Sneak Peek for New Beast Wars Comic Features Tripredacus Council
Monday, January 11th, 2021 5:44PM CST
Category: Comic Book NewsPosted by: william-james88 Views: 36,101
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Here is the summary for the book as well:
Celebrating 25 years of Beast Wars! In the future, the planet Cybertron belongs to the scientific-minded Maximals and the action-oriented Predacons! When a crew of Predacons, led by the successor to the Megatron name, steal a golden disk and a ship capable of traveling through time, it’s up to Optimus Primal and his Maximal crew – Rattrap, Rhinox, Cheetor, and new character Nyx – to catch them! A brand-new Beast era begins in an oversized first issue by Erik Burnham (Ghostbusters, Transformers/Ghostbusters) and Josh Burcham (Transformers, Transformers Galaxies), yesssss!
SNEAK PEEK: 2021
A look inside Transformers: Beast Wars #1 by @erikburnham and @jcburcham.

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Posted by Mr.MicroMaster on January 11th, 2021 @ 6:45pm CST
Posted by william-james88 on January 11th, 2021 @ 6:49pm CST
Mr.MicroMaster wrote:This looks very interesting. Yeeesssssss? I wonder if Nyx will be as important and long lasting as Rubble.

Posted by megamanfan on January 11th, 2021 @ 7:35pm CST
Posted by Mr.MicroMaster on January 11th, 2021 @ 8:48pm CST
william-james88 wrote:Mr.MicroMaster wrote:This looks very interesting. Yeeesssssss? I wonder if Nyx will be as important and long lasting as Rubble.


Posted by TOO MUCH ENERGON! on January 12th, 2021 @ 1:21am CST
Posted by Sabrblade on January 14th, 2021 @ 9:21am CST
https://twitter.com/erikburnham/status/1349553727993241603

Posted by TOO MUCH ENERGON! on January 14th, 2021 @ 10:44am CST
Posted by o.supreme on January 14th, 2021 @ 1:17pm CST
TOO MUCH ENERGON! wrote:He looks like Snapper. But purple.
I was going to make a comment about Snapper on another forum, but then many people had come in before me and basically , preemptively were criticizing anyone who asked "Why not Snapper", so I decided not to even bother, perhaps here there will be a more even handed discussion ?

