Transformers Legacy toyline

[Exatron]

I definitely hope we'll see a Beast Machines repaint of this Megatron, with a good patchwork paint scheme. It would be a good opportunity for a less scowly, more robotic face. And I hope we get a control harness for him at some point too. Might be too much to hope for as an official Leader-sized accessory, but I could definitely see a group like DNA Designs making one.

Then again, I'm still waiting for an Optimal Megatron head for either the original or PotP Op Op figures, so...

 

[CoffeeHorse]

I wish. Beast Machines Megatron is too interesting to never get anything better than the old Mega.

Also, that design got a whole season. TM2 Megatron got four episodes.

 

[Sabrblade]

Doesn't help that, to this day, Beast Machines still has a stigma in the greater fandom.

 

[Steevy Maximus]

Doesn't help that, to this day, Beast Machines still has a stigma in the greater fandom.

I'm starting to wonder how much of that is legit dislike, or just something that has spread secondhand to the point it is an accepted truth. Kind of like how, for many years, Gundam X was said to be this horrible, near franchise destroying, abomination...but from western audiences that I know that have actually WATCHED IT, it's actually pretty solid. It just wasn't as successful as the prior, higher profile, series.

In the years since, given the high concept things we've gotten (especially with the comics and last season of Cyberverse), the amount of utter garbage we've gotten (Machinima's crap) and whatever you want to call the majority of the live action films...Beast Machines is hardly the WORST thing we've gotten in the past 20 years.

Incidentally, I find it amusing that the Pluto TV ads for the Transformers Channel have primarily focused on Transformers Prime, Cyberverse, Animated, Armada...and Beast Machines.

 

[Rycochet]

Beast machines is a good series, but a poor sequel to what came before it and that is what it was sold as. The toyline being rather a trainwreck doesn't help, a mess of weird scale, innacurate designs and a massive overuse of clear plastic that didn't in any way fit with the matte finish everything had in the animated series. The line produced quite a few solid toys on the vehicon side of things while the maximals were kind of weird in terms of design and colour choices. The universe line showed that with the right deco, a lot of those molds hald up pretty well though.

 

[Sabrblade]

Scott McNeil has gone on record of outright hating it, taking potshots at it in his TFCon appearances all these years later.

 

[MrBlud]

Yeah the problem is it *is* a sequel to Beast Wars and in that dimension it was irredeemably awful. Coupled with the fact the ending was a narrative dead-end that (while not it’s fault) lead to a dearth of quality animated media for almost ten years it’s not really a mystery why it is not recalled with much fondness.

 

[unluckiness]

BM had poor character consistency even without bringing in BW, the technology vs nature thing was painfully shoehorned in and the conclusion was simultaneously abrupt and far too grand in scale. None of these were new to the franchise even when BM first aired. Not good in the least but not completely awful enough to be of note either. Not worth rewatching.

The biggest reason why I personally dislike it? The wretchedly hideous Maximals.

 

[Sabrblade]

We can blame Hasbro for everything that people disliked about it at the time. The drastic differences from Beast Wars in tone and style, the desire for spirituality in the storytelling, the very alien designs of the Maximals, all were mandated on high from Hasbro, and Bob Skir was initially against all of it.

Hasbro even wanted a third season (this was before Transtech was concepualized), to which Skir put his foot down and said "NO!"

 

[CoffeeHorse]

I hate it. I tried to give it another chance a couple years ago but I didn't get very far before giving up. It is still broken if you're willing to pretend not to remember that it's a sequel to something. It is still broken even though we've since gotten a lot of shows that are also broken. The writing is bad. It somehow manages to be rushed and meandering at the same time. It's quite a feat.

None of that stopped Megatron from being interesting and memorable most of the time.

 

[Sciflyer]

One of the main things that I liked about Beast Machines at the time, and still like now, is that it re-introduced vehicle-based Transformers. I love Beast Wars but by '99, I was good and ready to see some sleek, futuristic vehicals again, and the series (and toyline) delivered that.

Beast Machines may not objectively be a good Transformers series, but some of the designs were solid and made a lasting impression on me. I think that it would be short-sighted of Hasbro not to at least acknowledge the series in modern toy form to some degree, so here's hoping that we'll begin to see a few characters rolled into whatever future series may lie ahead.

 

[Haywire]

It certainly wouldn't hurt to bring back the Vehicons as a faction. The toys were a part of Beast Machines, Robots in Disguise, and Universe 1.0, which is a not-insignificant chunk of Transformers history. Seems like they ought to be on the table for Legacy, whether Beast Machines itself is loved or not.

 

[Agent X]

How about they just re-tool Terrorsaur to finally give us a (decent size) Nightscream? Certainly easier than trying to finangle something into Botanica.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

I am still on a mission to collect all the Vehicons. They aged well.

Even Megatron aged well in a way. Back then everyone complained that it looked like a Deluxe, and now you can get it for the price of a Deluxe.

 

[Shadewing]

My biggest issue with that Megatron toy is the lack of arms for his control harness mode. While I'm not fond of his size and should have been bigger, I never really disliked him either. It was kinda neat having a 'mini' TM2 Megs.

 

[Sabrblade]

It's funny when the most show-accurate Beast Machines Megatron toy is the Happy Meal toy.

 

[unluckiness]

I always hated how the dragon arms were actually attached to the wings.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

I wish the wings were longer. It is hard to take the cloak mode seriously when you can see his toes. That bugs me more than the lack of arms. But I understand the wings are already too heavy.

 

[ZacWilliam1]

It's funny when the most show-accurate Beast Machines Megatron toy is the Happy Meal toy.

It's not that weird. McDonalds Nightscream is the best Nightscream. And the McDs Vehicons were mostly on par enough with the show that I used them with the regular toys as mini-drones.

BM is really a place where modern remakes could do some real real good. At the very least Jetstorm (whose never had a toy that looked enough like the show model), Nightscream, Botanica, and Silverbolt are all BEGGING for better toys.

-ZacWilliam, there is some style to that line I'd love to see get a nod or two.

 

[The Phazer]

Yeah, Beast Machines is just not a brilliant show. And it's better toys are the ones that aren't remotely accurate to their appearance (the early Vehicons - Tankor and Jetstorm in particular are really fun toys, but bear no resemblance to their characters), or weren't show characters (Battle Unicorn) or weren't released in Beast Machines (Megabolt Megatron and Air Attack Optimus).