Augustus Edsel

Augustus Edsel is a human from the Transformers Animated continuity family.

"..."

Detroit's Mayor Augustus Edsel is a man of few words... a man of no words, some might say. He can communicate more with a raised eyebrow or a scowl than most people can with a whole speech. Perhaps he inherited these grandiose communication skills from his uncle, actor Harold Edsel. On the downside, though, sometimes he's so succinct that his press secretary must elaborate to get the message across to others... though she's not the most outspoken person either.

When one considers that his city gets destroyed every week, yet gets rebuilt in time to be destroyed again, he must be a very good politician. When one considers that he is maintained in public office despite his apparent total disinterest in speaking at all, he must be an incredible politician. Or he's got dirt on every other candidate.

Fiction

Animated cartoon

Surprisingly, Mayor Edsel was not the one to welcome the Autobots publicly to Earth on behalf of all humanity. That honor went to Isaac Sumdac, for reasons untold and mysterious.

The Mayor was shortly thereafter present at the dedication of Detroit's new Fully Automated Rapid Transit System outside Michigan Central Station. He was shortly thereafter kidnapped by Starscream and then rescued by the Autobots, during which time he maintained his usual stoic silence. Transform and Roll Out Dispatches

Edsel and Captain Fanzone were among the folks who were presented with Sumdac's latest police-bot prototype, but Edsel had to be rescued from the malfunctioning bots' line of fire. Total Meltdown When Henry Masterson threatened nuclear destruction in exchange for a ransom, Edsel consulted with Sumdac, Fanzone, and Optimus Prime over their next move. As one can imagine, his input was minimal, but he was surprised to hear Optimus' plan. Headmaster

Edsel, now in the company of his press secretary then showed up again at a press conference held by Sentinel Prime and Optimus Prime. When they realized that Sentinel Prime was a jerk and was only there to condescend to them, she apologized for wasting his time. The grand gesture of shaking hands and posing for photographs was more eloquent than any words could have been... yeah, that's it. The Return of the Headmaster

Because of a contract dispute with Sumdac Systems' new CEO Porter C. Powell, trash disposal in Detroit was halted for a prolonged period of time, leading to public anger at the Mayor. He consented to viewing a demonstration of Powell's new garbage-destroying microbots, and seemed to express a willingness to renewing the Sumdac sanitation contract. But when the aggressive, all-consuming nature of the microbots became clear, Mayor Edsel's mood soured, making a negotiated compromise less likely. Only when Ratchet threatened to throw both Edsel and Powell into the river did the two forge a new deal—sealed, of course, with a silent handshake. Garbage In, Garbage Out

Mayor Edsel was about to make a speech before an assembled crowd on Christmas, but as he approached the podium he and all onlookers were hypnotized by the mind-controlling broadcasts from hordes of Sound Wave drones.Human Error, Part I Once Soundwave himself was defeated, the drones were deactivated and all the humans returned to normal — but the confusion and emotional shock, not to mention the demonstrated security threat, no doubt meant Edsel was unable to deliver his speech after all. Human Error, Part II

Notes

• Mayor Edsel never speaks at all throughout the show's entire run.
• Since Hasbro set this series in Detroit as a tribute to its past history in the automotive industry, it may be significant that the Mayor shares his name with one of its most notorious failures. As an aside, according to Derrick J. Wyatt, the idea for the character's name came from his mother-in-law.
• Mayor Edsel's first name, Augustus, is only given on his character model sheet and in The AllSpark Almanac.
• The AllSpark Almanac is also the source of his relationship to Harold Edsel.