Lately I've been playing around with the idea of a theoretical Season 5 of Transformers Animated. It would herald the return of Henry Masterson and Porter C. Powell as major villains in the TFA Universe by pwning our favorite bots in a season long Headmaster story arc. What follows is the result of my toying around. Obviously this was done for fun, and I do not own the rights for anything Transformers (Animated or otherwise) names & logos © Hasbro Please Note: In an effort to save time, Porter C. Powell (100% human) was not drawn freehand. I used an existing character model and tweaked his appearance. However, the Headmaster armor and Scorponok is all me. Also several of the established characters used in the scale diagram are existing images found on various TFWiki's. BACKSTORY: All of his wealth and assets seized by the state due to the Soundwave toy fiasco Porter C. Powell, once a powerful captain of industry, now finds himself financially destitute. Tossed onto the street, Powell was forced to take up residency in an abandoned Biotech Unbound facility. He spends months lamenting over his situation, scheming a plan to regain all that he lost and checking his horoscope (Scorpio) religiously to see if his luck will ever improve. Powell wonders how he could have fallen so far. The answer is simple- The Autobots and their mechanized kind. During his self imposed exile, Powell obsessively combs through newspaper articles and television reports regarding the Transformers. What is it about these aliens that the public loves? What do they see in them? Then it suddenly hits him: Because they are heroes. The people of Detroit, the people of the world want a protector. They want to know that they are safe. They want someone to look out for them. Powell begins frantically searching through a pile of stolen files from Sumdac Tower, until he finds the blueprints for Henry Masterson's original Headmaster Unit. The people want at hero and Porter C. Powell knows just how to market that. He is just going to need a little help with the technical know-how. Henry Master also has a score to settle. A child of the robotic age, he grew up tinkering with Isaac Sumdac's robots. Masterson idolized Isaac Sumdac as a child. A dream came true when he began working for Sumdac Systems as an adult. But what a major let down Isaac Sumdac turned out to be. Sumdac was blind to the pure brilliance that was Masterson's Headmaster Unit. Sure Masterson attacked the New Detroit Solar Fusion Power Plant and held the entire city for ransom, but he was only trying to rub his genius in Sumdac's face. Then those Autobot n00bs showed up and wrecked everything. Time and time again Sumdac and his Autobot buddies got in Masterson's way. Eventually beaten, humiliated and his Headmaster Unit destroyed, Masterson was sent to prison. Every night in his cell Henry Masterson dreams about getting revenge against Isaac Sumdac and those Autobots. One night the prison alarm sounds. Masterson hears a commotion out in the yard and goes to his cell window to see what is going on. Colossus Rhodes has broken through the outer parameter wall and is making his way towards the main prison, tossing guards left and right. Rhodes leaps into the air, curling himself into a ball. Before the startled Masterson knows it, Rhodes has busted through the wall into Masterson's cell, tossed him over his shoulder and is making his way back across the prison yard. Moments later, Captain Fanzone and Detroit's finest arrive on the scene, but it is too late. Colossus Rhodes had broken Henry Masterson out of prison and the pair are long gone. Miles away in Detroit's Industrial District, Colossus Rhodes dumps Masterson onto the floor of an abandoned Biotech Unbound warehouse. Masterson demands to know what is going on, but before he can finish his sentence, Porter C. Powell steps into the light. Powell apologizes for his associate Mr. Rhodes. He is a bit of a brute, but he fills a need. Powell has an offer to make to Henry Masterson. A proposal that Powell believes would greatly benefit them both. Porter C. Powell, with the help of Colossus Rhodes and a string of bank robberies in and around greater Detroit, had started up a new company- Machination. This new business venture would specialize in designing and manufacturing weapons for military use. Before Machination can land a billion dollar military contract, they must first demonstrate the effectiveness of Masterson's designs. And what better way could there be than putting an end to those troublesome Autobots. Though Porter C. Powell is no fool. He knows any direct attack against Optimus Prime and his Autobots would not be taken favorably by the public, and Machination would be painted as villains. Powell's grand plan involves using Henry Masterson's robotic talents to build two groups of mechanized soldiers. The first group would essentially be Autobot doppelgangers, prototypes for the later production models used in the second group. Group one will serve their purpose by going out and tarnishing the Autobots good name by committing crimes and generally terrorizing the good citizens of New Detroit. Once the Autobots are seen as an alien plague to be feared, the second phase of Powell's plan can begin. The second group of production model soldiers will be Powell's elite squad of privatized mercenaries. Soldiers of fortune that will ultimately be leased to the military as a pacification and