The Energon Pub

Even though Beast Wars was the show that started getting me back interested in Transformers again, I never collected many of those figures. I even passed on most of the 10th anniversary figs. Still, as time goes by, I definitely feel this is part of my collecting that needs expanding.

By now, I have a decent amount of the TV show cast in one form or another and want to start picking up a few "non-show" toys. I certainly don't feel like I have to be a completionist on these, so what are some of the better lesser known molds I should be going after? Also, is there a good place online to find them?

As someone who recently completed his Beast Wars collection, I recommend a lot of the basic figures. Bat Primal is one of my favourites for some reason, then there's the little squid who is also pretty cool. THey're just fun to fiddle with really.

If you have the money to spend, I'd highly recommend finding the Tako Tank from Japan. It is easily the most fun thing I've played with in my 4 years of collecting.

Two figures I'd recommend looking into are Insecticon and Wolfang, as both auditioned for the show, but didn't make the cut. Wolfang was turned into Tigatron, while Insecticon's line went to Waspinator for the most part. Do you have X-9 Jaguar? If not, find him!

Speaking of Insecticons, the insect Predacons all have problems like wings, legs and gimmicks getting in the way, except for Manterror. This praying mantis doesn't change that much in looks between modes, and that's a good thing. I also like Jetstorm, just because I have a thing for dragonflies.

If you're interested in getting Fuzors, get Sky Shadow. Basically a monitor lizard with a dragonfly on his back, but like Silverbolt pulls it off quite well. Avoid Torca, unless you want a case of Gold Plastic Syndrome, and Injector looks plain weird (actually, I think that's a good thing).

Cackle or his Universe repaint Frostbite are nice.

Basic and Transmetal Iguanus are nice. Again I like the Universe repaint: Reptillion.

Armordillo, Bump, Robotmasters Psycho Orb.

Robotmasters Optimus Primal and Lio Convoy are nice too.

I think when it comes to picking up Beast Wars toys, you have to go with your gut.
Is it a character you like? Does it look like it will fit in with what you are collecting towards?
While there are people out there that don't like Beast Wars, they are great fun.
I love most of the Transmetals, but I like shiny toys. Megatron is awesome, but prone to breaking.
Scavenger is cool too. you can recreate scenes from Them.
Honestly, even Beast Wars toys I didn't think I would like are a lot of fun.
I really wish they would hurry up and give us some Beast Wars Legends.

meh, the only one I have ever liked, toy wise, is Megatron. I just couldn't get into them. The cartoon was awesome, but the toys just .......well, I didn't like them too much..........

DISCHARGE wrote:I really wish they would hurry up and give us some Beast Wars Legends.

Oh hell yeah! I really, really want a line of BW Cyberverse guys. The cartoon cast could all fit nicely in Legion or Commander class, there's plenty of repaint scope for most of them and they'd be more or less in scale with the Deluxe and Voyager sized Classics styled figures. If we were really lucky we'd get Axalon and Darksyde playsets. I'd even settle for just a Season 3 cast gift set.

As to the original line and the toys that are good...I helped look after some kids of a family friend at the time it was out, and they had a lot of Beast Wars (and being young, they called G1 the "Old Beast Wars" which would always grind my gears ) so I got to see some of the better ones.

Claw Jaw is the squid dude Mkall mentioned, although he got a few repaints over the years. He is without a doubt one of the most fun transformers I've ever gotten my hands on. He's not especially complex, being a basic and all, nor were there a lot of fancy paint apps on the toy, and he's not one of those characters where their fictional portrayal adds a lot of coolness to the toy (Hello: Bludgeon) but he's just a lot of inexplicable fun.

The first Cybershark isn't bad either, and the armadillo guy is pretty cool. The line really got good in my eyes around the time they first started on the Transmetals. There are some pretty cool Fuzors, Silverbolt and Quickstrike amongst them. The majority of the show Transmetals are actually all really good. I love the TM Cheetor design, and the Megatron and Optimus toys are pretty cool to mess about with.

I never got Rampage, but I'd say that if you're a fan of the show, he's probably going to be one you're going to end up wanting. Depth Charge was not bad. Very body heavy, but his gimmick is pretty cool and he can do some okay poses. Optimal Optimus is a great big bot, even if his modes are somewhat vague and unconvincing. I once passed on both TM2 Megatron and Tigerhawk for £3 each and have regretted it ever since. Stupid "maturity".

Of course, everything past Season 1 is very show-accurate except Blackarachnia, where the animation took a few liberties. Even so, I have TM2 BA and she's pretty decent. A bit big maybe, and sporting shoulderpads so big you might get her confused with someone off of Dynasty, but both modes are cool and she's got a cool gun, and lots of shiny.

I think that Beast Wars styled bots might be a better way for Hasbro to update the beast Pretenders, and that's coming from a guy who really loves his robotic/ZOID/Transmetal animal modes. In fact, there's more than a few that could just be repainted and remolded.

(wonder how much a custom Catilla, Carnivac and Snarler would be from Cheetor, Wolfang and Razorbeast?)

I LOVE the Japanese stuff from the Takara-only lines, especially Beast Wars Neo as most of them are completely new molds or at least really nifty repaints of existing molds.

Big Convoy and Magmatron are must own toys.

