Rollbar (G1)
| The name or term "Rollbar" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Rollbar (disambiguation). |
- Rollbar is an Autobot from the Generation 1 continuity family.
Rollbar always gives 110%. He's neither very strong nor very fast, but he's got heart, and a vast arsenal of corny, macho cliches to pepper his speech. Though the other Throttlebots are inclined to roll their optical sensors when he starts laying the Cybertronian bullslag on too thickly, his gung-ho attitude has earned the respect of them all, and when the higher-ranking veteran Goldbug is not around, Rollbar is the acting leader of his very democratic team.
Rollbar makes good use of his low power in vehicle mode. He is a rubber-tired acrobat, able to jump like a cybergoat and run like a turbodeer. This is fortunate; he has little or no firepower, and if caught out has little choice but to run away. He does have radiation and chemical sensors to assist his tracking missions, and audio-video equipment to record his findings, or perhaps the big game.
Rollbar may not have what it takes to make the big plays, but he's still an opponent to be reckoned with. You have to give him that much credit.
- French-Canadian name: Cabriole
- Italian name: Trollbot
Fiction
American animated continuity
Voice actor: Dan Gilvezan (US)
Rollbar was the only Throttlebot not to appear in The Return of Optimus Prime and thus was never seen to be infected with the Hate Plague. Rollbar's only appearance in the American animated series was in Rebirth, seen briefly helping to defend Autobot City from the Decepticon raid and then again with his fellow Throttlebots on Cybertron.
Japanese animated continuity
Voice actor: Kunihiko Yasui (Japan)
Marvel Comics continuity
On Cybertron, Rollbar was the leader of the Throttlebots, a group of five Autobots who stole fuel from the Decepticons. On one such mission, they were ambushed by an entire squadron of Decepticons, including a massive Titanium Class Destruction Drone. When the drone offered to spare their lives if they surrendered, Rollbar figured that was the best offer he was likely to get.
The captive Autobots were brought before Ratbat, who ordered them to travel to Earth and end a Scraplets infection there -- not, as Rollbar guessed, by delivering a cure, but rather by destroying all the infected Transformers with canisters of acid. If they failed, Ratbat threatened to destroy all life on Earth (just how he was going to do this remains unknown.)
The Throttlebots quickly found their primary target, a crashed Decepticon freighter and its occupants, the Decepticon Triple Changers and their prisoner Blaster. However, tire tracks heading away from the wreck made them realize that at least one other infected Transformer could be at large. Delaying their attack, Rollbar took Wideload to track down the wayward Transformer.
At a gas station, they caught up with their quarry: the Autobot Goldbug, who was by that time massively infested with Scraplets. Reluctantly, Rollbar and Wideload attempted to destroy Goldbug, but he eluded them long enough for his human friend, Charlie Fong, to demonstrate the Scraplets cure he'd just discovered: water. Relieved, Rollbar and Wideload apologized and explained their urgent mission.
The three Autobots soon returned to the wreckage site, along with two tanker trucks full of water. Before they got the chance to use them, however, the Scraplets in the crash site merged into a single massive creature. Water proved ineffective against it, and the weaponless Throttlebots were unable to fight it effectively until Goldbug sprayed the Decepticons with the water, allowing them to bring their firepower to bear against the creature, disabling it long enough for Blaster to destroy it.
Rollbar and his crew joined Goldbug and Blaster in their independent war against the Decepticons, but the incident at the crashed spaceship had gained them unwanted attention. Low on fuel, they were shadowed cross-country by both R.A.A.T. and the Decepticons. Attempting to refuel at a Blackrock gas station, they found themselves under attack by R.A.A.T. An aerial attack module blasted Rollbar's rear canopy, leaving him with a ragged hole in the back end. The Autobots escaped, but were still low on fuel.
Eventually, they took shelter in an auto sales lot, negotiating with the owner, "Big Steve", to ensure that he didn't have the damaged Rollbar towed away. But Big Steve betrayed the team to R.A.A.T., filling their tanks with soda and allowing R.A.A.T. to haul the Throttlebots away under the cover of a fight between the Protectobots and Combaticons.
R.A.A.T. held the Throttlebots prisoner for some time, partially disassembling and examining them, as well as interrogating them. Eventually, the six prisoners were "executed" on national television -- though in fact they survived, as Walter Barnett removed their brain modules.
Eventually winding up with Optimus Prime's Autobots aboard the Ark, they were re-built into new bodies... and promptly destroyed again by the Underbase-powered Starscream.
Toys
Generation 1
- Rollbar (Throttlebot, 1987/1992)
- Japanese ID number: C-95
Like all Throttlebots, Rollbar's gimmick was the "pull back-and-go". Rollbar transformed into an olive green Jeep CJ-7. Rollbar came with windows "reflecting" an arid landscape. The 1992 European Classics release also had the rub sticker replaced with the Autobot insignia.
Alternators
- Rollbar (Alternator, 2006)
- Alternator ID number: 19
- Rollbar is a redeco of Alternators Swindle (himself a retool of Alternators Hound), transforming into a 1:24-scale licensed Jeep Wrangler with oversized off-road tires. His license plate indicates he's a registered driver in Colorado.
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