The Energon Pub

shajaki wrote:hey seibs! i know you recently acquired a beast wars returns strika. can i assume you have a full set of BWR figures? when are you planning to get some of those galleries up?

Sooner than later for some of them. BWR Tankor, Thrust, Jetstorm, Obsidian and Strika are at the top of my list and I hope to have them completed before the end of the year. I am looking for decent prices on Savage Noble and Megahead Megatron and have not acquired them yet. If I recall correctly, the rest of the figures are basically identical to their Hasbro releases.

Seibertron wrote:

shajaki wrote:hey seibs! i know you recently acquired a beast wars returns strika. can i assume you have a full set of BWR figures? when are you planning to get some of those galleries up?

Sooner than later for some of them. BWR Tankor, Thrust, Jetstorm, Obsidian and Strika are at the top of my list and I hope to have them completed before the end of the year. I am looking for decent prices on Savage Noble and Megahead Megatron and have not acquired them yet. If I recall correctly, the rest of the figures are basically identical to their Hasbro releases.

ill be on the edge of my seat

and yeah, to my knowledge the figures that arent obviously different were actually exactly the same as hasbros. but please correct me if im wrong.

The Beast Wars Returns figures that are the same as their Hasbro counterparts are Convoy, Cheetus, Rattle, Nightscream, and Megatron. All the others are redecos.

Yep, pretty much all of the Deluxe Vehicon drones are different in the Takara BWR releases (and incidentally are typically more show accurate to represent either the drones or their Vehicon General counterparts). I have the Takara Beast Wars Returns versions of the motorcycle drone, tank drone and Strika as Vehicon generals Thrust, Tankor and Strika on my shelf. I'll be using the Takara Generations Tankor as my general once I get that though. I have BWR Jetstorm but I don't believe he's very different (if at all) compared to the US release.

xyl360 wrote:I have BWR Jetstorm but I don't believe he's very different (if at all) compared to the US release.

i was going to quote sarblade and say what about jetstorm. does anyone know if theres any differences between the BM and BWR jetstorm?

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:The differences are minor, and best explained here:
BM Jetstorm entry on TFU.info (scroll down for variants)

i know all about tfu, so that was a big DUR moment for me.

he has some subtle (but very nice) differences. his secondary (or tertiary i dunno) color of plastic is like, seafoam green instead of red. no yellow on the face. and those yellow/orange lines on his abdomen are blue instead. very nice. ill have to get him now!

shajaki wrote:

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:The differences are minor, and best explained here:
BM Jetstorm entry on TFU.info (scroll down for variants)

i know all about tfu, so that was a big DUR moment for me.

he has some subtle (but very nice) differences. his secondary (or tertiary i dunno) color of plastic is like, seafoam green instead of red. no yellow on the face. and those yellow/orange lines on his abdomen are blue instead. very nice. ill have to get him now!

90% of all his gray plastic was also changed to blue. That's a pretty substantial difference.

Sabrblade wrote:

shajaki wrote:

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:The differences are minor, and best explained here:
BM Jetstorm entry on TFU.info (scroll down for variants)

i know all about tfu, so that was a big DUR moment for me.

he has some subtle (but very nice) differences. his secondary (or tertiary i dunno) color of plastic is like, seafoam green instead of red. no yellow on the face. and those yellow/orange lines on his abdomen are blue instead. very nice. ill have to get him now!

90% of all his gray plastic was also changed to blue. That's a pretty substantial difference.

right right! i noticed that but forgot to mention it.

i wonder if it suffers from the flaking chrome as bad as his hasbro counterpart. i recently acquired a MISB ultra jetstorm, and his chrome is all cracked and ready to fall off inside the box. not to mention my original jetsorm shared the same fate

Hey Ryan, I'm sorry to be beating a dead horse like this, but in your latest Beast Wars/RiD galleries I notice that while you have comparison shots aplenty between the various versions/variants etc., there is actually no information whatsoever either in the images nor the galleries themselves (nor links to) regarding what figures you're actually comparing them to, who released them (Hasbro, Takara etc.), in what lines they were released (i.e. Beast Wars or RiD in this case) and where the galleries for those figures they're being compared to can be found (no cross-linking).

