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Post by Philip Ayres on Aug 13, 2021 10:10:34 GMT
Yes, not an image many of us are familiar with and TBH that's the only one I've ever seen. Went into the image folder a decade or so back and I've never seen one since or in the plastic!
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Post by Philip Ayres on Aug 13, 2021 10:15:57 GMT
This is how the assortments evolved in the US. Cheetor *SHOULD* have been in Wave 1 but was delayed due to a last minute redesign on his gun. He was added in later Deluxe Beasts Assortment 1a (#80235) PK 6=> January 1996 - February 1996 80236 2 *Waspinator (rock bubble) 80237 2 *Tarantulas (rock bubble, painted wrists) 80238 2 *Dinobot (rock bubble) Deluxe Beasts Assortment 1b (#80235.01) PK 6=> February 1996 - May 1996 80236 2 Waspinator (rock bubble) 80237 1 Tarantulas (rock bubble, painted or unpainted wrists) 80238 1 Dinobot (rock bubble) 80239 2 *Cheetor (rock bubble, blue eyes) Deluxe Beasts Assortment 2a (#80235.12) PK 6=> May 1996 80237 1 Tarantulas (smooth bubble) 80239 1 Cheetor (smooth bubble, red eyes) 80241 2 *Rhinox 80242 2 *Wolfang Deluxe Beasts Assortment 2b (#80235.15) PK 6=> June 1996 - August 1996 80236 1 Waspinator (smooth bubble) 80239 1 Cheetor (smooth bubble, red eyes) 80241 2 Rhinox 80242 2 Wolfang We'll pick up what happens to the Deluxe Assortment in August 1996 - January 1997 in a few weeks time.
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Post by Philip Ayres on Aug 13, 2021 10:29:16 GMT
These Four toys have a LOT of repaints. Cheetor has several (Blue, Red & Green) eye Variants in the original BW run, plus a tweaked Japanese deco and has versions of himself in Fox Kids, Beast Wars 10th Anniversary and Beast Wars Telemocha. There's slight variations in his yellows and blue but basically they're all the same. He's recently been reissued. He's got different character repaints as Tigatron - itself with numberous variations - and the Japanese Shadow Panther. Plus there's the unreleased Nightprowler. Dinobot also has a Japanese varaiant, which is a little easier to spot than Cheetor's. His FK, BWX & Telemocha versions are all rather different and all fab! He has different character repaints as both Beast Wars and RiD Dinobots Grimlock and retools as BWII Cyberbeast Thrustor & BW Neo Hardhead who in turn is repainted in Beast Machines Dinobots as Dinotron (amusingly in the original Hardhead's colours!) Rhinox has variations in his various rereleases but it's all shades of beige/brown and green. His Fox kids version - white beast with red robot parts is a bit different - but I always felt it didn't go far enough and a black Rhino with red robot parts would make a great Beast Wars Ironhide! Wolfang is retooled as K-9, who we did get here. K-9 is in turn retooled as BWII Max-B. Many years later in BW Telermocha Wolfang is repainted as Destron/Predacon Wolfang, one of several odd decisions in the Japanese BW 10th Anniversary line!
