Quickstrike (Predacon) - 1998

1998 saw the arrival of the Fuzors into Beast Wars - Transformers who, instead of having one distinct Beast Mode, suffered a "replication error" in their programming, ad so ended up with a mishmash of two beastly forms in their alt-mode. This made for some very interesting combinations, none more so than this violent, haphazard cowboy who wanted to fight everything and everyone, if only to ultimately prove how tough he was. 

Quickstrike has the alt-mode of not only a scuttling scorpion, but also a King Cobra, not only in place of a tail, but also instead of claws, making him a 'bot not to be messed with. Although it has to be said, the cartoon did make him a comic relief character, more often than not. Nevertheless, he could still bring it on occasion, and was no doubt a force to be reckoned with, unlike say, the hapless Waspinator.

The toy itself is of the Basic variety, those toys that would effectively serve as pocket money or "BUY ME" fodder in the toy aisles, but he was very lovely indeed, with all of that translucent yellow and blue plastic being counterpointed by the orange and blues of his legs and tail. In later years though, this would make him a nightmare to transform, that translucent goodness having the potential to crack and snap with age. If you have him, or get him, be careful with him, the old fellow is a little bit fragile these days. I can relate to that.

By the time 1998 rolled around, the boxt art on Beast Wars packages tended to be a lot smoother and less spiky than it hab been previously, but this mirrored the toys perfectly - Quickstrike is indeed full of glorious curves and not that spiky or scary. His demeanour may be ragged and violent, but there's almost an art deco swich to his design, and this shows in the box art. I do love the personality that his snake head has in this - something they also included in the cartoon.

Quickstrike then is a must for a Beast Wars collector - and if you can included his package card and art in there, you should. A mainstay of the latter part of the cartoon, and a cracking example of what the Fuzors gimmick was truly capable of, he'll stand out in your collection as a truly execllent piece.

Transquito (Predacon) - 1997

The only Mega class sized offering in wave three of the Beast Wars line, Transquito is in fact a triple changer, transforming as he did from robot (with uncanny valley-esque hands that almost appear human, at least to me) to mosquito, to a whip spider-like nightmare of a third mode, which is disconcerting to this day. I have to say, I bloody well love it. Predacons should always have that creepy gnarly edge to them, especially the insectformers, and Transquito has that in spades.

Never in the cartoon (because so few of the Beast Wars toys ever were), Transquito's character can be described best as an irritant, much like the corrosive fluid that he uses to mark out his territory - both Maximals AND Predacons are supposed to despise him, and that completely fits with his Beast Mode, because I find very few people in this world are fond of mosquitoes, given their stature as disease-carrying vampires. Still, that would have been interesting to see in the show, an outcast that Megatron would go to only in times of great need, when they absolutely, positively, HAD to go with the nuclear option.

As for ol' Transquito's package art, they're going for the "spiky terror" aesthetic again, aren't they? He looks completely horrific, as it should be, all spikes and legs and they even manage to get his mouth-firing missile gimmick in there, which is always lovely to see. It's worth pointing out his speed score as well, getting a solid 9.0 because let's face it, mosquitoes are speedy little buggers, aren't they? Stands to reason a robot that transforms into one would be too.

You can still find Transquito haunting eBay, although not as many people have him as you might think, given that he was one of the most notorious shelfwarmers of the Beast Wars era, still clogging up Toys R Us'es in the year 2000, when the line had effectively ended! Maybe people were put off by the spikiness, although I think he's great, and will definitely be looking for one for myself in the very near future...

 

K-9 (Maximal) - 1997

 

The second year of Beast Wars releases inevitably saw some recolours and retools from the first, it makes financial sense to wring every last use out of the molds you have for the toys, and it diversifies the line somewhat, giving you more characters to play with. Not that the show would be able to take advantage of this of course, and unless mandated by Hasbro, they tended to stick with the same characters. Which is a shame, because it means we never got to see Wolfang, and his retooled line cousin, K-9.

K-9, far from being the Doctor's tin dog here, is styled as a guard officer, very good at his job, perhaps even *too* good - he will often suspect his own comrades of impropriety as well as the Predacons, and keep his attention shifting between them both - but if he trusts you, that trust is unwavering, and you have an ally for life. Formatted to look like a German Shepherd dog, this certainly seems to be the best for for his personality type, and apart from a little bit of Obvious Hand Syndrome, he pulls off the look brilliantly, looking like a very good boy indeed. His tail also turns into a missile launcher, which, because it's Kenner, does have a bit of a Batman grappling hook vibe to it, but we'll find that more and more as we go along.

The package art is really nice too - none of the spikiness and downright weirdness that you got with the Predacons (although like I say, you ain't seen nothing yet) - K-9 is presented as a driven and heroic type, jumping into battle to defeat the evil of his foes, his teeth gritted and his jaw lanterned - it also includes the shield that usually sits on his back in robot mode, and becomes the back of his German Shepherd mode. Oh partsforming, I do love your cheating ways. Expect more of that in the future, for sure.

