Early concept work on Beast Wars by Hasbro for Mcdonalds
This is an incredible discovery, and not just for us fans who were around when Beast Wars was first being revealed to the world.
Someone on instagram has found/purchased a document and posted up scans of about 30 pages of the original proposal by Hasbro to Mcdonalds in March 1995 of a Happy Meal Toy promotion they wanted to do in April 1996 (to coincide with the launch of the Beast Wars toyline and cartoon).
Obviously to propose a major toy/meal promotion with a business like Mcdonalds, it would take a year or so, to organise the details, do up the toys, and manufacture them... the concept and character details being noted in this proposal are so much before Beast Wars existed, that the name Beast Wars doesn't even show up on the documents (and many of the names are different). Some of the early details remained the same, but others changed during this year, including the name of the good guys - called Cyberbeasts at this stage.
The concepts and names were being detailed to Mcdonalds, not because it was expected to be part of the Happy Meal promotion, but to give Mcdonalds the parameters of the new Animal-themed Transformers series that Hasbro was planning for 1996, over a year earlier... which gives us some insight into what was happening with the Brand during that time - a time that still had Generation 2 toys being released, but now explains why Hasbro were unable or unwilling to attend BotCon 1995 in August.
This is Transformers history here, even if you aren't a fan of Beast Wars... I just can't emphasise enough how amazing this is, and just how much Beast Wars development insight is in this document.
The scans are mirrored here, in case the instagram account disappears... and is the source of the quoted text below, as I could on for ages with my own commentary, so will just use theirs...
Quote:
a McDonald’s Happy Meal toy presentation binder at auction and has given us scans of the Transformers content within. I say “Transformers” because not only do these concept pages use the Generation 2 logo, the name “Beast Wars” was seemingly not decided upon yet, as it appears nowhere in the document. While we know Hasbro/Kenner initially intended Optimus Primal and Megatron to be the original G1 characters before the show opted to make them new individuals, this document reinforces that, as this predates the change from “Prime” to “Primal” in the toyline proper. Also noteworthy is this was apparently before the faction name “Maximal” was decided upon, as the document states Megatron leads the Predacons while Optimus Prime leads the “Cyberbeasts”.
In the earliest part of the document, several sketches of what would become mainline toys are featured, some with preliminary names, such as Snapper being referred to as “Buzzsaw”, and Scorponok being labeled as “Shockwave”. However, the most interesting thing in this section is the design that would become Cheetor being referred to as “Prowl” while utilizing the color scheme reminiscent of the McDonald’s toy that would ultimately see release as “Panther”. It’s often been suspected that the decision to deco the deluxe toy that became Cheetor as a cheetah may have been a decision that occurred after the sculpting phase was complete; it seems it may have originally been intended to be a panther version of G1 Prowl, which would explain Cheetor’s very Prowl-like head sculpt.
Also mentioned in the document is the pitch for “Auto-Rollers” as the potential auto-transformation gimmick (another carry-over from G2), including four vehicle mode ones, which unfortunately were not included in the document; though Nathan managed to grab an image of the moon buggy Prowl from another auction listing.
Check out the images mirrored below, which include concept sketches of toys that saw release, some that didn’t like sea turtle and dragonfly versions of Megatron, and some that were originally conceived as different characters—like the Predacon Manta Ray who was originally intended to be Optimus Prime! Oh, and a concept sketch for a lion Optimus Prime that pre-dates Lio Convoy, as well as the evolution of the Under-3 toy from a G1-themed Optimus to the lion head that ultimately saw release!