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Post by Philip Ayres on Aug 15, 2021 15:22:32 GMT
This is how the assortments evolved in the US. Cheetor *SHOULD* have been in Wave 1 but was delayed due to a last minute redesign on his gun. He was added in later Deluxe Beasts Assortment 1a (#80235) PK 6=> January 1996 - February 1996 80236 2 *Waspinator (rock bubble) 80237 2 *Tarantulas (rock bubble, painted wrists) 80238 2 *Dinobot (rock bubble) Deluxe Beasts Assortment 1b (#80235.01) PK 6=> February 1996 - May 1996 80236 2 Waspinator (rock bubble) 80237 1 Tarantulas (rock bubble, painted or unpainted wrists) 80238 1 Dinobot (rock bubble) 80239 2 *Cheetor (rock bubble, blue eyes) Deluxe Beasts Assortment 2a (#80235.12) PK 6=> May 1996 80237 1 Tarantulas (smooth bubble) 80239 1 Cheetor (smooth bubble, red eyes) 80241 2 *Rhinox 80242 2 *Wolfang Deluxe Beasts Assortment 2b (#80235.15) PK 6=> June 1996 - August 1996 80236 1 Waspinator (smooth bubble) 80239 1 Cheetor (smooth bubble, red eyes) 80241 2 Rhinox 80242 2 Wolfang We'll pick up what happens to the Deluxe Assortment in August 1996 - January 1997 in a few weeks time. I genuinely had not clocked hat the initial US Beast Wars deluxe assortments were 6 per case until last week. They go to 8 with assortment 5 in Feb 1997 We speculated - see tmukhub.proboards.com/post/450559/thread - that Dinobot was originally meant to be a Predacon toy - he has the cold blooded Lizard/Dinosaur/Insect trait of the other Predacons plus the clear plastic that only they have. We know Cheetor was delayed..... what if the other two Maximals, Wolfang and Rhinox were too and the initial launch assortment was intended to be Maximal Cheetor, Rhinox & Wolfang VS Predacon Dinobot, Waspinator & Tranatulas? But stuff happened resulting in the 4 vs 2 arrangement we see here and an attempt to even things up with repaints?
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Post by Philip Ayres on Aug 15, 2021 15:26:45 GMT
Never thought if it before but all the show characters on the Maximal side have anoying attributes. Dinobots awkward robot legs in Beast mode. Cheetors cheetah head is odd in robot mode. Also thick back cheetah legs. But he does have nice colours. Rhinox has way too much kibble in robot mode and is a bit dull in Beast mode. Whereas Wofang (who not many know much about) is pretty much flawless. Will need to think. I don't think any of them are perfect by a long shot. Cheetor and Dinobot have always been my favourites and, as much as I love Cheetor, I know his beast mode "could be better" albeit that every attempt at remaking the toy with a better beast mode results in a worse robot mode. Yes Dinobot does have his robot legs badly camouflaged in beast mode. Yes he hasn't got proper hands (or a peg in the right place) to hold his sword right. Yes the spiny tail blade weapon is a bit mad. But I am rather fond of t so he gets my vote this week.
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The Huff
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Post by The Huff on Aug 18, 2021 9:14:07 GMT
After deliberating and accepting that Wolfang is actually the best toy that does what it's supposed to, I've voted for Dinobot. That was one of the toys I wanted when I forst saw photos in Action Figure digest back in the day. We were actually getting a Jurassic Park velociraptor Transformer toy!
The others I wanted were Rattrap & Waspinator. The photos of the figures had no allegiance attached so I assumed most of them correctly except Terrorsaur and Rattrap who I assumed were on the opposite sides.
Still - the fist reports of these 'new Transformers' we had in Transmasters was that all the Autobots would be dinosaurs and all the Decepticons would be wild animals and we all worryingly envisaged Power Ranger style toys. It was in Tomarts Action Figure Digest that they were revealed for the first time and we saw that they would have realistic animal modes.
I'd love to find scans of those photos - I have the actual magazine somewhere.
