Tow-Line (RID)

Tow-Line is an Autobot originally from the Robots in Disguise continuity family.

Stop draggin' my, stop draggin' my, stop draggin' my car around!

"'No parking' means 'no parking'!" is Tow-Line's motto, and it allows for no exceptions. He is so single-mindedly fixated on this apparently senseless purpose that he has been known to tow fire engines away from hydrants, seize children's tricycles, and even impound other Autobots who violate human traffic laws in the course of a mission. Such extreme irrationality, coupled with such total predictability, makes him both a hindrance to his fellow Autobots and an easy _target for his enemies.^[1]

In battle, he wields the Wrecker Gun and his mighty Wrecker Hook!

Fiction

Cartoon continuity

2001 Robots in Disguise cartoon

My head's always hiding behind my chest at an angle.

Voice actor: Lex Lang (English), Masami Iwasaki (Japanese), Oleg Kutsenko (Russian), Oreste Baldini (Italian), José Arenas (Latin-American Spanish), Eduardo Borgerth (Portuguese)

Heroic mindless fascist

One of Tow-Line's first acts on arriving on Earth was to tow Side Burn, much to the latter's disgust. Under Prowl's supervision, Tow-Line began towing away Metro City's illegal parkers. Unfortunately his zealousness extended to towing away tricycles, wedding cars, mailmen named Moe, and so on, leading Prowl to reprimand him.

Tow-Line's work was not lost on the Predacons, who ambushed him and dragged him away to do a bit of reprogramming with a disk. Soon Tow-Line considered the other Autobots as villains and began towing X-Brawn. After reasoning failed, X-Brawn attempted to use his grappling hook, causing damage to the other Autobot's circuits, and resulting in Tow-Line dumping him down a hole at the power plant.

Side Burn was also captured easily, but while carrying Rapid Run through the city, Tow-Line was spotted by Prowl and Koji. Intercepted by Optimus Prime and Prowl, he was soon rescued from the disk's control and apologized profusely for kidnapping his fellow Autobots. Even after learning his lesson, Tow-Line still cheerfully hauled off Prowl for parking illegally. Tow-Line Goes Haywire

Tow-Line aided in a deception, helping to disguise Team Bullet Train and Optimus Prime as a transforming dragon in order to trick the Predacons into leaving some statues alone. When Railspike and Optimus toppled over while operating the robot, Tow-Line was able to pull it back into an upright position using his grappling hook. The Ultimate Robot Warrior

Movor briefly tracked Tow-Line from space in an attempt to locate the Autobots' hidden base, but as Tow-Line was spending all of his time towing cars, it wasn't much help. Later Tow-Line and the other Autobots ambushed the Decepticons as they tailed Side Burn. Attack from Outer Space

Not the kind of hookup Side Burn was hoping for.

Tow-Line towed Side Burn to Fortress Maximus' hiding place, so that the Autobot wouldn't get distracted on the way. Maximus Emerges

He was also called in as part of the contingency plan created for the event that Galvatron learned of the location of the Autobot base. Assembling with the rest of the Autobots near a lake, he took part in the battle against the combined Decepticon/Predacon forces. Surprise Attack!

Together with the other Autobots, he shielded Optimus from Galvatron's paralysing beam, allowing the Autobot leader to regroup and form Omega Prime with Ultra Magnus. After the final battle was over, Tow-Line towed some more cars just for the fun of it. The Final Battle

Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity

Robotmasters comic

Mailmen named Moe BEWARE.

Following his battles with Destrongers, Tow-Line somehow lost his memory. By the year 2004, with no clue of who he really was, Tow-Line sided with the Decepticons thinking doing so would help him to one day find answers to his past. As a Decepticon, he honed his skills as a mechanic, able to effect repairs on most anything and without complaint. He also formed a friendship with his fellow Decepticon, Wingstun. Armed with his new Boost Hammer, Tow-Line was a danger to everyone around him on the battlefield.

