Witwicky family
Encyclopedia
The Witwicky family members are fictional characters from the Transformers
universes, and are the closest human allies of the Autobot
s.
and the Transformers live-action film itself. Archibald Witwicky was a Dutch
/English
sea captain
leading an exploration of the Arctic
in 1897 when a crew member found something beneath the ice. They started digging and discovered the frozen Megatron. Witwicky then accidentally activated the Decepticon leader's inertial navigation system
which led to a sudden power surge. Unbeknownst to him, the discharge etched a digital map to the All Spark onto the lenses of his glasses
. Blinded and forever marked by his vision, Witwicky was committed to a mental institution
for life, constantly ranting about visions of the future. A few of his personal items were given to his family, including the pair of glasses. These were passed down over time and eventually given to his great-great-grandson Sam.
The other Autobots and Decepticons arrived on Earth, both searching for the All Spark and the captured Megatron.
While at a drive-in movie with his girlfriend Jessie and best friend "O", Buster suddenly found his life in danger when the parking lot became a battleground in the first major Earth-based clash between the Autobots and Decepticons. Coming across the wounded vehicle-mode Bumblebee, he brought the car back to his father's workshop, and attempted to fix it, until his father stepped in and completed the job.
Before long, however, Buster had a much more pivotal role to play in the war, when the powerful Decepticon, Shockwave
defeated and deactivated all the Autobots, save medical officer Ratchet
, and planned to create new troops using the power of the Creation Matrix within Optimus Prime's mind. Sneaking into the Ark, Buster discovered Prime's disembodied head, and Prime transferred the Matrix into Buster's mind, keeping it from Shockwave. Buster soon found that the Matrix gave him the ability to manipulate metal and circuitry, and he used it to disassemble, rebuild and reprogram Shockwave's lifeless drone, Jetfire
, and employed him to rescue Optimus Prime, who took the Matrix back into his own body.
A story called "The Gift" in issue #93 of the Marvel U.K. comics explored Jetfire
's problems fitting in with the other Autobots. Jetfire then visited Buster Witwicky on Christmas Eve
and tell him of his troubles of not fitting in with the Cybertronian-made Autobots. Buster encouraged the young Autobot by telling him he's the first of a new generation of Earth-made Autobots and he should be proud of what he is.
In the U.K. comics, the boy appeared in some further stories starting with Robot Buster, where - worried about the danger he kept being in - Wheeljack and Ratchet built a robot battle-suit for him. Optimus ordered it scrapped and Buster stole it to prove he could handle himself in battle, only to be nearly killed in battle against Frenzy and pursued relentlessly by Shockwave, who later sent the Constructicons
out to murder the boy. The stress of these events combined with residual Matrix energy caused Buster to have visions of a strange new generation of Transformers. In order to decipher these visions and cure Buster of them, he and Optimus mind-linked (with the Decepticons spying) and the visions were revealed to be details for producing new "Special Teams" of combiners, which would lead to the development of the Aerialbots
and Protectobots
.
Angered and afraid for his safety, Sparkplug forbade Buster from seeing the Autobots any further. Outside of helping Jetfire through some morale issues on Christmas Eve, the boy was not seen again for some time, until Sparkplug himself fell victim to a trap laid by Decepticon local commander, Ratbat
, which Buster foiled by breaking the hypnotic trance he and the other human victims had been placed under. After a fracas involving the Intelligence and Information Institute and the Predacons, Buster and Goldbug (a recreated version of Bumblebee), whose mind was trapped in a toy car, headed for the Ark, only to find that it had blasted off. At the abandoned site, Buster was attacked by a vengeful Ratbat and whisked away to the Decepticons' island base where he was initially used as a hostage to deter the United States navy from attacking. Buster was employed as part of an overly complex plan to acquire important data - appointing Buster "king" of the island to publicly dissuade human investigation, the Decepticons operated under the cover of a faux holiday resort while they searched for a sunken pirate vessel, which contained two stasis-locked Autobot messengers sent to Earth thousands of years before, containing information on the coming of the almighty Cybertronian data bank, the Underbase. Starscream
proceeded to turn the tables on everyone by releasing Buster into the Arctic
tundra, where he was forced to summon the Autobots or perish - an action which in turn resulted in the arriving Autobots being overwhelmed by the combined forces of Ratbat and Scorponok
's Decepticons, while Starscream used the distraction to steal the power of the Underbase for himself. Buster's last appearance was in U.S. #51, finally back home with his family.
Buster made no further appearances in the Marvel Comics series.
Buster appears in the 1986 story and coloring book The Lost Treasure of Cybertron by Marvel Books. In this story he is the father of Daniel.
, and although it was not stated, it can be assumed this was intended to be Buster. However, Dreamwave's bankruptcy and subsequent closure left the story untold.
were at a video game arcade. Spike was immediately smitten with the attractive girl, but left in a huff when she showed more interest in Bumblebee. Carly proceeded to follow the two to the testing ground of Wheeljack
's newest invention, the Immobilizer, catching the attention of Ironhide
and drawing him away from his security detail, enabling the Decepticons to attack. Ironhide quit his position over the incident, and, wracked with guilt, Carly penetrated the Decepticons' base in hopes of destroying it as some kind of penance, but instead achieved atonement by saving the Autobots when the Decepticons turned the Immobilizer on them, reversing its effects and winning the day.
Carly's other most prominent role in a Transformer adventure was when she and Spike travelled to Cybertron on a solo mission to recover the mineral Cybertonium to save the Autobots' lives from system degeneration caused by lack of the mineral. Escaping Shockwave and braving traps with the aid of the Dinobot
Swoop
, Carly and Spike grew closer, and were awarded the rank of Honorary Autobot for the success of their mission.
Carly participated in a few more adventures, and the attraction between her and Spike blossomed into full-grown romance. The two were wed as they entered their twenties, and in 1993, Carly gave birth to their first son, Daniel. By 2006, Spike was functioning as Earth's ambassador to Cybertron, and Carly made several public appearances with him during important events such as the Galactic Olympics and an intergalactic peace conference. She was among the small group who traveled to the sorcerous other-dimensional realm of Menonina to track down Daniel and Grimlock
, who had vanished there.
They are later seen in episode "Human Error, Part 2", with a young Daniel next to Spike and Carly holding their second child, stood outside as the soundwave toys take over the city.
due to her portrayal by British model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley
, is Sam's girlfriend, with whom he lives. The two met after Mikaela dumped Sam and he got a Medal of Freedom for his heroism. Carly believes Sam's stories and is annoyed by Brains and Wheelie who live with them. Carly works for Dylan Gould as a curator and is given an expensive car by him, making Sam jealous. Carly gets annoyed when Sam decides to work with Simmons on figuring out what the Decepticons are doing rather than going to Dylan's party with her and leaves angrily. She is shocked when it turns out that Dylan is a Decepticon collaborator and is taken hostage by him, Soundwave and Laserbeak to force Sam to cooperate. Sam launches a rescue mission for her and with the help of Bumblebee, rescues her and kills Laserbeak before using a shot-down drone to relay what she knew of the Decepticons' plans to NEST. During the battle, Carly travels with Sam and Epps' team to stop the plan and is attacked by Starscream who Sam kills. While Sam heads off to stop the space bridge, Carly convinces Megatron to help Optimus against Sentinel Prime, leading to the deaths of Megatron and Sentinel. Carly reunites with Sam after the battle and they admit they love each other.
Daniel was named the worst cartoon kid sidekick by Topless Robot.
In 2005, when Daniel was particularly feeling the absence of his father (stationed on one of Cybertron
's moons), events soon escalated to epic proportions as a Decepticon
attack on the city foreshadowed the coming of the planet-eater, Unicron
. Watched over by the female Autobot Arcee
for the majority of the adventure, Daniel was given his father's old transforming "Exo-Suit" battle armor when the Autobots' shuttle crashed on the Planet of Junk, and he used its powers to escape attacks by the Decepticons and Junkions, and to aid Springer
in battle against Wreck-Gar
. Arriving on Cybertron, the Autobots' craft was piloted directly into Unicron's massive body, where Daniel was separated from the Autobots, but discovered his father and the three Autobots (Bumblebee
, Jazz
, and Cliffjumper
) who had been captured earlier in the movie when Unicron had consumed Cybertron's twin moons and saved them from meeting a nasty end in an acid vat.
Subsequently, with Hot Rod now in the form of Rodimus Prime
and consumed with the duties of leadership, Daniel made a new best friend in the form of new Autobot recruit Wheelie
, and they got up to their fair share of trouble when they set out on their own to discover Ultra Magnus
's birthday, and stumbled into the clutches of the Decepticons, necessitating rescue by the subject of their search. It was not the last time Daniel wound up in trouble, however, as he and Grimlock
soon found their way to the sorcerous dimension of Menonia, where Daniel was imprisoned by the tyrannical Red Wizard. Not long after his return to Cybertron, he was kidnapped by the Quintessons
, who sought to harness the unpredictable nature of humans against the Autobots by bringing Daniel's nightmares to life. Daniel was also able to aid the Autobots at times, acting as part of a plan to steal Trypticon
's transformation cog.
In 2007, during a friendly race against Blurr
, Daniel and Hot Rod worked together to achieve victory, proving one of the theories created by Autobot scientist Brainstorm - that Transformers and humans functioned better together than separately. Soon after, Daniel was among the Autobots and humans who were blasted to the planet Nebulos by the energies of the Plasma Energy Chamber. There, after the Decepticons followed them to the planet and attacked, Daniel attempted to defend Arcee and was mauled by Snapdragon, leaving him fatally wounded. Only the life-support equipment of the Nebulan rebels the Autobots had taken up with was able to keep him alive long enough for the incredible change that was to come. Brainstorm's idea of co-operation was taken to its ultimate extreme when idea Spike performed a procedure to bond some of the rebels and Autobots together as Headmasters to pool their abilities against the Decepticons and Nebulos's evil ruling "Hive". Additionally, to save Daniel's life, Arcee offered herself up as his Headmaster partner, and Daniel and she became bonded, Arcee's head transforming into a duplicate of the Exo-Suit Daniel had previously worn (though in one unusual animation error, when Daniel is seen inside her head, he is still wearing the exo-suit). In the resultant battles against the Decepticons, who duplicated the process, Arcee and Daniel were able to reacquire the stolen key to the Plasma Energy Chamber, but were captured by the Decepticon super-robot, Scorponok
, and Daniel was tortured, forcing Arcee to give up the key. Spike - now a Headmaster himself - rescued his son and stopped the Decepticons' plan.
With the removal of'"The Rebirth" from Japanese continuity, replaced with the Transformers: The Headmasters series, Daniel never became a Headmaster on the other side of the Pacific Ocean
- instead, he acted as the primary supporting human character of the series, appearing in almost every episode and regularly playing integral roles alongside Wheelie. Although by all rights supposedly older than he was in his American cartoon appearances, the Japanese interpretation of Daniel regresses his personality to a much more petulant, immature child who often bursts into tears; in that regard, much of the Headmasters series is actually about Daniel growing up and maturing.
After Fortress and his Headmasters joined up with the Cybertronian Autobots, Daniel and Wheelie sneaked aboard their battleship so that they could see other planets, and although they were discovered, Fortress allowed them to accompany them on their mission to Planet Beast. Daniel subsequently performed the remarkable act of saving Cybertron by planting the explosives that destroyed a gravity-warping meteor that Galvatron
had set on course with the planet. Daniel's tales of Earth ninjas helped expose the deception wrought by Sixshot
, and when captured by Decepticons on Mars
, he activated the homing signal that brought the Autobots to the planet.
When Spike attempted to hold a peace conference with Galvatron, the Decepticon leader demanded that he leave Daniel on Earth as a show of his good faith. Spike was willing to comply, until the peace conference was revealed as a distraction that allowed the Decepticons to get a heard start on pillaging other planets for energy. Daniel and Wheelie were then permitted by Spike to travel with Fortress and his crew when they set off in pursuit of the Decepticons across the galaxy, so that he might see more planets and grow through his experiences - sadly, it was mostly violence that Daniel saw, although such experiences helped harden him to the realities of war. He was offered one peaceful respite, however, when he met the beautiful young girl, Papika, on the planet of Paradise.
As the Autobots were chasing the Decepticons back to Earth, Daniel foolishly disobeyed orders and sneaked into one of Battleship Maximus's weapons turrets, only for it to be damaged in battle and disconnected from the craft, sending Daniel plummeting to the deserted planet Diamond. Sixshot had also been caught in the storm that dragged him to Diamond, and he rescued the boy from the wreckage, much to Daniel's surprise. Sixshot explained that he might be a Decepticon, but he didn't kill children. In the subsequent adventure they had together, battling Diamond's dangerous native rock creatures, Daniel came to believe that Sixshot was an honorable warrior, and consequently attempted to stop the duel that ensued between him and Chromedome.
