Longarm (Movie)

This article is about . For other uses of "Longarm", see Longarm (disambiguation)|The name or term "Longarm" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Longarm (disambiguation).}}
Longarm is an Autobot and a mass-produced drone-unit from the Transformers portion of the movie continuity family.
Stop draggin' my, stop draggin' my, stop draggin' my car arouuuund!

Longarm is a chummy, nice, all around guy who just wants to help. "It never hurts to help" is his creed, and he enjoys working on protecting, repairing, and saving. After all, that's why he's an Autobot. He's almost too nice... he just can't figure out Decepticons at all. To be that angry, mean, treacherous, destructive, or emo, it all just seems like a huge waste of energy and time. Whether he is hauling or providing covering fire, as long as he's providing assistance by protecting his friends and making them smile, then he can smile right back.

There's also units of drones that convert into tow-trucks of the same name. Both the Autobot and Decepticon armies make use of these drones, which are solid, dependable fighters, and can be particularly dangerous.

Fiction

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Titan movie comics

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In a divergent timeline, the Decepticons succeeded at Mission City and conquered the United States. Longarm was part of the Autobot reinforcements. He understandably thought they were a wee bit doomed, unsure of how they were expected to defeat the vast Decepticon legions. Twilight's Last Gleaming, Part: 1 Twilight's Last Gleaming, Part: 2 Nevertheless, he joined the others in landing on Earth, but in the battle at Savannah, Georgia, he was gunned down by the drone hordes. Twilight's Last Gleaming, Part: 3 Twilight's Last Gleaming, Part: 4 His unmoving body had to be removed from the Decepticon facility by Ironhide. Twilight's Last Gleaming, Part: 5

Once repaired, he joined the other Autobots in constant defensive actions against the Decepticons, including protecting San Diego alongside Ironhide. Dark Spark

When the Autobots were fully mobilized to Cybertron to secure Nucleon, Longarm showed he'd developed heavy pessimism after his series of ordeals, grimly stating that it was likely the Nucleon was used up by the Decepticons and Earth was doomed. He was made pilot of the Straxus, and found out Earth was doomed when Unicron teleported into the solar system and shot the Straxus down. Return to Cybertron: Part 3

After Earth was not-doomed, Longarm was briefly seen entering the Autobot ship as they were ordered off Earth. Revolution Part 1

IDW movie comics

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Following the destruction of Megatron and the AllSpark in Mission City, Sector Seven took custody of the inactive tow truck that would one day become Longarm during cleanup operations Alliance #1 and relocated him to a secret base in the Nevada desert. The Reign of Starscream #3

In the years since Sector Seven was shut down, Longarm evolved into a sapient Transformer and eventually joined NEST. Alongside Salvage, he was on covert patrol in China and broke cover to save lives... only to get killed by the arriving Shockwave. Rising Storm #1

The Veiled Threat

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Longarm was a grizzled old veteran from Cybertron who joined the Earth-bound Autobots and was mentored in integrating with Earthly ways by Ratchet. He enjoyed some time outside in his robot mode while hanging out with Kaminari Ishihara on a Diego Garcia beach. Left out of the Zambia mission, Longarm and Knockout hung out in a parking area, and Longarm tried to cool his younger companion's irritation at being denied action, while using his headlights to play with a feral cat.

The pair got their chance at action later, when they were sent to Peru with Epps and Petr Andronov to investigate some Decepticon activity. On arrival, Longarm had to physically restrain Knockout while Epps persuaded the smaller Autobot that his choice of holoavatar was inappropriate for the time period. When local NEST contact Pierre Morales was worried Starscream might be around somewhere, Longarm assured him it was unlikely.

The next day, the NEST team went on the road out of Cuzco and through the Andes, with Longarm taking the rear. Knockout raced ahead briefly and returned with Decepticons in pursuit. Longarm was almost blasted off the side of the mountain, only just catching the side with his finger tips and clambering back up. After saving Epps from a similar fall, he delivered a slap to Knockout and told him off for racing ahead. They were soon set upon by Ruination. Longarm jumped on the larger Decepticon's back and pummeled him, while the rest of the team found themselves fighting Blademaster. After Blademaster sustained a critical amount of damage and plunged to the ground far below, Ruination threw Longarm against the cliff face and moved in to finish him off, but was stopped by Knockout. Ruination retreated, and Longarm thanked Knockout and apologized for striking him earlier. Knockout, for his part, agreed racing ahead had been a mistake and said it wouldn't happen again. With the two Autobots damaged and the Decepticons unlikely to return, the NEST team drove back to Cuzco.

