Transformers: Beast Wars (Japanese toyline)

Japanese Generation 1 continuity « Beast Wars: Super Lifeform Transformers » Toyline Cartoons Comics Video games Commercials

Transformers: Beast Wars (トランスフォーマー ビーストウォーズ) is the overarching title given to Takara's Japanese release of the Beast Wars toyline, omitting the more ostentatious title "Beast Wars: Super Lifeform Transformers" given to the dubbed version of the accompanying cartoon.

Beast Wars would not hit Japan until over a year after its Hasbro-market debut, most likely due to waiting for the full first season of the show to finish production so it could be run in its totality in a single stretch, as is the norm for Japanese kids media with toy tie-ins. The show's long production time also resulted in the need for "filler" after that first year, resulting in two Japan-original cartoons and associated toylines before the line returned to the Mainframe show setting. However, even though those two series were given their own titles, "Beast Wars II" and "Beast Wars Neo", those brandings never appeared on the toys' packaging. Instead, similar to how Takara's Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers version of the Transformers toyline maintained its title for six years despite constantly changing cartoon titles, the Japanese Beast Wars toys were all branded simply Transformers: Beast Wars for three years, until 1999 saw the toys adopt the Beast Wars Metals branding given to the dubbed version of seasons 2 and 3 of the American cartoon.

1997-1998 (Beast Wars)

Starting in summer 1997, the Takara Beast Wars toyline began very similarly to the Hasbro version, with only a handful of minor color differences appearing in the first wave of product. However, by wave 2, several toys had considerably different decos, as well as an all-new villain character (created to fill out the VS-packs evenly). On top of that, several of the first-wave toys got more "show-accurate" running changes in January 1998, though the level of "show accuracy" varied pretty wildly. But as the back end of the line began and Takara started bringing over non-show-character molds, most of the releases returned to being nigh-identical to their Hasbro counterparts.

Wave 1 (July 1997) C-1 Convoy C-2 Whiteclaw C-3 Cheetus C-4 Dinobot C-5 Rattle C-6 Convobat		D-1 Megatron D-2 Scorpos D-3 Waspeeter D-4 Tarans D-5 Terrorsaurer D-6 Megalligator		VS-1 Strongest Beast Showdown: Convoy VS Megatron VS-2 Arctic Showdown: Whiteclaw VS Scorpos VS-3 Quickest Showdown: Cheetus VS Waspeeter		VS-4 Ferocious Showdown: Dinobot VS Tarans VS-5 Rocky Mountain Showdown: Rattle VS Terrorsaurer VS-6 Amazon Showdown: Convobat VS Megalligator		Terrorsaurer (running change version) Shadow Panther
Wave 2 (October 1997) C-7 Rhinox D-7 Shadow Panther VS-7 Wilderness Showdown: Rhinox VS Shadow Panther		Wave 3 (November 1997) C-8 Tigatron D-8 Blackwidow VS-8 Deep Forest Showdown: Tigatron VS Blackwidow		Wave 4 (December 1997) C-9 Howlinger D-9 Buzz Saw VS-9 Darkness Showdown: Howlinger VS Buzz Saw		Wave 5 (January 1998) C-10 Airazor D-10 Kuwagiger VS-10 Heaven Showdown: Airazor VS Kuwagiger
Wave 6 (February 1998) C-11 Cybershark D-11 Inferno VS-11 Hell Showdown: Cybershark VS Inferno		Special Editions VS-S1 Amazon Showdown Special Edition: (Convobat & Megalligator + CD-ROM) C-1 Special Convoy Real Gray Type		Playset VS-X1 Volcano Showdown: Armor VS Snapper (includes Volcano Base)		Keychains EC-1 Eggleo EC-2 Eggbird EC-3 Eggbot ED-1 Dark Eggleo ED-2 Dark Eggbird ED-3 Dark Eggbot

Exclusives

BotCon Japan 1998 Double Punch Grizzly-1/Barbearian

Comic BomBom C-1 Blue Convoy

TV Magazine C-1 Gold Convoy C-1 Red Convoy

Toys"R"Us C-1 Convoy Skeleton Type

A trio of prize Primals.

