Dirt Boss (Armada)
From Transformers Wiki
| The name or term "Dirt Boss" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, seeDirt Boss (disambiguation). |
- Dirt Boss is aMini-Confrom theArmadaportion of theUnicron Trilogy continuity family.
Filthy both physically and verbally,Dirt Bossintentionally skips maintenance checkups to keep his engine loud and misfiring, despite the risks this poses to him. Foul-mouthed and foul-smelling, he enjoys shocking and annoying those around him. Few can stand to be around him for any length of time; even hisRace Mini-Con Teamallies, who are likely the only ones who willingly spendanytime with him at all, occasionally need to just get away.
And yet, Dirt Boss might actually be thesmartestof the team, with extensive knowledge of high-level physics and entropy studies. Not that he ever really looks for a useful application for this information... but it certainly does give some insight into his attitude.
Dirt Boss combines with the rest of the Race Mini-Con Team to form theSkyboomshield.
| “ | Keep it down and dirty! | ” |
—Dirt Boss'sbioquote. | ||
Contents |
Fiction
Armadacartoon
Dirt Boss was one of the first two Mini-Con panels belonging to the Race Team that were captured by the Decepticons.OvermatchConspiracyHe finally came on-line when the Decepticons gathered all three panels, and joined with Downshift and Mirage to form the Skyboom Shield underMegatron's control.Reinforcement
In the next battle, Megatron assembled both theAir Defense Teamand the Race Team into the two most powerful weapons in the universe. Armed with both theStar Saberand the Skyboom Shield, he toyed withOptimus Primeuntil his overconfidence caused him to lose his grip on the Shield. Prime's Mini-Con partnerSparkplugthen "locked on" to the Skyboom Shield and brought it under Prime's control, thwarting Megatron's killing strike with the Saber and balancing the powers between the two sides.Decisive Battle
Because the Skyboom Shield was in such demand by the Autobots to protect them from the Star Saber (and later theRequiem Blaster), Dirt Boss and the Race Team appeared quite infrequently as individuals. AfterStarscreamandJetfirerescuedFirebotfromMars,Dirt Boss was among the Mini-Cons who welcomed the new arrival to the Autobots.MarsLater, Dirt Boss and the Race Team went for a walk with the kids to catch some fresh air. Unfortunately, their little stroll happened just asBillyandFredreported thatThrusthad met with Starscream. Squidhead had asked for the Skyboom Shield Mini-Cons as collateral for letting Starscream back into the Decepticons, so their sudden disappearance from the base didn't look too good for the former Decepticon. The Autobots' distrust for Starscream in part led to his decision to take Thrust up on his offer, and so even afterHot Shotuncovered the kids and the Race Team and cleared his name, Starscream stole the Skyboom Shield for Megatron and returned to the Decepticons.Crack
Dirt Boss and the Race Team had little time to act as individuals after that, remaining powerlinxed as the Skyboom Shield while the Decepticons used the shield as one-third of theHydra Cannon,before it was stolen by Thrust and used to provide power to the heart of Unicron. Mirage, Dirt Boss and Downshift reawakened as individuals with the help ofHigh Wireand theStreet Action Mini-Con Team,who had journeyed to Unicron's core with Optimus Prime,Galvatronand the Earth children to grant the super-weapon Mini-Cons their freedom.OriginDirt Boss fled Unicron aboard the AutobotJetfirejust before the Chaos-Bringer was finally destroyed.Mortal Combat
DreamwaveArmadacomic
Dirt Boss was painfully cut open and altered by theDecepticonsso that they could draw out his power for their own use.Armada #1He was among the Mini-Cons who escaped from them and ended up onEarth'smoonunder the command ofDualor.Armada #9However, the Decepticons eventually found them and attacked theirmoonbase,forcing Dirt Boss and the others to abandon it.Armada #11After escaping to Earth, he and the other Race Team members joined the Autobots, though they were tempted byRookto leave when it seemed the Autobots wouldn't help save a lost Mini-Con escape pod.Fire & IceThey were among the reinforcements sent toAlaskaafter theAdventure Teamgot into trouble withThrustandCyclonus.Dirt Boss and his companions found that Thrust had already been defeated, but Cyclonus was still up and going, and their attempts to fight him were not too successful.Armada #13
Later, the Race Team joined the rest of the Earthbound Mini-Cons in traveling back to Cybertron, which was under attack byUnicron.They were presumably part of theMini-Con Matrixceremony at theLoop,which caused Unicron some major damage.The End
PaniniArmadacomic
AlongsideMirage,Dirt Boss was captured byThrustduring the early days of the Mini-Con kidnappings. The two escaped and joinedDualor,who had devised a plan to kill Megatron.Counter-Strike!
Cybertrontoy bios
Dirt Boss was sent toVelocitronunder the "protection" ofRed Alert,in order to split the Road Assault Team up to make it harder forMegatronto steal the entire Team and re-assemble the Skyboom shield.
Meanwhile, an alternate-universe version of Dirt Boss fell through a rip in space-time and landed onEarth.He was found byLandmine,who took the grimy Mini-Con under his wing. They probably get along great together.
Toys
Armada
- Race Mini-Con Team(Mini-Con 3-pack,2002)
- Takara name:Race Micron
- Takara ID number:MM-05
- Takara release date:December 26,2002
- Known designers:Shogo Hasui(Takara)
- ArmadaDirt Boss transforms into a Volkswagen Lupo Rally Car. He also unfolds to form the middle portion of theSkyboom Shieldwith his pack-in teammatesDownshiftandMirage.
