Dave's Beast Wars Transformers - Japanese Comics Bon-Bon

	Beast Wars Pictures Archive: Comics Bon-Bon
Beast Wars Japan	Pictures and Manga Summaries from Japan's Comics Bon-Bon - 1999
Beast Wars Japan	Last Updated 1/14/00 1999 page spun off.

Pictures from Comics Bon-Bon

Bon-Bon is a monthly manga "phonebook" magazine with several color pages of ads for toy and TV tie-in stuff. Average issue is about two inches (5cm) thick.

A note on the name of the magazine: my translator friend says that the Japanese transliterates best to "Bon-Bon," as in the sweet treat. However, in the logo itself is the phrase "Bom-Bom" inside a circle made to look like a cartoon bomb with fuse. Looks like they're going for a multi-level pun. It's a treat, like a bon-bon, but explosive like a bomb.

DECEMBER

More Transmetal II toys coming in, including Megadrac and Blackarachnia. Given how fast they're cranking in the U.S. toys, either they plan to get the Beast Machines stuff almost immediately there, or there's another new batch of Japanese-exclusive toys in the pipeline soon. To the right is another pic of Rattrap from the manga...and he's getting no better treatment int he dubbed cartoon, from what I hear. He has an annoying-little-kid voice, whines a lot, says "Chu!" as part of his transformation ("chu" is what Japanese mice say rather than "squeak") and at one point he and Cheetor repeatedly say "Pika!" ("Shiny!" literally) to each other regarding their Transmetalized forms. Yep, they're pushing hard to make Rattrap over into a transforming Pikachu.

Manga Summary: "Bad Spark" gets retold with Rampage being even scarier, if that's possible. Convoy ends up missing a big chunk of his body mass by the end. Also, Jaguar makes his debut!
Blackarachnia's Block: Here's the somewhat suggesting panel I mentioned in the manga summary. If you don't get why this is suggestive, you're probably not old enough that I'd wanna explain it to you. :)
Jaguar: Kickin' it Chow Yun Fat style with both guns blazing. Hoo ha!
Dinozone: Two new figures, albeit only as CG designs, not the actual toys yet. A better ptero-type figure, and a really lame one which basically transforms by popping open the back and having a robotic upper body sit up from inside the beast mode.

NOVEMBER

Metals is in full swing, as the Metals manga starts. Looks like Japan will be getting TMII Prowl, Jawbreaker, Optimus Minor, Scourge and Iguanas in stores soon, but not the other Basics or Deluxes in TMII. Megadrac is coming soon. The manga interpretation of the characters is...weird. I'll mainly be doing scans of the manga this month, plus some recolors of Convoy and Megatron and another transforming Digimon.

Manga Summary: Convoy has died to stop the alien planetkiller weapon, and Megatron has taken advantage of this by building an army of sparkless drones. Can Rhinox bring back Convoy's spark in time to save the dwindling number of Cybertrons?
Megatron X: Missed this the first time around, just now adding it the day before I get the December issue. This is Megatron X, the final boss in the N64 Beast Wars Metals game. It's a golden version of Transmetal Megatron, with the addition of wings. Sort of a halfway step between TM Megs and TMII Megs.
Blackarachnia: Leaping in to attack, it's the manga Blackarachnia.
Rattrap: What the slag? Yes, this is supposed to be Transmetal Rattrap in beast mode. Gah.
Metals Convoy and Airazor: Convoy is splitting open Metals Terrorsaur's head while Airazor sits cutely and helplessly on his shoulder.
Recolored Metals Leaders: Exclusive recolors of Mega-size Transmetal Convoy and Megatron. Not scanned, but on the same page are pictures of the Transmetal II's mentioned above.
Digimon: Another transforming Digimon toy. It appears to use a lot of clever backpack-hiding and limb-sheathing to change a reddish bug into a blue one.

OCTOBER

Well, the BW Neo manga wraps up this month with a bang, as one might expect. Plus, Metals Ravage pics! There's also pics from the N64 game, but so small and blurry they're not worth scanning. Megadrac seems to be the final boss.