Back on Earth, natural disasters caused by Scorponok's plan to destroy the planet began to cause chaos, and Daniel proved to his father how much he had grown by rescuing his mother from the bottom of a cliff. Soon after, during the final battle at the North Pole, Daniel was defended against Decepticon attacks by Sixshot, and as Fortress Maximus was locked in combat with Scorponok, Daniel hit upon the idea of combining all the Transformers' and his energies with the Headmasters' Head Formation, channeling all their power into Fortress Maximus, who destroyed Scorponok's Transtector and won the battle. Daniel was then forced to say his tearful goodbyes as the Autobots left Earth to pursue the Decepticons into space.
, Grimlock
, Kup
and Wheelie
, along with their human allies Spike Witwicky and Daniel Witwicky send Computron into battle against Galvatron
's new warrior combiner Abominus. The Terrorcons spit "corrosive control liquid" against Computron, taking control of him and turning him into a Decepticon. Spike luckily uses his new Exosuit to free Computron with "defense spray". Defeated, Galvatron retreats.
' first Generation One mini-series as a toddler.
comic released at Botcon
2001, in a story set some years after we had last seen Daniel, we see that he is now a teenager and a college student, who still adventures with the Transformers during semester breaks. Unfortunately, he and Wheelie are involved, with other Transformers including Arcee and Springer, in a major fight with an army of robot ninja drones patterned after Nightbird from the episode of the same name. Wheelie is injured and the only way to stop the robots from causing more harm is for Daniel to detonate manually a large number of explosives, committing suicide to give his friends time to get clear. His loss is deeply felt by Arcee, who enters a long period of depression as a result.
. Daniel, Carly and Spike were also seen in both parts of "Human Error", computer simulations of them riding a bus in the first part while their proper selves appeared in the second.
. She is somewhat flighty as she dresses up Sam's male dog, Mojo, in girly colors and jewelry. She is also very emotional and prone to cursing when in a bad mood, as seen in both films. She is one of the few humans to know of the Transformers, though she almost spills the secret in public after eating a brownie laced with marijuana
while dropping Sam off at college. While high from the pot brownies, she also babbled to all the nearby girls that her son had lost his virginity, "popped his cherry" (with Mikaela presumably) whilst she was in the house and that he's "quite a catch". Sam and his father Ron quickly hustled her away before she could embarrass them further and reveal the secret of the Autobots. Afterwards, she goes to Paris with Ron where they are kidnapped by the Decepticons to serve as a bargaining chip. She and her husband are later rescued during the final battle in Egypt by Sam and Bumblebee who kills her kidnapper Rampage. Sam insists his parents leave him, but while his father refuses, Judy finally realizes Sam's grown up and convinces Ron to let him go. She later rushes back after Sam is killed by Megatron's plasma blast.
. Unlike the cartoon, from which the film draws much of its inspiration, "Sparkplug" is not used as a nickname, although Roberto Orci has stated that this may possibly occur in any future sequels.
In the first film, Ron is oblivious of the true nature of his son's car, even at a point when the entire Autobot team is moving around outside his house. He is portrayed as a caring father but also as a rather picky person, cheapskate and a miser
, who is at time obsessive in regards to his lawn and often enjoys playing jokes on his son. He also seems to have an irrational fear of earthquakes. Screenwriter Roberto Orci
confirmed Ron knows the truth about the Transformers by the end of the first film.
Unlike the first two films, in the third film, he has a beard.
, is named "Sam" rather than "Spike". In early versions of the script, Sam had the nickname "Spike". This idea was later scrapped because, according to writer Roberto Orci, these nicknames were appropriate for a mechanic and an oil rig worker in the animated series, occupations in which the characters did not work in the film. He fights alongside the Autobots in the Battle of Mission City, and ultimately defeats Megatron at the end of the film. According to Roberto Orci
, the character of Sam was written as a "2007 version of Marty McFly
".
.
Set between the 2007 and 2009 films Barricade kidnaps Sam in order to flush out Bumblebee and learn where the All Spark fragment is. Bumblebee saves Sam by fighting and defeating Barricade. However Barricade eventually escapes.
The drone calling itself Brains
runs into Bumblebee and Sam Witwicky in Philadelphia.
.
. However, the first night, Bumblebee leaves the house, which caused Sam to follow believing his car had been stolen. Later that night, he becomes surprised to find that his car became a robot. After being saved from the Decepticon Barricade by Bumblebee, Sam learns the full story as he helps the Autobots by keeping the AllSpark away from the Decepticons until he uses it to kill Megatron.
In the 2009 sequel Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
, Sam is going to college and is trying to have a normal life and get away from the world savior status. But while getting ready, Sam finds a sliver of the Allspark on his jacket which give him visions similar to his great grandfather, causing him to suffer a mental breakdown as a result. Optimus turns to him for help in convincing the human government to allow the Autobots to stay. Sam refuses, saying he wants a normal life and Optimus doesn't need him anymore to which Optimus replies that they need Sam more than he knows. One of the girls in Sam's dorm who apparently likes him, Alice, turns out to be a Decepticon Pretender who attacks him. Sam is saved by Mikaela, who kills Alice. Sam is then later abducted by Decepticons to acquire the information in Sam's mind before Megatron can vent out his aggression on the boy. But after being saved by Optimus, who is killed during the fight, Sam ends up leading Mikaela, Bumblebee, his roommate Leo, the Twins: Skids and Mudflap, and Simmons in a quest to find the Matrix and use it to revive Optimus. During the final battle, Sam is killed by Megatron until he was revived by the Dynasty of Primes so he can resurrect Optimus, allowing him to kill the Fallen and save the Earth. With Earth saved once more, Sam finally admits he loves Mikaela. On an aircraft carrier
later, he and Optimus thank each other, Optimus thanking Sam for saving his life and Sam for Optimus believing in him.
In the 2011 film, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Sam has been dumped by Mikaela and has a new girlfriend named Carly Spencer who he met after being given a Medal of Freedom by the President Barack Obama
for his heroic accomplishments in the past. Sam lives with Carly Spencer, a pet dog and former Decepticon Wheelie, and his partner, Brains. Bumblebee no longer lives with him, working with the other Autobots on secret missions, forcing Sam to drive a rundown car that vaguely resembles a small Bumblebee, Sam ends up finding a job as a mail boy despite wanting to work with the Autobots, but is dragged back into the war by Decepticon collaborator Jerry Wang and Laserbeak. Sam, with the help of Simmons, figures out the Decepticons' plot and is forced by Dylan Gould into finding out the Autobots' plans for the Decepticons. Sam is devastated when the Autobots are exiled from the planet and then apparently destroyed and teams up with Epps and other former NEST soldiers to rescue Carly from Chicago. Sam succeeds with help from Bumblebee and in the battle that follows, he kills Starscream and Dylan Gould who retriggers the space bridge after Optimus stops it. Sam reunites with Carly after the Decepticons are defeated and admits he loves her.
Mirage toy sports an advertisement for Witwickey Sparkplugs, a reference to this character.
, recalling an instance where he had sabotaged the enemy vehicles' fuel and brake lines, and did the same to the Decepticons, poisoning their fuel and allowing the Autobots to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. However, before this heroic act could come to light, many of the Autobots believed that Sparkplug had betrayed them, and an over-reactive Jazz
let loose with his flamethrower, causing Sparkplug to have a heart attack. Thankfully, he soon recovered, but his opinion of the Transformers had changed with that action, and he forbade Buster from interacting with them again.
Ironically, Sparkplug would also come to fall prey to a hypnotic Decepticon device in the comic book continuity as well, drawn in by Ratbat's "Wash and Roll" car wash scheme, which mesmerised humans into giving up their gasoline to the Decepticons in a complex-yet-effective plan. Buster was able to break the hypnotic effect with a splash of water, and Ratbat's plan was foiled, but Sparkplug was given even more cause to hate the Transformers and their involvement in his life when the Predacons destroyed his garage and a vengeful Ratbat captured Buster. Even worse for Sparkplug, when his older son, Spike, returned from college, he took up with the Autobots and was binary-bonded to Fortress Maximus
, becoming a mechanical freak in his father's eyes. Spike subsequently saved Buster from the Decepticons, and his father was overjoyed to have his two sons back, although Spike's bond with Fortress Maximus kept him returning to the Transformer war and eventually resulted in his death in battle against Megatron.
Sparkplug's real first name was given as William in issue #3, but was later contradicted in #31 when he gives his first name as Irving.
A frequent mechanical assistant to Ratchet and Wheeljack
, Sparkplug is skilled in physical, practical arts, but like many fathers, lacks knowledge about his son's esoteric tastes, such as types of music, and dinosaurs. Sparkplug owns an automotive garage in New York
, which the Autobots refitted to serve as a secondary command base while they were far from their main headquarters.
Aside from helping Bumblebee to plant a bomb that disrupted the Decepticons' crystal-mining operations in Burma, Sparkplug's biggest role in any Transformer adventure was when he was captured by the Decepticons and became the first subject of Doctor Arkeville's mind-controlling hypno-chip. Under Decepticon control, Sparkplug sabotaged many of the Autobots under the preface of repairing their systems, and was later taken to Cybertron to toil there under Shockwave's command, until Wheeljack successfully created a device to undo the hypno-chip's effects.
Sparkplug was never seen or referred to again after the second season of the original Transformers cartoon series, and it is possible that he died or retired at some point between the second season and The Transformers: The Movie
, which took place 20 years later.
and published by Marvel Books
.
Sparkplug appeared in the 1984 sticker and story book The Revenge of the Decepticons written by Suzanne Weyn
and published by Marvel Books
.
Sparkplug was featured in the 1985 Transformers audio books Autobots' Lightning Strike, Megatron's Fight For Power, Autobots Fight Back and Laserbeak's Fury, as well as Decepticon Hideout from the 1986 series. He is not named in any of the books, simply being referred to as "Spike's father".
Sparkplug is featured in the Find Your Fate Transformers book 'Attack of the Insecticons' by Lynn Beach. His invention of the Sun-Pak, a way to power Autobots by solar energy, drives the plot.
, as the name of Optimus Prime's personal Mini-Con
. In addition, its actual appearance was also an homage to Bumblebee
.
's pet robot dog, Sparkplug. In the episode "Nature Calls", the real Sparkplug (or a man who resembles Sparkplug) was attacked by Megatron's missing body. Here, he was voiced by Bumper Robinson. He later appears in the episode Sari, No One's Home when Bumblebee and Bulkhead mistake his concrete mixing truck as Mixmaster in disguise and is this time voiced by David Kaye.
book series by his younger brother, Buster, exclusive to that continuity (see below). Indeed, Buster was fully intended to exist in place of Spike for the comic book series, until the release of the Fortress Maximus toy in 1987, which included Spike as a Headmaster partner, hence necessitating the hurried introduction of Spike into the comic book continuity.
Returning home from college to discover that his father's garage had been destroyed, Spike investigated the Autobots' deserted base at Mount Saint Hillary, learning that Buster had been captured by the Earth-based Decepticons. While there, he encountered a group of new Autobots, led by Fortress Maximus, who had just arrived from the planet Nebulos, and in a subsequent attack by Scorponok
's group of Decepticons, Fortress Maximus's Nebulon partner, Galen Kord, was killed in a rockfall. Before dying, he gave his control helmet to Spike, allowing the boy to control Fortress Maximus in battle and force the Decepticons to retreat. In the aftermath of the battle, Spike accepted the Autobots' offer to be fully binary-bonded to Fortress Maximus as his new Headmaster partner in order to save Buster from the Decepticons.
As Fortress Maximus, Spike led the attack on the Decepticons' island base, defeating Shockwave in an outer space battle, but failing to rescue Buster, and turning to the other Earth-based Autobots for help. Acting commander Grimlock
refused, disgusted at the thought of a human leading the Autobots, but relented when he saw the rationality of the act during a massive Decepticon attack on the Autobot forces. With the deceased Optimus Prime subsequently restored to life as a Powermaster, Spike rescued Buster from the Decepticons amidst the chaos caused by Starscream
's attempt to gain the power of the Underbase.
Following that clash, Spike, having accomplished what he set out to do, attempted to abandon his Autobot life, and return to living a normal human lifestyle. Unfortunately, his connection with Fortress Maximus proved to be far deeper than anyone knew when he was attacked by the Decepticon Pretender Beasts, Snarler and Carnivac, and discovered that Maximus's mind actually continued to exist within his own. Despite recombining with Maximus to defeat the Decepticons, Spike again returned Maximus's body and his exo-suit to the Autobots, and succeeded for a short time in living a normal life, until he found himself drawn to the crash of the Ark
in Canada
in 1991. Merging with Fortress Maximus again, he defeated the maddened Galvatron
, and some time thereafter, gave up his life to stop the plans of Megatron by sacrificing himself to destroy the Ark.
The post-movie Spike appears in the story "Time Wars", persuading Rodimus Prime
to delay his journey back in time long enough to halt an attack on a human settlement by the Terrorcons. (Due to the temporal disruption later in this story, it is possible this future was later erased from the timeline.)
