(APR-2013) Beast Wars Era Toys - Reviews and Favourites

[griffin]

Beast Wars was a fairly Significant Era of Transformers, in both Japan and Hasbro markets.

(Western) Beast Wars (http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Beast_Wars:_Transformers_%28franchise%29) (1996-1999) (NOTE - in Japan, Season 1 aired in 1997, while the other 2 Seasons aired in 1999 as Beast Wars Metals, after Neo)
JP Beast Wars Second (http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Beast_Wars_II:_Super_Lifeform_Transformers_%28fran chise%29) (1998)
JP Beast Wars Neo (http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Super_Lifeform_Transformers:_Beast_Wars_Neo_%28fra nchise%29) (1999)


What are your Best and Worst toys of this Era?

What was your first one, and when?

What ones are you currently most looking for and why?

Show us some pics of your collection of the ones you have.

[KalEl]

What are your Best and Worst toys of this Era?
Best:
Rampage
Depthcharge
TM Tarantulus

The 3 Primal versions (nostalgia

Worst:
Meh I love them all.

What was your first one, and when?
Dinobot in 98 i think?.

What ones are you currently most looking for and why?
Tigertron and Ravage to complete my show characters.

[i_amtrunks]

What are your Best and Worst toys of this Era?

So many great figures, and even figures that are only decent have great ideas or unique transformations, they are hard to dismiss.

The flip formers (Razorbeat, Terrorsaur, Airrazor, Iguanus etc) were revolutionary and are still better than their modern day counterparts.
Waspinator, Rhinox, Cheetor, Dinobot, Prime and Megatron were easily the best of the first year showcast.
Second year showcast best figure were again Prime and Megatron, Rampage, Depth Charge (technically a third year toy) and TM Tarantulas
Third year showcast had fewer toys, Tigerhwak and TMII Megatron the highlights, Optimal Optimus a very close third. The other show toys were ambitious and not as good.

Non (US/Canadian) show toys range from the wonderful and absurd to the absurdly made. Fuzors were clever, mutants very different. I find the toys based on the japanese character generally better: Leo Prime, Galvatron, Longrack, Mach Kick, BBoom, Cohadra, Stampy etc.
Croc Megatron, Polar Claw, K-9, Torca and the non show transmetals (Waspinator, Rhinox etc) were also standouts.

If I had to pick one show figure I thought very weak, it would be Scorponok, hated his tail (and still do) as one extra joint is all it needs to be more manoeuvrable. However the tail is impeded due to playability additions, so it is hard to fault them, Beast Wars toys had all the gimmicks, weapons etc built in, something later lines have been unable to replicate.

What was your first one, and when?

Cousins had a few, and I always loved Rhinox. Nabbed a Waspinator and Rhinox one year along with Airrazor, and a Universe Silverbolt. They were my only beasties for many years, until I found a Universe Nemesis Prime. After watching the series back to back I was fortunate to find a minty TMII Megatron and Optimal Optimus in a country town toy store and from then on it was a frenzy, to the point where family were buying me Japanese figures like Longrack and Leo Prime for Christmas!

What ones are you currently most looking for and why?

I have completed the show cast, and only really look for BW non show cast when I find them cheap due to lack of display space. Will one day try to complete, starting with more of the great Neo/Second unique beast modes.

[GoktimusPrime]

What are your Best and Worst toys of this Era?
Best: Ultra Optimus Primal, Transmetal Megatron, Archadys, Apache/B'Boom, Terrorsaur, Inferno

Worst: Retrax, Injector, Optimus Minor.

What was your first one, and when?
Ultra Optimus Primal, 1996.

What ones are you currently most looking for and why?
None.

Show us some pics of your collection of the ones you have.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/Transformers/Collection%202012/collection2012_beastwars_a.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/Transformers/Collection%202012/collection2012_beastwars_b.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/goktimusprime/Transformers/Collection%202012/collection2012_beastwars_c.jpg

[Autocon]

What are your Best and Worst toys of this Era?
My favourites are many. The TM/TM2s are great but the shiny paint flakes :(. The basic flip outs are easy to transform but basically stand up and in robot mode which may put some off from the toy. All weapons integrate into the alt mode. Retrax is good but many hate this mould and don't show any love. :p Snarl is a weak mould and he's jump gimmick doesn't execute well. The ultra/mega leaders, ultra/megas and ultra/mega tms are great toys to add to any collection. Seemed bigger the toy, the better it is.

