Bulkhead (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
neverputincharge) wrote2012-09-25 02:47 am
neverputincharge) wrote2012-09-25 02:47 am
Wake App
Personal Information
Name: Katt
Age: 36
Personal Journal:katt
Email / AIM / MSN / Plurk: Email: katt30x@gmail.com / AIM: katt30x / MSN: N/A / Plurk: Spectreselva
Current Character(s): N/A, though apping Jinora too
Character Information
Character Name: Bulkhead
Fandom: Transformers Prime
Character History: (Oh god this is going to be long, lol)
Pre-canon history:
Before the start of the war, Bulkhead was just a simple laborer who worked construction, and was part of the lower Caste in Cybertron's Caste system. He of course didn't do anything to be noted, but as he worked, and gained the knowledge and skill to be great at it. He had friends too, most notably Wheeljack, and Breakdown. When Megatron started his uprising, and people were picking sides, he picked the Autobots. But unfortunately he lost his job, as construction was halted as the war went on.
A war he wanted to help out on, but there wasn't many options available for citizens like him. In the end, he ended up following his best, Wheeljack, into the Wreckers. But alas he would lose his other friend, Breakdown, to the Decepticons, and the two of them would wind up in a rivalry that would last decades. But Bulkhead continued on in the Wreckers. In the Wreckers he fought in many battles. Including an unnamed battle in which Wheeljack threw his grenade into a Decepticon heat exchanger. There was also another incident on the planet of Sandokan, where Wheeljack had to save Bulkhead after he couldn't get away on his own. The team came to mean everything to Bulkhead, and they were a close-nit group.
Despite the closeness, and how much the Wreckers meant to him. Bulkhead left the Wreckers after the battle at Thunderhead Pass, answering a call sent out by Optimus Prime to join his team because he thought the Prime was the real deal. The decision didn't sit well with the other members on the Wreckers, particularly Wheeljack. But little is known of what happened after he left the Wreckers. Other than witnessing a Autobot squad killed by Tox-en, which was created by Megatron's scientists.
But at some point after Cybertron went dark, Bulkhead landed on the planet called Earth. The team was small. Consisting of only himself, Optimus Prime, the medic Ratchet and the scout Bumblebee. They were later joined by the Autobots Arcee and Cliffjumper. With the Decepticon movements having stopped for three years, most of the time was spent on patrols in case any Cons did show, and finding Energon mines so they had the fuel to do what was needed.
Canon history: (I'm doing the rest as bullet points more or less, otherwise this would kill me)
Season 1:
- Bulkead was in a wooded area when he was pulled away to rendezvous with the rest of the team, and go back up Cliffjumper. But they were too late. Later he arrived in time to scare off some vehicons were fighting Arcee and Bumblebee, and even later was at the base when Arcee and Bee brought in the kids Jack, Miko and Raf. (Darkness Rising Part 1). He was also part of the, ultimately failed, mission to retrieve Cliffjumper from a Decepticon mine, and was later assigned by Optimus to be Miko's guardian. (Darkness Rising Part 2) Later Miko managed to convince him to do some off-roading before they returned to base, and during a visit by Agent Fowler while he was left in charge(haha) managed to prevent the agent from reporting the kids. Then, despite his reluctance, the kids managed to convince him to go save said agent after he was captured by cons. However the kids followed him. (Darkness Rising Part 3)
- He fought his way onto the Nemesis, with Miko in tow(not by choice). The two later met up with Arcee and Bumblebee and the other two kids. After they stashed the kids somewhere safe, they went to rescue Fowler from the brig, and chased off Starscream. After returning to base, he was later told off by Optimus, despite the mission being successful. (Darkness Rising Part 4) Then they got lucky and found the location of the Decepticons Spacebridge, and they groundbridged up there to destroy it. Battle insued, and while Optimus kept Megatron busy, Bulkhead and the others went to sabotage it. With the Spacebridge exploding around them they all Groundbridged back to base. (Darkness Rising Part 5)
- Then him and Bumblebee were sent to the Arctic and came back with an strange pod, which turned out to be full of scraplets. With the children's help, they managed to fix the Groundbridge and get rid of the scraplets, and rescue Optimus and Arcee from the Arctic. (Scrapheap) Bulkhead was thrilled when his old Wrecker buddy, Wheeljack, showed up on Earth, even greeting him with a huge hug. But as it turned out, the Wheeljack that was with them wasn't the real Wheeljack, but an imposter. Bulkhead was able to figure it out from the way the imposter was acting. The imposter was defeated after the real Wheeljack got free, and came through the bridge. Bulkhead was there later when Wheeljack made to leave Earth and go back to space to find refugees. However Bulkhead turned down the opportunity to go with him. (Con Job)
- Later Bulkhead was part of a convoy to help protect Fowler's Dynamic Nuclear Generation System device, and helped fight off the organization called MECH, plus a bunch of vehicons who decided to show up. The Dingus was eventually safely delivered to it's destination. (Convoy). After Miko wasn't doing well in her education, Bulkhead took her with him on a mission to Greece to find an Energon signal. But they were interrupted by the arrival of Bulkhead' old enemy, Breakdown. After the cons made off with the harvester, after it was found in a museum, Bulkhead tracked them back to Greece. He fought off Knock Out, Breakdown and Starscream and destroyed the Harvester in the process. (Deus ex Machina)
- Later when he and Bumblebee were playing basketball, the scouts behavior seemed strange. But he didn't have much time to ponder it as he, Optimus and Arcee all went to the Arctic, again, to get back a lens that the Decepticons stole. It was eventually destroyed, but a bigger problem arose when it turned out that Megatron had been ressurected. (Out of His Head). He later went on a mission with Optimus, Ratchet and Bumblebee to follow a dark energon signature that turned out to be Starscream trying to resurrect Skyquake. In the ensuing chaos, the kids wound up in a shadowzone, which they were soon rescued from once they figured it out. (Shadowzone)
- Later he was sent to follow an energon signal to the Kamchatka Peninsula, where he encountered Breakdown who knocked him out. But when he came to he found out Breakdown had been captured by MECH. Despite refusing at first, he was eventually convinced by Miko to rescue his arch enemy. He succeeded in doing so, and the two rivals took on MECH together before their reinforcements arrived. (Operation: Breakdown) Bulkhead then was sent with Arcee to follow a magnetic signal which turned out to be a polarity gauntlet. In the ensuing battle with Breakdown and Airachnid, Bulkhead and Arcee wound up magnetized to each other. They were later able to get free after confronting the cons again, and retrieved the gauntlet. (Metal Attraction)
- Then Arcee, Bulkhead, Jack and Miko checked out an abandoned Decepticon energon mine. But were also joined by Megatron and Starscream, who caused the whole place to start to collapse. Bulkhead managed to keep himself and Miko from being crushed long enough for the two of them to eventually be rescued by Arcee, after being found by Starscream first, who had threatened them. (Rock Bottom) He also joined the others on a mission to investigate a crashed Decepticon ship and arived in time to find Starscream all webbed up and Airachnid escaping. Starscream led them to the other half of the ship where they confronted Airachnid, who managed to freeze him and Optimus with the weapon she found: The immobilizer. After the battle they went back to base and Ratchet managed to repair the damaged immobilizer, which was recovered, and unfroze Bulkhead and Optimus. (Partners)
- On a mission to retrieve a Cybertronian data cylinder, Bulkhead wound up with the information being beamed right into his mind. The good news was, this information turned out to be the formula for synthetic energon. The bad news? It was destroying Bulkhead's mind. Which the other bots went out to negotiate the cylinder from Megatron, Miko took Bulkhead to a monster truck rally track they'd visited to try and jog his dying memory. Unfortunately they were found by Knock Out and Breakdown who knocked out Bulkhead. But thanks to Miko the formula was beamed into the stars and out of con reach, and they were rescued. But it left Bulkhead comatose until Miko woke him up by playing a music note. (T.M.I.) Then the bots went on missions to try and intercept cons due to an energon shortage. However plans were changed when Ratchet decided to experiment with an unfinished synthetic energon formula on himself. But the changes in his personality and actions caused issues, and the Medic eventually took off after taking out Bulkhead. The bots later traced down the medic, in time to save him from Knock Out, and took him back to base along with the energon they recovered. (Stronger, Faster)
Bulkhead then went with Optimus and Arcee to stop the cons from taking a spacebridge powersource, only for Bumblebee to show up with an injured Raf in tow, along with Megatron. While the cons retreated, Bulkhead and Optimus climbed on board the warship while the rest of the bots went back to base to try and save Raf's life from the Dark energon in his body. Bulkhead returned to base with the power source, while Optimus went on to confront Megatron. He was at base when Raf was finally saved. (One Shall Fall) Then he, Arcee and Bee went to rescue Optimus who was fighting Megatron. Bulkhead managed to keep Megatron busy while the others got Optimus to safety. Back at base they managed to figure out that Unicron, an ancient enemy, was the cause of the weird weather that was occurring, and that he was also the core of the Earth itself. (One Shall Rise Part 1)
When Optimus was confronted by avatars of Unicron, Bulkhead Bumblebee and Arcee went to rescue him again, and were surprised when help came in the form of Megatron. After making a deal with the Overlord to help defeat Unicron, the bots and Megatron all groundbridged to the Earth's core. (One Shall Rise Part 2) Down in the Earth's core, Megatron led them toward Unicron's spark chamber. Along the way Bulkhead started to be affected by the dark energon that was all around them. This wasn't helped when Unicron's antibodies showed up and attacked. As a result Bulkhead nearly plunged to his death, but was save by Bumblebee and later Optimus. While Optimus and Megatron went into Unicron's spark chamber, Bulkhead, Bumblebee and Arcee stayed outside to keep fighting the antibodies. After Unicron was defeated by Optimus, the three went into the chamber to meet up with their leader, only to realize the guy had no memory of them at all. They groundbridged back to base without him after he left in another bridge with Megatron. (One Shall Rise Part 3)
Season 2:
- The team considered how to get their leader back , but were interrupted by Agent Fowler telling them the Decepticons were attacking the same base as before again. Bulkhead, Arcee and Bumblebee went to stop them but this time they were unsuccessful in stopping them.