Spike is also present in the alternate 2009 seen in "Rhythms of Darkness", working with the handful of surviving Autobots led by Prowl
. He was accompanied by an apparently African-American woman named Lisa, with whom he shared a mutual but unrequited attraction. Spike participated in what everyone involved expected to be a suicide attack on the Decepticon fortress city, attaching the US flag to its summit to demonstrate to the rest of the world, who were about to launch a nuclear strike on the area, that the American population was still fighting. After Galvatron
was forcibly removed from that timeline, he presumably went on to rejoin the Autobots in their battle against the remaining Decepticons.
when the Transformers entered his life in 1984. A Decepticon
attack on the rig left Spike and Sparkplug in peril where they were rescued by Optimus Prime. Afterward, they offered their friendship and aid to the Autobots, teaching them about the ways of Earth. Spike had a lot to learn about the robots in disguise, however, as one of his first actions saw him unwittingly bring the disguised Soundwave
into Autobot Headquarters. He later aided Hound
in battle against Rumble
. When the Autobots were planning to return to their home planet of Cybertron
, he intended to go with them.
However, that was not to be as the re-emergence of the undefeated Decepticons kept the Autobots on Earth, protecting it and its inhabitants from their enemies. Spike proved an invaluable source of information for the Autobots, teaching them about subjects such as dinosaur
s and various Earthly sports. He also joined them on journeys to such fantastic locales as Cybertron, Dinobot Island and medieval
England
. However, he underwent his own share of troubles, occasionally being captured by the Decepticons for various reasons, and suffering the torture of seeing his own brainwashed father under Decepticon control. On another occasion he received brain damage
in a Decepticon attack. To save his life, his mind was transferred to a Transformer body called Autobot X created by his father while his body healed. Unfortunately, the process drove Spike into thinking he was a "Frankenstein
monster
", and he sided with the Decepticons in an attack on the Autobots. However, he saw the truth after nearly killing his own father with Megatron in gun mode. He turned Megatron's firepower on the other Decepticons, and eventually his mind was put back in his own body. Spike formed a fast friendship with the young Autobot, Bumblebee
, and the two often adventured and traveled together.
In one particular adventure in 1985, when he was fifteen years old, Spike met a girl named Carly. He immediately took a liking to her, although Carly was more interested in getting to meet the Autobots at first. As time went on, Carly developed an attraction to Spike and through adventures together, including a solo mission to Cybertron, it blossomed into a romance.
In the episode "A Decepticon Raider in King Arthur's Court" Warpath, Hoist
and Spike were battling Starscream
, Ramjet
, Rumble
and Ravage
in England. Low on power, the Autobots and Decepticons discovered a magical stone formation called the Dragon Mound and were transported back to the year 543. Although Starscream attempted to take over a castle and build a new empire with himself as lord, the help of local knights and a wizard refueled the Autobots, who defeated the Decepticons. After defeating a dragon who nested in the Dragon Mound the Autobots and Decepticons and returned to their own time where they rejoined the fight in modern day England.
As they entered their twenties, Spike and Carly were married, and in 1993, Carly gave birth to a son, Daniel. As Spike himself grew older, his experience and closeness to the Autobots saw him appointed Earth's official ambassador to Cybertron, but as the Autobots pressed their attack to reclaim Cybertron from the Decepticons in 2005, the 35-year-old Spike was stationed on Moonbase Two, which was attacked and consumed by the planet-eater, Unicron
. Wearing a transforming "exo-suit" battle armor, Daniel rescued his father before Unicron was destroyed.
Although Spike was generally limited to performing more diplomatic duties throughout 2006, he was pivotal in the initial defeat of the invading Quintessons
, destroying the mechanism that the aliens had used to immobilize all Transformers and freeing them. In 2007, Spike was among the Transformers and humans blasted to the planet Nebulos by the energies of the Plasma Energy Chamber, where he performed the process that bonded some Autobots with a group of Nebulan rebels to form the Headmasters. Later, Spike became a Headmaster, merging with the pacifist Autobot, Cerebros, who in turn combined with a giant Transformer body Spike had created, forming Fortress Maximus
. With the power of Fortress Maximus, Spike rescued Daniel from the clutches of the Decepticons, and was in the process able to reroute the destructive energy created by the opening of the Plasma Energy Chamber to revitalize Cybertron, creating a new Golden Age.
Across the Pacific Ocean
, in Japan, however, the events of 2007 were stricken, and replaced with a full-length new series, titled Transformers: The Headmasters
. Due to the different concept for Headmasters in Japan, which did not incorporate Nebulans or humans, Spike was not a component of Fortress Maximus in this series, but still played an important role in Cybertron/Earth relations. At one point, so desperate for peace, Spike even arranged negotiations between himself and Galvatron
, in hopes of developing a joint energy-production program—hopes which were soon dashed.
According to an interview in the Transformers Collectors Club magazine Dan Gilvezan
auditioned for the part of Spike Witwicky in The Transformers.
Spike was featured in the 1985 Transformers audio book Autobots' Lightning Strike. In this book, he was said to be an engineering student. He also featured in Megatron's Fight For Power, Autobots Fight Back, Laserbeak's Fury, Galvatron's Air Attack and Decepticon Hideout.
, Grimlock
, Kup
and Wheelie
, along with their human allies Spike Witwicky and Daniel Witwicky send Computron into battle against Galvatron
's new warrior combiner Abominus. The Terrorcons spit "corrosive control liquid" against Computron, taking control of him and turning him into a Decepticon. Spike luckily uses his new Exosuit to free Computron with "defense spray." Defeated, Galvatron retreats.
, Spike was given a fragment of the Matrix by Optimus Prime when the Autobots departed Earth in 1999, having finally captured the Decepticons and intending to return them to Cybertron. They did not get that far, as an explosion tore their craft, the Ark II, apart shortly after it left Earth's atmosphere, leaving the Transformers, and the small human crew - including Spike's father - believed dead.
However, in 2002, Spike - now married to Carly and fathering Daniel - found that this was not the case when he was approached by General Hallo of the American military. A terrorist, Adam Rook, had recovered several of the inactive (but functional) Transformers and brought them under his control, intending to sell them on the black market as weapons of mass destruction; in order to stop him, the military had recovered a Transformer of their own. That Transformer was Optimus Prime, whom Spike was able to reactivate by replacing the Matrix fragment. Unfortunately, Spike soon discovered that Hallo was part of an even more insane scheme, having originally worked with Rook in developing the Transformer-controlling program, and being double-crossed by him. Confronting Hallo just as he launched a nuclear missile at San Francisco, Spike took his life in his hands and nearly met his end, until Hallo was gunned down by military agents.
In the More Than Meets the Eye character profile series, it is shown Dreamwave intended to eventually have Spike become a Headmaster partner for Fortress Maximus
. However, unlike other similar entries in the MTMTE series, no information was given about Spike at all leaving many readers with more questions than answers. But with Dreamwave shutting down, this storyline may never come to be.
Transformers
A transformer is a device that transfers electrical energy from one circuit to another by magnetic coupling.Transformer may also refer to:* ASUS Eee Pad Transformer, an Android 3.2 Honeycomb tablet computer manufacturer by Asus...
universes, and are the closest human allies of the Autobot
Autobot
Autobot, a faction of sentient robots from the planet Cybertron, are usually the main protagonists in the fictional universe of the Transformers, a collection of various toys, graphic novels, paperback books, cartoons and movies first introduced in 1984. In all but one Transformer story, the...
s.
Archibald Witwicky
Captain Archibald Witwicky appeared in the Transformers: Movie PrequelTransformers: Movie Prequel
Transformers: Movie Prequel, published by IDW Publishing, is a 2007 comic book limited series that serves as a prequel to the 2007 film Transformers. It is written by Simon Furman and IDW editor-in-chief Chris Ryall, who was allowed to read the film's script, and penciled by artist Don Figueroa...
and the Transformers live-action film itself. Archibald Witwicky was a Dutch
Dutch people
The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...
/English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
sea captain
Captain (nautical)
A sea captain is a licensed mariner in ultimate command of the vessel. The captain is responsible for its safe and efficient operation, including cargo operations, navigation, crew management and ensuring that the vessel complies with local and international laws, as well as company and flag...
leading an exploration of the Arctic
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
in 1897 when a crew member found something beneath the ice. They started digging and discovered the frozen Megatron. Witwicky then accidentally activated the Decepticon leader's inertial navigation system
Inertial navigation system
An inertial navigation system is a navigation aid that uses a computer, motion sensors and rotation sensors to continuously calculate via dead reckoning the position, orientation, and velocity of a moving object without the need for external references...
which led to a sudden power surge. Unbeknownst to him, the discharge etched a digital map to the All Spark onto the lenses of his glasses
Glasses
Glasses, also known as eyeglasses , spectacles or simply specs , are frames bearing lenses worn in front of the eyes. They are normally used for vision correction or eye protection. Safety glasses are a kind of eye protection against flying debris or against visible and near visible light or...
. Blinded and forever marked by his vision, Witwicky was committed to a mental institution
Psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental hospitals, are hospitals specializing in the treatment of serious mental disorders. Psychiatric hospitals vary widely in their size and grading. Some hospitals may specialise only in short-term or outpatient therapy for low-risk patients...
for life, constantly ranting about visions of the future. A few of his personal items were given to his family, including the pair of glasses. These were passed down over time and eventually given to his great-great-grandson Sam.
The other Autobots and Decepticons arrived on Earth, both searching for the All Spark and the captured Megatron.
Buster Witwicky
Buster Witwicky was the first Witwicky depicted in fiction, and filled a similar role in the early comics that Spike filled in the animated series.Marvel Comics
Events exclusive to the Marvel U.K. Transformers comics are in italics.While at a drive-in movie with his girlfriend Jessie and best friend "O", Buster suddenly found his life in danger when the parking lot became a battleground in the first major Earth-based clash between the Autobots and Decepticons. Coming across the wounded vehicle-mode Bumblebee, he brought the car back to his father's workshop, and attempted to fix it, until his father stepped in and completed the job.
Before long, however, Buster had a much more pivotal role to play in the war, when the powerful Decepticon, Shockwave
Shockwave (Transformers)
Shockwave is the name of several fictional characters in the various Transformers series. Throughout his incarnations, he is usually distinguished by a laser cannon in lieu of one of his hands and his distinctive face, which is featureless save a single robotic eye...
defeated and deactivated all the Autobots, save medical officer Ratchet
Ratchet (Transformers)
Ratchet is the name of several characters in the Transformers universes. According to the original creator of the Transformers names, Bob Budiansky, Ratchet was named after the character of Nurse Ratched from the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. The name Ratchet is almost always portrayed as...
, and planned to create new troops using the power of the Creation Matrix within Optimus Prime's mind. Sneaking into the Ark, Buster discovered Prime's disembodied head, and Prime transferred the Matrix into Buster's mind, keeping it from Shockwave. Buster soon found that the Matrix gave him the ability to manipulate metal and circuitry, and he used it to disassemble, rebuild and reprogram Shockwave's lifeless drone, Jetfire
Jetfire
Jetfire is the name of several fictional characters from the Transformers universes. He is nearly always depicted as an Autobot with jet or space shuttle alternate mode.-Transformers: Generation 1:...
, and employed him to rescue Optimus Prime, who took the Matrix back into his own body.
A story called "The Gift" in issue #93 of the Marvel U.K. comics explored Jetfire
Jetfire
Jetfire is the name of several fictional characters from the Transformers universes. He is nearly always depicted as an Autobot with jet or space shuttle alternate mode.-Transformers: Generation 1:...
's problems fitting in with the other Autobots. Jetfire then visited Buster Witwicky on Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve refers to the evening or entire day preceding Christmas Day, a widely celebrated festival commemorating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth that takes place on December 25...
and tell him of his troubles of not fitting in with the Cybertronian-made Autobots. Buster encouraged the young Autobot by telling him he's the first of a new generation of Earth-made Autobots and he should be proud of what he is.
In the U.K. comics, the boy appeared in some further stories starting with Robot Buster, where - worried about the danger he kept being in - Wheeljack and Ratchet built a robot battle-suit for him. Optimus ordered it scrapped and Buster stole it to prove he could handle himself in battle, only to be nearly killed in battle against Frenzy and pursued relentlessly by Shockwave, who later sent the Constructicons
Constructicons
right|thumb|Scavenger, Bonecrusher, Longhaul, Scrapper & Mixmaster - five of the original six Constructicons The Constructicons are a group of fictional characters from the various Transformers continuities...
out to murder the boy. The stress of these events combined with residual Matrix energy caused Buster to have visions of a strange new generation of Transformers. In order to decipher these visions and cure Buster of them, he and Optimus mind-linked (with the Decepticons spying) and the visions were revealed to be details for producing new "Special Teams" of combiners, which would lead to the development of the Aerialbots
Aerialbots
The Aerialbots are a group of Autobots that transform into aircraft and combine to form the giant robot Superion. They were introduced into the Transformers toyline in 1985 and sold as a Superion gift set, and then sold separately in 1986 in most department stores...
and Protectobots
Protectobots
The Protectobots are a fictional emergency, search and rescue team of five Autobots in the Transformers toyline. They transform into civilian service and emergency vehicles and combine to form the combiner Defensor...
