Roadbuster (G1)

Roadbuster is an Autobot from the Generation 1 continuity family.

Who ya gonna call?

Roadbuster is a powerful and charismatic fighter. Usually armed to the teeth, he's an inspiration to other Autobots in combat and a natural leader on any battlefield. Outside of combat though, his natural ease and surety fail him. He simply doesn't know how to handle life out of combat. He becomes the quietest of the Autobots, grows withdrawn and depressed, and is easily bored. He counters this by spending most of his free time between battles either planning for the next one or "demolishing" any random Decepticons he can find. Some Autobots worry about what will become of the heroic and well-loved Roadbuster they know if the war ever ends. Combat truly is his life and without it, he might just fade away.

Roadbuster is a member of the elite Wreckers unit in, well, every continuity he's ever appeared in.

French-Canadian name: Cahot

Fiction

Marvel Comics continuity

Events from the UK-only comic stories are in italics.

Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light.

Roadbuster was a rather hardened soldier, deliberately feeding false information to an Autobot who had turned informant for the Decepticons, and stood by in the shadows while Shrapnel tortured the Autobot for the info and then executed him. He also contributed to the important scene in Maccadam's Old Oil House. Target: 2006 Roadbuster met his fate in the Time Wars, when the Decepticon Pathblaster weapon exploded in his hands, shortly after spoiling Galvatron's beautiful little face. Time Wars

Marvel UK future timelines

In the year 2510, Roadbuster joined the Wreckers on Cybertron's northern front, where they finally exterminated the last Decepticon outpost, bringing the war to an end. Later on, Rodimus Prime called an official end to the war effort, and announced his plans to pass the Matrix on to the leader of the Wreckers, Springer. The Decepticons were not totally gone, however—a deep cover agent named Triton lived on inside the Autobot ranks. In order to stir up discord, Triton challenged Prime's decision, declaring that Ultra Magnus was a better choice to carry the Matrix. Whirl manhandled the little creep to make him pipe down, but Triton punched the Wrecker to the ground. Roadbuster raised his gun in anger, but it was the Technobot Scattershot who fired first in defense of Triton and Magnus's reputation, blowing up Roadbuster's head. This disastrous turn of events led to a new Autobot Civil War between the forces of Ultra Magnus and Springer. Peace

Dreamwave comics continuity

When Optimus Prime and Megatron went missing in a Space Bridge accident, Roadbuster was part of an elite force of Autobots known as the Wreckers who broke off as an independent faction, led by Springer. Much of their efforts were concentrated on keeping Ratbat's Ultracons contained inside Polyhex and away from the Tagan Heights, an area which contributed to a full 40% of Cybertron's manufacturing potential. They ran into more than a few difficulties with that defense protocol. The War Within: The Dark Ages

Much later Roadbuster, critically low on energy, was ambushed by a group of Decepticon Micromasters and defeated by them. A group of Autobot Micromasters led by Big Daddy intervened and managed to pull Roadbuster's inert chassis out of there, sparing him the indignity of having what little Energon that remained in his system drained. Destined For Nothing

During Shockwave's rule of Cybertron, Roadbuster was a member of the new Wreckers, a small unit of Autobots under Ultra Magnus's command, dedicated to keeping the peace wherever (and however) necessary. When Starscream released the Stunticons from their imprisonment in Cybertron's detention banks, the Wreckers were sent in to deal with the escapees. Unfortunately, both Roadbuster and Whirl were crushed before Magnus brought the Stunticon combined form, Menasor, down. Passive Aggression

IDW comics continuity

Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!

Before the war Roadbuster fulfilled his violent desires by being a member of the Kaon security services. However, while he attended mission briefings he seemed mysteriously absent from funerals and actual battles. Maybe he was actually an overly emotional pacifist back then. Megatron Origin

Many stellar cycles later, Roadbuster was operating in the elite Autobot special ops Wreckers unit. As a heavy weapons specialist, he carried more armament than an entire Decepticon Assault Group. He used this armament against the Decepticons holed up in their siege mode armature on the world of Varas Centralus in the Kol system. During the battle he handed Springer a comm-unit with an urgent call from Operations Command: orders from Optimus Prime himself redeploying the Wreckers to Cybertron. Stormbringer issue 2

"Why worry? Each one of us is carrying an unlicensed nuclear accelerator on his back."