(Orion Pax Part 1) Afterwards the Autobots continued to scour the globe for any trace of the Decepticons. But their big break came when Bulkhead and Ratchet got a message from a wounded Starscream, who gave them the location of the Decepticon spacebridge in exchange for medical help. The bots stormed the bridge and took possession of it so they could send Jack and Arcee to Cybertron to get Optimus' memories back with the Key to Vector Sigma. (Orion Pax Part 2) While the team monitored Jack's progress on Cybertron, they were interrupted when Megatron arrived with the intent to stop their plans. Bulkhead took on Megatron twice, but was eventually taken down like Ratchet and Bumblebee. Despite this, they were successful as Arcee and Jack returned just in time to restore Optimus' memories and they all bridged back to base for a happy reunion. (Orion Pax Part 3)
- Bulkhead went on a scouting mission with Bumblebee, when they both picked up an ancient Autobot signal separately. Bulkhead rushed to be Bumblebee's back up, but by the time he got there, he found Bee waking up from being knocked out and unable to transform. Back at base, they figured out that MECH took Bumblebee's t-cog. Later when they were left alone at base, Bumblebee managed to convince Bulkhead to let him go with him after another artifact signal was detected. It...didn't end well. (Operation Bumblebee Part 1) He nearly got picked to perform t-cog transplant surgery, but fortunately Ratchet picked Arcee. However he did go on another artifact retrieval mission with Arcee and Optimus. He fought Breakdown, in what would turn out to be their very last battle, and eventually beat the con by bashing him with the Forge of Solus Prime, which was the relic. Unfortunately Megatron bushwhacked and made off with the Forge. Back at base, Bulkhead was there when Ratchet repaired Bumblebee's t-cog, that the scout have recovered, and watched as he transformed once again, and went for a drive with Raf. (Operation Bumblebee Part 2)
- Bulkhead was ecstatic when Wheeljack arrived back on Earth, but less about hearing that another Wrecker, Seaspray, was killed by Dreadwing. He later talked to him at the top of the base, and then was convinced to go with the Wrecker after Dreadwing. This didn't go well, as this would lead to him being kidnapped by Dreadwing, and having a bomb strapped to his chest to be bait for Optimus and Wheeljack. Despite Wheeljack's efforts to defuse the bomb, Bulkhead took matters into his own hands, decked his best friend, and took off intending to bury the explosion in the ocean. Thankfully he was stopped by Wheeljack, and with Optimus' help, they convinced Dreadwing to diffuse the bomb. Bulkhead was also glad that at least Wheeljack agreed to stay on Earth, even if he didn't stay at base. (Loose Cannons) Later, he accompanied Ratchet when they went to get more information from Starscream who was wounded, again. This time the info led them to an old mine where they found Megatron fighting an Insecticon, and Airachnid. While Arcee took off after Airachnid, as usual, the rest of the team confronted an exhausted Megatron. However Dreadwing stepped in to prevent them from doing too much damage, and the Decepticons made their escape. (Crossfire)
- When Fowler was attacked by a truck that resembled Optimus Prime, Bulkhead went with the others to confront it, and managed to save Fowler from plummeting to his death. They soon figured out the truck was some kind of MECH clone, and tracked down their hideout. However most of the team were quickly dispatched by Nemesis Prime, who was eventually defeated by Optimus, with some help from Fowler. (Nemesis Prime) Sometime later, Bulkhead was on patrol when he picked up an Energon signal, and accidentally wound up being beamed onto the Decepticon Warship. He would wind up killing a Starscream clone, and come close to getting caught by Megatron himself. But he managed to find his way to the ship's power core and used his wrecking ball to send the ship crashing to Earth. He drove back to base where he found out the others had captured Airachnid in a stasis pod. (Armada)
- Later he took part in a mission to take out the warship with the spark extractor, but wound up stasis locked. He later recovered after the kids had snuck onto the ship and disabled it. The kids had managed to also retrieve four coordinates from the Iacon database which led to more artifacts.(Flying Mind) Bulkhead was sent to the equator for one of these artifacts. But he encountered Insecticons who wanted the same relic. He eventually found the relic, which turned out to be Tox-en. Setting a grenade trap with one chunk of it for the Insecticons, Bulkhead proceeded to carry the toxic stuff towards a volcano to dispose of it. With help from Fowler, and a little from Miko, he managed to make it despite the affects Tox-en was having on him. He had one more fight with the Insecticons, and managed to dispose of the relic in a lava pit. However as he made for the groundbridge, he was shot in the back by a surviving Insecticon, and would land in the base on death's door. (Toxicity)
- Fortunately, Ratchet was able to bring him back from the brink with the use of shock pads, and through surgery. (Hurt) Eventually he woke up from his comatose state, but h could only take a few steps despite the efforts of Miko acting as his drill sergeant. (Out of the Past) His effort to recover was hampered when Smokescreen arrived on Earth, and Bulkhead loathed him, believing he was there to replace him. It wasn't helped that Ratchet ignored his wanting to help the team retrieve Red Energon, and instead sent Smokescreen who successfully managed to get the Apex armor from Starscream. (New Recruit)
- His loathing wasn't helped at all, by Smokescreen's suggestion that he use the Apex Armor as an "instant muscle suit." Later, after the rest of the team left on a mission, his bugging Ratchet to let him back on the field finally worked, and the medic let him go do curbside duty at Raf's house while the kid worked to disable the Damocles satellite. But that didn't happen, as instead of encountered what he thought was Breakdown, who turned out to be Cylas in Breakdown's body. After shoving him into drainage ditch, he fought against him. His injuries proved to still be too much, but Smokescreen showed up to help him, and the two eventually sent Cylas retreating back to the Decepticons. Bulkhead meanwhile got more respect for the kid after he mentioned he'd read about all the Wrecker battles. (The Human Factor)
- Now fully recovered, Bulkhead went with the rest of the team on what turned out to be a wild goose chase for another relic. But eventually they found the real one, the Star Saber, and managed to get it away from Megatron's forces. (Legacy) After Optimus received a message through the Saber, for a way to revive Cybertron, Bulkhead and the others were excited. At least until they remembered they'd have to leave the humans behind. Once they set out to get the Omega keys, he was at base for Arcee returning from unsuccessfully retrieving the first one and Smokescreen having apparently been killed. He was still there later when Optimus came back after confronting Megatron over the key, and he returned with both the key...and Smokescreen. (Alpha/Omega)
- Later Bulkhead and Smokescreen were sent to retrieve the next key. There they were confronted by Dreadwing. After the con blew up a bunch of bombs in the forest, Bulkhead sent Smokescreen to retrieve the relic and confronted Dreadwing. He eventually defeated him in battle, and went to meet up with Smokescreen. Only to find him unconscious and the key long gone. Later at base he offered to go after the kid, after Smokescreen took off after Arcee got angry at him. He later bridged out with the others to help Smokescreen, but arrived too late. (Hard Knocks) After Smokescreen managed to escape the warship, Bulkhead went with Optimus and Ratchet, after they'd received another message from him asking for medical help. But they figured out too late that it was a trick, and Starscream made off with all three Omega keys that the bots had recovered. (Inside Job)
