Latolata
From Transformers Wiki
- Latolata is a Blentron from the Beast Wars Neo portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.
Out of his Blentron brethren, Latolata (ラートラータ Rātorāta, aka Rartorata[Note]) is the most cruel servitor of Unicron. Easily the most vicious of the Blentron trio, Latolata is ready to sacrifice anything, even his teammates Elphaorpha and Drancron, to accomplish his mission.
Besides transforming into a hideous lionfish/hornet monster, Latolata carries the rapid-firing "Poison Arrow", which does as its name implies; his wings can scatter the deadly "Dust Hornet", a numbing powder; and his large head's spikes can become the powerful "Lato Thrasher". All are quite effective for his job as the Blentrons' "Assassination Ninja".
Sometimes there are lots of him.
Contents |
Fiction
Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity
Beast Wars Neo cartoon
- Voice actor: Nobuyuki Saitō (Japanese)
After Big Convoy's Maximals and Magmatron's Predacons had gathered many Angolmois Capsules, Latolata and the other Blentrons made their move. While Elphaorpha created an hole into the Gung Ho's cargo bay, Latolata and Drancron observed Big Convoy tricking some of the Predacons into a trap using empty Angolmois Capsules as bait. The two soon travelled via wormhole to join Elphaorpha just as the cargo bay was penetrated and the Capsules sucked into space (along with Break). The Maximals attempted to stop the Blentrons from consuming the Capsules, but their attacks couldn't even scratch the trio, and the Blentrons transformed into robot mode and struck back out of annoyance, putting the Maximal rookies out of commission.
When Big Convoy finally arrived at the Gung Ho, he found his downed crew and the Blentrons inside the cargo bay. The three unleashed their attacks on the Maximal commander, easily taking him down, and took their leave through a wormhole. Mysterious Beast Warriors!?
Planning to take the Predacons' Capsules as well, the Blentrons left a stock at Milton to lure in the Dinosaur. When the Predacons made their landing, the invisible Latolata kept an eye on the Saberback and Guiledart team. However, the Angolmois Capsules also attracted the attention of the Maximals, so Drancron and Latolata decided to set them against the Predacons to buy Elphaorpha time to pilfer the Dinosaur's Angolmois Capsules. After tricking the Predacons into attacking the Maximals, Latolata joined Elphaorpha aboard the Dinosaur as he was fighting Magmatron and assisted his comrade. Elphaorpha soon used an acid attack to create an opening in the ship's hull and the two Blentrons left through it, but not before introducing themselves to the Predacon Emperor of Destruction. Gathering all of the Capsules they stole on Milton, the Blentrons were confronted by the Maximals, but the trio nevertheless made quick escape with their spoils through a wormhole. The Stolen Capsules
Having stolen both stockpiles of Angolmois Capsules, the Blentrons ventured to different planets to find still wayward Capsules. Their pattern of travel was eventually realized by the Maximals, and, intercepting the Blentrons just as they emerged from a wormhole, the Gung Ho attempted to capture them with an electric net before unloading the ship's full firepower, but it proved futile. Undaunted, the trio simply warped away to Porcupine, where they had detected a Capsule. Magmatron, knowing the Blentrons' true goal of reviving Unicron, attempted to get the edge on them with the planet's defenses and the Predacons' personal weapons, but even the arrival of the Maximals wasn't enough to turn the tide. Fearing for his master's life, Hydra ejected the Angolmois Capsule from the planet, prompting the Blentrons to chase after it. Once they acquired it, they unleashed their power on Porcupine, destroying it, but not before both forces left the planet. Pursue the Blentrons!
