I was just today wondering about collecting the show characters of Beast Machines, and just checked out eBay to find out their prices... the vast majority of them, including the Basic-sized drones, are worth £20-£30 or more, which is totally baffling to me when considering how loathed the series is, particularly its toyline. Anyone have any explanations?

 

my guess: Beast machines toys use a metric-crapton of translucent Plastic. On load bearing joints. this is not a recipe for durability. BM toys break easily. and as such there arent many left, driving up demand/cost.

something similar has happened with Bandai's Dinozaurs line.

 

I know some of the Takara "Beast Wars Returns" were valuable but as for Hasbro, I don't think the marketability of releases are worth much except for a select few like Primal Prime. I had a Battle Unicron that took me a year to sell for $15 and a MISB deluxe BM Primal I still can't sell even at $10 so I boxed it back up and will try again sometime later.

 

I check ebay for Beast Machines toys fairly regularly. There's the normal range of crazy prices for each item, but if you're a little patient you can basically get every toy from the line for close to original retail or less. I say be patient, maybe search outside the UK.

 

who are you looking for?

 

The Takara toy line is Toy 'R' Us. If you are looking for the figures with show - accurate colours, they will be very expensive.

 

Waiiiit wait wait. Beast Machines figures have value now? You used to be able to buy them in lots of 10 for $20-ish. I got Cheetor MISB for $3.

 

i think ill wait for the classics verson of each beast mechines character

 

you may be waiting a very long time, there isn't much demand aside for you and me for more beast machines toys. if they didn't redo any character who has been already made theres still easily 10 years worth of characters they can make before hitting beast machines.

 

There's your first problem. Ebay prices are inflated for anything really.

And here's your second. Those are the most valuable BM figures, if you factor in size class.

 

The non-show basics were probably the highlight of the line for me, but sadly most of my beastformers broke in storage while the vehicons seem to have survived. Aside from the aforementioned fragility, I think that their general lack of popularity at the time may have something to do with their lack of availability now as many collectors passed on the figures. I remember the fandom being really split on the toys, and especially the show while also finding a lot of the figures in bargain bins in discount stores (alongside endless Transquitos). I am guessing that nostalgia is driving the price up as well, as many fans who were children during the shows run are now adults with money. Just my two cents on the matter.

 

Some of them are actually good figures?

I have Jetstorm, Tankor(Universe), Obsidian(Universe) Nightcruz(RID), Mirage, Mirage GT(RID), Scavenger(RID), Buzzsaw and they are all pretty great figures, dated, but no more then some of Beast Wars offerings. While the line certainly did have a few big shits and nothing was entirely showaccurate some of them are really good, especially the Vehicons.

 

Yeah, the basic Vehicons were generally pretty good, Tank Drone, Spy Streak are pretty darn cool whereas Obsidian still rates as one of my favourite Basics ever. Even the Beasty Basics got good shouts with guys like Night Viper and Hammerstrike (who I accept is a love or loath kinda toy).

Also, some of it has never been reused ever and a bunch have not been released in Japan. Some toys (like the Dinobots) were brought into the Beast Machines line from Japanese Beast Wars but the reverse is not the same. Guys like Hammerstrike, Deluxe Jetstorm, Longhorn, Night Slash Cheetor, Buzzsaw, or any of the Deployers have ever been released outside the west. (So Beast Machines toys are probably rare in Japan!)

Also, BM toys were from a period where Transformers was at a low point, distribution and production numbers were lower than after their first resurgence (the original RID was an unexpected success, so Armada was the first big boost, then the '07 Bay movie), so factor in all this and it's not real surprise BM toys are probably more valuable.

 

I'll take BM Primal for $10...

 

As previously stated, neither the show nor the toyline were super popular with adult collectors, so I'm not sure a whole lot of the BM line ended up being conserved, so to speak. I'd imagine the vast majority of what was sold back in the day ended up being used as toys by children - can you imagine? I know I'm clutching my pearls in horror - and thus would up worn out and our broken. Not exactly Ebay material.

Some of us appreciated the line when it was new, however (pardon my dust):



BM did move enough cultural water to get a Titanium Cheetor manufactured and (barely) released:



And the Takara TRU exclusives do occasionally show up in the US. I scored a loose Black Widow after a long hunt for I believe $40. I do remember dude sent her to me in a taped up kleenex box, of all things...

 

The BM toys were never bad per se, they just had little to nothing in common with the actual show characters. As mentioned above, the basics were generally good (less room to cram in bad gimmicks) and the vehicons were generally better than the maximals. The Jetstorm mould saw a lot of reuse over the next few years, although this was partly due to it being the only deluxe jet mould around at the time. But it's still good today. I'm genuinely surprised we didn't get a generations version of him lately. He'd make for a good titan master at least.

 

Hmm, I haven't had Beast Machines toys break on me yet, knock on wood. I'll have to be careful with them in the future.

Beast Machines really has to be the line with the most show-inaccurate figures. I still can't get over that ginormous Nightscream toy. I know the character, and the show as a whole, aren't popular, but I'd like to see a properly sized Nightscream figure in the Generations line at some point.

 

Beast Machines really need the Generations treatment for that very reason. so horrendously mis-sized and inaccurate.
Rattrap, Nightscream, Diagnostic Drone
Deluxe: Botanica, Blackarachnia, Thrust, Cheetor (tall deluxe, like rotf/animated Lockdown), Jetstorm, Obsidian, Nightscream, Rattrap (with Diagnostic Drone to fill out the pricepoint))
Voyager: Silverbolt, Optimus Primal, Strika, Noble, Tankor
Leader: Season 1 Megatron (voyager core+control harness), Optimal Megatron
Titan: Grand Mal Fortress

 

This. If Beast Machines ever gets a new anything besides dvd re releases I'll be surprised.

 

universe night slash cheetor is probably the best beast machines cheetor you'll get. it is a repaint of the black cheetor and is a tall deluxe. he goes for about 30 on ebay. Blackarachnia wasn't so bad, thrust actually was pretty good. silverbolt should NO WAY be a voyager.