Longarm was later on the NEST mission to Rome, but didn't take part in any combat, perhaps due to the damage he'd sustained in Peru. The Veiled Threat

Toy bios

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I'M A BIT TOO NICE AND FRIENDLY GRRRRR!!

Longarm was brought to life by the AllSpark during the battle of Mission City. Just minutes old, Longarm, driven by Mikaela Banes, came to the aid of Bumblebee who was injured and lost the use of his legs. He drove Bumblebee down the streets of Mission City while Bumblebee continued the battle against the Decepticons. Final Stand toy bio

As one of the "two newest Autobot recruits on Earth", Longarm joined Breakaway in hunting down Sideways and Rampage. While Breakaway fought Rampage, Longarm went after Sideways, chasing him through the streets in vehicle mode. The result of this battle is unknown. Autobot Strike Mission toy bio

Games

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Battle for the Allspark

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Longarm was used as the basis for a chassis available to players as their combatant for the Battle for the Allspark game. Units using this body came in two variations. Autobot-aligned units had a helmet and facemask that vaguely resembled Optimus Prime, while the Decepticon-aligned units had the single-lens design seen in other film-related media.
Longarm units can be either Autobot (top) or Decepticon (bottom).

Longarm units had good Attack and Defense capabilities, but little on speed. Battle for the Allspark

Transformers: The Game

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Longarms are particularly dangerous foes that appear many times against both Autobot and Decepticon. They are capable of swinging the tow-arms on their backs in a wide circle, extending their wrecker-hooks, which results in a devastating slam attack that can send even the larger Transformers sprawling. Since they are also shielded against most artillery in robot mode, this attack can only be interrupted by hurling something at them.

Aside from the previously mentioned facial differences, Autobot Longarms are white with blue detailing while Decepticon versions are white with yellow detailing. Transformers The Game

Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark (3DS)

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Longarm appears in the Rise of the Dark Spark game for Nintendo 3DS as a support unit. Equipping him allows all Earth Autobots' Super Ability Energon costs to be reduced by half.

Rise of the Dark Spark

Toys

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Transformers (2007)

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Destined to be done in green and orange.
  • Longarm (Deluxe Class, 2007)
Part of the fifth wave of Transformers Deluxes, Longarm transforms into an unlicensed Ford F-350 tow truck, capable of towing another toy thanks to his hook-arm. This hook-arm assembly becomes a huge hand-held "quagma cannon" spring-loaded missile launcher in robot mode. Unusual for a Transformers figure, his gun is affixed to his hand with a screw and is not meant to be removed. He has a single, nigh-insignificant automorph feature; his lightbar is geared to fold in half simultaneously.
Unlike most of the other figures based on mass-produced drones seen in Transformers The Game, Longarm appropriately does not use the Decepticon "lens-face" or the Autobot version for that matter, instead going with a new design. Longarm's designer, Alex Kubalsky, was forced to make up his own transformation scheme and robot design since Activision's reference materials had not arrived in time. When it eventually did, he altered the chest and arms of his toy design to more closely match the game design.
Longarm features a minor mis-assembly problem, in that the strut between the crane section and the hook itself is reversed. It is easily fixed by carefully popping off the hook and turning it around, then unscrewing the crane part and flipping the strut. This allows the gun to fit together much better, as depicted on the packaging.
This mold was redecoed into Revenge of the Fallen Hoist.


Even if you're an Autobot, no parking means no parking.
  • Towed to Safety (Multi-pack, UK 2007)
  • Accessories: Missile
This set, available in the UK in 2007, features an unaltered Deluxe class Longarm figure and a Deluxe class 1976 Camaro Bumblebee figure. The window box features a diorama background of the battle in Mission City that was also used in the Bumblebee Vs. Barricade pack.


