Titan Master
Titan Masters are a diminutive breed of Transformer. Long ago, this ancient and mysterious group of Transformers worked within the gigantic bodies of the Titans, maintaining their complicated systems as the Titans journeyed across the galaxy. The Titan Masters were created as gifts, intended to be shared with other civilizations that the Titans might meet in their journeys. Each Titan Master possesses a unique Spark that allows them to transfer their innate powers into the bodies of other Cybertronians by forming their head, not unlike the Headmasters.
With the resurgence of the Titans themselves, the Titan Masters, long forgotten by Cybertronian civilization at large, have re-emerged from the realm of myth and legend and joined the modern era of the Autobots and Decepticons... representing a Pandora's grab-bag of superpowers sure to unleash earth-shaking results.
Fiction
Titans Return marketing material
When the universe was still forming, before Autobots or Decepticons existed, the giant spaceship robots known as Titans were created and sent out to discover the powers and mysteries of the universe. Each Titan was crewed by Titan Masters, tiny robot caretakers charged with up-keeping their systems. The Titan Masters also had a greater purpose: Each had a unique superpower they could grant to other Transformers, a gift intended to forge links with other civilizations they might discover. The Titans and their crews were eventually forgotten by all but a few power-hungry and entirely unsuccessful legend hunters. Until the Titans mysteriously returned, and the Titan Masters partnered up with Autobots and Decepticons alike. Galvatron vowed that the Decepticons would use the Titan Masters to rule the universe!
This new conflict quickly spread across the Transformer's universe. On Velocitron the Speed Planet's biggest race of the year was interrupted in the final lap. Blurr, a previous champion of all Velocitron's major races, had teamed up with Titan Master Hyperfire at his wheel. They vied with Wheelie for the lead when the Decepticon tracker Scourge and an allied Titan Master Crashbash attacked, trying to capture their assigned target: Hyperfire. Luckily Powermaster Optimus Prime, Sentinel Prime and Hardhead were on hand to try and stop them.
Meanwhile, searching for info on the mysterious return of the Titans and their crews Alpha Trion followed a trail of clues to the "Beast Planet" Eukaris. Amid jungle covered buildings Alpha Trion and Titan Master Clobber located a mysterious ancient artifact that was linked to the Titans and Titan Masters. Mindwipe led Astrotrain, Wolfwire, and Titan Master Apeface in an Ambush to steal the artifact.
On the closest planet to Cybertron, Caminus, the Decepticon Skullsmasher aided by Titan Masters Grax and Terri-bull infiltrated Caminus and stole the codes to the intergalactic Space Bridge network for the Decepticons. An Autobot spy team lead by Blaster detected the theft. Blaster, Stripes, Rewind and the Titan Master Nightbeat chased down the thieves and battled for the codes in Caminus' streets.
Later, back on Cybertron, Soundwave led an all out assault. Scourge, Astrotrain, Skullsmasher, Laserbeak, Rumble and Ravage, among others, pressed the attack while Powermaster Prime, Chromedome, Highbrow, Wheelie, Blaster and Hardhead were among the defenders. The battle was interrupted when what first seemed like an Earthquake attack by Rumble was actually the landscape itself transforming into the Legendary Titan: Fortress Maximus, so large he uses two levels of Titan Master. Titans Return: The Power of the Titan Masters
Later, back on Velocitron a new race was held. The prize? The power to temporarily control the speed of anything, even time itself. The Autobots sent a team lead by Laser Prime. At his command - Rodimus Prime, Nautica (a Quantum Engineer to supercharge their engines), Fastclash (a decoy and escape artist, to confuse pursuit and leave it in a wreck) and Quickswitch (a mercurial assault warrior). Rodimus Prime finished the race first and claimed the prize for the Autobots, but there was a catch! To gain the power he was transformed into a Titan Master himself, able to grant it to another. The Autobots faced a firefight to evade the Cons and leave the planet. Laser Prime saved the day, useing his Laserpoint System to open a portal away from the world of speed.
Chaos on Velocitron poster bios and story blurb
In the depths of space the monster Titan Trypticon and his Titan Master Necro traveled in starship mode between worlds, landing as a dark fortress or a terrible giant beast, brining doom and ultimate destruction wherever they passed. Trypticon ever hungered for Titan Masters to devour the way another robot would Energon cubes, and the macabre Necro longs to harvest and devour the sparks of all Transformers who cross his dark path.
Titans Return Trypticon on-package blurb
IDW Generation 1 continuity
The Titan Masters were an ancient race, dating back to the time of the Thirteen Tribes. White Heat Their diminutive stature belied their frighteningly alien physiology; not only could they puppeteer the decapitated bodies of any larger Transformer, but they had the ability to consume the Sparks of their victims as an alternative source of energy. Ten to Midnight
At least two Titan Masters survived until the present day. Infinitus, who had served his master Nexus Prime during the First Cybertronian Civil War, took on a new identity after the death of his Prime and became Sentinel Prime, "dying" during his first battle with Megatron. White Heat Following the creation of Autobot City on Earth, Infinitus was roused from his slumber and vowed to "purify" Cybertron from Decepticons and colonists. The Last Autobot
Sovereign, the herald of Onyx Prime, was dispatched to Earth to find the lost Enigma of Combination. Disguised as a human, he eventually took on the alias G.B. Blackrock. White Light He remained unaware of his true heritage until Sentinel Prime travelled to Earth and forcibly re-awoke Sovereign from his human disguise. Although Sentinel Prime planned to use an army of undead Titans to cleanse his homeworld, he and Sovereign were defeated by Fortress Maximus, Prowl, Cerebros, Red Alert, and Beak. Sovereign was reverted to his Blackrock persona and Sentinel was killed. Ten to Midnight
Beast Wars: Uprising
In the ten thousand years following the Grand Uprising, the subclasses of Cyberdroid (Headmasters, Targetmasters, Powermasters) were misremembered as the "Titanmasters". Lio Convoy was thought to have been Titanmaster partners with the mech called Moon or Mecha Usagi, though this was unconfirmed. The Inexorable March
Toys
Generations
Titan Master (2016)
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Deluxe (2016)
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Voyager (2016)
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| Leader (2016) |
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Titan (2016)
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The Last Knight
| Deluxe (2017) |
Notes
- The "blueprint" like patterns on the inside of Titans Return packaging shows images of several robot heads and bodies interacting; interestingly, it shows the outlines of a ringed planet with lines coming from it and branching out to Titan Masters—possibly indicating that they are from that planet. While this may point to a storyline yet to come, it may just be a nod to the original concept of the Headmasters.
- Despite the opportunity for head-swapping being a hotly advertised feature of the toyline, the feature itself had a critical design flaw. Because the Titan Masters do not share head/neck-peg molds, a Titans Return figure's neck port was built specifically to accommodate the Titan Master head it was packaged with, which did not guarantee a comfortable fit with a Titan Master from any other figure or vice-versa. This design flaw ranged from a forcefully-applied fit to complete incompatability between the head and figure. In some cases, due to the noticeably poor quality control of the Titans Return toyline, even the Titan Master packaged with the figure was not guaranteed to properly fit with its figure. Fortunately, a common fix to an incompatible Titan Master is to turn its head/neck port around 180 degrees before attempting to plug it into the body, which usually ensures a smooth connection regardless of the issue.
