Rollout (G1)

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

Rollout is an Autobot Action Master from the Generation 1 continuity family.

Bomb. James Bomb.

Spies generally come in one of two flavors: suave and sophisticated, moving through high-class circles with grace and ease, or quiet and unobtrusive, fading into the background unnoticed and doing their work in utter secrecy.

Rollout is a different flavor altogether: loud, brash, impulsive, violent and overall leaving one wondering just how in the hell he actually gets any of his objectives accomplished. His behavior is better-suited to front-line brawlers and heavy artillery units, especially his penchant for finding bigger, louder, and more devastating weaponry to try out. Send him to steal a file and he's likely to detonate the entire building it was stored in. When he's off-duty, he's constantly letting everyone know that he's seriously on some high-stakes top-secret mission that he totally can't give you any details about, but believe him, it's big important stuff! But somehow... the job he was sent to do gets done, to the bafflement of just about everyone who's ever met him.

He probably would have been fine metal shavings centuries ago, or at least severely demoted, if it weren't for the efforts of his "partner" Glitch. Few realize that the tiny bot they consider a remote-controlled battle drone is actually working fervently behind the scenes (typically scenes of carnage and destruction that Rollout is smack in the middle of), stealing data, eliminating problems and—most importantly—covering up for Rollout's many, many mistakes.

Of course, Rollout keeps getting the credit for all this. Whether he's even cognizant of Glitch's role in their job is unknown, as is how Glitch himself feels about the arrangement.

Fiction

Marvel Comics continuity

Marvel The Transformers comics

"Say, Sunstreaker? You ever get to do anything? Ever?"
"Uh... not really..."
"Wow, me neither! Wanna be bus buddies?"

Rollout was one of the survivors in the aftermath of the war with Unicron. He was sitting in on a panel convened by the joint leaders of the Autobot-Decepticon alliance, but added nothing to their dialogue. Exodus!

Classics

Classics continues from the Marvel US series, and does not include the UK stories or any subsequently published stories.

Rollout argued with Mainframe while rebuilding Ironworks. Later, he fought the Junkions, but was captured and turned into one. Invasion

IDW Generation 1 continuity

• First Appearance: Spotlight: Arcee

"Great work, genius. What kind of moron says 'Then we will fight in the shade!' when threatened with nuclear weapons?!"

Rollout was stationed on the Garrus-9 penitentiary as a member of their crisis response units. During the sudden and brutal Decepticon attack on the facility, he supported the injured Sprocket. Spotlight: Arcee

After Cybertron was reborn in the wake of D-Void's attack, Rollout joined Rodimus's mission to use the map within the Matrix of Leadership to find the Knights of Cybertron at Cyberutopia. The mission's departure in the Lost Light was interrupted by an explosion in the ship sending it into premature quantum jump. The resulting hull breach sucked Rollout out of the ship. How to Say Goodbye and Mean It He crashed on a nearby planet where he was retrieved by Rodimus and Ultra Magnus and taken back to the ship. Hangers On Later, Rollout helped coordinate landing ships in Shuttle Bay 3. Patternism He then beat up Rage during a battle between the crew of the Lost Light and a group of Decepticons on Temptoria. Before & After

The Lost Light was eventually able to return to Cybertron, where Rollout reunited with the local Autobots The Becoming and attended the trial of Megatron at the Raskol Arena. Towards Peace

The premature quantum jump also led to the creation of a quantum duplicate of the Lost Light and everyone on board, including Rollout. When this ship was discovered by the Decepticon Justice Division, the alternate Rollout was killed and his transformation cog harvested for Tarn. slaughterhouse His corpse presumably vanished with the rest of his Lost Light when the main Lost Light crew shut down the duplicate ship's quantum engines. The Road Not Taken

Back on the regular Lost Light, Rollout was seen drinking in Swerve's with Jackpot. The Lopsided Triangle

Rollout stood in favor of Getaway's mutiny, removing Megatron and the members of the crew willing to support him as captain. Getaway was promoted as captain, but he made mistakes and resorted to shadowplay in order to remain in control. The mnemosurgeon Sunder reprogrammed the memories of Rollout and the crew, making them forget the mutiny while still maintaining Getaway as their captain. Filling in the Blanks Rollout was seen socializing in "Visages" when the Protectobots reconnected with the Lost Light. Full Circle

Toys

Generation 1

"Am I carrying any weapons? ... Uh, no, officer, why would you ask me that?"

• Rollout (Action Master, 1990)
  • Accessories: Glitch partner, "Photon gun"

As part of the first wave of individually-carded Action Masters, Rollout is a non-transforming action figure, though he has elements of a bulldozer or excavator, namely the massive earth-moving shovel that forms his chest. He came with his transforming partner Glitch, and is compatible with any other Action Master partner, weapon or vehicle.

Though several Action Masters have this problem, Rollout is particularly notorious for having his paint simply flake off in huge chunks. As all of his orange and brown coloration is paint, this can lead to some very naked-looking Rollouts.

• More information on Rollout at TFU.info

Notes

Foreign names

• Italian: Ciclope
• Mandarin: Huá Xíng (China,Comic, 滑行, "Skidding") Tū Pò (China,Generation 1 Toys, 突破, "Breach")