The Beast Wars Appreciation Thread

[GoktimusPrime]

In celebration of the 20th Anniversary of Beast Wars (and OzFormers! ), I've made this thread for anyone to come and share your fond memories and/or thoughts about this wonderful series. Everyone knows the story of how Beast Wars saved the Transformers franchise, so rather than ranting on about it again, allow me to simply illustrate it with this graphic.

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Beast Wars Transformer of the Week

Something else that this thread will feature is a BW TF of the Week. Each week I will nominate a BW TF and everyone else can chime and talk about your thoughts or feelings about this character and/or toy.

This week's BWTFOTW is: RHINOX

Toy

The original 1996 toy is just a magnificent piece which typifies why Beast Wars was so successful and managed to revitalise the Transformers franchise. While it's a standard feature today, at the time, I was amazed by the articulated robot mode, and self-contained weaponry. Rhinox has a sword and a buzzsaw that actually spins! And if that's not bad-donkey enough for you, the buzzsaw also has a pair of spiked balls on chains attached to it! You did not want to get into a fight with this guy. Phwoar! The beast mode was also among the first to implement gradual spray-painted colours, with a darker shade of beige blending into the lighter shade. Exquisite! I personally bought my Rhinox in a versus set with Shadow Panther in a department store in Ikebukuro, Tokyo.

In the toy-continuity, Rhinox did become a Transmetal. The vehicle mode reminds me of G.I. Joe's Snowcat (bear in mind that this toy came out 6 years before Energon Snowcat ). In robot mode, Rhinox poaches his own horn as a blade weapon.

Character

Beast Wars was the first TV series to give us highly toy-accurate models on the show. This was achieved by using a 3D scanner to scan the toys and then the CG models were based on those scans. This was pretty cutting-edge stuff for 20 years ago! As a result, what we saw on TV was pretty close to what we saw in the toy, and Rhinox is a pretty good example of this. And unlike the other Maximals, he's the only Maximal from the first season to keep his original form right up until the very end. He never upgraded to becoming a Transmetal on the show. The most drastic change that the animators made to the toy in the eyes of fans was to the buzzsaw weapon, which they modified into becoming a chain gun, then a pair of chain guns. It's become such an iconic part of the character that Hasbro saw fit to give the more recent Generations Rhinox a pair of Chain Guns.

As for Rhinox himself, he was to the Maximals what Beast is to the X-Men. A softly spoken intellectual who's more than capable of savagely beating down his opponents. Things got really weird for Rhinox in Beast Machines, as he suddenly - out of nowhere - developed a deep xenophobia towards organic life. Even after his Vehicon programming shell was lifted, Rhinox chose to remain a Vehicon and fought against his former-allies, and even attempted to usurp Megatron. Tankor now appears in the IDW comics, although it's not really known if "Fat Tankor" is Rhinox in this universe.

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So please share with us your thoughts, feelings and memories of Beast Wars, and if you like, Rhinox too.

[Polursine]

He was actually my first Transformer. Along with Armadillo and Snapper Snap. In 1998 I think? From my best friend back in Adelaide. And I remember the party too haha. Was outside at a nearby park with loads of school friends coming. I've still got him, however a few years back I modded him a bit and removed that monster face and the two posts on his head, for a more accurate look.

When I was hospitalized last June, one of the members here (Ploughmans Lunch I think) sent me Generations Rhinox and PE hands/feet. So I had Rhinox again by my side for my time in need.

[MayzaPrime]

My first Beast Wars figure was also the very first transformer that I bought with my own money that I saved, and that was the original Dinobot figure which I bought from Toys R Us in Miranda Fair. I also got Optimus Primal and Scorponok for my birthday a few weeks later. I also remember hunting for Megatron and I called Kmart in Warrawong, they had 1 left and I asked them to hold it for me, I then begged my Mum and Dad to drive me down and pick it up for me. After promising to wash the cars, clean the house and vacuum the floor I was driven down and was able to pick it up, I was also very lucky because as it turned out as the shop assistant grabbed the figure another customer asked for it, but she had already reserved it for me... I have lots of other Beast Wars story as I was a teenager with 3 jobs to pay for my plastic crack addiction.

[TAAUBlaster]

I missed most the first season of BW toys. I hadn't seen the show yet (were the toys released a bit earlier than the show?) and I wrote them off as being a cheap knock off - and not official Transformers. I bought Dinobot and Snapper and kind of forgot about the line. It wasn't until I saw the show one afternoon much later that I of course started getting interested in them! But by that time, a lot of the show characters had already gone from the shelves, and the Transmetals had started appearing. I remember picking up TM Cheetor, TM Op and TM Megs.

