Beast Hunters!

Predacons Galore!

The funny thing about toy lines with promotional media tie ins is the ironic fact that the toys don't ever really have to match the media. Transformers Prime Beast Hunters is a perfect case study into this particular phenomenon. Disregarding all the internet hearsay which states that the entire premise of Beast Hunters was added on clumsily to the already successful Transformers Prime animated show and toy line to extend toy sales, the fact remains that almost the entirety of the Beast Hunters toy line has nothing to do with the show.

In the past, Transformers toys were released to coincide with the animated series. Literally, a character would be introduced and you could go out to the store and buy that character's action figure the same week. A perfect example would is Transformers Beast Wars. Arguably second to Transformers Prime in story telling and maturity, Beast Wars ran for 3 seasons like Prime. However, while Prime introduced re-imaginings of the core characters which did not appear in the show, Beast Wars redesigned the characters from events in the shows cannon. This logical action made it very easy for collectors to buy a second recolored version of the 
character or even buy the same character in a different rendition  
(regular, Trans-metal, Trans-metal 2).

Japan Only

Sadly, Beast Hunters introduced an entire line of figures which represent the core cast of protagonists and villains and a new host of beasts without any appearance on the show. This disconnect seems like it would be a disastrous. Some would argue for or against the results. I can only say that as a hardcore Transformers collector, I have only bought 2 figures (deluxe Smokescreen and voyager Optimus Prime) and I only intend to purchase 1 more in the future (ultimate Predaking). My own preference in collecting dictates I follow the fictional cannon of the show. I purchase the best representations of each character in the show, factoring in the scale of the toys to the show iterations. 

Non-Show Hasbro Figures
*Select Images Courtesy of Seibertron.com

That being said, the biggest question is why didn't Hasbro release figures that Takara Tomy did? Why would they create an entire line of fictional alternate modes for the core cast of characters for Prime and rename the show under the Beast Hunters banner when there was a perfectly good stable of figures that remain unreleased outside of Japan? Some suspect licensing issues or shared costs of the tooling and molds. Some say Beast Hunters was a huge marketing campaign which did not take into consideration the hardcore fans and toy collectors and instead focused on the Transformers brand and the casual consumer (parents who purchase toys for their children). 

The rational does not really make sense since Hasbro released some characters that were not found in the show including Hot Shot, Dead End, Rumble, Kup, Thundertron, or the early version of Ultra Magnus. Why wouldn't they release Breakdown, Unicron, Silas, Nemesis Prime, Jet Vehicon, and Vehicon General? All the before mentioned appeared prominently in various episodes. Then there is the horde of additional characters that were created by recoloring previously released molds. Some of these figures featured entirely new head sculpts, including Swerve, Lio Prime, and Wild Rider.

Wonderful World of Import Characters
*Select Images Courtesy of Seibertron.com

Regardless, there can be no argument that there are still a ton of figures that remain unreleased to the western market. Who knows if they will ever be made available. In the end, it may be too late as many like me turned to the grey market to purchase import products from Japan. 

Review Transformers Prime Beast Hunters Season 3 Finale Episode 13 Deadlock

Wow, so Transformers Prime animated television series has finally ended and what a ending! 

SPOILERS AHEAD! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

The climatic series finale, Episode 13, Deadlock, has it all. We see the death two of major character, resurrection of one of those major characters, the return of some powerful and often forgotten weapons, and even tongue in cheek nods to some past episodes from the previous seasons. It's 20 minutes packed full of explosions, action, drama, and suspense which leads up to a somewhat satisfying ending. Definitely a bitter sweet pill to take as Transformers Prime is, in my opinion, the best Transformers series that has ever been produced in any format.


The main thing I loved is the all out assault nature of this episode which adds a "all or nothing" feeling to the final conflict between the Decepticons and Autobots. It just feels definitive. We haven't seen anything like this yet. Set dramatically over the Earth's orbit, the full Autobot force (both Scout Team and Wreakers) launch an all out assault on the Decepticon Nemesis warship to stop Megatron from cyberizing the Earth. Characters carry both their default weapons, as well as some of their assault weapons load outs, including Bumble Bee's force shield and the Wreckers heavy weapons. It's also a great nod to see both the Star Saber and the Dark Star Saber make their return.

Heroic Bumble Bee about to get shot in the chest.

Another great nod is when Soundwave uses the Space Bridge as a weapon to displace the Wreckers assault on the Nemesis bridge and also how Jack, Miko, and Raph use the same trick to trap Soundwave in the Shadow Zone. Also a nice nod is when Miko shows up in the Apex Armor and takes out several Vehicons.

Bumble Bee falls to his apparent death.

