Walter Barnett (G1)
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- Walter Barnett is a human from the Marvel portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.
Walter Barnett is an agent of the Intelligence and Information Institute, specifically charged with working out how to deal with the presence of alien robots on Earth. He has a wife and a son.
He is responsible for hiring Donny Finkleberg to play the role of "Robot-Master," and has also supervised the activities of the Rapid Anti-robot Assault Team, commonly known as RAAT.
When in collaboration with Circuit Breaker, he seems to flip flop between wanting to destroy the Autobots and wanting to give them a chance.
Fiction
[edit]Marvel Comics continuity
[edit]Marvel The Transformers comics
[edit]In the wake of escalating Transformer activity, Walter's boss Forrest Forsythe put pressure on him to find a way to stop the rising panic coming from frightened citizens. Rock and Roll-Out! He was present to hear G.B. Blackrock's impractical claim that the Transformers were two distinct factions of alien robots, before being sent home to come up with a plausible cover story. Clearly nothing plausible came to mind, as Walter decided instead to steal an idea from his son's Robot Master comic: create a ludicrously dressed supervillain who controls robots as a cover story.
He approached and hired the comic's writer Donny Finkleberg, who not only agreed to help with the scam but even decided to play Robot-Master himself. The scheme worked well enough, until the Decepticons stole Finkleberg I, Robot-Master! and reporter Joy Meadows started investigating the holes in the plot. Walter sat in on the worried meeting, agreeing with the others that their cover story needed to be secure... and showing no qualms at the idea of "silencing" Joy. (Holy crap!) In the National Interest
III failed at the hit. Walter, being the only competent character in the group, was handed control of their new anti-Transformer military wing, RAAT, with Circuit Breaker working for him. RAAT swiftly captured seven Autobots, but Walter had some qualms over Circuit-Breaker's use of force and how the robots didn't appear to have been hostile. He accompanied RAAT's next mission into the field, where once more he tried to argue that some of the robots seemed to be benevolent. During this outting, he bumped into Donny Finkleberg again, who backed up his claims to the ever-fanatical Circuit Breaker. Circuit Breaker went charging in despite Barnett and Finkleberg's pleas to reassess her targets, forcing Barnett to rescue her after she expended all of her power downing one of the robots battling on an overpass. In the chaos, Finkleberg escaped once more aboard another one of the robots. But it was sooner rather than later when Barnett heard from the former Robot-Master again, as he received a call in which Finkleberg offered to hand over the Autobot Skids, then inactive and thus unable to fight back. Heavy Traffic! Fallen Angel
Agreeing to pay fifty grand for Finkleberg's captive, Barnett's group successfully took into custody the already-inactive Autobot. But soon they faced their greatest menace: graffiti artists. Walter and RAAT's best efforts were as nothing, and victory only came about because Circuit-Breaker cut a deal with the robot prisoners. Part of that deal meant letting them go, and Walter had to fire her for insubordination. Decepticon Graffiti! Barnett's next move was to enlist the help of the army troops under command of General Hadley to destroy the Decepticons who had made their base in a coal mining pit in Wyoming. Megatron alone, though violently off his rocker, forced them into retreat. Gone but Not Forgotten!
Later, an upgraded RAAT began tracking a group of robots; after they were alerted to the robot's position, Walter himself led a squadron to Big Steve's Used Cars to capture them. He was interrupted by two other groups of robots, both pretending to be rival groups and both after the captives. Walter said they'd be destroyed if they got in RAAT's way!
They got in RAAT's way. They weren't destroyed. He also worked out the shocking fact that... the robots really were split into different factions! Because the robots fought each other, Walter's team were able to drive off with the captives; he made sure to pay Big Steve for the tip-off on the way out. Used Autobots Now he had six captives, all of them claiming they were in the "Autobot" faction and knew nothing about the increasing "Decepticon" attacks, and Forsythe breathing down his neck to get results while dismissing anything the robots did say. Walter was under such pressure that he had to work on Sunday!
Back home with his family, he found out that Forsythe was on telly saying the next robot attack would see the captives executed! Walter hurriedly informed his boss that this was an invite for the Decepticons to attack... which they already had. Now desperate and knowing he had to save innocent 'bots, Walter was saved once again by his son's stuff: if he could plant the robot's brain modules into Stevie's toy cars, he could sneak the Autobots to safety! And he did! The Autobot Goldbug advised him to take them to the Autobot's human ally, Buster Witwicky, who agreed to take Walter and the cars to the site of the Autobot base.
Unfortunately, the toy car's batteries were running low and the dynamic duo had to stop at a local mall to buy new ones. More unfortunately, giant robot animals attacked the place to capture the cars! Buster was almost killed by the Decepticon leader until Walter brought a shop security gate down on it. The two were forced to separate, Walter taking the Autobots and Buster making for the robot's base. Buster never made it. Toy Soldiers!
Walter and Forsythe later oversaw a United States Navy assault on the Decepticon's desert island base... only to find Buster there, a human shield. With the op called off, Walter could only phone up Buster's dad to explain the situation. The Desert Island of Space!
Classics
[edit]Walter Barnett may now be a General, commanding the Armored Robot Hunters. They suck as much as RAAT did, but at least this time they can tell the difference between Autobots and Decepticons. Crossing Over, Part 2 Nevertheless, they had a tendency for being underfoot, and Optimus Prime ordered Barnett's unit not to engage the Decepticons without them. Games of Deception
The AllSpark Almanac
[edit]Walter Barnett was President of the United States, famously articulating the Barnett Doctrine that espoused free trade and open borders. He and his accomplishments were immortalized on a Burger Bot placemat detailing Presidents of the United States. The AllSpark Almanac II
Notes
[edit]Foreign names
[edit]- Japanese: Walter Barnett (ウォルター・バーネット Worutā Bānetto)