After the Wreckers arrived on Cybertron, Roadbuster saved Nosecone and Afterburner from a group of Centurion droids, before having Whirl evacuate the two unconscious Technobots out of the area. After the Wreckers blasted their way into Bludgeon's base and very, very, very quickly defeated the cultists, Roadbuster and Whirl rescued Jetfire from where he and the other Technobots were being recycled into raw materials. Stormbringer issue 3 After Thunderwing returned to Cybertron, Roadbuster, Scoop and Broadside served as advanced scouts, watching the giant Pretender's activity. They legged it when Thunderwing unleashed a wave of destruction in memory of his failed attempts to convince Megatron and the scientific community of Cybertron to support his experimentation. As the battle was joined, Roadbuster's group tried to get Thunderwing's attention, but were blown away by a thunderous clap of his giant hands. Stormbringer issue 4

Much later, the Wreckers were called in by Hound's unit to fight Thunderwing on Corata-Vaz. Roadbuster was part of the vehicle mode ground assault, but all the Autobot combatants were blown away by the monster's ionic discharge. Spotlight: Hardhead Thunderwing eventually assumed his powered-up Ultra Mode, and Roadbuster poured hundreds of rounds into the being's left flank before Jetfire came up with an idea to take control of Thunderwing. Spotlight: Doubledealer

Jetfire managed to gain remote control using Bludgeon's old axis cradle trick, and the Wreckers slipped past to disable the Nega-Core that Thunderwing had been guarding. Jetfire eventually lost control and Thunderwing turned back to advance on Roadbuster and the others as they futilely poured firepower into the massive Pretender. Spotlight: Sideswipe

At some point after fighting Thunderwing on Corata-Vaz, Roadbuster was reformatted into a similar but larger and much bulkier body, now equaling Broadside in size.

Some time later, more than half of the Wreckers were captured and imprisoned by the Decepticon commander Turmoil and his crew. The recently rehabilitated Kup led a rescue team that included Roadbuster to infiltrate Turmoil's ship. There, they ran into Drift, who was also trying to rescue the captured Wreckers. Roadbuster and the others managed to rescue their comrades and Kup formally offered Drift a spot on a new unit he was planning to form. Spotlight: Drift

Plot details for All Hail Megatron issue 15 follow. Spoilers have expired, you may remove this tag

Subsequently, Roadbuster appeared as part of the crew of the starship Trion, under Kup's command. Receiving a distress call from Hot Rod, Kup's team went to rescue him. They found Hot Rod being menaced by Bludgeon and the Monstructor Six. Bludgeon quickly commanded the team to merge into Monstructor and the gestalt easily brushed Roadbuster aside, knocking off his shoulder cannon. But Monstructor was soon thereafter defeated when Perceptor demonstrated his newly-honed sniping skills. Bludgeon opted to retreat in his ship and the crew of the Trion, now joined by Hot Rod, went in pursuit of the fleeing Decepticons. All Hail Megatron issue 15

"Let's show this prehistoric bitch how we do things downtown."

The Trion was eventually lured into an enemy ambush, and had its defenses disabled due to its command codes having been gleaned from an Autobot traitor. Forced to crash-land, Roadbuster was stranded with the remainder of the ship's crew on the surface of Cybertron, using their former ship as a base of operations. They eventually met up with the demoralized crew of the incapacitated Optimus Prime. All Hail Megatron issue 5

After the Trion's crew had settled in, Ironhide and Roadbuster had a little chat outside, where Roadbuster revealed how frustrated he was that they had been taken down by the Decepticons without even a chance to shoot back. Noting Roadbuster's eagerness for a fight, Ironhide began to tell him something, but caught sight of a strange creature in the distance. It turned out to be an advance scout of the Insecticon swarm, and Roadbuster immediately notified Kup of its presence. All Hail Megatron issue 6

The Autobots soon relocated their base-camp, and in his vehicle mode, Roadbuster served as a mobile command platform for Kup to ride on and Perceptor to snipe from as they traveled. All Hail Megatron issue 7

"You're not sleeping with it, are you Ray?"

