COUNTDOWN: Another round of gorgeous Beast Wars repaints

I love repaints. I may have mentioned this.

There’s something about seeing an already familiar toy design rehashed in a bold new colour scheme that always gets the motor running. After all, what better way is there to fully appreciate a particular mould than to admire it with a different look?

Having already showcased examples from the Unicron Trilogy, CHUG, Beast Machines, RID 2001, Animated, Binaltech, Masterpiece and even Generation 1, we’re back at it again for a fifth round of Beast Wars! Simply put, here are five gorgeous repaints for your consideration!

#5: Botcon Vice Grip (1998)

I’ve mentioned a fair few Botcon repaints on these lists already, but I feel like Vice Grip may be one of the most commonly underrated. Hugely overshadowed in the same year of release by the stunning mystique of Antagony, and with basically no relevance in terms of subsequent toys or fiction, it’s not hard to understand why this toy has been all but forgotten since. Yet it’s still a noteworthy entry in the convention-exclusive back catalogue and combines a distinct new colour scheme with an already excellent design to prove quite noteworthy once you actually give him a chance! True, he could probably do with some extra colour on the robot-mode eyes or something to make it all pop a little more, but this remains a true jewel in any collection.

#4: Beast Wars II Hellscream (1998)

This is not the first repaint of Cybershark to feature on one of these lists, but I dare say it is one of the more distinctive! Heavily – heavily – retooling the original outing to incorporate all manner of mechanically-styled parts, Hellscream is one of four ‘cyborg’ characters released in Beast Wars II, all of which take a familiar mould and give it a hugely distinctive, and quite nightmarish makoever! The result likely won’t be to everyone’s tastes but there’s surely no denying it’s quite bold and eyecatching, with lush paint applications and plenty of detail. The completed set is quite the sight!

#3: Beast Wars II Thrust (1998)

Wait, this isn’t a beast! Well, no, but sticking with Beast Wars II for a moment, many of the bad guys in that series stuck to the more traditional Transformers vehicle form template, which of course also allowed TakaraTomy to repurpose many a mould from days gone by. In this case, the flipchanger jets first glimpsed during Machine Wars (after going unreleased in Generation 2) came back for another outing, which led to this memorable yellow makeover. It’s strange to consider how synonymous this design’s debut was with Megatron because here, the colour scheme puts that entirely out of your brain and delivers what, at this point, was its best use thus far.

#2: Telemocha Wolfang (2007)

The central premise of the mid-2000s Telemocha repaint line was to deliver more show-accurate takes on classic Beast Wars figures, but it didn’t stop TakaraTomy from mixing it up on occasion. Wolfang here is the best evidence of that, as they took a non-cartoon toy and gave it an altogether new look, now red, gold and brown instead of blue and grey. What’s more, this Wolfang is meant to be a wholly new character, a Predacon no less, as opposed to just an update of his original-release namesake. Whatever the case, the result is striking beyond belief, taking an unsung hero of the ’90s toy line and presenting it with a lush premium finish. He’s a good boy!

#1: Botcon Sandstorm (1999)

Naturally, we end on another Botcon effort and, in this case, a further use of the 1996 Scorponok design in daring new hues! Modern collectors will likely be familiar with this palette from the recent Legacy effort, the inspiration for which stretches back to 1999. However, something superbly alluring about the original figure remains, especially as it’s hard to quantify what makes this idiosyncratic colour combo work! The heady mix of eye-searing orange, muted tan and dark, desaturated purple may be odd. Still, somehow, it comes together to make a truly worthwhile additional outing for this signature Beast Wars design.

So that’s our list! What are some of your favourite Beast Wars repaints?

TTFN