Transformers: Kiss Players (radio drama)

The fiction of the Kiss Players franchise is related through a serial radio drama aired weekly, with special installments packaged with toys, a monthly manga and several installments of the 15 Go! Go! manga, with toy pack-in booklets, flyers and on-package text filling in other details. This page covers the brief, mostly-inconsequential "plots" of the radio dramas. For a detailed summary of the overarcing storyline of the series, and links for more information on the manga, see: Kiss Players (fiction)

Weekly Kiss Players shows

Note that the broadcast order of the radio plays is not the actual chronological story order of the plays. This order is noted below.

#	Brief summary	Chronological story order	Original airdate
1	Marissa Faireborn boasts about her new boyfriend, Optimus Prime, whom she awakened from a "deep sleep" with a kiss.	8	3 April 2006
2	Shaoshao Li details how she is working with Hot Rod to expose the evils of her former employer, the EDC, and is starting to overcome her distrust of Transformers.	9	10 April 2006
3	New EDC recruit Atari Hitotonari worries about her carsickness, and despite her resolve, complains about having to kiss her Autrooper.	1	17 April 2006
4	Marissa describes how Prime will not let her fight because he fears for her safety. She resolves to kiss him so that he can share her knife-wielding skills.	11	24 April 2006
5	Shaoshao talks with disgust about her job as an EDC Kiss Player and how she had to kiss robots. She's not much happier that she's still doing it even now, but she notes that she'll swallow her pride to save Hot Rod if she has to.	12	1 May 2006
6	Atari wails repeatedly about how embarrassed she is by the kiss fusion process.	2	8 May 2006
7	Marissa talks about her surfing skills, wondering if she could share them with Optimus. He tells her that he's already quite experienced.	13	15 May 2006
8	Outraged at Hot Rod's smug self-confidence and lack of martial arts ability, Shaoshao decides to train him herself. She's not very happy when he points out she could just kiss him and share her knowledge that way.	14	22 May 2006
9	Atari explains that she has recently had her life saved several times by Marissa and Optimus Prime. Since her and Marissa's powers both come from kissing, she worries that this must mean her own kisses are not good enough. She vows to become better at kissing, only to realize what an embarrassing thing she has just said.	21	29 May 2006
10	Marissa relates how Optimus has transformed her surfboard into a knife so that he could actually use the knife-wielded skills she shares with him. She's not that pleased about it, and she threatens to "transform" his truck bed into her own private bathroom.	15	5 June 2006
11	Shaoshao continues Hot Rod's martial arts training, and the Autobot puts his tonfa weapons to use. The pair embark on a long-distance drive as a form of endurance training.	16	12 June 2006
12	Atari describes her Autrooper and its abilities. When a Legion attacks during routine daily patrol, Autrooper takes off with such speed that the screaming Atari gets carsick.	4	19 June 2006
13	Marissa and Atari meet for the first time and have a friendly conversation, and as they talk, they seem to become friends. However, when Marissa discovers that Atari is a member of the EDC, she is sad, as she realizes that it is quite likely she and Optimus Prime will have to fight Atari in the future.	20	26 June 2006
14	Optimus Prime is making Shaoshao is feel very stressed, even though Hot Rod is convinced that the Optimus Prime currently active is an impostor. When Shaoshao hears Marissa's voice, she starts to think the stress is making her crack.	22	3 July 2006
15	Atari expresses her admiration for the senior members of her EDC squad.	3	10 July 2006
16	Marissa dubs the sword Prime has made out of her surfboard the "Surf Blade" and his gun the "Convoy Gun", declaring herself their "godmother". In response, Prime names the three skulls on her shirt "The Three Skull Brothers".	17	17 July 2006
17	Shaoshao notes that the EDC has been hunting down her and Hot Rod, but despite this, her Autobot partner still has time for a little fishing now and then. She, however, hates having to kiss Hot Rod when he comes back from a fishing trip stinking of fish.	23	24 July 2006
18	Atari wonders about the mysterious disappearance of Shaoshao from the EDC ranks. The rumors that she is currently working against the EDC with the Autobot Hot Rod worry her.	18	31 July 2006
19	Marissa talks about washing Optimus, particularly his stick shift and the rim of his gas tank. Yeeeah.	19	7 August 2006
20	Shaoshao describes how Hot Rod has built a special new fishing rod for himself, the "Exhaust Rod", which can transform into a set of blasters.	8	14 August 2006
24	Atari's Autrooper inexplicably shrinks to palm-size after a kiss, but Commander Amaō explains it by telling Atari that some Transformers possess that power. Atari is horrified when the shrunken Autrooper crawls inside her shirt while she is daydreaming about desserts.	8	21 August 2006
22	Marissa reflects on the events of the summer as she and Prime watch a fireworks display from a safe distance. Marissa hopes that Transformers and humans can recapture their past relationship.	27	28 August 2006
23	Shaoshao once again thinks of Marissa and how she befriended her when she was a child, living in New York, where her parents ran a Chinese restaurant. Resentful of Optimus Prime for "stealing" Marissa away from her, she joined the EDC, but she never expected things to be as they are now.	28	4 September 2006
24	Atari senses a humanity within her Autrooper.	5	11 September 2006
25	Marissa reflects on Optimus Prime's past.	29	18 September 2006
26	Shaoshao thinks about Hot Rod's past.	30	25 September 2006
27	The ghost of Starscream has possessed Atari and has Doctor Arkeville create him a new body, only for it to be destroyed by Autroopers.	7	3 October 2006
28	Marissa loses her underwear.	25	10 October 2006
29	Shaoshao gets her hands on Marissa's underwear.	26	17 October 2006
30	Made sick by teammate Ringo Chikuma's driving, Atari begins to feel that she is all alone.	10	31 October 2006
31	Marissa relates how Optimus Prime has been suffering a recurring nightmare and begun to feel destructive impulses.	31	7 November 2006
32	Shaoshao and Hot Rod witness the ghostly image of a young girl riding on the shoulder of a Legion.	32	14 November 2006
33	When Atari is ignored by her teammate Kayu Michikusa, she spitefully breaks a promise to her.	33	21 November 2006
34	Marissa and Optimus Prime go on their "last date".	34	28 November 2006
35	As Hot Rod also begins to suffering disturbing nightmares, Shaoshao whispers lies into his ear.	35	5 December 2006
36	When Kayu's Autrooper goes berserk, Ringo mercilessly shoots it down despite Atari's pleas. In response, Atari blacks out, and her Autrooper goes on a rampage, injuring or perhaps killing Ringo.	36	12 December 2006
37	Marissa and Optimus attack the EDC, battling Shaoshao and Hot Rod and settling their differences. The foursome join forces with Atari, and they prepare to uncover the mystery at the heart of the EDC at last.	37	19 December 2006
38	Out in space, the three Mini-Cassettes Rosanna, Glit and Sundor join up to become a musical group called the Cassette Players.	38	26 December 2006

