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Re: Unleash the Beast Wars! The Beast Wars Toys Appreciation Thread

PostPosted: Sun Jun 09, 2019 11:34 am
by AllNewSuperRobot
Ah yes, a distinction must be made between Combiners and Combiner Teams. I was warned off of Magmatron by a friend as "being more fickle than it is worth". However, other than the extended Cybershark and Wolfang molds, I hold no affinity towards any BW 2 or Neo figures. So I wasn't really interested in Magmatron regardless.

Re: Unleash the Beast Wars! The Beast Wars Toys Appreciation Thread

PostPosted: Sun Jun 09, 2019 11:45 am
by Skritz
By the way it might be a bit of the nostalgia talking but, having dug most them out of their makeshift boxes (and ziplock bags, more on that in a bit), the season 2-era Transmetal toys remain flat out amazing. They're great, got a unique styling which both complement the G1 style of robot animals while having their own identity and styling with the organic robot mode, they're poseable (where the ball joints didn't grind to dust, anyway) and in the show these were used pretty much 1:1 making them extremely toy accurate.

Transmetals, while very different from the original styling of Beast Wars, absolutely rocked and I think they were the best part of the Beast Wars toyline. Its a shame we'll never see any new Transmetal toy. Closest we got is POTP Optimal Optimus, but he was an odd case with his own style, neither a classic Transmetal nor a Transmetal 2.

As for the ziplock bags: my grandma obssessive compulsive mannerism paid off. Having been sealed in individual, airless bags for 20-something years has preserved the chrome on them in a an amazing state. :shock:

Re: Unleash the Beast Wars! The Beast Wars Toys Appreciation Thread

PostPosted: Sun Jun 09, 2019 11:51 am
by AllNewSuperRobot
Absolutely. The Transmetal and TM 2 lines are definitely a highlight of Transformers figures. I like to think that one of the reasons that sets them apart from the first wave was the gimmicks didn't inhibit the figures themselves IE Bonecrusher, Retrax, Megatron

Re: Unleash the Beast Wars! The Beast Wars Toys Appreciation Thread

PostPosted: Sun Jun 09, 2019 12:08 pm
by Skritz
While I'm an unashamed BW fan I'll fully admit the first two years were very hit and miss. Organic designs make hiding kibble really difficult and while these toys were a full upgrade from the G1 bricks that came before them (thanks to continuing to improve on the short lived G2 line) they also suffered from some serious lopsiding in one mode or the other Transmetals solved this by simply going back to the idea that kibble couldn't be completely hidden.

I'd love to see Generations some day redo things in a modernized version of the late Beast Wars style which mix organic and mechanical, either like Transmetals (which are mechanical on the outside and organic on the inside), Transmetal 2 (which are monstrous assymetrical cyborgs) or maybe more like a less stupid-looking Beast Machine which is akin to the Transmetal 2 look but symmetrical. For what its worth, this style actually predates Beast Wars: Doublecross and Fangry from G1 had molded fur parts on their otherwise mostly mechanical body and TR 'Twinferno' even retain such design hints, with his furred arms.

While its unlikely to happen I would have loved to see some G1-era characters with that kind of biomechanical look. Imagine how mental a Transmetal 2 Abominus would look like. :twisted:

Re: Unleash the Beast Wars! The Beast Wars Toys Appreciation Thread

PostPosted: Sun Jun 09, 2019 12:45 pm
by ZeroWolf
I would love to see more transmetals, both kinds. Even if the designs have to be relegated to the baddies of the line (for looking monstrous in the tm 2 case)

Re: Unleash the Beast Wars! The Beast Wars Toys Appreciation Thread

PostPosted: Sun Jun 09, 2019 12:55 pm
by Skritz
ZeroWolf wrote:I would love to see more transmetals, both kinds. Even if the designs have to be relegated to the baddies of the line (for looking monstrous in the tm 2 case)


Another line with heroes and villains having different styling (which was subtly done in Armada) would rock.

Re: Unleash the Beast Wars! The Beast Wars Toys Appreciation Thread

PostPosted: Sun Jun 09, 2019 12:56 pm
by ZeldaTheSwordsman
Skritz wrote:As for the ziplock bags: my grandma obssessive compulsive mannerism paid off. Having been sealed in individual, airless bags for 20-something years has preserved the chrome on them in a an amazing state. :shock:

And, I would imagine, kept their accessories from teleporting to the moon.

Has anyone tried clear-coating Transmetals to protect the chrome?

Re: Unleash the Beast Wars! The Beast Wars Toys Appreciation Thread

PostPosted: Sun Jun 09, 2019 12:56 pm
by Jelze Bunnycat
Skritz wrote:While its unlikely to happen I would have loved to see some G1-era characters with that kind of biomechanical look. Imagine how mental a Transmetal 2 Abominus would look like. :twisted:


Save that idea for Monstructor ;) Why? Pretender technology may have been the foundation for the Beast Wars organics.

