Transmetal II Megatron (Legacy: Evolution/ Leader Class)

I can't think of a better way to welcome the Year of the Dragon than taking a look at an update to my favorite version of Beast Wars Megatron. In the show, BW Megatron was attempting to merge his spark withthat of G1 Megatron. This combined with an act of treachery knocking him into lava resulted into the creation of Transmetal II Megatron, whom transformed into a giant red dragon! Even though later G1 Megatron's spark was removed, BW Megatron was a dragon through the bulk of Beast Machines. When I was younger, the original toy was one of the most badass things in Transformers. Right next to Unicron in my mind... and it's still there now. Dragon Megatron is just a cool concept that you wonder why it took as long as it did to happen. This new toy is an update of the classic one (of course) and a really solid one. Vastly improving on the original idea and looking far more like his cartoon model. The original toy's third mode isn't available now... though you could probably do it yourself with some added on wheels.

As both a robot and a dragon, Megatron is large and imposing (as it should be). Transformation isn't hard, but is a little tricky the first time. There's a few parts that don't work exactly how you imagine when moving everything around. However, once you've done it... you've got it. Megatron comes with a fire breathe effect that can be placed in the dragons mouth or held as a club by Megatron. The original toy had two missiles to fire from the dragons mouth and I'd often have Megatron in robot mode hold the extra one as a weapon. I'm not sure of the designers had the same idea with the orignal toy, but it's a neat bit of symmetry. One big improvement of this new toy is that the dragons neck is jointed instead of a rubber piece as was the original. This allows for more posing while the originals just hung there and could also possibly rot. As you can see I'm very happy with this new toy of a favorite. It was another gift from the Mrs. who absolutely spoils me every Christmas. I hope a Cryotech version follows and would love for TM2 Megatron to get more exposure overall. Sure, his dinosaur mode is cool... but the dragon is badass! 2024 is the 40th anniversary of Transformers and the Year of the Dragon. I can't help to think it's going to be special. Gong hei fat choy

Bios: Prowl

 

Function: Military Strategist 

"Logic is the ultimate weapon."

Prowl strives to find logic and reasoning in everything. A listener, not a talker. Has most sophisticated logic center of the Maximals. Able to analyze and advise on complex combat situations almost instantaneously. Fires highly corrosive acid pellets. Cybernetic eye and frontal lobe interact with wing mounted ion orbs, supplying limited telekinetic power. Afflicted with ironic, dry sense of humor. Believes himself to have been a great military strategist in a former life. 

Strength: 6.1 Intelligence: 8.2 Speed: 7.9 Endurance: 7.6

Rank: 6.5 Courage: 8.1 Firepower: 8.8 Skill: 7.9

 

Predacon Inferno (Legacy/Voyager Class)

I was absolutely ecstatic when Inferno from Beast Wars was announced for the Transformers Legacy  toy line. A long time fan (and personal) favorite from the series was finally getting an update. Unfortunately distribution wasn't the greatest and it took a while to find one. I finally did sometime in the late spring/early summer of this year, thankfully, and now seems like a great time to talk about him. Like most modern updates of classic characters, Inferno is very show accurate. I know I often say they look as though they walked off my TV screen a lot, but that's what they do and Inferno most definitely does. His mouth can even open for those famously maniacal bouts of insanity. Inferno rules.

As he should, Inferno transforms into a fire ant. A VERY LARGE FIRE ANT. The ant is fairly realistic and transformation from robot to beast mode is reasonably easy. The ant's legs feature a decent amount of articulation with moving legs and pinching pincers. In robot mode, Inferno has an impressive amount of movement. This is really a great toy of him. I've always held the original up to a high standard and this is a big improvement. They did a great job. Inferno's signature BFG from the show is well represented and doubles as the rocket for his blender butt flight mode. Said mode doesn't have the propeller gimmick of the original toy... but I don't mind that. There is some inner detailing sculpted in intended to resemble Scavenger. The Antagony version of this mold comes with a Scavenger head that can be used on Antagony or Inferno to bring the third Beast Wars ant toy up to date. Scavenger is a different character, however the toy was meant to represent a Transmetal version of Inferno in Japan. So you can either have a new Scavenger or Transmetal's Inferno if you choose.

