Tasmania Kid (BW)
- Tasmania Kid is a Maximal from the Beast Wars II portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.
There's the young, there's the restless, and then there's Tasmania Kid (タスマニアキッド Tasumania Kiddo), who has both of those qualities to spare. A fairly green recruit, Kid's enthusiasm to prove himself and bask in the spotlight is as unbridled as it is dangerously stupid. Kid is desperate to see himself recognized and honored as one of the greatest Maximal warriors of all time, but he wants that recognition now and preferably without all that training, strategy and diplomacy stuff. Mischievous, reckless, insubordinate and disrespectful, his fool-hardy search for a "big break" on the battlefield often lands him in hot water... both with the Predacons and the Maximals. Despite his shortcomings, Kid's ambition and enthusiasm are seen by his superiors as qualities to be molded and directed rather than fully discouraged. And with each catastrophic mistake, he learns another valuable lesson about what it means to be a soldier.
Tasmania Kid's closest friend is the unmotivated slacker Diver, whom he often leads astray into his hair-brained schemes. Kid also has a kindred spirit in Scissor Boy, who shares in many of his youthful interests.
Fiction
Cartoon continuity
Beast Wars II cartoon
- Voice actor: Katashi Ishizuka (Japanese)
Tasmania Kid, simply known as Kid at the time, was under the command of Lio Convoy (who similarly was just named "Convoy") on a Maximal Space Station. When Convoy went missing, Kid was unwilling to go on missions without him, instead spending his time losing at chess against Diver. Eventually Bighorn took charge of the team and they went to investigate a suspicious energy flare on the planet Gaea. Upon arrival, their ship was shot down by Galvatron's Predacons, so Kid took an escape pod down to the planet's surface.
Gaea's atmosphere proved hazardous to Transformers, so Kid was forced to scan himself an beast mode in order to survive. He considered either a leopard or a bird, and soon settled on a nearby eagle. However, a Tasmanian Devil jumped in his face as he activated his scanners, and Kid accidentally scanned its DNA and became Tasmania Kid. He wasn't very happy with this turn of events, since, well, Tasmanian Devils just aren't cool. Tasmania Kid soon met up with Diver, Scuba, Apache and Bighorn, and together they investigated a mysterious black fog that had enshrouded the area.
The fog turned out to be emanating from the Predacons' spaceship, the Galvaburg II, but before they could do anything about it, Tasmania Kid and the others were attacked and pinned down by the Predacons. They were rescued by the emergence of a large white lion, and heavily damaged the Galvaburg II before following the lion into the wilderness. The New Forces Arrive!
The Maximals were led back to their crashed spaceship, where they took up headquarters. The lion then revealed itself to be Lio Convoy, whose earlier disappearance was due to crashing on Gaea. Reunited with their leader, the Maximals prepared to stop the Predacons' plot to drain the planet of energy. They were quickly sent out to stop the Autorollers from destroying a jungle, and Tasmania Kid contributed by extinguishing a fire by peeing on it. White Lion, Run!
Beast Wars Neo cartoon
After the defeat of Unicron, Tasmania Kid returned to Cybertron. There, he got caught up in a tussle between Big Convoy and Magmatron. Graduation Ceremony!!
Comic continuity
Beast Wars II comic
Tasmania Kid and Diver were out on a scouting mission (much to Diver's chagrin, as he wanted to relax) when Apache, popping out of the bushes, quietly called them over. The confused pair followed, only to find Apache to be an illusion, baiting them into a net laid out by BB. BB then took the two Maximals back to Starscream, who told them he would release them after they ran an "errand" for him.
When the duo didn't report back, the Maximals left in search of the missing Diver and Tasmania Kid, eventually finding them collapsed at the edge of a valley. However, it was all part of Starscream's trap. Diver and Tasmania Kid, now brainwashed into thinking they were Predacons, sprang into action and attacked the Maximals. Galvatron soon entered the scene and stacked the odds tremendously against the Maximals.
As the fight raged on, Megastorm got to a vantage point and prepared to fire his cannon at both Lio Convoy and Galvatron, killing two birds with one stone. Scuba intervened by creating a geyser beneath him from an underground river, throwing Megastorm's aim off. The blast knocked Tasmania Kid and Diver back to their senses, though they were angry at the (rightfully) confused Apache, whom they blamed for ambushing them. The Maximal Brainwashing Operation
At another time, When Lio Convoy wrecked Apache's room in a drunken rampage, Apache scolded Kid, who decided to run away. Kid was attacked and captured by the Cyborg Beasts, who planned to make him one of them. This plan failed when Apache singlehandedly annihilated the Predacon forces Rambo-style.[citation needed]
Beast Wars Neo comic
Tasmania Kid was worshiped as a god on the planet of rabbit-formers from which Stampy hails.A Battle Fought Alone
IDW Beast Wars comics
Tasmania Kid was the class clown at Maximal Military Academy, often performing pranks on classmates and instructors. Despite this, Lio Convoy saw potential in Tasmania Kid and took him into his unit to Gaea, where they battled Galvatron. Beast Wars Sourcebook 4
Later, Tasmania Kid was one of Big Convoy's subordinates on Cybertron. He helped investigate the strange rash of Angolmois-related murders. The Ascending #2
Along with Survive and Cohrada, he joined Big Convoy in investigating Shokaract's tower. Unfortunately, Shokaract emerged from within and grabbed Tasmania Kid in his claws. Kid was torn in two pieces and killed. Big Convoy and the others were summarily defeated as well.
Fortunately, the Earthbound Maximal and Predacon teams took the Pack's transwarp cruiser and returned to the point in the time stream that Shokaract emerged from his tower. Unfortunately, it was still too late to save Tasmania Kid, who was torn in two pieces again just before Big Convoy and Shokaract noticed the newly arrived transwarp cruiser.
Sheesh. The Ascending #3
Toys
Beast Wars
- Tasmania Kid (Basic, 1998)
- Japanese ID number: C-14
- Accessories: Arm-mounted cannon
- Tasmania Kid's only toy is virtually identical to the Hasbro Beast Wars toy Snarl, transforming into an (alleged) Tasmanian devil. Holding the toy by its tail in beast mode and pulling the trigger makes his body leap forward in a spring-loaded lunging attack. In robot mode, the tail becomes an arm-mounted (non-firing) blaster cannon.
- The same mold is used by Robotmasters Bound Rogue, whose coloration bears a striking resemblance to the contest-prize version of Tasmania Kid.
- Tasmania Kid vs. Dirge (Vs. pack, 1997)
- Japanese ID number: VS-14
- Tasmania Kid was also available in a multi-pack with the Predacon Dirge.
- Tasmania Kid (Contest prize, 1997)
- A blue and yellow version of Tasmania Kid was awarded as a special prize along with many other oddly-colored Beast Wars II Maximals in a magazine contest in Japan. This was the design contest that resulted in the creation of Star Upper.
Merchandise
- Beast Collection Special 10 (Super Deformed Set, 1998)
- A non-transforming, translucent blue figurine rendition of Tasmania Kid came in a set with nine other Beast Wars II characters.
