Tobias Muldoon

This article is about the 19th century inventor. For the Animorph dude, see Tobias.

Tobias Muldoon is a human from the Hearts of Steel portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

I just found out that my cellular telephone was a lemon. It didn't work.

Tobias Muldoon is an inventor in the latter part of the 19th century. He is alternately a Decepticon patsy and a (slightly hapless) action hero.

Fiction

Hearts of Steel

Muldoon invented a "sub-marine", the S.S. Vicuna, and attempted to demonstrate it for Mark Twain and Jules Verne in San Francisco Bay. It sank. His primary investor, Stanford Merriweather, was not amused, and Muldoon's financial prospects (not to mention his chances of marrying Merriweather's daughter, Kitty) looked bleak. He was then confronted by Shockwave, who offered to assist him in transforming the Earth. Hearts of Steel #1 Muldoon readily agreed to work with the Decepticons, providing them with plans for 19th-century bodies and information on human society. When he realized they were evil, however, he fled and went to Merriweather's house looking for help. Hearts of Steel #2

There are dozens of us! Dozens!

Muldoon was unsuccessful in convincing Merriweather, Kitty, or Twain (Merriweather's houseguest), until Ravage, who had been hunting Muldoon, burst in. Muldoon fended him off with a decorative sword and shield while the others escaped, and after Ravage was dispatched by Twain, Muldoon received Merriweather's full support in fighting the Decepticons. Hearts of Steel #3 Muldoon and the other protagonists pursued the Decepticons' Astrotrain, and his heroic efforts to protect Kitty earned him Merriweather's blessing of their romance. Muldoon was trapped in a train tunnel by Decepticon explosives, but was soon freed by John Henry. Hearts of Steel #4

By 1888, Tobias had married Kitty and fathered two children, Toby and Katherine. While out on a walk, they were approached by their old Autobot friend Bumblebee, who requested Muldoon's help in the battle against an Elder God who was rising on Earth. Tasked with finding a way to generate one million watts of electricity instantaneously, he visited Thomas Edison's offices, where he was thrown out only to catch the interest of Nikola Tesla. Together they traveled on an Autobot train to Ontario, with Muldoon carefully keeping the identity of the Autobots secret until they arrived, at which point he watched with amusement as Tesla was shocked by their transformation into robots. The Autobots led the inventors to the Mare Rurek Glacier, where they revealed that they needed the electricity to reactivate their leader, Optimus Prime. Infestation 2: The Transformers #1

First of all, I love it. Quick question, though: am I panicked about the fire, or am I being brave for everyone else?

Tesla revealed his plan to draw electricity from the ionosphere using a tower, and though Muldoon expressed some doubts about it, he trusted Tesla it would work. As the Autobots gave up their own power to get the device working, the two humans began freezing to death and thanked each other for trusting one another. At the last moment, Optimus Prime awoke and powered up the other Autobots, saving Muldoon and Tesla. The inventors came with the Autobots to Port Cenotaph, where they witnessed Prime defeat the emerging Elder God and said goodbye to their alien friends. Once everything was settled, they were approached by the military and admitted that they had no idea what the heck had just happened. Infestation 2: The Transformers #2

"Strange Visitors" establishes that events identical to those of Hearts of Steel and Infestation 2 occur in the 2005 IDW continuity; however, they happened to Maximal explorers brainwashed by Shockwave into believing they were the Autobots and Decepticons of the Great War.