I don't have anything bad to say about Inferno. I can imagine the beast mode kibble turning off some... and that's fair. I personally expect it to be there as the bug legs have a history of hanging around in robot mode. Fortunately they can be posed out of the way or removed if one desires (just don't loose them for later transformations). Once again, this is a really great update of a classic fan favorite that looks like it just walked off my TV screen. I shouldn't speak for others, but I feel like saying this is a special toy for Beast Wars fans. The others get regular updates, but Inferno... not so much. That's not cool. Inferno rules. Thankfully this one's good enough to fill that insane gap for a while. 

For the Royalty.

Bios: Ramulus

Function: Scout, Survivalist

Ramulus' stasis pod crashed in a mountainous region of prehistoric Earth during the onset of the quantum surge. Isolated, damaged and forced to develop his own survival tactics, Ramulus trusts neither Maximal nor Predacon alike. He is reluctant to fight, but rash and impulsive once provoked. Characteristically calm and reliable when venturing through unexplored territory on his own. Relished adventure and argues that the Maximals' success depends on their continual repositioning and relocation. Longs to see Cybertron. Ramulus wields a double slagmaker cannon in robot mode and his fractured spark crystal generates disruptive ion pulses.

 

Strength: 7.2 Intelligence : 8.3 Speed: 5.7 Endurance: 8.2

Rank: 5 Courage: 7.8 Firepower: 6.3 Skill: 8.1

Metals Power

Petit Beast Era

With the upcoming Rise of the Beasts movie bringing a much more mainstream attention to my beloved beast warriors, extra love for them has been out in force to reintroduce them to the world. I love it. Something I wasn't expecting was the characters featured in the preschool stuff. But here we are, and here is Optimus Primal as a toddler toy released in 2022 (yes it's 2023 now, but I wrote this in advance). There's another BW toy in the Classic Transformers Heroes Team line for smaller children of Alligator Megatron. I've always had a lot of love for that initial BW 2 pack. I hope to find it soon.

It probably goes without saying that Optimus here is a very simple toy. Meant for small, much younger children and not middle aged robot nerds (but here we are). Transformation is a simple pulling the toy into robot to beast modes and vice versa. There's no articulation as it's basically a larger, more simplified Turbo Changer. The transformation is the toy more than the figure itself. Like Turbo Changers, it makes a good figit toy, perfect for little ones to play with. The simple, cute sculpt makes Primal friendly and approachable. He's hard not to like, unless you're an asshole.

I really wanted this toy because as big fan of Beast Wars, and also tend to like oddball things like this. It also reminds me a bit of the Real Figure Transmetals Optimus Primal toy from 1999. That was something I wanted a whole lot back then and was super happy to get. Little weird things like that were a little harder to get back then. This toy is a lot simpler than that one, and bigger. Really, it's not that similar. But it does remind me of that figure for some reason. Sometimes things just stroke the heart in a certain way. I don't know if that's a good thing, but here we are.

Bios: Cybershark

"The Ocean Depths conceal all intentions."

Function: Tracker, Ocean Attack

Detecting Predacon activity from over 20,000 fathoms below the ocean surface, Cybershark hunts his enemies at over 600 knots. From there, little room is left for escape. Armor-piercing, jaw-mounted sonar tracer torpedoes have water-to-air capabilities. Spin-drive tail boosts speed and acts as quad-blade razor weapon in attack and robot modes. Also deploys thruster jets for higher speed and limited low-level flight. A fierce warrior, Cybershark honed his skills while bounty hunting a rogue band of Cybertronian space pirates. Fully dedicated to the Maximal cause, he often follows his own methods to the frustration of his commander, Depth Charge. Calculating and fearless, he gives Predacons a good reason to stay out of the water.

