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), Ernie Hudson (Botcon 2011), Diego Sabre (Italian)

"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

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

Knock Out and Breakdown led a squadron of Vehicons to recover a Cybertronian data cylinder that had been uncovered on Earth, ending up in a pitched battle against the Autobots. The cylinder somehow incapacitated Bulkhead, the closest defender, allowing Knock Out to scoop up the prize then GroundBridge back to the Nemesis. Unfortunately for the pair, the "incapacitation" was the data within the cylinder being expelled, leaving them with an empty prize and an unhappy Megatron. They quickly deduced that the information was within the Autobot's brain. Knock Out and Breakdown tracked Bulkhead to a monster truck arena, where Miko had taken him in the hopes of triggering increasingly lost memories from the Autobot. Bulkhead and the human fled, but Knock Out easily found them with an energy reader to pinpoint the Autobot. Amusement turned to horror when Bulkhead painted a Cybertronian mathematical symbol on Knockout, ruining his paint job. Bulkhead was quickly downed, and Knock Out prepared his buzzsaw to remove his head. Miko tried to take a swing at Knock Out and missed... instead slamming into Bulkhead bodily, which triggered the data's self-defense routines again, and the data beamed from Bulkhead's eyes, rocketing into space. The two Decepticons fled empty-handed once the other Autobots arrived. T.M.I.

During their missions carrying energon around, Knock Out and Breakdown were under orders to lead the Autobots on a chase to burn through the Autobots' energon supplies. On one such mission, their Vehicon escort was attacked and wiped out by Ratchet, whom Knock Out assumed was a ringer. Knock Out's inability to locate new energon deposits at a fast enough rate annoyed Megatron, who berated him. They were interrupted by Ratchet, who seemed to be amped up on something. After Megatron defeated Ratchet, he was left to Knock Out to extract a sample. The Decepticon medic did so, and prepared to finish off the Autobot, but was distracted at a vital moment, and during the ensuing fight, the sample was destroyed. Knock Out was able to later find a single drop of the substance that had given Ratchet a power boost. Stronger, Faster

Plot details for One Shall Fall follow. Spoilers have expired, you may remove this tag

Knock Out continued humoring his leader's whims. He reported that the new space bridge was almost ready, they just needed an ample power source. Once the power source was secured, they headed for the construction site, but Megatron abruptly left after ordering them to complete the space bridge, leading Knock Out to wonder if their leader was losing it. One Shall Fall

Toys

Prime

• Knock Out (Deluxe, 2012)

Notes

• Knock Out's original name was Lugnut, but was changed as it wasn't "sexy" enough. Just as well; there's already an Aligned Lugnut.
• 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.
  • When asked at BotCon 2011, the Prime writers said that there is no designation for gay (or straight, for that matter) on Cybertron, that Knock Out is a knock out, and that the Nemesis is a very "don't ask, don't tell" place. And they also "jokingly" deflected the matter by saying there was a "glitch" in the AllSpark the day Knock Out was created, which is unintentionally so insulting to homosexuals that it could create an awkward silence in the Void.
• 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.
• For the live script reading of "Shadowzone" at BotCon 2011, Darran Norris was unavailable, so his lines went to Ernie Hudson. Hearing Ernie attempt Knock Out's particular mannerisms was interesting indeed.