Transformers Go! Go! Mini Encyclopedia

Transformers Go! Go! Mini Encyclopedia « Summer 2024 edition » « Winter 2024 edition »
トランスフォーマーごー！ごー！ミニずかん (Transformers Go! Go! Mini Zukan)
Publisher	Kodansha
Published in	TV Magazine
First published	June 26, 2024 November 28, 2024 (1st update)[1]
Manga	Haruka Oda
Editor	Minoko

Transformers Go! Go! Mini Encyclopedia, full title Transformers Go! Go! Character Mini Encyclopedia, is a one-shot collecting character profiles for the cast of Transformers Go! Go! published by Kodansha on the TV Magazine website in summer 2024.

The non-comprehensive guide lists characters broadly in order of appearance in addition to several new faces that, at time of publication, had yet to appear in the comic. Entries are divided by faction.

Evidently intended as a living document, it received an expansion including characters from the intervening issues and then some in November 2024.

First edition profiles

Autobots

Decepticons

Maximals

Winter 2024 expansion

Autobots

Decepticons

Trainbots

Maximals

Predacons

Notes

• This collection was produced as a sort of "bonus issue" of the web comic for the month of June 2024 as well as a "simul-release" with (and legend to) the giant crowd scene that constituted the July/August/September issue of the print comic published that same week. It featured no ads.
• The November 2024 expansion was similarly paired with the puzzle that constituted the January/February/March 2025 issue and went so far as to add a labeled version of the illustration.
• The issue is structured as a bit more of a "spotter's guide" for Transformers than a traditional profile book, as the profiles for the pre-existing characters are actually abbreviated relative to those already included in regular issues of the web comic rather than the other way around.

Transformers references

• A slew of characters introduced to the world of Go! Go! for the first time here, and each of them sport character models based on one of their contemporary toys as is series author Haruka Oda's style:
  • Hound is identified as his Generations Selects toy via the characteristic ankle hinges of the War for Cybertron: Siege mold and most un-Siege-like Earth Jeep chest of the Selects tooling.
  • Sideswipe is largely based on his War for Cybertron: Kingdom toy as denoted by particular details as that mold's characteristic red inner calves, prominent inner shoulder wheels, and white collarbone, but with fairly significant deviations in the arms to bring him back in line with his Generation 1 cartoon model including his shoulder scoops and the re-addition of his forearm doors.
  • Sunstreaker is identifiable as his War for Cybertron: Earthrise mold via the shoulder and calf detail, though his shoulder vents have notably been picked out in black here, a move that has yet to appear on a real deco of the toy.
  • Bluestreak can be clocked as his Earthrise toy via his red heels and arm detailing.
  • Cosmos is hard to miss as his toy from the Speedia 500 assortment of the Legacy toyline, loaded up as he is with that toy's kibble.
  • Seaspray for lack of a proper contemporary update, is identifiable by his rounded off shapes and big shoulder pins as his original Generation 1 toy.
  • Beachcomber is identifiable as his Legacy toy via the gray patterns on his calves, the folded up roll-bars inside his heels and his Autobrand placement.
• Naturally, Oda kept at it for the new characters in the November update:
  • Steeljaw is just barely discernible as derived from hist Studio Series toy via the distinctive shape of his mane.
  • Springer is covered pretty much head to toe in detailing that pegs him as an iteration of his Seige mold. More specifically, the distinctive "wing" configuration Oda has invented for Springer's rotors is only achievable via the jointing of the Studio Series tooling.
  • Cliffjumper's detailing and back kibble pegs him as an iteration of his Earthrise mold with most of his coloration being pulled from its original release, give or take a few tweaks unchained from the tyranny of real-world sprue layouts, such as more cartoon-accurate black shoulders and gray legs.
  • Grapple is identifiable as his Earthrise toy via the common post-Siege Generations tell of his ankle hinges.
  • Oda boldly plants her flag in the ancient debate by basing Frenzy on Rumble's blue Studio Series toy (discernible by the ribbing on his calves) a la the duo's usual depictions in Japanese media.
  • Lastly, Waspinator is fairly effortless discernible as his Kingdom toy via the wasp leg layout (one per elbow and two per calf) idiosyncratic to that mold.

External links

• Original version of the Transformers Go! Go! Mini Encyclopedia at TV Magazine (archived)
• Current edition of the Transformers Go! Go! Mini Encyclopedia at TV Magazine

References