Red Octo

Red Octo is a Beastformer from the Generation 1 continuity family.

Red Octo (レッドオクト Reddo Okuto) is perhaps Alligatron's least-reliable warrior. It's not that he's not good at his job; he is incredibly skilled in underwater operations and combat, breaching the hulls of enemy ships with mines, and his Octo Spear can secrete a viscous liquid that quickly corrodes metal. It's getting him to do his job in the first place that's the problem.

Capricious and incredibly indecisive, Octo spends most of his time at the bottom of the sea, not doing anything in particular. He misses missions and strategy briefings with regularity. It's something of a mystery as to why he even joined Alligatron's rebellion in the first place, as he's a very light-hearted, playful and easygoing sort who rolls with the tides.

With the war's end, he has somehow managed to become the Emperor of his homeland Tamaraham, working under fellow former insurgent King Power Nozzle. The two could not be a more mismatched pair as far as personality goes, but they actually work very well together. Sharing a telepathic link, the stern and steady Nozzle is able to keep Octo on-task, keeping him busy with underwater jobs where he excels.

Toys

Beastformers

• Red Octo (Beastformer, 1987)
  • Beast ID number: 36
  • Accessories: Spear

Part of the second series of Takara's Beastformers toys, Red Octo is an anthopomorphic octopus in blue robotic armor. The rubsign on his chest reveals one of three symbols; Fire, Water or Wood.

He came in a green-grid generic "Destron Beastformer" box, with a bio card with a painted character image on a jungle backdrop. Re-released in Series 3, the box was unchanged, but the bio card replaced the painted image with a simpler line-art image, first used in Hasbro's Battle Beasts cast poster. In both Series, depending on the "Pack" he came in, there was a chance of his bio card being replaced with a rare "Secret Photo", "Bewitching Serpent Seal", or "VS Holography Mirror" card.

Beastformers

• Red Octo (Beastformer, 1988)
  • Beast ID number: 36
  • Accessories: "Octo Anchor" MVP Weapon

Re-released in the Transformers-less Beastformers sequel series, Iguanamonss was given a straight re-release with new packaging and a new, more filled-out bio card with corrected coloring. This new card also gave his weapon, now branded an "MVP Weapon", the name "Octo Anchor" (オクトアンカー Okuto Ankā).

The initial early releases of this series had the chance for any Beastformer to have the rare Burstsun symbol; we'll probably never know if Red Octo was ever actually one of them. Later 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.)

Notes

• The 1987 character poster art of Red Octo incorrectly gives him a silver... weapon... thing... that looks nothing like any existing Beastformers weapon. His '88 bio art is partially redrawn to give him the correct weapon.
• His 1988 bio card gives him the nickname "Tako" (Japanese for "octopus"), and notes he was born in Tamara Bay.

Foreign names

• English: Octillion Octopus