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| Transformers: Beast Wars | |
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| Created by | Hasbro |
Transformers: Beast Wars is anentertainment franchise fromHasbro, part of the largerTransformers franchise. The franchise directly follows theTransformers: Generation 1 continuity, established by the1984 series andanimated film. Itignores the continuity established by the Japanese Transformers series, though this franchise has two exclusive Japanese series of its own. BeforeBeast Wars, Hasbro attempted to relaunch the originaltoys andanimation asTransformers: Generation 2. Hasbro intended another franchise titledTranstech to follow, which would have combinedBeast Wars andGeneration 1 characters andaesthetics, but this was canceled. Instead, the franchise began a series ofreboots, beginning with the Japanese-producedTransformers: Car Robot series, internationally known asTransformers: Robots in Disguise.[1]
Beast Wars was succeeded byBeast Machines, a new series with a new creative team in charge of production. TheMaximals find themselves back on Cybertron, malfunctioning and trapped in their beast modes from the beginning ofBeast Wars, without any memory of what happened previously.Optimus Primal,Cheetor,Rattrap, andBlackarachnia begin a new crusade, this time to free the entire planet from theVehicons, created and controlled byMegatron.
The Japanese seriesBeast Wars II andBeast Wars Neo were created to fill the gap while the second and third seasons ofBeast Wars were being translated into Japanese (calledBeast Wars: Metals).[2] The characters originate from the future that theBeast Wars teams left, but the events of the series take place in the far future. The series saw the return ofUnicron. Unlike the originalBeast Wars series,Beast Wars II andBeast Wars Neo usedtraditional animation and were aimed at a much younger audience.[2]Beast Wars II spawned atheatrical movie. TheBeast Wars Neotoyline was created to cater to the Japanese market. Whereas the cybernetic transmetalBeast Wars Transformers sold well in Western markets, Japanese fans preferred more realistic looking beast modes; thus,Beast Wars Metals was not as successful with Japanese fans.[citation needed] The second and third season ofBeast Wars and its toyline only lasted a few months before being replaced byTransformers: Car Robots in the following new year, in which several unused Transmetal 2 molds were used as Destrongers (Predacons).[citation needed]Beast Machines was also imported to Japan in 2004 under the titleBeast Wars Returns, though it did not gain very much popularity.[citation needed]
Officially, theBeast Wars andBeast Machines series exist as the future ofTransformers: Generation 1 universe, and not specifically of the original cartoon series orMarvel Comics series. The writers of the series adopted this position in order to pick and choose the best elements of the discrete Generation 1 continuities.
In theBotCon comics, two particularBeast Wars storylines are tapped.
In theOmega Point storyline, several events lead up to a tremendous battle againstShokaract, a Predacon fueled by the Dark Essence ofUnicron himself. This also serves as an introduction forApelinq and features the only appearances ofWindrazor, Sandstorm, Antagony, and Cataclysm.
In thePrimeval Dawn story,Tarantulas returns from the dead alongside Ravage,Spittor,Iguanus, andRazorclaw to complete the mission he set out to do. Meanwhile, the Vok createPrimal Prime, who teams up withAirazor,Tigatron, andRamulus as an opposing team that has also returned from the dead as well.
Dreamwave Productions released a Summer Special which contained aBeast Wars story. It introduced three new characters,Optimus Minor,Bonecrusher, andWolfang. The comic had a survey as to whether Dreamwave's new comic would beRobots In Disguise orBeast Wars.Beast Wars won.
Dreamwave Productions had plans to release aBeast Wars comic in early 2005, which would have been done by theWar Within creative team ofSimon Furman andDon Figueroa. Brad Mick and Adam Patyk were originally planned to write the series until they left Dreamwave after not being paid for several projects. However, Dreamwave enteredbankruptcy before one issue could be published, although some cover art did appear on the internet.
A mini-series takes place parallel to the third season ofBeast Wars and introduces characters who are not shown in the original series such asMagmatron,Razorbeast, andInjector. Other characters who appear areGrimlock in hisBeast Wars body (a recolored Dinobot toy) and Ravage in his Transmetal II "Tripredacus Agent"incarnation.
The mini-series focuses on Magmatron, sent by theTripredacus Council to capture Megatron after Ravage's failure. However, Magmatron has his own agenda: to create his own army from the stasis pods theAxalon ejected in the pilot episode ofBeast Wars. His scheme is partially thwarted by the Maximaldouble-agent Razorbeast, who ensures theshell program used reconfigures many of the protoforms as Maximals rather than Predacons. The two sides clash in an attempt to stop Magmatron from returning to Cybertron with a captured Megatron, with some unexpected aid from Grimlock ensuring Magmatron is sent back to Cybertron empty handed. However, Razorbeast's Maximals and many Predacons (led by Ravage, resurrected in a Transmetal II body) are left on Earth, opening the way for future series.
There have been twoBeast Wars video games. The first game, simply calledBeast Wars, was released forPlayStation andPC. It is athird-person shooter, based on the first season of the show, in which players control either the Maximals or the Predacons in a series of missions to undermine the other faction's attempts at gaining enough resources to win the war between them and escape the planet. It was given amultiplayer feature (removed from theconsole releases) that allowed up to 8 players to play overLAN, with its own play rooms in theMS Gaming Zone (they have since been removed). The second game,Transformers: Beast Wars Transmetals, is afighting game based on the second season. ThePlayStation version was released byHasbro Interactive and theNintendo 64 version was released byBAM! Entertainment. Most of the cast members from the show reprised their roles. A third game was in the works for thePlayStation 2, but was scrapped inpre-production, without any official word as to why, or how far the project was before the plug was pulled.[3]
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