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Every two weeks, Seibertron.com brings you a Top 5 list related to all things Transformers written by me, your fellow editor. These are our opinions so what matters most is what you guys think of the topic or list, and I hope to see your own lists or comments on omissions and ranking. Let's have fun! All previous lists can be found here.

Top 5 Best Beast Machines Toys

If you heard that the best part of the Beast machines toyline were everything aside for the onscreen beasts, well there is some truth to it. It was a return to vehicles and the designers seemed to give their all for anything that flew or had wheels, as if they could finally pour out all the ideas they had been keeping on the side for years during the beast wars. The line is a celebration in a way, of the mixture between styles, the organic and the mechanic, which is the theme of the show. This list will be that too with a mix of the vehicons and beasts, though more the ones that were not seen in the show. You'll see what I mean, now let's get to it!


5. Sonic Attack Jet (Jetstorm)

This is one of the better toys that is based on a show character and also happens to look like the show character, to an extent better than most. It even has a hover mode. Now, I picked this redeco over the original because I feel the vibrant blues are far more accurate to Jetstorm on the show (easily my favourite villain of the three generals). It's a beautiful and sleek cybertronian jet, with no obvious robot kibble (even though it's technically right there in front of you) with a nice transformation and a solid robot mode. Not much more I could ask for in a toy.


Transformers Beast Machines Tank Drone Gallery


Transformers Beast Machines Tank Drone Gallery


Transformers Beast Machines Jetstorm Gallery

4. Battle Unicorn

Most of the basic figures in Beast Machines were really solid and it's the class with easily the most consistently good figures. Battle Unicorn is the first of the two on this list. I really like that Hasbro once again gave us a mythological animal in the Beast era. While it may be similar to a horse, they really go out of their way to give it that extra mythical appearance by extending the theme of a central horn onto the robot mode's crest (which also gives it the appearance of a spartan helmet, and we know the Greeks are linked to both horses and myths). Plus we have a fire theme with beautiful clear red plastic. It looks like a jewel.






3. Transformers Beast Machines Blackarachnia

Even when the MP will come out, this will remain one of the better Blackarachnia figures. I really like the transformation, which gives us a great spider mode even though the details don't match up perfectly with the show. And it gives us the multiple eyes gimmick in robot mode too. It is also one of the better toys done for a female character, emphasizing the different body type a female Cybertronian could have. It's just a well done toy all around, conveying the essence of the character and the biotech theme of the show, regardless of its accuracy.










2. Transformers Beast Machines Night Viper Gallery

This is one of the best designs of the beast era. The idea of a limbless creature turning into a robot with 4 limbs could drive some toy designers mad but Hasbro and Takara achieved it and with great success. I really love how the tail becomes not one but two legs. It's also a very unique robot look and for once you don't have itty biddy thighs leading up to big feet. There is a really cool fantasy element to this toy's proportions and the design, at least in robot mode, reminds me a lot of a ancient headpieces. The snake mode looks great too, and even has a biting gimmick. What impresses the most though is all the dedication given to a small toy at a very low price point. This toy is as complex, detailed and articulated as any toy commanding higher prices in its toyline, which is something you don't see these days.


















1. Transformers Beast Machines Tankor

Tankor is one of the most overlooked Transformers toys out there. He isn’t show accurate in the slightest, and that’s why no one cares about him now, but he is an incredible transforming toy! He is a beast of a machine in both modes and has an involved yet very intuitive transformation. I love his gimmicks too like his saw blades that can be revealed in tank mode as well as the most complex light piping gimmick ever done. Unlike the show model, this toy actually has two separate heads, one for robot mode and one for tank mode (which I like better, it feels less lazy as a transforming toy) and both heads share an interconnected light piping gimmick which makes it appear as though he is scanning the environment just as he would on the show. Also, his huge size also makes him work as a much worthy opponent to the other non accurate Beast Machines figures out there. In a fit of irony, his size makes him seem more suited to lead an army made up of the more show accurate Tankor that was released in a much smaller scale (also pictured below).

does chug tankor counts too? while it is released under generations banner, i think it still counts as beast machine toy, and deserve a spot on the list too. not 1st spot, i admit, but a spot, nonetheless.

