Henkei Hound, Cyclonus and Cheetor!

[GoktimusPrime]

WOW! These look a lot better than the pics of Hasbro's! *kicks AUD* Could someone please give the Aussie Dollar some V-pills or something to help get it up??

TheDirtyDigger: The only character in Beast Wars who has mass-shifting is Ravage, who is a G1 character (robot-->cassette tape). None of the other BW characters have mass-shifting and certainly not Cheetor. Cheetor is 2.3m in robot mode and cheetahs can measure up to 1.35m in body length (not including the tail)... so it's really not that much of a stretch.

Canonical explanation here: Remember that at the end of G1 the Transformers created Micromasters as a means of conserving Energon. After the end of the Autobot-Decepticon war they came up with the Maximal Upgrade which, like Micromaster technology, allowed Transformers to conserve fuel by downsizing themselves. Rodimus (Prime), Ravage, Grimlock and several other survivors from the Great War underwent the upgrade (others like Trailbreaker, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker decided not to). As a result, Beast Wars Transformers are not gigantic like their Autobot/Decepticon ancestors.

Size comparison: Beast Wars Megatron and G1 Optimus Prime

[kurdt_the_goat]

I thought i should point out that the notice on each of these images says they're still trial shots, and the final may be different...

But i wouldn't be worried - Henkei Ironhide photos (with the same background) had the same notice and his toy turned out identical from what i've seen.

[STL]

WOW! These look a lot better than the pics of Hasbro's! *kicks AUD* Could someone please give the Aussie Dollar some V-pills or something to help get it up??

TheDirtyDigger: The only character in Beast Wars who has mass-shifting is Ravage, who is a G1 character (robot-->cassette tape). None of the other BW characters have mass-shifting and certainly not Cheetor. Cheetor is 2.3m in robot mode and cheetahs can measure up to 1.35m in body length (not including the tail)... so it's really not that much of a stretch.

Canonical explanation here: Remember that at the end of G1 the Transformers created Micromasters as a means of conserving Energon. After the end of the Autobot-Decepticon war they came up with the Maximal Upgrade which, like Micromaster technology, allowed Transformers to conserve fuel by downsizing themselves. Rodimus (Prime), Ravage, Grimlock and several other survivors from the Great War underwent the upgrade (others like Trailbreaker, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker decided not to). As a result, Beast Wars Transformers are not gigantic like their Autobot/Decepticon ancestors.

Size comparison: Beast Wars Megatron and G1 Optimus Prime

I thought that too but I just can't suspend my disbelief enough to accept that a super advanced sentient robot would transform into a puny little cheetah.

I think DD was just expressing he can't wrap his head around the fact why a TF would turn into a puny little cheetah when they can be a uber cool sentient robot? Nada to do with mass-shifting him questioning the mass shifting technology of the BWs era.

[MV75]

Transforming into animals is a fundamental of the series and the story line. They need those modes so they don't get stasis lock from the energon emissions.

As for mass shifting, plenty of it in beast wars.

[GoktimusPrime]

Well originally Hasbro had intended the BW TFs to be an evolution of G1/G2 and to be on the same world. When you read the early tech specs and comics it's all about them using organic DNA to give themselves beast modes... but they never satisfactorily answered why the Transformers would abandon their vehicular modes in favour of animal modes (although the TV commercial animation and comic did show them fighting in jungles so dense that they would be inaccessible by vehicles). Mainframe approached this issue by introducing their own twist on Beast Wars - which has become the standard accepted continuity for BW...
1/ They took the Transformers and threw them back to prehistoric times where machinery and vehicles do not exist. But as Bob Forward said, why the hell would they want to disguise themselves from animals? So they also introduced...
2/ Raw Energon in unstable crystalline form proving to be highly volatile and harmful to Transformers when exposed for extended durations in non-organic forms - similar to Plasma Energy from G1 (The Rebirth), although not quite as immediately lethal. And so their beast modes served as a shield to protect them from the prolonged effects of raw Energon exposure.