Isaac Sumdac (Animated)

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This article is about the good character from the Animated television show and elsewhere. For his mirror universe counterpart, see Isaac Sumdac (SG Animated).

Isaac Sumdac is a human from the Animated continuity family.

What Henry Ford and Bill Gates were to the 20th century, Isaac Sumdac is to the 22nd. His invention of versatile reliable automaton robots revolutionized every industry and the American way of life, and turned Detroit into a major manufacturing center once again. The founder of Sumdac Systems, he is also the father of Sari.

Sumdac is a genuinely loving, devoted father who cares deeply for Sari, who has worked hard to craft elaborate gifts for her and to help her make friends. And he is an ethical businessman who sticks to his beliefs as well, staunchly refusing to manufacture military weapons despite the potential revenue they could bring in to his company. But Isaac Sumdac has got one overbearing flaw that constantly lands him in very dangerous situations: he may just be the single dumbest smart person the world has ever seen. He has virtually no interpersonal skills to speak of, and doesn't understand people in the slightest; Sumdac will believe just about anything anyone tells him, if they act sincere enough when they do so. And it's not just other people that he has trouble dealing with—Isaac is prone to getting so wrapped up in his work, that he hurts himself as well, actually forgetting to eat and drink sometimes. When engrossed in a project, he clearly finds it hard to remember that there is a world outside his lab.

And then there were those...incidents involving the big giant head in his lab. And the incidents with the robot's real friends, but let's not dwell on the past.

Contents 1 Fiction 1.1 Animated cartoon 1.2 Titan Magazines 1.3 TransTech 1.4 The Cool comic 2 Games 2.1 Transformers Animated: Action Packs 3 Notes 3.1 Foreign names

Fiction

Animated cartoon

Voice actor: Tom Kenny (English), Takashi Nagasako (Japanese), Johannes Berenz (German), Mirosław Neinert (Polish), Oliviero Corbetta (Italian), Renato Márcio (Portuguese), Sergio Schmied (Latin-American Spanish, seasons 1 and 2), José Manuel Cantor (Latin-American Spanish, season 3), Santiago Salorio (Castilian Spanish), Gyeong-su Hyeon (Korean), Petri Hanttu (Finnish), Vincent Violette (French)

As a youth in the small town of Paw Paw, Isaac Sumdac was working in his makeshift laboratory when what appeared to be a meteor struck the ground close to his home. Investigating, the young Sumdac was shocked to discover that the "meteor" was, in fact, the severed head and arm of a giant alien robot. Sumdac, of course, had no way of knowing that this was the noggin of the evil Decepticon leader Megatron, but that ultimately was of little importance to the boy, as the tyrannical robot was well and truly offline. Sumdac disassembled the head and studied it, eventually learning to reverse-engineer its technology. Using this futuristic alien technology, Sumdac was able to build himself an incredible robotics company, which grew and grew over the next five decades, but which stage it was responsible for mass-producing legions of robot workers that had become a part of everyday life in Detroit. Megatron's head was kept in Sumdac's personal lab in his business headquarters, Sumdac Tower, where the scientist even used the robot's disembodied hand as a chair. Transform and Roll Out Dispatches

Around forty-three years after he found Megatron's head, Sumdac made another strange discovery. Noticing a flash of light in his lab, Sumdac entered to find a strange metallic pod, containing a small, liquid metal body. Fascinated, Sumdac reached out to touch the small creature, but received an electric shock that knocked him out, and turned a streak of his hair white. When Sumdac came to, the liquid metal being was gone, and in its place was what appeared to be a human baby. Not knowing what else to do, Sumdac "adopted" the child, named her "Sari", and spent the next seven years raising her as his own. TransWarped Understandably, Sumdac was reluctant to let Sari out into the world, and mostly kept her confined to Sumdac Tower, using robot tutors to educate her and building other robots to keep her company.

