Hauler
- Hauler is an Autobot from the cartoon portion of 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
Generation 1 cartoon continuity
e-HOBBY bio
Hauler was a member of the team of Constructicons that constructed Crystal City. He joined the Autobots after the rest of his teammates were lost in an attack by Megatron. He was part of Optimus Prime's crew that crashed on Earth and lay dormant for four million years. He woke up with the others. After aiding in recovering Hound, Hauler then set out on his full-time mission to scour the Earth for new sources of energy, frequently changing his color scheme and optional equipment.
The Transformers cartoon
Hauler and his comrades created Megatron to lead the Decepticons. Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4 He apparently defected to the Autobots at some point in the next five million years, whilst his teammates remained Decepticons, and acquired a new color scheme. Millions of years later, Hauler joined Ratchet and Cliffjumper in recovering Hound from the bottom of a ravine. More than Meets the Eye, Part 1
Wings Universe
Nine million years ago, Hauler was a member of the construction team that built Crystal City. It was during this project that he introduced Hook, Scavenger, Scrapper, Bonecrusher, Mixmaster, and Long Haul to Omega Supreme. Hauler grew suspicious of his colleagues when they returned to the construction site one day with seemingly drastic personalities. Following the destruction of Crystal City, Hauler felt the six Constructicons were to blame, which led him to join the Autobots. Hauler's profile
Hauler was present alongside several other Autobots within Iacon when Megatron and his Decepticons smashed through the walls. The wall-smashing was made possible by his Robo-Smashed former friends, who had combined for the first time into Devastator. Battle Lines, Part 5 At Dion's suggestion, Hauler joined his fellow Autobots in shooting at Devastator's knees. This successfully disassembled the combiner, facilitating the Autobots' victory. Battle Lines, Part 6
During the third Cybertronian wars, Hauler and Erector were among the Autobots who ambushed the Constructicons at Elevation Recostalus, neutralizing the Decepticon team. Transformers I.Q. last issue review Five million years later, as he helped equip the Ark for its voyage, Hauler convinced Wheeljack to bring the Sky Spy on board. Battle Lines, Part 6
Many millions of years later, Hauler was one of the sparse defenders of Cybertron available to serve during the Machine Wars. Obsidian had Hauler and a motley collection of Autobots and Decepticons assembled to serve as guerilla soldiers under his command. Termination
Origins
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.
- Pre-orders for the set closed on May 15, 2003. The toys shipped out in July.
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]
- Hauler's profile in Club magazine #42 says he's called "Load Hauler" by some. It also calls his Cybertronian alternate mode a "binary load lifter", a reference to the film Star Wars.
Foreign names
- Japanese: RoadHauler (ロードホーラー Rōdohōrā)
- Russian: Bol'shegruz (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.
