Targetmaster is a subline of the Transformers toyline that include Nebulan sidekicks who can transform into the Transformers' weapons.


1987 TargetmastersEdit

The first Targetmasters assortment, released in 1987, included six new characters, and five existing ones from the 1986 line, whose toys were slightly remolded with larger peg holes to hold their new weapons, as well as an additional peg hole for each remold to mount its weapon in vehicle mode. In 2003, one of the two Japanese-exclusive Targetmasters from 1987 was added to the Autobot ranks. The Targetmaster weapon he shares with Decepticon Cyclonus also shares a name. To further add to the confusion, the printed names of Stepper and Artfire's weapon and partners in Japan are swapped. Cyclonus's partner Nightstick is called Nebulon (the name Fracas is erroneously given on Scourge's box) and paired with Stepper. Scourge's partner Fracas is called Nightstick and paired with Artfire.

The smaller Targetmaster partners were easily lost, making them highly collectible, and demand high prices on the secondary market.[1]

In the 1987 Targetmaster line, all Autobots could transform into futuristic cars, while all Decepticons could transform into futuristic airplanes.

Autobot Targetmasters

  • Blurr (futuristic car) with Haywire
  • Crosshairs (4x4) with Pinpointer
  • Hot Rod (hot rod) with Firebolt
  • Kup (pickup truck) with Recoil
  • Pointblank (car) with Peacemaker
  • Sureshot (dune buggy) with Spoilsport
  • Stepper (Porsche 935 Turbo) with Nebulon
  • Ricochet (Porsche 935 Turbo) with Nightstick
    • Ricochet is the official American name for the Japanese character Stepper.
    • Nightstick is the original American name for his partner, originally paired in the West with Cyclonus.
  • Artfire (Mitsubishi-Fuso fire engine) with "Nightstick"
    • Artfire's weapon/partner was paired in America with Scourge and called Fracas.[2]

Decepticon Targetmasters

Animated seriesEdit

The Targetmasters were introduced in "The Rebirth", the three-part fourth-season finale to the original Transformers animated series.

When the Decepticons attempted to seize the power of the Plasma Energy Chamber in 2007, a group of Autobots were blasted across the galaxy to the planet Nebulos by the ancient foundry's energies, where they took up with a group of rebel Nebulons. To fight the Hive, the evil rulers of Nebulos, some of the Autobots and Nebulons bonded their bodies and minds together, becoming Headmasters, serving up a definitive defeat to the Decepticons pursuing them. This group of Decepticons was then approached by the Hive, who sought to replicate the Headmaster process with them, but Cyclonus was able to bargain them to down to taking only half the Decepticons' heads, offering up the weapons of the others as alternatives. Using Nebulan technology, the guns were engineered into transforming exo-suits which were donned by five members of the Hive, creating the Targetmasters, giving their Transformer wielders ten times the accuracy and firepower. However, some partnerships did not work out as planned. The Decepticon Misfire was already a poor marksman and that his new Targetmaster partner Aimless was an underachieving rookie only made things worse. Also, Fracas was more loyal to Zarak than Scourge, even going so far as to point himself at Scourge and demand they fall back from battle because Zarak told them to.


Transformers: HeadmastersEdit

Although "The Rebirth" marked the end of the Transformers cartoon in the United States, in Japan, a different direction was taken – ignoring the events of "The Rebirth", a brand new, exclusive 35-episode series, Transformers: Headmasters, was produced to take its place, which introduced the Targetmasters towards its conclusion. Notably, in Japan, the 1986 characters were not re-released as Targetmasters – only the six new characters featured in Headmasters.



Two additional Targetmaster toys were available exclusively in Japan - Stepper, a recolor on the 1984 toy, Jazz, and Artfire, a recolor of 1985's Inferno. These two were armed with Nightstick and Fracas, respectively, although the guns wore their opposite's names—the American Nightstick called Nebulon (the name incorrectly printed on Scourge's file card), the American Fracas called Nightstick. The characters themselves did not appear in the Headmasters animated series, featuring only in the official manga of the series. Rare and much-sought-after for some time, Stepper was eventually reissued in 2003, and even made it to the US in their Commemorative Series reissue line, now with the name Ricochet.

