Freeway is a minor protagonist in the Transformers franchise, especially Generation One, who is a member of the Throttlebots.
He was voiced by Danny Mann, who also voiced Lightspeed, as well as Percy in Pocahontas, Ferdinand in Babe and Serge in Open Season.
Biography[]
Cartoon[]
Freeway first appeared in the two-part third season finale "The Return of Optimus Prime", as one of the Autobots selected by Rodimus Prime to accompany him in retrieving Optimus Prime's body. As a result, he was one of the first to be infected by the Hate Plague, later to be cured when Optimus Prime released the power of the Matrix. In the three-part series finale "The Rebirth", Freeway helped defend Autobot City from a Decepticon attack, during which he took a beating from Snapdragon but quickly recovered. He accompanied Optimus Prime back to Cybertron to fight off Galvatron's assault and witness the beginning of the planet's Second Golden Age.
Comics[]
Freeway first appeared in Issue #30, where he and the other Throttlebots were captured by Ratbat on Cybertron. They were co-opted to go to Earth and destroy three Decepticon Triple Changers and Blaster, who had all been infected with Scraplets. While Freeway helped set up acid to destroy the crater the group were in, Rollbar and Wideload met up with Goldbug, who had learned the Scraplets could be destroyed with water. With the help of the Earth Autobots' ally G.B. Blackrock, the Throttlebots were able to cure all those infected and defeat the Scraplets.
In the UK-exclusive story "Ladies' Night", Freeway followed Goldbug in monitoring the volcano where Ultra Magnus and Galvatron had been found entombed and intervened when humans Joy Meadows, Susan Hoffman and Cindy Newell incurred the wrath of the Combaticons.
This led into US Issue #32, where the Throttlebots were chased by the Combaticons across a motorway and also found themselves targetted by the human anti-robot team RAAT. After being betrayed by car lot owner Big Steve Ludwig, Freeway and the others were left inert and taken into custody by the humans. They reappeared in Issue #37, still in RAAT custody. The organisation's director Forsythe ordered the Throttlebots executed in retaliation for Decepticon raids, failing to grasp they were two different factions. His underling Walter Barnett saved Freeway and the others by transferring their brain modules into toy cars. He contacted Goldbug's human friend Buster Witwicky to help return them to the Earth Autobots, but en route they were attacked by Ratbat and the Predacons. They managed to evade them but Goldbug and Buster were separated from the others. Freeway and the others remained in Barnett's care in Issue #39 when he monitored the Decepticons' island base.
At some point prior to Issue #50, Freeway was returned to the Autobots and given a new body. During the Underbase Saga, he was part of a combined Autobot-Decepticon unit led by Grimlock and Scorponok sent to defend Tokyo from the Underbase-powered Starscream but was blasted and deactivated without even transforming.
IDW Comics[]
Freeway appears alongside the rest of the Throttlebots in Spotlight: Metroplex. hTe Throttlebots were stationed on the Orvus Base laboratory orbiting Salvvatan VI, serving as couriers for a top-secret research project, and after the base was destroyed by Sixshot, they escaped to Salvvatan VIII. Freeway and the others discovered supplies and Energon on the planet's surface within a mysterious city complex. Sixshot caught up with them and demanded the information the Throttlebots had taken from Orvus. They scattered, with Sixshot ready and eager to hunt them down. After being flung into the air in vehicle mode, Freeway righted himself, landed and tried to make a stand against Sixshot, who transformed to tank mode and fell directly on him. Sixshot tortured the pinned Freeway a bit by grinding him with his tank treads before turning his attention to the remaining Throttlebots.
Many years later, Freeway was confirmed to have died shortly after.
Trivia[]
- In his first Marvel comics appearance, Freeway was depicted with a red colour scheme, causing him to resemble fellow Throttlebot Chase.
- Freeway was used as a silent background character in two episodes of Transformers Animated.
