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COLUMNS Main Page Logon Sound Off Why Scalping Is Wrong The Movie 'Cons -- Redeemed! FEATURES Cover Story -- Toy Fair 2000 -- As Covered by Daniel Lipkowitz -- Thoughts from Phil Zeman Cover Story -- Beast Machines in Depth REVIEWS Toys Shows FUN 'N' GAMES ASM net.TransFan of the Millenium -- Stage 1 Name Beast Wars Crew Contest Winners Name Phil's Car Contest Winners INTERACTION Inbox E-Mail List Poll Outbox ASM INFO Who We Are Submissions Copyright Page loaded on: [an error occurred while processing this directive] A SkyJammer Enterprises Publication |
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by Philip N. Zeman Well, I gotta hand it to my friend Daniel -- he brought back some purty pictures from Toy Fair 2000, didn't he? You're probably trying to clean up some drool from your computer keyboard, so I'll keep this short and sweet. First off, my friend Benson Yee at http://www.bwtf.com was kind enough to pass along the tenative release date schedule for these toys, so I'll print that for you all right now. BEAST MACHINES
BASIC
DELUXE
MEGA
ULTRA
SUPER
SUPREME
BEAST RIDERS
DEPLOYERS
DINOBOTS BEAST WARS
FOX KIDS' REPAINTS
MUTANT BEAST WARS Whew. Got all that? In other notes from Benson Yee, all Deployers are Maximals. Rav transforms from a raven into a crossbow, Dillo transforms from an armadillo into a mace-bolo, and Mole fires a circular blade when not in mole mode. The Beast Rider Mechatron belongs to Megatron, has twin-claw flame throwers, and a spark-capture claw. Cheetor has a Beast Rider named "Che" which has razor sharp battering rams. In Beast Machines notes, Supreme Cheetor is slated to have different sounds when in beast versus robot mode, and may have sounds that are used while transforming. He has an articulated mouth and lights, including eyes that glow green in cat mode and red in robot mode, shade of Optimal Optimus. Also, there is slated to be a Beast Machines Deluxe Maximal Pteranodon called Skydive. The Ultra Jetstorm has the translucent plastic eyes as well as articulated drones that can be fired. So, what do I think? I'm stoked. I can't wait to get my hands on that Supreme Cheetor. It looks fantastically detailed, not to mention is big. Most of the Vehicons look awesome as well, continuing the trend of fanstastic, IMHO, enemies for the Maximals. The Mega Megatron looks a tad weak, though. I guess I'm used to the larger Ultra size of the TM2. I am surprised by Primal Prime. Can't wait to read the backstory on that guy, even if I'm a bit less enthused about having another Optimal Optimus mold out on the shelves. I'm glad I'll get the chance to get my hands on some Japanese Beast Wars Neo molds in the forms of the Dinobots, but my thoughts on T-Wrecks are the same as Primal Prime -- nice... but do we need another repaint? I like the twist of having robot heads being hidden within the Mutants. Nice added touch. Really, I can't add any more to this at the moment. Expect more thoughts in later installments of the "Beast Machines In Depth" feature in Altered States Magazine. -Philip N. Zeman
Part 1: Fox Kids' Beast Wars Altered States Magazine would especially like to thank the kind folks at Hasbro and Benson Yee of www.bwtf.com for their help. Philip N. Zeman is the Editor-in-Chief and publisher of ASM and can be reached at asm_zeman@skyjammer.com. He also loves penguins but has no digital camera of his own. If you want, feel free to sympathize with him. |
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