Beast Wars: Transformers (toyline)

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Easily the most radical move ever made by Hasbro in Transformers history, Beast Wars: Transformers abandoned over a decade's worth of familiar trappings, to drastically re-work the franchise in order to save it from a second (and likely final) cancellation. Now the robots in disguise turned into organic animals. The classic factions were even replaced with the new Maximals and Predacons.

The initial reaction from the early online fandom was less than welcoming. The reaction from the far larger kid market, however, was strong sales the likes Transformers hadn't seen in a long time. Backed by a CGI-animated cartoon, Beast Wars basically saved Transformers, and has become a beloved piece of the line's history.

In the beginning, came the beasts, and all that creeps, crawls and flies. But nature lies, they're robots in disguise!

Overview

With sales of the Generation 2 toyline proving unremarkable, Hasbro faced a choice: end the Transformers brand for a second time, or drastically revamp the concept. They chose the second option, handing the reigns over to their newly-acquired Kenner division.

While beast-mode Transformers had been around since day one, those were robotic beasts. Beast Wars characters took on the appearance of fully-organic creatures, which also affected their robot-mode looks: while there were "metal" parts, the designs were much more rounded and organic in shape if not texture. Faces tended towards the bestial or just straight-up inhuman, even moreso with the first year toys's secondary "Mutant Heads".

The old factions were replaced with Maximals and Predacons, with new faction symbols, though Hasbro/Kenner weren't prepared to completely abandon everything classic: the new factions were led by new iterations of Optimus and Megatron, though their appearances were heavily altered. "Transformers" was still part of the toyline's title, but it was shrunk down and placed below the huge, jagged "Beast Wars" logo. The packaging too was distinctly organic, with a massive reptilian eye under the bubble, surrounded by red scaly skin. The initial waves even used a craggy, rock-like plastic bubble, though that was quickly replaced by a more normal rounded bubble.

While these aesthetic changes were initially shocking to fans used to the classic series, the line had many features that got fans to warm up to it in short order.

Beast Wars took the popular features of a handful of Generation 2 toys and made them standards across the entire line. Heavy use of ball joints gave the figures unprecedented degrees of articulation, often greater than that of the "normal" non-transforming action figures of the time. Robot-mode weapons were either part of the toy's alternate mode, or at least stored inside them rather than needing to be set aside (and more easily lost). Both of these features would become standards for basically every Transformers line to follow.

Another now-standard line-wide move was the introduction of standardized system of price points, dictated by a toy's size, not its gimmicks. Beast Wars began with $5 "Basics", $10 "Deluxes", $15 "Megas", and $20 "Ultras", each size class getting physically larger, and packing more and more play features into the toy. (Ultra-class Optimus Primal is friggin' loaded with stuff.) Though prices would fluctuate over the years due to inflation or rising production costs, the basic outline of the system continues to be used today.

Beast Wars largely ended as a toyline when Hasbro elected to revamp the franchise and re-introduce vehicular Transformers, leading to the Beast Machines toyline. Though a new franchise, Beast Machines continued many aspects of the Beast Wars toyline including a number of major characters, the Maximal faction, and beast forms that combined mechanical and organic aspects. Furthermore, the Beast Wars title would continue to grace sporadic toys such as store exclusives, convention exclusives, a 10th anniversary line in 2006, and another 10th anniversary line for Japan in 2007.

Hasbro Beast Wars toyline

1996

Basic class

Wave 1 Iguanus Rattrap Razorbeast Terrorsaur

Wave 2 Armordillo Insecticon Snapper

File:Rattrapbeastwarsbasic.jpg Basic Rattrap

Deluxe class

Comic 2-pack Optimus Primal vs Megatron!

Wave 1 Cheetor Dinobot Tarantulas Waspinator

Wave 2 Rhinox Wolfang

Wave 3 Blackarachnia Buzz Saw Tigatron

Deluxe Blackarachnia

Mega class

Ultra-class Megatron. In 1996, this was seriously the most complex Transformer ever.

