Transformers: Beast Wars (Japanese toyline)
From Transformers Wiki
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Transformers: Beast Wars(トランスフォーマー ビーストウォーズ) is the overarching title given toTakara's Japanese release of theBeast Warstoyline,omitting the more ostentatious title "Beast Wars: Super Lifeform Transformers"given to the dubbed version of the accompanyingcartoon.
Beast Warswould not hit Japan until over a year after its Hasbro-market debut, most likely due to waiting for the full first season of the show to finish production so it could be run in its totality in a single stretch, as is the norm for Japanese kids media with toy tie-ins. The show's long production time also resulted in the need for "filler" after that first year, resulting in two Japan-original cartoons and associated toylines before the line returned to the Mainframe show setting. However, even though those two series were given their own titles, "Beast Wars II"and"Beast Wars Neo",those brandings never appeared on the toys' packaging. Instead, similar to how Takara'sFight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformersversion of theTransformerstoylinemaintained its title for six years despite constantly changing cartoon titles, the JapaneseBeast Warstoys were all branded simplyTransformers: Beast Warsfor three years, until 1999 saw the toys adopt theBeast Wars Metalsbranding given to the dubbed version of seasons 2 and 3 of the American cartoon.
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1997-1998 (Beast Wars)
Starting in summer 1997, theTakaraBeast Warstoyline began very similarly to the Hasbro version, with only a handful of minor color differences appearing in the first wave of product. However, by wave 2, several toys had considerably different decos, as well as an all-new villain character (created to fill out the VS-packs evenly). On top of that, several of the first-wave toys got more "show-accurate"running changesin January 1998, though the level of "show accuracy" varied pretty wildly. But as the back end of the line began and Takara started bringing over non-show-character molds, most of the releases returned to being nigh-identical to their Hasbro counterparts.
| Wave 1(July 1997) | Convoy VS Megatron Whiteclaw VS Scorpos Cheetus VS Waspeeter |
Dinobot VS Tarans Rattle VS Terrorsaurer Convobat VS Megalligator |
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Wave 2(October 1997)
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Wave 3(November 1997)
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Wave 4(December 1997) | Wave 5(January 1998) | |||||
Wave 6(February 1998)
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Special Editions
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Playset
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Keychains
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Exclusives
| BotCon Japan 1998 | Comic Bom Bom
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TV Magazine
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Toys "R" Us |  |
1998 (Beast Wars II)
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The first of the two Takara- "original"Beast Warsline-ups, the toys collectively associated with the titleBeast Wars IIwere released beginning in March 1998. It is a very strange beast, so to speak; an eclectic mix of already-existing sculpts that had previously not been used in Japan yet, which not only included more toys from Hasbro'sBeast Warsline, but alsoGeneration 2vehicle-bot figures that had never before been sold in Japan (and some that had previously never even been released by Hasbro!), plus a few figures scavenged from theoriginalGeneration 1toyline,many of themredecoedandretooled(some of them extensively so), plus a few supplemental toys apparently intended for release inMicroman.Ultimately, only three characters received new toy sculpts:Moon,Lio Convoy,andGalvatron.We'd like to say it all fit together cohesively, but... no, not really. It's weird.
The toyline was backed up by acel-animated anime seriesand ashort-lived monthly mangainComic Bom Bom,though neither one exactly set the world on fire or helped move many toys.
As mentioned in the introductory paragraph, the toys related to theBeast Wars IIfiction were not actually sold under that banner, but were branded with the normalBeast Warslogo... despite the complete change in packaging design and the use ofBeast Wars IIon checklists.
Wave 1(3-??-1998)
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Wave 2(4-23-1998)
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Wave 3(4-30-1998)
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Wave 4(5-21-1998)
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Wave 5(5-25-1998)
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Bigmos VS Autostinger Powerhug VS Autocrusher Tonbot VS Autojetter Mantis VS Autolauncher |
Wave 6(7-??-1998)
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| Wave 7(8-??-1998) | Wave 8(9-??-1998)
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Wave 9(10-??-1998)
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Wave 10(11-??-1998)
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Special releases
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Puzzle pack-ins
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Role Play | Playset |
Exclusives
| Comic Bom Bom | Toys "R" Us |
1999 (Beast Wars Neo)
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The second of the two Takara- "original"Beast Warsline-ups, the toys collectively associated with the titleBeast Wars Neowere released in1999.Takara apparently put the time saved by the previous year's rampant recycling of existing sculpts to good use, as the follow-up's biggest feature is probably the fact that it is positivelyheavywith all-new sculpts, plus a handful of retools, and only a very small number of straight redecos. Some of these toys would later see release in Hasbro markets, while others remain unreleased in Western markets to this very day.
