Transformers Legacy toyline

[Haywire]

Targetmasters make the most sense for their partners in vehicle mode, as mentioned before, having a separate gunner from the driver/pilot.

And, yeah, the biggest issues with humans or Nebulans being Head/Target/Power-masters is 1) the surgical modifications necessary to convert would be extremely extensive, and 2) you now have creatures with pretty finite lives bonded to machines with not-quite-infinite lifespans; eventually this would have to cause problems that maybe can't be addressed in the usual Transformers media.

 

[Undead Scottsman]

Marvel revealed that eventually the two identities merge into one, so I imagine once the organic half dies they just convert to having a regular head an the organic memories carry on in the robots mind.

 

[lastmaximal]

It's a bit awkward to write it given there are sentient species involved, but in terms of life span alone it's akin to losing a pet. That's a very gutting experience and hard to package for the usual types of media.

 

[Dekafox]

You could also do a story in the other direction where the headmaster partner loses the big bot unexpectedly. If you wanted to add a touch of humor, maybe they like reflexively transform to head mode at times and then are like "oh, right." Or for pathos, they transform to head mode while looking into a mirror so they can talk to their old dead partner. (assuming you don't go the Marvel route and pull a Hi-Q -> Optimus thing)

 

[LBD "Nytetrayn"]

And then IDW just went "actually they're just Japanese style small robots with Transtector bodies."

Seems no one wants to touch the implication of humans and humanoids bending like that.

This is why I kinda liked Dreamwave's portrayal:

That, and the partners always seemed a little big compared to regular humans for how they fit in, say, a car, too.

 

[ZacWilliam1]

The toyline and Marvel Comics just said they were turned into cyborgs.

-ZacWilliam, nothing wrong with that.

 

[Undead Scottsman]

In the cartoon I just figured they were an upgrade to the exosuit tech, which already allowed humans to transform, somehow.

 

[lastmaximal]

You could also do a story in the other direction where the headmaster partner loses the big bot unexpectedly. If you wanted to add a touch of humor, maybe they like reflexively transform to head mode at times and then are like "oh, right." Or for pathos, they transform to head mode while looking into a mirror so they can talk to their old dead partner. (assuming you don't go the Marvel route and pull a Hi-Q -> Optimus thing)

For the latter i kind of picture them having the faceplate removed from their cyberwhateversuit and set up in their home or laboratory so they can talk to them. Arcana's checking out some samples, thinking aloud, looks over at Brainstorm's face and asks a question...

 

[Gizmoboy]

I never liked the idea that a robot wasn't complete without his partner. Target Masters and Power Masters make sense to me as they are adding to or enhancing the main robots ability. Without the Head Master, it's just a headless body running around. That's why I've never really liked that gimmick. The only way I've come to terms with them is if the head is actually the avatar of the whole robot when in alt mode, and not a separate character that becomes the main character's head.

 

[lastmaximal]

Come to think of it, the Transtector angle can make for an even smoother transition into the downsizing into Micromasters and then Maximal/Predacon era bodies. First they become the heads for their altmodes. Then they're like "just make the entire thing smaller, altmode and all".

The "smaller transforming main body" tech can converge with the "techno-organic fusion" tech of Pretenders to lead to the BW-era body structures.

 

[unluckiness]

Targetmasters are the easiest to incorporate into fiction. Some transformers turn into jets, others tanks, cars etc, so I figure some turn into guns. From the very beginning, Megatron turned into a handheld gun.

Headmasters and toy Powermasters sound like active detriments. Being stuck in vehicle mode without your partner is an active liability.

 

[lastmaximal]

Might be neat if there was like some colony where it was all Headmaster beasts. Like the Transformers crashed and were locked in altmode, and were "driven" by robotic warriors who fought over a Cybertronian artifact that blew up and bonded them together into a mentally synced robot.

(The Transtector version could also work with robotic non-converting beasts native to the planet, being ridden by a crashed Cybertronian crew.)

 

[Sabrblade]

Targetmasters are the easiest to incorporate into fiction. Some transformers turn into jets, others tanks, cars etc, so I figure some turn into guns. From the very beginning, Megatron turned into a handheld gun.

Headmasters and toy Powermasters sound like active detriments. Being stuck in vehicle mode without your partner is an active liability.

This is also probably why Takara opted not to adapt the 1988 Targetmaster toys into the Masterforce fiction. With how Transtectors were depicted in that series as being lifeless bodies stuck in vehicle mode whenever their human operators weren't attached to them, just imagine how silly that would be for the 1988 Targetmasters needing to wield their human gun-formers in order to transform into robot mode, and being forced back into their lifeless vehicle modes whenever they'd accidentally drop or let go of their guns.

 

[tec]

Well that escalated quickly

Ah well lore dump on Headmaster/Target/Power Masters are great I like the idea of them as being Human/Aliens
Imagen if a Vulcan where to work with Brainstorm

 

[Cybersnark]

Imagen if a Vulcan where to work with Brainstorm

He could reach formerly-impossible levels of assholery.

 

[PrimalxConvoy]

Can those two (arguably) turds be painted?

 

[PrimalxConvoy]

This is why I kinda liked Dreamwave's portrayal:

View attachment 23082

That, and the partners always seemed a little big compared to regular humans for how they fit in, say, a car, too.

in the G1 cartoon, the Hive members also climbed into what looked like exosuit versions of the headmaster "armour".

Also, I think some of the TF Botcon media stated binary-bonded biologicals lived longer than their regular counterparts, due to their cybernetic implants.

 

[Glitch]

What's weird is the hive members that climbed into the exosuits were mechanoids themselves,

Probably just an animation error where they used Lithonians or the Hive's method was different like they made their memebers mechanical endoskeletons.

 

[Undead Scottsman]

Despite how buff they looked, the Hive were supposed to have been so reliant on their technology that their bodies had atrophied, IIRC. They needed tech to even move around anymore.

 

[Echowarrior]

View attachment 23112
Can those two (arguably) turds be painted?

If Mythbusters can be believed, you can at least make the attempt if you really want to.