Deluxe Vehicle
- The Deluxe Vehicles are an Autobot subgroup from the Generation 1 continuity family.
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The Deluxe Vehicles are a duo of Autobots individually known by the names Roadbuster and Whirl. They are members of the Wreckers.
Fiction
Marvel UK comics continuity
The Wrecker team was sent out to assassinate the Decepticon leader Trannis. They managed to despite the odds, but due to the subsequent rise of Straxus, their success became nought. Cybertron: The Middle Years! Always ready for the next near-impossible mission against the Decepticon forces, the Wreckers spent the next several years preparing a plan to take out a good amount of the worst Decepticon soldiers in one strike and thereby reinvigorate Autobot morale. Dubbed Operation: Volcano, the plan was set into motion by Roadbuster, who deliberately leaked false information about the location of Emirate Xaaron to another to leak to the Decepticons. Not entirely free from feelings of guilt, he watched from a distance how the traitor gave Shrapnel the information in order to be spared, which he wasn't.
Unfortunately, coinciding events made that Ultra Magnus, a key element in Operation: Volcano, had to leave for Earth with only little time before the trap would have to close. On edge, the Wreckers kept training against facsimile constructs to predict their chances, Whirl functioning as a distraction agent and Roadbuster in charge of taking out the last of the targets. There was no doubt on anyone's mind though, that they had any chance without Ultra Magnus keeping reinforcements at bay. So, they made the decision then and there to drop the mission; because it was pointless to continue, not because they wanted to give it up. To get over that downer, Roadbuster, Whirl and their colleague Twin Twist went to Maccadam's Old Oil House. While Whirl with certain cheerfulness tried to have a good time, Roadbuster and Twin Twist could not put Operation: Volcano out of their heads. As they were discussing the matter, a Decepticon entered the establishment and immediately began to harass a member of the bar's staff. Roadbuster and Whirl did nothing, considering it not their fight, but Twin Twist didn't agree with them. Giving the Decepticon his comeuppance, Twin Twist declared it was their duty as Autobots to fight no matter what and so convinced the other two to continue Operation: Volcano after all.
D-Day arrived, yet Ultra Magnus had still not come back. Roadbuster pointed out that even with Xaaron's reinforcements, the odds were slim, but the Wreckers had little choice but to go on regardless. Incredibly enough, just at the last moment before the confrontation, Megatron contacted the Decepticons on Cybertron and ordered them to cease all current operations to assist him. The Wreckers were left perplexed by this turn of events, enough so that one remaining Decepticon managed to sneak close and kill teamleader Impactor. After rewarding his murderer with a laserfire overdose, the Wreckers gathered around Impactor's body for his final moments. Target: 2006
When Optimus Prime was accidentally transported to Cybertron, the Wreckers believed him to be a Decepticon-allied imposter and captured him in order to execute him. The Harder They Die! Roadbuster was among Optimus Prime's executors-to-be, a note he could leave out of his curriculum vitae thanks to Outback's effective rescue attempt. Under Fire! Of course, the Wreckers wouldn't just let the Decepticon and traitor get away, so they split up to find them. Whirl was with the team that located the fugitives and as such was witness when finally Optimus Prime was recognized as the real deal. Distant Thunder! With Optimus by their side, the Wreckers completed various missions to free slaves and steal energon from the Decepticons, boosting Autobot morale as Operation: Volcano should have done. Resurrection!
