Talk:Hauler

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I removed the part about Hauler's appearance beign a retcon (instead saying his backstory had been established many years after the fact.)

Hauler's appearance is not a retcon. He was there. He was NAMED. That's Hauler. The explanationf or his later conspicuious absence is a retcon- Hauler's presence is cannon for MtMtE.

(You might argue it's a recton in Japan, but this wiki is english-centric) -Derik 15:03, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Can somebody explain why Derik's revision and page move were reverted? Derik explained what he was doing here on the talk page and in the edit summaries, but then his work was undone by an anonymous editor and Singularity, neither of whom said anything about why. --Steve-o 04:55, 4 August 2006 (UTC)

I was looking into this the other day- tryignt o find substantiation to object- but I cant' find a decent source ot cite that he was called Hauler, not Load Hauler. (In fact, I found one post by someone stating the opposite.) It's POSSIBLE I'm totally misremembering, sicne it was a private conversation (whose 2nd party I no longer recall) that corrected me "no, it's Hauler ont he final package." I just filed the fact and never gave it a second thought.

Even if I am misinformed abotu Hauler's name, the bit about hsi presence not being (strictly) a retcon should be put back.

(I was kinda staying quiet hopign someoen more intimately familiar with the subject would step forward to clarify- all I knwo is froms econd-hand sources. I can't read Japanese.)-Derik 05:11, 4 August 2006 (UTC)

• If you're talking about his name on the final package of the eHobby Exclusive, I can assure you it reads "Load Hauler", if that helps in any way. --DrSpengler 05:21, 4 August 2006 (UTC)

Helps, yes. Validates? No.

Grr, I wish I knwo who told me that, I'd surely give him/her a piece of my mind! -Derik 05:23, 4 August 2006 (UTC)

According to the Inferno/Grapple section of the Transformers Binaltech & TF Collection Complete Guide, his name is romanized as "Roadhauler".

Image Link

I will certainly grant that Japanese guidebooks are not the best source for English names. However, having just spot-checked every other English name in the book, I can find no errors of this variety. As well, I currently can't find any posts by Doug Dlin which relate Hauler's "new" name one way or the other... someone may want to contact him about this. --Monzo 05:43, 4 August 2006 (UTC)

IIRc, fromt he original discussions, the romanization could go either way. (I cant' remember is goign with Load instead or Road was from Ichikawa-kun or not.) Regardless- official romanization v. unofficial. -Derik 05:49, 4 August 2006 (UTC)

Oh. Feel free to kip/edit that Complete Guide scan and the Hauler pics from the Obscure TF site for this profile, by the way. --Monzo 06:26, 4 August 2006 (UTC)

Pretransformer?

How is Hauler a pre-Transformer? He didn't exist until the first episode of Transformers! --ItsWalky 22:06, 15 April 2009 (EDT)

I was thinking that "Hauler" is a Diaclone toy character that didn't have a Transformers toy release. At least until many years later. - Starfield 23:00, 15 April 2009 (EDT)

...there is nothing to suggest that. --ItsWalky 00:03, 16 April 2009 (EDT)

Name of article

I don't immediately understand why this article isn't called "Hauler." The exclusive toy is more prominent than his brief cartoon appearance?
Very odd fact: his toy bio text calls him "Hauler," at least TFU.info's translation of it. What's up with that? (edit: it does seem to be just the translation). - Starfield 22:09, 15 April 2009 (EDT)

Move to Hauler proposal

I propose a move to Hauler: "RoadHauler" is the romanization of the Japanese name of a Japanese toy. "Hauler" is the name in English fiction. I believe the wiki always goes with the English name for the character when available. - Starfield 00:33, 16 April 2009 (EDT)

I have no opinion on this matter. I think the cartoon should dominate... unless "Hauler" was just Cliffjunper colloquially shortening his full name. It really comes down to whether you regard the Japanese name as a different one or the same. -Derik 00:38, 16 April 2009 (EDT)

We do have Beast Changer's article at "Noble," despite his toy name. So if that's our precedent, then fiction should prevail. --ItsWalky 00:42, 16 April 2009 (EDT)

There is also Grip-Lock who is "Grip-Lock" in English fiction and his only toy is "Clamp". - Starfield 01:37, 16 April 2009 (EDT)

Throw me in for "Hauler". —Interrobang 01:40, 16 April 2009 (EDT)

I'm all for Western name first or most prominent identity first, but I don't view either applicable to this case. Unless the Japanese dub of MTMTE didn't call the guy "Hauler", I'm more inclined to view "Hauler" as a shortened version-nickname for Roadhauler, in which case Roadhauler should stay the article's title. I'm against the move unless Hauler wasn't/isn't Hauler in Japan. Geewunling 02:08, 16 April 2009 (EDT)

He was Grapple in Japan. The E-Bobby toy surprised a lto of japanese fans unaware that this guy got a different name in the US.

