Puffer

Puffer is an Autobot from the War for Cybertron Trilogy portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

File:TF-WFC-GDC-Through-the-Vortex-Puffer.jpg

"I'm Huff and I'm Puff, and I blow your wallet down." (Insert nod here.)

After the quantum surge caused a time vortex, Autobots Pipes and Huffer were fused into Puffer, and alongside GoBot Road Ranger, were pulled to prehistoric Earth. Despite his rather bizarre origin, he can still tussle with the best of them.

Toys

The Transformers

Puffer was there all along.

• Pipes (Mini Vehicle, 1987)

The European variant of Generation 1 Pipes can be repurposed as Generation 1 Puffer.

A European variant of Pipes (dubbed "Puffer" by fans) exists which was actually Huffer's original sculpt in Pipes's colors. It is currently uncetain how many countries this version of Pipes was sold in. This is not to be confused with the Mexican version of Pipes, which was also the original Huffer mold, but in slightly different colors.

Due to Puffer becoming an official character via the War for Cybertron: Kingdom: Golden Disk Collection, the Pipes variant can now work as a proper G1 Puffer.

War for Cybertron: Kingdom

• Autobot Puffer / Autobot Road Ranger (Golden Disk Collection 2-pack, 2021)
  • Chapter 1: Through the Vortex
  • Accessories: 2 pipe blasters

Part of the first release in the Golden Disk Collection, War for Cybertron: Kingdom "Autobot Puffer" is a redeco and retool of Kingdom Deluxe Class Autobot Pipes in colors based on Pipes's Generation 1 European variant release. His head is accurate to Pipes's Generation 1 toy head, sporting a visor, instead of the animation-influenced eyes and nose of Kingdom Pipes. Puffer transforms into a cab-over truck in 16 steps, and includes a pair of pipe blasters that can store on his vehicle mode's back or as smokestacks. His robot mode is covered in 5 mm ports as part of the C.O.M.B.A.T. System/F.O.S.S.I.L. Technology play patterns. He also has a torso transformation joint that functions as an ab-crunch.

As a carryover from Huffer, Puffer can tow Earthrise Optimus Prime's trailer (or any of its redecoes).

Puffer was only available in a multi-pack with his mold-mate "Autobot Road Ranger". This set was revealed and made available for pre-order on September 27, 2021, and was the first of four daily announcements concerning the Golden Disk Collection; as with the other sets in this series, Puffer and Road Ranger's packaging is printed with a portion of a Golden Disk graphic, and customers are encouraged to collect all four packs to unite the full image. The set is an Amazon and Hasbro Pulse exclusive in the U.S., Canada, and the United Kingdom.

Despite originally being scheduled for a March 2022 release, the set started releasing in December of 2021.

Notes

From the people who brought you "Bumblejumper" and "Blast"...

• Puffer is loosely based on the the toy Pipes received during "Generation 1" only in some parts of Europe and Mexico, which were straight redecos of Huffer's toy in Pipes's colors (each market getting a slightly different one: the European used a bright blue, while the Mexican one used dark metallic blue). We say "loosely based" because, rather than using the concurrent Kingdom Huffer "G1 toy" version of the mold, Puffer is a straight redeco of Kingdom Pipes... essentially making it Pipes in slightly-off Pipes colors. This was likely done so as not to have two identical molds in the same box, which, as we all know, is never done.
• The name "Puffer" is a deliberate portmanteau of Pipes and Huffer, a concept taken very literally by the published bio, devised by fans to refer to said European Pipes variant (as well as the similar, but distinct, IGA Pipes released in Mexico). Its use in the Golden Disk Collection marks another instance of a fan nickname being canonized, which the product description for the set notes with the baffling turn of phrase that it "features a fun fan nod (insert nod here)".