Gaia
| This article is about the planet introduced in Beast Wars II. For the robot mode of Classics Earth, see Gaea. |
Gaia (ガイア, aka Gaea) is Earth in the distant future, tens of thousands of years away. Thanks to the millennia without humanity, most of mankind's structures have been completely destroyed and most of the planet has been grown-over with dense jungle. Gaia possesses a corrosive, toxic atmosphere; a few minutes of exposure will fatally corrode the bodies of Transformers. Fortunately, it's possible to circumvent this problem by adopting new alternate modes native to the planet.
Fiction
Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity
Beast Wars II cartoon
While traversing space, Lio Convoy and the Maximals, as well as Galvatron and the Predacons, landed on Gaia. Galvatron was drawn to Gaia due to the high levels of the powerful energy source known as Angolmois Energy riddled throughout its surface. Lio Convoy, aware that the universe would be doomed if the Predacons got control of the Angolmois Energy, stayed with the Maximals to fight them off. The New Forces Arrive!
While the Maximals chose bodies based on the local wildlife, the Predacons selected bodies based on the war machines of the planet's former inhabitants. White Lion, Run!
Eventually, Galvatron used his artificial planet, Nemesis, to suck all the Angolmois Energy out of the planet. Breaking into Nemesis Thanks to the intervention of Lio Convoy, the Angolmois Energy was sealed away in capsules and scattered across the cosmos before Galvatron could use it. Farewell! Lio Convoy
Beast Wars Neo cartoon
After the disappearance of Lio Convoy and the Maximals, the Great Convoys sent Big Convoy and his new recruits to investigate Gaia. They found Lio Convoy's black box, learned about the Angolmois Capsules and set off to retrieve them. Big Convoy, Move Out
As it turns out, the Angolmois Energy was really the lifeforce of Unicron. After his destruction in 2005, The Transformers: The Movie Unicron's lifeforce raced through time and space and became trapped within Gaia. Illusion? Lio Convoy
Beast Wars II comic continuity
Beast Wars II comic
Great Convoy at Maximal Army Central Headquarters sent Lio Convoy's team to Gaia to prevent the Angolmois Energy from falling into the Predacons' hands. Demolish the Superdreadnought Tank!
Beast Wars Neo comic
The Convoy Council sent Big Convoy to Gaia as an instructor to train on Gaia five rookies: Longrack, Break, Stampy, Colada, and Heinrad. Because Big Convoy paid little attention to the rookies, Longrack persuaded the others that they should do their own training, starting with infiltrating the abandoned Galvaburg II. There, they encountered the Predacons Guiledart and Saberback, who were expecting an elite unit to come to the Galvaburg II. After the rookies were saved by Big Convoy, the Maximals found the mysterious Black Ball. The 5 Rookies
2006 IDW Beast Wars continuity
Gaea was in sector C-16 of Cybertronian space, as an Earth-like planet with two moons and a supply of Angolmois to which Galvatron would attempt to lay claim. Beast Wars Sourcebook
The AllSpark Almanac
Gaia was an unclaimed or neutral organic planet separate from Earth in the Milky Way. The AllSpark Almanac II
Notes
- The English spelling of "Gaia" (closer to the original Greek Γαῖα) comes from the first episode of the Beast Wars II cartoon, in which a computer display briefly rendered the planet's name as such (or rather as "GAIA"). This was largely overlooked by the Western fandom for the longest time due to the cartoon having not been readily accessible to the English-speaking world for the good part of two decades, as well as due to the shot of the computer display with the "Gaia" rendering being rather quick and easy to miss in the episode itself.
- The alternate English spelling of "Gaea" originated from the Beast Wars Sourcebook being the first official English spelling to come from American fiction. While the Sourcebook had mostly adhered to a stated policy of keeping the names of all the Japanese-original characters and concepts (i.e. not changing "Lio Convoy" to "Leo Prime"), the Sourcebook's authors opted to render the planet's name as "Gaea", unaware of the cartoon's "Gaia" spelling. This "Gaea" rendering had been commonly used by the Western fandom over the years, and was the one that Sourcebook author Ben Yee tended to use regularly. A likely influence for the widespread use of "Gaea" within the fandom was an old, incomplete fansub release of the Beast Wars II and Beast Wars Neo cartoons, whose subtitles had used the "Gaea" rendering.
- Gaia was never explicitly confirmed to be the planet Earth in the cartoon. Rather, the cartoon was littered with several hints and visual cues that strongly indicated Gaia to be the Earth without ever stating it outright, as though the viewers were meant to realize the planet's obvious identity on their own. It was the bios of Lio Convoy's Robotmasters toys that gave the first explicit declaration of Gaia being the future Earth.
