Zebra Ball

Zebra Ball is a Beastformer from the Generation 1 continuity family.

Much like his pelt pattern and mismatched cyborg armor, Zebra Ball (ゼブラボール Zeburabōru) is a beast of contrasts. The King of Johnston, he's a good-natured and kind beast, but also has a tendency to think in cold logic that some find off-putting. He's a natural leader who wants to do right by his people and help everyone he can, but also will rarely take action until he has thoroughly analyzed the situation and reached a conclusion he is 100% convinced of.

And though he's slow to take action, once he does, he's lightning-fast on his hooves. Though known for tearing across open meadows, he can actually sprint through even dense vegetation without slowing down... but while other beasts may do the same through dodging and weaving, Zebra Ball just plows right through, leaving a trail of devastation in his path. His legs can deliver kicks that can fell even mighty trees, and his MVP Weapon, the Super Zebra (スーパーゼブラ Sūpā Zebura), emits multiple tracking laser beams that slice through just about anything in his way, giving him a nice clear path to tear through. These lasers can also be used in combat against his foes.

Fiction

Beastformers comic

A combatant in the Beastformers' war with the Laser Beasts, Zebra Ball was manning the Wood Beetle's cannon during a Laser Beast attack. Beastformers VS Laser Beasts

Toys

Beastformers

• Zebra Ball (Beastformer, 1988)

• ID number: 69
• Pack: H
• Accessories: "Super Zebra" MVP Weapon

Released only in the post-Transformers "RPG"-themed Beastformers sequel series, Zebra Ball is an anthropomorphic zebra in purple and gray robotic armor. While his stripes are not painted, they are raised portions on his pelt, giving you a guide if you're feeling up to customizing. His left hand has been replaced with a short spear. The Battle Emblem on his chest reveals one of three symbols when warmed up; Fire, Water or Wood.

He was sold in two similar-but-different styles of boxes. The first "H Pack" style of box had the chance for his 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 second, seemingly more common release has a slightly different box with a peg-hole in the top flap, and 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

Meiji candy toys

• Zebra Ball (Gashapon/candy-toy Beastformer, 1988)
  • Meiji ID number: 20
  • Accessories: "Dog Hunter" weapon

A small, super-deformed, articulation-free version of Zebra Ball was sold both as a gashapon capsule prize by Takara (three per capsule for 200 yen), and as a candy toy with chocolate-coated cereal-like corn puff "chocoballs" through the candy/snack company Meiji (two toys per box, for 100 yen). 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 Meiji Beastformers come with a different Beastformer's weapon attached to their shoulder by a snippable sprue. Zebra came with Bowdog's "Dog Hunter" weapon, while Alligatron came with Zebra's "Super Zebra" weapon.

The interior of each chocoballs box contains super-brief bio data for two of the twenty possible beasts, as well as rules for three different styles of game: the traditional Fire/Wood/Water deal, a "flick the figures and knock your opponent over" deal, and a more involved game that requires character data from Meiji's other candy-based Beastformers merch, the Battle Cards (see below).

• Ramune Beastformers Battle Card (1988)
  • Meiji ID number: 20

A gold-foil "Battle Card" of Zebra Ball, featuring painted character art of the kind found on early Transformers: Beastformers bio cards (seen at top), was available in randomly-packed sets of cards that came with ramune-flavored candy tablets. The back of the card features a severely truncated bio, with data for the game from the Meiji chocoball SD figures' packaging.

Notes

Fanatical sword-wielding cyborg zebra. Awesome.

• Zebra Ball's 1987 art (seen at right) incorrectly colors both his weapon and his blade-arm as gold. The recolored 1988 version of the art corrects these mistakes.
• His 1988 bio card gives him the really imaginative nickname "Zebra" (ゼブラ Zebura), and notes he was born in Zebra City. We detect a theme.
• Zebra Ball is one of the very few "series 3" Beastformers with painted individual character art, seen on his Meiji Battle Card. Weirdly, his hand is rendered as a toy-like "mitten" rather than the usual separate-fingers-usually-with-spiky-claws-on-the-ends that literally every other Beastformer gets.

Foreign names

• English: Zealot Zebra