All very great choices. The Beast Machines toyline had some fantastic non-show figures, and I say that as one who loves the show enough to actually chart a full day-to-day timeline for its chronology, complete with even incorporating the old BotCon 2001–OTFCC 2004 Wreckers storyline. Speaking of which, I loved seeing nearly every single non-show Vehicon toy represented in the BotCon 2001 comic, which even included the Mega class Tankor toy repurposed as drones for the Vehicon general Quake, who was a proposed but never-made redeco of the toy, and I still wish it had gotten made.



What's even cooler is how that old Wreckers fiction actually managed to work in all of those non-show Vehicons into the show's universe without interfering with the cartoon's use of only select Vehicon drone types. The answer: All of the non-show Vehicons were prototype models Megatron had built during the earliest terrorist attacks he had initiated before he finally unleashed his virus on the planet, after which he no longer needed all of the diverse drone types he had built and instead could focus his resources more efficiently by simply sticking to just the main four he was using after he unleashed his virus: Aero Drones, Tank Drones, Cycle Drones, and Mole Drones.



The non-show Maximals, meanwhile, were brought into the show's universe after the planetary reformatting at the end of the series, during which point Snarl, Longhorn, Skydive, Quickstrike, Che, Night Viper, Buzzsaw, and Hammerstrike all got a chance to fight back against a Quintesson invasion of Cybertron, besting the Sharkticons with all of their awesome new Technorganic abilities, also taking full advantage of their home turf's new look and using the environment against the invaders. And as a bonus cheeky reference to how much excess leftover stock of Battle Unicorns there was on BBTS over the years, the story featured a battalion of mass-produced Battle Unicorns for the other Maximals to ride into battle as warrior steeds.

As for the show-character toy of Blackarachnia, while I do think it's a great figure, it did always bug me as a kid that the toy was dark purple instead of bright pink like she was in the show. Luckily, Takara rectified that years later their their pink Beast Wars Returns version in 2004, which I was able to acquire loose at BotCon 2016. Though, mine also has a misassembly in which one of her fingers is on backwards. Since the fingers are pinned onto the arm, I can't take it off and put it back on the right way. But, by simply swapping her left and right lower arms, the backwards finger now works as an actually aesthetically-pleasing thumb!

night viper? seriously?
clearly there are many others that are much better
for example

I am still baffled that Takara didn't use the Night Slash Cheetor mold with a show-accurate deco for their Beast Wars Returns line, instead opting for the less-show-accurate Mega class Cheetor mold with a deco that was nigh-identical to the Hasbro version, when they were willing to use the similarly show-based Tank Drone, Motorcycle Drone, and Ultra class Jetstorm molds with show-accurate decos for their default Tankor, Thrust, and Jetstorm toys.

I’ve never handled a single BM figure, but I’m actually surprised by how much I like the looks of Battle Unicorn, Blackarachnia, and Nightviper. The latter in particular.

I've said it before, in relation to Beast Machines alone, Show Accuracy is NOT the ideal in this case. Deluxe Jetstorm looked a lot better than the Show Model, for example. The same applies to Tankor above.

My list diverges a bit from Will's selection. Personally, I think only two Maximal figures are decent enough to be mentioned positively in any BM list retrospectively. That includes only one of the above.


5. Battle Unicorn - Sadly wasted in this line as a non-show character.

4. Scavenger - This little guy oozes charm. He would have looked amazing as a deluxe or mega class

3. Jetstorm - I really love this mold, I have all five redecos, after all.

2. Optimus Primal (Deluxe Class) - Superior to the show model and design in every way.

1. Tankor - No arguments there at all.

Honourable mentions - Mirage, Blastcharge and Megatron Megabolt (Technically)

Ultra Markus wrote:night viper? seriously?
clearly there are many others that are much better
for example

r_nightslashcheetor050.jpg

But Cheetor was a show character. The list is for non-show. And anyway, we have lots of Cat Transformers out there. There are 3 Snake Transformers, and one of them is an arms Micron. As the author said, NightViper does something totally and completely unique by turning a highly segmented lmtail into a paor of legs. Cohrada cheated by using thebtail as a whip arm and has a stub left as a compromise. Night viper has 4 proportionate limbs. And he was only a scout class figure. That deserves recognition.

Ultra Markus wrote:night viper? seriously?
clearly there are many others that are much better
for example

r_nightslashcheetor050.jpg

But Cheetor was a show character. The list is for non-show. And anyway, we have lots of Cat Transformers out there. There are 3 Snake Transformers, and one of them is an arms Micron. As the author said, NightViper does something totally and completely unique by turning a highly segmented lmtail into a paor of legs. Cohrada cheated by using thebtail as a whip arm and has a stub left as a compromise. Night viper has 4 proportionate limbs. And he was only a scout class figure. That deserves recognition.

