Throttlebot
From Transformers Wiki
- The Throttlebots are anAutobotsubgroupfrom theGeneration 1continuity family.
TheThrottlebotsare a team ofAutobotswho share a common transformation scheme. Though they are far from the most powerful Autobots around, they are noted for their speed and agility. They often serve as couriers, spies, scouts and saboteurs.
The Throttlebots are:
- Goldbug(gold Volkswagen Beetle)—the rebuilt form of Bumblebee; though insomeuniverses,Goldbugis his own individual
- Chase(red Ferrari Testarossa)—an impatient scout
- Freeway(blue Chevrolet Corvette C4)—a thin-skinned comedian
- Rollbar(green Jeep CJ-7)—a rough-riding macho tracker
- Searchlight(white Ford RS200)—a quiet and reclusive spy
- Wideload(orange dump truck)—a vain and judgemental hauler
Onone occasion,their ranks also included:
- Throttlebot(helicopter)—a reconnaissance flier with a tautological name
Contents |
Fiction
Marvel Comics continuity
MarvelThe Transformerscomics
The Throttlebots were among the numerous Autobot guerrilla units onCybertron,and they led a successful campaign of fuel raids against the ruling Decepticons. However, thanks to a DecepticonTitanium-class Destruction Drone,the Throttlebots were eventually captured and brought tothe officesof the Chief Decepticon Fuel AuditorRatbat.An outbreak ofScrapletshad begun onEarthand unwilling to waste Decepticon troops, Ratbat had ordered them captured so they could go and destroy all of the infected instead—or he would destroy the planet itself to prevent the spread of the deadly disease.
Given new Earth-style vehicle forms and canisters of corrosive acid, the Throttlebots arrived on Earth and soon foundGoldbugin the death throes of a Scraplets infection. They attempted to destroy him, but during the skirmish, Goldbug's human friendCharlie Fongdiscovered a cure for Scraplets, the "rare chemical"water.G.B. Blackrockprovided two tanker trucks full of water at the crater; but the water treatment proved ineffective when the Scraplets merged themselves into a giant monster. It did, however, allow them to heal all the affected Transformers, who disabled the creature with their weapons. The acid was then used to destroy all the remaining Scraplets.The Cure!
Joining Goldbug andBlasteron their travels, the group discovered that the bodies ofGalvatronandUltra Magnushad been found. While they initially intended to let theCombaticonsdestroy Galvatron, they were forced to intervene to save human lives.Ladies' NightThis unfortunately attracted the wrath of the Combaticons,and they came under attack fromVortex.Blaster saw him off, but their attempts to refuel at a Blackrock gas station were blocked by aRAATteam, Rollbar being damaged during the battle.
Running low on fuel and seeking a place to hide and regroup, the Throttlebots chose to stay at a used car lot. When the owner,Big Steve Ludwig,tried to have the damaged Rollbar towed, the Throttlebots revealed themselves to Big Steve to stop him. With a reward posted for information on the group, Big Steve promptly reported the Throttlebots to the authorities, and filled the Throttlebots' fuel tanks withsodato immobilize them.
Later that nightWalter Barnettarrived with a RAAT strike force to pick up the immobile Throttlebots when the Combaticons andProtectobotsboth arrived to take the Throttlebots themselves. Even as he began to realize that there might be two warring factions among the Transformers, Barnett ordered the Throttlebots to be towed away as the Autobot and Decepticoncombinerteams attacked each other.Used Autobots
Taken toTriple-I,the Throttlebots were dissected, rebuilt and constantly interrogated over an increasing volume of Decepticon raids. Unwilling to believe their repeated explanations about two factions, Triple-I made a public declaration that if the raids continued they would execute their prisoners in retaliation. Eager to bump off some Autobots, the Decepticons did just that.
Unable to stop his boss from carrying out the threat and realizing the Throttlebots spoke the truth, Barnett transplanted their brain modules into his young son's remote control cars, allowing the Autobots to survive and even control their new "bodies".
This turned out to be kind of handy after the Ratbat and thePredaconsdiscovered their brain modules were missing from their trashed bodies and gave chase as Barnett sought outBuster Witwicky.Evading the Decepticons in a local mall, Barnett fled with the five original Throttlebots while Buster took Goldbug to the last known location of theArk.Toy Soldiers!
When the US Navy and Triple-I blockaded themysterious desert islandwhere the Decepticons were keeping Buster hostage, Barnett arrived with the still-remote-control-car-housed Throttlebots. When anAutobot turbo-transportarrived to assault the island and rescue Buster, Rollbar piped up to stop the humans attacking it.The Desert Island of Space!