Seven years later, Sumdac was in the midst of conducting a school tour around his company labs when a techno-organic experiment ran out of control, creating a creature that the Detroit police proved powerless to stop. The monster was defeated by the surprising arrival of a team of alien robots that introduced themselves as the Autobots, who Sari quickly befriended. While Sumdac was genuinely warm and welcoming to the Autobots, and hailed them as Detroit's newest super-heroes, he now knew the true nature of the mysterious robot head that he had built his company upon, and was terrified that the Autobots would find out what he had done to one of their race. Transform and Roll Out

Sumdac continued to work long hours, day-in and day-out, often forgetting to eat in the process. Thankfully, his dutiful daughter was there to look after him. On one occasion, he caught her trying to sneak into his lab, and had to remind her that it was off-limits, even to her. He still readily gulped down the tea he had brought him though... and let himself be dragged away for some breakfast too. But only for some fruit salad... alright, maybe waffles... with bacon... and a cheese omelet... Home Is Where the Spark Is

When the industrial saboteur Stiletto broke into Sumdac's laboratory and stole both an experimental alloy and a high-powered laser-scalpel, the professor informed the police, who soon arrive on the scene of the crime. Joining them was Optimus and his Autobots, who promised that they would capture the thief. They did so in short order. Stiletto

Sumdac demonstrated the latest model of police drone he had developed to the Mayor, Fanzone, and other important members of the city council. The drone was supposed to be larger, faster, and have better recognition software (to incidents like what happened with the captain's wife), but the drone exploded instead. Later, Sari called Sumdac to warn him that the drone's malfunction was sabotage. He questioned who would want to do that when the answer melted through his door: his business rival Prometheus Black who has been mutated into the acidic Meltdown. Meltdown called Sumdac a fraud who only got where he was because of sheer luck and was ready to permanently settle the score between them when Bumblebee saved him at the last second. Meltdown kept trying to liquidate Sumdac until the Autobots trapped him in a force field bubble. Total Meltdown

When a jolt of energy from Sari's AllSpark-empowered Key brought Megatron's head back online, Home Is Where the Spark Is the evil robot decided to exploit Sumdac's gullibility by posing as an Autobot, suggesting that the other Autobots would be much more forgiving of Sumdac dissecting him if the scientist gave him a new body before revealing the truth. As a sign of good faith, Megatron helped Sumdac rebuild his robot dinosaurs. Unfortunately, a glitch made them rampage twice, and Isaac felt annoyed at the bad job he'd done. However, Megatron took the blame upon himself and claimed to be ashamed to admit that he'd built weapons into the dinosaurs out of his desire to have a body again. Sumdac sympathized with his friend, promising not to tell the Autobots and to restore him one day. Blast from the Past

Isaac was true to his word, but his attempts to build a new body from scratch for Megatron met with failure due to a lack of Destronium. It just so happened that Sumdac Systems' product line also included a prototype reflex-augmentation suit; when the only working model was mysteriously stolen and the thief then used it to try to retrieve the Destronium Megatron desperately needed, Isaac found that confusing but seemed otherwise untroubled. Nanosec

For Sari's birthday party, Sumdac tried to get some kids her own age (all children of his employees) to hang around with her, but even with the help of the Autobots, this did not really work. Luckily, she was happy with her new present, Soundwave, a musical robot that had been created by Megatron simply to please children. (It turned evil, but surely that was all an accident on Megatron's part!) Sound and Fury

Meltdown wasn't finished with his vendetta against Sumdac yet and had one of the Dinobots kidnap Sari so he could experiment on her to create a transforming organic. Fortunately, Bulkhead, Prowl, and Fanzone were able to save Sari before anything happened to her. Survival of the Fittest

After meeting with Henry Masterson, who showed Sumdac the "Headmaster unit", Sumdac was horrified to discover that Masterson planned to use the technology for military purposes. Things got even worse when the rocket that Masterson's warbot controlled went flying into the city of Detroit. Furious, Sumdac fired Masterson on the spot. Several days later, Masterson stole the Autobot Bulkhead's body and used it to take control of a solar fusion power plant, demanding 700 billion dollars to be delivered by Sumdac himself. Isaac drove Optimus Prime into the power plant with the other Autobots, allowing them to take on Masterson. While Sumdac tried to shut down the reactor, a stray missile from Masterson destroyed the controls. Fortunately, Bulkhead built a drone that managed to shut down the reactor. Headmaster