For US toys, I still love Torca, even though he does suffer from GPS, I've got two out of package and they've held up so far (going on 4 years now), though if you can find him, Elephorca (or Elephaorpha as I believe he's also called), i.e. the Japanese version of the mold is way better, and no GPS issues there.

Like one of the above posters, I likes me some shiny toys, so the Transmetals really strike a nerve with me. I have all of them, including just about every US/Japanese and Botcon/other exclusive version (except for Lucky Draws, don't have any of those). Dragon Megatron is a must-have if you don't have him already (Transmetal II Megatron).

The deluxes are great and the basics are surprisingly awesome in their own right, as they're extremely poseable so you can do tons of dynamic stuff with a BW display.

Some of the Japanese repaints of older G1/G2 figures are neat too. I just acquired God Neptune, a repaint of the G1 Seacons that just puts the original (and subsequent TFCC exclusive) to shame.

Transmetal Spittor is awesome, and he has a great red repaint in RID.

The remolded ones that Takara did for Beast Wars the second (Beast Wars II) were awesome as well, espeically Max-B, at least if you're like me and you like really freaky looking beast modes. They're a really cool mix of robot parts on organic bodies (done much better than in Beast Machines IMO).

I agree with a lot of the suggestions so far, though BW Neo has a lot of great molds too. Guiledart, Dead End, Big Convoy, Stampy, are some very solid figures, and aren't too pricey either.

Nekoman wrote:I agree with a lot of the suggestions so far, though BW Neo has a lot of great molds too. Guiledart, Dead End, Big Convoy, Stampy, are some very solid figures, and aren't too pricey either.

Fully agree, and I love Longrack, he may have an issue with his arm, but I think it looks cool, and I can't get over how good his beast mode looks.

And even though he's a total shell-former with very kibbly arms, I love Break. I just can't hate a TF that turns into a freakin' penguin, so cool !

xyl360 wrote:

Nekoman wrote:I agree with a lot of the suggestions so far, though BW Neo has a lot of great molds too. Guiledart, Dead End, Big Convoy, Stampy, are some very solid figures, and aren't too pricey either.

Fully agree, and I love Longrack, he may have an issue with his arm, but I think it looks cool, and I can't get over how good his beast mode looks.

And even though he's a total shell-former with very kibbly arms, I love Break. I just can't hate a TF that turns into a freakin' penguin, so cool !

Pun intended? Beast Wars was a big chunk of my childhood Transformers toys, so if I had to make a few suggestions I'd say..well I have nearly all of the ones mentioned, haha, and they're all great. I fully agree with the sentiment about Claw Jaw and Sky Shadow, they're two of my favorite non-cast characters.

One I really want to mention is Terragator! He's a turtle/alligator fuzor, if you hadn't guessed by the name. Oh, and he's got what is quite possibly the strangest weapon ever! K-9, Ramulus, and Snapper definitely get honorable mention. I know it's from Beast Machines, but Night Viper is simply AWESOME; it REALLY needs to get a redeco or something.

RAcast wrote:And even though he's a total shell-former with very kibbly arms, I love Break. I just can't hate a TF that turns into a freakin' penguin, so cool !

YES!!! I must have this penguin!!!

DISCHARGE wrote:I think when it comes to picking up Beast Wars toys, you have to go with your gut.
Is it a character you like? Does it look like it will fit in with what you are collecting towards?

Here's the issue...I'll get all the show characters eventually, but what I'm looking for here are fun toys that stand well on their own even though they weren't on the show.

Delicon wrote:

DISCHARGE wrote:I think when it comes to picking up Beast Wars toys, you have to go with your gut.
Is it a character you like? Does it look like it will fit in with what you are collecting towards?

Here's the issue...I'll get all the show characters eventually, but what I'm looking for here are fun toys that stand well on their own even though they weren't on the show.

Well, I've always thought Galvatron is cool cause he just looks like pure evil


always wanted to get a Moon, some reason I just never had


Also think the cybernetics looked cool


Maximal Bonecrusher is a fun toy


I am particularly fond of Beast Machines Buzzsaw. For such a small size he is
total fun. A great range of motion and decent articulation. The spring is set so you can pull of mid-flight sting attacks. He is really a fun toy(and can be gotten for cheap). He's the guy while mushing out watching tv, hold in one hand and just bat at the springy tail with the other, or maybe I'm just weird

Delicon wrote:...so what are some of the better lesser known molds I should be going after? Also, is there a good place online to find them?

These toys are pretty common (and often not much more mint than they were new) so you can find them almost everywhere. If you're looking for the best toys I think Magnaboss is great and Tripredacus is a distant second. If you're looking for rare ones I think the only uncommon one is the botcon 1996 Optimus Primal/batman bat. Of course I happen to have an extra one available in trade (certain G1 primarily).

Much of the basics are great little figures. Razorbeast is a favorite of mine. Since I own every version of Buzzclaw, apparently I like him too. You really can't go too wrong with the smaller ones. Also, I second Tako Tank even though I've yet to crack mine open. It was a sort of grail for so long that I just couldn't bring myself to tear it open. Lots of neat stuff in that box too. I can't think of too many non show guys I own really. Big Convoy, Magmatron and Galvatron are all pretty cool in differnt ways.

I'm still holding out hope for those 3rd party, Cybertron mode Lio Convoy and Magmatron toys.