Rainbow Sam

Rainbowsam is a Laser Beast from the Generation 1 continuity family.

Polly wanna crack you.

While most Laser Beasts are cold and mechanical in attitude, Rainbow Sam (レインボーサム Reinbō Samu) is anything but. He's friendly and talkative, always eager to meet new people and try new things. He's also a bit of a fashionista, taking great care of his plumage and armor, making sure he looks nice, even if it does give him an air of fickleness. He's an easy beast to like.

Which makes it all the easier for him to gain others' trust and pry secrets out of them. As Captain of the Laser Beast army's Special Intelligence wing (haha), he specializes in finding out things others don't want known. His easygoing nature leads to others opening up, and a few rounds of careful wording and light prying later, he's got an internal file full of classified information and blackmail material ready to use.

However, he's not much for combat. His MVP Weapon, the Wide Sensor Laser (ワイドセンサーレーザー Waido Sensā Rēzā), has a special setting to detect even the tiniest of motions, but doesn't offer much in the way of offensive capabilities beyond standard blaster fire. Sam makes up for this though with extreme nimbleness, able to deftly weave and dodge enemy attacks and find places to hide. And of course, he often knows the secret weaknesses of whatever he's targeting, physical or mental.

Fiction

Beastformers comic

Rainbow Sam was among those who resided in the Laser Beasts' underground city until its destruction. Legend of the Three Wise Ones During their invasion of the surface, he infiltrated Bistoram and spied upon White Leo's forces, reporting to Tigerburn that they had figured out the Laser Beasts' invasion plan. He later delivered another report that the Beastformers were offering to negotiate, but Tigerburn ordered his forces to open fire on them. Beastformers VS Laser Beasts

Legends comic

Rainbow Sam took part in the final battle between the Beastformers and the Laser Beasts on Beast in 2023. The Road to Legends' Revival Chapter 1

In 2038, the then-peaceful Beast was invaded by Galvatron II's Decepticons. Rainbow Sam was part of the joint Beastformer-Laser Beast alliance that fought against the invaders. The Road to Legends' Revival Chapter 3

Toys

Beastformers

• Rainbow Sam (Laser Beast, 1988)

• ID number: 86
• Accessories: "Wide Sensor Laser" MVP Weapon (usually)

Part of the first assortment of Takara's Beastformers individually-boxed Laser Beasts, Rainbow Sam is an anthropomorphic scarlet macaw in high-tech sand-tan armor. He has a transparent orb in his torso, revealing the elemental power of Fire, Water, or Wood when you look through it into a light source.

Nominally, he comes with the parrot-themed "Wide Sensor Laser" blaster. However, there is also a chance he could come with the weapon from one of the other 11 Laser Beasts in his shipping case; matching the Beasts with their same-numbered weapons was part of the "role-playing game" attached to the line, encouraging kids to buy more of the toys.

This toy was actually released in Hasbro's Battle Beasts line as part of the "Shadow Warriors" series, but it saw extremely limited distribution, largely hitting clearance chains in the US, plus limited releases in parts of Europe. As such, it generally goes for a bit less than the later Laser Beasts that were only released in Japan, but not a lot less. This toy is one of the few figures (if not the only one) to have a major deco difference in the figure proper between markets: the Hasbro-release parrot has white paint around his eyes that the Takara Rainbow Sam lacks (though the Takara character art shows him with white around the eyes). Hasbro's version of the toy also uses generally brighter tones of tan and yellow paint. There is also a minor variant to the gun that has popped up in some EU and Canadian samples: the more common version has the "86" ID number stamped on the left-hand side behind the gun's handle, but the rarer version has the number much higher up, behind the parrot's eye, and a fair bit smaller to boot.

Notes

• It is unknown what Rainbow Sam's Hasbro Battle Beasts name would have been.
• Speaking of Hasbro, Sam consistently appears with the white eye-spot in both Takara's art and product photography, including the Hero Special 12: Laser Beasts mook photo comics, despite the actual-release toy lacking that bit of deco. This would imply that the photographer was given Hasbro-run Battle Beasts toys to work with.