Sparkplug Witwicky

Sparkplug is the name of several fictional characters in the various Transformers universes.

Transformers: Generation 1
Sparkplug Witwicky is the patriarch of the Witwicky family who was vastly unlike his two sons, in that he was portrayed in startlingly different ways across the two main fictions. The Transformers Classics 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 War, 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.

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, 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.

Books
Sparkplug appeared in the 1984 sticker and story book Return to Cybertron written by Suzanne Weyn 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.

Sparkplug Witwicky appears in the 1985 Forest Rescue Mission coloring book published by Marvel Books.

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.

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. Eventually, it was revealed that this is the case.

Transformers: Armada
Sparkplug is the young Mini-Con partner of Optimus Prime. He bears a striking resemblance to Bumblebee from the G1 series. He transforms into a sports car and normally powerlinks with Optimus on his left shoulder. He is very open and outgoing, and quickly makes friends with Alexis, Carlos, and Rad. Sparkplug usually operates the mobile command base trailer when Prime is not using it in his Super Mode.

While he was essentially the "leader" of the Mini-Cons in the Armada cartoon, like many Mini-Cons, he played a much bigger role in the comics. He was discovered inside the Mini-Con ship along with the Street Action Team (Perceptor) by the kids, and quickly teamed up with Optimus.

Animated series
In the episode "Runaway", Optimus Prime sent Sparkplug to get the Mini-Cons Astroscope, Payload and Skyblast to talk about using their Requiem Blaster form as a weapon for the Autobots.

Dreamwave Productions
Sparkplug appeared among the Mini-Cons in issue #18 of the Transformers: Armada comic book who aided Over-Run using the Mini-Con Matrix in the defeat of Unicron.

Books
Sparkplug appeared in Transformers Armada: First Contact by Chris Sarracini and James Raiz.

Fun Publications
Sparkplug appeared in the text story from Fun Publications called "Force of Habit." This story explained where he was during the events of the Cybertron story. Ultra Magnus was the commander of various Autobot ships sent to other planets in search for the Cyber Planet Keys. Sparkplug served as captain of the Valiant which was sent to a region near Betelgeuse.

Video games
Sparkplug is among the characters appearing in the 2004 Transformers video game for the Playstation.

Toys

 * Armada Mini-Con Sparkplug
 * Sparkplug was released as four toys. The first was a fairly accurate representation that came with the Armada Optimus Prime figure. As with all Mini-Cons, it could powerlink on any of a number of ports studded over Prime.
 * Sparkplug's overall design was heavily inspired by the Generation 1 character, Bumblebee. While the final animated version has some minor design changes, the comic book version retained a lot of details making him very similar to Bumblebee. The Sparkplug toys released in the Armada toy line all take on the more Bumblebee-like design.


 * Armada Mini-Con Corona Sparkplug
 * The second, Corona Sparkplug, was a slight redeco with a metallic gold vacuum-metalized paint job and came in a number of different sets, including with the recolored Powerlinx Optimus Prime figure.
 * The golden Corona Sparkplug figure released in later sets is most likely inspired by Bumblebee's metamorphosis into Goldbug. Both characters had slight robot-mode redesigns with a similar vehicle mode and change from a basic yellow to gold. The two characters also have other parallels, such as being Prime's so-called "side-kick".


 * TV-Boy Micron Prime
 * There was also a green version exclusive to TV Boy magazine in Japan under its Japanese name, Prime.


 * Built to Rule Mini-Con Sparkplug
 * Finally, a Mega-Blox version was available with the Built-To-Rule Optimus Prime model set. While not very accurate in its robot mode, it was a fair representation in vehicle mode.

Transformers film series
Ronald "Ron" Witwicky is Sam's father, played by Kevin Dunn. 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.

Movie plot
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.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Major Sparkplug (last name unknown) is a toy-only character partnered with the Autobot Whirl.

Toys

 * Dark of the Moon Human Alliance Basic Major Sparkplug/Autobot Whirl (2011)
 * Major Sparkplug is packaged with the Autobot Whirl and is compitable with any Human Alliance figure.

Transformers Animated (robot dog)
In Transformers Animated, Sparkplug is the name of Sari Sumdac's pet robot dog.

Animated series
In "Transform and Roll Out!", Sparkplug, also known as Sparky, is Sari's robotic pet dog who likes to chew on Sari's key. According to Professor Sumdac, he built Sparkplug as a gift for Sari on her birthday. Then, Sparkplug and Sari fight over the security key, and Sari got the key after the mutated lice scared away Sparkplug. Even though Sparkplug is Sari's pet, Bulkhead and Bumblebee first thought that Sari is Sparkplug's pet. Bulkhead questioned, "Why would a four-legged bot want a pet that big?". In "Sound and Fury", Sparkplug hasn't been seen much since Sari took an interest in Soundwave. Luckily for him, Isaac still loves him, who is aware Sparkplug's novelty wore off for Sari. He is not seen in the crowd towards Soundwave when mind-controlled.

In "The Return of the Headmaster", once Henry Masterson got his hands on Sparkplug, he becomes an evil robot drone of Henry Masterson and attacks Optimus Prime and Sentinel (without his body).

Transformers Animated (human)
Sparkplug Witwicky is a human miner who works for Issac Sumdac.

Animated series
In "Nature Calls", a human resembling Sparkplug Witwicky, was overseeing two construction bots in a mine, being paid by Isaac Sumdac to find something. Only problem was, that something found them...and it had friends (space barnacles). Sparkplug was attacked, and was presumed dead.

In "Sari, No One's Home", while the Autobots were looking for Scrapper and Mixmaster, the Autobot Bumblebee thought that Sparkplug Witwicky's truck was Mixmaster, and fired several bursts from his stingers, which did nothing to damage the truck. Upon being attacked by another alien lifeform, Sparkplug displayed both calmness and familiarity with modern slang by asking "Dude, why you whaling on my truck?" after Bumblebee's attack.

In "Three's a Crowd", the human Sparkplug drove an oil tanker and got mugged by the Constructicons.

Shattered Glass
The (presumably) evil Sparkplug and his spouse both went unidentified in the "Shattered Glass" storyline. He and his spouse had four kids who they raised to be car theifs, Spike, Buster, Bruce, and Butch.

Transformers: Rescue Bots
In Transformers: Rescue Bots, Chief Charlie Burn's dog is named Sparkplug. He has not yet appeared in the television series, only in the little pack in story comics that come with the toys.