.
Angered and afraid for his safety, Sparkplug forbade Buster from seeing the Autobots any further. Outside of helping Jetfire through some morale issues on Christmas Eve, the boy was not seen again for some time, until Sparkplug himself fell victim to a trap laid by Decepticon local commander, Ratbat
Ratbat
Ratbat is the name of several fictional characters who appeared in various Transformers universes.-Transformers: Generation 1:As is the case with many Transformers characters, the various continuities in which Ratbat has appeared have portrayed him widely differently in terms of size, personality,...
, which Buster foiled by breaking the hypnotic trance he and the other human victims had been placed under. After a fracas involving the Intelligence and Information Institute and the Predacons, Buster and Goldbug (a recreated version of Bumblebee), whose mind was trapped in a toy car, headed for the Ark, only to find that it had blasted off. At the abandoned site, Buster was attacked by a vengeful Ratbat and whisked away to the Decepticons' island base where he was initially used as a hostage to deter the United States navy from attacking. Buster was employed as part of an overly complex plan to acquire important data - appointing Buster "king" of the island to publicly dissuade human investigation, the Decepticons operated under the cover of a faux holiday resort while they searched for a sunken pirate vessel, which contained two stasis-locked Autobot messengers sent to Earth thousands of years before, containing information on the coming of the almighty Cybertronian data bank, the Underbase. Starscream
Starscream (Transformers)
Starscream is a fictional character in the Transformers franchise. He is one of the most prolific characters in the Transformers fictional work, appearing in almost all incarnations of the story. Starscream is usually portrayed with the same characterization...
proceeded to turn the tables on everyone by releasing Buster into the Arctic
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
tundra, where he was forced to summon the Autobots or perish - an action which in turn resulted in the arriving Autobots being overwhelmed by the combined forces of Ratbat and Scorponok
Scorponok
Scorponok is the name shared by several fictional characters in the various Transformers universes. All are Decepticons that turn into Scorpoins.- Transformers: Generation 1:...
's Decepticons, while Starscream used the distraction to steal the power of the Underbase for himself. Buster's last appearance was in U.S. #51, finally back home with his family.
Buster made no further appearances in the Marvel Comics series.
Books
Buster is featured in the 1985 Find Your Fate Junior book called Battle Drive by Barbara Siegel and Scott Siegel.Buster appears in the 1986 story and coloring book The Lost Treasure of Cybertron by Marvel Books. In this story he is the father of Daniel.
Dreamwave Productions
Buster did not make any clearly defined appearances in Dreamwave Productions' re-imagined Generation 1 universe, but he did exist, and was referred to as having taken the death of his father particularly badly, turning to alcohol and running up particularly large gambling debts. Straightening out his act, Buster was said to have joined the military; a high-ranking official with the surname of Witwicky was later seen addressing Marissa FairebornMarissa Faireborn
Marissa Faireborn is a fictional character from the Transformers series. A human female, she holds the rank of captain in the Earth Defense Command, a military organization helping the Autobots fight against the evil Decepticons. In some interpretations, she is depicted as an unlikely love...
, and although it was not stated, it can be assumed this was intended to be Buster. However, Dreamwave's bankruptcy and subsequent closure left the story untold.
Carly Witwicky/Carly Spencer
Animated series
Sixteen-year-old Carly first met Spike Witwicky in 1985 when he and BumblebeeBumblebee (Transformers)
Bumblebee is the name of several fictional characters from the various Transformers universes. In most incarnations, Bumblebee is a small, yellow Autobot with the altmode of a compact car.- Transformers: Generation 1 :...
were at a video game arcade. Spike was immediately smitten with the attractive girl, but left in a huff when she showed more interest in Bumblebee. Carly proceeded to follow the two to the testing ground of Wheeljack
Wheeljack
Wheeljack is the name of several fictional characters in the various Transformers universes.-Transformers: Generation 1:Wheeljack is the mechanical engineer and scientist of the Autobots in the Transformers television and comic series based on the popular toy line produced by Takara and Hasbro. His...
's newest invention, the Immobilizer, catching the attention of Ironhide
Ironhide
Ironhide is the name of several different fictional characters in the Transformers universes. According to the original creator of the Transformers names, Bob Budiansky, Ironhide was named after the television series Ironside.-Transformers: Generation 1:...
and drawing him away from his security detail, enabling the Decepticons to attack. Ironhide quit his position over the incident, and, wracked with guilt, Carly penetrated the Decepticons' base in hopes of destroying it as some kind of penance, but instead achieved atonement by saving the Autobots when the Decepticons turned the Immobilizer on them, reversing its effects and winning the day.
Carly's other most prominent role in a Transformer adventure was when she and Spike travelled to Cybertron on a solo mission to recover the mineral Cybertonium to save the Autobots' lives from system degeneration caused by lack of the mineral. Escaping Shockwave and braving traps with the aid of the Dinobot
Dinobots
Dinobots is the name of several teams of characters in the fictional Transformers Universe. The groups are made up of several robots, each of whose transformed mode is that of a dinosaur or similar prehistoric animal. They are called Dinotrons in the Japanese version; and ' in the Japanese dub of...
Swoop
Swoop (Transformers)
Swoop is the name of several fictional characters in the Transformers fictional series and toy line. He was first introduced in 1985 and was voiced by Michael Bell in the animated The Transformers series.-Transformers: Generation 1:...
, Carly and Spike grew closer, and were awarded the rank of Honorary Autobot for the success of their mission.
Carly participated in a few more adventures, and the attraction between her and Spike blossomed into full-grown romance. The two were wed as they entered their twenties, and in 1993, Carly gave birth to their first son, Daniel. By 2006, Spike was functioning as Earth's ambassador to Cybertron, and Carly made several public appearances with him during important events such as the Galactic Olympics and an intergalactic peace conference. She was among the small group who traveled to the sorcerous other-dimensional realm of Menonina to track down Daniel and Grimlock
Grimlock
Grimlock is the name of several fictional characters in the Transformers universes. He is usually portrayed as a tough leader who turns into a mechanical dinosaur...
, who had vanished there.
Dreamwave Productions
In the first Transformers miniseries by Dreamwave, Spike was shown having a wife and a son, and later mentions them both by name.Transformers Animated
In the Transformers Animated episode "Garbage In, Garbage Out", a man who look very much like Spike was trying to get a blond haired girl, who looked very much like Carly, to the hospital as she was in labor. The woman referred to him as "Spike". At BotCon 2008, it was confirmed that this was indeed intended to be Spike and Carly and, since Daniel Witwicky had already been seen in the series too, Carly was in labor with her second or later child. According to the character's model sheet, her name in this continuity is spelled "Carlee".They are later seen in episode "Human Error, Part 2", with a young Daniel next to Spike and Carly holding their second child, stood outside as the soundwave toys take over the city.
Carly Spencer
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
In Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Carly Spencer, depicted as BritishUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
due to her portrayal by British model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley
Rosie Huntington-Whiteley
Rosie Alice Huntington-Whiteley is an English model and actress, best known for her work for lingerie retailer Victoria's Secret and Burberry, and also for her role as Carly Spencer in the 2011 film Transformers: Dark of the Moon, the third installment in the Transformers film series.-Early life...
, is Sam's girlfriend, with whom he lives. The two met after Mikaela dumped Sam and he got a Medal of Freedom for his heroism. Carly believes Sam's stories and is annoyed by Brains and Wheelie who live with them. Carly works for Dylan Gould as a curator and is given an expensive car by him, making Sam jealous. Carly gets annoyed when Sam decides to work with Simmons on figuring out what the Decepticons are doing rather than going to Dylan's party with her and leaves angrily. She is shocked when it turns out that Dylan is a Decepticon collaborator and is taken hostage by him, Soundwave and Laserbeak to force Sam to cooperate. Sam launches a rescue mission for her and with the help of Bumblebee, rescues her and kills Laserbeak before using a shot-down drone to relay what she knew of the Decepticons' plans to NEST. During the battle, Carly travels with Sam and Epps' team to stop the plan and is attacked by Starscream who Sam kills. While Sam heads off to stop the space bridge, Carly convinces Megatron to help Optimus against Sentinel Prime, leading to the deaths of Megatron and Sentinel. Carly reunites with Sam after the battle and they admit they love each other.
Daniel Witwicky
Daniel Witwicky is a young member of the Witwicky family. He is most often portrayed as the son of Spike and Carly, but was once portrayed as the son of Spike's brother Buster.Daniel was named the worst cartoon kid sidekick by Topless Robot.
Marvel Comics
Daniel's sole appearance in the Marvel era Transformers continuity is in part one of the U.K. story "Time Wars" (issue #199), where he is seen alongside his father pleading with Rodimus Prime to save the earth.Animated series
Another character conceived for the animated universe, Daniel Witwicky is the son of Carly and Spike, born in 1993. (Note that Daniel's age is not given in the series, but the script for the movie describes him as being 12 years old by the year 2005.) Living in Autobot City on Earth, Daniel was friends with the young Autobot, Hot Rod, as they broke the rules and had fun together in various ways.In 2005, when Daniel was particularly feeling the absence of his father (stationed on one of Cybertron
Cybertron
Cybertron is a fictional planet, the homeworld of the Transformers in the various fictional incarnations of the metaseries and toyline by Hasbro. In the Japanese series, the planet is referred to as "Cybertron" pronounced as セイバートロン Seibātoron...
's moons), events soon escalated to epic proportions as a Decepticon
Decepticon
The Decepticons are usually depicted as the antagonists in the fictional universes of the Transformers stoyline and related comics and cartoons, and the enemies of the Autobots and the University of California Davis Aggies...
attack on the city foreshadowed the coming of the planet-eater, Unicron
Unicron
Unicron is a fictional character from the Transformers universe and toyline. Created by Floro Dery, he was introduced in the 1986 animated film The Transformers: The Movie as the film's main antagonist. Unicron is a prodigiously large robot whose scale reaches planetary proportions, and he is also...
. Watched over by the female Autobot Arcee
Arcee
Arcee is the name of a fictional character in the Transformers franchise. She is a female Autobot, usually pink in color. Being the most famous of the Female Transformers, she has two primary forms...
for the majority of the adventure, Daniel was given his father's old transforming "Exo-Suit" battle armor when the Autobots' shuttle crashed on the Planet of Junk, and he used its powers to escape attacks by the Decepticons and Junkions, and to aid Springer
Springer (Transformers)
Springer is the name of several fictional characters from the various Transformers universes. For trademark reasons, many toys of the character are named Autobot Springer.-Transformers: Generation 1:...
in battle against Wreck-Gar
Wreck-Gar
Wreck-Gar is the name of two characters from the Transformers universes. Both are unpredictable good-aligned characters who provide comic relief in their series.-Transformers: Generation 1:Wreck-gar is the idiosyncratic leader of the Junkions....
. Arriving on Cybertron, the Autobots' craft was piloted directly into Unicron's massive body, where Daniel was separated from the Autobots, but discovered his father and the three Autobots (Bumblebee
Bumblebee (Transformers)
Bumblebee is the name of several fictional characters from the various Transformers universes. In most incarnations, Bumblebee is a small, yellow Autobot with the altmode of a compact car.- Transformers: Generation 1 :...
, Jazz
Jazz (Transformers)
Jazz is the name of a fictional character from the various Transformers universes. He is usually portrayed as a music loving robot and talks with a slang accent. He is also a good friend of Optimus Prime's...
, and Cliffjumper
Cliffjumper
Cliffjumper is the name of several characters from the Transformers line of toys. His name is usually associated with an Autobot whose toys are often red repaints of Bumblebee toys.- Transformers: Generation 1 :...
) who had been captured earlier in the movie when Unicron had consumed Cybertron's twin moons and saved them from meeting a nasty end in an acid vat.
Subsequently, with Hot Rod now in the form of Rodimus Prime
Rodimus
Rodimus is the name of a fictional character from the various Transformers universes. Rodimus is a young Autobot and succesor to Optimus Prime. He was formerly known as Hot Rod, but was reformatted as Rodimus Prime by the Matrix of Leadership and became the leader of the Autobots...
and consumed with the duties of leadership, Daniel made a new best friend in the form of new Autobot recruit Wheelie
Wheelie (Transformers)
Wheelie is the name of two different fictional characters in the Transformers series.-Generation 1:The first Wheelie is a young Autobot who turns into a car. He has a distinctive style of speech, in which he rhymes his sentences while speaking in a high pitched voice, making him sound like a child....