While this is a epic conclusion, there are some things that linger on and bother me about the ending of this series. The main thing that bothers me is how Bumble Bee's seemingly death and resurrection was handled and the death of Megatron. Ultimately I thought the episode was flawless up until Megatron death. Bumble Bee's apparent death was both heroic and poetically tragic at the same time. I felt  he was yet another soldier who paid the ultimate sacrifice in the war against Megatron's tyranny. Resurrecting him in some "magical" artificial Energon pool and having him stab Megatron from behind kind of sucked. It negates both Optimus Prime as a leader and warrior. It negates Megatron as this bad ass cunning gladiator from the pits of Kaon. It give no purpose to Bumble Bee's apparent sacrifice. I understand that Bumble Bee is probably the only character with a vendetta against Megatron. Megatron tortured Bee, maimed him by ripping out his voice box, and also took over his body during season 1. I'm sure there would be physiological damage to Bee after all that but still it just seems like a cop out because Transformers Prime, despite it's dramatic story, is still a children's show geared toward selling toys. I'd rather have had Smokescreen kill Megatron since they heavily eluded to him being Optimus Prime's successor. Why build up Smokescreen as "the next Prime" and then have him get shot in the shoulder and taken out of the battle? Hmm.

Megatron impaled by the resurrected Bumble Bee.

A few other additional loose ends are left hanging too. Predaking is shown escaping to Cybertron. I'm assuming the TV movie Predacon's Rising will spotlight the climatic fate of the last Predacon versus the Autobots. 

Additionally, What happened to the remaining Vehicons? Did they all fall at the hands of the Autobots assault? We see 3 Vehicon Generals escape after Megatron's demise but they are nowhere to be found when Starscream and Shockwave escape the Nemesis. What happened to Knockout? He attempted to defect to the Autobots side when they resurrected Cybertron and he was punched out by Miko in her Apex Armor. Did she kill him? Is he imprisoned?

Lastly, the hugest unanswered question has to do with Season 3 Episode 8, Thirst. What happened to the infected Airachnid and her Insecticons? We last saw her steadily feeding on her Insecticon minions. Did she drain them all of their Energon or did she merely infect her army and is bidding her time on the moons surface to escape?

Who knows. Hopefully we will get conclusions to these answers in the final installment, Transformers Prime Beast Hunters Predacon's Rising TV Movie. The wait till October is going to be a long one. 

Airachnid - Last seen on the Moon gorging herself on Insecticons.

Transformers Prime Season 2 Loose Ends

SPOILER WARNING!

Last Friday Transformers Prime Episode 52 "Darkest Hour" aired and oh 
my god, wow. This is the most epic season finale of all 
Transformers animation history. Episode 52 beats Beasts Wars Season 
2 finale by miles. With the apparent defeat of the Autobots and the fate 
of both Optimus Prime and Wheeljack unknown, the tension and 
apex of season 2's 26 episode story arc was a masterful climax.

That being said I started thinking a lot about all the individual story strands that make up the tapestry of Season 2 and while I'm was super stoked with the finale and a handful of individual episodes (my favs include Crossfire, Armada, Toxicity, and Out of the Past), the bulk of the season had a lot of 
unanswered and superfluous story arcs. Below are my top ambiguous 
questions that were not answered in the shows finale.

1 - Insecticon Swarm - In episode 7 "Crossfire", Arachnid stumbles on what looks like several hundred stasis pods housing Insecticons. She wasted no time in employing her new army to assault Megatron and his base warship the Nemesis. The episode never really explained why the Insecticons were on Earth or who sent them. I doubt they were part of Alpha Trion's shipment of legendary Iacon relics and keys. Where did they come from and what purpose did they originally have?  

Additionally, the first few appearances of the Insecticons hyped them up 
as brutal, primal, and very deadly combatants. Once Arachnid was 
defeated and Megatron took control of the Insecticon swarm almost all the 
Insecticons turned into cannon fodder, with the exception of Hard Shell. 
Why did they get nerfed so drastically?

2 - Airachnids Fate - Airachnid was a formidable Decepticon during late season 1 and early season 2. With Starscream being outcasted by Megatron, Airachnid took up the mantle of first lieutenant and primary political antagonist stirring up deceit in the Decepticon ranks. This all lead up to her overstepping her boundaries in  episode 7 "Cross Fire" and Megatron ordering her execution. After she killed Breakdown and escaped Dreadwing, she stumbled on a nest of Insecticons (please see 1 from above) and quickly employs them to take out Megatron enforce. 
Unfortunately for her, she  was finally defeated by a quick witted 
Arcee and frozen in a Insecticon Stasis Pod. It's shown that the Stasis Pod 
housing her is reclaimed and stored in the Autobot Vault in their secret base. 

During the final Iacon Key arc, Starscream raids the vault for the Iacon Keys. 
You would think he would have seen her there. One would suspect he 
would have killed her outright for her prior treachery (she ordered her first 
Insecticon to eviscerate him after all). Even if he was too much in a hurry to 
acknowledge her, they should have at least showed that she was still there. 
This all leads to to episode 52 "Darkest Hour". The Nemesis destroys the 
Autobot base, seemingly demolishing the entire mountain range the base 
was embedded in. Was Arachnid vaporized or is she still in stasis buried 
under the massive debris of a collapsed mountain?