Strength: 7.9 Intelligence: 5.3 Speed: 6.4 Endurance: 5.8 Rank: 7.0 Courage: 9.8 Firepower: 7.1 Skill: 6.5

Fox Wars

 

I obviously love Beast Wars as do a lot of folks. It's this great period in Transformers history that's been pretty hard to recreate. Though I do appreciate the return of sorts it's had lately. A particularly fun time during the beast era often goes by without a lot of talk. I don't know if that's slowly getting lost to time... or maybe just meant more to me than others. That would be the Fox Kid's Beast Wars. Beast Wars was originally a syndicated show. Beast Machines, it's follow up, was on Fox Kids. For a while during this time, Fox Kids also ran older Beast Wars episodes. For me this was pretty great as I wasn't able to watch every episode during the shows original run. However now these reruns fit my schedule better and I managed to catch the ones I missed. Honestly, it was aired at a particularly sweet spot for me that I never missed an episode and watched the series in it's entirety over and over until the eventual end of the run. That was great.

Fox Kids Beast Wars wasn't just reruns to supplement Beast Machines either. Hasbro/Kenner re-released some of the toys in great new colors as well. I liked Beast Machines, don't get me wrong, but I vastly preferred Beast Wars. So I was really happy to see the figures on shelves a little longer. This was still during the time where older toys had a longer shelf life. It wasn't uncommon to still find something like an Inferno or B'boom in 2000. In fact, as I was starting to have a disposable income, it wasn't until then that I was able to get some of these great toys. 

Those Fox Kids Beast Wars toys themselves were something special. Like I said, they were released in fun new colors. If you didn't already have a character, there was another chance. If you did already have a character, maybe you'd like it in fun new colors. Initially these recolors were listed as powered up versions of the characters. Energon Surge Rhinox, Live Wire Dinobot for example. However they were released as their normal names. The Fox Kids toys ran for about the same length as the show aired on Fox Kids with the later figures sharing cases with the Mutants. It's not often that reruns get their own figures or can be partially credited for expanding the toy lines shelf life. But, these did. I'm not sure anyone at that Walmart I'd frequent remembers the kid in a Static-X t-shirt and a grubby hoodie late at night buying these. But 22 years later, I still look back at it fondly. It was pretty great.

Beast Riders of the Storm

 

There's nothing more serious in Transformers than when Unicron shows up. The all out destruction of the Universe tends to take a little priority over the ongoing war between the Autobots and Decepticons. In case a giant demonic planet robot that eats other planets in a quest to destroy all life wasn't scary enough... he has heralds. Personally, I'd like to think his arrival would be obvious (he's pretty big after all), but still the need for someone to show up and tell everyone just how doomed they are is needed. In Energon, this got a little extra apocalyptic. 

Let me wind back the clock a little. Armada was much more popular than Hasbro anticipated. So much that another line of repaints had to be made to keep product on the shelves fast. Part of the scramble for new toys was reusing some Beast Wars molds in Armada. In all new colors  with  Mini-Con ports molded on, various Transmetals joined the ranks. Transmetal Megatron (now Predacon) and Terrorsaur for the Decepticons. Transmetal Rhinox, Airrazor, and Cheetor for the Autobots. However, they sure didn't blend in aesthetically did they? 

Some fans came up with the theory that the deluxe toys were in fact Unicron's four horsemen. Customs, fan art, and such were made of this idea. Simon Furman, who had been writing the Armada comic apparently came across this idea and liked it. The Armada comic transitioned into Energon and the war continued as Unicron returned. I'd hate to spoil a 18 year old comic, but it's kinda necessary. Also, that comic is 18 years old. During the big fight in Armada, Unicron took notice in the 4 beast characters and abducted them. 

Later in Energon- Heralding the return of Unicron, the now evil and scary beast warriors returned... as Unicron's Four Horseman of the Apocalypse! Riding skeletal monster steeds and spouting off words of foreboding doom, the four attacked Cybertron. There was much fire and brimstone and fighting. It was a Dio album cover staring Transformers and it was awesome! Ok, some fans took issues with the idea. Most days end in a Y as well, so whatever. While the evil and scary beast warriors were defeated, they did return in the unpublished later issues. 