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Post by Bogatan on Aug 18, 2021 22:02:10 GMT
This is how the assortments evolved in the US. Cheetor *SHOULD* have been in Wave 1 but was delayed due to a last minute redesign on his gun. He was added in later Deluxe Beasts Assortment 1a (#80235) PK 6=> January 1996 - February 1996 80236 2 *Waspinator (rock bubble) 80237 2 *Tarantulas (rock bubble, painted wrists) 80238 2 *Dinobot (rock bubble) Deluxe Beasts Assortment 1b (#80235.01) PK 6=> February 1996 - May 1996 80236 2 Waspinator (rock bubble) 80237 1 Tarantulas (rock bubble, painted or unpainted wrists) 80238 1 Dinobot (rock bubble) 80239 2 *Cheetor (rock bubble, blue eyes) Deluxe Beasts Assortment 2a (#80235.12) PK 6=> May 1996 80237 1 Tarantulas (smooth bubble) 80239 1 Cheetor (smooth bubble, red eyes) 80241 2 *Rhinox 80242 2 *Wolfang Deluxe Beasts Assortment 2b (#80235.15) PK 6=> June 1996 - August 1996 80236 1 Waspinator (smooth bubble) 80239 1 Cheetor (smooth bubble, red eyes) 80241 2 Rhinox 80242 2 Wolfang We'll pick up what happens to the Deluxe Assortment in August 1996 - January 1997 in a few weeks time. I genuinely had not clocked hat the initial US Beast Wars deluxe assortments were 6 per case until last week. They go to 8 with assortment 5 in Feb 1997 We speculated - see tmukhub.proboards.com/post/450559/thread - that Dinobot was originally meant to be a Predacon toy - he has the cold blooded Lizard/Dinosaur/Insect trait of the other Predacons plus the clear plastic that only they have. We know Cheetor was delayed..... what if the other two Maximals, Wolfang and Rhinox were too and the initial launch assortment was intended to be Maximal Cheetor, Rhinox & Wolfang VS Predacon Dinobot, Waspinator & Tranatulas? But stuff happened resulting in the 4 vs 2 arrangement we see here and an attempt to even things up with repaints? I dont want to encourage Phils Mad Theories TM, but I do fee like there was something going on here. On the whole the cartoon was pretty close to the toys, the glaring exception is Rhinox. the toy is a bit of a mess and the cartoon only loosely attempts to resemble it. Then theres Wolfang who isnt used in the show but somehow ends up as one of only two remoulded toys in the line. Unlike Iguanus to Megatron the remoulding on Wolfang to K9 is spectacularly pointless and easy to miss entirely. If it was Cheetor being remoulded for Tigertron that would make sense. Or Tarantuals to BA. Even if Wolfang was intended for the show originally I still dont see the point of the remould for a non show character. Something definitely happened there. And finally Cheetor, apparently delayed, the wiki say because of a change of the gun. I cant help thinking that Wolfang losing his slot in the show because Tigertron was easier than a whole new model is somehow related to Barbearian becoming Polar Claw sometime between the two pack and ...... well Polar claw.
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Post by Bogatan on Aug 18, 2021 22:28:51 GMT
This is how the assortments evolved in the US. Cheetor *SHOULD* have been in Wave 1 but was delayed due to a last minute redesign on his gun. He was added in later Deluxe Beasts Assortment 1a (#80235) PK 6=> January 1996 - February 1996 80236 2 *Waspinator (rock bubble) 80237 2 *Tarantulas (rock bubble, painted wrists) 80238 2 *Dinobot (rock bubble) Deluxe Beasts Assortment 1b (#80235.01) PK 6=> February 1996 - May 1996 80236 2 Waspinator (rock bubble) 80237 1 Tarantulas (rock bubble, painted or unpainted wrists) 80238 1 Dinobot (rock bubble) 80239 2 *Cheetor (rock bubble, blue eyes) Deluxe Beasts Assortment 2a (#80235.12) PK 6=> May 1996 80237 1 Tarantulas (smooth bubble) 80239 1 Cheetor (smooth bubble, red eyes) 80241 2 *Rhinox 80242 2 *Wolfang Deluxe Beasts Assortment 2b (#80235.15) PK 6=> June 1996 - August 1996 80236 1 Waspinator (smooth bubble) 80239 1 Cheetor (smooth bubble, red eyes) 80241 2 Rhinox 80242 2 Wolfang We'll pick up what happens to the Deluxe Assortment in August 1996 - January 1997 in a few weeks time. The weird thing about these dates to me is that I always associate Wolfang as a 1997 toy. I'd swear thats when I got it and yet it was out with when I was in Orland buying all the first waves of Beast Wars. And I know I saw that wave, because some of the deluxes I have are smooth bubbled. So either I did get it in 96 and my memory is faulty or as one of the new toys it sold out and I didn't see it. but in my head I had the full set other than the megas so I would have had to completely not notice Wolfang on the back of the card back. I guess thats possible as most of my packaging would have been earlier waves which didnt have it.