, and they got up to their fair share of trouble when they set out on their own to discover Ultra Magnus
Ultra Magnus
Ultra Magnus is the name of several fictional characters from the various Transformers storylines.-Transformers: Generation 1:The greatest Transformer of them all. A commander could want no finer a soldier than Ultra Magnus...
's birthday, and stumbled into the clutches of the Decepticons, necessitating rescue by the subject of their search. It was not the last time Daniel wound up in trouble, however, as he and Grimlock
Grimlock
Grimlock is the name of several fictional characters in the Transformers universes. He is usually portrayed as a tough leader who turns into a mechanical dinosaur...
soon found their way to the sorcerous dimension of Menonia, where Daniel was imprisoned by the tyrannical Red Wizard. Not long after his return to Cybertron, he was kidnapped by the Quintessons
Quintessons
Quintessons are fictional aliens from the Transformers universe. Within the TV series, they are the creators of the Transformers, although in most other fictional universes featuring the Transformers, they have no such status...
, who sought to harness the unpredictable nature of humans against the Autobots by bringing Daniel's nightmares to life. Daniel was also able to aid the Autobots at times, acting as part of a plan to steal Trypticon
Trypticon
Trypticon is a fictional character in the Transformers toyline.-Transformers: Generation 1:Trypticon is the Decepticons' principal command base. He has three modes: a city, a mobile battle station, and a Tyrannosaurus rex. In each mode, he has a variety of weapons...
's transformation cog.
In 2007, during a friendly race against Blurr
Blurr
Blurr is the name given to five different fictional characters in the Transformers universes. He frequently appears as a blue Autobot who transforms into a swift car...
, Daniel and Hot Rod worked together to achieve victory, proving one of the theories created by Autobot scientist Brainstorm - that Transformers and humans functioned better together than separately. Soon after, Daniel was among the Autobots and humans who were blasted to the planet Nebulos by the energies of the Plasma Energy Chamber. There, after the Decepticons followed them to the planet and attacked, Daniel attempted to defend Arcee and was mauled by Snapdragon, leaving him fatally wounded. Only the life-support equipment of the Nebulan rebels the Autobots had taken up with was able to keep him alive long enough for the incredible change that was to come. Brainstorm's idea of co-operation was taken to its ultimate extreme when idea Spike performed a procedure to bond some of the rebels and Autobots together as Headmasters to pool their abilities against the Decepticons and Nebulos's evil ruling "Hive". Additionally, to save Daniel's life, Arcee offered herself up as his Headmaster partner, and Daniel and she became bonded, Arcee's head transforming into a duplicate of the Exo-Suit Daniel had previously worn (though in one unusual animation error, when Daniel is seen inside her head, he is still wearing the exo-suit). In the resultant battles against the Decepticons, who duplicated the process, Arcee and Daniel were able to reacquire the stolen key to the Plasma Energy Chamber, but were captured by the Decepticon super-robot, Scorponok
Scorponok
Scorponok is the name shared by several fictional characters in the various Transformers universes. All are Decepticons that turn into Scorpoins.- Transformers: Generation 1:...
, and Daniel was tortured, forcing Arcee to give up the key. Spike - now a Headmaster himself - rescued his son and stopped the Decepticons' plan.
With the removal of'"The Rebirth" from Japanese continuity, replaced with the Transformers: The Headmasters series, Daniel never became a Headmaster on the other side of the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
- instead, he acted as the primary supporting human character of the series, appearing in almost every episode and regularly playing integral roles alongside Wheelie. Although by all rights supposedly older than he was in his American cartoon appearances, the Japanese interpretation of Daniel regresses his personality to a much more petulant, immature child who often bursts into tears; in that regard, much of the Headmasters series is actually about Daniel growing up and maturing.
After Fortress and his Headmasters joined up with the Cybertronian Autobots, Daniel and Wheelie sneaked aboard their battleship so that they could see other planets, and although they were discovered, Fortress allowed them to accompany them on their mission to Planet Beast. Daniel subsequently performed the remarkable act of saving Cybertron by planting the explosives that destroyed a gravity-warping meteor that Galvatron
Galvatron
Galvatron is the name of several fictional Transformers, most often the recreated version of Megatron, the Decepticon leader. He was voiced by Leonard Nimoy in the 1986 Transformers movie, and then by Frank Welker in season 3 and 4 of the animated television series. Since then, other Transformers...
had set on course with the planet. Daniel's tales of Earth ninjas helped expose the deception wrought by Sixshot
Sixshot
Sixshot is the name of two fictional characters from the various Transformers series. Introduced in 1987, Sixshot appeared in the last few episodes of the original US Transformers animated series, voiced by Neil Ross. His defining gimmick was that he had six different forms, not two like a normal...
, and when captured by Decepticons on Mars
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
, he activated the homing signal that brought the Autobots to the planet.
When Spike attempted to hold a peace conference with Galvatron, the Decepticon leader demanded that he leave Daniel on Earth as a show of his good faith. Spike was willing to comply, until the peace conference was revealed as a distraction that allowed the Decepticons to get a heard start on pillaging other planets for energy. Daniel and Wheelie were then permitted by Spike to travel with Fortress and his crew when they set off in pursuit of the Decepticons across the galaxy, so that he might see more planets and grow through his experiences - sadly, it was mostly violence that Daniel saw, although such experiences helped harden him to the realities of war. He was offered one peaceful respite, however, when he met the beautiful young girl, Papika, on the planet of Paradise.
As the Autobots were chasing the Decepticons back to Earth, Daniel foolishly disobeyed orders and sneaked into one of Battleship Maximus's weapons turrets, only for it to be damaged in battle and disconnected from the craft, sending Daniel plummeting to the deserted planet Diamond. Sixshot had also been caught in the storm that dragged him to Diamond, and he rescued the boy from the wreckage, much to Daniel's surprise. Sixshot explained that he might be a Decepticon, but he didn't kill children. In the subsequent adventure they had together, battling Diamond's dangerous native rock creatures, Daniel came to believe that Sixshot was an honorable warrior, and consequently attempted to stop the duel that ensued between him and Chromedome.
Back on Earth, natural disasters caused by Scorponok's plan to destroy the planet began to cause chaos, and Daniel proved to his father how much he had grown by rescuing his mother from the bottom of a cliff. Soon after, during the final battle at the North Pole, Daniel was defended against Decepticon attacks by Sixshot, and as Fortress Maximus was locked in combat with Scorponok, Daniel hit upon the idea of combining all the Transformers' and his energies with the Headmasters' Head Formation, channeling all their power into Fortress Maximus, who destroyed Scorponok's Transtector and won the battle. Daniel was then forced to say his tearful goodbyes as the Autobots left Earth to pursue the Decepticons into space.
Books
Daniel appeared in the 1986 story and coloring book The Lost Treasure of Cybertron by Marvel Books. In this continuity his father was Buster Witwicky.Manga
In the Japanese manga "Big War" #2 the Autobots Rodimus PrimeRodimus
Rodimus is the name of a fictional character from the various Transformers universes. Rodimus is a young Autobot and succesor to Optimus Prime. He was formerly known as Hot Rod, but was reformatted as Rodimus Prime by the Matrix of Leadership and became the leader of the Autobots...
, Grimlock
Grimlock
Grimlock is the name of several fictional characters in the Transformers universes. He is usually portrayed as a tough leader who turns into a mechanical dinosaur...
, Kup
Kup
Kup is the name of several fictional characters in the Transformers universe. All are older Autobots who are members of the Elite Guard. Wired Magazine once nominated him as one 12 most ridiculous Transformers of all time...
and Wheelie
Wheelie (Transformers)
Wheelie is the name of two different fictional characters in the Transformers series.-Generation 1:The first Wheelie is a young Autobot who turns into a car. He has a distinctive style of speech, in which he rhymes his sentences while speaking in a high pitched voice, making him sound like a child....
, along with their human allies Spike Witwicky and Daniel Witwicky send Computron into battle against Galvatron
Galvatron
Galvatron is the name of several fictional Transformers, most often the recreated version of Megatron, the Decepticon leader. He was voiced by Leonard Nimoy in the 1986 Transformers movie, and then by Frank Welker in season 3 and 4 of the animated television series. Since then, other Transformers...
's new warrior combiner Abominus. The Terrorcons spit "corrosive control liquid" against Computron, taking control of him and turning him into a Decepticon. Spike luckily uses his new Exosuit to free Computron with "defense spray". Defeated, Galvatron retreats.
Dreamwave Productions
Daniel would make a brief cameo appearance in Dreamwave ProductionsDreamwave Productions
Dreamwave Productions was a Canadian art design studio and comic book publisher founded in 1996 and is best known for their multiple Transformers comic book series...
' first Generation One mini-series as a toddler.
3H Publishing
In the Transformers UniverseTransformers Universe (comic book)
Transformers Universe is the title of several comic book series based on the Transformers series by Hasbro. The first comic book was printed in 1986 by Marvel Comics as a character guide, while later series printed by 3H Enterprises contained fiction for the Transformers Universe toy line.-Marvel...
comic released at Botcon
BotCon
BotCon, briefly known as "The Official Transformers Collectors' Convention" , is an annual convention for Transformers fans and collectors. BotCon has been held annually since 1994...
2001, in a story set some years after we had last seen Daniel, we see that he is now a teenager and a college student, who still adventures with the Transformers during semester breaks. Unfortunately, he and Wheelie are involved, with other Transformers including Arcee and Springer, in a major fight with an army of robot ninja drones patterned after Nightbird from the episode of the same name. Wheelie is injured and the only way to stop the robots from causing more harm is for Daniel to detonate manually a large number of explosives, committing suicide to give his friends time to get clear. His loss is deeply felt by Arcee, who enters a long period of depression as a result.
IDW Publishing
A character by the name of Colonel Danny Witwicky appears in the second issue of IDW Comic's All Hail Megatron series, it is unknown whether his full name is Daniel. When Danny makes his first appearance his dialog implies a knowledge of cars. This fact, as well as comments made by writer Shane McCarthy on the IDW forums, imply that this character may actually end up being "Sparkplug" Witwicky.Transformers Animated
Spike, Carly & Daniel are seen at a hot dog stand in "Transform and Roll Out". Daniel was also seen in "Sound and Fury" and "Headmaster" voiced by Tara StrongTara Strong
Tara Lyn Strong is a Canadian actress, voice-over artist, singer, who is best known for her voice work in cartoons.-Early life and career:...
. Daniel, Carly and Spike were also seen in both parts of "Human Error", computer simulations of them riding a bus in the first part while their proper selves appeared in the second.
Judith Witwicky
Judith "Judy" Witwicky is Sam's mother, played by Julie WhiteJulie White
Julie White is an American actress. She is known for her role in Grace Under Fire and for her role as Judy Witwicky in the Transformers film series.-Personal life:...
. She is somewhat flighty as she dresses up Sam's male dog, Mojo, in girly colors and jewelry. She is also very emotional and prone to cursing when in a bad mood, as seen in both films. She is one of the few humans to know of the Transformers, though she almost spills the secret in public after eating a brownie laced with marijuana
Cannabis (drug)
Cannabis, also known as marijuana among many other names, refers to any number of preparations of the Cannabis plant intended for use as a psychoactive drug or for medicinal purposes. The English term marijuana comes from the Mexican Spanish word marihuana...
while dropping Sam off at college. While high from the pot brownies, she also babbled to all the nearby girls that her son had lost his virginity, "popped his cherry" (with Mikaela presumably) whilst she was in the house and that he's "quite a catch". Sam and his father Ron quickly hustled her away before she could embarrass them further and reveal the secret of the Autobots. Afterwards, she goes to Paris with Ron where they are kidnapped by the Decepticons to serve as a bargaining chip. She and her husband are later rescued during the final battle in Egypt by Sam and Bumblebee who kills her kidnapper Rampage. Sam insists his parents leave him, but while his father refuses, Judy finally realizes Sam's grown up and convinces Ron to let him go. She later rushes back after Sam is killed by Megatron's plasma blast.
Ronald Witwicky
Ronald "Ron" Witwicky is Sam's father, played by Kevin DunnKevin Dunn
Kevin Dunn is an American actor who has appeared in supporting roles in a number of films since the 1980s. His roles include Colonel Hicks in the 1998 version of Godzilla, Sam Witwicky's father in Transformers, and Oscar Galvin, the primary antagonist in the 2010 action thriller...
. Unlike the cartoon, from which the film draws much of its inspiration, "Sparkplug" is not used as a nickname, although Roberto Orci has stated that this may possibly occur in any future sequels.
In the first film, Ron is oblivious of the true nature of his son's car, even at a point when the entire Autobot team is moving around outside his house. He is portrayed as a caring father but also as a rather picky person, cheapskate and a miser
Miser
A miser, cheapskate, snipe-snout, penny pincher, piker, scrooge, skinflint or tightwad is a person who is reluctant to spend money, sometimes to the point of forgoing even basic comforts and some necessities...
