Off Road Patrol

The Off Road Patrol is a team of Autobot Micromasters from the Generation 1 continuity family.

Clockwise from top left: Mudslinger, Powertrain, Tote, Highjump

The Off Road Patrol excel in covert operations set in the rugged wilderness. Which is good, because though they work very well as a team, when it comes to dealing anyone on the outside, they're as independent-minded as they come. The best way to deal with them is just let them do whatever they feel like, then send someone to pick up what's left of their Decepticon targets.

The Off Road Patrol consists of

• Powertrain the semi truck and team leader*
• Highjump the camper truck
• Mudslinger the monster pickup truck
• Tote the van

And sometimes:

• Crunch the dune buggy
• Torque the off-road pickup truck

Fiction

Marvel Comics continuity

Marvel The Transformers comics

Events from the UK-only comic stories are in italics.

On Cybertron, the Micromasters had their size reduced to conserve energy. The data behind their construction was original a closely guarded Autobot secret. So closely guarded, in fact, that the Micromasters were all installed with suicide devices to prevent them from falling into enemy hands. When the Battle Patrol were captured by Thunderwing, Powertrain and the Off Road Patrol joined Roadhandler and the rest of the Micros on a mission to detonate the Decepticon research complex and everything inside before the Battle Patrol could be reverse-engineered by the Decepticons. Loyalty won out over duty, however, and the Micromasters rescued their friends rather than allowing them to be destroyed. A Small War!

Optimus Prime contacted Cybertron to send him more troops to fill the Autobot ranks that were depleted by Starscream. Autobot Command chose the Off Road and Race Car Patrols. At Prime's suggestion the Patrols modified their alternate modes into Earth vehicles and installed mannequin drivers. They then traveled to Earth via Trans-Dimensional Warp portal. They openly displayed their rebellious attitude which led Hi-Q to question their reliability as Autobot soldiers. Prime thought sending them on a mission would be a good way to test them.

A large creature was sighted in the New Jersey meadowlands and the New York City area had been experiencing unusually severe weather. Optimus Prime thought the Decepticons were involved and sent the Patrols to investigate. Mudslinger discovered Iguanus and Skullgrin guarding a stormmaker machine in the meadowlands and engaged them in combat. Iguanus snuck off and was followed to New York City by the Race Car Patrol. Working together as a team, the Off Road Patrol were able to overcome Skullgrin, and Mudslinger destroyed the stormmaker machine. King Con!

After their heroism caught local attention, the Micromasters began acting as regular heroes in the New York area. Powertrain caught some thieves outside a grocery store, while Tailspin of the Race Car Patrol was pitching crooks into the back of Mudslinger. Their celebrity led to Road Handler becoming a popular pro wrestler, but Zarak intervened in order to keep public sentiment from turning in favor of the Autobots. He had Road Handler's fan club assaulted by the Air Strike Patrol, but Highjump and Tailspin drove them to safety. The Interplanetary Wrestling Championship!

Transformers Comic-Magazin

The Race Car Patrol, Off Road Patrol, Rescue Patrol and Sports Car Patrol emerged from hyperspace at several hundred mach into the Ark. A day later, a huge battle took place in New York as the Autobots battled the Decepticons. The Decepticons unleashed a robotic hell-beast known as 'King Con' which the Off Road Patrol help to battle, however Optimus Prime rented a helicopter to fly a banner announcing huge raw oil deposit finds in the Rocky Mountains. After a short hesitation, the Decepticons retreated to pursue these findings. New York — A City Sinking in Terror

Zone story pages

When Victory Saber initiated the "Zone Project", the Off Road Patrol helped rebuild planet Micro into the new and improved planet Zone. To counter this threat, Violengiguar began conquering worlds to build his own Decepticon Zone. All the Micromaster teams, including the Off Road Patrol, were then mobilized to patrol the galaxy, specifically planets where their special abilities would be most useful. Early on, the Off Road Patrol were sent to scout a rocky, mountainous planet. Zone Part 1

Later, King Poseidon and Trypticon were sent to conquer the aquatic world of Wall. The Off Road Patrol engaged them in battle and with the help of Commanders Overload, Erector, Missile Bull and Skywave, they emerged triumphant. Zone Part 3

When the Powered Masters flew off to the Tenth Planet for their showdown with Violengiguar, all the Micromaster teams took command of Zone and vowed to keep it safe in their Commander's absence. Zone Part 10

In Japan, "Flak" (aka Tote) is the leader of the Team rather than Powertrain (aka "Freed").