Finding three Angolmois Capsules on Jion, Magmatron set up a trap using the Capsules as bait. Once the Blentrons arrived, Magmatron's troops activated an electric field that immobilized the trio while the Predacons unleashed their firepower on them. Once again, it had little effect as Latolata used his Lato Thrasher to destroy the field's emitters and the Blentrons wailed on the hapless Predacons. Pushed to his final trump card, Magmatron ordered the Dinosaur to emerge from its hiding spot in the planet's surface and had the ship unleash its full armory on the Blentrons. With the powerful Transformers finally too weakened to fight back, Magmatron attempted to detonate the Angolmois Capsules, fully willing to end his and his soldier's lives to ensure that Unicron would not be revived. He was stopped in the nick of time by Big Convoy, whose Maximals had been trapped by the Predacons previously and who was unwilling to let their lives end as well. Taking the opportunity, the Blentrons warped away to recover and reach their next destination. Angry Magmatron
Figuring out to navigate the Blentrons' warp holes, the Maximals arrived at the villains' hideout, an asteroid within a cloud of dark gas and which they attempted to defend, but fell back after a bit of a tussle. Illusion? Lio Convoy Inside the asteroid, they watched as Unicron's resurrection proceeded along inside a container sucking energy from the Angolmois Capsules they collected. They detected the presence of Predacon intruders, and so the Blentrons went to the surface to attack them. Unicron's awakening and subsequent battle with Magmatron eventually attracted their attention, and they watched as their master, in the form of Galvatron, banished the current Emperor of Destruction to another dimension. Unicron Revived!? The Blentrons wanted to strike back against the Maximals when Big Convoy attacked Unicron, but their master simply entreated them to ignore their enemies and focus on gathering more Angolmois Capsules to further strengthen himself. They ended up at Advance Base 889T9, where Unicron absorbed their stock of Angolmois Energy. When Big Convoy and Longrack arrived to investigate, the Blentrons attacked the two and were held back by Big Convoy while Longrack fled to activate the base's self-destruct protocol. With Heinrad immobilizing Unicron and the Blentrons with his Time Freeze, the Maximals fled the base while Unicron and his minions were engulfed in the explosion. However, as Unicron was an energy being, he simply absorbed the explosion, which spared the Blentrons as well, and the four soon warped away. Unicron's Ambition
Unicron and the Blentrons took frequent stops on their way to Cybertron, where they destroyed Maximal advance bases. They eventually met with the Magmatron Unit, now led by Archadis, who attempted to offer their allegiance to the god. Despite the Blentrons simply wanting to scrap them, Unicron was more receptive, ordering the Predacons to bring him the head of Big Convoy. (They failed.) The Maximals, thinking that Unicron wanted to reunite with his body, warped to the Triple Z Point, where it was located. There, they were ambushed by the Blentrons, who were trying to give their master time before the Maximals realized his true goal of merging with Vector Sigma and Cybertron. With Heinrad's Time Freeze, the Maximal was able to get the three to attack each other and squsequent sustained fire from the Maximals forced the Blentrons into retreat. They returned to Unicron, who was waiting in Cybertron's orbit and watched as the Maximal Grand Fleet assembled for the final battle. Fight! Maximals The minions offered to take care of the armada for the master, but Unicron simply growled at them to back off and converted the fleet's firepower into his own energy and used it to annihilate the fleet before making touchdown on Cybertron. Running low on energy, Unicron was struck by Big Convoy's Mammoth Dynamite attack, which threatened to dissipate him. The Blentrons rushed to their master's side, and Unicron simply thanked his servants' devotion by absorbing them to sustain his own existence. End of the Maximals!?
Cloud
Latolata and the other Blentrons were some of the many threats to spacetime that Cloud World's Wreckers battled. TFC-A04
Beast Wars Neo comic
Latolata, like the other Blentrons, was produced in mass numbers by Unicron in his "Black Ball" form, and were sent out to seek Angolmois Capsules. One of the planets they attacked was Jörmungandr, where they exterminated most of the population but were unable to find the Angolmois Capsule there.
