White Leo

This article is about the heroic Beastformer. For his mirrorverse counterpart, see Daburu (SG).

White Leo is a Beastformer from the Generation 1 continuity family.

We can rebuild him. We have the technology.

White Leo (ホワイトレオ Howaitoreo), White (ホワイト Howaito) to his friends, is the leader of the Autobot-aligned Beastformers, anthropomorphic animal aliens from planet Beast. Calm, collected and above all gentle, he's seen as the leader of all Beastformers when they're not at war and takes the role of general when they are. In battle, he is an excellent martial artist and wields the White Beamer, a sword that can fire beams and grants him use of the legendary technique known as "Creation of All Things" (the details of which are vague). As a member of the Lion clan, a royal family with thousands of years of history, White Leo has ascended to become the king of Bistoram, aided by Emperor Flykick.

He and his younger sister White Lune were born in Lake City.

Fiction

Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity

The Headmasters cartoon

Voice actor: Keiichi Nanba (Japanese), John Culkin (English, Omni Productions dub)

Rejected by the Thundercats.

When the Decepticons invaded and took over the planet, White Leo headed a group of rebel Beastformers, though they didn't have much luck in rescuing a number of their fellows whom the Decepticons had enslaved in an underground factory. White Leo and his lieutenants were trying to decide what to do next when the Autobot Headmasters arrived. The newcomers teamed up with White Leo's rebels and went to check out the Decepticon base. White Leo knew of an entrance beneath the piragilon swamp, and Fortress instructed him to use it while the Autobots took care of the Decepticons.

White Leo contacted Platinum Tiger who knew the way, but told him it would be impossible as the swamp was infested with metal-eating piragilons. White Leo was stymied until Fortress used Battleship Maximus to drain the water from the swamp, leaving the piragilons helpless. White Leo was then able to lead his team into the cave under the swamp, and with Platinum Tiger's help, head towards the Decepticon factory. They encountered Wheelie, Daniel Witwicky and the escaping prisoners partway through the tunnel, and led them back out into the open air. The victorious Autobots provided White Leo with the services of the Monsterbots, should the Decepticons return. Rebellion on Planet Beast

The Headmasters comic

In White Leo's absence, the Decepticons attacked Beast with Alligatron's forces again, this time also using Predaking and a horde of Sharkticons. When the Decepticon forces held Brainstorm and Highbrow hostage, Alligatron hoped to use them to lure White Leo into their clutches. White Leo soon arrived with a contingent of Autobot Beastformers to aid the Autobot Transformers, and they were all successful at driving the Decepticon invaders off the planet once again. White Leo thanked the Autobots for their help at making Beast a peaceful planet. The Decisive Battle of Planet Beast!

Beastformers catalogs

Thanks to Autobot technology, White Leo was reborn as a stronger warrior wielding Burstsun Power, allowing him to defeat the elements of fire, water, and wood. Using his Scanning Eye, Devilbat took a Secret Photo of White Leo exposing information about his new power, but dropped it in a forest. Series 2 catalog Scrambling to find the Secret Photo before the Decepticons could, White Leo and his troops came upon the Red Phoenix, ancient guardian of the Lion clan, which helped them recover the photo from Alligatron. Series 3 catalog

White Leo was later ambushed by Alligatron in a bottomless swamp in the middle of the forest, but successfully bested his nemesis, killing him with Burstsun Power. However, Alligatron returned as a ghost and revived Cobrander, who continued the war against White Leo's forces. Burstsun catalog

Beastformers comic

In the aftermath of the Beastformers' war, freak weather patterns began wreaking havoc on Beast because of imbalance between the six elemental gems of the Three Wise Ones. Determined to fix this by recovering the lost gems, White Leo led Badshark, Bowdog, Bluehorse and Deaspider to Lake Sagan in Sunatoria, where the Water Gem of Stillness was believed to lie. The mission had several possible outcomes and the Beastformers may have either succeeded or been forced to retreat by a giant scorpion or the mysterious enemy Sur, who would battle them for the gem if they found it. The Water Gem of Stillness