Re: Unleash the Beast Wars! The Beast Wars Toys Appreciation Thread

PostPosted: Sun Jun 09, 2019 1:02 pm
by AllNewSuperRobot
Skritz wrote:While its unlikely to happen I would have loved to see some G1-era characters with that kind of biomechanical look. Imagine how mental a Transmetal 2 Abominus would look like. :twisted:


Something like this, I imagine? ;)


Image

Image

Re: Unleash the Beast Wars! The Beast Wars Toys Appreciation Thread

PostPosted: Sun Jun 09, 2019 1:07 pm
by Skritz
Yes but hopefully with better engineering in the kibble department.

Re: Unleash the Beast Wars! The Beast Wars Toys Appreciation Thread

PostPosted: Sun Jun 09, 2019 1:09 pm
by AllNewSuperRobot
Of course. Max B, Hellscream etc do look really nice with the extreme cyborg kibble, but they have next to no stability because of it.

Re: Unleash the Beast Wars! The Beast Wars Toys Appreciation Thread

PostPosted: Sun Jun 09, 2019 1:12 pm
by Skritz
I don't mind crazy chunks of kibble becoming robot mode weapons and armors technically. But practically speaking its generally unwieldy, make figures too top heavy and if you lose it the figure now has an incomplete altmode. Its a **** mess in execution.

Re: Unleash the Beast Wars! The Beast Wars Toys Appreciation Thread

PostPosted: Sun Jun 09, 2019 1:13 pm
by ZeroWolf
I keep seeing them on ebay but the prices were insane, with someone asking about £90 for one

Re: Unleash the Beast Wars! The Beast Wars Toys Appreciation Thread

PostPosted: Sun Jun 09, 2019 1:18 pm
by AllNewSuperRobot
Skritz wrote:I don't mind crazy chunks of kibble becoming robot mode weapons and armors technically. But practically speaking its generally unwieldy, make figures too top heavy and if you lose it the figure now has an incomplete altmode. Its a **** mess in execution.


Image

His "turbine" left arm is so heavy in Bot Mode it can't practically be posed. Often times the arm will either sag to the floor or the weak ankles of the Cybershark legs will make the figure topple over.

ZeroWolf wrote:I keep seeing them on ebay but the prices were insane, with someone asking about £90 for one


I do remember to complete my Wolfang mold, both Max B and Volfang (Red Wolfang) were not cheap.

Re: Unleash the Beast Wars! The Beast Wars Toys Appreciation Thread

PostPosted: Sun Jun 09, 2019 1:22 pm
by ZeroWolf
Designs like that I'm not fond of I think they went too far with it, and it could do with being more blended. I love the original cybershark as it had a nice simplicity in its transformation,along the lines why I loved the basic class

Re: Unleash the Beast Wars! The Beast Wars Toys Appreciation Thread

PostPosted: Sun Jun 09, 2019 1:25 pm
by AllNewSuperRobot
Yeah, the main issue with Hellscream is he has no alt-mode face. I do wish Cybershark had made it into the show, instead of having his place in fiction usurped by Sky-Byte.

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Sharp Edge was a nice Mold variant though.

Re: Unleash the Beast Wars! The Beast Wars Toys Appreciation Thread

PostPosted: Sun Jun 09, 2019 1:38 pm
by Skritz
Man these are some nice colors. Not to mention I'm quite fond of that shark mold, being one of my earliest (although not first) Transformers toys. Still got mine in excellent shape.

Re: Unleash the Beast Wars! The Beast Wars Toys Appreciation Thread

PostPosted: Sun Jun 09, 2019 5:28 pm
by Rogue-Primal
Heres a meme i rmembered, has anyone else ever associated Razorbeast with Pumbaa from the Lion King movies?

Re: Unleash the Beast Wars! The Beast Wars Toys Appreciation Thread

PostPosted: Sun Jun 09, 2019 7:20 pm
by D-Maximal_Primal
Glad to see the thread taking off! I knew we had a bunch of Beast Fans!
STngAR wrote:Ok here is some Beast porn

Holy hell, that is insanely awesome!!
Skritz wrote:Can I use this thread to lodge a complaint that Beast Wars only two combiners were the stuff of transformation nightmare? It was so bad I only managed to combine my Magnaboss as an adult. >:oP

Of course! This thread is everything Beast wars toys related!

I am planning to get Magnaboss and Tripledacus at some point, they are on the list.
Skritz wrote:While its unlikely to happen I would have loved to see some G1-era characters with that kind of biomechanical look. Imagine how mental a Transmetal 2 Abominus would look like. :twisted:

Yes Please! That sounds so metal and mental!
ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:
Skritz wrote:As for the ziplock bags: my grandma obssessive compulsive mannerism paid off. Having been sealed in individual, airless bags for 20-something years has preserved the chrome on them in a an amazing state. :shock:

And, I would imagine, kept their accessories from teleporting to the moon.

