Lockdown (Transformers Film Series)


 *  NOTE: This article is about the incarnation of Lockdown from the Transformers live-action film series. The mainstream version can be found here: Lockdown. 

"Autobots. Decepticons. Like little children, always fighting, making a mess out of the universe, then I've got to clean it up."

- Lockdown on the Autobots and the Decepticons.

Lockdown is the secondary antagonist of the 2014 film Transformers: Age of Extinction and the main antagonist of the non-canon video game Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark.

He was a ruthless mercenary who had affiliated himself with the Creators as a Cybertronian bounty hunter, which led to his earthly presence when Lockdown was sent by his higher-ups to capture Optimus Prime.

He was voiced by actor Mark Ryan.

Events of the story
Upon arriving on Earth to proceed in completing his mission, Lockdown had, at some point, interacted with Harold Attinger and learned of his purpose of eliminating all Transformers from Earth. The two would form a partnership and a mutual respect, forming a deal that Lockdown would assist Attinger's CIA unit into hunting down Autobots being provided unlimited access to Earth's resources, in exchange for locating Optimus Prime. He finds Ratchet, and asks him where is Optimus, and when Ratchet did not tell, Lockdown simply kills him by ripping out his spark.

Later on, Attinger meets up with Lockdown to discuss their partnership. Lockdown, however, is unimpressed with Attinger and confronts him over the lack of his and his unit's attempts to capture Optimus before questioning their partnership, with Attinger attempting to ensure Lockdown about their joint-quest for achieving their purposes. Afterwards, Attinger suspiciously questions Lockdown over his motives for capturing Optimus and goes on to ask his true intentions, only for Lockdown to respond by warning Attinger about how they're supposed to settle their partnership, blaming Attinger and his mercenaries for causing Optimus to escape across the world.

When Optimus Prime's location is discovered, Attinger sends his personal henchman James Savoy alongside his mercenaries to confront Optimus before warning Lockdown about this. Lockdown gets himself into position where he shoots down the farm of Cade Yeager after witnessing Optimus and his newly human allies, including Cade, fleeing. Lockdown gives chase and catches up with Optimus, but is unable to apprehend him when Optimus fights back. Lockdown then uses one of his grenades to target Optimus' human allies, but is only successful in killing Cade's best friend Lucas, while the others flee with Optimus.

After reuniting with the other Autobots, Optimus gradually begins to learn of Lockdown's presence and his friendship with Attinger, whom Optimus vows to personally kill for his cause against the Transformers. As the story goes on, Lockdown unknowingly gets word of Optimus fighting Galvatron in a rendezvous location and proceeds to intervene their confrontation by heading there and shooting down Optimus. As Galvatron flees, Lockdown approaches Optimus and reveals his true purposes towards him, revealing his affiliation with the Creators in the process. After capturing Optimus aboard his ship, Lockdown heads down to meet with Savoy and his henchmen to honor his deal with Attinger by giving them the Seed, a bomb that will turn the city into Transformium, the mineral that all Transformers are made of. He then leaves them to depart before preparing to launch out into space, but he discovers that the Autobots, alongside Cade, have come to rescue Optimus and sends his hunting party to dispose of them, which is unsuccessful, allowing the Autobots to rescue Optimus and for all of them to quickly escape Lockdown's ship just as it takes off.

Having discovered this, and also finding out that Optimus had freed his Dinobots' captives as well, Lockdown furiously returns to Earth with the intention of hunting down Optimus and reclaiming his Dinobots by any means necessary. He gets word from Attinger about Optimus' current position in Hong Kong, and proceeds to active his magnetic weapon under his ship to recapture Optimus and the Dinobots. He almost succeeds after leveling Hong Kong and nearly killing the Autobots (having outmaneuvered Galvatron's Decepticon army and the remainder of Cemetery Wind's forces, including Savoy), but Optimus manages to destroy the weapon and heads off to confront Lockdown, who disengages from his ship and engages Optimus in a one-on-one brawl. During the battle, Optimus gains the upper hand until he notices that Cade is held up at gunpoint by Attinger. Optimus is forced to save Cade by killing Attinger before resuming his fight with Lockdown, who uses this distraction to overpower Optimus and impale him against the wall with his sword. After disgracing Optimus for betraying his kind over humanity, Lockdown is attacked by Cade before getting fought by Bumblebee. He easily defeats Bumblebee before battling Cade and his family, going on to dispose what remains of his sanity when he declares his intention to kill everyone. While Cade's daughter Tessa and her boyfriend Shane free Optimus, Lockdown corners Cade and prepares to finish him off. Before he can kill Cade, however, Optimus reclaims his sword and surprises Lockdown by impaling his spark before slicing him in half, killing the villainous bounty hunter, and avenging all the Autobots (including Ratchet and Leadfoot) he had killed.

