Makeshift (Prime)
From Transformers Wiki
| The name or term "Makeshift" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Makeshift (disambiguation). |
- Makeshift is a Decepticon from the Prime portion of the Aligned continuity family.
Makeshift, alias 777, is a Shifter, a legendary breed of Cybertronian who can change his shape into any form that has roughly the same mass. More importantly, he can alter his voice and mannerisms to impersonate other Transformers—and he's pretty good at it too. Makeshift has claimed under interrogation that he doesn't kill his prey when it's not necessary, but he's not the most honest of robots.
Makeshift has formed a distinct enmity with the sometimes-Decepticon Axer.
Contents |
Fiction
Aligned novels
Before the Great War, 777 was a gladiator from the city of Kaon, where he first met Megatron. When the war broke out, he rallied under the Decepticon cause and became a bounty hunter, working in the untamed regions between Kaon and the Hydrax Plateau.
When the Autobots eventually evacuated Cybertron aboard the Ark, Makeshift was ordered to infiltrate the Autobot crew. He posed as the young and eager Autobot known as Hound, after knocking out the real Hound back on Cybertron and leaving him in an abandoned maintenance tunnel. As "Hound", Makeshift made his way aboard the Ark as it left Cybertron, with the rest of Optimus Prime's crew.
Once the Ark stopped on Velocitron for repairs, Makeshift began a campaign to destabilize the planet's strained society. Temporarily taking on a new shape, he privately met with Ransack and his cronies, urging them to overthrow Override's regime and rule Velocitron alone. He also informed them about Megatron, and how the Decepticon leader would soon arrive on Velocitron. After returning to the city of Delta, Makeshift sabotaged the Ark in an attempt to trap the Autobots on Velocitron. This was only a partial success, and had the side effect of alerting Optimus Prime to the presence of a traitor.
After Ransack finally made a play for power, Makeshift resumed his Hound persona and travelled with the Autobots to the world of Junkion; while the ship was in orbit he sabotaged the vessel by knocking out its engines, causing it to crash. While the Autobots recovered, he killed and took the form of a Junkion trader known as Shearbolt to misdirect Prime's search teams.
When Prowl finally realized Hound was not who he seemed, the Autobots hatched a plan to trap the Shifter. Optimus and Jazz managed to outwit him and trapped him in a stasis field, where he could no longer change shape. After an interrogation session, he was taken prisoner by the Junkions and trapped in an old spaceship component, unable to escape. This didn't last long, however; When Megatron removed the Requiem Blaster, the component was broken and Makeshift managed to break free. Not only did he refuse to help Axer, but he also sold him out to the Star Seekers while masquerading as Wreck-Gar's friend Detritus. After breaking character, Makeshift managed to elude the furious Junkions and escaped to parts unknown. Exiles
Prime cartoon
- Voice actor: Kevin Michael Richardson (English), James Horan (English, as Wheeljack), Yūki Tai (Japanese), Dennis Schmidt-Foß (German), Fábio Moura (Brazilian Portuguese), Miguel Ángel Pérez (Spain-Spanish), Alejandro Villeli (Latin-American Spanish), Alessandro Zurla (Italian)
Makeshift was one of the many troops under Starscream's command. When Bulkhead's old Wrecker buddy Wheeljack was on his way to Earth, Soundwave downloaded the Autobot's form and war record into Makeshift, so that he could impersonate Wheeljack. The real Wheeljack was captured, and Makeshift took his place on the battlefield in time for Bulkhead, Arcee and Bumblebee to arrive.
The Autobots accepted Makeshift as Wheeljack and held an impromptu party. Makeshift attempted to fulfill his mission and activate the GroundBridge for the Decepticons to storm in through, but it had been damaged in a recent Scraplet attack, and Ratchet had it deactivated for repairs. As Bulkhead's suspicion rose, Makeshift asked to be shown around by Miko. He managed to learn the location of the Autobot base from her, and asked if she could show her where the exit was. This led them back to the main control room, where a suspicious Bulkhead demanded he tell the story of their involvement at the Battle of Darkmount Pass. Makeshift recalled the information from Wheeljack's war record, but got a vital fact wrong: Bulkhead had left the Wreckers before the battle. When Bulkhead pointed out his error, Makeshift realized he'd been made, and took Miko hostage, threatening to "squeeze her into pulp".
The GroundBridge was eventually ready, and Makeshift activated it at the coordinates he'd been given. As he prepared to go through it, Wheeljack, who'd escaped the Decepticons, came through in the other direction. The pair dueled with their swords until Wheeljack was victorious, and Bulkhead threw Makeshift through the ground bridge. Arriving on the top of the Decepticon ship, Makeshift was about to report the location of the Autobot base, but had failed to notice that the grenade he carried at his hip had been set off by the Autobots. As Starscream and Soundwave bailed, Makeshift was caught in the ensuing explosion. Con Job
When Smokescreen arrived on Earth, the other Autobots were hesitant to trust him, remembering their encounter with Makeshift. New Recruit
Little, Brown, and Company books
Notes
- While being at the center of an explosion has often been a nonfatal event for Transformers in past series, Prime executive producer Jeff Kline has stated that "When we kill a character, we kill a character"[1] (though this was later proven untrue as the historically hard-to-kill Megatron was brought back from the dead by the power of Unicron and Bumblebee being revived by the Omega Lock). At BotCon 2011, the Prime show runners admitted to realizing that introducing a character with Makeshift's powers so early into the show's run was an unwanted limitation on future episodes,[2] which made his quick demise a necessity. Well, that, plus, y'know, he found out where the Autobots' base was, and thus had to die by necessity of the plot.
Foreign names
- Japanese: Makeshift (メイクシフト Meikushifuto)
- Mandarin: Qiān-miàn Kè (千面客, "Thousand-faced Guest")