After Optimus Prime was repaired and the Autobots prepared to make their final stand against the Insecticon swarm, Wheeljack removed and modified one of the Trion's cannons to be used as a mounted turret for Roadbuster to fire. Roadbuster was quite enamored with the weapon and wanted to give it a name. When the swarm attacked, Roadbuster managed to destroy quite a few of them with his new cannon. But eventually he was forced to shove the cannon off its mount to crush a few of the Insecticon horde as they scaled the walls of the Autobots' temporary fortress. All Hail Megatron issue 10

After the Autobots returned to Earth aboard Omega Supreme, Roadbuster jumped into battle alongside his comrades against the Decepticons. He grappled with Astrotrain and overpowered him, disappointed that the Decepticon turned out to be a "lightweight". Roadbuster was then blasted away by Megatron. All Hail Megatron issue 11

He survived though, and stood victorious behind Optimus Prime and the others as the Decepticons retreated. All Hail Megatron issue 12

Toys

Generation 1

I ain't afraid of no road!

• Roadbuster (Deluxe Autobot, 1986)
  • Accessories: Laser rifle, Linear Blaster Gun, Shrapnel Missile Launcher, 5 missiles, Control Pack (with 2 Handles), power pack, antenna, Infrared Range Finder, large wheel covers (left & right), small wheel covers (left & right)

Roadbuster transforms into an orange and green cybertronic jeep armed with a large gun. In robot mode he can hold the jeep's gun, and also has another rifle resembling a real world M16 rifle, and a shoulder-mounted missile launcher. He also wears a large backpack that has a very tall antenna and two articulated handlebars slung beneath his arms. Oh, and mustn't forget the snap-on armor plating that hides the jeep's tires.

For a toy of his size class, Roadbuster has an enormous number of accessories, of which the rangefinder for the jeep's gun may well be the smallest ever produced for any Transformer. Finding a loose complete Roadbuster can be very challenging—are you sure all the spare missiles are there? Better count again!

• More information on Roadbuster at TFU.info

Universe (2008)

G1 Series

I tried to think of the most harmless thing. Something I loved from my childhood. Something that could never ever possibly destroy us.

• Autobot Ambush (Voyager Deluxe Comic 2-Pack, 2008)
  • Accessories: Close-combat blade, Key

A Target exclusive redeco of Cybertron Cybertron Defense Hot Shot, Roadbuster transforms into a modified M117 Guardian Armored Security Vehicle, in the same green, orange, and brown color scheme as the previous Roadbuster. When a Cyber Key is inserted into the back of the turret, the two recoilless rifle barrels open up into dual (non-firing) missile launchers. Compartments on his shoulders and his thighs can also open up to reveal additional missile launchers, while the front bumper halves flip outward to reveal machine guns and more missile launchers. Roadbuster also comes with a dagger that stows between his legs in vehicle mode, and when in robot mode, the dagger can be hand-held, peg into the front of his fist, or be put away in a sheath on his leg.

He is packed with Dirge (a redeco of the Voyager-class Cybertron Starscream) and a reprint of Target: 2006 parts 5 & 6 (although the Canadian version had no comic included). Initial releases of the set have the wrong comic, using the The War Within: The Dark Ages issue "Escalation" meant for the Springer/Ratbat two-pack instead.

This mold was also used to make BotCon 2007 Springer.

• More information on Universe Roadbuster at TFU.info

Trivia

• Both Deluxe Autobots were licensed from Takatoku Toys by Hasbro for inclusion in the 1985 line, and hence were not included in the Japanese line, the cartoon, or the US Marvel comics. Roadbuster was originally "Mugen Calibur" from the Dorvack toyline.
• Any similarities between Roadbuster and a certain Master Chief are purely coincidental. Also, at no time must anyone refer to Roadbuster's alt mode as a "Warthog". We're just sayin', is all. Master Chief is an obvious Beta Ray Bill ripoff, anyway.
• What is simultaneously hilarious and sad is that although Roadbuster is listed as a "Ground Assault Commander" in his tech specs, he serves as an underling or even cannon fodder in every continuity in which he's appeared. It's possible that this was a typo in the style of Blitzwing, and that Roadbuster was instead supposed to be a Ground Assault Commando, but Roadbuster's rank of eight is closer to the "commander" range than Blitzwing's rank of six. You be the judge.
• The Transformers Generations guidebook mistakenly spelled Roadbuster's name as "Roadbaster". This would seem to imply that the cannon on his shoulder is loaded with piping hot giblet gravy.