, who is at time obsessive in regards to his lawn and often enjoys playing jokes on his son. He also seems to have an irrational fear of earthquakes. Screenwriter Roberto Orci
Roberto Orci
Roberto Gaston Orci is a Mexican-American film producer, television producer, and screenwriter.-Biography:Orci was born in Mexico City to a Mexican father and a Cuban mother. His mother had left Cuba for Mexico after Fidel Castro came to power. He is the older brother of screenwriter-producer J....
confirmed Ron knows the truth about the Transformers by the end of the first film.
Unlike the first two films, in the third film, he has a beard.
Samuel James Witwicky
In the 2007 Transformers film, the main human protagonist, portrayed by Shia LaBeoufShia LaBeouf
Shia Saide LaBeouf is an American actor who became known among younger audiences for his part in the Disney Channel series Even Stevens and made his film debut in Holes . In 2007, he starred as the leads in Disturbia and Transformers...
, is named "Sam" rather than "Spike". In early versions of the script, Sam had the nickname "Spike". This idea was later scrapped because, according to writer Roberto Orci, these nicknames were appropriate for a mechanic and an oil rig worker in the animated series, occupations in which the characters did not work in the film. He fights alongside the Autobots in the Battle of Mission City, and ultimately defeats Megatron at the end of the film. According to Roberto Orci
Roberto Orci
Roberto Gaston Orci is a Mexican-American film producer, television producer, and screenwriter.-Biography:Orci was born in Mexico City to a Mexican father and a Cuban mother. His mother had left Cuba for Mexico after Fidel Castro came to power. He is the older brother of screenwriter-producer J....
, the character of Sam was written as a "2007 version of Marty McFly
Marty McFly
Martin Seamus "Marty" McFly, Sr. is the protagonist in the Back to the Future film trilogy, and is portrayed by actor Michael J. Fox. Marty was also the protagonist in the animated series where he was voiced by David Kaufman...
".
IDW Publishing
Sam appears in Transformers: Tales of the Fallen #1 by IDW PublishingIDW Publishing
IDW Publishing, also known as Idea + Design Works, LLC and IDW, is an American publisher of comic books and comic strip collections. The company was founded in 1999 and has been awarded the title "Publisher of the Year Under 5% Market Share" for the years 2004, 2005 and 2006 by Diamond Comic...
.
Set between the 2007 and 2009 films Barricade kidnaps Sam in order to flush out Bumblebee and learn where the All Spark fragment is. Bumblebee saves Sam by fighting and defeating Barricade. However Barricade eventually escapes.
The drone calling itself Brains
Brains (Transformers)
-Transformers: Dark of the Moon:Brains is a drone, formerly known as the Brain Unit.-IDW Publishing:The drone calling itself Brains ran away from the Decepticons and runs into Bumblebee and Sam Witwicky in Philadelphia.-Books:...
runs into Bumblebee and Sam Witwicky in Philadelphia.
Books
Sam appears as a character in the book Transformers: Dark of the Moon The Junior NovelTransformers: Dark of the Moon The Junior Novel
Transformers: Dark of the Moon: The Junior Novel is an adaptation of the 2011 film Transformers: Dark of the Moon written by Michael Kelly. For younger readers the violence featured in the movie is scaled down considerably and the book features a different ending than the one seen in the film to...
.
Movie plot
In the 2007 Transformers film, Sam is a social outcast who unintentionally buys Bumblebee as his first car. Sam is at first unaware of his car being a Transformer, despite the fact that Bumblebee was responsible for helping Sam to (somewhat) get close to his crush, Mikaela BanesMikaela Banes
Mikaela Banes is a fictional character from the Transformers universe. She is differentiated from "typical" women in her age group, having inherited mechanical skills from her father, Cal, a grease monkey and paroled car thief...
. However, the first night, Bumblebee leaves the house, which caused Sam to follow believing his car had been stolen. Later that night, he becomes surprised to find that his car became a robot. After being saved from the Decepticon Barricade by Bumblebee, Sam learns the full story as he helps the Autobots by keeping the AllSpark away from the Decepticons until he uses it to kill Megatron.
In the 2009 sequel Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is a 2009 American science fiction-action film directed by Michael Bay and produced by Steven Spielberg. It is the sequel to the 2007 film Transformers and the second installment in the live-action Transformers series...
, Sam is going to college and is trying to have a normal life and get away from the world savior status. But while getting ready, Sam finds a sliver of the Allspark on his jacket which give him visions similar to his great grandfather, causing him to suffer a mental breakdown as a result. Optimus turns to him for help in convincing the human government to allow the Autobots to stay. Sam refuses, saying he wants a normal life and Optimus doesn't need him anymore to which Optimus replies that they need Sam more than he knows. One of the girls in Sam's dorm who apparently likes him, Alice, turns out to be a Decepticon Pretender who attacks him. Sam is saved by Mikaela, who kills Alice. Sam is then later abducted by Decepticons to acquire the information in Sam's mind before Megatron can vent out his aggression on the boy. But after being saved by Optimus, who is killed during the fight, Sam ends up leading Mikaela, Bumblebee, his roommate Leo, the Twins: Skids and Mudflap, and Simmons in a quest to find the Matrix and use it to revive Optimus. During the final battle, Sam is killed by Megatron until he was revived by the Dynasty of Primes so he can resurrect Optimus, allowing him to kill the Fallen and save the Earth. With Earth saved once more, Sam finally admits he loves Mikaela. On an aircraft carrier
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
later, he and Optimus thank each other, Optimus thanking Sam for saving his life and Sam for Optimus believing in him.
In the 2011 film, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Sam has been dumped by Mikaela and has a new girlfriend named Carly Spencer who he met after being given a Medal of Freedom by the President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
for his heroic accomplishments in the past. Sam lives with Carly Spencer, a pet dog and former Decepticon Wheelie, and his partner, Brains. Bumblebee no longer lives with him, working with the other Autobots on secret missions, forcing Sam to drive a rundown car that vaguely resembles a small Bumblebee, Sam ends up finding a job as a mail boy despite wanting to work with the Autobots, but is dragged back into the war by Decepticon collaborator Jerry Wang and Laserbeak. Sam, with the help of Simmons, figures out the Decepticons' plot and is forced by Dylan Gould into finding out the Autobots' plans for the Decepticons. Sam is devastated when the Autobots are exiled from the planet and then apparently destroyed and teams up with Epps and other former NEST soldiers to rescue Carly from Chicago. Sam succeeds with help from Bumblebee and in the battle that follows, he kills Starscream and Dylan Gould who retriggers the space bridge after Optimus stops it. Sam reunites with Carly after the Decepticons are defeated and admits he loves her.
Toys
- Transformers Deluxe Barricade with Frenzy Screen Battles: First Encounter (2007)
- A mini-diorama gift set with Barricade and figurines of Sam and Mikaela, along with an extra, non-poseable Frenzy figure.
- The original "radiator" Frenzy available with Screen Battles: First Encounter Barricade was remolded in black (matching the car) but was installed with additional piece of plastic, preventing the black Frenzy figure from being removed -- due to redundancy -- without unscrewing the base of the Barricade's hood. This version of Frenzy has been referred to as "Restrictor PlateRestrictor plateA restrictor plate or air restrictor is a device installed at the intake of an engine to limit its power. This kind of system is occasionally used in road vehicles for insurance purposes, but mainly in automobile racing, to limit top speed and thus increase safety, to provide equal level of...
Frenzy" by collectors.- Revenge of the Fallen Human Alliance Bumblebee with Sam Witwicky (2009)
- A larger (between Voyager Class and Leader Class size) figure than the Deluxe Class figure with a 2-inch-tall figure of Sam, which can ride inside Bumblebee.
- Transformers Human Alliance Bumblebee with Sam Witwicky (2010)
- A re-release of the Human Alliance figure with a remold of the Sam figure; this one wearing a white shirt instead of a black one. In addition, the Sam figure lacks the upper torso articulation of the previous version.
- Dark of the Moon Human Alliance Stealth Bumblebee with Sam Witwicky (not yet released)
- A redeco of the Revenge of the Fallen Human Alliance Bumblebee figure in reverse black/yellow colors.
Sparkplug Witwicky
Patriarch of the Witwicky family, Sparkplug was vastly unlike his two sons, in that he was portrayed in startlingly different ways across the two main fictions. The Transformers ClassicsTransformers Classics
Transformers Classics is a line of Transformers toys based on and resembling the first generation characters introduced in the 1980s. The toy line was created to fill the gap in Transformers product releases between the end of the Transformers: Cybertron series and the start of 2007 live-action...
Mirage toy sports an advertisement for Witwickey Sparkplugs, a reference to this character.
Marvel Comics
Although Sparkplug started out as being quite similar to his animated counterpart in the comic book universe, aiding in the repair of Bumblebee when his son, Buster, brought the injured robot to his garage, his personality took a sharp turn after he was kidnapped by the Decepticons. Instructed by Megatron to develop a process that would convert Earthen gasoline into fuel they could consume, Sparkplug drew on his memories of his time as a mechanic in the Korean WarKorean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
, recalling an instance where he had sabotaged the enemy vehicles' fuel and brake lines, and did the same to the Decepticons, poisoning their fuel and allowing the Autobots to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. However, before this heroic act could come to light, many of the Autobots believed that Sparkplug had betrayed them, and an over-reactive Jazz
Jazz (Transformers)
Jazz is the name of a fictional character from the various Transformers universes. He is usually portrayed as a music loving robot and talks with a slang accent. He is also a good friend of Optimus Prime's...
let loose with his flamethrower, causing Sparkplug to have a heart attack. Thankfully, he soon recovered, but his opinion of the Transformers had changed with that action, and he forbade Buster from interacting with them again.
Ironically, Sparkplug would also come to fall prey to a hypnotic Decepticon device in the comic book continuity as well, drawn in by Ratbat's "Wash and Roll" car wash scheme, which mesmerised humans into giving up their gasoline to the Decepticons in a complex-yet-effective plan. Buster was able to break the hypnotic effect with a splash of water, and Ratbat's plan was foiled, but Sparkplug was given even more cause to hate the Transformers and their involvement in his life when the Predacons destroyed his garage and a vengeful Ratbat captured Buster. Even worse for Sparkplug, when his older son, Spike, returned from college, he took up with the Autobots and was binary-bonded to Fortress Maximus
Fortress Maximus
Fortress Maximus is the name of several fictional characters from several of the various Transformers universes. Fortress Maximus appeared in the season 4 finale of the US Transformers animated series voiced by Stephen Keener. He was one of the stars of the Japanese Transformers: Headmasters...
, becoming a mechanical freak in his father's eyes. Spike subsequently saved Buster from the Decepticons, and his father was overjoyed to have his two sons back, although Spike's bond with Fortress Maximus kept him returning to the Transformer war and eventually resulted in his death in battle against Megatron.
Sparkplug's real first name was given as William in issue #3, but was later contradicted in #31 when he gives his first name as Irving.
Animated series
Sparkplug is Spike Witwicky's father. He is described as a widower in the show bible. In addition to being a highly skilled automotive mechanic and engineer, "Sparkplug" Witwicky (for whom no real name was offered in the cartoon) had, in his lifetime, also worked in the crystal mines of Burma, and was working on an oil rig with his son, Spike, in 1984 when a Decepticon attack brought the Transformers into his life. Rescued from drowning by Optimus Prime, Sparkplug became a friend and ally to the Autobots, mainly excited at the prospect of encountering and learning about strange new alien machines and technology he could work on.A frequent mechanical assistant to Ratchet and Wheeljack
Wheeljack
Wheeljack is the name of several fictional characters in the various Transformers universes.-Transformers: Generation 1:Wheeljack is the mechanical engineer and scientist of the Autobots in the Transformers television and comic series based on the popular toy line produced by Takara and Hasbro. His...
, Sparkplug is skilled in physical, practical arts, but like many fathers, lacks knowledge about his son's esoteric tastes, such as types of music, and dinosaurs. Sparkplug owns an automotive garage in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, which the Autobots refitted to serve as a secondary command base while they were far from their main headquarters.
Aside from helping Bumblebee to plant a bomb that disrupted the Decepticons' crystal-mining operations in Burma, Sparkplug's biggest role in any Transformer adventure was when he was captured by the Decepticons and became the first subject of Doctor Arkeville's mind-controlling hypno-chip. Under Decepticon control, Sparkplug sabotaged many of the Autobots under the preface of repairing their systems, and was later taken to Cybertron to toil there under Shockwave's command, until Wheeljack successfully created a device to undo the hypno-chip's effects.
Sparkplug was never seen or referred to again after the second season of the original Transformers cartoon series, and it is possible that he died or retired at some point between the second season and The Transformers: The Movie
The Transformers: The Movie
The Transformers: The Movie is a 1986 animated feature film based on the animated series of the same name. It was released in North America on August 8, 1986 and in the UK on December 5, 1986....
