Talk about a toy with a complex history. When the Ehobby reissues first started coming out back in the early 2000's, this guy was an immediate standout. In my efforts to rebuild my collection, I knew I had to bring this guy back into the fold. The last time I owned him he was completely sealed. But I managed to snag one that was opened and yet unused. So let's take a closer look...
I'm sure by now we're all aware of the origins of this guy. If not, head on over to check out The Wiki for all the background. But the TL:DR is he appeared in the first episode of the Transformers way back in 1984, was probably meant to be released that year, got delayed to 1985 and was released as Grapple instead.
As a kid, that was always my head canon anyway. Cliffjumper just messed up the name in the first episode and it was Grapple all along. (Also for a short time I thought maybe it was actually just a human vehicle that was helping out??)
But wait! It turns out that this wasn't Grapple we saw on screen after all! It makes sense when you think about it...the crane in those images was a completely different character model, and he never spoke or transformed. So he's somewhat mysterious in that way.
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| You're not my Grapple! |
Fast forward to 2001, and Ehobby had started re-releasing a lot of original G1 toys. Along with those are special repaints of many figures, giving us such cool things like Ghost Starscream and Orion Pax (for the first time). Why we didn't get a Blue Bluestreak I'll never understand. They had the mold!
But it also meant we got a slew of new characters. Figures like Sunstorm, Deep Cover, Clamp Down and of course, Hauler! Or, Roadhauler as he was known in Japan.
Painted in a very Construction-esque paint scheme, Hauler really stands out among the Ehobby figures, literally! You can see his day-glow green from across the room! I believe the idea here was that he was an original member of the Constructicons who defected to the Autobots before leaving Cybertron. So his Ehobby release was created to showcase how he would have looked in those original colors.
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| Fits like a glove. |
I have to admit, there's part of me who would prefer to see Hauler in autobot orange/yellow. I think it could be really interesting to see how he would differ from Grapple. But at the same time, I love this. I love how he perfectly matches the other Constructions and fits in just like another member of the team.
This guy can be a little pricey on the secondary market, being one of the more difficult Ehobby releases to obtain, probably due to his unique color scheme. AND given the fact he was sold alongside Sunstorm who has since seen a re-release (something Hauler never got) makes him higher on the want scale than some of the less unique figures.
There have been modern incarnations of this character, both in Legacy and Masterpiece, but if you know anything about me, you know I always go for the original when I can. This is a great piece and I'm thrilled to have it in my collection.
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