CD collections and special episodes

The weekly installments of the Kiss Players radio drama (save for episode #38) were included on CDs packaged with the Kiss Players toyline.

• Episodes 1-5 were included with Convoy X Melissa.
• Episodes 6-10 were included with Atari X Autrooper.
• Episodes 11-20 were included with Hot Rodimus X Syaosyao.
• Episodes 21-30 were included with Autorooper X Atari.
• Episodes 31-37 were included with the Sparkbot set

The first four sets also included a ten-minute long bonus play each, as follows:

Title	Chronological story order	Packaged with
"Someday, Under the Sun"	Between #19 and #13	Convoy X Melissa
Optimus Prime takes Marissa to the beach so that she may surf under the safe cover of night, but as she swims out into the sea, she finds herself subject to the advances of an octopus. Prime wades into the water to disentangle her, only to discover that it's not simply an octopus—it's a Legion! As Prime struggles with the creature, Marissa stabs it with her knife, and it hurls her away. Marissa kisses Prime and they fuse together, using the Surfblade to dispose of the Legion. After the battle, as the sun begins to rise, Prime and Marissa spot an Autrooper, and beat a hasty retreat. But someday, Prime promises, they'll be able to come to the beach under the light of the sun.
"Atari's Close Call?!"	Between #24 and #21	Atari X Autorooper
Atari discovers that that omelette she ate for breakfast had a Legion inside it, and the creature is now running rampant inside her body. She kisses her Autrooper, causing it to shrink down so that it can enter he body and get rid of the Legion. The fight carries the two tiny terrors throughout out Atari's digestive system and into her stomach, where the Autrooper destroys the Legion with Atari's stomach acid. Unfortunately for Atari, she has to stick her finger down her throat and puke up the Autrooper in order to get him out.
"A Big Catch Tonight?!"	Between #20 and #28	Hot Rodimus X Syaosyao
Hot Rod and Shaoshao visit the rebuilt Tokyo Bay Bridge for a fishing date, where they discuss Marissa and Optimus Prime and what they plan to do to end their conflict with them. The date is interrupted by the attack of twenty-three Legions, but Shaoshao refuses to kiss Hot Rod until he is overwhelmed by the Legion and in serious trouble. Shaoshao relents and the pair fuse, transforming Hot Rod's fishing rod into a blaster that makes short work of the monsters. Through this latest mental fusion, Shaoshao discovers that Hot Rod was the one who hurled Galvatron through space, leading to his crash on Earth, and that Hot Rod gave up the Matrix of Leadership to Ultra Magnus so he could come to Earth and atone for his sins. Shaoshao is furious, and the fusion abruptly ends... hurling her straight into the river below! Shaoshao is okay, though, and is forced to hang her clothes on Hot Rod's fishing pole so they can dry.
"You, I and the Spinning Earth"	After #37	Autorooper X Atari
Venturing through the Spiral Vagina into the secret Genital System facility beneath EDC headquarters, Prime, Hot Rod and the girls discover the lifeless body of Galvatron. Suddenly, a door comes slamming down, separating Atari from the others. Commander Amaō appears before her and reveals that she intends to use her in her fusion experiments, hoping that she will somehow be able to use her to resurrect her daughter, who died when Galvatron landed on Tokyo. As Amaō begins the process, Melissa, Shaoshao, Prime and Rodimus come smashing through the door, but the two Transformers' proximity to Galvatron triggers the destructive impulses of his cells within their bodies, and they struggle to remain in control of themselves. Atari fights against the process, remembering her friendless childhood and how far she has come, and merges with her Autrooper, seizing Galvatron's body and blasting off into the air. The Autroopers and Legions all follow her, and the underground facility collapse, killing Amaō, who sees a vision of her daughter before she perishes. Hot Rod destroys the anti-electron field generator, after which his Galvatron cells, along with those from Prime, the Autroopers and the Legions, are sucked from his body, and recombined with Galvatron's body. Atari hurls Galvatron back into space, and looks down upon the Earth in happiness.

