Motormaster (G1)


 * Motormaster is a Decepticon from the Generation 1 continuity family.



When Motormaster booms out orders in his hollow, bottomless-deep voice of doom, his Stunticon soldiers listen in very real fear. A cold and brutal tyrant, without an ounce of mercy or care for any lesser being, he considers himself the true "King of the Road." He longs to one day prove his claim by destroying Optimus Prime in a head-on collision, though he fears that someone else might kill Prime before he can. His fellow Stunticons hate him, but are too terrified of him to dare disobey his orders.

He can combine with his fellow Stunticons to form Menasor, and the Stunticons' hatred of Motormaster is part of the reason that Menasor suffers from psychological instabilities.

"Well, look who's here! The old King of the Road! When I'm finished with ya, you'll be King of the Junkyard!"

- Motormaster right before Optimus Prime flattens him.


 * French-Canadian name: Pilot-As
 * Italian name: Barracuda
 * Hungarian name: Gépmester (meaning Machine-master)

Marvel Comics continuity
Motormaster and the Stunticons were given life by the Creation Matrix, at least inadvertently. Bombshell had "bugged" Optimus Prime with a cerebro-shell and, when the Autobot leader unleashed the power of the Matrix to bring the Aerialbots to life, Megatron was able to tap into and divert some of the energy to bring an equal number of his own troops to life. The Stunticons' first mission was to further the Decepticon plans for anti-Autobot propaganda. Recognizing that the Autobot efforts on Earth were stymied as long as the humans could not tell the difference between the two factions, Megatron had taken great efforts to ensure ALL the "giant robots" were hated by the public. When the Autobot Skids selflessly saved a woman trapped by power lines, however, that good publicity threatened his plans. Therefore, Megatron sent Motormaster and the Stunticons out to find Skids. Once they did, the Stunticons drew attention to themselves by demolishing a highway, and then pretended to be "defending" Skids once RAAT forces arrived. Their efforts not only successfully tarnished the Autobot image in the eyes of the humans, but even led to the deactivation and capture of the Aerialbots by RAAT.

Motormaster and his team saw little action after that. Decepticon internal politics caused leadership to change hands several times over the following months, and the Stunticons were ultimately lost in the shuffle.

Earthforce
''Motormaster appeared to have...conflicting loyalties during the Decepticon faction split on Earth. He was first seen fighting alongside Shockwave and Starscream against the Dinobots. However, by the time of the Enclave, he was seen working alongside Megatron, and was later present with Megatron's troops when Soundwave and Starscream announced they were taking over. Later, the Decepticons learned a human reporter named Irwin Spoon would be writing an exclusive about the Autobots to upgrade their public image. In order to stop this, they sent Motormaster and the Stunticons out to snatch the human. Using his henchmen as a distraction, Motormaster rammed Prowl from behind and pulled the reporter into his cab to make a getaway. It wasn't that easier, however, as the Autobots gave chase. Motormaster ran Prowl off the road again, and surprised Sunstreaker into running into his trailer by disconnecting from it (a surprise to everyone, no doubt). In the end it was his own Stunticons who did Motormaster in, though -- Dead End and Dragstrip tried to ram Bumblebee and Tracks as they were following Motormaster's cab, but the Autobots dodged at the last second and the 'Con cars barreled into their own leader, sending him into a ditch. Bumblebee then ripped off Motormaster's door and rescued the human.''

''"King of the Road", my central processor. ''

Marvel UK future timelines
''In 2003, Motormaster and the Stunticons took on a mission to steal the plans for Autobot City from their courier, Kup. They surrounded the Autobot, and Motormaster had his goons tag-team the old wreck until they got their hands on the data tape. Thinking they were done for the day, the Stunticons got lucky and had a second beatdown when the hotheaded Autobot Hot Rod chased after them alone to retrieve the tape. Needless to say, they beat the ball bearings out of him. ''

''Five years later, after the defeat of Unicron, the Decepticons were engaged in an extended guerrilla war with the Autobots for control of Cybertron. After getting a tip from the Quintessons, Commander Soundwave had Motormaster and his other lieutenants gather the troops for a full-scale attack on the Autobots. The tip turned out to be a trap, however, and Motormaster and the others had to bail out of Astrotrain in mid-flight to protect themselves from a mass of invaders. ''

Cartoon continuity

 * Voice actor: Roger C. Carmel (US), Kōji Totani (Japan)



Motormaster was one of the Stunticons who was brought to life by Vector Sigma, immediately pledging his loyalty to Megatron. Although the Stunticons often fought the Aerialbots, Motormaster's great desire was to off Optimus Prime.

