Customizing Beast Wars Transformers

Hi, this is Dan Gilbazan, and you're listening

to the Geekcast Radio Network. Jazz here, and

I am so digging the Geekcast Radio Network. Cliffjumper,

commence countdown. Five, four, three... ToyCast.

Oh, yes. Listen in to the only toy podcast you

will ever need. Hello and welcome to ToyCast.

This is episode 167. I am, of course, J .F. John

Mike. And this week we are talking about customs

and altered targets and all kinds of weird stuff.

And I got my buddy here, Steve Megatron, to talk

about the customizations he's doing here in 2023.

Hello, sir. Hello. Hello. Yeah, 2023 and me can...

2023 is already getting the boot. Yeah, 2023

has been not a lot of fun. Not a lot of fun at

all. But yeah, we're here. You have been... Last

time we talked, we talked about you starting

on your journey. into customizing your ultimate

beast Megatron. And then life happened and things

happened and whatever else. But you are here

to talk about your customizations. What has changed

since the last episode that we talked about this?

Well, I've gotten quite a few more other figures

since then. Yes, you have. I don't think I had

Transmetal Transart Rattrap at the time. No,

you didn't. Beautiful figure. The chrome work

on that thing is just stellar. Some of the orange

that they decided to add is a little odd. They

could have gone a little bit more chrome with

it, but they didn't. And then his backpack is

monstrous. But... He's still shorter than Kingdom

Dinobot. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

It's a good thing because Rattrap is supposed

to be shorter. I really love that figure. That's

been one of my favorite. I don't know. TransArt

has done really well with their masterpieces.

The only thing I don't particularly care for

is the fact that they're Megatron Transmetal.

really like the figure and i get they're trying

to go with the masterpiece scale of of takara

and scale up from that in which case optimal

should be a lot bigger which everybody argued

like four inches taller uh but but this uh this

megatron is still dwarfing over transmittal optimus

primal when they're about the same size and uh

but It's kind of funny just how some of the stuff

scales, honestly, with it. I still wouldn't trade

any of them. I really like all of the figures.

They're really nice. I did get Legacy, Tarantulas,

and Inferno. Very cool. And Megatron. But Megatron

has been a piece of work since I got it. Let

me preface that with... I had it and the upgrade

face ordered simultaneously. And I got the upgrade

face like probably a week after I got the figure.

And I've been working on repainting this sucker

since I got it because it is, I try not to knock

Hasbro too much. Cause like, I know we're dealing

with a budget. We're dealing with different stuff

in that realm. What I don't understand is they

did so well, so stinking well on all their legacy

and Kingdom Beast Wars characters. Right. Except

for like a couple, like Rhinox's face is kind

of goofy on the Kingdom one. And Scorponok's

kind of weirdly proportioned and his claws don't

actually stay hinged in, like they fall off constantly.

But this Megatron. uh there's a couple of little

gripes with it like the head's too small in general

like the whole like the figure i don't have a

problem with the proportions of the figure it's

the arm like the dragon head uh arm and then

yes the dragon tail they're not big enough like

they're not bulky enough like the rest of it

is bulky is like decent enough but i think if

those were a little bit bulkier i think it would

out it would weigh out the disproportionateness

of the rest of the figure in addition to the

fact that the colors are all wrong and the face

sculpt they went with some like the gigatron

uh or robots in disguise megatron face for whatever

reason Yeah, I don't understand. And I don't

even think Hasbro, Evan, or any of them, Ben

or whatever from the marketing team, I don't

think they've ever said why. Did they ever give

a reason why they went with Gigatron? They went

with a more stylistic thing. They tried to say

that they went with what the original figure

to some of their aesthetics and went with a stylistic

look to try and balance it out or something.

And most fans agree that it's the ugliest stinking

face. Uh, in addition to the fact that, like

I said, the dragon arm and tail are so scrawny,

like his beat, like his robot mode head should

have been a little like the kingdom Megatron's

head is bigger. And that's part of the issue.

The other part is, like I said, the face is all

goofy and DNA design. And we, we talked about

this on like all things transformers, I think.

