Micromaster Combiner

This article is about pairs of Micromasters that combine to form vehicles. For pairs of Micromasters that combine to form robots, see Combi-Micromaster.

Micromaster Combiners are pairs of Transformers from the Generation 1 continuity family.

Human sacrifices, Autobots and Decepticons combining together, mass hysteria!

Most Micromasters function just like a typical larger-scaled Transformer: one robot mode, one vehicle mode. However, some transform into only half a vehicle, and must combine with a partner to form a complete vehicle mode. These Transformers are known as Micromaster Combiners.

Micromaster Combiner pairs typically include a front-end member and a back-end member, who tend to see each other as siblings. The connection points between the pairings are wired such that any combiner can join with any other, regardless of what end of the vehicle they form. In addition to the childish innuendos that this inevitably suggests, it also can result in the formation of some extremely bizarre vehicle combinations.

Fiction

Dreamwave Generation One continuity

A grayish-blue Micromaster seen only from the back was among the crowd relaxing in a neutral bar in Little Iacon. Some have speculated this may have been Cement-Head or Terror-Tread. The Gray Race

IDW Generation 1 continuity

Eons ago, a Titan crash-landed on the planet Devisiun in an attempt to colonize the planet. As a result, the sparks it carried were subjected to the intense gravitational forces of the system's binary stars, causing all sparks that arose there to be born in pairs. Windblade vol. 2 #6 These Transformers evolved separately from their Cybertronian cousins, resulting in a civilization of combining Transformer twins (but not in the sense of true combiners). Windblade caught a glimpse of Vanquish and his twin brother Fireshot on this world when she was merged with Metroplex's mind. Windblade vol. 1 #4

As a side effect of their origins, Devisien alternate modes tended to be useless without their partners; if one died, the surviving sibling would no longer meaningfully be able to transform. The Next Day, and the Next

The Devisens eventually re-contacted their cousins from Cybertron, and joined the Council of Worlds. Windblade vol. 2 #6

Following the death of her brother Oiler, the Devisien Slide lamented that she wasn't even a Transformer any more. The Next Day, and the Next

Beast Wars: Uprising

As fuel-efficient Micromasters, the Micromaster Combiners were some of the only "Builders" still mobile on a dystopian and fuel-starved Cybertron. Unlike other Micromasters, they shared a psychic link with their combiner partners and could feel the pain of their counterparts. Spaceshot and Blackout were members of Hot Rod's 001st Micromaster Division. Micro-Aggressions

The battle of Tesarus during the Grand Uprising saw several squads of Micromaster Combiners use their unique physiology to quickly construct a fallback line. Derailment

Commercial appearances

Megatron's plan to graft the butt of a crane onto the butt of a missile carrier succeeded beyond expectations. And they called him mad!

The Micromaster Combiners got their own 1990 commercial spot, appearing in animation alongside Megatron in his Action Master form. A horde of Micromasters streams into Megatron's base. Two pairs of them (Roadburner/Wheel Blaze and Missile Master/Moonrock) drive in circles on Megatron's table, confusing him. When he picks them up, they just split apart and recombine; Roadburner then shoots Megatron in the face.

Toys

Generation 1

• Micromaster Combiner Squads (1990)

Autobots

• Astro Squad
• Metro Squad

Decepticons

• Battle Squad
• Constructor Squad

Come on! Let's go space truckin'!

Who's gonna drive you home? Not these guys.

The Micromaster Combiners were sold in carded "squads" with six Transformers to a squad, making up three vehicles. The pairings allowed much longer vehicle forms than the typical Micromaster, allowing such alternate forms as tractor-trailers and a hovercraft. Many of the vehicle modes, however, were fanciful at best.

Each Micromaster Combiner has a standardized post and hole on one end, allowing them to plug into any other Micromaster Combiner in vehicle mode. Of course, you're only supposed to combine front-end guys with back-end guys... but who can resist the absurdity of creating a flying dump truck or a truck with two cabs? As a side effect of the combination system, many of the Micromaster Combiners are stuck with vehicle forms that are utterly useless without their partners, such as half of a space shuttle, the container portion of a dump truck, or the trailer of a truck.

• Micromaster Combiner Transports (1990)

Autobots

• Missile Launcher with Retro and Surge
• Tanker Truck with Pipeline and Gusher

Decepticons

• Cannon Transport with Terror-Tread and Cement-Head

The Constructor Squad was redecoed and sold with transformable battle rigs as the Micromaster Combiner Transports.

• Micromaster Combiner bases (1990)
  • Autobots: Battlefield Headquarters with Full-Barrel and Overflow
  • Decepticons: Anti-Aircraft Base with Spaceshot and Blackout

The two largest Micromaster playsets of 1990 were these vehicles, sold boxed. Each came with a pair of unique-mold Micromaster Combiners.

Notes

• The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye books from Dreamwave Productions say that a front-end Combiner can combine with any rear-end Combiner, and vice versa, implying that in Dreamwave's G1 continuity, front-end Combiners can not combine with each other and rear-end Combiners can not combine with each other (a limitation untrue for the toys or other depictions of the characters).
• The two-robots-in-one-vehicle concept would not be revisited in toy form until 2006, with the introduction of Han Solo and Chewbacca's combining vehicle mode. Three years later, Revenge of the Fallen line would see Skids and Mudflap's combined ice cream truck form. The otherwise unfortunate Tri-Rex also features a similar combination gimmick, albeit with three separate figures combining to create one alternate mode.