The Beast Wars "Neo" Begin!!!

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"The Beast Wars "Neo" Begin!!!" ビーストウォーズ "ネオ" 開戦!!! (Beast Wars "Neo" Kaisen!!!)
Publisher	Kodansha
Published in	Comic BomBom
First published	February 1999
Cover date	March 1999
Manga	Shōji Imaki
Continuity	Beast Wars manga

A new menace is emerging, and a new hero is about to be born.

Synopsis

Following the explosion of Nemesis, Lio Convoy and the members of his team have been scattered across time and space due to the blast of Angolmois Energy.

After awaking one night in a blizzard, Lio Convoy finds he is alone on an unknown planet. He tries to use his onboard computer to determine his location, only to realizes the onboard computer is inoperative.

Lio Convoy then wanders in the snow field alone, wondering where the other members of his team are. He then runs into a gang of rampaging animals, consisting of a Quetzalcoatlus, an Elasmosaurus, a Triceratops, a Stegosaurus, a Dimetrodon and an ammonite. The gang, led by a Giganotosaurus, attack other animals. At first, Lio Convoy thinks it is a hunt, but the chase reveals itself as a massacre instead. Lio Convoy saves a deer fawn and fires Lio Missiles towards the Giganotosaurus. He is surprised to find the dinosaur is completely unharmed. The Giganotosaurus strikes back by firing missiles out of its mouth! When it is about to kill Lio Convoy, he is saved by a mammoth, who gives him and the fawn a ride and helps them escape.

The mammoth, whose name is "Big", takes Lio Convoy to a hot spring to heal his wounds. He then begins to tell his story: He is the leader of a group of native wild animals. He tells Lio Convoy that the Giganotosaurus's gang is a bunch of rowdies who became more vicious and killed his friends when he was absent after the mysterious "Divine Stone" fell on the planet. He feels sorrow because he couldn't protect his friends. Lio Convoy asks Big to take him to the place where the "Stone" fell.

Upon arriving at the cliff above the place mentioned by Big, Lio Convoy soon realizes the meteorite is an Angolmois Capsule. He then descends into the valley to take an examination of the capsule. The energy restores his onboard computer and gives him the time-and-space coordinates. Lio Convoy is shocked when he learns he is on a distant planet located in the 7th Cosmos in a time before he was born.

While Lio Convoy is examining the capsule, Big is wondering what he's doing in the valley before the gang comes to the spot and attacks him, claiming the "Divine Stone" as their own. Though wounded, Big pushes the gang into the valley after telling Lio Convoy to get out. The impact causes the capsule to explode and the two breathe a sigh of relief. In the pit, the gang evolves in the blast of Angolmois Energy. The gang then rises out of the valley front of Lio Convoy and Big. Their leader, now named "Magmatron", thanks Big for his effort, which has made them stronger than ever before. The gang then transforms, ready to kill Big and Lio Convoy. Lio Convoy immediately transforms and fights the gang. He defeats the henchmen with ease, but Magmatron takes him out with one blast. With the power he now possesses, Magmatron claims they will travel to various planets to kill every living thing.

Some time later, Lio Convoy crawls out of the thick snow where he was hiding and learns his body is 90 percent malfunctioning. Lio Convoy is sorry he got Big, who is mortally wounded, involved in this incident and decides to use his Energon Matrix to cure Big. During the treatment, the only thoughts on his mind are curing Big, hoping he will carry on his will, and feeling concern about his teammates.

Later alone, Big dreams about Lio Convoy, who calls out his name and tells him to transform. Suddenly, Big awakes and transforms, standing up in a snowstorm in the darkest night.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Maximals	Predacons	Animals	Others
Lio Convoy (1) Apache (2) Bighorn (3) Diver (4) Scuba (5) Tasmania Kid (6)	Magmatron (15) Landsaurus (8) Skysaurus (12) Seasaurus (11) Dead End (7) Guiledart (9) Saberback (10) Sling (13) Galvatron (15)	Big (14) Various animals on different planets (17)	Unicron (16)

Quote

"Aw... It would be good if this hot spring could heal my wounds. That's the sad part of being a Transformer."

—Lio Convoy, after Big asks him if he got better with the help of the hot spring

Notes

Continuity notes

• Lio Convoy implies that interfering in local ecosystems is against Maximal regulation.
• Big calls Lio Convoy Lio.
• Big saves Lio Convoy three times in this issue.
• Dead End can float in mid-air in beast mode after evolving into a Transformer.
• The rest of the members of Lio Convoy's crew arrive on various planets, respectively:
  • Apache arrives on the home planet of Longrack.
  • Bighorn arrives on the home planet of Break, turning the penguins, the native species, into Transformers. Bighorn is later worshipped as a god by the natives, as revealed in "A Battle Fought Alone".
  • Diver arrives on the home planet of Heinrad.
  • Scuba arrives on Jörmungandr, the home planet of Colada, turning the cobras, the native species, into Transformers. The process is possibly the effect of Angolmois Energy. Scuba is later worshipped as a god by the natives, but left for an unknown reason regarded as "rage of the god", as revealed in "A Battle Fought Alone".
  • Tasmania Kid arrives at the home plane of Stampy, turning the rabbits, the native species, into Transformers. Kid is later worshipped as a god by the natives, as revealed in "A Battle Fought Alone".
• Big's home planet seems to be more bio-diverse than other planets mentioned above, which might be inhabited by only one major species.
• The animals call the Angolmois Capsule the "Divine Stone" (神の石 Kami no Ishi).
• Angolmois Energy can influence organic creatures as well as the Transformers. Angolmois Energy can cause many different effect including giving a normal animal the ability of speech, concealing weapons within bodies, and making bodies strong enough to resist Lio Convoy's missiles.
• Angolmois Energy can fix a malfunctioning machine.
• Lio Convoy suspects the capsule contains not only the Angolmois Energy, but also Galvatron's evil sentiment.
• Both Angolmois Energy and the power of an Energon Matrix can evolve normal animals into Transformers.
• There is a mysterious figure who is pleased to see what happens after Magmatron's gang leave the planet. The figure is later revealed as Unicron in "Double Cross".
• The fate of Lio Convoy is untold and remains a mystery until the final issue, "Return to Zero", in which he is implied to be dead.

Trivia

• "The Beast Wars "Neo" Begin!!!" appears to be narration in the last page. Due to the lack of any options, TFwiki uses it as this article's title.
• Animal dialogue uses katakana instead of hiragana.
• This comic story uniquely ends on three so-called Maki Files. Maki File-001 concerns Imaking, Maki File-002 concerns Artemis and Moon, and Maki File-003 concerns the Galvatron Dekazura Tank.