When Magmatron's troops dwindled, the Black Ball, who was manipulating the Maximals and the Predacons to gather the Angolmois Energy, offered its Blentrons as replacements. A Battle Fought Alone With the Blentrons, Magmatron set up a trap at an amphitheater floating in Cybertron orbit for the Maximals. When the trap was sprung and Big Convoy was forced to give up the Angolmois Capsules to save his underlings, a Latolata subsequently backstabbed Magmatron, revealing the Blentrons' true allegiance to Unicron! When six capsules were consumed by the Black Ball, Unicron revealed himself, but admitted that he was incomplete without the Angolmois Energy found in both Magmatron and Big Convoy. The Blentrons were sicced on the two, but were all defeated by Big Convoy and Magmatron on their way to attack Unicron himself. Double Cross
After Unicron acquired the Angolmois Energy he needed from Magmatron and obtained Cybertron as a new body, he was lured to the Georgian system by the Maximals. There, Unicron was trapped by crowded and exploding planets. The Maximals picked the opportunity to attack, but Unicron spat out another Blentron army to confront the Maximals. They were held at bay by the Maximals, allowing Big Convoy to make the final strike on Unicron. Return to Zero
2006 IDW Beast Wars continuity
In the wake of Unicron's last attempt at eating Cybertron, the hidden cells of cultists continued to operate in secret. As the dead god's consciousness called out to his scattered followers, Rartorata was chosen to be reformatted into a Blendtron. Joining with former construction bot Elephorca and ex-gladiator Drancron, he was instructed by the Chaos Bringer to help gather malcontents to the warlord Shokaract. Beast Wars Sourcebook #3
Flattering their "leader" and offering him capsules of Angolmois, the Blendtrons convinced Shokaract they were facilitating his ascension to the pantheon of Dark Gods that spawned Unicron himself. As his Anti-Matrix filled, he would be transfigured and Cybertron would be remade in his image. The Ascending #1 However, they were in secret agents of Unicron, seeking only to use Shokaract as a "vessel" for the resurrection of their true patron.
Rartorata was dispatched by Unicron to Earth to deal with the possible threat of the gathered Maximal and Predacon troops, and upon arriving immediately stung Razorbeast, turning him into a raging feral animal. The Ascending #2 Subdued by the combined Maximal and Predacon forces, Rartorata was freed when his fellow Blendtrons arrived. Razorbeast told his allies to flee as he charged in to take on the immense Blendtron. The Ascending #3 Rartorata was ultimately destroyed when Lazorbeak and Spittor impaled Drancron on his stinger, causing a volatile Angolmois reaction that eradicated them all. The Ascending #4
2005 IDW continuity
Latolata was one of Onyx Prime's Maximals. When the Maximals invaded Cybertron, he was one of the many warriors who wound up battling Arcee. Unforgivable
Toys
Beast Wars
- Latolata (Blentron, 1999)
- ID number: X-6
- Release date: July ??, 1999
- Accessories: Spring-loaded "ceremonial rapid-fire poison arrow launcher", "Poison Arrow"
- Part of the fifth and final wave of Takara's Beast Wars Neo toys, Latolata is a barely-altered redeco of the Beast Wars Deluxe Fuzor Injector, transforming into a hornet-lionfish fusion. Pressing down on a plate on the back of his head in either mode tilts it forward and deploys spring-loaded spines on his skull. His beast mode stinger detaches to form a spring loaded missile launcher (the aforementioned "ceremonial rapid-fire poison arrow launcher").
- Basically, the only differences between Latolata and Injector are that Latolata has a lighter, charcoal gray plastic instead of Injector's black, plus his rubsign uses the Blentron insignia rather than the Predacon one. After all, it's hard to improve on perfection!
Notes
- Over the years, there were many attempts to romanize this character's name, as its etymology was very unclear. In 2007, the IDW Beast Wars comics chose to romanize it as "Rartorata", a fan spelling that consultant Ben Yee was familiar with at the time. Reading the character's bio included with the toy appears to reveal the answer: the lionfish half is specifically referred to as minokasago (ミノカサゴ), the Japanese word for the Luna lionfish, whose scientific name is Pterois lunulata. Thus, "Latolata" or a variation thereof would be closer to the intention.
