Trip-Up

Trip-Up is an Autobot Micromaster from the Generation 1 continuity family.

All you want to do is ride around, Trip-Up. (Ride, Trip-Up, ride.)

All of the members of the Hot Rod Patrol are known as troublemakers, but Trip-Up is the one who starts the kind of trouble that gets someone's nose busted. Overly aggressive and always out to prove himself, Trip-Up thinks only with his fists, starting fights when he gets bored with trying to start races. Team leader Big Daddy makes no attempt to discipline the rowdy bot, but does try to occasionally steer the impressionable Hubs away from him to keep the younger Autobot from emulating his violent behavior. One Trip-Up is more than enough.

Fiction

Dreamwave Generation One continuity

During a mission to rescue Roadbuster, Trip-Up and the Hot Rod Patrol ended up in a firefight with the Decepticons, one that led to the death of Crunch. Angered that their friend had died fighting in a war they didn't even start, Big Daddy chose to leave the Autobots after arguments with Ultra Magnus and the Battle Patrol. The other Hot Rod Patrol members agreed with "B.I.G.", as Trip-Up called him, and headed for The Burn Outs. On the way, they ran into the Race Track Patrol, who had also abandoned their faction, but both groups were attacked by the Insecticons. Destined for Nothing

While Trip-Up and the others had left their weapons at the Autobot base, they ended up being saved by Groundshaker. He brought the Hot Rod Patrol to Countdown, who asked them to join him, but they turned him down and continued to The Burn Outs. Upon arrival, Trip-Up stole Roller Force's seat, which almost led to a fight breaking out between the two Micromasters. Trip-Up ended up ignoring Roller Force in favor of watching a race between Big Daddy and Roadhandler. The Gray Race After Big Daddy lost, the Insecticons showed up again and attacked the gathered Micromasters. As the Hot Rod Patrol returned to Iacon to ask the Autobots for help, Trip-Up voiced his opinion that the Race Track Patrol had betrayed them all to the Insecticons. The Battle Patrol wouldn't let them back into the base, however, so they chose to take Countdown up on his offer. Recipe for Hate

While the other Hot Rod Patrol members got all mushy about fighting the good fight alongside Big Daddy, Trip-Up only wanted to kick some Decepticon skidplate. They then infiltrated the Decepticon headquarters, freed some captured Micromasters, and learned that Trip-Up had been right about the Race Track Patrol. In the end, they managed to stop Skystalker from pushing the Autobots and Decepticons into a double-suicide conflict so that Skystalker could pick up the pieces. It was a victory, but a hollow one, and Trip-Up and the Hot Rod Patrol continued to question their role in the war. Victims of the Revolution

Toys

Generation 1

• Hot Rod Patrol (Micromaster Patrol, 1990)

Trip-Up transforms into a 1966 Ford Mustang hot rod with a Kenne Bell supercharger. He was only available in the Hot Rod Patrol four-pack with his teammates Big Daddy, Greaser and Hubs.

• More information on Trip-Up at TFU.info

Return of Convoy

• Hot Rod Team (Micro Trailer Team, 1991)
  • Japanese ID number: C-362
  • Accessories: Micro Trailer #2

The Hot Rod Patrol was released in Japan during Return of Convoy with no notable changes. However, this version of the Team did come with Micro Trailer #2.

Notes

• Most —if not all— of the toys pictured in the 1991 Hasbro Transformers catalog are unfinished prototypes or mock-ups, and a variety of differences from final product pop up. In Trip-Up's case, the main difference is that the catalog has him with a blue robot mode face rather than the final toy's white.
• Trip-Up's Japanese name, "Vanishing", may be a reference to Vanishing Point, a film prominently featuring a white '70s muscle car (though of a different model).

Foreign names

• Japanese: Vanishing (バニシング Banishingu)
• French: Jambette (Canada)
• Italian: Blitz