I'll shoot, you drive!
  • Final Stand (Screen Battles, 2007)
  • Japanese ID number: SB-02
  • Accessories: Missile
This Screen Battles pack (or "Battle Scenes" in Europe) comes with a Longarm figure redecoed in the same paint job as the tow truck Mikaela Banes uses to tow Bumblebee to safety. The "Orson's Towing" markings have been replaced by the "Mike's Towing" markings seen on the actual truck used in the movie. Longarm's interior features a non-removable figurine of Mikaela where the driver's seat would be, plugged into one of the screw holes in the dashboard piece. The pack comes with a battle-damaged posable Bumblebee figure similar to the Robot Replicas toy.
This set comes in a special window box featuring a diorama background of the battle in Mission City.

Revenge of the Fallen

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  • Autobot Strike Mission (Deluxe Class multipack, 2009)
  • Accessories: Missile
Available as a Sam's Club-exclusive, Longarm was packed with Revenge of the Fallen Breakaway, Rampage, and a "battle damaged" version of Sideways. The only deco differences is the faded "battle damage" paint on the legs/front hood, roof, & the rear sides of the vehicle.

Merchandise

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3D Battle-Card Game

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  • Longarm (3D Battle Card, 2007)
  • Card number:
In the 3D Battle-Card Game, the Longarm is on the Autobot side, but features the Decepticon-style head. Pieces punched out from two different cards can be assembled to form a tow-truck or a robot, while a third double-sided card gives its stats and attacks for each mode. He uses the same piece layout as Bonecrusher, just turned around in vehicle mode so the extension is in the back. This layout was also used for Classic Bonecrusher and Inferno in the "Energon Wars" expansion.

Notes

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  • When artist Ken Christiansen turned in the "tow truck drone" design for the Transformers video game, he gave it a green colour scheme in subtle homage to Generation 1 Hoist, unaware of any potential connection to the tow truck seen in the movie. Toy designer Alex Kubalsky did not receive this reference material from Activision in time, but independently drew from Hoist's G1 design for the transformation and robot mode, which is why the toy's head doesn't match either of the two drone heads the Longarm drone has in the game. Hoist appears in the PSP game, as a green-and-orange recolored version of the drone, and that redeco was eventually released in the Revenge of the Fallen toyline, finally fulfilling the original design intent.<ref>"At this point, on my side, I just heard they wanted a tow truck. There was no talk of making it the tow truck that drags Bumblebee around, it was just another vehicle to create a character for. That being said, I originally turned him in with a green paint job, figuring why not? Old fans will at least get the connection...but Hasbro was reluctant to go farther, because at the time, all of this was so new to everyone, games, toys, movie, they kind of wanted to save all the characters for the Bay-verse*...so instead of going all out with yellow cues, and hazard stripes, I just turned in a green one. It's awesome to read that on the other side of the world, that Alex, the toy designer, was pushing for the same thing."—Ken Christiansen on Blogspot, 2022/08/17</ref>
Do I look familiar?
  • Longarm's vehicle mode is modeled after the tow truck Mikaela Banes uses in the movie to carry the damaged Bumblebee into battle. While the markings and paint job are similar, the truck in the film is of GMC make (specifically, an older model of Topkick, similar to Ironhide's alternate mode), while the toy is modeled on a Ford F-350.
  • While the movie tow truck has "Mike's Towing" on the doors, the game model and carded release of the Deluxe-class toy have "Orson's Towing" instead, a reference to Transformers design director Aaron Archer's old screen name "ORSON" on the TFW2005.com boards, as confirmed at a BotCon panel. The Screen Battles multi-pack version returns to "Mike's" markings, however.
  • Longarm's first appearance in official fiction (or a bot matching the appearance of his toy) was actually in the second issue of the Movie Prequel comics, which had him fighting in one of the flashback war scenes. Only in this brief cameo, he seemed to be a Decepticon.
  • In the first issue of Rising Storm, Longarm's head appears to be based on Animated Longarm's. How "ironic" that he was then killed by Shockwave mere panels later.
  • His general personality and quotation seem to be based on the titular character of the 1990s cartoon [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}Eek! The Cat|{{#if:||Eek! The Cat}}]].

Foreign names

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  • Japanese: Longarm (ロングアーム Ronguāmu)

References

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