What was your first one, and when?
Probably the basics. I remember being in the store seeing fuzors and everything before the show had started lol.

What ones are you currently most looking for and why?
Botcon repaints. Any mould that I have not currently owned. Japan toys if available and cost effective to my wallet. Mainly new Japan moulds.

Show us some pics of your collection of the ones you have
I have shown my pics before. If I didn't sell any and kept them all, I would have almost had it 99% completed excluding the japan ones.

[GoktimusPrime]

Retrax is good but many hate this mould and don't show any love. :p
As dirge said in his review of that toy, it's a toy that lives or dies by his gimmick. ;)


Snarl is a weak mould and he's jump gimmick doesn't execute well.
Yeah but Snarl isn't as 'overwhelmed' by his gimmick as Retrax is. Sure, the jumping gimmick is lame, but it doesn't interfere with how the rest of the toy works. My main gripe about Snarl is that he looks nothing like a Tasmanian Devil and more like some generic marsupial.


The ultra/mega leaders, ultra/megas and ultra/mega tms are great toys to add to any collection. Seemed bigger the toy, the better it is.
+1. :)
Ironic that it seems to be the complete reverse of that nowadays. :rolleyes:


What was your first one, and when?
Probably the basics.
Which was your first Basic? Mine was Rattrap and Terrorsaur (got 'em at the same time :D)

[BigTransformerTrev]

What are your Best and Worst toys of this Era?
The Transmetal 2 ones were kinda cool. The worst was whatever that half bee/half lionfish thing was

What was your first one, and when?
Depthcharge -late 90's

What ones are you currently most looking for and why?
Not looking for any - concentrating more on finding G1 toys as well collecting the TFPrime & Generations figures

Show us some pics of your collection of the ones you have.
There is a pic of my various Waspinators in this thread:
http://www.otca.com.au/boards/showthread.php?t=15361

[GoktimusPrime]

What are your Best and Worst toys of this Era?
The Transmetal 2 ones were kinda cool. The worst was whatever that half bee/half lionfish thing was
Injector. ;)
I remember once seeing a really funny photo story where Injector enters some guy's collection room, and the other Transformers all freak out (it was Sizzle who discovered him and thought there was a monster -- others gathered around and discovered he was a new Transformer). The other TFs were like, "Oh no, you've got a giant fish on your shoulders that's swallowed your head," and Injector's like, "No, this is my head."
...awkward silence from every toy...

;)

[1orion2many]

What are your Best and Worst toys of this Era?
Best - Optimal Optimos
Worst - Retrax or Injector but I still liked them:o

What was your first one, and when?
I bought all 4 deluxes as soon as they were released I think it was the following
Cheetor, Waspinator, Dinobot & Tarantulas. 1996 or 1997 whenever they hit the stores here

What ones are you currently most looking for and why?
Botcon Tigatron 2001, I just love this mold:D

Show us some pics of your collection of the ones you have.
In Hibernation:o, I'll see if I can bust some out:)

[Gouki]

What are your Best and Worst toys of this Era?

Really the entire line is full of so much great engineering and crazy designs that it's hard to really say 'worst'. It's a true high point of the franchise. That said, Optimus Minor barely transforms and the Mutants are an interesting idea but not for me.

The best? Hmmm. Excellent question. I love Silverbolt and TM Tarantulus, even if I only owned them myself recently. Always made sure I used my friends ones when playing. Armordillo is crazy awesome for a basic.

I brought Snapper over Insecticon once and regretted that, if that counts.

Honestly, though I never got many of the toys, like with G1. sucks growing up poor.

What was your first one, and when?

Armordillo. Got him for Christmas 1997, and I was thrilled. I originally wanted Razorbeast because of the name (and the Lion King), but I was far happier in the end.

What ones are you currently most looking for and why?

