Treadbolt

This article is about the Energon Autobot. For the Generation 1 Autobot, see Tread Bolt.

Treadbolt is an Autobot from the Energon portion of the Unicron Trilogy continuity family.

Don't tread on me.

Treadbolt is big. And she has treads. And bolts. Treadbolt is strong and well-armored, but beneath the mechanical muscle, there's a keen mind and a brave spark at work. However, she moves slowly, and doesn't pack much firepower, which may be why her fellow Autobots don't respect her as much as perhaps they should. Still, any Decepticon that makes the mistake of letting Treadbolt get close likely won't make it twice.

Her Mini-Con partner is Hound.

Fiction

TransTech

After winding up in Axiom Nexus, Treadbolt found work as a bouncer. She took a job offer from a dim-witted crime boss named B'hgdad, who was trying to get a hold of a bird statue that belonged to a local Transcendent Technomorph named Ego. She and her friend Spacewarp managed to make it to the auction. While Treadbolt worked on bidding, Spacewarp replaced the real bird statue with a counterfeit. They managed to nab the sculpture... only to be double-crossed by B'hgdad, who had assumed that the police would let him just have the bird for turning over the thieves.

Spacewarp manage to spook the gang by throwing her voice, pretending to be the vengeful ghost of Pz-Zazz and scaring B'hgdad and his goons into shooting at nothing. Treadbolt took advantage of their distraction by grabbing the remote that controlled the energon bonds, and the two fem-bots summarily beat the slag out of the entire gang. They turned B'hgdad and company over to the Axiom Nexus Security Administration. According to Spacewarp, the bird was "lost" in the fight. Spacewarp's Log (1), 2015/10/29

Treadbolt was sometimes known to hit the town with Spacewarp and Strika; Spacewarp noted that there were plenty of mechs who preferred 'bots with a little "junk in the trunk". Blocky fembots, you make the rockin' world go round. Spacewarp's Log (1), 2015/10/31

Toys

Energon

STOMP STOMP STOMP STOMP

• Treadbolt (Mega Class, 2004)
  • Accessories: Missile

A redeco of Armada Scavenger, Energon Treadbolt transforms into a large yellow bulldozer equipped with a rear roller drum. Unusual for Transformers toys of this era, Treadbolt features functional rubber caterpillar treads. Her packed-in partner Rollbar (in robot mode) can be placed inside the driver's cabin, and pressing down on the Mini-Con activates engine start up and revving sounds. Pushing Treadbolt forward will cause the large dark brown drum wheel at the back to rotate, making driving sounds, as well as causing the front shovel to raise and lower.

In robot mode, Treadbolt has virtually no leg articulation whatsoever. Her legs are halves of the shovel blade clipped onto the dark brown drum wheel. Pushing her forwards in robot mode rotates the wheel, moving the legs up and down in a simulation of walking. Each 'step' is accompanied by a stomp sound effect. Moving her arms up and down activates a crashing metal sound effect. Powerlinxing Rollbar to the active Powerlinx port on her right hip, then pulling it back fires a gray spring-loaded projectile, as well as activating a laser firing sound.

In order to get her to stand upright when not activating the walking gimmick, one must lock one of her legs down using the flap on the armature; this brings it down far enough for the toe to touch the ground, keeping her upright instead of tilted forwards. In addition one can also unpeg the other leg from the drum and lock the flap on its armature allowing both feet to touch the ground, creating the illusion that she is standing in place. However, this results in one leg flopping around due to it not being connected.

• More information on Treadbolt at TFU.info

Notes

• With no bio or fiction appearances, Treadbolt technically had no established gender until 2015 when "Ask Vector Prime" (guest hosted by Spacewarp) made the character female, chosen because she was practically the only Hasbro-original "Unicron Trilogy" character left who had no fiction to her name, not even an online bio.
• Treadbolt, Rapid Run, and Ultra Magnus were "eleventh-hour" additions to the Energon line, with an incredibly accelerated production cycle. As such, their packaging photography had to be completed before properly-painted samples could be obtained, so the box-back photos use the original decos.
• Reportedly, only about 10,000 of each of these three toys were made, a significantly smaller number than most retail Transformers toys. However, she ended up being a shelfwarmer within the UK.
• As Treadbolt's card artwork is flipped from Scavenger's, her chest detailing is reversed, and her missile tube is on the wrong side of her body.