Wreck-Gar is the name of a fictional character from the Transformers universes.

Transformers: Generation 1

For many years Wreck-Gar was the only Junkion character to have a toy until the e-hobby exclusive character Detritus was released in Japan.

Animated series

Wreck-Gar is the leader of the Junkions, a group of Transformers usually allied with the Autobots and introduced in The Transformers: The Movie. Wreck-Gar is distinguishable from his fellows by his long moustache and goatee. In the movie, the voice for his character was provided by Eric Idle, of Monty Python fame. In the TV series, he is voiced by Tony Pope.

Wreck-Gar has a manner of speaking which causes him to talk using lingo and incongruous phrases from television commercials and programs ("We talk TV."). Such phrases included "Don't look behind door number two, Monty. It's time to play 'End of the Line My Valentine!' Gee-Ronny-Do-Ron-Ronny-MOOOOOOO!" His speech was also accented with television sound effects (beeps, static, clicks etc). He was initially suspicious of the intentions of Ultra Magnus and company when they are first arrived on the Planet of Junk, where he led an attack on the Autobots. Wreck-Gar says "Stop thief" in reference to the Autobots, which suggests that he viewed their salvaging operation on the planet of Junk as theft. Fortunately Hot Rod pacified him with the universal greeting: "Bah weep graaagnah wheep ni ni bong". Wreck-Gar pledged his support in destroying Unicron, offering the services of not only the Junkions but supplying a space craft to get to Cybertron. Despite the space craft being crushed and destroyed by Unicron, all aboard (which included not only Wreck-Gar but Perceptor and Ultra Magnus) apparently survived. This may be thanks to the Junkions extraordinary repair capabilities.

After his alliance with the Autobots, he filled in for the deceased Ratchet as the Autobots' main surgeon, his people's unique affinity for repair (as seen by their reassembly and reactivation of Ultra Magnus after he was destroyed by the Decepticons) making him quite advantageous in the Autobots' war against the Decepticons.

While it seems Wreck-Gar indeed maintained his post as Junkion leader, he was a frequent guest star on the show and was often depicted as if he were a full resident of Cybertron.

He first made his television debut in Five Faces of Darkness when he saved Rodimus Prime, Ultra Magnus, Kup, Spike, Arcee, Grimlock and the Aerialbots from the planet Goo. In addition, he was able to reconstitute Springer (much like he did Ultra Magnus) after he had been destroyed by a waste disposal unit. It was suggested in the episode that Goo was a colony of Junkion.

Wreck-Gar would also be among the captives in The Killing Jar. The Quintessons were most alarmed by him as a captive since he acted totally opposite of his assumed programing. The Quintessons were convinced that a sterile environment would render him inert. Instead Wreck-Gar proceeded to trash the room, making it into a facsimilie of Junkion.

Wreck-Gar would later appear in Forever is a Long Time Coming, where he, Blurr and Blaster aid a young Alpha Trion in the past.

His signature episode, however, would be the first part of a series of episodes dealing with the Quintesson Journal. The episode was titled The Big Broadcast of 2006. The basic plotline involved a Quintesson signal beamed down into Junkion television sets. The signal was subliminal in nature, and made the Junkions distrust all foreign visitors, the Autobots included. Amidst the chaos the Quintessons attempted to retake their journal, which contained a record of their more dubious dealings between planets. Somehow, though, the signal became scrambled and was sent out throughout the Universe, causing an intergalactic war. The episode also featured Wreck-Gar saying "Yo, Joe!" while charging into battle.

Aside from being a major plot point in the third season, the episode was reprinted verbatim in the pages of Marvel Comics. Much like the Movie adaptation, it was out of continuity with the title's ongoing story.

Wreck-Gar made his final appearance in The Return of Optimus Prime part 1. Rodimus Prime brought the deceased body of Optimus Prime to Wreck-Gar, hoping that the Junkions could repair him. Wreck-Gar stated he was unable to do so (in his classic TV talking way, quoting Star Trek: "I'm a doctor, not a forklift. His engines, they cannot take the strain! He's dead, Jim."). He was last seen being infected by Ultra Magnus and in turn infecting Rodimus Prime. Since he was not shown as being injured or killed, his status and whereabouts at the end of the series remain unknown.

Wreck-Gar would continue to appear in the Japanese cartoon based on the Headmasters. He appeared in the first episode among others, however no reference is made to Wreck-Gar being part of the Junkion tribe. It is unknown, in the Japanese continuity whether Junkion still exists or whether or not Wreck-Gar is still its leader.

Marvel Comics

While Wreck-Gar and the rest of the movie cast would not make any major appearances in the Marvel U.S. run of the Transformers comic, the Marvel U.K. version of the comic would make heavy use of Wreck-Gar and the movie cast in order to fill in the gaps between reprinted US material.