They had created their own version of the upgrade

kit. They add a hand that has a finger that points,

so you can swap that out. You can add two more

length pieces to the dragon tail. You can swap

out the face with three different faces, and

they replaced that kind of orangey, translucent.

uh head shell with a red one and while it's all

good and dandy there and they they had the the

judge's uh hair piece the faces were still wrong

that they were replacing them with like weren't

fully painted they were silver instead of the

proper colors so like the the one that i found

which is like two -thirds the cost of the full

kit of the other one looks exactly like beast

wars megatron like it has the iris in there has

the colors that you know it just matches it's

slightly smaller than the filling area of it

and you have to do some modding where you have

to cut stuff which is a little jarring when you're

trying to reassemble it because it doesn't want

to um but the the interesting thing with it is

it makes a world of difference having that other

face in there and like i saw the guys from like

the the transmissions discord server there, you

know, they, they showed a picture of it and I

was like, yep, it, it definitely makes a world

of difference. Yeah, it does. Like if you choose

not to repaint it, just changing the face alone

is enough. And I, I was like, okay, so I'm definitely

justified in doing this. And then I get it and

I'm like, but the colors just really, really

irritate me. Uh, And it's because it just looks

cheap. Like people are like, oh, the reds on

it look great. The purples like the shading.

Yes, I agree. The shading looks nice. It's like

the wings. I can't stand the wings like there.

I don't like the look of it. So I started with

the wings. I started painting it gold and then

I started painting like the sides of the feet

gold and the. you know, all the little pillars

that stick out that are supposed to be gold or

gold. And then I painted stuff that was supposed

to be black, black, you know, on the legs. And

then it, you know, I did the chest piece, you

know, and then I started snowballing from there

after I got the wings done and all that. And

I was like, you know, I have this glossy red,

it's like red flake metallic is what it's called

in the testers paint. And I had first used it

on tarantulas, like transmetal tarantulas. I

used it on his legs. and his spider legs and

robot legs and his arms on all the red stuff.

And it made him pop. Like, it just made him shinier,

made him get that transmetal look without, you

know, spending a fortune to get the actual transmetal

masterpiece that apparently is still stuck in

limbo. But, yeah, I mean, so I tested it on that

originally, and I just had it sitting in my cabinet.

because i have like 20 different paints sitting

in there now at this point so uh i started in

a little inconspicuous spot on megatron on the

bottom of his foot and i was like okay it it

definitely makes a difference in the color and

it gives it that kind of blood red deep red color

that he should have and then i started working

my way up one leg yep and then i was like I took

a picture and I was like, what do you think?

And they're like, oh yeah, definitely better.

And I showed my kids and they're like, oh yeah,

that looks great. And so then I started messing

with the other leg and then I painted the arm

and then I started painting the chest. And now

I have to finish the dragon arm and I have to

paint the back and the wings and the head portion

with that red. But otherwise, it's coming along

really nicely and it looks like a poor man's

masterpiece. Like the figure should have looked

to begin with. Yeah, exactly. And so, yeah, so

I'm super excited with how this thing's coming

out so far. Like I've even been covering colors

that weren't supposed to be in certain areas.

Like his chest has a little bit of purple kind

of bleeding through, but it's not completely

purple like it was. And so I started filling

that in. I started filling the arms in. uh i'm

going to be a little careful with like the dragon

head in the tail because i know that that definitely

had some purple on it on the original yeah um

so i'm going to be a little more careful there

uh with the amount that i put on it like it'll

it'll basically it's going to shine like a transmetal

when it's done like the thing is super glossy

and i won't even have to spray it with clear

coat which is the awesome part um because it's

like a red but it enhances the color that's underneath

too so it's Yeah, it's, it's, you're not glitterizing

it. That's not the right word. It's not glitter,

but like you said, it's red metal flake and it's

paint and it's a paint that is going to, like

you said, shine through and show the true colors

of the character model from the animation. And

I, how it's coming out though, like I am totally

pleased with it. does it look just like that,

that, uh, winged dragon transmittal, uh, masterpiece

that I did have at one point? No. And it's not

going to. Yeah. Uh, and while I did really like

that figure, it was too blasted big. Like I don't,

and maybe, maybe this is something Hasbro will

eventually do, you know, with the beast, the

rise of the beast movie coming out with, you

know, Kingdom and various Beast Wars figures

coming out in Legacy now that they didn't get

through Kingdom. Maybe they'll end up doing a

Studio Series 96. You never know. They're doing

a Studio Series 96. I know. And then doing them

in accurate colors and doing them in accurate

designs, you know, according to the CGI model

instead of doing these visualized reinterpretations.

Yeah. Because, I mean, some of them, it would

just require a retool. Like, you know, Inferno

would be a retool. This Megatron would be a retool.

You know, Airazor, Tigatron, Rhinox, Dinobot,

Cheetor, they'd all be kind of a retool, but

they would get more of an accurate look. And

they could honestly make them the same scale,

and it would be like a poor man's masterpiece.

Like, without having to make a Masterpiece figure.

Because we all know how well Masterpiece goes

over with Beast Wars. Like, they stopped making

them after they came out with Tigatron. Yeah,

and he was one of the smaller ones, wasn't he?

