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 the Decepticons' medic, though he professes both a preference and proficiency for dis-assembly. However, his medical skill has kept him in high demand; he's even performed vital and experimental surgeries on Megatron.

Both in the operation room and on the battlefield, Knock Out typically works with 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), Yasunori Masutani (Japanese), Diego Sabre (Italian), Stephan Rabow (German), Milton Wolch (Latin American Spanish)

"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

The 2011 model of the Stryker-Z in which Timmy Turner is riding.

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

You ruined my paint job, DINKLEBERG!

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

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 He was nonetheless surprised when Airachnid decided Megatron wasn't coming back. He and Breakdown watched as Soundwave raised an objection and relieved Airachnid of command, and thus were there to welcome Megatron back when their leader indeed returned, though they were all surprised to see he'd brought Optimus Prime back with him. One Shall Rise, Part 3

Knock Out affixed a new Decepticon insignia to the amnesiac Optimus, who believed himself to be Orion Pax. Knock Out and Breakdown went to a military base and managed to steal a power source for the space bridge, despite the Autobots turning up, though they did inadvertently let Arcee onto the Nemesis. Orion Pax, Part 1

Sent with Breakdown to investigate a hidden Cybertronian treasure, Knock Out emerged from a cave with the new device only to find Bumblebee and Bulkhead waiting. He sped away, amused by Bumblebee's attempts to follow him without transforming, and managed to elude his pursuer. Operation Bumblebee, Part 1 After his success in retrieving the relic, Knock Out inquired to what it did, and Megatron demonstrated the shield generator's abilities, causing Knock Out to leak a little. He was sent with Breakdown to secure the next artifact, and used the generator to hold Optimus and Arcee at bay. This worked until Breakdown landed on him. After Megatron secured the Forge of Solus Prime, Knock Out retreated through the GroundBridge and later watched Megatron unsuccessfully test it. Operation Bumblebee, Part 2

Following the crash of the Nemesis, Knock Out reported on the ship's status, and protested against Megatron's plan to bring it back online with Dark Energon. His fears quickly came true as the Nemesis gained a will of its own. Knock Out discovered it was decoding the data from the Iacon database, and suggested allowing it to continue before the ship put him in stasis lock. When Fowler and the kids arrived onboard to download the Iacon database, they used his body as a ladder to reach the console. When the ship's Dark Energon was purged, he came back online, he almost had Jack, but Ratchet thumped him from behind. Megatron was furious that Knock Out allowed them to escape with four Iacon relic locations. Flying Mind

As part of the plan to send several teams to retrieve the artifacts simultaneously, Knock Out was assigned to find the Manhattan relic with some miners and an Insecticon to back him up. After digging it up in the subway system, Knock Out's team was attacked by Arcee and Bumblebee, and with the Insecticon managed to bring them down. He intended to try out their new find on them, but was interrupted by a sweeper train hitting him. He attempted to escape with the relic, being chased down by Bumblebee and forced to fight. However Bumblebee unintentionally used the Phase shifter to avoid the incoming sweeper train, while Knock Out was scraped along the tunnel wall. Horrified that his paint was heavily ruined, and with the relic in Autobot hands, Knock Out retreated. Tunnel Vision After returning empty-handed. Knock Out was tasked with examining Laserbeak and found the grenade the Autobots had implanted in the drone. After diving for cover, Knock Out was forced to dispose of the grenade and Megatron ordered him to fix Soundwave's visor. Triage

When Hardshell claimed that he'd offlined Bulkhead, Knock Out argued with him about the effectiveness of Insecticons. Knock Out had finally got a chance to buff his paintwork, lamenting on the difficulty of the task without Breakdown's help, when a fight broke out between the Insecticons and Vehicons, and he was damaged in the crossfire. He took his concerns to Megatron, demanding that the Insecticons be restrained in some way, though Hardshell objected to that idea. Hurt

Knock Out was surprised when Breakdown's signal abruptly reappeared, and even moreso when it turned out to be Breakdown with some additions. Cylas insisted on meeting with Megatron, though Knock Out was more keen to take him apart in retaliation for Breakdown's demise. He later got the chance when Cylas made the mistake of failing Megatron. The Human Factor Knock Out was on the Nemesis bridge when Optimus attacked the warship with the Star Saber. Legacy After Megatron retrieved the arm of a Prime from Cybertron, Knock Out grafted it onto his leader and later watched as Megatron forged the Dark Star Saber from a chunk of Dark Energon. Alpha/Omega

I dare you.

Knock Out insisted on proving his worth and took the Resonance Blaster with him to retrieve one of the Omega Keys. Despite facing Arcee and Bumblebee, he succeeded and returned to the Nemesis with his prize. He was disappointed when he was stick analyzing the relic rather than going after the next key. Hard Knocks

Part of the crew, part of the ship, part of the crew, part of the ship!

