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Description

KNOCKOUT
Function: Metallurgeon
Alternate Mode: Bugatti Veyron

Strength:2
Intelligence: 8
Speed: 9
Endurance: 3
Rank: 3
Courage: 1
Firepower: 2
Skill: 7

During the Great War, Knockout was a talented and well-respected metallurgeon, notably serving as chief medical officer to General Bludgeon on the Velocitronian front. After Galvatron’s disappearance, Knockout - like many other Decepticons - was granted amnesty for cooperating with the Autobots in identifying holdout Decepticon cells. Though legally absolved of wrongdoing, Knockout found it impossible to return to his former occupation of saving lives on a planet now run by a distrustful opposing faction. Scorned and without accreditation, Knockout was forced to start his own small business in cosmetic metallurgery on the resort planet Hedonia. Although his work began altruistically enough, Knockout quickly realized that much of his clientele was the same Autobot upper-crust that had scoffed at him back on Cybertron. Initially out of spite, Knockout began to remove his anesthetized patients’ internal components and replace them with inferior ones, then sold them on the black market (keeping the best for himself). When the patient reactivated, they were none the wiser until months later when the “new” parts failed. When this business became far more lucrative than Knockout could ever have imagined, he was forced to take his show on the road for fear of being found out, and ultimately took up with the other con-artists and criminals aboard the Darksyde.

Knockout is snobbish and narcissistic to the extreme, conditions which have only been exacerbated by his new choice in career. He is undoubtedly a pristine physical specimen, just as shiny and new on the inside as he is on the outside. As one would expect, this leaves him extremely averse to physical confrontation and other dirty work. This suits him just fine as the Earthbound Decepticons’ new field medic, replacing the far less delicate Scavenger (to everyone’s great relief). On the rare occasion he is forced to join the fray, he carries a double-ended electro-staff which can drop attackers before they get close enough to scuff his paint.
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I believe Knockout here is the first Trasnformers character to be introduced after Legacy started back in 2009. Depending on which way I go with certain forthcoming characters, he may not be the last. Until Knock Out, the Decepticons have never really had a proper medic character, so besides being one of the best parts of Transformers Prime, he's a shoo-in for the position. Former Series 2 medic candidates were Frostbite and a Nazi doctor-inspired, non-triplechanging version of Blitzwing with a flying wing altmode. Kinda glad I didn't go through with that one.

The Prime version of this character's name is consistently parsed "Knock Out" (two words), but I chose to go with "Knockout" (one word) since that variation works better in the "attractive person" sense just as well as the "punch your lights out" sense. Plus he knocks people out with anesthesia being a doctor and all! It works on so many levels!

Oh, and on that note: "metallurgeon" is a cute little term I came up with when I was trying to come up with a punny robotic analogue for plastic surgery. "Metal surgeon" was a bit too clunky, but when I combined them into one word I thought it worked really well since it coincidentally but totally appropriately evokes "metallurgy". I tried to combine "anesthesia" and "stasis" to get "anesthasis" too, but that one was a bridge too far.

Personality-wise he's not too far off from his Prime incarnation. Maybe a little more evil.

Choice in altmode was based solely on the Bugatti Veyron being one of the most expensive cars in the world back when I looked it up. Now it's retired, just like the F-117 and space shuttle and MH-52 and probably most of the car models I used for previous Legacy characters. Whoops! Anyway, the Veyron's also nice because it's pretty distinct from the other bots with car modes, with the weird semicircular grille(?) thing and the gently tapering rear half. Also, I can tell you right now this isn't drawn accurately. I was originally going to make him a "regular" Veyron, then decided right before I did the inks that he should instead be a Grand Sport Vitesse (a convertible), since that would cut out some of the roof-backpack and allow the seats to form his shoulderpads. Then I realized, after I had finished the inks, that it would effect more of his robot mode than I had planned (the window bits on his inner shins and most of his forearm detailing), so I just drew a roof back onto the vehicle mode. So basically it's the front end of a Vitesse (with its distinct grille) tacked onto the back end of a regular-ass Veyron. The paint job is based on a real scheme - it's normally red and black rather than red and maroon, but the layout is the same. Another reason this car makes sense as Knockout.

