Velocitron Speedia 500 Part 1
From Transformers Wiki
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 The most daredevil group of daffy drivers to ever whirl their wheels in the Wacky Races. | |||||||||||||
| "Velocitron Speedia 500 Part 1" ヴェロシトロンスピーディア500 Part 1
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| Publisher | TakaraTomy | ||||||||||||
| First published | August 26, 2022 | ||||||||||||
| Manga | Hayato Sakamoto | ||||||||||||
The Speedia 500 starts with a bang!
Contents |
Synopsis
On Velocitron, the Speedia 500 race is held to determine the leader of the planet. Thus, many competitors from across worlds, each boastful of their own speed, have gathered to win! Cosmos provides commentary.
Blurr, having won many races prior, uses his superspeed to take an early lead. Road Rocket isn't so easily left behind, using ninjutsu to seemingly jump from one location to another. The human-AI robot duo of Dia Burnout takes another tactic, scaling the sheer cliff bordering the race track for a short cut. Road Hauler's own idea is to use his crane to nullify the danger of falling boulders; the former Constructicon hopes to build a big bridge on the planet with his friends if he wins.
A black tank lorry looms in the horizon... how will his race end?
Featured characters
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
| Autobots | Decepticons | Humans |
|---|---|---|
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Notes
- This comic was produced to promote the first wave of Legacy "VS500" toys that was exclusive to TakaraTomy Mall in Japan. The second wave, including Cosmos, Scourge, Override, and Clampdown, serve as background characters for the moment.
Transformers references
- The spectators (and race queen) correspond to the characters showcased in this comic:
- Swerve idolized Blurr in 2005 IDW continuity; both Blurr's Velocitron Speedia 500 toy and the Legends toy Swerve is depicted as here are based upon the characters' designs from that continuity.
- Nightbird and Road Rocket were linked in their backstories in Legends (also by Sakamoto), due to the fact that they are both ninja. This version of Road Rocket being based on kunoichi (female ninja) also serves as another connection.
- Lift-Ticket shares Burnout's origins as an initially unused Diaclone color scheme that was much later used for an exclusive toy for BotCon 2015. In that convention's accompanying fiction, both were presented as mecha from a Diaclone universe with accompanying human pilots, a portrayal that influences at least Burnout in this comic. Lift-Ticket also has the benefit of being a then-recent exclusive from TakaraTomy Mall.
- Devastator, the combined form of the main six Constructicons, is linked to Road Hauler, presented in his initial backstory as a former Constructicon. Curiously, this comic uses the traditional Japanese name, "Buildron", to refer to this group.
- Burnout's human companion/pilot Dia, previously a redeco of Thrilling 30 Holepunch, appears here in new armor repurposing United Nightstick.
Trivia
- Nightbird's outfit has the odd rendering of "NINJYA", which seemingly blends Hepburn romanization (which renders じゃ as ja and follows phonology) and Kunrei-shiki romanization (which renders the same syllable as zya and follows orthography). This kind of in-between Romanization isn't uncommon in Japanese media.