Once they had Smokescreen captured, Knock Out claimed the phase shifter and used it to extract the final relic from inside the Autobot. After helping Megatron use a cortical psychic patch to learn the purpose of the Omega Keys, his leader ordered Knock Out to use the patch on Smokescreen himself to learn the location of the Autobot base. Unfortunately Smokescreen grabbed the shifter while it was still attached to his wrist and trapped him halfway through a bulkhead—a predicament that Megatron later didn't care to extract Knock Out from. Inside Job Megatron changed his mind when he needed Knock Out to perform a cortical psychic patch. As Megatron rummaged through Starscream's memories, Knock Out realized they were incriminating him as well as Starscream. He almost terminated the link, trapping Megatron in Starscream's head, but was stopped by Dreadwing. Megatron later reminded him that the Decepticons must act as one unit. Patch

After restoring Starscream's T-Cog, Knock Out had to leave the room in a hurry to avoid Dreadwing's rage. He returned to trying to discover how the Omega Keys worked, and succeeded with Starscream's help. He later helped Starscream kidnap the Autobots' human friends and transport them to Cybertron for use as hostages. Regeneration Knock Out handed over Miko in exchange for an Omega Key and took part in the activation of the Omega Lock. After the Lock's destruction at Optimus's hand, Knock Out tried to lift the mood with a quip, only to be knocked about by Starscream and told to tend to Megatron. Darkest Hour

Megatron sent Knock Out back to Cybertron with a team to search for relics near the Omega Lock. They turned up the Apex Armor and also Shockwave, who had tracked the recently energy surge. Knock Out took him back to Earth. Darkmount, NV Knock Out seemed greatly amused by the picture of a dancing monkey Starscream found, and was present when Shockwave brought a cloned Predacon through the space bridge. Scattered

Plot details for Prey follow. Spoilers have expired, you may remove this tag

Starscream later explained to Knock Out why he thought the medic had the safer of their jobs. Prey

Toy bios

Knock Out is the Decepticon's weapon designer, who has spent so long in the murky, underground weapons dealing world that he prefers to literally be underground. Energon Driller with Knock Out You'll note we didn't say "top weapon designer". That's because everyone knows that his weapons are dangerous, often malfunction, and his installation methods will mess you up; however, Knock Out's such an awesome salesman that the Decepticons use them anyway! Deluxe Knock Out If a weapon does work properly, Knock Out keeps it for himself. Cyberverse Knock Out

The exception was Dark Energon: it may have been dangerous and untested, but the power was too great for Knock Out to pass up! Now he's supercharged and out to tear into the Autobots! Dark Energon Knock Out

Titan Magazines Prime comics

Knock Out developed a neuron refractor and took it to Zhejiang Province, China, where he laid a trap in a scrap-metal facility. When Optimus Prime investigated energon readings there, Knock Out zapped his mind into the body of a human worker, and instructed the Vehicons he'd brought to feed Optimus's old body into a crusher. Unfortunately Optimus and Lin-Che managed to reverse the effects of the refractor, and Optimus gave Knock Out a punch on the jaw that send him running. The Mind Trap!

Games

Transformers: Prime - The Game

"Why doesn't anyone ever want to play frisbee?"

Voice actor: Daran Norris (English)

Transformers: Prime - The Game

Toys

Cyberverse

Mercurymon went to some extreme lengths to get himself into a show better than Digimon Frontier.

• Energon Driller with Knock Out (Cyberverse Vehicle, 2012)
  • Series / Number: 2 / 002
  • Japanese release date: 7-28-2012
  • Japanese ID number: EZ-15
  • Accessories: Buzzsaw, battle spear, Energon Driller vehicle

Part of the first wave of Prime Series 2 Cyberverse Vehicles, Legion Class Knock Out is a smaller-scaled version of the character, transforming simply from robot to sports car. He comes with two translucent weapons, a buzzsaw and his battle spear, which can be held by his hands via 3mm post, or peg into various ports on his body in either mode.

Knock Out is packaged with the Energon Driller, a vehicle with two modes. There are various places on it in either mode for Knock Out to man stations, plus an "Energon booster" can unwind from the center of the vehicle to plug into his weaponry and activate electronic light-piping.

• More information on Cyberverse Knock Out (with Energon Driller) at TFU.info

• Knock Out (Cyberverse Legion, 2012)
  • Series / Number: 2 / 015
  • Accessories: Shockblade

Part of the fourth wave of Prime Cyberverse Legion Class toys, this redeco of Cyberverse Knock Out has a much more orangey-red coloration. Instead of his own weapons, he comes with a "Shockblade", a purple-ish/blue blade weapon. It features four 3mm posts, and was originally available (in its original colors) with Ratchet, Cliffjumper, and Dark of the Moon Mirage, while a recolored version was used by Quick Blade Bumblebee.

• More information on single-pack Cyberverse Knock Out at TFU.info

Prime

Don't tell him about his paint job.

...or lack thereof.