1998 (Beast Wars II)

Japanese Generation 1 continuity « Beast Wars II » Toyline Cartoon Comic Guidebook Commercials BW Special short Arcade game Board game Stage show Sausage

The first of the two Takara-"original" Beast Wars line-ups, the toys collectively associated with the title Beast Wars II were released beginning in March 1998. It is a very strange beast, so to speak; an eclectic mix of already-existing sculpts that had previously not been used in Japan yet, which not only included more toys from Hasbro's Beast Wars line, but also Generation 2 vehicle-bot figures that had never before been sold in Japan (and some that had previously never even been released by Hasbro!), plus a few figures scavenged from the original Generation 1 toyline, many of them redecoed and retooled (some of them extensively so), plus a few supplemental toys apparently intended for release in Microman. Ultimately, only three characters received new toy sculpts: Moon, Lio Convoy, and Galvatron. We'd like to say it all fit together cohesively, but... no, not really. It's weird.

The toyline was backed up by a cel-animated anime series and a short-lived monthly manga in Comic BomBom, though neither one exactly set the world on fire or helped move many toys.

As mentioned in the introductory paragraph, the toys related to the Beast Wars II fiction were not actually sold under that banner, but were branded with the normal Beast Wars logo... despite the complete change in packaging design and the use of Beast Wars II on checklists.

Wave 1 (3-??-1998) C-12 Apache C-13 Bighorn C-14 Tasmania Kid C-15 Scuba D-12 Megastorm D-13 Starscream & BB D-14 Dirge D-15 Thrust X-2 Diver & Niagara Base		VS-12 Cannon Showdown: Apache VS Megastorm VS-13 2 Against 1 Showdown: Bighorn VS Starscream & BB VS-14 Land Horizon Showdown: Tasmania Kid VS Dirge VS-15 Sea Horizon Showdown: Scuba VS Thrust		Wave 2 (4-23-1998) C-16 Lio Convoy		Wave 3 (4-30-1998) D-17 Autostinger D-18 Autocrusher D-19 Autojetter D-20 Autolauncher		Lio Convoy Galvatron Tako Tank with Ikard Hellscream
Wave 4 (5-21-1998) D-16 Galvatron VS-16 History's Greatest Showdown: Lio Convoy VS Galvatron		Wave 5 (5-25-1998) C-17 Bigmos C-18 Powerhug C-19 Tonbot C-20 Mantis C-21 Drill Nuts C-22 Scissor Boy		VS-17 Frontier Showdown: Bigmos VS Autostinger VS-18 Heavy Armor Showdown: Powerhug VS Autocrusher VS-19 Stratospheric Showdown: Tonbot VS Autojetter VS-20 Discus Showdown: Mantis VS Autolauncher		Wave 6 (7-??-1998) C-23 DJ C-24 Motorarm C-25 Gimlet X-3 Tripledacus
Wave 7 (8-??-1998) D-21 God Neptune (Coelagon, Halfshell, Skyulle, Sea Phantom, Terrormander)		Wave 8 (9-??-1998) C-26 Lio Junior C-27 Skywarp C-28 Santon X-4 Magnaboss		Wave 9 (10-??-1998) D-22 Gigastorm (w/ Gigascouter) S-2 Moon X-5 Ikard & Tako Tank		Wave 10 (11-??-1998) D-23 Hellscream D-24 Max-B D-25 Dirgegun D-26 Thrustor
Special releases C-1 Burning Convoy C-16 Flash Lio Convoy		Puzzle pack-ins Lio Junior (black & red) Lio Junior (white & yellow)		Role Play Cybertron Buster		Playset Cybertron Idōkichi

Exclusives

Comic BomBom Galvatron Color Lio Convoy Mecha Usagi Moon

Toys"R"Us Black Lio Convoy

1999 (Beast Wars Neo)

Japanese Generation 1 continuity « Beast Wars Neo » Toyline Cartoon Comic Commercials Duel Fight BW Video Game

Break, the shelliest shellformer who ever shelled.