I don't think they've ever really worked as a decent figure though. There is always a structural compromise to a Snake-Bot. As such, the only one that ever looked good was Quickstrike, because it was an arm/tail and not his direct frame.

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:I don't think they've ever really worked as a decent figure though. There is always a structural compromise to a Snake-Bot. As such, the only one that ever looked good was Quickstrike, because it was an arm/tail and not his direct frame.

What steuctural compromise does Night Viper have though? A scaled up version might be too hevay for thr legs, but the scout stands perfectly. Kibble? The arms clear the backpack, anf the arm kibble can be used as clubs or shields if one wanted to, and there are a LOT of traditiinal alt mode figures with mire obtrusive kibble

It isn't about kibble or backpacks. They are always an emaciated design, because of the limited bulk afforded to the Beast Mode. When the overall aesthetic shape of the bot head is essentially the same as the Beast Mode, it blurs the line between the two modes.

Flashwave wrote:But Cheetor was a show character. The list is for non-show.

Blackarachnia is on the list.

Sabrblade wrote:

Flashwave wrote:But Cheetor was a show character. The list is for non-show.

Blackarachnia is on the list.

Not obly that, but it doesbt even say Non Show. So thats entirely on me. I just assumed he was tmcounting Tankor on a technicality because its really, REALLY not his show toy.

In my opinion most of the Beast Machine toys were junk. All the deluxe versions of Jetstorm were great.

It almost seems that the design team had run out of [interesting] ideas for Beast Bots by the time of BM. Most of them are just really poor iterations of previous figures IE Cybershark to Hammerstrike, Terrorsaur to Skydive etc

In contrast, the Vehicons show where their heads were creatively. Also mirrored by the design concepts for Transtech, that don't really feature any Beasts/organics at all. Which would have been a weird plot hole to overcome, in light of how Beast Machines ended.

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:It almost seems that the design team had run out of [interesting] ideas for Beast Bots by the time of BM. Most of them are just really poor iterations of previous figures IE Cybershark to Hammerstrike, Terrorsaur to Skydive etc

In contrast, the Vehicons show where their heads were creatively. Also mirrored by the design concepts for Transtech, that don't really feature any Beasts/organics at all. Which would have been a weird plot hole to overcome, in light of how Beast Machines ended.

They looked like technorganic vehicles to me, which is an awesome concept for an alien race.

Sabrblade wrote:They looked like technorganic vehicles to me, which is an awesome concept for an alien race.

Indeed.

To me, they have True Cybertronian designs. Not remotely Earth-like in any way, the whole "Alien Robots" part of Transformers, fully realised. Atypical limbs, heads etc

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:They looked like technorganic vehicles to me, which is an awesome concept for an alien race.

Indeed.

To me, they have True Cybertronian designs. Not remotely Earth-like in any way, the whole "Alien Robots" part of Transformers, fully realised. Atypical limbs, heads etc

IMHO, with the Beast Wars II and Neo series being set after Beast Machines, the Cybertronian forms of the Lio Convoy Unit and Galvatron Unit seen in the first two episodes of BWII look weird and alien enough to pass for Technorganic bodies that the Galvatron Unit all could have originally had Technorganic vehicle altmodes before they scanned their Earthen vehicle altmodes on Gaia, which to me is a cool notion to think about.

I... don't tend to think on Second or Neo at all. Beast Wars = Mainframe and all that.

I always forget that Beast Machines exists. I'm also okay with that, but that is more to do with the show than the toy line. I don't know and/or remember enough of this line to make a list. The only figure I still have from it is Jetstorm.

What about Universe Air Attack Optimus Primal. I know he's a late-comer but technically he is the closest to masterpiece BM Primal accuracy? Just Sayin' as it is.

Rogue-Primal wrote:What about Universe Air Attack Optimus Primal. I know he's a late-comer but technically he is the closest to masterpiece BM Primal accuracy? Just Sayin' as it is.

RiD actually, but you are right in that he was originally for Beast Machines. However, recently he's come forward as a victim of Gold Plastic Syndrom in his feet and torso.

Besides, being accurate to That design of Primal wouldn't get you in a top 20 figures. Let alone the top 5...

never thought he had GPS syndrome. thought he was painted.

Did the Japanese Encore 2018 Air Attack have that issue?