Personally, I thought it was a pretty cool idea. While not just being different than the others toys due to their beast modes, the overall design was different from Armada and Energon's particular look. They stood out. While most of us didn't pay it too much mind, it clearly stuck out to some. Making four of the characters into demon flavored servants of Unicron was a pretty fun idea. Not to mention, the whole thing just evokes heavy metal imagery. Which, who doesn't love? We're spending the summer with a focus on all things scary and I'm pretty sure the apocalypse is kinda on label.

Bios: Scourge

 

"A plague upon all their houses!"

Function: Special Operations Combatant

Scourge is possibly the most despicable of the already loathsome Predacons. Delights in taking depravity to all-time- low levels. Obsessed with germ warfare and lethal chemical development. Despised by peers for his inclination to test deadly viral and bacterial concoctions on fellow Predacons. Skilled in combat, Scourge wields photon cluster cannons with chemical warhead capabilities. Has electrostatic disrupters inside antennae; capable of leaping distances exceeding two miles with use of wings.

Strength:4.6 Intelligence:7 Speed:8.7 Endurance:6.5 Rank:6 Courage:8.7 Firepower:7.8 Skill:9.3

Bios: Iguanus

 

"The shortest path between two Maximal points is a heat seeking missile."

Function: Demolitions, Artillery Expert

Iguanus is a master of combat calculations. Armed with long range tactical missiles capable of carrying a wide variety of warheads, his firepower rating is among the highest of the Predacons. Able to accurately calculate target position from incredible distances, he obliterates enemies from thousands of kilometers with cutthroat precision. Special titanium armor plating withstands even the most severe blasts.

Riding Primal Waves

Despite everything that's come out since, I still view Optimus Primal toys from Beast Wars to be some of the best Transformers ever made. I'm still just as impressed as I was back then when I play with one now. The look, the stature, the play value. Just great figures. I'm also admiring the weirdness of some of the toys. Transmetal Optimus Primal's vehicle form is a hover board. That's just silly. Though seeing a gorilla fly through the air on a rocket powered hover board while wielding giant maces? Ok, that's still silly, but that's also pretty great.

I think a mistake a lot of people make when considering Transformers is adding in realism. Which... uh... is completely out the window on arrival. Alien robots hiding among Earth by disusing themselves as vehicles is far fetched, but what kind of disguise is a robot dinosaur, a ufo? It's silly, it's fun, just turn off your mind a little. Beast Wars... hey look a gorilla is fighting a dinosaur. It's fantasy and not far removed from the time that TMNT ruled the toy shelves. A surfing gorilla wasn't that unheard of. It's admittedly firmly rooted in it's time and that's ok with me.

Bios- Transmetal Waspinator

After the quantum surge, Waspinator became a meched-out, armored wasp with the ability to change into a fighter-jet as well as a bio-genetically-enhanced robot. His personality, however, did not change much; he's still high-tempered, aggressive, and dangerous when angered. Only now Waspinator is faster, armed with a toxic stinger and more driven in his mission to wipe out the Maximals forever!

Bios- Stinkbomb

Nine-tenths of the battle is fought within the imagination

A strategic specialist, Stinkbomb is fascinated with the study of Predaconial psychology. Understands the power-driven Predacon mindset and delights in manipulating it to Maximal advantage. Once taunted for his unpleasant odor, Stinkbomb's sharp wit cunning tactics and dangerous intelligence quickly earned the respect of his colleagues. Regarded by Optimal Optimus as a valued advisor and fierce warrior. Relies on serrated tail for close range combat. Photon emitters in optical sensors project hypnotic light spectrum capable of lulling enemies. Foul chemical spray causes temporary paralysis-nasty odor remains for weeks unless victim bathes in tomato juice.

Bios- Beast Wars Rampage

The result of an experiment gone awry, Rampage is an evil titan devoid of mercy. Calculating and fearsome, he is a legend among Cybertrons, and it is rumored that his spark cannot be extinguished. In king crab mode Rampage uses his hulking claws to generate colossal tidal waves, induce earthquakes, and trigger landslides. Though his bulk hinders his overall dexterity, Rampage makes good use of his impenetrable armor and multi-weapons arsenal in crab, tank, and robot modes. Galva-conductors on his back channel deadly electric currents that he disperses at will. Rampage customarily activates his gatling cannon to finish off his enemies in a deluge of cluster missiles. All Cybertrons fear his unmatched aggression.