, which took place 20 years later.
Books
Sparkplug appeared in the 1984 sticker and story book Return to Cybertron written by Suzanne WeynSuzanne Weyn
Suzanne Weyn is an American author. She primarily writes children's and young adult science fiction and fantasy novels. she has written over fifty novels and short stories, and is best known for The Bar Code Tattoo and The Bar Code Rebellion books...
and published by Marvel Books
Marvel Books
Marvel Books refers to prose books licensed by Marvel Entertainment or its division in the 1980s that published coloring books and sticker books...
.
Sparkplug appeared in the 1984 sticker and story book The Revenge of the Decepticons written by Suzanne Weyn
Suzanne Weyn
Suzanne Weyn is an American author. She primarily writes children's and young adult science fiction and fantasy novels. she has written over fifty novels and short stories, and is best known for The Bar Code Tattoo and The Bar Code Rebellion books...
and published by Marvel Books
Marvel Books
Marvel Books refers to prose books licensed by Marvel Entertainment or its division in the 1980s that published coloring books and sticker books...
.
Sparkplug was featured in the 1985 Transformers audio books Autobots' Lightning Strike, Megatron's Fight For Power, Autobots Fight Back and Laserbeak's Fury, as well as Decepticon Hideout from the 1986 series. He is not named in any of the books, simply being referred to as "Spike's father".
Sparkplug is featured in the Find Your Fate Transformers book 'Attack of the Insecticons' by Lynn Beach. His invention of the Sun-Pak, a way to power Autobots by solar energy, drives the plot.
Dreamwave Productions
Sparkplug made no appearances in Dreamwave Productions' version of the G1 universe, instead playing a part in its newly sculpted backstory. After the successful defeat of the Decepticons through a joint Autobot/human operation, Sparkplug was one of the "Magnificent Seven" - a crew of seven humans who would accompany the Autobots and their Decepticon prisoners on the Ark II back to Cybertron, which also including Americans mechanical engineer Mark Marsh and sociologist Linda Richards, Japanese biologist Akira Yashimura, German chemist Rolf Meyer, Russian architect Rudolph Vesic, and British Oxford Professor, Henry Lanson. Sadly, shortly after the Ark II departed Earth's atmosphere, it exploded as part of a plan by Shockwave, taking the lives of Sparkplug and the Magnificent Seven and thrusting the Transformers into stasis.Transformers: Armada
An homage to the Sparkplug name would be found in Transformers: ArmadaTransformers: Armada
Transformers: Armada, known in Japan as , is a Transformers animated series, comic series and toy line which ran from 2002–2003. It was originally scheduled for 2001, however was delayed until early-2002...
, as the name of Optimus Prime's personal Mini-Con
Mini-Con
Mini-Cons are a human-sized race and faction of power-enhancing transforming robots in the Transformers: Armada universe and its sequels, one of the assorted universes in Transformers fiction...
. In addition, its actual appearance was also an homage to Bumblebee
Bumblebee (Transformers)
Bumblebee is the name of several fictional characters from the various Transformers universes. In most incarnations, Bumblebee is a small, yellow Autobot with the altmode of a compact car.- Transformers: Generation 1 :...
.
Transformers Animated
Another homage to the Sparkplug name pops up in Transformers Animated, in the form of Sari SumdacSari Sumdac
Sari Sumdac is a fictional character in the Transformers Animated cartoon series.-Transformers Animated:The eight-year old adopted daughter of Dr. Isaac Sumdac, Sari lived a sheltered life until she befriends the Autobots after they saved her upon their reawakening.She is the primary source of...
's pet robot dog, Sparkplug. In the episode "Nature Calls", the real Sparkplug (or a man who resembles Sparkplug) was attacked by Megatron's missing body. Here, he was voiced by Bumper Robinson. He later appears in the episode Sari, No One's Home when Bumblebee and Bulkhead mistake his concrete mixing truck as Mixmaster in disguise and is this time voiced by David Kaye.
Spike Witwicky
Marvel Comics
The role played by the young Spike in the animated series was filled in the Marvel comicMarvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
book series by his younger brother, Buster, exclusive to that continuity (see below). Indeed, Buster was fully intended to exist in place of Spike for the comic book series, until the release of the Fortress Maximus toy in 1987, which included Spike as a Headmaster partner, hence necessitating the hurried introduction of Spike into the comic book continuity.
Returning home from college to discover that his father's garage had been destroyed, Spike investigated the Autobots' deserted base at Mount Saint Hillary, learning that Buster had been captured by the Earth-based Decepticons. While there, he encountered a group of new Autobots, led by Fortress Maximus, who had just arrived from the planet Nebulos, and in a subsequent attack by Scorponok
Scorponok
Scorponok is the name shared by several fictional characters in the various Transformers universes. All are Decepticons that turn into Scorpoins.- Transformers: Generation 1:...
's group of Decepticons, Fortress Maximus's Nebulon partner, Galen Kord, was killed in a rockfall. Before dying, he gave his control helmet to Spike, allowing the boy to control Fortress Maximus in battle and force the Decepticons to retreat. In the aftermath of the battle, Spike accepted the Autobots' offer to be fully binary-bonded to Fortress Maximus as his new Headmaster partner in order to save Buster from the Decepticons.
As Fortress Maximus, Spike led the attack on the Decepticons' island base, defeating Shockwave in an outer space battle, but failing to rescue Buster, and turning to the other Earth-based Autobots for help. Acting commander Grimlock
Grimlock
Grimlock is the name of several fictional characters in the Transformers universes. He is usually portrayed as a tough leader who turns into a mechanical dinosaur...
refused, disgusted at the thought of a human leading the Autobots, but relented when he saw the rationality of the act during a massive Decepticon attack on the Autobot forces. With the deceased Optimus Prime subsequently restored to life as a Powermaster, Spike rescued Buster from the Decepticons amidst the chaos caused by Starscream
Starscream (Transformers)
Starscream is a fictional character in the Transformers franchise. He is one of the most prolific characters in the Transformers fictional work, appearing in almost all incarnations of the story. Starscream is usually portrayed with the same characterization...
's attempt to gain the power of the Underbase.
Following that clash, Spike, having accomplished what he set out to do, attempted to abandon his Autobot life, and return to living a normal human lifestyle. Unfortunately, his connection with Fortress Maximus proved to be far deeper than anyone knew when he was attacked by the Decepticon Pretender Beasts, Snarler and Carnivac, and discovered that Maximus's mind actually continued to exist within his own. Despite recombining with Maximus to defeat the Decepticons, Spike again returned Maximus's body and his exo-suit to the Autobots, and succeeded for a short time in living a normal life, until he found himself drawn to the crash of the Ark
Ark (Transformers)
The Ark is an Autobot spacecraft in the Transformers Universe. It has appeared as a central fixture of the Transformers storyline ever since its creation, as the Autobots main method of transport to Earth and as a base once they arrive....
in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
in 1991. Merging with Fortress Maximus again, he defeated the maddened Galvatron
Galvatron
Galvatron is the name of several fictional Transformers, most often the recreated version of Megatron, the Decepticon leader. He was voiced by Leonard Nimoy in the 1986 Transformers movie, and then by Frank Welker in season 3 and 4 of the animated television series. Since then, other Transformers...
, and some time thereafter, gave up his life to stop the plans of Megatron by sacrificing himself to destroy the Ark.
The post-movie Spike appears in the story "Time Wars", persuading Rodimus Prime
Rodimus
Rodimus is the name of a fictional character from the various Transformers universes. Rodimus is a young Autobot and succesor to Optimus Prime. He was formerly known as Hot Rod, but was reformatted as Rodimus Prime by the Matrix of Leadership and became the leader of the Autobots...
to delay his journey back in time long enough to halt an attack on a human settlement by the Terrorcons. (Due to the temporal disruption later in this story, it is possible this future was later erased from the timeline.)
Spike is also present in the alternate 2009 seen in "Rhythms of Darkness", working with the handful of surviving Autobots led by Prowl
Prowl (Transformers)
Prowl is the name of several fictional characters in the Transformers series. "Prowl" is one of the most re-used American names in the assorted Transformers series, and its use has become almost synonymous with Autobots who possess a police car alternate mode...
. He was accompanied by an apparently African-American woman named Lisa, with whom he shared a mutual but unrequited attraction. Spike participated in what everyone involved expected to be a suicide attack on the Decepticon fortress city, attaching the US flag to its summit to demonstrate to the rest of the world, who were about to launch a nuclear strike on the area, that the American population was still fighting. After Galvatron
Galvatron
Galvatron is the name of several fictional Transformers, most often the recreated version of Megatron, the Decepticon leader. He was voiced by Leonard Nimoy in the 1986 Transformers movie, and then by Frank Welker in season 3 and 4 of the animated television series. Since then, other Transformers...
was forcibly removed from that timeline, he presumably went on to rejoin the Autobots in their battle against the remaining Decepticons.
Animated series
The most famous of all the Autobots' human allies, Spike Witwicky was fourteen years old, aiding his father, Sparkplug, in his work on an offshore oil rigOil platform
An oil platform, also referred to as an offshore platform or, somewhat incorrectly, oil rig, is a lаrge structure with facilities to drill wells, to extract and process oil and natural gas, and to temporarily store product until it can be brought to shore for refining and marketing...
when the Transformers entered his life in 1984. A Decepticon
Decepticon
The Decepticons are usually depicted as the antagonists in the fictional universes of the Transformers stoyline and related comics and cartoons, and the enemies of the Autobots and the University of California Davis Aggies...
attack on the rig left Spike and Sparkplug in peril where they were rescued by Optimus Prime. Afterward, they offered their friendship and aid to the Autobots, teaching them about the ways of Earth. Spike had a lot to learn about the robots in disguise, however, as one of his first actions saw him unwittingly bring the disguised Soundwave
Soundwave (Transformers)
Soundwave is the name of several characters in the various series Transformers series. His most famous disguise is that of a microcassette recorder and has an iconic voice done by a vocoder.-Transformers: Generation 1:...
into Autobot Headquarters. He later aided Hound
Hound (Transformers)
Hound is the name of several fictional characters from the various Transformers universes. He is sometimes referred to as Autobot Hound for trademark purposes.-Transformers: Generation 1:...
in battle against Rumble
Rumble (Transformers)
Rumble is a fictional character in the Transformers universes. In order to trademark the name, Hasbro referred to the Alternators character as Decepticon Rumble.-Transformers: Generation 1:...
. When the Autobots were planning to return to their home planet of Cybertron
Cybertron
Cybertron is a fictional planet, the homeworld of the Transformers in the various fictional incarnations of the metaseries and toyline by Hasbro. In the Japanese series, the planet is referred to as "Cybertron" pronounced as セイバートロン Seibātoron...
, he intended to go with them.
However, that was not to be as the re-emergence of the undefeated Decepticons kept the Autobots on Earth, protecting it and its inhabitants from their enemies. Spike proved an invaluable source of information for the Autobots, teaching them about subjects such as dinosaur
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
s and various Earthly sports. He also joined them on journeys to such fantastic locales as Cybertron, Dinobot Island and medieval
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. However, he underwent his own share of troubles, occasionally being captured by the Decepticons for various reasons, and suffering the torture of seeing his own brainwashed father under Decepticon control. On another occasion he received brain damage
Brain damage
"Brain damage" or "brain injury" is the destruction or degeneration of brain cells. Brain injuries occur due to a wide range of internal and external factors...
in a Decepticon attack. To save his life, his mind was transferred to a Transformer body called Autobot X created by his father while his body healed. Unfortunately, the process drove Spike into thinking he was a "Frankenstein
Frankenstein
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel about a failed experiment that produced a monster, written by Mary Shelley, with inserts of poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Shelley started writing the story when she was eighteen, and the novel was published when she was twenty-one. The first...
monster
Monster
A monster is any fictional creature, usually found in legends or horror fiction, that is somewhat hideous and may produce physical harm or mental fear by either its appearance or its actions...
", and he sided with the Decepticons in an attack on the Autobots. However, he saw the truth after nearly killing his own father with Megatron in gun mode. He turned Megatron's firepower on the other Decepticons, and eventually his mind was put back in his own body. Spike formed a fast friendship with the young Autobot, Bumblebee
Bumblebee (Transformers)
Bumblebee is the name of several fictional characters from the various Transformers universes. In most incarnations, Bumblebee is a small, yellow Autobot with the altmode of a compact car.- Transformers: Generation 1 :...
, and the two often adventured and traveled together.
In one particular adventure in 1985, when he was fifteen years old, Spike met a girl named Carly. He immediately took a liking to her, although Carly was more interested in getting to meet the Autobots at first. As time went on, Carly developed an attraction to Spike and through adventures together, including a solo mission to Cybertron, it blossomed into a romance.
