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Links to scans of the catalog for the Japanese Beast Wars series can be found at the bottom of the page.
Click on a link here to go directly to an entry, or scroll down:
B'Boom
LATEST
Blackarachnia
Cheetor
Cybershark
Depth Charge
Dinobot
Megatron
Optimus Primal
Prowl
Rampage
Ramulus
Rattrap
Scourge
Tigerhawk
B'Boom LATEST
B'Boom never appeared on the Beast Wars show, but here is the mandrill's tech specs from the back of his box:
B'Boom Maximal Guerrilla Warfare Specialist Strength 8 Intelligence 7 Speed 6 Endurance 7 Rank 7 Courage 9 Firepower 7 Skill 6 A guerrilla warfare tactical expert, B'Boom is one of the fiercest and most unpredictable of the Maximals. Though hard to control and often driven by a temporary fury that sends him speeding up and down the trees, his focus while in battle is easily apparent by the savage fire in his eyes. Dexterous, brave and clever, B'Boom is fiercest while in mega artillery attack mode, a state in which his arsenal is as fully loaded and functional as a battle emplacement. His favorite weapon, a launcher hidden within his mouth, deploys pulse missiles that detonate but do not burn-leaving his best weapon, the wilderness, unharmed.
The following are my scans of B'Boom:
The B'Boom figure is identical to his Japanese version, Apache, who did show up in the Japanese Transformers series Beast Wars II.
One of several Maximal protoforms reprogrammed to serve the Predacons, Blackarachnia is one black widow spider with her own ambitions to lead the Predacons. Originally a partner with Tarantulas but with her own agenda, she and he became enemies starting in the 2nd season premiere episode "Aftermath".
In the episode "Bad Spark" she got assistance against him from a Maximal, Silverbolt, with whom she began a relationship. After a falling-out with TM Megatron in the 3rd season premiere episode "Optimal Situation", she joined her boyfriend Silverbolt with the Maximals against him and the Predacons.
She was still a loose gun even within the Maximal faction. Thinking she should gain more power, she was going to use the alien Transmetal 2 driver device, brought back to the new Maximal base by Depth Charge, to upgrade her body. Silverbolt's unanticipated interference in that process interrupted it.
This left her in a precarious state and required Rhinox to operate to remove a Predacon shell program inserted by Tarantulas into her original Maximal protoform form. Alerted by the program when Rhinox began the operation, TM Tarantulas led an attack against the Maximal base and succeeded in disrupting power right before Rhinox could cut the final connection.
Informed by Rhinox that she was dead, the enraged Silverbolt chased down and beat up TM Tarantulas. When Rampage intervened and was about to do serious damage to him, Blackarachnia showed up in her new Transmetal 2 (TM2) form and dealt with Rampage on her own. She said that the last thing she remembered was falling down a pit and seeing a light; the alien Transmetal 2 driver device was actually what brought her back to life in a new form.
Here are pictures of my TM2 Blackarachnia:
Cheetor is the youngest of the original crew members aboard the Maximal ship Axalon. He was altered by the quantum surge explosion in the 2nd season premiere episode "Aftermath" into his Transmetal (TM) form.
In the 3rd season two-parter episode "Feral Scream", after he had taken the driver component from the Predacons' Transmetal 2 (TM2) creation tower which had created the TM2 Dinobot, he was shot by TM Megatron in the same space where the driver used to be. This led to the destruction of the tower and the apparent death of Cheetor, but somehow he survived. However, he became a werecheetah, with the ability to switch between his TM and TM2 forms, until he became his TM2 form permanently. Cheetor is now capable of very quick flights and attacks.
Here are some pictures of the TM2 Cheetor figure:
Cybershark is a Maximal who transforms into a shark. He never appears on the show itself, but he has a Transmetal 2 version anyway.
This version never appears on the show either, but like his original version he looks vicious for a Maximal. Here are some pictures of this version:
Depth Charge was the one who subdued Rampage, a newly created Protoform X who ravaged the colony on Omicron Theta, and turned him over to the Maximal Elders. Depth Charge was responsible for security for the colony, so he was upset with the Maximal Elders' decision to let the Axalon's crew abandon Protoform X somewhere. He started looking for the crew when they disappeared from their time, and ended up with them and assumed his Transmetal form. His main goal is to somehow kill Rampage, while helping the Maximals whenever he can and wants to.
