Freeway (G1)
| This article is about the Generation 1 Autobot. For the Transformers Animated Autobot, see Freeway (Animated). |
- Freeway is an Autobot from the Generation 1 continuity family.
A cruel and foulmouthed Throttlebot, Freeway is the Autobots' self-appointed "King of Comedy" and possibly makes himself quite unpopular as a result. No one is immune from his special brand of humor, not even high-ranking officers. He's always on the lookout for even the smallest and most trivial of mistakes; these can be an opening for him to unleash a torrent of pointed, mocking abuse. Freeway is convinced that he's absolutely hilarious. Point out that he's not really all that funny, and he'll do you even worse, insult your heritage, make scandalous suggestions about your progenitor, and claim you have no sense of humor and are, in fact, a wuss. Freeway will make himself laugh so hard that he blows a circuit and shorts himself out.
Freeway can dish it out, but he sure can't take it. Treat him the way he treats others, and Freeway will very quickly become angry, twisted and resentful. Very much a fuming ball of wires.
Fiction
Marvel Comics continuity
Thanks to a Decepticon Titanium-class Destruction Drone, Freeway and his fellow Throttlebots were 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 the spread of the deadly disease. Given new Earth-style vehicle forms and canisters of corrosive acid, Freeway and the others arrived on Earth and soon found 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!
Freeway 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. Freeway and the Throttlebots were carted off and taken prisoner by RAAT's parent organization, Triple-I. Used Autobots
Still not recognizing the difference between Autobots and Decepticons, III's bigwigs publicly 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 Freeway 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!
Freeway 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 destroyed by Starscream. Dark Star
Cartoon continuity
The Transformers cartoon
- Voice actor: Danny Mann (English), Akimitsu Takase (Japanese)
Freeway and three of the other Throttlebots were part of the force sent by Rodimus Prime to recover the body of Optimus Prime. Freeway was amongst the very first to be infected by the Hate Plague. The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1 He was cured when Optimus Prime was resurrected and used the Matrix to eradicate the Hate Plague. The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 2
While defending Autobot City on Earth from the Decepticons, Freeway demanded that Snapdragon back off. With a loud cry of "NO!", the Horrorcon kicked Freeway back into a wall, causing him to lose a rear wheel in the process. Evidently this was not a serious injury, as he was found fighting alongside his fellow Autobots a while later. The Rebirth, Part 1
The Headmasters cartoon
- Voice actor: Hōchū Ōtsuka (Japanese)
When the Decepticons attacked Cybertron in order to take control of Vector Sigma, Freeway and the Throttlebots were among the lines of defense. They fought bravely against the Decepticon Headmasters, but were swiftly defeated. Four Warriors Come out of the Sky They got a chance for a rematch when the Headmasters attacked Cybertron with their Madmachine, and Freeway and his comrades managed to hold the Decepticons at bay until the Madmachine was destroyed. The Great Cassette Operation
The Throttlebots were later called to Earth to scuffle with the Headmasters yet again, but snuck away from battle to destroy Metamorpho, a Decepticon meteorite, hoping to earn some glory in the process. This did not end well, as Metamorpho's metal-warping gravity fields immediately twisted their ship and its crew out of shape and sent them screaming through space. Approach of the Demon Meteorite Freeway and the others returned much later to destroy a Decepticon death tower on Earth, but didn't stand a chance against its guardian, Predaking. The Final Showdown on Earth (Part 2)
IDW comics continuity
The Throttlebots were stationed on the Orvus Base laboratory orbiting Salvvatan VI, serving as couriers for a top-secret research project. The base was attacked and destroyed by Sixshot. They escaped in a ship as the only survivors of the attack—with Sixshot in hot pursuit—eventually making their way to Salvvatan VIII.
Freeway and the others discovered supplies and Energon on the planet's surface within a mysterious city complex. Sixshot caught up with them and demanded the information the Throttlebots had taken from Orvus. They scattered, with Sixshot ready and eager to hunt them down. After being flung into the air in vehicle mode, Freeway righted himself, landed and tried to make a stand again Sixshot. The Decepticon simply leaped above Freeway, transformed to tank mode and fell directly on him. Sixshot tortured the pinned Freeway a bit by grinding him with his tank treads before turning his attention to the remaining Throttlebots. Spotlight: Metroplex
Toys
Generation 1
- Freeway (Throttlebot, 1987)
- Japanese ID number: C-96
- Freeway transforms into a Chevrolet Corvette. Like all Throttlebots, Freeway's primary gimmick is a pull-back motor that sends him zipping forward in either car or robot modes.
- In 1991, Freeway and the other Throttlebots were re-released in the European market as part of the "Classics" line. For this release, all of the Throttlebots but Wide Load were retooled to have their rubsign indents removed, the decals replaced with normal factory-applied paper faction sigil decals.
Notes
- A working name for the original Alternators Ford Mustang toy (which ultimately ended up as Grimlock) was "Freeway," according to various early store listings.
Foreign names
- Japanese: Runway (ランウェイ Ranwei)
- French: Autoroute (Canada)
- Italian: Saterbot