Anyway. I'm not going to draw a line in the sand and say new characters shouldn't/can't be made. However...I do recognize that in the world of Transformers, when only a fraction of the characters are usually given character developments in media, there is a wealth to pull from, so the need for New characters isn't as necessary I guess you could say? Having read (and subsequently sold off), the first 13 year continuity of IDW, there's not one single made up character specifically for IDW that I cared for, yet there were dozens from the original series that I wish had appeared in more than the occasional background group shot.
I actually was quite fond of the first BW series (Gathering & Ascending), as it did just this; make some use of the many dozens of BW characters along with familiar faces to develop a new story. I know this new IDW iteration is going in a completely new direction, but it's just food for thought. Why dig a new well when the one you have still has plenty of water left in it?
Posted by bluecatcinema on January 14th, 2021 @ 2:02pm CST
Posted by ZeroWolf on January 14th, 2021 @ 2:31pm CST
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on January 14th, 2021 @ 3:52pm CST
Posted by TOO MUCH ENERGON! on January 14th, 2021 @ 3:54pm CST
o.supreme wrote:TOO MUCH ENERGON! wrote:He looks like Snapper. But purple.
I was going to make a comment about Snapper on another forum, but then many people had come in before me and basically , preemptively were criticizing anyone who asked "Why not Snapper", so I decided not to even bother, perhaps here there will be a more even handed discussion ?![]()
Anyway. I'm not going to draw a line in the sand and say new characters shouldn't/can't be made. However...I do recognize that in the world of Transformers, when only a fraction of the characters are usually given character developments in media, there is a wealth to pull from, so the need for New characters isn't as necessary I guess you could say? Having read (and subsequently sold off), the first 13 year continuity of IDW, there's not one single made up character specifically for IDW that I cared for, yet there were dozens from the original series that I wish had appeared in more than the occasional background group shot.
I actually was quite fond of the first BW series (Gathering & Ascending), as it did just this; make some use of the many dozens of BW characters along with familiar faces to develop a new story. I know this new IDW iteration is going in a completely new direction, but it's just food for thought. Why dig a new well when the one you have still has plenty of water left in it?
It is kinda weird that they didn’t just go with Snapper since the design is inspired by him. With Nyx, I get it, and I think it’s kinda cool that they’re using the Batimus Primal design for a different character. But yeah, I’m with you. There were dozens of Beast Wars toys that were never used in the show, so if they’re going the full remake/retelling route, why not utilize some of them? Give me Wolfang, Cybershark, Polar Claw, Maniterror, Armordillo, and such.
Posted by Sabrblade on January 14th, 2021 @ 5:42pm CST
Josh Burcham wrote:The reactions are interesting, to say the least! xD
I go into it a tiny bit in a little interview in the back of issue 1 but as far as the designs go, they're absolutely done in a spirit of "homage." I cant speak for the precise reason why these two new fembots were added, other than they have their own character arcs planned/in mind and to add something new and fresh, but as for their designs they're [obviously] meant to resemble Bat Optimus Primal and Snapper. And thats all on me. I had some character breakdowns and what their alt modes were but the rest was on me and I thought it'd be fun to, in Nyx's case, make use of a design that never REALLY got any play in major BW media and for Skold to do it in honor of what happened to be my first Beast Wars toy Snapper! [and a bit of a Strika homage in there, as well] Think of her as the Tigatron to Snapper's Cheetor. They share the same basic design skeleton. Its not that weird. And she's definitely not inserted in there to replace Snapper. Should the books go on long enough maybe he'll show up! Who knows.
But I wanted their designs to FEEL as genuinely "Beast Wars" as I could so why not base them on some actual Beast Wars designs! That was my thinking, anyway![]()
Josh Burcham wrote:And I absolutely, and likely selfishly, designed them this way so that kitbashes and customs would be a bit more easier to pull off. Cuz i'm greedy like that xD
Posted by Sabrblade on January 14th, 2021 @ 5:58pm CST
And one more -- JUST ONE -- little tease.
Wanna know what the other name was? #BeastWars #1 February 3!

Posted by o.supreme on January 14th, 2021 @ 8:07pm CST

Posted by Sabrblade on January 14th, 2021 @ 10:28pm CST
It would be amazing if his name was Joe.o.supreme wrote:His name was Bob...

Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on January 14th, 2021 @ 11:01pm CST
Posted by o.supreme on January 14th, 2021 @ 11:14pm CST
Sabrblade wrote:It would be amazing if his name was Joe.o.supreme wrote:His name was Bob...
Oh man, now we need to get a recording of David Kaye as Megatron doing that joke

