MV75 watches Beast Wars

[GoktimusPrime]

Beast Wars is a show that aimed to appeal to both kids and adults whereas Animated is primarily aimed toward kids - especially in Season 1. It got a bit better in Season 2, but still nothing that approaches Beast Wars in terms of deeper socio-philosophical commentary. Appealing to adults seems to be more of an after-thought in Animated, whereas BW intentionally set out to appeal to adults as well from the get-go. Before Season 1 was even finished the show's producer did state in a magazine interview that they recognised that original Transformer fans have become older and that they needed to mature the show to match TF fans in their 20s. And as we all know the writers intentionally communicated with TF fans through the newsgroup.

I liked it, I really did, while ignoring the whole beast transforms thing. Why they still don't explode in a shower of blood, I dunno.

Because their alt mode is fake - it's a facsimile. They're robots in disguise. It's not as if vehicular transformers explode in a shower of oil, metal, glass etc. whenever they transform.

My favorite episode was "Call of the wild", followed by "Law of the Jungle" (poor kitty died. )

I quite like "The Probe" - the first time in a TF cartoon where the bad guys had a decisive victory (and the good guys suffered a decisive loss!). I remember the first time I saw that episode, it finished and I was like "What?! Holy crap - the bad guys WON!" 8^O

And yeah, like you saw in "Law of the Jungle" this is a consequential war - something the G1 cartoon was often lacking in... casualties. It reminded me of the G1/G2 comics in terms of portraying the Transformers' conflict as being a war of consequence - where death, tragedy and sorrow existed.

Out of the new characters that came into the show, I liked Airazor the best, followed by Tigatron. The ant was ok too, very tough bugger.

Burn in the fires of Inferno! Arguably gotta be the best use of a G1 name in a post G1 series!

Then it sort of got a little annoying near the end, they started to really overdo the physical comedy.

Season 1 is the lightest and most comical series. The tone that stuff down in Seasons 2-3.

Also I think they borrowed too much on Ultra magnus in the 1986 movie. It seemed that being blown to bits, literally, didn't mean they were dead and just happened to be a "meh" type thing as though being dismantled was no biggie.

The show explains that a Transformer doesn't perish unless their Spark is extinguished. You can do whatever you want to their shell, but if their Spark perishes then they die.

Now from a collector POV, nah, I don't want the toys. I accepted the mass shifting in the show, the toys don't translate well enough for me at all.

Odd... Beast Wars has overall pretty good toy-accuracy. They did 3D scans of the toys and designed the show models based off those scans. They then tweaked them for various reasons, but I think the toy-accuracy in the show is pretty good. Much better than G1 that's for sure.

[MV75]

Because their alt mode is fake - it's a facsimile. They're robots in disguise. It's not as if vehicular transformers explode in a shower of oil, metal, glass etc. whenever they transform.

Vehicles have seams that can come apart, animals don't. Plus if it's "fake" then how does a beast mode protect against stasis lock from energon buildup?

And what do they need to be in disguise for? There is no reason for that particular reason in this series, just to avoid a stasis lock, otherwise the beast modes were just handy for their abilities.

The only time I noticed that beast mode was handy was in Law of the Jungle when waspinator got tricked into thinking that Tigatrons mate was Tigatron. Otherwise they all seem to automagically know that the beast they see is a maximal/predacon. Oh yea, and when Tigatron first appeared, Megatron just thought they were just normal tigers.

I quite like "The Probe" - the first time in a TF cartoon where the bad guys had a decisive victory (and the good guys suffered a decisive loss!). I remember the first time I saw that episode, it finished and I was like "What?! Holy crap - the bad guys WON!" 8^O

Actually, I meant "Chain of Command", where the alien probe sucked up optimus. The presence of the alien thing was pretty good.

Season 1 is the lightest and most comical series. The tone that stuff down in Seasons 2-3.

Kidding right? I just know you're taking the piss right there. I'm now up to just finished watching "Coming of the fuzors pt2" And plenty of comical things there.

