Drag Strip (Transformers)

Drag Strip is the name of several fictional characters from the Transformers series. The original Drag Strip was introduced in 1986 and was voiced by Ronald Gans in the Transformers animated television series. Due to trademark issues, newer toys of the character are marketed by Hasbro as Decepticon Drag Strip.

Transformers: Generation 1
A Decepticon with racer who will do anything to win. He combines with fellow Stunticons to form Menasor.

Generarion 1 biography: Nasty, underhanded, loves to gloat over his victories. Would rather be scrapped than lose. Prone to overheating. Megatron would sooner melt him than talk to him, but knows he's even worse company for the Autobots. In car Mode, has a plasma-energy blaster. Carries a gravity-enhancing gravito-gun. Combines with fellow Stunticons to form "Menasor".

Universe biography: The only thing Decepticon Drag Strip hates more than the Autobots is coming in second. He hates losing so much, he'll do anything to avoid it. Cheating is always his first resort, followed quickly by outright violence against his competition. The other Decepticons wouldn't be at all sad to see him scrapped, since he's almost as much of a pain for them to deal with as he is for the enemy.

Drag Strip is a Scramble City style combiner, able to form a limb of any Scramble City gestalt robot or combining with Metroplex or Metrotitan.

Marvel Comics
Drag Strip and the Stunticons were not major characters in the comics. They were featured in issue #22, Heavy Traffic, where they battle the Aerialbots as well as Circuit Breaker and RAAT troops.

Animated series
Drag Strip first appeared with the rest of the Stunticons in the two-part The Transformers episode "The Key To Vector Sigma". Like the other Stunticons, he was created after Megatron commissioned Rumble to find him some vehicles to be turned into Decepticon warriors, in order to more effectively battle the Autobots on the roads. Megatron modified the cars so they could transform into remote-controlled robots, and then took them to Vector Sigma so they could be given personalities of their own.

Drag Strip made various other appearances in the US cartoon, as well as in the Japanese series Transformers: The Headmasters.

Dreamwave Productions
Unlike previous series Drag Strip and the other Stunticons were not portrayed as recently created characters, but were Decepticons from Cybertron millions of years ago, like most other Decepticons. Initially just five individual Decepticons, the five who would become Stunticons were chosen in an experiment to improve on the combiner process which had created Devastator. Their combined form was called Menasor.

The Stunticons appeared in the second Generation 1 mini-series where Menasor was revived by Rumble and Frenzy, killing the Omnibots, Roadbuster, Whirl, and damaging the Protectobots (combined as Defensor) before battling and being defeated by Ultra Magnus on Cybertron. With the closure of Dreamwave, the fate of the Stunticons is unknown.

Devil's Due Publishing
The Stunticons first appeared in the second G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers miniseries from Devil's Due. After Cobra Commander and Cobra, followed by G.I. Joe, had journeyed to Cybertron, weapons fire caused a critical malfunction in Teletran 3, causing numerous Autobots and Decepticons to become time-displaced. Among these were the Stunticons, who were dumped in 1930s Earth and reformatted into period cars. They were eventually defeated and returned to the present by a combined force of G.I. Joe and Cobra members, as well as another Transformer lost in that time - Optimus Prime

The Stunticons would also appear in the third mini-series, being recruited by SerpentO.R, a human military-created cyborg with Megatron's memories, and would participate in the ambush that killed Bumblebee. Seen in group shots where Serpentor is gathering the Decepticon army, their next major role would be in the assault on Capital City, assisting Predaking and Piranacon in taking down Omega Supreme. Breakdown and the Seacon Nautilator were the ones assigned to guard the human captives, but Snake-Eyes used his ninja powers to take control of Breakdown and had him shoot Nautilator, freeing them. Razorclaw and Motormaster were the ones who stopped Prime's attack on Serpentor, beating him near death, but were then killed by the Cobra Commander-controlled Serpentor.

IDW Publishing
The Stunticons made their first IDW Publishing appearance in issue 3 of The Transformers: Megatron Origin, appearing amongst Megatron's gathering of gladiators that would eventually become the Decepticons.

Fun Publications
Drag Strip appears in At Fight's End with Overkill and Acid Storm fighting against Elita One, Springer and Snarl.

Drag Strip is mentioned in the Tech Spec biography for Timelines Breakdown. It states that the other Stunticons were left in stasis lock after a pitched battle with Defensor.

Toys

 * Generation 1 Stunticon Drag Strip (1986)
 * Drag Strip was sold in 1986 by itself, and later with the other Stunticons as a giftset.


 * Generation 2 Drag Strip (unreleased)
 * During the final part of the toyline, Hasbro had intended to release a Generstion 2 redeco of the original Stunticons. However, because of attention redirected to the upcoming toyline Beast Wars: Transformers, the toy was never released; however a few packaged examples do exist. In April of 2008, rare prototypes of this toy were sold on ebay and garnered bidding of over $2000 U.S. dollars.


 * Universe Spy Changer Drag Strip (unreleased)
 * First announced in Previews magazine for January 2003 were a set of 5 Stunticon Spy Changers - Breakdown, Drag Strip, Motormaster, Dead End, and Wildracer.


 * Universe Deluxe Special Edition Decepticon Drag Strip (2008)
 * A yellow redeco of Classics Deluxe Mirage. Originally sold exclusively in Asian markets, the figure was offered in the U.S. through the Hasbro Toy Shop website. This version of Drag Strip appeared in the 2009 TFcon poster.


 * CHMS Deluxe Decepticon Drag Strip (2010)
 * A reproduction of the Drag Strip toy made by Chinese toy maker CHMS.

Video games
Drag Strip is a playable character exclusive in the Nintendo DS version of the 2010 video game Transformers: War for Cybertron.

Transformers Animated
Drag Strip is one of the Stunticons to receive the Animated treatment for BotCon 2011. This incarnation, however, is a female Decepticon.

Drag Strip is angry that the Autobots control Cybertron, that she takes orders from those windbags The Motormaster and Wildrider, and that she was protoformed in a wimpy looking Autobot shell; which fuels her already high lust for violence. New laser swords are well suited for carving her name in anybot's armor, but those aggravating this fem-brawler-botshould expect to receive a headbutt between the optics and a swift kick to the exhaust port.

Fun Publications
Drag Strip appeared in the Transformers: Timelines story "The Stunt-Con Job". After the events of Transformers Animated, the Stunticons set up a Stunt Convoy show in the city of Kaon and used it as cover to attempt to break Megatron out of his detention at Trypticon. Their efforts were thwarted thanks to the efforts of Cheetor, Optimus Prime and Sideswipe. The Stunticons were placed in detention with Megatron and an attempt to rescue them was made by the Decepticons Blot, Mindwipe, Oil Slick, Scalpel, Sky-Byte and Strika.

Toys

 * Timelines Deluxe Decepticon Drag Strip (2011)
 * A BotCon 2011 exclusive yellow/magenta redeco of Animated Arcee.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Drag Strip is a Decepticon Triple Changer. He is partnered with Master Disaster.

Toys

 * Dark of the Moon Human Alliance Basic Master Disaster/Decepticon Drag Strip (2011)
 * Part of the third wave of Dark of the Moon Human Alliance Triple Changer figures, Drag Strip has two different alternate modes. He can transform into an undersized Indy-style race car or a shield that can be carried by any other 5mm-compatible toy. His weapons are two C joint-compatible blades that make up part of his shield mode, as well as mounting on his air dam in vehicle and robot modes. His human partner figure, Master Disaster, can be seated in his cockpit in vehicle mode, but unusually for a Human Alliance Basic cannot usefully sit in his weapon mode.