Road King
From Transformers Wiki
- Human
- Robot
- Road King is a human and Autobot Godmaster from the Super-God Masterforce portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.
As a world F-1 racing champion, Road King (ロードキング Rōdo Kingu) is nothing if not well-named. Known in racing circles as "The British Wolf", Road King can be a bit of stereotypical "big city" celebrity, with a loud, boisterous personality and an eye for the ladies, which can sometimes rub his quiet, nature-loving teammate Ranger the wrong way. The pair have a strong friendship, though, and any arguments they might get into always end with a joke.
As an Autobot Godmaster, Road King is bonded to a Transtector from the G Nebula which takes the form of a Formula 1 race car able to reach speeds of Mach 9.5. Like all Godmasters, he is endowed with the ability to manipulate Chōkon Power, exemplified in his "Rotary Burst Typhoon" attack, which sees him charge his entire body with the mysterious energy and whirl himself at his enemies.
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Fiction
Super-God Masterforce cartoon
- Voice actor: Kaneto Shiozawa (Japanese), Rik Thomas (English, Omni Productions dub), Giovanni Battezzato (Italian)
When Road King began his F1 racing career, he was given his car by its former owner, his mentor, Germain. The car already had quite a legacy from Germain's days as a racer, during which it famously survived every crash it was involved in, and it brought Road King the same luck, quickly earning him a sterling reputation of his own as a racing prodigy.
While participating in the F1 World Grand Prix at the Rouen Circuit in France, Road King met the Autobot Lightfoot, whose company, British Motors, had a driver in the race. Headmaster Juniors Shūta Gō, Cab, and Minerva had accompanied Lightfoot, and Shūta and Cab found themselves geeking out in front of the famous Road King and begging him for autographs before the race, which he was only too happy to supply. Subsequently, in the midst of the race, a disastrous crash occurred, and the watching Autobots were amazed to see Road King's car heal the damage it took, allowing him to claim first place.
Believing that they had discovered the newest Godmaster warrior, Lightfoot quickly summoned Ginrai to the circuit, who gave Road King a set of Master-Braces that proved their suspicions to be correct. Taking the revelation that his car was actually a transforming Transtector with which he could combine in stride, Road King soon displayed his battle prowess when Ranger contacted the group to inform them of an attack by the Decepticon Headmaster Juniors on the nearby town of Dagneux. The Juniors had, in fact, attacked the town in search of Germain, having formed their own suspicions about his famously durable car, and Road King proved able to protect his mentor by holding off all three of the punks, until the rest of the Autobots arrived to help rout them and their Seacon backup. After the fight, Road King introduced the other Autobots to Germain, and the group shared a celebratory toast to his victory in the Grand Prix, and his first victory in battle. Assemble! The Four Godmaster Gunmen
It's a proven fact!"
For his first official Autobot mission, Road King travelled with the other Autobot Godmasters to Atlan Island in the South Pacific, to rescue a group of doctors kidnapped by the Decepticon Pretenders. Road King distracted Blood in order to allow Ginrai to sneak inside the cave containing the doctors, then joined in a battle with a legion of Seacons, destroying a Gulf with his Rotary Burst Typhoon technique. Save the Little Girl! The Chōjin Warriors, the Godmasters
When Lightfoot requested that Road King appear in a commercial for British Motors, the race king was happy to oblige, and tried to lighten the overly-formal Lightfoot's mood with a joke about charging an appearance fee which be wound up taking too literally. In the midst of the joking, word arrived that the Decepticon Godmasters Hydra and Buster had kidnapped Lightfoot's father Leftfoot, and Lightfoot sped off to rescue him, instructing Road King and Ranger not to follow him, per the Decepticons' instructions. Nevertheless, Road King and Ranger summoned Ginrai, and the trio observed Lightfoot's confrontation with the Godmaster brothers from afar, eventually leaping in at the right moment to help him defeat the villains and save Leftfoot. Life? Death? The Desperate Lightfoot
When Ginrai was badly injured by the Decepticon leader Overlord, Super Ginrai Gets Blown Away in the Desert!? Road King grinningly volunteered to take his place in hospital after he got a look at the nurses. Alas, there was no time for love for Road King, as he soon had to help defend the Autobots' "Bomber Project" construction facility against an attack by the Decepticons. Disguising his Transtector with a sheet and driving it out the base on the back of a truck, Road King fooled the Decepticons into thinking he was escaping with the Godbomber drone that was being constructed, and managed to lure Hydra and Buster into the surrounding forest, where he, Ranger and Lightfoot defeated the evil brothers. Will the Bomber Project Be Destroyed!?
