Action Master

Alive! Alive! Alive!

Transformers who use Nucleon as a fuel source lose their transformation ability due to the fact that their figure alteration systems get converted into energy storage reactors. However, through this process, Action Masters become harder, better, faster, stronger and more alive. They have equipped themselves with transformable partners and vehicles to aid them in battle.

A few Action Masters managed to retain (or possibly regain) the ability to transform; they are known as Action Master Elites.

Action Masters are among the few Transformers to feature Power Plans on the packaging, in addition to the more traditional Tech Spec and bio.

Fiction

Toy packaging blurb

Optimus Prime went searching for new energy sources and, within the heart of a black hole discovered Nucleon: a miracle fuel that made Transformers stronger, faster, and more alive, but cost them the ability to transform. Soon the Decepticons stole the technology and created Action Masters of their own, with Magmatrynon alloy being used for the construction of exo-suits.

Marvel Comics continuity

Marvel The Transformers comics

Grimlock heard about a risky new miracle fuel on the planet Hydrus Four. Against orders he stole the non-functioning bodies of his fellow Dinobots and headed there to find out. Eye of the Storm What he discovered was a ruined world filled with creepy, obsessive, rotting zombie-like beings warning him that it was all because of Nucleon. Being Grimlock, he then went ahead and used the fuel anyway, first on himself and then to revive his fallen teammates. The Pri¢e of Life!

Grimlock soon found parts of his body inexplicably seizing up, and began to fear that he should have listened to the creepy dying robots after all. ...All This and Civil War 2 After returning to the Ark Grimlock used the Nucleon to repair all the damaged Autobots in the ship's medical bay (as well as Megatron, whom he didn't know was there). The Void! Following the Transformers' battle with Unicron, Grimlock froze up entirely. It was then that Hi-Q (in the process of merging with Optimus Prime) saw with "Powermaster eyes" that Grimlock wasn't malfunctioning, but changing. He used his Powermaster abilities to speed up the process and Grimlock burst forth in his new, more-powerful Action Master form. Still Life!

Meanwhile, Hi-Q's own mental merger with Prime was also accelerated by his contact with Nucleon. Soon afterward, the Last Autobot re-created Hi-Q as Optimus Prime in a new body. End of the Road!

Another Time & Place

As time progressed more and more Autobots, including Prime, Sludge, Snarl and Swoop, also succumbed to mode-lock. Prowl and Slag were among the few that could still transform, but they had doubts that this would remain much longer. Hearing rumours of further developments on Hydrus Four, Grimlock led the Dinobots there to see if a cure could be found. Amidst a Decepticon ambush, he discovered a new version of Nucleon that lacked the side effects of the original and restored the ability to transform. Another Time & Place

Transformers Comic-Magazin

The Decepticons on Earth had a team of Action Masters. These sinister types had the power to combine into ground stations, super-heavy vehicles and air units! Transforming Robots in Action: The Case of Optimus Prime

Classics

Snarl was still an Action Master.

Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity

Optimus and Megatron's pre-G2 bodies share a striking similarity to their Action Master toys. Likewise Optimus Prime has been documented as searching out a New Energy source called Nucleon that's located within a black hole. Finally, Optimus Prime's Action Master was sold with New Years Convoy, and described as the intermediate form between Prime's various G2 Bodies. G-2

2005 IDW continuity

Main article: Monoformer

In the 2005 IDW continuity, nucleon does not appear to affect ability to transform. Life After the Big Bang Cybertronian Homesick Blues The Permanent Revolution However, some Cybertronians had their transformation cogs removed for medical, political or religious reasons, and were known as monoformers. Life After the Big Bang Some Of My Best Friends Are Autobots

2019 IDW continuity

After the starship Iron Hope crash-landed far from Cybertron, the surviving crew—who would come to be known as the "Iron Hope Hundred"—were forced to subsist on nucleon, rendering them permanently mode locked. Survivors of the disaster included Treadshot, who was locked in robot mode, and Catgut, who was locked in a quadrupedal form. All Fall Down As well as Axer, Circuit Tread & Circuits Part 2 and Charger, although his partner Fire Beast's ability to combine might exclude him. Swindle's II Members of the Hundred found themselves victims of discrimination, especially on alt-mode oriented colonies like Velocitron. A number of these mode-locked bots made use of exo-suits or personal vehicles as essentially mobility aids, able to provide them additional speed and power in lieu of alternate modes. Tread & Circuits Part 2

Upon learning that her teleport rig used nucleon as a fuel source, Jumpstream noted that the substance was notorious for causing mode-locking. Perceptor pointed out to her that it took sustained amounts of nucleon abuse over a long period of time to affect one's physiology. Test Flight I

Alternate future

In an alternate future where Exarchon had triumphed, he began beaming Cybertron's energon supply into space, forcing the resistance to use nucleon, depriving them all of their alternate modes. Test Flight II

Reception and legacy

The Action Master toyline, depicting the obvious oxymoron of "Transformers who don't transform," generated initial ire ("BLASPHEMY!") from some fans. This was magnified as Action Masters were released in the final year of the original Transformers toy line in the US. When Transformers was summarily canceled in North America, some fans blamed the gimmick for the death of the franchise (despite the wide variety of other factors that doubtlessly were involved).

