Teletraan 15
| The name or term "Teletraan" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Teletraan (disambiguation). |
- Teletraan 15 is an Autobot from the Generation 1 continuity family.
Teletraan 15 (テレトランいちご Teletraan Ichigo) is one of several humanoid computers developed by the Autobots to be "living" extensions of the Teletraan I computer, operating out of the artificial Earth satellite Nana.
This particular unit is shy, bumbling, and incredibly luckless. She frequently gets into trouble and often needs saving by (and occasionally from) her fellow Autobots. Her fellow Teletraan unit Teletraan 10 is frustrated by her antics, but still steps up to help her in a scrape... after a perfunctory round of sarcasm. The two are very close friends, despite their differences.
Despite her (numerous) shortcomings, 15 shows amazing dedication to her job, and a surprising amount of courage, seemingly ready to face down impossible and almost certainly fatal odds in the line of duty.
Fiction
15 Go! Go!
In the year 2005, with Teletraan I's databanks destroyed by an unknown saboteur, the enigmatic "Kurohyō Man" commanded Teletraan 15 to gather information to restore the precious data. Traveling through time and space, Teletraan 15 encountered various Cybertronians and recorded their personal information (while Teletraan 10 commented on their more unusual character traits). During her adventures, she was creeped out by Perceptor, molested by Wheelie, and bewildered then nearly crushed by Kup.
Shortly after being rescued from a Novaroid by Micromaster Hot Rod, the pair were attacked by Galvatron. When she tried to protect the damaged Hot Rod, Galvatron bit 15's right arm off, leaving her to die from fuel loss while he attempted to finish his old foe off. The arrival of Star Convoy allowed Teletraan 10 to arrive on the scene, while the Autobots Safety and Fly-Up rushed to 15's aid.
Brought back to the satellite Nana, 15's right arm was restored, but this time with the ability to morph into a saw-blade for self-defense. As she recovered, Blaster gave her a gift; the cassette Steeljaw, both for companionship and the music he had stored on his tape. (The music was very moody and sad, much to 15's chagrin.)
Back on her data-gathering mission, she and Steeljaw ran across the Cyberjet Jetfire, who took them on a tour of the Earth in his reality. Their flight was interrupted by an attack by Dreadwing and Smokescreen, but 15 found herself saved once again by Optimus Prime, this time as "Battle Convoy".
En route to Nana, she was possessed by the ghost of Starscream, and promptly took over the satellite once she arrived. Neither 10 nor Kurohyō Man were able to stop her, but in the end they didn't need to. Digging through 15's databanks, Starscream learned about the power of the Kiss Players, and left to posses someone from that reality instead.
After the cassettes Rosanna, Sundor and Glit arrived on Nana, Teletraan 15 was accused of being Teletraan I's saboteur and imprisoned. Escaping with the aid of the cassettes, 15 learned of Kurohyō Man's secret agenda to use the gathered data to alter the future to remove "unnecessary conflict". Teletraan 15 first destroyed the disc she had recorded her data on, and commandeered the commander's Transwarp spaceship to travel back in time and prevent the whole mess from happening. Unfortunately, 10 and Kurohyō Man managed to get onboard as well. 10 held a gun to 15's head, but in the end was unable to pull the trigger. When 15 charged the Kurohyō Man of the past in order to prevent him from getting Teletraan 1's data, the "present" panther clamped his jaws on her left ankle. Unwilling to stop the agent from altering history any further, she cut off her own foot with her saw-blade arm to free herself, then drove the saw into the console, destroying the records that had been lost in the first place that started the whole mess.
Expressing mixed disappointment (in the failure of his scheme) and pride (in his "foolish" subordinates), the "present" commander dumped 15, 10 and the cassettes out of his ship and flew away. Despite their predicament (and having lost both a foot and an arm), 15 seemed pleased, having averted a time-altering catastrophe. 15 Go! Go!
Notes
- The Teletraan units were originally designed to represent specific emotions. Teletraan 15 is "sadness".
- Teletraan 15 speaks with a Kyūshū region accent.
- Teletraan 15's name, pronounced "Ichigo", means both "one-five" and "strawberry" in Japanese.
- The term "Teletraan [number]" has various spellings throughout the canon, and because this instance was published only in Japanese, the specific English transliteration one chooses is a matter of taste. We have chosen to use "Teletraan I" as our basis for this spelling because of the direct connection between the two computers in the fiction. For more information on where that spelling came from, see Teletraan I (G1)#Spelling and pronunciation.
- The implication of the manga is that yes, she was the original saboteur, but only in response to Kurohyō Man's scheme... making it one of those weirdass time-loop predestination thingamajobbies.
