Celebrating the 25th anniversary of Beast Wars with Rhinox

I'm giving a lot of attention to Generation 2 this year (hosting a G2-themed podcast and all...), but the fact is, while Generation 2 brought the Transformers toy line back from the dead, it really didn't save the franchise for the long haul. In fact, sales of Generation 2 toys were disappointing. To ensure the survival of Transformers for the next couple decades (and more?), the franchise had to undergo a major revision. This was the Beast Wars franchise, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year (this post is timed to approximate the anniversary of the premiere of the Beast Wars cartoon, which was on April 22nd, 1996, but of course some of the toys came out before that date...). 

Happy Meal Tankor (2000)

In these days of increasing prices for increasingly underwhelming toys, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that people below a certain age have never seen a kids meal toy connected to the Transformers franchise that actually transformed. But for a few years around the turn of the century, this was by no means uncommon, and in the case of Happy Meal toys released to promote the Beast Machines line, the Happy Meal toys ironically tended to depict characters more accurately than the toys produced by Hasbro for regular retail. Tankor (the original character to use the name, before it was slapped on Octane) provides an example.

Not Your Father's Autobot - Episode #2 - Transformers: Generation 2 issue #2

For this episode of Not Your Father's Autobot, we're discussing Transformers: Generation 2 issue #2, cover dated December, 1993. (Most of) this issue can be found reprinted via the Transformers: Dark Designs paperback, which may be purchased via Amazon (purchases through this link do not support the podcast in any way).

Generation Two Terradive (1993)

I can't really claim intentional holiday alignment here, choosing a robot with green in it for St. Patrick's Day. This was the natural item from my collection to highlight after beginning our look at the Generation Two Skyscorchers with Eagle Eye last month. Indeed, Eagle Eye has more green than Terradive does, which itself gets a bit to why I'm looking at Terradive now.

Universe Tankor (Octane, 2008)

When I discussed Titans Return Blitzwing a couple of weeks ago, I alluded to Octane as another of the three original Decepticon Triple Changers, although I also referenced that I don't have the Titans Return version of that character. Indeed, this Universe toy from 2008 is the only Octane toy I own, and as the entry title suggests, it was sold under a different name entirely: Tankor. Long-time fans will recognize by now that certain Transformers character names are hard to trademark, and thus tend to be released under other names. IMHO, the Titans Return attempt ("Octone," note the second "o") was better, but since that name was also alongside additional language for the "Titan Master" partner that came with that toy, I'm not even sure that Hasbro could have gotten away with "Octone" for this release, even if they had the imagination to consider it at the time. Instead, we got a name previously given to another character (who I'll get around to discussing in a month or so). The IDW comics of a few years back had some fun with this by calling the other character "fat Tankor" and this one "tall Tankor." For the sake of clarity, I'll just refer to him as "Octane" from here on out, recognizing that the toy was sold as "Tankor."

Titans Return Blitzwing (2017)

When discussing figures from the Titans Return series, the second part of the "Prime Wars" trilogy that was arguably the franchise's primary focus from 2015-2018, I'm more or less compelled to reference the homage to the Headmasters toys of the mid-1980s. Let's get that part out of the way quickly. The tiny robot that becomes Blitzwing's head is named "Hazard." If you really want to see a close-up of Hazard, here you go. Now let's focus on the main toy....

Not Your Father's Autobot - Episode #1 - Transformers: Generation 2 issue #1

 

For this episode of Not Your Father's Autobot, we're discussing Transformers: Generation 2 issue #1, cover dated November, 1993. I am unaware of digital options to buy this issue today, but it can be found reprinted via the Transformers: Dark Designs paperback, which may be purchased via Amazon (purchases through this link do not support the podcast in any way).