Enter the New Supreme Commander, Dai Atlas!

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<tr style="font-size:14px;"> <td class="tti_buttonlink">« </td><td>Transformers: Zone ep <strong class="selflink">1 </strong>

</td><td class="tti_buttonlink"> </td></tr></table> </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" style="font-size: 12px; background-color:#ffffff;" align="center"> <img alt="" src="/w2/images2/thumb/8/89/ZonePoster1.jpg/300px-ZonePoster1.jpg" width="300" height="419" border="0" /><br />Zone is the Enders </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" style="font-size: 14px; background-color:#e7d492; color:black;font-weight:bold;" align="center"> "Enter the New Supreme Commander, Dai Atlas!" <div style="font-size:x-small;font-weight:normal;">新総司令官ダイアトラス登場! <br />(Shin Sōshireikan Dai Atlas Tōjō!) </div> </td></tr>

<tr> <td> Airdate </td><td> 21 July 1990 </td></tr>

<tr> <td> Writer </td><td> Toyohiro Ando </td></tr>

<tr> <td> Continuity </td><td> Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity </td></tr></table> <table style="border:1px solid;border-spacing:0em;float:right;margin-left:1em"> <caption> Franchise navigation: </caption> <tr style="background:#ff9090"> <td style="text-align:center;width:12em">« Zone » </td></tr> <tr style="background:#eeeeee"> <td style="text-align:center">Toyline </td></tr> <tr style="background:#eeeeee"> <td style="text-align:center"><strong class="selflink">Cartoon</strong> </td></tr> <tr style="background:#eeeeee"> <td style="text-align:center">Manga </td></tr> <tr style="background:#eeeeee"> <td style="text-align:center">Story pages </td></tr></table>

When nine of the most powerful Decepticons are gathered together under the rule of Violen Jiger, Autobot Powered Master Dai Atlas must step forward to prevent them from acquiring the power of the mystical Zodiac.

Synopsis

Seeking to conquer the universe, the mysterious, demonic Violen Jiger gathers together the Decepticons Devastator, Menasor, Bruticus, Trypticon, Predaking, Abominus, King Poseidon, Overlord and BlackZarak as his Nine Great Demon Generals. To remove the threat the Autobots pose to his goal, he has the generals devastate the planet Feminia, drawing the attention of Autobot Supreme Commander Victory Saber and his troops, who arrive to save the planet's populace. Victory Saber saves the life of a young boy named Cain, but is unable to escape the planet's destruction himself and is left missing in action when Feminia explodes.

With the Autobots in disarray following the loss of Victory Saber, Violen Jiger charges his generals with obtaining the Autobots' new energy source Energon Z, and the Zodiac, the enigmatic energy force responsible for the creation of the universe, which he intends to fuse together to create the super-energy that will fuel his dreams of conquest.

Meanwhile, Cain and his pet Emusa are brought to Planet Zone, the fortified defence base of the Autobot Micromasters, where Countdown and Rabbicrater give him the lowdown on its history. Zone was created by the Powered Masters, early Transformer pioneers of space, and the Zone Base is powered by Energon Z—which makes the planet the next target for the Demon Generals. Overlord, Menasor, Bruticus and Abominus attack the planet and steal the Energon Z, escaping into space as Moonradar leads the Super Car Patrol Team and the Battle Patrol Team in pursuit. Their way is barred by BlackZarak, who impedes their progress with an energy net. The Jet Patrol Team free their companions, and Sunrunner tracks the Generals with his radar, discovering that the capsule of Energon Z has been handed off to the other half of the group, who are on their way to Earth.

Back on Zone, as the Rescue Patrol Team cleans up, the Powered Masters Dai Atlas and Sonic Bomber return from their search for Victory Saber, bringing the wounded commander back safely. The two Powered Masters briefly watch over Victory Saber in the infirmary, then set out for Earth, where Devastator, King Poseidon, Trypticon and Predaking are already wreaking havoc. The Micromasters, meanwhile, have already arrived on the planet, just in time to save a young boy named Akira, who... befriends... Cain as the Micromasters do the best they can to hold off the Generals. In the nick of time, Dai Atlas and Sonic Bomber arrive, and the battle goes underground as Devastator and Dai Atlas race to find the Zodiac, buried in a cavern beneath the Earth's surface. As Devastator is dispatched by a river of lava, King Poseidon attempts to escape with the Zodiac, but is stopped by Sonic Bomber, and tosses it to his fellow Generals. Dai Atlas is able to snatch it from their grasp, but the enraged Trypticon then unleashes a beam of Energon Z from the capsule directly at him. Sonic Bomber valiantly takes the hit for Dai Atlas and is nearly killed by the beam, but Trypticon simply fires off another shot. In desperation, Dai Atlas holds aloft the Zodiac and petitions it for help, and as the Energon Z washes over it, its power is unleashed. Dai Atlas and Sonic Bomber are transformed into "Zone Modes", heavily-armed base forms that dispense with King Poseidon and Trypticon. Attempting to flee, Predaking is cleaved in two by Dai Atlas's Zone Sword Cutter attack, and the Zodiac is retrieved.

And as the cherry blossoms lowered, so did our expectations.

