster of the duo, swiftly striking his victim's vulnerables with his Energon prod in debilitating sneak attacks while Breakdown goes the "massive smackdown" route with his raw power.

I'm not only an automobile; I'm an automobile enthusiast.Knock Out explains to Starscream why he took his alternate mode, "Speed Metal"

Fiction

Prime cartoon

Voice actor: Daran Norris (English)

"Prepare for valmorification!"

Starscream called Knock Out and Breakdown to the Nemesis to help fix Megatron. As they were on an energon trail at the time, only Knock Out initially turned up at the ship, and he was shocked at Megatron's condition. When Breakdown did join them, it was with news that he'd discovered an Energon Harvester was on Earth. As the Autobots had already surrounded the museum the device was in, Knock Out and Breakdown organised a diversion at the front of the building. During the fight, Knock Out attacked Optimus Prime with his prod, but was flattened by Bulkhead after the Autobot was punched by Breakdown. The two Decepticons sped off into the city after they saw that Soundwave had captured the Harvester. Knock Out subsequently accompanied Starscream and Breakdown to an energon seam in Greece. He and Breakdown got the opportunity to fight Bulkhead again, but came off decidedly second-best, and they both fled after the Harvester was destroyed and the other Autobots turned up. Deus ex Machina

Knock Out took to engaging in street racing with the humans. On one occasion, a hapless human who scratched his paint job was run off the road by the Decepticon. Despite Starscream's disapproval of his participation in such events, Knock Out continued to cruise around, looking for action, and was eventually drawn to a street race near Jasper. After the race started, he realized that one of the other cars taking part was Bumblebee and attacked the Autobot. He ended up grabbing what he assumed was Bumblebee's human pal, but was actually an unrelated human named Vince. Making off, he contacted Breakdown and they attempted to spring an ambush on the three Autobots who came to rescue the boy, but after Arcee jumped on him, he decided to withdraw to avoid any more damage to his finish. Unfortunately he was caught by Optimus Prime, who ripped his door off while rescuing Vince. Faced with four Autobots, Knock Out fled back to the Nemesis only to face a very angry Starscream, who put a few more scratches in his finish. Speed Metal

Starscream offered him a position as second-in-command if he helped convince Soundwave that they needed to humanely terminate Megatron. Knock Out tried his best, pointing out that the brain activity Megatron was displaying just meant their leader was in a dream state from which he might never wake up. Soundwave remained unconvinced, and after an Autobot incursion severed Megatron's life support, Knock Out was forced to reconnect it. The medic later reported to Starscream that, though Megatron's body lived on, his brain activity had ceased. Sick Mind

"But he came aboard the bow my Lord!"

He found Starscream in the middle of making a speech to Megatron's body and reminded Starscream of his rank. During the enacting of Starscream's new plan, Knock Out stood atop the ship's back, watching as a Vehicon activated a heat ray to melt a glacier. He ordered Breakdown to take care of Bulkhead and Arcee when the two Autobots turned up, but failed to notice Optimus approaching the ship from behind. The Autobot subsequently caused the heat ray to explode. Out of His Head

Plot details for Shadowzone (episode) follow. Spoilers have expired, you may remove this tag

With his tenure as second-in-command over, Knock Out went back to his original post as medic. Following Starscream's... "treatment" at the hands of Megatron, Knock Out administered whatever passed for Decepticon medical care. He was surprised to see the patient up and about, thought Starscream claimed to be fine. Some time later, Starscream was back in the infirmary minus an arm, which he claimed had just fallen off. Knock Out tried to interest him in a new, upgraded limb, even going so far as to fetch one from storage, but Starscream announced he was going to get his old one back. He subsequently turned up back at the infirmary with even worse damage, but despite Knock Out's inquiries into what had happened, Starscream refused to talk about it. Shadowzone

Notes

• Knock Out's license plate reads "JOFY 892".
• Some fans have interpreted Starscream's "you're one of those" line (referring to his car-mode preference), Knock Out's wolf-whistling appraisal of Optimus's truck mode, the vanity about his appearance, and Daran Norris's somewhat campy performance to be clues that Knock Out is gay. Moreover, the term "knockout" is commonly used to describe an attractive woman. Make of all this what you will, as very little robotic sexuality of any kind has been evident in Prime so far, outside of a lightly-implied connection between Cliffjumper and Arcee.
• Knock Out is the first Prime Decepticon to debut after the pilot miniseries and survive the experience. Breakdown might be considered to share that distinction, but technically he debuted before the cartoon, as he appeared in the War for Cybertron video games and the Prime comic first.
• His robot mode seems to resemble a automobile version of Terrorsaur. However he sometimes seems to have the luck of Waspinator