I'm not necessarily asking for all of that (though it would be ideal), but at least one aspect of that, particularly cross-linking the galleries. At least for cases like this where both galleries exist at the same time/were created relatively close to each other (I assume less effort on your part that way since you don't have to dig through old galleries to find each version etc. to cross link them).

Bumping this topic because, Ryan, there's been an update on the mysterious red-chested/silver-horned variant of Rampage.

In the same source I found out about the variant, another user has posted more photos of the toy and clarifies that the previous people were incorrect in thinking it was a running change variant, and instead confirms that it was the very first variant of the figure, with the more common orange-chest/orange-horned version being the running change.

I'll quote his message:

1987olds442 wrote:Sorry to bump and older thread, but I thought I would try to help

What you have there is actually the very first release of Rampage. I have that one as well and the revision one with the gold on the head and chest. If you have both versions boxes the first releases of Rampage was originally in a larger box with a slightly different UPC code. I have my boxes and boxed figures in storage right now, but from memory the originals ended with 00 and the more common running changes end with 01 or 02. The 00 ones only existed in the store for a blink of an eye. I say the only saw one release before they replaced them with the more common gold revision cases.

Here is a old picture of my Rampage when he was pretty much brand new.


Here is the last picture that I took before boxing him up and moving.


There is also a first release Depth Charge as well that is more show accurate with different paint on his face.

Here is something special regarding variants in the Beast Era.

For Takara's version of Tarantulus and Blackarachnia, there were variants that are noticeably different from the Hasbro versions. The key to knowing if the boxed toy is the variant or not is the green sticker on the front of the package. If it has the white and red sticker, it's the same as the Hasbro version. The green sticker versions are intended to be the more screen accurate versions, though that will be for you to judge when you will see the galleries.

Here is a breakdown of the differences between these variants and the regular Takara/Hasbro release:

Takara Blackarachnia's spider mode is very similar to her Hasbro version. The paint on her claws and chest is gold colored instead of a brownish/bronze color. The trigger button that was green on the Hasbro version is green on the Takara version. In robot mode, the differences stand out more. Takara's eyes and face plate uses the same gold color as her claws and chest, whereas the Hasbro version oddly uses white which isn't used anywhere else on that version. In addition, the green plastic is replaced with a grey plastic.

Takara's Tarantulas has less noticeable changes from the Hasbro version. It uses a grey plastic with a hint of brown or beige instead of the regular grey plastic on the Hasbro version. The green plastic is an almost olive green on the Hasbro version and the Takara version uses a more traditional brighter green. The eye visor on the Takara version uses a goldish colored paint instead of the black paint on the Hasbro version.


Beast Wars Blackarachnia










Beast Wars Tarans

Looking at this vintage figure just makes me realize how much justice the new takara version has done for this character. I never realized she was just a repaint of tarulantas in the beast wars toy line. We are very fortunate to now be getting fembots with actual female bodies instead of repainted male bodies posing as females.

Rated X wrote:Looking at this vintage figure just makes me realize how much justice the new takara version has done for this character. I never realized she was just a repaint of tarulantas in the beast wars toy line. We are very fortunate to now be getting fembots with actual female bodies instead of repainted male bodies posing as females.

However, it's because that she (and Tigatron) was a redeco that the cartoon was able to use her (and Tigatron) due to the limitations of CGI at the time. Had she and Tigatron been their own molds, Mainframe likely would have avoided using them and instead gone with two other redeco characters.

