Muzzle
- Muzzle is an Autobot-allied Nebulan Headmaster from the Generation 1 continuity family.
Muzzle was a private eye on Nebulos, but he was framed and his career ended in scandal. He realized he had a chance at giving his life a new start when he heard there was an Autobot detective who was looking for a Headmaster partner. As a result, he and Nightbeat have one of the most harmonious relationships amongst the binary-bonded. Other than Nightbeat's sharpened eye for detail, one would hardly know Muzzle's in there.
Fiction
Marvel The Transformers comics
Shortly after being made a Headmaster and joining Optimus Prime's crew on Earth, Nightbeat learned of a mysterious robot corpse which had seemingly washed up on the California shoreline. Finding a serial brand from a Decepticon prison on the body, and identifying a signature Decepticon blaster as the murder weapon, Nightbeat concluded that a lone, well-armed Decepticon was hunting down escaped Autobot prisoners. Siren returned at that moment, correcting Nightbeat's analysis by informing him the prisoners weren't escapees, but deliberately let loose as prey to be hunted down. His source? The surviving prisoner, Hosehead, and the lone, well-armed Decepticon named Thunderwing who was right on their tails.
Thinking quickly, Nightbeat had Muzzle binary-bond with the dead Autobot in order to reactivate his motor functions partially. Caught off-guard by his prey supposedly coming back to life right in front of him, Thunderwing left himself wide open when Muzzle disengaged and Nightbeat blew up the Autobot's fuel core at close enough range to send Thunderwing packing into the waves to douse the flames. The Big Shutdown! Rage!
Following the Transformers' victory over Unicron, the Autobots secretly followed the Decepticons to Klo. However, the Decepticons were aware of the Autobots' surprise attack, and all but five Autobots were destroyed. Snapdragon kicked a head away from Nightbeat's remains. End of the Road!
Marvel Generation 2 comic
Nightbeat was involved in the investigation of the Swarm. Swarm He later sacrificed himself in a futile effort against it. A Rage in Heaven!
Classics
After the war, Nightbeat and Muzzle made the difficult decision to reverse the binary bond process and work together, but separately. They worked as investigative agents for Optimus Prime, then left to search for Bludgeon with Grimlock, but eventually Muzzle assembled the "old crew" as he and Nightbeat left to forge a path of their own. The "old crew" featured a new face, though, the French/Japanese warrior Minerva. Muzzle and Minerva soon started a relationship, which weirded Nightbeat out. Muzzle's profile in Club magazine #22
Muzzle and Nightbeat's team, which also included Siren and Quig, Lug, and the disgruntled Dinobots Sludge and Slag, set their ship down on the planet Azure for repairs.
Nightbeat found that he was a person of interest to a potential client, a sentient ship named Amory, but not before Muzzle and the others battled her hired "thugs." Amory required the services of Nightbeat and his team in finding her pilot, Phyrion. Muzzle and the other humans pored over the evidence, but they could find no lead. Ultimately, the entire arrangement was revealed to be a setup put together by the Decepticons Ruckus and Needlenose, who had assembled an alleged "new Mayhem Attack Squad" by promising payment to Octopunch and Stranglehold for their assistance. Ruckus wasn't very smart, however, and had brought his hostage with him. The Decepticons were brutalized and Phyrion was returned to Amory. Regretting her involvement, Amory paid the Autobots for her services.
Despite their short run-in with good luck, Muzzle and his crew were still stranded on Azure without a working ship. In the meantime, surely someone was in need of a detective... Cheap Shots
After the destruction of his universe, Muzzle and his comrades ended up at Axiom Nexus. Epilogue
Commercial appearances
While Muzzle drove Nightbeat on the surface of an unidentified planet (with Siren and Hosehead at their sides), Muzzle leapt out as Nightbeat transformed into robot mode. The Autobot Headmasters were then confronted with their evil Decepticon counterparts! Small Headmasters Commercial
Games
Transformers Roleplaying Game
Muzzle and Nightbeat served as Optimus Prime’s private detectives. Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook
Toys
The Transformers
- Nightbeat with Muzzle (Headmaster, 1988)
- Accessories: "Muzzle" Headmaster driver, seat/helmet, "Plasma Blaster" rifle, right & left "Photon Pistols"
- Known designers: Tetsuya Ikeda (TakaraTomy)
- Released in the fifth year of the The Transformers toyline (fourth year in the European line), Muzzle is a tiny armored humanoid that transforms into a robot head compatible with any larger Headmaster body. Doing so activates a spring-loaded tumbler inside the robot chest to show a trio of Tech-Spec meters which give readings for Speed, Strength and Intelligence; in larger Headmasters, they will show Muzzle's numbers, but smaller ones, being on a single plate, will only show their numbers regardless of how they differ from Muzzle's. Muzzle's head-mode is really more just a core and face, with the rest of the head form filled out with a helmet and a pair of small "Sonic Screamer Pistols" that fit on the sides.
- In humanoid mode, the helmet can form a seat that allows Muzzle to sit comfortably into the driver's compartment of any of the fifth-year Autobot Headmaster robots in their vehicle mode.
- Quig was only available with his larger partner Siren.
- In Japan, this mold was redecoed to make the Headmaster Junior Minerva, then later offered without changes (and in Hasbro packaging!) as "Minerva Nightbeat" in a Robot Point mail-away offer.
Titans Return
Notes
- Packaging photography depicts Muzzle with blue legs instead of black.
- In Muzzle's sole animated appearance in the commercial advertising the "small" Headmasters toys, his legs are blue instead of the toy's black, like the early packaging photography, and he transforms into all of Nightbeat's head, including the "seat" and antennas.
- Other than within Nightbeat's Universe-style profile, Muzzle's existence is never acknowledged in the Marvel U.S. material—or, indeed, that Nightbeat is even a Headmaster.
- In "Cheap Shots," Muzzle's armor was suddenly green. No explanation is given for this. He also kinda looks like the story's artist, Dan Khanna...