I tried to carry over the gentle curves of the vehicle mode to the robot mode since I feel like it fits Knockout's luxuriant personality quite well. I tried to stay away from straight lines wherever possible. The difference between him and, say, Swindle is pretty damn striking. Almost looks like they were designed by two different people - I dunno if that's a good thing or not. Diversity is nice, I guess?

Like Perceptor and Bulkhead (and very much unlike Swindle and Frostbite), I got his head design "right" on my very first try. Other than the secondary head-fins, he looks pretty much identical to my first drawing of him from probably over a year ago. He's always had the pointy ears and weird legionnaire crest/pompadour.

Transformation isn't too complex, with his legs made from the length of the vehicle body (the feet are hidden inside the hood - the soles of his feet are the front wheels if that wasn't obvious). The shoulders are inside the "cabin" and the forearms make up the "hatchback". The front end breaks into three pieces, with the two fenders being the collar and the hood breaking in half then rotating and folding up on itself to form the chest. The rear bumper folds up into the abdomen, somehow.

Alright, time for serious chat. I gave very serious thought to explicitly calling out Knockout as being gay in his bio by making reference to Breakdown being his conjunx endura (which coincidentally was recently announced to be the case in the comics), but ultimately decided against it. Now, I am absolutely 100% for gay representation in media, and I am very glad to see IDW taking the initiative on this in the comics. However, the reason I decided not to go through with it it is twofold. Firstly, I have never made reference to any previous character's sexual/romantic preference, gay or straight. I feel like calling out ONLY Knockout's implies that everyone else is straight and that's "normal", and his being gay is only worth mentioning because it's "abnormal". And that's not what I believe. Secondly, maybe an immoral, narcissistic, conceited butcher isn't the best example to hold up as the inaugural LGBT Transformer? Just a thought. Anyway, I'm not sure I should have even brought this up, but in my head Knockout is gay, just not necessarily at the exclusion of all other characters. Feel free to accept him as such or not, I've left the possibility open for either. I just really hope I haven't given offense to anyone (unless you're a homophobe, in which case you can fuck off).

As a final note, no, I will not be doing entries for Bludgeon or Breakdown so don't ask!!!

Description

KNOCKOUT
Function: Metallurgeon
Alternate Mode: Bugatti Veyron

Strength:2
Intelligence: 8
Speed: 9
Endurance: 3
Rank: 3
Courage: 1
Firepower: 2
Skill: 7

During the Great War, Knockout was a talented and well-respected metallurgeon, notably serving as chief medical officer to General Bludgeon on the Velocitronian front. After Galvatron’s disappearance, Knockout - like many other Decepticons - was granted amnesty for cooperating with the Autobots in identifying holdout Decepticon cells. Though legally absolved of wrongdoing, Knockout found it impossible to return to his former occupation of saving lives on a planet now run by a distrustful opposing faction. Scorned and without accreditation, Knockout was forced to start his own small business in cosmetic metallurgery on the resort planet Hedonia. Although his work began altruistically enough, Knockout quickly realized that much of his clientele was the same Autobot upper-crust that had scoffed at him back on Cybertron. Initially out of spite, Knockout began to remove his anesthetized patients’ internal components and replace them with inferior ones, then sold them on the black market (keeping the best for himself). When the patient reactivated, they were none the wiser until months later when the “new” parts failed. When this business became far more lucrative than Knockout could ever have imagined, he was forced to take his show on the road for fear of being found out, and ultimately took up with the other con-artists and criminals aboard the Darksyde.

Knockout is snobbish and narcissistic to the extreme, conditions which have only been exacerbated by his new choice in career. He is undoubtedly a pristine physical specimen, just as shiny and new on the inside as he is on the outside. As one would expect, this leaves him extremely averse to physical confrontation and other dirty work. This suits him just fine as the Earthbound Decepticons’ new field medic, replacing the far less delicate Scavenger (to everyone’s great relief). On the rare occasion he is forced to join the fray, he carries a double-ended electro-staff which can drop attackers before they get close enough to scuff his paint.
-------------------------------------------------
I believe Knockout here is the first Trasnformers character to be introduced after Legacy started back in 2009. Depending on which way I go with certain forthcoming characters, he may not be the last. Until Knock Out, the Decepticons have never really had a proper medic character, so besides being one of the best parts of Transformers Prime, he's a shoo-in for the position. Former Series 2 medic candidates were Frostbite and a Nazi doctor-inspired, non-triplechanging version of Blitzwing with a flying wing altmode. Kinda glad I didn't go through with that one.