K-9 then is a very good example of a second year Beast Wars figure - more of the same from the first year, but with a bit more swagger, because now they know that the kids are getting into it. After this year, they really start to play with the concept, and go into some very strange places indeed...

Iguanus (Predacon) - 1996

Starting right at the start of the Beast Wars' lifespan, Iguanus was one of the very first of the Basics assortment to be released back in 1996, and so is a fantastic kicking off point for proceedings. It would seem though that straight away there's an issue - poor Iguanus is not an Iguana, rather a frilled lizard! It's not certain why, but people seem to think that the toy should have been on before the decision was somehow made to go with the frilly lad instead. Either way, it's a great name.

The art for Iguanus' robot mode actually isn't one of the freakiest we're going to see as we go along, in fact, it looks as normal as you'll get for Beast Wars (which was always going to be on the quirky side - these are animals that turn into robots and vice versa, after all!) - it's actually not a bad representation of the toy within, with the brown and yellow colour scheme coming out quite nicely, it has to be said. The glowing hand also is suggestive of strange powers the character might have, in fact his toy bio also seems to suggest he has the ability to alter devices to self-destruct if he so wishes, in his role as "Demolition Robot" - perhaps he was intended to be Rattrap's opposite number? As he never appeared in the show, we will never know.

The back of the box is a standard affair - in effect a toy catalogue for the other toys in the line, the instructions (VERY reminiscent of the old Mini-Autobot line) and the toy bio, something that all Hasbro and Kenner toys prided themselves on, and a big reason that Transformers had bested the Gobots all those years ago. The art again is show here, as Kenner would have expected most kids to have clipped and saved the bio, rather than keep the card all mint for future bloggers like me to eulogise. Also note the blurb in the top left corner, attempting to tell the story so far, which would soon get contradicted by the cartoon.

The toy itself is great; the Basic 1996 assortment was pretty revolutionary, with it's proto-automorphing and easy transformation. Perfect pocket money toys to grab the attention and get the kids collecting this new era of Transformers. I can certainly say from my perspective that this was pretty mindblowing stuff, not only were these not the Transformers I'd known as a kid myself, these were really well made and well thought out toys, taking the best from the latter years of the vehicle robots and turning them into something wholly new. But this was just the start, and things were going to get a whole lot cooler, AND a whole lot weirder...

(All pictures courtesy of Seibertron.com unless otherwise stated)

In The Beginning...

 ...there was G1, a toy, cartoon, comic book and merchandising behemoth, taking the Eighties by storm and making bucketloads of cash for the company that made it, Hasbro. But by the mid-Nineties, all of this had changed. The kids who had loved the Robots in Disguise had grown up and moved on, and weren't buying the toys, comics, merch and so on. The nostalgia boom that would come in the 2000s hadn't happened yet, so Hasbro kept trying to reboot their flagging franchise, hoping that something, anything, would stick. To cut a long story short, nothing did. Out of ideas, Hasbro decided to move Transformers on to their recently-acquired Kenner division (Kenner, who in the 70's had been visionary enough to take on the world of Star Wars in toy form) to see what they could come up with. What they did, not only revitalised the brand, but also added lore, ideas and concepts that have shaped the brand into what it is today.

Beast Wars first hit the shelves in 1996, to little fanfare. Long time fans of Transformers mostly didn't care for the concept of robots turning into organic beasts (TRUKK NOT MUNKY being the warcry of many a unhappy messageboard user well into the 2000s) but the quality of the toys, along with the ongoing TV cartoon ignoring the original story of G1 Transformers being these strange beasts, and rather going with the tale of two rival teams of Transformers in the far future, the Maximals and Predacons, travelling to the past in search of power and glory on a prehistoric planet.

Beast Wars was eventually a success, then. But what was on the shelves, to try and tempt the kids to look at Transformers in a completely different way? The toys took some popular gimmicks (ball jointed limbs, weapons as part of the alternate mode, even storage in the robots themselves) and incorporated them into the new line. Uniform size classes were introduced, so that kids could ask for an Ultra Class toy for Christmas or birthdays, and use their pocket money for the Basics or Deluxes. Both of these introductions are pretty much the standard even 25 years later.

This blog is about the art and packaging of this new era of Transformers, mainly because I don't see that much online about it, and I really don't think that's fair. This was eyecatching and revolutionary stuff, the new designs being a complete sea change from the completely robotic designs of the previous decade. They were wild, imaginative, sometimes even freakish and scary, and I came to absolutely love them. Even though the budgetary constraints of the cartoon only allowed for a few cast members on each side, the artwork on the Beast Wars boxes and cards gave them so much character, and I personally think it's important to remember and celebrate that.

Not only will I be looking at the art and packaging, but also the catalogues, various weird and wonderful merch, and also the toys, because let's face it, they're quite important too, right? So please, join me on a journey through time and space, to the awesomely amazing world of...BEAST WARS!