Hubcap (G1)
| This article is about the G1/G2 Autobot sports car. For the Machine Wars Autobot tow truck, see Hubcap (MW). |
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<span style="font-size:125%;font-weight:900;">Let's see what you can see...</span><hr /> This article is in need of images.
</div><small>Specifics: Fiction</small>
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- Hubcap is an Autobot from the Generation 1 continuity family.
Everybody likes Hubcap. He's friendly, always has a clever joke or compliment ready, and is generally a nice, fun, affable bot to be around. On the other hand nobody actually trusts Hubcap. It's not his devotion to the Autobot cause that's the concern (mostly), but his ulterior motives for his friendship and jokes and the like. He is at his core a con artist, and everyone's a bit on their guard around him. Some think he's this way to cover for deficiencies or to stay in a postion well above his actual aptitude level... or maybe he just likes tricking people. He doesn't seem to have made many enemies with his tricks and scams, though; quite the opposite. So perhaps it is all mostly harmless.
No-one doubts that he's got very good audio receptors, though, capable of picking up incredibly weak signals, which is why he's part of the Autobot communications hub. One can only guess as to what he might do with all he hears in that position, though.
- French-Canadian name: Virevolto
Fiction
Fight! Super Robot Life Transformer manga
Hubcap was part of a group who arrived to back up Powerglide, who was defending a dog that had been cruelly experimented on by the Decepticons from being hunted and captured by the Combaticons. He and the other Minibots combined with Powerglide in their vehicle modes thanks to the experimental energies within the dog, and spinning furiously, smashed through Bruticus' chest and out the other side in a flying drill attack.
No, seriously. Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers issue 8
Dreamwave comics continuity
Hubcap was among the group of new recruits seen failing to take on the Auto-Combatant training drones on Cybertron after Shockwave's rule was toppled. Black Sunshine
IDW comics continuity
Hubcap was among the mourners at Bumper and Fastback's funeral at the Security Services HQ in Kaon, appropriately standing next to Bumblebee and Cliffjumper. Megatron Origin issue 3 He later served at an Autobot communications post, trying to radio through to Iacon for reinforcements during Megatron's "everything burns" offensive. In the end, the area was so devastated that Hubcap and the Autobots only requested evacuation from the area instead of new troops, leaving Kaon under Decepticon control. Megatron Origin issue 4
Despite, or because of these events, he was also listed as a potential candidate for a mission that was ultimately given to Wheelie. Spotlight: Wheelie
Fun Publications Timelines
Toys
Generation 1
- Hubcap (Mini-Vehicle, 1986)
- Japanese ID number: C-57
- Released in the third year of the original toy line in the US (second year in Japan), Hubcap is a retooling of the Cliffjumper "penny-racer"-proportioned Porsche 924 Turbo sports car mold, giving him a new robot-mode head and no "spoiler". He is sometimes mistaken for the variant yellow Cliffjumper, and even occasionally for Bumper, who has a similar transformation, but an entirely different mold for his car parts and robot head.
- In 1986, he was made available as a mail-away item (incorrectly labeled as Cliffjumper) in the "Digital Doom on the Highway to Destruction" and "The Autobots Are Under Attack!" fliers packed with most boxed Transformers toys. He cost $3.50 and one robot point.
Generation 2
- Hubcap (Mini-Vehicle, 1993)
- Hubcap was re-released as part of the first batch of Generation 2 toys in the US, this time in shiny chrome red. There's speculation that this was because Hasbro had intended to release Cliffjumper instead but didn't have the mold, but it seems more likely it was simply to keep him from looking too much like his assortment partner Bumblebee.