Whirl disappeared from the Wreckers' roster afterwards, his fate never revealed. Roadbuster had a time of absence as well, but he eventually came back to help fight the twin threat of Megatron and Galvatron during the Time Wars. He was given an experimental weapon by Rack'n'Ruin to test on the adversaries and managed to blow off half of Galvatron's head with it. Unfortunately, he didn't heed Rack'n'Ruin's warning on the weapon's instability and still held it when it exploded, ending his life. Time Wars
Marvel UK future timelines
In an alternate version of 2510, Roadbuster, Whirl and the rest of the Wreckers fought along in the battle that put an end to the Decepticon faction for good. Shortly hereafter, Rodimus Prime held a ceremony where he officially announced the war to have come to an end and subsequently his plans to pass the Matrix on to the leader of the Wreckers, Springer. This decision was challenged by Triton, in truth a surviving, undercover Decepticon, who claimed Ultra Magnus would be a better leader for a world at peace. Whirl took offense to Triton putting down his commanding officer, telling him to watch his mouth and asking where his "precious Ultra Magnus" was when the Wreckers were winning the war. Triton in return punched Whirl to the ground, to which Roadbuster reacted by raising his gun and stating it was time someone shut him up permanently. It didn't come to that, as Scattershot shot first in defense of Triton and Ultra Magnus's reputation, thereby killing Roadbuster. This disastrous turn of events soon escalated into an Autobot Civil War between the forces of Ultra Magnus and Springer. Peace
Well done, Deluxe Vehicles. Very well done.
Marvel books
Roadbuster was stationed on Earth. The Autobots' initially failed to stop a new plan of Megatron's to take millions of people hostage, but came back to fight again once they were repaired. Roadbuster blasted a hole in the Decepticons' fortress's wall so the Autobots could get inside. Battle for Earth
Dreamwave comics continuity
At some point in the Dark Ages, Ratbat had been spotted in the Tagan Heights district, so Roadbuster and Whirl moved out with the other Wreckers under command of Springer to kick the Ultracon out of the strategically valuable area. Unimpressed, Ratbat unleashed Devastator on them. That fight didn't go so well, but matters only got worse when Defensor joined in and the two giants lost consideration for anything but smashing each other out of existence. Escalation As such, the Wreckers had no choice but to flee, much as they hated it. Devastation
During the next chapter of Cybertron's history, Roadbuster was one of the many Autobot forced to do slave labour for the Decepticons, The Age of Wrath #2 but he survived the maltreatment there to be back in Autobot business during the "Micromaster era". On one mission, he was attacked by a Decepticon group consisting of guzzlers and Micromasters and robbed of his energon. The guzzlers left with that, but the Micromasters stayed to fight Roadbuster's rescue party. Luckily for him, the Autobots won and could bring him back to safety. Less peachy was that one of the Autobot Micromaster soldiers had died trying to save him, further agitating the frail alliance between guzzlers and Micromasters. Destined for Nothing
At the time of Shockwave's reign, Ultra Magnus became the leader of the Wreckers and so led his elite combat unit against the threat of a suddenly reactivated Menasor. Prior to the battle, he warned the team most of them probably wouldn't come back. Cold War "Most of them" turned out to be a less specific designation for Roadbuster and Whirl. Passive Aggression
IDW comics continuity
Roadbuster and Whirl were part of Prowl's security team in Kaon when Cybertron was still at peace. Megatron Origin #2 Ages later, they had joined the Wreckers and took part in a battle on Varas Centralus. Due to events on Cybertron, the Wreckers were called back before they could finish the fight. Stormbringer #2 Traveling as fast as they could back to their old home planet, they came just in time for Roadbuster and Topspin to save two of the Technobots from death by Centurion drone. Shortly thereafter, Whirl and Roadbuster participated in kicking polydermal grafting-supporter tailpipe Stormbringer #3 and joined the second fight against Thunderwing. Stormbringer #4 They also were present in the third battle against him on Corata-Vaz, where the resurrected Thunderwing guarded the Nega-Core. Spotlight: Hardhead Spotlight: Doubledealer Spotlight: Sideswipe