Shorty afterwards, Optimus escapes with Cade and his family after using Lockdown's final grenade to destroy Galvatron's remaining henchmen, which ultimately eradicates Lockdown's deceased body into ashes alongside Attinger's.

Personality
Answering only to his enigmatic "Creators", Lockdown holds himself above the Autobot/Decepticon war and sees both sides as squabbling children that he has to rein in personally. He doesn't think much of other civilized species across the galaxy (particularly humans), though he isn't above working with them if it suits him.

Quotes
"Every galaxy I’ve travelled, all you species are the same. You all think you’re the centre of the universe. You have no idea."

- Lockdown indirectly on the Creators.

"Join your fellow rebels, fugitive scum! It's for the rarest of specimens, the worst of the worst. It's taken centuries, but I've collected all the Knights, but you. The Creators want to sweep their chessboard clean."

- Lockdown to Optimus Prime after he captured him and brought him to his ship.

"There is one way you survive. Tell me where he's hiding? Where is Optimus Prime?"

- Lockdown threatening Ratchet

"I feel sorry for you, Prime. Your allegiance to these humans. The trouble with loyalty to a cause...is that the cause will always betray you!"

- Lockdown to Optimus Prime.

"It's MY fight, and you're ALL gonna die!"

- Lockdown in the final fight saying this is his own fight and he's going to kill everyone.

"You saved the human instead of saving yourself! You bring shame upon us all!"

- Lockdown hypocritically complaining that Optimus chose to value human life more than robot life.

"You see my face, your life is done!"

- Lockdown's last word to Cade out of pride of being murderous.

"You remember this place? Welcome to "The Terminus Knight Ship!"

- Lockdown after Optimus was captured by him and Lockdown brought him (Prime) to his (Lockdown) ship.

"He's mine now."

- Lockdown approaching a badly injured, and possibly dying Ratchet.

"Where do you think you came from? You think you were BORN? No. You were BUILT. And your Creators want you back. We all work for someone."

- Lockdown to Prime after capturing him and Tessa.

"Who fired the anchors? Who's on my ship?! We have a loose prisoner!"

- Lockdown sits in his throne on his ship and feels the Autobots on his ship.

"Never is here."

- Lockdown after he killed Ratchet.

"I also have a saying: I don't care."

- Lockdown meeting with Attinger on his spaceship.

"Optimus, come to me!"

- Lockdown activates the magnet on his ship.

"You promised me human intelligence... or is there such a thing?"

- Lockdown to Attinger

Trivia

 * He's the only Transformer with green eyes as a sign of not being Autobot nor Decepticon. Although, Devastator has green eyes and he is a Decepticon.
 * Lockdown's robot mode greatly resembles Optimus Prime's robot mode in Beast Machine with his face resembling the Quintessons' symbol, except with a scar. This gives a possibility that the Creators are, in fact, the Quintessons.
 * Lockdown was voiced by Mark Ryan, who ironically voiced Autobots from the previous films such as a talking Bumblebee, Jetfire and Ironhide (in the video games based on the first film).
 * It is unknown how Lockdown discovered the Creators.
 * Ironic to one of Lockdown's final words on calling Optimus a disgrace, Lockdown himself worked with a human to hunt down & kill his own kind.
 * Also ironic that his human partner also thinks that humans should never work with transformers despite working with Lockdown.
 * Despite the fact that he is not a Decepticon, his toys each have a Decepticon symbol, and the Transformers video game Rise of the Dark Spark labels him as a Decepticon as well. He is also portrayed in the prequel comics as a former Decepticon.
 * Lockdown having the ability to transform his face into a gun is a reference to Devcon, a G1 Autobot bounty hunter who is known for having a gun on his head, who ironically appeared in the previous film as a Decepticon.
 * Lockdown is originally meant to transform into a weather-beaten bounty hunter's muscle car with an exposed engine block similar to what his Animated counterpart transformed into but was changed into a Lamborghini Aventador due to Lamborghini's advertising of the said vehicle.
 * Some of Lockdown's characteristics mirror that of Lord Chumley, a minor villain from the original Transformers series.

Navigation
Lockdown (filmy)