Comics Bon-Bon Manga Summary for April, 1999 - Beast Wars Neo

     As usual, the manga seems to be in a parallel universe from the anime,
much like the US comic wasn't in the same world as the cartoon.  This issue,
we skip right to the first mission of the new crew, with little or no
explanation of how we got there from the events of last issue.
     Working first draft without a translator this time (Drew's off running a
Starfleet Battles tournament), so expect a higher error rate.  }->
     [First batch of corrections/additions thanks to Doug Dlin.]

Page 1: A Cybertron shuttle streaks towards a forboding Destron citadel
     on an asteroid.  The unarmed craft evades the defensive fire, and
     then the pilot pops the canopy and stands up with his bazooka weapon.
     The Destrons panic...at the very least, this maniac looks like he might
     ram the base!

Pages 2-3: Big Convoy pulls the trigger.  BOOM.  He has apparently destroyed
     the entire asteroid with one shot.  Serenely, he flies his ship away 
     from the expanding debris field.

Page 4: Birdconvoy (he's something-Convoy, he has the characters for "Convoy"
     in his name) is dressing down the lone wolf Big Convoy for his attack
     on the Destrons.  Birdconvoy has an organic wing instead of his left
     arm and a beak sticking out from his helmet...and his head is tilted to
     one side.  Big Convoy interrupts the berating to ask why Birdconvoy's
     head is sideways.

     [CrowConvoy, actually.  I like the sound of Birdconvoy better, though.]

Page 5: BAD idea.  Birdconvoy is VERY sensitive about this.  He unloads his
     life story at Big Convoy and generally yammers on about his deformity
     and Big Convoy's lack of respect.

     (Takeuchi Shouichi points out that CrowConvoy's little space ship in
this scene is called "Seven Baby Crows," a pun based on a Japanese nursery
rhyme.)

Page 6: Birdconvoy's squawking is interrupted by the arrival of Hyperconvoy.
     Hyperconvoy comments on how Big Convoy was not given his Matrix by the
     Convoy Council, and as such has yet to really show he deserves the 
     position of leadership that the Matrix implies.

Page 7: So...Hyperconvoy is going to give Big Convoy the chance to show he
     is worthy of his Matrix.  Big Convoy will travel to Gaea and train a new
     group of recruits with similarly mysterious backgrounds.  Big Convoy
     does not react well to being saddled with green troops...or any troops.
     Cut to Gaea, Stampy and Break are jumping through the underbrush,
     carrying automatic pistols.

Page 8: Break warns Stampy to be on the lookout for the other side, but 
     Stampy points to his ears and claims nobody can sneak up on him.  Then
     he turns around to see Corahda's fangs.  Corahda rears up and transforms
     to robot mode, peppering Stampy with bullets (I scanned this one).

Page 9: Break cries out in rage and nails Corahda with a hail of bullets.
     Now Break and Longrack are the only ones left, on opposite sides of a
     giant tree, with the other two "bleeding" in the foreground.  "3...2...
     1...0!!"  The two leap out and end up in a good old Hong Kong Drawdown,
     with  pistols pointed at each other's heads.

Page 10: BANG!  Both now have paint-covered faces.  Heinrad, acting as 
     timekeeper (natch) for the round, declares it a draw.  Break throws
     his gun down in disgust, next to a box marked "paint bullets," just in
     case anyone hasn't figured out this was a practice match.  As they all
     clean off the paint, there's general discussion about the fight.  Break
     is not happy, Longrack sees it as decent progress.

Page 11: Discussion continues, and Corahda makes some sort of comment that
     sets off Longrack, possibly regarding Heinrad.  Based on what I've heard
     about Heinrad and his behavior in this story, I think he's in the habit 
     of talking about things that haven't happened yet as if they were the 
     distant past, like the new Hourman, and just as annoying.  Cut to
     Big Convoy's ship, in orbit above Gaea.  He has some sort of personal
     assistant/comic relief machine that trots out to tell him he has a 
     call as he sunbathes on the wing of his ship.

Page 12: The call is from Longrack, who is apparently very unhappy with 
     Big Convoy's absentee leadership style.  Big Convoy suggests they find
     something to do, and brushes off the rest of the call.  He figures the
     "kids" could stand to fend for themselves.  Longrack decides to find
     something to do....

Page 13: Something dangerous and stupid, of course.  With M-16s slung over
     their backs, the crew approaches a barbed wire fence around Galvatron's
     crashed ship on Gaea.  They're going to go check it out and make sure
     no Destrons have sneaked in.  Well, that's the surface reason.  They're
     really doing it to thumb their noses at Big Convoy.  One by one, they
     sneak under the wire, some having an easier time of it than others.