peacekeeping force. This second group will move in to "protect" the city from the Autobot menace in a staged battle with group one, and in all the bustle and confusion, eliminate the real Autobots. Porter C, Powell and Machination will be seen as heroes and Optimus Prime and his alien race will finally be out of the way. In the early stages of designing Powell's mechanized soldiers, Henry Masterson hits a complication. The A.I. system needed to control the number of units wanted by Powell would need to be extremely advanced, and would take months to write. Time Powell isn't willing defer from his Machination. Henry Masterson decides to take a page from the book of Isaac Sumdac and acquire his own Cybertronian, to hopefully gain the tools needed to carry out Powell's plan. Masterson creates a small fleet of new and improved Headmaster units. These automated Headmasters were sent out to locate and capture a lone Autobot n00b for Masterson to reverse engineer. Sunstreaker and Hunter O'Nion just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Though a highly trained member of the Autobot Elite Guard, Sunstreaker was no match against of swarm of Headmaster Units. Henry Masterson had acquired his prize, however the Cybertronian neural-net proved to be too complicated to reproduce. Although, it could be "borrowed". Rather that a squad of entirely robotic soldiers in the Machination army, Masterson decided to do what he does best, and create the next generation of Headmasters. In his greatest moment genius, Henry Masterson created the Binary Bonding process. This process would allow a pilot equipped with Transtech Headmaster Armor to link with a larger, more powerful body. Since each pilot would be bonded to their specific unit, the connection would be greatly improved from the link made when Masterson's original Headmaster Unit would confiscate a body. In the early stages of development the Binary Bonding process would require the pilot be subjected to an extensive regimen of surgery and implants, something the faculties of Biotech Unbound helped greatly with. In addition, the pilot would need to be wired into Sunstreaker's actual head to help coordinate their movements. Luckily when Machination took possession of Sunstreaker, they also took Hunter O'Nion, who proved to be the perfect guinea pig. The success of this initial foray into the technology allowed for the first true binary-bond, enabling Masterson to begin production as Powell gathered pilots. Masterson later improves upon the process. Creating an external Transtech suit and upgrading the neural binary link, circumventing the need to physically augment the pilot or use Sunstreaker as a hub. Phase One begins. The Sunstreaker clones and there pilots transform and roll out to perform their task of vilifying the Autobots. A few of the pilots are confused by the orders, but Porter C. Powell assures them that it is for the betterment of humanity and it is their duty as patriots to carry out his orders. It really is hard to find good help these days. Optimus Prime was confused when Captain Fanzone came to their home base threatening to arrest them. There is a crime wave going on across the city, and Fanzone has proof that it was the Autobots. The Sunstreaker clones were doing their job perfectly. When an Elite Guard ship once again lands in downtown Detroit, it is reported as a hostile alien invasion force. Believing Sunstreaker to be a lone Autobot, unaffiliated to Optimus Prime, Porter C. Powell thought it would be quite some time before Sunstreaker's disappearance went noticed. Unbeknown to him, Autobot High Command had noticed that one of their top Elite Guards had gone missing in the field and had already dispatched a team to investigate. Rodimus Prime and his squad, with Sideswipe in toe, had arrived on Earth and were attempting to perform a search and rescue operation with the aid of Optimus Prime, but it was going slowly due to mass hysteria regarding the Autobots. They eventually stumble across a bot who appeared to be Sunstreaker, but soon realize something is amiss when several more Sunstreaker's arrive on the scene, looking for a fight. Porter C. Powell was not planning on letting Machination be revealed this early into his plan, but he'd hate to miss the opportunity to field test his army to see just what the clones and their pilots were capable of. Powell sent the order to engage the Autobots, just as long as they didn't divulge the existence of Machination. While Henry Masterson and Porter C. Powell attended to Machination, Hunter O'Nion awoke in medical bay of Biotech Unbound. Disoriented, confused and not yet understanding what has happened to him, Hunter begins to wander unseen through the once abandoned B.U. facility that was now home to Machination. Hunter was surprised to discover the disembodied head of Sunstreaker who quickly explains the situation. Hunter offers to help his new friend, but Sunstreaker declines, explaining that this is way above Hunter's head. Hunter could best help by "borrowing" one the clone bodies to escape and bringing back help. The only problem is, in order to that would be Hunter would have to finish the Binary Bonding process by up linking to Sunstreaker's central processor. Just that moment Unit 4's pilot Josie Beller walked into the lab demanding to know what Hunter thought he was doing. Sunstreaker was able to briefly disorientate Josie thanks to the link between them. Hunter