As Megatron searched for the Pearl of Bahoudin in Turkey, he became aware of the Autobots' involvement in the cross-country Europa 2000 ending only miles from his dig site. In order to prevent interference, he commissioned Motormaster and the Stunticons to prevent any Autobots from making it to the finish line. Motormaster personally saw to the disposal of the Autobots' stunt driver, Wheeljack. It was an extended battle between skill and power, but the Stunticon leader eventually caught his prey by crushing him underneath his massive frame.

On another mission from Megatron, Motormaster dispatched his fellow Stunticons to collect several scientific components which the Constructicons needed to finish a new Super Weapon. Motormaster himself stole the world's largest and most perfect ruby from its place in a museum. His path back to base was blocked by Optimus Prime himself, giving Motormaster his long-awaited chance to prove he was the true "King of the Road". After he and Optimus rammed into each head-on at full speed, though, Prime only had a slight headache while Motormaster blew out his tires, crumpled his trailer, broke his windows and shattered his ego. Beaten and bruised, Motormaster and his fellow Stunticons were all towed back to the Ark and held prisoner. Unaware of Megatron's full plans for the components, the Autobots conceived of a scheme to infiltrate the Decepticon camp disguised as the Stunticons, using camouflage paint to alter their appearances. To add insult to injury (well, injuries), Optimus Prime took Motormaster's place among the faux Stunticons. After the Autobots left, though, Breakdown managed to vibrate himself loose from his cage and let Motormaster and the others free as well. They merged to become Menasor and swept aside the meager resistance the Autobots put up at the Ark. Flying to Megatron's hidden construction site as Menasor, the Stunticons confronted their impostors and exposed the Autobots' Trojan Horse play. Still, Prime had arranged a double-cross and had tampered with the ruby's properties, causing Megatron's Super Weapon to explode after only a short use. Menasor fled, and the other Decepticons quickly followed suit.

When Starscream attempted to overthrow the Decepticons using his personal brigade, the Combaticons, Megatron attempted to summon the Stunticons for aid, but they were too busy with a demolition derby to get involved right away. Eventually, though, their eleventh-hour intervention proved the key to victory. Starscream's gestalt, Bruticus, had already defeated Devastator, but was weakened by the conflict. Motormaster convinced his fellow Stunticons that Starscream wouldn't know when to quit and that they'd better ensure Megatron stuck around. Combining into Menasor, it took them little more than a single hit to bring down the Combaticons' Bruticus form.

Like most Decepticons, Motormaster was left leaderless and near-powerless after the destruction of Unicron and the disappearance of Galvatron. By 2006, he and the other Decepticons had retreated to a burnt-out hunk of a planet called Chaar, a world of ash in ruin. Certain that the Decepticons could be reborn as a fighting force if only they had a leader, Motormaster contributed nearly the last of his energon for Cyclonus's hunt for Galvatron and collapsed on the spot as a result. Still, when the Quintessons arrived in the interim offering energon if only the Decepticons would help destroy the Autobots, Motormaster and the others naturally jumped at the opportunity. When Galvatron returned, though, he first shot Motormaster before ultimately agreeing to go along with the Quintessons anyway. This might be why Motormaster felt so strongly about Galvatron's inadequacy as Decepticon leader in later months. Along with Swindle and Laserbeak, he eventually confronted second-in-command Cyclonus and demanded that something be done about Galvatron or else there would be mutiny. It seemed to be an empty boast, however, as Galvatron just kept on being crazy.

Dreamwave comics continuity
During the start of the war, Motormaster served as Starscream's enforcer. When Starscream took control of the Decepticons after he (supposedly) killed Megatron and Optimus Prime, Motormaster assisted Starscream's attempts to have Scrapper mechaform Iacon...by letting Starscream threaten Scrapper with being mechaformed by Motormaster himself. During the subsequent Autobot assault on the base, Motormaster was on the verge of killing Ironhide and Kup, when Grimlock rammed into him at full speed, sending Motormaster flying into a far-off wall. Grimlock one, Motormaster zero. During the Dark Ages, he joined up with Starscream's Predacons, helping him steal raw energon, only to have Grimlock and the Lightning Strike Coalition steal the energon. Grimlock: two, Motormaster: zero. On the eve of the Age of Wrath, Motormaster was tasked with sniping Ultra Magnus. He failed, hitting Grimlock instead, though he ended up surviving. Grimlock: three, Motormaster: zero.