Recovered from Triple-I,Optimus Primehad the five Throttlebots' bodies rebuilt stronger than before. His hope that they would be strong enough to survive theUnderbase-poweredStarscreamwas a vain one, however, as the rogue Decepticon dispatched them before they could even transform.Dark Star
According to Blaster (in an answer in theUK Marvel comic letters page) his favouriteCybertronian footballteam were the "Throttlebot Wanderers", whom he described as "non-league no-hopers".[1]
MarvelGeneration 2comic
Chase was resurrected at some point, with a new paint job, and was part ofHot Spot's team sent to captureMegatron.He was swiftly killed for the second time, right after saying "We'll fight to the death."Final Transformations
Regeneration One
During the invasion of Cybertron by the DecepticonWarworld,Rollbar was seen in a foxhole being shelled by oncomingBlitz Enginesand Neo-Decepticon troopers.Destiny, Part Five
Generation 1 cartoon continuity
The Transformerscartoon
The Throttlebots first saw action when they participated inRodimus Prime's plan to rescue the body ofOptimus Prime,only for themselves,Ultra Magnusand theAerialbotsto enter a trap and become infected by theHate Plague.The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1Bumblebee,having been badly damaged by a rampagingSuperion,received a Throttlebot upgrade when he was rebuilt, and the revived Optimus renamed him Goldbug.The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 2Oddly, Rollbar was mysteriously absent, but his comrades were soon cured of the disease.
By the time Optimus Prime had been firmly re-established as Autobot leader, Rollbar finally had caught up with his chums, and the Throttlebots were part of the defense ofAutobot Cityagainst a Decepticon raid (with varying degrees of success).The Rebirth, Part 1They were later part of the Autobot forces that arrived on Cybertron to fight the Decepticons.The Rebirth, Part 3
The Headmasterscartoon
In the year 2011, the Throttlebots helped defendCybertronwhenGalvatron's forces attempted to conquerVector Sigma.They teamed up withGrimlock,SlagandBeachcomberto fight the new DecepticonHeadmasters,but were put to sleep byMindwipe's hypnosis.Four Warriors Come out of the SkyThe Decepticons were eventually driven away, but soon returned with a new weapon known as theMadmachine,and the Throttlebots were dispatched to fight it. They lost pretty badly against the machine itself, but managed to hold their own against the Headmasters assigned to protect it.The Great Cassette Operation
Later on, they were really, really stupid. During a battle on Earth, the over-eager Throttlebots sneaked off in anAutobot frigateto try to deal with the Decepticon-createdMetamorphoseasteroid, confident that they would succeed where others failed. Their hubris proved to be their undoing, as they fell victim to its gravity-warping field.Approach of the Demon MeteoriteFortunately for them, they were recovered and put back together in time to take part to the final battle on Earth between the Autobots and Decepticons. They attackedPredakingalongside the Autobotclones,but they were defeated again—as usual—and only the intervention ofPointblanksaved them from being taken apart by the gestalt.The Final Showdown on Earth (Part 2)
Legendscomic
In2021,Goldbug found out thatUniversal Peace AlliancechairmanSpike Witwickyhad been replaced with an evil fake and left the Throttlebots to help the real Spike. The impostor declared him a traitor to the Alliance and ordered the other Throttlebots to destroy him, and while they accompanied him to theLegends Worldto confront their leader, they were ultimately too unruly to follow orders and stayed out of the fight.Bonus Edition Vol. 54
2005 IDW continuity
The Throttlebots were an elite subgroup of couriers noted for their exceptional speed. They were assigned toOrvus Base,protecting important scientific research. They themselves were not told any of the details of the research. The base was attacked bySixshot,who, naturally, tore the place up. The Throttlebots were the only ones to escape in a shuttle. Sixshot pursued them to the planetSalvvatan VIII,still after the information.