One aspect Action Masters is notable for, however, is the mass reintroduction of "classic" characters. New toys for old characters was not a theme the original toy line visited very often–in fact, Bumblebee's re-imaged Throttlebot form Goldbug released in 1987, 1988's Powermaster Optimus Prime and the Classic Pretenders from 1989 were the only notable exceptions. In other words, to have a single sub-line with so many recurring favorites was, at the time, a novelty. In addition, the classic characters were designed to resemble their cartoon counterparts more closely. For much of the Season 1 and 2 cast, the original figures having been designed years before they were stylized and simplified for the cartoon, these Action Masters were the closest likenesses of their fiction representations until the advent of the Masterpiece line, in which screen accuracy is one of its primary selling points. Notably the first television commercial for the Action Masters featured a segment where the animated character models dissolved into film of the actual toys, suggesting that "show accuracy" was Hasbro's intended marketing strategy for the line.

As with many other changes to the Transformers brand, initial hostility towards Action Masters from the fandom eventually became less intense and diversified into a broad range of opinion, with many of the original characters introduced getting cult followings and prominent appearances in later fiction (likely helped by how the toys weren't restricted by the somewhat samey designs that predominately made up the later years of the toyline). Some of the most in-demand vintage (and therefore expensive) Transformers toys are Action Masters, and new characters from this subgroup continue to appear in newer toy lines. For example:

• Double Punch started the trend with a new exclusive toy at BotCon Japan 1998. Another toy of Double Punch was produced for BotCon 2010.
• Axer showed up in the 2001 Robots in Disguise toyline. Another toy of Axer (as Axor) would be released in the Transformers 2010 toyline. This toy would, in turn, be redecoed to homage Circuit as a movie-universe character in the first Transformers Figure Subscription Service in 2013.
• Action Master Optimus Prime was reissued in Japan in 2002 as part of the "New Years Convoy" giftset.
• Armada Overload has design elements based on Rollout (with his Mini-Con companion actually named Rollout).
• Cybertron Smokescreen's colors are a partial homage to Rad.
• Banzai-Tron was an exclusive at BotCon 2009. Another Banzai-Tron (as Banzaitron) would be released in the Transformers 2010 toyline. Yet another would be part of the Alternity line in 2012. Banzai-Tron and his partner Razor-Sharp also got new, still-nontransforming toys in Super7's Transformers ULTIMATES! line.
• Gutcruncher was homaged with Sparkcrusher in 2009.
• Slicer (partially renamed into "Decepticon Slice") was an exclusive at BotCon 2010. Slicer was also homaged in the shared exclusive Dark Energon version of Wheeljack in Prime, and with Shattered Glass Wheeljack.
• Kick-Off was an exclusive at BotCon 2012.
• Soundwave's partner, Wingthing, received new toys in the Japanese Transformers Encore line in 2012, and again as a Masterpiece figure in 2017, and then in Selects in 2020.
• Jackpot was ported to Animated as part of the first Transformers Figure Subscription Service, and was later given a new G1-styled figure as part of the Amazon-exclusive "Golden Disk Collection" of War for Cybertron: Kingdom.
• Treadshot received a new figure as part of the Figure Subscription Service series 2.0 in 2014.
• Krok was featured in the Transformers Figure Subscription Service series 3.0 in 2015, and then received an additional new toy in Titans Return in 2017.
• The Collection Pack version of Shockwave in Combiner Wars bore the same color scheme as the Action Master.
• Rad's partner, Lionizer, received a new Battle Master mold in Siege and was redecoed in more accurate colors in a War for Cybertron Trilogy Battle 3-Pack as "Captive Lionizer". A few other Action Master partners, namely Needler, Vanguard, Turbo Board, and Sights, were also given Battle Master status by the Siege themed fourth wave of the Transformers Trading Card Game. Turbo Board, who was previously of questionable sentience, was even given a proper robot mode as a result of this!
• Mainframe got a new toy in the War for Cybertron: Kingdom line and a more accurate redeco in the Dramatic Capture Series.
• The Action Master designs for Bombshell and his partner Needler received new toys in the Transformers ULTIMATES! line - once again as non-transforming figures. ULTIMATES! Tracks also comes with his partner Basher despite otherwise being based on his animation model.