Page 14: Reaching the ship, they transform and head for the door.  The next
     several panels look like an origin/recap sequence as they talk about
     how they got to Gaea and in Big Convoy's command.

Page 15: Further towards the ship they creep, continuing the origin/recap 
     talk.  Then they enter the ship, and are puzzled to see....

Page 16: A dead Triceratops next to a strange giant flower!  Stampy is
     frightened, and Break acts like this is normal behavior for Stampy.

Page 17: Debate ensues over what to do with the corpse and the flower.
     Eventually, it is decided that Stampy will pick the flower so they can
     take it back to base and analyze it.  After all, such a mutation might
     be a result of Angolmois energy.

Page 18: Stampy nervously approaches the flower and tugs on its stem.  CHOMP!
     The flower eats Stampy!  Break and Longrack open fire on the flower.

Page 19: The flower opens up and spits out a gooey Stampy, but the dinosaur
     underneath rises out of the dirt, attacking and ramming the others 
     back.  Longrack lands against the Triceratops corpse...and its eye
     opens.

Page 20: Longrack AND his beast head freak out as the Triceratops stands up.
     It's worth noting at this point that all the animals are to scale.  The
     two dinosaurs dwarf even Longrack.  Break, apparently the only one able
     to keep his cool in a fight, opens fire with his M-16.

Page 21: The bullets just bounce off the tough hides of the two dinosaurs.
     Heinrad makes some kind of cryptic comment, getting the attention of
     Guiledart, who chooses to speak.

Pages 22-23: And then he does more than that.  Transform!  Stampy looks on in
     (what else) fear as Guiledart and Sabreback are revealed in their 
     robot modes.  Even Break is given pause.  Then the Destrons pull out
     their weapons....

Page 24: The Destrons give the Cybertrons a chance to beg for their lives.
     Break is defiant, Longrack remorseful that he's gotten his troops 
     killed, Stampy begs for all he's worth, Corahda's pensive...and Heinrad
     smiles cheerfully.  It's clear from both his attitude and the way his
     face is drawn here that Heinrad is NOT the mysterious entity from last
     issue.

Page 25: Break yells at Heinrad for being so happy.  Heinrad then says it 
     might be a good idea to move over a few meters, and does so.  I have
     no idea why the Destrons don't interrupt this little chat, but the 
     rest of the Cybertrons debate whether the sun has softened Heinrad's
     brain.  Corahda points out Heinrad has time-shifting vision, and might
     be talking about something about to happen.  After a moment, this sinks 
     in, and Break yells for everyone to get the heck away from where they're
     standing.

Pages 26-27: "Run away!"  Sabreback muses on the strange behavior of these
     Cybertrons.  Then the re-entry impact hits.  WHOOM!  Everyone is knocked
     on their skidplates.  As the dust settles, a figure can be seen in the
     middle of the impact zone.  Break sees the flash of a Cybertron symbol.

Page 28: It's Big Convoy!  Yay!

Page 29: Big Convoy asks what's up.  Apparently he dove off his ship as soon
     as the alarms were tripped on the barbed wire fence.  Break tells him to
     look behind him, there's Destrons there!  Guiledart and Sabreback 
     attack.

Pages 30-31: Big Convoy sweeps out his fist and clotheslines both of the
     Destrons at once.

Page 32: The Destrons slide back into a wall.  Big Convoy is about to take
     them into custody, when Heinrad issues a too-late warning.  Suddenly,
     a black sphere appears and teleports the Destrons away.

Page 33: Back on the ship, Big Convoy ponders the mystery of the black
     sphere.  He orders his little personal assistant thingy to dig up
     whatever it can on the sphere.  Then he addresses the troops.  Break
     thinks Big Convoy is going to commend them on their initiative in 
     finding the Destrons, reward them, maybe even make Break the 
     subcommander instead of Longrack.  Nope.  PHYSICAL TRAINING!  Break
     fumes as he and the others do pushups in beast mode.  Something about
     a cobra trying to do pushups is hilarious.  }->

     [During the pushups, Break is mentally referring to Big Convoy as
Kuso-Convoy, which is rather rude.  "Crap Convoy" would be a gentle
approximation.]

Page 34: Suddenly, the ship is tossed about.  Everyone scrambles to try and
     figure out what's going on, and sensors reveal another energy sphere
     has trapped the ship somehow!

Page 35: Magmatron gloats about how his plan is proceeding perfectly.  Well,
     his plot device is, anyway.  To Be Continued....

     Dave Van Domelen, hopes the others stop being completely useless
soon....