Godbomber was subsequently completed, and the healed Ginrai merged with the drone into "God Ginrai," promptly taking off for the moon to battle Overlord and BlackZarak there. God Ginrai - Into the Sky!! Like the other Autobots, Road King could do little but wait on Earth for reports on the progress of the battle, but eventually, with the aid of Grand Maximus, Ginrai emerged victorious. God Ginrai - Showdown on the Surface of the Moon
Road King next went into action when he, Ranger and Lightfoot rescued the passengers of a stricken cruise ship while Ginrai and the Headmaster Juniors battle the Decepticons. That battle took a surprise twist when the Autobots were suddenly saved by the final Godmaster, Clouder, Appearance!! The Final Godmaster who subsequently joined their ranks. Little did the heroes realize that Clouder was, in fact, a Decepticon double-agent, who was feeding information on the Autobot base to his evil allies. Although Clouder's deception was soon revealed, the damage was done: a staged attack by Hydra and Buster drew Road King, Ranger, Lightfoot, and Ginrai out of the base, at which point the rest of the Decepticon forces began an all-out assault against the Autobots' headquarters. Secret Orders! Destroy the Autobot Base!! When news of the siege reached the Godmasters, Road King and Ranger continued rescue operations in the city while Ginrai and Lightfoot headed back to the base. Despite the best efforts of the Autobots, their headquarters was destroyed. Disaster! The Autobot Base Explodes
Road King helped battle BlackZarak when the powerful Decepticon returned to Earth, BlackZarak - Destroyer from Space and then journeyed into space aboard Grand Maximus with the other Autobots to stop the villain from unleashing the Death Para-Machine against the Earth. Crisis! The Day of Human Extinction Later, while patrolling in China, Road King spotted Decepticon Headmaster Junior Cancer, and trailed him to a dojo, where he heard the boy talking about his sad youth and approached him in an attempt to empathise. Cancer was having none of it and opened fire on Road King before fleeing, but Road King soon found himself with bigger things to worry about when BlackZarak arrived to attack the city. After alerting Ginrai to the situation, Road King tried to take on BlackZarak himself, and would have wound up a smear on the Decepticons' claw if Ginrai had not arrived to save him. The two Godmasters joined forces to destroy BlackZarak's Sparkdash drones, and Ginrai was then able to defeat BlackZarak himself. God Ginrai - Save Cancer!?
Road King participated in the search for the Decepticon base, but the search promptly ended when Shūta was kidnapped and held prisoner in the villains' lair. While Ginrai headed there to rescue him, Road King, and Lightfoot were occupied battling Hydra and Buster in West Germany. God Ginrai: Showdown at the Decepticon Base With the location of the Decepticon base revealed, the Autobots prepared to initiate a full-scale attack on their enemies, staged from Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Road King and Ranger were the last Autobots to arrive at the temples, and Ranger gave Road King a quick run-down on the ancient structure's history as they drove up to it. The subsequent attack on the Decepticon headquarters culminated in the fusion of BlackZarak with the Decepticon emperor Devil Z, who collapsed the base in a failed attempt to destroy the Autobots. The Ultimate Combination!! BlackZarak, the New Lifeform
With the Decepticons on the run, the Autobots pursued them to the Grand Canyon, where the team of Road King and Lightfoot came under attack from the Decepticon Pretenders, and were then trapped in a cave by Hydra and Buster. The pair were not able to extricate themselves until the battle was done and the Decepticons had escaped, Autobots! Desperate Attack!! but the Autobots quickly tracked the villains down to the Alps, where Road King, Ranger, and Lightfoot were promptly buried under an avalanche by the merged BlackZarak/Devil Z entity. Ginrai and Grand Maximus dug the three heroes out, but Ginrai requested that they stay back so that he could make the first strike on BlackZarak himself. Malevolent and Inhuman! The True Form of Devil Z While Ginrai engaged BlackZarak in battle, Road King and the other Godmasters battled the weakened Hydra and Buster, and then the Transtectors of Clouder, Wilder, Cancer, and Bullhorn, which had been brought to life by the power of Devil Z. At the battle's conclusion, Ginrai and the Headmaster Juniors united their powers to destroy BlackZarak and Devil Z for good, prompting the Decepticons to break off the battle and flee into space. As Road King and the rest of the heroes watched them go, the Autobots were all enveloped in bright light, and when it faded, they found that the death of Devil Z had caused them to be separated from their Transtectors. The Transtectors themselves continued to live on as true super-robot lifeforms, and Road King's Transtector joined with the others in pursuing the Decepticons and continuing the Transformers' war out in space. A Battle... and Then...