The second of the two Takara-"original" Beast Wars line-ups, the toys collectively associated with the title Beast Wars Neo were released in 1999. Takara put the time saved by the previous year's rampant recycling of existing sculpts to good use, as the follow-up's biggest feature is the fact that it is positively heavy with all-new sculpts, plus a handful of retools, and only a very small number of straight redecos. Some of these toys would later see release in Hasbro markets, while most remain unreleased in Western markets to this very day.

The "Cybertrons" (i.e. Maximals) kept the mostly-mammals theme, while the "Destrons" (i.e. Predacons) had a theme of dinosaurs and other big scary prehistoric animals. Per the Takara designers, the theme boiled down to "friendly zoo animals versus dinosaurs," as both had been largely neglected by the main Beast Wars line at that particular time. Almost every new mold has a third "attack mode", weapons for the Cybertrons as a sign of teamwork or traps for the Destrons as a sign of deceit, though quite often they can be simply described as "pile of animal parts with a gimmick sticking off it".

The Neo line-up is also notable for being extremely short-lived at retail, with the majority of its product released over the span of a mere five months, quickly making way for Beast Wars Metals. Supposedly, this is related to the fact that these toys did not fare well sales-wise. Japanese fans at the time cited the overly-complex toys being too difficult for the younger age group Transformers had been traditionally aimed at in Japan. Despite the Japanese Beast Wars media being aimed at the lower single-digits ages, these toys were notoriously complicated for that age group, with even grown adults finding the transformations utterly frustrating, as they require multiple panels on ball-jointed struts to be positioned precisely right for the beast mode to lock into place. On top of that, several of the toys are infamous for being "shellformers"—Break, in particular, could have all of his beast-mode panels/parts removed and still leave a fully functional robot mode behind! Hisashi Yuki cites the fact that no one red-flagged the complexity of Tripredacus and Magnaboss as giving the design team the (unfortunately false) impression that kids were ready for that level of difficulty, and the reliance on beast mode "shells" was an effort to completely conceal the robotic nature of the figures with an animal mode that could be convincing from any angle.

Unfortunately, the "zoo animals versus dinosaurs" theme backfired since the Cybertrons mostly had benign, not-exactly-combat-ready beast modes which lacked appeal to kids, and likely why Hasbro left most of those molds alone. Reportedly, Neo sold so bad it actually poisoned the well for the incoming Metals line, as kids largely left Transformers alone... which would force Takara to make some drastic changes a little later on.

Like Beast Wars II, Neo had a cel-animated cartoon and Comic BomBom manga to shill the toys. Despite this, the toys were still just branded Transformers: Beast Wars, even though the packaging was redesigned again. For whatever reason, the packaging rendered the faction names "Cybertron" and "Destron" as "Cybertoron" and "Destoron".

