wow. i didnt know so many people thought the bw figs were fugly. aside from a few (which every line has) i liked all the bw figs.

 

the show was fantastic, the toys were just as good, and they brought tfs back from the dead! what else do you need?

Ok, so I'm not trying to be a sh*t, but what the heck is the appeal of these things?

They look like ass in alt mode and look like *DOUBLE ASS* in robot mode! What the heck do people see in them?!?!?!

 

All the hubub about the BW 10th Anniversary releases is leaving me wondering whether there's a gigantic legion of people who actually find the molds appealing.

 

Was it the show?

 

What is it, 'cause I really find about 95% of all the beast-formers to be hideous compromises.

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And I could say the same thing for G1.

 

The Season 1 toys were not the greatest I'll admit, but remember as others have said, Hasbro wasn't going to make kick ass toys for something that at the time wasn't doing very well and was, at the time, probably on it's last leg.  Turned out the show and toys did very well so they created BETTER toys, the Transmetals and eventually the TM2's.  These were the best figures in the whole line IMO.

 

We BW fans find them appealing just like all you GEEWUNERS find your precious reissues appealing (even though you pay an arm and a leg for them).

I agree that the 1st wave toys were quite bad, special mention to Cheetor and Dinobot.

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i loved those figures.

I just think that the original molds (ie whats being rereleased) were pretty bricktastic...

 

However - by the time the second season rolled around they had developed ball-joints and whatnot. 

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Uh... what early molds were "bricktastic"? Maybe Rhinox had a lot of kibble that got in the way, but from day 1 BW figures were highly articulated with plenty of balljoints. They didn't first show up in season 2. Balljoints started in G2 and BW made tremendous use of them.

 

Perhaps most of the highlight figures were later in the series, but I wouldn't badmouth the earlier molds, many were great as well. It seems unfortunate that today's molds are often times a step backwards from the poseability in BW, several toys have unnecessarily restricted joints(Wreckloose's hips, Brakedown's hips, Armorhide's shoulders).

 

But to the original post... If you want an explanation about why some people like BW, could you explain why you feel they look like "ass" or "double ass"? If you just don't like organics and prefer vehicles, whatever... look at the TMs, they fit well with the design aesthetics of the G1 Dinobots and Insecticons. If you think the TM2s and Fuzors look hideous, well that's part of the point, they're monstrous, intimidating bad-ass bots that show an incredibly artistic side to Transformer design that doesn't happen so much today with the ordinary altmodes and utilitarian robot designs(not all today are like this but many are).

 

The toys are great, IMO, and what I first loved about BW. The show was just icing on that cake to me, fiction far beyond any other TF fiction, and far beyond almost any other fiction for kids.

Everyone can shoot beforehand; I haven't actually watched BW/BM, but I really want to now.

 

From what I hear, it's the story and the development of the characters that really makes the series shine.  Unfortunately, back when it was airing on TV, I didn't watch it because:

1) I didn't have cable TV to get the station it was airing on

2) Back then, and now still, I don't like 95+% of the beast-TFs.  Mainly because they're like: "I'm a quadri-pedal animal!  I'll just stand up on my hind legs, and I'll say that I've transformed!" Optimus Primal's design tops the cake for me, though.  He might have been a great leader and an amazing character in the show, but transforming form a bipedal humanoid figure to another bipedial humanoid figure with the same arms/legs was ulgh to me.  (Unfortunately, it's a syndrome that plagues TFs even today; look at GF Ligerjack or GF Flame Convoy...)

2) Back then, and now still, I don't like 95+% of the beast-TFs.  Mainly because they're like: "I'm a quadri-pedal animal!  I'll just stand up on my hind legs, and I'll say that I've transformed!"

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So well put. :thumb

There were simplistic transformations then just as there are today and always have been. There's also plenty of simplistic vehicle transformations(Vector Prime is horribly simple... fold legs back, leave arms right were they are... so "I'll just stand up on my undercarriage and say that I've transformed!"). Many of the Beast transformations were highly innovative(and still are today: Cy. Snarl)

 

Primal's transformation is simple, but it's good and "elegant", his gorilla legs aren't simply his robot legs, because his robot knees are really his gorilla hips, they do change. But beyond a simple transformation the original Primal is an outstanding design with a ton of unobtrusive features and gimmicks built in.

Beast Wars was two things for me:

 

A step into good science fiction, most notably the first American Transformers production since the first generation (before 2010) and above else the real test of Syndicated CGI.

 

The CGI was experimental at the time, Larry DiTillo said flat out "they could have gone with standard animation, however the computer made things easier" Which is true but also a fact about beast modes. While some of the transformations were total body morphs, it was still a great test of the engine at the time.

 

The show was meant for an adult audience but it catered to everyone. Not every kid watching beast wars was gonna get lines like "Kick in the lugnuts" or some of Rattrap's other lines like 'scout any new 'positions' when he talks about Silverbolt and Blackarachnia in "Agenda pt 1"

 

The beast modes were different but they backed it up. The series had research from both the comics and the toon and the toys and they payed homage in anyway they could, from Primal's line about finding the Ark "Diecast construction: its a lost art" While its the creators' commentary its also reflected in their show and they didn't make too much of a statement about it.

 

In short: it was a great show for its time and still stands out as a real testiment to our genre of entertainment.

There were simplistic transformations then just as there are today and always have been.

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I don't think it's soley about the simplicity.

 

Using this guy as an example, it literally looks like a big cat stood on it's hind legs.

That's not a transformation, it's just articulation.

There were simplistic transformations then just as there are today and always have been.

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I don't think it's soley about the simplicity.

 

Using this guy as an example, it literally looks like a big cat stood on it's hind legs.

That's not a transformation, it's just articulation.

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Night Slash Cheetor I think does not have a transformation. The guy you linked to is quite deceiving. He does have a surprisingly intricate transformation that highlights an overlooked but very nice feature of some the the Beast designs. (By the way that's BM, not BW even).

 

The feature I mean is that it's not simply a "stand up the cat", but this guy has a torso that actually transforms and changes shapes, changes proportions from an extended, gaunt, realistic cheetah shape to a more humaniod shape. It may not be easy to see or understand from pictures, but to appreciate it you need to handle the toy. It may look like what you say, but it's "more than meets the eye".

 

Go back to Vector Prime, he doesn't really have a transformation, it's just articulation. What joints on him are for transfomation and not articulation? The wings, nosecone, and arm pads that are arguably just kibble?

 

Think of it another way, personally I like any vehicle/beast TF the most when the parts are dual purpose, the arms/legs/etc. become a part of the vehicle mode and vice versa. I don't like it as much when all the robot parts are just hidden in the alt mode(Chromia). Then look at Vector Prime, what purpose do his robot legs serve in vehicle mode? There's wheels and some guns/scanners, but imagine designing the vehicle mode, it looks like that one Star Wars ship, but the real ship wouldn't have all that junk hanging down underneath it. That undercarriage junk was only added to give the robot mode legs. In the "stand up the cat" transformations at least the legs serve a purpose in both modes.