Planet Cup

Shortly thereafter, it was decided using the trophy as an obstacle was a bad idea.

ThePlanet Cupis the biggest race onVelocitron,and is second only to theSpeedia 500in importance to the planet's race-centric culture. It spans four widely different courses which test all the skills and equipment of each competitor to the limit.

It is also the name of the trophy which is the prize for victory and which contains Velocitron'sCyber Planet Key.As of 2030, this prize has been held byOverridefor many years.

Overview

The trophy is normally kept within a secure force field within a massively fortified fortress to prevent it being stolen.Collapse

The race comprises four courses:

• The first heat takes place on a fairly conventional road track.
• The second has a long stretch which is too narrow to overtake, followed by a segment with a lot of speed bumps and stairs. The final leg takes place through a series of city streets.
• Stage three is an off-road course through theDiablo Desert,replete with sandstorms and quicksand pits.
• The final stage takes place on a long course, covering much of the planet's underground, and has numerous loop-de-loops which require great speed to traverse, as well as a great number of tricky 90° turns.

Fiction

Cybertroncartoon

Competitors

In Earth year 2030, a very special Cup was staged, as the Velocitronian competitors were joined by several racers fromCybertronwho were seeking the Cyber Planet Key. In all, the initial lineup consisted of:

• From Velocitron:
  • Override (previous winner, favourite to win)
  • Ransack
  • Crumplezone
  • Dirt Boss(seen as a strong competitor)
  • Clocker
  • Brakedown
• From Cybertron:
  • Hot Shot(dark horse, eventual victor)
  • Red Alert
  • Landmine
  • Optimus Prime

Heat 1

In the basic stage, Override jumped to an early lead, closely followed by Dirt Boss. Hot Shot suffered a mechanical error, and so Red Alert pulled him along in his slipstream to get up to speed. Once he was moving steadily, Hot Shot sped ahead into third place.

"Hey, Ransack. Feelingrun down?""Shut up, Crumplezone. Just shut up. "

Meanwhile, Ransack and Crumplezone held back, intending to shoot the other racers from behind.HeroTheir efforts were initially thwarted by Optimus Prime blocking their way, while Red Alert and Landmine dropped back to keep an eye on them. However, the troublesome twosome managed to jump ahead by clever use of Ransack's springs and smokescreen power.

The two then caught up to the leading three, causing Hot Shot and Dirt Boss to crash into each other. Hot Shot recovered first and quickly jumped into fourth place, annoying Dirt Boss.

Trailing just behind Override, Ransack and Crumplezone blew up a bridge to stymie the other racers. In an impressive display of timing, Optimus Prime drove right into the hole to let Hot Shot successfully use the commander's back as a ramp onto the final stretch to take second by the use of his Cyber Key Power.

Meanwhile, Dirt Boss got around the obstacle by going off-road, allowing him to quickly catch up to Ransack and Crumplezone. He then flattened his supposed allies to take third. Landmine, Red Alert, Clocker, and Brakedown managed to take fourth through seventh, leaving Ransack and Crumplezone to limp in in 8th and 9th.Race

Heat 2

Running on foot is a perfectly viable strategy in a road race.

Hot Shot got off to an early lead, followed closely behind by Override and Dirt Boss. Clocker, Brakedown, and the rest of the Cybertronian racers conspired to keep Ransack and Crumplezone in the back; Ransack, however, exploited his small size to weave between them and pull into fourth place.

Hot Shot maintained pole position across the speed bump section, but slowed dramatically at the stairs. Override, meanwhile, transformed to robot mode and simply ran on them, taking first place. Hot Shot copied her to hold on to second, while Dirt Boss's off-road tyres allowed him to maintain a swift pace without having to transform.

The leads' respective strategies for getting ahead were all beaten by Ransack, who used his springs to simply jumpoverthe stairs and gain a massive lead. He took advantage of this situation to mess with the directions in the city stage, sending the leaders on a wild detour while he and Crumplezone took the lead.

Rescuing damsels in distress, that's the Autobot way!

However, he wasn't able to misdirect those behind him, and so Landmine, Clocker, and Brakedown stayed on the correct course. Landmine spotted Hot Shot racing along on a parallel road and told him about Ransack's deception. Hot Shot told Override, out of a desire to beat her honestly; Dirt Boss also overheard and broke through the roadside wall to rejoin the race. Hot Shot and Override followed him.

