Transformers Legends (comic)
From MediaWiki
| 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
- Rattrap, a rookie salaryman, grew up loving Beast Wars and dreamt of collecting all of the toys. After drooling over a Dawn of Future's Past set in the store's window, Rattrap tries to "telepathically" force the manager, Ravage, to set it aside so nobody else can buy it, to Ravage's bemusement.
- 2. "The Generation Gap Part 1" (ジェネレーションギャップその1)
- Rattrap, new member of the Axalon Trading Company, introduces himself to his coworkers, Cheetor, President Optimus Primal, and Manager Rhinox; he quickly digresses to mention his favorite cartoon, Beast Wars, to the silence of his coworkers. (Cheetor doesn't watch cartoons.) Rattrap is soon at a bar with Optimus, excitedly explaining the Transformers series after Optimus confuses Beast Wars with the live-action film series.
- "The Generation Gap Part 2" (ジェネレーションギャップその2)
- Rhinox reveals to Rattrap that he is also knowledgeable about Transformers and the two bond over their preference for the original names: Cybertrons, Destrons, and Cybertron Commander Convoy. However, their camaraderie hits a snag when Rhinox prefers the original truck Convoy while Rattrap insists Convoy is a gorilla.
- 3. "The Youth Gap 1" (若手のギャップ1)
- Silverbolt asks Rattrap if he likes Transformers, to which he replies that he likes Beast Wars. Ignoring this, Silverbolt notes that he's been addicted to watching the DVDs of the live-action movies last week and plans to watch Age of Extinction. He segues into asking Rattrap who his favorite character is, and Rattrap shows the original Rattle toy as his favorite. Silverbolt is confused by the animal Transformer, and considers it "innovative". Rattrap angrily states that it's a 17-year-old toy.
- "The Youth Gap 2" (若手のギャップ2)
- Rattrap drags Silverbolt to the secondhand toy store, where he plans to show Silverbolt the "splendor" of Beast Wars. He points out a C-01 Convoy toy, the first in a series that had its product sell out so much that they functionally disappeared from shelves. He moves on to TM-01 Convoy, noting that it came out in 2007 with a DVD as part of the Telemocha series. Next up is the Beast Wars Reborn set, made for the tenth anniversary and with new faces for the toys. Silverbolt says that Beast Wars has been revisited a lot; Rattrap answers that the various incarnations haven't sold all that well, but then angrily says it's none of his business.
- 4. "The Transformation Gap" (変身のギャップ)
- Robot mode is used as "serious adult mode". As such, workers use it while on the job. However, Rattrap does not follow this unwritten rule and instead transforms when he stops working at 5:00, planning to go to Akihabara. This annoys Optimus Primal.
- "The Gender Gap" (性別のギャップ)
- Airazor is the office lady at the Axalon company, who works with the "Bat Aunt Chama" Nightscream. Rattrap thinks that they're cute, but Rhinox points out that their company does not have even one woman working there and leaves Rattrap with his shocked face.
- 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. "The Two's Recent Encounter" (ちょッ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. "Whirl and Roadbuster Now on Sale, Buzz" (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. "I'm Tankor, dana!" (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)
- Still in Rattrap's dream, Tailgate introduces himself and his partner, Groundshaker. It is explained that a Micron is a Micro Transformer with the ability to transform into another mode and provide their larger partners with a power up. Rattrap asks Tailgate if he could be a Micron as well, since he is also small. Tailgate reluctantly ponders the answer as it is further explained that Micro Transformers came to Earth in the 1980s in search of Optimus Prime and the Matrix. Due to a dimensional shockwave, they evolved and became Micromasters, able to transform and combine. Later in the war, most of the Micro Transformers fell under the command of Hot Rod, who led them in creating the planet Micro. Rattrap's attempt at being a Micron proves to be successful, as he incapacitates Trypticon with his ribbon bomb.
Business Trip Edition pack-in comics
| Transformers Legends Comic: Business Trip Edition issues | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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. Additionally, he was given an American accent in the Japanese dub, hence his love of the American Transformers film franchise.
- Nightscream's odd nickname, "Bat Aunt Chama" (コウモリのおばちゃま Kōmori no Oba Chama) is a reference to Japanese film critic Kazuko Komori (小森和子 Komori Kazuko), whose nickname was Komori no Oba Chama (小森のおばちゃま).