Well, funny thing is, is Blackarachnia is the

smallest one. And then Cheetor is the next size

up. And then Tigatron and Dinobot are actually

about on par with each other. primals actually

between those guys and cheetor and then beast

megatron is like the top dog yeah and those cost

like three four hundred dollars like who can

afford that for like a an authentic masterpiece

yeah i mean i could buy the the knockoff uh beast

megatron masterpiece for 109 if i had 109 but

i could I have the kingdom one and it's in, there's

aspects of the kingdom one. I like better than

the, the masterpiece, but there's something to

be said for having the masterpiece, which matches

the show model. Um, but you know, I mean, I'm

not like a huge stickler on it. Cause like some

of the characters, I don't care enough. I'm never

going to transform them as long as their beast,

their robot mode looks close enough. I'm pretty

much fine with it. Yeah. Um, but. But overall,

I wonder if they'll eventually do a Studio Series

96 with getting closer to... I wonder if they'll

do it around the time of after the first Rise

of the Beasts movie or when we're getting closer

to that 30th anniversary. Yeah, I'm pretty sure.

I don't know, but one would think. One would

think. I know they've completely abandoned Beast

Machines. Well, I mean... The toys were a travesty.

There's a huge room for improvement there. Oh,

yeah. No, absolutely. Really, the only thing

that any of us really want from Beast Machines

is Cloak Megatron. Oh, yeah. Heck, yeah. That's

all we really want. If somebody came out with

a Cloak add -on for... uh, legacy beast Megatron,

I'd get it in a heartbeat. Yeah. Like I would,

I would modify my figure if that's what I needed

to do to get that thing to, cause I'm sure what

it would require is popping the head off with

the dragon tail. Yeah. And then having the other

head on it so that you could have the cloak part

portion of it, go over it. Or what they would

do is have it so it clicks onto the figure and

it just completely covers the original figure

up. Because really all it is is it's supposed

to be his wings folding over and then there's

that portion at the top that kind of dangles.

Yeah, it's the harness. Yeah, the harness. So,

yeah, that's the one figure I wish I could get

my hands on if there ever was one. And I've seen

people do customs of it, and they're all decent

for what they're trying to do, but they just

look terrible. And I've seen people customize

this Legacy Megatron and kind of shine him up

and do stuff to him. Somebody else repainted

the Dragon mode to look like Beast Machine's

Megatron when he came out of his harness. Oh,

yes. And I've seen that picture, and that was

cool. Yeah. I'm not going for that aesthetic.

I'm just going for Beast Wars aesthetic. But

if somebody came out with a harness for the same

figure, I would probably pick up a second one.

Yep. Just to do it, so that I could have two.

Because I have the cloaked version from Beast

Machines, like the original figure, and it's

stupid ugly. Like it's just, there's nothing

beautiful about that figure. Yeah. I, this is

why I, I like when we get to anniversaries and

things like that, like you're mentioned studio

series 96 or whatever, and maybe they've abandoned

beast machines for now, but once, you know, 2029

rolls around, that's a 30th anniversary for beast

machines. Who knows? It could happen. You never

know. For me, if I wanted anything from Beast

Machines, it would just be the head. Head Megatron.

Oh, you're saying the giant floating head? Uh

-huh. Well, they had two versions of that, funny

enough. One that actually transformed to a robot

mode Megatron. and that that had the little spider

legs on the bottom there was another one that

i saw on uh it was like toy arena or something

with aaron archer and uh proto man when they

were talking about beast machines and trans tech

and stuff like that uh and there was an unproduced

beast wars megatron or beast machines megatron

head like that turned to the ship in the head

And, you know, had the thrusters underneath and

everything. And it was going to be an ultra class

and be electronic. See, that's what I want is

basically you have the thrusters underneath,

you have electronics, but the electronics are

just like this. I would want his voice in that.

And basically. The only thing I would want, if

I could have any saying in a giant beast machine's

head Megatron would be, let's cut through the

signal noise, shall we? Of course, that's from

when, you know, weak component when Rattrap goes

and, you got noisemakers? I want noisemakers.

You know, so, but yeah. I don't know. But yeah,

I'm glad that you're having fun doing the, the

red flake and it, you know, like everyone is

telling you, it's coming out pretty damn good.

