The Transformers Menagerie issue 1

The Transformers Menagerie »
Publisher	Fun Publications
Published in	Hasbro Transformers Collectors' Club #49
First published	February/March 2013
Script	Jim Sorenson
Art	various
Continuity	Wings Universe

Perceptor goes over the cassette Transformers in the first of a series of articles on beast mode Transformers.

Synopsis

These days, Perceptor notes, beast mode Transformers are a common sight, despite not always having been so. Thus, in a series of publications, he will go over the origins of beast mode Transformers. The earliest non-vehicle Transformers were those who turned into/were Cybertron's animal life, the most prominent examples are the Recordicons/Recordabots, animal Transformers who turn into cassettes. According to records, Laserbeak was the first, a Cryo-Condor who was re-engineered to turn into a datatrax wafer. Serving as a spy for Soundwave, he would be joined by Cougaraider Ravage and fellow Cryo-Condor Buzzsaw. Millions of years later, after the Transformers in stasis lock onboard the Ark reawakened, the Autobots would add some of their own "Recordabots", with the Decepticons responding in kind.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons
Perceptor (1) Ramhorn (holo-slide) (5) Steeljaw (holo-slide) (6)	Laserbeak (holo-slide) (2) Ravage (holo-slide) (3) Rabat (holo-slide) (4)

Notes

• Characters mentioned include: Soundwave and Buzzsaw.

Continuity notes

• It's not exactly clear what continuity The Transformers Menagerie takes place in beyond a version of the Sunbow The Transformers cartoon, but author Jim Sorenson would suggest it takes place in the Wings Universe.
• The term "primitive" comes from season 3 episode "Call of the Primitives".
• The idea that Laserbeak was the first Recordicon comes from the Secret Files of Teletraan II, segments seen at the end of various episodes of the third season of the cartoon.

Transformers references

• Accompanying the text are a set of "holo-slides" depicting various cassette Transformers. The images on these holo-slides come from various pieces of art by Studio OX and Ban Magami for TV Magazine and Comic BomBom sourced from Transformers Visualworks. Four symbols are seen on the side of these holo-slides, with the one highlighted indicating the characters factions; aside from the Autobot and Decepticon factions, there's the Quintesson faction symbol (first seen on the e-HOBBY Overcharge toy's sticker sheet), and the symbol for Earth, taken from the Cyber Planet Key from Cybertron. Additionally, each slide has a subject number, corresponding to the Japanese ID numbers of the character on the slide.
• Datatrax were originally mentioned in Beast Wars.

Errors

• "The most prominent example are..." should be "The most prominent examples are..."
• "But already the Recordicons had prove but the first of many..." should be "But already the Recordicons had proven to be but the first of many..."
• Steeljaw and Ramhorn's subject numbers start with "D", rather than "C".