After discovering an energy signature out in the woods near Detroit, he found it was what he had been searching for since he came across Megatron's head: the rest of his body. Sumdac noted that Megatron would be most surprised by the discovery. Nature Calls

After bringing Megatron's body back to his lab, he commented on how his body had done well in the wilderness for 50 years. As soon as Sumdac apparently finished the body's repairs, Lugnut and Blitzwing arrived, and Megatron revealed that he was a Decepticon. Depositing Sumdac in his severed hand, Megatron used the Key to restore his body. As wires pulled the hand to the body, it made a fist around Sumdac, taking him with it. When Megatron opened his hand upon being restored, Sumdac was nowhere to be seen. Megatron Rising - Part 1

Somehow free from Megatron's grasp, Sumdac tried to escape. Blitzwing intercepted his escape, but Megatron's calling of the Decepticons allowed him to flee. Meeting the Autobots in the lobby of Sumdac Tower, Isaac explained his role in what had happened. Prowl and Bulkhead were a little ticked, but Optimus decided that then was not the time for recriminations. Repairing the Autobots with residual AllSpark Key energy, Isaac accompanied them on the Autobots' ship when they crashed on Dinobot Island. Fearing that the end was near, Sumdac said that there was something important that he wanted to tell Sari, but she ran off to find something that the AllSpark could charge in place of her Key before he could elaborate. Sumdac quickly assembled a device that damaged Megatron's equilibrium sensors, but disappeared in the chaos during the battle between Optimus and Megatron and the dispersal of the AllSpark. In the aftermath, Sumdac had been snatched by Megatron. Now a prisoner of Megatron, the Decepticon leader mockingly asked Sumdac if he was comfortable in his chair. Megatron Rising - Part 2

Professor Sumdac was held prisoner by the Decepticons deep in a cavern studded in carbon deposits which baffled the Autobot scans of the area. Shown a space bridge schematic which Megatron had stolen from Teletran-1, the scientist was put to work doing what he does best, reverse-engineering the technology. The Elite Guard The scientist was also forced to create signal-dampeners to allow the Decepticons to remain undetected by the Autobots even outside the mines, and a tachyon transmitter that allowed Megatron to communicate with his double-agent on Cybertron. Mission Accomplished When Mixmaster and Scrapper first came to the Decepticons' lair, they though Sumdac was a pet and Megatron had him show the "Constructobots" the blueprints for the space bridge. Rise of the Constructicons Sumdac tried to alert the Autobots to this double-agent by bouncing a transmission to their headquarters, but the garbled message they received sent them off on the wrong track. Autoboot Camp

Professor Sumdac was still hard at work, doing whatever task Megatron demanded of him, when Scrapper and Mixmaster resurfaced. Sari, No One's Home

Once the bridge was completed, it was learned that Sumdac had misinterpreted the schematics, leaving the Decepticons with a non-functional bridge. Megatron decided to kidnap Cybertron's top space bridge technician, who turned out to be Bulkhead. Megatron took Sumdac with him both as a hostage and to prevent Sumdac from interfering with the Constructicons' work. Bulkhead was captured and compelled to help under threat of being body-jacked again with a Headmaster unit. Once Bulkhead was put to work, Sumdac assumed that he was trying to sabotage the bridge and played along. However, Bulkhead actually was trying to fix the bridge and managed to finish it in short order...just in time for a rescue attempt by the Autobots to be hijacked by an attack by Starscream and his clones. A Bridge Too Close, Part I

