Hosehead is a supporting character in the Transformers franchise, especially Generation One. The original version came from the 1988 toyline.
Marvel Comics[]
Hosehead was an Autobot Headmaster, partnered with Lug. Along with two other Autobots, Playback and Horsepower, he was captured by the Decepticons and set loose on Earth to be hunted by Decepticon leadership candidate Thunderwing. Playback and Horsepower were both killed but Hosehead managed to join forces with two new Earth Autobots, Nightbeat and Siren, and together they defeated Thunderwing. Hosehead remained with the Earth-based Autobots and was later part of a team that accompanied Optimus Prime to battle the Deathbringer.
This led to Hosehead's first Marvel US appearance in Issue #62, during the Matrix Quest storyline. He, Nightbeat and Siren searched the planet Pa-Zaz and encountered various criminal factions seeking a statue of a falcon. Hosehead and Siren kept the criminals at bay while Nightbeat restored the falcon to the font of life and rejuvenated the planet. However, moments later they were gunned down by Thunderwing's Decepticons. They were kept prisoner for some time while Thunderwing pursued and obtained the Matrix, but managed to escape and stow away on a stolen Autobot shuttle Thunderwing used to infiltrate the Ark. Emerging to find the rest of the Autobots being cut down in a battle with Thunderwing, now possessed by the corrupted Matrix, Hosehead managed to turn off the shuttle bay's artificial gravity, resulting in the shuttle, Thunderwing and the Dark Matrix being hurled into space.
Hosehead continued to make minor appearances, being among the Autobots on the Ark in the aftermath of the incident and being transported to Cybertron with several other Transformers to defend it from Unicron. He was last seen at the beginning of Issue #76, lying destroyed as one of the casualties of the battle.
The post-movie version of the character appeared in "Shadow of Evil", where he and Doubleheader were both blasted by a Unicron-possessed Rodimus Prime.