Super-God Masterforce comic
Road King made his dramatic entrance alongside Ranger and Lightfoot, arriving in the midst of a battle between the other Autobots and a legion of legendary Decepticons with a trailer for Ginrai in tow. At Lightfoot's instruction, Ginrai combined with the trailer and wiped out the Decepticons with a blast of Chōkon Power, revealing that they were simply holograms. Burn, Chokon! New Commander Super Ginrai!
When the Autobots traveled to the planet Athenia to attend Ginrai's coronation as Supreme Commander, the Decepticons inevitably attacked. During the battle, Road King and Ranger piloted Ginrai's "Cannon Craft" and channeled their energy into them to aid their newly appointed commander in destroying Scramble 7. The Battle Begins! The Earth-Space Alliance Army Road King later battled Grand King Poseidon, Headmasters VS Masterforce Overlord on Earth, God Ginrai's Amazing Divine Combination! and BlackZarak and Darkwings in space. The Good and Evil Families of Earth
When BlackZarak and Overlord attacked Tokyo, Road King and the Godmasters held off BlackZarak while Ginrai unleashed the new Autobot weapon, VX Bomb, against Overlord. Life or Death? The Desperate Divine Combination! The Godmasters also joined Ginrai in defending a city where Cancer went to against BlackZarak and the Sparkdash, during which battle Road King teamed with Lightfoot to take down Sizzle. The Great Turnabout of the Autobots
During the final battle, Devil Z possessed BlackZarak and turned on the other Decepticons, intending to absorb their Jinchōkon in order to become the ultimate lifeform. Saved by Ginrai and the Pretenders, the Decepticons turned on their former leader, and joined with Road King and all the other Autobots in uniting their energies into the "Perfect Transform Attack", destroying Devil Z and BlackZarak once and for all. With Devil Z's death, the humans were separated from their Transtectors, which came to life as true super-robot lifeforms. The Transtectors departed for space to carry on their war away from Earth, leaving Road King and the others to return to their normal lives. The Birth of the Super Life-Forms
Toys
Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers
- ID number: C-306
- Accessories: Godmaster Transtector, "Pin-Hole Rifle", spoiler, engine block
- Released in the fourth year of Takara's Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers line under the Super-God Masterforce banner, Road King is identical to the concurrently-released Hasbro Powermaster Lube, transforming from armored humanoid into an engine block. In engine mode, he can plug into the engine socket of any larger Godmaster/Powermaster toy, unlocking their transformation or other gimmicks.
- Road King's Transtector is identical to the Hasbro Powermaster Slapdash, transforming into a blue and yellow Formula 1 race car, which, like any Godmaster, cannot transform into robot mode until a Godmaster/Powermaster figure in engine mode and snapped into place in the toy's chassis. (Or you can just press the tiny release button via some other method. The engine method is easier on the fingertips though.) Unique among Godmasters, Road King's engine socket is actually concealed in vehicle mode beneath a yellow engine block piece (into which his "Pin-Hole Rifle" weapon can be plugged), which is removed and stored on the rear of the car to expose the socket for transformation. In robot mode, either the yellow engine block or the Godmaster engine can be fitted into place on the robot's chest, with the remaining piece stored on the figure's back.
Notes
- According to his supplementary bio card, Road King is 17 years old. Interestingly, "The Autobot Warrior, Sixknight?!" contradicts this, putting him at 19.
- Road King's cartoon design lacks the engine block chestplate that covers up his Godmaster engine component.
- Road King's character model is among those recycled and recolored for use as a generic Transformer in the Armada animated series. A red and black Road King is seen alongside Hound and Braver on Cybertron in the episode "First Encounter" (seen at right), while two versions of the model (one red and green, the other blue, red, and white) appear in a flashback in "Prehistory".
Foreign names
- English: Slapdash (Omni Productions dub, Shout! Factory sub)
- Italian: Ghibli
- Mandarin: Steve (China, 史迪 Shǐdí)
- Russian: Rapira (Рапира, "Rapier")
- Spanish: Slap (America)