It's damn near show accurate to the point of,

Holy crap. Like Hasbro hire this guy. Yeah. I

mean, I, I'm not that good, but I've seen guys

that are better at it, but. Uh, and it would

probably be a lot better if I actually like cleaned

the figure, like fully scrubbed him down and

then took them apart. Right. But it terrifies

me to do so. Well, yeah, because yeah. Well,

cause if I screw it up, that's, that's it. If

I can't reassemble it. Yep. So I have painted

over it. But the, the sad part is, is the gold

and the silver when I use it, um, under certain

circumstances, like it didn't fully dry. So it

like, it will rub off in certain circumstances,

but, uh, yeah, the, I think the only way to fix

that would be like spray paint. Yikes. Yeah.

But that's not huge. Like if I were to take the

wings off and do it that way, but yeah, it's,

it's pretty cool. Very cool. Very cool. What

else do we want to talk about with your customs?

Well, the process of color matching. Oh, boy.

Is fun. I tend to pull up a stock animation model

on the screen, like on my monitor on my computer

when I do it. Right. In addition to just watching

it. Right. I've seen people use different paints

and do different prep stuff and different, you

know, things to them. Uh, I still think the best

way of doing it is, and I've seen people do this

as taking them apart. They give them like a,

um, it's like a paint thinner alcohol type water,

uh, mixture that they kind of sprinkle it around

in that kind of allows some of the paint to come

off and then they kind of scrub it down and then,

uh clean them with like a dish soap type thing

and then they then they can paint them after

it dries and what they usually do is they get

these little sticks that they puncture into wood

or styrofoam of some kind and then have it hold

the piece and then they do like a spray paint

which is like like a primer that allows it to

adhere properly Yeah, it's all kind of like pre

-treating things and getting things ready for

the actual paint, which is good because that

way, like you're saying, it'll... Well, it's

durable. Yeah. Which, you know, I haven't tested

some of mine to know. The ones I've used the

spray paint for, though, it's been pretty durable.

But what it required was I used like the Krylon

Fusion. paint which has the paint primer built

in and it's supposed to like stick to any surface

uh so like my grimlock i did that with right

because i've never like i've gotten model paint

before that's white and it never sticks to stuff

it's never it's never the right it's like either

too thick too thin it's never the right consistency

and it doesn't stick and it just got this weird

off color Whereas when I used the spray paint

on them, those areas looked fine. And I think

those were the areas that didn't flake. Well,

that's good that they didn't flake. But the other

problem with doing spray paint figure like that

is it makes them stiff as a board if you don't

take them apart. And I learned that with Grimlock

and with the Megatron custom that was made out

of the Galvatron. Which is still kind of in a

state of limbo because I've kind of hit a point

where there's elements that technically should

be redesigned by somebody that knows how with

3D printing skills and I don't have those. Yeah,

that would not... There's portions of it because

I've looked at other figures and I'm like, yeah,

I could have retooled this one and it would have

worked better. I could have retooled this one

and it would have worked better. But the overall

shape and build that I was going for, the Galvatron

seemed to fit that. At least at the time. Yeah.

And now you're not so sure? Well, I've seen better

figures come out since then too, but like the

J -Axis. Yeah. Uh, that one's pretty nice, but

it doesn't like when it transforms, it would

look kind of goofy and the arms are off. Like,

I think I could make the legs work and part of

the chest. It's the, it would definitely be kit

bashing. Um, but no, I, I, I'm fine with how

it came out. I think I just needed a replacement

chest that, you know, pop the pin of the old

one and pop the new one on. Right. And then something

that allowed his feet, instead of to kind of

swivel to the side, but would allow them to fold

completely flat, basically, so that he could

transform. But that's neither here nor there.

I'm still happy with part of how it came out.

I still wish I could figure out the shoulders

and kind of build the shoulder pad portion and

remove the ones that are built in on Galvatron.

but I don't know how to do that. And so it's

just kind of sitting and waiting at this point

until I can figure that out. Yeah. But at least

the beast wars figures, I can pretty much modify

color in it. That's all I need to worry about.

Yeah. Well, now that you have Inferno and tarantulas

and all the season one bots, you know, you, you,

you've got your collection at this point. Yep,

and the funny thing is I know that in the pipe,

at least from Hasbro, they have their first Fusor

coming in Legacy either late this or early next

year. And it's Silverbolt. Of course it is. Why

wouldn't it be? I'll be interested to see how

that turns out. I don't know if I'll really care

enough. Right. Because I'm more of the... I like

the Season 1 characters, but I like their transmetals.

So I'll be interested to see if they go in any

more transmetals. I like Quickstrike, but he

was always too small as a toy. Yeah. And of course

I like Rampage and Depth Charge, but I don't

need giant bots. Nor do I have room for them.

You don't need a giant manta ray and a giant

fiddler crab. Although I may end up with a depth

charge at some point. My son has one. Very cool.

