Autobots

Wheeljack

His inventions are brilliant — and occasionally explode. He is the one who built the Dinobots.

Where he comes from

Cybertron. An engineer and inventor from the science labs.

Story

Wheeljack is the Autobots' genius inventor. His devices can turn the tide of battle, but they explode in the lab just as often. He is the one who built the Dinobots, hoping for invincible warriors — and getting unruly ones.

In Transformers: Prime Wheeljack is completely different: a cocky fighter from the elite Wreckers who prefers swords to test tubes. The contrast shows how differently continuities can see the same heroes.

Classifier: traits & abilities

Faction
Autobots
Role
Engineer, inventor; a Wrecker warrior in Prime
Alt-modes
Rally sports car
Weapons
Gyro-grenades, his own experimental devices; twin swords in Prime
Abilities
Building technology, improvised repairs, creating new robotic life
Strengths
Inventiveness, optimism
Weaknesses
Risky experiments that often get out of hand
Personality
Enthusiastic, curious, a little reckless
Key relationships
Ratchet, the Dinobots, Optimus Prime
First appearance
1984
Voice (G1)
Chris Latta

Filmography

YearTitle
1984–1987The Transformers (G1)
1986The Transformers: The Movie
2010–2013Transformers: Prime
2011Dark of the Moon (as "Que")

Main screen appearances; not an exhaustive list.

Fan prequel: «Explosion Number One Hundred»

An original story by this site. Not part of the official canon.

A chart hangs in Wheeljack's lab. It has ninety-nine rows, and each ends with one word: "Exploded."

Colleagues joked that his lab should be moved outside the city. Wheeljack didn't mind. He recorded every blast in detail: what went wrong, what he learned, what he'd try next.

The hundredth entry was different. A small engine built from the debris of earlier failures hummed steadily — and didn't explode. Years later the Dinobots' armour would run on it. "Ninety-nine failures aren't a flop," Wheeljack told his students. "They're ninety-nine lessons that cost me nothing but my eyebrows."