A new Beast Wars Line

[MV75]

But the real question is, would a beast wars type thing actually be liked by anyone right now? I see no need for it. The line is strong as it is. Right now is not the time for the beasts. People are still right into robots and vehicles, and it's being kept fresh enough to not get bored with.

[dirge]

Going To The Shops Bumblebee

Scarily, there's so many different "xxx" Bumblebees, this one might well eventuate.

I agree that if BW is revisited, it'll be a half-done revisit, and not one which will capture the character depth that made BW such a success.

[ComicGuy89]

I'm really glad Mr Archer realized the potential of Beast Wars. It was the TF series I started out with.

I'm not sure how they'd tackle a revisit, but a homage line like some have already mentioned would be nice. It would be nice if they handled the Generations line like how they handled their Star Wars Legacy Collection line, with each wave corresponding to a specific iteration of the franchise. Wave 1 could be G1, wave 2, Beast Era, Wave 3, Animated and so forth. That way we won't have a full-blown, but still serviceable attempt at paying respects to the Beast warriors.

[Autocon]

What country were you in? We didn't get Tigatron here.

no? might of been someone else

[GoktimusPrime]

I disagree with you Gok, I had no interest in the Beast Wars toys until I saw the show. I honestly didn't even think they were Transformers until I saw the show to confirm it.

Okay, but that's your personal anecdote. Some people say that they were first introduced to Transformers (G1) from the cartoon despite the fact that it was already a very strong toy franchise before the 'toon came out (and obviously became much stronger after the cartoon aired).

I remember collecting and playing with BW toys before the cartoon came out - I used to play according to the original toy canon (i.e. the Maximals and Predacons were the Autobots and Decepticons bio-engineered with beast modes!). Then the cartoon came out and made everything way better!

The sales may have only been impressive compared to the G2 sales but I don't think they would have been hard to beat. I think they saw an interest in the toys and decided the best form of advertising was using a series based on the BW figures to drive sales.

There were several magazine articles released at the time and in following years that indicated that BW sales were really strong and it was the impressive sales figures that prompted Hasbro to commission the cartoon. It was like G1 repeating itself -- the G1 toys made lots of money (US$1.4 million) when it debuted, and as with G1 the popularity of BW exploded after the cartoon came out. Now I'm not saying that Beast Wars would've made the same amount of money when it debuted, I don't know what the exact amount was, but apparently it was pretty strong - strong enough for Hasbro to invest in an expensive CGI animated cartoon.

Ben Yee's site used to have an article explaining more about this (erm, this was when he was still hosting on his university's server then acweb... don't think he's had it on his site since becoming "BWTF"). I have an old ToyFare Magazine interview with Hasbro about Beast Wars from 1997 or 98 - if you want I can quote some excerpts from that. (obviously I gotta dig it up from my archives at home )

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

I have an old ToyFare Magazine interview with Hasbro about Beast Wars from 1997 or 98 - if you want I can quote some excerpts from that. (obviously I gotta dig it up from my archives at home )

If you can post the article I'd be interested in seeing it.

[Verno]

Surely as a Beast Wars fan you'd rather have a mediocre television series and an entire toyline than two mediocre toys in a filler line, like we've already had?

No way. I got my mediocre TV series in Beast Machines, and the associated toy line I've never had time for. The proposed solution to all the problems BM caused, TransTech, was sadly robbed from us because the show and toys from BM had killed off fans liking of the characters and story arc in the Beast Universe.

But the real question is, would a beast wars type thing actually be liked by anyone right now? I see no need for it. The line is strong as it is. Right now is not the time for the beasts. People are still right into robots and vehicles, and it's being kept fresh enough to not get bored with.

Thus why we don't need to see a full line. Just a few figures slotted in, no need to go overboard. Based on the popularity of those particular figures, and fans outcries which Hasbro have shown to listen to occasionally, then in the future maybe a larger presence, but that is a long way down the track. We have to wade through the sh!t that TF3 is going to pour onto the market first.

Okay, but that's your personal anecdote. Some people say that they were first introduced to Transformers (G1) from the cartoon despite the fact that it was already a very strong toy franchise before the 'toon came out (and obviously became much stronger after the cartoon aired).

I remember collecting and playing with BW toys before the cartoon came out - I used to play according to the original toy canon (i.e. the Maximals and Predacons were the Autobots and Decepticons bio-engineered with beast modes!). Then the cartoon came out and made everything way better!

And thats simply your personal anecdote. From the reponses on here, most have cited the TV show as the reason for the interest in the line. One can draw the analogy that they were new to Transformers as a whole, myself included in that. I'd had a few Tfs as a young kid but knew none of the story until BW came along and it sparked a further interest in the universe.

[GoktimusPrime]

Okay, I found the article. I'm not going to retype the whole thing cos it's like four pages long and not all of it is relevant to our current discussion, but here are some excerpts.

"Hasbro.....was hot on the trail of redesigning and relaunching a Transformers line. After a failed attempt with a Transformers Generation 2 line, Hasbro realized that a more radical revamp of the Transformers was in order."

"Thus, Hasbro unveiled Beast Wars figures in 1996, while the team members involved in the relaunch held their breath.
The crowd, as they say, went wild.....by and large, kid and collector response to Beast Wars has been tremendous. According to Hasbro, Beast Wars is the third best-selling toy line in the (United States), right behind Star Wars and Power Rangers."

""Beast Wars has definitely reinvigorated fan interest in the Transformers line as a whole," Hasbro's Beast Wars Design Manager George Boznos says. "While matching the success of the first line of Transformers, the [dynamic] looks and features of the Beasts have sparked new interest with kids of all ages."

"It's a move that Boznos feels allowed the (Transformers) line to come back kicking from the verge of extinction."

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Having said all that, I don't think it's necessary to scrap current vehicular Transformers and replace them with beast Transformers... but why not have both co-existing side by side? We're now in an age where there are multiple different lines of Transformers being produced at the same time (e.g. "Classics," movieverse, Animated etc.)

I think it should be possible to sell beast TFs as a separate sub-line. Perhaps just a small launch at first to test the waters and then consider expansion depending on sales.