Manga Summary: Unicron has a body, and the combined might of the Cybertron and Destron fleets is as nothing against it! But Big Convoy has this really big sword....
Some Metals: Scans of three of the most changed Transmetals. Rampage's back is rather different, Rhinox has gunmetal instead of teal chrome, and Airazor's all orangey. Changes not scanned because they're not apparent from the scans: Tarantulas's eyes "fixed" to look like the cartoon, Quicksilver's orange bits are more yellow now.
Ravage!: A remold of TM Cheetor, with the beast head turning into the robot head. Extra arms are clamped on as undercarriage junk, and the barrels of his palm-mounted guns form hip launchers. Note the Decepticon symbol. Like most of the Metals figures, his techspec card has one of those motion gimmicks, switching between three images (not shown in the scan): a 'Con symbol, G1 Megatron's face and a Pred symbol. Other Metals have the three views being of their three modes.
Unicron Revealed!: Another spoilerish picture, you might wanna read the manga summary before looking at it, as it shows Unicron's true self.

SEPTEMBER

Into full swing with Metals, which are basically just Transmetals and some Fuzors, all of which are pictured elsewhere on my page. There don't seem to be any significant color changes, either. So, instead, I'll show a bunch of DinoZone pics after the manga stuff.

Manga Summary: Coming into the final stretch! The Angolmois has all been collected, and now it's time for the capsules to hit the fan.
The Big Reveal!: This is the final two-page splash from the manga episode. If you don't wanna be spoiled, read the summary first.
DinoZone Stuff
- Dueling Tyrannos: DinoTyranno uses Shieldsaurus and Swordsaurus while his evil counterpart uses Drillsaurus. See the TV Magazine page for pictures of the three weaponsaurs in beast and robot modes.
- More Weaponsaurs: A CG picture of the evil tyranno using Drillsaurus, plus a picture of Drillsaurus and Shieldsaurus putting Swordsaurus (a Pachycephalosaur) to use as a battering ram.
- Nightwing: A batlike creature that can bond to Giganodragon in the big guy's robot and dragon modes, giving him a pair of wings (see below for an enlargement of the inset pics of Giganodragon).
- Giganodragon with Nightwing: The inset pics.
- DinoZaurs Megas: Prizes in a contest, I'm guessing, these are pictures of the "Mega" scale (they're listed as 8.5" size, but I bet none of them are that exact height) DinoZaurs in U.S. packaging.
- Toys With Candy: Little statues of some of the characters, no doubt sold with candy.

AUGUST

Not much in the way of new pictures, as the next line to come out in Japan is the Metals (with some Fuzors). Oddly, they're selling both TM and TMII Cheetors at the same time. TMII Cheetor is sold as Shin (New) Cheetas. The bug thingy to the right is apparently one of Magmatron's spies in the manga.

Manga Summary: Longrack overcomes a crisis in confidence while Corahda faces a reminder of his tragic past. And the Blentrons arrive! (Blendtrons, Blentrons, whatever.)
Scuba Temple: As a result of their infusion with Gaea's Good Angolmois power, the original BWII crew each gained the ability to turn organic life into Transformers. Scuba created Corahda's race, and is revered by them as a god.
Shin Convoy: A cutaway diagram of Shin (New) Convoy, aka Optimal Optimus.
"Galvacron": My name for Unicron in control of Galvatron's body. Unicron is the master of the Blentrons, and it was his power that was held deep within Gaea as Angolmois. A civilization arrived on Gaea and tried to harness that power, but it nearly destroyed them and they abandoned the planet. Now Unicron's energy is free, and he's sending the Blentrons to collect it for him....

JULY

The coming of the Blendtrons, a third faction in the Beast Wars Neo! They get a new faction symbol, seen to the right.

Manga Summary: Stampy must learn to overcome one of his many fears, because Big Convoy's too busy fighting Magmatron to bail him out!
Magmatron steps out: From the manga. Maybe Magmatron's trying out to be Jack Kirby's model?
Stampy Moonsault!: One of the climactic pages from the manga.
Blendtrons: Off to the upper left is Shin Convoy (New Convoy), aka Optimal Optimus. Skyshadow is recolored as Drancron, Torca is recolored as Elephaorca and freaky-boy Injector is left the same but called Raatoraata, a name no one seems to be able to figure out.

JUNE

Survive, Killerpunch and the various toy gun things are in this issue, plus some good shots of Dinozone's Ceratops Brothers and some new Microman. The pic to the right is a scene from the manga, where Big Convoy's beast head gives him some backtalk.