Biocombat on a dark and stormy night

Transmetal Scavenger is a funny toy. He was obviously intended to be Transmetal Inferno at some point, so much so that the Japanese version IS Transmetal Inferno. Considering Inferno was originally meant to be Megatron, Inferno has a habit of intended to be somebody else at some point. Hell, I still remember my Scavenger's receipt saying 'Inferno'... and Rampage's said 'Killer Crab' which would have been a great name. Though on his own, Scavenger is a good looking toy. I'm convinced he's a homage to Warudaros, but that's a return to all the intended to be talk earlier.

That darn cat bot

The other day I was playing with my Spark Armor Cheetor. It's a pretty fun little toy and for a Beast Wars fan it's nice to buy a Cheetor at Target again. It's not uncommon for my mind to race through potential repaints for the mold. There's the obvious Ravage (I'd go nuts for a Shadow Panther version) and Tigatron. That's always going to come up. Then my mind went to CatScan and Panther, which is a little more under the radar, but something I'd be all for. Though something I'd love would be a homage to the Fox Kids Transmetal Cheetor.

Beast Wars was a syndicated show here in the US that later aired on Fox Kids. New releases of some of the toys were made available to go along with the show now getting seen by a new audience. These Fox Kids versions had different paint jobs to differentiate them from the prior versions. Some a lot more extreme than other, like Transmetal Cheetor. Now in a darker red and black scheme dominating the toy, Cheetor looked like someone else.

It's a lot different than you'd expect Cheetor to look. Despite the weirdness of it, I've always liked the repaint and just thought it looked great. Spark Armor Cheetor, while looking more like the original Cheetor toy, is pretty angular and I'd like to think could pull these colors off pretty nicely. I'd be pretty happy with a million recolors of the toy in a million different cat bots. It's a great figure and one I'd love to see homage random versions of... Hey, you know what would also look great? The Armada one!

Trans-Techincal Specifications

I sure do love Beast Wars. It was an imaginative line with great toys and an awesome cartoon. Still to this day it remains my favorite time to be a fan and it was just generally all around awesome. One small tidbit from the line I loved (among the millions of things) was these cool little tech drawings that would be on the back of Transmetal boxes. Similar in ways to the Power Plans from Action Masters (loved that too) packaging, these little drawings would add something special to the toy inside the box.

I love a good cross section, this is known, I also love line art. I don't know why, I just do. Probably because it usually looks great and boy does it here in greens and yellows. Beast Wars had pretty sharp packaging and that art on the grid background just proves that a little more. As you can see, features of the toy would be highlighted. Usually little fictional things like force field generator or actual toy gimmicks like missile storage. Just an extra bit of information about the toy that just adds so much to the overall presentation.

Toys still have a text blurb here or there on the packaging like "firing missile" or "7 step transformation". I could really see something like this on a Studio Series or Generations toy. Something that adds to that overall presentation and sells the character. Considering most bio's these days are limited to a sentence or two, I'd like to think it'd be a great addition to even Cyberverse figures. It doesn't need to even bee a drawing, just pointing out things on a picture of a toy would work pretty well. Imagine "high speed tires" next to a picture of Hot Rod's wheels. Wouldn't that be cool?

Depth Charge

A magnificent giant soars through the oceans in regal silence. Depth Charge was commissioned by Optimus Primal to act as a first line of defense against Predacon undersea aggressors. Though he would rather study military strategies than execute them, Depth Charge is a dedicated fighter and inspired leader. Nuclear cybershark drone conducts recon missions, doubles as reinforcement in battle, and fires dual proton torpedoes. Intermediate space-cruiser mode can achieve planetary orbit or withstand the deepest oceanic pressures. As a robot, he fires shrapnel grenades from his chest and can maintain a force field for five mega cycles. With unshakable nerves and Energon-cutlass in hand, Depth Charge leads his brave platoon into battle.

Transmetal Optimal Optimus

Absolutely my favorite Beast Wars toy.