I’d argue that the “beast era” was more than a relatively short span, in America it essentially lasted from 95 to 02 (yes I consider car robots/robots in disguise as part of the beast era due to its mold reuse early on in the series), so in the us the “beast era” spanned 3 series whereas in japan it spanned 5 (not counting bw as 2 separate series)

 

I'd argue that the first Universe counts as Beast Era, too, since it featured many of the same characters and effectively continued the story.

Anyway, I think it has to do with the market, more than anything. I definitely agree that part of it is the team dynamic and assembly errors, and another part is kids having no frame of reference for who these characters are. But ultimately? Beast Wars originally came at the perfect time, riding on the success of Power Rangers and stuff. Kids don't seem to be as enthused about transforming animals that much these days, which I guess is also why RID2015 has so few Decepticon toys.

 

I can’t believe I forgot universe 1.0, definitely beast era and also an evolution of rid01 considering rid01 started the multiversal cross era repaint train

 

I'd also say a BW line would sell better if kids had seen them in a cartoon or one of the movies before.
You can't say it had no cultural impact when Hasbro just arbitrarily decided to stop using Beast characters and toys completely and use only vehicleformers for years on end.
Kids don't even need much.
My kid likes to run around the garden with me pretending to fight bad guys.
After he saw the movie and played with my Optimus and Bumblebee he liked to pretend to be them.
Then some time ago I got out a few BW toys, TM Primal and Cheetor among others.
So lately he wants to play Prime and Primal.
And he is Primal.

 

Here's a question for the G1 fans:

If Hasbro created a new Deluxe Beast Wars Scorponok mold, would you buy it if it was redecoed as Double Punch, or even G1 Scorponok?

 

BW Scorponok wasn't one of my favorites but I might buy it as him or even DoublePunch over G1 Scorponok.
It's more about what fits a character to me.

 

Agreed, if a mold fits, I'd go for it. If it still evokes the BW aesthetic very strongly, to where it didn't look enough like the character they were repainting it to, I wouldn't touch it. Same way I treated all those A/E/C repaints released in the CHUG lines over the years.



And I'd say Pincher was a better fit for BW Scorponok than G1 Scorponok or Double Punch.

 

No. But if it looked like Iron Factory Lord Scorponok  

 

Pincher is a good suggestion. And funnily enough leads me into a second question:

Would G1 fans buy new Deluxe Beast Wars molds like Wolfang, Polar Claw, Razorbeast and Cheetor if they were redecoed/retooled into Carnivac, Chainclaw, Snarler and Catilla, even though they'd be doing away with the Pretender gimmick?

 

For me, as long as these guys are robot beasts and don't look like organic, beast wars ones, then yes. But if they're the Beast Wars guys just repainted as the G1 dudes? Then no, keep them away from me.

 

Hummm...yeah but in the greater consciousness both inside and outside if Transformers fandom that later stuff was rather circumstantial of Hasbro and Takara having a few Beast moulds to reuse and was not really supported by cohesive marketing or a competing story. Once the shows finished Beast Wars was essentially dead, even if 'new' Beast Era toys continued to hit the shelves for a fair few years after that.

I think regardless of the actual time period involved the point @backhawkdown was making was that, compared to G1, Beast Wars (and he said Beast Wars not the 'Beast Era') didn't have the same level of cultural impact and he is right. Beast Wars fandom is a niche within a niche, most Transformers fans and collectors are there because of G1, not all but most, because that was the one time the brand was truly iconic. Being a fan of both I can live with that, its a bit annoying that G1 gets virtually ALL the attention over and over again ad infinitum, but it's the natural order of things and it aint gonna change. I'm just happy when we get what we get. Regardless of how well they sold the BW Generations figures we well designed and pretty special, they could have just been lazy repaints and now Beast Wars MPs!? I have to pinch myself to check I'm not dreaming.

No. I'm not sure I'd even buy him as BW Scorponok as he is by far the lamest character from the series IMO...no wait...Quickstrike is. As a fan of both(G1 and BW), G1 Scorponok is actually a more exciting prospect, I really bonded with the character during his excellent depiction in the Marvel comics. Even though I have very little interest in the Generations line I was quite bummed that he lost the fan vote to Trypticon, who to me is just a mindless zoid.

 

This matches my response. But it doesn't matter what WE would buy, it matters what a soccer mom will buy for her kid(s).

 

.....because beast wars sucks!

There.....I said it!

 

 

Most probably would.
But like before: If they are not Pretenders or if the gimmick isn't represented in some way they are not the character to me so I wouldn't buy them.

 

Pincher is a good suggestion. Not that I'd buy it.
I actually think Double Punch fits the mold better and it would be a good update to him.

 

I think this is a moot point. I don't say this to shit on BW fans, but the reality is that BW will never be mainstream unless Hasbro actually decides to push it as such. It's very telling when the "evergreen" line, a line of budget transformers intended for smaller markets outside of the USA primarily use G1 designs. Any BW toy is going to be aimed at fans. Yeah, kids might get interested in them, but I'm certain that whenever BW toys come out they're intended for the fans.

 

Case in point the fan vote this year, as much as I hate to admit it, this guy is exactly right

 

Well that goes without saying.
There is no basis whatsoever for Beast Wars on the playground.
You can't get something from nothing. If Beast Wars is to be revived Hasbro has to be willing to push it.
Just like they were willing to put an end to Beast Wars after Beast Machines, import RID and start the UT at the start of the century.
Because back then there was no basis for vehicle formers on the playground other than the Vehicons.
  @ Grammarly wanting to get me to change "can't get something from nothing" into " can get something from nothing".
Your spelling is logically impaired

 

It goes without saying that Hasbro would have to make a concerted push to promote a new Beast Wars line, utilising every media source they have.

And as luck would have it, you can't help but feel that IDW are heading in that direction if the preview for Optimus Prime #15 is anything to go by. We've also seen Beast Wars characters introduced into both Earth Wars and Forged to Fight. All we're missing is TV... (Ron Pearlman to voice Optimus Primal in POTP)

 

I think the real problem is that frankly, lone BW figures stand out. Even kids usually have some idea of what kind of a collection they want and they're less interested in the fully organic alt-modes that are A: Inherently less convincing and B: Don't blend well with their other figures.

"Terrorsaur" "show accurate" "proper sizes"

BWA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAH!