Transformers Legends (comic)
| The name or term "Legends" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Legends (disambiguation). |
Transformers Legends (トランスフォーマーレジェンズ) is a series of comic strips by Hayato Sakamoto, showcasing the adventures of toy otaku Rattrap. It is published online to promote TakaraTomy's Transformers Legends toyline. Special Business Trip Edition (出張版 Shutchō-ban) chapters of the comic come packed with the Legends toys.
Overview
Legends is a four-panel comic strip about the Maximal cast of Beast Wars, reimagined as a group of salarymen working at the "Axalon Trading Company" in Japan. They retain their quirky speech patterns from the jovial Japanese dub of the show. The jokes usually revolve around the characters being Transformers fans themselves, each representing a different facet of the fandom. The main cast is:
- Rattrap, the company's new recruit who grew up with and unconditionally loves Beast Wars
- Rhinox, a middle-aged man who doesn't care for anything newer than the Generation 1 of his childhood
- Optimus Primal, the serious-minded boss who has no interest in toys himself, but does buy them for his son Minor
- Silverbolt, a young excitable part-timer and fan of the recent live-action film series
- Tigatron, a moe otaku who only likes Transformers franchises with cute girls, like Kiss Players
Other recurring characters include the lazy, irresponsible Cheetor, hungry Dinobot and gender-ambiguous office ladies Airazor and Nightscream. Later strips introduce the Axalon Co.'s rivals, the "Terror Crasher Company" led by Megatron.
Online comics
- 1. untitled
- 2. "The Generation Gap Part 1" (ジェネレーションギャップその1), "The Generation Gap Part 2" (ジェネレーションギャップその2)
- 3. "The Youth Gap 1" (若手のギャップ1), "The Youth Gap 2" (若手のギャップ2)
- 4. "The Transformation Gap" (変身のギャップ), "The Gender Gap" (性別のギャップ)
- 5. "The Bishōjo Fan Gap" (美少女ファンのギャップ), "The Gender Gap Part 2" (性別のギャップその2)
- Bonus Chapter: Transformers Celebration 2014
- 6. "TF4 Toys Part 1" (TF4おもちゃ会その1), "TF4 Toys Part 2" (TF4おもちゃ会その2)
- 7. "TF4 Toys Part 3" (TF4おもちゃ会その3), "TF4 Toys Part 4" (TF4おもちゃ会その4)
- 8. "Tokyo Toy Show 2014 Report Part 1" (東京おもちゃショー2014レポートその1), "Tokyo Toy Show 2014 Report Part 2" (東京おもちゃショー2014レポートその2)
- 9. "The Era Gap" (年代のギャップ), "The Bathroom Gap" (お手洗いのギャップ)
- 10. "Even Though I Told You Not To..." (ダメだって言ったのに…), "Head of Partying, Cheetor" (宴会部長チータス), "Cheetor at Night" (夜のチータス), "Cheetor in the Morning" (朝のチータス)
- 11. (ちょうと前の二人の出会い), (うちとけてきた頃)
- 12. "Prank Part 1" (いたずらその1), "Prank Part 2" (いたずらその2)
- 13. "Rivals! Terror Crasher Company!" (ライバル!テラクラッ社!), "Buzz Buzz Buzz, Wasps Fly, Buzzzzzz" (ぶんぶんぶんハチが飛ぶー)
- 14. "President Mega's Requests" (メガ社長のお願い), "President Mega's Studies" (メガ社長のお勉強)
- 15. (ホワール、ロードバスター発売中だぶん), "LG03 Tankor Prologue" (LG03タンカー前日談)
- Bonus Chapter: Christmas
- 16. "The Results of Mega-chan's Studies" (メガちゃん勉強の成果), "Widow-chan at Work" (ウィドーちゃん出勤)
- 17. (タンカーなんダナ!), "Whirl Versus Roadbuster!" (ホワール対ロードバスター!)
- 18. "2015's Swerve" (2015年のスワーブ)
- 19. "Transformers 2015 Tailgate/G1 Micron Chapter" (トランスフォーマー2015 テイルゲイト/G1マイクロン編)
Business Trip Edition pack-in comics
- 1.
- 2.
- 3.
- 4.
- 5.
- 6.
- 7.
- 8.
- 9.
- 10.
- 11.
- 12.
- 13.
Characters
Notes
- As is to be expected, the characterizations for the cast are derived from the Japanese version of Beast Wars and Beast Machines. In most instances, these characterizations were extremely different from their Western counterparts. As such, some of the "gags" might fly over the heads of those unacquainted with the radically different Japanese version of the show.
- Tigatron was portrayed as a stereotypical samurai in the dub, hence his extreme Japanese-ness in this comic. His obsession with cute girls is ironic, considering the Japanese dub made him canonically gay.
- Airazor is gender ambiguous because she was made male in the Japanese dub of Beast Wars, but retained her female gender in the Beast Wars Metals manga; so she was both genders in Japan.
- Nightscream is portrayed this way because in the dub of Beast Machines he was played as a flaming homosexual with a highly effeminate manner of speaking.
- Silverbolt's off-the-wall zaniness extends from his Japanese portrayal, which was extremely high strung and energetic.