- Later he found himself in an awkward situation when Miko wanted to go to Cybertron with him. But then they got a message from Dreadwing, who gave them the Forge of Solus Prime. After Optimus used the Forge to turn their groundbridge into a spacebridge, the team went to Cybertron to confront the Decepticons who were headed there too. Battle ensued, and the Autobots managed to get the keys back from the Decepticons. They made it to the Omega Lock, and managed to activate it. But were stopped by Megatron, Starscream, Knock Out and Soundwave all showing up with the kids held hostage in containers. (Regeneration)
- Bulkhead, and the rest of the team were forced to give up the weapons they'd brought with them, and then the Omega Keys in exchange for the kids. Then they watched as Megatron used the lock to restore a building on Cybertron, and then, to their horror, use a spacebridge to send the locks energy to Earth to Cyberform the planet. Optimus destroyed the Omega Lock, and the Autobots retreated back to base on Earth. Their relief was short lived, as they soon discovered the Decepticons had a new fortress pretty much built on their doorstep, and the cons attacked the base. The Autobots retreated back inside, while Fowler, who was later joined by Wheeljack in the Jackhammer, went to hold off the cons. Optimus gave the order to abandon base and to split up for survival. Not long after, Bulkhead and Miko were bridged out to somewhere in Colorado. (Darkest Hour)
Season 3:
- With no idea what else to do, and unable to contact anyone else on the team. Bulkhead and Miko followed Wrecker Protocol and headed for coordinates they set up far in advance with Wheeljack. (Darkmount, NV) They arrived at the rendezvous spot and sat to wait and see if Wheeljack would show up. They were happy when he finally did, Bulkhead even giving him a chest bump and a hug in greeting. But it got serious quick, as Wheeljack knew he was being tracked, so they set up a trap and found a good viewing spot. They blew up a bunch of Seekers with a grenade, before driving off to their next destination. (Scattered)
- Later they scouted out an energon mine, and rigged it with grenades to blow up as a way to try and get other Autobots to come to them. Instead they got attacked by a Cybertronian dragon like creature. After shooting it multiple times, hitting it and even luring it into the mine and blowing it up didn't take down the beast. The trio were saved by a newly arrived Ultra Magnus. On board his ship, they were happily reunited with Arcee and Jack. They then traveled to the Harbinger where they were reunited with Ratchet, Bumblebee, Raf and eventually Fowler and June. (Prey)
- They got new weapons from Magnus' ship, Bulk in particular got a new cannon. Plan was put into action to attack the Citadel. Bulkhead and Wheeljack teamed up to provide a distraction at the base of the tower by lobbing grenades at it and destroying Decepticons. However they were eventually captured by Shockwave. But after they got the message from Ultra Magnus that Optimus was alive, they picked up their efforts again, and went after Shockwave and the Vehicons with him. They soon retreated before Darkmount was brought down by Fowler and his Airstrikers. The whole team later met up and reunited at a hangar on a human military base, where Fowler thanked them for what they did. (Rebellion)
Character Personality:
At first glance, Bulkhead can come off as intimidating, given his massive size and incredible strength. But once you get to know him, you find it's the opposite. Despite being a powerful warrior, he's really the very definition of a gentle giant, most of the time. He has a gentle soul and a spark of gold as big as he is, if not bigger.
Let's start with his emotional control. Or almost lack there of. The rest of team, maybe minus Bumblebee, is all pretty good at controlling, and even hiding, their emotions. Bulkhead pretty much wears his on his shoulders. He's the most openly emotional of all the bots. He's the one most often looking sad, or even smiling. This isn't to say that he can't control them, he's just not very good at it. During battle is when he's best at controlling them. He’s able to push most of them aside, and focus on the battle like any other warrior. Barring something drastic happening during the fighting, Most of these instances? Involve the teams human partners, and especially his own. Miko.
Speaking of Miko, Let's focus on his relationship with this girl for a second. Bulkhead has endless amounts of patience. He really does. He must be the most patient bot in the whole wide universe. Why? He puts up with Miko on a daily basis; seriously, she probably drives the whole rest of the team, including the other two humans, up a wall with her antics sometimes. Bulkhead? Just pretty much brushes it off and ignores it. He's the first of the team to let a human in close to his spark. They started out partners, and pretty much skyrocketed to a parent/child relationship.
A part of this is that he has a fear of hurting those smaller and weaker than him. I mean he apologized to fish, while running to his death with a bomb strapped to his chest. But Miko's helped him overcome that fear some. He even goes offroading with her. He's become incredibly loyal to her, just like he has with his team. If not a little more than the team.
To the point that he'd give his life if it meant they would survive. He has a near crippling self-sacrificing side to him, which once he's in it? He can hard to get out of. I mentioned the fish; well that is one big example of this. He was running to get away from Optimus, and Wheeljack. He was running for the water to dampen the explosion. It didn't matter if he was killed by the bomb, as long as they survived. He'd even do this for Miko, though it would break his spark knowing how much it would hurt her.
But fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, on the flip side of this He's incredibly resilient. He survives pretty much everything thrown at him. Besides the bomb on his chest? He's survived being hit by an exploding ground bridge, being eaten by scraplets, having his mind nearly wiped by Synthetic energon, nearly been crushed by a collapsing mine, and worse of all. He survived a very severe exposure to Tox-en, and a shot in the back on top of it.This is something that probably would have killed any other member of the team, short of Optimus. And this is just stuff we've seen in canon.
Who knows what else he's survived that we haven't seen. It's backed by a stubborn will to survive. As Wheeljack said of him: He's too stubborn not to wake up. He's a fighter both inside and out. But it has a downside too. You don't survive that many near death experiences without realizing that you are an emotional liability. Anybody that gets close to him runs a serious risk of being hurt emotionally. This can affect him in relationships too. He only becomes more than just friends, even intimate with. He sticks with those he knows can take the pressure of someone like him.
Despite this, he welcomes others close. One of his closest and best friends is Wheeljack (Who he always calls Jackie). Every time the guy shows up, Bulkhead is like a little kid on Christmas morning, enthusiastically and excitedly greeting him. This was even after he'd not seen the guy for centuries. The two of them have a long history together, going back to even before the war probably. Even today he'd run off and follow the guy, even when it goes against team regulations. Despite the danger he knows he's going into. Like when they went after Dreadwing.
But Bulkhead also welcomes others closer. He likes having people close to him. He especially loves to give hugs. Get him excited enough and he'll pick you right up off the ground in a bear hug. If you want somebody to be there to comfort you, or tell your problems too, or even just need a hug. Bulkhead is your bot. He cares a lot for those he's close to, and wants to help. Though more than likely, he’s often pushed away. But it doesn't stop him from trying. He’ll give you a touch to the shoulder or arm, or even wrapping an arm around your shoulder. He gives silent support, and leaves it to you to accept or deny. Given the right circumstances, he'll even take someone under his wing, and show them the ropes. This makes him a great bot with kids and younger Cybertronians alike. Like the time he took on a sort of mentoring role for young Smokescreen.
