Bonga

Bonga is a Beastformer from the Generation 1 continuity family.

Ro-Man V2.

Bonga (ボンガ), also known as Gori (ゴリ), is one of the many Beastformers who joined White Leo's resistance forces as Galvatron's Decepticons began to conquer the formerly-peaceful planet Beast with their army of cold-blooded insurgents. He's free spirited, good with children and easily startled. He holds the rank of King of Halas over his best friend, Emperor Black Turtle, and rules his land with a focus on welfare policy. Bonga's role in the Autobot-allied Beastformer forces is a land attack commander and he specializes in hand-to-hand combat and use of the Bonga Sabel, a weapon that can separate objects into their component molecules and absorb them. Once the battle is done, he can reassemble the collected molecules into a new weapon.

Fiction

Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity

Beastformers comic

Bonga was among the Beastformers who fought in their war with the Laser Beasts. Beastformers VS Laser Beasts

Legends comic

Bonga took part in the final battle between the Beastformers and the Laser Beasts on Beast in 2023. The Road to Legends' Revival Chapter 1

Dreamwave Generation One continuity

Bonga was among the many Beastformers squabbling on their home planet when Megatron arrived to fetch the Predacons. Welcome to the Jungle

Toys

Transformers: Beastformers

• Bonga (Beastformer, 1987)
  • Beast ID number: 13
  • Accessories: Blade-weapon

Part of the first series of Takara's Beastformers toys, Bonga is an anthropomorphic gorilla in orange robotic armor. The rubsign on his chest reveals one of three symbols; Fire, Water or Wood.

The Hasbro Battle Beasts release of the figure primarily came in red armor, but late-run releases gave him the Takara orange armor. It's uncertain if the red-armor version was ever released in the Takara line.

He was re-released in the second 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. 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" or "Bewitching Serpent Seal".

• Bonga (Gahsapon Beastformer, 1987)
  • Beast ID number: 13
  • Accessories: Blade-weapon

Many of the first-series Beastformers were also sold in gashapon capsule machines, Bonga 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 Bonga; 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.

Beastformers

• Bonga (Beastformer, 1988)
  • Beast ID number: 13
  • Accessories: "Bonga Sabel" MVP Weapon

Re-released in the Transformers-less Beastformers sequel series, Bonga was given a straight re-release with new packaging and a new, more filled-out bio card with corrected coloring. This new card also gave his weapon, now branded an "MVP Weapon", the name "Bonga Sabel" (ボンガサーベル Bonga Sāberu).

He was sold in two similar-but-different styles of boxes. One wholly-generic version, sold in large display boxes like the Transformers releases, advertised the chance for the 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 more common version has a slightly different box with a peg-hole in the top flap, and has 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

• Ramune Beastformers Battle Card (1988)
  • Meiji ID number: 30

Released by candy/snack maker Meiji, a gold-foil "Battle Card" of Bonga was available in randomly-packed sets of cards that came with grape-flavored ramune candy tablets. The back of the card features a severely truncated bio, with data for the game from the Meiji chocoball SD figures' packaging.

While line-art of an SD Bonga figure is featured on the cardback, there is no evidence a toy like this was ever released.

Notes

Foreign names

• English: Gargantuan Gorilla