Beast Wars Stuff

Since I decided to drop my action figure section due to lack of interest by me and probably lack of interest by others, yet I still wanted to give my opinion on Beast Wars figures and Beast Wars in general (plus perhaps Transformers) I decided to write this.

What is Beast Wars? (Man I start a lot of stuff that way, I guess it's better than 'Once upon a time') Beast Wars is the newest manifestation of Transformers in America. It's an entirely CGI (ala Toy Story, Reboot, Antz, and A Bugs Life) that comes on Saturdays (it could be Sunday in your area). Plus it comes on daily in reruns. It's about the battle between Predacons and Maximals, both descendants of the Decepticons, and Autobots respectively. There is a complicated story telling about the connection in great detail but I can't remember much of it and I'm not here to talk about that. I'm here to talk about the show and the toys.

I like the show for several reasons. The CGI graphics rock. I was disappointed when Reboot stopped showing. I really liked that show. At first the graphics could be somewhat flat at times and didn't always look right. The newest episodes are much better. Plus with the addition of the Transmetals it looks even cooler since the Transmetal armor is shinny and highly metallic, it gives some cool effects with the CGI that traditional animation wouldn't have been able to achieve. With the addition of Depth Charge, a Manta Ray, to the crew there have been many more aquatic scenes and the water is just awesome. It flows and reflects everything. It looks like real water.

Another reason? The story is great. It's always changing and always continuing. Each episode is a separate episode but they all usually include some elements linking them all together. It kind of reminds me of Deep Space Nine for some reason. The first season had the Golden disks and build up to the aliens controlling the planet. This ended with a cliffhanger episode where Optimus Primal (the Maximal leader) was destroyed and a huge transwarp wave was approaching the planet. The second season began with many of the characters transforming into Transmetals. Optimus Primal was revived by Rhinox as a Transmetal as well. Then there was the addition of the two Fuzors Silverbolt and Quickstrike. Season two expanded more on the golden disks. Tigatron and Airazor were sucked away by a strange alien plant thing. Then the Predacons gained the powerful Protoform X better known as Rampage to their ranks. The next episode was one of the best ever as the warrior Dinobot fought bravely against impossible odds to save the future of the human race. In the end with his last bit of strength Dinobot destroyed the golden disk and fell, never to rise again. The last three episodes of season two, the Agenda, brought in Ravage of the Decepticons. Megatron was captured by Ravage but managed to pursuade the Decepticon to free him. Megatron and Black Arachnia then headed off to discover the Ark, the Autobot ship from the original Transformers. In the end Megatron destroyed Optimus Prime altering the flow of time. Season three begins just after this moment. The Maximals manage to stabilize Prime enough to effect repairs on him. Optimus Primal takes Primes spark (basically his soul) into himself to protect it. The spark as some unexpected effects on Primal and he is transformed into Optimal Optimus Primal. Meanwhile the Predacons take advantage of the absence of the Maximals to attack the Maximal base. The base is destroyed after Rampage pulls it over the edge of a cliff. The Maximals manage to salvage some of the wreckage and build a new fortress near the Ark to protect the Autobot ship. The next episode brings Depth Charge into the picture. He is constantly hunting Protoform X. In the third episode of season three, the Maximals attempt to recover Sentinel, their previous bases defense system. Sintinal falls into Predacon hands giving the Preds a decisive advantage.

