Wideload (G1)
| The name or term "Wideload" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Wideload (disambiguation). |
- Wide Load (also officially parsed as "Wideload") is an Autobot in the Generation 1 continuity family.
Wide Load, a Throttlebot who transforms into a dump truck, can haul as much as one million pounds in his role as a materials transporter. This sort of work keeps him pretty filthy most of the time yet, paradoxically, he's a neat freak. Highly superficial, he prides himself on his appearance and judges others on theirs. His unusual susceptibility to rust is thus a source of embarassment. He is the strongest and biggest of the Throttlebots and perhaps the only able to hold his own if it were ever to come to hand-to-hand combat. However this supreme strength is no source of pride for Wide Load. While all the other Throttlebots seemed dedicated to spying and sneaking around, Wide Load's materials transport role doesn't seem to fit in with this.
French-Canadian name: Fadeau
Italian name: Rollerbot
Fiction
Marvel Comics continuity
Thanks to a Decepticon Titanium-class Destruction Drone, Wide Load and his fellow Throttlebots are captured and brought to the Chief Decepticon Fuel Auditor Ratbat. An outbreak of Scraplets had begun on Earth, and Ratbat ordered them to travel there and destroy all of the infected -- or he would destroy the planet itself to prevent spread of the deadly disease. Given new Earth-style vehicle forms and canisters of corrosive acid, Wide Load and the others arrive on Earth and soon find Goldbug in the death throes of a Scraplets infection. They attempted to destroy him, but during the skirmish, Goldbug's human friend Charley Fong discovered a cure for Scraplets, the "rare chemical" water. With this knowledge, they managed to destroy all the Scraplets with help from G.B. Blackrock. The Cure!
Wide Load and the Throttlebots continued to travel on Earth with Goldbug and Blaster, but that only made them targets for virtually everyone -- the Decepticons, the Autobot faction Goldbug had gone AWOL from, and the humans who hated and feared all Cybertronians. After escaping one of the Combaticons, Goldbug suggested they hide in a used car lot (because that worked so well for him before). Astonishingly the owner, "Big Steve" Ludwig, noticed a giant earthmover dump truck magically appearing on his lot, and soon put two-and-two together after receiving a notice from the local RAAT boys. After pouring sugar into the Autobots' gas tanks, he summoned the proper authorities. Wide Load and the Throttlebots were carted off and taken prisoner by RAAT's parent organization, III. Used Autobots
Still not recognizing the difference between Autobots and Decepticons, III's bigwigs publically threatened to execute their prisoners if any more robot attacks took place. Guess what -- the Decepticons were willing to call their bluff. After the inevitable raid, Forrest Forsythe ordered the Autobots crushed into cubes. However, a sympathetic (and borderline competent) agent named Walter Barnett realized Wide Load and his friends were telling the truth about there being two factions of robots, and salvaged their cerebro-circuits before the execution, transferring their brain chips into electronic toy cars. Toy Soldiers! Wide Load and the Throttlebots remained in Barnett's possession for some time, but were apparently returned to the Autobots at some point behind the scenes. The Throttlebots were reconstructed into new bodies replicating their old ones...only to be blown to smithereens by Starscream. Dark Star
Animated continuity
- Voice Actor: Corey Burton (US), Takao Ishii (Japan)
Wide Load was a member of the strike force assembled by Rodimus Prime to retrieve the body of Optimus Prime from Mark Morgan and Gregory Swofford. During the mission he became infected with the Hate Plague. The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1
Rebirth (American continuity)
Wide Load later participated in the defense of Autobot City during the attack launched by Galvatron to divert attention while the key to the Plasma Energy Chamber was stolen. The Rebirth, Part 1
Headmasters (Japanese continuity)
Even though Wide Load says it is "so obvious that we're gonna win," he and the other Throttlebots were all apparently killed by the Decepticons' "Evil Meteor." Despite being dead, the Throttlebots reappear for the series finale.
Toys
Generation 1
- Wideload (Throttlebot)
- Japanese ID number: C-92
- Wideload transforms into an "earth-mover" dump truck. Like all Throttlebots, he features a pull-back motor that zips him forward on smooth surfaces in both vehicle and robot modes.
- Though he was re-released as part of the European-market "Classics" line, unlike his fellow Throttlebots he retained the indent for the heat-sensitive rubsign insignia decal, even though said decal was replaced by a normal paper sigil decal.