They landed on the planet and found a store ofenergon cubesand used them to top-off their energy, preparing to take a stand against Sixshot. When Sixshot caught up with them, they put up a fight, but were steadily being overpowered, untilMetroplexintervened and crushed Sixshot. Metroplex then suddenly took off, rambling on about his mission to keep it safe being more important than helping fellow Autobots. He did, however, leave them with provisions and a shuttlecraft, but the Throttlebots were left on the planet wondering what the "it" was that Metroplex referred to.Spotlight: Metroplex
Soon afterwards, Freeway and Wideload perished from their injuries. Using the ship Metroplex provided them with, the Throttlebots left Salvvatan VIII only to be attacked by the damaged but still alive Sixshot. The Throttlebots seemingly managed to kill the wounded Phase Sixer but the damage he inflicted on their ship caused them to be stranded on a planet they would nicknameBotanica.They attempted to call for rescue but their hails went unanswered due to theSurge.They remained stranded for ten years, convinced that the Decepticons had won the war and would one day come to kill them.The Dead Come Home, Part 1The Autobots assumed that the Throttlebots had died and mounted no rescue mission even after theGreat Warhad ended.The Dead Come Home, Part 2
Salvation came for the Throttelbots when they were attacked by a group ofbestial Cybertronians.Though Searchlight fell to the beasts, Goldbug, Chase and Rollbar were rescued byProwl,Garnak,Wheelie,andStardrive,The Dead Come Home, Part 1managing to escape aboard thePeaceful Revolution.The Dead Come Home, Part 2They remained with the group even asDevisiuncame under attack byUnicron,though the Throttlebots' wounded state meant they were unable to leave the ship and aid in the planet's defence.Unstopped and Unstoppable
Beast Wars: Uprising
The Throttlebots were an Autobot team active during the Great War.Goldbugwas their leader, andWideloadanother member untilRodimus Prime's leadership disgusted him to the point of quitting and joining the Decepticons.The Inexorable March
Presumably the Throttlebot team inspired the name of theThrottlebot Wanderermecha-soccerteam.Broken Windshields
Toys
The Transformers
- Known designers:Takayuki Ishizawa(TakaraTomy),Takashi Matsuda(initial concept)
- The Throttlebots were first released in 1987, effectively supplanting theMini Vehicleassortment at the $3 price point. Some versions also came with freeDecoys;in fact, the Throttlebots are theonlytoys that could have the red Decepticon Decoys.
- Each Throttlebot features apull-back motorthat pushes them along smooth surfaces in both vehicle and robot modes. Their transformations are simple, and they have noarticulationwhatsoever; in fact, their robot modes have panel-thin arms and no defined feet at all, instead standing on the compacted wheelbase of their vehicle mode. The figures' transformations are similar to theBattlechargers,even though the Throttlebots lack theautotransformationfeature. Their simplicity has earned the scorn of manyadult fans;however, it makes themextremelydurable, a definite asset when in the hands of a young child. It is very hard to break a Throttlebot.
- Chase, Freeway, and Searchlight maintain the compacted,Choro-Q/Penny Racers-inspired proportions of the original Mini Vehicles, while Goldbug and Rollbar are more proportionate to their real-life vehicle counterparts (Wideload, while roughly proportionate, has the separate issue of beingwildly out of scale with the rest of his team). In fact, the Goldbug figure was the first - and, until the announcement of Bumblebee'sMasterpiecefigure,only- version of Bumblebee/Goldbug to depict a Volkswagen Beetle in realistic proportions.
- The Throttlebots were later re-released in European markets in the early Nineties as part of the "Classics"assortment. In this release, everyone but Wideload wasretooledto remove theirrubsignindent, the heat-sensitive decal proper replaced with a glossy-paper faction sigil. Wideload kept his indent, but like the others, had his rubsign replaced.
Alternators
- Known designers:Steve Bono(Hasbro)
- Rollbar is aredecoofAlternatorsSwindle(himself aretoolofAlternatorsHound), transforming into a 1:24-scale licensed Jeep Wrangler TJ custom with oversized off-road tires and a new bumper with bullbar.
Titans Return
- Known designers:John Warden(Hasbro)
- A redeco/retool ofTitans ReturnLegends Class Bumblebee, with a new head based on Searchlight as a tribute to the art chaos surrounding the character. Originally Chase, the decision to change the name to his new monicker was likely madeverylate in the design process as the instruction booklet in some samples states his name asAutobot Chase.This was likely done to not confuse kids witha different Chase.
Other
- Early solicitations forAlternatorsGrimlockwere listed as "Freeway".
- Anevil version of Goldbugwas released as a convention exclusive in 2008.
Notes
- Artwork provided byShinya OhiraforTV Magazineoffered its own interpretation of the self-propulsion gimmick that thematically linked all members of the Throttlebots. In their case, it was wicked sweetjet packs.
- Thecharacter modelsfor Chase and Searchlight featured swapped heads, an attribute that would appear in all their major classic appearances, including the Marvel comic, the Generation 1 animated series, and evenThe Headmastersanime. The Marvel comic screwed things up a step further, though, by also switching their color schemes; hence, "Chase" appeared as "White Chase With Searchlight's Head," while "Searchlight" was "Red Searchlight With Chase's Head." This only applied to theirrobotforms, though—when in vehicle mode, Chase was red and Searchlight was white!
Foreign names
- Japanese:Throttlebot(スロットルボットSurottorubotto),Throttrobot(The Rebirth, スロットロボットSurottorobotto)
- English:The Stallion Forces(Omni Productionsdub)
- Italian:Racerbot,Motorizzati Rollerbots(Classics)
- Russian:Drosselbot(ДроссельботDrossel'bot)