Being a Wrecker is still a large part of who Bulkhead is, what he does, and how he does things. Evidently you can take the Wrecker out of the Wrecker squad, but you can't take the squad out of the Wrecker. He takes things day by day and rarely looks too far ahead into the future. Why should he when he might die tomorrow, or even today. He also tends to look at the bigger picture for stuff, even if he might miss the important parts of what needs to be done and why. Like during the hunt for the Omega keys, he was all for letting the cons keep the keys and revive Cybertron. They could take back the planet from the cons later, after it was revived. That is until Optimus corrected him about the political side of it.
Being an ex-Wrecker, it can take a lot to gain his respect. As a Wrecker, he didn't deal a lot with leaders, except for the ones that handed out their missions. They were a black-ops type military group, who took on what amounted to suicide missions. Missions no other commander, or soldier, would dare to take on. They played by their own rules and did it their way. It didn't matter how the job was done, it just got done. But it came at a grave cost, as many Wreckers never came back from these missions. Despite this, the squad meant everything to Bulkhead. But he gave that up to follow Optimus Prime. He shifted his loyalty to the Prime and his team, and started sticking with them, even at the worst of times. He can be very loyal and dedicated, especially to those he's close to. Not just because they're a member of the team.
He originally joined the Wreckers because, like most of the other members, he wanted to help the Autobot cause in the war, and at the time the Wrecker squad seemed to be the only option open to him. As you can imagine, working in a group like the Wreckers doesn't exactly leave one with a lot of self-worth. Knowing that every time you went out on the field to fight, there was a very real chance that you wouldn't be coming back. This topped with him having been brought up in the lower castes of Cybertron's cruel caste society, has left him not feeling too highly of himself.
He can also be fiercely protective of those close to him. Underneath his gentle nature, he hides a really hot temper, and it only takes the right buttons being pushed to set it off. Fortunately, he only points this anger at Decepticons and usually with good reason. It's most often seen whenever Miko is so much as threatened by a con, like Breakdown or Starscream. But it counts toward other members of his team, family, too. Like the time he 'killed' Starscream (it was actually a clone of Starscream) over the guy threatening to kill him and mentioning killing Cliffjumper.
He also has a really low tolerance for jerks and bullies. Human or Cybertronian. These guys will often get his temper rolling. To the point that he'll be quick to write them off as being worth it to save. Believing that they're getting what they deserved and had coming to them. Why should he save them, if all they're going to do is just be a jerk to him again, and keep doing what they've always done. Once he's in this mindset about someone, it can be hard to convince him otherwise. He's even stood up against Optimus, his leader, about this at least. Like when Breakdown was captured by MECH, it took Miko saying he would never have another chance at him, to get him to go rescue him. And another time when Fowler was captured by Decepticons, it took Jack pointing out that Fowler knew where the base was and would probably give into them easily.
He also tends to not trust jerks and bullies easily. Especially if they're cons, or in terms MECH, humans, that have done wrong against him or the team before. He twice protested the idea of Starscream being as reformed as he claimed, and that he shouldn't be allowed in the team. And while there may be good points given, like giving Starscream a chance to prove himself. He'll go along with it, but it's with a lot of reluctance. Pretty much, once you lose his trust, it can be hard to get it back
On top of this, he's also not very smart. He knows he's not smart too, and sometimes jokes about it himself. His lack of smarts, though, depends more on the subject matter. A lot of stuff like politics, and medical care (aside from maybe very basic field repair) pretty much just goes over his head. But he does know some stuff, most of which comes from experience. Like how to fight, what Tox-en can do to him and other Cybertronians. He also knows some basics of how to work Cybertronian tech, though it's nothing too advanced. It can be assumed he probably knows how to fly a ship and possibly how to navigate through space.
One thing he really knows well, though, is construction. His job before the war was as a construction worker. He knows pretty much every aspect of what goes into the job. From making up blue prints, and organizing supplies, to the constructing of the building or road or whatever is needed itself. Including a building’s weight bearing capabilities, height, and other such factors that go into it. He also more than likely knows how to build spaceships, since he was in the Wreckers and it could be assumed they built their own ships. Despite this, he apparently never had a ship of his own.
He's also a bit of an explosives expert, since I'm pretty sure he builds his own grenades. But on the flip side of this in a strange twist, given his building abilities, he's a little clumsy. He has a penchant for breaking things. Especially when he's angry or frustrated. Or in some cases if he just wants to show how strong he is, or even just by pure accident. Fortunately, all of the stuff he does break are usually inanimate objects.
In terms of human things, despite having lived on earth for probably over three years. He doesn't know a whole lot about human culture, sayings and how they do things. It probably didn't help that until the kids joined, their only real contact with humans was in the form of Agent Fowler and the military. And that was evidently only when there was a problem. Because of it, he can be a little slow and reluctant to make friends with humans, and to let them close to him. Even though it's gotten better throughout the show, he's been shown to be more than willing to not think of the human lives that are put in danger too. Especially when it comes to when they're fighting cons.
Powers and Abilities:
Transformation: Like all Cybertronians, Bulkhead has the ability to transform into two forms. He has his robot mode, this mode also contains his weapons: Blasters that each arm can turn into, as well as large mace-like sphere weapons. He also has his vehicle mode, which is of an earth-based all terrain truck(The model is never really given. Unlike his robot mode, his vehicle mode contains no weapons.
Strength: Bulkhead is as strong as heck, and I'm not kidding. He's the third strongest member of Team Prime, only beaten out by Ultra Magnus and Optimus Prime himself. He's one of the few characters in the show that could lift the Forge of Solus Prime with almost no effort, and can stand toe to toe with Megatron. Also in the epside 'Rock Bottom' he held up the ceiling of a collapsed mine for probably close to ten hours before his strength started giving out.
Durability: Due to his armor and just sheer size, he can take a lot of hits, and shots before he taken down. Or his enemy gets lucky and hits the right spot. He can jump off bridges or even buildings, and ram into an enemy at full speed with little effort.
Samples
Network:
[The audio clicks on, and there's a few moments of silence before he speaks up.]
This is Bulkhead, checking in. [His voice sounds determined, and inquiring.]
Some guy already filled me in on what's going on. Heh kind of strange to be wakin' up in this place. Still ain't sure what I feel about it. [There's a bit more silence, as on his end of the line he takes another glance around before speaking again.]
Ratchet, Optimus? Arcee, Bumblebee? Jackie, Ultra Magnus, Smoke? If any of you are here, please let me know.
[With that, he cuts the feed to wait for an answer.]
Third Person:
There's a low groan as Bulkhead came on line, rolling over to his front side. He lifted a hand for a moment, and rubbed at his helm for a moment.
"What happened?" He muttered as he dropped the hand again. He finally looked up and blink at the sight before him. "What the?" This definitely wasn't the Military base that Fowler had set them up at, and it wasn't Jasper either. This...looked like some sort of city. Or at least what he could see of it. He pushed and shifted his way up to a standing position. Maybe now he could get his bearings on where he was. He stopped for a moment though. No, wait. He needed to focus. He needed to contact base and see if he could get a bridge back home. He lifted his hand again, pressing on his comm-link
"Ratchet? Not sure where I am, but I'm gonna need a bridge." But only silence answered him. "Ratchet? ...Raf?" Still only silence. "Scrap." He muttered, dropping his hand and peering around him with slightly narrowed eyes. Nobody answering at base, and no idea where he was at the moment. This wasn't good. Not good at all. But standing around wasn't going to help his situation. He needed to find out where he was. And more importantly, how to get home.
But if it's a city, that means there might be humans. Humans he's not supposed to let him see him. He groaned a again. Stupid, why didn't he think of that. After a quick check around, he transformed down into his alt-mode. At least no one's seen him yet, or at least he hopped they hadn't. The commanders weren't going to be happy if he blows his cover.
Now. Time to find out just where he was, and how to get out of here. The sooner the better. Picking a direction to head in, he drove off. A part of him hoping that somebody else from the team was here too. He definitely didn't want to be alone in this strange place.