The "Cybertrons" (i.e. Maximals) kept the mostly-mammals theme, while the "Destrons" (i.e. Predacons) had a theme of dinosaurs and other big scary prehistoric animals. Every new mold also had a pseudo-third "attack mode", typically a weapon or trap, though quite often they can be simply described as "pile of animal parts with a gimmick sticking off it".
TheNeoline-up is also notable for beingextremelyshort-lived at retail, with the majority of its product released over the span of a mere five months, quickly making way forBeast Wars Metals.Supposedly, this is related to the fact that these toys did not fare well sales-wise. Japanese fans at the time cited the overly-complex toys being too difficult for the younger age groupTransformershad been traditionally aimed at in Japan. Despite the JapaneseBeast Warsmedia being aimed at the lower single-digits ages, these toys werenotoriouslycomplicated for that age group, with even grown adults finding thetransformationsutterly frustrating, as they require multiple panels onball-jointedstruts to be positionedpreciselyright for thebeast modeto lock into place. On top of that, several of the toys are infamous for being "shellformers"—Break,in particular, could have all of his beast-mode panels/parts removed andstill leave a fully functional robot mode behind!
On top of that, the Cybertrons lacked appeal to kids as they largely had benign, not-exactly-combat-ready beast modes (likely whyHasbrohas left most of those molds alone). Reportedly,Neosoldsobad it actually poisoned the well for the incomingMetalsline, as kids largely leftTransformersalone... which would force Takara to make somedrastic changesa little later on.
LikeBeast Wars II,Neohad acel-animated cartoonandComic Bom Bommangato shill the toys. Despite this, the toys were still just brandedTransformers: Beast Wars,even though the packaging was redesigned again. Forwhatever reason,the packaging rendered the faction names "Cybertron" and "Destron" as "Cybertoron" and "Destoron".
| Wave 1(01-??-1999) |
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Wave 2(02-??-1999)
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Wave 3(03-??-1999)
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Wave 4(05-??-1999)
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Wave 5(07-??-1999)
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Canceled | Role play |
1999 (Beast Wars Metals)
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With seasons 2 and 3 of the MainframeBeast Warsshow finally wrapped up, Takara was able to send the show out as a full season with accompanying toyline.Metalswas a smaller line than its predecessors, sticking entirely with characters who appeared in the show (even if not in Transmetal bodies). The first wave of toys had different, more "show-accurate" decoes and, notably, nametampographswere replaced with generic "CYBERTRON" and "DESTRON" markings. However, toys in later waves were functionally the same as Hasbro releases (other than minor changes to Optimal Optimus/Powered Convoy). The line also included a Takara-onlyretoolof Transmetal Cheetor intoRavage(a character that appeared on the show in that design), which was quickly a very sought-after item outside Japan.
Of particular note are the characterbiocards that come with each toy. While bio cards had been in all previous TakaraTransformerstoylines (and were part of most toylines for many years after), forMetalsthe card fronts were three-stage lenticular-printed, showing the characters' robot, beast, and pre-Transmetal beast modes.
Along with the show,Metalsgot aComic Bom Bommangathat is... kind ofinsane,having little to nothing to do with the show outside of some very broad-strokes story elements, but itdoesfeature all the characters in their toy-Transmetal bodies, at least.
Unfortunately, despite the initialBeast Warsline being very popular, the return to that cast and cartoon could not overcome the sales that had been slumping ever downward over the previous two years. As such, this line wasincrediblyshort-lived, a mere four months long, plus Takara opted to pass on the Hasbro sequel seriesBeast Machinesin favor of their own original followup line,Car Robots,that hewed more closely to classic Transformers... mostly, at least. Though,Beast Machineswould eventually get alimited release in Japan,several years later.
Wave 1(September 1999)
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Metals Convoy VS Metals Megatron Silverbolt VS Metals Rampage Metals Cheetus VS Metals Waspeeter |
Metals Rattle VS Metals Terrorsaurer Metals Rhinox VS Metals Tarans Metals Airazor VS Quickstrike |
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Wave 2(October 1999)
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Wave 3(December 1999)
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Related releases
Takara imports
To combat their dwindling supply of domesticBeast Warsproduct (which sold like hotcakes) at the end of 1997, Takara resorted to importing toys made for the American market and slapping localized stickers on their packaging, although this resulted in prices double that of domestic product. And some misspelled names. This would be done again for some of the Transmetals 2 subline, with some sold at theaters and the rest atToys "R" Us.Notably, three toys sold in theaters have minor paint variants not found in mainstream releases (which were identical in both Takara and Hasbro markets)—Depth Charge, Cheetor, and Dinobot.
| Imports (1997) | Theaters (1999) | Toys "R" Us
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Hasbro imports
Magmatronwas released by Hasbro in the United States as aTargetexclusive. The toy itself was mostly unchanged, but put inBeast MachinesDinobotspackaging that also featured the JapaneseTransformerslogo, Magmatron's own name in Katakana, and text taken from his originalBeast Wars Neopackaging.
