Bulkhead (Animated)
| 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 Transformers Animated continuity family.
The biggest and strongest of Optimus Prime's crew, Bulkhead appears to be little more than a big, dumb lummox at first glance. The second and third glances don't do much to improve that impression. Raised on a backwater energon farm, he joined the Autobot academy to achieve the lofty goal of becoming a lowly space bridge technician rather than a warrior. He also has an unfortunate tendency to break stuff by accident due to his sheer strength and natural clumsiness. He's wrecked major thoroughfares and toppled skyscrapers in his zeal to be helpful; when he gets angry, he's capable of berserker charges that even the Dinobots have learned to respect and fear. His penchant for being a little too eager to please others and getting a little too emotional at times further leads him to act without thinking. Add in a seeming lack of skills beyond "destruction", and it does not paint a pretty picture.
But despite all these shortcomings, one is hard-pressed to find a bot with a bigger heart, and he has astounding (if sometimes well-hidden) depths. He hates being thought of as the clumsy brute of the team, which has bred a certain amount of careful forethought and cautiousness. He's endlessly loyal to and protective of his friends, especially his best buddy Bumblebee and the human girl Sari, even if their impulsive behavior is sometimes annoying. Since coming to Earth, he has discovered a love of art and the urge to express his true feelings through it. He's not very good at it, but he keeps trying anyways. Perhaps most surprising of all is that he is Cybertron's foremost expert in space bridge technology, even though he may not be able to build one himself without accidentally breaking at least half the components.
Fiction
Animated cartoon
- Voice actor: Bill Fagerbakke (English), Kenta Miyake (Japanese), Tilo Schmitz (German), Ireneusz Załóg (Polish), Lorenzo Scattorin (Italian), Fabio Moura (Portuguese), Rolando Salinas (Latin American Spanish), Lee Juchang (Korean)
Bulkhead was originally an energon farmer and attended Autobot boot camp in order to qualify as a space bridge engineer. It was there that he first met Bumblebee and their trainer, Sentinel Minor. To begin with, Bumblebee had no interest in being friends with the gentle giant, insulting him with the nickname "mudflap". A friendship blossomed after Bulkhead saved Bumblebee from some "malfunctioning" turrets, dropping a building on Sentinel in the process. In order to prevent Bulkhead from being expelled, 'Bee took the blame, and they both ended up on space bridge detail. Autoboot Camp
Eventually, they were placed under Optimus Prime's command. While repairing a space bridge, the team discovered the long-lost AllSpark. However, the Decepticons soon arrived, prompting Bulkhead to mention that he had never seen a Decepticon ship up close. (No one had and lived, as Ratchet pointed out.) Bulkhead did his best to hang on while the Autobots drove their ship through the space bridge. Coming out of warp, they went headlong toward Earth, and he joined his fellow 'bots in heading into stasis to avoid the impact shock of an unpleasant landing.
After emerging from stasis and his reformatting into a terrestrial six-wheeled APC, Bulkhead accompanied the other Autobots to investigate a large, cybernetic creature that was menacing the local lifeforms (which they assumed were robots like themselves). Bulkhead requested help from a group of local drones, then noticed Sari Sumdac trying to take her keycard away from her robot dog, Sparkplug. Assuming Sari was the pet, Bulkhead greeted her—which promptly sent her running and screaming. Way to make first contact there, big guy.
After Starscream arrived to take the AllSpark, the Autobots engaged him in a fierce game of "Keep-away". At one point, Bulkhead tried to catch the AllSpark, shouting "I got it." Starscream snagged the AllSpark instead, but Bulkhead knocked the Decepticon flier out of the air with his wrecking ball, causing him to drop the AllSpark. It's not nice to contradict Bulkhead. Transform and Roll Out
Later, in Autobot HQ, he said he had some problems, because all humans wanted from him was to break stuff. After all, he had his sensitive side as well (even if breaking stuff was fun). When Megatron attacked the Autobots' base, Bulkhead got in touch with his inner breaker, confirming that smashing stuff IS fun! Megatron had different plans for him, though, and Bulkhead discovered it's not as much fun to BE smashed. After Bulkhead was saved, he tried to catch a tiny machine that looked like it might be the culprit. Prime hoped to study it and find out where it came from, but Bulkhead smashed the little critter to pieces when he grabbed it. Home Is Where the Spark Is
After that Prowl tried to train Bulkhead to be more subtle in his actions, to assess a situation, choose the right move, then execute it with grace and precision. This didn't meet with any real success, as Bulkhead's antics damaged the base and caused him to fall on Prowl. Moving to an island in Lake Erie, Bulkhead tried again. He knocked down some trees which fell on Prowl. Things actually got worse when Bulkhead tried to use Prowl's methods against the Dinobots, a trio of animatronics run amok. Prowl wisely advised Bulkhead to stop doing what Prowl would do and instead do what Bulkhead himself would do. Bulkhead quickly discovered that his blunt, powerhouse approach had its place and time for proper use, charging and knocking down Snarl, hitting Swoop out of the air, and throwing Grimlock into a pit of molten tar. Afterward, the Dinobots were due to be melted down. However, Prowl suspected the Dinobots were actually alive, not mere machines, so he enlisted Bulkhead's help in secretly transporting them from their prison to the deserted island on Lake Erie. There they could live undisturbed and perhaps get themselves under control. Prowl had realized that just because something was big and lumbering and destructive was no reason to give up on it, and Bulkhead knew just what he meant. Blast from the Past
When Bumblebee had his bout with Colossus Rhodes that escalated into a parking lot brawl, Bulkhead arrived with the others to stop the mad giant and tease Bumblebee about his size. Bulkhead's size proved a liability when he got caught in an opening in Sumdac Tower's defense shield, making him a sitting (but not defenseless) duck for an upgraded Rhodes, using his wrecking ball to send the brute flying. When the shield was deactivated he was the first into the tower, scooping up Meltdown in his fist... a very bad mistake, since the villain was made of acid. His action gave the other Autobots time to defeat Meltdown, so it turned out okay. Total Meltdown
