Whirl (RBA)

Whirl the Flight-Bot is an Autobot from the Rescue Bots Academy portion of the Aligned continuity family.

Whirly Whirly Whirly Whirly girl

Whirl aspires to be a Rescue Bot police officer like Chase, though while her senior has a no-nonsense approach, Whirl is all optimism and heavily into Earth culture like fellow copter-bot Blades. Her enthusiasm for the work can be overwhelming, and her sense of judgement may lead to some simply ridiculous theories and quotes, giving her fellow recruits pause; more often than not she's proven right, though it may take some time for her friends to follow her advice.

Fiction

Rescue Bots Academy cartoon

Voice actor: Courtney Shaw (English), Martina Tamburello (Italian), Marie Braam (French)

"What whirley great arms you've got!"

Whirl was among those selected to be a recruit at the Rescue Bot Training Center on Earth. She was first to enthusiastically greet Hot Shot when he arrived. She and the rest of the team subsequently took part in a rescue drill overseen by Heatwave but were unsuccessful in putting out a house fire thanks to the newcomer. Recruits Part I Whirl and Hoist tried unsuccessfully to find Hot Shot when it looked like he'd given up, but he later returned with two new alternate modes. The team went on to successfully carry out a cave rescue exercise. Recruits Part II When Blades was summoned to the academy to help Hot Shot perfect his flying, Whirl enthusiastically volunteered to take part as well, and later took part in a rescue in Griffin Rock during which Hot Shot put the lessons into practice. The Secret of Flight

Following a rescue in Griffin Rock, the recruits persuaded Hoist to make new rescue tools for them all. Whirl got new rotors on her arms, and though the initial test went horribly wrong, she and the other recruits enlisted the help of Boulder, and Hoist eventually perfected the tools. If at First... After Hot Shot badly damaged Tough Luck Chuck and was assigned the task of looking after the robot, he tried to foist the duty onto Whirl, who was trying to do some rescue research, only for Chuck to slip past them. They attempted to hunt him down, and eventually pursued him to Milford. Tough Luck Chuck Whirl enthusiastically memorised all of the police codes Chase was teaching the recruits, and as a result, when the other recruits persuaded Chase to let them try a rescue and instead got stuck in the snow, Whirl was able to rescue them. Whirl'd View When the recruits didn't understand why Boulder was having them plant flowers, the Rescue Bot set them a task which taught them that all parts of nature are important. Plan Bee

"I can hover like a bird. Don't you wish you could hover?"

Whirl and the other recruits were bugged when Wedge borrowed the trigger for the rescue alarm and had them constantly running drills to get their response time down. The Bot Who Cried Rescue The recruits had to contend with a runaway rock sculpture of Hot Shot's head when he decided to carve it into a mountain alongside the likenesses of the Rescue Bots. Mount Botmore When Hoist was put in charge of a rescue exercise, Whirl was the only one who actually followed any of his orders, and ended up dangling over a chasm with Hot Shot, Wedge and Medix dangling from her until Hoist successfully rescued them. Mission Inaudible After completing a simulated rescue, despite a glitch occurring, the recruits took part in a real rescue in Griffin Rock which was only successful because the glitch gave Medix an idea to complete it safely. Glitch

"I think railways are slow. They're not much use, and are quite out of date."

After a ride on the Sigma, the recruits assumed the four command chairs meant one of their number wouldn't graduate. The team went on to botch a volcano rescue drill after staying up all night worrying, until Heatwave told them they'd assumed wrong. Five into Four Whirl took over filming a recruitment video for the training center, but all the footage she got was terrible and it wasn't until she told the other recruits that they were able to pitch in and help her make a workable video. Rescue Promo After a botched rescue had the recruits blaming each other, Heatwave assigned them to cleaning duties. Hot Shot sneaked out to do a rescue, and as a result, the rest of the recruits had to go help him when he hit trouble. Blame Game Whirl and the other recruits set up a surprise rescue mission for Medix, who didn't get the appeal of surprises. Unfortunately the mission did not go well, and the other recruits promised to stop with the surprises. Medix Surprise