At some point in Cybertron's recent history, the Stunticons were deemed psychotic and too dangerous to function in society, and as a result were placed into perpetual stasis lock inside of a prison facility. Later, in an attempt to create a diversion while he set his final plans in motion, Shockwave arranged for the release of the Stunticons. They formed into Menasor and ran amok in Iacon for awhile, until Ultra Magnus arrived and began to attack Menasor by insulting the Stunticons individually. Unable to reconcile with this, the five Stunticons began to bicker with each other over whose fault it was that they were failing, temporarily halting Menasor's destruction. At that point, Ultra Magnus is quoted to have said: "'King of the Road' eh? We'll see about that," just before ramming the combiner in the chest while in vehicle mode, forcing Menasor to separate into his component parts and disabling the Stunticons.

Ultra Magnus's attack was significant in that he essentially made a fearless suicide run straight into Menasor, echoing Optimus Prime's head-on collision with Motormaster in the animated continuity. Not only did Magnus succeed in disabling Menasor, but in particular, he damaged Motormaster severely. Magnus's attack showed that Motormaster was bested by an Autobot who considered himself—and was considered by others—to be a lesser version of Optimus Prime. It's likely that the Decepticon's ego will never recover.

IDW comics continuity
Motormaster took up the open invitation to Kaon's discontented populace and journeyed to the secret bloodsport arena to join Megatron in his insurrection against the Senate's control. He was seen in the presence of the Stunticons, suggesting they had already formed a team bond prior to the first major uprising. During the opening battle of the war with Security Services in Kaon, Motormaster continued with his (apparent) goal of being run down by every Autobot leader who turns into a truck when he leapt in the way of Sentinel Prime and was flattened by the no-nonsense commander. That 'Con just doesn't know when to quit, does he?

Generation 1

 * Motormaster (Stunticon, 1985)
 * Team ID number: S5
 * Japanese ID number: D-50




 * Motormaster transforms into a black Kenworth K100 Aerodyne sleeper truck pulling a long, dark-silver trailer. Unlike many Transformers truck toys, his trailer is permanently attached to the cab.  Motormaster can assume a base/repair bay mode which can connect to the Decepticon city Trypticon, a feature only documented in Trypticon's instructions.  (He can also connect to Metroplex, but this is undocumented for obvious reasons.)  His small "roller car" gains relevance in this mode, as it is scaled for the base-mode's ramp.  The Japanese release includes a launcher mechanism to propel the car, much like Optimus Prime's Combat Deck propels Roller.  (As with Silverbolt, Motormaster's various knock-offs include the launcher.)


 * In robot mode, he is armed with a long, purple "cyclone" rifle and a large, silver, vacuum-metalized sword. He also forms the central body of Menasor, with the roller car becoming his chest piece and Menasor's mask covering his face.  Menasor's hands and feet were included in Motormaster's box.

Classics
One toy in the Classics line was intended to be Motormaster, but trademark issues prevented the name from being used. For more information, see Menasor.

Unreleased

 * Motormaster (Stunticon)
 * Team ID number: S1
 * The Stunticons and Protectobots were planned to be released as part of the Generation 2 line, but were ultimately canceled (though Breakdown saw "release" as the BotCon 1994 exclusive). The smaller limb-robots all have had packaged samples appear, but no packaged samples of Motormaster or Hot Spot are known to exist, and the two leaders are the hardest of their sets to come across nowadays. Recent pics have appeared on Ebay however.

Universe

 * Menasor (Ultra, unreleased)
 * A redeco of Thunder Clash as Motormaster (called "Menasor" because of trademark issues) was planned as a store exclusive for Universe, but was ultimately canceled. No physical samples of this toy have been found so far, just package art.

Trivia

 * Though the G1 toy clearly is a single-trailer rig, the panel seams were often misinterpreted by artists as being a division between two trailers. Thus Motormaster is sometimes portrayed as a double-trailer rig, even though the "front trailer" doesn't have any rear wheels.


 * In the 2006/2007 Classics line, a redeco of Legends of Cybertron Optimus Prime was intended to be Motormaster, but again, the name could not be obtained. The toy was given the name "Menasor" and the super robot's function of "Super Warrior", effectively making him Menasor, not Motormaster.


 * Motormaster has three different pieces of box art. The art on on his Japanese packaging has him transformed correctly, while the art on his individual Hasbro release shows him mistransformed, with his upper legs out to the side instead of down. In what is presumably an attempt to fix this, the art on the Hasbro gift set uses the lower legs from the Takara art, but this leaves Motormaster's upper legs mistransformed.