Has anyone tried clear-coating Transmetals to protect the chrome?

I used it on Rampage and PrOWL, and it worked great! Neither are flaking now, and they were showing signs of it prior to the clearcoat.
AllNewSuperRobot wrote:Of course. Max B, Hellscream etc do look really nice with the extreme cyborg kibble, but they have next to no stability because of it.

Those 4 and Gigastorm are the figures I am looking forward to eventually getting the most from BWII, they look so incredible and the cyborg aspect is really cool.
Rogue-Primal wrote:Heres a meme i rmembered, has anyone else ever associated Razorbeast with Pumbaa from the Lion King movies?

Oh yeah, it's how I describe him to people. Just got him last weekend too, he's a great basic.

Also got these guys this weekend. went on a Beast Wars Neo binge over the past week and a half cause the cheap versus packs, and soon, I will have the entire main cast of 13 along with 2 guests (Sharp Edge and Hard Head). Because of how similar the other guests are to other figures I already have, the only other 2 Neo figures I want to get are Rockbuster and Bazooka, but those are gonna be harder to find for a good price.

Sharp Edge and Sling are the first of 9 coming in, and both are really cool. I like Sling a lot more than I thought I would, and Sharp Edge, ooooooooh he is sweet. The sawfish shark mode is excellent

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Re: Unleash the Beast Wars! The Beast Wars Toys Appreciation Thread

PostPosted: Mon Jun 10, 2019 3:22 pm
by RK_Striker_JK_5
AllNewSuperRobot wrote:
Skritz wrote:Can I use this thread to lodge a complaint that Beast Wars only two combiners were the stuff of transformation nightmare? It was so bad I only managed to combine my Magnaboss as an adult. >:oP



Image

I had no problem with transforming either of them. My complaint was how ridiculously top-heavy Magnaboss was. On an aesthetic and balance level, Tri-Predacus was sublime.

Agreed! Also, Magnaboss looks dumpy. It's pretty bad when Ironhide formed about 80-90% of the combined mode.

Tripredacus is flippin' awesome, IMHO.

Re: Unleash the Beast Wars! The Beast Wars Toys Appreciation Thread

PostPosted: Mon Jun 10, 2019 3:32 pm
by AllNewSuperRobot
Speaking of the six individual bots (Forming Magnaboss and Tripredacus) I'd say Ironhide is also perhaps the worst in terms of Bot Mode design too. The proportions of him are off and he has neither real hands nor feet. Meanwhile, his Predacon equivalent - Sea Clamp - managed both a distinct yet serviceable Bot and Beast Mode.

Re: Unleash the Beast Wars! The Beast Wars Toys Appreciation Thread

PostPosted: Mon Jun 10, 2019 4:48 pm
by D-Maximal_Primal
newest member to join the Beast Crew arrived today: Hardhead!

first time I'm dealing with this mold, and it really isn't that bad. It's pretty fun and really solid. The beast head sticks out less than I thought it did too, which was a complaint about the figure I had before today.

Seller also threw in a random T30 Waspinator for fun. I was so confused opening the box cause I wondered who else was sold by the same seller as Hard Head

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Re: Unleash the Beast Wars! The Beast Wars Toys Appreciation Thread

PostPosted: Thu Jun 13, 2019 12:54 pm
by AllNewSuperRobot
Very nice, I do enjoy mold variants and I quite liked Dinobots original toy.

It is weird they never did that much with Dinosaurs in Beast Wars.

I mean yes, Neo went more into them than Beast Wars proper, but they were still a minority subgroup in the toyline. I was surprised, in light of the Grimlock redeco of Dinobot, that more of the animals of G1 didn't receive representation in the BW line.

Grimlock, Ravage and technically, Team Magnaboss. Meanwhile, two Bat bots (Bat Primal and Sonar) but no Mindwipe? Razorclaw the crab, but no retool of Leo Convoy or Lion Prowl, into Predacon Razorclaw. No long neck Dinosaurs, so no re-purposed G1 Dinobot team. An actual "Insecticon" but no Kickback, Bombshell, Shrapnel etc, etc

Re: Unleash the Beast Wars! The Beast Wars Toys Appreciation Thread

PostPosted: Thu Jun 13, 2019 5:17 pm
by D-Maximal_Primal
Dude, Neo's entire lineup of Predacons were either dinosaurs or dinosaur-related alt modes. I think we got a great assortment from them, and having some and soon to have most of the rest, I think they did great on those dinos

Re: Unleash the Beast Wars! The Beast Wars Toys Appreciation Thread

PostPosted: Sat Jun 15, 2019 9:47 am
by STngAR
AllNewSuperRobot wrote:Yeah, the main issue with Hellscream is he has no alt-mode face. I do wish Cybershark had made it into the show, instead of having his place in fiction usurped by Sky-Byte.

Image

Sharp Edge was a nice Mold variant though.


Cybershark had one of my most favorite head sculpts 8-)