Posted by Sabrblade on January 14th, 2021 @ 11:18pm CST
Burcham was mainly responding to those who were thinking that, as in "Skold's appearance doesn't preclude Snapper from also appearing later on."AllNewSuperRobot wrote:The line about “replacing Snapper” doesn’t make sense either. How do you replace a non-entity?
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on January 14th, 2021 @ 11:21pm CST
Posted by Sabrblade on January 14th, 2021 @ 11:31pm CST
Wish granted, 13 years ago (at 03:28):o.supreme wrote:Sabrblade wrote:It would be amazing if his name was Joe.o.supreme wrote:His name was Bob...
Oh man, now we need to get a recording of David Kaye as Megatron doing that joke
Posted by bluecatcinema on January 15th, 2021 @ 2:03pm CST
Posted by Cyberstrike on January 18th, 2021 @ 1:19pm CST
I was hoping for an all-new and all-different take on the Beast Wars and Beast Machines.
I would rather see something new and different with these characters in a new universe beyond just filling in minor plot holes in a 25 year old TV shows.
Like how about seeing the Beast Wars on modern day Earth with the Maximals and Predacons fighting like you know robots in disguise? Maybe using Optimus Primal and Megatron as a bat and alligator instead of the gorilla and T-Rex?
Hell just bring back Beast Wars: Uprising since I never got to read those stories and those better than this crap. Hell I didn't even hear about it until Transformers: The Basics covered it on YouTube.
Going backwards isn't brave or exciting it's cowardly and stagnating. As TV shows Beast Wars and Beast Machines were great because it the shot in the arm that the franchise needed to evolve and that both shows took chances and did piss some people off, but guess what the haters were proven wrong and Beast Wars is considered if not the best one of the best TF shows and is a gold standard of what a TF show could be. It will be that kind of balls to the wall and brave attitude that will make a a great Beast Wars comic too. Not the cheap, annoying, and bad fanservice that happens all the time when you play it safe.
Posted by Sabrblade on January 18th, 2021 @ 1:26pm CST
WRONG! This is a new separate continuity entirely, like how the Marvel G1 comics were to the G1 cartoon, or the Dreamwave Armada and Energon comics were to their respective cartoons.Cyberstrike wrote:Great another bloody prequel/side story/interlude/sequel to a pair of American cartoon shows that has never needed it.
This will be completely incompatible with the Beast Wars cartoon.
Well then, go read Uprising. It's great. Wnat's stopping you? It's not like those stories are gone or anything.Cyberstrike wrote:Hell just bring back Beast Wars: Uprising since I never got to read those stories and those better than this crap. Hell I didn't even hear about it until Transformers: The Basics covered it on YouTube.
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on January 19th, 2021 @ 7:50am CST
I am super stoked for this comic, really excited. I'm debating trying to find a local comic store and do my first ever comic subscription for the book.
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on January 19th, 2021 @ 8:15am CST
D-Maximal_Primal wrote:The writer, Erik Burnham, who also wrote my favorite crossover TFs x Ghostbusters, didn't know Snapper existed. He knew about the BW show characters, but the toyline was largely unknown to him, so he created Nyx and Skold without knowing about a lot of the non-US cartoon toys. So there is that.
I'm not sure I buy that, at all. Clearly Josh Burcham's designs borrow heavily from both erstwhile figures. Meanwhile even a "Beast Wars" google search, typically brings you images of the toy line and show immediately. Even the mini-comic is only a brief scroll away. Basic due diligence, for referencing purposes.
Plus, it wasn't a huge core line to begin with.
46 figures in the first '96/97 line (49 if you include Onyx, Fractyl and Packrat)
27 with the Transmetal/Fuzor '98 line (29 with Antagony and Vice Grip)
17 in the TM II '99 line (discounting Fox Kids redecos), plus 2 with Sandstorm and Windrazor.
The Beast Era isn't some endless abyss of characters and designs ala G1.
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on January 19th, 2021 @ 8:23am CST
AllNewSuperRobot wrote:I'm not sure I buy that, at all. Clearly Josh Burcham's designs borrow heavily from both erstwhile figures. Meanwhile even a "Beast Wars" google search, typically brings you images of the toy line and show immediately. Even the mini-comic is only a brief scroll away. Basic due diligence, for referencing purposes.D-Maximal_Primal wrote:The writer, Erik Burnham, who also wrote my favorite crossover TFs x Ghostbusters, didn't know Snapper existed. He knew about the BW show characters, but the toyline was largely unknown to him, so he created Nyx and Skold without knowing about a lot of the non-US cartoon toys. So there is that.
Plus, it wasn't a huge core line to begin with.
46 figures in the first '96/97 line (49 if you include Onyx, Fractyl and Packrat)
27 with the Transmetal/Fuzor '98 line (29 with Antagony and Vice Grip)
17 in the TM II '99 line (discounting Fox Kids redecos), plus 2 with Sandstorm and Windrazor.
The Beast Era isn't some endless abyss of characters and designs ala G1.
Burcham's designs came from Snapper because he knew about it as a toy he owned, but he wasn't the writer, so he made the design and Burnham found out about Snapper later.
Some twitter catches:
Because I didn't catch on about Snapper until I was already sold on Skold as a turtle! (:
Josh borrowed from Snapper's design, though I asked for her to be an Alligator Snapper (with those great spiky shells.)
It does do some of that, but it's also its own thing by design, changing some things around. Issues 1-6 is based on the first 2 episodes of the show (with twists, expansion, etc.)
We're not going to follow the show beat for beat or you wouldn't see any other bots for a bit!
The Vok? ...Who Might They Be?![]()
And there are still a lot of beast toys. It's not as huge as G1, but there are still a lot of bots in there. In terms of bots, Snapper is almost on the level of someone like Skids: showed up in maybe one thing, from early in a toyline, and is nearly forgotten by non-hardcore fans of said series.
Someone could easily forget that Ironhide and Trailbreaker got Prime toys unless they were really into the toyline of the show for example
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on January 19th, 2021 @ 8:29am CST
I know you're talking about the writer though and not the artist. My point is a cursory google search would be the most routine of research when asked to write any licensed book of this kind.
It will be interesting to see how The Vok translate as a static image.
Posted by Sabrblade on January 19th, 2021 @ 9:40am CST
Josh Burcham wrote:And I absolutely, and likely selfishly, designed them this way so that kitbashes and customs would be a bit more easier to pull off. Cuz i'm greedy like that xD
Posted by Sabrblade on January 19th, 2021 @ 10:07am CST
Like this?AllNewSuperRobot wrote:It will be interesting to see how The Vok translate as a static image.




Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on January 19th, 2021 @ 10:16am CST
@1:04
Posted by Sabrblade on January 19th, 2021 @ 10:21am CST
Posted by ZeroWolf on January 19th, 2021 @ 10:24am CST

Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on January 19th, 2021 @ 10:25am CST
Sabrblade wrote:I don't see anything more in their design in that clip besides skull faces with tentacle hair.
As they move towards Tarantulas, from the side-on view. They aren't a physical, solid thing. So you can go weird with them. As a static image, their perspective can look different in every single panel and still be accurate.
ZeroWolf wrote:I know its semantics but the Legends manga us in an official capacity

To me, Official = Material made during the Beast Era. Of which, is very limited. Non-convention stuff too.
Posted by Sabrblade on January 19th, 2021 @ 10:28am CST
And the comic those first two images I posted were from was written by Bob Forward in 2000.ZeroWolf wrote:I know its semantics but the Legends manga us in an official capacity
Posted by ZeroWolf on January 22nd, 2021 @ 12:21pm CST
Check it out below!
IDW wrote:Celebrating 25 years of Beast Wars! In the future, the planet Cybertron belongs to the scientific-minded Maximals and the action-oriented Predacons! When a crew of Predacons, led by the successor to the Megatron name, steal a golden disk and a ship capable of traveling through time, it’s up to Optimus Primal and his Maximal crew—Rattrap, Rhinox, Cheetor, and new character Nyx—to catch them! A brand-new Beast era begins in an oversized first issue by Erik Burnham (Ghostbusters, Transformers/Ghostbusters) and Josh Burcham (Transformers, Transformers Galaxies), yesssss!



This series is not a simple retelling of the Beast Wars story that we all know and love. Instead, they promise a few surprises in store, and have already bolstered the roster of not Maximals and Predacons with a new character each.
Will you be getting this series? Looking forward to what changes they may make? Let us know in the Energon Pub and stay tuned to Seibertron for all the latest news and reviews!
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on January 22nd, 2021 @ 12:28pm CST
If the one in red for example, is supposed to be Terrorsaur, that doesn't sound like him at all. Whereas this dialogue could easily apply to blank slates, such as Lazerbeak, Terranotron or Fractyl.
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on January 22nd, 2021 @ 12:40pm CST
Burcham did confirm on Twitter that:
a) All the maximals guards are based on the Unit-3 toy from botcon 2016 and include Under-3 himself
b) he based Terrorsaur's color placement on his US OG toy, hence why it might look strange to some
c) Much like Beast Wars uprising, he designed a lot of the cybertronian modes to be easy customs of other toys (much like he already said with Nyx and Skold)
d) Scorponok also took design cues from his Club/Cotbon toy
e) they purposely left the "red vs red lighting" debate ambiguous again for the fun of it
f) yes, those are Wheeljack statues
Lots of good stuff here, I am excited!
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on January 22nd, 2021 @ 12:51pm CST
Tom Scioli did an incredible job of paying homage to the source material, in his 2018 Go-Bots book. Sounds like a better choice in light of this.
Posted by Sabrblade on January 22nd, 2021 @ 12:52pm CST
Also, the pics are kinda blurry. Here's some clearer ones:



Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on January 22nd, 2021 @ 1:00pm CST
AllNewSuperRobot wrote:So this isn't a book to celebrate the anniversary of the show after all? Just nods to irrelevant Convention stuff.
Tom Scioli did an incredible job of paying homage to the source material, in his 2018 Go-Bots book. Sounds like a better choice in light of this.
I don't think you could have misread my comments any more than you did.
It is incorporating things used for Botcon/the club, which made some very good BWU content, as someone who did read them. And by incorporating, it's using design cues for cybertronian forms. Literally nothing wrong with that nor is it copying any club story.
Tom Scioli did a great job yes, but he had his TF vs GI Joe stuff, I am excited to see what Burnham and Burcham have up their sleeves. New team, new ongoing. Same basic premise so far, but new takes, new designs, new content, new story
Posted by Immortal Starscream on January 22nd, 2021 @ 1:14pm CST
The art here imho screams of Transformers Animated. While I am a big fan of Animated, I am not sure how I feel about it in my Beast Wars. Neat to see them pay homage to the Botcon stuffs. Also neat to give Megs a "pre-Megatron" name. Unless that was something that was already established before and I just missed it. More-over, I dig the name Galavar sounding a bit like Galvatron. Something poetic about a "Gal" getting an upgrade and changing his name to Megatron and not the reverse.
All that aside, not enough here to really make a judgement call imho. will have to wait and see.
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on January 22nd, 2021 @ 1:15pm CST
The series proper largely left Maximal and Predacon Cybertronian forms ambiguous, much like Megatron's "original name". Why? Because they were details that don't really matter.
Scioli's TF vs. GI Joe is another great example of his work. Everyone was painted in a different light which made it interesting. King Rodimus, The Astrotrain etc, etc
That is how you homage the familiar, while making it new and your own.
Posted by bluecatcinema on January 22nd, 2021 @ 2:14pm CST
Posted by Sabrblade on January 22nd, 2021 @ 5:31pm CST
Once, yes, but it was in Uprising, so not exactly the Megatron who would take the name from the Covenant of Primus and start the Beast Wars.Immortal Starscream wrote:Also neat to give Megs a "pre-Megatron" name. Unless that was something that was already established before and I just missed it.
In that version, he went by the name "Gnashteeth" (or just "Gnash", for short) before taking the name "Megatron". But when he first said that name, he subtly implied that it wasn't actually his real real name, merely just what he wanted people to call him, as though he wanted to maintain some degree of anonymity for some ulterior motive before he adopted the "Megatron" name and went public with it.
Posted by TOO MUCH ENERGON! on January 23rd, 2021 @ 11:47am CST
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on January 23rd, 2021 @ 11:48am CST
Posted by bluecatcinema on January 23rd, 2021 @ 1:18pm CST
AllNewSuperRobot wrote:Indeed. Preds and Maxis ain't blocky.. But we'll see how it pans out.
As I recall, they actually did look that way before scanning their beast modes.
Posted by AllNewSuperRobot on January 23rd, 2021 @ 1:51pm CST
bluecatcinema wrote:AllNewSuperRobot wrote:Indeed. Preds and Maxis ain't blocky.. But we'll see how it pans out.
As I recall, they actually did look that way before scanning their beast modes.
No, none of them did. The more rounded design was the whole point of them being descendants.


Posted by TOO MUCH ENERGON! on January 23rd, 2021 @ 2:17pm CST