Lugnutz

Lugnutz is a Decepticon and later Autobot from the Cybertron portion of the Unicron Trilogy continuity family.

I saw the best toys of my generation ignored by fan-ness, starving, hysterical...

Lugnutz (aka Roadstorm) follows where the road takes him. Though he is usually associated with the Decepticons, he has no interest in their goals of conquest. He simply does jobs for them to keep himself in energon, and as soon as that scene gets too heavy, he's outta there. Distancing himself from the lowbrow "L7" creeps under Megatron's employ, he thinks of himself as a "road scholar", roaming the highways and deserts, thinking the deep thoughts and jotting down poetry... between rounds of blowing things up with his rifle "Dutch" to stave off boredom.

His hep lingo sometimes loses those cats he chooses to groove with. Can you dig?

He seems to have something resembling an actual friendship with the Decepticon "femme fatale" Thunderblast.

Fiction

Cybertron cartoon

Voice actor: Michael Adamthwaite (English), Masafumi Kimura (Japanese), Pauli Virta (Finnish, episodes 27–35), Veeti Kallio (Finnish, unknown episodes), Ángel Amorós (Castilian Spanish)

Get off my back, doggy-o!

Lugnutz was one of the many Cybertronians who arrived on Earth on the starship Atlantis. At some point he and many others went rogue, and were hunted down and imprisoned by the Autobots Crosswise and Evac. Trap He was apparently reawakened with the other Ancient Decepticons by Starscream in the (future) modern era, and with Thunderblast observed a group of Autobots arriving at Starscream's volcano island base. Critical

After watching Thunderblast fail to halt Optimus Prime, Override and Evac, Lugnutz became annoyed with the Autobots for harshing his mellow. He transformed and used his Cyber Key attack on Prime—apparently doing no damage to him in the process—and was then hopped onto by Override, who briefly rode him around before he threw her off and rammed into her.

Lugnutz engaged Override in (strangely balletic) hand-to-hand combat, where he failed to land any punches on the speedy Velocitronian. He thought he had an opportunity when Override turned away to warn Prime of a rear assault, but his sucker-punch was caught by his opponent, who flung him away bodily.

When a group of additional Autobots and Megatron's Decepticons arrived at the island, Lugnutz found himself commandeered in cycle mode by Snarl during a massive brawl, who used him to run over an already downed Crumplezone. Complaining that Snarl was scratching his chrome, Lugnutz slammed himself into the side of the volcano, sending them both onto their backs. Assault

"So, uh, 'dad', you know where to score any..."
"Don't even start with me, man."

Majorly bummed out by the continuing fracas, Lugnutz took refuge on a nearby hill to chill out. Ransack soon ran into him, and, after grokking he wasn't hostile, tried way too hard to dig the hep cat's lingo and sat a spell himself.

This doesn't seem to have lasted long, as Lugnutz was by his loneself when the Omega Lock-empowered Starscream burst out of the volcano. Apparently deciding that this gig was nowheresville, Lugnutz vanished after the battle. Starscream

Face it: we're doomed.

Later, a cycle mode Lugnutz was sitting alone in a desert when Mudflap happened to drive by, complaining aloud about his allegiance woes. Lugnutz transformed and sympathathized with his situation, then wondered to himself where Starscream had ended up as Mudflap continued to drive off. Escape

Some time afterwards, he and the remaining Ancient Decepticons returned to Cybertron at Evac's behest when Galvatron threatened to use the Omega Lock and the four Cyber Planet Keys to accelerate the growth of the Unicron Singularity and destroy the universe. Homecoming They joined the Autobots and Decepticons from the various worlds to fight the super-sized Decepticons under Galvatron's command. Lugnutz attempted to talk Thunderblast out of her allegiance with Galvatron, but to no avail. End Once the black hole was closed and Galvatron was defeated, Lugnutz stood next to Crosswise and helped maintain the planetary thrusters which brought the Jungle Planet back into its proper orbit. Unfinished

After Galvatron's destruction, Lugnutz convinced his former foe Evac to join the exploration mission to build the universe-spanning space bridge. He joined Evac and Backstop's crew on the reconstructed ancient starship Hyperborea, taking the Jungle Planet's Cyber Planet Key with them. Beginning

TransTech

An Offworlder in Axiom Nexus, Roadstorm hosted the Axiom Nexus News program Electronic Makeover. Andromeda - Axiom Nexus News, 2016/03/10

Toys

Cybertron

Beachcomber's violent-er cousin.

• Lugnutz (Scout class, 2005 / 2006)

• Takara name: Road Storm
• Takara ID number: GD-12
• Takara release date: July 14, 2005
• Accessories: "Dutch" heat blast rifle/exhaust pipe, Earth Cyber Planet Key
• Cyber Key Code: s3y6
• Known designers: Eric Siebenaler (Hasbro), Yujiro Matsuzaki (TakaraTomy)

A Scout-class toy, Lugnutz transforms into a motorcycle resembling a Harley-Davidson touring bike. Plugging a Cyber Key into his left saddlebag in either mode flips up a portion of his right tailpipe to reveal a (non-firing) blaster and missile rack from his right saddlebag. His left tailpipe assembly becomes his rifle "Dutch". The motorcycle features a peg on the left rear of the vehicle that serves no known purpose. While undocumented, the pipe assembly on his left leg is removable, which adds for some extra show-accuracy in robot mode.

The Takara Galaxy Force version of "Road Storm" has flat-yellow flame paint. The later Hasbro Cybertron version of "Lugnutz" has metallic gold flames, plus adds a Decepticon symbol to the rear license plate. And of course, Lugnutz's Cyber Key has a Cyber Key Code stamped on the back.

Stock photos as seen on Hasbro and Takara package art had Lugnutz's front indicators painted orange, but were unpainted in both versions of the final product.

This mold was redecoed to make Hightail. Another planned redeco for the live-action movie line called Backtrack was planned but ultimately canceled.

• More information on Lugnutz at TFU.info

Universe (2003)

• Lugnutz (Scout, 2007)

• Accessories: "Dutch" tailpipe-rifle, Earth Cyber Planet Key
• Cyber Key Code: s3y6

Lugnutz was one of several Cybertron Scout-class toys also made available on Universe cardbacks, and sold through discount chains like KB Toys. This version is unchanged from the Cybertron release.

Notes

• The name of Lugnutz's rifle, "Dutch", is very likely a nod to motorcycle customizer Kenny Howard AKA "Dutch" or "Von Dutch".
• The robot mode CGI model used in the show never had the pipe assembly present on his left leg, yet it was still present for the vehicle mode CGI model. This means it was either absent on any references given to the animators for the robot mode or they chose to leave it off of the robot mode as it makes for a cleaner design. As mentioned above the pipe assembly is entirely removable on the figure too.
• A preliminary Japanese name for the character was listed in a chart of working names as "Autorocket".^[1]

Foreign names

• Japanese: Road Storm (ロードストーム Rōdo Sutōmu)
• Hungarian: Csapágy ("Lugnut")

References