The Autobots, Cain and Akira then discuss the nature of the Zodiac amongst themselves, with Akira revealing that he learned about the existence of Zodiac from his father, but he wants to know more about space and the Transformers. Conversely, Cain and Moonradar want to learn about Earth, and they all agree to teach each other about their respective subjects. Emusa then invites Akira to Zone, and Dai Atlas approves; Akira is ecstatic, but stops to pull something from his backpack — he presents Cain and Emusa with some flowers, and wants to bring plenty along for the trip!

Returning to Zone, Victory Saber appoints Dai Atlas as the new Supreme Commander of the Autobots. The flying Emusa throws a bouquet into the air that falls apart, and as the petals rain down on the laughing boys and nearby Autobots, the crowd cheers Dai Atlas' name.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

<table border="5" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="5" align="center" style="border:#800000"> <tr> <th style="background:#FFEEEE"> Autobots</th><th style="background:#EEEEFE"> Decepticons</th><th style="background:antiquewhite"> Humans</th><th style="background:#FFEEB8"> Others </th></tr> <tr> <td style="background:#FFEEEE" valign="top">

• Victory Saber (6)
• Galaxy Shuttle (7)
• Holi (8)
• Pīpō (9)
• Fire (10)
• Boater (11)
• Countdown (17)
• Rabbicrater (18)
• Starcloud (20)
• Windrim (21)
• Big Shot (22)
• Whisper (23)
• Nightflight (24)
• Sidetrack (25)
• Flak (26)
• Gingham (27)
• Black Heat (28)
• Sunrunner (29)
• Dai Atlas (31)
• Sonic Bomber (32)
• Tailspin (33)
• Swindler (34)
• Roadhandler (35)
• Deadhour (37)
• Road Hugger (38)
• Road Caesar (39)
• Grand Maximus (40)
• Landcross (41)
• Metalhawk (42)
• Lander (43)
• Lightfoot (44)
• Ranger (45)
• Road King (46)

</td><td style="background:#EEEEFE" valign="top">

• Overlord (3)
• Abominus (4)
• Menasor (5)
• Violen Jiger (12)
• Devastator (13)
• Trypticon (14)
• Predaking (15)
• King Poseidon (16)
• Bruticus (19)
• BlackZarak (30)

</td><td style="background:antiquewhite" valign="top">

• Cain (1)
• Akira (36)

</td><td style="background:#FFEEB8" valign="top">

• Emusa (2)

</td></tr></table>

Other notes

Transformers references

• The Transformers previously visited Planet Feminia in issue 5 of the 1986 manga, The Story of Super Robot Lifeforms: The Transformers. Kup also mentioned it in "Birth of the Fantastic Double Prime".
• Planet Zone is an overhauled, upgraded version of Micro, seen previously in the Victory animated series.
• Core of the Zone Base, referred to as the "Rocket Base" in the toyline and TV Magazine spreads, is identical to the Shuttle Base from Victory. It's not clear if they're supposed to be the same structure.
• The fire station, gas station, airport and construction station Micromaster Bases belonging to Hot House, Glasspit, Overair and Ironworks, respectively, all appear as part of the Zone Base, although their Micromaster owners do not.

Miscellaneous trivia

• This is the only episode of Zone in existence. Although rumors have always circulated that as many as five could have been completed, only this first episode was released, and serves as the final animated installment of the Japanese Generation 1 cartoon. The episode is an adaptation of the single chapter of Zone manga, or perhaps vice-versa—the manga was released three months before the OVA, although it's not totally clear which media the story was first conceived for. There are some small differences between the anime and the manga: most notably, in the manga, Predaking is blasted by Dai Atlas and Sonic Bomber's Zone Modes along with King Poseidon and Trypticon, while the anime sees him make a run for it and wind up getting bisected. Story pages in TV Magazine would later establish that Trypticon and Predaking also both survived the Zone Mode blast in the manga, whereas they rather definitively died in the anime (Predaking's manga fate was not expanded upon). As such, the story pages are, in the strictest sense, not in-continuity with the anime, although the official 2007 timeline established that their events, in broad strokes, also occurred in animated continuity.
• The Zone VHS came packaged with the exclusive figure, Rabbicrater.
• Four complete Micromaster teams appear in this episode: the Rescue Patrol Team, the Battle Patrol Team, the Jet Patrol Team and the Super Car Patrol Team. The latter two use the molds from the Air Strike Patrol and the Sports Car Patrol, who were Decepticons in the West.
• Only three members of the Race Car Patrol Team appear in this episode—in cameos from behind, nonetheless. The missing member is Free Wheeler, who can briefly be spotted in the opening sequence.

Cain really looks like he stepped out of Knights of the Zodiac, doesn't he?

• So, uh... yeah. Cain and Akira are pretty gay. Aside from both being very effeminate in design, there's a scene in the story where, during Predaking and Trypticon's attack on the base-mode Galaxy Rocket, Akira is shaken up and falls back into Cain's arms, and they linger on the pair in close-up as both of them blush. Then, the whole closing sequence is about them running through a field of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sh%C5%8Djo" class="extiw" title="wikipedia:Shōjo">shōjo bubbles</a> and watching the sunrise together. Quite why Takara caved in to the use of such ghastly anime cliché visuals after having stayed away from anything even close to this in Transformers before, we may never know.
• Devastator totally knocks down the World Trade Center. That dastardly terrorist.

External Link

• Transformers Zone article at the Japanese Wikipedia