Weekly Kiss Players Position shows

When the series transitioned into its second year the following week, the loss of the manga made the radio drama a lot more pertinent, and the segments shifted from inconsequential ruminations to a continuous time-travel plot that was by necessity aired in the correct story order (and was incredibly fanwanky). The format of the show remained the same (one actress performing a short 1-3 minute long segment), save for the 51st and final episode, which aired a day earlier than normal thanks to a sporting event, and featured all three actresses performing together.

#	Brief summary	Original airdate
39	With the deactivation of Earth's anti-electron field, Marissa, Shaoshao and Atari join with Rosanna, Sundor and Glit to form the singing group called the "Kiss Players" to improve Transformer-human relations. Just before they perform at Robots in Disguise Fortress Maximus in America, Marissa, Atari and Shaoshao are approached by three mysterious orbs calling themselves the Sparkbots, who instruct them to kiss them. Doing so, the girls find themselves whisked off through time, appearing at Sherman Dam in 1984, where Optimus Prime and Megatron are embroiled in battle.	2 January 2007
40	The Sparkbots instruct Marissa to kiss Optimus Prime in order to recover a piece of what they call the "Allspark" from him. Marissa kisses the pink Sparkbot, which transforms into a flying mechanical lion named Angela that carries Marrisa (who is invisible to the residents of this time) through the air so she can plant a smooch on Prime. Angela takes possession the Allspark piece which emerges, and they head off back into the timestream, as Marissa regretted that she could do nothing to avert Prime's looming fate.	9 January 2007
41	Shaoshao kisses the white Sparkbot, and it transforms into the avian Zangetsu, who travels with Shaoshao to 2005 to witness Hot Rod's transformation into Rodimus Prime and his defeat of Galvatron. The pair then travel forward to 2010, where Shaoshao kisses Rodimus at the Galactic Olympics on Athenia to recover another fragment of the Allspark.	16 January 2007
42	Although with the third and final Sparkbot, Star Dust, Atari journeys to 2011 to obtain another piece of the Allspark from Generation 1 Fortress Maximus. The pair appear in space just as Mars explodes, and witness Maximus's brief subsequent battle with Scorponok, after which Atari kisses him.	23 January 2007
43	On her next mission, Marissa witnesses a robot she believes to be Optimus Prime being violently bested in combat by Overlord. She hastily kisses what she thinks is her longtime robotic beau, only to be informed by Angela that this is actually Ginrai, a human man bonded to a body intended for Prime. Marissa is horrified that she has kissed someone other than Prime, and begs Angela not to tell anyone.	30 January 2007
44	Shaoshao goes on a veritable kissing marathon. Starting in 2025, she kisses Star Saber just before he intiates his final attack on Deathsaurus's Planet-Destroying Fortress. Next, she quickly jumps forward in time and recovers another from Dai Atlas, then jumps forward even further to obtain another from Star Convoy. The fact that she has to kiss a version of Optimus Prime revolts her, but things don't get any better: she quickly jumps through time three more times, kissing Optimus Prime every time: first as he emerges from his black hole quest for Nucleon, next when he is in his Action Master body leading the Cybertron Alliance alongside Megatron, and finally when he battles Megatron in the Mirtonian constellation. She is less than happy about it.	6 February 2007
45	Atari journies through several different time periods to kiss all the different forms of Optimus Primal, although Star Dust has to explain to her than his Optimus is not the same Optimus Prime she is familar with in order to convince her to do it. As the recovered Allspark fragment emerges, however, a mysterious force seizes it, and it flies off into the sky.	13 February 2007
46	Marissa and Angela reclaim another piece of the Allspark from Lio Convoy during the final battle between the Maximals and the Nemesis on Energoa. It's lion-hearted love at first sight for Angela, but the pair have to quickly move on to another time period to obtain another fragment from Big Convoy. Yet again, the two fragments fly off into the sky as the enigmatic force captures them.	20 February 2007
