The Energon Pub

So I was a big Beast Wars fan, as it came around the time when I was old enough to buy my own toys. I have most of them, but wasn't a big fan of the original line pre-Transmetal.

Thinking back fondly on the first season, I would really like to get original Optimus Primal and Megatron. The Reborn set seems to be everything I want, especially with the golden disk, but the price isn't justifiable.

There appear to be differences in paint and colors between the original releases, 10th anniversary releases, and Reborn set. Maybe even more with Japanese versions.

Can anyone shed some light on the differences, and which versions I should be looking to acquire?

For instance:


Is the left the more cartoon accurate colors only available in the Reborn set? I don't have any reference screenshots to compare to right now. It seems to be, but that would mean they made the one on the left WAY wrong originally.

Look no further. Simply put, there are several flavors, some which are technically "cheats" as they're not the old molds from 1996. Here's the total breakdown:

Japan
Beast Wars Reborn
These figures have the show accurate heads and chest. They were brought over to the US, unchanged, as Toys 'R Us exclusives. Be careful though: some reports say that the US version of Megatron lacks a piece that locks the waist in place.

Telemocha
Here's one of those "cheats": instead of the regular molds, Takara used the smaller Robot Masters molds, with show accurate decos. Each figure comes with a DVD containing an episode of the original show, Season 1, dubbed in Japanese.

Telemocha DX
This gets confusing: these have even more show-accurate decos, yet have the heads of the original toys, mutant heads and all.

US
10th Anniversary Series 3
Another cheat, those are original molds, based on the gorilla and T-Rex forms but with Cyber Key gimmicks, to integrate them into the Cybertron line "should the Anniversary line not start"

Optimus Primal vs. Megatron
See Beast Wars Reborn.

Simply put, if you want the larger toys, there are just 2 to 3 kinds of reissues between the US and Japan. Price seems to be an issue, so I'd suggest hunt down the US 10th Anniversary versus set or the Telemocha DX molds.

So 10th anniversary Primal vs Megatron (TRU exclusive i believe) should be identical to Reborn from japan? The difference being the packaging and the Golden disk? THanks



as a follow up question. Of the original cast (Season 1) pre-transmetal. Were there decent toys of Rhinox and Rattrap? I know there is a silly Rhinox one, but I don't know much about original Rattrap. Part of me wants to build up a season1 cast of Maximals/Predacons (scoprinok, waspinator, terrasaur etc) but I think the toys are just too poor.

I may get Inferno since he was so awesome, and stick to the transmetals and stuff I have.

IceWilly wrote:So 10th anniversary Primal vs Megatron (TRU exclusive i believe) should be identical to Reborn from japan? The difference being the packaging and the Golden disk? THanks



as a follow up question. Of the original cast (Season 1) pre-transmetal. Were there decent toys of Rhinox and Rattrap? I know there is a silly Rhinox one, but I don't know much about original Rattrap. Part of me wants to build up a season1 cast of Maximals/Predacons (scoprinok, waspinator, terrasaur etc) but I think the toys are just too poor.

I may get Inferno since he was so awesome, and stick to the transmetals and stuff I have.

The original Rattrap was a springloaded basic: pull up on the tail and you're done. Ball joints all over. Here's the Gallery

Unfortunately, there are no multiple versions of a character per year, but there is a catch, albeit expensive. Takara's versions of the toys were initially identical to Hasbro's. In the second year the toys were redecoed for show-accuracy, but that was a hit and miss.

My goal of having show-accurate characters seems to be the same as yours, so I'll share my check-off list with you:

Maximals
- BWR-01 Convoy

- TM-05 Dinobot (JP Reissue)
- Rattrap
- TM-03 Cheetus (JP Reissue)
- TM-09 Rhinox (JP Reissue)
- TM-11 Tigatron (JP Reissue)
- Airazor

Predacons
- BWR-01 Megatron

- Scorponok
- D-5 Terrorzaurer
- Tarantulas (Reissue)
- Waspinator (Reissue) / TM-04 Waspitor (JP Reissue)
- Inferno
- TM-06 Black Widow (JP Reissue)

great info and thanks. Pretty much exactly what i was looking. I'll have to see what kind of budget I am looking for on to catch up on the first season of toys.

Forget the RM Megatron!
he looks good in T-Rex mode, but sucks pretty much in bot-mode but the paint and head are nice.

The Telemocha TM-SP DX versions are in my opinion the best.

My only gripe with the Convoy one I have is the ball joint for the head seems quite loose, so the head tilts back a bit.

I picked him up about a year ago, for 40 bucks so I'm very happy

The main difference between the American and Japanese versions of the Convoy/Primal mold is the chest. American versions have the closed chest. while Japanese versions have the hole in the middle and the vent look to the abs.

the Telemocha Paint scheme is quite nice. The boxes are very large for the individual release. They come with a DVD as well.

The figure itself is fantastic in my opinion. Lots of accessories and gimmicks. Including the mutant face.

The only feature I would have liked to see is Convoy's thruster Pack, which could have easily been accomplished by giving the shoulder cannons a click point between closed and over the shoulder.

Overcracker wrote:The main difference between the American and Japanese versions of the Convoy/Primal mold is the chest. American versions have the closed chest. while Japanese versions have the hole in the middle and the vent look to the abs.

That's the difference between Beast Wars Reborn and Telemocha DX, not Us and Japan. See my first post.

IceWilly wrote:So I was a big Beast Wars fan, as it came around the time when I was old enough to buy my own toys. I have most of them, but wasn't a big fan of the original line pre-Transmetal.

Thinking back fondly on the first season, I would really like to get original Optimus Primal and Megatron. The Reborn set seems to be everything I want, especially with the golden disk, but the price isn't justifiable.

There appear to be differences in paint and colors between the original releases, 10th anniversary releases, and Reborn set. Maybe even more with Japanese versions.

Can anyone shed some light on the differences, and which versions I should be looking to acquire?

For instance:


Is the left the more cartoon accurate colors only available in the Reborn set? I don't have any reference screenshots to compare to right now. It seems to be, but that would mean they made the one on the left WAY wrong originally.

Someone can Correct me if im wrong, but the left is the more accurate one and probably from the Reborn/TRU re-releases and the one on the right is probably the original 90's release.

I currently have both. I love the accuracy of the reborn/Tru versions but still have the originals bc, well, they are the orginals... but thats the only 2 versions i would buy...