After trying to shut down the bridge, Sumdac commandeered the Headmaster and used it to steal Starscream's body to try and destroy Megatron. The Decepticon leader was unimpressed and quickly shot the Headmaster off with his fusion cannon. Then power complications with the space bridge arose, and Megatron tried to fix that by adding Starscream's AllSpark-infused head to the mix, causing an overload. Fortunately, Omega Supreme arrived, being piloted by Ratchet and Sari of all people. Omega sacrificed himself after ejecting Sari and Ratchet, and the Autobots and Sumdacs escaped before the mine came down around them when the space bridge exploded. Free of Megatron and reunited with his daughter, Isaac Sumdac was relieved to know that the ordeal was at an end. His troubles weren't over, though, as Sari noticed that the skin of her right arm had been torn...revealing robotic circuitry underneath! A Bridge Too Close, Part II

Faced with a daughter on the verge of a breakdown and five robots who had run out of reasons to trust him, Isaac revealed to Sari what he knew of her origins, but none of them were particularly convinced by his fantastical story of a liquid metal robot that appeared out of thin air. Once Isaac had fired Porter C. Powell, who had taken control of his company during his absence, and Henry Masterson, whom Powell had re-hired, Sari refused to speak to, or even be in the same building, as the man she could no longer even think of as her father. Luckily, Optimus Prime was able to patch the family back together by letting Isaac know that he was going to take Sari to Burger Bot, so he could meet them there (this was accomplished by opening a comm channel to Sumdac's lab and talking very loudly and at length to Sari about Burger Bot, but even then, it's a minor miracle that Sumdac figured out what Prime was doing). While the trio was at Burger Bot, a vengeful Masterson attacked, and Sari and Sumdac both managed to save each other from the villains' wrath. While Prime finished Masterson off, Sari realized that whether or not she was a robot, Sumdac was still her father.

While all this had been going on, Prowl had been conducting some research of his own, and concluded that Sumdac had discovered a Cybertronian protoform which had scanned his DNA. Intrigued by the fact that she was part Cybertronian, Sari turned her AllSpark Key upon herself and upgraded her body into an older, more powerful form, only to promptly start running out of control. Once the Autobots had her subdued, Prime revealed the location of the Autobots' base to Professor Sumdac, much to the consternation of the other Autobots, who still did not trust the scientist entirely. Prime vowed that there would be no more secrets between their "family," and Sumdac apologized to Sari for keeping the truth of her origins hidden for so long. TransWarped

Working with Bulkhead to construct a new space bridge in Sumdac Tower so that the Autobots could contact Cybertron to warn them about Megatron's double-agent, Sumdac decided to call it a night when several floors of the tower collapsed underneath them thanks to the weight of the equipment. Sumdac was less than impressed when Bulkhead called in the Constructicons to help repair the building, but his attitude rankled with the Constructicons' new foreman, Dirt Boss. To protect Sumdac, Bulkhead began ordering him around cruelly, winking all the while, but Sumdac, of course, completely failed to understand that Bulkhead was merely acting to preserve his safety, and rushed off to complete the construction of the plasma dynamic thruster the Autobot demanded. Sumdac even followed Bulkhead to the Constructicons' warehouse hangout to give him the completed thruster, where Bulkhead was able to make him understand the deception, before having to put the act on again and send Sumdac scampering away. When the other Autobots arrived to help Bulkhead stop the Constructicons' plans to steal all of Detroit's oil, Sumdac was able to bring them up to speed, and his completed plasma dynamic thruster was then used to warp the Constructicons—and an exploding oil tank—off to a safe distance. Three's a Crowd

On Christmas Eve, Sumdac was featured in one of Powell's ads for his Soundwave toys, which featured him accusing Powell of stealing his toy rights, but Powell stated that he "acquired this toy's patents fair and square" when he owned Sumdac Systems. Later, on Christmas morning, he sat down with Sari to open her Christmas presents, and when she didn't like that he had purchased her a Soundwave toy, he explained that it was made in China, and that it both danced and sang. When Sari opened her last present, which turned out to be a scooter/jetpack, Sumdac warned her to be careful with the thing, but she just blew him off. Human Error, Part I

Sumdac was later hypnotized by the Soundwave toy he had purchased, and as such, was commanded to destroy Sari, as she could not be controlled because of her techno-organic nature. Sari eventually trapped him under a bookcase, as she had no other option if she didn't want to hurt him, and he was freed from Soundwave's control after Soundwave was defeated in battle with Optimus Prime. Human Error, Part II

