“Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” has visual continuity with its predecessor “Bumblebee.” All of the Autobots who appear in both films look the same, except for Wheeljack.

In “Bumblebee,” Wheeljack, the Autobots’ inventor, had a white-grey color scheme, red and green stripes, a ringed half-oval mouth-plate, and “ear-fins” that lit up when he talked.

In “Beasts,” Wheeljack has a new humanoid design modeled after Steve Urkel, with suspenders, a brown color scheme, a repair van vehicle mode, a mouth, and oversized glasses.

“Beasts” director Steven Caple Jr. explained Wheeljack’s dramatic makeover, telling Uproxx that the changes were already in the works long before he came on board.

Caple Jr. said, “When I got into the film, they had already wanted [...] to redesign [Wheeljack] and actually lean more into the science and nerdy part of Wheeljack.”

The director added, “They felt like the Wheeljack [...] was kind of falling into the lane of the other characters. [...] Just didn't feel like enough variety across the board.”

Wheeljack’s design changes are also due to the origins of “Transformers.” Hasbro imported Japanese toys and rebranded them, including Wheeljack's original “Diaclone” toy figure.

“Transformers” writers had to design characters around the existing toys. Caple Jr., however, saw this as an opportunity to “just [give] [Wheeljack] his whole sort of personality.”