Lockdown (Animated)

Lockdown is a bounty hunter commonly allied with theDecepticonsfrom theAnimated continuity family.

"Not bad, for a human."

Driven by the thrill of the chase,Lockdownis a bounty hunter by choice and a Decepticon only by necessity. He's got no real loyalty towardsMegatron,but the Decepticons always pay on time, better than theElite Guard,and allow him access to the systems upgrades he craves. Besides that, he's such a nasty piece of work that it's just easier for him to be a 'Con.

Lockdown has a grisly habit of collecting "trophies" from his victims for his own use. He has attached a number of parts that appear to be stolen, such as his hook, chainsaw weapons, and parts of his left leg. His collection of stolen gadgets include quick-hardening cement spray, smoke bombs, andRatchet's EMP generator. TheAutobotsconsider his actions appalling, whileLugnutviews his mercenary ways an insult to the Decepticon cause, but Lockdown doesn't care. As long as Megatron and the Decepticon leadership will give him his upgrades, Lockdown will get the job done.

Fiction

Animatedcartoon

Voice actor:Lance Henriksen(English),Akio Ōtsuka(Japanese),Kaspar Eichel(German),Pietro Ubaldi(Italian, "The Thrill of the Hunt" only),Marco Balbi(Italian, second voice),Julio González Littin(Latin-American Spanish, seasons 1 and 2),Leonardo Salas(Latin-American Spanish, season 3),Santiago Salorio(Castilian Spanish),Juha Paananen(Finnish),Frédéric Cerdal(French),Wellington Lima(Portuguese, season 1),Guilherme Lopes(Portuguese, season 2),Vagner Santos(Portuguese, season 3)

Lockdown was an Autobot^[1][2]student inYoketron'sCyber-Ninja Corps,and one of the greater students at that. However, during the Great War, he somehow brought shame on the Corps and was booted out. Becoming a bounty hunter instead, his first act was to lead a Decepticon attack on Yoketron's training center and to steal the protoforms kept in storage. During the attack, he killed his former teacher and took his helmet.Five Servos of Doom

"Hnn. No cavities. Figures."

One of his other wartime jobs was to bring anintelligence officerwho carried vital information in for questioning. He encounteredRatchet,broke off one of the Autobot's forehead chevrons and stole hisEMPgenerator, turning the healing tool into a weapon. During said encounter, Lockdown's right arm was destroyed when he launched it at Ratchet, causing him to replace it with a decidedly more menacing one (namely, the hook seen above). He was also indirectly responsible for Arcee losing her memory.The Thrill of the Hunt

"They told me to never hit a woman, so I kicked her instead."

On modern-day Earth, Lockdown was hired byBlitzwingto bring in the Autobot presumed responsible forMegatron's death and was allowed to name his price—specifically, Lugnut'sPunch of Kill Everything.Tracking theNemesisto the location of its crash on the moon, Lockdown, through use of the security footage, determined that a repair crew led byOptimus Primewas responsible. Realizing he was not alone, he soon found himself face to face withBlackarachnia,who had her own reasons for being there. Being suspicious of her motives, Lockdown confronted her, only to be knocked out cold by Blackarachnia'scyber venom.Coming to and seeing her gone, he dismissed this and moved on to capture his real target Optimus Prime.A Few Loose StrandsHe captured Prime using the EMP generator and, impressed by Prime's own personal modifications, stole his axe and forcibly removed Optimus's grapplers, something that traumatized him later on. When the Autobots came to rescue Prime, Lockdown made short work ofBumblebeeandBulkhead.Prowl,on the other hand, proved a bigger challenge, but Lockdown came out on top (after having a tire mark smudged on his face). He was about to leave inhis shipwith his new trophies, when Ratchet, who had been suffering from war flashbacks, came on the scene and soundly thrashed him, partially because the stolen EMP generator didn't work on Ratchet himself. Pinning Lockdown, Ratchet painfully removed both Prime's grapplers and his own EMP generator. Lockdown was forced to watch as Ratchet crippled his ship and escaped with a weakened Optimus.The Thrill of the Hunt

After arriving on theMoon,Blitzwing remarked that the Decepticons hadn't heard anything from Lockdown since he contacted Blitzwing. Mentioning Lockdown's name made Lugnut get a little bent out of shape.Lost and Found

The robot with no name.

As it turns out, Lockdown survived the crash and his ship was repaired. Learning of a large bounty onStarscream,Lockdown headed back to Earth, expecting a serious fight to take him down. It turned out that Prowl managed to take down Starscream for him. During a fight over the Decepticon, they realized that Starscream had escaped. Heading to Earth on his ship, he discovered Prowl had stowed away. Prowl offered to help Lockdown, and the bounty hunter offered a suit of armor to assist.

Why, yes Prowl, I have all this Samurai armor that not only fits you and matches your color scheme, but can also turn into a sidecar that attaches to your vehicle mode!