3 - Iacon Relics (Weapons) - The Iacon Relic story arc was introduced in episode 12 and lasted throughout until the season 2 finale (episode 26). While the relic's possession changed sides several time, the bulk of the legendary weapons sent to Earth by Alpha Trion ended up in Autobot hands. In episode 25 "Regeneration", the Decepticons hold the Earth children hostage and the Autobots surrender their weapons. Prime goes on a rampage after seeing Megatron attempting to destroy the Earth and reclaims the Star Saber to destroy the Omega Lock. Were the remaining Iacon relics recovered by the Autobots before they 
retreated to Earth? Also, did the Forge of Solus Prime survive the 
obliteration of the Autobot base? The forge has the ability to craft any 
weapon or apparatus (including a fully working Space Bridge, the Star 
Saber, and Dark Energon Saber) so the relic is probably the most 
powerful item in all of Transformers Prime universe. It would suck if it 
was used as a throw away plot device.

4 - Cylas Fate - Cylas lost is body when Optimus Prime destroyed MECHS' Nemesis Prime. MECH saved Cylas by embedding him in the husk of the deceased Decepticon Breakdown in episode 19 "The Human Factor". Cylas then turns on MECH and tried to join the Decepticons. After losing his satellite laser weapon, Megatron turns on Cylas and Cylas is incapacitated and dragged off to Knockout's lab for "study". So what happened to Cylas? Is he a prisoner on the Decepticon warship Nemesis or has he been dissected for the good of Deception science?

5 - Optimus Primes Fate - With the end of season 2, Optimus Prime chose to stay behind and cover the Autobots space bridge evacuation by destroying the bridge after Ratchet leaves. Megatron obliterates the entire mountain range where the Autobot base stood. The aftermath shows Optimus Primes still hand jutting out of a pile of rubble. The million dollar season 3 question is "Did Optimus Prime die at the end of season 2?" We'll have to wait till next year to find out!

Honorary mention goes to Wheeljack and Shockwave. Both characters were last seen in Season 2 taking severe damage (Wheeljack crashes in his Jack Hammer ship after being shot down by Starscream and Shock wave was left blinded and wounded within the energy of the space bridge). Thanks to New York Comic-con 2013 and the Beast Hunters assets released, we know Shockwave is alive and well. He is seen in the teaser trailer introducing the Ultimate Autobot Killer Predaking. We can also safely assume Wheeljack is fine since Hasbro released images of his next iteration Deluxe class toy.

Overall, these plot gaffs do bother me but they don't provide substantial logic leaps that hinder the enjoyment of season 2 as a whole. I'm off to rewatch  the entire thing over again and hopefully they will add some behind the scenes info to enlighten these unanswered questions when the Bluray comes out later this year. Let me know what you think?

PS. Smokescreen and the kids still suck. Dreadwing, Hard Shell, and Breakdown were weak characters and deserved to die. After seeing Cliff Jumper in "Out of the Past" I really think killing him in season 1, episode 1 was a HUGE mistake! Sigh.

Huzzah for Beast Hunters!

Predaking *image courtesy of Tformers.com

Huzzah for Beast Hunters! I'm actually cheering for the newly announced Transformers toy line because I have no interest in it at all. Finally, some relief to the multiple Transformers lines that have been raiding my bank account this year. Between Transformers Prime, Transformers Generations, Transformers Masterpiece, Takara Tomy Exclusives, and third-party figures, I've been on a crazy purchasing spree with no end in sight.

Lazor Back  *image courtesy of Tformers.com

 Last week at New York comic-con, Hasbro announced the new Transformers Prime Beast Hunters toy line. Supposedly this new line will take up where Season 2 of Transformers Prime leaves off. The thing that bothers me is that Transformers Prime has been a run away hit, bridging the diehard Transformers fans with the Movie-verse fans. It's a great show with competent writing and pacing. How are they going to introduce tranforming animals and beasts into this world based on realism?

Soundwave  *image courtesy of Tformers.com

Judging from the few new product images the new beast characters look very serpentine-centric. Both Lazor Back and Predaking look rather Yu-Gi-Oh-ish with their chimera mix of beast traits. They remind me of Scourge (Cybertron) AKA Flame Convoy (Galaxy Force). I'm just not interested in returning to the organic transformers of the Beast Wars era.


The other new products shown were updated designs for returning characters Bumble Bee, Soundwave, and Wheeljack. All three Transformers look medieval in nature with added weapons and needless kibble. Compared to the sleeker designs of the progenitor releases, these just look cluttered and messy.

BumbleBee  *image courtesy of Tformers.com

In the end, every single design just doesn't peak any interest in me at all and I seriously have let out a sigh of relief. I will be spending a lot less next year. Now I just got to get through the next few months with the new Masterpiece, Prime, Generations, and Fortress Maximus coming out. [whimper]