Bulkhead (Prime)
| 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 Prime portion of the Aligned continuity family.
Bulkhead looks huge and menacing, but he's only the former. Once you get to know him, he has a gentle soul. He's afraid of hurting things smaller and more fragile than him, but his new human friend, Miko Nakadai, has helped him grow past that.
Fiction
Transformers: Prime cartoon
- Voice actor: Kevin Michael Richardson (English)
Back on Cybertron, before he became a warrior, Bulkhead was a laborer, working in construction. Later Bulkhead was a member of the Wreckers, along with his buddy Wheeljack. He left early on in the war to join Team Prime however. Con Job Soon after the Autobots arrived on Earth, Bulkhead accidentally stepped into some power lines. Arcee was impressed with the dance he did as a consequence. Scrapheap
Bulkhead was cruising around a woodland area when Optimus ordered everyone to return to base so they could take the ground bridge to back up Cliffjumper. Unfortunately by the time they got to the battle site, Cliffjumper and the Decepticons were gone.
Sometime later, when Arcee and Bumblebee were fighting some Decepticons, Bulkhead came to their assistance, albeit late due to "traffic". One look at the three Autobots sent the Decepticons scurrying away. Bulkhead returned to base, and was there when three humans were brought in. Miko questioned him at length about how cool he was. Darkness Rising, Part 1 During a subsequent visit by Agent Fowler, Bulkhead asserted that the Autobots had the utmost ability in the use of force, while graphically crushing one of Ratchet's tools in his fist, much to his comrade's annoyance.
Bulkhead was part of the ultimately unsuccessful mission to retrieve Cliffjumper from the Decepticons, and smashed his way through a large number of the Decepticons in the energon mine. After they returned to base empty-handed, Optimus assigned Bulkhead to watch over Miko. Darkness Rising, Part 2
Miko managed to persuade Bulkhead to do some off-roading on the way back to base. Once there, Optimus and Ratchet left on a mission, placing Arcee in charge. Arcee promptly left to go patrolling with Bumblebee, leaving Bulkhead in charge. Miko's suggestion that they start a rock band was mercifully interrupted by the appearance of Fowler, who was looking to complain about the recent energon mine explosion to Optimus. He wasn't pleased to discover that the Autobots had let kids become involved in the war, but Bulkhead prevented him from taking the kids into custody. After Fowler left, the base computer picked up a distress signal from his helicopter. Bulkhead was glad to be rid of the man, but the kids pointed out that if the Decepticons had him, he could give away the location of the Autobot base. Bulkhead reluctantly let Raf track where the agent was, and went to the Decepticon ship by ground bridge. He only discovered that Miko had followed him when she accidentally attracted the attention of a Decepticon, and he was forced to disembowel it. Unfortunately Jack and Raf subsequently arrived, and they too attracted the attention of the Decepticons guarding the ship. Darkness Rising, Part 3
Bulkhead snatched the pair out of the line of fire and dropped them off behind some cover. He then proceeded to drive under the Decepticon ship, scale a nearby cliff, jump on board, and trash a bunch of Decepticons before realizing Miko wasn't with the other two kids. She turned out to have stowed away inside his chest compartment, and she became a distinct liability as Bulkhead continued to fight the Decepticons. Inside the ship, they eventually ran into Arcee and Bumblebee, who'd rescued Jack and Raf from some more guards. The Autobots cleared out a room for the kids to hide in before proceeding to the brig where Fowler was being held, and Bumblebee and Bulkhead burst through the main door while Arcee slipped in through a top vent. A standoff ensued, until Fowler distracted Starscream long enough for the Autobots to start firing. Starscream thusly chased off, the Autobots took off with Fowler and rescued the kids on the way out. Bulkhead carried Fowler and Miko back to base, where he was told off by Optimus for getting the kids involved, though Miko stood up for him. After Jack decided he was better off without the Autobots in his life, Bulkhead took Miko to visit him. Darkness Rising, Part 4
Once the Autobots pinpointed the location of the Decepticon space bridge in orbit, Optimus, Arcee, Bumblebee and Bulkhead traveled there by ground bridge, though the height made Bulkhead nervous. They soon found themselves battling the hordes of flying Decepticons that came their way from the nearby Decepticon ship. Ratchet figured out a way to destroy the space bridge, so while Optimus held Megatron off, Arcee, Bumblebee and Bulkhead went to do that. No sooner had they finished than they were fired on by Megatron, who'd finally twigged to what they were doing. The four Autobots subsequently jumped back through the ground bridge mere moments before the space bridge exploded, and returned to the Autobot base. Miko was overjoyed to see Bulkhead back safe and sound. Darkness Rising, Part 5