Manga Summary: The Crisis of Infinite Clones! Sand Chiggers!
Survive and Killerpunch: Remakes of Polar Claw and Guiledart respectively. Killerpunch loses the "play dead" head in exchange for being able to launch his head, but he still has the "meaty gobbets" panels in his sides.
Gun toys: A better shot of Break's signal bird gun thing (it also has a removable claw weapon), plus another gun which at first glance looks like a pingpong gun. But it doesn't seem to fire the ball. Rather, the ball is launched down the tube and then hits something which makes sound and light.
Superdeformed Magmatron and Big Convoy: Dunno if these come fully painted or not, a picture in TV Magazine showed them with very little color.
The Sorta-Heroic Trio!: A shot from the manga, of Break, Heinrad and Stampy getting ready to kick sand.
The Ceratops Brothers: These seem to actually be toy pictures of the new DinoZone figures. The two red ones are the arms, the gold one is everything else (and four times as expensive). The gold guy has sword-swinging action feature. Maybe these'll hit stores here at Christmas?
Microman "Bug" transforming vehicles: These have pull-back motors for their vehicle modes, and also seem to be able ot walk on their own once you wind them up in robot mode. They have weapon modes for attaching to the shoulders of the big guys, and those also have some kind of motorized action. Cute little buggers.
- Microman "Bugs"
- Acroyer "Bugs"

MAY

The second wave of BW Neo is here in force, with this issue focusing on the six new toys (Killerpunch and Survive aren't in this issue). There's also a bit of new Dinozone stuff.

Manga Summary: Everyone gets whomped pretty equally, and Corahda gets a chance to shine for a bit. And Big Convoy comes in at the end and saves the day again...I sense a disturbing trend here.
Archadis and Mach Kick: Anime style, Archadis is attacking Mach Kick and Big Convoy (which is a Big Mistake on the part of Archadis).
Archadis toy: It looks like the little vestigal claws on its wings can be launched out like missiles, but are attached to the wings...sort of an echo of Polar Claw's claw attack. They seem to have given up on the camoflage mode.
Mach Kick toy: The thing at the bottom is part of what seems to be an attack mode, a mode so pathetic I didn't bother trying to include it all.
Hardhead: This seems to be the final color scheme of the toy. Note the ramming action head in the inset. Open his oddly toothy mouth (he's a herbivore) and the top of the head pops up.
Bazooka: Nifty ankylosaur.
The Ceratops Brothers: Bandai continues to try and rip off Takara by introducing a combiner team of brothers (Jointron Brothers, si?) for Dinozone. This issue doesn't show the combined form, just these shots of the individuals. I suspect the beast modes are computer mockups, but the robot modes look like actual toys.

APRIL

Not a lot of new pictures for the toys, so I filled in the blanks with some fun pics from the manga. First, though, a few notes on pictures I didn't scan: Optimus Minor is being released as a promo, with the same name as here (or as close as transliteration can get it); Microman will have a big Playstation playset that turns into a base and looks like a cross between a PSX and an iMac. The image to the right of this paragraph (assuming you're not using Lynx, then it's above) is from the manga. I call the character BirdConvoy, but have left in his name so anyone who knows Japanese can tell me if I'm right. Turns out the real name is CrowConvoy, which I kinda suspected...but I like the sound of BirdConvoy better.

Manga Summary: Big Convoy is assigned a completely green unit, and sets them to work training. But he doesn't keep a close eye on them, and they get into trouble.
The Matrix: Open up Big Convoy's chest, and out pops his Matrix, woo!
Second Wave Neo: The next six toys slated to come out: Mach Kick, Archadis, Hardhead, Bump, Sharpedge and Bazooka. Robot modes only.
Gameboy Color Screenshots: Finally, some decent, fairly large shots of this in full color. A game in the Street Fighter tradition, with fighting sequences broken up by skill/endurance tests. Almost tempted to get it, but I'd also have to get a Gameboy, making the total price of the purchase well over $100...and I doubt the game is worth that much. }->
Kill Da Wabbit.... Stampy has a very bad day in the manga installment, he probably should have told Kid to go away when he was recruited.
- Riddled With Bullets: Okay, they're only paint...but he has to clean himself with his tongue and paws. Ick.
- Eaten By A Giant Plant: Guess those camoflage modes the Destrons have really work!
- Begging For Mercy: Please, Mr. Guiledart, don't blow me to tiny bits!
- Physical Training: And he can't even complain about how hard it is to do pushups with his stubby forelegs, not with Break and Corahda (!) also doing pushups in beast mode.

MARCH

Good pictures of the third modes of the various BW Neo toys, and the manga kicks into BW Neo as well. The picture to the right of this is a "Bambi vs Godzilla" moment from the manga.

