Mutant head

Wazzzpinator keep extra head, in case he get blown to zzzcrap.

The mutant head was a gimmick present on all Deluxe class and larger Beast Wars toys from 1996 and their later redecos and retools, wherein the toy possessed both a proper robot head and a biological-looking 'mutant' version. This came in three flavors: Two distinct heads to flip between, single heads which could be rotated to show either face, or masks which simply covered the robot face.

Later Beast Wars toys abandoned this gimmick, perhaps because it wasn't used in the television show due to budget constraints.

Tigatron guests-stars in a horror film.

While this concept was barely explored in this continuity's fiction, some characters are more identified by their mutant head than their robot head, such as Waspinator or Tarantulas. In cases of redecos of molds with this feature, the new character will often be identified by the opposite head to the one the original character used in the fiction. This is the case with Buzz Saw and Blackarachnia, who are both identified using robot heads. Also, Tigatron's boxart shows him with his mutant head, likely since he is a redeco of Cheetor, though he was never seen in the animated series in this fashion. Several characters in The Gathering swapped their standard head designs for their mutant heads.

Later fictions would sometimes incorporate this gimmick in the portrayals of newer characters based on redecos of the original toys; Barbearian's mutant head is a key point in his split personality, while T-Wrecks is shown to use his mutant head as a battle-mask in "Betrayal".

Notably, in the 2006 retool of the original Ultra class toys for Optimus Primal and Megatron, this feature was removed in favor of more show-accurate head sculpts (then added again for another release using even more show-accurate colors). This feature was also removed in various retools of different toys, such as the Cyborg Beasts and Hardhead.

Toys

Beast Wars / Universe (2003) / Dinobots / 10th Anniversery / Telemocha Series / Vintage

A toy of the original Beast Wars roster would be often redecoed, mostly as the same character, so only different characters are listed. Also, only toys that have an alternate mutant head are listed (i.e. not Thrilling 30 Waspinator since that is his only head).

Deluxe Class Deluxe Cheetor / Tigatron / Shadow Panther / Nightprowler Dinobot / Grimlock / Grimlock Rhinox Tarantulas / Blackarachnia Waspinator / Buzz Saw Wolfang / K-9 / Wolfang

Zip up mask.

Mega Class Polar Claw / Barbearian / Survive Scorponok / Double Punch / Sandstorm

Ultra Class Megatron / T-Wrecks Optimus Primal

Masterpiece

Beaten? Me?

• MP-38 Convoy (Beast Wars) Legendary Leader Ver.
• MP-34S Shadow Panther (Beast Wars)

Merchandise

Metal Monument

• Metal Monument Convoy

Note

• In the scale guide featured in a bonus on the Beast Wars DVD set of Season 2, several characters, such as Megatron and Dinobot are shown wearing their mutant head helmets, while other characters (such as Waspinator) are shown in their "normal" heads. It should be noted however that none of the models featured in this scale guide are the finalized models, with many of them considerably more toy-accurate than the designs the show would ultimately use.
• Mutant heads were called "Beast Masks" in the toy development stage. Hasbro designed these interchangeable heads to ease the transition away from "traditional" Transformers into the Guyver-esque aesthetic of Beast Wars. The angular, traditionally-styled robot heads helped to reinforce the notion that there was a robot within the beast, not just some kind of monster.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Beast Mask (ビーストマスク Bīsuto Masuku), Mutant Head (ミュータントヘッド Myūtanto Heddo)