Name: Katt
Age: 36
Personal Journal:
kattEmail / AIM / MSN / Plurk: Email: katt30x@gmail.com / AIM: katt30x / MSN: N/A / Plurk: Spectreselva
Current Character(s): N/A, though apping Jinora too
Character Information
Character Name: Bulkhead
Fandom: Transformers Prime
Character History: (Oh god this is going to be long, lol)
Pre-canon history:
Before the start of the war, Bulkhead was just a simple laborer who worked construction, and was part of the lower Caste in Cybertron's Caste system. He of course didn't do anything to be noted, but as he worked, and gained the knowledge and skill to be great at it. He had friends too, most notably Wheeljack, and Breakdown. When Megatron started his uprising, and people were picking sides, he picked the Autobots. But unfortunately he lost his job, as construction was halted as the war went on.
A war he wanted to help out on, but there wasn't many options available for citizens like him. In the end, he ended up following his best, Wheeljack, into the Wreckers. But alas he would lose his other friend, Breakdown, to the Decepticons, and the two of them would wind up in a rivalry that would last decades. But Bulkhead continued on in the Wreckers. In the Wreckers he fought in many battles. Including an unnamed battle in which Wheeljack threw his grenade into a Decepticon heat exchanger. There was also another incident on the planet of Sandokan, where Wheeljack had to save Bulkhead after he couldn't get away on his own. The team came to mean everything to Bulkhead, and they were a close-nit group.
Despite the closeness, and how much the Wreckers meant to him. Bulkhead left the Wreckers after the battle at Thunderhead Pass, answering a call sent out by Optimus Prime to join his team because he thought the Prime was the real deal. The decision didn't sit well with the other members on the Wreckers, particularly Wheeljack. But little is known of what happened after he left the Wreckers. Other than witnessing a Autobot squad killed by Tox-en, which was created by Megatron's scientists.
But at some point after Cybertron went dark, Bulkhead landed on the planet called Earth. The team was small. Consisting of only himself, Optimus Prime, the medic Ratchet and the scout Bumblebee. They were later joined by the Autobots Arcee and Cliffjumper. With the Decepticon movements having stopped for three years, most of the time was spent on patrols in case any Cons did show, and finding Energon mines so they had the fuel to do what was needed.
Canon history: (I'm doing the rest as bullet points more or less, otherwise this would kill me)
Season 1:
- Bulkead was in a wooded area when he was pulled away to rendezvous with the rest of the team, and go back up Cliffjumper. But they were too late. Later he arrived in time to scare off some vehicons were fighting Arcee and Bumblebee, and even later was at the base when Arcee and Bee brought in the kids Jack, Miko and Raf. (Darkness Rising Part 1). He was also part of the, ultimately failed, mission to retrieve Cliffjumper from a Decepticon mine, and was later assigned by Optimus to be Miko's guardian. (Darkness Rising Part 2) Later Miko managed to convince him to do some off-roading before they returned to base, and during a visit by Agent Fowler while he was left in charge(haha) managed to prevent the agent from reporting the kids. Then, despite his reluctance, the kids managed to convince him to go save said agent after he was captured by cons. However the kids followed him. (Darkness Rising Part 3)
- He fought his way onto the Nemesis, with Miko in tow(not by choice). The two later met up with Arcee and Bumblebee and the other two kids. After they stashed the kids somewhere safe, they went to rescue Fowler from the brig, and chased off Starscream. After returning to base, he was later told off by Optimus, despite the mission being successful. (Darkness Rising Part 4) Then they got lucky and found the location of the Decepticons Spacebridge, and they groundbridged up there to destroy it. Battle insued, and while Optimus kept Megatron busy, Bulkhead and the others went to sabotage it. With the Spacebridge exploding around them they all Groundbridged back to base. (Darkness Rising Part 5)
- Then him and Bumblebee were sent to the Arctic and came back with an strange pod, which turned out to be full of scraplets. With the children's help, they managed to fix the Groundbridge and get rid of the scraplets, and rescue Optimus and Arcee from the Arctic. (Scrapheap) Bulkhead was thrilled when his old Wrecker buddy, Wheeljack, showed up on Earth, even greeting him with a huge hug. But as it turned out, the Wheeljack that was with them wasn't the real Wheeljack, but an imposter. Bulkhead was able to figure it out from the way the imposter was acting. The imposter was defeated after the real Wheeljack got free, and came through the bridge. Bulkhead was there later when Wheeljack made to leave Earth and go back to space to find refugees. However Bulkhead turned down the opportunity to go with him. (Con Job)
- Later Bulkhead was part of a convoy to help protect Fowler's Dynamic Nuclear Generation System device, and helped fight off the organization called MECH, plus a bunch of vehicons who decided to show up. The Dingus was eventually safely delivered to it's destination. (Convoy). After Miko wasn't doing well in her education, Bulkhead took her with him on a mission to Greece to find an Energon signal. But they were interrupted by the arrival of Bulkhead' old enemy, Breakdown. After the cons made off with the harvester, after it was found in a museum, Bulkhead tracked them back to Greece. He fought off Knock Out, Breakdown and Starscream and destroyed the Harvester in the process. (Deus ex Machina)
- Later when he and Bumblebee were playing basketball, the scouts behavior seemed strange. But he didn't have much time to ponder it as he, Optimus and Arcee all went to the Arctic, again, to get back a lens that the Decepticons stole. It was eventually destroyed, but a bigger problem arose when it turned out that Megatron had been ressurected. (Out of His Head). He later went on a mission with Optimus, Ratchet and Bumblebee to follow a dark energon signature that turned out to be Starscream trying to resurrect Skyquake. In the ensuing chaos, the kids wound up in a shadowzone, which they were soon rescued from once they figured it out. (Shadowzone)
- Later he was sent to follow an energon signal to the Kamchatka Peninsula, where he encountered Breakdown who knocked him out. But when he came to he found out Breakdown had been captured by MECH. Despite refusing at first, he was eventually convinced by Miko to rescue his arch enemy. He succeeded in doing so, and the two rivals took on MECH together before their reinforcements arrived. (Operation: Breakdown) Bulkhead then was sent with Arcee to follow a magnetic signal which turned out to be a polarity gauntlet. In the ensuing battle with Breakdown and Airachnid, Bulkhead and Arcee wound up magnetized to each other. They were later able to get free after confronting the cons again, and retrieved the gauntlet. (Metal Attraction)
- Then Arcee, Bulkhead, Jack and Miko checked out an abandoned Decepticon energon mine. But were also joined by Megatron and Starscream, who caused the whole place to start to collapse. Bulkhead managed to keep himself and Miko from being crushed long enough for the two of them to eventually be rescued by Arcee, after being found by Starscream first, who had threatened them. (Rock Bottom) He also joined the others on a mission to investigate a crashed Decepticon ship and arived in time to find Starscream all webbed up and Airachnid escaping. Starscream led them to the other half of the ship where they confronted Airachnid, who managed to freeze him and Optimus with the weapon she found: The immobilizer. After the battle they went back to base and Ratchet managed to repair the damaged immobilizer, which was recovered, and unfroze Bulkhead and Optimus. (Partners)
- On a mission to retrieve a Cybertronian data cylinder, Bulkhead wound up with the information being beamed right into his mind. The good news was, this information turned out to be the formula for synthetic energon. The bad news? It was destroying Bulkhead's mind. Which the other bots went out to negotiate the cylinder from Megatron, Miko took Bulkhead to a monster truck rally track they'd visited to try and jog his dying memory. Unfortunately they were found by Knock Out and Breakdown who knocked out Bulkhead. But thanks to Miko the formula was beamed into the stars and out of con reach, and they were rescued. But it left Bulkhead comatose until Miko woke him up by playing a music note. (T.M.I.) Then the bots went on missions to try and intercept cons due to an energon shortage. However plans were changed when Ratchet decided to experiment with an unfinished synthetic energon formula on himself. But the changes in his personality and actions caused issues, and the Medic eventually took off after taking out Bulkhead. The bots later traced down the medic, in time to save him from Knock Out, and took him back to base along with the energon they recovered. (Stronger, Faster)
Bulkhead then went with Optimus and Arcee to stop the cons from taking a spacebridge powersource, only for Bumblebee to show up with an injured Raf in tow, along with Megatron. While the cons retreated, Bulkhead and Optimus climbed on board the warship while the rest of the bots went back to base to try and save Raf's life from the Dark energon in his body. Bulkhead returned to base with the power source, while Optimus went on to confront Megatron. He was at base when Raf was finally saved. (One Shall Fall) Then he, Arcee and Bee went to rescue Optimus who was fighting Megatron. Bulkhead managed to keep Megatron busy while the others got Optimus to safety. Back at base they managed to figure out that Unicron, an ancient enemy, was the cause of the weird weather that was occurring, and that he was also the core of the Earth itself. (One Shall Rise Part 1)
When Optimus was confronted by avatars of Unicron, Bulkhead Bumblebee and Arcee went to rescue him again, and were surprised when help came in the form of Megatron. After making a deal with the Overlord to help defeat Unicron, the bots and Megatron all groundbridged to the Earth's core. (One Shall Rise Part 2) Down in the Earth's core, Megatron led them toward Unicron's spark chamber. Along the way Bulkhead started to be affected by the dark energon that was all around them. This wasn't helped when Unicron's antibodies showed up and attacked. As a result Bulkhead nearly plunged to his death, but was save by Bumblebee and later Optimus. While Optimus and Megatron went into Unicron's spark chamber, Bulkhead, Bumblebee and Arcee stayed outside to keep fighting the antibodies. After Unicron was defeated by Optimus, the three went into the chamber to meet up with their leader, only to realize the guy had no memory of them at all. They groundbridged back to base without him after he left in another bridge with Megatron. (One Shall Rise Part 3)
Season 2:
- The team considered how to get their leader back , but were interrupted by Agent Fowler telling them the Decepticons were attacking the same base as before again. Bulkhead, Arcee and Bumblebee went to stop them but this time they were unsuccessful in stopping them.
