The New Battle Begins!
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| "The New Battle Begins!" 新たなる戦いが始まる!
(Aratanaru Tatakai ga Hajimaru!) | |||||||||||||
| Publisher | Takara | ||||||||||||
| First published | July 15, 2004 | ||||||||||||
| Illustrated by | Hidetsugu Yoshioka | ||||||||||||
A new war across time begins!
Synopsis
It is the year 2004. With the help of the United Nations, the Autobots have begun work on their Scramble City operation. Their plan is interrupted by the sudden arrival of the time-displaced Beast Megatron who has come to present-day Earth via a time portal called the Blastizone. Beast Megatron has seized command of the Decepticons in the absence of the original Megatron and organized them into a force to be reckoned with. The Decepticons are now after a powerful new energy source littered across the globe: solitarium.
Beast Megatron's knowledge of future events, along with his powerful new army of Decepticons, prove too much for Optimus Prime and his Autobots. Luckily, they are not alone in this battle. Another warrior has emerged from the Blastizone: Beast Megatron's arch-nemesis, Optimus Primal!
Optimus Prime and Optimus Primal then form a united front against Beast Megatron and his Decepticons.
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons |
|---|---|
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Notes
- This catalog comic is set chronologically between Chapters #3 and #4 of the online comic, following very shortly after the events of #3. Said events ended with a foreshadowing of the formal meeting between Optimus Prime and Optimus Primal, which finally happens here.
- Likely due to the high probability that this comic would end up in people's hands before (or even without) their getting to read the first chapter of the online comics, this story is written in such a way that it feels like the proper beginning of the whole Robotmasters storyline. As such, the text is very exposition-heavy in its description of the series' beginning status quo, and has the Decepticons (led by Beast Megatron) launch an attack on Autobot City just like they did Chapter #1 of the online comics. And rather than treat this attack like a second, separate event, it is described as though it was the first attack on Autobot City led by Beast Megatron. Optimus Prime is even said to not initially recognize Beast Megatron in this story, when the two previously first met in the first online comic. Nonetheless, Optimus Primal's role in this story requires that it come after the third online chapter.
- Elements this story were adapted into the Robotmasters cartoon episode, "Fight! The Group of the Strongest Commanders!". Much of its artwork and narrative text were also used for the cartoon's opening.
References
- Scans of "The New Battle Begins!" at FantoFan
- Translation of "The New Battle Begins!" at Ben's World of Transformers (archived)
- Complete archive of "The New Battle Begins!"
