Master Cylinder began as a human student of The Professor until a laboratory explosion destroyed his original body, compelling the transfer of his brain into a robotic cylindrical form. This established both his mechanical nature and his connection to The Professor. Typically operating as an independent villain, he pursues interplanetary conquest, first declaring himself "King of the Moon" before targeting Mars or Venus. His primary schemes involve kidnapping The Professor's nephew Poindexter to force him into creating rocket fuel for invasions of Earth, but these consistently fail due to interference from Felix.

His personality displays persistent pettiness, ill temper, and spitefulness, frequently fueled by his grudge against The Professor. He remains consistently hostile and threatening across appearances, lacking redeeming qualities or genuine alliances. He occasionally employs minions like General Clang, though their effectiveness is limited.

Within the *Baby Felix* anime continuity, his timeline diverges significantly. Here, he appears before his self-exile to the moon and serves directly as one of The Professor's minions rather than an independent villain. His role reduces to comic relief, assisting The Professor in schemes to steal Baby Felix's magic bag.

A distinct iteration features in *Felix the Cat: The Movie*, where an alternate-universe version is created by the Duke of Zill as a robotic enforcer. This larger, more powerful model commands legions of subordinate Cylinder robots and serves as the Duke's primary weapon during the invasion of Oriana. Its destruction triggers the collapse of the entire Cylinder army.

His standard defeat method exploits his dependence on external power sources, such as electrical outlets, allowing adversaries like Felix to incapacitate him by disconnection. Despite repeated failures and occasional physical destruction, he demonstrates resourcefulness by rebuilding his body and persisting with new conquest schemes.