On a shopping trip for Sari's birthday present, Bulkhead worked with Sari to rein in the pesky Professor Princess. The next day, Sari's birthday party began poorly, as the guests were all children of Sumdac Industries employees, who found Sari too weird for their tastes. The Autobots' arrival made things a little more interesting, but klutzy Bulkhead soon found himself ignored, alongside Sari, as the kids went for rides with the other Autobots (even Ratchet). Bulkhead wanted to give Sari her gift, a xylophone, but was too embarrassed to do so when he saw Dr. Sumdac's gift, a musical robot named Soundwave. For the next several days, Sari's attention was drawn away from her friend as she spent her free time plugging her key into the toy to upgrade it. Bulkhead realized that there was something off about Soundwave, but his attempts to prove it just forced a wedge between Sari and himself. Megatron's machinations to increase the split between them didn't help. It turned out the big guy was right on the money, however, as Soundwave was a creation of Megatron's that gained sentience through the key. Soundwave took control of the machines of Detroit and captured Sari. When Bulkhead came to her rescue, Soundwave attempted to convince Bulkhead of the inferiority of humans. For a few minutes, it seemed Bulkhead was on his side, but with a wink to Sari, he punched Soundwave so hard that the Decepticon shattered into his component parts. Sari apologized, and the pair played with Bulkhead's gift, albeit after Sari nearly broke her hand punching Bulkhead's fist. Sound and Fury
Soon afterwards, trouble arrived in the form of Blitzwing and Lugnut. Answering their challenge, the Autobots confronted the pair in a construction yard. Bulkhead charged Lugnut and the two engaged in a grapple, but even Bulkhead's power wasn't enough against the massive Decepticon, who threw him aside. The second round didn't go too well either, as Lugnut never had a chance to fight before the Decepticons were defeated by the Autobot ship's main cannon. Lost and Found
After Sari was abducted by the Dinobots, Prowl and Bulkhead went to Dinobot Island to investigate. What they found was Meltdown, who damaged Bulkhead to the point of unconsciousness and trapped Prowl and Captain Fanzone (who had been tailing them) underground. Bulkhead spent the rest of the episode out cold until Sari was able to restore him. On the boat ride home, Sari showed she could take care of herself by kicking Bulkhead, who pretended to be hurt and accidentally fell into the ship's hold. Survival of the Fittest
After destroying a good portion of a city block trying to stop a missile impact, Sari suggested to Bulkhead that he explore his more creative talents to show the citizens of Detroit that he wasn't an engine of destruction. Bulkhead had difficulty making his creations (his paint brushes kept snapping between his fingers) and panicked when he learned that Sari had arranged an art show for him. (Girl has connections.) While lamenting his lot in life, he was knocked out cold by a sudden electrical surge. When he came back online, he found that his body had been stolen. As Bumblebee attempted to help him finish his art pieces in time for the show, the Headmaster used Bulkhead's body to take control of a solar fusion plant, intending to detonate it unless he was paid a hefty ransom. Optimus used the ransom delivery to sneak the Autobots into the plant, where they defeated the Headmaster and reattached Bulkhead to his body...backwards. As the reactor reached critical, Bulkhead came up with a drone that would set the rods back, but the drone melted in the process. Not to be daunted, Bulkhead added it to his art collection, showing the citizens of Detroit his warzone art without them even knowing it. Headmaster
When Decepticon energy signals were detected, the Autobots quickly realized that they were outnumbered. Bulkhead mentioned that the Dinobots might be able to help, not aware that Prowl hadn't told Optimus they had moved them to Dinobot Island. Prime was furious and ordered the two to take him there at once. After searching the island, the Autobots found the Dinobots. They were unwilling to help, so the Autobots left, unsure of their next move. When Bumblebee contacted Prime, saying that Starscream was at Sumdac Tower, he ordered him to stand down. When they arrived at the tower, they saw Bumblebee fighting Starscream. Prime dryly noted that disobeying orders was becoming a habit, but Bulkhead wasn't too insulted. He was too busy being shocked by Megatron bursting through Sumdac Tower. Megatron Rising - Part 1
Quickly regaining his composure, Bulkhead charged Megatron, only to have his wrecking ball severed and be thrown into a building. After the short battle, Sumdac told them how he had rebuilt Megatron. Bulkhead sounded as if he was about to crush the professor, but Prime told him that it was unimportant. Using excess key energy in Sumdac's equipment, the Autobots repaired themselves, and Prime apologized for his harsh words. Ratchet and Sari came by in the ship, picking up the Autobots, but they were shot down over Dinobot Island. During the subsequent battle, Bulkhead brought down Lugnut. The zealous Decepticon was stronger than Bulkhead, but as he activated his punch, Bulkhead used his wrecking ball to detonate it, sending Lugnut flying. Megatron Rising - Part 2
While repairing a damaged overpass, Bulkhead became stuck in some cement, but hid it to avoid being embarrassed. He was nearly destroyed when he used outdated, unstable fixative, but was saved by two newly sentient machines named Scrapper and Mixmaster. Once they helped him finish the repair work he'd been doing, Bulkhead reluctantly went with them for an oil break, though he wasn't sure it was okay to take it straight from a tanker ship. He WAS sure the rest of the Autobots would like his new friends. The crass construction workers did not impress the other Autobots, however, and things only got worse when a game of flattened-oil-can frisbee severed Sari's pigtails (and nearly her head), leading Prime to evict the two. The next day, Bulkhead went looking for his friends, discovering that they had stolen parts for something Megatron was building. When Bulkhead told them that the Decepticons were the scum of the universe, the two went to challenge the Decepticons, without telling Bulkhead where to find them. The other Autobots were concerned that Scrapper and Mixmaster would sell them out, but Bulkhead still defended them. Unfortunately, the newly dubbed Constructicons did side with the Decepticons, taking Bumblebee hostage and demanding the AllSpark fragments the Autobots had. Bulkhead gave them the fragments and a cup of oil for the road, but he had spiked the oil with the outdated fixative from the other day. The subsequent explosion scrambled their memory circuits, and Bulkhead drove the amnesiac Transformers away, admitting that he had been wrong to trust them. Rise of the Constructicons