The Prime version of this character's name is consistently parsed "Knock Out" (two words), but I chose to go with "Knockout" (one word) since that variation works better in the "attractive person" sense just as well as the "punch your lights out" sense. Plus he knocks people out with anesthesia being a doctor and all! It works on so many levels!

Oh, and on that note: "metallurgeon" is a cute little term I came up with when I was trying to come up with a punny robotic analogue for plastic surgery. "Metal surgeon" was a bit too clunky, but when I combined them into one word I thought it worked really well since it coincidentally but totally appropriately evokes "metallurgy". I tried to combine "anesthesia" and "stasis" to get "anesthasis" too, but that one was a bridge too far.

Personality-wise he's not too far off from his Prime incarnation. Maybe a little more evil.

Choice in altmode was based solely on the Bugatti Veyron being one of the most expensive cars in the world back when I looked it up. Now it's retired, just like the F-117 and space shuttle and MH-52 and probably most of the car models I used for previous Legacy characters. Whoops! Anyway, the Veyron's also nice because it's pretty distinct from the other bots with car modes, with the weird semicircular grille(?) thing and the gently tapering rear half. Also, I can tell you right now this isn't drawn accurately. I was originally going to make him a "regular" Veyron, then decided right before I did the inks that he should instead be a Grand Sport Vitesse (a convertible), since that would cut out some of the roof-backpack and allow the seats to form his shoulderpads. Then I realized, after I had finished the inks, that it would effect more of his robot mode than I had planned (the window bits on his inner shins and most of his forearm detailing), so I just drew a roof back onto the vehicle mode. So basically it's the front end of a Vitesse (with its distinct grille) tacked onto the back end of a regular-ass Veyron. The paint job is based on a real scheme - it's normally red and black rather than red and maroon, but the layout is the same. Another reason this car makes sense as Knockout.

I tried to carry over the gentle curves of the vehicle mode to the robot mode since I feel like it fits Knockout's luxuriant personality quite well. I tried to stay away from straight lines wherever possible. The difference between him and, say, Swindle is pretty damn striking. Almost looks like they were designed by two different people - I dunno if that's a good thing or not. Diversity is nice, I guess?

Like Perceptor and Bulkhead (and very much unlike Swindle and Frostbite), I got his head design "right" on my very first try. Other than the secondary head-fins, he looks pretty much identical to my first drawing of him from probably over a year ago. He's always had the pointy ears and weird legionnaire crest/pompadour.

Transformation isn't too complex, with his legs made from the length of the vehicle body (the feet are hidden inside the hood - the soles of his feet are the front wheels if that wasn't obvious). The shoulders are inside the "cabin" and the forearms make up the "hatchback". The front end breaks into three pieces, with the two fenders being the collar and the hood breaking in half then rotating and folding up on itself to form the chest. The rear bumper folds up into the abdomen, somehow.

Alright, time for serious chat. I gave very serious thought to explicitly calling out Knockout as being gay in his bio by making reference to Breakdown being his conjunx endura (which coincidentally was recently announced to be the case in the comics), but ultimately decided against it. Now, I am absolutely 100% for gay representation in media, and I am very glad to see IDW taking the initiative on this in the comics. However, the reason I decided not to go through with it it is twofold. Firstly, I have never made reference to any previous character's sexual/romantic preference, gay or straight. I feel like calling out ONLY Knockout's implies that everyone else is straight and that's "normal", and his being gay is only worth mentioning because it's "abnormal". And that's not what I believe. Secondly, maybe an immoral, narcissistic, conceited butcher isn't the best example to hold up as the inaugural LGBT Transformer? Just a thought. Anyway, I'm not sure I should have even brought this up, but in my head Knockout is gay, just not necessarily at the exclusion of all other characters. Feel free to accept him as such or not, I've left the possibility open for either. I just really hope I haven't given offense to anyone (unless you're a homophobe, in which case you can fuck off).

As a final note, no, I will not be doing entries for Bludgeon or Breakdown so don't ask!!!