PROLOGUE "Bon Voyage!"

The Final Chapter Cover

PROLOGUE **"*Bon Voyage*"** is the name of the first chapter of Patapon: Toot-A-Loot, ongoing with 36 pages that are queued with roughly a week in between posts. The prologue focuses on retelling the story of the rhythm-game Patapon, released for the PlayStation Portable handheld game console published by Sony and developed by Pyramid, Interlink and SIE Japan Studio, condensing the story for readers that are new to the Patapon franchise before the actual story begins.

In September 2017 a remake of the first couple pages of the Prologue was announced, replacing Pages 2, 3, 5, and 6 with 36 new and remastered pages, accompanied by a remade cover. This split the Prologue into three Chapters, "Bon Voyage!", "DON CHAKA" and "A 'Silver' Of Hope", each receiving their own specific cover and subcover to set them apart.

## Story

The comic begins by retelling the events of Patapon, in which the Patapons were once great warriors lead by a two-eyed entity watching over them known as the Almighty Patapon that used drums to offer them qualities including strength, courage and wisdom. They are obsessed with discovering a place known as "Earthend", where "IT" waits for them. Legends say that whomever gazes upon "IT" will be forever content.

When a single Wakapon was tricked into destroying the World Egg held in the Patapon's capital, Pata-Pole, the gate to the underworld was opened, allowing for demons to enter their world. The Almighty suddenly disappeared the Patapons were struck down and chased away from their homes in until they were trapped on a secluded island by the Zigotons, where they nearly became extinct. The Zigotons turned against the Patapons because of a prophecy that they discovered that foresaw their downfall, should the Patapons begin to march again.

Just when the Patapons were about to give up hope they were greeted by the familiar drum-beats of the PON-Drum, offering them strength. The Patapons assume that their Almighty had returned, whom makes themselves known as "Maxi". "Maxi" guides the Patapons to fight back against the Zigotons, slaughtering many in the process. This is also where they meet the fierce General Gong, a high-ranking Zigoton bent on protecting his people and his queen, known as Queen Kharma, who is willing to sacrifice her bloodline to the demons of the underworld. Gong fails to stop the Patapons from marching further and this forces Kharma to go through with her sacrifice. The Patapons soon face off against the demon Kharma had summoned, known as Gorl.

After defeating Gorl, four Patapons, being Hatapon and presumably Ton, Chin and Kan, reach a cliffside where they observe the sunrise. They briefly mistake the cliffside for Earthend and thus presume that the sun is "IT", however Kharma, whom survived the encounter, finds them and explains that the Patapons need to cross the ocean to find Earthend. Realizing that their war had been based on a simple understanding the Patapons and Zigotons come to a compromise in which they build a ship together which the Patapons use to sail away from the island they once were forced to inhabit.

## Trivia

* This chapter's cover was the first cover ever created for Patapon: Toot-A-Loot. Here is a comparison between the first and second version of the cover, however the second version seems to use outdated models of the main characters, the former also improperly using Tenkopon, whom does not appear in the prologue.
* The Prologue's name, "Bon Voyage", is based on the name of Patapon 3's soundtrack, "Bon Voyage", in which the Patapon's chorus sings "Bon Voyage" when FEVER mode is reached.

* The Prologue was originally merely meant to span only five pages, which increased to thirty, but then just dropped the page-limit entirely. This is the reason why Patapon's story is so condensed and the mechanics were introduced in the Patapon 2 segment instead.
* The name of the Almighty Patapon was originally meant to be the default name, "Kami", until the name "Maxi" was chosen, naming them after the second main author, MaxiPawz.
* The comic seems to focus a lot more on the characters and story than the gameplay and battles that the Patapons fight.
* Contrary to the actual game-releases, this Chapter contains the only time Lady Meden has been kidnapped by a rivaling tribe.
* Multiple pages were scrapped from the prologue and remade to resemble the quality seen in the latter segment, "DON CHAKA".

## Changes from the games

* Page 2 explains story-elements that were explained in Patapon 2 rather than the original Patapon.
* Page 3 explains that the Zigotons misunderstood the prophecy. The game states that it is entirely false. The drawings that they are observing appear to be similar drawings to the drawings in the hideout in Patapon 3 as well.
* Page 4 depicts a group of Patapons, including Lady Meden, searching. In the game Hatapon is alone, but he finds three Yaripons assumed to be Ton, Chin, and Kan as he begins marching after the Almighty makes themselves known.
* In Page 5, Panel 3, there is a single Patapon holding an unobtainable bow. Usually, Megapons and Dekapons are also not obtained during the desert-section of the only game.
* Page 5 so far is the only page in which The Miracle Song was used.
* Page 6 and Page 44 are the only full appearance of Makoton in the Prologue.
* Page 6 is Gorl's only appearance, in which his shadow looms over Queen Kharma.
* Page 7 skips most of the ending, but there is no dialogue from the Patapons, nor Queen Kharma.
* In Page 7 we see Kharma looking over the construction of the Patapon's ship.