You know what the internet is just jam-packed with?
Opinions.
Luckily there’s still some room left, because here’s one more: I ♥ Beast Hunters. A lot.
Not the “Beast Hunters” which was the original working title of Beast Machines.
I mean, of course, the “Beast Hunters” part of Transformers Prime Beast Hunters which is all set to introduce a new, ruthless faction of ancient Transformers called the Predacons. 
Now, this opinion, much like most of the opinions across the internet, is not equally shared. (A division among the Transformer fandom?!?! How shocking!) I am eagerly awaiting season three of Transformers Prime, perhaps more than I have anticipated either of the first two seasons. Now don’t get me wrong, I have quite enjoyed seasons one and two of Transformers Prime. I even own them both on Blu-ray (sooo pretty in HD). However, with a cast size limited by CGI budget, things can get stale rather quickly. This was something that Beast Wars fully embraced. By introducing Transmetal, then Fuzors, then Transmetal 2, they managed to keep the show moving and changing throughout all three seasons. In fact, in a great interview for the LATimes “Hero Complex” Pop Culture blog, executive producer Jeff Kline admits,
“What we discovered early on, especially in Season 2, because we kept getting bigger and bigger, we wanted it to get more epic and the idea of having every episode be self-contained became impossible. And we burned through our three years of story early in Season 2.”
The full interview can be found here. The end result is that they needed to toss things up and where it all landed was on the concept of Beasts. And I couldn’t be happier. How do you keep things interesting? Throw this into the mix.
Dragons!!! I love me some dragons and as I said in my Cybertron Scourge post, I freaking love transforming dragons. A new, ruthless faction of ancient Transformers called the Predacons all with dragon alt modes is the kind of game changer the series needs right now. Lazerback himself comes with some great personality straight off his portion of the “Tales of the Beast Hunters”:
LAZERBACK refuses to serve under anyone, not an OVERLORD like MEGATRON, or a conqueror like PREDAKING. Instead, he is determined to see CHAOS made king by the destruction of two tyrants who stand in his way.
It’ll be nice if that particular detail makes it into the cartoon. Though it took some initial getting used to (and there isn’t much imagination in the transformation from alt to robot mode), I definitely like that his robot mode really is a completely different aesthetic than we’ve see so far from both the Decepticons and the Autobots of Prime. Sidenote, his packaging and a majority of his online postings declare “Includes 2 missiles” and “Fires 2 missiles!”, however, this appears to be a simple case of mistakenly thinking his Toxic Strike Blaster’s “Acid Missile” is actually two separate missiles.
Not that it matters too much, as he’s a member of what may be the first entire faction that will be displayed in alt mode.
As far as Beast Hunters as a whole, thanks to the promos we know at least the leader of Predacons will be showing up on screen, however the one thing I seriously hope makes it into the cartoon is at least some of the new armored forms of the Autobots.
The biggest division in the fandom over Beast Hunters appears to be the new spiky Mad Max-inspired changes to their alt modes. Once again, I fall firmly on the side of that division that has big, giant smiles. Wheeljack’s new design makes his first Transformers Prime release look almost prosaic.
The added weathered details are remarkable and intricate. Now, I can’t say I actually understand Wheeljack’s new winged robot mode — from lone wolf Wrecker to avenging angel? — but I can say that I am loving it.
The argument that so many have tossed around; “I can’t believe it’s a line made up of mostly repaints of toys we already bought!” is invalid. Unlike lines such as Transformers Armada‘s “The Unicron Battles”, Beast Hunters isn’t comprised of simple repaints. Least noticeable, but most significant for the subtlety, are the mold changes to his headsculpt.
Beyond just the subtle changes, the more noticeable remolding done to Wheeljack is seriously amazing. This time out, Wheeljack has ditched the swords in favour of a mean looking new blade, the Falcon Spear.
Contained within the Falcon Spear is a “capture disc” for him to (presumably) hunt some beasts.
St. George and the Dragon, well, if St. George was the one with the wings.
If the cartoon incorporates half of the stuff coming out of the toyline, this is going to be one intense season.
#1 by Ian on January 15, 2013 - 12:32 am
Though I enjoy your enthusiasm, I am more looking forward to Season 3 than the toy line. It’s ok, but I am skipping most of it other than Smokescreen, if I can even get him at some point since he sold out at toy major online retailers within a few hours and it’s going to be a long wait for him to hit retail.
I am skipping the rest of the line mostly because 3rd parties are making lots of big, expensive items and my budget only goes so far…honestly for just one figure I could probably get most of the entire Beast Hunters line, as I am sure you’re aware. With that said, they are ok…no real complaints, just a matter of where to put the limited funds…I like gestalts and MP-sized bots from the 3rd parties, mostly from G-1 inspiration. If at the end of the year there are a few Beast Hunters still on the retail shelves and they fit into my collection and my budget I could see picking a few of them.
Either way, very much looking forward to the next season!
#2 by Eric on January 15, 2013 - 9:50 pm
Oh yeah, “too much of a good thing” definitely. I have a policy of official over 3rd party but I must admit it’s driven by the understandably high prices of the 3rd party stuff more than anything else. Even with that, I picked up all the Beast Hunter deluxes except Bumblebee in this first wave. We all know he’ll be the first to go on clearance. $17 now or $9 later? I can wait.
Likewise, there’s no way I am picking up Voyager Predaking when we know very well the larger version is coming later. I wish I had the same heads up about Leader-class Ultra Magnus, but now I’m stuck with the Voyager-class.
I do have to say that I am super happy with wave 2 of the deluxes. First: no Bumblebee until the wave revision. Second: real, actual Smokescreen!!! So happy I fought the temptation to pick up Arms Micron Smokescreen. Grabbing the whole second wave at $15 a toy definitely made it easier to swallow than the crazy $22 most online places have Smokescreen by himself.
#3 by duoconflywheels on January 16, 2013 - 11:58 am
I can’t wait to grab these guys. I thought I wasn’t going to buy many (if any) of the Autobots, but after reading several positive reviews of Wheeljack alone it’s got me second guessing myself.