Summary of Beast Wars II Manga in Comics Bon-Bon, January 1999: As non-toy stuff is introduced here, I would have been confused and had difficulty doing the summary, except I finally got around to watching the rest of the TV episodes today, and they explained pretty much everything I was confused about. That doesn't remove the possibility of errors, of course. It also became apparent while watching the episodes that the manga exists in a slightly different continuity. Not as different as the U.S. G1 cartoons and comics, but the two definitely don't fit together completely. 173: Gaea is seen from space. Then a crack in space opens up behind it. The crack expands to be a giant eye. 174: The eye opens fully. "The Coming Of Nemesis!" Then Gaea dwindles away to nothing in the blackness of the eye's pupil. 175: A peaceful afternoon, Bighorn and Diver are enjoying the sunshine. They chat about things, possibly the arrival of Magnaboss at the end of last issue. Diver notices something odd. 176: A pair of chipmunks have apparently made themselves at home on Bighorn's chest. Diver comments on the irony of this, but then the earth suddenly rumbles. An Angolmois energy geyser (of the sort common in episodes 26-28 of the cartoon) has burst up nearby, throwing debris into the air. The chimpunks bolt for the clearing. 177: Bighorn sees a boulder arcing through the air, about to land on the chipmunks! Transforming, he heroically leaps to save the cute little animals, as all readers over the age of eight gag. But he's not out of the woods yet, as another, larger boulder is about to fall on him! 178: The boulder detonates, a result of Diver's quick shooting. Bighorn pets his little friends. Then another geyser goes up. 179: Forests are decimated as geysers of Angolmois energy leap into the skies all over the planet. This seems to suck the life force out of the planet, and nearby birds weaken and fall from the sky. 180: Back at base, Apache has noticed that all the geysers seem to be pointing at one point in deep space. He sets Navi (the computer) to the task of looking at the convergence point. 181: They find it, and boy is it ugly. Nemesis! Imagine a giant spacefaring submarine made of stone, covered in irregular and vaguely organic spikes (think Shadows from Babylon 5, here). Now stick a giant eyeball on the front of the ship. That, roughly, is Nemesis. 182: The computer shows that Nemesis is draining the life energy of Gaea, in the form of these Angolmois geysers. Once it's done, you can kiss the planet goodbye. Wait, there's an incoming message.... 183: It's Convoy (Optimus Primal), calling via holographic transmission. He charges Lioconvoy with the mission of stopping Nemesis. 184: Convoy explains that Nemesis is perhaps the greatest weapon ever devised by the Destrons, something Galvatron never got a chance to use before being locked away (prior to his escape at the start of the series). It devours planets for energy, and once Galvatron has drained all the Angolmois energy from Gaea, he will no doubt cruise into Cybertron space. It must be stopped before Galvatron gains ultimate power, and Lioconvoy's crew are the only ones close enough to do the job! 185: Probably some of what I just said for 184 is here. Convoy also points out that the life energy of everything on the planet will slowly ebb as Nemesis pulls out the Angolmois energy. Dramatic cut to the chipmunks, who are looking pretty bad. 186: The Cybertrons discuss what is probably a suicide run, but in the end decide to go for it. Convoy smiles grimly and signs off. 187: Everyone's in the ship, it's ready for liftoff. A tense countdown follows. Launch! 188: The ship takes off, possibly for the first time since it landed on Gaea (they used shuttles to get around in the show). 189: Splash page of the ship, tiny against the Angolmois geysers, rising out of the atmosphere. 190: Cut to Nemesis, which is hungrily drinking in the energy. Galvatron stands atop it, in dramatic silhouette. 191: Galvatron soliloquizes, pondering the ultimate power which shall soon be his, oh yes.... 192: More speechifying, followed by applaus from Hellscream and Max B. The two then give a status report or something, and Galvatron askes them a question which causes them to do a comedic out of panel flop. 193: More discussion or dressing down, hard to say for sure. In the shadows, a very nervous Gigastorm wonders what'll happen to him once the plan succeeds. Will Galvatron even need him anymore? Will he kill his often subordinate brother? Maybe Gigastorm should try first! 194: Gigastorm attempts a coup, but Hellscream warns Galvatron, who transforms to dragon mode and catches Gigastorm's swinging tail in his jaws. 195: Galvatron sneers at the attempt on his life, and Gigastorm tries to weasel out of it. Then it's time to set aside internal politics, because the Cybertrons are approaching. 196: Galvatron give the order to fire, and a barrage lances out at the Cybertron ship, scoring several solid hits. 197: It's still coming! And now it's too close to bring the Nemesis's main guns to bear. Brace for collision! 198: THOOM! The ship slams into the eye of Nemesis, tearing a hole in it. Galvatron grits his teeth in anger. 199: The Nemesis drifts now, no longer drawing in energy. Galvatron muses that at least there's less living Cybertrons around to bother him as he repairs the damage and continues with his plan. But wait, look! 200-201: Double page splash of the Cybertrons flying in to attack, having abandoned ship before impact. The core six, both combiner teams and the three winged Insectrons are there. Guess Powerhug, Scissor Boy and Drillnuts are still on the ground. 202: "But...how did you survive?" Galvatron demands. Kid explains (with a small diagram to help) that they all bailed out at the last second. The Autorollers charge into the fray, and Apache transforms into his battle platform mode, starting the battle in earnest. 203: People start pairing off for fights, and Kid ignites his beam saber. He sees Max B sneaking up behind him in the reflection off the energy blade (bwah?) and quickly turns to slash Max B's throat. 204: Scuba (who is Da Man) cyclones in and blows Thrustol up good. 205: Bighorn takes the stunned Max B and powerslams him into the surface of Nemesis. 206: Diver spreads some carnage too. Then, as the battle continues to rage in the background, Galvatron and Lioconvoy approach each other. One shall stand, one shall fall, that sort of thing. 207: Story ends on a cliffhanger, with a split screen showing the two leaders facing off prior to the Final Battle. Dave Van Domelen, notes that most of the color pages for BW in this issue of BonBon are devoted to Transmetals and Fuzors imported from the U.S., plus a couple movie-related artifacts. Not much to scan.