The recruits got to try out some TX3000s on loan to the rescue center, and even used them during an actual rescue. The TX3000 They had to round up a lost flock of sheep, but were hampered by Hoist malfunctioning. Little Bot Peep When Teen Pioneer Wes visited the base and Wedge was reluctant to spend time with the boy due to low self-confidence, Whirl pointed out that Wedge was Wes's favorite Rescue Bot. Driving a Wedge Boulder accompanied the recruits to the planet Parvus where they rescued the last surviving Galax. The Big, Small Rescue

She likes to watch reruns of CSI: Miami.

When Hot Shot and Wedge decided to compete over who was qualified to get into the Heroes of Cybertron card game, Medix and Whirl acted as commentators for the building and Cube challenges they undertook. Battle of the Bots After Hot Shot is blamed by his friends for stealing a space rock, Whirl sticks up for him and suggests they find the rock to prove his innocence. Discovering the rock to actually be an alien loose in the academy, Whirl gives chase but winds up temporarily trapped in her locker. About a Rock The recruits tried to keep secret the fact a dog had followed them home after the last rescue, only to discover that the dog was actually trying to alert them to the fact they'd missed someone who needed rescuing. Dog Stray Afternoon Whirl took part in rescuing Dr. Hart from a runaway iceberg. Lucky Ducky

Inspired by Blades, Whirl took it upon herself to get into cheerleading. Though the other recruits weren't as enthused, they soon discovered that the skills they were learning were helpful during rescues, and began practicing in earnest. Go Team, Go! When Boulder assigned the recruits smartphones so they could familiarize themselves with the devices, they began neglecting their lessons and chores, until they realized it was causing problems with their rescues. Screen Time During a trip to a museum in Milford, Whirl naturally assumed they'd encounter a heist in progress, and turned out to be right. Her policing skills resulted in her catching a thief in the act, and she was able to ferry him to the Griffin Rock jail. Fright at the Museum

"My job is to stay at sea in case of other emergencies."

When their teachers went missing on a space mission, the recruits worked together to pilot the Sigma and mount a rescue. Space Case Boulder had the recruits cleaning up a park, though as Whirl spent the whole time chasing a rogue plastic bag, she didn't get much trash. The same thing happened during the follow up mission at the bottom of the sea, though Whirl did accidentally make herself look like a mermaid using seaweed. She and the other recruits later had to rescue Medix from a shark. All at Sea With the teachers on another off-planet mission, the recruits were left to tidy up the Academy, and had to deal with Hoist's Scrub-A-Dubber when it went rogue. All Washed Up

Heatwave suggested that the bored students try their hands at being teachers for the day. None of the recruits seemed to do well, with Whirl's lecture on transforming boring Heatwave and Cody, but their teachers later put what they'd learned to use during a real rescue. Who's Teaching Who? An attempt to rescue a balloon from a tree turned into a major disaster when the recruits went in without a plan. Balloon Up A Tree A fantasy simulation saw the recruits trying to corral a dragon, until they worked out that the dragon was actually trying to help, The Mystery of Dragon Mountain and yet another sim turned into chaos thanks to Hot Shot combining it with his game, forcing the recruits to deal with giant hedgehogs. Hack Attack

Whirl and the other recruits found their rescues complicated by Medix's attempts to loosen up after they suggested he was a stick in the mud. Life of the Party Whirl learned that the recruits were getting a new teacher, but was too excited to find out who. It turned out to be Grimlock! Tyrannosaurus Wrecked Grimlock took Whirl and the others on a field trip to Dino Island. After the GroundBridge was damaged, Whirl had to tow Grimlock back to the mainland. Dino Hard Assigned a stealth mission by Chase, Whirl and Hoist managed to find Tough Luck Chuck hiding in a barn, but were caught by Chase after Whirl accidentally demolished the structure. Buddy Cop