Here (20K, figure, 9/28/98) is Depth Charge's robot mode. Like Silverbolt's, Depth Charge's backpack (16K, figure, 9/28/98) contains the trigger mechanism for his projectiles. Unfortunately DC's is much larger, but luckily it can be concealed from the front by his manta ray wings. The wings are very large and graceful, but the robot torso looks boxy in the chest and abdomen because of his projectile storage area and his unusual lower body transformation.
Here (19K, figure, 9/28/98) is a close-up look at DC's head.
The little creature, a remora (13K, figure, 9/28/98), that comes with DC can be placed in his hands, although its lower fins and length prevent DC from being able to hold it straight out with bent elbows. The fists can also be swapped with the thrusters inside his arms to form drills, as seen here (13K, figure, 9/28/98).
The manta ray mode and his remora (14K, figure, 9/28/98) look very keen. Basically the robot legs split apart and wrap over the top of the manta ray, while the robot arms are swept to the back to form the engine thrusters. The remora can be stored underneath the manta ray. The cruiser mode (17K, figure, 9/28/98) is formed by moving the wings upwards and around to form solar sails. The gold molded Maximal symbols can be seen along its green-tinted surfaces in this mode. Personally I think his manta ray mode can also serve as his cruiser mode, since it looks more stable this way.
Although Dinobot was a Predacon, he switched his allegiance to the Maximals and eventually died after destroying the original Golden Disk and saving humanity from the Predacons.
However, TM Megatron used the same DNA as Dinobot's to develop his Transmetal 2 (TM2) technology for the cyber-raptors. With the half of the spark of Rampage that he had taken earlier, TM Megatron created a brand-new TM2 Dinobot unlike the original Dinobot in many ways.
Below are some pictures of my TM2 Dinobot figure:
It turns out that the TM2 Dinobot figure can hold the tail weapon from the original Dinobot figure, his Grimlock repaint, or the cyborg version (Thrustor) from BWII. The weapon's peg can fit into the hole in his left robot hand's talon. Here are my two pictures of him holding Thrustor's tail weapon, which can also launch the grey claw at its end and looks much nastier than the other tail weapons:
TM2 Dinobot was later repainted with white parts where he was once ivory, and a lighter blue where he was dark blue. He was still packaged with the same background though. Here are my pictures of this version:
Megatron is the leader of the Predacons on Earth. His primary goal is to bring about the glory of the Predacons, though his means of achieving this changes as the Beast Wars series proceeded. In the 1st season he tried repeatedly to procure the planet's abundant amounts of energon for the Predacons, but failed in this endeavor. However, he did convert several of the new Transformers, created from the Maximal protoforms falling onto the planet in stasis pods, over to the Predacons. He also destroyed the Maximal commander, Optimus Primal, at the very end of the 1st season.
The impact of Optimus Primal's transwarp-equipped pod with the orbital alien destruction device destroyed them both, creating a quantum surge explosion. When the surge hit some Transformers, it turned them into Transmetals, of which Megatron is one. More powerful than before, he continued his fight against the Maximals throughout the 2nd season, this time with the intention of changing history to benefit the Predacons. He tried to wipe out the early humans in "Code of Hero", and later destroy Optimus Prime in "The Agenda". He failed in both attempts, inadvertently setting the history he wanted to derail into place and creating Primal's larger Optimal Optimus form when Primal absorbed Prime's spark to save it.
With help from Tarantulas, Megatron defeated the Maximals with a remote-controlled Optimus Primal. Quickstrike operated him using Tarantulas' new device tapped into a virus which burrowed into Primal and implanted itself in his spark. Megatron then went into the Ark, the Autobot ship, and came upon the deactivated Decepticon leader Megatron, his namesake. Megatron took the Decepticon's spark into himself in an attempt to give himself an even more powerful form like Primal did. He was betrayed by Tarantulas when he was picked up by the Quickstrike-controlled Primal and dropped into the nearby lava on the spider's orders. However, the lava aided the process. When Megatron arose from the lava later, he had become a large flaming-red dragon, his Transmetal 2 form.
Here are my pictures of the Transmetal 2 Megatron figure:
Optimus Primal is the leader of the Maximals on Earth. He constantly has to stop various plans devised by Predacon leader Megatron to defeat the Maximals among others. His body was destroyed at the very end of the 1st season two-part finale episode "Other Voices" when Megatron trapped him inside a pod Primal was using to destroy the aliens' orbital destruction device.