Wave 1 (01-??-1999) C-29 Longrack C-30 Colada C-31 Stampy C-32 Break C-33 Rockbuster C-34 Randy		D-29 Guiledart D-30 Saberback D-31 Sling D-32 Dead End D-33 Hydra D-34 Crazybolt		VS-29 Savannah Showdown: Longrack VS Guiledart VS-30 Desert Showdown: Colada VS Saberback VS-31 Prairie Showdown: Stampy VS Sling		VS-32 Undersea Showdown: Break VS Dead End VS-33 Backwater Showdown: Rockbuster VS Hydra VS-34 Explosive Showdown: Randy VS Crazybolt		Heinrad Magmatron. Coming to a toyline near you.
Wave 2 (02-??-1999) C-35 Big Convoy D-35 Magmatron S-3 Heinrad VS-35 Cosmic Showdown: Big Convoy VS Magmatron		Wave 3 (03-??-1999) C-36 Mach Kick C-37 Sharp Edge C-38 Bump D-36 Archadis D-37 Hardhead D-38 Bazooka		VS-36 Favorites Showdown: Mach Kick VS Archadis VS-37 Master Fencers Showdown: Sharp Edge VS Hardhead VS-38 Extreme Showdown: Bump VS Bazooka		Wave 4 (05-??-1999) C-39 Survive D-39 Killer Punch VS-39 Roaring Showdown: Survive VS Killer Punch
Wave 5 (07-??-1999) X-6 Latolata X-7 Elphaorpha X-8 Drancron		Canceled Unicron		Role play Matrix Cannon Spy Shot & Claw Gun

1999 (Beast Wars Metals)

Japanese Generation 1 continuity « Beast Wars Metals » Toyline Cartoon Comic Commercials Transmetals Video Game (N64) Transmetals Video Game (PS)

Metals Rattrap, with subtle but important differences from the Hasbro Rattrap.

With seasons 2 and 3 of the Mainframe Beast Wars show finally wrapped up, Takara was able to send the show out as a full season with accompanying toyline. Metals was a smaller line than its predecessors, sticking entirely with characters who appeared in the show (even if not in Transmetal bodies). The first wave of toys had different, more "show-accurate" decoes and, notably, name tampographs were replaced with generic "CYBERTRON" and "DESTRON" markings. However, toys in later waves were functionally the same as Hasbro releases (other than minor changes to Optimal Optimus/Powered Convoy). The line also included a Takara-only retool of Transmetal Cheetor into Ravage (a character that appeared on the show in that design), which was quickly a very sought-after item outside Japan.

Of particular note are the character bio cards that come with each toy. While bio cards had been in all previous Takara Transformers toylines (and were part of most toylines for many years after), for Metals the card fronts were three-stage lenticular-printed, showing the characters' robot, beast, and pre-Transmetal beast modes.

Along with the show, Metals got a Comic BomBom manga that is... kind of insane, having little to nothing to do with the show outside of some very broad-strokes story elements, but it does feature all the characters in their toy-Transmetal bodies, at least.

Unfortunately, despite the initial Beast Wars line being very popular, the return to that cast and cartoon could not overcome the sales that had been slumping ever downward over the previous two years. As such, this line was incredibly short-lived, a mere four months long, plus Takara opted to pass on the Hasbro sequel series Beast Machines in favor of their own original followup line, Car Robots, that hewed more closely to classic Transformers... mostly, at least. Though, Beast Machines would eventually get a limited release in Japan, several years later.

Wave 1 (September 1999) C-40 Metals Convoy C-41 Silverbolt C-42 Metals Cheetus C-43 Metals Rattle C-44 Metals Rhinox C-45 Metals Airazor		D-40 Metals Megatron D-41 Metals Rampage D-42 Metals Waspeeter D-43 Metals Terrorsaurer D-44 Metals Tarans D-45 Quickstrike		VS-40 Fateful Showdown: Metals Convoy VS Metals Megatron VS-41 Brave Showdown: Silverbolt VS Metals Rampage VS-42 Gale Showdown: Metals Cheetus VS Metals Waspeeter		VS-43 Flash Showdown: Metals Rattle VS Metals Terrorsaurer VS-44 Strength Showdown: Metals Rhinox VS Metals Tarans VS-45 Heatwave Showdown: Metals Airazor VS Quickstrike		Metals Jaguar, the line's most distinctive figure.
Wave 2 (October 1999) C-46 Metals Depth Charge D-46 Metals Inferno X-9 Metals Jaguar		VS-46 Undersea Showdown: Metals Depth Charge VS Metals Inferno		Wave 3 (December 1999) C-47 Metals Powered Convoy C-48 Metals Blackwidow C-49 Metals Cheetus 2		C-50 Metals Tigerfalcon D-47 Metals Dragon Megatron D-48 Metals Dinobot