(Orion Pax Part 1) Afterwards the Autobots continued to scour the globe for any trace of the Decepticons. But their big break came when Bulkhead and Ratchet got a message from a wounded Starscream, who gave them the location of the Decepticon spacebridge in exchange for medical help. The bots stormed the bridge and took possession of it so they could send Jack and Arcee to Cybertron to get Optimus' memories back with the Key to Vector Sigma. (Orion Pax Part 2) While the team monitored Jack's progress on Cybertron, they were interrupted when Megatron arrived with the intent to stop their plans. Bulkhead took on Megatron twice, but was eventually taken down like Ratchet and Bumblebee. Despite this, they were successful as Arcee and Jack returned just in time to restore Optimus' memories and they all bridged back to base for a happy reunion. (Orion Pax Part 3)
- Bulkhead went on a scouting mission with Bumblebee, when they both picked up an ancient Autobot signal separately. Bulkhead rushed to be Bumblebee's back up, but by the time he got there, he found Bee waking up from being knocked out and unable to transform. Back at base, they figured out that MECH took Bumblebee's t-cog. Later when they were left alone at base, Bumblebee managed to convince Bulkhead to let him go with him after another artifact signal was detected. It...didn't end well. (Operation Bumblebee Part 1) He nearly got picked to perform t-cog transplant surgery, but fortunately Ratchet picked Arcee. However he did go on another artifact retrieval mission with Arcee and Optimus. He fought Breakdown, in what would turn out to be their very last battle, and eventually beat the con by bashing him with the Forge of Solus Prime, which was the relic. Unfortunately Megatron bushwhacked and made off with the Forge. Back at base, Bulkhead was there when Ratchet repaired Bumblebee's t-cog, that the scout have recovered, and watched as he transformed once again, and went for a drive with Raf. (Operation Bumblebee Part 2)
- Bulkhead was ecstatic when Wheeljack arrived back on Earth, but less about hearing that another Wrecker, Seaspray, was killed by Dreadwing. He later talked to him at the top of the base, and then was convinced to go with the Wrecker after Dreadwing. This didn't go well, as this would lead to him being kidnapped by Dreadwing, and having a bomb strapped to his chest to be bait for Optimus and Wheeljack. Despite Wheeljack's efforts to defuse the bomb, Bulkhead took matters into his own hands, decked his best friend, and took off intending to bury the explosion in the ocean. Thankfully he was stopped by Wheeljack, and with Optimus' help, they convinced Dreadwing to diffuse the bomb. Bulkhead was also glad that at least Wheeljack agreed to stay on Earth, even if he didn't stay at base. (Loose Cannons) Later, he accompanied Ratchet when they went to get more information from Starscream who was wounded, again. This time the info led them to an old mine where they found Megatron fighting an Insecticon, and Airachnid. While Arcee took off after Airachnid, as usual, the rest of the team confronted an exhausted Megatron. However Dreadwing stepped in to prevent them from doing too much damage, and the Decepticons made their escape. (Crossfire)
- When Fowler was attacked by a truck that resembled Optimus Prime, Bulkhead went with the others to confront it, and managed to save Fowler from plummeting to his death. They soon figured out the truck was some kind of MECH clone, and tracked down their hideout. However most of the team were quickly dispatched by Nemesis Prime, who was eventually defeated by Optimus, with some help from Fowler. (Nemesis Prime) Sometime later, Bulkhead was on patrol when he picked up an Energon signal, and accidentally wound up being beamed onto the Decepticon Warship. He would wind up killing a Starscream clone, and come close to getting caught by Megatron himself. But he managed to find his way to the ship's power core and used his wrecking ball to send the ship crashing to Earth. He drove back to base where he found out the others had captured Airachnid in a stasis pod. (Armada)
- Later he took part in a mission to take out the warship with the spark extractor, but wound up stasis locked. He later recovered after the kids had snuck onto the ship and disabled it. The kids had managed to also retrieve four coordinates from the Iacon database which led to more artifacts.(Flying Mind) Bulkhead was sent to the equator for one of these artifacts. But he encountered Insecticons who wanted the same relic. He eventually found the relic, which turned out to be Tox-en. Setting a grenade trap with one chunk of it for the Insecticons, Bulkhead proceeded to carry the toxic stuff towards a volcano to dispose of it. With help from Fowler, and a little from Miko, he managed to make it despite the affects Tox-en was having on him. He had one more fight with the Insecticons, and managed to dispose of the relic in a lava pit. However as he made for the groundbridge, he was shot in the back by a surviving Insecticon, and would land in the base on death's door. (Toxicity)
- Fortunately, Ratchet was able to bring him back from the brink with the use of shock pads, and through surgery. (Hurt) Eventually he woke up from his comatose state, but h could only take a few steps despite the efforts of Miko acting as his drill sergeant. (Out of the Past) His effort to recover was hampered when Smokescreen arrived on Earth, and Bulkhead loathed him, believing he was there to replace him. It wasn't helped that Ratchet ignored his wanting to help the team retrieve Red Energon, and instead sent Smokescreen who successfully managed to get the Apex armor from Starscream. (New Recruit)
- His loathing wasn't helped at all, by Smokescreen's suggestion that he use the Apex Armor as an "instant muscle suit." Later, after the rest of the team left on a mission, his bugging Ratchet to let him back on the field finally worked, and the medic let him go do curbside duty at Raf's house while the kid worked to disable the Damocles satellite. But that didn't happen, as instead of encountered what he thought was Breakdown, who turned out to be Cylas in Breakdown's body. After shoving him into drainage ditch, he fought against him. His injuries proved to still be too much, but Smokescreen showed up to help him, and the two eventually sent Cylas retreating back to the Decepticons. Bulkhead meanwhile got more respect for the kid after he mentioned he'd read about all the Wrecker battles. (The Human Factor)
- Now fully recovered, Bulkhead went with the rest of the team on what turned out to be a wild goose chase for another relic. But eventually they found the real one, the Star Saber, and managed to get it away from Megatron's forces. (Legacy) After Optimus received a message through the Saber, for a way to revive Cybertron, Bulkhead and the others were excited. At least until they remembered they'd have to leave the humans behind. Once they set out to get the Omega keys, he was at base for Arcee returning from unsuccessfully retrieving the first one and Smokescreen having apparently been killed. He was still there later when Optimus came back after confronting Megatron over the key, and he returned with both the key...and Smokescreen. (Alpha/Omega)
- Later Bulkhead and Smokescreen were sent to retrieve the next key. There they were confronted by Dreadwing. After the con blew up a bunch of bombs in the forest, Bulkhead sent Smokescreen to retrieve the relic and confronted Dreadwing. He eventually defeated him in battle, and went to meet up with Smokescreen. Only to find him unconscious and the key long gone. Later at base he offered to go after the kid, after Smokescreen took off after Arcee got angry at him. He later bridged out with the others to help Smokescreen, but arrived too late. (Hard Knocks) After Smokescreen managed to escape the warship, Bulkhead went with Optimus and Ratchet, after they'd received another message from him asking for medical help. But they figured out too late that it was a trick, and Starscream made off with all three Omega keys that the bots had recovered. (Inside Job)
