The technology was implemented under dire circumstances, as the Nebulan capital city of Koraja was under siege by Scorponok's Decepticons, who sought the surrender of five Autobots held in Nebulan custody. If the pegholes seem too tight, it's advised to lightly sand them down before fully plugging them in to avoid this risk. Rescue Bots' High Tide can combine with his Rescue Rig as the head of a larger robot, in an apparent Headmaster homage. In 2008, Grapple was operating out of one of the Autobot bases on Cybertron when Scourge and Cyclonus led the Decepticons into an all-out war on the base.

The Transformers Animated series features a supervillain named Headmaster who can use a flying robotic head that aggressively removes another robot's head and replaces it with itself.The Headmaster technology was primarily the invention of the Nebulan scientist Arcana and was designed originally to let Nebulans utilize the bodies of Autobots to defend their world, something they did not trust the Autobots enough to let them do on their own. Revelation Afterwards, Grapple decided to accompany Prowl and the Ark's crew back to Earth, where he could put his skills to work on the construction of Autobot City. Once Hasbro retires a design, however, the value of the helmet may increase in the secondary market due to scarcity. Realizing that his mind was being re-written by Scorponok, Zarak used the last shreds of his sanity to free the Autobot Headmasters. Loose Ends, Part 2 Natural Selection, Part Two Chromedome and Stylor were able to have the process completely reversed.

In his second appearance he's got two hands and is further kitted out with Hook's crane parts on his back.

Grapple's robot mode character models were created with only a front-facing photograph of the toy for reference, resulting in a rear-view that was made up by the designers, completely omitting his crane arm. Mortified as he was, Grapple's mistake was only the first sign of cybertonium deficiency, which soon began to affect all the Autobots and their functions. Grapple remained with the Ark's crew for quite some time, and formed part of a security detail to apprehend the captured Blast Off, though they were stood down when it was discovered that the Decepticon was mode locked and only contained some human children. It wasn't long until the Autobots reverse-engineered the process and deployed Headmasters of their own, then improved on the process to create Targetmasters. Destiny, Part One Later, he assisted in the clean-up after the attack of Bludgeon's Warworld and the Blitz Engines.