After Wasp escaped, Bulkhead tagged along with Bumblebee in an attempt to track a leaked signal, but 'Bee's attitude became unbearable, and Bulkhead stormed off. The kindhearted bot couldn't stay away, however, and helped Bumblebee out of a minor scrape. Bumblebee apologised, but Bulkhead shook it off; their friendship had rock-solid foundations. Reconciled, the two headed back to base, having missed a rather conspicuous mine shaft entrance. Autoboot Camp
Bulkhead later made an abstract painting of Sari in the style of Picasso, but the other Autobots' suggestions ended up ruining the painting. He and Sari took a walk to clear his head, and Bumblebee came and genuinely tried to apologize. This went rather poorly, and got even worse when Megatron arrived. He kidnapped Bulkhead and took him to his base. Megatron revealed that his double agent had learned that Bulkhead was Cybertron's top space bridge technician, and forced Bulkhead to help the Decepticons repair a space bridge they had reverse engineered. If Bulkhead refused, Megatron would use a Headmaster unit to steal his body and kill all of Bulkhead's friends, starting with Professor Sumdac. Bulkhead agreed to help, but Professor Sumdac believed that Bulkhead was trying to sabotage the device, and told Bulkhead to let him give the instructions to avoid sounding preposterous. Furious at everyone doubting his skill, Bulkhead actually fixed the space bridge, allowing Megatron to teleport the Decepticons to an underdefended Cybertron. See Bulkhead, this is why people don't take you seriously. A Bridge Too Close, Part I
During a three-way battle between the Autobots, the Decepticons, and Starscream's clones, Bulkhead tried to shut down the space bridge, but was locked with stasis cuffs by a female clone. After Megatron explained his plans and how Bulkhead had helped. the other Autobots expressed confusion at his skills, and Bulkhead explained that he had read all the space bridge schematics on the energon farm. Unfortunately, power problems arose, which Megatron tried to fix with by adding Starscream's AllSpark powered head into the power core. Unfortunately, this caused an overload which Bulkhead theorized would suck up all of Michigan. Fortunately, Omega Supreme arrived and allowed himself to be sucked into the portal. When the Autobots escaped, Bulkhead theorized that Omega was merely transported to another section of space, and had hope that he was still alive. Unfortunately, any effort to locate Omega was put on hold when Sari noticed that the skin of her arm had been torn...revealing robotic circuitry underneath! A Bridge Too Close, Part II
While Bumblebee and Bulkhead were surprised and concerned about Sari's revealed techno-organic nature, they remained focused on the more imminent problem; namely that their old friend Longarm was really a Decepticon spy. However, because Omega Supreme was transwarped to another part of the galaxy, they no longer had Teletran-1 and thus had no way to contact Cybertron. A suggestion from Optimus gave Bulkhead the idea of building their own Space Bridge, seeing as Bulkhead was the Space Bridge genius (a title Bumblebee claimed he'd never get used to). Bulkhead theorized that he might be able to put something together if they salvaged enough parts. The two of them quickly left to dig any useful parts out of the ruins of the mine, namely the plasmadynamic thruster (the component that generates the transwarp field) and the recon beacon generator (the component that allows one to lock on a specific area to transwarp to). Bulkhead found the recon beacon generator (after Bumblebee nearly tossed it away) and Bumblebee was about to give him the plasma dynamic thruster when it caught a stray transwarp signal (presumably from Omega Supreme's earlier transwarp) and was sent to another part of the galaxy. When Bulkhead turned around, Bumblebee was gone. Hearing a noise, he investigated, thinking it was his little buddy. But it was actually Henry Masterson who had found both his lost Headmaster unit and Starscream's discarded body (definitely not little and not Bulkhead's buddy). Masterson then soundly trashed Bulkhead and left him buried under a pile of rocks.
Later, Ratchet found him and brought him back to the plant. Ratchet was about to work on repairing Bulkhead when Sari beat him to it, much to Ratchet's annoyance. When Bumblebee's energy signature could not be found on Earth, Bulkhead realized that he wasn't on Earth. The plasmadynamic thruster must have caught a stray transwarp field and sent Bumblebee to another part of the galaxy. In theory, Bulkhead could retrieve him with the recon beacon generator, provided he could get it working. Ratchet was about to attempt to do so when Sari beat him to the punch again. A little while later, Bulkhead detected a stray transwarp field. Using the recon beacon generator, Bulkhead managed to reel Bumblebee back to Earth, inside the belly of a giant rock alien. The alien, noticeably ticked about being exposed to the bright light of the sun, went on a rampage in Detroit. Of course, Bulkhead couldn't just smash the alien with his wrecking balls since Bumblebee was inside it. However, Sari once again provided assistance with her new upgraded form and neatly disposed of the rock alien and rescued Bumblebee. But then her body became overloaded with Allspark energy and she started going on an uncontrollable rampage, causing every electronic device she touched to explode. When Bumblebee was stabbed by Sari in an attempt to stop her, Bulkhead, Prowl, and Optimus worked together to remove the Key from her system. However, its energy had been completely drained into Sari, making both the Key useless and Sari still unable to control herself. Bulkhead suggested that she tried to hold it in like when she had to go to the 'sleep-room'. Sari attempted this, but this only caused the initiation of a self-destruct sequence. Fortunately, Ratchet was able to temporarily shut her down with his EMP generator.