Oh, and by the way, I killed your sensei.

Upon landing on Earth, Lockdown and Prowl discovered Starscream (both purple and more cowardly than usual) and Prowl managed to take him down. Lockdown contacted Megatron to set up a meet, but Prowl wanted to turn him over to the Elite Guard. Lockdown subdued Prowl and took Starscream. At the warehouse, the Autobots arrived withanotherStarscream.Lockdown tried to take his leave, but Megatron commanded him to stay. Then the two Starscreams revealed that they were clones with bombs in their chests. Lockdown managed to get away in the chaos, then contacted Prowl with an offer of a partnership. Prowl rejected his offer, saying that all the mods were for weak processors, and warned Lockdown never to contact him again, or he'd turn him over to the Elite Guard.A Fistful of Energon

At some point after he left Earth, Lockdown traded information toSwindlein exchange for weapons.SUV: Society of Ultimate Villainy

I'm gonna carve you a new cake hole!

He later came back to Earth, hired bySentinel Primeto capture Decepticons for him so he could look good. Lockdown happily complied untilone of the prisonersmade a better deal, causing Lockdown to happily turn on the Autobots. He was able to defeat Prowl through his ninja skills and trickery, taking him away to steal his jump-jets and holo-projector so he could replicate the armour Prowl once wore. Shockingly, putting one of the heroes next to a load of kit that said hero could usebackfired,and Lockdown found himself fighting a stronger Prowl—especially once the Autobot realised Lockdown had been the one to murder Yoketron.

While beaten, Lockdown was able to escape once again.Five Servos of DoomAlthough his whereabouts remained at large, Ratchet would proceed to recall his history with Lockdown some while later.This Is Why I Hate Machines

Toy bios

Don't touch that please, your primitive intellect wouldn't understand alloys and compositions and things with... molecular structures.

In the past, Lockdown stole an "active camo" mod from a member of the AutobotElite Guard.As it renders him nearly invisible, he uses it to do reconnaissance on his targets, learning everything he needs to know about them before striking. Unfortunately, it shorts out in the rain.Stealth Lockdown

Lockdown realizes that half the game is psychological, no matter what that game is. If it's bounty hunting, and you have to paint yourself blue with skeletons and a missing optic to give your target a case of the glitches, well, sometimes it's what you have to do. They'll certainly know he'scoming—and that nothing is going to stop him.Bandit Lockdown

At some point, Lockdown was exposed to exotic energy that supercharged his systems, causing his body to give off a fiery glow. This enhancement went so far as to change his mode of operations; he no longer seeks payment for his actions, and instead simply lives to see the terror coming from the Autobots he destroys. With his chainsaw and a body that now gives off so much heat that it can melt or burn through whatever he comes in contact with, that's alotof terror... for however long the condition lasts.Blazing Lockdown

Web of Deception

Blackarachnia hired Lockdown to get her revenge on Optimus Prime, sending the bounty hunter toArcha Sevento pick up one of thegiant spidersthere and bring it back to Earth. UsingSparkseekerEMP torpedoes, he was able to abduct Optimus Prime right off theAutobot shipand tie him to a bomb next to the spider as part of Blackarachnia's plan. A short time later the rest of the Autobots caused problems for him, and he opted to leave them to it.Web of Deception

The Coolcomics

I'm the dog, the big bad dog...

Upon arriving onEarth,Lockdown joinedStarscreamandBlackarachniain attackingDetroit.Transforming from vehicle to robot mode, he faced off againstRatchetin an attempt to seize theAllSpark.The Cool Episode 1

Lockdown later joined up with Prowl (giving him a set of power-boosting armor) in hunting down what he thought was Starscream. Lockdown then doublecrossed Prowl when the Autobot began to have doubts and hauled the bounty off to Megatron by himself. The Starscream he had captured turned out to be nothing more than a clone, rigged to explode by therealStarscream. Prowl launched the clone into the sky, where it detonated harmlessly, though Lockdown disappeared in the confusion.The Cool Episode 6

Kre-Oonline comic

Lockdown was with the Decepticons when they showed the "Metrotitan" form of their newly-repainted Decepticon City.Two Giant Bases! Everybody Getting Along, Come On, Fight!

Ask Vector Prime

Vector Primehad speculated thatBen 10's universe, located somewherebeyond the multiverse,may have interacted with aMalgusCluster universe at some point, allowing the alien bounty hunterKhyberto collect a number of Cybertronian artifacts, including Lockdown's hook.Ask Vector Prime

Games

Transformers Animated: The Game

Voice actor:Lance Henriksen(English)

Lockdown was hired byMegatronto findAllSparkfragments in exchange for some sweet upgrades. Lockdown, always the consummate professional, delivered the goods. He later lucked into some more fragments, which had been gathered byBumblebee,and swiped them from the Autobot. Bumblebee furiously chased him alongDetroit's streets, bumping into him until he had to reboot and the Autobot pinched the fragments back. To add insult to injury, Lockdown was subsequently hunted down and captured byProwl.Transformers Animated: The Game

Transformers Animated:Action Packs

Toys

Animated

Deluxe Class

Arrr, matey...