He and Bulkhead continued to work on the space bridge, with each often doubting the other's skills. Sari offered to assist, but both Bulkhead and Isaac believed that without her key she wouldn't be much help. She then revealed that, thanks to her upgrade, she now Knows Stuff. Decepticon Air

Sumdac later helped Ratchet and Sari build a jetpack for Optimus Prime to use in battle against Megatron, and witnessed Optimus Prime take a head-first dive into the ground after the first test EPICALLY FAILED! Endgame, Part I When the Starscream Supremes were attacking the city, armed with bombs, Sumdac was in the process of trying to get the Sumdac Tower forcefield back up, when Prowl asked him if the tower had a bomb shelter. Sumdac was initially puzzled by this question, but when he saw the Starscream Supremes, his questions were answered. Endgame, Part II

When Sari went to Cybertron to learn more about her alien heritage, Sumdac sent her a lunch from Burger Bot via the space bridge which turned out to be crucial for capturing the energy being Kremzeek. The Return of Blurr

Titan Magazines

The supervillain Crossroads was once an employee of Sumdac's. However, Sumdac was forced to fire him when he found out about his illegal robot-fighting side projects. Crossroads!

TransTech

Voice actor: Marty Isenberg (English)

Despite having a cold, Pr. Sumdac was in an unusually good mood and "remembered to wear pants" the morning he showed Sari, Bumblebee, and Optimus his new Bi-directional Unified Transit Terminal, but no doubt lost his good mood when his BUTT backfired with such power that it flung Sari, Bumblebee, and Optimus into Axiom Nexus. Bee in the City

The Cool comic

As a boy, Isaac Sumdac discovered Megatron's smoldering remains, after the Decepticon leader had plummeted from the skies, having been defeated by Optimus Prime. The Cool Extra issue 3

For fifty years, Megatron tricked Sumdac into searching for the remains of his body while simultaneously giving him Cybertronian technology. When he at last obtained the key, Megatron revealed his ruse to a shocked Sumdac and was reborn. The Cool Episode 5

During the battle for the Space Bridge, Sumdac attempted to best Megatron with a Headmaster unit latched onto Starscream's body. He was handily defeated off-panel. When the battle was over, Professor Sumdac was reunited with Sari. Unfortunately, at that moment Sari discovered robotics beneath her skin, leaving Sumdac with some grim explaining to do.The Cool Episode 8

Back at Autobot HQ, Sumdac finally revealed to Sari how he found her as a tiny robot in a capsule and, after an intense electric shock, discovered the robot was replaced with a human child. Prowl, after a full body-scan of Sari, determined that the tiny robot was a Transformer protoform that scanned Sumdac's DNA, resulting in an entirely new lifeform. Sumdac begged for Sari's forgiveness and she was quick to comply, giving her dad a big, snuggly hug. The Cool Episode 9

Games

Transformers Animated: Action Packs

Transformers Animated: Action Packs

Notes

• "Sumdac" is Cadmus spelled backwards. Sam Register, executive producer of Transformers Animated, explains in The AllSpark Almanac II that this was done on purpose. The name was thought up very early in the making of the show: during BotCon 2008, story editor Marty Isenberg mentioned that it was in the show development before he signed on.
• A non-finalized character model of Isaac Sumdac was featured in Cartoon Network's Transformers Animated press kit. Compared to the final model, his body's proportions are entirely different, as is his hair. He also had some kind of stylized "S" emblem on his lab jacket, where the finalized Sumdac has a name badge. The "S" appears to be in his hair now (the cause of which is revealed in "TransWarped").
• This isn't the first time that a central human character's father was taken captive and forced to help the bad guys of the series.
• He has an Indian (specifically, Bombay) accent in the English language version and a Chinese accent in the German dub (despite growing up in rural Michigan).

Foreign names

• Japanese: Isaac Sumdac (アイザック・サムダック Aisakku Samudakku)