After all, Tigatron was originally going to be Wolfang, but since Tigatron's toy was a redeco of Cheetor, they chose Tigatron instead since it was far more feasible and economical to make a modified version of Cheetor's CGI model for Tigatron than to make a whole new model for Wolfang. The same would probably have applied for Blackarachnia as well since they took Tarantulas's CGI model and made it more, erm, "feminine" for her, instead of making a whole new model.

As for Blackarachnia's newer Legends toy, it is quite nice in its attempts to be show-accurate, yes, but due to it being a mold originally designed for a different version of the character, it contains much more inaccuracies to the BW cartoon model when compared to the original toy (which is understandable since the cartoon model was based on the original toy), and its unfortunately misassembled torso (which every Legends BA figure has) doesn't do it any favors either.

william-james88 wrote:Here is something special regarding variants in the Beast Era.

For Takara's version of Tarantulus and Blackarachnia, there were variants that are noticeably different from the Hasbro versions. The key to knowing if the boxed toy is the variant or not is the green sticker on the front of the package. If it has the white and red sticker, it's the same as the Hasbro version. The green sticker versions are intended to be the more screen accurate versions, though that will be for you to judge when you will see the galleries.

Here is a breakdown of the differences between these variants and the regular Takara/Hasbro release:

Takara Blackarachnia's spider mode is very similar to her Hasbro version. The paint on her claws and chest is gold colored instead of a brownish/bronze color. The trigger button that was green on the Hasbro version is green on the Takara version. In robot mode, the differences stand out more. Takara's eyes and face plate uses the same gold color as her claws and chest, whereas the Hasbro version oddly uses white which isn't used anywhere else on that version. In addition, the green plastic is replaced with a grey plastic.

Takara's Tarantulas has less noticeable changes from the Hasbro version. It uses a grey plastic with a hint of brown or beige instead of the regular grey plastic on the Hasbro version. The green plastic is an almost olive green on the Hasbro version and the Takara version uses a more traditional brighter green. The eye visor on the Takara version uses a goldish colored paint instead of the black paint on the Hasbro version.


Beast Wars Blackarachnia










Beast Wars Tarans

Blackarchnia was one of the few original Japanese Beast Wars that only had one version.

She, Tigatron, Buzzsaw, Shadowpanther, Rhinox, and Wolfang didn't have a USA version and a Japanese version from Takara. Just the normal Takara ones. So the USA color Blackarachnia (along with the others I listed) didn't get a release from Takara like with the 2 versions of Tarantulas, Waspinator, Dinobot, Scorponok, Optimus Primal, and Cheetor.

Rhinox did have two versions though, one tan and one brown (both different than the USA version).

It's funny that even with these deluxes Hasbro and Takara were still gang molding parts as the parts that changed color on Tarantulas carried over to Waspinator and the same was true with Blackarachnia and Buzzsaw.

Randy

Powered Convoy wrote:Blackarchnia was one of the few original Japanese Beast Wars that only had one version.

She, Tigatron, Buzzsaw, Shadowpanther, Rhinox, and Wolfang didn't have a USA version and a Japanese version from Takara. Just the normal Takara ones. So the USA color Blackarachnia (along with the others I listed) didn't get a release from Takara like with the 2 versions of Tarantulas, Waspinator, Dinobot, Scorponok, Optimus Primal, and Cheetor.

Rhinox did have two versions though, one tan and one brown (both different than the USA version).

It's funny that even with these deluxes Hasbro and Takara were still gang molding parts as the parts that changed color on Tarantulas carried over to Waspinator and the same was true with Blackarachnia and Buzzsaw.

Randy

What's different on Scorponok and Optimus Primal? I was under the understanding that they were the same even with the green stickers, aside from the various special editions of Optimus Primal such as the gray version.

Seibertron wrote:

Powered Convoy wrote:Blackarchnia was one of the few original Japanese Beast Wars that only had one version.

