BW Media Spotlight

Well, “US” is technically accurate but the show was actually made in Canada by Mainframe Entertainment. I’m come back to that but first let’s get caught up with the history.

Transformers: Generation Two didn’t do so well for Hasbro as a toyline. The cartoon was just a rehash of the original series with an overused effect gimmick, the comic is garbage if you haven’t read my reviews (and yet somehow still has a fan following for reasons I can’t begin to understand–and although I didn’t like IDW’s run I do understand their fan success…they only rebooted because they couldn’t continue in that universe), and the toys didn’t fare much better. The early waves were just recolored versions of the original toys with added sound packs, with only Megatron getting a new tank form because the times demanded it. While new toys would be designed for the line after this it wasn’t in time to really benefit it. Hasbro needed something new or the franchise could have perished, or at least ended up like Masters Of The Universe, with the odd revival until nostalgia kicked in.

Their solution was Beast Wars, creating two new factions–Maximal and Predacon–and giving them all animal modes. While Transformers has had animals going all the way back to Soundwave’s cassettes Buzzsaw, Laserbeak, and Ravage these would turn into real animals rather than purely mechanical ones. They went to Mainframe Entertainment, who had a huge success with Reboot, to create this new series. A smaller cast than on the toy shelves due to CG limitations at the time proved to be a benefit as the smaller cast became easier to get attached to. Beast Wars: Transformers ran for three seasons, re-ran on Fox along with a new spinoff, and even made it to Japan. I’ll get into that next time, but believe it or not I can pull five videos out of the North American run alone. So let’s do that.

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