Beast Hunters (toyline)

This article is about the subline imprint to Transformers: Prime. For the team of Autobots from the Prime cartoon, see Team Prime.

Beast Machines this ain't. Sorta.

Beast Hunters is the subline imprint for the second phase of the Prime franchise, also extending into the Kre-O franchise.

The toys sold under this banner transform into dragons or other mythical creatures (for Predacons), spiky, over-weaponized vehicles reminiscent of Mad Max (for Autobots), or vehicles with beastly traits (for Decepticons). The third season of the cartoon reflected the rebranding, where Autobots contend not just Megatron's Decepticons, but also with the Predacons (actually just a Predacon, but...). A made-for-TV movie called Predacons Rising, released in 2013, served as the conclusion to the Prime cartoon as a whole.

In Japan, the Prime broadcast concluded with "Darkest Hour", while the Beast Hunters toyline was converted/folded into the Transformers Go! franchise, omitting the Beast Hunters episodes and the Predacons Rising film in the process.

Series 2 (2013)

For this Series, on-package bios were reduced in length to just a sentence or two, and the instruction sheets instead feature facts about one of the figure's main weapons, as well as a chapter of the Tales of the Beast Hunters prose story, each of which focuses on the appropriate character in addition to continuing an ongoing story.

Deluxe Class

Soundwave, a Wave 1 Deluxe Class figure. The bright colors distract his prey.

Wave 1

• 001 Bumblebee with Firing Eagleshot Bow and Chapter 1 (retool/redeco of Prime: Robots in Disguise Bumblebee)
• 002 Soundwave with Ravage, Talon Grapple Cannon, and Chapter 2 (retool/redeco of Prime: Robots in Disguise Soundwave)
• 003 Lazerback with Toxic Strike Blaster and Chapter 3
• 004 Wheeljack with Disc-Launching Falcon Spear and Chapter 4 (retool/redeco of Prime: Robots in Disguise Wheeljack)

Wave 2

• 005 Starscream with Clenching Thunder Talon and Chapter 7
• 006 Ripclaw with Snapping Siphon Claw and Chapter 8
• 007 Bulkhead with Spinning Dragon Grinder and Chapter 9
• 008 Smokescreen with Electronet Launcher, Shadow Quill Armor, and Chapter 10

Autobot Ratchet, a Wave 3 Deluxe Class figure. You should have eaten your apples.

Wave 3

• 009 Skystalker with Cryostrike Disc Launchers and Chapter 12
• 010 Autobot Ratchet with Spinning Dragonshredder Drill and Chapter 13 (retool/redeco of Prime: Robots in Disguise Autobot Ratchet)
• 011 Dreadwing with Dread Assault Cannon and Chapter 14

Wave 4

• 012 Arcee with Echohawk Bow and Chapter 19 (retool/redeco of Prime: Robots in Disguise Arcee)
• 013 Knock Out with Crocto Claw and Chapter 20 (retool/redeco of Prime: Robots in Disguise Knock Out)
• 014 Vertebreak with Hyena Cannon and Chapter 21 (redeco of Lazerback)

Wave 5

• 015 Night Shadow Bumblebee with Firing Eaglefire Bow and Chapter 23 (redeco of Beast Hunters Bumblebee)
• 016 Prowl with Firelance Missile Launcher and Chapter 24 (retool/redeco of Smokescreen)

Voyager Class

Shockwave, a Wave 2 Voyager Class figure. Online handle: "Scalewave".

Wave 1

• 001 Optimus Prime with Ionic Pulse Launchers/Eaglefire Missile Launchers, Star Saber, and Chapter 5
• 002 Predaking with Twin Hydrafire Blasters and Chapter 6

Wave 2

• 003 Shockwave with Spinning Hyperflux Cannon, Snap-on Beast Armor, and Chapter 11

Wave 3

• 004 Grimwing with Blackbeak Grapple Launcher and Chapter 15
• 005 Ultra Magnus with the Forge of Solus Battle Hammer and Chapter 16 (retool/redeco of Prime: Robots in Disguise Optimus Prime)

Wave 4

• 006 Megatron/Sharkticon Megatron with Tartarex Warp Sword/Sharktooth Spear and Chapter 22 (retool/redeco of Prime: Robots in Disguise Megatron)

Battlemaster Class

Beast Tracker Optimus Prime, a Battlemaster Class figure. That cleaver won't be clean for long...

The Battlemaster class consists of redecos/retools of the Weaponizer Class toys from the previous series (especially in the common addition of new hand-held weapons).

• Beast Tracker Optimus Prime (retool of Prime Weaponizer Optimus Prime)
• Talking Bumblebee (retool of Prime Weaponizer Bumblebee)

The European release of Talking Bumblebee replaced the voice clips with various sound effects and was accordingly renamed "SFX Bumblebee".

Ultimate Class

Beast Fire Predaking, an Ultimate Class figure. Now where's that gunpowder?