He's at the point now where he's not sure if

he really cares anymore and doesn't know if he

wants it. Oh, wow. So I may eventually buy it

off him. Save me the trouble of hunting it down.

There you go. Yeah. And I got the tail from somebody

else. Somebody else, I got the, they had one

from the universe version, which was like the

dark, dark blue, like inverted colors version.

And for the universe release. And it was missing

the tail sword. And somebody 3D printed like

three of them for me. Oh, cool. So that Ian can

have it when he got it. Because I was like, how

can I get this figure instead of paying $90?

So he bought it for like 35 and I got the tail

for like five. Oh, that's the other thing he

doesn't have are the, the spitting discs or the,

the stingray. Stingray missiles. Yeah. The, the,

the gun and the missiles, but it honestly like

that kind of stuff. It's not imperative to the

beast mode, so it doesn't matter. Yeah. I have

the tail and that's, that's kind of the, main

point there. Yeah. I never understood why a fish

wanted to spit CDs out of its mouth. We always

called them pizzas. Yeah. Well, you said discs,

and they look like discs, and I'm like, why is

he spitting old music technology out of his mouth?

Oh, boy. So what else are you looking forward

to for this year, for part of this year, the

beginning part of 2023 in toys? I'm looking forward

to seeing what some of the rest of the legacy

figures look like. I know that they're getting

into some of the Unicron trilogy. I know they're

getting into some of Prime. I know they're getting

into some just other comic variations of people.

So I'm kind of hoping that we get. more show

accurate content when they get it. I would love

for them to do a version of my Beast Megatron

that I've been trying to make. Like an actual

version of that. Pre -dawn Beast Megatron. Yes.

Without the body armor. Yeah. Because they did

that with Cybertron Defense Scattershot. And

I don't care for that figure. Although I did

try and get my hands on it when BotCon was around

originally. Yeah. Um, yeah, it's, it was, uh,

I think I bid up to 130 and I think it's sold

at 150 and the thing goes for like two grand

now. Oh, Oh, isn't that painful? Oh, ow. Oh yeah.

Oh. I was like, oh, I was like, why couldn't

I have gotten two? Yeah, exactly. One sold the

other. Yep. That's like, and I don't want the

figure back. It's fine, but it just shocks me.

So 2008 BotCon, I paid somebody for the entire

set, which includes all the extras. I think it

was like three extra, like the show. floor figure

things, and Shattered Glass Rodimus was one of

those extra add -on things. At the time, in 2008,

when I was still working and had a decent -paying

job and whatever else, I paid like $800 shipped

for the entire five -figure box set, plus the

three other figures, whatever else. Over the

last four years, I've gone onto eBay and just

looked up Transformers BotCon 2008 Shattered

Glass Rodimus. He is being asked for anywhere

from $1 ,500 to $1 ,700. And it's just a deluxe

Rodimus repainted in... I mean, that's all...

The only thing new on that figure is the fact

that he has a goatee. Like, but... Oh, man. And

I get it, it's BotCon, it's an exclusive and

whatever else, but yikes. Come on, I know you

can get the Transmetal 3 Dragon Megatron. Transmetal

3? That's what they dubbed it. It's because they

had that prequel story that, you know, Galavar

became Megatron. Right, right. gave him and the

other guys beast modes so he he had a dragon

which was actually the gigatron like the uh robots

in disguise megatron where it has like the six

changer or whatever right yeah so he he turns

into that but they gave him a new head sculpt

and then gave him the red red and gold paint

job from beast wars and so it's it's i i saw

that botcon version of the figure and it goes

for three hundred dollars on ebay which that's

not terrible by comparison oh my god still too

rich for my blood but yeah i like especially

when you can get knockoff trans art trans metal

uh, masterpiece figures for anywhere from like

60 to one 30. So just wait, what, why are they?

Oh, still. So I just out of sheer curiosity is

looking up Rodimus and the only actual listing

for the actual figure from that bot con year.

is still listed as pre -owned, $1 ,499 .95. However,

somebody is selling the Transformers Fans Project

Shadow Sky, there's Sky, the Shattered Glass,

Bodcon, Rodimus, G1, the Fans Project kit for

$400. And then, I don't understand this. Somebody

is trying to sell the, just the box from 2008

BotCon for a hundred bucks. And some idiot will

buy it. Not me, but I'm like, well, there was

a time when, when kingdom first came out, people

were selling boxes, like literally selling boxes

on eBay of toys, like beast wars of G1 of everything.

And it's like, I don't know about you, but I

don't save the boxes. They need to be freed from

their plastic prison and put on display. Because

if you're just going to leave them in the box,

what's the point of having them? I could just

have a picture of them printed and put on a collage

on my wall. True. There's really no point in

having the figure if you're not going to have

it out and you're not going to actually... put

your physical hands on the figure, then what's

the point of having it? Yeah, that's true. Cause

like I, I, I periodically move around the shelf.