47	Shaoshao visits the year 2000 to acquire Robots in Disguise Optimus Prime's piece of the Allspark as he battles Megatron in New York. Once again, the Allspark piece that emerges is stolen away by the mystery force, but this time, the Kiss Players are able to give chase through the timestream aboard Fortress Maximus. Unfortunately, the team winds up crashing into the "Wall of Time".	27 February 2007
48	The crash scatters the Kiss Players and their companions across the multiverse. Fortress Maximus lands on the planet Master four million years ago, while Atari finds herself in the parallel world of the Unicron Trilogy, where she is able to communicate with a native Mini-Con. Just as Unicron emerges from Cybertron's moon, an invisible forces surrounds Atari and whisks Atari away to somewhere else...	6 March 2007
49	Marissa also lands in the Unicron Trilogy universe, ten years after Atari, during the Transformers' war for energon. She meets a Mini-Con searching for a soulmate who apparently died years before, and Marissa empathises with the small robot, having lost Optimus Prime, with whom she shared such a bond. Their minds linking, Marissa realizes that the Mini-Con is referring to Atari, who he met ten years ago. As the Transformers battle overhead, the mysterious force which stole the Allspark fragments envelops Marissa and drags her away...	13 March 2007
50	Shaoshao has also wound up in the world of the Unicron Trilogy, on the deserted Cybertron during the time of the Transformers' quest for the Cyber Planet Keys. Pursued by a horde of Scrapmetals, she is rescued by Safeguard, who tells her of Primus. Vector Prime arrives to help her return to her true world, and uses his sword to open a dimension gate for her. From the gate, however, a giant golden hand emerges, and seizes Shaoshao, dragging her off through space and time...	20 March 2007
51	The enigmatic force which has been plaguing the Kiss Players is revealed to be Primus himself, and the Sparkbots are exposed not as benevolent agents seeking the reformation of the Allspark, but agents of Unicron who are attempting to reassemble his splintered lifeforce. The Kiss Players are all brought to prehistoric Earth by the Transformers' God, where he faces off against Unicron, who has been recreated by the Sparkbots. Unicron's lifeforce is sealed within the Earth, and Primus creates Fortress Maximus to serve as its guardian. Shaoshao asks Primus what the Kiss Players' future will be, but the deity does not answer, and transforms into a golden sphere. The Kiss Players find themselves returned to 2007, mere seconds after they departed on their time-travelling adventure. Realizing that their future is not determined by Primus or any god, the three girls determine to make their own future: Marissa decides to enroll in the reformed EDC, Shaoshao makes peace with Mariss and Optimus Prime's relationship, and Atari is not sure what she will do, but realizes now the importance of truly living.	26 March 2007

Tokyo Toy Festival live performance

An additional Kiss Players audio adventure took the form of a live script-reading by the three actresses at the 2007 Tokyo Toy Festival on March 18. Taking place between episodes 41 and 42, the story is set somewhere between the conclusion of season three of the original Generation 1 cartoon and the beginning of The Headmasters. The reading was accompanied by thirty new pieces of color art produced by Yuki Oshima specially for the event, illustrating the events of the tale.

When Fortress Maximus abruptly goes out of control and crash-lands on an alien world in 2011, the Kiss Players are approached by a swarm of Sharkticons. Shaoshao tries using the universal greeting, which she learned from Rodimus, but it does no good, and the girls are brought before the Quintessons for trial. The girls try to appeal to the Quintessons by kissing the Sparkbots to gain new cutesy outfits, but the aliens are unmoved and send the trio plummeting into the Sharkticon pit. At the last moment, Optimus Primus and Goldbug arrive to save them, and they manage to escape back into space aboard Fortress Maximus. The Quintessons are all sucked into the space-time portal created by Maximus and trapped outside of time.