Another reason I like this show is the characters. They interact well with each other in believable ways. The Maximals have had ten different characters so far. Optimus Primal is the Maximal leader. He is not related to the original Optimus Prime. His Beast mode is that of a Gorilla. He has changed from a regular transformer, to a Transmetal and then to his current Optimal form. His Transmetal vehicle mode was a gorilla on a hover board. Trust me this is actually cooler than it sounds. His Optimal vehicle modes are a Plane thing and a Tank vehicle. The tank vehicle has not been pictured on the show as of the time I write this. Rhinox is who I would consider the second in command of the group. He seems to be the smartest of all the Maximals as well. He functions as sort of a Technician and scientist. He is one of the few characters still on the show to still have his original form. His beast mode is that of a Rhino. He rarely sees battle but when he does he easily wipes out the enemy with his dual hand held chain guns. Cheetor is sort of a scout for the Maximals. He seems to be a favorite among people because he acts goofy. He's the youngest of the Maximals. His Beast mode is a Cheetah and his vehicle mode is a flying Cheetah. Rattrap is a demolitions expert and a spy for the Maximals. He is probably the oldest of the Maximals with perhaps the exception of Rhinox. (They don't give ages anywhere so I'm guessing) He seems like a veteran. His best mode is a Rat and his vehicle mode is a Rat with wheels. Silverbolt is the Maximal fuzor. Fuzors are two animals in one. Silverbolt's beast mode is a Wolf with Eagle's wings on his back and Eagle talons for front paws. I think his beast mode is the coolest of all the Beast Wars characters. He is unsure about his past. He has the personality of a knight in shining armor and is madly in love with Black Arachnia. He would definitely give his life for hers should the need ever arise. Black Arachnia is the second Predacon to turn Maximal. She was turned by a combination of two things, one Silverbolt's undying affection and that Megatron almost wiped her from existence when he destroyed Optimus Prime. She has feelings for Silverbolt as well but refuses to really admit it. Her Beast mode is a Black Widow spider. She is the second of the four remaining characters still in their original forms. Depth Charge is the newest Maximal. He has yet to actually join with the other Maximals and only spends his time fighting with Rampage. His beast mode is a Manta Ray and his vehicle mode is a flying pod thing. The next three Maximals are no longer on the show. Tigatron was a Tiger in beast mode and spent most of his time living 'at peace with the land' or something. Airazor was a Falcon in beast mode. Tigatron and Airazor where in love with each other and stayed together to the end. They weren't actually killed but were abducted by aliens or something. Their whereabouts are unknown and they could easily be returned to the show. Dinobot was one of the coolest characters. His beast mod was that of a Veloceraptor. He was sacrificed his life to save the monkeys in the valley where human life would originate. He will return later during season three as a Transmetal predacon clone.

There have been nine Predacons on the show including Black Arachnia. Megatron (no relation to Megatron of the Decepticons) is the leader of the Preds. His beast mode is a Tyrannosaurus Rex, and his vehicle mode is a Tyrannosaurus with jets on the sides. He is a very calculating and dangerous enemy and often talks to himself. Inferno is the Predicon second in command. His beast mode is that of a huge Red Ant. He is loyal only to Megatron, whom he often refers to as his queen (despite that Megatron is a guy) or the royalty. He sees himself as part of an ant colony and is completely insane. Despite his insanity he is a very competent warrior. He is the third of the characters to still have an original non-Transmetal form. Waspinator gets stuck with all the grunt work. He is often paired with Inferno for recon missions. He always talks in the third person and is very dumb. His beast mode is a Wasp. He is the last Beast Warrior with his original form. Tarantulus turned out to actually be a spy for the Decepticons. He is no longer with the Predacons and has only been shown once so far in season three. He is very smart and deceitful and has been working separate of Megatron in his own lair for some time now. He is somewhat insane (most of the Predacons seem to be). His Beast mode is a Tarantula and his vehicle mode is a Tarantula motor bike deal. He is probably my favorite Beast Wars character along with Inferno. Until he became a Transmetal he was kind of a pussy nobody character. Quickstrike is the Predacon fuzor. He is a Scorpion with a Cobra head for his tail. He talks like he's from Texas, like a cowboy. Rampage is a giant Crab in beast mode. He turns into a tank for his vehicle mode. He is also known as Protoform X. His spark is said to be invincible and in one episode while fighting Depth Charge he healed one of his wounds like the T-1000 from Terminator 2. He caries an awesome rocket launcher gattling gun. The following two Predacons are no longer on the show. Terrorsaur was a Pterodactyl in beast form and Scorponok was a Scorpion. They were both unceremoniously dumped into a pool of lava during the Transwarp shockwave.