I periodically like reposition them. I'll play

with the kids where I get to do all the voices.

So, and they love it. Yeah. They're like, Oh,

do the voice. And then like, I usually put them

in a really stupid scenario. Like the Beast Megatron

Kingdom or whatever. When he first came out,

I had him like the dinosaur head doing one thing

where it's like running around barfing. But Megatron's

yelling at the dinosaur head to stop doing that.

And the kids thought it was hilarious. That is

hilarious. But it was barfing. All the Preds

and the Maximals are running from him and stuff.

So the boys thought it was funny because it's

like the equivalent of a fart joke. being a fart

job and so yeah so i mean i i would do goofy

stuff like that and or i'd have the battle of

the megatrons because i have g2 i have multiple

versions of beast wars megatron beast machines

megatron um my kids each have you know one has

a cyberverse megatron one has uh uh core class

kingdom megatron uh or well or i have all the

rat traps Yep. So we'll have a rat trap throwdown.

Scorponok is our punching bag because he falls

apart anyway. Yeah, Scorponok is everybody's

punching bag. I'm not going to lie. Scorponok

is probably the worst Beast Wars figure out of

Kingdom. He looks all right. And mind you, I'm

picking it up off my shelf. One is short and

stubby. If they would have made his legs longer,

I think it would have been fine. Yeah. The other

gripe I have is his claw shells because they're

not made very well. They don't stay on the pegs

on the wrist. So when you go to open it, you

have to be really careful because they fall off.

Oh, God. than you would imagine to get them on

and to stay on. And they don't stay on very well.

So that was my other gripe with the figure. So

I honestly hate this toy. And then like the Kingdom

Cheetor was the only other one I hated. I think

that was a good figure finally. It was good?

But the beast head was made of really, really

thin plastic. So if you transformed it, it would

break tabs. And I did not want to try and toy

with that. And I had the first version of it

before they came out with the Netflix one with

the proper colors. Oh, right. Yep. And the other

one looked like play school blue. And I repainted

it. And then I painted where it should have been

gold. And then I turned around and flipped it.

And I think when I got rid of it, I think I sold

it for like 70 bucks. That's awesome. Yeah. And

that was just with minor painting. And somebody

was like, oh yeah, I'll take it. And they bought

it and everything. And then I bought the... 10th

anniversary cheetor with it and uh transmittal

rat trap right right with what i sold it for

and i was like oh okay so i flipped that and

then uh the cheetor i repainted him to be show

accurate and then i eventually gave it to my

son and then i got masterpiece knockoff at least

but yeah very cool very cool I still have the

one original. Iguanas. They're redoing him this

year, aren't they? It's a reissue. It's the same

figure. Mine is in mint condition and it's 25

years old. There's not a lick of paint missing

off of him. He's perfect. There's nothing wrong

with the figure. I guess that's a testament to

building quality back then and now. One, his

wrists and his elbows are all in ball joints.

The wrist doesn't swivel, no, but based on how

it transforms, the beast mode head opens and

closes. It covers up the robot mode and it's

a flip transform. It's one of those easy ones

with the springs in the back. The spring is still

in great condition. The gun still attaches to

the bottom. I'm quite surprised how well the

thing has held up over the years, especially

because I think when I played with it as a kid,

it was a punching bag figure. Most of my bad

guys were punching bags, except for Megatron,

who happened to take down everybody, except for

Primal. Even when I played with my brothers,

that was the name of the game. Everybody else

goes down against Megatron. Not until it hits

Primal. That's because he's so optimal. Yes,

he's so optimal. That's right. I still like that

Transmetal Optimal. That figure is probably one

of my favorites. I loved when he got that face

sculpt in the show. Because it was like a throwback

to the Season 1. I hated the Season 2 face. I

was like, why has it got gorilla face? It's like,

I don't want gorilla face. That's funny. I don't

know. I've been having fun re -watching Beast

Wars and Beast Machines this last week, so it's

been interesting. Yeah, I gotta go back and do

another re -watch of Beast Machines just for

the hell of it. I'm currently starting in Season

2. Oh, cool. Middle of Season 2, actually. It's

after Silverbolt's revival. Yep. Brooding Silverbolt.

Yep, yep, yep. Yeah. He is the Dark Knight of

Cybertron. Yep. That's why there was an episode

called In Darkest Night. In Darkest Night, yep.

