My Review of Transformers: Animated season 1 episode 13–Headmaster · 2:04am Apr 5th, 2021
Grading Scale:
A (fantastic episode)
A- (an excellent episode with at least one flaw)
B+ (a great episode with a couple of flaws)
B (a good episode which still could have been better)
B- (a good episode with numerous flaws but still rewatchable)
C+ (a decent episode)
C (eh... it’s not terrible but not good either)
C- (it’s not worth rewatching although it does have good elements)
D+ (a bad episode with a few good things in it)
D (a really bad episode with wasted potential)
D- (a terrible episode with badly written characters and butchered moral)
F (horrible and unwatchable)
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Hiya, fellas! Tonight, I will be reviewing Transformers: Animated season 1 episode 13 Headmaster. We are introduced to a new human super-villain by the name of Headmaster or The Headmaster. Masterson is honestly one of the sinister and devious antagonists this show has although he can be quite a bit irritating... in a good way. Coming from someone who normally dislikes these villains in this show alone, he’s probably the only one who has a more entertaining personality as opposed to others such as Meltdown, Nanosec, Angry Archer, and Professor Princess. If I ever disliked this guy, I take that back as he is slowly starting to grow on me.
As for the Headmaster gimmick in this episode and onward, I thought it was kinda a unique way to make it very threatening and powerful by having it behead the robot in order to take full control of the body and use it for the Headmaster’s own purposes. That’s honestly... genius and scary at the same time. It was a very mediocre concept to me from the G1 episode called “The Rebirth” (season 4 three-parter of The Transformers), but this series made it a little more interesting. I really admire how Alexander Polinsky brought life and charm through Henry Masterson. That guy always has so much fun in his animated voice roles.
As for the episode itself, I thought it was really decent although it was nowhere as awesome as the previous episodes were. However, I often questioned the idea of living, beheaded robots. If their sparks are in their spark chambers (especially around the chest area), how exactly are they still alive without their bodies? How was it that Bulkhead was still functioning without his body—where his spark was? Do they have an additional spark in their foreheads?
It was something that always bothered me over the years. The same thing happened to Mohawk in Transformers: The Last Knight when Bumblebee blew up his body with his plasma cannon, but he was still alive as a head.
But nonetheless, this episode was fairly decent. It was kinda cute and entertaining to see Bumblebee and the body-less Bulkhead spending time together while the others were away to look for his stolen body. Okay, that’s just a little disturbing when I write it like that but whatever. This episode again gave more character development for Bulkhead as he is learning about art and the full meaning of art especially in real life. That was really nice to watch.
Thus, I give this episode a C+.
Peace.
I thought this episode was slightly disturbing.
Time for L33T TR1V1A, noobs, and ironically, it isn't about Henry Masterson.(Unless you count him being the only returning human villain in the third season.) No, I think it's time to give the beheaded his due in bulk.
1. Bulkhead can turn his back kibble into a chair. The toy can do this as well. That's awesome.
2. Bulkhead has the honor of being one of the few Autobots whose name Megatron actually remembers, the others being Ultra Magnus, Omega Supreme, and eventually, Optimus Prime.
3. Bulkhead's vehicle form strongly resembles a futuristic version of the real world: "2007 DURO IIIP 6x6 (Protected Military Tactical Vehicle)" made by General Dynamics: European Land Systems (MOWAG). This mode also has some design traits from the "Unimog" by Volvo.
4.This episode was almost nixed by Hasbro, who raised concerns that the Headmaster's body-snatching would be too gruesome for small children. Derrick J. Wyatt managed to alleviate these fears by producing a proof-of-concept sketch that highlighted the episode's comedy potential
Finally, something that I hope doesn't become a running trend with trivia.
5. In the unproduced fourth season, Bulkhead would have remained on Cybertron with Sari while Ironhide took his place.
btw about bulkhead surviving without his spark, don't worry about it. Tfwiki agrees with you.
"How is Bulkhead able to live without his Spark, unless it's in his head? (Granted, Megatron spends most of Season 1 pulling exactly the same trick, as do a couple other characters later on in the show....as well as others in previous continuities.)"