#rallybots

photos from tfu.info bc its too late to turn on a light to photograph these guys myself

in the absence of double clutch, race car drone is the leader of the group. most cool and collected, the strategist of the bunch. tries to be the voice of reason, but he's often drowned out... and he has to admit, even if the plans the others come up with are reckless, they can really work when they work. has to learn to loosen up a bit honestly

street racer drone enjoys his job of causing confusion a bit too much, and is unafraid to use cheap or underhanded tactics if it means a victory, to him the ends justify the means. thinks he's the most cool and collected one, in spite of a short fuse anyone who knows him can tell you about. kinda rivalry with race car drone

drag racer drone is the most overconfident of the bunch. she loves the thrill of the fight and will race anyone if given the chance. can get easily sidetracked by competition to the point she loses sight of what she's fighting for

tuner drone is probably the only one who DOESN'T kind of think they'd be the best leader of the group. while race car drone has the good ideas, tuner drone is the one that has ideas people listen to. chill and tries his best to resolve the frequent inter-team conflicts that come with differing worldviews. he just wants to chill but theres robot war to be had so he's gotta do that

Dear Rallying Racer,

The Rallybots have a long and storied history. The name dates back to some of the earliest Cybertronian documents, always in connection to the destructive forces known as "Destrons", led by an unknown evil whose own name has been lost to history. Long before the Autobots came to exist, the Rallybot title was used by a group of neutral Cybertrons, who underwent an experimental procedure to become a mighty super-warrior capable of opposing the Destrons’ combined form. They chose the name Champion for themselves—hardly the most ostentatious moniker, but one they did their best to live up to.

Those first Rallybots were an innocent group, unused to the idea of war, but determined to put their ideals into action and defend their way of life. They were lead by Paragon, a former politician who had abandoned the cities after deciding it had become time for actions, not words. His second-in-command, Blow-Out, was their guide and scout—she had spent so long in the deserts of Cybertron that her entire body seemed to be made of sand, and Paragon trusted her experience enough to let her lead in situations where he himself was uncertain.

Sprint backed them up, being their weapons expert—he used to repair energon harvesters, but after becoming fascinated by the Destron's new inventions, he wasted no time reverse-engineering them for the Rallybots. The last of the team was Splashguard, who had found herself thrust into action defending others when the Destrons first attacked. Abandoning her former career as a dam-builder, she went on to become the greatest warrior of the Rallybots.

Together the four of them left civilization, deep into the primordial wilderness of Cybertron, where the Destrons feared to tread. Their hit-and-run attacks, though ineffective on a material level, robbed the Destrons of their believed invulnerability, and proved to the rest of Cybertron that an uprising was possible.

From then on, whenever a group has taken the title of "Destron", it seems destiny causes another group of warriors to take up the Rallybot mantle. As you note, one instance was the Power Core Combiner Doubleclutch and his team of drones, but the Rallybot name has been borne alike by Scramble City combiners, Duobots, Triple-Combination teams, and Micromaster squads. No matter what form they take, each new incarnation of the team shares two things with their predecessors: a desire for a just peace, and off-road automotive alt-modes.

The latest group to bear the Rallybot name were recruited in the wake of the Combiner Wars. There, the machinations of Megatronus led a team of ancient Destrons to reawaken, and in response Optimus Prime chose a group of his bravest warriors to oppose them.