Yep. I'm just glad there wasn't one called In

Brightest Day. And then there's a guy that turns

green and glows and runs through the city. He

makes constructs out of his hands. They would

have had a lawsuit for sure. Oh, absolutely.

Well, that and it wouldn't have made sense. Why

is this green superhero showing up and why does

he look like Daffy Duck? When I was watching

the video with Aaron Archer, he was talking about

the toys and the concepts for TransTech and said

because Beast Machines did so poorly, because

TransTech was supposed to round out the trilogy.

Yeah, it was supposed to be the next thing. They

said because Beast Machines did so terribly,

they didn't even... They were like, yeah, probably

not. And they're like, what FunPub did with it

was totally not what was supposed to happen.

And I guess all of the trans tech figures were

supposed to be electronic. Oh, that would have

been so cool. And they were, you know, like they

were doing evolutions and evolutions of stuff.

They're like, but then when we get straight so

far away from, you know, like Cheetor being a

cheetah, he says they were slowly trying to get

back to, uh, uh, uh, robot forms like, uh, and

vehicles and away from the beasts. Like they

were trying to transition away from it, like

gradually. And it was just, too jarring i guess

and the thing was they were reviving because

it was going to be a continuation they were reviving

optimus prime you know from the all spark and

then and then they weren't sure which version

of megatron was going to be there if it was beast

wars or beast or g1 or g1 but they were going

to have shockwave and starscream and uh for the

the autobot maximal side or whatever they were

going to have they were basically autobots They

were going to have Cheetor, Silverbolt, Night

Scream, and there was no mention of the other.

I think Blackarachnia was going to get a new

form too, but Rattrap was missing. Rhinox, yeah.

And Rhinox was gone. So I'm saying out of the

ones that were left at the end of Season 2 of

Beast Machines. Yeah. But yeah, so they made

a prototype of only two of the figures, and that

was Cheetor and Starscream. Starscream, because

obviously it was a G1 character revived, and

then Cheetor. Cheetor, yeah. And you know what?

Aaron Archer was the designer. He was the man

behind that stuff, and that's fine. Oh, he had

nothing to do with trans tech. No, no, no. Okay,

but I'm saying he worked for Hasbro. He was somebody

who was in on these things at the time, even

though, yes, he didn't have anything to do with

trans tech. My thing is where he's like, oh,

Fun Pub, that isn't the way we were going to

go with it. What's the easiest way for Cheetor

to become trans tech in an homage for a BotCon

figure? Take animated blur and Cheetor him up.

And that was actually a really good idea. Absolutely

it was. 100%. Absolutely. And they did it again.

Somebody did a custom of the IDW blur speed force

figure that just came out. Yep. And did it as

Cheetor. Oh, that would be so cool. And I think

I saw it on TFW. And just some of the stuff these

guys on TFW come up with is just amazing. Yeah,

it is. Somebody retooled J -Axis as pre -Beast

Optimus Primal. Oh, wow. And they took the head

from the 10th anniversary deluxe figure. The

one that turned to kind of a cybernetic gorilla.

Kind of technically what Transmetal Optimus Primal

should have been. And just like Transmetal Megatron

should have technically been that 10th anniversary

deluxe figure. I was kind of sad they did them

as deluxes back then. They should have at least

been a mega, but I, that's a Megatron that I

kind of wish I never got rid of. Like the primal,

I don't really care, but the Megatron kind of,

I mean, it was kind of a crappy figure all, all

the way around. Cause he had like a three finger

prong, one hand, one hand that held his tail.

And then he had the dinosaur head on the other

arm, but it was kind of a weird mesh. I, I don't

particularly liked it, which is why I got rid

of it. But I, kind of wish i would have kept

all of the beast wars megatrons that i've had

over the years um but nevertheless the uh that

primal from that that set they popped the head

off of it and put it on j axis's body and then

repainted it with the black and blue and a little

bit of red here and there and it looked pretty

stellar i was i was quite impressed with what

they did with the mold so he was a primal that

transformed into into a jet. And it just looked

spectacular. I'm surprised nobody's tried it

with any of the modern figures with the previous

Megatron or some of the other characters. But

I've seen a lot of people try and use Masterpiece

Megatron's head on an Emperor Zerg body. Oh my

God. And surprisingly, it looks pretty close

as far as the proportions. And as far as the,

you know, the shoulder pads and the arms and

the legs, like the shapes, like I've seen people

do this and it looks, it looks pretty good. It,

but it doesn't transform. So it kind of takes

the point of the whole thing away, which is why

I was trying to, you know, undertake that endeavor,

which I hope to get back to at some point. But.

my life has changed drastically so i i will get

back to it eventually yeah so yeah all right

anything else you want to bring up no i think

i'm just waiting to see what else 2023 brings

as far as figures i mean i know that trans arts

coming out with a ton of new masterpiece which

i will not be partaking in because they're huge

um and they're not exactly my favorite characters

Okay. I mean, if they were, if they were like

Voyager size, I probably would, but right. They're

going to be like eight to 10 to 12 inches. And

I'm like, yeah, I'm not, I don't have that space.

