Beast Wars Toy Commercial

The recent pop interest in the classic Transformers series owes a lot to the show that continued on its legacy several years back, Beast Wars. It's not like everyone woke up one morning and decided that they wanted to feel retro; we were guided that way. The show, so masterfully written that even the most devout anti-geek antagonist can't deny how smart it was, opened the door for a ton of new fans to take an better-late-than-never interest in the weird transforming cars and jets that ruled the toon roost in the mid-80s. Aside from that, former fans had their Autobot spirits rekindled. I was certainly part of that pack - I loved the TF series as a kid, but it wasn't something I carried around with me like some sort of poor social standing badge throughout the years. In fact, I recall losing a bet after somehow thinking Metroplex's name was "Magnavox." I know, for shame.

Course, diehard fans are usually pretty materialistic with their obsessions. For the TF/Beast Wars fan, there weren't many posters or themed car fresheners making the rounds, so even if some of us weren't into action figures, the toys were all we had.

And they were some toys! The first few Beast Wars figures didn't really look all that promising - Primal, the leader, was portrayed as an ugly bat. Kinda hard to rally behind a three inch plastic robot bat. Unless the batbot's file card listed bocce ball under 'skills'...then he'd at least have the curiosity points on his side. Megatron, on the other hand, was initially revamped as a lousy alligator. Cooler heads prevailed when the drawing board was revisited, and the new figures came out terrific. Today's focus gives you an inside look at two of my faves from the toy line and cartoon series...Dinobot and Waspinator.

For those who haven't seen the show, Dinobot was an evil Predacon with just a little bit too much honor, so he switched to the Maximal side and annoyed everyone by growling a lot and attempting to work past his laryngitis by talking as much as robotically possible. Waspinator was a bad guy comedy act -- a stupid wasp who blew up around four times per episode. Every character on the show had an angle, and all were developed amazingly well, but these two guys have a special place in the hearts of fans at large - Dinobot for his heroic sacrifice (he died! yeah!), Waspinator for sounding like a retarded bee.


The commercials were great -- they aired during the late 90s, but the advertisements certainly displayed some influence from the past. It's not too often nowadays that you get to see action figures being played with in their "natural habitat," this time a prehistoric forest jacked up by the inclusion of several suspicious child forearms.

Aside from that, the figures were about as well crafted as anyone could've hoped -- they were the kind of toys that people far less geeky than me would've bought. There's just no resisting monkey toys that turn into gun-toting robot warriors from Cybertron; it's a proven fact. You know how toy packaging usually features pictures of the line's figures painted way more nicely than you'll actually receive? Beast Wars was one of the very few collections that didn't pull that shit - they were total quality. The ones we're looking at today were just the tip of the iceberg...by the time the series hit its final season, some of the most intricately detailed and all-around gorgeous figures were available. The best ones, of course, were swiped up by scalpers and sold on online auction outlets, but this is a rare case when I'll admit even scalper prices were worth the trouble.

With the new TF series on the horizon, Beast Wars is probably doomed to the middle child bastardization. Enthusiasts, don't skip over this particular second coming. You just might find that it's the best incarnation of all.

Don't take my word for it, watch the commercial and seeeee. Short download, MPEG format. Click here to download!


- Matt