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Post by Llama God on Aug 19, 2021 8:46:49 GMT
Yep, it’s obvious, but it has to be Dinobot for me. How could I not favour the velociraptor? Whether it’s the best toy or not is another question, but it’s certainly the one that caught my eye. (Although that was partially down to wondering why on Earth it was named after a while team...)
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Post by Philip Ayres on Aug 19, 2021 10:02:15 GMT
Finishes TOMORROW!
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Post by Philip Ayres on Aug 20, 2021 5:10:51 GMT
Dinobot wins!
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Post by Philip Ayres on Aug 20, 2021 5:11:09 GMT
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Post by Philip Ayres on Aug 20, 2021 5:16:20 GMT
Waspinator has several "tweak the colours" repaints as himself plus a more "interesting one" in Fox Kids He's repainted as Buzzsaw and remoulded as Dirgegun who in turn is repainted as Thrustinator, a hybrid between Waspinator's BW & BM forms. Likewise Tarantulas has several colour tweak repaints as himself, plus an unreleased clear orange version, and some more drastic repaints s as Blackarachnia, who in turn has an unreleased version
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The Huff
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Post by The Huff on Aug 20, 2021 7:42:46 GMT
Both of these are brilliant but voting Waspinator even if Tarantulas has the better beast mode (waspinator has those stupid back legs). I love the detail on Waspy and a actually prefer the robot head over the mutant one as a toy. Only started switching it to Mutant after seeing the TV show. Also like the way the tech specs refer to the character in non gender pronouns making 'it' sound like some sort of robot. Always invisaged a swarm of Waspinators as troops hence the Predacons faction symbol. (We were going to do that in CG2)
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Post by The Doctor on Aug 20, 2021 8:39:27 GMT
THRUSTINATOR.
-Ralph
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Post by Philip Ayres on Aug 20, 2021 12:52:28 GMT
What isn't imediately obvious is these two toys are, or rather WERE, gang moulded. There's 3 frames shared between both toys: | Wasp | Spider | A | Head, Chest & Upper Arms | Head, robot legs & heels, gun top | B | Shoulders, Shoulder Hinges, inner body & Waist | Upper Arms & hinges, Neck & robot inner body | C | Wings, Missiles & Lightpipe | Beast Eyes |
Between the two toys we can track the same colours being used on each toy for both them and their repaints on both US and Japanese releases: | Waspinator & Tranatulus | Buzzsaw & Blackarachnia | | US Release | Japan Release | US Release | Japan Release | A | Grey | Darker Grey | Purple | Darker Purple | B | Olive Green | Brighter Green | Green | Grey | C | Clear | Clear | Clear Green | Clear Green |
The mould was broken in two, or gated, for the remoulded release of Dirge Gun. Waspinator is then used by himself in Fox Kids. Tarantulus doesn't return till BW 10th anniversary (though had a planned use as Halloween Horrorcon Black Arachnia) Did the Tarantulas portions of the mould have to be rebuilt?
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Post by Llama God on Aug 23, 2021 7:49:50 GMT
Just based on the fact that spiders are creepier, I'd have to pick Tarantulas - even though the toys themselves aren't particularly accurate, and are thus not quite as creepy as their real-life counterparts.
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Post by Bogatan on Aug 23, 2021 9:53:21 GMT
I'll go with Tarantulas just because it seems a little bit more solid in robot mode.
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Post by Philip Ayres on Aug 25, 2021 8:07:43 GMT
Both of these are brilliant but voting Waspinator even if Tarantulas has the better beast mode (waspinator has those stupid back legs). I'm genuinely having trouble making my mind up on these two. Even a mild change of colour shifts my opinion which really does show how close it is! I love the detail on Waspy and a actually prefer the robot head over the mutant one as a toy. Definitely prefer the robot head!