Definitive toys of show characters, and visually striking toys. Also TM Prowl II, because a transforming Owl is cool.

[GoktimusPrime]

Worst - Retrax or Injector but I still liked them:o

I don't hate Retrax... but he is a pretty awful toy. ;) But you'll remember the one thing that got people excited about Retrax at the time he came out -- he was the closest thing we ever got that approximated a Unicron toy!! :D The beast mode could curl up into the "ball" mode with two big pinching mandibles like Unicron's planet mode, and the robot mode has a head with two big Unicron-like horns on it! :D Some people even made customs like this one (http://triad3587.tripod.com/Unicron1.htm). ;)

[Autocon]

Definitive toys of show characters, and visually striking toys. Also TM Prowl II, because a transforming Owl is cool.

The black owl or the white owl?

I cant remember my first bw toy but my first tf toy ever was the black and grey plane for superion

[Gouki]

The black owl or the white owl?

Not sure. I prefer the white in Owl mode, but the black in bot mode. So probably which ever I can find cheaper in packaging.

[1orion2many]

The black owl or the white owl?

I cant remember my first bw toy but my first tf toy ever was the black and grey plane for superion

UGH! I completely forgot about the black version, Something else I need to chase down now:rolleyes::D

[GoktimusPrime]

The black owl or the white owl?
The black variant of TM2 Prowl (as well as the white variant of TM2 Dinobot) never came out in here IIRC.


I cant remember my first bw toy but my first tf toy ever was the black and grey plane for superion
You mean Skydive . . . . . .

[Shirokaze]

What are your Best and Worst toys of this Era?
I was never particularly fond of TM2 Ramulus, and Optimus Minor could only be called a 'transformer' at a stretch. On the other hand, I loved the Cheetor mould and TM Megatron. Great bot modes, great beast modes :)


What was your first one, and when?
My first was Cheetor back when I was in grade 2; so 6 or 7 years old. I remember calling every toy store/target/kmart in the area and finally managed to find one at Mr Toys Springwood on the Pacific Highway. If my memory serves me correctly, Cheetor must've been one of the more popular/short packed figures because I only ever saw one other on the shelf after buying mine.

What ones are you currently most looking for and why?
I'm not looking for anything in particular, but if the right figure pops up I may jump on it. Botcon TM Tigatron springs to mind :)

Show us some pics of your collection of the ones you have.
I'm sorry, I can't :( They're all packed away in boxes after my big move.

[crankcase76]

What are your Best and Worst toys of this Era?

Best: Optimal Optimus, how cool was it to have him supersized.
Worst: The fuzors, not a fan of the lets put two animals together and come up with a fish with wings or scorpion with snakes for claws.

What was your first one, and when?

Ratrap, when the first wave hit the shelves.

What ones are you currently most looking for and why?

Rampage, missed this one.

Show us some pics of your collection of the ones you have.

All boxed up, will have to do some digging for them.

[GoktimusPrime]

Worst: The fuzors, not a fan of the lets put two animals together and come up with a fish with wings or scorpion with snakes for claws.
Agreed! :D
I don't know what Hasbro were smoking when they decided to cross Transformers with the Wuzzles! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dm1qbbki6z4) :rolleyes: :p Some of the Fuzors were better made than others, but overall it was a pretty damn weird concept. Could you imagine if they did that with vehicular Transformers? Like something that's half tank half spacejet... omg, it's Revenge of the Fallen Megatron! :p

[crankcase76]

Agreed! :D
I don't know what Hasbro were smoking when they decided to cross Transformers with the Wuzzles! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dm1qbbki6z4) :rolleyes: :p Some of the Fuzors were better made than others, but overall it was a pretty damn weird concept. Could you imagine if they did that with vehicular Transformers? Like something that's half tank half spacejet... omg, it's Revenge of the Fallen Megatron! :p

:D:D +1. what ever it was they should have stopped, maybe a few too many trips to Amsterdam :rolleyes:. or just maybe a breeding program that went wrong :D. Or how about a submarine that's crossed with a snowmobile, it could go under water and on the snow. and look completely ridiculous with this massive tube with tracks crossing snow cover plains.:eek::D

[Sky Shadow]