Tow-Line followed the new Decepticon leader, Beast Megatron in an attack on Autobot City. However, they were foiled when the Autobots focused their firepower on Megatron and he ordered a retreat. Clash! The Two Leaders With Psycho-Orb and Air Hunter, Tow-Line later took the time to gang up on R-Blade, but were sent scurrying away when Optimus Primal, fresh from the Blastizone, came and defended the fallen Autobot. To War! Optimus Primal The New Battle Begins!

Along with Wingstun, Psycho-Orb, and Air Hunter, Tow-Line was selected as one of the recipients of the Arsenal Force weapons Starscream forged in a bid against Beast Megatron. Tow-Line himself received the Boost Hammer. Starscream Grins 3 Times... He was later present when Air Hunter announced the return of the original Megatron and joined the others in leaving their base. Strategic Meeting: The Mysterious New Warrior

Metrowars

Tow-Line was still with the Decepticons after 2035, and fell under Straxus's command. Tow-Line was part of Straxus's team piloting Darkmount during the Decepticons' attack on Scramble City. Metrowars

Legends comic

Tow-Line was present when Metroplex made his final confrontation with Metrotitan and Straxus. Bonus Edition Metroplex

Robotmasters 3D diorama comic

With the Arsenal Force, Beast Megatron powered up Tow-Line, along with his comrades. However, this did not last long, as Victory Saber appeared to foil the plot and dissipated the Arsenal Force energy. Robotmasters Vol. 3

Precursor World

Terradive, Tow-Line, and Hailstorm took part in a training exercise for Megalligator and Convobat. Tow-Line had Megalligator cornered, but Convobat proceeded to trounce him. Cybertron Convobat prequel comic

Legends comic

In the Legends World, Megalligator and Convobat's exploits were known as fiction in the form of the Convobat Amazon Showdown film, created by Nightscream. The native Silverbolt played Tow-Line, but was fond of ad-libbing his lines, frustrating Nightscream. Bonus Edition Vol. EX

Of Masters and Mayhem

In one of his ramblings, Bluestreak stated that a tow-bot named either Wrecker Hook or Tow-Line came to help Princess Adronitia. Lively Pursuit

2019 IDW continuity

At some point, Tow-Line posed in a group photo with many Cybertronians, including Blast Off. Open Comms

Toys

Robots in Disguise (2001)

• Wrecker Hook (Flipchanger, April ?? 2000)

• ID number: C-017
• Accessories: Grill/rifle
• Known designers: Takio Ejima (TakaraTomy), Masakatsu Saito (concept artist)

Released in the fourth wave of Takara's Car Robots toyline, Wrecker Hook is an extensively-painted redeco of the Machine Wars Hoist and Hubcap mold. He changes from tow truck to robot mode with a single-step, spring-loaded transformation activated by lifting his towing hook up; pushing it back down and locking it into place reverses the process. His grill detaches to become the (non-firing) blaster weapon named "Wrecker Gun" in the cartoon.

• More information on Wrecker Hook at TFU.info

• Super Wrecker Hook (Flipchanger, 2000)

• Accessories: Grill/rifle

A limited-edition, clear-orange version of Wrecker Hook in "Super Mode" was made exclusively for Daiei stores in Japan, free with the purchase of the Build Team Build King gift set for a limited time.

• More information on Super Wrecker Hook at TFU.info

"Scooby Dooby Doo. Where are you... parked?"

• Tow-Line / Skyfire (Deluxe 2-pack, 2001)

• Accessories: Grill/rifle
• Known designers: Takio Ejima (TakaraTomy), Masakatsu Saito (concept artist)

Hasbro's Robots in Disguise toyline included "Tow-Line" in a two-pack with the Decepticon Skyfire, released in the second wave of Deluxe Class toys.

