After driving the Decepticons off Cybertron, the Headmaster's leader, Fortress (Cerebros), explains that the Headmasters were once Autobots who fled Cybertron during the Great War and established a peaceful new life on the planet Master. After the group honed the ability to transform into heads so they could control larger bodies, Skullcruncher, Mindwipe, and Weirdwolf rebelled under a mysterious figure named Zarak, only to be exiled from Master and later ally with the Decepticons. Optimus leaves to go check on Vector Sigma, guided the spirit of Alpha Trion. The Autobots launch a search for the Matrix of Leadership, as the reason Vector Sigma has become unstable is, according to Cerebros, that the Wisdom of the Ages originally contained within the Matrix was what kept Vector Sigma stable in the first place, but only Optimus knows where the Matrix is. Hot Rod, Blaster, his cassettes, and Superion head to the North Pole, where they are attacked by the Predacons, Menasor, Soundwave, and his cassettes. Blaster holds off Soundwave so Hot Rod can escape, and the two combatants end up killing each other in a fierce battle. As the Autobots on Athenia mourn for Blaster's death, Chromdedome takes the other Headmasters, save Cerebros, to Earth to aid Hot Rod in finding the Matrix.
