Zebra Ball

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Zebra Ball is a Beastformer from the Generation 1 continuity family.

Much like his pelt pattern and mismatched cyborg armor, Zebra Ball (ゼブラボール Zeburabōru) is a beast of contrasts. The King of Johnston, he's a good-natured and kind beast, but also has a tendency to think in cold logic that some find off-putting. He's a natural leader who wants to do right by his people and help everyone he can, but also will rarely take action until he has thoroughly analyzed the situation and reached a conclusion he is 100% convinced of.

And though he's slow to take action, once he does, he's lightning-fast on his hooves. Though known for tearing across open meadows, he can actually sprint through even dense vegetation without slowing down... but while other beasts may do the same through dodging and weaving, Zebra Ball just plows right through, leaving a trail of devastation in his path. His legs can deliver kicks that can fell even mighty trees, and his MVP Weapon, the Super Zebra (スーパーゼブラ Sūpā Zebura), emits multiple tracking laser beams that slice through just about anything in his way, giving him a nice clear path to tear through. These lasers can also be used in combat against his foes.

Fiction

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Beastformers comic

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A combatant in the Beastformers' war with the Laser Beasts, Zebra Ball was manning the Wood Beetle's cannon during a Laser Beast attack. Beastformers VS Laser Beasts

Toys

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Beastformers

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  • Zebra Ball (Beastformer, 1988)
  • ID number: 69
  • Pack: H
  • Accessories: "Super Zebra" MVP Weapon
Released only in the post-Transformers "RPG"-themed Beastformers sequel series, Zebra Ball is an anthropomorphic zebra in purple and gray robotic armor. While his stripes are not painted, they are raised portions on his pelt, giving you a guide if you're feeling up to customizing. His left hand has been replaced with a short spear. The Battle Emblem on his chest reveals one of three symbols when warmed up; Fire, Water or Wood.
He was sold in two similar-but-different styles of boxes. The first "H Pack" style of box had the chance for his included bio card to instead be a rare holofoil card of White Leo with a "Burstsun" rubsign in a baggie taped to the back, so you could apply it to the Beastformer of your choice. The second, seemingly more common release has a slightly different box with a peg-hole in the top flap, and a sticker on the bottom with his name and role on it.
Late in the run, the "mood ring" styled rubsigns were replaced with new rubsigns that revealed full-color Fire/Wood/Water images on black backdrops. (These rubsign variants also happened at the same time in the Hasbro Battle Beast version of the line.)


Merchandise

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Candy toys

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  • Zebra Ball (Gashapon/candy-toy Beastformer, 1988)
    • ID number: 20
    • Accessories: "Dog Hunter" weapon
A 1-inch-tall, super-deformed, articulation-free version of White Leo that could come in red, blue or green plastic, representing the Fire, Water and Wood elements (even though he still had a rubsign). All of the SD Beastformers come with a different Beastformer's weapon attached to their left shoulder by a snippable sprue: Zebra came with Bowdog's "Dog Hunter" weapon, while Alligatron came with Zebra's "Super Zebra" weapon.
This toy was sold in three different ways. First it was available as a gashapon capsule prize by Takara. Then it was sold as a candy toy from Takara, randomly-packed in a box of three with a packet of ramune-flavored candy tablets. Then again as a candy toy, this time through candy/snack company Meiji, in randomized packs of two[citation needed]{{#ifeq: ||}} with a packet of "chocoballs" (chocolate covered malted milk balls). The Meiji release also has much more elaborate packaging, with newly-painted box art (which sometimes shows characters not made in this assortment), and the entire interior of the box printed with game rules, character bios, chunks of lore, etc.


  • Ramune Beastformers Battle Card (1988)
    • ID number: 20
A gold-foil "Battle Card" of Zebra Ball, featuring painted character art of the kind found on early Transformers: Beastformers bio cards (seen at top), was available in randomly-packed sets of cards that came with ramune-flavored candy tablets. The back of the card features a severely truncated bio, with data for the game from the Meiji chocoball SD figures' packaging.

Notes

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Fanatical sword-wielding cyborg zebra. Awesome.
  • Zebra Ball's 1987 art (seen at right) incorrectly colors both his weapon and his blade-arm as gold. The recolored 1988 version of the art corrects these mistakes.
  • His 1988 bio card gives him the really imaginative nickname "Zebra" (ゼブラ Zebura), and notes he was born in Zebra City. We detect a theme.
  • Zebra Ball is one of the very few "series 3" Beastformers with painted individual character art, seen on his Meiji Battle Card. Weirdly, his hand is rendered as a toy-like "mitten" rather than the usual separate-fingers-usually-with-spiky-claws-on-the-ends that literally every other Beastformer gets.

Foreign names

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  • English: Zealot Zebra
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