Later, the group was at the plant, mulling over the events of the day, including Optimus revealing the Autobots' secret base to Professor Sumdac. When Bumblebee threatened to transwarp again, Bulkhead took the plasmadynamic thruster from Bumblebee's backpack and turned it off. But then Omega Supreme appeared, under the control of Megatron. The group headed for the river to keep Megatron from damaging more of the city. Bulkhead and Bumblebee acted as decoys while Prowl and Optimus worked on freeing Omega from Megatron's control. Their plan worked, only for Starscream's head, which Megatron was using as a battery, to take over Omega's body and toss out Prowl and Optimus. With them unable to get back in and Starscream threatening to transwarp to Cybertron and use Omega to take it over, Bumblebee and Bulkead got the idea of using the plasma dynamic thruster on Omega Supreme. With a little teamwork from them and Optimus Prime, they attached the plasma dynamic thruster to Omega Supreme, causing him to go on an endless and random transwarp cycle throughout the galaxy. However, they still needed to find a way to contact Cybertron about Shockwave. TransWarped
Soon afterwards, Bulkhead teamed with Prof. Sumdac to build a space bridge at Sumdac Tower. Sumdac was willing to make up to the Autobots for unwillingly helping the Decepticons during his long captivity, though he kept slowing down work by continuously mentioning Megatron and insisting the confiscated Headmaster Unit was staring at him. Eventually, the two of them got the power core assembled and loaded on a green and purple forklift. Bulkhead inserted an Allspark fragment into the power core for a source of energy. Prof. Sumdac warned Bulkhead that it might overload it. Bulkhead reassured the Professor that he knew what he was doing when it came to space bridges. Unfortunately, his leaning on the forklift caused too much pressure, and the floor gave out. Bulkhead managed to save the Professor, but the forklift, the power core, and the Headmaster Unit fell down through three floors. While Sumdac went to rest from his near brush with death, Bulkhead went to find some structural experts. Fortunately, he knew just the bots for the job.
Bulkhead found Mixmaster and Scrapper at an automobile disassembly factory, drinking motor oil and hooting at the stripping vehicles. The two Constructicons were less than pleased to see Bulkhead, as evidenced when Scrapper pinned him against the wall. Bulkhead managed to talk them into helping him, seeing as how the other Decepticons weren't going to turn up for them any time soon. The two construction bots agreed, since there wasn't any rule against moonlighting, but Megatron could never know about this. Bulkhead reassured them Megatron would never hear of it. After all, it wasn't like the two of them would be talking any time soon.
When they returned to Sumdac Tower, the Constructicons went to work, mentioning this was going to cost some serious overtime. Bulkhead told them to take all the time they needed. He was almost able to persuade them to switch to the Autobots when Scrapper pulled up the forklift from before, surprisingly in good condition despite its crashing through three floors. However, the materials that had fallen down before had been fused together by the Allspark, creating a grumpy new Constructicon named Dirt Boss. Dirt Boss quickly took command and cowed Scrapper and Mixmaster into submission, using a cerebro-shell to force Scrapper to hit himself. Bulkhead tried to contact Prime about this new problem, but Optimus and the other Autobots were busy with Lugnut. Brought back into the lab by the commotion, Prof. Sumdac was upset to see the Constructicons, due to his unhappy dealings with them, and demanded that they leave at once. Dirt Boss didn't take too kindly to that and was about to squish the Professor, so Bulkhead quickly told Dirt Boss that Sumdac worked for him. Bulkhead then feigned anger at Sumdac, ordering him to build the plasmadynamic thruster or else. However, Sumdac didn't notice Bulkhead's conspiratorial winks and thought his ire was real.
Dirt Boss then took Mixmaster and Scrapper out into the city, where they started stealing oil so they could hold the city for ransom. Bulkhead tried to talk Mixmaster and Scrapper out of following Dirt Boss, but the two of them were too interested in gaining oil to listen. Mixmaster even stuck Bulkhead's feet to the ground with his cement. Later, Captain Fanzone inquired whether the "rude, 30-foot robots" were friends of Bulkhead's. Bulkhead tried to convince the Captain that Mix and Scrap were good bots, just misprogrammed, but Fanzone was only concerned about machines acting up his town.
Bulkhead followed the Constructicons back to the disassembly factory, where Dirt Boss was chewing out the other two about "drinking the profits". Prof. Sumdac then found Bulkhead and handed over the plasmadynamic thruster that the Autobot had so firmly demanded. Bulkhead told the Professor that he'd just been acting so the other bots wouldn't hurt Isaac. When said bots appeared behind him, Bulkhead had to put on his act once again, but now Sumdac was in on it. Dirt Boss then told of his plan to destroy the fossil-fuel refinery so they would have the only source of oil in Detroit. Bulkhead finally decided this had gone too far and tried to stop them. Unfortunately, his plan wasn't very well thought-out, and he got his wrecking ball stuck in Mixmaster's cement-cannon. The Constructicons simply dragged him along, with Bulkhead protesting all the way.
