Comics Bon-Bon Manga Summary for March, 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, the origin of the BWNeo conflict is told for the manga universe, and it has striking differences from what I know of the anime. A big point is that in the anime, all the characters start off as Cybertrons and Destrons...not here they don't. And thanks again to Drew Dederer for translating some of the more expository sections for me. [Later corrections and additions thanks to Takeuchi Shouichi.] Page 1: Galvatron is exploding after being hit with the Matrix Bomb in the climax of the BWII story. Behind him, capsules filled with Angolmois Energy are being flung off into space and time by the Nemesis's autodestruct protocols. Lioconvoy watches the energy wave approach him, then flings up his arms to protect himself. Page 2: Blackness. Slowly, Lioconvoy comes into consciousness. He's all alone on a snowy wasteland. "Beast Wars Neo: Prologue" Page 3: Lioconvoy wonders where he is, how he survived, and whether he's just dreaming. Then he feels a sharp pain in his knee. Checking it, he finds one of Galvatron's dragon teeth embedded in his knee. It's no dream. Page 4: Lioconvoy has a quick flashback to the destruction of the Nemesis, and contemplates how he might have survived. He tries his radio, but gets no response. If the others survived, they're not nearby. And he's not within range of any other communications signals. Then he hears a commotion. [Before trying the radio, he tries his Space-Time computer to see where he is, but it's not working.] Page 5: A stampede of cute furry creatures comes by, amidst many explosions. A wounded doe lands at Lioconvoy's feet. Page 6-7: Two-page splash of a herd of dinosaurs (and a giant Ammonite out of water) chasing the animals. What? How can this be? ["Hunt? No...it's a slaughter!" to be more precise.] Page 8: Lioconvoy tries asking what's going on, but the lead dino, an Allosaur, notices the helpless doe and its baby. He decides to reenact Bambi Versus Godzilla. Page 9: Lioconvoy goes to beast mode and races in to save the baby, clutching it by the neck like a lion cub. The Allosaur roars in anger at being denied its prey, and Lioconvoy gives it a piece of his mind. Page 10: Followed immediately by a piece of his missile supply. Direct hit, the Allosaur reels back. But then it gets back up. Something's not right here.... Page 11: The Allosaur is not happy, and demonstrates by unleashing its own missile barrage. Page 12: Lioconvoy is knocked for a loop, and then finds he's taken some shrapnel to the leg. He can't keep dodging for long. The death stroke comes down, and then.... Page 13: A mammoth plows into the Allosaur from behind! Page 14: The Allosaur is knocked on its tail, giving the mammoth time to grab Lioconvoy and the Bambi in its trunk and race off, to the annoyance of the Pteradactyl in the gang. Page 15: The mammoth leaps a gorge, landing on the other side and putting a big barrier between the dinos and himself. Page 16: Lioconvoy and some of the other stampeding animals now rest in a hot spring. Lioconvoy looks to the sky and ponders his situation. He survived, so the others probably did as well. He wishes them luck, wherever they ended up. Then the mammoth chimes in, asking about Lioconvoy's welfare. We find the mammoth is named Big. Lioconvoy realizes that his wounds are more to the heart than to the body, and Big scolds him about lying about when there's so much danger. [Alternate translation is that the "inner wounds" are to Lioconvoy's robotic parts, which cannot be healed by the hotsprings. In either case, the wounds are "inside."] Page 17: Lioconvoy asks about the dinosaurs. Big says that "those guys" (in a somewhat disparaging idiom) used to be violent, but never so bad. Apparently, on this planet dinosaurs evolved but never died out, surviving into the ice age alongside mammals. But then the mysterious stone fell from the sky and changed Those Guys, making them really nasty. Big is the only defender left, and he can't save everyone from Those Guys for long. Page 18: Big takes Lioconvoy to see the strange stone that fell from the sky. Lioconvoy makes the connection between its technological look and the missiles the Allosaur was spitting and thinks maybe this thing is full of Angolmois. Page 19: He checks his sensors. It can't be! This is part of the Evil Angolmois cargo the Nemesis was carrying! Reliving his brief time in the Nemesis's energy pits, Lioconvoy wonders how it could be possible that both he and a supply of Evil Angolmois could have landed on the same