Doubleheader

Doubleheader is an Autobot Pretender from the Generation 1 continuity family.

Two heads are better than one...I think.

Some warriors, even the most seasoned veterans, have been known to collapse under pressure. Doubleheader, however, has developed a unique solution to that particular dilemma: divvy up the duties with a second noggin. His right head sees, smells and overall analyzes his surroundings, while his left head listens, speaks and makes all the decisions. By dividing his workload between two separate heads, Doubleheader always remains cool and collected in the tightest situations.

He also likes to burn things.

Fiction

Marvel Comics continuity

Ask Vector Prime

In Cybertron's distant past, Doubleheader was one of five members of the Elite Flying Corps, under the command of Optimus Prime. Along with Divebomb, Dogfight, Skyfall, and Strafe, he engaged Decepticons in the skies. Ask Vector Prime, 2015/09/20

Marvel The Transformers comics

Events from the UK-only comic stories are in italics.

"Quick, let's cram in—" "—All my modes!" "HUUUH!"

Doubleheader was stationed on Cybertron, working out of Autobase under Emirate Xaaron's command. He oversaw the repairs to the trans-dimensional portal which had been damaged when the Mayhem Attack Squad ambushed Bumblebee's Pretenders at their headquarters. The Primal Scream

Later, Doubleheader was working with Pincher and Longtooth in a raid on a Decepticon prison camp. They were recalled back to Autobase, where Xaaron explained their latest mission—a search for the long-lost Creation Matrix. Whose Lifeforce Is It Anyway?

Doubleheader accompanied Pincher and Longtooth on the Matrix Quest, which took them to a harbor on Gottlieb. Hearing about the supposedly miraculous resurrection of the last of a race of whale-like creatures known as the Klud, Doubleheader (and Doubleheader) believed it could be a sign of the Matrix's life-giving properties at work. During the search, however, the Klud crippled Longtooth, which drove him into a killing-frenzy to find the beast and exact his revenge on it. Pincher and Doubleheader chased after their deranged comrade, but were intercepted by a new group of Mayhems, who were trying to get to the Matrix before them. Doubleheader held off the Decepticon flyers—Needlenose and Spinister—while Pincher attempted to reason with Longtooth. After determining the Matrix itself was long gone, the Mayhems pulled out, and Longtooth ultimately left the Klud alive. Deadly Obsession

Marvel UK future timelines

Only his left head is supposed to speak.

In an alternate future 2009, Doubleheader was one of the Autobots withdrawing from Cybertron to Earth. During the journey, he and Pincher uncovered murder and sabotage in Engine Room Two. The Void! The Autobots eventually crashed to Earth and uncovered Rodimus Prime himself as the saboteur, possessed by the evil of Unicron. Doubleheader and Hosehead fired on their crazed leader, but couldn't penetrate the evil aura surrounding him. They only ended up drawing his attention and were shot down themselves. Shadow of Evil

Regeneration One

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

Twenty-odd years after the end of the war, Doubleheader joined Blades, Dogfight, Skyhammer, Cloudraker, Crossblades, Jetfire, and the Aerialbots in defending Cybertron against Bludgeon's Warworld, a diversionary tactic devised by Prowl to allow the Wreckers to sneak aboard the Warworld. Destiny, Part Four Destiny, Part Five

A Tale of the Pretenders

While trying to find Metalhawk in Japan, Doubleheader and other Autobot Pretenders ran into a human woman who pleaded with them to save her siblings from Decepticon Pretenders. They soon found their teammate and were able to fight off the Decepticons. A Tale of the Pretenders

Toys

The Transformers

Look out, Newt! It's Double Mitt Romney!

• Doubleheader (Pretender, 1989)

• Accessories: Double helmet, "rust-ray gun" (small gun), "acid pellet pistol" (large gun), wings/backpack
• Known designers: Tetsuya Ikeda (TakaraTomy), Richard Marcej (packaging)

The Transformers Doubleheader's inner robot transforms into a Cybertronic twin-cockpit jet. The Pretender shell wields the larger "acid pellet pistol", while the inner-robot wields the smaller "rust-ray gun". When folded up into his Pretender shell, the red wing-section of the jet forms a jetpack for the shell. Like all of the 1989 Pretenders, the "acid pellet pistol" can store inside the shell in a port located in the leg. Even though he has two heads on his shell, the helmets for said heads are a single piece.

No version of this mold or character was released in Japan.

• More information on Doubleheader at TFU.info

Notes

WHY DO I HAVE THESE DRILLS???

• José Delbo draws Doubleheader with the weird-ass drills on his shoulders that his box art has (apparently the result of misinterpretation or stylization of his winged backpack) but his toy doesn't. Geoff Senior does not draw those weird-ass drills on Doubleheader. Doubleheader's character model probably had those funky drills, as a likely character model swipe occurs in "Deadly Obsession", but it'd be interesting to know why Senior didn't draw them. Did he work from the toy?

Foreign names

• Japanese: Doubleheader (ダブルヘッダー Daburuheddā)
• French: Bicéphale (France, "Bicephalous"), Duobloc (Canada, "Duo-Group")
• Italian: Biclonius