• Polar Claw
• Scorponok

Ultra class

• Megatron
• Optimus Primal

Exclusives

McDonald's Beetle Manta Ray Panther Rhino Under-3

BotCon 1996 Onyx Primal

McDonald's Manta Ray

1997

Basic Beasts

Wave 1 Airazor Razorclaw

Wave 2 Claw Jaw Drill Bit

Wave 3 Lazorbeak

Wave 4 Powerpinch Snarl Spittor

Basic Razorclaw

Deluxe Beasts

Wave 1 Cybershark Jetstorm

Wave 2 Bonecrusher Manterror

Wave 3 Grimlock

Wave 4 K-9 Retrax

Deluxe Grimlock

Mega Beasts

Wave 1 Inferno

Wave 2 B'Boom

Wave 3 Transquito

Mega Inferno

Ultra Teams

Magnaboss Ironhide Prowl Silverbolt

Tripredacus Cicadacon Ram Horn Sea Clamp

MicroVerse

• Arachnid
• Orcanoch

Exclusives

BotCon 1997 Fractyl & Packrat

1998: Fuzors & Transmetals

Basic Fuzors

Wave 1 Air Hammer Quickstrike

Wave 2 Noctorro Terragator

Wave 3 Bantor Buzzclaw

Quickstrike

Deluxe Fuzors

Wave 1 Silverbolt Sky Shadow

Wave 2 Injector

Wave 3 Torca

Silverbolt

Deluxe Transmetals

Wave 1 Cheetor Rhinox Tarantulas

Wave 2 Rattrap Waspinator

Wave 3 Airazor Terrorsaur

File:Transmetal rhinox toy.jpg Transmetal Rhinox

Mega Transmetals

Wave 1 Megatron Optimus Primal

Wave 2 Scavenger

File:BW Megatron Transmetal.jpg Transmetal Megatron

Ultra Transmetals

Rampage

• Depth Charge
• Rampage

Super Transmetals

• Optimal Optimus

VHS packs

Wave 1 Airazor Razorclaw

Wave 2 (European) Claw Jaw Spittor

Exclusives

BJ's Wholesale Club Dinobot and Tigatron Rhinox and Blackarachnia Wolfang and Buzz Saw

McDonald's Blackarachnia Dinobot Scorponok

BotCon 1998 Antagony Vice Grip

McDinobot. Not to be confused with MG-Dinobot.

1999: Transmetal 2's

This year was dominated by the Transmetal 2's, where the "beast bits" and "bot bits" ended up in a mangled, monstrous, asymmetrical amalgamation of torn skin and jutting metal blades.

Basic Transmetals 2

Wave 1 Optimus Minor Scarem Sonar

Wave 2 Spittor Stinkbomb

Wave 3 Nightglider

Basic Spittor

Deluxe Transmetals 2

Wave 1 Cheetor Dinobot Ramulus

Wave 2 Prowl Scourge

Wave 3 Iguanus Jawbreaker

Deluxe Ramulus

Mega Transmetals 2

Wave 1 Cybershark

Wave 2 Blackarachnia

Ultra Transmetals 2

Wave 1 Megatron

Wave 2 Tigerhawk

Fox Kids Deluxe Classics

Celebrating the move to the Fox Kids programming block, a series of special redecos were made available to get classic show characters back on shelves... albeit in some pretty un-show-like coloration. Initial Hasbro solicitations gave the toys "power up"-style descriptors, but these did not make it to their final packaging.

Wave 1 Jungle Roar Cheetor Live Wire Dinobot Energon Surge Rhinox Power Flight Waspinator

Wave 2 Mech-Tech Cheetor Steel Force Tarantulas

Fox Kids Waspinator

Exclusives

Walmart Rattrap

BotCon 1999 Windrazor Sandstorm

2000~2001

Deluxe Beasts

2000's Deluxe assortment featured a mixture of Fox Kids-branded redecoes, with large "NEW!" call-outs, and Mutants, which sported a unique Mutant Beast Wars logo.

Wave 1 Rattrap Rhinox

Wave 2 Poison Bite Razor Claw

Wave 3 Airazor Icebird

Wave 4 Soundwave Waspinator

Mutant Razor Claw

Exclusives

Walmart Tripredacus Agent

BotCon 2000 Shokaract

BotCon 2001 Tigatron

Takara Beast Wars: Super Lifeform Transformers toyline

• 1997 — Beast Wars
• 1998 — Beast Wars II
• 1999 — Beast Wars Neo
• 1999–2000 — Beast Wars Metals

Notes

• The 2008 Universe toyline includes toys marked as "Beast Wars series".

Foreign names

• French: Ani Mutants (France), Guerre Bêtes (Canada)
• Italian: Biocombat
• Spanish: Guerra Bestias (America)