She, Tigatron, Buzzsaw, Shadowpanther, Rhinox, and Wolfang didn't have a USA version and a Japanese version from Takara. Just the normal Takara ones. So the USA color Blackarachnia (along with the others I listed) didn't get a release from Takara like with the 2 versions of Tarantulas, Waspinator, Dinobot, Scorponok, Optimus Primal, and Cheetor.

Rhinox did have two versions though, one tan and one brown (both different than the USA version).

It's funny that even with these deluxes Hasbro and Takara were still gang molding parts as the parts that changed color on Tarantulas carried over to Waspinator and the same was true with Blackarachnia and Buzzsaw.

Randy

What's different on Scorponok and Optimus Primal? I was under the understanding that they were the same even with the green stickers, aside from the various special editions of Optimus Primal such as the gray version.

I think the special gray version of Primal is the Takara redeco that he's referring to.

As for Scorponok, Takara's second run version had the first run version's black plastic changed to charcoal gray, and the red parts were changed to a lighter, near orange shade.

Sabrblade wrote:As for Scorponok, Takara's second run version had the first run version's black plastic changed to charcoal gray, and the red parts were changed to a lighter, near orange shade.

Well, guess I'll find out in the next week! Just ordered the green sticker Scorponok from Mandarake.

http://order.mandarake.co.jp/order/deta ... 8&ref=list

I'm not so sure that the green sticker is the determining factor between the first run Takara figures that are identical to the Hasbro versions and the second run Takara figures that were redecoed to be a little more show-accurate.

I say this for two reasons. First, after translating what the sticker says, it doesn't advertise the toys themselves, but the cartoon. The sticker basically says that the show is "The World's first!! 100% computer-generated transforming robot TV series animation!!" rather than referring to the toys' new decos.

And secondly, there's this pic of the Japanese "Brutal Showdown" two-pack containing Dinobot and Waspeeter (Waspinator), which has a green sticker on the box but the Dinobot figure included is definitely the Hasbro-colored first run pink w/ black stripes version instead of the more show-accurate second run peach w/ brown stripes version.


What's more is that some of the toys had white and pink stickers instead of green ones, but which said the same thing as the green ones (and an additional notion that the toys came with Character Cards):

Green sticker variants only apply to single packs, not to the versus packs, which unfortunately adds to the confusion about these.

Seibertron wrote:Green sticker variants only apply to single packs, not to the versus packs, which unfortunately adds to the confusion about these.

FYI ... I own all of the variants except I didn't know that both takara versions of rhinox was different as well so I bought the first release of him yesterday as well. Scorponok was the only one I haven't been able to get confirmation on.

Looking forward to proof on that scorponok.

The only place I've seen in hand pics of the Takara second run Scorpos figure is on TFU.info, but the differences with the Hasbro-colored version seem to be so subtle that I can barely tell the difference from those pics.

That or the pics aren't in a good enough quality/lighting to really bring out the differences.

Sabrblade wrote:The only place I've seen in hand pics of the Takara second run Scorpos figure is on TFU.info, but the differences with the Hasbro-colored version seem to be so subtle that I can barely tell the difference from those pics.

That or the pics aren't in a good enough quality/lighting to really bring out the differences.

Where do you see the pics of the Takara variant on tfu.info? Nevermind ... saw them on the page, just overlooked them because they look the same.

Seibertron wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:The only place I've seen in hand pics of the Takara second run Scorpos figure is on TFU.info, but the differences with the Hasbro-colored version seem to be so subtle that I can barely tell the difference from those pics.

That or the pics aren't in a good enough quality/lighting to really bring out the differences.

Where do you see the pics of the Takara variant on tfu.info? Nevermind ... saw them on the page, just overlooked them because they look the same.

Upon further inspection with my gallery of Scorponok in comparison to the pics that they have posted on tfu.info, it seems like they might have the pictures mixed up for the Japanese variant with the regular Hasbro version. Scorponok's claws are a bluish gray translucent plastic but they're showing the gray plastic for the Hasbro version. Guess I'll get to find out soon!