Last time we saw the new attempt to bring Optimus Prime, Jazzz (with an extra z), and replacement girl Firecycle to Saturday mornings. Now we have the second half of the Autobot team, including not-Bumblebee. I don’t know why Jeffrey Scott hated Bumblebee so much but given that the kids loved him it would have been a bad move.
Like before the layout is in the style of computer print outs. In case you’re bad at math, the second half means three more characters for a total of six Autobots. This will be followed by the humans and the Decepticons.
In addition to not-Bumblebee version 2 we have Mirage and Trailbreaker. Back when they wanted to gender swap Sideswipe Mirage was trying to get with her. I wonder if that will carry over to Firecycle? Well, only one way to find out, because he’s up first.
“Come back with my alternate mode!”
CODE NAME: MIRAGE
FUNCTION: COUNTER-INTELLIGENCE; ESPIONAGE
TRANS-FORM: LIGIER {FORMULA ONE CAR}
SIZE: {ROBOT} 25′ – {CAR} 13′PROFILE: MIRAGE IS NOT THRILLED ABOUT BEING WITH A BUNCH OF ROUGH-AND-TUMBLE FREEDOM FIGHTERS. IF HE HAD A CHOICE HE’D BE BACK ON HIS BELOVED CYBERTRON, HUNTING TURBOFOXES WITH HIS HIGH-PRICED FRIENDS. OPTIMUS PRIME MUST CONSTANTLY CAJOLE HIM INTO CONTINUING HIS SERVICE WITH THE AUTOBOTS, BUT HE FEELS IT MAY BE A LOSING BATTLE. DESPITE HIS COOLNESS TO THE CAUSE, MIRAGE IS A SURPRISINGLY EFFECTIVE FIGHTER, AND AN EVEN MORE EFFECTIVE INTELLIGENCE GATHERER, WHICH IS A ROLE HE MUCH PREFERS. SOME OF THE OTHER AUTOBOTS FEEL MIRAGE MAY BE A COUNTER-SPY.
Nope, but he is a lot closer to his original tech spec profile. I don’t remember media ever mentioning anything about Mirage’s turbofox hunting outside of his toy profile. Transformers Universe seemed to suggest he was among the elite, making me wonder if he was drafted into the war.
ABILITIES: AS HIS NAME SUGGESTS, MIRAGE HAS THE ABILITY TO DISRUPT PHOTON FIELDS, THUS MAKING HIMSELF APPEAR AND DISAPPEAR. HE CAN ALSO CREATE “MIRAGES,” MAKING HIM APPEAR WHERE HE IS NOT. HOWEVER, IT
SHOULD BE NOTED THAT MIRAGE IS JUST AS SUSEPTIBLE TO DAMAGE WHEN HE IS INVISIBLE, BECAUSE ALTHOUGH HE HAS BENT THE LIGHT RAYS AROUND HIM, HE IS STILL PHYSICALLY THERE. HIS INVISIBILITY AND MIRAGE CAPABILITY GREATLY ENHANCES HIS INTELLIGENCE GATHERING. HIS LIGHT BENDING ABILITIES ALSO ALLOW HIM TO CHANGE HIS PHYSICAL APPEARANCE, AS WELL AS PROJECT HOLOGRAPHIC IMAGES, SUCH AS DECOYS AND PHANTOM AUTOBOTS.
The Mirage we got could turn himself invisible (was he really there or was it a mirage?), and even used them to stop the Decepticons in the miniseries. However, Hound, whose holograms were supposed to be maps, would end up doing all the illusion stuff. I guess if they’re taking Hound out someone would have to take that on, given how useful they were in some stories.
WEAPONRY: UNLIKE MOST OF THE OTHER AUTOBOTS, MIRAGE HAS WEAPONS THAT ATTRACT RATHER THAN PROJECT. HE POSSESSES TWIN TRACTOR BEAMS CAPABLE OF PULLING MOST LARGE OBJECTS TOWARD HIM. ANYTHING CAUGHT IN THEIR ELECTRO-MAGNETIC CLUTCHES IS SLOWLY DRAWN NEARER AND NEARER UNTIL IT IS IN HIS HYDRAULIC HANDS. THIS, TOO, COMES IN HANDY FOR INTELLIGENCE GATHERING.
I just checked the tech spec and his gun was supposed to be the source of his illusions, hiding his appearance for six minutes. This is Mirage borrowing Windcharger’s magnetic powers in gun form.
WEAKNESSES: MIRAGE IS UNSURE OF THE AUTOBOTS AND THEIR CAUSE, AND CONSEQUENTLV CANNOT ALWAYS BE FULLY TRUSTED. OPTIMUS PRIME IS WELL AWARE OF HIS COOLNESS TO THE GROUP, BUT CONSIDERS HIM TOO VALUABLE TO LET GO.
And since he’s no longer going after the fembot on the team I wonder how Optimus does it? This also lines up with his original character, so I guess they finally have the right notes. So then how did we get this character?
Production art featuring Muffy, the human characters, and their dog. We’ll meet them next time.