Beast Wars was the best animated Transformers series we will ever have, but it was also a great era for toys, particularly the first couple of years of the US line and the unique Japanese lines. Also, this was time after G2 when Transformers finally seemed to be truly dead - I can still remember my heart skipping while reading an issue of Previews in the mid-nineties which showed the upcoming Kenner toyline of Basics and Deluxes. I even named myself after my favourite Beast Wars toy/character, but (off the top of my head) other awesome figures from the line included Blackarachnia/Tarantulas, Silverbolt, Transmetal Rattrap, Basic Megatron, Transmetal 2 Megatron, Tigerhawk, Orcanoch, Inferno, Dinobot, Rhinox, Mega Optimus Primal, Drancron, Elphaorpha, Scorponok/Sandstorm, Survive/Polar Claw, Dead End, Magmatron, Archadis, Killer Punch, Longrack, Corahda, Heinlad, Apache/B'Boom, Magnaboss, Hellscream, Max-B, Dirgegun, Thrustol, Poison Bite, Icebird and Rātorāta/Injector (yes). There were also crap toys like Transmetal Cheetor, Depth Charge and the entire Transmetal 2 line with the exception of the Ultras. But it was truly a renaissance for Transformers when most of the toys were fantastic - something that couldn't be said of the subsequent Beast Machines line or Transformers today.

[Autocon]

Beast Wars was the best animated Transformers series we will ever have, but it was also a great era for toys, particularly the first couple of years of the US line and the unique Japanese lines. Also, this was time after G2 when Transformers finally seemed to be truly dead - I can still remember my heart skipping while reading an issue of Previews in the mid-nineties which showed the upcoming Kenner toyline of Basics and Deluxes. I even named myself after my favourite Beast Wars toy/character, but (off the top of my head) other awesome figures from the line included Blackarachnia/Tarantulas, Silverbolt, Transmetal Rattrap, Basic Megatron, Transmetal 2 Megatron, Tigerhawk, Orcanoch, Inferno, Dinobot, Rhinox, Mega Optimus Primal, Drancron, Elphaorpha, Scorponok/Sandstorm, Survive/Polar Claw, Dead End, Magmatron, Archadis, Killer Punch, Longrack, Corahda, Heinlad, Apache/B'Boom, Magnaboss, Hellscream, Max-B, Dirgegun, Thrustol, Poison Bite, Icebird and Rātorāta/Injector (yes). There were also crap toys like Transmetal Cheetor, Depth Charge and the entire Transmetal 2 line with the exception of the Ultras. But it was truly a renaissance for Transformers when most of the toys were fantastic - something that couldn't be said of the subsequent Beast Machines line or Transformers today.

Depth Charge!!:eek::(:mad::confused: Some TM2 were ok.

Tidbit: Correct if wrong. Scorponok was meant to be sandstorms colours but something happened in the model process for the TV show. Same with Grizzly Bearbarian and Polar Claw concerning a colour switch.

Scorponok/Polar Claw = normal toys
Sandstorm/Grizzly Bearbarian = Botcon toys
Doublepunch/Survive = Japan toys

[Sky Shadow]

Tidbit: Correct if wrong. Scorponok was meant to be sandstorms colours but something happened in the model process for the TV show. Same with Grizzly Bearbarian and Polar Claw concerning a colour switch.

Scorponok/Polar Claw = normal toys
Sandstorm/Grizzly Bearbarian = Botcon toys
Doublepunch/Survive = Japan toys

Not quite.

This is what the original promos for the toys looked like: http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/159/toyfair96scorpgriz.jpghttp://img577.imageshack.us/img577/5351/bwmegapromo.jpg
[LOL at "colors may vary".]

The bear was later released in approximately those colours at Botcon Japan 1998 as Barbearerian/Grizzly-1. And then similarly in his general Japanese Beast Wars Neo release as Survive.

Botcon Japan 1998 Double Punch was the closest that prototype Scorponok got to release - the promo version was really a cross between the normal Scorponok and Double Punch.

Sandstorm was a unique deco for Botcon 1999.

[MayzaPrime]

First Beast Wars figures I got was Optimus Primal and Scorponok for my birthday, but the first figure that I bought myself was Dinobot.