In 2013, James Roberts could even say he'd have liked to see more Action Masters and they were "cool".^[1]

Toys

The Transformers

Action Master Figures Asst. 1 Grimlock with Anti-tank cannon Jazz with Turbo Board Rad with Lionizer Rollout with Glitch Soundwave with Wingthing Treadshot with Catgut		Action Master Figures Asst. 2 Bumblebee with Heli-pack Blaster with Flight-Pack Devastator with Scorpulator Jackpot with Sights Krok with Gatoraider Mainframe with Push-Button		Action Master Figures Asst. 3 Banzai-Tron with Razor-Sharp Inferno with Hydro-Pack Kick-Off with Turbo-Pack Shockwave with Fistfight Skyfall with Top-Heavy Snarl with Tyrannitron		Action Master Figures Asst. 4 (Europe) Bombshell with Needler Charger with Fire Beast Powerflash with Road Rocket Sideswipe with Vanguard Take-Off with Screech Tracks with Basher		Blaster with Flight-Pack Axer with Off-Road Cycle
Action Master Action Blasters Attack Copter with Over-Run Off-Road Cycle with Axer Turbo Cycle with Prowl Turbo Jet with Starscream		Action Master Autobot Action Vehicles Attack Cruiser with Sprocket Turbo Racer with Wheeljack		Action Master Decepticon Attack Vehicles Stratotronic Jet with Gutcruncher Neutro-Fusion Tank with Megatron		Action Master Autobot Armored Convoy Armored Convoy with Optimus Prime
Exo-Suit Action Masters (Europe) Circuit Thundercracker		Motorized Exo-Suit Action Masters (Europe) Rumbler Slicer		Action Master Elites (Europe) Double Punch Omega Spreem[sic] Turbo Master Windmill

Notes

• It appears that the name "Action Masters" for this segment of the toy line was a late decision: Hasbro's Spring 1990 "Pre-Toy Fair" catalog,^[2] published in mid-to-late 1989, consistently refers to the toys simply as "Action Figures", with no mention of the term "Action Master". It also makes mention of a different back story wherein the Transformers give up the ability to transform to transfer these powers to their weapons and vehicles. The "Action Master" name was evidently decided on sometime between the "Pre-Toy Fair" vendor event and the Toy Fair of February 1990, as the finalized term appears in Hasbro's standard 1990 catalog.
• In an interview with Transformers Collectors' Club, Simon Furman said that had the comic not ended at issue #80, Optimus Prime's return would not have come when it did.^[3] Additionally, Furman said that he hated the idea of using Action Master Prime at the time, and hoped that by the time Prime came back, this Action Master plot would be over—finished!^[4] Conclusion—the use of Optimus Prime in his Action Master version may very well have not occurred had the comic not ended when it did.
• Bob Budiansky's treatment for the Action Masters was printed in the Titan Books trade Transformers: Last Stand. Bob can't remember writing it.^[5]
• In a case of "too little, too late", the fourth (and final, only being released in Europe) assortment of Action Master figures made some minor course corrections in terms of figure design and accessories. The fourth assortment figures no longer have blocks sculpted into the hips that forced the legs to move in 90° increments or awkward side angles. Additionally, in keeping with other late Action Masters such as the Elites, there are minor uses of the then-new technique of textured plastic, as well as having sculpts that were mildly bulkier than previous waves. Lastly, in lieu of animal weapon partners or action feature backpacks, fourth assortment figures all had partner machines that unfolded into helmets and backpacks, strictly split between beasts for Decepticons and artillery units for Autobots.
• The Action Masters' weapon-handle pegs, being 3 mm wide, are compatible with the "c joint" weapon mounting system used on many modern toys, such as the 2011 version of Cyberverse.
• Excluding the Action Master Elite, regular Action Masters utilized elastic-and-hook joints (similar to many G.I. Joe toys and the Laser Rods) in their hips. This gave them their relatively wide range of motion, but it also made them somewhat floppy, and the elastic could harden and become brittle with age. Legless Action Masters are sadly common on the aftermarket.

Totally new character. Yup. (We were robbed!)

• Over the decades, an inordinate amount of Action Master concept art ^[6] along with resin models of both figures and vehicles of multiple ^[7] sizes ^[8] have come to light, suggesting very strongly that Hasbro was betting big on the line. While the idea was probably fueled by G.I. Joe being in one of its stronger sales periods ^[9] despite leaning slightly more into sci-fi at the time, the Action Master line ultimately fizzled in the United States.
• Early plans for BotCon 2017 would have seen Action Masters as the focus of the convention, with a box set "Action on Hydrus Four" featuring Megatron, Optimus Prime, Gutcruncher, Skyfall, Sprocket and Devastator in Action-Master inspired decos using Titans Return figures.^[10]
• The Action Master name was brought back in 2020 by Takara Tomy for their release of Transformers: Cyberverse's Deluxe Class figures. Ironically, one of the big selling points for these figures is featuring far more involved transformations than the rest of the Cyberverse line!
• Action Masters were extensively used as proof-of-concept mock ups for the G.I. Joe subline Armor-Tech.^[11][12] Additionally, silhouettes of Action Master card art were used to represent Armor-Tech figures in the 1993 figure catalogue before said figures were finalized.

Foreign names

• Italy: Super Azione ("Super Action")

References