Who is Knockout and Why is Knockout?

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Everyone always asks “who is Knockout?” but nobody ever asks “how is Knockout?”

God damn did Knockouts voice actor do an AMAZING job

I think Knockouts reasons for swapping sides go beyond "Shut it, you!". Ever since Shockwave, Knockout had been pushed to the side. He was being treated lesser, had his post stripped from him, was being treated as just an errand boy. In his own words, "Knockout fetch this, Knockout do that, it wasn't that long ago I was running this lab". Then when Megatron was demanding to know what was going on in the Terrorcon episode, Starscream instantly shifted the blame entirely on Knockout. Even if Megatron wasn't completely buying Starscreams bullshit for a second, that still must have hurt, or at the very least just pissed him off. By "Shut it, you!" Knockout had probably had enough. He tried to help Starscream again, but he was rude to Knockout one last time. To me, the face Knockout makes after Starscream tells him to shut up isn't him revaluating his life choices, its him looking back at how he was treated in the Decepticons, and how he no longer had the one bot (Breakdown) who was actually a genuine friend to him among them anymore. Plus Ratchets politeness, actually thanking Knockout for helping in a task, even if Ratchet was just trying to make absolute certain he wasn't being sussed out. He knew the Autobots were polite with each other, and especially with the Decepticons crumbling he didn't see a reason to stay with them any longer. Edit: Bonus for Knockout, humans get to keep on going. He might not have shown any interest in humans themselves, but he clearly loves our media and vehicles. If we don't go, those things don't go.

Had Starscream not shifted blame onto Knockout in “Thirst”, he wouldn’t have left the Decepticons. Knockout had considered Starscream a friend. By that point, he stop considering Starscream as a friend

Breakdown is pretty much the only friendly con. He actually takes time to be friendly with vehicon workers

"Transformers has been shy about showing same-gender romance" Transformers Prime was pretty shy about showing ANY romance, which is exactly how I like it.

Knockout's sudden character shift at the end feels entirely mercenary. He carries little of the Decepticon ideology with him; he only switched sides when he weighed the odds and realized retaking the Nemesis would be a generally bad idea. He's probably just as shallow an Autobot as he was a Decepticon, though he definitely can't get away with cruelty.

Knockout AKA, the deception that the show runners literally never wanted to kill. And for good reason. Knockout should stay online in every continuity he's in, lol.

Maybe he did cry when Breakdown died but if he showed any sorrow others would see him as a weak target so he hides it. Plus the reason why he didn't feel any sympathy to cylas breakdown was because it wasn't Breakdown any more it was this disgusting thing using his body in Knockout's mind he is avenging for what M.E.C.H did to the one he cared and loved.

the writers really went "yeah but what if we added a twink"

Knockout unironically helped me find out who I am 😭 He is an icon, and even though he really was somewhat shallow in TFP, fanfics and the comics can help him 🙏

And this is why I appreciate the comics for continuing his character by just a smidge. At least then, he showed some compassion. Hell, he left his home planet Velocitron, populated by typically speedy bots, so he could make Breakdown more comfortable, as he faced discrimination for being a slower bot. That? That’s adorable. He was willing to give up even the tiniest bit of his comfort to attend to his Conjunx’s needs. If only they made him as caring and not making everything about him self-absorbed. They could’ve even pulled the trope that his “selfishness” was a facade and have some episodes of development showing him having genuine moments of care and interest shining through that mask. But you can pretty much judge Prime Knockout by his “book cover”. They were so concerned on showing their chemistry too, but couldn’t bother with that.

"For the most creative use of a shield generator in a supporting role, the winner is....Knockout!" Knockout I think was one of the first Decepticon characters I actually liked as a kid, never before had I thought I'd be cheering for a Decepticon

The fact that the Medic & Scientist of the group is a Friendly Flamboyant dude instead of the Cold & Rcaional One is JUST PEAK CLEVER WRITTING

The tendency of transformers fans to attach themselves to fanon so deeply. It’s pretty unique as far as fandoms go in uniformity, to where we collectively shift a character based on the traits we want from the character

To me that one line from knokcout that stands out was "You scratched my paint?! Prepare for surgery"

Starscream: Fliers fly straight, land vehicles however

One of the greatest transformers characters to ever be created we love this sassy decepticon doctor the and only "knockout"

I feel about Knockout the same way I feel about Himuro from Aggretsuko: I don’t care how shallow the writing is, the guy steals the spotlight in all the best ways.