Tailgate

Allegiance: Autobot

Function: Scout

"Let my fellow mechanical beings go!"

Profile: In the words of Optimus Prime, "Tailgate sometimes has his mind stuck in low gear!" A lot of what Tailgate thinks is just plain screwy. Although he understands Earth traffic laws, he doesn't agree with many of them. For example, he believes the 55 mph speed limit is an infringement upon the personal rights of cars. In fact, all his views on Earth machines are warped. He likens cars locked in garages to imprisonment without a fair trial. He considers the buying and selling of household appliances to be slave trading. Efforts by his fellow Autobots to convince Tailgate that Earth machines are not alive, and therefore not entitled to the same rights as Transformers, have so far failed. "Only barbarians treat the lesser among them so cruelly," proclaims Tailgate. Unfortunately, the oppressed in this case can never appreciate the efforts of their would-be-savior. Tailgate is not a well robot.

Abilities: In car mode, Tailgate can go as fast as 180 mph under his own power with a range of 600 miles. But a powerful ferrocobalt magnet under his hood allows him to be pulled by and within a few feet of any vehicle he chooses to follow, reducing his own fuel expenditure to nearly zero. His range has virtually no limit when he travels like this.

Weaknesses: Tailgate is prone to overheating, particularly when he's all worked up over some imagined injustice done to a machine.