Rat with wheels that does burnout sounds. Hell, a rat with wheels full stop. And a cheetor that flies. Nevermind the monkey on a flying surfboard.

Waspinator and silverbolt with tyre screeches in mid air as they stop. And the thing that Silverbolt is.

Bulging eyes from when they threw the rock in the air to show what would happen if cheetor flew out from cover.

Dinobot being out of ammo, but then riding on rattrap in "car mode" with flaming exhausts and all, and suddenly having ammo for his gun again.

Yea, pretty cut down dude.

The show explains that a Transformer doesn't perish unless their Spark is extinguished. You can do whatever you want to their shell, but if their Spark perishes then they die.

So their heads run on remote control when detached? You'd think though that being cubed and also shocked and stripped into parts, (waspinator), that the spark chamber would have been destroyed. Same as taking excessive (blown to bits) damage.

Odd... Beast Wars has overall pretty good toy-accuracy. They did 3D scans of the toys and designed the show models based off those scans. They then tweaked them for various reasons, but I think the toy-accuracy in the show is pretty good. Much better than G1 that's for sure.

Yea, all fine and good for the 90's, but I've come to expect more now. And I can't believe you even put blackarachnia in there. That toy was bad, very incredibly beyond forgivable bad.

Also yea, I do have cybertron prime and megatron beasts, they look right out of this cartoon. Those were pretty well done.

And another quick note on the 3 eps I've just watched from season 2, I'm actually going to have to be more liberal in accepting these new transmetal looks. I'm finding myself saying "that's crap" (especially rattrap), quite a lot with these and forcing myself to watch them. I am glad that not everyone got the transmetal treatment. Also I'm not too much of a fan of primes robot monkey face, but I'll just look past that and concentrate more on the stories. Same as Silverbolt. I'm still trying to take in whatever he is, but the character seems likeable enough so far. So first impressions of season 2 so far to me, it's worse than season 1, but it's early days yet.

[roller]

Hey Mv75

just wondering, did you watch "Theft of the Golden disk" and read "Dawn of Futures past" before watching season 1?

[MV75]

So those are what now? Something that was issued way after season one was done, yet should be something that needs to be absorbed before watching season one?

Sorry, to answer the Q, no, and I shouldn't have to should I? Right now I'm just watching the shows, I don't have any interest at the moment to get into any extra mythos about the series.

[roller]

well i dont want to spoil anything

but "Theft of the golden disk" was a prequel web episode made years after the Beast wars tv show

its just a prequel

[kup]

It was stablished by the second episode that their alt modes did not have blood (When Tarantulas captures Cheetor).

Their 'skins' are similar to Pretender shells, they look real but they are not. They are still organic based (in skin and layers not organs) and just as Pretender shells did in G1 (and IDW) it protects them from radiation and other hazzards.

You set one on fire and burn the skin off and you get a robotic looking animal like the G1 Predacons, Dinobots, etc.

[GoktimusPrime]

Vehicles have seams that can come apart, animals don't.

Are you serious? Look at where most Transformers' alt mode are coming apart at - it's not where normal seams would occur in a vehicle! It would literally involve ripping or shreading metal panels and glass windows!!

Plus if it's "fake" then how does a beast mode protect against stasis lock from energon buildup?

It acts as a form of shield/armour. Similar to Pretender shells in G1.

And what do they need to be in disguise for? There is no reason for that particular reason in this series, just to avoid a stasis lock, otherwise the beast modes were just handy for their abilities.

The only time I noticed that beast mode was handy was in Law of the Jungle when waspinator got tricked into thinking that Tigatrons mate was Tigatron. Otherwise they all seem to automagically know that the beast they see is a maximal/predacon. Oh yea, and when Tigatron first appeared, Megatron just thought they were just normal tigers.