Related releases

Takara imports

To combat their dwindling supply of domestic Beast Wars product (which sold like hotcakes) at the end of 1997, Takara resorted to importing toys made for the American market and slapping localized stickers on their packaging, although this resulted in prices double that of domestic product. And some misspelled names. This would be done again for some of the Transmetals 2 subline, with some sold at theaters and the rest at Toys"R"Us. Notably, three toys sold in theaters have minor paint variants not found in mainstream releases (which were identical in both Takara and Hasbro markets)—Depth Charge, Cheetor, and Dinobot.

Imports (1997) Claw Jaw Snarl Bonecrusher Grimlock K-9 B'Boon [sic] Drill Bit

Lazorbeak Powerpinch Spittor Jetstorm Retrax Manterror Transquito

Theaters (1999) Cheetor Depth Charge Dinobot Scream [sic] Sonar Ramulus

Toys"R"Us Optimus Minor Iguanus Jawbreaker Prowl Scourge

Hasbro imports

Magmatron was released by Hasbro in the United States as a Target exclusive. The toy itself was mostly unchanged, but put in Beast Machines Dinobots packaging that also featured the Japanese Transformers logo, Magmatron's own name in Katakana, and text taken from his original Beast Wars Neo packaging.

Additionally, Hasbro imported several other Japanese Beast Wars toys and made them available via their "Hasbro Collectors" website. Unlike Magmatron, these were just existing stock in their original packaging. All of them could be bought at a bit of a markup... though ultimately, they would end up being blown out at half-price.

Cybertron (Maximal) Lioconvoy [sic] Longrack Stampy Tigatron

Destron (Predacon) Shadow Panther/"Tripredacus Agent" Galvatron

VS sets Cohrada [sic] VS Saberback Mach Kick VS Archadis

ターゲット エクスクルーシブ

Sonokong Beast-War Korean series

In South Korea, Takara licensee Sonokong released a selection of Beast Wars II toys, under the title Transformers: Beast-War (트랜스포머 비스트-워 Teuraenseupomeo Biseuteu-Wo). Subsequently, some of the Beast Wars Neo toys were released under the title Beast-War Neo (비스트-워 네오 Biseuteu-Wo Ne'o), leaving out the "Transformers" part of the title from the previous line.

Beast-War

Each of the figures sold in the Beast-War toyline came with a minimum of two cardboard "rock paper scissors" (gawi bawi bo) cards in place of the Japanese bio cards. Each card is printed on a single side with a picture of the character (usually just a straight reuse of the packaging art) and has either a rock, paper or scissors symbol printed in the top right corner. While the packaging and instructions give no explanation as to what this feature is for, a rough estimate would suggest that each card indicates which figure is stronger than the other, based on either of the three symbols. Additionally, there are unique dice rolls on each of the cards which suggests that a die must be used to play the game—whatever that game may be.

Some figures have been known to come with more than two cards—and in some extreme cases—the two cards that are supposed to be packaged with the respective figures are not included at all.

Cybertron C-16 Lion Convoy X-4 Magnaboss (including Lion Junior, Skyhawk, and Mammoth)

Destron D-12 Megastorm D-13 Starscream [sic] (w/ BB) D-16 Garba Tron [sic] D-17 Auto Stinger

D-18 Auto Crasher [sic] D-19 Auto Jetter [sic] D-20 Auto Launcher [sic] D-22 Giga Storm (w/ Gigascooter)

Lion Convoy packaging

Beast-War Neo

Unlike the previous line, the Beast-War Neo figures include actual bio cards made of a similar material to that of the Japanese cards, rather than a piece of cardboard with a single side printed. For whatever reason, each of the figures in the line include a handful of randomly selected bio cards; meaning you could end up with multiples of the same character's card or none of the respective characters included in the box itself.

