Raiden

Raiden is an Autobot combiner from the Headmasters portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

God of thunder! And rock and roll!

Raiden (ライデン) is the combined form of the six Trainbots Kaen, Getsuei, Seizan, Shōki, Suiken, and Yukikaze.

Each member transforms into different train engines native to their home land of Japan. Raiden is an ambitious gestalt. He maintains an active rivalry with Devastator and plans on challenging the Decepticon giant Predaking next.

He is The Robot Train.

English-Malay dub name: The Robot Train, Grimlock

Fiction

The Headmasters cartoon

Voice Actor: Keiichi Noda (Japanese)

Raiden was the combined form of the Trainbots, an Autobot team created on Earth in the nation of Japan. He briefly appeared fighting alongside Superion and Defensor against the Decepticon combiners on Cybertron. They were very nearly crushed to death when Bruticus collapsed a building on them with his sonic stun-gun. The Mystery of Planet Master

Sometime later, the Trainbots formed Raiden in order to defend Japan from the marauding Sixshot. Raiden and Sixshot fought fiercely until Trypticon crashed the party. The arrivals of Scourge, Cyclonus and the Autobot Headmasters made it into a real brawl. During the fight, Raiden was swarmed by Sixshot and his hard-light dopplegangers in winged wolf modes. Raiden called for Chromedome to shoot at the Sixshots until he nailed the real one, even if Raiden was injured in the process. Terror! The Six Shadows

Raiden was formed to defend the Solar 1 satellite against Predaking. He fought bravely against the bestial giant, and eventually sent the Decepticon fleeing with his tail(s?) between his legs. The Shadow Emperor, Scorponok Soon thereafter, Raiden battled Predaking again, with a raging volcano as their backdrop. The Headmasters soon became involved in the skirmish and, when Raiden briefly gained the upper hand on Predaking, they offered to step in so that the Trainbots could rescue the innocent villagers trapped at the base of the volcano. The Dormant Volcano Mysteriously Erupts

When the Decepticons fled into deep space to seek out new sources of energy, the Trainbots joined Fortress in following their foes. Raiden was formed on the Twin Star planets and did battle with Predaking. Battle for Defense of the False Planet He was also briefly seen on the planet Paradise. Head Formation of Friendship

After the Autobots returned to Earth, Raiden formed in defense of Autobot City as it was being attacked by Sixshot and Trypticon. He was intercepted by Apeface and Snapdragon, however, and was unable to assist Ultra Magnus and Metroplex in their fight. Ultra Magnus Dies!! Raiden was next seen battling Predaking on the Kamchatka Penninsula, as the Decepticons attempted to exploit the Pacific Ring of Fire. I Risk My Life for Earth Later on, Raiden helped Computron and Defensor demolish an old Decepticon base after the enemy abandoned the planet Earth. Miraculous Warriors, Targetmasters (Part 1)

After Fortress's battleship was damaged on the planet Master by Weirdwolf's bombs, Raiden and Defensor were seen helping to repair it. Operation: Destroy the Decepticons

The Trainbots formed Raiden for the final battle with Scorponok's Decepticons at the North Pole. He warred with his counterpart, Predaking, and was nearly crushed by the Battleship Maximus when MegaZarak battered it away. In the end, Raiden lent his strength to the Headmasters' Head Formation, feeding Fortress Maximus enough power to overcome the effects of the crysmag metal. The Final Showdown on Earth (Part 2)

Toys

The Headmasters

• Raiden (Trainbot, 1987, 1990)
  • Japanese ID number: C-131
  • Accessories: Left & right fists, breast & waist panels, 2 "Leg Beams", 2 "Wing Lasers", "Train Bazooka" rifle

Raiden began life as the Diaclone "Trainbot", released as part of the "Real and Robo" subline. One of the few Diaclone toys not initially ported over for release in Hasbro's Transformers line, the Trainbots eventually found their way into the Transformers universe a few years later when they were released by Takara, without the addition of front and back armor panels for their combined mode, as part of the Headmasters line, available only in Japan.

The six Trainbots who form Raiden were available both individually and together in a giftset. Like his fellow Diaclone-born combiner Devastator, each of Raiden's components becomes a specific party of his body; they are not interchangeable, like the later-designed "Scramble City" combiners were. Raiden requires several additional parts to complete his combination, beyond the usual extremities-and-chestplate accessories of most other combiners, which take the form of various unique weapons: his shoulder-mounted "Wing Lasers", ankle-mounted "Leg Beams" and hand-held "Train Bazooka" gun, none of which are wielded by any of the smaller Trainbots.

The Trainbots were later re-released in 1990 as part of the Zone toyline, but only individual packaging, never as a giftset.

• More information on Raiden at TFU.info

Transform Jr

• Raiden (1987)
  • Accessories: Left & right fists, chestplate, "Train Bazooka" rifle

The simplified Transform Jr version of Raiden was released both as a single gift set and in three two-packs (Shouki and Seizan, Yukikaze and Suiken, and Getsuei and Kaen). Like the larger Trainbot toys, these six figures are carry-overs of pre-existing Diaclone toys. The giftset includes an Autobot insignia pocket-clip included with many Transform Jr figures.

• More information on Transform Jr Raiden at a Japanese fansite

Merchandise

Transformers Gum

• Raiden (1987)
  • Accessories: Left & right fists, 2 "Leg Beams"

Released as part of the seventh wave of Kabaya's Transformer Gum series of snap-together candy toy model kits, this simplified version of Raiden is molded in white, blue and grey plastic. Being that he is a combiner, Raiden doesn't transform like most other Transformers Gum models; instead, his limbs can disconnect and transform into train-mode Yukikaze, Seizan, Suiken and Getsuei (his torso is not capable of transforming, so Kaen and Shouki get no such love). The figure features no paint applications, but came with stickers to add detail, and a stick of terrible gum.

Super Collection Figure

File:Scf raiden.jpg

• Raiden (2001)
  • Accessories: Display stand

A three-inch tall PVC figurine of Raiden was available in the third Headmasters-centric wave of Takara's Super Collection Figure line. Like all the figures in the wave, it was available as both in both standard full color figure and colorless clear plastic versions, one of each of which was available in a standard case of twelve blindpacked figures. Additionally, in two out of every ten cases, the colored version of Raiden came packaged with the head and sword pieces for the wave's collectable Fortress Maximus "build-a-figure".

Trivia

"We've managed to avoid drowning!"

• The Trainbots' combined train form appears in the title sequence of the Super-God Masterforce cartoon, but not in the series itself. The series creators seem to have intended to use the Robot Train to travel back and forth to Athenia, more closely tying Super-God Masterforce to previous Transformers series, but the idea was quietly dropped. They did, however, appear for that purpose in the manga.

• The rivalry with Devastator could be due to the fact that, in addition to sharing Diaclone origins, the components also have a specific part mode, and in addition to that, the two respective combiners are the fusion of six robots.

• Though it is a little tricky to tell the true meaning of Raiden's name since it is "spelled" in phonetic katakana rather than kanji, it most likely should translate as Thunder and Lightning.

External links

• Raiden at Transformers @ The Moon