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Post by Philip Ayres on Aug 26, 2021 7:42:57 GMT
Poll finishes tomorrow so I'd better vote
<looks at results so far>
A tie, so I'd break the deadlock. ****
Tarantulas has the better beast mode - as Matt said Waspinator's rear legs are problematic - but the beast mode is harmed if you loose one of his missile legs. But he does have the additional grappling hook and like missile. So I think it is Tarantulas by the narrowest of margins here. This result will be reversed for their different character recolours.....
Do you get green wasps?
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Aug 26, 2021 17:17:29 GMT
Yeah, they're the unripe ones. Martin
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Post by Philip Ayres on Aug 27, 2021 6:15:30 GMT
A Tie!
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Post by Philip Ayres on Aug 27, 2021 6:16:10 GMT
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Post by Llama God on Aug 27, 2021 7:08:02 GMT
This poll is the equivalent to who would win VS-2 Showdown at the North Pole: White Claw VS Scorpos Well the answer to that one is easy - Polar Claw. The scorpion would freeze long before he even got to fight... Also, that'd be the answer to the poll for me. Although Scorponok has the advantage of being on the show, there was just something about that white bear alt-mode that always looked great to me...
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The Huff
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Post by The Huff on Aug 27, 2021 7:26:53 GMT
Polar Claw is easily the best toy here. Much more solid and better looking modes.
But Scorponok is a Scorponok so he has to get my vote.
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Post by Philip Ayres on Aug 27, 2021 8:22:44 GMT
And I suspect most peoples..... Back in the day he was much harder to find being an existing name (and originally character) AND a show toy..... plus the assortment with both of these in was already on the way out when we got Beast Wars - Inferno was introduced shortly after and he was solid cased, as per the US, or these two were packed with him in much lesser numbers WHY HAS SCORPONOK NEVER BEEN REPAINTED IN GREEN AND PURPLE ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? IT WAS AN OPEN GOAL HASBRO! BOTH of these started off with VERY different colours: Polar Claw's Barbearian colours saw the light of day as a Botcon Japan 1999 exclusive while his companion Double Punch has a different colour scheme to clear orange Scorponok - Tarnatulas was ALSO originally clear orange. Polar Claw has an easier to find repaint as BW Neo Survive..... easier as in "one of the last toys in the regular range and v hard to lay your hands on one. Scorponok's only other repaint is as Botcon 1999 Sandstorm
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Post by The Doctor on Aug 27, 2021 8:24:50 GMT
POLAR CLAW.
-Ralph
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The Huff
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Post by The Huff on Aug 27, 2021 8:58:50 GMT
I'd love a transparent orange Scorponok. Perhaps well get one in the Kingdom mould.
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Post by Philip Ayres on Aug 27, 2021 23:03:34 GMT
Never been keen on the drones for these. They work ok by themselves - has anyone ever noticed they're effectively smaller versions of other BW characters? - but break or loose one and the larger toy is knackered. Scorponok is particularly liable with the clear blue plastic forming the claw, bee and trigger being particularly fragile.
The lack of symmetry has bothered me here - bee one arm, missile on the other - but it's only just this week I've realised a solution. A second, Cyberbee less, Scorponok is winging it's way to Phil's DFiS and I intend to swap one toy's damaged/incomplete bee claw for the other's missile claw.
I will report back on how it goes....
Sadly there's not even the possibility of such a fix for Polar Claw and that trigger happy robot claw has been annoying me all day by going off at the wrong moment.
Did anyone ever picture Icebird as a new version of Polar Claw?
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Post by Llama God on Aug 28, 2021 8:13:01 GMT
I'd love a transparent orange Scorponok. Perhaps well get one in the Kingdom mould. If they do that there’s a very strong chance it’d be remoulded to be Quickstrike instead. Which I wouldn’t find so bad.
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