Individual figures C-05 Mammolike D-05 Magmatron

VS sets DX-01 Giraffot VS Trikero DX-02 Cobrio VS Stegorat DX-03 Stampy VS Dimetron

DX-04 Break VS Ammonat DX-05 Mammolike VS Magmatron DX-06 Match Kick VS Archadis

Giraffot VS Trikero packaging

Notes

Post-Beast Wars releases

As Beast Wars—at least the first phase—was a big seller for Takara, they've dedicated ample space in later toylines for returns to those characters. For the same on Hasbro's side of things and post-brand unification toys (barring Masterpiece), see that toyline's corresponding article.

Beast Wars Reborn (2006)

Japanese G1 continuity « Beast Wars Reborn » Toyline Prose

In celebration of the upcoming 10th anniversary of Beast Wars, Takara released a set containing the original Ultra Class Convoy and Megatron toys with new, show-accurate heads and cartoon-based decos under the Beast Wars Reborn banner. Those toys were accompanied by a four-part text story serialized in Figure Ō magazine.

Beast Wars Telemocha Series (2007)

Japanese Generation 1 continuity « Beast Wars Telemocha » Toyline Diorama Story

Telemocha Blackwidow (Blackarachnia)

Takara's Telemocha line (a combination of the words "television" and "omocha", the Japanese word for "toy") was much the same concept as Hasbro's 10th Anniversary line, being spruced-up versions of the original molds packaged with DVDs of key episodes. However, not only did Takara really slather on the paint, but they made some odd additions to the line, including a couple of characters from Beast Wars II and Beast Wars Neo, as well as an entirely new Predacon named Wolfang (pronounced "Volfang").

Beast Wars Again (2023)

Japanese G1 continuity « Beast Wars Again » Toyline Cartoon

2023 saw a sudden revival of Japan's Beast Wars franchise as TakaraTomy sought to ensure children knew what the heck a "Beast Warrior" was ahead of the Beast Wars cast's big screen debut in Rise of the Beasts. The toyline was composed of meticulously screen-accurate redecoes of the Beast Wars figures from the earlier War for Cybertron: Kingdom toyline.

Beast Wars toys/characters in "ensemble" lines

Robotmasters RM-02 Beast Megatron RM-02 Beast Megatron Limited Black Version RM-09 Psycho-Orb RM-11 Beast Convoy RM-11 Beast Convoy Limited Black Version		RM-21 Burning Beast Convoy + DVD RM-22 Lio Convoy RM-22 Lio Convoy Limited Black Version RM-23 Lio Convoy + DVD		Henkei! Henkei! C-12 Cybertron Cheetus C-16 Dinobot		Prime AM-28 Leo Prime		Robotmasters Beast Convoy Masterpiece Megatron
Legend Commander Collection LC-02 Convoy (Beast Wars) LC-03 Lio Convoy		Legends LG 01 Rattle LG 02 Convoy LG 17 Blackwidow LG 41 Leo Prime LG-EX Blue Bigconvoy		LG EX Convobat (w/ Megalligator & Ape X Arms) LG-EX Rattle LG-EX Rhinox LG-EX Waspeeter		Generations (TakaraTomy) TG-28 Megatron & Starscream (Waspinator) TG-30 Waspinator TG-31 Rhinox
Encore Big Convoy Big Convoy (Matrix Buster ver.)		Masterpiece MP-32 Convoy (Beast Wars) MP-34 Cheetus (Beast Wars) MP-34S Shadow Panther (Beast Wars) MP-38 Convoy (Beast Wars) Legendary Leader Ver. MP-38+ Burning Convoy (Beast Wars)		MP-41 Dinobot (Beast Wars) MP-43 Megatron (Beast Wars) MP-46 Blackwidow (Beast Wars) MP-48 Lio Convoy (Beast Wars) MP-50 Tigatron (Beast Wars)		MP-59 Rhinox (2024-06-29)