In the home stretch, Ransack and Crumplezone faced a loss, and so decided to collapse a tunnel right before the finish in order to take out as many of the rest of the racers as possible. Override quickly crashed in the confusion, and Hot Shot stopped to help her, which allowed Dirt Boss to speed past and claim first place. Seeing that Override was all right, Hot Shot zipped off again and finished second, with Override coming third and Brakedown fourth. Ransack and Crumplezone once again brought up the rear, coming fifth and sixth.

Meanwhile, Red Alert, Landmine, and Clocker dropped out to help with the damage caused by Crumplezone, thus failing to finish and leaving Hot Shot as the one Cybertronian competitor leftDetour.

Heat 3

Prior to the race, Override fitted herself with high-traction tires to keep up speed on the sand. Hot Shot practiced getting out of holes, while Ransack and Crumplezone spent most of their time spying on Override.Savage

Dirt Boss: Stunt Robot

When the race began, Dirt Boss, being built for off-road racing, got off to an early lead. Ransack and Crumplezone quickly got caught in a sandstorm, while Hot Shot got trapped in a pit after trying to jump over it. Brakedown came to the aid of Hot Shot, tossing him a belt from his cooling system. Dirt Boss tried to destroy the two while they were distracted, but was stopped by the timely arrival ofCobyandJolt.Dirt Boss himself was then distracted by Override riding past at a fast rate thanks to her new tyres.

Dirt Boss tried to fight off Override, but was stymied by the arrival of Ransack and Crumplezone. For once, the pair tried to help Dirt Boss; they accomplished this by shooting Override, but missed and hit Dirt Boss instead. At this, Dirt Boss finally snapped at his supposed allies' incompetence and opened fire on them, but ended up trapped in a sand pit, costing him the race.

Meanwhile, Hot Shot and Brakedown rejoined the race, but Brakedown started to suffer due to the loss of his cooling system. Hot Shot offered to carry Brakedown over the finish line, but Brakedown urged the younger bot to leave him and finish the race. After all, Brakedown claimed to have been in worse situations, so he'd be fine.

In the end, Override won the heat, followed by Ransack and Crumplezone. Hot Shot came in fourth and lastSand.

Final

Override, Crumplezone, Ransack, and Hot Shot were recognised by the trophy as having qualified for the final. Due to injuries Hot Shot sustained over the course of the race, Coby had to ride in his cockpit to make constant corrections to his circuit pathways. Meanwhile, Ransack and Crumplezone upgraded themselves with nitro boosters and a large number of new springs.

When the race began, Hot Shot and Override sped ahead, but Ransack and Crumplezone used their springs to close the gap. The two Decepticons used their new boosters to try and cross the first loop-de-loop, but ran out of nitro at the top and fell off the track, dropping out of the race. Frustrated, they attempted to just steal the trophy, but were unable to break through the force field and were then blasted away by Hot Shot and Override.

Hot Shot and Override resumed racing, Coby putting his own life in danger to keep Hot Shot running. In the final stretch, Hot Shot activated his Cyber Key Power and managed to beat Override by millimetres. Though surprised at her loss, Override congratulated Hot Shot on a well-earned victoryChampion.

Claiming the trophy

However, there was one final piece of drama to come in the tournament. As soon as the force field dropped to allow Hot Shot to claim the trophy,Megatronled a force of Decepticons through adimension gateand attempted to steal it. Optimus Prime,Vector Prime,andLeobreakerarrived fromJungle Planet,and the Autobots and Decepticons engaged in a big battle for the trophy.

Override eventually managed to take it and, after the Decepticons were driven off, personally presented it to Hot Shot, who was crowned champion of Velocitron shortly thereafter.

In the aftermath, Override, impressed by the Autobots' honour and determination, asked to join their mission and was readily accepted.Champion

Notes

• The tournament doesn't seem to have any rules other than that whoever crosses the finish line wins. Nobody gets disqualified for shooting at the other racers, interfering with the track, or even going off course.

Foreign names

• Japanese:Planet Cup(プラネットカップPuranetto Kappu)