Prime: Beast Hunters -- NYCC Coverage (toys and season 3 sneak peek)

Post by **Blackjack** » Fri Oct 12, 2012 3:27 pm

Both the show and the toyline are previewed in the New York Comic Con. The Allspark and many other sites have been posting loads of news, so why don't we pitch in?

Basically, season three of Transformers Prime will have the 'Beast Hunters' subline, and will feature Predacons, led by a massive dragon called Predaking. The preview clip for Season 3 shows

SPOILER! (select to read)

SPOILER! (select to read)
Shockwave arriving through a Space Bridge, with Predaking in tow, who is MASSIVE. Apparently the Predacons are Cybertronian dinosaurs or something.
The toyline itself will be rebranded with a new subline and new packaging, with Kup and Rumble being the last wave of RID toys. Some of the beasts will have their own packaging due to their large size. The Predacons shown are mostly dragons or draconic in shape, including some all-new Kreons made to tie in with Beast Hunters. The Predacon insignia looks like a cross between the BW insignia and Predaking's face.

Most of the returning Autobots and Decepticons are retooled to have vehicle modes that are weaponized, a la DOTM Wreckers. Most of the returning characters have slightly remoulded heads as well. Nearly all the new toys have 'comes w/ [weapon]' in their name. More toy-only characters.

Only the first waves are previewed, and Hasbro promises to be 'leak free' to prevent the 'previewed a year before release' shenanigans that happened with FOC toys last time. We were shown prototypes for Kickback and Starscream in NYCC.

Hasbro also claims they are trying to bring over Masterpiece Sideswipe, Red Alert and Soundwave, as well as Prime Unicron, Breakdown and Smokescreen, but doesn't have any concrete plans yet. Unicron seems to be the highest on their list at the moment.

Legion Class:
-Bumblebee: retooled to have spikes in vehicle mode and a new weapon, and a new head with a big center crest.
-Smokescreen: new mould, non weaponized.
-Airachnid: new mould, non weaponized.
-Twinstrike: awesome-looking Predacon based on G1 Sinnertwin.

Commander Class:
-Bulkhead: more spikes in vehicle mode, a new head, and repainted to resemble G1 Roadbuster.
-Predaking: the main big bad, turns into a black and orange dragon. Will have toys in multiple size classes. Robot mode have not been shown to us, the three Predaking toys are only shown in beast modes.

Cyberverse Playsets:
-Sky Claw w/ Smokescreen: A blue jet thing with a repaint of Smokescreen, who uses the same blue-and-yellow rally deco as the Walmart-exclusive deco of Sideswipe in DOTM a while back.
-Apex Armor w/ Breakdown: Apex Armor (extensive retool of Bumblebee Battle Suit that doesn't look a thing like the show's Apex Armor) with a straight repaint of the Cyberverse Breakdown toy in green.

Deluxe Class:
-Bumblebee: Again, new spikes, new head and a new crossbow weapon. Actually looked pretty awesome.
-Soundwave w/ Ravage: Retooled and repainted in black with a new jet front, new wings, a new capture-claw accessory, and replacing Laserbeak with Ravage. Ravage will form Soundwave's bra in place of Laserbeak.
-Wheeljack: Retooled with spikes, and has a blocky spear accessory.
-Lazerback: new character, some sort of red gryphon thing with a gun accessory.

Voyager Class:
-Predaking: weapons can turn into additional heads to turn him into a hydra.

Larger Class: (non stated)
-Predaking: A larger toy of Predaking, stated to be larger compared to Cybertron Scourge. Probably will fit in Weaponizers or an equivalent class.

Kre-O Playsets
-Ripclaw (a large red dragon building set), comes with Ripclaw Kreon. Kreon seems to share a lot of parts with Knock Out, albeit with wings
-Bumblebee (a large 4x), with Bumblebee Kreon. Comes with Skystalker the blue dragon, who is a Kreo-built thing.
-Trailcutter vs Grimwing (a green Kreo-built... guess what, dragon).
-Windcharger vs Corhada (a serpent Predacon borrowing his name from a Japanese BW Maximal that's basically a bunch of thin parts strung up together)

[Both Trailcutter and Windcharger transform into car modes, but this time
around it's more car-like instead of random robot bits rearranged.]

Generations Platinum Edition:
-Omega Supreme: retool of the Energon mould with a new G1-based head with a flip-up visor, new hands based on the WFC design, and repainted to resemble G1. Transforms into a train and a tank now. Release in US via Amazon and BBTS at the end of the year.
-Optimus Prime: repaint of the Energon mould.

borg72 · Post by **borg72** » Fri Oct 12, 2012 4:04 pm

I like the weaponized deluxes for two reasons.

firstly, i actively disliked the 'rounded' aesthetic of prime designs. purely a personal thing, but i prefer my car kibble to not bend, fold, and warp, in places it isn't supposed to. the addition of all the spikes and pointy bits makes them look more like how i prefer robots (ok, not entirely, but its a step closer at least). again, that's purely a personal thing, its just how i prefer robots to look.

the cybertronian-ness. it looks a bit like they've started de-volving back to cybertronian alt modes, but only partially. the earth-modes haven't been abandoned, just built upon. this appeals to me too, it's a slightly different take on what we've had before. like theres a process to the change, rather than it being instant.

also, murderbee looks particularly murderous and the red dragon dude has a strong 'animated' vibe. these could even be my first prime toys.

edit: looks like the apex armour is just a retool of the bumblebee armour, it has some very similar details, just spiky-er.