The recruits had to rescue some penguins from an island, and Whirl came up with the idea of building a raft after their ability to transform was disabled by an electrical storm. Escape from Penguin Island Whirl was surprised to learn Hoist had cheated during a search and rescue test that led to the recruits taking part in an Old West simulation. All that Glitters A hunt for a downed satellite resulted in the recruits hiding out backstage at Dig Fest while trying to signal Wedge. Dig Fest The recruits took part in Halloween festivities and ended up having to deal with a house fire. Trick or Treat

Medix's confusion over a television commercial meant that the recruits had to mount a hasty coverup so he wouldn't blow their secret to all of Milford Monster Savings Whirl and the others got a tune stuck in their heads, impairing their performance on a training exercise. They managed to forget the tune, but this caused problems on a mission to the planet Herboo, as it was the code needed for the Virtual Sonic Fence Hoist needed to use to stop the karknoid beetle. Tune Out A trip to survey a geyser field saw the recruits having to deal with a swarm of Scraplets. Metal Munchers

Whirl and the other recruits took part in essential maintenance as directed by Bumblebee, unlike Wedge who spent the whole time trying to impress his hero, and they were therefore fully functional for the following rescue drill. Bee Prepared After Whirl failed to master a tricky maneuver, Blades told her about a Rescue Bot guru who had once helped him. Whirl set out to find the guru, unaware that Blades had made the story up, and along the way made a series of rescues. The rescues gave her the skills to master the maneuver, which she was later able to use to rescue her fellow recruits. Whirl's Wise-Bot Quest

Hot Shot's careless actions in ejecting his junk into space had Whirl and the others following his lead, resulting an a huge junk meteor that threatened the satellite they were trying to repair. Flying Hunk-A-Junk A mission deep undersea forced the recruits to rely on each other as they rescued an automated drone from deep sea wildlife. Into the Depths Whirl joined the hunt for some dogs when Hoist's new comms system turned out to annoy animals. Milford Goes To The Dogs The recruits struggled to complete a rescue sim until Hot Shot realized they'd been trying to stop the disaster instead of saving the people. The Ice Wave

As graduation drew closer, the recruits successful competed against their teachers in a relay race carrying a pretend rescue victim. Whirl and the others were surprised and saddened when Hot Shot opted to abandon his Rescue Bot training and return to Cybertron to compete in the Cube finals. Best Bots Forever Part 1 The remaining recruits decided to tune in to the final using the space bridge to boost the holo-emitter screen. Unfortunately this led to the creation of a slowly growing energon bubble which engulfed the academy. It was only when Hot Shot returned that the recruits were able to burst the bubble. The recruits were able to graduate from year one of their learning. Best Bots Forever Part 2

After the recruits returned to the Academy for year two, they were given personal areas—in Whirl's case a wind tunnel—and the news they'd be paired with mentors. Whirl was worried that Ratchet's Aptitude Analyzer wouldn't find her worthy of a mentor, but it ended up pairing her with Chase. Back to School She and the other recruits got some new training simulations courtesy of Ratchet. Mission Dinobot Whirl got to work with Chase ticketing jaywalkers. She and the other recruits later rescued some foxes from a tree in a forest fire. In Training The recruits went on a trip to Cybertron to visit Ratchet's lab, which ended up being disrupted by Medix's bat Mister Flappy. Medix Steps Up To The Bat

When the recruits thought Cody was unhappy because he wasn't a giant robot like them, they built him a robotic suit which caused chaos during their mission to rescue a rogue bull. Cody later clarified that he was just missing hanging out with the recruits. Robo-Cody Heatwave tasked the recruits with acting in the play Jack and the Beanstalk. Whirl was assigned the role of Jack. Unfortunately the play ended when the stage almost collapsed, but Whirl stayed in character throughout. Acting Out Whirl and the others found Wedge's boredom was interfering with their study time. Wedge later surprised them by being enthusiastic about studying. Need to Know

