Transformers Go! Go!
| The name or term "Go" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Go (disambiguation). |
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Transformers Go! Go! (トランスフォーマーごー!ごー!) is a 2020 manga for young readers written and drawn by Haruka Oda published in TV Magazine, on the TV Magazine website, and on publisher Kodansha's comics reader Comic-Days.
Overview
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Print issues:
Web issues:
Vol. 1:
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Transformers Go! Go! chronicles the light-hearted misadventures of the Autobots and Decepticons in a setting strongly resembling the original Generation 1 cartoon for a young audience while somewhat bafflingly promoting various collector-aimed exclusives.
The comic started out in print form in the pages of TV Magazine, typically published on the last Saturday of the month. Beginning with the August/September 2021 issue, the periodical went bi-monthly, before going tri-monthly with the April/May/June 2023 issue, with the exact publication date increasingly varying (confusingly, but typical of this kind of publication, the issue is actually released a month or two before the cover date). Separately from the magazine, exclusive stories have also been published in the "Transformers Fan Book" activity books (kind of like annuals published in the United Kingdom).
A year into its run, the TV Magazine website began serialising the manga digitally, with a webcomic usually being released on the 15th of each month. As the first two issues of the comic in the magazine had been published in black-and-white, they were replaced with a single new full-color volume to match the rest of the run. This put the numbering between the print and web editions out of sync: print issue #3 was republished as web issue #2, print issue #4 as web issue #3, and so forth. The webcomic additionally inserts character profiles calling out the specific toy being advertised in each story.
After ten instalments, the webcomic switched to publishing exclusive new strips separately from the magazine, with issue #11 being the first non-rerelease. For whatever reason—perhaps just to give Oda some time off—it would still occasionally dip back into the magazine's material for reruns. Unfortunately, coinciding with the release of web issue #26 to promote the collected edition of Transformers Go! Go!, the preceding twenty-five webcomics were all taken down, simply redirecting to this advertisement—nevermind that many of these strips weren't actually included in the volume!
At the start of 2023, beginning with web issue #19, the comic switched to promoting the feature film Rise of the Beasts, featuring many of its cast members (though still drawn with more influence from their original G1 or Beast Wars designs, in a fun bit of dissonance with the actual products being advertised!).
With the magazine and website now publishing in tandem, under two separate numbering schemes, with the collected edition picking and choosing from both, and not to mention the Fan Book stories, the whole thing generally becomes a bit of a headache to document—but we can't stay mad at a comic this cute. Oh Go! Go!, you scamp.
Toys
In a surprising display of attention to detail for a title skewing so young, Go! Go! carries on the grand TakaraTomy comic tradition of aggressive toy accuracy, with each character matching one of their real toys all the way down to their kibble and transformation schemes. As the comic isn't bound to any particular toyline, the combination of advertised toy-of-the-week plus the occasional dip into older toys to paper over the gaps produces a cast cobbled together from disparate Generations toylines resembling a modern Generation 1 fan's real life collection!
| War for Cybertron Trilogy | Studio Series '86 | War for Cybertron: Earthrise | TV Magazine exclusive |   | ||||
| War for Cybertron: Kingdom | War for Cybertron: Siege |
Collections
In light of its overwhelming positive reception, Transformers Go! Go! became the first TV Magazine manga since Masumi Kaneda and Ban Magami's original 1985 run to receive a collected release![1]
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Transformers Go! Go! - cover art by Haruka Oda
Notes
- The comic's soft, friendly aesthetic creates one prominent exception to the aforementioned toy accuracy: the aspiring Go! Go! superfan is free to swap out the advertised exclusives bearing gritty War for Cybertron Trilogy cartoon inspired battle damage for their barer standard retail versions with arguably increased resemblance to Oda's art.
References
- ↑ "【お知らせ】テレビマガジンとテレマガネットで好評連載中のまんが「#トランスフォーマーごーごー」の単行本化が決定しました 皆様のTF愛がこの度、単行本化へとつながりました！ 発売は7月26日（水）笑って癒されるトランスフォーマーまんがをお楽しみに ⒸTOMY #トランスフォーマー"—TV Magazine, Twitter, 2023/5/18
External links
- Transformers Go! Go! at the TV Magazine website
- Transformers Go! Go! on Comic-Days
- Transformers Go! Go! translations at the TF Translations blog
