Dirt Boss (Armada)

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Dirt Boss is a Mini-Con from the Armada portion of the Unicron Trilogy continuity family.

I say, I'll give you a sound thrashing!

Filthy both physically and verbally, Dirt Boss intentionally skips maintenance checkups to keep his engine loud and misfiring, despite the risks this poses to him. Foul-mouthed and foul-smelling, he enjoys shocking and annoying those around him. Few can stand to be around him for any length of time; even his Race Mini-Con Team allies, who are likely the only ones who willingly spend any time with him at all, occasionally need to just get away.

And yet, Dirt Boss might actually be the smartest of the team, with extensive knowledge of high-level physics and entropy studies. Not that he ever really looks for a useful application for this information... but it certainly does give some insight into his attitude.

Dirt Boss combines with the rest of the Race Mini-Con Team to form the Skyboom shield.

Fiction

Armada cartoon

Dirt Boss was one of the first two Mini-Con panels belonging to the Race Team that were captured by the Decepticons. Overmatch Conspiracy He finally came on-line when the Decepticons gathered all three panels, and joined with Downshift and Mirage to form the Skyboom Shield under Megatron's control. Reinforcement

In the next battle, Megatron assembled both the Air Defense Team and the Race Team into the two most powerful weapons in the universe. Armed with both the Star Saber and the Skyboom Shield, he toyed with Optimus Prime until his overconfidence caused him to lose his grip on the Shield. Prime's Mini-Con partner Sparkplug then "locked on" to the Skyboom Shield and brought it under Prime's control, thwarting Megatron's killing strike with the Saber and balancing the powers between the two sides. Decisive Battle

Because the Skyboom Shield was in such demand by the Autobots to protect them from the Star Saber (and later the Requiem Blaster), Dirt Boss and the Race Team appeared quite infrequently as individuals. After Starscream and Jetfire rescued Firebot from Mars, Dirt Boss was among the Mini-Cons who welcomed the new arrival to the Autobots. Mars Later, Dirt Boss and the Race Team went for a walk with the kids to catch some fresh air. Unfortunately, their little stroll happened just as Billy and Fred reported that Thrust had met with Starscream. Squidhead had asked for the Skyboom Shield Mini-Cons as collateral for letting Starscream back into the Decepticons, so their sudden disappearance from the base didn't look too good for the former Decepticon. The Autobots' distrust for Starscream in part led to his decision to take Thrust up on his offer, and so even after Hot Shot uncovered the kids and the Race Team and cleared his name, Starscream stole the Skyboom Shield for Megatron and returned to the Decepticons. Crack

Dirt Boss and the Race Team had little time to act as individuals after that, remaining powerlinxed as the Skyboom Shield while the Decepticons used the shield as one-third of the Hydra Cannon, before it was stolen by Thrust and used to provide power to the heart of Unicron. Mirage, Dirt Boss and Downshift reawakened as individuals with the help of High Wire and the Street Action Mini-Con Team, who had journeyed to Unicron's core with Optimus Prime, Galvatron and the Earth children to grant the super-weapon Mini-Cons their freedom. Origin Dirt Boss fled Unicron aboard the Autobot Jetfire just before the Chaos-Bringer was finally destroyed. Mortal Combat

Dreamwave Armada comic

Dirt Boss was painfully cut open and altered by the Decepticons so that they could draw out his power for their own use. Armada #1 He was among the Mini-Cons who escaped from them and ended up on Earth's moon under the command of Dualor. Armada #9 However, the Decepticons eventually found them and attacked their moonbase, forcing Dirt Boss and the others to abandon it. Armada #11 After escaping to Earth, he and the other Race Team members joined the Autobots, though they were tempted by Rook to leave when it seemed the Autobots wouldn't help save a lost Mini-Con escape pod. Fire & Ice They were among the reinforcements sent to Alaska after the Adventure Team got into trouble with Thrust and Cyclonus. Dirt Boss and his companions found that Thrust had already been defeated, but Cyclonus was still up and going, and their attempts to fight him were not too successful. Armada #13

Later, the Race Team joined the rest of the Earthbound Mini-Cons in traveling back to Cybertron, which was under attack by Unicron. They were presumably part of the Mini-Con Matrix ceremony at the Loop, which caused Unicron some major damage. The End

Panini Armada comic

Alongside Mirage, Dirt Boss was captured by Thrust during the early days of the Mini-Con kidnappings. The two escaped and joined Dualor, who had devised a plan to kill Megatron. Counter-Strike!

Cybertron toy bios

Dirt Boss was sent to Velocitron under the "protection" of Red Alert, in order to split the Road Assault Team up to make it harder for Megatron to steal the entire Team and re-assemble the Skyboom shield.

Meanwhile, an alternate-universe version of Dirt Boss fell through a rip in space-time and landed on Earth. He was found by Landmine, who took the grimy Mini-Con under his wing. They probably get along great together.

Toys

Armada

Shamone

• Race Mini-Con Team (Mini-Con 3-pack, 2002)

• Takara name: Race Micron
• Takara ID number: MM-05
• Takara release date: December 26, 2002
• Known designers: Shogo Hasui (Takara)

Armada Dirt Boss transforms into a Volkswagen Lupo Rally Car. He also unfolds to form the middle portion of the Skyboom Shield with his pack-in teammates Downshift and Mirage.

As a Mini-Con, he has a Powerlinx socket on the underside of his vehicle mode that allows him to attach to larger toys with compatible Powerlinx plugs, activating special gimmicks on the larger toys when attached to a "live" plug.