So RoadHauler is supposed to "represent" his American name. -Derik 02:21, 16 April 2009 (EDT)

E-Bobby sounds funny. ^^ But in that case, I'm withdrawing my objection. I'm not in favour of it still, but the wiki's policy is clear on this matter. Geewunling 02:29, 16 April 2009 (EDT)

I'm not sure where policy lies though-- why isn't he just called "Hauler?" Did that not clear Japanese copyright? Or is he RoadHauler just because that sounds more like a proper TF name? -Derik 03:24, 16 April 2009 (EDT)

Trivia Star War reference

The profile for Hauler seems to make a cute little reference to Star Wars, calling his Cybertronian form a "Binary Load Lifter", which is a reference to the machines C-3P0 used to program. 71.238.50.144 12:40, 2 January 2012 (EST)

Eight Constructicons

To my knowledge, there is no canonical statement that Hauler (or Gravedigger) were among the eight Constructicons that built Megatron in FFOD4. Their eHobby or United EX bios don't say so. There is only the fan assumption that they must be present. The only canon material that directly address Megatron's builders is Devastator's bio in Club #42, which specifically says those eight are NOT Hauler or Hook's team. --Xaaron (talk) 16:02, 17 December 2015 (EST)

Legends Megatron's comic shows Hauler at his creation. Gravedigger/Buildmaster was also obviously conceived so that the eighth would finally have an identity. Saix (talk) 16:16, 17 December 2015 (EST)

What they meant to do is a matter of author intent, not canon. And even with Legends for Hauler, that is only true for that reality. In one Japanese version of the cartoon universe, Hauler is present. In the Wings version of the cartoon universe, Hauler is explicitly not among the eight. In the original cartoon alone, nothing indicated Hauler was present. The original cartoon section should not reflect something that is only true for certain splinter continuities. --Xaaron (talk) 17:35, 17 December 2015 (EST)

Don't move the goalposts. You asked for a "canonical statement" and I gave you one. We've had plenty of G1 cartoon extra characterized as new or pre-existing guys (Strika (BM), Ion Storm); this isn't aby different and what Wings says has no relevance, considering how much FunPub says it has no effect on cartoon continuity. There are only 8 Constructicons in the cartoon. JG1 gives us the names of 8 Constructicons and doesn't claim to have more. 1+1=2 Saix (talk) 09:15, 18 December 2015 (EST)

It is different. Strika and Ion Storm don't have a second source claiming that WASN'T them in the original cartoon. And you're contradicting yourself here by claiming Wings has no relevance, when it was Wings that ID'ed Strika in that episode in the first place. Wings and JG1 are two independent branches of the base cartoon continuity. Hauler is present at FFOD4 in JG1, not Wings. His presence should only be listed under the JG1 headers. --Xaaron (talk) 09:38, 18 December 2015 (EST)

Can't we just, you know, add a note saying "this is true of JG1 but not of Wings, whether it's true in other cartoon continuities is unknown"? --Riptide (talk) 09:48, 18 December 2015 (EST)

I was going to say the exact same thing, but we got in an edit conflict. -Foffy the Sheep (talk) 09:55, 18 December 2015 (EST)

Here is a possibly comparable situation. We refer to Nancy as such though her name came from Japanese guidebooks. S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent 47 (talk) 10:12, 18 December 2015 (EST)

"The Wings Universe is heavily based on the North American cartoon universe, but deviates from it both in cosmetic ways and in several continuity points." When it comes to contradications, yes, it has no relevance. Cartoon > ancillary material actually set in the same continuity > Wings. Strika being that generic doesn't contradict anything, so nobody cares. Saix (talk) 10:17, 18 December 2015 (EST)

All Xaaron is saying is that the summary of the cartoon itself shouldn't say Hauler was in the scene, and that's correct, because it's only true for Japanese G1 continuity, not Wings, and wasn't even stated in-fiction until this year. I've adjusted the article. - Chris McFeely (talk) 10:14, 18 December 2015 (EST)

But Wings has been already been acknowledged as having more than a few differences with the original cartoon (as per the obnoxious note slapped in every Wings section), so why is what it says in this case relevant? It also apaprently says Hook's team didn't make Megatron, so are we now going to remove that from their cartoon sections? Saix (talk) 10:27, 18 December 2015 (EST)

No, because that's actually part of the cartoon, potential continuity error though it might be. Hauler being there isn't. - Chris McFeely (talk) 10:31, 18 December 2015 (EST)

So why do we care about what Wings says about Hauler in particular? If the real argument is that "the cartoon doesn't say so", then there's a lot of pages to be changed. Saix (talk) 11:00, 18 December 2015 (EST)

Because it's a retroactive statement that applies to one continuity only. It's not like giving, say, Sunstorm a name, or Hotlink and Bitstream names. They have names now. That's all that results, and it's always been our policy to use a name if none exists in other courses. Hauler's situation is the active retconning of a character who was in the cartoon already into being another character from the cartoon, but only in that one certain continuity and not in others. I'd compare it to the retcon that Primus is the same guy as the Oracle - we don't have a G1 cartoon section on Primus's page, just a section that describes the Japanese continuity specifically. - Chris McFeely (talk) 11:17, 18 December 2015 (EST)

Visible Mushroom Peg Mouth

Is it notable to add to the description of the Legacy toy that, because his open mouth is actually hollowed out, we can see the top of the mushroom peg inside his mouth? Kyojikasshu (talk) 22:41, 15 October 2022 (EDT)