Headmasters are a sub-group of characters from the Transformers meta-series, distinguished by their ability to detatch their heads when transforming into their alternate modes, with the heads then transforming themselves into a humanoid form. However, this concept was taken in several different directions across the different Transformers universes. Various Transformers toys Transformers is the name of a line of toys produced by Hasbro from 1984 onwards, and also of a number of spin-offs based on the toys including a Marvel Comics series, an animated television series that began airing on 1984 (Transformers series) and a feature-length...

Toyline

The American toyline established that the Headmasters were Autobots and Decepticons who had been partnered and bonded with members of a race of oraganic beings named Nebulons. The toys included: The Autobots (also known as Cybertrons in Japan) are the heroes in the Transformers toyline and related spin-off comics and cartoons. ... The Decepticons (also known as Destrons in Japan) are the enemies of the Autobots, and the villains in the Transformers toyline and related spin-off comics and cartoons. ...

1987 Autobots

• Fortress Maximus (with Cerebros and Spike)
• Brainstorm (with Arcana)
• Chromedome (with Stylor)
• Hardhead (with Duros)
• Highbrow (with Gort)

1987 Decepticons Generation One in America Cartoon: Fortress Maximus was introduced following The Return of Optimus Prime, in the fourth season episode Rebirth. In the cartoon, his headmaster partner was named Cerebros. ... The Witwicky Family beginning with Sparkplug and his son Spike met the Transformers shortly after their reawakening on earth in 1984 and had continuing interaction with them far into the future. ...

• Scorponok (with Lord Zarak)
• Mindwipe (with Vorath)
• Skullcruncher (with Grax)
• Weirdwolf (with Monzo)
• Apeface (with Spasma)
• Snapdragon (with Krunk)

1988 Autobots Scorponok is the name of three different Transformers characters. ...

• Hosehead (with Lug)
• Nightbeat (with Muzzle)
• Siren (with Quig)

1988 Decepticons Nightbeat is an Autobot Headmaster in the Transformers toyline. ...

• Fangry (with Brisko)
• Horri-Bull (with Kreb)
• Squeezeplay (with Lokos)

Cartoon Series

The Rebirth

In America, the introduction of the Headmasters took place in a three-part episode titled The Rebirth, which comprised the entirety of the show's fourth and final season. Here, in the battle to obtain the key to the Plasma Energy Chamber, two groups of Autobots and Decepticons wound up on the alien world of Nebulos. Nebulos was ruled by a dictatorship named the Hive, consisting of ten Nebulons and their leader, Lord Zarak, who held the planet under their sway with mighty war machines that they could control with their thoughts, even as their disused bodies withered away. Fearful and distrustful of machines as a result, a group of Nebulon rebels led by Gort immediately captured the Autobots upon their arrival and almost executed them, until an attack by the Decepticons proved that they were on the same side. Consequently, the group decided to utilise a theory previously developed by Brainstorm - the partnership of Transformers, with their size and power, with the minds of the Nebulons. Chromedome, Brainstorm, Hardhead and Highbrow disconnected their heads, and Spike Witwicky used Brainstorm's designs to modify them into exosuits which the rebel's strategy officer then donned, becoming Headmasters. Additionally, in order to save the life of Spike's son, Daniel, who had been fatally wounded by Snapdragon, Arcee too underwent the process, becoming bonded to the boy.

With the battle superiority of the Autobot Headmasters evident, the Decepticons were forced to flee during the next battle. The Hive, however, had been observing events, and used their machines to bring the Decepticons to them, where they struck the same deal. The heads of the animal Transformers were offered up to the Hive, who turned them into exosuits, once again giving themselves strong bodies. Lord Zarak, meanwhile, used the process to modify the Hive's entire subterranean city to a colossal super robot that he dubbed Scorponok. With Scorponok's power, the Deceptcons obtained the Plasma Energy Chamber key and returned to Cybertron.

Spike, meanwhile, had concocted a plan to counter Scorponok's power. The remaining Autobot, Cerebros - a pacifist who refused to undergo the Headmaster process - had located the city that had formerly belonged to the Hive, before they developed their mental powers and went underground. Using the Hive's machine, Spike reconstructed the city, Cerebros, and himself into another new super robot - the might Fortress Maximus. Spike became Cerebros's Headmaster partner, and Cerebros in turn then transformed into Maximus's head. Arriving on Cybertron, Maximus and Scorponok battled as the Plasma Energy Chamber threatened to overload Earth's sun. Spike and the Nebulons were able to save the planet, however, by draining off the excess solar energy and re-energising Cybertron, restoring it's golden age. Generation One in America Cartoon: Fortress Maximus was introduced following The Return of Optimus Prime, in the fourth season episode Rebirth. In the cartoon, his headmaster partner was named Cerebros. ... Cybertron Cybertron is the home world of the Autobots and Decepticons in the fictional Transformers Universe. ...