The natural disasters led to the emergence of the Laser Beasts, a subterranean race with designs to take the surface of Beast for themselves. Though he was warned by Bombsheep that the Laser Beasts were targeting his nation, having conquered the rest of the continent, White Leo was reluctant to begin another war and opposed to Rabbit Kid's idea of using the Head Hunters to fight back. He attempted to negotiate peace with the Laser Beasts, but they immediately opened fire and injured him, angering the Beastformer populace who rose up and declared war on the invaders. White Leo again acted as leader of the army in this new conflict. Beastformers VS Laser Beasts

Ask Vector Prime

In gratitude to a team of Autobot Pretenders, White Leo gave them the Ultra Matrix. Ask Vector Prime, 2015/09/30

Legends comic

White Leo ended the war with the Decepticon Beastformers by defeating Cobrander only for a new war to break out when the Laser Beasts invaded from the planet's underground. His forces were losing more and more territory to the invaders when several Autobots arrived to assist, only for the Laser Beasts merged with three of the Transformers to grow even more powerful. After recovering the six gems that held the power of the Three Wise Ones, White Leo was told by Platinum Tiger of the Legends World, a dimension of beasts that could be of help. LG51 Doublecross Prologue

Defeated by the Laser Beast Emperor Tigerburn, White Leo fled to the Legends World with his sister, White Lune, and the six gems. With the gems, he transformed Neo Akihabara City into a jungle and forcibly recruited its citizens as new "Beastformers". Unfortunately, his nemesis, Tigerburn, followed him to the Legends World, with the captive Doublecross in tow. White Lune came to the rescue, helping White Leo use the gems to merge White Leo with Doublecross's severed head, transforming him into a Headmaster, and merging White Lune with Tigerburn's Haywire Laser. After taking over Doublecross, White Leo was able to use him and the Haywire Laser to send Tigerburn blasting off. With their newly acquired powers, White Leo and White Lune returned to their world to continue the war against the Laser Beasts. Bonus Edition Vol. 51 White Leo later sent his sister to the Autobots in G Nebula 89 so they could grant her the ability to transform back into her original form. Late Xmas Present Chapter

White Leo and Doublecross battled the Laser Beasts until the year 2023, when a large number of Transformers arrived on Beast and sided with the Beastformers. This allowed Leo the opportunity to grapple with Tigerburn and, through the power of the gems, sacrifice himself to crystallize both himself and the Laser Beast emperor. As he had hoped, the crystal statues of White Leo and Tigerburn in their final struggle became a symbol of unity that allowed the Beastformers and Laser Beasts to make peace. The Road to Legends' Revival Chapter 1 Fifteen years later they were discovered by Rattrap when he arrived on Beast. Legends World in Imminent Danger! Part Two

Dreamwave Generation One continuity

White Leo was in the front lines, fighting off Megatron's Air Warrior armies when the Decepticon came to take the Predacons. Welcome to the Jungle

Mini Mayhem!

When Galvatron unleashed Predaking, boasting that the gestalt's combined animal strength was unparalleled, White Leo and his allies stood united to prove him wrong. Mini Mayhem!

Beast Wars: Uprising

In Beast Wars: Uprising, Daburu and White Leo are the same individual, "Daburu Leo".

An inhabitant of the colony world Rebirth, Daburu Leo was an Optimus enforcer who fought and pursued the rebel Malignus faction underground when their protests threatened the interests of the planetary oligarchy. A Brush With Infamy–Prologue

Toys

Transformers: Beastformers

Kimba me timbas.

• White Leo (Beastformer, 1987)
  • Beast ID number: 1
  • Accessories: Sword

Released in the first series of Beastformers, White Leo is an anthropomorphic white lion with blue robotic armor. The rubsign on his chest reveals one of three randomly-applied symbols; Fire, Water or Wood.

