Roadbuster (DOTM)
| This article is about the Dark of the Moon NASCAR racer. For the Generation 1 armored jeep, see Roadbuster (G1). |
- Roadbuster is an Autobot from the Dark of the Moon portion of the live-action film series continuity family.
When Roadbuster isn't out bashing Decepticons with his buddies, the Wreckers, there are only a couple of other places to look for him. He might be in his shop, hammering out a new piece of armor or putting together another in the line of powerful weapons he's made for the Wreckers. He might be out on the race track, pushing his engine to the limit with his human buddy Sergeant Recon. Wherever he is, though, you can be sure he'll be going about his task with his head down and his shoulders set. Roadbuster's not a big talker and he's no genius, but his willpower and dogged tenacity always get the job done.
Fiction
Dark of the Moon film
- Voice actor: Ron Bottitta (English), Shunsuke Sakuya (Japanese), Armando Coria (Latin American Spanish)
Roadbuster, Leadfoot and Topspin, collectively known as the Wreckers, by Charlotte Mearing, had arrived with the second wave of Autobots aboard the Autobot ship, the Xantium, and were rarely let off of the NASA base because of their attitude. They would spend most of their time working on repairing their ship along with some human engineers, including Robert Epps.
When Sentinel Prime announced that the current occupation force of Autobots was to be exiled or the Earth would face the wrath of hundreds of Decepticons, the three prepared the ship for launch and accompanied Optimus Prime and the others aboard, sending the ship into the atmosphere - where it was then targeted and blown to smithereens by Starscream, seemingly killing all the Autobots aboard. Undaunted by this, the Autobot's human allies nonetheless tried to launch an incursion into Decepticon-held Chicago.
Fortunately for them, the Autobots were not actually aboard the ship, and had only feigned their deaths in order to keep the Decepticons from following up on their global threat. Leadfoot and the other Wreckers swung into action immediately, rescuing Epps, Sam Witwicky and a group of soldiers from a Decepticon fighters and executed a the pilot. Upon being questioned on their apparent death's Roadbuster stated that they had built the ship, but hadn't been inside it when it had been destroyed.
While the Autobots were scouting a route to the building containing Sentinel's Space bridge pillars, Shockwave and his pet Driller seperated Optimus from his weapons trailer. Optimus ordered Roadbuster and the other Wreckers to create a distraction so that he could retrieve it, and in their armored racecar forms fired at Shockwave with their machineguns until being forced to retreat, leaving behind Wheelie and Brains, who had hitched a ride with them. After Optimus had become snared in a contruction site's cables, the Wreckers set out to free him. After doing so they rejoined the battle, battling against a long-limbed Decepticon. After the battle Roadbuster stood with the other survivors, accepting that Cybertron was gone forever and that Earth was their new home. Dark of the Moon (film)
Toys
Dark of the Moon
Cyberverse
- Roadbuster (Cyberverse Legion, 2011)
- Series: 1
- Number: 014
- Japanese ID number: CV22
Deluxe Class toys
- Roadbuster (MechTech Deluxe, 2011)
- Japanese ID number: DA09
- Accessories: MechTech Blaster/Assault Saw
- Part of the first wave of Dark of the Moon Deluxes, Roadbuster transforms into a NASCAR Sprint Cup Chevy Impala stock car, specifically Dale Earnhardt, Jr.'s #88 car with Amp Energy drink and National Guard sponsorship logos. Like the other NASCAR-based DOTM toys, Roadbuster lacks the multiple small "contingency" sponsor decals found on a full-sized NASCAR racer, although he does have NASCAR Sprint Cup Series logos.
- As part of the MechTech series, he has a spring-loaded blaster weapon that features flip-out "chainsaw" blades; however, the blades cannot lock in the deployed position. There are three mechtech ports on him, one on his roof, and two on each door, all of them fill in when there is not a weapon inserted in them. He also features C-joint-compatible 3mm rods in the supports for his (nonfiring) back-mounted missile pods and under his hands. Also, the wheels on his legs can be swiveled down on to a lower peg.
- The back missile launchers can still deploy while in vehicle mode to form a Stealth Force-like configuration.
- The Japanese release comes packed with a character card and an accompanying transparent plastic card of his MechTech weapon for the MechTech Wars online game.
- His MechTech weapon was redecoed for the Dark of the Moon Thundercracker toy.
Human Alliance
- Roadbuster with Sergeant Recon (2011)
- Accessories:
- Roadbuster is a bigger-scale Human Alliance figure that comes with Sergeant Recon. Roadbuster is now in his weaponized mode, as opposed to the standard simple race car mode like the deluxe class. He has a machine gun in the front, two cannons in the back, and one rocket booster that shoots a missile. In robot mode, Sergent Recon can man the machine gun by flipping up over Roadbuster's head. Roadbuster also comes with the rocket booster which doubles as a gun that can be placed on either arm. Unfortunately, Roadbuster suffers from a very thin torso section.
- There is a running change variant of Roadbuster which replaces the generic font for the tampographed driver number "88" with a style that is much closer to the actual NASCAR race car and the NASCAR decals near the headlights are replaced with the Sprint Cup Series logos.
Robo Power
Robo Fighters
- Roadbuster (2011)
Notes
- Roadbuster has "sunglasses", a "baseball cap" a "goatee", and a "mullet" making him resemble a stereotypical NASCAR fan. Or Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- As part of the promotions for Dark of the Moon, the film prop versions of Roadbuster, Leadfoot, and Topspin made appearances at the 2011 Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 20th. They appeared both off the track as display cars, and on the track, participating in the ceremonial first lap.
- This isn't the first time there's been a Wrecker named Roadbuster.
- Early concept art revealed that Roadbuster was originally going to have Jeff Gordon's #24 DuPont-sponsored Chevrolet as his alternate mode.[1]
- Early concept art showed that Roadbuster was a red Autobot with the name Warpath.[1]
- In the movie's end credits, he's listed under two names, Roadbuster/Amp, the latter referring to his NASCAR vehicle mode's primary sponsor, AMP Energy.
- Roadbuster has a rank stat of 9, the highest out of the 3 Wreckers, which may make him their leader by default.
- Roadbuster's Scottish accent and occupation as an engineer are likely nods to the character Scotty from the original Star Trek series.
Foreign names
- Japanese: Roadbuster (ロードバスター Rōdobasutā)