managed to merge with Sunstreaker, completing the binary bond. Aided by Sunstreaker psychically, Hunter immediately headed to the body shop, where clone bodies were being stored. Hunter was able to clumsily transform to Sunstreaker's head and attached to one of Machination's spare clones, transformed to vehicle mode, blasted a hole in the wall and made his escape. During the altercation with Machination's soldiers, the Autobots were forced to take a tactical retreat. Unwilling to go back to base to regroup, the damaged Sideswipe continues to search out his brother Sunstreaker. He comes upon Hunter O'Nion trying to transform out of his alt mode. Sideswipe attacks Hunter thinking he was part of the group who attacked them earlier. Hunter finally manages to convince Sideswipe that he is just some kid that got caught up in this craziness. Hunter explains to Sideswipe everything that has happened and how he made his escape. Relieved that his bother in still online, Sideswipe hastily comes up with a rescue plan. Guilt ridden for leaving Sunstreaker behind, Hunter goes along in hopes that he could be some help. When the unlikely pair reach Machination headquarters, the Sunstreaker clones are waiting for them. Sideswipe engages them in a flash, sending more than a few flying with his rocket punch. Hunter, as Sunstreaker and still getting the hang of his new body, dashes into the same hole in the side of the building he made to escape. Henry Masterson, in his next gen Headmaster, was there waiting for Hunter and wasted no time by blasting a hole through his chest. Hunter managed to escape by disengaging from the clone body and transforming back into himself. Hunter made his way back to the original Sunstreaker, but this rescue plan wasn't going very well. Outnumbered and with Masterson closing in, how was he to get Sunstreaker out of there? Sunstreaker couldn't take much more of "sharing" his mind with the clones, but Hunter was apprehensive about unplugging Sunstreaker from Machination since neither one of them knew what would happen. Without thinking it through, Hunter jacked into Sunstreaker's head and began to download Sunstreaker's entire mind. Sunstreaker thought Hunter crazy and told him it would never work. In fact, Hunter could be erased in the process. Hunter didn't care. He was willing to do whatever it took to help a friend. When Masterson stormed into the lab, it was already too late. Hunter O'Nion was passed out on the floor and Sunstreaker's original head was offline- Greatly affecting the clone pilots coordination. Little did Henry Masterson know that Hunter's plan had worked. Hunter O'Nion and Sunstreaker had successfully merged while retaining their separate personalities, truly becoming Headmaster partners. Before Masterson could fully investigate, a battered Sideswipe quite literally knocks Masterson's head off with steel girder. With Sunstreaker's original body under his arm, Sideswipe scoops up Hunter O'Nion, who says "We're Sunstreaker." Sideswipe decides it best they make a quick getaway before Masterson's back-up shows up. Porter C. Powell is furious at Masterson for letting Sideswipe and Hunter O'Nion get away. Without Sunstreaker acting as a hub, the clone pilots reaction time has been severely reduced. Machination's clone army is in shambles, and the production models are no where near completion. When Sideswipe gets Hunter O'Nion back to his brethren, the Autobots will know everything, and they'll be coming to shut him down. Powell isn't about to let Machination go down without a fight. He orders Masterson to focus all his attention on finishing one of production models and adding a few personal modifications made at Powell's request. Porter C. Powell isn't about to loose to those Autobots once again. He is going to stop them one way or another, even if he has to do it with his own two hands...or claws, rather. This time, he'll be ready for them, and Machination will prevail! In case you missed 'em: Sideswipe Sunstreaker/Hunter O'Nion Headmaster
heh,nice,i can also see a gurren laggan homage in the head,so they be the Mayor villian,so MR Powell here is going to be the mastermind of the operation,or will there be some one else pulling the strings?
Wait, so I was right? I was right? I WAS RIGHT!!! But truly dude, this is just top notch! Can't wait to see what comes next! And PS, thanks for the feedback on Circuit Breaker.
*ignores wall of text this is after all the fanart section not fanfic* I really dig the Gurran Laggann glasses and the helmet for Powel. Overall this would have to be one of my fav animated fan designs.
I usually hated the episodes with a Human Villain, but if they did a whole arc of this on the show, I would've loved it! Those comics were pretty cool.
yes! totally yes, I really thought this was gonna happen all the way through.... shame we never got there, but you've done an awesome job of making up for that!!
That's awesome. I would totally buy a figure of that too. If I was rich I'd sponsor you to continue Animated as a manga or even a few 15min webisodes. However I'm not, so I won't. Though I wish I was. Excellent work - can we see the Black Zarak recolor?? ~Z
That's awesome. I'd like to think Scorponok would have looked just like that if he'd been in the series. He definitely looks like an official series design.
Wow, that Skorponok design is wonderful, and the gurren looking headmaster unit for Powell is pretty epic too!