Now on to the toys. There are many more characters represented through the toys than the show and I am not going to discuss them all here. I have the following Beast Wars toys; Maximals: TM (Transmetal) Optimus Primal, TM Cheetor, TM Rattrap, TM Rhinox, TM Airazor, Airazor, Silverbolt, and Snarl; Predacons: TM Megatron, TM Tarantulus, TM Waspinator, TM Terrorsaur, TM Scavenger, TM Rampage, Inferno, Quickstrike, Manterror, Cicadon, Sea Clamp, and Ram Horn. Primal is fairly easy to transform and looks cool in both his modes. Cheetor is easy to transform, and looks cool in both modes. Rattrap is somewhat complex in his transformation and looks pretty nice in both modes. I was dissapointed because he didn't come with his gun so I uses a gun from a Turtle figure with the handle cut down a bit for his weapon. The gun was from a Fugitoid figure if anyone wants to know. Rhinox is pretty hard to transform quickly so I usually just leve him as a robot. I really wish he had his chain guns. Also a neat Idea is to fold open the treads on his 'backpack' a bit while he's in robot mode and use it as a jet pack. TM Airazor. Since I have a regular Airazor I usually use this as a new character I made up called Blitz. It is somewhat complex to transform and stands somewhat awkwardly due to the wings. The seaplane mode is pretty worthless. Blitz appears in my Beast Wars fan fic series. If I ever type it up it will be put on this page. Airazor is easy to transform but is hard to stand up due to loose joints. Silverbolt it the coolest looking Beast Wars figure. The Wolf Eagle mode is very well done and poses in many cool positions. The only problem I have with this figure is that the legs don't stay together very well in robot mode. Snarl is a Tasmanian Devil in beast mode. The Devil is kind of cool but the robot mode is kind of stupid. It has weird hands and feet. Megatron is pretty cool looking and the only argument I have is that he uses regular joints instead of ball joints. It still poses good but the limbs are not removable for 'battle damage'. Tarantulus is really cool looking and is my second favorite figure. He can pose in cool positions or looks cool hanging on the wall or from the ceiling in spider mode. Waspinator is pretty cool except that his limbs aren't removable. Terrorsaur is looks awesome in robot mode with his cool claws. He cam also be posed looking down from the edge of a shelf in beast mode. His color scheme combined with the shoulder things that stick up remind me a lot of Evangelion unit 02 from Neon Genesis Evangelion. Scavenger is OK except he doesn't have hands he had drills instead. Since he is a fire ant like Inferno I figure it was supposed to be TM Inferno and they changed the name since Inferno promotes burning and fire. Rampage is probably my third or fourth favorite figure. He is surprisingly easy to transform to robot mode however his tank mode is difficult to figure out and it doesn't roll. He looks cool in his Tank and Crab modes and OK in his robot mode. Inferno is probably my third or fourth favorite figure. He poses easily, is big, and easily takes 'battle damage'. Quickstrike is the first Beast Wars figure I ever bought. He is one of my favorites for some reason. I don't know why but he has always been out on a shelf or my desk or something on display (this is a good thing for a figure) and not in a box like most of the figures. He looks cool in robot mode. Manterror is my newest figure. He looks kind of weird in both his modes but that’s why I like him. Plus I had some cool ideas for uses for him. Cicadon, Ram Horn, and Sea Clamp join together to form Tripredacus. The transformation is pretty complicated and Ram Horn's transformation alone is confusing. This is an OK figure. In addition I also have original Thrust and Soundwave figures I use with the Beast Wars characters and a newer Machine Wars Starscream. The Starscream is bigger than any other figure but is really stupid because it is less poseable than a brick.

Sometimes when I'm bored I'll play out some big battle with these figures. The best thing I like is the way these toys can suffer 'battle damage'. The ball joints make the limbs and heads easily removable. Every time I discover a new part that comes off of one of these figures.

Well I don't want to go on forever and I can't believe I wrote this much. I hope this was entertaining and informative. L8R all.

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