Despite his Autobot wave-mate Skid-Z undergoing some extensive deco alteration, the only notable difference between "Tow-Line" and "Wrecker Hook" is the size of the Autobot insignia on his hood: Tow-Line's is slightly smaller and closer to the grill than Wrecker's.

• More information on Tow-Line at TFU.info

Robotmasters

Not from some far-off universal stream where Hook joined the Wreckers.

• Wrecker Hook (Destron, 2004)

• ID number: RM-04
• Accessories: "Aiming Shot" grill-rifle, "Boost Hammer"

As part of the first assortment of Robotmasters, Wrecker Hook is once again a heavily-painted redeco of the same Machine Wars mold as before, only this time in an "evil" deco.

Unique to this release of the mold is the solitarium weapon called the "Boost Hammer", a clear-plastic flail. It can be combined with the other Decepticons' solitarium weapons to form the "Arsenal Force" megaweapon.

Despite this mold being gang-molded with other "Flipchanger" molds, Wrecker Hook does not actually share plastic colors with any of the other Robotmasters Flipchanger releases, as the prior-line uses of this mold set do. Presumably they either gated the molds or simply ran them in multiple colors and recycled the unused parts.

• More information on Wrecker Hook at TFU.info

Buzzworthy Bumblebee

No parking in this part of the apocalyptic wasteland. There should be some open spaces beyond Thunderdome.

• Robots in Disguise 2000 Universe Tow-Line (Deluxe Class, 2023)

• Series: Legacy: Evolution
• Accessories: Tow-arm, tow hook, left & right exhaust pipes, wheel shield, 2 engine-blower blasters
• Known designers: Mark Maher (Hasbro)^[2]

A redeco and new-head retooling of Legacy: Evolution Scraphook, Buzzworthy Bumblebee "Robots in Disguise 2000 Universe Tow-Line" transforms into a junk-armored tow truck of made-up model. He is outfitted with a large number of accessories which can all be integrated into both his truck and robot mode in a variety of ways, thanks to the large number of 5 mm post holes on him. His wheels are separated from his stationary hubcaps, meaning any accessories plugged into the rims' post-holes similarly don't spin. Like Scraphook, his lower-elbow joints are made of a softer plastic, which often causes his arms to pop off when attempting to rotate or transform them, but are just as easily reattached.

Tow-Line's Evo-Fusion function is analogous to the Weaponizer gimmick from the War for Cybertron Trilogy toylines: his body splits apart to form armor and weapon enhancements for his allies. Unlike previous figures of this nature however, Tow-Line does not need to be disassembled to change from robot to truck and back.

Hasbro marketer Ben MacCrae noted that Tow-Line was Legacy design lead Mark Maher's number one priority from the beginning of the line, and "Mark says he can die happy now."^[2]

This figure arrived at retail in Chile in June 2023, and in the US in mid-July the same year, shortly before Hasbro officially announced the figure at the 2023 San Diego Comic-Con.

This mold was also more extensively retooled into Axlegrease and Legacy: United Star Raider Lockdown.

Notes

• There was initially some uncertainty among fans over whether or not the Robotmasters Wrecker Hook was the same character as the Robots in Disguise character Tow-Line, who was called "Wrecker Hook" in Japan and used the same mold. Clarity would come later when Car Robots (the Japanese version of Robots in Disguise) was fully confirmed as being part of the Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity, rather than the continuity-standalone its English counterpart is. Wrecker Hook's brief cameo in "Metrowars", which had appearances from several faction-jumpers, further sealed the deal.
• It has been speculated that the new-mold weapons in Robotmasters are actually unused accessories from the Takara "LED Powers" Microman series, which was abruptly canceled in late 2000. The last section of the line included transparent plastic weapons that could be combined to form armor or larger weapons for the individual Microman figures. The handle size is also identical between the solitarium parts and the "Shining Tector" Microman weapons.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Wrecker Hook (レッカーフック Rekkā Fukku)
• Russian: Tyagach (Тягач, "Tractor")

References