Best
Rampage and Depthcharge

Worst
To be honest I cant pick one, I really like them all.

[Hursticon]

What are your Best and Worst toys of this Era?

Best:
This is such an excruciatingly hard thing to decide, I imagine its akin to choosing one's favourite child (If I had any :p) but I'd have to go with... TM2 Megatron (For the moment anyway :D)
Stunning Beast & Bot modes with a fun transformation and reasonably unobtrusive gimmicks. :cool:

Worst:
Hasbro's TM Megatron; as the choice to use exceptionally fragile plastic for the shoulder assembly's construction rendered this figure, on many an occasion, garnering a notorious reputation of breaking on store shelves! - let alone getting it home to play with :mad:

Do yourself a favour and seek out the far superior Takara version, at any and all costs! ;):cool:



What was your first one, and when?

Predacon - Inferno, circa 1997 I wanna say?... It was he or (Ultra Class) Maximal - Optimus Primal (aka Black Jack (http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Optimus_Primal/toys#Beast_Wars)). ;)



What ones are you currently most looking for and why?

As I have a nigh complete "Western" Beast Wars collection (Just missing that damned Laserbeak :rolleyes:) (Which doesn't include Convention, Wal*Mart or Fox Kids exclusives), the figure's I'm currently after are the Japanese era or Beast Wars II & Neo lines of figures - Focusing primarily on the unique molds from these lines and then moving onto the figures that are essentially repaints of "Western" releases.;):)



Any Photos?

This isn't all of 'em, not by a long shot!, but these are currently the best illuminated for photography purposes:

http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a409/Darkone666au/Crap/DSCI0113_zps2c0bd9aa.jpg (http://s1032.photobucket.com/user/Darkone666au/media/Crap/DSCI0113_zps2c0bd9aa.jpg.html)


Oh, and there's this stuff too! :D:

http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a409/Darkone666au/Crap/DSCI0114_zpsaf511fd5.jpg (http://s1032.photobucket.com/user/Darkone666au/media/Crap/DSCI0114_zpsaf511fd5.jpg.html)

[Autocon]

What are your Best and Worst toys of this Era?

Best:
This is such an excruciatingly hard thing to decide, I imagine its akin to choosing one's favourite child (If I had any :p) but I'd have to go with... TM2 Megatron (For the moment anyway :D)
Stunning Beast & Bot modes with a fun transformation and reasonably unobtrusive gimmicks. :cool:

Worst:
Hasbro's TM Megatron; as the choice to use exceptionally fragile plastic for the shoulder assembly's construction rendered this figure, on many an occasion, garnering a notorious reputation of breaking on store shelves! - let alone getting it home to play with :mad:

Do yourself a favour and seek out the far superior Takara version, at any and all costs! ;):cool:



What was your first one, and when?

Predacon - Inferno, circa 1997 I wanna say?... It was he or (Ultra Class) Maximal - Optimus Primal (aka Black Jack (http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Optimus_Primal/toys#Beast_Wars)). ;)



What ones are you currently most looking for and why?

As I have a nigh complete "Western" Beast Wars collection (Just missing that damned Laserbeak :rolleyes:) (Which doesn't include Convention, Wal*Mart or Fox Kids exclusives), the figure's I'm currently after are the Japanese era or Beast Wars II & Neo lines of figures - Focusing primarily on the unique molds from these lines and then moving onto the figures that are essentially repaints of "Western" releases.;):)



Any Photos?

This isn't all of 'em, not by a long shot!, but these are currently the best illuminated for photography purposes:

http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a409/Darkone666au/Crap/DSCI0113_zps2c0bd9aa.jpg (http://s1032.photobucket.com/user/Darkone666au/media/Crap/DSCI0113_zps2c0bd9aa.jpg.html)


Oh, and there's this stuff too! :D:

http://i1032.photobucket.com/albums/a409/Darkone666au/Crap/DSCI0114_zpsaf511fd5.jpg (http://s1032.photobucket.com/user/Darkone666au/media/Crap/DSCI0114_zpsaf511fd5.jpg.html)

Where are those trading cards from?