Additionally, Hasbro imported several other JapaneseBeast Warstoys and made them available via their"Hasbro Collectors" website.Unlike Magmatron, these were just existing stock in their original packaging. All of them could be bought at a bit of a markup... though ultimately, they would end up being blown out at half-price.
| Cybertron (Maximal) | Destron (Predacon) | VS sets
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SonokongBeast-WarKorean series
InSouth Korea,Takara licenseeSonokongreleased a selection ofBeast Wars IItoys, under the titleTransformers: Beast-War(트랜스포머 비스트-워Teuraenseupomeo Biseuteu-Wo). Subsequently, some of theBeast Wars Neotoys were released under the titleBeast-War Neo(비스트-워 네오Biseuteu-Wo Ne'o), leaving out the "Transformers"part of the title from the previous line.
Beast-War
Each of the figures sold in theBeast-Wartoyline came with a minimum of two cardboard "Jan-ken-pon"cards in place of the Japanese bio cards. Each card is printed on a single side with a picture of the character (usually just a straight reuse of the packaging art) and has either a rock, paper or scissors symbol printed in the top right corner. While the packaging and instructions give no explanation as to what this feature is for, a rough estimate would suggest that each card indicates which figure is stronger than the other, based on either of the three symbols. Additionally, there are unique dice rolls on each of the cards which suggests that a die must be used to play the game—whatever that game may be.
Some figures have been known to come with more than two cards—and in some extreme cases—the two cards that are supposed to be packaged with the respective figures are not included at all.
Cybertron
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Destron
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Beast-War Neo
Unlike the previous line, theBeast-War Neofigures include actual bio cards made of a similar material to that of the Japanese cards, rather than a piece of cardboard with a single side printed. For whatever reason, each of the figures in the line include a handful of randomly selected bio cards; meaning you could end up with multiples of the same character's card or none of the respective characters included in the box itself.
| Individual figures | VS sets |
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Notes
- ↑In Korean "스타스크램" translates into "Starscrem" or "Starscram", however; the packaging uses "Starscream" as the English translation instead.
- ↑A poortransliterationof "Galvatron".
- ↑In Korean "오토슬래셔" translates into "Autoslasher", however; the packaging uses "Auto Crasher" as the English translation instead.
- ↑In Korean "오토제트" translates into "Autojet", however; the packaging uses "Auto Jetter" as the English translation instead.
- ↑In Korean "오토레인쳐" translates into "Autolanecher", however; the packaging uses "Auto Launcher" as the English translation instead.
Post-Beast Warsreleases
AsBeast Wars—at least the first phase—was a big seller for Takara, they've dedicated ample space in later toylines for returns to those characters. For the same on Hasbro's side of things and post-brand unification toys (barringMasterpiece), seethat toyline's corresponding article.
Beast Wars Reborn(2006)
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In celebration of the upcoming 10th anniversary ofBeast Wars,Takara released a set containing the original Ultra Class Convoy and Megatron toys with new, show-accurate heads and cartoon-based decos under theBeast Wars Rebornbanner. Those toys were accompanied by a four-part text story serialized inFigure Ōmagazine.
Beast Wars Telemocha Series(2007)
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Takara'sTelemochaline (a combination of the words "television "and" omocha",the Japanese word for" toy ") was much the same concept as Hasbro's10th Anniversaryline, being spruced-up versions of the original molds packaged with DVDs of key episodes. However, not only did Takarareallyslather on the paint, but they made some odd additions to the line, including a couple of characters fromBeast Wars IIandBeast Wars Neo,as well as an entirely new Predacon namedWolfang(pronounced "Volfang" ).
Beast Wars Again(2023)
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2023saw a sudden revival of Japan'sBeast Warsfranchise as TakaraTomy sought to ensure children knew what the heck a "Beast Warrior" was ahead of theBeast Warscast's big screen debut inRise of the Beasts.The toyline was composed of meticulously screen-accurateredecoesof theBeast Warsfigures from the earlierWar for Cybertron: Kingdomtoyline.