Dreamwave Generation One continuity

The Off Road Patrol spent their time at The Burn Outs in Little Iacon with the rest of the Autobot and Decepticon Micromasters. Powertrain and Highjump were talking business, about how the 'Con named Blaze Master was getting ready to come over to the Autobots. Meanwhile, Tote and Tailwind were catching up together, while Road Hugger was given Mudslinger a new tat. They watched the race between Big Daddy and Road Handler. The Gray Race

TransTech

A version of the Off Road Patrol found themselves on Axiom Nexus. They joined the Sub-Metro Amateur League Lobbing competition, but were defeated by the Mighty Mechanics, a team composed of bots named “Fixit”, in the championship. Andromeda - Axiom Nexus News, 2015/05/28

Beast Wars: Uprising

Safe Spaces

Toys

The Transformers

Mudslinger

• Off Road Patrol (Micromaster Patrol, 1988/1990)

• Takara ID number: C-335

The Autobot Off Road Patrol are a set of four "off-road" vehicle Micromasters: Powertrain the orange semi truck, Highjump the gray camper truck, Mudslinger the blue monster pickup truck, and Tote the red van. They were only sold together in a complete set.

In Hasbro's markets, the Off Road Patrol, along with the Air Strike Patrol and the Race Car Patrol, was released by Hasbro US in late 1988 (basically, a case of "next year product" being released at the end of the old year), in packaging that differed from the "proper" 1989 Micromasters' redesigned packaging (silver cards and boxes featuring an all-new "Transformers" logo) by retaining a variation of the faction-specific color-coded gradient background on the card and featuring a unique "Micro Transformers" title in a variation of the old, pre-1989 "Transformers" logo. This same basic packaging design was also used for Canada (albeit bilingual English/French) and parts of Europe (bilingual French/Dutch, and Italian-only packaging distributed by GiG). However, a variant of sorts featuring the later 1989 packaging design also exists, and was released (in English-only packaging) in the United Kingdom, where it was sold at Woolworth's stores.

In Takara's markets, the Team was released as the "Off Road Patrol Team", released in the Zone portion of Takara's Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers toyline. They are physically identical to their Hasbro counterparts.

War for Cybertron: Siege

• Autobot Powertrain & Highjump (Micromaster, 2019)

• Hasbro ID number: WFC-S33
• TakaraTomy ID number: SG-33
• TakaraTomy release date: October 25, 2019

Part of the fourth wave of Siege Micromasters, this pair of new molds of Powertrain and Highjump transform from robot to "Cybertronian" (cough) vehicle. Each one also has a third weapon mode, and can combine into a weapon for larger Siege figures to wield.

Notes

Err... Smote, Powerpain, Diechump, and Bloodslinger?

• A retool of the Off Road Patrol as "Micro Commandos" was considered for 1991, replete with hilariously oversized rifles and machine guns.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Off Road Patrol Team (オフロードパトロールチーム Ofu Rōdo Patorōru Chīmu)
• Dutch: Patrouille Terreinwagens ("Off-Road Vehicle Patrol", Generation 1)
• French: Patrouille Tous Terrains ("All Terrain Patrol", Generation 1); Patrouille Tout-Terrain ("All Terrain Patrol", Siege)
• Italian: Expeditors (Generation 1)
• German: Gelände-Patrouille ("All Terrain Patrol", Siege)
• Spanish: Patrulla Todoterreno ("All Terrain Patrol", Siege)