Bulkhead assisted Miko with her science project, holding up her model of the solar system so she could paint it. Unfortunately Ratchet decided to take over the project, relegating Bulkhead to the role of transport. Masters & Students
Bulkhead and Bumblebee discovered a strange pod in the Arctic which they brought back to base. Bulkhead was disgruntled by Ratchet's insistence at post-mission medical checks. He and Bumblebee later went and picked up the kids, but after the ground bridge broke, the two Autobots were pressed into service assisting Ratchet in an attempt to fix it. The cause of the problem became apparent when Raf found a Scraplet. Bulkhead was particularly terrified of Scraplets, as he'd seen bots devoured by them, and was even prepared to abandon the base as a result, but Ratchet pointed out that would mean Optimus and Arcee would perish in the Arctic. Bulkhead went Scraplet-hunting with Miko, but mainly succeeded in embarrassing himself by screaming like a little girl whenever anything happened. Eventually they found a swarm of them and retreated back to the main control room, where another swarm descended on the three Autobots. They were rescued by the three kids, who went to repair an energon fuel line so the ground bridge could be used to expel the Scraplets into the Arctic. Once the repair was done and the ground bridge opened, Bulkhead offered himself up as bait, luring the Scraplet swarm to the Arctic, where they froze in seconds. Bulkhead returned to base for repairs, and was amused when Miko became terrified by a tiny spider. Scrapheap
After he and Miko finished their chores, Bulkhead attempted to deflect her suggestion of dune bashing by bringing up the monster truck rally. They were distracted from any further plans by the news that Wheeljack was on his way to Earth, much to Bulkhead's joy. He, Arcee and Bumblebee arrived at the landing site to find Wheeljack trashing some Vehicons and he gave Wheeljack a bear hug before they returned to base and partied. Bulkhead started telling war stories, but began to grow suspicious when Wheeljack was uncharacteristically quiet. He challenged the newcomer to relate the story of the Battle of Darkmount Pass. Wheeljack got an important detail wrong: Bulkhead wasn't at that battle. The Decepticon impostor grabbed Miko as a hostage and revealed that the real Wheeljack was a prisoner of the Decepticons. After the real Wheeljack turned up and kicked the fake one's skidplate, Bulkhead took great pleasure in throwing the impostor out via the ground bridge. Sadly Wheeljack didn't stay long, but offered to take Bulkhead with him. Bulkhead turned him down, having become too attached to Miko and the rest of his friends on Earth. Con Job
Bulkhead took part in a convoy when Fowler needed transport for a hi-tech Dynamic Nuclear Generation System device, though he wasn't happy with Optimus's order to stay in vehicle mode to conceal their presence on Earth. He warned the other Autobots about the incoming MECH cars and later helped move the D.N.G.S. to a train while the convoy passed through a rail tunnel. It was shortly after this that they were attacked by flying Vehicons, and forced to use their robot modes in the open to fight back. He, Arcee and Bumblebee spent the rest of the time fighting the Decepticons, while Optimus saved the D.N.G.S. Convoy
 Plot details for Deus ex Machina follow. |
Miko's detention was cut short when Bulkhead arrived to pick her up and she decided to cut out early. He chastised her, and when Ratchet discovered an energon trace in Greece, Bulkhead attempted to use the mission to get Miko to learn about ancient Greece. He spotted a depiction of an Energon Harvester on an ancient fresco, shortly before Breakdown arrived. Bulkhead protected Miko from a pillar Breakdown tossed at her, but the 'Con then tackled him into the fresco, breaking it. Back at base, Bulkhead alerted the others to the Harvester and before long they had surrounded the museum it was in while the kids worked to steal it. When Knock Out and Breakdown attacked, Bulkhead charged at Breakdown and was knocked flying by a punch. The Decepticons managed to steal the Harvester, and Bulkhead was left at base while the other Autobots searched for them. While he was trying to work out how to rescue Miko from the museum, Bulkhead realized that the Decepticons would probably go after the energon deposit in Greece, so he went there to confront them himself. After dealing with Knock Out and Breakdown, Bulkhead found Starscream and the Harvester a tougher proposition, but he managed to fight against the device's power long enough to reach Starscream and destroy it. He and Fowler later retrieved Miko from the museum. Deus ex Machina
Notes
- Bulkhead is of course a reference to Animated Bulkhead.
- He also uses a wrecking ball-like melee weapon similar to his Animated counterpart's, only he uses it more like a boxing glove or a mace.
- Derrick J. Wyatt confirmed that, when he was briefly brought in early in the design process of Prime, Bulkhead was originally intended to be Ironhide. However, as the show evolved, the writers realised that they were essentially writing a new Bulkhead, and the character was brought in. [1]
- For such a big guy, he runs really fast.
