Jungaroo

Jungaroo is a Beastformer from the Generation 1 continuity family.

You don't just eat—you Jungaroo!

You'd be hard-pressed to find a beast as outgoing and friendly as Jungaroo (ジャンガルー Jangarū), Jun (ジャン Jan) to his friends... and just about everybody is his friend, at least as far as he's concerned. Endlessly boisterous, always ready to talk the ears (or similarly-functioning sound receptors) off anyone, he's an incredibly social fellah who's always looking to have a good time, and it seems a good time always follows him around. Even if he doesn't know you, he considers you a pal and is up for a hearty conversation. In fact, one of the only ways to get this rowdy 'roo upset is to rudely interrupt his social time. He's also a bit on the brash side, ready to leap into action without a lot of thought, which has led to the occasional problem when he bounded off before White Leo could finish explaining the entire plan.

A sports enthusiast and track-and-field champion since he was a joey, Jungaroo's powerful leg muscles can propel him fifty meters in a single leap... or kick someone into low orbit (or at least make them feel like he did). It was during his student days when he met Sea Iron, and the two have been the truest of friends since. The two eventually became co-rulers of their homeland of Chibara, where Jungaroo serves as its King. And he's a popular King at that, encouraging a vast sports scene and friendly competition throughout the country.

In battle, aside from his amazing leg strength, he wields the Garoomerang (ガルメラン Garumeran) MVP Weapon, a blade that he can hurl with such force that it moves at a fraction of the speed of light, curving around obstacles to strike down his target before returning to him.

Fiction

Beastformers comic

Jungaroo was among the allied Beastformers who stood in defense of Bistoram during the Laser Beast invasion. Beastformers VS Laser Beasts

Dreamwave Generation One continuity

Jungaroo was among the many Beastformers squabbling on their home planet when Megatron arrived to fetch the Predacons. Welcome to the Jungle

Toys

Transformers: Beastformers

PROTEIN.

• Jungaroo (Beastformer, 1987)
  • Beast ID number: 35
  • Accessories: Boomerang-sword

Part of the second series of Takara's Beastformers toys, Jungaroo is an anthopomorphic kangaroo in aqua robotic armor. His left hand is a large boxing-glove-like fist. The rubsign on his chest reveals one of three symbols; Fire, Water or Wood.

He came in a green-grid generic "Cybertron 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

• Jungaroo (Beastformer, 1988)
  • Beast ID number: 35
  • Accessories: "Garoomerang" MVP Weapon

Re-released in the Transformers-less Beastformers sequel series, Jungaroo 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 "Garoomerang".

He was sold in two similar-but-different styles of boxes. One wholly-generic version, sold in large display boxes like the Transformers releases, advertised the chance for the included bio card to instead be a rare holofoil card of White Leo with a "Burstsun" rubsign in a baggie taped to the back, so you could apply it to the Beastformer of your choice. The more common version has a slightly different box with a peg-hole in the top flap, and has a sticker on the bottom with his name and role on it.

Late 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.)

• Jungaroo (Gashapon/candy-toy Beastformer, 1988)
  • Meiji ID number: 37
  • Accessories: ??? weapon

A small, super-deformed, articulation-free version of Jungaroo was seemingly intended to be sold as part of the Takara/Meiji candy toy assortment. A bio/data card matching the released candy-toy cards, with its own role-playing rules and using the Transformers-era painted character art, was released in packs of cards with candy, but the actual toy ultimately never saw release.

Your bargaining posture is highly dubious. Proceed on your way to oblivion. This item has been canceled, with no current plans for release.

Notes

• Jungaroo's 1987 comic-style checklist-poster art shows him with a gold axe weapon rather than his actual boomerang blade. The 1988-series version of the art corrects this mistake.

Foreign names

• English: Kickback Kangaroo