• Lockdown(Deluxe, 2008)

• Takara ID number:TA-08
• Accessories:Hook attachment, engine block/EMP generator
• Known designers:Eric Siebenaler(Hasbro),Shogo Hasui(TakaraTomy),Masakatsu Saito(concept artist)

Part of the first wave ofTransformers AnimatedDeluxes, Lockdown transforms into an amalgam of a 1980s Corvette and a 1960s Cougar, with lots of spikes and a cow-catcher on his bumper. In car mode, pressing down on his engine block/EMP generator flips out twin cannon barrels. A hook can also be flipped from the center of his bumper.

In robot mode, the entire engine block/center hood assembly pops off to form a "replacement" hook-hand gauntlet that can be used on either arm (though foranimation modelaccuracy, it would go on his right arm). The engine block can be removed and attached to thedeluxe Ratchet'sleft arm via the "war wound" socket. Despite being "normal" size in car mode for a Deluxe, due to his transformation Lockdown towers over most Deluxes in robot mode.

His wrists are susceptible to breaking off if too much pressure is applied when trying to force his wrists into a more natural "straight down" position, so don't do it. The earliest releases of the toy had issues with the EMP generator; it was hard to trigger the barrel release, plus it didn't lock onto Ratchet's arm too well. Later releases fixed these issues.

Takara also released Lockdown in the first wave of theirAnimatedtoylineyears later. This version uses much more saturated colors and metallic paint, plus his Decepticon symbols are now purple with white outlines rather than simple gold as on the Hasbro releases.

This mold was also used to makeAdventureLockdown.

• More information on Lockdown at TFU.info

This is what happens when he takes "trophies" from a Ford Pinto. (Hasbro version pictured)

• Blazing Lockdown(Deluxe, 2008)

• Takara ID number:TA-46
• Takara release date:November 20,2010
• Accessories:Chainsaw attachment, engine block/EMP generator
• Known designers:Eric Siebenaler(Hasbro)

Part of the fifth wave of Hasbro'sAnimatedDeluxes, this fiery-themedredecoandretoolingof the original Lockdown toy replaces the hook in his hood-attachment with his chainsaw weapon, which is removable, but cannot flip back out of sight like the hook can. Which can look pretty vicious in car mode, admittedly. He retains all of the othergimmickryfrom the previous versions of the mold, as well as the same issues with the wrists.

(Takara version pictured)

Due to the fact that the hood-chunk that mounts the hook and chainsaw can go on either arm, if you have both releases of the deluxe toy, it is possible to recreate his appearance the flashback scene from in "The Thrill of the Hunt"by attaching the hook-block to the right arm and the chainsaw-block to the left one of the original figure. Enjoy!

The much-laterTakaraTomyrelease of this toy, in the tenth and final wave of TakaraAnimatedproduct, has slight paint differences from the Hasbro version. The most instantly-noticeable is that his flame paint is a much paler metallic gold rather than the Hasbro version's richer, yellower metallic gold. The Decepticon symbol on his chest is now purple with a white border, instead of the borderless gold of the Hasbro version; the black symbol on the roof of the car mode is unchanged.

Blazing Lockdown was retooled intoBotCon 2011Wildrider.

• More information on Blazing Lockdown at TFU.info

"No doubt you want a Starscream redeco instead of this. Hnn, figures."

• Stealth Lockdown(Multi-pack, 2008)

• Accessories:Hook attachment, engine block/EMP generator
• Known designers:Joe Kyde(deco artist)

Part of aTarget-exclusivemulti-pack, this version of the original Deluxe toy is mostly smoky-clear plastic with light grayPVCplastic for joint tolerances, and only a small number ofpaint applications.He retains his gimmicks... and unfortunately his wrists have the same breakage issues as the normal version.

He comes with theLegends-classversions ofOptimus PrimeandBumblebee.These two arealmostidentical to their individually cardedUniversemass-retail versions, having mostly minor deco differences.

Hispackagingstock photographydepicts avery different versionof the toy, being completely transparent as opposed to the final toy's translucent-but-smokey coloration.

• More information on Stealth Lockdown at TFU.info

• Fated Showdown: Ratchet / Lockdown(Vs pack, 2010)

• Release date:March 27,2010
• Accessories:Hammer, wrench, screwdriver, can opener

In the TakaraAnimatedline, Lockdown was also available in a "Fated Showdown" ( nhân duyên の đối quyếtin'nen no taiketsu,also called "Sworn Enemies" in English on the box-back) two-pack withRatchet.Released in the first wave ofAnimatedproduct, both toys are identical to their individual releases.