Wreck-Gar's first appearance came in the Fallen Angel arc, when he built the time machine enabling Rodimus Prime, Kup and Blurr to travel back to 1987 in pursuit of the former Decepticon leader Galvatron. Stealing away when the device was activated, Wreck-Gar found the remains of Bumblebee (obliterated by Death's Head, a bounty hunter from the future trying to claim a bounty on Galvatron) and rebuilt him into Goldbug. Subsequently taking part in a diversionary assault on Galvatron (and nearly getting scrapped for it) , Wreck-Gar subsequently rebuilt Galvatron's time-jump mechanism to return all the time travellers to the future, bar Galvatron, who had modified the mechanism to stay behind.

Later, Wreck-Gar returned home to Junk only to discover it had been enslaved by Unicron. Attempting to stay behind, he was captured by Death's Head. It is learned Death's Head also been mentally enslaved by Unicron, whose head had survived after the climactic battle of The Transformers: The Movie. The bounty hunter managed to resist Unicron's control long enough to allow Wreck-Gar to escape, allowing him to go underground and plant a store of explosives. Unfortunately a badly timed assault by Rodimus Prime and the Dinobots caused a tremor which nearly buried Wreck-Gar. The Junkion leader was (somewhat unwillingly) freed by Death's Head and his store of explosives were detonated by the bounty hunter, seemingly destroying Unicron.

His next appearance was as a prisoner of the Quintessons, whose homeworld was dying due to the time rift caused by Galvatron, Cyclonus and Scourge staying in the past. He was nearly fed to a pack of Sharkticons, but was rescued at the last minute by Wheelie. The two unlikely allies then transmitted the Quintessons' plan for colonization throughout the galaxy, making the Quintessons' targets aware of their plans. He continued to appear in the alternate future stories of the UK comics.

Dreamwave Productions

Wreck-Gar also appeared in Dreamwave's take on the G1 comics. When a badly-damaged Megatron was ejected into space by the ever-treacherous Starscream after a battle with Shockwave, Wreck-Gar recovered his body drifting in space. Taking him to Junk and repairing him, Megatron tricked Wreck-Gar into repairing some of the Seeker clones, intending to use them as the beginnings of an army, while telling Wreck-Gar that he was really using them to battle injustice throughout the galaxy. When the Junkion leader discovered the truth, Megatron killed him.

Toys

In the initial toy commercial for Wreck-Gar, he was depicted fighting Autobot Triple Changer Springer. He had a different voice, and it was implied he was allied with the Decepticons.

2007 film

In the 2007 live action film, Bumblebee, whose voice capacitator is damaged, communicates with a combination of music and soundbites from television shows and movies in a manner reminiscent of Wreck-Gar. Also, when Sam Witwicky asks where the Autobots learned to speak English, Optimus Prime claims they did so by studying the Internet, similar to Wreck-Gar's claim that he and the Junkions learned to talk through watching television.

Transformers: Animated

Wreck-Gar appears in the Transformers: Animated series. Though modeled after the G1 version, Wreck Gar's design was influenced by his voice actor "Weird Al" Yankovic, whose 1986 Transformers movie soundtrack song "Dare to Be Stupid" was among the many movie references used in Wreck-Gar's debut. This is shown in such instances as throwing his original motorcycle form from the movie at Bumblebee (after being told to "Give them everything you've got!" by the Angry Archer) and saying the universal greeting "Ba-weep-gragna-weep-nini-bong" to Lugnut. In reference to the usage of Yankovic's song in the film, after Ratchet exclaims that even he can't be stupid enough to destroy the city, Wreck-Gar exclaims, "I am Wreck-Gar, I Dare to be Stupid!"

Animated series

Wreck-Gar first appeared in "Garbage In, Garbage Out" where he is created from a pile of junk by energy from the Allspark. Initially he did not know what he was or what his purpose was, making his way to the police on the assumption that they knew who he was, only to unknowingly save the Angry Archer from them. Wreck-Gar was given his name by the Angry Archer, which is a shortened form of the "Worthless WRECK and "walking pile of GARbage" names Detroit citizens yelled at him while he wandered on the city streets. Throughout the story arc, due to taking any suggestion or threat seriously, Wreck-Gar alternated from the Angry Archer's accomplice to Autobot, then to a "garbage dispenser" after taking Rachet's harsh words to heart. Through Lugnut, Wreck-Gar momentarily became a Decepticon prior to spilling the Allspark power enhanced swarm of nano-bots he collected while aiding the Angry Archer. It only took Ratchet's apology and telling Wreck-Gar to think for himself that the confused transformer choose to be an Autobot hero, sacrificing himself to ultimately save Detroit from the nanobots that could destroy Detroit's technology. In doing so he was lost in the Detroit River, as Ratchet could only fish out the random junk. Though believed gone, Wreck-Gar was actually half-buried at the bottom of the river. It is unknown if he will return.

Animated toys

• Animated Voyager Wreck-Gar (2008/not yet released)

A Voyager sized mold.

References