He was re-released in the subsequent second and third series; while the toy proper was not changed, the packaging and packed-in bio card was. The Series 1 release comes in a generic red-grid "Cybertron Beastformer" box, with a red-grid bio card with a painted character image on the front, though there was a random chance of his card being replaced by the rare "Holography Mirror" card. Series 2 came in a green-grid generic "Cybertron Beastformer" box, with the bio card putting the painted image on a jungle backdrop. Series 3's box was unchanged, but the bio card replaced the painted image with a simpler line-art image, first used in Hasbro's Battle Beasts cast poster. In the green-box releases, depending on the "Pack" he came in, there was a chance of his bio card being replaced with a rare "Secret Photo", "Bewitching Serpent Seal", or "VS Holography Mirror" card.

• White Leo (Gahsapon Beastformer, 1987)
  • Beast ID number: 1
  • Accessories: Weapon

Many of the first-series Beastformers were also sold in gashapon capsule machines, White Leo included. This version is identical to the regularly-released boxed version, including the randomized rubsign, except the gashapons appear to have randomized weapons (or just crummy quality control).

There is also a rare all-white/cream version of White Leo; these rare versions can vary in how white they actually are, and it's uncertain if that's how they started or if some have simply yellowed with age. These white versions tend to be very expensive on the secondary market.

• Burstsun Special Set (Multi-pack, 1987)
  • Beast ID number: 1
  • Accessories: Sword

The first Beastformers multipack, the Burstsun Special Set (バーストサンスペシャルセット Bāsutosan Supesharu Setto) contained ten figures. It could have one of two special editions of the faction leaders: either a clear-plastic "Ghost" version of Alligatron, or White Leo with the then-unique "Burstsun" rubsign (but no other notable changes). Each one came with a new bio card. The other nine slots were filled out from a possible roster of twelve other figures, all unchanged from their individual releases. The box contained no windows, so you didn't know which toys you got until you opened it up.

The twelve possible standard Beastformers in the set were Black Jaguar, Būpink, Crowmax, Dog Hunter, Dream Eater, Earthhog, Mingo Kid, Muskhorn, Pangol, Slo, Udan, and White Cow.

Beastformers

• White Leo (Beastformer, 1988)
  • Beast ID number: 1
  • Accessories: "White Beamer" MVP Weapon

White Leo (along with all of the previously-released Beastformers) was re-released in the subsequent "Role Playing Animal Team" Transformers-less sequel series of Beastformers, in new packaging with a new, more info-filled bio card with recolored character line-art.

While the base toy is unchanged from the previous releases, there are some important rubsign variants introduced in this series (also happening in Hasbro's version of the line at the time). Early releases in this series advertised the "Burstsun" symbol appearing on random Beastformers (not just White Leo this time!). Late in the run, without any kind of announcement, the style of the rubsigns changed, now revealing a full color image of Fire, Wood or Water on a black backdrop. All of the Beastformers could come with this style of rubsign, and their late-run nature make them rarer (and more sought-after by collectors).

• White Leo (Gashapon/candy-toy Beastformer, 1988)
  • Meiji ID number: 1
  • Accessories: "Tomahorn" weapon

A small, super-deformed, articulation-free version of White Leo was sold both as a gashapon capsule prize by Takara, and as a candy toy with "chocoballs" through the candy/ snack company Meiji. The candy toy version came with a bio/data card with its own role-playing rules, using the old Transformers-era painted character art.

This stumpy lil fellow could be found in red, blue or green plastic, representing the Fire, Water and Wood elements (even though he still had a rubsign). All of the gacha/candy Beastformers come with a different Beastformer's weapon attached to their shoulder by a snippable sprue. White Leo came with Violethorn's "Tomahorn", while Beafox had White Leo's "White Beamer".

Legends

• Targetmaster Doublecross (November 25, 2017)
  • ID number: LG-51

White Leo functions as the Headmaster of Legends Targetmaster Doublecross. He is a redeco of Titans Return Daburu, who was designed in homage to White Leo to begin with.

This figure was later retooled to become Titans Return Fengul / Legends Platinum Tiger and again to make Titans Return Dastard / Legends Hedgehog.

Notes

Foreign names

• English: Pirate Lion, Sheep Commander (Omni Productions dub)
• Italian: Leone Bianco