Transformers: Kiss Players (radio drama)

Japanese G1 continuity « Kiss Players » Toyline Radio drama Manga

The Kiss Players radio drama was a segment of the Japanese radio show "Lyrian Moe-tchao", and began airing on April 3, 2006 in Japan and ran for 38 episodes. Each weekly installment of the show featured a one to three-minute story narrated by one of the voice actresses who played the three main characters in the series. The radio dramas are in-continuity with the Kiss Players manga, and together they form the whole story of the Kiss Players line.

In the first week of October, the format of the show was revised, and the entire half-hour show became "Transformers Kiss Play: Transformers News Center." Now broadcasting at an earlier time, but still starring the same trio of voice actresses, the show included a brief introduction explaining Transformers to new listeners, a "Tell Me Please! Transformers News Center" section during which TakaraTomy employees or related professionals discussed Transformers news with the voice actresses, and a section in which the actresses ad-libbed dialogue based on reader-submitted scenarios.

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 Autorooper.	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 Autorooper and its abilities. When a Legion attacks during routine daily patrol, Autorooper 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 "Surfblade" 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.	24	14 August 2006
21	Atari's Autorooper 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 Autorooper crawls inside her shirt while she is daydreaming about desserts.	6	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 talks some more about the Autoroopers. More than merely robots or weapons, they are truly the human EDC operatives' partners, and Atari senses a kind of humanity within hers.	5	11 September 2006
25	Marissa reflects on Optimus Prime's past and his concern for his fellow Autobots, whom he is unable to contact because of the anti-electron field around Earth. Even the presence of Hot Rod on the planet fails to change this, since Hot Rod thinks Prime is an impostor because of his different physical appearance thanks to his ParasiTech fusion, despite the fact that the same thing has happened to Hot Rod himself.	29	18 September 2006
26	Shaoshao dwells on Hot Rod's past as Supreme Commander of the Autobots and how he gave up the Matrix of Leadership to come to Earth, blaming himself for the deterioration of human-Transformer relations. Shaoshao claims she does not care about Hot Rod's sadness, however, and that she is only using him to reunite with Marissa.	30	25 September 2006
27	The ghost of Starscream has possessed Atari and has Doctor Arkeville create him a new body from a jet plane the scientist has stolen. Atari kisses the plane and transfers Starscream's ghost into it, but Starscream is only able to enjoy it for a few moments before it is destroyed by Autoroopers, sending his ghost flying back into space.	7	3 October 2006
28	Like all Kiss Players, Marissa loses her clothes when she merges with Optimus Prime. Upon separating from her partner after a battle, however, she discovers that her underwear is missing!	25	10 October 2006
29	As Shaoshao was naked when she was rescued from the EDC underground complex by Hot Rod, she has only been wearing a Chinese dress since then, with no underwear. So, after a battle with Optimus Prime, Hot Rod steals Marissa's underwear for her! Shaoshao is taken aback to find the name of her old friend inside the undies.	26	17 October 2006
30	Atari remembers her first unpleasant meeting with teammate Ringo Chikuma. When Ringo's driving makes her carsick, 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, visions of Megatron that fill his mind with destructive impulses. He suspects it is somehow a result of the Autorooper cells now in his body, after his fusion with one restored him to life. Having been protected by Prime all this time, Marissa feels it is now her turn to look out for him.	31	7 November 2006
32	Shaoshao and Hot Rod witness a young girl, bleeding and dressed all in black, riding on the shoulder of a Legion. As Rodimus lowers his visor to scan her, she disappears into the Legion, making Hot Rod wonder if she is a Legion Kiss Player of some kind. Then he notices that his thermal scan did not pick up any body heat from the girl...	32	14 November 2006
33	As Atari suffers more and more of Ringo's bizarre acts of childish cruelty, her pleas to teammate Kayu Michikusa for help are ignored, causing Atari to break off spitefully their promise to take a trip together. The next day, when Atari works up the nerve to talk to Kayu again, she discovers the girl has been transferred to a different squad...	33	21 November 2006
34	Preparing to launch a final attack on the EDC, Marissa and Optimus Prime go on a "last date". Marissa recalls her childhood, her absent father, how she looked to Prime as a surrogate parent, and how she reacted to his death. Marissa spends the night crying against Prime's chest.	34	28 November 2006
35	Hot Rod and Shaoshao witness masses of Legion units all converging towards one spot, with the mysterious young girl riding with them once again. Like Optimus Prime before him, Hot Rod too has become plagued by Megatron-filled nightmares and the urge to destroy, and Shaoshao exploits this, whispering in the Autobot's ear as he sleeps that he must kill the impostor Optimus Prime so she can reunite with Marissa.	35	5 December 2006
36	Atari discovers that Kayu suffered the same cruelty at Ringo's hands to which she is now being subjected. Just then, sirens begin blaring, alerting the squad to a new danger: Kayu's Autorooper has gone berserk. Atari thinks she hears Kayu's voice calling out from within the Autorooper, but Ringo mercilessly shoots it down despite Atari's pleas. In response, Atari blacks out, and when she awakens, Ringo is screaming...and Atari's Autorooper's hands are red with blood...	36	12 December 2006
37	Optimus Prime has taken control of the amassed army of Legions and is leading them in an attack upon the EDC headquarters, when they are confronted by Hot Rod and Shaoshao. As the EDC's Autoroopers face off against the Legions around them, the two Autobots are overwhelmed by their destructive urges and begin battling. Marissa and Shaoshao clash and manage to settle their differences, stopping their partners from fighting just as Atari's fusion time with her Autorooper ceases. Atari is surprised to see Marissa and Shaoshao, and Shaoshao tells her that they are not going to fight anymore. As the Legion tear their way into the EDC base with the dark-haired girl at their side, Shaoshao tells her assembled allies that they are going to discover the dark secret behind the EDC in the place where she and Rodimus first met: the Genital System...	37	19 December 2006
38	On the moon, the three Mini-Cassettes Rosanna, Glit and Sundor join up to become a musical group called the Cassette Players. They want to heal the Earth through song, but because of the anti-electron field, they cannot.	38	26 December 2006

