I got a bundle of cool Beast-era toys in the mail today! Haven't had much time to mess with them yet, but so far I'm pretty happy. A few of these figures came sealed in package and the rest were opened but basically new. Having a bunch of "brand new" twenty year old toys is a pretty cool feeling!
Beast Wars Optimus Minor was a really pleasant surprise just on account of not being terrible. I remember him being heavily shat on in the early 2000s when I discovered the fandom, for being an ugly pegwarmer that nobody wanted. But he's actually not bad! He's got a pretty cool look and the articulation and design are alright by BW-era standards. His transformation does earn a big fat F in my books just because there's so little to differentiate the robot and monkey modes, but overall we're talking about a fairly unremarkable figure. Which is significantly more than I'd been expecting from something that I have carefully avoided buying for the last decade in spite of seeing at least one, in package, at every convention I've ever attended.
Beast Machines Airraptor: I wasn't sure what to expect, but this figure is badass. The colours are just wild. I love the dino-chicken beast mode. I really like the transformation. And the robot mode is ridiculous, but in the best way. Easily and by far the coolest of the new BW Neo dinosaur molds.
Beast Machines Dinotron: I'll admit that this mold feels really dated even beside other Beast era stuff, but I've always had a soft spot for it. I used to have the 10th Anniversary Dinobot, but it just crumbled to bits thanks to the metallic flake in the plastic. It's nice to have the mold again, and though this is probably heresy, I think I like this retool better. The figure made for a pretty dopey velociraptor but it's a bit more passable as a pachycephalosaurus. The colours are nice, too.
Beast Machines Geckobot is a kinda typical BM Maximal, with a wicked-looking beast mode that doesn't transform so much as just stand up in its hind legs. Geckobot is a BIT more involved than I'm making it sound, but not much, and the end result isn't worth the trouble anyway. Like most of my BM molds, this'll probably live in alt-mode 95% of the time. But it's a super cool alt-mode, for sure.
Beast Machines Terranotron: I own the Transmetal Terrorsaur mold three times over, now, so it's no surprise that I love this nearly as much as the BW and Armada releases. The colours on this one aren't quite as fitting though, in my eye. I guess because the design is just so clearly villainous, it doesn't look right when it has traditional G1 Dinobot hero colours splashed all over it? But the figure itself is top-notch. And also, I haven't actually pulled a brand-new Transmetal out of the package since I got Prowl when I was a teen in 1999. I'd forgotten how amazing these guys look when they're fresh and unblemished!
And that's definitely four more Beast Machines toys than I thought I'd buy this year.