Post by **Warcry** » Fri Oct 12, 2012 4:11 pm

That Sinnertwin is pretty cool for a Legion-class toy -- my brain doesn't want to believe it could be that small. I wonder if they'll make a Deluxe of the character? I've always loved Terrorcons, so I'll be all over this. I'd love it if we got new versions of some of the others, even if that just means this toy painted white and pink and called Hun-grrr. I've got my fingers crossed for a Cutthroat, though. There's so much repaint potential in that one...

In general, it's really cool to see some new beast-mode figures. That's something we haven't seen much of since the first Universe line, aside from the occasional Dinobot. I hope the Predacon lineup includes more than just this handful of characters (and more than just dragonish animals), and hopefully it'll sell well so Hasbro will continue to make more.

But I find it really hard to work up much enthusiasm for new Prime stuff when there's still nothing past the first wave on shelves here. I might see the Legions, but I suspect I'll be ordering anything I want online and that'll really put a damper on my buying. Not so much because of the price (US prices plus shipping is often cheaper than Canadian prices plus sales tax, if I buy a few items at once) but it really kills the impulse buy element of things for me.

Post by **Blackjack** » Fri Oct 12, 2012 4:22 pm

Warcry wrote:That Sinnertwin is pretty cool for a Legion-class toy -- my brain doesn't want to believe it could be that small.

Aye, me too. I thought he was in the Commander class at least, but no, he's an awesome wee little Legion class dude. A definite purchase, at least.

We've only seen dragons so far (counting Kreos, a grand total of five new dragon characters, plus the Birdbrainesque gyphon Lazerback and the snake worm thing Cohrada), but I do hope we get to see actual Beast Wars-inspired stuff. Insecticons, bring on the damn Insecticon toys...

Distribution is boo, though, so I'll probably end up buying Sinnertwin online.

I'm warming up to how Wheeljack looked, the reshelled car kibble is starting to look good though I doubt I'd be getting him. Bumblebee looks nice, but Soundwave is horrid. Don't think the spiky look just can be pulled off by the smaller toys. Not sure if I like Predaking enough to buy a Voyager or a larger toy (show's probably going to change my mind), and Lazerback seemed pretty average, if a bit weird in the good way.

tahukanuva · Post by **tahukanuva** » Fri Oct 12, 2012 5:26 pm

Dragons, dragons, everywhere, nor any Deathsaurus to drink.

Bluecatcinema · Post by **Bluecatcinema** » Fri Oct 12, 2012 6:05 pm

That Beast Hunters line is looking real good.

another tf fan · Post by **another tf fan** » Sat Oct 13, 2012 12:30 am

I'm not really into this re-imagination of a line that has been already treated badly by retailers. I also don't care for the look of the retooled toys.

The preview for the show looks good, though. Guess I won't be canceling the Hub after all.

Post by **Blackjack** » Sat Oct 13, 2012 4:27 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... 5zedGJ_OZo

Season Three's official trailer, made up of 90% recycled footage.

Skyquake87 · Post by **Skyquake87** » Sat Oct 13, 2012 8:22 am

Beast Hunters sounds pretty cool. Looking forward to seeing some Beast figures again. Kind of bored with cars and jets and tanks and planes. However, like Warcry, I doubt over here in the UK we'll see little beyond Waves 1 & 2 as usual. Retailers over here seem to even be struggling to get wave 2 now (at least in my neck of the woods and around the Lakes where I was earlier), with just striaght restocks of wave one. A lot of Voyager Megatron's now shelf warming...everywhere! So, excited, but enthusiasm slightly blunted because i know availability is going to be rubbish.

Who knows though, Perhaps Beast Hunters will be sufficiently different to get consumers excited about Transformers again? I dare say Prime's poor showing over here is due to lack of wider consumer interest (most of last years DOTM line bering availabel through remainder shops seems to back up my theory).

As for the Platinum edition stuff...um, well if some pointless retooling does it for you and you really can't enjoy old 1980s toys for what they were, then i suppose that's good news. Energon Prime is an odd one though - why's he singled out for reissue treatment?

Post by **Denyer** » Sat Oct 13, 2012 9:36 am

Anyone else reckon the BH logo plays on the Battle Beasts one, with a diversion via Gargoyles?

Skyquake87 · Post by **Skyquake87** » Sat Oct 13, 2012 9:43 am

Predaking also looks like Cybertron Scourge...

Post by **Blackjack** » Sat Oct 13, 2012 11:45 am

Skyquake87 wrote:Energon Prime is an odd one though - why's he singled out for reissue treatment?

He can combine with Omega Supreme, hence prompting people to buy both?

Basically I think Omega's there to cash in on his recent appearances in War for Cybertron and Animated, albeit a year or two too late since his popularity boom.

Denyer wrote:Anyone else reckon the BH logo plays on the Battle Beasts one, with a diversion via Gargoyles?

Huh, now that you mention it, the two does look alike...

Skyquake87 wrote:Predaking also looks like Cybertron Scourge...

But with wings. And a proper tail instead of a chunk of plastic sticking out of his butt. And a more Bayformery feel to him. The colour scheme and the hydra gimmick does make it look like he's going to be based somewhat on Scourge...

numbat · Post by **numbat** » Sat Oct 13, 2012 12:58 pm

I do like Omega Supreme... Would make a nice addition to my Classics-style collection.

Is he available to preorder yet? What sort of price is he going for?

(Fattimus Prime can stay away though!)