CD collections and special episodes

The weekly installments of the Kiss Players radio drama (save for episode #38) were collected 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 Autorooper.
• 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 CDs also included included ten-minute-long special bonus episodes. Most notably, after the first-year story ended with a cliffhanger (and the first episode ever to feature all three voice actresses) in the third week of December 2006, the bonus episode included with the Autorooper X Atari toy set released to stores the following week brought the tale to a close. These episodes are 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 Surf Blade to dispose of the Legion. After the battle, as the sun begins to rise, Prime and Marissa spot an Autorooper 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 Autorooper, 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 Atari's digestive system and into her stomach, where the Autorooper destroys the Legion with Atari's stomach acid. Unfortunately for Atari, she has to stick her finger down her throat and puke up the Autorooper 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 Legion, Autoroopers and Kiss Players are all a production of Galvatron's cells, and that she intends to use them in her fusion experiments in the hopes of resurrecting her daughter (the dark-haired ghost-girl seen by Shaoshao and Hot Rod) who died when Galvatron landed on Tokyo. She had originally intended to use Shaoshao for the process, recreating her daughter in her body, but selected Atari instead when she proved to be an even more powerful Kiss Player. As Amaō begins the process, Marissa, 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 Autorooper, seizing Galvatron's body and blasting off into the air. The Autoroopers and Legions all follow her, and the underground facility collapses, 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 Autoroopers and the Legions, are sucked from his body and rejoined with Galvatron's body. Atari hurls the reconstituted 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 at the beginning of 2007, 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- to 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. Alas, none of the Kiss Players Position shows were ever collected on CD.

#	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 Brave 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 Marissa (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 regrets 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	With the third and final Sparkbot, Star Dust, Atari journeys to 2011 to obtain another piece of the Allspark from 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 initiates 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 makes three more jumps through time, 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 journeys through several different time periods to kiss all the different forms of Optimus Primal, although Star Dust has to convince her to do it by explaining that this Optimus is not the same Optimus Prime with whom she is familiar. As the recovered Allspark fragments emerge, however, a mysterious force seizes them and 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 Gaea. It's lion-hearted love at first sight for Angela, but the pair have to move on quickly 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 Brave 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. Brave 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 the native Mini-Con, Blackout. Just as Unicron emerges from Cybertron's moon, an invisible forces surrounds Atari and whisks her 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 too meets Blackout, who has since become separated from his partner Demolishor after the larger bot's death. Marissa empathizes with the small robot, having lost her own partner, Optimus Prime, and tells him that their partners live on in their hearts. 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 Scrapmetal, 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 life force is sealed within the Earth, and Primus creates Brave Maximus to serve as its guardian. Shaoshao asks Primus what the Kiss Players' future will be, but the deity does not answer and instead 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 Yūki Ōshima specially for the occasion, illustrating the events of the tale.

When Brave 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 Brave Maximus. The Quintessons are all sucked into the space-time portal created by Maximus and trapped outside of time.

Cast

Kiss Players	Autobots	Others
Marissa Faireborn (Lyrian) Shaoshao Li (Yui Kano) Atari Hitotonari (Satomi Akesaka) Rosanna (Lyrian) Glit (Yui Kano) Sundor (Satomi Akesaka)	Optimus Prime (Tesshō Genda) Hot Rod (Ryōtarō Okiayu) Autorooper Ne-04 (Keiji Hirai)	Angela (Lyrian) Zangetsu (Yui Kano) Star Dust (Satomi Akesaka) Legion (Hirofumi Tanaka)