When the Constructicons got to the refinery, Bulkhead nearly won Mixmaster and Scrapper over by reminding them that if they destroyed the place, they wouldn't be able to get more oil. But Dirt Boss, having had enough of Bulkhead's mouth, used a cerebro-shell to order Mixmaster to take Bulkhead offline. As the two were still stuck together, this led to a rather awkward battle. Bulkhead managed to open his comm-link so the other Autobots would hear him in trouble. When Scrapper noticed this, he took the cerebro-shell out of Mixmaster and plugged into Bulkhead. Dirt Boss then ordered Bulkhead to light the oil tank and blow up the refinery, even though this would also destroy Mixmaster, who was stuck to Bulkhead. But when the other Autobots came, Dirt Boss had Bulkhead attack them instead, using Mixmaster as a wrecking ball. Eventually, Ratchet was able to remove the cerebro-shell. Bulkhead then separated himself from Mixmaster by using the spilled oil as a lubricant. One swing from his wrecking ball sent Mixmaster flying, but Mix fell onto Scrapper, and the sparks from their collision lit the oil. When the fire proved impossible to contain, Prof. Sumdac came up with the idea of transporting it with the plasmadynamic thruster. Bulkhead reprogrammed the thruster for a shorter distance and tossed it on top of the oil tank. The tank, as well as the Constructicons who were on top of it, as transwarped over Lake Erie near Dinobot Island, where it exploded harmlessly. The Autobots still needed to cart away Lugnut, but discovered that he had been freed by someone. Three's a Crowd
When Wasp came to Earth, he attack Bumblebee and switched identities with him, via an electronic paint job concealed in the switched helmets that also altered their voice synthesizers. Even Bulkhead was confused by the clever disguising and nearly smashed Bumblebee with his wrecking ball, presumably to get even for Wasp's bullying at boot camp. Fortunately, Bumblebee was able to make Bulkhead realize who he really was by reminding how he took the fall for knocking that building on top of Sentinel Prime. Bulkhead realized the truth at the last second and bounced (yes, you read that right, bounced, accompanied with squeaky footsteps too) over and hugged Bumblebee. But then they were attacked by a new pair of flying Autobots, who thought that Bumblebee was Wasp and, since they also thought Wasp was a traitor, Bulkhead and Prowl were too. The minor misunderstanding was quickly settled when Optimus Prime, Jazz, Ratchet, and Sentinel Prime appeared and Bulkhead explained how he knew Wasp is really Bumblebee (with a squeaky bouncing dance thrown in too). When they went back to the plant, Wasp had already boned up on everything regarding Bumblebee on the computer files and thus an information quiz was therefore useless. However, Bulkhead knew one way to prove who was the real Bumblebee: a death match of Ninja Gladiator between the two suspected Autobots, on account that Bumblebee is "the best player around". Wasp, not knowing any fighting moves from his long time in the Stockades, panicked and threatened to slag Bumblebee. When Wasp claimed he used to be a good bot before Bumblebee ruined him, Bulkhead countered that he was always mean to him and Bumblebee, thus while not being a traitor, Wasp was never a good bot. Wasp then shot the lights out and made a break for it. Bulkhead found him outside lying on the ground and jumped on top of him, punching him repeatedly. Only to find that Wasp had switched identities again and Bulkhead had pounded Bumblebee. Oops. Where Is Thy Sting?
Bulkhead later witnessed Optimus Prime tell Jetfire & Jetstorm to stop taunting Sentinel behind his back, but later was instructed by Ratchet to roll on home along with Bumblebee and Prowl so Optimus & Sentinel could speak in private. Predacons Rising
On Christmas Eve, Bulkhead & Bumblebee were trying to figure out what they'd gotten for Christmas, but Sari told them that if they peeked, they would end up on Santa's naughty list. Later, Bulkhead joined the other Autobots in sampling some oil nog that Sari had made. However, it had been altered by one of Soundwave's toys), so Bulkhead and the rest suddenly felt very tired and decided to take a stasis nap. When Bulkhead and the other Autobots woke up the next morning, they had mysteriously been turned into humans. Prime decided that the Autobots needed to get to Sumdac Tower, as they believed Professor Sumdac could figure out what happened. On the way there, Bulkhead's stomach began to growl, so Optimus decided that their human bodies needed some refueling. They settled on a nearby Burger-bot, where Bulkhead proceeded to stuff his face with hamburgers. Bulkhead soon experienced abdominal discomfort, which he took for a malfunction, and headed off for the bathroom, only to discover a Decepticon attack as he returned. Attempting to punch Starscream in the leg, Bulkhead ended up severely injuring his hand. He was still able to help transport Optimus, whose leg Starscream had broken, to a paramedic. The Autobots then resumed their journey to Sumdac Tower...on a city bus, which Bulkhead discovered he actually kind of liked. When the Autobots arrived at the stop near Sumdac Tower, he shared their shock at the sight of Cybertron hovering overhead! Once it had destroyed the tower and unleashed a swarm of Decepticons, it seemed that all hope was lost. However, the whole experience was just a virtual reality illusion. Realizing this, Bulkhead was now strong enough to help defeat the virtual Decepticons, though he still needed a little coaching to restore himself to his robotic form. Just after he succeeded, he and the other Autobots were caught up in the hand of a titanic Soundwave and attacked by a surge of electricity. Human Error, Part I
Bulkhead later tried to use his wrecking-ball arm to avoid being reprogrammed by the virtual Soundwave, but was freed when Sari damaged Soundwave's system. However, Soundwave recovered and managed to fix his machine, forcing the Autobots to becom human again. Bulkhead then proceeded to use a traffic light he found to trash the virtual city in hopes of escaping the virtual reality, but Ratchet explained that it didn't work that way, and that they needed to find Soundwave's interface with the system. They then spotted an avatar of Soundwave's vehicle mode and took off in pursuit, driving some conveniently placed vehicles. Bulkhead, along with the rest of the Autobots, was horrible at driving and succeeded in ramming several other vehicles. They eventually cornered Soundwave in a drive-in movie theater parking lot, but Soundwave had actually trapped them there, and he succeeded in reprogramming the Autobots. Under Soundwave's control, Bulkhead later fought against Scrapper, who froze him with a fire hydrant. Once freed from Soundwave's control, Bulkhead joined the rest of the Autobots in watching the Disposal Droids (and Wreck-Gar) clean up the city. Human Error, Part II
