Hauler
- Hauler is an Autobot from the Generation 1 continuity family.
Back on Cybertron, Hauler was a Constructicon involved in the building of the Crystal City. When his teammates were reprogrammed as Decepticons, Hauler turned to the Autobots, joining their ranks. This choice would eventually put him on board the Ark for its doomed voyage that ended on Earth. When he awoke with the rest of the crew in 1984, he resumed his primary function: the discovery and procurement of energy sources. This task sends him far and wide across the planet, and his tendency towards capricious self-expression often results in him coming back with different colors and parts.
His crane mode can lift 60 tons, and in robot mode, he can launch his hands from their wrist-sockets. The hands can fly through the air under his remote-control guidance, allowing him to perform tasks normally beyond his reach.[1]
Fiction
The Transformers cartoon
Hauler joined Ratchet and Cliffjumper in recovering Hound from the bottom of a ravine. He never spoke or transformed to robot mode. He was also yellow, which made him look like Grapple. More than Meets the Eye, Part 1
"Shut up, Hauler."
Later, during a spiritual journey through the Matrix of Leadership, Rodimus Prime was shown a vision of eight Constructicons creating Megatron. Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4 The identities of the two extra Constructicons remain unknown, though quite possibly one might be Hauler.
Origins
Hauler has a bit of a complicated history. In 1984, it appears that Hasbro intended to release the Diaclone "Crane" figure as part of the first year of the Transformers toyline as a character named "Hauler". Packing cases for the 1984 Autobot Cars contained twelve figures, but only eleven toys were released (with an extra Mirage filling the empty slot), suggesting that Hauler was to be the twelfth. For unknown reasons, these plans were halted, and the figure was held back and eventually released in 1985 as Grapple. However, this change came too late to remove Hauler's solitary cartoon appearance, in "More than Meets the Eye, Part 1". Following this episode, the character (who never spoke, and never transformed) promptly disappeared from the cartoon, and was never seen or referred to again. When the episode was dubbed for release in Japan, Hauler was not even referred to by name, and most fans assumed him to be Grapple.
Nearly twenty years later, when Grapple's mold-partner, Inferno, was reissued as part of the Transformers Collection series, e-Hobby decided to release an exclusive redeco of the Grapple figure. Someone at e-Hobby, looking for a character that this toy could represent, found out about Hauler in Hirofumi Ichikawa's glossary info in the Transformers 2010 DVD box set and decided to turn the Grapple redeco into this Hauler character, now dubbed "RoadHauler".[2] Ichikawa himself was then asked to write a bio for "RoadHauler", in which he explained the character's perpetual absence. Since Hauler as he appeared in the cartoon would not have actually been a redeco of Grapple (as they were both orange), it was decided to render RoadHauler in the classic purple-and-green of the Constructicons. The character's bio then established that he was a former member of that team (presumably in reference to the scene in "Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4" that erroneously depicted the Constructicons with two extra members), and justified his different coloration in the cartoon by explaining that he often changed his color scheme.
Not as complicated a history as some characters, but there you go.
Toys
Generation 1
- RoadHauler (Autobot, 2003)
- Japanese ID number: 88
- Accessories: Left & right fists, 3 missiles, "Beam Gun"
- One of the first original-deco toys released as part of the e-Hobby exclusive series, RoadHauler is a redeco of the Autobot Grapple, transforming into a Mitsubishi Fuso hook-crane truck. Both of his forearms contain a spring-loaded missile launcher so he can fire his own fists, or the included silver missiles. (As a Japanese release, this feature is fully functional, as they have different safety standards for projectiles in Japan.) He was sold only as part of a set with his fellow "More than Meets the Eye, Part 1" cameo-character Sunstorm.
Notes
- There is some conjecture over the Romanization of his name, as many fans call him "Load Hauler". However, when the e-Hobby website featured the toy, it spelled the name "RoadHauler".[3] The The Transformers: Binaltech & TF Collection Complete Guide reinforces this spelling, calling him "ROADHAULER" in all caps, as it does with all names.[4]
Foreign names
- Japanese: RoadHauler (ロードホーラー Rōdohōrā)
- Russian: Bolʹshegruz (Большегруз "Heavy trucks")
References
- ↑ RoadHauler's on-package bio (see TFU.info link in the toys section)
- ↑ Interview with Hirofumi Ichikawa at Altered States Magazine
- ↑ Archived version of e-Hobby page for RoadHauler
- ↑ The Transformers Binaltech & TF Collection Complete Guide Romanization of his name.