As this marked the end of the American Transformers series, the 1988 characters never appeared in animated form.

Transformers: Headmasters

In Japan, however, the concept of Headmasters was taken in a wildly different direction. Here, it was opted not to air The Rebirth, but to instead continue the Transformers series with the 35-episode show, Transformers: Headmasters.

In this version of events, there are no Nebulons involved. Millions of years ago, during the wars on Cybertron, many Autobots fled the planet to escape the conflict. One such group was a collection of diminutive Transformers, led by the robot called Fortress, who eventually settled on the planet Master. However, Master proved to be a world of harsh environment, and so, in order to survive, the small Transformers constructed larger, lifeless bodies called Transtectors, and modified their forms so that they could transform into heads, in order to attach to and control the Transtectors. Chromedome, Brainstorm, Hardhead, Highbrow, Fortress (Cerebros), Weirdwolf, Wipe (Mindwipe) and Skull (Skullcruncher) underwent this process, but soon the latter three turned to the side of evil under the leadership of Scorponok (the equivalent of Lord Zarak), who made contact with Galvatron, and joined with him in his renewed attack on Cybertron in 2011.

Using the power of the mighty weapon, the Master Sword, Fortress is able to combine with the Headmasters' battle ship, Maximus, to form Fortress Maximus. Scorponok also had a massive Transtector constructed for himself, dubbed MegaZarak (the equivalent of Scorponok), harnessing the plasma energy released from the destruction of Cybertron he had engineered to power it.

In Japan, Headmasters possess incredible energy within their bodies, which can be unleashed when they assume "Head Formation", linking hands in a ring and uniting their energy. The energy can then be fired in bolts, or they can energise their own bodies and whirl in a devastating circle. Their definitive transformation call is "Head On!"

Super God Masterforce

The Japanese didn't stop with Headmasters, and introduced their versions of the 1998 Headmasters in the following series, Transformers: Super God Masterforce. However, these proved to be even more different from their American counterparts than the previous year's characters.

In Masterforce, the Headmasters are not small robots, but actually human beings who don a suit of armour and combine with a Transtector. Consequently, as they do not represent their American counterparts, they are known by completely different names - Nightbeat is Minerva, Siren is Go Shoota, Hosehead is Cab, Fangry is Wilder, Horri-Bull is Bullhorn and Squeezeplay is Cancer, each of them a human teenger recruited by the Autobots or Decepticons in the battle. Additionally, Fortress Maximus's younger brother, Grand Maximus (exclusive to Japan) makes an appearance in the series, with his Headmaster component, Grand, possessing a Pretender Shell. Also appearing is another Japanese exclusive, Black Zarak, who is the MegaZarak Transtector, rebuilt and given sentience by the villain of the series, the energy entity, Devil Z. A human character from Transformers Masterforce, Minerva was one of three human children to use the Transtectors to become Autobot Headmasters, serving as the teams medic. ...

Marvel Comics

In the Marvel comics, the Autobot Headmasters were originally a group of Autobots lead by Fortress Maximus, who had grown tired of the Autobot-Decepticon civil war. He led the group to the planet Nebulon, which at the time was a pacifistic idyll where war and weapons were obsolete. However, the Decepticons soon followed the Autobots, bringing war once again to Nebulon. Marvel Comics, sometimes called by the nickname House of Ideas, is an American comic book company. ...

As a show of their non-violent nature, the Autobots surrendered to the Nebulons, who originally imprisoned them. However, a young Nebulon man named Galan Kord, who was romantically involved with Lord Zarak's daughter Llyra, befriended the Autobots and together with a group of other Nebulons, went through the binary-bonding process with them. When the Decepticons learned of this, they forced Lord Zarak and a group of other Nebulons to do the same with them. Galan Kord was the political leader on the world of Nebulos when the Transformers made first contact with the planet. ...

As a punishment for bringing war to Nebulon, the Autobots were banished off the planet. They eventually came to Earth, with the Decepticons following them. On Earth, Fortress Maximus and Scorponok fought each other inside a volcano. In the fight, Galan Kord was killed by a falling rock, but Spike Witwicky took his place as Fortress Maximus's partner. Earth, also known as the Earth or Terra, is the third planet outward from the Sun. ... A volcano is a geological landform (usually a mountain) where magma (rock of the earths interior made molten or liquid by high pressure and temperature) erupts through the surface of the planet. ...

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