Bulkhead and Sumdac eventually finished building a space bridge in record time, but soon got into an argument over whose fault it was that the bridge wasn't already operational. After Sari settled the matter by getting the bridge running,, Optimus received a call for help from Sentinel. Bulkhead located a transwarp field on the Elite Guard flagship that they could use to transwarp Prime to the ship, though it took Sari's skill to lock the space bridge onto the field. Bulkhead was unsure if they'd be able to transwarp Optimus back to Earth, but his leader insisted on going. Before long, the transwarp field separated from the ship, and Bulkhead seriously began to doubt he could transwarp Optimus back—but Sentinel gave Optimus a direct lift back to Earth, so it wasn't necessary. Decepticon Air
Bulkhead eventually helped Bumblebee transwarp to the Moon in order to spy on the Decepticons. 'Bee learned of their ultimate plans for Omega Supreme and managed to open Arcee's com-link, allowing them to listen in on the Decepticons from Earth. Bulkhead and his buddy discovered that the Decepticons were almost ready and warned the others. Endgame, Part I
When the Lugnut Supremes attacked Detroit, Prime ordered Bulkhead, Bumblebee, and Ratchet to go to the Moon and sever Lugnut's connection to the clones, and Sari came with them. On the Moon, Bulkhead and Bumblebee took on Shockwave, while Ratchet and Sari got Arcee inside of the real Omega Supreme. Once they defeated and captured Shockwave, Bulkhead and Bumblebee took Sari to the part of the Nemesis so she could see the protoforms there for herself and better understand her origins. Bulkhead rode back to Earth on Omega Supreme to battle the Starscream Supremes, and was later stunned to hear that Prowl had sacrificed himself in order to save the city. After witnessing Optimus ultimately defeat and arrest Megatron, Bulkhead joined the Autobots when they went back to Cybertron, and he helped carry Prowl's coffin in their return victory/funeral parade. Endgame, Part II
Animated shorts
Prowl attempted to jump over him and the other Autobots as part of stunt. Evel Knievel Jump
Bulkhead saw a mime performance along with Sari and Bumblebee. Sari had to explain to the two confused Autobots what a mime was. After Bumblebee successfully upstaged said mime, the audience applauded. Bulkhead decided to join them... and clapped with such force the shockwaves and wind blew most of the crowd away, prompting Bumblebee and Sari to sneak away in the chaos. Mime Time
He played fetch with Grimlock once, using a tree. Grimlock liked that.Catch
Bulkhead was the subject of some less-than-delicate surgery at Ratchet's hands once, with Sari playing nurse. Rather declared the operation a success, though Bulkhead wondered just what all those other internal parts lying around were all about. After a brief pause, Ratchet quickly scooped them up and stuffed them into Bulkhead's mouth, forcing him to swallow, then strolled away, whistling nonchalantly. Operating Table
Be the Hero books
Prime Suspect
Bulkhead met the rest of the Autobots outside HomeTech's laboratory, after Prime was caught on camera breaking in the night before. He knocked a hole in the side of the building to allow Sari and another kid to venture inside in search of the footage. When that line of inquiry turned up a sample of oil, the Autobots headed for HomeTech's main warehouse, where they encountered Blitzwing, the actual perpetrator behind the crime. Bulkhead helped defeat him. Prime Suspect
Quest for the AllSpark
Bulkhead's favorite places in Detroit were the City Art Gallery and Detroit Sculpture Park. When Megatron made an attempt to obtain the AllSpark by taking control of Detroit's robot workforce, the Autobots came up with a plan to hide useless copies of the AllSpark, and Bulkhead opted to head for one of those locations to hide it. Bumblebee managed to find him at the Sculpture Park, trapped in a force field dome created by the AllSpark and, with Prowl's help, extracted him. Quest for the AllSpark
Web of Deception
When Bulkhead, Bumblebee and Prowl found the Autobot ship inactive, Bulkhead briefly considered using his wrecking ball to "nudge" a power conduit — an idea swiftly shot down by Ratchet. After they discovered Optimus was missing, Bulkhead set out with Bumblebee, Prowl, Sari and a friend to investigate the presence of Lockdown's ship on the lake bed nearby. While fighting the bounty hunter, they discovered the involvement of Blackarachnia, who wanted revenge on Prime. They hunted for Blackarachnia, but Bulkhead took a moment to admire an engraving on a cave wall, which inadvertently led to them finding their foe and her downfall. Web of Deception
Time-Quake
After strange time disturbances began appearing across Detroit, the Autobots searched the city using special scanners. Bulkhead finally struck pay dirt when he encountered a time-displaced tyrannosaurus rex. After dealing with the beast, he and a human tracked the signal back to the Lions Tower in Detroit's financial district where they met up with Bumblebee. On the top floor, the trio found an unstable time machine, that sent Bulkhead and his human friend hurtling back through time. The pair encountered several historical figures, retrieving the time machine's two missing control spheres before returning to the twenty-second century. The culprit behind the time machine's activity turned out to be the Decepticon Blast-X, whom Bulkhead subsequently defeated with a good solid punch. Time-Quake
Titan Magazines
Toy companies have made an action figure of him! Crossroads!
The Dinobots saved him and the others from Starscream clones, which was good. They then didn't leave and Bulkhead's sleeping space was taken up by Grimlock, which was not good. Dino-MIGHT!
Later, the Autobots were buried by the villain Quake-Maker. Bulkhead's great strength freed them from the ground, and then he vanished completely from the battle. Burnout
On his day off, Bulkhead was dragged to a basketball game by Sari, Prowl and Afterburn. Bulkhead didn't see the point of the game and was being mistaken for a litter bin by the humans. Luckily a demented supervillain attacked Detroit and they had to leave the game—but as a diversionary tactic, the evil Crossroads blackmailed Detroit into trying to destroy the Autobots! The Autobots saw through this and intercepted the villain at Sumdac Tower, with Bulkhead taking down reprogrammed security drones. After beating the villain, Bulkhead now enjoyed basketball and happily watched the game for no reason. Crossroads!
