Spin Off

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It all begins here, folks!

Spin Off is a Japanese pack-in comic series and multimedia project exclusive to e-HOBBY and TakaraTomy Mall's offerings from 2015 through 2018. Not quite a franchise in its own right but not really a subline imprint either, it essentially represents the folding of e-HOBBY's offerings into the branding of TakaraTomy's retail lines in a move not dissimilar to the shuttering of Fun Publications's Timelines branding by Hasbro in the west around the same time. Its primary claim to fame is birthing the Primus Vanguard storyline that would come to dominate TakaraTomy's pack-in output in the age of Generations Selects.

Fiction

Print comic

Written and drawn by Makoto Wakabayashi and Shin Sasaki with colors by Kazumasa Yasukuni, the fiction of Spin Off is primarily presented in a series of full size comics sold alongside the relevant toys. The first two 6 page issues see Wakabayashi pen the solo adventures of two dimension hoppers, Grand Scourge and Deadlock, broadly following his extensive work on the last joint exclusive TakaraTomy franchise, Transformers Cloud. Starting with the third issue, the series is bumped up to 14 pages as the new team of Sasaki and Yasukuni introduce an entirely new cast in a new setting that would be built upon at length by Sasaki and others in the subsequent Generations Selects comic: following the precocious young clone Convobat and his gang of misfits as they fight to survive in the ruins of the mysterious Primus Vanguard.

«	Spin Off issues:	»
Unite Warriors: Decepticon Dark Commander Grand Scourge Legends: Decepticon Jaeger Deadlock Cybertron Convobat Cybertron Magna Convoy

Web comic

Each release under Sasaki and Yasukuni's tenure received short, untitled web comics contributing to the ongoing storyline in the listings of the toys themselves, either supplementing or in Blue Big Convoy's case replacing the print issues.

	Spin Off web comics:
Convobat Magna Convoy Blue Big Convoy

Social media

Lastly, a recurring feature called Profile+ ran throughout 2017 on the official e-HOBBY Twitter account providing additional art and story tidbits about Sasaki and Yasakuni's storyline.

Toys

The toys carrying Spin Off fiction were released through an idiosyncratic mix of lines and venues befitting its transitional place in the history of TakaraTomy's exclusives.

e-HOBBY

Unite Warriors Grand Scourge

Legends Deadlock Convobat with Megalligator and Ape X Arms Magna Convoy

Convobat

TakaraTomy Mall

Legends Blue Big Convoy

Merchandise

Transformers Character Card

Spin Off saw something of a surprise return in 2022 when e-HOBBY revisited a selection of exclusive characters from across its history in the retrospective Transformers Character Card series of trading cards.

Relevant releases thus far include:

Wave 1 (January 25, 2022) Convobat and Megaligator[sic] Set

Wave 3 (April 14, 2022) Magna Convoy and Straxus Set

Wave 4 (August 29, 2022) Drift and Deadlock Set Grand Scourge and Lockdown Set

Wave 6 (February 6, 2023) Bruticus and Iguanus Set

Notes

• The Spin Off method of inserting web comics into the toy listings themselves would come to be the dominant release venue for its successor the Generations Selects Special Comic from 2019 onward.

References

• A complete archive of Profile+
• Spin Off comic translations courtesy of Mohair Translations
• Lettered Spin Off web comic translations by Fanofcoolstuff27
• Lettered Spin Off print comic translations by MrRald
  • Cybertron Convobat
  • Cybertron Magna Convoy