Menasor (G1)


 * Menasor is a Decepticon in the Generation 1 continuity family.



Menasor was meant to be the ultimate Decepticon weapon, and perhaps he would have been if not for the fatal flaw in his design. His mind was designed to merge together the psyches of the five Stunticons who compose his form, but the great depth of loathing the four limb components feel towards Motormaster has created a primal psychological rift and left Menasor an unpredictable mass of conflicting, chaotic impulses. Extremely powerful, mentally unstable, and prone to violent tantrums where he lashes out at anything in range, Menasor is not a weapon to point and fire, but a raging monster to turn loose on the battlefield and then get as far away from as possible.

In all continuities, he is depicted as being the chief rival and equal of Superion. However, this makes more poetic than literal sense, as the real-life scale difference between their component vehicle parts would suggest a rather drastic disparity in actual stature.

Menasor is the combined form of all five Stunticons:


 * Motormaster (leader)
 * Drag Strip
 * Dead End
 * Wildrider
 * Breakdown

"Menasor crush! Destroy!"

- Menasor on himself


 * Portuguese name (Brazil comic): Ameaçador
 * Italian name: Pentacar (toyline), Ultrax (first series dub, became Menasor in the dub of Headmasters)

Cartoon continuity

 * Voice Actor: Roger C. Carmel → Regis Cordic (US), Kōji Totani (Japan)

Menasor was formed for the first time to counter the new Autobot team, the Aerialbots, only to face their combined form of Superion. Menasor's sheer aggression drove the Autobot combiner back until he was trapped, only to have victory slip out of his grasp when a newly repaired Omega Supreme helped Superion defeat the Decepticon.

When the treacherous Starscream rampaged with his new army, Megatron requested the assistance of the Stunticons, only to be rebuffed by Drag Strip. Later, Bruticus defeated Devastator, and Starscream's victory seemed imminent when the Stunticons finally turned up. At first, the rowdy bunch of cars did not care if Megatron was destroyed, but they realized Starscream would not simply stop at eliminating his former leader. Quickly, they formed Menasor, who dispatched Bruticus with one mighty punch.

The Stunticons were captured by the Autobots at one point and to add insult to injury, they actually masqueraded as Menasor. Something that brought a lot of confusion to everyone, even Menasor himself.

Scramble City OVA
Due to Starscream's failure to stop the Aerialbots, the Stunticons were quickly sent in, and soon in the battle formed Menasor. Menasor quickly fought Superion and demonstrated a new power stolen from the Autobots: the ability to exchange any of his limbs into different combinations (despite what animation errors would like you to think). In the battle, Menasor corrupted Superion's formation by shooting one of his own limbs onto his opponent, rendering Superion vulnerable. However, he was soon stopped, and Superion regained his balance. Eventually, the Combaticons came in to help Menasor (though not willingly), forming Bruticus. The two tag-teamed against Superion, but were both stopped when Scramble City itself was brought into battle to end the conflict.

Zone OVA and manga

 * Voice Actor: Masato Hirano (Japan)



When Violen Jygar seized command of the Decepticons, his first act was to recruit 9 Demon-Generals from Decepticon history. Menasor was selected to be one of those Generals and was given the odd rank of Intelligence General as well as new power and weaponry to make him an even greater threat than before. Menasor was sent to the Planet Feminia to wreak havoc along with Abominus and Overlord. Together, the 3 Decepticon Demon-Generals destroyed the entire planet and nearly killed Victory Saber in the process.

Despite this impressive victory, Menasor was not seen again with the nine Generals in combat. He joined his comrades in schooling Metrotitan in the ways of evil, but never battled Dai Atlas or the Autobots again after his assault on Feminia.

Marvel Comics continuity
Menasor and the Stunticons were created by Megatron on Earth, using a special device that allowed him to tap into and divert the Creation Matrix force while Optimus Prime was using it to bring life to the Aerialbots. ''The Stunticons were based on a series of dream images sent by the Matrix to Buster Witwicky and Optimus Prime, and monitored by the Decepticons. In these images, Menasor battled alongside Bruticus against the Autobot combiners, Defensor and Superion. Menasor's personality problems handicapped him in battle, however, and Superion was able to trick him into shooting down his own partner. Outnumbered, Menasor attempted to flee, but was tossed into a pit by Superion's stress fracture cannon. ''

Back in reality, Menasor was first formed to do battle with Superion over the Autobot named Skids and his human passenger, Donny Finkleberg. The two gladiators shattered a freeway overpass (or was it an entrance ramp...?) before engaging in hand-to-hand combat. Unfortunately for the Autobots, the ever-unhelpful robot hunter named Circuit Breaker entered the fray for RAAT and zapped Superion, temporarily overloading his circuitry and allowing Menasor to administer the coup-de-grace, courtesy of his cyclone gun. Skids and Finkleberg disappeared in the melee, though, forcing the Stunticons to disconnect and begin searching for them anew.

