Rockeroid

Rockeroids are spaceships from the Generation 1 continuity family.

The Rockeroid is a type of Skuxxoid ship, cleverly disguised to look like any other asteroid floating in space. Its unassuming rocky exterior protects the ship during reentry, keeping the interior cool despite the blistering temperatures caused by air friction, and can open to reveal huge mechanical claws capable of grabbing and crushing passing spaceships. Its interstellar engines can bring it to a dead stop in an instant—as Springer puts it, it can stop on a proton. It also has a landing bay for smaller craft.

Fiction

The Transformers cartoon

After a Skuxxoid took part in an attack on the Galactic Olympics, Springer and Arcee pursued him back to his Rockeroid where he tried to crush their ship in its claw. The pair escaped their ship and broke into the Rockeroid, commandeering the craft and resulting in the Skuxxoid escaping in his smaller craft. Springer proved to be a dodgy Rockeroid pilot, though he claimed he'd learn to fly a different model. Five Faces of Darkness, Part 1

They flew the ship to Chaar, where the Decepticons, who were attacking Rodimus Prime and Grimlock at the time, mistook it for a meteor and scattered. Springer brought the Rockeroid to a halt and opened the underside so he could scoop up Rodimus and Grimlock in the ship's claws before spiriting them away. Scourge recognized the Rockeroid as a Skuxxoid ship.

Springer next set the ship down on a desolate rock, where Rodimus proceeded to have a vision brought on by the Matrix of Leadership and ordered Springer to fly them to Quintessa. The journey to Quintessa was the Rockeroid's last, as the Autobots sent it as a decoy—it dropped down towards the Quintesson court and was blasted to pieces by their defense systems while the Autobots sneaked in a back way. Five Faces of Darkness, Part 2

Notes

• It's unclear whether "Rockeroid" is the actual name of the ship class, or whether Arcee made it up on the spot.