Yamabuki

The name or term "Yellow" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Yellow (disambiguation).

Yamabuki is an Autobot Trainbot from the Japanese portion of the Generation 1 cartoon continuity.

Yamabuki (ヤマブキ), development code Yellow (イエロー Ierō), is the leader of the prototype Trainbots and the Trainbots' overall chief medical officer. Her exceptional diagnostic scanning abilities maker her a savant with a scalpel, but her bedside manner can leave something to be desired. She can combine with her fellow prototypes into the mighty G Liner or with the mainline Trainbots as part of Raiden.

Fiction

Train Wars

Yamabuki's original blue-striped coloration

Yamabuki was one of the prototype Trainbots created by Doctor Fujiyama, initially called "Yellow". After three of the finalized Trainbots were activated, Nightbird managed to break out (thanks to the rogue AI, Shadow) and upgrade herself with the technology at Fujiyama's facility. Called into action, Yellow and her Trainbots met with Nightbird before she could run away with the three remaining unactivated Trainbots. After Nightbird escaped her grasp, Yellow combined with her fellow prototypes to form G Liner, but the combiner was taken over by Shadow's cerebro-shell program. The three remaining Trainbots did a last-ditch effort to literally crash into the combiner, breaking him free of the brainwashing. However, Yellow wasn't too happy about the resulting damage to herself and the other prototype Trainbots. The Train Wars: The Origin

Toys

MPG

When Mello Yello gets her doctorate.

• Trainbot Yamabuki (トレインボットヤマブキ, 2024)

• Release date: 2024 October 26
• ID number: MPG-08
• Accessories: "Yellow Laser" gun, rail A, rail B, head piece for Shiden, joint part
• Known designers: Kōjin Ōno (TakaraTomy), Dai Ono (Tomytec), Yuki Ohshima (concept artist)

Retooled from Trainbot Yukikaze, Yamabuki is the eighth release in MPG. Produced in collaboration with TOMIX, the train department of TakaraTomy's scale model oriented subsidiary Tomytec, the figure converts into a fully HO scale compatible leading car for the 200 Series type "Doctor Yellow" diagnostic train 925/0. Yamabuki's third mode can replace Yukikaze as the left leg of Raiden, forming "Raiden Special Formation Shiden Y" (ライデン特別編成シデンY). In conjunction with Ginou replacing Shouki, Yamabuki can form "Raiden Special Formation Shiden" (ライデン特別編成シデン) with the remaining Trainbots.

Yamabuki includes a retool of Raiden's head (called "Shiden" in this instance), based on early catalog artwork of the Diaclone version of Raiden, which she has the ability to stow in her backpack in her individual robot mode. The figure includes two modular railway sections slated to combine with segments included with the other Trainbots a la the team's original Diaclone plastic tracks. This track can be converted into a base for a stand armature (sold separately), and an adapter is included for a "flying train," a staple of the Headmasters cartoon.

One word of warning is necessary for the aspirant MPG Trainbot diorama builder: the set's adherence to vehicle mode accuracy proves something of a double-edged sword. While the MPG Trainbots adhere to a unified 1:87-ish HO scale, they do not adhere to a unified track width. In accordance with their real-life inspirations, Shouki, Yukikaze, Ginou and Yamabuki utilize standard gauge (true HO) tracks while Getsuei, Suiken, Seizan and Kaen utilize metre gauge (HOm) tracks. It is thus necessary to split the team up accordingly if one is to actually roll the danged things.

• Raw text of MPG Trainbot Yamabuki's bio

Notes

Diaclone Yellowliner

• Yamabuki's name is the Japanese term for the yellow Kerria japonica flower (山吹), known as the Japanese rose (among other names) in English; it literally means "mountain breeze". It is also part of yamabukiiro (山吹色), a word referring to the amber color.
• Yamabuki is based on the "No. 9 Dr. Yellow Shinkansen, Combined Rail Inspection" (No.9 Dr. イエロー新幹線, 総合試験車) deco of the Diaclone mold whose original coloration would later become Yukikaze. Her (in-universe) prototype name comes from the Doctor Yellow trains used to analyze track conditions, as well as the "Yellowliner" (イエローライナー) designation of the Diaclone Train Robo.
• Yamabuki first appeared in Transformers fiction in a yellow-with-blue-stripe color scheme accurate to the aforementioned Diaclone toy. Diaclone Yellowliner was a 200 Series locomotive simply painted to resemble a 0 Series Doctor Yellow locomotive, which was shaped differently (but it was the 80s, and Takara could get away without retooling because the toys were small and simple enough that the lack of detailing could pass for both). When her MPG toy was on the cards, Yamabuki's color scheme was altered to replace the blue stripe with green–the livery of a 200 Series Doctor Yellow–due to the line trying to adhere to real world trains as closely as possible. The yellow/blue Yellowliner scheme was given to Ginou instead, replacing another inaccurate train deco inherited from Diaclone.