The show jumped around on the TV stations a bit if I remember. Some were during the morning, and other eps were shown during the afternoon. I missed out on a lot of eps originally because I could never find them in the schedule! Then one day I found the TM2 Primal figure sitting on the shelf at KMart. Stupidly (in hindsight) I passed it up because I didn't know who it was (I hadn't seen those eps yet.) But I do remember buying the TM2 Megatron.

I also remember Depthcharge an Megs being heavily discounted towards the end - like $20 each! I had thought about getting a couple (they would have been my first sealed figures to keep) but I thought "Nah, I'll get them later. I don't want to carry them around all day. But that later never came... I still kick myself when I see how much they are going to cost me to buy now

[GoktimusPrime]

The toys were definitely out before the show, and the showed aired on Australian TV much later than in the U.S. I used to get a friend to tape episodes off American TV and send them to me on NTSC VHS so I could watch them shortly after the series had finished airing in the U.S., which would months before it started airing in Australia. I remember having small private meets at my place where other fans and I would sit together and watch the series. There's something special about watching a show in the same room as other fans as you get to feed off each other's enthusiasm and reactions. Especially during the innuendos.

Mind you, I only did this from Season 2 onwards. I was living in Japan when Season 1 came out, so my first exposure to the show was the Japanese dub. It wasn't until I moved back to Australia that I saw it in English for the first time. It was weird, because I had to get used to hearing the original Canadian voices, but by that time, I'd become accustomed to playing with my BW toys imitating all the Japanese voices too. So it took me a while to acclimatise to mimicking the Canadian voices.

When I first got the toys, the show hadn't come out yet. So I sorta played along to the early toy continuity, which established BW as being a direct continuation of G1/G2 (i.e. the Maximals and Predacons were simply the Autobots and Decepticons 'bioengineered' with beast modes). However, in my version, the Maximals and Predacons had no idea who bioengineered them, how or why. They would wake up one by one as beasts. The beasts were actually animals who were modified with components of their Cybertronian host inside, but of course, were unaware of this. When the Cybertronians started awakening, they found themselves trapped inside their bestial hosts. It took them a while to figure out how to transform, but the beasts remained conscious during the transformation, so it would be utterly agonising for them. The Predacons didn't care about this and would happily remain in robot mode, while the Maximals only transformed when they had to, and otherwise remained in beast mode for the sake of their unwitting hosts. Both sides wanted to find out what happened and discover a way to undo the process, but of course, fought with each other on contact. The Maximals also had to control their hosts from attacking each other (e.g. cheetah wanting to pounce on a rhino or rat etc.)... which wasn't easy. So this was fun until the show came out and of course gave us whole new canon. After that my toy play fell in line with the show, although I occasionally revisit my old "pre-show" toy plays (but usually not). I find it interesting to see how I imagine a toy-character to be before and after their canonical appearance.

I also remember Depthcharge an Megs being heavily discounted towards the end - like $20 each! I had thought about getting a couple (they would have been my first sealed figures to keep) but I thought "Nah, I'll get them later. I don't want to carry them around all day.

Nothing wrong with carrying Transformers around all day! The Transmetal period was actually when I started doing that. Soon I was bringing a different Transformer to campus every day. I met other toy collectors on campus and we'd sometimes go toy hunting together. Depth Charge was one of my acquisitions on one of these communal toy hunts. I remember bringing this toy back to campus and ripping it open while standing in line at the cafeteria.

[TAAUBlaster]

The toys were definitely out before the show, and the showed aired on Australian TV much later than in the U.S. I used to get a friend to tape episodes off American TV and send them to me on NTSC VHS so I could watch them shortly after the series had finished airing in the U.S., which would months before it started airing in Australia. I remember having small private meets at my place where other fans and I would sit together and watch the series. There's something special about watching a show in the same room as other fans as you get to feed off each other's enthusiasm and reactions. Especially during the innuendos.

Mind you, I only did this from Season 2 onwards. I was living in Japan when Season 1 came out, so my first exposure to the show was the Japanese dub. It wasn't until I moved back to Australia that I saw it in English for the first time. It was weird, because I had to get used to hearing the original Canadian voices, but by that time, I'd become accustomed to playing with my BW toys imitating all the Japanese voices too. So it took me a while to acclimatise to mimicking the Canadian voices.