After Hot Shot and Hoist turned Grimlock's Cube into an unstoppable escaping machine, the other three recruits attempted to help them recapture it but eventually had to call on Grimlock's help. Trouble Cubed When Heatwave let the recruits pick their favorite rescue to do, Whirl's was a rain of meteors in a desert, from which they would need to rescue a bunch of animals. The disagreement over which simulation to run resulted in the recruits accidentally breaking the control unit and plunging the sim into chaos until they worked together to fix the unit. My Favorite Rescue

After Ratchet got trapped in an ancient sim, the five recruits entered the sim as well. They successfully negotiated their way through a tower full of traps and rescued their teacher, completing the sim and opening the vault to find four Mul-T-Cogs and an ancient artifact. The Vault Of The Primes Chase assigned Whirl the task of investigating the Lady of Griffin Rock, so she enlisted Medix as a sidekick. They ended up locating Wayne's run-down mansion, but all they found inside was a family of opossums which they were able to rescue before the mansion collapsed. Wild Ghost Chase Following a soil-sampling mission on some dwarf planets, Whirl and the others found Medix had replanted the Galax in the academy garden, which it had promptly taken over, forcing them to relocate it to a more suitable home. Little Plot of Horrors

Whirl and Chase were setting up security measures at the Museum of Future Tech Art when the prize sculpture Mano e Nano went missing. Though Chase suspected former criminals Evan and Myles, Whirl consulted Doc Greene, who determined that the nanotech statue had simply reverted to a shapeless form. Museum Mystery Whirl and Chase also took part in the rescue of Doc Greene and Frankie when a force field dome trapped the two humans in the lab. Partners

Medix's overly-harsh criticism of the other recruits made them upset at him, however his overcompensation then led them to believe they had mastered a rescue technique when they had not. Critical Condition During a visit to Mechapark, Whirl and Medix discovered that everything was malfunctioning, resulting in Whirl having to rescue the other recruits from the rides. Fun Droids The Sparksayer gifted Whirl with a polyvisor which she put to good use during a volcano rescue. Power Up And Energize Cody had the five recruits learn some ballet to improve their poise and balance during rescues. Shall We Dance?

Whirl and the others helped Hot Shot overcome his one-alternate-mode-per-day limitation by tricking him into thinking a sim rescue was real. Mul-T-Change of Pace Whirl's final exam on deductive reasoning was to take place during a camping trip on Natura Island, and when her fellow recruits started disappearing, she correctly worked out the island's tech defense system was still active and transporting people to a junk yard. She and Chase successfully rescued everyone, only to discover that the actual test Heatwave had devised was to find him in his tree disguise. Five Little Rescue Bots After Hot Shot accidentally messed up Hoist's museum, Medix persuaded Whirl to help clean up. A diagnostic tool interfered with Whirl's wind tunnel and caused it to go crazy, which she actually extremely enjoyed. Good Advice

After a campout, the recruits noticed Hot Shot was acting oddly and eventually worked out his comm transmitter had fallen out, resulting in them having to go back for it and rescuing a bear cub in the process. Campfire Fright Hot Shot persuaded the other recruits to test out the new Mul-T-Cogs from the vault, only for them to discover that the cogs weren't charged enough and they could no longer transform. Hot Shot successfully fully activated them at the cost of his own ability to transform, at least until Whirl and the others found they could return the favor and use their cogs to reactivate his. Small Cogs Whirl quickly selected a police car as her new alternate mode, and was particularly pleased with the cupholders. Big Wheels

The recruits' first solo off-world mission took them to a deserted city, where they rescued Scorch and his Cube team from an arena and discovered the whole place was a long-lost Titan, Citadel Secundus. The Empty City After taking part in Mentor Training Day with Chase, Whirl teamed up with her mentor again for a "rescue-athon". First Responder