In the Hasbro line, the Race Mini-Con Team was released in the second assortment of Mini-Con teams. In Japan, it was part of the massive first wave of Legend of the Microns product, released in December 2002. Aside from packaging, there are no noteworthy differences between the two releases.

This mold was also used to make Midship.

• More information on Dirt Boss at TFU.info

• Grap & Race Micron (Multi-pack, 2002)

• Sonokong name: Smoky & Race
• ID number: MS-02
• Takara release date: December 26, 2002

The Race Microns were also available in Japan in a multi-pack with Grap and his Mini-Con partner Lift. Grap's expandable crane-boom serves as a launching ramp for the Race Micron's jet-like Cosmotector combined mode. All of the toys in this set are identical to their individual Takara releases.

This set was also released by Sonokong in Korea, with no changes from the Takara release, other than the packaging. This was also the only way to obtain "Smoky" (Smokescreen) and the "Races" in Korea.

blue-Mone ah!

• Race Micron Exdimensions (Mini-Con 3-pack, 2002)

• ID number: MM-10
• Release date: December 26, 2002

A limited-edition (but still regular-retail) redeco of the Race Microns was made available in Japan as part of the Exdimensions series. The entire team was given a deco in varying shades of blue.

This toy also doubles as the separate character Drift.

• More information on Exdimensions Drift at TFU.info

• Drift (Change Micron, 2003)

• Change Micron ID number: 3
• Release date: August ?? 2003

This version of the toy is a "candy toy" produced by Kabaya as part of the second Change Micron assortment, sold mainly in convenience stores. The toy is actually an all-new tooling based on the original mold, with minor changes to small details. This version also lacks nearly all of the rally tampographs, retaining only the hood-stripes (and made those thicker to boot), plus loses the headlamp paint.

• More information on Change Micron Drift at TFU.info

• Road Assault Mini-Con Team (Mini-Con 3-pack, 2003)

Released in the sixth wave of Armada Mini-Con Teams, this set is a redeco of the Race Mini-Con Team under a new name. This time, Dirt Boss was colored black and red with yellow flame details.

This redeco of the team was given the distinction of being a corrupted version of the Skyboom Shield when in possession of the Decepticons, to coincide with the Air Assault Mini-Con Team/Dark Saber repaint, via the Dreamwave More than Meets the Eye profile books.

• More information on Road Assault Dirt Boss at TFU.info

• Drift Road Assault Edition (Promotional Micron, 2003)

• Release date: August 2, 2003

In Japan, individually-bagged members of the Road Assault Team were only available as promotional giveaways, a random member of the Team given free with the purchase of Armada Jetfire or Tidal Wave at Ito Yokaido stores in August.

He always achieves drift sparks.

• Drift (Micron Booster, 2003)

• Booster ID number: 6
• Release date: August 7, 2003

Part of the first Micron Booster set, this version of Drift is almost totally identical to the original retail version of the toy, only this release uses a slightly-sparkly plastic and paint. Whoopee.

• More information on Micron Booster Drift at TFU.info

• Predacon with Side Burn and Skid-Z (Max-Con Class, 2003)

• Scavenger with Rollbar (Max-Con Class, 2003)

• Thundercracker with Zapmaster (Max-Con Class, 2003)

The complete Race Mini-Con Team was also included as bonus add-ons with several Max-Con Class toys; samples of Predacon, Scavenger and Thundercracker have been found.

Unfortunately, what retail chain offered these is unknown at this time.

• Dirt Boss (Tiny Tin, 2004)

• Accessories: Carrying tin

In Europe, all three members of the Race Mini-Con Team were made available individually via the Tiny Tins line, under the original Armada branding. The toys themselves were unchanged from the original versions, but now each figure included a Tiny Tin carrying case.

Universe (2003)

• Dirt Boss (Tiny Tin, 2004)

• Accessories: Carrying tin

In the United States, the Tiny Tins versions of the Race Mini-Con Team members were released in different packaging than their European counterparts, branded as part of the Universe line that didn't exist in Europe. Some errors occurred, resulting in European Armada-branded Tiny Tin carrying cases being sold on American Universe cardbacks.

Energon

• Race Mini-Con Team / Space Mini-Con Team (Mini-Con 6-pack, 2004)

An unaltered version of the Road Assault Mini-Con Team was released as part of an Energon "Mini-Con 6-pack" with the Space Mini-Con Team.

This set was exclusive to both Toys"R"Us and Walmart stores.

Cybertron

• Landmine with Dirt Boss (Bonus pack, 2006)

• Red Alert with Dirt Boss (Bonus pack, 2006)

• Accessories: Carrying tin

A new redeco of Dirt Boss with a Tiny Tins carrying mini-case was packed in special Walmart-exclusive sets. Dirt Boss was packaged with both Red Alert and Landmine.

Hasbro copywriter Forest Lee confirmed that the Cybertron Tiny Tins-exclusives were originally planned with two different Race Mini-Con Team decos in mind, hence the backstory involving one version of the team being from an alternate universe and the tins' decos showing the Mini-Cons in silhouette rather than the normal full-color images. He could not confirm what the then-chosen decos were, however, but it seems likely they would have been rebranded re-releases of the two schemes from Armada, given the use of "Road Assault Mini-Con Team".

• More information on Cybertron Dirt Boss at TFU.info

Notes

• The Race Team are the only one of the three "legendary Mini-Con weapon" Teams to be released in all three chapters of the Unicron Trilogy.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Drift (ドリフト Dorifuto)
• Korean: Indy (인디 Indi)