CODE NAME: MUFFLER – A.K.A. MUFFY
FUNCTION: MESSENGER – SCOUT
TRANS-FORM: VW BEETLE {PINK}
SIZE: {ROBOT} 24′ – {CAR} 12′
The production art shows yellow, but they were thinking of making him pink since he’s still supposed to be the girl’s car, like his fellow not-Bumblebee, Toad. This was changed after the pitch was written, I guess. Or maybe during since it’s about to go back and forth between the two colors. Must have confused CBS and Hasbro execs.
PROFILE: MUFFLER HAS THE FORM OF A YELLOW VW BEETLE. AS HIS NAME SUGGESTS, HE HAS AN EXTREMELY NOISY EXHAUST SYSTEM THAT IS THE CAUSE OF CONSTANT JOKING BY THE OTHER AUTOBOTS. HIS MAIN FUNCTION IS MESSAGE RUNNING AND SPYING FOR THE AUTOBOTS. MUFFLER IS THE ONL Y AUTOBOT BESIDES OPTIMUS PRIME THAT HAS A HUMAN COMPANION AND CONFIDANT. WHILE ATTEMPTING TO ESCAPE A DECEPTICON AMBUSH, MUFFLER FOUND HIMSELF WITH NO PLACE TO HIDE EXCEPT A USED CAR LOT, SO HE TRANSFORMED HIMSELF TO SOMETHING HE THOUGHT WOULD BLEND RIGHT IN … A PINK VW BEETLE. IT DID BLEND IN, SO WELL, IN FACT, THAT NOT ONLY DID THE DECEPTICONS MARCH RIGHT PAST, BUT A YOUNG TEENAGER BY THE NAME OF WENDY FAIRCHILD, LOOKING FOR A CAR AT THE TIME, BOUGHT HIM. AND, AS SOFT-HEARTED AS MUFFLER IS, HE DIDN’T HAVE THE HEART TO BE THE CAUSE OF WENDY’S LOSING HER MONEY, SO HE RESIGNED HIMSELF TO BE HER CAR IN TIMES WHEN HE’S NOT NEEDED BY THE AUTOBOTS. WENDY CALLS HIM “MUFFY,” A NICKNAME HE FEELS IS BETTER SUITED TO A DOG.
So they kept the wacky idea from the first pitch, but changed the name. It’s not just the fact that Bumblebee is my favorite G1 Autobot that this bothers me. It just feels a bit out of place, but this is a story that tried to have it both ways. The Decepticons rule but everyone just lives their normal lives when they aren’t the slave working that day. Muffler would keep one part of Bumblebee’s backstory, though: his size.
ABILITIES: MUFFLER, BEING THE SMALLEST AUTOBOT, HAS TREMENDOUS ABILITY TO GET INTO AND OUT OF PLACES IN A HURRY, THUS HIS JOB AS MESSENGER AND SPY. SOME OF THE OTHER AUTOBOTS PLAYFULLY INSIST THAT MUFFLER’S
QUICKNESS IS CAUSED BY FEAR. AS PARADOXICAL AS IT SEEMS, MUFFLER’S MAIN STRONG POINT IS HIS WEAK POINT … CLUTZINESS. HE’S LIABLE TO LOSE A TIRE WHILE SPEEDING FROM AN ADVANCING DECEPTICON, ONLY TO HAVE THE TIRE ACCIDENTALLY TRIP THE PURSUING ROBOT.WEAPONRY: MUFFLER IS THE ◊NL Y AUTOBOT WITH NO WEAPONRY. EVER SINCE HE SHOT HIS FOOT WITH A LASER CANNON HE HASN’T TOUCHED A WEAPON OF ANY KIND.
Folks who are new here may not realize that I’m one of the biggest defenders of comic relief characters, but even if this guy were working alongside Bumblebee I’m not sure this wouldn’t feel out of place. I’m willing to blame CBS for this, since they have to answer to groups who think kids can’t handle anything remotely challenging, but while the show we got had its share of humor moments they felt a lot more–pardon the expression–organic compared to anything Muffler is involved in as far as these profile go. I’m not even sure we need to go over his weaknesses, but they did anyway.
WEAKNESSES: IT SEEMS THAT MUFFLER HAS MORE WEAKNESSES THAN HE HAS ABILITIES. UNLIKE THE OTHER AUTOBOTS, MUFFLER HAS A FEW PROBLEMS WITH HIS ELECTRO-MECHANICAL CONTROL FUNCTIONS – IN OTHER WORDS, HE’S A CLUTZ. HE CAN’T QUITE TRANSFORM THE WAY HE WANTS TO. HE MIGHT NEED TO TURN INTO A ROBOT FOR AN EMERGENCY, BUT NOT BE ABLE TO GET ONE OF HIS FENDERS TO TURN INTO A LEG, THUS HAVING TO COMICALLY HOP AROUND ON ONE LEG. IF HE’S NOT RUNNING INTO THINGS HE’S RUNNING OUT OF GAS … OR EVEN WORSE, GETTING “SPEEDING TICKETS.”