Activators

Bounty-hunting goodness, now in pocket size.

• Lockdown(Activators, 2008)

• Known designers:Bill Rawley(Hasbro),Andrew Scribner(deco artist)

Part of the second wave of Hasbro'sActivatorsclass toys, this very simplified Scout-class version of Lockdown features a button-activated auto-transformation from vehicle to robot. He lacks the right-arm hook attachment. He's also really squat, even for an Activators toy.

The cardback refers to his car mode as a "Prowler", for what it's worth.

• More information on Activators Lockdown at TFU.info

Ooga booga!

• Bandit Lockdown(Activators, 2008)

• Known designers:Bill Rawley(Hasbro)

Part of the fourth wave of Activators, Lockdown gets a creeeeeepy black and blue redeco with skeletons on the hood, somewhat evokingCybertron's skeleton-bedecked pirateCannonball.He even has a blacked-out left optic! Arr! Pity he lacks the hook-hand, or the whole pirate thing would be complete.

The cardback refers to his car mode as a "Bandit Prowler." Which is pretty sweet-sounding, whatever it means.

• More information on Bandit Lockdown at TFU.info

Ain't no escaping, your love has got me doing time.

• Animated Super Collection Vol. 1(Multi-pack, 2010)

Released in October 2010 in Japan, the "Animated Super Collection Vol. 1" giftset contained slight redecos of Activators Lockdown,Optimus Prime,MegatronandRatchet.The only change from the Hasbro release is his insignia went from silver to a more traditional purple-with-white-outline.

While thestock photographyof the individual toys showed Animated Super Collection Lockdown's green plastic is molded in a more mint green than its American counterpart, this seems to have been a trick of the lighting, as the released toy remained its standard green.

Bumper Battlers

Lockdown on his day off.

• Lockdown(Bumper Battlers, 2009)

• Known designers:Vickie Stratford(Hasbro)

Part of the fourth wave ofBumper Battlerstoys, thisextremelysimplified toy features electronic sounds when the Decepticon symbol on his hood is pressed. Pressing in on his bumper flips up the roof of the car, revealing his robot mode.

• More information on Bumper Battlers Lockdown at TFU.info

Notes

• Derrick Wyatt's original concept for Lockdown was as a freakishFrankenstein-like monster.It was altered to better fit Lockdown's more business-like nature.^[3]Lockdown's final model is "reminiscent of a skull like head and an undertaker's tux"[sic]—hey, he even has coat-tails!^[4]
• Lockdown was created as a replacement forDeath's Head,^[5]a robotic body hunter seen in the Marvel UKThe Transformerscomics; despite his prominent role, Marvel owned the character, and Hasbro wished to have their own version (though Wyatt indicates that he didn't base Lockdown's design on the character at all). The older bounty hunter's name was later used forLockdown's starship.
• Thecartoon modelfor Lockdown shows an amusinghomageto the oldertoys.Instead of the ordinaryDecepticonsymbolseen on the toy the animated version's chest carries what appears to be arubsign,presumably to symbolize the character's lack of allegiance to any faction.
• In the original production bible for the series, Lockdown was stated to transform into a "Stealth Fighter Jet".
• According to the Decepticon character descriptions sent out in the originalCartoon Networkpress release forTransformers Animated,Lockdown "can go into aPredator-like stealth mode for brief periods ". While he never used this power in anyAnimatedfiction, the idea seems to have been the basis for the Stealth Lockdown toy, whose bio further cemented thePredatorconnection by saying his "active camo shorts out in rain".
• All three episodes Lockdown appeared in were written byAndrew Robinson,and were the only episodes he wrote for the show.
• Inhis debut episode,Lockdown's original arm (the one currently outfitted with his hook) came equipped with a rocket powered fist. This weapon was destroyed by Ratchet during the episode, and was not ever seen afterwards, either on the show or in toy form.
• Despite having lost the EMP generator, Lockdown retains the external engine it comprises in his vehicle mode as seen in "A Fistful of Energon".Perhaps he found a substitute or a replacement?
• The interior of Lockdown's vehicle mode sports a chain-steering wheel and a skull on the gear stick. Now that's hardcore. The skull gear stick was even immortalized in toy form: It's molded on the interior of the Bumper Battles figure.

• The Ask Vector Prime entry is a nod to how Derrick J. Wyatt would move on to produceBen 10 Omniverse,which features Lockdown's hook as anEaster eggin several episodes.

Foreign names

• Japanese:Lockdown(ロックダウンRokkudaun)
• Mandarin:Hēi Yù Lièrén(Taiwan, hắc ngục thợ săn, "Black Jail Hunter" ),Fēng Suǒ(China, phong tỏa, "Lockdown" )

References