Despite this, Rhinox was able to retrieve his spark and implant it into a new, Transmetal (TM) body by the end of the 2nd season episode "Coming of the Fuzors Part II". Throughout the rest of the 2nd season he continued his fight against a TM Megatron, who stepped up his attacks. The struggle became a war to preserve ancient history by the Maximals, involving the early humans and later the Autobot ship (the Ark) and the Decepticon ship (the Nemesis) in the end.
Optimal Optimus is the latest incarnation of Optimus Primal after his Transmetal form, but is not the character's new name. His toy figure is large, about the same height as Powermaster Optimus Prime in their robot modes from head to feet.
Here (18K, figure, 9/4/98) is a direct scan, though too dark, of how I think Optimal Optimus' ground-assault vehicle mode could look like. To get this, I separated the blue shoulders from the inner black pegs and rotated them so that the inscribed rectangles on the inside surfaces have their long edges perpendicular to the ground. This also moves the blue shoulders below the back surface of the gorilla mode's back.
Next, I rested the inner black pegs on top of the blue shoulders, and rotate the gorilla chest upwards so that its surface is roughly parallel to the ground. I then moved the front wheel assembly out toward the front, and insert the arm pegs into its holes. To cover the gorilla chest, I moved the canopy forward so that it is pointing straight out, and laid it over the chest.
As for the arms, they should be aligned almost parallel to the ground. I thought the area behind the arms looked sparse, so I took off the bottom armor panels from the arms and attached them to the hole at the top of the arm near the rear. I also turned the wings so that they covered up the sides underneath the panels. This gives the vehicle a more streamlined look.
For the rear end, I took advantage of the double joints in each knee. I separated the legs, rotated each grey upper leg about its black part notch by notch until it is resting against the gorilla's blue knee pad, and rotated the lower blue legs up against the upper grey legs. After rotating the feet at the ankles, flipping down the rear wheels, and flipping up the fins, it's ready to roll!
For robot mode I actually turned his lower body around so that the gorilla end of his feet goes behind him while the robotic-looking end comes out in front. If you have his knees bent the way I did for the ground-assault vehicle mode, Optimal Optimus would stand all right. Without those gorilla feet, he now looks more like a humanoid robot. I prefer to leave the blast armor covering his arms, and to bring the arms close to the rest of the body. His hands can hold the huge missile launcher I built for my version of God Ginrai (click here for more details) to go with his bulk. The gun packed with Optimal Optimus seems too small for his stature.
The following are more of my pictures of the Optimal Optimus figure.
Robot mode:
Ground-assault vehicle mode (Note: These pictures are of him with the black pegs inside the blue circular shoulders):
Hypersonic attack mode:
Gorilla mode:
If you want to see a comparison of Optimal Optimus' size with the sizes of the original Optimus Prime and the Generation 2 Laser Optimus Prime, look at this large picture here (50K, figure, 11/2/98).
Prowl is a Maximal. He never appears on the show, but a figure of him as a lion Transformer was released as part of the Magnaboss combiner set of three with an Ironhide and a Silverbolt (not the Fuzor). It's uncertain whether he is meant to be the same as the one in the original Transformers series.
Prowl is also released as an owl Transformer in the Beast Wars Transmetal 2 (TM2) line, even though this form never appears in the show itself. However, his specs on the back of his package definitely links him to the original series' Prowl on some level.
Below are some pictures of the TM2 Prowl figure and my comments:
Rampage is one of the largest Beast Wars Transformers on Earth. He was originally known as Protoform X, an attempt by the Maximal Elders to create an immortal spark. The experiment went awry with him becoming just as treacherous and devious as the spark of Starscream they were trying to emulate. He destroyed a colony on Omicron Theta, an action for which Depth Charge captured him and turned him over to the Maximal Elders. He was then imprisoned in a pod and sent aboard the Axalon to be disposed and abandoned.
However, his pod was one of those which crashed on Earth. He eventually assumed his Transmetal form and attacked the Maximals. After that defeat TM Megatron came by with an energon blade and took away half of his spark to be placed inside a handheld squeezable cage. From that point Rampage became a Predacon, partly because Megatron could cause him pain by squeezing the spark half, and partly because Rampage himself enjoys being one and can feed on his victims' fear.
Below are some comments and pictures of the Rampage figure.
For the king crab mode here (16K, figure, 9/28/98) I turned his cannon so that it faces backward, and stored his missiles and shotgun in his claws. The cannon can fit in between his robot legs this way. To allow the robot legs to fit closer to the crab's shell, I recommend turning his robot head so that it faces downward. This coincidentally also provides the greatest separation between the robot legs and the ground so that the tank treads can reach the ground.