When the Decepticons raided the Autobot base, Bulkhead joined the gang in successfully driving them back out. Megatron's Revenge
When Prowl and Bumblebee decided to have a race to see who was fastest, Bulkhead was eager to join in, much to Bumblebee's mockery. Nevertheless, off Bulkhead went... and, thanks to the other two being distracted by Decepticons, he won and was officially King of Speed. Optimus and Ratchet lifted him up in a display of victory (their shoulders hurt!). The Race
The Cool comic
Bulkhead was among the Autobots who traveled to the Earth city of Detroit in order to protect the AllSpark from the Decepticons. When Starscream, Lockdown and Blackarachnia attcked, Bulkhead joined in the fray. The Cool Episode 1
Bulkhead proved unable to prevent Starscream from seizing the AllSpark (the Decepticon snatching right out of his hands) and was subsequently helpless to defend himself from Starscream's AllSpark-powered aerial attacks. When Optimus Prime died stopping Starscream, and was quickly revived by the power of Sari's key, Bulkhead was there to greet him. The Cool Episode 2
Bulkhead later took part in defending Dinobot Island from a Decepticon raid. He was unable to counter Lugnut's aerial bombardments, however, and proved little more than a rather large target. Once the Dinobots saved the day, however, Bulkhead saw them off along with the rest of the Autobots. The Cool Episode 3
After Blackout buried Optimus under tons of rubble during a Detroit battle, Bulkhead aided Bumblebee in digging their leader out. The Cool Episode 4
Bulkhead was present at Sumdac Systems headquarters when Megatron was resurrected in a new body. Megatron made short work of Bulkhead, grabbing his mace weapon and yanking him to the ground. Bulkhead survived the altercation and later joined Optimus Prime in greeting the Elite Guard. The Cool Episode 5
Bulkhead later joined the Autobots in a battle against Clone #2716057. The Cool Episode 6
Bulkhead joined in the battle for the Decepticon Space Bridge. When Megatron attempted to power it with Starscream's AllSpark fragment, Bulkhead warned him not to, as the power would cause an overload. Bulkhead's prediction came to and he was powerless to stop the Space Bridge, which was sucking everything and everyone into itself. Luckily, Omega Supreme arrived and sacrificed himself to save the day. The Cool Episode 8
When Starscream attacked Detroit in Omega Supreme's body, Bulkhead was the first to wonder where Optimus Prime had gone to. Prowl informed him that Prime would be back soon, but until then, it was up to them to fend off the villain. The Cool Episode 9
Upon Megatron's defeat, Nyan cat accompanied the rest of the Autobots back to planet Cybertron, where they were all hailed as heroes by the citizenry and even Sentinel. The Cool Episode Final
Games
Transformers Animated: The Game
- Voice actor: Bill Fagerbakke (English)
After Optimus decided some more training was in order, Prowl set up the factory as an obstacle course and Prime, Bumblebee and Bulkhead tackled it. No sooner had they finished than word arrived that the robots at a Sumdac Systems factory had gone haywire. They traveled there with Sari and blasted their way through the rogue robots until they found the problem — an AllSpark fragment lodged in a control console. Some of the drones escaped, so Prime left to take care of them while Bumblebee and Bulkhead continued at the plant. It turned out Megatron was planning to assault Cybertron, so the three Autobots scoured the plant for more AllSpark fragments before tracking a Decepticon Transmitter Drone to the Decepticon lair.
After fighting their way into the mine, Optimus, Bumblebee and Bulkhead confronted Megatron, who TransWarped out after they managed to defeat him. The Autobots used the AllSpark fragments they'd gathered to power up Megatron's Space Bridge and step through, however on arrival, Optimus and Bulkhead realized that Bumblebee had been left behind when the Space Bridge closed. They searched fruitlessly for Megatron until Bumblebee arrived, having found a way to repower the bridge. Bulkhead intercepted a Decepticon transmission indicating that the Decepticons had captured a bunch of Space Bridges, and the trio made their way to the Space Bridge Nexus, where they used Cybertron's defense system against him. Megatron was again forced to flee. The Autobots returned to Earth, where Bulkhead announced that he needed a nice long stasis nap. Transformers Animated: The Game
Toys
Animated
- Bulkhead (Voyager, 2008)
- Japanese ID number: TA-03
- Bulkhead transforms from an armored, six-wheeled military-type van into a robot mode that is a bit on the short side for a Voyager, due to the stout, stocky nature of the character. The toy features two "automorph"-style gimmicks in its transformation: after flipping down the back doors, pulling down on them retracts a pair of black tabs holding his arms into pace, allowing them to spring forward into position; and moving his chest into place automatically causes a panel to flip over, exposing his head.
- The figure's left arm contains the character's signature gimmick, his wrecking ball. A concealed lever activates a pressure-launch system that fires the ball, which is attached to Bulkhead's arm by a sturdy string. Bulkhead's right arm, meanwhile, features a rather strange gimmick: after straightening the arm at the elbow, pressing the black lever on the upper arm causes Bulkhead's forearm to flip upwards. It might be an uppercut or some other sort of punch attack, but whatever this feature is supposed to be, it is not mentioned in either the toy's instructions, or on its packaging.
- No, his kibble can't transform into a chair. Aww.
- Mudbuster Bulkhead (Voyager)
- A redeco of the original Bulkhead in green and black, with caution stripes on the sides of the vehicle.
 Proceed on your way to oblivion. |
- Bulkhead (Leader, 2008)
- Japanese ID number: TA-43
- Accessories: 4 "air torpedoes"
- This version of Bulkhead is decidedly more heavily armed than others, sporting several rather uncharacteristic weapons over his body; designer Eric Siebenaler envisioned them as alterations the Headmaster would have made if he had possessed Bulkhead's body longer.[1] Additions to his arsenal include a double-barreled turret for his vehicle mode, two missile racks (one per arm, each holding two removable "air torpedoes"), and a buzzsaw in his right hand, which spins when a black tab on his forearm is pressed. He doesn't have a wrecking ball, but his other hand does feature a "grabby" action, allowing you to clench and open his fingers by sliding a tab in his arm.
