Wheeljack (ES)

Wheeljack is an Autobot from the EarthSpark continuity family.

She alwayst asks me the Worste Queries, and calleth me her "Lesser Dad."

Wheeljack is the Autobots' resident mechanic and scientist. His inventions are famously temperamental, and you'll often find Optimus or Elita-1 crossing their fingers and hoping it doesn't explode upon activation. Despite that, his scientific skills can't be disputed, and he can whip up a gadget to solve most problems he encounters.

One problem he wasn't prepared for was learning about his "daughter", Twitch. Having scanned one of his drones as her alt-mode, the young Terran considers him a second father, or Dad2, and looks up to him. While Wheeljack's specialty might be technology, he's managing to provide some meaningful guidance to the young bot, and teach her how to make the best use of all the gadgets built into her drone mode.

Fiction

EarthSpark cartoon

Voice actor: Michael T. Downey (English), Yōji Ueda (Japanese), Fabrice Josso (French), Dan Frausto (Latin American Spanish), Eduardo del Hoyo (Castilian Spanish), Marco Ribeiro (Brazilian Portuguese), Michael Bideller (German)

"Sorry, Twitch, but I need to go buy some milk."

When one of Optimus's drones failed to return from a recon scan, Elita merely assumed it had malfunctioned and exploded due to Wheeljack's buggy programming. Secret Legacy, Part 2

Wandering through the forest near Witwicky in search of an Arachnamech, Wheeljack recognized a drone of his own making and shot it down with an electromagnetic pulse before carrying it under his arm. After hearing his drone speak and seeing it transform, he learned that it was Twitch, who was hunting a Wakwak in an effort to learn one of Alex Malto's traditions. Wheeljack explained to the Terran that he was the inventor of the drone she based her alternate mode on, leading her to start calling him her "Dad2", much to his chagrin. Though he attempted to avoid her at first, Wheeljack eventually taught Twitch how to use some of her drone mode's built-in functions, having her practice drills in the forest to train. After the two worked together to fend off a unit of Arachnamechs, Wheeljack expressed pride in Twitch's progress and ingenuity, accepting her newfound admiration in him. He followed her back to the Malto house, where he met the rest of her family and reunited with his old friend Bumblebee. Traditions

Wheeljack used Teletraan I to scan Robby and Mo's cyber-sleeves. He later unwittingly aided in Mandroid's distraction as the scientist attempted to get hold of the sleeves. Disarmed Wheeljack joined Optimus and other Autobots in answering Hashtag's distress call, arriving at the Malto farm to battle the Ghoid soldiers. Though they were victorious, Croft activated a Mandroid-supplied device that shut down Wheeljack and the other Autobots present. The Battle of Witwicky They were still unconscious when Mandroid arrived back from space in a new semi-robotic form. The Last Hope, Part 1 Mandroid remotely reactivated Wheeljack and the others, placing them under his control and sending them to intercept the Maltobots who were heading to thwart his plans. Grimlock, Arcee and Wheeljack attempted to trap the group on a bridge, resulting in Bumblebee and Schloder battling them to allow the others to go ahead. Ultimately Mandroid was able to activate the superweapon he'd created, deactivating Wheeljack until Robby and Mo successfully used their cyber-sleeves to revive the Autobots. The Last Hope, Part 2

Wheeljack took part in cleaning up the G.H.O.S.T. base after the Autobots took it over fully. Control Alt Delete Following the discovery of a new and mysterious ability on the part of the Terrans to "cyber-sync", Wheeljack and Nightshade watched the kids attempt to replicate the feat while discussing the nature of the combining and possible triggers. Just when they thought they'd finally got a handle on it, Jawbreaker broke the news that he'd managed to successfully cyber-sync with Aftermath under different conditions. Togetherness

Following more improvements to his drones, Wheeljack supplied Twitch with a number of them for testing. He helped with the Polyhex Protocol obstacle course required when a place on an Autobot mission was contested by new Chaos Terran Spitfire and a choice had to be made as to whether she or Twitch would take it. Spitfire Wheeljack gave Twitch a medical examination after her fight with Spitfire and gave her the okay, unaware that she was actually Spitfire who had mind-swapped with Twitch, though her behavior did make him suspicious. For the next Autobot mission, he was preparing the Cyber Slayer for transport to another secure location when he realized Twitch wasn't Twitch. Unfortunately this was slightly too late, as Spitfire used the Cyber Slayer on him and left his deactivated body on the floor while she left with the weapon. The Imposters

Somehow he got better and was part of the Autobot/Terran force that assaulted the Decepticon base in an attempt to obtain the remaining Embershards. When Starscream obtained sufficient shards to reconstruct the Emberstone, he used the artifact to deactivate everyone there, including Wheeljack. They were later restored to life when Robby and Mo regained the Emberstone. Witwicky, Part 2

Wheeljack turned out for the arrival of the Quintessons on Earth and ended up having to help evacuate Witwicky when the Quintessons destroyed the Chaos Dome, unleashing a storm of chaos energy. He was impressed by Nightshade's plan to use the Cyber Slayer to absorb the storm and use the energy to revive the Chaos Terrans and helped rig up Optimus's trailer for the experiment. Judgement Day, Part 1 He was present for the revival of the Chaos Terrans and the escape of Robby, Mo, Twitch and Thrash from the Quintesson ship, subsequently taking part in a diversionary battle while Mo restored Terratronus to life so that the Titan could destroy the Quintessons. Judgement Day, Part 2

Toys

EarthSpark

Red and green sharpies not included. (Hasbro Version Pictured)

• Wheeljack (1-Step Flip Changer, 2022)

• TakaraTomy Name: Supatto Change Wheeljack
• TakaraTomy ID Number: ESS-06

Part of the first wave of EarthSpark "1-Step Flip Changers", Wheeljack is a simple toy that converts from robot to vehicle and vice versa by being folded inside-out/outside-in, much like a switchblade. His vehicle mode can be arrived at much faster by letting him fall face-up onto a solid surface. This releases a switch on his leg and lets him spring back into car mode instantly.

(TakaraTomy Version Pictured)

While similar-looking to previous switchblade-like One Steps Changers (which began with Age of Extinction Drift and grew in numbers from there), this is an otherwise unrelated mold. Unlike its predecessors, Wheeljack lacks any robot-mode articulation beyond waggling his free-moving arms side to side. He is also much smaller than previous equivalent toys.

The TakaraTomy release of the toy features extra paint details to more closely resemble his on-screen appearances.

This mold was also used to make Breakdown.

• Wheeljack (Tacticon Assortment, 2023)

A straight redeco of Tacticon Bumblebee, Wheeljack is a small figure that converts from a small car into an unposeable robot with just a single step by pushing your fingertip into the vehicle mode back end.

Notes

• This incarnation of Wheeljack sports both a retractable faceplate from his Aligned counterpart and even a goatee that callbacks to both his Cyberverse and Animated incarnations when it comes to facial hair.
• Earthspark Wheeljack speaks with a Southern accent. This might be a nod to the original Wheeljack's occasional more-Southern-y accent that popped up a couple times in the original cartoon (such as when voice actor Chris Latta had to voice both Wheeljack and Sparkplug in a scene). Or they just thought it sounded good.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Wheeljack (ホイルジャック Hoirujakku)
• Hungarian: Volánjack ("(Steering)Wheeljack")