I just came back from a week-long family trip to find two Lio Convoys, one BWII and one Robot Masters, waiting for me on my doorstep, graciously bought from fellow TFW's, thanks to the wonderful Junkion Trade.

After admiring their beauty, I think I've caught beast TFs fever; I'm done with movie toys, and with the Animated line looming over us in, what, six months (BOO), I need something to occupy my collecting needs.

Which Primals would you say are must-haves, and what would you say are your top three Beast Wars/Neo/II/etc etc toys, not including Primal? For now I've put Big Convoy, Air Attack Primal, and RM Primal on my list, but in terms of BW toys, I'm lost as to what's good and what's crap.

Thanks a lot guys! If it weren't for you all, I'd probably be spending money on pointless stuff like food and toilet paper.

 

Big Convoy for sure...

As for the others... BWN Magmatron is pretty good... If you can find one, BWN Heinlad is a pretty good TF as well as a working clock. That's about all I have to recommend...

 

The original BW Primal is my favorite version of him. I also like the Maximals from BWN. Especially Longrack and Mach Kick. If you're into combiners, check out Magnaboss. The Japanese version of him is better than what we got in the US.

 

Longrack's the giraffe, right? Yeah, I've always wanted him because he's just a really weirdass TF.

 

In my opinion all the Beast Convoys/Primals are really good. The weakest mold I can think of would be Lioconvoy's but even he's pretty good (and cheap). If your looking into the original Primal I would definitely suggest the Primal VS Megatron Anniversary 2 pack and kill two birds with one stone.

In terms of other Beast Wars toys I would recommended I would put these on my "Strongly" to consider list:

- Transmetal Rampage (look at the Japanese version too as it has a better paint)
- Transmetal Depth Charge
- Blackarachnia (there's a few versions of her but I would personally pick up the new Japanese reissue)
- Beast Wars Metals X-9 Ravage OR Botcon 2001 Tigatron (Great toy though be prepared to spend a bundle)
- Cybershark
- Any of the original cats like Cheetor, Tigatron etc...
- Waspinator or Buzz Saw
- Original Rattrap and Terrorsaur
- Beast Wars Neo Stampy (cheap and simple, love this guy)
- Beast Wars Neo Corahda

 

Optimal Optimus is a really good one, but Primal Prime is better.

The Cheetor mold (or rather, repaints of it like the Tigatron reissue) is still one of my favs.

And of course, the BW TM2 Cybershark mold is excellent, but I think that the later repaint of the mold (you know who I'm talking about ) is the best beast TF ever in terms of sculpt, paint and character.

 

Fave Primal(s): Robotmaster mold Takara 10th anniversary version, OpOp/PriPri

Other great BW:
Waspinator, Insecticon
Fuzor Silverbolt, TM Rampage, TM Megatron
TM2 Tigerhawk, TM2 Spittor, TM2 Stinkbomb
10th Anniversary Megatron

 

Optimal Optimus or Primal Prime

 

Transmetal II Megatron
Transmetal II Cheetor
Depthcharge
Rampage
Tigerhawk
X-9 Ravage (like Soundwave.ca mentioned, be prepared to loosen the wallet a bit on this one)

Actually, you can't really go wrong with any of the Primal/Convoy or Megatron/Magmatron figures since they were pretty well done (even Lio Convoy, kibble-licious as it can be).

 

These are all the BW toy's I'd rate as A's:

TM II Megatron
Optimus Primal
Magnaboss (Sucker for combiners)
Tripredacus (Read Above)
Razorclaw
Silverbolt
TM Waspinator (great third mode)
TM Rattrap (Some may not like him because he has no guns)
TM II Tigerhawk
B'boom
Scorponok
TM Tarantulus
TMII Blackarachnia (Best fembot in the series)
Cybershark
TM Rampage
TM Depthcharge
TMII Iguanus
Cheetor

 

C-1 Optimus Primal
C-3 Cheetor
C-4 Dinobot
C-7 Rhinox
C-8 Tigatron
C-9 Wolfang
C-10 Air-razor
C-11 Cybershark
C-19 Tonbot
C-31 Stampy
C-33 Rockbuster
C-35 Big Convoy
C-41 Silverbolt
C-43 Rattrap
C-46 Depth Charge
C-48 Blackarachnia

D-3 Waspinator
D-5 Terrorsoar
D-7 Shadow Panther
D-9 Buzzsaw
D-11 Inferno
D-25 Dirge-Gun
D-26 Thrustol
D-33 Hydlar
D-36 Archaedis
D-41 Rampage
D-44 Tarantulas
D-45 Quickstrike
D-47 Megatron IV

X-5 Ikard
X-7 Elephorca
X-9 Ravage

Howlinger Jap BW TM-10

TF2000/Car Robots
D-001 Gigatron
D-003 Dark Scream

Polar Claw
Grimlock
Jetstorm
Claw Jaw UK TM w/ video
TM Megatron
TM Tarantulas Fox Kids
TM Rattrap Walmart exclusive
TMII Tigerhawk
TMII Ramulas
TMII Spittor
TMII Tripredacus Agent Walmart exclusive
Windrazor BC1999 exclusive
Shocaract BC2000 exclusive

Beast Machines
Terranotron

RID
Grimlock Walmart Dinobot
Slapper Walmart Dinobot
Swoop Walmart Dinobot

TFU
Repugnus Target ex.
Silverbolt


Galaxy Force/Cybertron
GD-07 Scourge
GD-08 Dino-Shout
GD-10 Terashaver
Wreckloose

 

Ugh, Japanese reissues are completely confusing me. Okay, so according to my research, there's a recent "2007" reissue under the "TM" tag, as shown here.

Looking at the galleries for the TM-01 Optimus Primal at Seibertron.com, apparently it's just a repaint of Robot Masters Primal. But on other sites, such as jrstoyworld.com, I'm led to believe they're simply reissues of the same figures from the Beast Wars line, just retouched and repainted. So wait, are they just series accurate reissues of the same molds, or is it the Beast Wars equivalent of a Robot Masters line, where the molds are siginificantly smaller than their predecessors?

 

The BW reissues of the Primal and Megatron are Robotmasters, the others are not. I know it does seems somewhat confusing doesint it?

 

So the Optimus Primal and Megatrons are smaller than their original molds, but the rest are more or less faithful both in mold and proportions?


GAH, I really hate getting into this hobby so late, or rather, getting into Beast Wars so late; right about when the TF craze started after the movie came out, I was looking for movie toys and spotted a stack of 10th Anniv Optimus Primal vs. Megatrons at TRU for only 15 bucks. I almost bought that too, but held back, thinking it was garbage.  

 

Yup, Megatron and Optimus prime are the smaller Robot Masters molds, but with a more show accurate color scheme. The rest are the original Beast Wars molds but with better paint apps.

I really recommend them!

 

Big Convoy, definitely! There's never really been a Prime who's sported such an imposing badass warrior look, in my opinion.

... Of course, Takara's black repaint of him rocks my socks even harder. Though then again, black repaints of any Prime are sexay as heck.



And black Lio Convoy, just to prove the point:

 

Big Convoy is by far the best "primal" figure. Tons of playability, and complex transformation. the best of both worlds.

 

I think TM Optimus is a must-have. The hover-board gimmick is pretty cool.

 

Personally I love BWX Cyb Primal:





The actual BW line has many hidden gems. I recommend checking out some of the following:

Powerpinch
Terragator
Insecticon
Claw Jaw

Otherwise pretty much all of the normal Transmetals are solid toys. Transmetal IIs are a bit iffy for various reasons. Fuzors are pretty fun too.