In the episode "A Decepticon Raider in King Arthur's Court" Warpath, Hoist
Hoist (Transformers)
-Transformers: Generation 1:In the original Transformers toy line, Hoist is an Autobot who functions as a repairman for the team, keeping them to a tight maintenance schedule. Hoist is confident and sometimes rash, brave, tough and loyal. He transforms into a green tow truck...
and Spike were battling Starscream
Starscream (Transformers)
Starscream is a fictional character in the Transformers franchise. He is one of the most prolific characters in the Transformers fictional work, appearing in almost all incarnations of the story. Starscream is usually portrayed with the same characterization...
, Ramjet
Ramjet (Transformers)
Ramjet is the name of several fictional characters in the various Transformers universes. All have been Decepticon aligned characters who turn into jets, usually white.-Transformers: Generation 1:...
, Rumble
Rumble (Transformers)
Rumble is a fictional character in the Transformers universes. In order to trademark the name, Hasbro referred to the Alternators character as Decepticon Rumble.-Transformers: Generation 1:...
and Ravage
Ravage (Transformers)
Ravage is the name of several fictional characters in the Transformers universes. Due to the inability to trademark the common word "ravage", he is sometimes called Battle Ravage, Command Ravage or Tripredacus Agent...
in England. Low on power, the Autobots and Decepticons discovered a magical stone formation called the Dragon Mound and were transported back to the year 543. Although Starscream attempted to take over a castle and build a new empire with himself as lord, the help of local knights and a wizard refueled the Autobots, who defeated the Decepticons. After defeating a dragon who nested in the Dragon Mound the Autobots and Decepticons and returned to their own time where they rejoined the fight in modern day England.
As they entered their twenties, Spike and Carly were married, and in 1993, Carly gave birth to a son, Daniel. As Spike himself grew older, his experience and closeness to the Autobots saw him appointed Earth's official ambassador to Cybertron, but as the Autobots pressed their attack to reclaim Cybertron from the Decepticons in 2005, the 35-year-old Spike was stationed on Moonbase Two, which was attacked and consumed by the planet-eater, Unicron
Unicron
Unicron is a fictional character from the Transformers universe and toyline. Created by Floro Dery, he was introduced in the 1986 animated film The Transformers: The Movie as the film's main antagonist. Unicron is a prodigiously large robot whose scale reaches planetary proportions, and he is also...
. Wearing a transforming "exo-suit" battle armor, Daniel rescued his father before Unicron was destroyed.
Although Spike was generally limited to performing more diplomatic duties throughout 2006, he was pivotal in the initial defeat of the invading Quintessons
Quintessons
Quintessons are fictional aliens from the Transformers universe. Within the TV series, they are the creators of the Transformers, although in most other fictional universes featuring the Transformers, they have no such status...
, destroying the mechanism that the aliens had used to immobilize all Transformers and freeing them. In 2007, Spike was among the Transformers and humans blasted to the planet Nebulos by the energies of the Plasma Energy Chamber, where he performed the process that bonded some Autobots with a group of Nebulan rebels to form the Headmasters. Later, Spike became a Headmaster, merging with the pacifist Autobot, Cerebros, who in turn combined with a giant Transformer body Spike had created, forming Fortress Maximus
Fortress Maximus
Fortress Maximus is the name of several fictional characters from several of the various Transformers universes. Fortress Maximus appeared in the season 4 finale of the US Transformers animated series voiced by Stephen Keener. He was one of the stars of the Japanese Transformers: Headmasters...
. With the power of Fortress Maximus, Spike rescued Daniel from the clutches of the Decepticons, and was in the process able to reroute the destructive energy created by the opening of the Plasma Energy Chamber to revitalize Cybertron, creating a new Golden Age.
Across the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
, in Japan, however, the events of 2007 were stricken, and replaced with a full-length new series, titled Transformers: The Headmasters
Transformers: The Headmasters
is a Japanese anime television series.-Development:Inititally, Takara, the Japanese producers of the Transformers toyline, imported the American Transformers cartoon series from 1985 to 1986...
. Due to the different concept for Headmasters in Japan, which did not incorporate Nebulans or humans, Spike was not a component of Fortress Maximus in this series, but still played an important role in Cybertron/Earth relations. At one point, so desperate for peace, Spike even arranged negotiations between himself and Galvatron
Galvatron
Galvatron is the name of several fictional Transformers, most often the recreated version of Megatron, the Decepticon leader. He was voiced by Leonard Nimoy in the 1986 Transformers movie, and then by Frank Welker in season 3 and 4 of the animated television series. Since then, other Transformers...
, in hopes of developing a joint energy-production program—hopes which were soon dashed.
According to an interview in the Transformers Collectors Club magazine Dan Gilvezan
Dan Gilvezan
Dan Gilvezan is an actor who provided the voice for Peter Parker/Spider-Man on the 1980s animated series Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends and the voice of the Autobots Bumblebee, Outback and Hot Spot and the Decepticon Snapdragon in the original 1984-1987 Transformers cartoon...
auditioned for the part of Spike Witwicky in The Transformers.
Books
Sparkplug was featured in the 1985 Find Your Fate Junior book called Battle Drive by Barbara Siegel and Scott Siegel.Spike was featured in the 1985 Transformers audio book Autobots' Lightning Strike. In this book, he was said to be an engineering student. He also featured in Megatron's Fight For Power, Autobots Fight Back, Laserbeak's Fury, Galvatron's Air Attack and Decepticon Hideout.
Manga
In the Japanese manga "Big War" #2 the Autobots Rodimus PrimeRodimus
Rodimus is the name of a fictional character from the various Transformers universes. Rodimus is a young Autobot and succesor to Optimus Prime. He was formerly known as Hot Rod, but was reformatted as Rodimus Prime by the Matrix of Leadership and became the leader of the Autobots...
, Grimlock
Grimlock
Grimlock is the name of several fictional characters in the Transformers universes. He is usually portrayed as a tough leader who turns into a mechanical dinosaur...
, Kup
Kup
Kup is the name of several fictional characters in the Transformers universe. All are older Autobots who are members of the Elite Guard. Wired Magazine once nominated him as one 12 most ridiculous Transformers of all time...
and Wheelie
Wheelie (Transformers)
Wheelie is the name of two different fictional characters in the Transformers series.-Generation 1:The first Wheelie is a young Autobot who turns into a car. He has a distinctive style of speech, in which he rhymes his sentences while speaking in a high pitched voice, making him sound like a child....
, along with their human allies Spike Witwicky and Daniel Witwicky send Computron into battle against Galvatron
Galvatron
Galvatron is the name of several fictional Transformers, most often the recreated version of Megatron, the Decepticon leader. He was voiced by Leonard Nimoy in the 1986 Transformers movie, and then by Frank Welker in season 3 and 4 of the animated television series. Since then, other Transformers...
's new warrior combiner Abominus. The Terrorcons spit "corrosive control liquid" against Computron, taking control of him and turning him into a Decepticon. Spike luckily uses his new Exosuit to free Computron with "defense spray." Defeated, Galvatron retreats.
Dreamwave Productions
In the 21st Century re-imagining of the G1 universe by Dreamwave ProductionsDreamwave Productions
Dreamwave Productions was a Canadian art design studio and comic book publisher founded in 1996 and is best known for their multiple Transformers comic book series...
, Spike was given a fragment of the Matrix by Optimus Prime when the Autobots departed Earth in 1999, having finally captured the Decepticons and intending to return them to Cybertron. They did not get that far, as an explosion tore their craft, the Ark II, apart shortly after it left Earth's atmosphere, leaving the Transformers, and the small human crew - including Spike's father - believed dead.
However, in 2002, Spike - now married to Carly and fathering Daniel - found that this was not the case when he was approached by General Hallo of the American military. A terrorist, Adam Rook, had recovered several of the inactive (but functional) Transformers and brought them under his control, intending to sell them on the black market as weapons of mass destruction; in order to stop him, the military had recovered a Transformer of their own. That Transformer was Optimus Prime, whom Spike was able to reactivate by replacing the Matrix fragment. Unfortunately, Spike soon discovered that Hallo was part of an even more insane scheme, having originally worked with Rook in developing the Transformer-controlling program, and being double-crossed by him. Confronting Hallo just as he launched a nuclear missile at San Francisco, Spike took his life in his hands and nearly met his end, until Hallo was gunned down by military agents.
In the More Than Meets the Eye character profile series, it is shown Dreamwave intended to eventually have Spike become a Headmaster partner for Fortress Maximus
Fortress Maximus
Fortress Maximus is the name of several fictional characters from several of the various Transformers universes. Fortress Maximus appeared in the season 4 finale of the US Transformers animated series voiced by Stephen Keener. He was one of the stars of the Japanese Transformers: Headmasters...
. However, unlike other similar entries in the MTMTE series, no information was given about Spike at all leaving many readers with more questions than answers. But with Dreamwave shutting down, this storyline may never come to be.
Transformers Animated
In the Transformers Animated episode "Garbage In, Garbage Out", a man who looked very much like Spike was trying to get a blond-haired girl to the hospital as she was in labor. The woman referred to him as "Spike". At BotCon 2008, it was confirmed that this was indeed intended to be Spike and Carlee (with Corey Burton reprising his role as Spike, specifically the adult post-movie Spike), and since Daniel had already been seen in the series too, Carlee was in labor with her second child.Fun Publications
Four Witwicky brothers, Spike, Buster, Butch and Bruce "Buzz" Witwicky, appeared evil mirror universe counterparts of the Witwickys. Spike was leader of the group, who allied themselves with Rodimus and the evil Autobots, guiding them on Earth and aiding them in taking temporary control of Burbleson Airforce base and the GODS satellite system.Toys
- Generation 1 Fortress Maximus with Cerebros and Spike (1987)
- The largest Transformers toy from Generation 1, Fortress Maximus has multiple altmode configurations. He transforms into a compact "city" mode, and can also assume a secondary mode described in the US instruction as a "battle station." This mode was rebranded as a starship for the Japanese instructions, and is the "default" mode for Fort Max in the Headmasters animated series. Additionally, the 1987 Hasbro toy catalog features a mis-transformed Fortress Maximus in a mode referred to as an "impenetrable fortress," essentially consisting of his city mode with the legs splayed outwards.
- In all modes, Maximus has a wide array of pop-out (non-firing) guns and gimmicks. Its left leg hides a small prison cell, plus has a swing-out cannon/helipad. Its right leg has a small storage compartment. Its torso has a gear-activated spinner for the detachable radar array accessory, a "control socket" for Cerebros' "communications tower" mode, and a working elevator that can lift small toys up to its central ramp to be launched in its alternate modes. (The crank for this elevator ends up in a very unfortunate position in robot mode.) Each arm had a long ramp on the back with sliding launchers for small vehicles.
- Its robot-mode head is formed by Cerebros, who does not actually need Spike to attach to the upper body. It came with both Headmaster units, plus the Gasket and Grommet mini-vehicles.
- The Japanese release of Fortress Maximus came with a pair of swords; one for Fortress, a large one for Maximus. It is currently unknown if the swords were originally planned for the Hasbro version but dropped for price or safety concerns, or if they were a Takara-initiated addition to their release of the toy.
- During its time of release, Fortress Maximus retailed at $89.99, making him the most expensive Transformers toy in the U.S. market (a record that wasn't met or broken for nearly two decades, until the release of 20th Anniversary DVD Edition Optimus PrimeOptimus PrimeOptimus Prime is a fictional character from the Transformers franchise. Prime is the leader of the autobots, a faction of transforming robots from the planet Cybertron. The autobots are constantly waging war against a rival faction of transforming robots called Decepticons...
and Ultimate BumblebeeBumblebee (Transformers)Bumblebee is the name of several fictional characters from the various Transformers universes. In most incarnations, Bumblebee is a small, yellow Autobot with the altmode of a compact car.- Transformers: Generation 1 :...
). Maximus was also the third most expensive toy Hasbro produced at the time (behind the USS FlaggUSS FlaggThe USS Flagg is a fictional U.S. Navy Nimitz-class aircraft carrier from the toy line, comic and cartoon series, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero. It is the G.I. Joe Team's primary sea going vessel...
and DefiantDefiant (G.I. Joe)The Defiant is a fictional space shuttle complex vehicle and station from the G.I. Joe series, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, line of toys, comics and cartoons.-Toys:...
Space Shuttle Complex from the G.I. JoeG.I. JoeG.I. Joe is a line of action figures produced by the toy company Hasbro. The initial product offering represented four of the branches of the U.S. armed forces with the Action Soldier , Action Sailor , Action Pilot , Action Marine and later on, the Action Nurse...
series). - This toy was designed by Koujin Ohno, and is filed under U.S. patent D305,786.
- Dark of the Moon Human Alliance Basic Backfire with Spike Witwicky (not yet released)
- A new 2-inch figurine of Spike is included with the Autobot Backfire as part of the Human Alliance line. Backfire transforms from a three-wheeled ATV to robot or a larger Mech Tech blaster that can be used with Voyager of Leader Class figures.