When I first got the toys, the show hadn't come out yet. So I sorta played along to the early toy continuity, which established BW as being a direct continuation of G1/G2 (i.e. the Maximals and Predacons were simply the Autobots and Decepticons 'bioengineered' with beast modes). However, in my version, the Maximals and Predacons had no idea who bioengineered them, how or why. They would wake up one by one as beasts. The beasts were actually animals who were modified with components of their Cybertronian host inside, but of course, were unaware of this. When the Cybertronians started awakening, they found themselves trapped inside their bestial hosts. It took them a while to figure out how to transform, but the beasts remained conscious during the transformation, so it would be utterly agonising for them. The Predacons didn't care about this and would happily remain in robot mode, while the Maximals only transformed when they had to, and otherwise remained in beast mode for the sake of their unwitting hosts. Both sides wanted to find out what happened and discover a way to undo the process, but of course, fought with each other on contact. The Maximals also had to control their hosts from attacking each other (e.g. cheetah wanting to pounce on a rhino or rat etc.)... which wasn't easy. So this was fun until the show came out and of course gave us whole new canon. After that my toy play fell in line with the show, although I occasionally revisit my old "pre-show" toy plays (but usually not). I find it interesting to see how I imagine a toy-character to be before and after their canonical appearance.


Nothing wrong with carrying Transformers around all day! The Transmetal period was actually when I started doing that. Soon I was bringing a different Transformer to campus every day. I met other toy collectors on campus and we'd sometimes go toy hunting together. Depth Charge was one of my acquisitions on one of these communal toy hunts. I remember bringing this toy back to campus and ripping it open while standing in line at the cafeteria.

Sounds like a pretty cool storyline. Before I saw the show, I saw them as being direct descendants for the Autobots and Decepticons too. They fought alongside/against my G2 figures

I was still in high school at the time the TM's were getting discounted. So I was a lazy teenager, and carrying around toys all day wasn't "cool" or helpful for meeting the ladies haha
Believe me if it was today, I would have bought the whole stack of discounted figures and happily carried them around all day. Ladies be damned!

[CHILENO20]

I was never a huge fan of the show (in comparison to G1) but I did watch it and enjoy it. The innuendo was funny as and off the top of my head, I'm pretty sure they were the first official transformers that I bought with my own money as opposed to being given one. I still have some of them but none are complete (missing bits & weapons). That being said, I've gotten an itch to start collecting the ones that were in the show again (updated CHUG versions where possible). My Optimus Primal should be in shortly. Just need a Tigatron to complete the Maximals for S1 . Anyone willing to help out with Predacons I'm happy to listen

[BigTransformerTrev]

I didn't like Beast Wars in the 90's. I was a 'Trukk not Munkey' dude and was too busy between uni and partying anyway to watch what I felt was a pretty crappy turn of events for the TF franchise. I only ever bought Depthcharge and that was mainly to scratch the 'I need a new TF' itch.

Now I'm older I kinda like Beast Wars. I have the box sets of the DVDs, the IDW comics & poster and as for toys:

*BW & TFCC Depthcharge
*10th Anniversary, Animated, Generations, KreO & Robot Heroes Waspinator
*Animated, Legends & Robot Heroes Black Arachnia
*TFCC Rampage
*Assorted Robot Hero BW characters
*Assorted 3-inch Titanium BW characters

So I've warmed to Beast Wars. However I don't think you can say Beast Wars 'saved' the TF franchise. Who knows if the TF franchise would have actually died if BW hadn't come along - it's pure conjecture. It may have been rejuvenated by a different TF cartoon and toyline if the powers that be had decided to go in a different creative direction. It may have lain dormant until RID cane along (which was the toyline that brought me back into the fold). I think the whole 'giant transforming robots' concept just has too much appeal to ever really die. So you can't say that if 'A' hadn't happened then 'B' definitely would have.

What Beast Wars did do was rejuvenate the franchise, bring in a new generation of fans and generally give the TF universe a much needed shot in the arm. And for that yes, the series should indeed be appreciated

[CHILENO20]

Primal has arrived, just need Tigatron to complete Season 1

[GoktimusPrime]

I think that there are some really awesome toys outside of the show cast (e.g. Wolfang, Insecticon, B'Boom etc.). The show cast was always limited due to the expensive cost of CG animation. Hasbro always gave Mainframe a select number of characters to appear in the show at any one time, and often they'd tell Mainframe to remove a character before introducing a new one, thus maintaining a limited core number of characters at any one time. e.g. Terrorsaur and Scorponok were unceremoniously thrown into lava before the show introduced the two Fuzors, Silverbolt and Quickstrike. This is also why the show did have a pretty high body count.

Transformers Prime followed a similar formula too, by maintaining a fairly limited number of "Unique" Transformer characters. I think that having an army of Vehicon clone was relatively inexpensive, as it's just the same CG model modified and repeated. Cliffjumper's the main exception considering that he only had a relatively short amount of screen time given the level of detail that they put into that model. But that was pretty cool in that it made his death all the more unexpected.