I agree, you are probably misremembering that scene with Rattap and connecting it with the fact he changes his transformation command to "Maximize".

 

That would be so amazing. Can already imagine how stunning the paint job of that figure would be.

 

I'll be honest, watched the whole series, never noticed no insignia!

However posing him with Megatron would be similar, to me, as posing Jetfire with G1 Megatron.

I know, apples and oranges as Dinobot was truly a Predacon and Skyfire was just confused

 

I also wonder how quickly some nay-saying-trukk-not-munky-stupid-beast-wars-taking-up-my-mp-slots-type will chime in calling him a parts former  

 

I worry about a gimmick like that resulting in parts popping off during transformation. I honestly worry about that for BW Megatron, too. Think allowing them to detach for a "lounge mode" is dumb

 

As far as BW MPs go, I would hope for MP Rattrap next...but only if they do a TM version...that one I might actually get...

 

How is it that there's more love and thought put into the Beast Wars MPs than the G1 ones.

Like, the BW transformations hella cheat but the MPs turn out way better than the current G1 ones.

 

I think the naked mode could be a taste of what waspinator could be...

 

I feel like that's just you projecting your tastes onto the toys, becaus there's very little about the current G1 offerings that don't also scream "labour of love".

 

I think because the BW MPs look like the walked right out of the show since they're replicating solid CGI models that rarely deformed or were inconsistent, verses the G1s where they'll obviously never be able to look like actual 2D cel-animated characters.

Plus the BW MPs have so many more tricks like printed decoes, surface sculpting to replicate textures, and just look a hell of a lot better in the end.

 

Perhaps. I just see different design goals. I can see how the BW characters are more "identifiable", because so much about them seems lifted directly from the CG.

It just seems disingenuous to insinuate that the G1 MPs are somehow lesser in effort by comparison, though.

 

I think in a way the design team have an easier time hitting all the beats fans want from an MP when it comes to Beast Wars. Unlike G1 pretty much all fans want show accuracy from a Beast Wars MP. There is far more agreement and less difference of opinion on what they need to do and how they need to look due to such a strong and singular design aesthetic. Sure they have other obstacles to traverse that G1 doesn't, CGI textures, CGI models that take liberties with their transformations, alt mode that have fewer places to hide robot parts etc etc, but if the get it right they don't have to worry about an audience that want so many different things they can't please them all. The design team are applying the same slavish commitment to show accuracy across the line, it's just working better a higher percentage of Beast Wars fans because there's less disagreement over whether that's the right thing to do.

 

If 'labor of love' means 'make it slavishly accurate to the cartoon, so much so it has to cheat' then sure.

 

Isn't... isn't that exactly what the BW MPs are doing?

 

The other advantage they have is CGI models 

No scale argument as they were always in scale on the show so there was never an episode where Rattrap grabbed Megatron in one hand in one scene and then got trampled by Tarantulas in the next  

 

I was always under the impression they actually used their animal bits, like Dinobot's raptor head?

 

And now I want to see an absurdist take on Beast Wars where things like that happen constantly. Maybe make it some fever-dream of Waspinator where he's the only real one and all the rest of them are action figures he's playing with.

 

Wait... are you trying to say Dinobot's raptor head actually makes up his chest in robot mode?

Because it doesn't. Not even close.

 

I'm also fairly confident that the CGI models used for both Beast Wars and Beast Machines are kept in Hasbro's archives, so Takara has ready access to them for reference. When people say things like, "Boy, Megatron's head sculpt looks like it jumped straight out of the TV!" chances are it did. G1 animation is inconsistent and needs to be parsed and reconciled--not even the colors are concrete and universal from scene to scene.