Junkyard is a Junkion from the Generation 1 continuity family.

For a guy who doesn't like to fight, he sure is spiky.

Junkyard (aka Junkheap) is the public face of Junkion commerce. When other civilizations come to buy used and refurbished components, more likely than not they find themselves opposite his cheerful patter and easy smile.

Unlike most Junkions, whose non sequitur-laced speech pattern is virtually unintelligible to outsiders, Junkyard limits himself to references whose meaning remains clear even to the uninitiated, and has sometimes (when stressed) even been known to speak in plain English.

Junkyard is notably good at identifying the needs of his customers in order to forge lifelong business relationships, as well as being a skilled technician. Direct combat is not his forte.

Fiction

Generation 1 cartoon continuity

The Transformers cartoon

Voice actor: Michael Bell (English, movie) Jerry Houser (English, "Starscream's Ghost"), Francis Lax (European French)

Some guy's riding me in motorcycle mode! And if you look closely, you'll also see another me riding another me.

Hey can I have one frame of me in robot mode where I'm not obscured by Wreck-Gar's gesturing, please? Is this it?

As Wreck-Gar and the Junkions made ready to attack Ultra Magnus's crew of Autobots, Junkyard observed the intruders through binoculars, and directed the other Junkions aiming the Junk Gun at them. Before they could fire, the Decepticons arrived to attack the Autobots instead, and in the wake of that battle, Junkyard joined Wreck-Gar's war party in striking at the Autobots directly, initially in motorcycle mode. His rider attacked Arcee with an axe, which she retaliated by boring an extendable tire spike into him. This sent them tumbling head-over-heels, but they restored from the damage just as quickly and returned to the chase.

Junkyard was standing behind Wreck-Gar when the Autobot Hot Rod made parley with the Junkions via the Universal greeting, and took part in a spontaneous song-and-dance sequence to celebrate the alliance. After, he led a small group which gathered the remains of the fallen Ultra Magnus and restored him to life.

Wreck-Gar was speaking to Junkyard when Hot Rod's question about Galvatron's location resulted in the wildly popular decision to "destroy Unicron". He was also with Wreck-Gar on the bridge of the Minnow when Unicron crushed it. The Transformers: The Movie

Well, okay, there's a few frames of me in my early model, and sometimes I'm not colored like Scrapheap.

Some time later, the exiled Decepticon Octane traveled to Junkion to pick up a load of used components, intending to transport them to Cybertron. Junkyard's cheerful, garrulous demeanor irritated Octane, who believed (based on past experience) that the trader was trying to sell him more merchandise than he could actually transport. After being bid a friendly goodbye, Octane declared Junkyard a "jerk" under his breath and made a racial slur against all Junkions. Starscream's Ghost

Junkyard was among the Junkions hypnotized by the Quintessons' subliminal messages and helped fight off various groups of (perceived) intruders until the Quintessons' practices were put to an end. The Big Broadcast of 2006

Victory cartoon

Junkyard was in Iron Town when it was attacked by the Decepticon desperadoes. Luckily, Star Saber was there to save the day. The Brave Hero of the Universe - Star Saber

Marvel The Transformers comics

Marvel UK future timelines

When a group of Autobots first crash-landed on the planet of Junk, Junkyard, Scrapheap, and Wreck-Gar assumed the intruders had come about to steal their garbage. They rolled out some Junk Guns to deal with the trespassers, but never got a chance to use them; more Transformers showed up in short order and attacked the previous arrivals. These Decepticons took off after snatching away some bauble from the Autobots, and the Junkions once more readied themselves to attack. Then, a third group of Transformers landed, these ones carrying "tasty sticks" and speaking the universal greeting. The Junkions accepted the Autobots' peace-offerings, fixed up one of their members who had gotten himself scrapped, and joined them in an attack on the planet-devouring Unicron. Unicron was defeated and the Junkions were thereafter allies to the Autobots. The Final Battle!

Junkyard approached the bounty hunter freelance peace-keeper Death's Head during a pursuit on the Planet of Junk, attempting to hire him to liberate his people, who had fallen under the thrall of Unicron. Junkyard told Death's Head he shouldn't terminate his prey (renegade Decepticons Cyclonus and Scourge) if they could be used against Unicron, citing the old Junkion saying "Never waste raw materials."

Under Death's Head's direction Junkyard pretended to be one of the enthralled workforce and lay high explosives around Unicron's foothold headhold on the planet. However, as it turned out, in reality his mind was already snared by Unicron's control, who just used Junkyard to lure Death's Head close enough to him to mind-control him. When Cyclonus and Scourge launched a diversionary attack, Junkyard seemingly broke free and attempted to warn off Death's Head. Unicron destroyed him for his trouble, telling Death's Head to feel no pity for him, as he has been always under his control. The Legacy of Unicron!

Lying to Americans is so much fun... hard to keep a straight face!