- As a Mini-Con, he has aPowerlinxsocket on the underside of his vehicle mode that allows him to attach to larger toys with compatible Powerlinx plugs, activating specialgimmickson the larger toys when attached to a "live" plug.
- In theHasbroline, the Race Mini-Con Team was released in the second assortment of Mini-Con teams. In Japan, it was part of the massive first wave ofLegend of the Micronsproduct, released inDecember2002. Aside from packaging, there are no noteworthy differences between the two releases.
- This mold was also used to makeMidship.
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- Grap & Race Micron(Multi-pack, 2002)
- Sonokong name:Smoky & Race
- ID number:MS-02
- Takara release date:December 26,2002
- The Race Microns were also available in Japan in a multi-pack withGrapand his Mini-Con partnerLift.Grap's expandable crane-boom serves as a launching ramp for the Race Micron's jet-like Cosmotector combined mode. All of the toys in this set are identical to their individual Takara releases.
- This set was also released bySonokongin Korea, with no changes from the Takara release, other than the packaging. This was also the only way to obtain "Smoky" (Smokescreen) and the "Races" in Korea.
- Race Micron Exdimensions(Mini-Con 3-pack, 2002)
- ID number:MM-10
- Release date:December 26,2002
- A limited-edition (but still regular-retail)redecoof the Race Microns was made available in Japan as part of theExdimensionsseries. The entire team was given a deco in varying shades of blue.
- This toy also doubles as the separate characterDrift.
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- Drift(Change Micron,2003)
- Change Micron ID number:3
- Release date:August?? 2003
- This version of the toy is a "candy toy"produced byKabayaas part of the secondChange Micronassortment, sold mainly in convenience stores. The toy is actually an all-new tooling based on the original mold, with minor changes to small details. This version also lacks nearly all of the rallytampographs,retaining only the hood-stripes (and made those thicker to boot), plus loses the headlamp paint.
- Road Assault Mini-Con Team(Mini-Con 3-pack, 2003)
- Released in the sixth wave ofArmadaMini-Con Teams, this set is a redeco of the Race Mini-Con Team under a new name. This time, Dirt Boss was colored black and red with yellow flame details.
- This redeco of the team was given the distinction of being a corrupted version of the Skyboom Shield when in possession of the Decepticons, to coincide with theAir Assault Mini-Con Team/Dark Saberrepaint, via theDreamwaveMore than Meets the Eyeprofile books.
- Drift Road Assault Edition(Promotional Micron, 2003)
- Release date:August 2,2003
- In Japan, individually-bagged members of the Road Assault Team were only available aspromotional giveaways,a random member of the Team given free with the purchase ofArmadaJetfireorTidal Waveat Ito Yokaido stores in August.
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- Drift(Micron Booster, 2003)
- Booster ID number:6
- Release date:August 7,2003
- Part of the firstMicron Boosterset, this version of Drift is almost totally identical to the original retail version of the toy, only this release uses a slightly-sparkly plastic and paint. Whoopee.
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- Predacon with Side Burn and Skid-Z(Max-Con Class, 2003)
- Scavenger with Rollbar(Max-Con Class, 2003)
- Thundercracker with Zapmaster(Max-Con Class, 2003)
- The complete Race Mini-Con Team was also included as bonus add-ons with several Max-Con Class toys; samples ofPredacon,ScavengerandThundercrackerhave been found.
- Unfortunately, what retail chain offered these is unknown at this time.
- Dirt Boss(Tiny Tin,2004)
- Accessories:Carrying tin
- In Europe, all three members of the Race Mini-Con Team were made available individually via theTiny Tinsline, under the originalArmadabranding. The toys themselves were unchanged from the original versions, but now each figure included a Tiny Tin carrying case.
Universe(2003)
- Dirt Boss(Tiny Tin, 2004)
- Accessories:Carrying tin
- In the United States, theTiny Tinsversions of the Race Mini-Con Team members were released in different packaging than their European counterparts, branded as part of theUniverseline that didn't exist in Europe. Someerrorsoccurred, resulting in EuropeanArmada-branded Tiny Tin carrying cases being sold on AmericanUniversecardbacks.
Energon
- Race Mini-Con Team / Space Mini-Con Team(Mini-Con 6-pack, 2004)
- An unaltered version of the Road Assault Mini-Con Team was released as part of anEnergon"Mini-Con 6-pack" with theSpace Mini-Con Team.
- This set was exclusive to bothToys "R" UsandWalmartstores.
Cybertron
- Landmine with Dirt Boss(Bonus pack,2006)
- Red Alert with Dirt Boss(Bonus pack, 2006)
- Accessories:Carrying tin
- A newredecoof Dirt Boss with aTiny Tinscarrying mini-case was packed in specialWalmart-exclusivesets. Dirt Boss was packaged with bothRed AlertandLandmine.
- HasbrocopywriterForest Leeconfirmed that theCybertronTiny Tins-exclusives were originally planned with two different Race Mini-Con Team decos in mind, hence the backstory involving one version of the team being from an alternate universe and the tins' decos showing the Mini-Cons in silhouette rather than the normal full-color images. He could not confirm what the then-chosen decos were, however, but it seems likely they would have beenrebrandedre-releases of the two schemes fromArmada,given the use of "Road Assault Mini-Con Team".
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Notes
- The Race Team are the only one of the three "legendary Mini-Con weapon" Teams to be released in all three chapters of theUnicron Trilogy.
Foreign names
- Japanese:Drift(ドリフトDorifuto)
- Korean:Indy(인디Indi)