Disguise is only one of several functions of a Transformer's alt mode. It's not as if the G1 and G2 Transformers were always in disguise when they were in alt mode. Remember the Dinobots in the G1 comics? Optimus Prime intentionally tried to detain them at Autobot HQ as much as possible because their dino modes did not work as disguises and instead served to scare humans. The Dinobots eventually became frustrated and angry with this decision and lashed out.

Actually, I meant "Chain of Command", where the alien probe sucked up optimus. The presence of the alien thing was pretty good.

Minor potential spoiler: Those aliens are really cool from G2 continuity POV IMO

Kidding right? I just know you're taking the piss right there. I'm now up to just finished watching "Coming of the fuzors pt2" And plenty of comical things there.

Rat with wheels that does burnout sounds. Hell, a rat with wheels full stop. And a cheetor that flies. Nevermind the monkey on a flying surfboard.

Waspinator and silverbolt with tyre screeches in mid air as they stop. And the thing that Silverbolt is.

Bulging eyes from when they threw the rock in the air to show what would happen if cheetor flew out from cover.

Dinobot being out of ammo, but then riding on rattrap in "car mode" with flaming exhausts and all, and suddenly having ammo for his gun again.

Yea, pretty cut down dude.

まぢむかつくぅ　

First of all, I never said that it was completely devoid of comedic elements. I merely said that it was toned down compared to season 1.
Secondly, FINISH watching all of Season 2 before judging its comedic:serious ratio. I challenge you to call Season 2 "light hearted" after watching the entire series.

Of course there will always be some more light hearted elements - this show is also designed to appeal to kids as well as adults. If you want to watch a TF show that is almost entirely devoid of light heartedness, go watch Beast Machines (of course, you'll need to finish watching Beast Wars first since BM is the sequel to BW).

So their heads run on remote control when detached?

They sometimes did in G1, e.g.: Optimus Prime.

You'd think though that being cubed and also shocked and stripped into parts, (waspinator), that the spark chamber would have been destroyed. Same as taking excessive (blown to bits) damage.

Well evidently Waspy's spark chamber is extremely hardy and has yet to be destroyed. Waspinator is the TF equivalent to Kenny from South Park if you haven't figured it out yet btw.

Yea, all fine and good for the 90's, but I've come to expect more now.

Even though the toys came out in 1996... (-_-)
So I guess if you never saw G1 and you saw G1 now and came to like the comics or show that you would apply contemporary standards on the toys and have no interest in collecting them?

And I can't believe you even put blackarachnia in there. That toy was bad, very incredibly beyond forgivable bad.

Why? What's wrong with the toy? And don't say "it's not show-accurate" because the toy came out before the show so it's not the toy's fault that the show designers decided to tweak the show model to make her look more different from Tarantulas (since the toy is just a repaint). They've also tweaked Tigatron's show model to make him look different from Cheetor too, even though the toys are the same mould. But I don't begrudge the toys for those decisions made by animators. Blackarachnia has a reasonably solid and decent beast and robot modes - I don't think the Tarantulas/Blackarachnia mode is substantially better or worse than most other Deluxe TFs released around 1996/97... and it's better than say Dinobot (great character, ordinary toy).

Also yea, I do have cybertron prime and megatron beasts, they look right out of this cartoon. Those were pretty well done.

That would be because those toys were made eight years after the Beast Wars cartoon debuted whereas the Tarantulas/Blackarachnia mould was created a year before the cartoon.

Same as Silverbolt. I'm still trying to take in whatever he is, but the character seems likeable enough so far.

The Fuzors were a pretty weird idea and most of the Fuzor toys were pretty... blecch. They were like Transformers meets the Wuzzles. Silverbolt and Quickstrike are the best of the Fuzor toys though... they're nowhere near as bad as say... Injector. *shudder*

[kup]

well i dont want to spoil anything

but "Theft of the golden disk" was a prequel web episode made years after the Beast wars tv show

its just a prequel

Its best not to read/watch that stuff until you finish watching the show. You get more out of it that way.

Edit: Typo