Dropforge

Dropforge is an Autobot Mini-Con from the Robots in Disguise portion of the Aligned continuity family.

There's just one more thing...

Don't make the mistake of judging Dropforge by his size—in spite of his diminutive stature, he's a hardboiled officer of the law who's spent years on the meanest streets of Kaon, with the keen mind, cool head, and deductive skills you'd expect to find in a police detective. He's no pushover in a fight either; if you value anything below your kneecaps, you'll not make the mistake of trying to resist arrest when he brings you in. Unlike many of his fellow officers, Dropforge is more loyal to the spirit rather than the letter of the law, and isn't above bending the rules or overlooking regulations when the need arises.

These days, Dropforge has chosen to largely retire from active duty in favor of teaching the bright-eyed young cadets at the Kaon Police Academy in the dirty work of forensics and detection. Despite his crusty exterior, Dropforge has been known to take a shine to particularly bright students, particularly Strongarm. There aren't many like her, but the kid has the potential be the best of the best.

Fiction

2015 Robots in Disguise cartoon

Voice actor: David Sheinkopf (English), Simon Duprez (French), Peter Reinhardt (German), Enrique Cervantes (Latin-American Spanish)

During her time at the Academy, Strongarm regarded Dropforge as her favourite instructor. Get a Clue On one occasion, however, he caught Strongarm and her classmate Nightra drag-racing in the Academy's Hall of Studies. Strongarm later insisted that she had only been there to talk Nightra out of it. Guilty As Charged

When a case on Earth required some serious detective work, Strongarm remembered Dropforge and tried to mimic some of his mannerisms during her investigations. Get a Clue

Under the reign of the new High Council, Dropforge and a small team of Autobot officers were sent to Earth as part of a bid by Cyclonus to apprehend Bumblebee and his team; like other members of the Autobot police force, they were secretly brainwashed by a long-range signal from Cybertron to keep them loyal and willing to carry out the Council's orders. They landed at a scrapyard outside Crown City and set out to capture the Autobots.

They caught up with their targets on the outskirts of the city and placed them under arrest for a variety of jumped-up charges. All of Bumblebee's team managed to escape, save for Strongarm; after incapacitating Sideswipe and Grimlock, the Mini-Con subdued Bumblebee and imprisoned them all aboard their ship. With the help of Denny and Russell Clay, the officers were lured out of the ship, allowing for the humans to spring their Autobot friends; meanwhile, Strongarm conducted a central processor scan on Dropforge to understand his behavior. The officers chased the fugitive Autobots to a natural gas refinery, where one of Steeljaw's forcefields inadvertently blocked the signal and caused the police 'bots to reboot, breaking the brainwashing. The signal was permanently blocked after Fixit adjusted their processors to new frequencies, and they proceeded back to Cybertron to secretly investigate the cause of the mind-control. Five Fugitives

This subterfuge paid off when Dropforge and his officers were able to take custody of the Bee Team and Steeljaw from the High Council's officers to escort them to the Autobot High Council building as part of their investigation. Freedom Fighters

Notes

• Drop forging is a metalworking process that involves heating metal, pouring it into a die, and dropping a hammer on it to form it into the die's shape. For a paramilitary academy's instructor, it's not an inappropriate name.