The Wreckers started to go through some roster changes after Springer's old mentor Kup came back on-line. Whirl and several of the Wreckers were captured battling the Decepticon Turmoil, and they were rescued by Kup, Roadbuster and the remaining Wreckers. Spotlight: Drift After that mission, Kup took Roadbuster, Springer and several members of their team to crew his new starship Trion. It's unknown if Whirl and the others continued operating together as the Wreckers in their absence. Indeed, Whirl hasn't been seen since. Roadbuster and the Trion team rescued Hot Rod from Bludgeon and the Monstructor Six shortly before the interplanetary assault which brought down all the Autobot systems. All Hail Megatron issue 15 The Trion was in pursuit of Decepticon battlecruiser Torment when the attack happened, and ended up crashing on Cybertron. Roadbuster and the others soon met up with the other Autobots on Cybertron -- Optimus Prime's team from Earth, who had been banished to their homeworld via a one-way trip through the Space Bridge. All Hail Megatron issue 5
Roadbuster was particularly frustrated with their exile, and having never fired a shot when the Decepticons brought them down. He was commiserating with Ironhide on the perimeter when they noticed the Insecticon swarm had found the Autobot base. All Hail Megatron issue 6 The team needed to move their position after that, and Kup and Perceptor rode atop Roadbuster as the group relocated. All Hail Megatron issue 7 He carried them over the last bridge out to their bunker. All Hail Megatron issue 8
Preparing to make their stand at the bunker, Roadbuster helped the group attach a mega-cannon salvaged from the Trion to their fortifications. All Hail Megatron issue 9 Roadbuster was maybe a little too attached to the cannon, and was incredibly eager to blast some bugs. The cannon was only good for a few shots, after which Roadbuster just tossed it over the side to squash some Insecticons. The swarm would have overwhelmed them if not for the arrival of Omega Supreme. All Hail Megatron issue 10 As they traveled to Earth, the Autobots prepared to wipe the Decepticons off that planet. Roadbuster challenged Astrotrain as they landed, and pitted himself against the Triple Changer in hand-to-hand combat. He overpowered Astrotrain, but was taken down by a shot from Megatron's fusion cannon. All Hail Megatron issue 11 He recovered, however, and witnessed Thundercracker's efforts to divert the nuclear bomb from New York City. All Hail Megatron issue 12
After the Decepticons retreated, Roadbuster chose to remain behind on Earth when Springer and Kup returned to the Wreckers. He was seen working with Bumblebee's Skywatch division two years later. The Impossible Knot
Toys
Generation 1
- Deluxe Vehicles (1985)
- The Deluxe Vehicles were originally designed by Takatoku Toys for the Special Armored Batallion Dorvack (特装機兵ドルバック) toyline. Roadbuster is a repaint of the "Mugen Calibur" toy and Whirl is one of the "Oberon Gazzette" toy. They feature larger size and greater complexity than most of the Transformers toys of their time.
Notes
- The original molds of both Deluxe Vehicles were created by Takatoku Toys, and were bought along with the rest of company after its banruptcy in 1984 by Bandai. Bandai in turn licensed the molds to Hasbro for inclusion in their 1985 Generation 1 line-up. However, in the Japanese market, Bandai was the main competitor of Takara, which meant Takara would not include them in their version of the toyline. Since Hasbro and Takara shared the cartoon as promotional material for the toyline, the Deluxe Vehicles were not included in its cast. They also were omitted from the US Marvel comics and kept a low profile in the UK Marvel comics.
- The Special Armored Batallion Dorvack line contains a third transforming robot that was not inserted to Generation 1, "Bonaparte Tulcas". Presumably, this absence was because the toy has a far less convincing robot mode than the other two. A third "tank" Deluxe Vehicle was mentioned in Hasbro documents about the 1985 characters that came to light in 2010, meaning Tulcas was considered for inclusion in the line at some stage.[1]
- For that matter, the lesser humanoid look of Whirl might have something to do with the fact that he is waaaaaaaaaaaaaay less featured in stories than Roadbuster.
- To maximise both their own profits and their figures' place in the domestic marketplace, Takatoku Toys struck up a relationship with the less renowned manufacturer Mark, whereby the latter would produce cheap, knockoff-quality versions of these figures. Due to some sort of crazy loophole the rights to these cheap versions remained with Mark after Takatoku folded, and simple versions of a number of the Takatoku figures were licensed to another American manufacturer, Select. They used them for the cash-in Convertors line, which was on sale at more or less the same time the real things were in the Transformers line. This is where all those little plastic Roadbusters and Whirls you see on eBay come from...