Manga Summary: In the wake of the final battle, Lioconvoy has survived and landed on a strange new planet. But the remains of the old struggle cannot be left behind so easily....
Third Modes - These are all pictures of the third modes of the BW Neo toys. Not all of the BW Neo toys have three modes, although Dead End is the only new mold not to have one.
- Heinlad in Statue Mode - Posed as a classic Japanese tanuki statue (please let me know if I've misremembered that name), he's carrying a ledger and a wine bottle. Certain...attributes...of a tanuki statue are perhaps inadvertantly reproduced thanks to the hip ball joints of the robot mode.
- Corahda in Gun Emplacement Mode - The cobra Cybertron turns into a gun emplacement for his smaller allies.
- Longrack as Grabber Tank - A very iffy mode, if you ask me.
- Stampy in Scissors Mode - A hand weapon for Longrack to use. Targetmasters return, sort of.
- Break in Buster Cannon Mode - Another weapon for Longrack.
- Guiledart Playing Dead - Very dead. With exposed ribs, lolling tongue, etc.
- Sabreback as a Deadly Flower - Basically, he plops down and his tail and spines pop up as a flower.
- Sling as a Deadly Flower - Same idea. He plops down and his fin opens up as a sort of Venus Flytrap.
Compassbot - The winner of some contest or other, this transforming compass seems to be designed with Microman in mind. It'd make a good partner for Zobovor's "Penasor."

FEBRUARY

Beast Wars Neo toys kick in here, plus the end of the BWII manga. No new Dinozone toys, but there's some pics of how to get their weapons out of their bodies, something I'm told can be tricky. The image included here is of the spacesuit-wearing chipmunks from the manga.

Manga Summary: The final battle comes to a close, and it's a typically Japanese bloody affair. Well, oily.
The Death Of Megastorm: A page from the manga. Galvatron mourns the death of his little brother.
BWNeo Cybertron Toys: Way in the back at the top are Stampy and Break, with the Razorclaw rename Rockcrusher in front of them. Longrack dominates the upper left, and Corahda is at the bottom.
BWNeo Destron Toys: I chopped off the recolors. Front rank are Dead End and Guiledart, behind them are Sling and the crown-wearing Sabreback.
BWNeo Cybertrons Animated: Big Convoy dominates the page. Then, from upper right clockwise are Corahda, Longrack, Stampy, Break and Heinlad.
BWNeo Destrons Animated: Magmatron dominates the page. Clockwise from lower left are Sling, Dead End, Sabreback and Guiledart. Takara is definitely emphasizing the new molds over the recolors.
Color Gameboy Characters: Little "SuperDeformed" characters from the new Color Gameboy fighter game for BW (they show some screenshots, but they're not much to look at). Three of the four blocks are split between BW and BWII (Convoy/Lioconvoy, Megatron/Galvatron, Scuba/Cheetor), but the fourth has Megastorm and Guiledart. Also available in the game is the BonBon contest winner, Star Upper, who appeared in the manga as well.
Fight!: SD Megatron versus SD Lioconvoy.

JANUARY 1999

Most of the stuff in this issue related to Transformers has to do with the Transmetals and Fuzors being brought into Japan. Just Quickstrike and Silverbolt of the Fuzors, though, and those might be a mail-in. There's some good Dinozone pics I might scan, though.

Manga Summary: It's the final battle! Galvatron has brought Nemesis to Gaea and is draining the entire planet of its life energy, and only Lioconvoy and his crew are close enough to stop it!
Nemesis: The artificial world-ship belonging to Galvatron, as portrayed in the manga. I think they just photocopied a cel from the animation, since the other time this appears in the manga, it's drawn exactly the same, just a different size.
Random Transformations: Dirge and Thrust with limbs swapped, a Frankenstein-combination of Tonbotto and BigMos, and alternate modes for Apache and Galvatron.
Commemorative Coins: Collectable coins struck in the image of the "new" characters for the movie, namely the U.S. Beast Wars characters.
Dinozone Stuff
- Comparison of Beast Modes: This was the large picture I couldn't scan from TV Magazine, but shrunk down to the point I could fit it on the scanner plate. It has all the beast modes together to show the scale of them.
- Giganodragon Transformation: The sequence shows how to transform the very long Deatheater leader into robot mode. Kinda like closing a zipper.
- Giganodragon to scale: A guy holds the dragon mode to show how big it is.

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Beast Wars Japan

Pictures and Manga Summaries from Japan's Comics Bon-Bon - 1999