Muzzle

Muzzle is an Autobot-allied Nebulan Headmaster from the Generation 1 continuity family.
Not being a teenage girl has limited his popularity.

Muzzle was a private eye on Nebulos, but he was framed and his career ended in scandal. He realized he had a chance at giving his life a new start when he heard there was an Autobot detective who was looking for a Headmaster partner. As a result, he and Nightbeat have one of the most harmonious relationships amongst the binary-bonded. Other than Nightbeat's sharpened eye for detail, one would hardly know Muzzle's in there.

Fiction

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Marvel The Transformers comics

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Events from the UK-only comic stories are in italics.
Blink and you'll miss me!

Shortly after being made a Headmaster and joining Optimus Prime's crew on Earth, Nightbeat learned of a mysterious robot corpse which had seemingly washed up on the California shoreline. Finding a serial brand from a Decepticon prison on the body, and identifying a signature Decepticon blaster as the murder weapon, Nightbeat concluded that a lone, well-armed Decepticon was hunting down escaped Autobot prisoners. Siren returned at that moment, correcting Nightbeat's analysis by informing him the prisoners weren't escapees, but deliberately let loose as prey to be hunted down. His source? The surviving prisoner, Hosehead, and the lone, well-armed Decepticon named Thunderwing who was right on their tails.

Blinked again, didn't you.

Thinking quickly, Nightbeat had Muzzle binary-bond with the dead Autobot in order to reactivate his motor functions partially. Caught off-guard by his prey supposedly coming back to life right in front of him, Thunderwing left himself wide open when Muzzle disengaged and Nightbeat blew up the Autobot's fuel core at close enough range to send Thunderwing packing into the waves to douse the flames. The Big Shutdown! Rage!

Following the Transformers' victory over Unicron, the Autobots secretly followed the Decepticons to Klo. However, the Decepticons were aware of the Autobots' surprise attack, and all but five Autobots were destroyed. Snapdragon kicked a head away from Nightbeat's remains. End of the Road!


Marvel Generation 2 comic

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Nightbeat was involved in the investigation of the Swarm. Swarm He later sacrificed himself in a futile effort against it. A Rage in Heaven!

If the Last Autobot revived Muzzle along with Nightbeat at the end of the G1 run, End of the Road! than Muzzle was presumably present with Nightbeat in these stories. Then again, the Last Autobot could have restored Nightbeat to his original, 100% Cybertronian condition.

Classics

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Classics continues from the Marvel US series, and does not include the UK stories or any subsequently published stories.

After the war, Nightbeat and Muzzle made the difficult decision to reverse the binary bond process and work together, but separately. They worked as investigative agents for Optimus Prime, then left to search for Bludgeon with Grimlock, but eventually Muzzle assembled the "old crew" as he and Nightbeat left to forge a path of their own. The "old crew" featured a new face, though, the French/Japanese warrior Minerva. Muzzle and Minerva soon started a relationship, which weirded Nightbeat out. Muzzle's profile in Club magazine #22

Detect stuff. Date badass. Weird out partner. Check.

Muzzle and Nightbeat's team, which also included Siren and Quig, Lug, and the disgruntled Dinobots Sludge and Slag, set their ship down on the planet Azure for repairs.

Nightbeat found that he was a person of interest to a potential client, a sentient ship named Amory, but not before Muzzle and the others battled her hired "thugs." Amory required the services of Nightbeat and his team in finding her pilot, Phyrion. Muzzle and the other humans pored over the evidence, but they could find no lead. Ultimately, the entire arrangement was revealed to be a setup put together by the Decepticons Ruckus and Needlenose, who had assembled an alleged "new Mayhem Attack Squad" by promising payment to Octopunch and Stranglehold for their assistance. Ruckus wasn't very smart, however, and had brought his hostage with him. The Decepticons were brutalized and Phyrion was returned to Amory. Regretting her involvement, Amory paid the Autobots for her services.

Despite their short run-in with good luck, Muzzle and his crew were still stranded on Azure without a working ship. In the meantime, surely someone was in need of a detective... Cheap Shots

After the destruction of his universe, Muzzle and his comrades ended up at Axiom Nexus. Epilogue

Commercial appearances

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Your legs are BLUE!

