Beast Wars - The Agenda

[Fianna]

That always bugged me with Beast Wars. While some of its best stories were in Season 2, the way several characters from Season 1 got unceremoniously written out, and the way so many characters were modified so the original robots-who-turn-into-animals gimmick was lost (as well as the background Energon radiation that gave them a reason for spending time in beast mode) ... learning the toyetic reasons behind it both explained a lot and was so, so depressing.

[Archanubis]

Hasbro was absolutely adamant about the fact that Mainframe NOT waste resources on characters they weren't promoting. It's why Scorponok and Terrorsaur got so suddenly scrapped at the start of season 2, and Tigertron and Airrazor got written off. Hasbro was apparently upset they were spending any time at all making models for the likes of Optimus Prime and original Megatron, thats why their models were so overall simple and didn't move any, they were only static heads.

Which is funny because, as Chuck mentioned in the review of Aftermath, I believe, Waspinator was going to be the one who was going to kick the bucket instead of Terrorsaur, but the former proved more popular with the fans. To say nothing of the fact that Terrorsaur's role as "The Starscream" of the show had been better filled by Tarantulas. Probably why Doug Parker, who voiced Terrorsaur, was listed as a Casting Director for the show during the second season; it was Mainframe throwing him a bone.

[RobbyB1982]

It really would have been nice if they had had an opportunityh just once to have an episode that was ONLY Dinobot, Ratrap, Silverbolt, and Waspinator. Just make Scott McNeil *earn* that paycheck.

I have no idea how you'd make that work, I guess throw in a few token Megatron lines if you must, but...

[Beastro]

It really would have been nice if they had had an opportunityh just once to have an episode that was ONLY Dinobot, Ratrap, Silverbolt, and Waspinator. Just make Scott McNeil *earn* that paycheck.

I have no idea how you'd make that work, I guess throw in a few token Megatron lines if you must, but...

They could have reworked the episode with the energon explosion blinding/damaging the Maximials stuck in beast mode and having to make it back home, only swap in Silverbolt and work in a reason for them to keep Waspinator alive. They're a long way from home, get into a scenario that makes getting back ASAP imperative, but down Waspinator and make him a POW (maybe he has information they could use).

The tension then is Dinobot justifying at every point why they should kill Waspinator, Silverbolt nobly opposing it and protecting Waspy from summary execution, Waspinator is sympathetic but gives reasons why Dinobot is right while Rattrap flip flops prejudicialy siding with Dinobot but having moral qualms that ultimately have him back up Silverbolt in the third act.

End episode with Dinobot viciously disagreeing with Rattrap saying he'll regret leaving an enemy alive, but commending him for adhering to the honourable Maximal code while Silverbolt teases Rattrap that he's more decent than he'd like to admit.

[Fianna]

I find it amusing that, in "A Look Back at The Agenda", Chuck says things aren't as simple as Silverbolt's Good vs. Evil view ... for the same story where Megatron celebrates his victory by declaring, "Evil triumphs!"

[Archanubis]

I find it amusing that, in "A Look Back at The Agenda", Chuck says things aren't as simple as Silverbolt's Good vs. Evil view ... for the same story where Megatron celebrates his victory by declaring, "Evil triumphs!"

I think that, even in the 90s, this was back when children's entertainment, especially those that sold toys, still had to have a "line" between good and evil. These days, it's very likely that Megatron would consider himself the hero of his own story, and not really consider his actions "evil" persay.

[RobbyB1982]

They nuanced that up a bit more when they got to Beast Machines.

Which was a complete train wreck for a lot of reasons, (particularly the hideous designs) but it had a few good points to it.

[Fianna]

Sometimes Beast Wars treats Maximals and Predacons like they're simply factions that you can defect from at will (see Dinobot joining the Maximals, and Quickstrike going all in on being a Predacon).

Other times, we'll be shown that Maximals and Predacons are literally programmed to think differently, that Predacons being ultra-aggressive and lacking in empathy is part of their fundamental nature (see Rhinox getting reprogrammed in Season 1, or anytime the two sides race to recover a protoform pod first).

[RobbyB1982]

And Black Arachnia just straight up switched in season 3 because she needed to. Reprogramming them at the start in protoform does push their tendencies towards the stuff Preds like, but not required. Inferno and QUickstrike were pred material out of the box, the only reprogramming they had was their activation code. Meanwhile, Tigertron and Airrazor naturally erred towards hero. Silverbolt had has activation code changed but not his personality and he still naturally leaned heroic. Dinobot switched multiple times depending on what he felt was right.

The Rhinox case was a complete brainwashing and reprogramming, complete with changed colors and evil red eyes. Lots of his stuff was suppressed and other things were augmented. (And again in Beast Machines when he became Tankor.)

[Fianna]

One wonders how things would have gone down if the Maximals had convinced Inferno that Optimus was his Queen.