Editing Kiss Players issue 3

{{comicstory|
|seriesissue=''[[Kiss Players (manga)|Transformers: Kiss Players]]'' #3
|prev=Kiss Players issue 2
|next=
|title=
|image=Kissplay3_optimus_vs_hotrod.jpg
|caption=
|published in=''[[Dengeki Daioh]]''
|coverdate=[[October 21]], 2006
|story=[[Yūki Ōshima]]
|art=[[Yūki Ōshima]]
|continuity=[[Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity]]
}}

'''Atari struggles with her own inadequacies as Optimus Prime and Hot Rod struggle with each other!'''{{TOC}}

==Synopsis==

[[Image:Kissplay3 hot rod tentacled.jpg|left|thumb]]

In the secret facility where [[Shaoshao Li|Shaoshao]] is imprisoned, [[Hot Rod (G1)|Hot Rod]] has come crashing through the roof. Unfortunately, Hot Rod immediately begins to feel the debilitating effects of the [[anti-electron]] field that the [[Earth Defense Command]] has surrounding the [[Earth]], and the [[Legion]] all surround him, binding him in the sticky, throbbing clutches of their prehensile tongues...

At the E.D.C. headquarters, [[Atari Hitotonari]] is feeling down, disappointed with herself and the fact that she has failed to achieve another successful fusion with her [[Autorooper]] since the [[Kiss Players issue 1|first time]]. As she slumps to the ground to stew in her own misery, her Autorooper approaches and extends its hand. A small flower lays in its palm, but the miserable Atari smacks it from the robot's hand and runs away. [[Kayu Michikusa|Kayu]] observes this brief clash, and takes the flower from the Autorooper, following aftar Atari and catching up to her on a hill outside. She places a flower chain, made using the flower the Autorooper picked, on Atari's head, and the two talk, raising Atari's spirits.

Elsewhere, [[Marissa Faireborn]] is having troubles of her own, as a sleeping [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]] finds his dreams haunted by terrifying images of his old enemy, [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]]. Suddenly, Optimus wakes up, and reaches out to seize Marissa, madness in his eyes. Thankfully, before Optimus can close his giant fingers around the girl and crush her, he returns to his senses, and realizes that something is affecting his mind. On the horizon, the pair spot the signs of a Legion attack, and head out...

[[Image:Kissplay3_entirely_unsexy.jpg|left|thumb|This ''should'' oughta be sexy, but by gum, it ain't.]]

Atari returns to the E.D.C. headquarters, where the demented [[Ringo Chikuma|Ringo]] immediately spots her flower chain and becomes mesmerized with it. She plucks it from Atari's head and promptly begins ''eating it'', before turning to Atari and kissing her violently, force-feeding her the flowers with her tongue. The terrified Atari collapses to the floor and tries to scramble away, but the little sociopath looms above her, crushing the remaining flowers in her hand. Atari is literally saved by the bell when an alarm klaxon goes off, and Ringo goes rushing off after Kayu to respond to the emergency. Atari tries to get herself together, but looks down to see the crushed flowers, and feels even worse when she remembers how she spurned her Autorooper's kindness earlier.

[[Image:Kissplay3_atari_stops_fight.jpg|right|thumb]]

Outside, the E.D.C. forces confront the source of the alarm, and Commander [[Hitoshizuku Amaō|Amaō]] is shocked to discover that it is Optimus Prime, leading a phalanx of Legion in an all-out attack on the E.D.C. headquarters! Prime fends off the few Autoroopers that are foolish enough to take him on, at which point things get even more confusing with the sudden arrival of Hot Rod—now fused with Shaoshao, and reformatted into a new body by her Kiss Player powers! Given that he believes Optimus Prime is dead, Hot Rod mistakenly comes to the conclusion that the violent Optimus in front of him is an impostor, and the two begin battling. Amaō orders the Kiss Players to attack while the two Autobots are occupied with each other, but Atari, still depressed and lacking self-confidence, does not fuse with her Autorooper. As her fellows squad members are sent flying through the air by slashes of Prime's [[Surfblade]], Atari makes an impassioned plea to her Autorooper to help her fight and save their lives. The Autorooper responds to her words at last and transforms to robot mode, kneeling for it to kiss her. Atari does so, and at last, the pair fuse once again, and charge into battle against the two Autobots. Atari has at last gained the confidence in herself she will need for the challenges ahead... and indeed, her story is only just beginning...
{{--}}
==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|c1=
*[[Hot Rod (G1)|Hot Rod]] (2)
*[[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]] (7)
|c2=
|c3=
*[[Shaoshao Li]] (1)
*[[Atari Hitotonari]] (4)
*[[Kayu Michikusa]] (6)
*[[Marissa Faireborn]] (8)
*[[Ringo Chikuma]] (9)
*[[Hitoshizuku Amaō]] (10)
|c4=
*[[Legion]] (3)
*[[Autorooper]] (5)
}}

==Notes==

[[Image:Kissplay3_amaos_ride.jpg|right|thumb]]

*This bulk of this issue takes place between the ninth and fourteenth installments of the [[Kiss Players (radio drama)|''Kiss Players'' radio drama]]. Several other radio dramas, however, take place between the first page of the issue and the rest of the story, as Hot Rod and Shaoshao become partners, escape and have a few wacky adventures before the events detailed in this chapter occur.
*Optimus Prime Megatron-filled nightmares would resurface in the thirty-first radio drama.
*Atari's friendship with Kayu and her suffering under Ringo would come to a head in the thirty-third and thirty-sixth radio dramas.
*The cliffhanger of this issue is not directly resolved, but it must be presumed Atari was successful in turning back the Legion attack on the E.D.C. headquarters. A very similar attack would be carried out by Prime in the thirty-seventh radio drama, with different results.
*Oddly, Commander Amaō is seen driving a Ford GT, the same car into which the newly-reformatted Hot Rod transforms.

[[Category:Kiss Players issues]]