Santon
- Santon is a Maximal from the Beast Wars II portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.
Humongous, lumbering and powerful, you would never guess by looking at him that Santon (サントン) is actually a medic. A staunch pacifist, Santon refuses to kill under any circumstance and will only injure his enemies as an absolute last resort. Being a doctor, he sees his duty as to heal the wounded, not wound the healed. And the Maximals respect him for this, accepting his gentle convictions as an honorable strength, not a liability.
Santon's unflinching bedside manner also makes him an ideal teacher when it comes to the more rebellious youths-in-training. As such, Santon joins Skywarp in instructing the out-of-control Lio Junior, not only in the field of medicine and repair, but in the ethics of being a true warrior. Together, Santon, Skywarp and Lio Junior can combine to form the mighty Magnaboss.
Fiction
Generation 1 cartoon continuity
Beast Wars II cartoon
- Voice actor: Hiroaki Harakawa (Japanese)
Santon and his partner Skywarp were sent to Gaea with information about the artificial planet, Nemesis. They intended to warn Lio Convoy about Galvatron's secret weapon. On their journey, they also detected a new powerful lifeform emerging on Gaea. This lifeform, the Maximal cub Lio Junior, was created through a duplication of Lio Convoy's Energon Matrix. Upon their arrival, Santon and Skywarp found Lio Convoy and Lio Junior in battle with Galvatron. Through forced fusion, they created the combiner Magnaboss with Lio Junior, giving him an outlet for his great energies. Enter Lio Junior
After Magnaboss dispatched Galvatron, Santon and Skywarp explained their mission to Lio Convoy and told him about Nemesis. They also acted as go-betweens in the contentious relationship between Lio Convoy and Lio Junior. As Convoy and Junior patched things up, the combined Magnaboss helped Lio Convoy temporarily defeat Gigastorm, the new Angolmois-powered version of Megastorm. Megastorm Reborn Gigastorm remained a powerful foe, however, so Lio Junior and his team joined the Maximals in a new operation to eliminate him. They lured Gigastorm into an unstable area and intended to bury him in a collapsed mountain pass. Gigastorm survived their best efforts, though. The New Weapon, Tako Tank
While reviewing his machinations, Galvatron recalled Santon's arrival on Gaea and his first encounter with Magnaboss. The Artificial Planet Nemesis
Santon and Skywarp reviewed strategy with Lio Convoy and Apache over the upcoming threat of Nemesis. In their absence, Lio Junior detected a nearby Angolmois mining operation and led the other Maximals into an impulsive raid. Santon and the others were forced to join the ill-advised raid when they heard of Lio Junior's attack, and were nearly destroyed when Nemesis rained down fire from above and destroyed the base with them still inside. Still, the Maximals survived the assault, and Santon's team formed Magnaboss in the aftermath to battle the Predacons. Gigastorm's Treachery
When Lio Junior got it in his head to jump into a pit of Angolmois energy and hope for a power-up, Santon and Skywarp raced to stop him. They warned Lio Junior that his pure Angolmois energy might not react well with the corrupted Angolmois affected by Nemesis. At the same pit, Starscream and BB fell into the Angolmois and emerged as corrupted Cyborg Beasts. Hellscream and Max-B proved to be formidable opponents, even holding their own against Santon's team in their Magnaboss form. The End of Starscream After laughing off a kidnapping attempt by Dirge and Thrust, Santon and his friends encounter a more serious threat when the duo Angolmois-evolved into Dirgegun and Thrustor. They found Scuba frozen solid in a block of ice by Thruster's Trasher Horn. Santon and Skywarp stayed behind to help Scuba while Lio Junior raced to warn Lio Convoy. The Lio Convoy Assassination Plot
After being dispatched to secure the site of a mysterious falling object, Santon and Skywarp grew upset with Lio Junior's constant grandstanding. They felt he was focused more on his own ego and proving himself than on their mission to preserve peace in the universe. The object turned out to be a powerful teleport gate, able to summoned warriors from anywhere in space and time using the command key. When the Predacons arrived and stole the key, Lio Junior rashly engaged in battle. Santon and Skywarp actually refused to combine with him as Magnaboss in this fight due to their distaste for his methods. As a result, Tasmania Kid was seriously injured by Hellscream.
Although the Maximals secured the command key, a rift had grown between Lio Junior and the others. He stalked off on his own, and later seemingly joined the Predacons of his own will. Several Maximals were quick to call him traitor, but the injured Tasmania Kid told everyone Lio Junior was merely trying to prove himself worthy of their trust. By the time Lio Junior broke free from the Predacons' cells, Santon and Skywarp were already there to greet him. They formed Magnaboss to drive off the Cyborg Beasts, but suffered a serious injury in the process. As the Predacons had summoned Majin Zarak, Magnaboss used his dwindling energy to summon Optimus Primal for their side. After the defeat of Majin Zarak, Santon and Skywarp made amends with Lio Junior and the trio was inseparable once more. Lio Convoy in Imminent Danger!