world. Meanwhile, Big wonders what the heck the strange lion is doing...and the Allosaur has finally gotten around the chasm. [The Angolmois energy of the capsule heals Lioconvoy, including bringing his Space-Time Computer back online. It informs him he's on a nameless planet in the 7th space frontier sector (Takeuchi says quadrant, but since there can only ever be four quadrants, sector works better). Oh, and he's 50,000 years in the past.] Page 20: BOOM! Missiles from the Allosaur rock Big, who turns to see Those Guys have come back to the capsule. Page 21: Those Guys gloat a bit, but then Big lashes out with all his might! Page 22: The Allosaur, the Plesiosaur and the Pteradactyl are knocked into the pit. Lioconvoy sees which way the wind is blowing and gets the heck out of the pit before the three dinos can land on the capsule. Page 23: They land on the capsule. Boom. The Angolmois lashes out, and the dinos (okay, they're not all dinosaurs, but it's shorthand in this case) scream in pain. Page 24: Lioconvoy tends to the seriously wounded Big, but then hears the screaming has stopped in the pit...replaced by the flapping of wings. Page 24-25: Mid-page spread. The three creatures have been fused into one by the Angolmois (the "orgy mode" of the Magmatron toy). Page 25: Words are exchanged, then the combined critter gives the order. "TRANSFORM!" Page 26-27: Big spread of Magmatron, Guiledart, Sabreback, Dead End and Sling in robot modes. The Angolmois has finished its job, and they are now Destrons. Page 28: Lioconvoy has a shock of recognition as he looks at Magmatron's face. The spirit of Galvatron has survived the battle on Nemesis, and has now been infused into a new body! "TRANSFORM!" he shouts, and launches into battle as Big looks on, unable to help. [More accurately, Galvatron's essence has been infused into Magmatron. Whether it's a true rebirth is unclear. However, at this point Lioconvoy also realizes that the Angolmois energy can turn organics into Transformers.] Page 29: Big fight. Lioclaws, Lioguns, Liocyclone...he makes short work of all the Destrons except for Magmatron. Page 30: Magmatron chuckles evilly. Lioconvoy throws himself into the final attack. But Magmatron suddenly starts to build up energy in a very threatening manner. Page 31: Triple Head Attack! All three beast-head jaws open wide, spewing forth a tremendous wave of energy, against which Lioconvoy is helpless. Page 32: Magmatron states his name and declares himself leader of the band of Destrons. He then demands the allegiance of the others. [Magmatron declares, "We will abandon this world and head out into space. To seek out new worlds, new civilizations...and destroy them!" Well, not literally, but I put some polish on the literal translation.] Page 33: Guiledart, Sling and Dead End all proclaim their allegiances in some way or another. Sabreback simply remains silent, but Magmatron apparently accepts this, as the five then walk off into the night. Somewhen...a mysterious figure thinks, "This is very bad. If events continue to unfold down this path, the other side might win." As far as I can tell from the facial details given, this is Heinrad. [Alternate translation: "As I expected...no, it's MORE than I expected!" Takeuchi thinks this is Galvatron, not Heinlad...and from what little we see of the face, it could be either.] Page 34: Lioconvoy digs up out of the snow and crawls over to Big. Both are badly damaged, neither will survive without some kind of help. So Lioconvoy decides to make the ultimate sacrifice. He opens up his Matrix Chamber and withdraws the essence of his being. Page 35: Lioconvoy slams the Matrix into Big's body! Cut away to the depths of space...we find that the five others of the original BWII crew also survived, and each has found native animals to ally with. Kid has found a family of rabbits, Apache is hanging on for dear life to the neck of a giraffe, Scuba is conversing with a giant cobra, Diver has found a family of raccoons and Bighorn is shivering with the penguins. But back with Lioconvoy, all is black. Page 36: Big sees Lioconvoy in his mind, and hears him calling out. "Big... I have passed the Matrix on to you...TRANSFORM!" With that, Big wakes up. Energy seethes from cracks in his body, and he transforms into a robotic form. Page 37: Big Convoy is born! [In the next episode, it is clarified that Big Convoy was not created by Vector Sigma or any Cybertronian. He's a mystery to the high command.] Dave Van Domelen, wonders if the other BWNeos will be created by Big Convoy, or by similar sacrifices by the BWII crew....