Boulder assigned the recruits the task of training Scraplets, which they attempted unsuccessfully for a while before giving up. During a subsequent mission to prevent a power plant from exploding down, it turned out Medix had managed to train the Scraplets after all, saving the day. How To Train Your Scraplet After Medix showed her up during a training sim, Whirl became worried that he was a better helicopter than her. She later realized during a fire fighting mission that he really was inexperienced and helped him to get the hang of his helicopter mode. Helicopter Heroes

During a sim mission, Whirl didn't feel confident enough in her own decision making to switch a lever, resulting in the sim being failed. She and the rest of the recruits were dispatched to Australia to help Brushfire, and being teamed up with the loner bot helped Whirl learn to be more self reliant, resulting in her rescuing a kangaroo from the fires they were fighting. Brushfire Whirl continued to have trouble getting used to her police car mode, which caused her trouble when racing with Hot Shot. When she was forced to tow Scorch back to base in car mode, she was at first irritated by his constant chatter, but he helped her get used to her car mode and even put himself in stasis lock to save her from being crushed by a falling boulder. She airlifted him back to base where Medix was able to revive him, and the two firm friends went racing. The Ties That Bind

While the recruits were doing a sim mission where they had to rescue a crashed charter bus, Whirl tried to push the bus but she was too weak and needed help from Wedge. After their training, Whirl uploaded an embarrassing video of Hot Shot to the Rescue Network without consulting him, and later realized she'd made a mistake. She confessed what she'd done to him during a mission to prevent a sandstone butte from falling on a tree, but fortunately he liked that the video had gone viral. Bot Blog She, Medix and Heatwave were subjected to Mayor Luskey's comedy routine when the ice blocks needed for an ice sculpture contest failed to show up on time. Fortunately for all present, Whirl hit on the idea of using other materials to sculpt. The Icebot Cometh

After the recruits rescued the Decepticon Laserbeak from a stricken spaceship, Whirl and the others learned that Wedge had originally been created as a Decepticon, and helped him track down the injured Laserbeak. More Than Meets The Eye Whirl helped Hoist carry out an investigation into who had trashed the lab, with the pair coming to the erroneous conclusion that Sludge and Snarl were the culprits. Things That Go Bot In The Night Whirl and the others participated in a series of physics-related exercises set by Perceptor, and later had to rescue Medix when their fellow recruit ran into trouble trying to impress the teacher. Medix Gets Schooled She and the other recruits experienced jealousy when a group of teens began carrying out rescues in Milford and getting press. Rescue Teens

Perceptor sent the recruits to Sifrolicous-5 to discover why the planet changed color, and they found mudlubbers, who turned out to be exactly suited to the environment. Enter The Flood Worried about spoiling her perfect score, Whirl avoided meeting with Optimus for her review. She was knocked out during a rescue and experienced a Wizard of Oz inspired dream which gave her the courage to meet with Optimus and discover she aced her review again anyway. Wizard Of Botz When Chase sent Whirl to the Amazon to hunt for Huxley Prescott, she teamed up with the Dinobot Slash. Though Slash was not keen on having company, Whirl rescued her and Prescott from an ancient trap and she conceded company might be a good thing. The Tracker Heatwave assigned Whirl the task of checking the wind turbine, as part of doing maintenance on the academy. She and the others later had to cover up a holographic dragon when Hot Shot and Hoist let it escape Hero Hall and menace Milford. One Of Our Dragons Is Missing

Whirl and the other recruits were taken on a field trip by Perceptor to a tropical island to study volcanoes. Dino-mite Duo They joined Heatwave in responding to a vague message from Citadel Secundus, only to find the Titan was just in need of some company. The Lonely Titan The recruits teamed up with Finn O'Reilly to follow the clues on a Holokey. They expected treasure, but instead found a hidden cache of Tox-En. X Marks The Bot Whirl, Hoist, and Medix helped Hot Shot modify the racing track so they could help Wedge get used to moving at speed. Making Tracks During a mission to the planet Krimol, Whirl realized the loud sirens the other recruits had made themselves were aggravating the life forms. Unfortunately her warnings came too late and she had to rescue the others from annoyed tentacles so they could rescue Hoist from a crevasse. Don't Be Alarmed Heatwave had Whirl and the other recruits retrieve toxic barrels from the seabed and rescue Jerry in order to teach them to exercise more restraint in using their power up tools. Powerless