- Bulkhead is outfitted with a significant array of electronic light and sound gimmicks. Pressing the Autobot insignia on his chest in robot mode causes his head to turn, his mouth to open , as he speaks one of three sound clips—"Sorry, my bad," "You can do it, buddy!", and "Time for the big guns!"—accompanied by flashing yellow lights in his chest, shoulders and eyes. During transformation, when the vehicle mode turret is snapped into or out of place, the classic transformation sound effect plays as his lights flash. In vehicle mode, pressing the Autobot insignia activates a siren noise, which lasts as long as the button is held down and is accompanied by flashing red LEDs that illuminate his vehicle's light bar. Bulkhead also comes packaged with the Headmaster unit, which can fit over the figure's head, altering his sound and changing his yellow lights to red. Once in place, the Headmaster will scream "Ownage! Total ownage!", and all of Bulkhead's lights flash, illuminating the villain's translucent horns. This is the Headmaster's only phrase; pressing Bulkhead's insignia repeats the effects. The Headmaster accessory fits over all other Leader class figures, but only changes the lights and speech of Bulkhead.
- The packaging photography and lineart indicate that Bulkhead's electronic lights shine a more show-accurate blue (well, accurate for his eyes, anyway). The final produced toy has yellow lights instead, because blue LEDs are apparently really expensive.
- This version of Bulkhead can transform his kibble into a chair! Hooray!
- Bulkhead (Activator, 2008)
- Activators Bulkhead can autotransform from a compressed version of a SWAT military van into his robot form when the middle siren bar is pressed. The vehicle mode lacks the back section's doors and bumper to better accommodate the gimmick, which leaves his robot mode's hands sticking out.
- His kibble is unable to become a chair as well. Awww. Unless you take the back-piece and switch it round and have him sit on it in a kind of... warped way.
- Bulkhead (Bumper Battler, 2008)
- Bulkhead is part of the second wave of Bumper Battlers. Pressing on the vehicle mode's front bumper activates electronic noises and pops up the roof, revealing a relief of Bulkhead's robot form. Pressing on the Autobot faction symbol on the hood activates a randomly-assembled collection of sound effects and voice samples.
- His face is disturbingly goofy.
- Workzone Bulkhead (Bumper Battler, 2009)
- A redeco of Bumper Battlers Bulkhead. Alongside Stealth Ninja Jazz, it saw release in Australian stores, and has seen some limited release in North America (Canada and the US) in 2010. [2]
Notes
- Bulkhead's design and demeanor likely owe themselves to Crunch from Mighty Orbots, a series Derrick J. Wyatt has admitted as being an inspiration.
- Another big lug with a similar voice, Bulkhead is best friends with a little yellow guy. Obviously this analogy only goes so far.
- Upon seeing a red test shot of Bulkhead's Voyager-class toy, Derrick J. Wyatt recolored a Bulkhead character model in the test shot's colors—on company time![3]
- While Bulkhead's Earth form features no continuous tracks, he still has them on his feet, like in his Cybertron form. This is probably an animation error that stayed in the show. The toy's legs are more developed, as the front wheels form the backs of the feet. The leader class toy, though, is show-accurate in the sense that flipping out his feet will reveal the tracks.
- After his reformatting into his APC mode, Bulkhead's robot mode kibble changes from the front of his vehicle mode (where it forms the scoop of the bulldozer) to the back, where it forms the doors of the truck.
- Bulkhead can form his kibble into a chair. This is awesome.
- Bulkhead has a storage place in his chest which opens in at least two ways, like a drawer or like a door.
- Bulkhead's eyes can extend from his face and act as a microscope, as shown in "Rise of the Constructicons". This is slightly strange, but also awesome.
- In spite of the visual differences, it would appear that rather than simply swapping out his hands for his signature wrecking balls, Bulkhead's hands actually transform to become the wrecking balls. Although most episodes show his hand simply retract and then be replaced by the ball, a few instances show it actually stay in place, blur and change into the ball. Furthermore, in cases where Bulkhead has had the tether-line of his wrecking ball severed, he remains conspicuously handless until the ball is re-attached, such as in "Transform and Roll Out" and "Megatron Rising - Part 2".
- Bulkhead's vehicle mode design was used as the basis for Generation 1 Blurr's personal transport in Spotlight: Blurr.
- Of all the vehicles that Teletran 1 scanned, the SWAT vehicle Bulkhead was reformatted into was the only one that didn't match his color scheme.
- Bulkhead's vehicle form strongly resembles a futuristic version of the real world: "2007 DURO IIIP 6x6 (Protected Military Tactical Vehicle)" made by General Dynamics: European Land Systems (MOWAG). This mode also has some design traits from the "Unimog" by Volvo.
- For the Japanese release of Animated, Bulkhead was renamed "Ironhide" to keep the names of the primary Animated Autobots consistent with the names of the primary Movie Autobots. Animated Ironhide was in turn renamed "Armorhide" to escape confusion.
- TakaraTomy marketing director Masahiko Yamazaki has stated that Bulkhead actually is Movie Ironhide, as Animated was supposed to be reworked in order to take place within Movie continuity, and Bulkhead would have his "world view" modified appropriately. The actual dub of the series seems to contradict Yamazaki's statements, as Bulkhead remains a big dumb lug as opposed to a psychotic gun enthusiast. In fact, he's played off as even dumber than in the English version, being prone to screaming things such as "Mommy!" when frightened. Thus far, the only change to his "world view" to make him more similar to Movie Ironhide has been a brief statement in his TakaraTomy online bio, which says that he is "something of a weapons specialist".
Foreign names
- Japanese: Ironhide (アイアンハイド Aianhaido)
- Russian: Tverdoloby (Твердолобый, "Hard Head")
References
- ↑ Derrick Wyat Q&A on tf_animated LJ community.
- ↑ http://www.unicron.com/sightings/item_view.php?itemID=1409
- ↑ http://derrickjwyatt.blogspot.com/2007/09/bulkhead-toy.html
