Beast Wars Again - new Japanese redeco line and TV series rebroadcast

Sabrblade

Continuity Nutcase
Citizen
TakaraTomy is launching a new Beast Wars project titled "Beast Wars: Super Lifeform Transformers Again" (or just "Beast Wars Again", for short).

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This project consists of a new toy release of the Kingdom Optimus Primal and Megatron molds given new show-accurate color schemes similar to those of their Masterpiece toys. Megatron even features some retooling in the form of his grimacing alternate head that more closely resembles the facial expression of his original 1996 Ultra class toy (and which was probably supposed to have been used for the Kingdom T-Wrecks release instead of the same normal head that it ended up using).

The two figures are packaged together in a 2-pack based on the original Japanese Beast Wars toyline's Ultra class toy 2-pack, and here named "BWVS-01 Eternal Beast Showdown: Convoy VS Megatron".

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The 2-pack is set to release at Japanese retail in late August 2023. There is currently no word of any Hasbro Pulse importation of this set, but we can probably expect it to be available at the usual online retailers.

In addition to this set, TakaraTomy will be using this project to also build up to the Japanese theatrical release of Transformers: Rise of the Beasts by actually bringing the original Beast Wars cartoon back to Japanese broadcast!

Well, kind of.

Select episodes of the original Beast Wars cartoon are coming back to Japanese television, airing under the new "Beast Wars Again" title. This time, however, the particular episodes chosen for this rebroadcast will be given brand new narrations provided by the legendary Kappei Yamaguchi, whose voice acting résumé is far too extensive and impressive to list, but of notable relevance is the fact that he is the Japanese voice of Rattrap (known better in Japan as "Rattle").

Yamaguchi's new narrations will be featured at the very beginning and end of each episode, during the opening theme song (before the vocals begin singing) and during the end credits (after the vocals finish singing).

The "Beast Wars Again" episodes will begin their Japanese broadcast on six TV Tokyo affiliation stations at 9:15am on the Sunday of April 2, 2023. It is currently not yet known which particular episodes have been chosen for this special rebroadcasting, but they are likely to all be from the show's first season since the Season 2 and 3 episodes were treated as part of a separate series called "Beast Wars Metals" instead of the normal "Beast Wars" series that consisted of just the show's first season.

And, yes, this is the infamous Japanese dub that features lots of adlibbing, gag dialogue, and campy humor, which proved very popular with Japanese children at the time, and who have since grown into adults who feel a sense of nostalgia for this gag-filled dub. The only difference for this rebroadcasting is the aforementioned new narration by Kappei Yamaguchi. Maybe the title card might be altered to feature the new "Beast Wars: Super Lifeform Transformers Again" logo, but only time will tell.
 
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Lobjob

Well-known member
Citizen
Can anybody with more time than yours truly, do a side by side with the kingdom releases?
 
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Blot

Well-known member
Citizen
They saw a robot cartoon that was constantly making silly jokes so they put in silly jokes. Simple as.
 

lastmaximal

Administrator
Staff member
Council of Elders
Citizen
This line name should make its way to the west.

"Transformers: G1 Again. No, Seriously. What? You Like It."
 

Sabrblade

Continuity Nutcase
Citizen
Packaging pics for the "BWVS-01 Eternal Beast Showdown: Convoy VS Megatron" two-pack:


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The outer sleeve gives the set's name, while the inner box is similar to a Generations Selects box. Opening the box reveals a presentation based on the original Japanese Beast Wars packaging, complete with vintage 1997 Japanese box art for the characters.

The inner box also uses the new Beast Wars Again logo.
 

Sabrblade

Continuity Nutcase
Citizen
Episode 1 of "Beast Wars: Super Lifeform Transformers Again" has aired in Japan today and has been uploaded to TakaraTomy's YouTube channel:


Things to note about this broadcast in contrast from the original version:
  • The new narration at the beginning by Kappei Yamaguchi (Rattrap's Japanese voice actor).
  • The episode itself ends halfway through its original runtime, having been cut in half to be broadcast on Japanese television at 9:15am, allowing it to fill a 15-minute airtime. The episode now ends with Cheetor first running off from the Maximal base to chase after some cheetahs.
  • At the end of the episode, a new segment has been added to close out the episode, in which a montage of recycled footage is played with new dialogue audio recorded by Yamaguchi as Rattrap, who provides commentary on this new Japanese broadcast to the viewers.
At the end of the video is another montage of Japanese commercials for various Rise of the Beasts toys. This is presumably not part of the televised broadcast, added only to the end of this YouTube video by Takara in order to advertise these new toys.

Everything else about the episode is unchanged from its original Japanese-dubbed version from 1997.
 

Shadewing

Well-known member
Citizen
I'll admit the Retro Japanese packaging ended up being part of the reason I pre-ordered the set. Cool, fun, or unique packaging will almost always get me interested in something, and retro japanese packaging isn't something we see a lot of.
 

CoffeeHorse

Exhausted, but still standing.
Staff member
Council of Elders
Citizen
I wish we got toy decos in retro packaging like that.
 

Gizmoboy

Administrator
Staff member
Council of Elders
Citizen
The problem I have is I already own the Hasbro version of all the Predacons, but own zero of the Maximals. If I want to do these Takara 2-packs, I'm going to have duplicates of all my Preds.
 

Sabrblade

Continuity Nutcase
Citizen
Looks like the question of how Takara is going to be updating the original 2-packs that had show characters packed with non-show characters has been answered. They're simply going to take the show characters from two of those 2-packs and pack them together with each other. Scorponok was originally packed with Polar Claw, and Rhinox was packed with Shadow Panther. Now, they come packed with each other.

Some sites are labeling this 2-pack the "Eternal Beast Showdown", but that was the name of the Optimus/Megatron 2-pack.

This set is properly named "BWVS-02 Tough Showdown: Rhinox VS Scorpos".

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BeastWarsFan95

Toy photographer, webcomic artist, dinogeek
Citizen
So, is the Japanese Beast Wars dub a kind of reverse Samurai Pizza Cats situation?

Never heard of that show, but I do know the Japanese dub of BW was almost YTP levels of random and ad-libbed gags. Filling up any moment of silence with improvisational dialog and quips. Also every character had a verbal tick they would say while they talked and every time they fired their weapon. Every. Single. Time.

They also added this... running gag, of Rattrap breaking the fourth wall and "smelling" what the audience was eating. And Blackarachina was changed to be downright bipolar, switching between a cackling witch and a giddy schoolgirl seemingly at random.

I heard season two took it even further.
 

MrBlud

Well-known member
Citizen
I really wish they had remolded Rhinox’ head to be cartoon accurate.

Why on Earth you would mold something after a mobile game (that you can’t even play any more at this point!) is beyond me.
 


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