Wheelie (Transformers)

Wheelie is the name of two fictional characters in the Transformers toy line and fictional storyline. The first Wheelie was introduced in the 1986 Transformers film as a young, wild Autobot survivalist. The second is a Decepticon drone who joins the Autobots after he is captured by a human. They are sometimes called "Autobot Wheelie" for trademark purposes by Hasbro.

Transformers: Generation 1
Wheelie's transformation is a futuristic, single-seater 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.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.

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.

Animated series
Wheelie is introduced half-way through the 1986 Transformers movie 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.

During the Transformers third season, Wheelie's role in the series was as 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 were written as main characters in several episodes in which they got themselves into predicaments.

Wheelie was one of the 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 does not rhyme when he talks.

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

Marvel Comics
Wheelie's existence was acknowledged only by the U.K. Marvel Comic community, where adventures were inserted in-between the stories sourced in the US. He aids Wreck-Gar in escaping from the Quintessons, whose homeworld was dying due to a rift in space-time. The two then transmit 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 appears 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 and Daniel Witwicky, send Computron into battle against Galvatron's new warrior combiner Abominus.

Dreamwave Productions
Wheelie has 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 also befriends the Sharkticon Gnaw, who needs someone to make others see he was not the vicious monster his appearance led many to believe.

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.

Fun Publications
Bumblebee was once mistake for Wheelie when he visited Axiom Nexus.

Other media
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 Mini-Bot Wheelie (1986)
 * In Japan, a yellow/white/blue redeco of the figure was released by E-Hobby in 2005 as Dion.


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


 * 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 2009 live-action film, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, transforming into a R/C toy truck.

Some film reviewers commented on the negative racial stereotype of Wheelie's character.

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

To promote the Revenge of the Fallen film a trailer focsing on Wheelie was released by te film makers.

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

Criticism
Roger Ebert panned the film Revenge of the Fallen, specifically mentioning Wheelie's actions humping Mikaela's leg as one of the low points of the film and disliking Wheelie's Brooklyn accent.

Movie plot
Wheelie joined the Decepticons because he was afraid of them. He was 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 All Spark fragment for safekeeping. While Wheelie tries to steal the fragment from a safe at Mikaela's bike shop, she 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, Sam, Leo Spitz and Seymour Simmons about the Decepticons' plans and his woes of working for them. After seeing pictures of the ancient Transformers known as Seekers, Wheelie leads them to the nearest one in their part of the world: Jetfire. When Wheelie learns Jetfire has joined the Autobots, he immediately chooses to defect to the Autobots. Wheelie travels to Egypt with Sam and the others where he last appears in the film in the first pyramid. He is not seen again after that.

Toys

 * Revenge of the Fallen Legends Class Autobot Wheelie (2009)
 * A micro-sized figure of Wheelie that transforms into truck mode.


 * 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.
 * Also bundled with Deluxe Class Sideways in most international markets.