- Later he found himself in an awkward situation when Miko wanted to go to Cybertron with him. But then they got a message from Dreadwing, who gave them the Forge of Solus Prime. After Optimus used the Forge to turn their groundbridge into a spacebridge, the team went to Cybertron to confront the Decepticons who were headed there too. Battle ensued, and the Autobots managed to get the keys back from the Decepticons. They made it to the Omega Lock, and managed to activate it. But were stopped by Megatron, Starscream, Knock Out and Soundwave all showing up with the kids held hostage in containers. (Regeneration)
- Bulkhead, and the rest of the team were forced to give up the weapons they'd brought with them, and then the Omega Keys in exchange for the kids. Then they watched as Megatron used the lock to restore a building on Cybertron, and then, to their horror, use a spacebridge to send the locks energy to Earth to Cyberform the planet. Optimus destroyed the Omega Lock, and the Autobots retreated back to base on Earth. Their relief was short lived, as they soon discovered the Decepticons had a new fortress pretty much built on their doorstep, and the cons attacked the base. The Autobots retreated back inside, while Fowler, who was later joined by Wheeljack in the Jackhammer, went to hold off the cons. Optimus gave the order to abandon base and to split up for survival. Not long after, Bulkhead and Miko were bridged out to somewhere in Colorado. (Darkest Hour)
Season 3:
- With no idea what else to do, and unable to contact anyone else on the team. Bulkhead and Miko followed Wrecker Protocol and headed for coordinates they set up far in advance with Wheeljack. (Darkmount, NV) They arrived at the rendezvous spot and sat to wait and see if Wheeljack would show up. They were happy when he finally did, Bulkhead even giving him a chest bump and a hug in greeting. But it got serious quick, as Wheeljack knew he was being tracked, so they set up a trap and found a good viewing spot. They blew up a bunch of Seekers with a grenade, before driving off to their next destination. (Scattered)
- Later they scouted out an energon mine, and rigged it with grenades to blow up as a way to try and get other Autobots to come to them. Instead they got attacked by a Cybertronian dragon like creature. After shooting it multiple times, hitting it and even luring it into the mine and blowing it up didn't take down the beast. The trio were saved by a newly arrived Ultra Magnus. On board his ship, they were happily reunited with Arcee and Jack. They then traveled to the Harbinger where they were reunited with Ratchet, Bumblebee, Raf and eventually Fowler and June. (Prey)
- They got new weapons from Magnus' ship, Bulk in particular got a new cannon. Plan was put into action to attack the Citadel. Bulkhead and Wheeljack teamed up to provide a distraction at the base of the tower by lobbing grenades at it and destroying Decepticons. However they were eventually captured by Shockwave. But after they got the message from Ultra Magnus that Optimus was alive, they picked up their efforts again, and went after Shockwave and the Vehicons with him. They soon retreated before Darkmount was brought down by Fowler and his Airstrikers. The whole team later met up and reunited at a hangar on a human military base, where Fowler thanked them for what they did. (Rebellion)
Character Personality:
At first glance, Bulkhead can come off as intimidating, given his massive size and incredible strength. But once you get to know him, you find it's the opposite. Despite being a powerful warrior, he's really the very definition of a gentle giant, most of the time. He has a gentle soul and a spark of gold as big as he is, if not bigger.
Let's start with his emotional control. Or almost lack there of. The rest of team, maybe minus Bumblebee, is all pretty good at controlling, and even hiding, their emotions. Bulkhead pretty much wears his on his shoulders. He's the most openly emotional of all the bots. He's the one most often looking sad, or even smiling. This isn't to say that he can't control them, he's just not very good at it. During battle is when he's best at controlling them. He’s able to push most of them aside, and focus on the battle like any other warrior. Barring something drastic happening during the fighting, Most of these instances? Involve the teams human partners, and especially his own. Miko.
Speaking of Miko, Let's focus on his relationship with this girl for a second. Bulkhead has endless amounts of patience. He really does. He must be the most patient bot in the whole wide universe. Why? He puts up with Miko on a daily basis; seriously, she probably drives the whole rest of the team, including the other two humans, up a wall with her antics sometimes. Bulkhead? Just pretty much brushes it off and ignores it. He's the first of the team to let a human in close to his spark. They started out partners, and pretty much skyrocketed to a parent/child relationship.
A part of this is that he has a fear of hurting those smaller and weaker than him. I mean he apologized to fish, while running to his death with a bomb strapped to his chest. But Miko's helped him overcome that fear some. He even goes offroading with her. He's become incredibly loyal to her, just like he has with his team. If not a little more than the team.
To the point that he'd give his life if it meant they would survive. He has a near crippling self-sacrificing side to him, which once he's in it? He can hard to get out of. I mentioned the fish; well that is one big example of this. He was running to get away from Optimus, and Wheeljack. He was running for the water to dampen the explosion. It didn't matter if he was killed by the bomb, as long as they survived. He'd even do this for Miko, though it would break his spark knowing how much it would hurt her.
But fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, on the flip side of this He's incredibly resilient. He survives pretty much everything thrown at him. Besides the bomb on his chest? He's survived being hit by an exploding ground bridge, being eaten by scraplets, having his mind nearly wiped by Synthetic energon, nearly been crushed by a collapsing mine, and worse of all. He survived a very severe exposure to Tox-en, and a shot in the back on top of it.This is something that probably would have killed any other member of the team, short of Optimus. And this is just stuff we've seen in canon.
Who knows what else he's survived that we haven't seen. It's backed by a stubborn will to survive. As Wheeljack said of him: He's too stubborn not to wake up. He's a fighter both inside and out. But it has a downside too. You don't survive that many near death experiences without realizing that you are an emotional liability. Anybody that gets close to him runs a serious risk of being hurt emotionally. This can affect him in relationships too. He only becomes more than just friends, even intimate with. He sticks with those he knows can take the pressure of someone like him.
Despite this, he welcomes others close. One of his closest and best friends is Wheeljack (Who he always calls Jackie). Every time the guy shows up, Bulkhead is like a little kid on Christmas morning, enthusiastically and excitedly greeting him. This was even after he'd not seen the guy for centuries. The two of them have a long history together, going back to even before the war probably. Even today he'd run off and follow the guy, even when it goes against team regulations. Despite the danger he knows he's going into. Like when they went after Dreadwing.
But Bulkhead also welcomes others closer. He likes having people close to him. He especially loves to give hugs. Get him excited enough and he'll pick you right up off the ground in a bear hug. If you want somebody to be there to comfort you, or tell your problems too, or even just need a hug. Bulkhead is your bot. He cares a lot for those he's close to, and wants to help. Though more than likely, he’s often pushed away. But it doesn't stop him from trying. He’ll give you a touch to the shoulder or arm, or even wrapping an arm around your shoulder. He gives silent support, and leaves it to you to accept or deny. Given the right circumstances, he'll even take someone under his wing, and show them the ropes. This makes him a great bot with kids and younger Cybertronians alike. Like the time he took on a sort of mentoring role for young Smokescreen.