A few months later, Junkyard was present when Rodimus Prime tried to contact Junk for information about the missing Wreck-Gar, who had been abducted by the Quintessons. Junkyard had a hard time keeping a straight face as they blew smoke up Rodimus's demands for information, smirking smugly at his overacting comrade.

Shortly thereafter, Junkyard and his friend were waiting for Wreck-Gar on a small asteroid in the Delta Six Quadrant. The Junkions had intercepted the Quintesson Journal (lobbed in their direction by the missing Wreck-Gar some time ago) and had completed a jury-rigged setup to relay its contents via the Junkion World Service.

The journal, documenting the Quintessons far-reaching plans of conquest for hundreds of inhabited worlds, utterly ruined the Quintessons reputation in the galaxy. Makes you wanna grin, doesn't it? Space Pirates!

The Big Broadcast of 2006

When a school of Sharkticons descended on Junkion and started mucking up the place, Wreck-Gar led his soldiers to drive them off, Junkyard among them. The next morning, the Junkions found a present left for them: a new television set! Unbeknownst to them, this set had been left behind by the Sharkticons' masters, the Quintessons. Within its broadcasts was a subliminal message, pushing the Junkions into being overtly aggressive against outsiders and making them organize all of the garbage on their world.

Later, Junkyard looked on as Wreck-Gar redirected the subliminal broadcast back into outer space, resulting in several other warriors amassing in Junkion's orbit to duke it out between themselves. He joined in with his brethren in trying to shoot these invaders down until the Autobot Blaster began playing soothing music, which negated the broadcast's effects. Themselves once more, the Junkions ganged up against Galvatron to drive him and his Decepticons off their homeworld. The Big Broadcast of 2006

Sticker Adventures books

Junkyard, Scrapheap, and Wreck-Gar spotted Blurr when he was scouting the area after he and a few of his colleagues had to make an emergency landing on the Junk Planet. Impressed with his speed, the Junkions decided to rob him of his engine, which brought about a fight between the Junkions and Autobots. Fortunately, Kup and Rodimus Prime located their missing allies, and rather than joined the battle, tested the friendly approach by offering the Junkions the Universal Autobot greeting and an Energon Stick. The Junkions responded positive to this, befriending the Autobots, helping them fix their ship and eventually waving them good-bye. Battle on the Junk Planet

Games

Transformers: Battle Tactics

Junkheap participated in battles against a variety of opponents, both Autobots and Decepticons. Sometimes there were many of him! He was a Common character that could be recruited for 10 units of Cybermetal. Transformers: Battle Tactics

Transformers: Earth Wars

Junkheap was brought to Earth to assist and join Tarn and the Decepticon Justice Division in not only hunting for the Forge Fire Amulet, but fending off Megatron, his Predacons, the Autobots, and the Sentius Twins.Junk Culture

Toys

Generations

Unlike Indiana, not named after the dog.

• Junkheap (Deluxe Class, 2011)

• Accessories: Tailpipe/axe
• Known designers: Andrew Franks (Hasbro)

Part of the final Generations wave in 2011 (alongside Sky Shadow), "Junkheap" is a retool of Wreck-Gar with a new head, transforming into a "junker" dirt bike. His tailpipe assembly transforms into a four-bladed battle-axe, which also has a 3mm clip. Clips on his… well, groin are designed to tab into slots on the bike-mode's seat, meaning he can ride another one of this mold, mimicking the action of The Transformers: The Movie. Furthermore, the figure has tabs and sockets on his robot mode ankles that are supposed to connect to corresponding sockets and tabs of his bike mode to secure his feet, but this is done with very limited success as a result of some part interference. Additionally, the left side of his chest/shoulder assembly refuses to peg in properly in robot mode, a problem that persists with every redeco and retool of the figure.

Junkheap appears to address several design flaws customers encountered with Wreck-Gar that resulted in frequent breakage: The nubs on his rubber handlebars have been cut off at the factory level, allowing for the handles to be easily unhinged and moved to the sides of the gas tank manually during transformation. This is actually recommended in this instance, rather than relying on the automorph gimmick activated by pulling up the gas tank, as this (in combination with the uncut nubs) had resulted in the hinges connecting the handles to the gas tank breaking after just a few transformations.

Additionally, Junkheap's head was originally supposed to feature a different eye/faux window/horn piece (depicted in the instruction art and used by the Shattered Glass Junkheap redeco of the figure), with the faux-handlebar horns resembling cow-horn-shaped corkscrews, whereas the final toy uses Scrapheap's eye/faux window/horn piece, thus leaving him with unremarkable nubs for horns and an eye piece that does not appear to fit his face as intended. This might be a reaction to Wreck-Gar's horns also being prone to breaking.

This mold also served as the basis of the non-toy Beast Wars: Uprising incarnation of Crazybolt.

• More information on Junkheap at TFU.info

Studio Series

With arm pieces acquired directly from his namesake!

