Triple Combination: Transformers Go! (franchise)
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Triple Combination: Transformers Go! (参乗合体 トランスフォーマーGo! Sanjō Gattai Toransufōmā Gō!) is a TakaraTomy franchise launched in 2013.
It is a sequel to Transformers: Prime, with the story set after the events of the second season of the Prime cartoon, willfully ignoring the events of the third season (which, to date, has not been released in Japan), stemming instead from a truncated cliffhanger created specifically for the final episode of the Japanese dub of Prime, which left everyone's fate ambiguous instead of ending on the Decepticons' victory from the English version. Go! primarily follows two new Japanese-exclusive teams of Autobot combiners called Swordbots, three bots per team, who can each combine into three different forms of super-robot. These six warriors are tasked with hunting down the remaining Predacons on Earth after Optimus Prime and company have headed off into deep space.
Franchise elements
Notes
- This series is very, very, very Japanese, moreso than any prior Transformers series. The story takes place in Japan. Virtually all of the characters introduced in it have Japanese names. The six Swordbots are split between being designed as samurai and ninja (as are their two human kid sidekicks), and the major Predacons they face have been given new head designs patterned after Japanese oni demons. The protagonists travel through time, meeting heroes from Japanese history and folklore.
- Go! was written well before the Prime show had finished production, so its "Autobots go out into space to hunt the Predacons imprisoned on Earth" backstory diverges significantly from the events of Beast Hunters, to the point that, combined with the Japanese broadcast of Prime ending on its unique cliffhanger, ultimately creates another Headmasters contra Rebirth deal.
Translation notes
TFWIKI's English translation for Sanjō Gattai Toransufōmā Gō! is purposefully simple and utilitarian, as the title is full of that kind of mostly-untranslatable wordplay Japan loves, largely centered around the series's "feudal Japan" theme.
- Sanjō, using different kanji (参上), is also a phrase meaning roughly "I am here!", a dramatic pronouncement often used in samurai-period pieces.
- The 参 "san" used is a more formal kanji for "three", typically used in legal documents, than the commonplace "三". Think of it as writing with an accent.
- "Sanjō" can also mean "to the third power" 三乗, but within the specific context of the series's "gattai" ("combination"), that's a bit... obtuse, as the three-bot teams can only combine three ways. But it does invoke power, doesn't it?
- While "GO!" is presented in English lettering because it's a powerful, positive-sounding English word that sounds cool and actiony, "gō" has quite a few meanings in Japanese depending on the kanji used. "合" can mean "merge/unite/combine", while "剛" can mean "strong/hard/manly".
- "Go" meaning "five" is right out.
