Dualor (Armada)

Dualor is a Mini-Con from the Armada portion of the Unicron Trilogy continuity family.

Son of Singlor, brother to Triplor.

The leader of the Destruction Mini-Con Team, Dualor might very well be one of the most dangerous Mini-Cons ever. Not so much for his physical attributes, which are admittedly impressive. But Dualor is a staunch believer in Mini-Con independence, loathing all "bulks", be they Decepticon or Autobot. He will lie, coerce, bully, and flat-out kidnap others into his cause. And there is nothing he's not willing to sacrifice... even other Mini-Cons, whether they signed up for his vision of how things should be or not. If innocents must suffer and die for his cause, well, so be it.

People like this need watching. Preferably from a distance, behind a barrier of some kind.

Japanese name: Duster

Fiction

Dreamwave Armada comics continuity

Prior to the war, Dualor was a resident of Mini-con Village C52. Dualor always longed to assert himself, but Rollbar's level-headed leadership never gave him a chance. Dualor was captured alongside his fellow residents when Cyclonus broke through the village's defenses.

When Megatron took over Cyber City, he took a peek in one of the Mini-Con containers. Dualor (along with Buzzsaw and Blackout) looked up, and Dualor begged him that the Mini-Cons would do anything so long as Megatron didn't harm them. Two seconds later, the Mini-Con escape ship blasted off, leaving Dualor trapped with Megatron along with the other handful of Mini-Cons the Decepticons had brought with them. Armada #2

After their escape craft crashed on Earth's moon, Dualor (who had MAGICALLY changed places!) finally found himself in the position of responsibility he'd long craved, founding the Mini-Con Militia and building the concealed Mini-con Fortress Base. He used the constant threat of future Decepticon aggression to build a stable, regimented society which he ruled with his fellow members of the Destruction Team, Buzzsaw and Drillbit. Fortress When the Mini-Cons on Earth awakened one million years later, Dualor was prepared to take drastic action to de-escalate the situation. He sent an Ark to Earth, involuntarily drawing many of the planet's Mini-cons to him via an override signal.

The Moon base was prepared for any possible Decepticon invasion, with massive ammunition stockpiles. The Mini-Con militia was less keen on the idea of fighting the Autobots (Buzz Saw even admired Optimus Prime), but Dualor feared that the Autobots had grown too dependent on Mini-Con augmentation to be trusted. He secretly placed the Autobots' human ally Rad (who had stowed away on the Ark) in an orbital mine to dissuade Optimus Prime's approach.

Leader-1 subsequently attacked Dualor and his teammates in order to take over the fortress's control center in a bid to destroy Megatron. The attempt was unsuccessful, but resulted in the incapacitated Destruction Team falling into Megatron's clutches.

Megatron discovered the Destruction Team had installed a feedback failsafe to prevent them from being used against their will again, but Dualor was willing to make a deal: They'd give Megatron pure, unfettered power with no afterburn in exchange for a bigger say in what was going on around there. Megatron accepted, then designated Cyclonus to use the power-up instead of himself.

Predictably, Dualor lied—that unfettered power could cause serious damage to a Transformer, if the Destruction Team so wanted. While on mission in Alaska, they did this with Cyclonus; the very second Thrust happily reminisced about capturing and hurting Mini-Cons on Cybertron, the Destruction Team overloaded Cyclonus and caused him to attack his comrade. Overheating and driven crazy(er), the Decepticon was heavily damaged in his own rampage. For this, Megatron consigned the trio to the Punishment Cube, used for disciplining naughty Mini-Cons. (He also mused that he knew they'd betray him, and yet, he still made a deal with them that could have given them the chance to overload him...) Fire & Ice

Dualor and his teammates Buzz Saw and Drill Bit were not among the Decepticon Mini-Cons released for the final battle with Unicron. Megatron was vague on their fate, simply saying that the Decepticons were "better off without them." None of the Destruction Team were ever seen again... The End

Toys

Armada

• Destruction Mini-Con Team (Basic, 2002/2003)
  • Japanese ID number: MM-04

Dualor transforms into an anti-aircraft tank similar to a Gepard. He features a gear-wheel system that causes his tank-mode cannons to pom-pom back and forth when he is rolled in vehicle mode. He can also be attached to the underside of the Armada Cyclonus mold, interacting with the Decepticon’s gear-wheel rotor system.

This mold was also used to make Ascentor and Repeater.

• Sandstorm & Cannon with Destruction Micron (Multi-pack, 2003)
  • Japanese ID number: MS-04

In Japan, the Destruction Team was available both as an individual Team, and in a multi-pack with Cyclonus and Crumplezone.

• Destruction Microns X-Dimension (Basic, 2003)
  • Japanese ID number: MM-09

Part of the X-Dimension Micron series, a limited-edition (yet still standard retail) redeco of the Destruction Team was released in Japan. The entire team was given an orange and gray color scheme.

• Duster Undergrove Edition (Mini-Con, 2003)

Exclusive to Ito Yokaido stores in Japan, one member of the "Undergrove Edition" Destruction Team was given at random to customers who bought Micron Legend product in January (or until they ran out of them).

• Duster White Micron (Mini-Con, 2003)

In April, Japanese "TF Station" affiliate stores gave out solid-white versions of the Destruction Team as part of the "Golden Week" holiday. These pieces were made with the intent of being "paint your own" versions.

• Duster Space Galaxy Edition (Mini-Con pack-in, 2003)

In May, Jusco stores in Japan got in special versions of Convoy Super Mode that contained one member of the "Space Galaxy Edition" Destruction Team per box... but the bonus Mini-Cons were blind-packed inside the boxes. As such, this version of the Team is among the most expensive of the promotional Mini-Cons on the secondary market.

• Road Wrecker Mini-Con Team (Basic, 2003)

Late in the Armada line, a redeco of the Destruction Team was put out under a new Team name (but as the same individual characters). This version is primarily green with gray parts.

• Blurr with Incinerator and Bonus Mini-Con (Bonus pack, 2003)
• Sideways with Rook & Crosswise and Bonus Mini-Con (Bonus pack, 2003)

In November of 2003, US Toys "R" Us stores had special bonus pack Max-Con (Deluxe) toys, which came with a single bonus Mini-Con attached to the card over their sticker, for less than the price as a normal Max-Con during Toys "R" Us' post-Thanksgiving-day sale. Each of the Destruction Team Mini-Cons could come packaged with either Blurr or Sideways.

Energon

• Road Wrecker Mini-Con Team & Night Attack Mini-Con Team

An unaltered version of the Road Wrecker Team was released as part of an Energon-series "Mini-Con 6-pack" with the Night Attack Mini-Con Team.

Trivia

• The name "Dualor" shows up as one of the sponsor-labels on Alternators Decepticharge.

• A team of miscolored Mini-cons based on the Destruction Team in the first two issues of Dreamwave's Armada comic is apparently not the real Destruction Team, this trio was left behind on Cybertron when everyone else escaped, and never seen again.

• Simon Furman has said that it can be assumed that Megatron strapped Dualor and the Destruction Team to a rocket and fired them into the sun, in regards to their ambiguous fate in the Armada comic.

External links

• Dualor at TFU.info
  
  
  From Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki, a Wikia wiki.