Wheelie (Transformers)

Wheelie is a fictional character in the Transformers toy line and fictional storyline. He is sometimes called "Autobot Wheelie" for trademark purposes.

Transformers: Generation 1
Wheelie's transformation is a futuristic, one-person car in yellow, white and orange. He has a distinctive style of speech, in which he rhymes his sentences while speaking in a high pitched voice, making him sound like a child.

Animated series
The main theory for his origin is that he was the sole survivor of an Autobot colonization ship which crashed on Quintessa, but an alternative theory is that he was an Autobot exile who landed on Quintessa by mistake.

Wheelie is introduced half-way through the movie as an unknown Autobot youth watching from the shadows as Hot Rod and Kup are dragged away to the court of the Quintessons. He meets up with the Dinobots and leads them to the courtroom just in time to save the two Autobots from becoming Sharkticon lunches. After the Sharkticons start chasing the Quintessons, Wheelie points the Autobots toward a ship in exchange for them taking him with them when they leave Quintessa.

A young Autobot, Wheelie's function is listed as "survivalist". He despises the Quintessons and their Sharkticon minions, but only fights when he has no alternative.

During the third season, Wheelie's role in the series changed from survivalist to the Autobots' "little brother", a cute little kid providing comic relief and acting as Daniel Witwicky's best friend, paralleling the relationship between Spike Witwicky (Daniel's father) and Bumblebee in the pre-movie series.

Wheelie and Daniel, along with the Dinobot Grimlock (whose character changed dramatically in the third season from hugely powerful brute-warrior to a silly, cuddly oaf who actually wears a giant apron at one point) were written as main characters in several episodes in which they got themselves into predicaments.

Wheelie was one of the few characters to appear regularly in the Japanese Transformers spin-off series "Transformers: The Headmasters". Often sided with Daniel, and Arcee on the battleship Fortress Maximus. In this series, he no longer rhymes when he talks, unlike previous series.

Wheelie also had a cameo appearance in Transformers: Armada along with Fortress Maximus in the episodes "Past" parts I & II.

Wheelie, like many Transformers in the various cartoon series, suffers from a speech defect. Wheelie occasionally speaks in the third-person, but more noticeable is that he has a high-pitched voice and always speaks in rhyme. This speech defect is absent in Japanese and in Italian dubs, that give him the voice of a youngster.

Marvel Comics
Wheelie's existence was acknowledged only by the U.K. comic community (where adventures were inserted in-between the stories sourced in the U.S.).

He aided Wreck-Gar in escaping from the Quintessons, whose homeworld was dying due to a rift in space-time. The two unlikely allies then transmitted the Quintessons' plan for colonization throughout the galaxy, making the Quintessons' targets aware of their plans.

Wheelie retains his distinctive style of speech in his comic appearance.

Books
Wheelie appeared in the 1986 story and coloring book The Lost Treasure of Cybertron by Marvel Books.

Manga
In the Japanese manga "Big War" #2 the Autobots Rodimus Prime, Grimlock, Kup and Wheelie, along with their human allies Spike Witwicky and Daniel Witwicky send Computron into battle against Galvatron's new warrior combiner Abominus. The Terrorcons spit "corrosive control liquid" against Computron, taking control of him and turning him into a Decepticon. Luckily Spike uses his new Exosuit to free Computron with "defense spray." Defeated Galvatron retreats.

Dreamwave Productions
Although Wheelie never appeared in the Marvel Transformers comics, he had a role in Dreamwave's War and Peace mini-series. In the comics, he was true to his characterization of a survivalist, as he was member of a small Autobot resistance group fighting against Shockwave's oppressive control of Cybertron. He had also befriended the Sharkticon Gnaw, who needed someone to make others see he was not the vicious monster his appearance led many to believe. This version of Wheelie did not speak at all.

IDW Publishing
Wheelie made a brief cameo appearance in IDW's Spotlight issue on Optimus Prime. At the start of the issue, one of the viewscreens Prime is monitoring supposedly features Wheelie asking for someone to talk to.

Wheelie received his own Spotlight issue in June 2008, detailing his origins and predicament. In the IDW continuity, Wheelie is an explorer sent out to map uncharted regions of space. His vessel crash-lands on an alien world, where he befriends a native creature - whose universal translator's peculiarities force Wheelie to speak in his distinctive rhyme - and attempts to repair an alien to craft to escape the planet; this attempt is thwarted by the two surviving members of Reflector, who die following an act of sabotage by Wheelie. The issue's closing panels hint at a Quintesson presence on the planet.

Transformers: Mosaic
Chase, Daytonus and Wheelie were featured in the Transformers: Mosaic story called "Chasing the Cards." In this story Chase beats Daytonus and Wheelie and a card game, but afterwars Wheelie jumps Chase and takes his winnings.

Toys

 * Generation 1 Wheelie (1986)
 * In Japan, a toy was released by E-Hobby in 2005. they repainted Wheelie in yellow, white and blue and renamed it Dion.


 * Universe Legends Autobot Wheelie (2009)
 * A new mold.


 * Henkei Legends Wheelie (2009)
 * A redeco of the Universe toy in yellow.

Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen
As originally revealed at the U.K. Toy Fair, Wheelie appears in the second Transformers live-action film, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, transforming into a RC toy truck. He is voiced by Tom Kenny, who voiced Starscream in Transformers Animated.

Books
In the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen coloring book Wheelie is depicted trying to steal a fragment of the Allspark cube, but being chased by Mikaela Banes with a blow torch.

In the novel adaptation of Revenge of the Fallen he is called "Wheels", not "Wheelie."

Movie plot
Wheelie is a Decepticon sent to spy on Sam Witwicky. He talks in a Brooklyn accent and acts as comic relief. He follows Sam's girlfriend Mikaela Banes when Sam gives her an Allspark fragment for safekeeping. While trying to steal the fragment from a safe, Mikaela discovers and captures him, burning off the red casing of one of his eyes with a blowtorch. She soon talks him into working for her, keeping him in a toolbox and using the blowtorch to make him comply. When brought out to help translate the language of the Primes, Wheelie then tells Mikaela about the Decepticons' plans and his woes of working for them. After seeing pictures of the ancient Decepticons known as Seekers, Wheelie leads them to the nearest one in their part of the world, Jetfire. When Wheelie learns Jetfire joined the Autobots, he immediately chooses to defect and side with his former foes as well. Wheelie travels to Egypt with Sam and the others where he last appears in the film entering the first pyramid. He was not seen again after that, presumably hidden safe in Bumblebee's cargo.

Toys

 * Revenge of the Fallen Legends Autobot Wheelie (2009)
 * Announced at Botcon 2009.


 * Revenge of the Fallen Deluxe Class Autobot Wheelie (2009)
 * Transforms from toy truck to robot. Upper torso features changing emblem from Autobot to Decepticon and back.