''Later, Menasor attacked a Blackrock fuel plant, once again drawing the attention of the Aerialbots. Silverbolt and his team were forced to combine into Superion in order to battle the united Stunticons. Unfortunately for Silverbolt, this meant his teammates learned about his fear of heights due to the mental bleedover. Ashamed, he caused Superion to fight back extremely savagely against Menasor, almost injuring innocent civilians in the process. ''

Marvel UK future timelines
''In 2008, the renegade Decepticons Scourge and Cyclonus teamed up with the freelance peacekeeping agent named Death's Head to assassinate Commander Shockwave. Cut off from the battle by a set of blast doors, Soundwave summoned Menasor to help him break through and deal with the traitors. The super-robot eventually succeeded, but it was too late. Shockwave was dead, and the Decepticons were forced to accept Scourge and Cyclonus as their new leaders. ''

Dreamwave comics continuity


Menasor was one of several combiner robots based on the original prototype, Devastator. He existed as the combined form of Motormaster's Stunticons, but was effectively forced into retirement by the Crisis Intervention Accords, which outlawed the use of super-robots among the factions.

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 for awhile, until Ultra Magnus arrived and began insulting them 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 stopping Menasor and allowing Ultra Magnus to ram the combiner in the chest, forcing him to separate into his component parts and disabling the Stunticons.

Generation 1

 * Menasor (1986)
 * Japanese ID number: D-55




 * Menasor is formed by transforming Motormaster into his torso mode, attaching a chest plate/scout car, waist armor and mask on him, then connecting the other Stunticons into the appropriate limb slots in Motormaster's arms and legs. Fists and feet are then attached to the limbs. He is armed with Motormaster's sword and cyclone rifle. The Stunticons were available both individually or in a complete box set available in numerous markets. he also appears far more solid than the other combiners.


 * It's worth noting that Menasor is the smallest of the Scramble City-type combiners in the Generation 1 toyline.


 * A Japanese "VS-A" set with Superion was planned but unreleased.

Classics

 * Menasor (Legends, 2006)


 * This black and purple redeco of Legends of Cybertron Optimus Prime transforms into a Cybertronic truck cab. It was intended to be Motormaster, but the name trademark 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.

Titaniums

 * Menasor (6" Cybertron Heroes, 2007)


 * A 2007 San Diego Comic-Con exclusive, Menasor is a redeco of the Titanium Series Rodimus Prime, transforming into a Cybertronic Winnebago-ish thing.


 * According to this Menasor's bio, he is a single entity built from the bodies of the individual Stunticons and controlled by their psychotic, permanently unified minds. Whether this same backstory applies to the Classics or Universe toys is unknown.

Unreleased toys

 * Redecos of all five Stunticons were planned for Generation 2 release in 1994, but were canceled, with only a handful of test shots and production samples made. A small run of Breakdowns were released as the 1994 BotCon exclusive.


 * Menasor was a planned release for the Universe line, as a redeco of the Thunder Clash mold (or, more accurately, the Machine Wars Optimus Prime retooling). It too was originally intended to be Motormaster at first, but trademark stymied that.

Trivia



 * An alternate animation character sheet from the original cartoon exists for Menasor. It features all of the limbs in different orientations (the arms upside-down, the legs reversed) from the final model and the chest sports an Autobot symbol (!), suggesting, perhaps, that the Stunticon and Aerialbot toy factions may have originally been the other way around. This model was used for the toy commercial which appeared to introduce the Stunticons and Aerialbots, though with the faction symbol corrected.
 * The animators frequently misinterpreted Menasor's character model. Instead of having the four small Stunticons as his actual limbs (with, for example, his fist directly attached to Drag Strip's form), he was drawn as though the four cars attached on top of generic blocky limbs that extended from Motormaster, which would pretty much negate the whole point of the combining schtick.