Looking Back on Beast Machines
Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2018 3:55 pm
The other day I got this... weird, sudden flash of nostalgia for Beast Machines, of all things. Which is weird, because as a 13-year-old, I kind of hated that show.
Beast Wars was what I grew up with. I'd had just enough exposure to G1 thanks to swap meets and VHS tapes to appreciate Beast Wars not just on its own merits, but as a part of something bigger than itself. Halfway through Beast Wars' first season, my family moved way the hell out into the boondocks to try our hand at homesteading. We had no TV reception, but we had a TV and a generator, and my grandfather, may he rest in peace, taped Beast Wars for me and my siblings. Out there, I was a pretty lonely kid, and the Maximals became my "best friends." Beast Wars had such a profound effect on me that it inspired me to become a writer as an adult.
So when Beast Machines came around, I hated seeing Rattrap reduced to a whiner without any of his past snark. Optimus Primal turned into a short-sighted zealot. Silverbolt made heartless and dour. And most egregiously, Rhinox made evil. The sheer stupidity of primordial ooze as a do-all plot device and the liberties the series took with G1 canon were aggravating too, but it was the characters I cared enough. Most of the time, I'm content to pretend Beast Machines never happened.
But all of a sudden, I saw the Beast Machines logo somewhere and my mood just... flipped. Not the series or the toys themselves, oh god no, but like, that very strange period in the franchise's history. Looking back on it, it's kind of hard to believe how weird Transformers got at that point. Biomechanical figures, unorthodox designs, a complete lack of show accuracy... these toys had nothing to do with the original G1 Transformers in concept or aesthetic, but at the same time you could see the clear evolution from one into the other. Looking back on it now, after 18 years of relative brand stability, it feels kind of surreal how the brand got so "off-focus" like that.
And you know? As much as I'm looking forward to the Siege toys, at the same time I feel like it's kind of a shame Hasbro isn't as experimental as it used to be. I love building up my "neo-G1" collection (and it's about damn time I got a good Ironhide figure for it), but I feel like the brand has been scared to try anything fresh since Animated, and that's a crying shame.
Beast Wars was what I grew up with. I'd had just enough exposure to G1 thanks to swap meets and VHS tapes to appreciate Beast Wars not just on its own merits, but as a part of something bigger than itself. Halfway through Beast Wars' first season, my family moved way the hell out into the boondocks to try our hand at homesteading. We had no TV reception, but we had a TV and a generator, and my grandfather, may he rest in peace, taped Beast Wars for me and my siblings. Out there, I was a pretty lonely kid, and the Maximals became my "best friends." Beast Wars had such a profound effect on me that it inspired me to become a writer as an adult.
So when Beast Machines came around, I hated seeing Rattrap reduced to a whiner without any of his past snark. Optimus Primal turned into a short-sighted zealot. Silverbolt made heartless and dour. And most egregiously, Rhinox made evil. The sheer stupidity of primordial ooze as a do-all plot device and the liberties the series took with G1 canon were aggravating too, but it was the characters I cared enough. Most of the time, I'm content to pretend Beast Machines never happened.
But all of a sudden, I saw the Beast Machines logo somewhere and my mood just... flipped. Not the series or the toys themselves, oh god no, but like, that very strange period in the franchise's history. Looking back on it, it's kind of hard to believe how weird Transformers got at that point. Biomechanical figures, unorthodox designs, a complete lack of show accuracy... these toys had nothing to do with the original G1 Transformers in concept or aesthetic, but at the same time you could see the clear evolution from one into the other. Looking back on it now, after 18 years of relative brand stability, it feels kind of surreal how the brand got so "off-focus" like that.
And you know? As much as I'm looking forward to the Siege toys, at the same time I feel like it's kind of a shame Hasbro isn't as experimental as it used to be. I love building up my "neo-G1" collection (and it's about damn time I got a good Ironhide figure for it), but I feel like the brand has been scared to try anything fresh since Animated, and that's a crying shame.