According to the IDW Beast Wars comics, does Beast Wars/Machines take place after the G1 cartoon or the IDW comics? I'd assume it must take place in the same continuity as the G1 cartoon or comics, as the G1 characters are on ancient Earth. But then again, that doesn't explain Ironhide and Prowl being apparently alive in the Beast Era, according to IDW. So is there a correct answer, or did IDW just further f*ck things up?
G1/Marvel cartoon/comic. Some amalgamation of the two. It's impossible for it to take place in the IDW universe given there was no Ark crash 4 million years ago.
It takes place in the same continuity that the original show Beast Wars did. Since IDW's new comics don't involve the old G1 show/comics, it couldn't take place in the new series. So no, they didn't fuck things up. And they never did. IDW is the best thing to happen in Transformers comic books ever. Better than Marvel, who did an effing worthless job with it.
...Bollocks. Marvel INVENTED it. The personalities you're reading about in the IDW comics exist because of Marvel. And the comics were DAMN good, especially when you read the US & UK ones in tandem. What the HELL are you talking about?
While I agree with the first part, the slam at Marvel is unecessary and outright wrong. The Marvel run is a big part of Transformers history and deserves respect. As for the initial question, the Beast Wars show never firmly said it followed the G1 cartoon or comic, but it definitely takes place in a G1 continuity. In my imagination it has the best of both parts.