• Junkheap (Voyager Class, 2022)

• Movie: The Transformers: The Movie
• Hasbro ID number: 86-14
• TakaraTomy ID number: SS-88
• TakaraTomy release date: August 27, 2022
• Accessories: Front wheel shield (wide), back wheel shield (thin), four-bladed axe, "Junkion Dance Party" backdrop
• Known designers: Evan Brooks (Hasbro), Takashi Kunihiro (TakaraTomy), Mario Carreiro, Christina Murphy and Amy Bence (packaging),^[1] Marcelo Matere (packaging artist)^[2]

Released to commemorate the 35th anniversary of The Transformers: The Movie, Studio Series "Junkheap" is a heavy retool of Voyager Class Wreck-Gar. Changes from Wreck-Gar include a new head, shoulders, upper chest, upper feet and lower arms for the robot mode as well as a new front fairing and gas tank for the motorcycle. It's worth mentioning that the retooled arm piece (included to compromise between animation models) add non-removable, rotating wheel guard pieces, thus giving Junkheap's bike mode a more complete-looking footrest than Wreck-Gar's.

Junkheap comes with the same two spiky shields as Wreck-Gar, which can attach to the sides of his knees in robot mode or form his wheels when in motorcycle mode. They can't be securely attached to his forearms, however, unlike Wreck-Gar, due to the armor plates he has. Junkheap also comes with Wreck-Gar's four-bladed axe, which can either be stored on his back or held in his hand. Much like the above Generations release, one Junkheap can ride another Junkheap/Wreck-Gar's alternate mode, although the riding figure is somewhat out of scale compared to the motorcycle-mode figure, which is more suited towards Deluxe-scale figures such as Studio Series Hot Rod.

The photo to the right is mistransformed, with the arm plates not being rotated into position in bike mode.

Junkheap's arm shields are based on the unfinalized model drawn by Floro Dery, which appeared in season 3 of the Generation 1 cartoon. The rest of him appears to be a mix between the finalized Toei model and the unfinalized Dery model.

Like all other Studio Series toys, the interior of the package forms a display backdrop. Junkheap's backdrop features the same "Junkion dance party" art as Wreck-Gar, albeit cropped marginally differently. This mold was also used to make Scrapheap.

Junkheap was repacked in the final wave of 2024.

Notes

Left: Junkyard's pre-final model by Floro Dery.
Right: Junkyard's finalized model by Toei.

• Junkyard, along with Scrapheap, is one of two non-Wreck-Gar Junkions to have a full character model, including an alternate mode, developed for The Transformers: The Movie, and are present in almost every Junkion crowd scene. This is because the pair were the only two Junkions with dedicated speaking lines in the film's script: after the Junkions first appear, and make ready the Junk Gun, Junkyard, voiced by Michael Bell says "Yeah!", while Scrapheap, voiced by Frank Welker, says "Yeah, or your money back!" (though the animation doesn't actually show their mouths moving). Internally, the pair were referred to only as "Junkion 1" and "Junkion 2" respectively, identified as such in both the movie's dialogue script and in the 1986 The Transformers Universe profile book, though within the film's credits, the two actors are credited only as playing an un-numbered "Junkion."
• Like all new characters designed for the film, Junkyard has two character models: the original, as designed by Floro Dery, seen at the top of this article, and a refined, finalized model created by Toei Animation based on Dery's design (portions of which were recycled for the generic Junkion characters HAZMAT, Greasestain, Wasteoid Gamma, and Ashtray). Rightly, Junkyard only appears with the finalized model in the film itself, but both the Marvel comic and subsequent episodes of the cartoon would use the early Dery model.
• There are at least three Junkyards! He's easy to spot in crowd scenes when in robot mode-- just look for the yellow forearms! They change to a rusty salmon color in motorcycle mode, however.
• Junkyard's appearance in "The Brave Hero of the Universe - Star Saber" uses his finalized Toei model, but with a color more reminiscent of his Dery model.
• Over time, "Junkion 1" has consistently been shown conducting or discussing trade with non-Junkions, probably because his design is the 'friendlier' of the two.
• The name "Junkyard" comes from the Transformers: The Complete Ark book, and was suggested in part by one of the original model artists. Only the original Dery model was included in the book.
• Junkyard's finalized character model was recolored as at least one generic who is seen welding the interior of the Minnow, while the original Dery design was used as several generics in the "The Big Broadcast of 2006" and two generics in the UK Marvel comic, "The Legacy of Unicron!".
• When his first toy was released, it was presumed that his name was rendered as "Junkheap" due to a Hasbro desire to not have characters from Transformers and G.I. Joe share names; the long-established "Junkyard" in Joe had received a toy with that trademarked name only a few years prior. Around the same time, Hasbro had deliberately changed the name of the Joe operative "Shockwave" to "Shockblast", the trademark-friendly alternative name for "our" Shockwave that they no longer had use for. Junkheap's second toy was contemporary with Generations toys of Lift-Ticket, Burn Out, and Breaker, each of whom share names with G.I. Joe characters, so who knows what the current policy is.

References

External links

• "Junkion 1" as part of Wreck-Gar's Universe profile