A new size class, Ultimate Class figures are larger than Leader Class toys of previous lines, but have simpler transformations like the Weaponizer Class toys. They feature light-up gimmicks and spring-loaded missile launchers in some form. They also ship in separate assortments due to their differently shaped boxes.

• Beast Hunter Optimus Prime with Firebreath Cyclocannons and Chapter 17
• Beast Fire Predaking with Infernum Blade and Chapter 18

Beast Fire Predaking was available as general retail release in regular Beast Hunters packaging in various international markets such as Canada, Singapore, the Philippines, and Australia. In the United States, he was sold, without any changes to the toy itself, as a Target exclusive in Predacons Rising packaging instead.

Series 3 (2014)

At this point, the Beast Hunters line was refreshed to align with Hasbro's new goal of making main line toys easier to transform for children in the target age group.

Due to being released after the Christmas season and before the launching of the Age of Extinction toy line, the figures saw limited distribution, with the Deluxes having only been released in Europe and Hong Kong, the latter even getting them in multilingual European packaging, unusually enough.

Deluxe Class

Windrazor, a Series 3 Deluxe Class figure. Who needs Abominus when you've got a sweet mace?

For the initial (and final) 2014 Deluxe Class offerings, this was accomplished by up-scaling the designs of several Cyberverse Legion Class figures, with the packaging even featuring bits of the instructions printed on the back. Though featuring new weapons, the toys in this size class were essentially direct translations of the smaller designs, thus retaining their primitive articulation. The two Predacons, in this instance, lost their ability to combine, lacking the appropriate pegs.

Wave 6

• 001 Bumblebee (upscaled Cyberverse Legion Class Bumblebee)
• 002 Twinstrike with Piston Hammer (upscaled Cyberverse Legion Class Twinstrike)
• 003 Smokescreen (upscaled Cyberverse Legion Class Smokescreen)
• 004 Windrazor with Dragontooth Mace (upscaled Cyberverse Legion Class Windrazor)

Voyager Class

Optimus Prime, a Series 3 Voyager Class figure. He's been eating his vegetables!

The Voyager Class figures followed a slightly-different path, with the figures featuring transformations based on their respective Cyberverse Commander Class toys, but this time borrowing several design elements from their larger figures, as well as adding articulation appropriate for this size. With the lessened complexity, the toys in this size class ended up becoming HUGE, being more on par with Ultra Class toys from previous toylines, such as Universe (2008).

Wave 5

• 001 Optimus Prime (upscaled Cyberverse Commander Class Optimus Prime)
• 002 Predaking (upscaled Cyberverse Commander Class Predaking)

Cyberverse

The Cyberverse figures for the third series adapted the Beast Hunters theme, in the retooling of old molds, as well as the introduction of new molds (particularly for the new characters/forms, the Predacons, and the molds originally intended for Series 2 before moving to Series 3).

Exclusives

Convention exclusives

• Shockwave's Lab (US version), contains:
  • Shockwave (redeco of Voyager Class Shockwave)
  • Predaking (redeco of Commander Class Predaking)

This set was exclusive to Hasbro Toy Shop and San Diego Comic-Con 2013.

• Shockwave's Lab (Asian version), contains:
  • Shockwave (redeco of Voyager Class Shockwave)
  • Predaking (redeco of Commander Class Predaking)

This set was exclusive to Cybertron Con and is basically a slightly altered version of the Hasbro Toy Shop/San Diego Comic Con version, down to nearly identical packaging. Whereas Shockwave is identical to the Hasbto Toy Shop/San Diego Comic Con exclusive version, Predaking is cast in differently colored plastic.

• "First Edition" Beast Hunter Optimus Prime (unchanged Ultimate Class Beast Hunter Optimus Prime)

This set was exclusive to CybertronCon. While the figure itself is unchanged, it has been packaged in the box with his backpack plugged into his back, allowing the cannons to rotate when his spiky stomach-fenders are pushed down. The box itself also has slightly different text and graphical layouts, is encased in a large, slip-on outer covering. The "First Edition" prefix comes from Hasbro's Facebook retrospective of the numbered "Thrilling 30" figures and doesn't appear anywhere on the packaging itself.

European Toys"R"Us exclusive

• Optimus Prime vs Predaking (minor redecos of Voyager Class Optimus Prime and Predaking)

Thus far, this two-pack has been found at Toys"R"Us stores in Portugal, the United Kingdom, Germany and France; in Germany, it was explicitly advertised as a Toys"R"Us exclusive. Since the only known official stock photos have shown this two-pack in multilingual European packaging, it's very likely that this has always been intended as a European market exclusive; however, it has also been found at general retail in Brazil.

Notes

• Hasbro applied for a Beast Hunters video game trademark on December 17th 2012, leading to speculation of a possible Beast Hunters game. With no news after that and the marketing shift to Age of Extinction, any video game appears to have been canned.