• Knock Out (Deluxe, 2012)
  • Series / Number: 1 / 007
  • Japanese release date: 6-30-2012
  • Japanese ID number: AM-13
  • Accessories: Battle spear/twin battle spikes (Hasbro only), "Gra" Arms Micron (TakaraTomy only)

Part of the third wave of Prime: Robots in Disguise Deluxe Class toys, Knock Out transforms from a sports car into a robot and back! He comes with a 5mm-compatible spear that can split at the center to form two wield-able "battle spikes", and the spear can be stored on two 5mm ports on his his back in robot mode, or mount onto the peg-holes on his rear vehicle sides. His headlight-chest panels do not tab onto his torso securely, and can easily detach just by moving his arms.

His stock photography depicts several paint operations that were omitted in the final product. Also, in an inverse of nearly every set of Transformers instructions out there, Knock Out's stock photo is correctly transformed, while the robot mode depicted in the instructions proper is rather hideously mis-transformed, with his shoulder fenders oddly folded down to form an extra large chest and his arms left unfolded, yielding strangely long arms with two elbows.

In wave six of the Prime toyline, Knock Out was put into new packaging, which came with a DVD featuring the Prime episode "Loose Cannons".

The TakaraTomy version, dubbed "Medic Knock Out" and released in the third wave of the Japanese Prime line, loses most of the Hasbro version's paint operations in favor of customer-applied foil stickers... which make his car-mode "fade" deco especially tragic. He also has several new Arms Micron 5mm ports epoxied to him; a hood/chest-mounted engine and one on each door/arm. Lacking the Hasbro version's two-part spear, he instead comes with Gra, a robotic fiddler crab who becomes his spear/prod weapon.

The TakaraTomy version of the mold was also used to make Smokescreen.

• More information on Knock Out at TFU.info
• Arms Micron Knock Out and Gra at Alfes's blog

I'm gorgeous!

• Remote Controlled Knock Out (2012)
  • Accessories: Remote control

An electronic Knock Out, operable by remote control. As well as driving around, the remote control allows you to convert Knock Out from car to robot and trigger his punching action.

• Knock Out (Dark Energon Series Deluxe, 2012)
  • Number: 004
  • Accessories: Battle spear/twin battle spikes

[[Transformers: Prime (toyline)#Dark Energon Series|Prime: Dark Energon|Synth Ened]] Knock Out is a BigBadToyStore-exclusive redeco of Deluxe Class Knockout, being cast in transparent bright green and purple plastics. His stock photography depicts the tip of his spear as painted purple, when the final product leaves it unpainted.

Though he was packaged on an individual card, he was initially sold as part of a set with the Dark Energon versions of Bumblebee, Wheeljack, and Starscream. He was eventually made available on his own, and the Dark Energon Series toys were eventually made available in Singapore as mass-retail releases.

• More information on Dark Energon Knock Out at TFU.info

Beast Hunters

Fabulous secret powers were revealed to him.

• Knock Out (Deluxe, 2013)
  • Series / Number: 2 / 00?
  • Accessories:

Prime: Beast Hunters Knock Out is a redeco and extensive retool of "Robots in Disguise" Knock Out, transforming into a heavily-modified sports car with scales and a toothy grille "mouth". His new flail weapon can attach to the rear of the car as a "tail".

Merchandise

McDonald's

Where's your famous horsepower? Show me some speed!

• Knock Out (Happy Meal, 2012)

• McNumber: 8

Happy Meal Knock Out is a nontransformable sports car! When you press in his grill, double cannons pop out of his hood.

Notes

• Promotional blurbs for the episode Deus ex Machina mentioned that Lugnut would be in the episode. Given that Breakdown acts as a rival for Bulkhead in the finished episode — which Animated Lugnut was played up as for Bulkhead in the original Animated Cartoon Network promotional material — the fandom concluded that Breakdown was meant to be Lugnut at some point in the episode's production. The Hub's Mike Vogel challenged this notion at BotCon 2011, claiming that Lugnut had been Knock Out's original name, which had been changed because "Lugnut" wasn't "sexy" enough for the character. The Prime Season 1 Blu-Ray commentary, however, corroborated the original theory: Breakdown's place in the show was originally intended to belong to Lugnut, since a fiercely loyal Decepticon bruiser was desired, but the show creators wanted a land-based Decepticon instead.
• 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 voice actor Daran Norris' 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, who is quite the buff, deep-voiced dude, attempt Knock Out's particular mannerisms was interesting indeed.
• Knock Out is, in the Japanese dub of the cartoon, the only character (so far) aware of the existence of the Arms Microns. He lets this knowledge slip in "Shadowzone", where he offers to replace Starscream's missing arm with an Arms Micron. Starscream abruptly cuts him off before he can offer a full explanation as to just what an Arms Micron is, demanding his old arm instead.
• Knock Out, like Starscream, also enjoys tap-dancing monkeys.

Arms Up Modes

In the Japanese Prime toyline, Knock Out has named powered-up modes when given various Arms Microns in certain configurations:

• Medic Mode (メディックモード medeikkumōdo)
  • Arms Microns: Gra, Gul, Jida, Zori

Knock Out's box-back Arms Up mode has him using the Break Scythe while wearing Jida on his back. Pretty simple.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Medic Knock Out (メディックノックアウト Medikku Nokku Auto)