I can see why Chris McFeely thought at one point this was an original character for a show called Car And Cable. Even his alternate mode design is out of place. He reminds me more of an older Hanna-Barbera cartoon, a precursor to Pixar’s “Cars” franchise called Wheelie & The Chopper Bunch, and sharing an Autobot’s name isn’t the only odd coincidence. Wheelie was a red Volkswagen Beetle with a bunch of gadgets that he used to help his friends deal with the action of a biker gang (made of actual motorcycles, of course) who were always causing trouble. Also, this Wheelie never spoke, but everybody knew what he was saying when he honked his car horn even though all the other vehicles in this humanless society could talk normally. I think the idea first start with an MGM short. Point is, Muffler would fit better in that world even with his bipedal transformation.
His real fight was getting his real name back.
CODE NAME: TRAILBREAKER
FUNCTION: DEFENSIVE STRATEGIST
TRANS-FORM: 4X4 CAMPER TRUCK {BLACK}
SIZE: {ROBOT} 28′ – {TRUCK} 14′
In the first pitch Trailbreaker could fly and stole Huffer’s homesickness. Curious if they fixed him and where else they broke him…no pun intended.
PROFILE: “LOOKS LIKE DROID-DUCK SEASON HAS JUST OPENED.” THAT’S HOW TRAILBREAKER MIGHT DESCRIBE AN ATTACK BY A BATTALION OF FLYING DECEPTICONS. HE’LL MAKE LIGHT OF ANYTHING, NO MATTER HOW DIRE THE SITUATION. EVER THE PRACTICAL JOKER, TRAILBREAKER ONCE WIRED AN EARTH VIDEO GAME CARTRIDGE INTO MUFFLER’S COMPUTER MIND, CAUSING THE POOR VW TO RUN FROM IMAGINERY ALIEN INVADERS. TRAILBREAKER’S ANTICS CAN RAISE THE OTHERS’ SPIRITS AT EVEN THE BLACKEST OF TIMES. THERE IS, HOWEVER, A DARKER SIDE TO TRAILBREAKER: HE IS THE MOST FUEL-CONSUMING AUTOBOT AND THUS BELIEVES HE IS A LIABILITY TO THE GROUP. HE ONCE VOLUNTEERED TO BE LEFT BEHIND WHEN WOUNDED IN BATTLE RATHER THAN USE UP PRECIOUS RESOURCES. HIS LACK OF SELF-ESTEEM IS APPARENT TO OPTIMUS PRIME, WHO MUST CONTINUALLY REASSURE HIM OF HIS VALUE.
I was never that bad with my self-esteem issues. Neither was Bumblebee. Apparently that and the practical jokes (and that seems a bit cruel to poor Muffler…bot’s suffering enough) were part of Trailbreaker’s tech spec profile but literally nobody ever had him doing them.
ABILITIES: TRAILBREAKER’S. PERSONALITY CHANGES ALMOST INSTANTLY WHEN HE IS NEEDED TO WORK OUT DEFENSIVE STRATEGIES. IT IS THEN THAT ALL HIS POWER SYSTEMS ARE DIRECTED TO HIS STRATEGIC PLOTTING COMPUTER ON WHICH HE CAN SIMULTANEOUSLY MONITOR 16 BATTLES AT ONCE.
“Defensive strategist” is also from his profile and also never shows up anywhere in the fiction. Instead he does the scout thing once and then just makes force fields a lot.
WEAPONRY: TRAILBREAKER HAS A FORCE-FIELD GENERATOR THAT CAN CREATE AN INVISIBLE BARRIER CAPABLE OF WITHSTANDING ANY FORM OF PROJECTILE OR WAVELENGTH ATTACK — THOUGH A SUSTAINED ASSUALT CAN WEAKEN OR DESTROY IT. UNFORTUNATELY, THE LONGER TRAILBREAKER MAINTAINS THE FIELD THE MORE FUEL IT CONSUMES. TRAILBREAKER ALSO HAS A RADIO-JAMMING BEACON AND CARRIES A LASER-GATLING GUN THAT CAN FIRE 32 PENCIL-THICK BEAMS AT ONCE.
Force field? Check. Radio jammer? Check. Laser gatling gun with really thin beams? That’s new.
WEAKNESSES: HIS HIGH FUEL CONSUMPTION AND SLOWNESS MAKE TRAILBREAKER PARTICULARLY VULNERABLE- HE’LL OFTEN MOPE ABOUT HIS HANDICAPS AND FORGET HIS RESPONSIBILITIES AS A CONSEQUENCE. BUT HIS BRAVERY AND DEFENSIVE PROWESS ARE UNQUESTIONED, AND HE USUALLY RECOVERS HIS WITS IN TIME TO SAVE HIMSELF AND HIS COMRADES.
With a smaller cast, Trailbreaker might have finally been able to show off some of these traits. With a weekly show it was already hard to give each character a focus episode, and it got harder in season two with all the new toys characters despite going weekdays. With only six characters and presumably still 16 episodes to fill out a season, it might have been a better chance for him. We’ll never know.
And that’s it for the Autobots. Next time we’ll look at the human allies and their new dog. How will they stack up against the Witwickys, Chip, Carly, and Raul?
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