God Neptune comic 2

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Publisher	TakaraTomy Mall
First published	June 1, 2020
Manga	Hayato Sakamoto
Additional art by	Casey W. Coller (p 4, panel 1)
Colors	Josh Perez (p1, 4, 8), Gufu Kandagawa (p2, 3, 5)
Editor	Kouji Nimura
Continuity	Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity, Precursor World

With the might of five Matrices, God Neptune makes his move on Megatron Omega's alliance.

Synopsis

On the White Planet, several hours before Halfshell's attack, White Gallant Convoy drives through the town greeting the denizens before arriving at the White Order's base. There, he's alerted to the battle between Super Megatron and Star Convoy on the Blue Planet, but decides that the Blue Order can handle it—the White Order's duty belongs on their planet. Nevertheless, Gallant is engrossed in Star Convoy's heroism. When Star Convoy takes an attack meant for a pair of Beast People, he realizes that he lives according to White's motto: that freedom is the right of all sentient beings. Knowing from comments made by Primus that this visitor is a "Convoy from the next world", Gallant comes to the conclusion that Star Convoy is his future reincarnation, and that he must die so that Star Convoy can live...

Having gathered five of the Primus Vanguard's Matrices, God Neptune sets out to use their power to take the Purple Matrix and the Silver Matrix (carrying the blue Star Power of the α Matrix beside its own) from Megatron Omega and Purple Wicked Convoy. Megatron attempts to blast the Seacon combiner, but God Neptune is unfazed. Straxus takes a swipe with the Matrix Sword, but is disarmed by God Neptune retaliating with the Matrix Saber. The Matrix Sword isn't without surprises, and Blue Big Convoy's spirit emanates from it, revealing that he put a portion of his spark into the sword when he committed suicide. Big links to the Matrix Buster to give God Neptune a good blast, and Yellow, Green, and Black arrive to restrain God Neptune. Gallant leaps into action in his "White Convoy Grand Prime" mode, but the entire endeavor ends in Gallant being bisected by God Neptune's Neptune Sword.

Grabbing the opportunity, Megatron Omega converts into a new mode that combines with Wicked's trailer and ruthlessly shoots the combiner with Angolmois Energy, breaking him apart. Desperate, Halfshell calls Turtler for help, but his plea is interrupted when Megatron Omega broadcasts Halfshell's unkind words about his "brother" from earlier in the photon sailer. Having watched Halfshell's insults toward him, Turtler turns his back on his "brother", disappointed that his comrade turned out to be as disdainful as everyone else. Now alone, the miserable Halfshell cries and laughs at his despair; looking at his felled crew, Halfshell thinks back to a similar scenario...

Before and elsewhere, the Seacons, betrayed by Duncan, have been left for dead in space. Halfshell mourns new member Lawbhammer in particular when a mysterious, shadowed robot arrives. Introducing himself as "his envoy",^[1] he offers to revive the Seacons... but only if they do as he says. The mysterious benefactor takes Lawbhammer as collateral and sends Halfshell to 2020 to pick up Turtler.

Halfshell moans at what he's been brought down to—a crewmember being a hostage, violating pirate code, and deceiving his brother. In response, a voice emanates from the Neptune Sword... White Gallant Convoy! Gallant explains that he placed his soul within the sword and gives the Seacon captain words of encouragement. Nearby, Megatron Omega attempts to absorb the Star Power of the five Matrices God Neptune brought, but he finds his head smashed in with the Neptune Sword. Halfshell takes the Star Power for himself, reforming God Neptune and cleaving Megatron in half. The Straxuses worry about their bisected master, but their concern is unnecessary as Megatron absorbs their energies to reform himself. With an inhuman voice, Megatron Omega declares that this is the form that will banish the humans from Earth in the future... Megatron Omega: Perfect Form.

On the Blue Planet, Primus explains that he's out to foil Primacron's plans and calls Primitive warriors to him!

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Notes

Continuity notes

("Battle Point Unlimited" plays)

• The innards of White seen when he's bisected (most notably an "organic" brain) are based on Predaking's as seen in "Enter the New Supreme Commander, Dai Atlas!".
• White Gallant Convoy acts in the belief that he will be reincarnated as Star Convoy, but at the moment it's ambiguous as to whether this is just conjecture on his part. The story so far gives little evidence that this reincarnation is so direct. That said, the Battle Core Optimus Prime toy, of which White is a repurposing, does sport a headsculpt based on Star Convoy.
• Duncan is a still-unseen character created for the Legends manga. Bonus Edition Vol. 61 established him to be the leader of the Space Pirates from The Headmasters episode "Mystery of the Space Pirate Ship".
• In flashbacks, Halfshell is dispatched to meet Turtler, as seen in the fifth Seacon comic.
• The summoning effect Primus uses is the same one used by the Oracle (another incarnation of Primus in this continuity) in "Call of the Primitives".

Transformers references

• In the first couple of panels, Gallant can be seen pulling Energon Optimus Prime's trailer.
• Although his components go unnamed, Gallant's Combiner limbs are Prowl, Groove, Rook, and Streetwise. With the exception of Gallant and Rook, the components are based on the TakaraTomy releases, complete with white combiner hands and feet from Unite Warriors Superion.
• Most of the orders of the Primus Vanguard share a single unifying theme outside of their color; in the case of White Gallant Convoy's forces, most of them are police-themed Transformers. However, outside the White Order's base, interacting with the White Planet's parka-wearing inhabitants, we see various snow-themed Transformers characters: the snowmobiles Icepick and Snow Cat, the BotBots Meltz Down and Waddlepop, and the Mutant owl/polar-bear Icebird. The rescue helicopter Alpha Bravo is also seen flying overhead. On the one hand, these characters all seem to be acting as ordinary citizens of the planet, waving Gallant's convoy past without being involved in the White Order's operations. On the other, they're still all white Transformers, and the overall impression we have of the Precursor World is that all the Transformers are part of the Primus Vanguard. The wiki therefore takes the convenient liberty of assuming all of these robots are simply part of the White Order, and that only the parka-wearing beings are the planet's natives.
• When the Vanguard leaders restrain God Neptune, Yellow Splendid Convoy says "Atsuki kokoro ni fukanō wa arimasenwa" (roughly "With a passionate heart nothing is impossible!"), a rendition of Fire Convoy's catchphrase "Atsui kokoro ni fukanō wa nai" spoken in a more feminine and polite register.
• The Generation 1 Lobclaw/Nautilator mold was never released as part of the Beast Wars II Seacon team, and thus 22 years on this story creates a virtual recolour character to fulfill that role, Lawbhammer.

Real-world references

• Hidden among the Beast People in this issue is a very particular raccoon: Michiru Kagemori, protagonist of the anime series BNA: Brand New Animal, in another Studio Trigger homage.

Other notes

• Megatron Omega's dialogue is written with katakana in place of hiragana, indicating an abnormal, robotic voice.

References

• God Neptune comic 2 part 1 at TakaraTomy Mall
• God Neptune comic 2 part 2 at TakaraTomy Mall
• God Neptune comic 2 translation by Mohair Translations
• Lettered version of the translation by Fanofcoolstuff27

References