Japanese pack-in comics: TakaraTomy (Hasbro's Japanese counterpart) packs their "Transformers: Universe/Classics" line with mini-comics. I do not know any form of Japanese, but the story in these is pretty basic to begin with. The comics do not have actual numbers, and the issues I read came from consecutively numbered toys.
The covers are in color, while the interiors are black and white. The front covers are standard fare. The back cover shows pictures of other toys. The front inside cover has what looks like a "last time in..." story summary. The inside back cover shows toys of the characters featured in the comic. (I assume the toys are case-mates in Japan.)
-note: I am using the US names for the characters and story lines.
The first comic features the 2 Minicar teams (sold as 3 packs in Japan), and Hotshot unearthing and fighting Dinobot. I have no idea what the story reason is, but Dinobot abrubtly switches sides and joins the Autobots, because the toy has faction-switching as a gimmick. I have no idea how this story fits into any context, thought given how the toys are marketed in Japan, it might not fit. The story seems to pick up in the middle. There are lines of text that might act as foot-notes, or maybe not. In other words, I have no idea how this comic reconciles "Beast Wars", the inclusion of an "Armada" character in "Generation 1", or that Hot Shot's Japanese name is the same as Hot Rod's, when Hot Rod/Rodimus also has a toy in this line.
The second comic features Red Alert and Smokescreen foiling the evil schemes of Octane/Tankor, Cyclonus and Nightstick. Red Alert and Smokescreen are the co-sells, while the two Decepticons look to be held over from a previous case assortment.
Dom-notes how much better the last wave of Japan's "Universe" line was compared to America's.
Henkei pack-in comics
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onslaught86
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Re: Henkei pack-in comics
I can't shed much light on the Armada/Beast Wars/G1 conflict, but Hot Rod is known as Hot Rodimus in Japan, so at least he doesn't have the exact same name as ML Hot Rod. Speaking of, I have both Henkei Dinobot and Hot Rod, and Dinobot is a vaaaast improvement over his US release. Hot Rod, meanwhile, is not as good as Hot Shot (Whom I don't own, I've fiddled with others'), with the exception of the included missile launchers. With Jolt vs. the launchers, dropping Jolt would've been the better move for the toy. Heh.