With Nemesis on the way, the Maximals needed to prevent the Angolmois energy from becoming unstable. Santon and the Maximals used freeze devices to cool the substance and keep it from getting too volatile. When the Predacons tried to intervene, the Magnaboss trio formed up to help drive them off. The Great Angolmois Freezing Tactic During a major operation to destroy Nemesis with an Angolmois-powered artillery cannon, Magnaboss was given the key role of getting the cannon into position while the other Maximals diverted the Predacons with decoys. At the Angolmois volcano, Magnaboss was powering up the cannon when Galvatron and Gigastorm arrived to stop him. Skywarp and Santon separated from Magnaboss in order to delay the villains, giving Lio Junior enough time to fire the weapon. Unfortunately, the Angolmois energy was too much for the cannon and it overloaded before striking Nemesis. Knock Out Nemesis
The Magnaboss trio continued raiding Galvatron's Angolmois fortresses thanks to Lio Junior's insight. At one location, Galvatron himself appeared and tried to convince Lio Junior of the righteousness of the Predacon cause. Santon and Skywarp nearly lost the youngster when he was swept up in an Angolmois wave, but he soon emerged seemingly okay. However, when they met with Lio Convoy afterwards, Lio Junior attacked his commander, spouting Predacon slogans and rhetoric. It seemed Galvatron had used the corrupted Angolmois to corrupt Lio Junior as well. Santon and Skywarp attempted to forced merge with Lio Junior to control him, but Lio Junior's influence was too strong and even Magnaboss began haltingly carrying out the corrupted Lio Junior's will. Lio Convoy finally managed to drain off the corrupted Angolmois through his shared connection to Lio Junior's Energon Matrix, freeing all three Maximals from Galvatron's influence. Lio Junior's Revolt!?
When a Martian emissary robot arrived on Gaea, it claimed to be capable of stopping the corrupted Angolmois energy. Santon, Skywarp, and Lio Junior formed Magnaboss to block for Lio Convoy as he brought the robot to the mother computer necessary to complete its task. While battling the Cyborg Beasts, however, Lio Junior spotted and interacted with a robot named Moon. Even merged with him as Magnaboss, Santon and Skywarp couldn't see the little android, but Lio Junior reported that Moon said the emissary robot planned to destroy Gaea. The mother computer would crash the moon into Gaea to prevent the escape of corrupted Angolmois into the universe. Emissary of the Fourth Planet As Magnaboss, the trio helped Lio Convoy and the other Maximals break through the mother computer's defenses and stop the emissary from ending all life on the planet. The Crisis of Planet Gaea
Beast Wars Neo cartoon
After the defeat of Unicron, Santon returned to Cybertron. There and as part of Magnaboss, he was witness to one of Big Convoy and Magmatron's tussles. Graduation Ceremony!!
Beast Wars II comic
IDW Beast Wars comics
Having learned from texts written on such Autobot medics as Ratchet and Fixit, Santon not only developed dozens of new healing techniques based on new Cybertronian physiology, but has also began studying other life forms throughout the galaxy in the hopes of establishing a galactic medical corps one day. Beast Wars Sourcebook 3 Santon was later altered by Lio Junior's unique spark to be able to combine with him and Skywarp to form Magnaboss. Beast Wars Sourcebook 2
When Angolmois-induced riots started breaking out all over Cybertron, Santon was seen among a group of rampaging Transformers that followed the Tako Tank. The Ascending #4
Beast Wars: Uprising
Santon was part of a council that judged Trans-Mutate guilty of her crimes and sentenced her to imprisonment at Garrus-16. Perception
Toys
Beast Wars
- Santon (Deluxe, 1998)
- Japanese ID number: C-28
- Accessories: 2 guns
- A redeco of Beast Wars Ironhide, Santon transforms from a stumpy robot to an African elephant. His proportions are the weakest among the group, and he has no real hands to speak of. He is very complex to transform, with numerous hinges and panels unfolding between modes. Two guns are hidden behind the beast mode's ears, and can be removed and plugged into the holes at the bottom of Santon's stump arms(they can also from a mace by combining them both, but this is undocumented). He can combine with Skywarp and Lio Junior to form Magnaboss. While Santon and Ironhide share the same basic colors, Santon features numerous additional paint applications not featured on Ironhide.
- Magnaboss (Multi-pack, 1998)
- Japanese ID number: X-4
- Santon was also available as part of a multi-pack with Skywarp and Lio Junior.
Notes
- "San" (三) is the Japanese word for "three". "Ton" is the English word for... "ton". Therefore, Santon's name most likely means "three-ton". Additionally, the average weight of an African elephant is 6,000lbs, which is... three tons!
- Santon's function as a medic is less surprising when one considers the fact that he is a redeco of Ironhide, who has a bad habit of being redecoed/retooled into medics.
- Oddly, the Beast Wars Sourcebook says he lacks weaponry, even though he has two flip-out weapons on his arms.
Foreign names
- Korean: Mammoth (맘모스 Mammoseu)