Speaking of treads, here (14K, figure, 9/28/98) is Rampage's tank mode. When getting him into this mode, make sure that the huge purple claws are tilted forward so that the molded treads touch the grey supports, as seen here (16K, figure, 9/28/98). This makes it easy to insert the two holes on each purple claw into the two pegs (one black peg on the claw arm and one orange peg on the shell) on each side of Rampage. The black peg on each of Rampage's middle black crab legs can also be inserted into a notch on the underside of the corresponding rearmost black crab leg, as seen here (18K, figure, 9/28/98), although it doesn't fit too well.
Despite what Rampage's instructions specify, I recommend pushing down along the rear end of the crab shell to move both treads and shoot the missiles. It is easier to hold him there against the ground anyway. ^_^ The thin wheel strip on the cannon prevents the tank from being prefectly level on a flat surface.
Here (17K, figure, 9/28/98) is Rampage's robot mode, with his crab legs and claws arranged the way I prefer. I recommend moving his arms up as you rotate the chest since they can get in the way. The features on his robot face (27K, figure, 9/28/98) very closely match the ones on the show; only the colors don't match.
By the way, when returning him to crab or tank mode, make sure the robot shoulder pads actually fit over the side pegs on Rampage's robot arms. If you don't, the wheel on each of the robot arms between the crab legs could be much lower than the other wheels.
Here are a few more pictures of Rampage:
Ramulus is a Maximal figure released as part of the Beast Wars Transmetal 2 line, even though he never appears in the show itself.
Below are some pictures of the Ramulus figure:
Rattrap is a member of the Axalon crew. He always has a wisecrack for every situation. He especially doesn't trust the Predacons, which was why he often got into confrontations with the former Predacon Dinobot.
He eventually got a Transmetal form when he was hit by the quantum surge explosion of the aliens' weapon, destroyed by transwarp cells carried aboard a pod by Optimus Primal.
I did a repaint (20K, figure) of Transmetal Rattrap back in April 1998. Basically I covered the orange parts on the head and chest with gold paint, and painted most of his robotic limbs with silver chrome. I also redid his head so that he has that double buck-toothed mouth we're used to seeing on the show, and gave him red eyes.
Scourge is a Predacon who transforms into a locust. He never appears on the show, but a Transmetal 2 (TM2) figure was made for him anyway. His specs doesn't indicate whether he is related to the Scourge of the original Transformers series.
Here are some pictures of the TM2 Scourge figure and my comments:
A fusion of two Maximals, Tigatron and Airazor, Tigerhawk was created as a vessel for two members of the Vok, an alien species which oversaw Earth from some location in space, in the 3rd season episode "Other Victories". The Vok thought TM2 Megatron was becoming a danger to the original timeline, and so set out in Tigerhawk toward Earth to stop him. Following him were the sparks of Tigatron and Airazor, removed from the bodies when the Vok created the new fused being.
Burning through the atmosphere at high speed, Tigerhawk slammed into the Sentinel-reinforced Predacon base and utterly destroyed it, scattering the Predacons. Tigerhawk then fought TM2 Megatron and was winning when Optimus Primal intervened to prevent Megatron's destruction, since the Predacon leader was carrying the spark of the original Megatron inside him. Not evidently knowing that particular fact, Tigerhawk shoved aside Optimus Primal only to be subdued by the waiting and concealed TM Tarantulas.
At Tarantulas' lair the spider Predacon had Tigerhawk strung up on a web as he prepared to remove and destroy the Vok influence from him with a device. The two Vok members appeared and infiltrated Tarantulas, whose gadget ended up destroying him instead.
Having gotten the attention of TM2 Cheetor about their true nature, the sparks of Tigatron and Airazor moved into the body of Tigerhawk, rescued by Cheetor from the ensuing explosion. From then on Tigerhawk became a Maximal.
He wasn't one for long. In the 2nd part of the following "The Nemesis" two-parter episode, he was destroyed by the ancient Decepticon ship Nemesis on its course set by Megatron for the ancient Autobot ship Ark, also the base for the Maximals. He put up enough fight to give Optimus Primal time to head back to the Ark to prepare for the final battle of the Beast Wars series.
Here are some pictures of my Tigerhawk. I chipped away the plastic that blocked his feather pairs from popping all the way forward, and the results look neat:
Added on 11/5/00, this Japanese catalog covers figures from the first year of Beast Wars. Scans were courtesy of Jeff Morris (jbmorris@steel.ucs.indiana.edu).
For more catalogs, check out my inserts page or check out The Ark Archives.
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