Otherwise I would have kept the big old dragon.

But I think I said this on, on, on all things

transformers at the time, whenever last year

they were doing, I forget whichever one it was

that dragon Megatron that was on display. You

know which one I'm talking about. It was a statue

where it was him just like in this pose of just

being stuck to the planet or the ship or the

whatever. That's the Megatron I want. I think

it was just a display piece. I don't think it

was for sale or anything because I haven't seen

it anywhere else. All right, folks, we're going

to go to a quick ad break and all that good stuff,

and we'll come back to close the show after this.

What was that universal greeting again? Never

mind, I remember. Hey guys, it's Rodimus Primal,

and be sure to check out my YouTube channel.

Join me as I have Transformers discussions, retrospectives,

toy reviews, and more. You can also follow me

on Twitter at Rodimus Primal, as well as Facebook

and Instagram at Rodimus Primal Show. Transform

and roll out, and be sure to check out my content,

till all are one. One of the primary themes of

ToyCast is that we focus on Times Past. We are

who we are today because of the nostalgic memories

and experiences from our childhood. Obviously,

we wouldn't be doing this podcast if it weren't

for the toys that make us so addicted to nostalgia.

Times Past Collectibles in Chicago, Illinois

is your primary go -to collectible store to reclaim

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1450 North Ash You can also find them on Facebook.

Just search Times Past Collectibles because,

folks, it's past time that you get your collectibles.

Hello, all sentient beings. Want the latest on

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We've got weekly podcasts covering everything

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Then check out Altered Geek Unleashed, where

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something. Since 2009, we have been the premier

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We are ToonCast. From taking you beyond the cartoons

we grew up with to seasonal saucy Toon Talk,

and now we get the origins of Toonsters everywhere

as we ask guests 30 questions about their cartoon

watching experiences, plus so much more. ToonCast

is back. Join me, TFG and Mike, and the rest

of the GCRN crew as we get... Hey, it's Wes from

Popping Off Toys. Wanted to let you know about

PoppingOffToys .com. We can be your number one

source for Funko collectible figures. to add

to your ever -growing collection. If you're in

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And for the rest of us, PoppingOffToys .com is

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name is just simply Popping Off Toys. Thank you

so much, and always keep it popping. Hi, I'm

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Show, which airs live on HudsonRiverRadio .com

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Radio Network presents, for your listening pleasure,

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Then Saturday Morning Rewind is the podcast for

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Go to SaturdayMorningRewind .com. And be prepared

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SaturdayMorningRewind .com. Saturday Morning

Rewind was voted best podcast ever by its host,

Tim Nydell. So it's got to be good. All right,

we are back here on 167 of ToyCast with Steve

Megatron. What parting words would you like to

impart on the listeners, sir? I would like to

impart, if you have creativity and you have a

thought of doing something, you know, especially

with your figures or whatnot, I would suggest

that you just kind of go for it. And if you have

an idea in mind, that you just kind of just give

it a shot. I go into these when I go to edit

them and clean them up and change their colors

or redesign parts of them. I go into it thinking,

I hope that I don't screw this figure up. And

then typically I'm pretty pleased with how they

turn out. Yes, absolutely. So just experiment,

try and just, you know, see what, you know, do

some research, figure out what, you know, if

you're trying to create a custom figure or something

you saw in a comic and there's not a figure that

exists, look for the closest one that you can

kind of mess with. Or if you're one of those

talented people that has a nice, fancy 3D printer,

you can make your own or you can mod parts and

build onto them. But, you know, modeling clay

and paint and, you know, tutorials and. Photos

can be a wonderful tool when you're trying to

create something new. Yes. Yes, they can. Except

whatever you do, folks, don't use Google images.

No. Thank you for joining us here on DogCast.

If you'd like to get in contact with us or leave

feedback for the show, there are several ways

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my mind. He's losing his mind. I'm reaping all

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It's the beginning of 2023, folks. It's either

the middle or the end of January at this point.

I don't know what's coming up next. I'm not sure.

I know it's episode 168. That's about all I know.

So, I don't know. I don't know. Try to pay homage

to a dead actor. Anyway, for now, I am TF2 and

Mike with... Steve Megatron. Join us next time

when we'll be talking more toys here on ToyCast.