COUNTDOWN: 12 Beast Wars toys that deserve reissues

Beast Wars is making a big comeback!

Yes, as well as classic characters popping up in the War For Cybertron line (not to mention Masterpiece and the upcoming Rise of the Beasts!), Hasbro is really spoiling us with some beast blasts from the past in the form of vintage reissues.

We’ve already seen familiar cartoon faces such as Optimus Primal, Megatron, Cheetor, Rattrap, Tigatron and Scorponok, but perhaps what is even more exciting is that we have a couple of lesser-known names on the way, too! Toys like Cybershark and Wolfang are pretty unexpected, given they don’t even have modern interpretations of any kind, so there’s every reason to think we may get more of the same in the future!

After all, we’ve just had confirmation that as well as Terrorsaur, there will be a re-release of Retrax soon! Seriously, RETRAX. That’s about as random as it could get and realistically means nothing is off the table at this point!

So today, let’s look at twelve more classic Beast Wars toys that deserve the reissue treatment. For this list, we’ve stuck firmly to the first two years of vintage releases, meaning it’s purely stuff from the pre-Transmetal & Fuzor era (leaving those for another day, of course!). Enjoy!

#12: Rhinox

It seems like Rhinox here is something of an inevitability, no? After all, whilst we’ve already seen a few non-cartoon characters in the reissue roster, it still feels like an attempt to bring the show’s main cast back in vintage toy form. In truth, Rhinox was never my favourite figure back in the day. Not only was it not all that close to the resulting animation (as cool as the spinning mace weapon is, the cartoon’s chain guns were something else!), but the design is also a little awkward, and the face leaves a fair bit to be desired. Still, there’s little doubt the reissue line would feel incomplete without him, and if nothing else, I’m up for giving the toy another chance to shine.

#11: Tarantulas

Alongside Rhinox, a few other characters from the Mainframe animation feel like shoo-ins for a reissue. Amongst those, Tarantulas must surely be towards the top of the list, no? Not least because he’s a very prominent Predacon in his own right (not to mention an entertaining toy!), but also it might mean a Blackarachnia repaint, by extension. What’s better than one scheming spider? Two. Definitely two.

#10: Waspinator

Why universe hate Waspinator? Waspinator has plans! Yep, like Tarantulas, most fans would agree that this indestructible insect deserves a place in any kind of reissue line-up. It’s one of the more memorable early Beast Wars toys and makes good use of the mutant mask gimmick of the time (even rather unusually using the alternate head for his cartoon design!). Plus, there are some fun potential repaints to be had, including the yellow and purple beauty that is Buzzsaw!

#9: Airazor

Another well-known cartoon character, and perhaps even more so thanks to her star-turn in the recent Kingdom storyline, Airazor is also one of the best Beast Wars Basics class toys. Released in the second year after the line had moved away from the flipchanger gimmick, it shows just how much fun can be packed into a small frame. This one may not have the most obvious repaint potential, but it’s still a deserving candidate.

#8: Grimlock

Alright, a bit of a curveball here, but hear me out! Yes, Dinobot is the more obvious first choice if you’re going to re-use this toy design, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t say just how excited I would be for the idea of a modern reissue of his mould-mate, Grimlock. After all, the vintage specimen is one of the more notorious GPS sufferers of the time and is extraordinarily difficult to find in pristine condition today. I’m sure for a lot of collectors, a ‘fixed’ release would be a potent idea, indeed. I know I’d be on board.

#7: Polar Claw

Polar Claw was undoubtedly one of the most distinctive Maximals from the first two years of the original toyline, making his absence from the current WFC line-up all the more palpable (especially after he was teased in some of the early Kingdom artwork!). It would be fantastic to see the original toy given the reissue treatment, not least because of all the fun gimmicks it’s stacked with. There’s some repaint potential, too, although that all seems unlikely in a Hasbro reissue roster (given one was a Botcon exclusive and the other was a Takara-only release). Either way, he’d be a fitting counterpart for his fellow year-one Mega class figure, Scorponok.

#6: Inferno

Oh, c’mon, it has to happen, surely? Everyone’s favourite firestarter is soon to get the Legacy treatment, which makes the idea of re-releasing his original figure all the more compelling, in my opinion. That’s even more true because as great as that toy looks, vintage copies tend to have relatively loose ball joints, which could definitely be improved upon with a modern reissue. Plus, it’s arguably one of the most cartoon-accurate figures from the first two years of Beast Wars, making this a hot prospect.

#5: Bonecrusher

If you’ve never handled Beast Wars Bonecrusher, rest assured, it’s one of the more bonkers toys of the era. It takes the line into the territory of more unusual beast modes, which many of us would have liked to have seen more of at the time. The robot mode is somewhat unique, too, with a distinctive animalistic head sculpt that’s not easily forgotten. Given characters like Cybershark, Wolfang and Retrax are already in the spotlight, maybe it’s time for Bonecrusher to make a comeback too?

#4: B’Boom

B’Boom is one of the most ludicrous Beast Wars toys of all. Seriously, just look at his name, for starters! Then there’s his mandrill beast mode, which for some inexplicable reason, is a shiny blue and features a missile launcher gimmick coming out of its mouth. Oh, and just check out his bonkers robot mode, with a mohawked head sculpt that makes him look bizarrely like the bad guy from Avatar. And did we mention the third mode? Yep, he also transforms into some kind of nightmarish battle station with guns everywhere and his head rather hideously placed at the front of it. It looks rather painful, but it’s just part of what makes B’Boom so much fun. He needs a reissue.

#3: Razorclaw

Full disclosure, Razorclaw was without a doubt one of my favourite Beast Wars toys upon release in the ’90s. Like Airazor, he eschews the Basics flipchanger transformation of the first year but packs in so much more as a result, with an incredible amount of functionality and gimmicks in such a tiny bod’. Both modes are stunning to look at, with a gorgeous colour scheme (one of the times I can honestly say I preferred the Western release over the Takara repaint). If you want to see Beast Wars Basics at their best, this is your lad.

#2: Tripredacus

Combiners are a staple part of any Transformers line, but arguably some of the more unique examples can be found in Beast Wars. Take Tripredacus, for instance – three multi-legged beastly bots all contorting together to form a rather ungodly abomination of a Big Man mode with twisted limbs and a face right out of your nightmares. It shouldn’t work, and yet the result is just so marvellous. This is pre-Transmetal Beast Wars at its finest, and in the absence of the character being picked up for a modern makeover of any kind, a reissue will do very nicely indeed, thank you.

#1: Magnaboss

Speaking of incredible combiner teams AND toys that notoriously had GPS problems back in the day, here’s Magnaboss! Like his Predacon equivalent, this guy is made up of a three-‘bot team that defies all logic to somehow equal a superb result, with one of the more distinctive (if slightly problematic?) combined forms in all of Transformers. And just like Grimlock above, it would be incredible to see the toy given a new release without the curse of gold plastic found on bird-boy team member, Silverbolt. Of course, he’s just recently come in for newfound fame in the current Legacy line (under the character’s traditional Takara name, Skywarp), so what better time to bring the original lads back for another outing, eh?

So that’s our list! What other early Beast Wars toys would you like to see reissued?

TTFN