While Muzzle drove Nightbeat on the surface of an unidentified planet (with Siren and Hosehead at their sides), Muzzle leapt out as Nightbeat transformed into robot mode. The Autobot Headmasters were then confronted with their evil Decepticon counterparts! Small Headmasters Commercial

Games

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Transformers Roleplaying Game

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Muzzle and Nightbeat served as Optimus Prime’s private detectives. Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook

Toys

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The Transformers

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Inch High Private Eye!
  • Nightbeat (Headmaster, 1988)
  • Accessories: "Muzzle" Headmaster driver, seat/helmet, "Plasma Blaster" rifle, right & left "Photon Pistols"
  • Known designers: Tetsuya Ikeda (TakaraTomy){{#if: Richard Marcej (packaging)|, Richard Marcej (packaging)}}
Released in the fifth year of the The Transformers toyline (fourth year in the European line), Muzzle is a tiny armored humanoid that transforms into a robot head compatible with any larger Headmaster body. Doing so activates a spring-loaded tumbler inside the robot chest to show a trio of Tech-Spec meters which give readings for Speed, Strength and Intelligence; in larger Headmasters, they will show Muzzle's numbers, but smaller ones, being on a single plate, will only show their numbers regardless of how they differ from Muzzle's. Muzzle's head-mode is really more just a core and face, with the rest of the head form filled out with a helmet and a pair of small "Sonic Screamer Pistols" that fit on the sides.
In humanoid mode, the helmet can form a seat that allows Muzzle to sit comfortably into the driver's compartment of any of the fifth-year Autobot Headmaster robots in their vehicle mode.
Muzzle was only available with his larger partner Nightbeat.
In Japan, this mold was redecoed to make the Headmaster Junior Minerva, then later offered without changes (and in Hasbro packaging!) as "Minerva Nightbeat" in a Robot Point mail-away offer.


Titans Return

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Nightbeat in "The Mystery of the Disappearing Bodies!"
  • Nightbeat (Titan Master, 2016)
Titans Return Nightbeat is based on Nightbeat's head, and can be considered a new toy of Muzzle.
Part of the first wave of individually-packed Titans Return Titan Masters, Nightbeat transforms from robot to a head based on the original Nightbeat toy's. In this mode, Nightbeat can serve as the head of any Titans Return Deluxe, Voyager, or Leader Class figure. He also features ports in his feet that allow him to peg onto a wide variety of Titans Return figures. His blue plastic matches the colored plastic used by Blurr and Topspin. His head has a tendency to get stuck, causing it to pop off at the neck when removing him from a neck socket or mini-vehicle connector; a solution to both problems is to insert him into the slot with his head-mode face pointing up, rotating the body, and then finally folding the legs in place.
Nightbeat is packaged with a small vehicle that can transform into three modes: a jet for Nightbeat to ride, a drill-tank formed by combining with Nightbeat, and a drill weapon for larger figures to wield. The shape of the tank's back end also makes inserting him as instructed somewhat awkward. As with most Titan Master vehicle accessories, care must be taken with the gun mode's handle: the handle fits tightly in many 5 mm-compatible closed hands, and combined with the handle's lack of metal pin running through the joint, removing it by force causes the handle to pop out of the joint. Also, most of the units had a problem with the legs not folding down neatly in head mode due to the tolerance of the side panels on the legs.
Nightbeat was originally designed by Emiliano Santalucia as a new character, and sported an original head-mode design. Between the promotional render and the final product, the plastic color of Nightbeat's shins was changed from yellow to blue. His face is also a more orange-y yellow than the brighter yellow plastic, while his eyes are dark orange instead of blue.
His vehicle was redecoed as Moguru and packaged with Legends Chromedome. His head mode served as the model for Soundwave's head in several e-HOBBY comics. Nightbeat, along with Skytread, was also re-released as part of the fourth wave of Titan Masters alongside Shuffler and Repugnus. Nightbeat's main body was later retooled into Ghost Starscream.


Notes

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  • Packaging photography depicts Muzzle with blue legs instead of black.
  • In Muzzle's sole animated appearance in the commercial advertising the "small" Headmasters toys, his legs are blue instead of the toy's black, like the early packaging photography, and he transforms into all of Nightbeat's head, including the "seat" and antennas.
  • Other than within Nightbeat's Universe-style profile, Muzzle's existence is never acknowledged in the Marvel U.S. material—or, indeed, that Nightbeat is even a Headmaster.
  • In "Cheap Shots," Muzzle's armor was suddenly green. No explanation is given for this. He also kinda looks like the story's artist, Dan Khanna...
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