After discovering that Medix was into DJ Mechmaster's electronic music, the recruits joined him in rescuing the DJ during a charity concert in Griffin Rock, and even took part in the show masquerading as stage props. Griffin Rock Rocks! Whirl and the other recruits watched from the Academy as Chuck and Hot Shot entered the Bot Battle event at Dig Fest. Bot Battle

Following the successful completion of the last test of year two, the recruits were rewarded with a party aboard Citadel Secundus. When Hot Shot opted not to go in favor of building a nanobot sculpture to thank the teachers, Whirl also stayed back to help. The sculpture didn't turn out as planned, however the pair found they had a new emergency as Secundus had been hit by an asteroid, knocking out him and everyone on board except Wedge, and was on a crash course for Earth. Space Party Being short a few teammates, Whirl and Hot Shot rounded up some of the friends they'd made and with their help, were able to remotely take control of Secundus, landing the Titan safely near the Academy. Afterwards, the recruits finally got to have their graduation ceremony. Crash Of The Titan

Toys

Rescue Bots Academy

• Whirl the Flight-Bot (2019)

Whirl's first toy is sized similarly to the previous Megabots line, at about 11 inches tall, transforming into a helicopter in a couple of "Easy 2 Do Conversion" steps. In either bot or vehicle mode, pressing a button on her rotor causes it to spin. She comes packaged in robot mode, and helpfully, a cutout in the package allows this gimmick to be tried in-store without removing her from the package. Her engineering and transformation pattern are based on the Rescan helicopter version of Blades.

• Whirl the Flight-Bot (2019)

Revealed at Toy Fair 2019,^[1] this Whirl is a redeco of the race-car version of Heatwave - itself derived from the Blurr/MorBot mold - with a new head and some subtle retooling, mostly located in the chest and legs. She is curiously still identified as a "Flight-Bot" despite her new land-based alt-mode.

Medix drew the short straw.

• Academy Rescue Team (2019)

First previewed at Toy Fair 2019,^[1] this version of Whirl is a new-head redeco of the VTOL jet version of Blades (itself a retool of VTOL Bumblebee). As such, she is one of the very few figures in the Rescue Bots franchise to have articulation unrelated to transformation. She comes in a set of four, similar to the previous "Griffin Rock Rescue Team", with Hot Shot (retool of Rock Rescue Team Bumblebee), Wedge (retool of cement mixer Salvage) and Hoist (retool of Rescan Hoist). This version of Whirl was later released singly.

• Whirl the Flight-Bot Flip Racers (2018)

Released (apparently) as the only new toy in the fifth and final wave of Flip Racers Single Packs.

• Whirl the Flight-Bot (2020)

The VTOL version of Whirl from the Academy Rescue Team boxset was released singly in 2020's Wave 5, with no notable changes.

Mini Bot Racers

• Whirl

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Notes

• Rescue Bots Academy Whirl is the first incarnation of the character to be portrayed as a female (IDW Whirl's holomatter avatar notwithstanding).
• Whirl's animation model was slightly modified from her initial promotional image by shifting the silver patch to the center of her head while recoloring the yellow chest harness sky blue.
• Early show concept art (at right) by character designer Francesco Giglio features a very different Whirl design much more closely based on that of her Generation 1 counterpart.^[2]
• If the recruits were to have an official age order, Pete Slattery would write Whirl as the second oldest.^[3]
• Whirl's locker features a drawing of her and another Whirl, using the character's More than Meets the Eye design.

Foreign names

• Mandarin: Xuányì (旋翼, "Rotor")^[4]

References