Marvel ComicsEdit

With the Autobot Headmasters captured by their Decepticon counterparts, the Decepticons ran rampant over the planet Nebulos, a group of the remaining Autobots on the planet joined with a group of Nebulons branded as criminals by Nebulon's political leader, Lord Zarak - partner of the Decepticon, Scorponok - in order to protect the Nursery, Nebulos's primary agricultural research facility, against Decepticon attack. Through bio-mechanical engineering, the Nebulons were given the ability to transform into the guns of the Autobots, and, as Targetmasters, they fended the Decepticons off. Within several days, the Decepticons had duplicated the process with five of their own troops. Then, realising how much damage his actions were causing Nebulos, Zarak freed the Autobot Headmasters, who fled the planet, and were pursued by the Decepticons, leaving Nebulos to recover from the brief war. The Autobots, including the Targetmasters, then traveled to Earth, where they became part of the main Autobot force.

Notably, in the Marvel Comics, Firebolt is consistently referred to as Sparks - except in the exclusive stories contained in the comic's UK counterpart.

1988 TargetmastersEdit

The 1988 Transformers, consisting of entirely new characters, were Double Targetmasters, equipped with two Nebulons who would each transform into a gun, and could combine into a single weapon.[4]

In the 1988 Targetmaster line, all Autobots could transform into construction vehicles, while all Decepticons could transform into military vehicles.

Autobot Targetmasters

Decepticon Targetmasters

Additionally, the combining sub-group, the Seacons, were sold under the Targetmasters banner, due to their ability to become weapons that could be wielded by their combined form, Piranacon. For information on those characters, see their own article.

Marvel ComicsEdit

With the American animated series having concluded the previous year, it fell to Marvel Comics to provide fiction for the 1988 Targetmaster characters in the West—anywhere, in fact, as the Double Targetmasters did not even feature in the Japanese-exclusive series for that year, Super-God Masterforce.

The Autobot Double Targetmasters' roles were brief ones—they were seen participating in a raid on Cybertron led by Jazz, Grimlock and Bumblebee. The three also served as Emirate Xaaron's support crew when Galvatron (acting as Unicron's herald) attacked. The Decepticons, on the other hand, played more prominent parts as troops under the command of Thunderwing who served him during his quest for the lost Creation Matrix - Spinister, in particular, came to doubt Thunderwing's sanity as his commands became more and more unhinged. Needlenose, though seen often during the Matrix Quest, seems to be unnerved by Thunderwing's later erratic behavior, but not to the point of complaining. Quake, in turn, is noted for his durability, having taken fatal damage from Unicron during the Chaos-Bringer's attack on Cybertron and lived to tell the tale.

Also, across the Atlantic in the UK's exclusive Transformers title, the Decepticon Double Targetmasters became a part of the new Mayhem Attack Squad, charged with hunting down and killing the renegade Decepticons, Catilla and Carnivac. The cowardly Needlenose was given leeway by Spinister and allowed onto the mission, but after the successful murder of Catilla, his nervousness consumed him. Fearing retribution from Carnivac, he subjected his fellow troops to unregistered timing exercises, earning him nothing but their ire and a lack of credibility—something that came back to haunt him when he was attacked and killed by a vengeful Carnivac, and his fellow Decepticons refused to heed his calls for help.

Action Master TargetmastersEdit

Dreamwave comics profiles for the Generation One character expanded the term Targetmaster to include the many Action Masters who carried weapons which turned into sidekicks. These Transformers would then include:

Beast Wars NeoEdit

The Maximal character Break had a Targetmaster like gun mode. Megatron also had a gun mode.[5]

Transformers: ArmadaEdit

In the Transformers: Armada line, a good number of Mini-Cons converted into hand-held and port-mounted weapons, which would technically name them Targetmaster partners to larger Transformers who wielded them.


  1. ^ Mark Bellomo (2007). Transformers: Identification and Price Guide. Krause Publications. p. 196. ISBN 978-0-89689-445-7.
  2. ^ Alvarez, J.E. (2001). The Unofficial Guide to Japanese and International Transformers. Schiffer Publishing Ltd. p. 30. ISBN 0-7643-1282-0.
  3. ^ Jim Sorenson & Bill Forster (July 22, 2008). Transformers: The Ark II. IDW Publishing. pp. 24–25. ISBN 978-1-60010-180-9.
  4. ^ Lee's Guide to Loose 1988 Transformers: The Autobots. Lee's Toy Review magazine, issue #207, February 2010
  5. ^ "The 12 Strangest Transformers Beast Wars Figures - The Robot's Voice". 8 July 2009. Retrieved 30 December 2016.