Being a Wrecker is still a large part of who Bulkhead is, what he does, and how he does things. Evidently you can take the Wrecker out of the Wrecker squad, but you can't take the squad out of the Wrecker. He takes things day by day and rarely looks too far ahead into the future. Why should he when he might die tomorrow, or even today. He also tends to look at the bigger picture for stuff, even if he might miss the important parts of what needs to be done and why. Like during the hunt for the Omega keys, he was all for letting the cons keep the keys and revive Cybertron. They could take back the planet from the cons later, after it was revived. That is until Optimus corrected him about the political side of it.
Being an ex-Wrecker, it can take a lot to gain his respect. As a Wrecker, he didn't deal a lot with leaders, except for the ones that handed out their missions. They were a black-ops type military group, who took on what amounted to suicide missions. Missions no other commander, or soldier, would dare to take on. They played by their own rules and did it their way. It didn't matter how the job was done, it just got done. But it came at a grave cost, as many Wreckers never came back from these missions. Despite this, the squad meant everything to Bulkhead. But he gave that up to follow Optimus Prime. He shifted his loyalty to the Prime and his team, and started sticking with them, even at the worst of times. He can be very loyal and dedicated, especially to those he's close to. Not just because they're a member of the team.
He originally joined the Wreckers because, like most of the other members, he wanted to help the Autobot cause in the war, and at the time the Wrecker squad seemed to be the only option open to him. As you can imagine, working in a group like the Wreckers doesn't exactly leave one with a lot of self-worth. Knowing that every time you went out on the field to fight, there was a very real chance that you wouldn't be coming back. This topped with him having been brought up in the lower castes of Cybertron's cruel caste society, has left him not feeling too highly of himself.
He can also be fiercely protective of those close to him. Underneath his gentle nature, he hides a really hot temper, and it only takes the right buttons being pushed to set it off. Fortunately, he only points this anger at Decepticons and usually with good reason. It's most often seen whenever Miko is so much as threatened by a con, like Breakdown or Starscream. But it counts toward other members of his team, family, too. Like the time he 'killed' Starscream (it was actually a clone of Starscream) over the guy threatening to kill him and mentioning killing Cliffjumper.
He also has a really low tolerance for jerks and bullies. Human or Cybertronian. These guys will often get his temper rolling. To the point that he'll be quick to write them off as being worth it to save. Believing that they're getting what they deserved and had coming to them. Why should he save them, if all they're going to do is just be a jerk to him again, and keep doing what they've always done. Once he's in this mindset about someone, it can be hard to convince him otherwise. He's even stood up against Optimus, his leader, about this at least. Like when Breakdown was captured by MECH, it took Miko saying he would never have another chance at him, to get him to go rescue him. And another time when Fowler was captured by Decepticons, it took Jack pointing out that Fowler knew where the base was and would probably give into them easily.
He also tends to not trust jerks and bullies easily. Especially if they're cons, or in terms MECH, humans, that have done wrong against him or the team before. He twice protested the idea of Starscream being as reformed as he claimed, and that he shouldn't be allowed in the team. And while there may be good points given, like giving Starscream a chance to prove himself. He'll go along with it, but it's with a lot of reluctance. Pretty much, once you lose his trust, it can be hard to get it back
On top of this, he's also not very smart. He knows he's not smart too, and sometimes jokes about it himself. His lack of smarts, though, depends more on the subject matter. A lot of stuff like politics, and medical care (aside from maybe very basic field repair) pretty much just goes over his head. But he does know some stuff, most of which comes from experience. Like how to fight, what Tox-en can do to him and other Cybertronians. He also knows some basics of how to work Cybertronian tech, though it's nothing too advanced. It can be assumed he probably knows how to fly a ship and possibly how to navigate through space.
One thing he really knows well, though, is construction. His job before the war was as a construction worker. He knows pretty much every aspect of what goes into the job. From making up blue prints, and organizing supplies, to the constructing of the building or road or whatever is needed itself. Including a building’s weight bearing capabilities, height, and other such factors that go into it. He also more than likely knows how to build spaceships, since he was in the Wreckers and it could be assumed they built their own ships. Despite this, he apparently never had a ship of his own.
He's also a bit of an explosives expert, since I'm pretty sure he builds his own grenades. But on the flip side of this in a strange twist, given his building abilities, he's a little clumsy. He has a penchant for breaking things. Especially when he's angry or frustrated. Or in some cases if he just wants to show how strong he is, or even just by pure accident. Fortunately, all of the stuff he does break are usually inanimate objects.
In terms of human things, despite having lived on earth for probably over three years. He doesn't know a whole lot about human culture, sayings and how they do things. It probably didn't help that until the kids joined, their only real contact with humans was in the form of Agent Fowler and the military. And that was evidently only when there was a problem. Because of it, he can be a little slow and reluctant to make friends with humans, and to let them close to him. Even though it's gotten better throughout the show, he's been shown to be more than willing to not think of the human lives that are put in danger too. Especially when it comes to when they're fighting cons.
Powers and Abilities:
Transformation: Like all Cybertronians, Bulkhead has the ability to transform into two forms. He has his robot mode, this mode also contains his weapons: Blasters that each arm can turn into, as well as large mace-like sphere weapons. He also has his vehicle mode, which is of an earth-based all terrain truck(The model is never really given. Unlike his robot mode, his vehicle mode contains no weapons.
Strength: Bulkhead is as strong as heck, and I'm not kidding. He's the third strongest member of Team Prime, only beaten out by Ultra Magnus and Optimus Prime himself. He's one of the few characters in the show that could lift the Forge of Solus Prime with almost no effort, and can stand toe to toe with Megatron. Also in the epside 'Rock Bottom' he held up the ceiling of a collapsed mine for probably close to ten hours before his strength started giving out.
Durability: Due to his armor and just sheer size, he can take a lot of hits, and shots before he taken down. Or his enemy gets lucky and hits the right spot. He can jump off bridges or even buildings, and ram into an enemy at full speed with little effort.
Samples
Network:
[The audio clicks on, and there's a few moments of silence before he speaks up.]
This is Bulkhead, checking in. [His voice sounds determined, and inquiring.]
Some guy already filled me in on what's going on. Heh kind of strange to be wakin' up in this place. Still ain't sure what I feel about it. [There's a bit more silence, as on his end of the line he takes another glance around before speaking again.]
Ratchet, Optimus? Arcee, Bumblebee? Jackie, Ultra Magnus, Smoke? If any of you are here, please let me know.
[With that, he cuts the feed to wait for an answer.]
Third Person:
There's a low groan as Bulkhead came on line, rolling over to his front side. He lifted a hand for a moment, and rubbed at his helm for a moment.
"What happened?" He muttered as he dropped the hand again. He finally looked up and blink at the sight before him. "What the?" This definitely wasn't the Military base that Fowler had set them up at, and it wasn't Jasper either. This...looked like some sort of city. Or at least what he could see of it. He pushed and shifted his way up to a standing position. Maybe now he could get his bearings on where he was. He stopped for a moment though. No, wait. He needed to focus. He needed to contact base and see if he could get a bridge back home. He lifted his hand again, pressing on his comm-link
"Ratchet? Not sure where I am, but I'm gonna need a bridge." But only silence answered him. "Ratchet? ...Raf?" Still only silence. "Scrap." He muttered, dropping his hand and peering around him with slightly narrowed eyes. Nobody answering at base, and no idea where he was at the moment. This wasn't good. Not good at all. But standing around wasn't going to help his situation. He needed to find out where he was. And more importantly, how to get home.
But if it's a city, that means there might be humans. Humans he's not supposed to let him see him. He groaned a again. Stupid, why didn't he think of that. After a quick check around, he transformed down into his alt-mode. At least no one's seen him yet, or at least he hopped they hadn't. The commanders weren't going to be happy if he blows his cover.
Now. Time to find out just where he was, and how to get out of here. The sooner the better. Picking a direction to head in, he drove off. A part of him hoping that somebody else from the team was here too. He definitely didn't want to be alone in this strange place.