Chop Shop (RID)

Chop Shop is a Decepticon combiner from the Robots in Disguise portion of the Aligned continuity family.

"You've got to pick a pocket or two, boys, you've got to pick a pocket or two!"

Chop Shop isn’t really your average Decepticon combiner. He lacks the usual stubborn bloodthirstiness you might expect to find in a low-ranking ‘Con, preferring to flee the scene before things get really violent. It’s not that he can’t fight, it’s just that he knows that sticking around a crime scene for too long means a one-way trip to the nick, and that’s not an experience he wants to repeat anytime soon. Something of a kleptomaniac, he’s racked up a massive rap sheet over the years, enough to be branded one of Cybertron’s most notorious thieves.

When raw strength won’t get the job done, Chop Shop can split apart into his five insectoid components to become a one-bot heist team. Each one of his "lads" can deliver a painful sting, capable of paralyzing any coppers while the rest of the team makes a break for it. In a pinch, he can even improvise, forcing smaller Cybertronians to combine with him… whether they want to or not.

Beyond all this, Chop Shop mostly just wants to be left alone to do his own thing, which wouldn’t be so bad if his favorite pastime didn’t involve robbing everyone blind. It may be that he’s got a good Spark somewhere down there, although it’d take a lot to bring his altruistic side to the surface.

Fiction

2015 Robots in Disguise cartoon

Voice actor: David Hunt (English), Will Friedle (English, as Righty), Yōhei Tadano (Japanese), Akihiro Matsushima (Japanese, as Righty), Ryo Aoi (Japanese, as Left-handed Spider), Alessandro Zurla (Italian), Pino Pirovano (Italian, as Righty), Frederik Haùgness (French, More than Meets the Eye), David Manet (French, The Trouble with Fixit), Rainer Fritzsche (German), Glauco Marques (Brazilian Portuguese)

Spiders! A giant legion of spiders!

Chop Shop was one of the Decepticon criminals aboard the Alchemor, and was freed when the ship crash-landed on Earth. Shortly after escaping captivity, he began scrounging for the parts he needed to construct a spacecraft to return home, and set up a temporary base in an abandoned building. After stealing several components, Chop Shop visited a nearby airfield and began tearing apart a plane to find a gyroscope. However, he was interrupted when Bumblebee and his team found him and attempted to bring him in. Chop Shop broke apart into his components, who stung all three of them into paralysis. When Grimlock attempted to intervene, Chop Shop did the same to him, before hopping into a manhole and escaping.

Hey, I'm Stealy. Follow me on my adventure through this office!

Chop Shop then infiltrated a manufacturing plant to steal liquid oxygen. His components began filling a tanker truck with the chemical, but the Autobots intervened once again. Since Strongarm had grabbed his right arm component, Chop Shop made do with a replacement — the Mini-Con Fixit. With his new limb, Chop Shop took down Strongarm and commandeered the truck, unaware that the Autobots were still on his trail. While two of his components continued work on the ship, the rest of Chop Shop angrily confronted his pursuers, demanding why he couldn't simply leave the planet like the Autobots wanted. Before they could answer, however, he began fighting against them with Fixit, quickly gaining the upper hand. Meanwhile, Denny Clay attempted to take out "Righty" with a crowbar, but the blow had little effect. Chop Shop grabbed Bumblebee and began electrocuting him, but before he could finish him off, Fixit rebelled against the Decepticon. Bumblebee convinced Fixit to keep fighting back. After being punched repeatedly by his new right arm, Chop Shop released Fixit and was subsequently frozen with liquid oxygen. The majority of Chop Shop was placed in a rebuilt stasis cell, but Righty managed to evade capture and remained at large. More than Meets the Eye

"Looks like a god damn town meeting."

Righty eventually sneaked into the scrapyard to try and free the rest of Chop Shop, only to be abducted by Nightstrike. Along with the Autobots, Nighstrike put Righty in a cocoon so that he could feed off of his energon. Later, Bumblebee freed Righty from the cocoon and asked him to help protect Denny and Russell from Nightstrike. Initially, the spider sought to just scutter off, but upon discovering a discarded bucket of paint, he tossed it at the vampiric 'Con to temporarily blind it. The debt paid, Righty left. Even Robots Have Nightmares

Righty later returned to the scrapyard to liberate Chop Shop, with a great deal more success. Once freed, Chop Shop reattached Righty before grabbing some Energon cubes to go. Splitting apart to throw off Strongarm and Grimlock, Chop Shop might have escaped if Fixit hadn't accidentally rebooted into his sentry mode. Overwhelmed by the Mini-Con's superior firepower, Chop Shop was knocked apart, although Denny Clay intervened before Fixit could use lethal force on the escaped prisoner. All of Chop Shop's components were placed back in stasis. The Trouble with Fixit

Chop Shop's stasis pod was later taken back to Cybertron by Optimus Prime, Windblade and Ratchet. Decepticon Island (Part 2)

Notes

• Chop Shop seems to have a Cockney accent, though Righty does not.
• In the Japanese dub Chop Shop speaks in a Hakata dialect.
• Ryo Aoi was cast through an audition held on the streaming service SHOWROOM. The character's profile was revealed to be "a timid and cautious person who admires the right-hand spider, who has a completely opposite personality. He is lonely, and is happiest when he is combined with the spider."

Foreign names

Chop Shop

• Japanese: Chop Shop (チョップショップ Choppu Shoppu)
• Mandarin: Túfú (China, 屠夫, "Butcher")

Righty

• Japanese: Migete Kumo (右手クモ, "Right-Hand Spider")
• Italian: Lefty