As we teeter on the precipice between October and November, IDW squeezes out yet another Transformers comic release in a month already bursting at the seams. Issue #2 of the Beast Wars Sourcebook (character profiles series) hits stores this week (31st Oct in the US, 1st Nov in the UK), taking you through from Elephorca to Noctorro. Now here’s a tester for those of you who figure you can detect a Furmanism at thirty paces: can you identify (or guess) which of the character profiles were written by me (rather than Ben Yee)? If memory serves, there are nine of them in total in issue #2. Now, if we (myself and Ben Yee) have done our jobs well, it shouldn’t be easy to spot who did who, as they were done in a style, to a format, and I kind of did an editorial pass to make sure the whole thing was as seamless as possible (text-wise). But maybe you can work it out. Feel free to post your thoughts/conclusions on this thread and in a few days I’ll reveal who was on the money and who missed the mark. I’ll give you one for free, though, as it’s a bit of a no-brainer: eight letters, begins with ‘G’ ends with ‘K’. Click on the thumbnail below for a better butchers at the cover for Beast Wars Sourcebook #2 and don’t forget to check out the IDW site for more preview pages and news of upcoming Transformers releases.
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simon furman 
Curse you Simon, for denying us the easiest choice possible!!!
I’ll take a guess however at Magmatron and Lio Convoy.
Can’t wait to read the profile on big G though…
i caaaant wait
If the letter ‘G; is involved, could there be…Grimlock?! 🙂
No, wait. The G-K clue was in the original post. That’ll teach me not to skim-read too quickly.
just out of interest is elephorca the same guy as torca from the first mini? sorry if that sounds stupid but im not really up to speed on the beast wars characters and they look the exact same. ordinairly i wouldnt ask but considering how b’boom looks the exact same as one of the pack i thought it was worth asking 🙂
personally i think torca is a better name
Elephorca’s a Japanese repaint of Torca, and they are separate characters – Elephorca appears in Cybertronian mode in the Ascending, while Torca’s on Earth.
Hmm. I wonder if anyone (for example Metrodome) has considerd releasing the Japanese BW shows on DVD with subs. It kinda sucks having a whole chunk of Tf lore (no matter how goofy) only available via internet resources.
Although I suppose first someone would have to actually do a decent UK release for Beast Wars. How crazy is it that we have gotten complete DVD’s of Beast Machines whilst BW has had a total of 2 DVD releases that are ‘unique’ to say the least. Ahh well, at least the oh-so groovy Australian boxsets now sit on my shelf…
Further to Emvee’s reply, Partholon — Elephorca (while basically a Torca repaint issued in Japan as part of the BW Neo line-up) is a completely different character. He’s a Blendtron, one of trio comprising him, Rartorata and Drancron. They’re all linked into the whole Angolmois/Unicron storyline (both in Neo and The Ascending).
I second that. It’d be great to see a UK translation/edition of BW II and Neo. I’ve never seen them myself.
They’re not especially…good. Plot or animation-wise.
But I wouldn’t mind having them on DVD.
Nah you don’t need translations the dialogue from what i’ve heard is horri-bull (pun intend).
I have both series on dvd (in pure japanese) and i really enjoyed both shows because when i watched it. i made it my mission to see if you fit it in with US bw continuity and it can, but you do have to tweek it. i created a timeline/universe that works in my head. but i have good faith in both simon and ben that there bw timeline will be just as good (and probably better)
So any questions, i would be more than willing to answer them!?!
I also have a little idea i’m putting together for tf mosiac, so please watch that space (fingers crossed for a mini series by me lol)
Okay, here goes. Let’s see if I’m as good as I think I am.
Simon, you wrote the profiles for-
Elephorca
Grimlock
Guiledart
Heinrad
Hydra
Ironhide
Lio Convoy
Magmatron
Manterror
yeah as Simon said the Blendtrons are completely different character to there fuzor counterparts. the best thing about watching bw neo is the fact that each blendtron is much stronger and more powerful than bots like big convoy.
If you want to see episodes of Beast Wars Neo or Beast Wars II, tfcog.net has several of them “fan-dubbed” into English. After watching a few of those, you can decide on whether or not they are shows you would want to watch in full.
Lio Convoy
Galvatron
Grimlock
Magmatron
Killer Punch
Magnaboss
Heinrad
Ironhide
Re; lists. I’m not saying anything just yet, as the issue’s only out in the UK today, but so far I’m impressed.
Just downloading the 1st episodes of both shows now. Should be interesting, to say the least…
Just curious though Simon, (and possibly being a little slow…) but is it right to say that the BW2 and Neo characters in the IDWverse BW are from a period after their respective shows? Put another way, do BW2 & Neo comprise part of the previous war between Max’s and Preds?
Just wondering…
Yes Dawfydd the BW2nd and Neo series are set before the Gathering and the Acsending.
Simon – What made you pick Apache, Longrack, Machkick, Break, Stampy and Drillnuts for ‘the Pack’?
thanks guys. it can be kinda bewildering what with all the repaints but its nice to know i wasnt having some kinda fit when i saw torca in the first mini. have to get this on the way home to get the full story. ive seen some of the BW neo stuff on tfcog. its fun in a weird kinda way but as was mentioned first i’d like to see a proper release for beast wars . i actually had to buy a VIDEO of nemisis to see the story. TV 3 here were showing em but jumped straight from the agenda to beast machines (which i seem to be in the minority in enjoying. ok i dont like the organic cybertron stuff but that doesnt mean ya cant enjoy it for what it is and they did some great stuff with rhinox/tankor )
Actually I’d never seen Beast Machines till the 1st series got released earlier this year, and apart from some odd characterisation, *cough*Rattrap*cough*, I’ve found it a pleasent suprise.
Not to mention tjhe fact that it could be the darkest ransformers cartoon EVER!!
And lets be honest, isn’t it miles better than any of the Unicron Trilogy?
Ahh yes, Rhinox/ Tankor, gotta love how Megs learnt his lesson from the last time he tried that…
And Coptur, cheers for clearing that up for me
Okay, slight amendment:
I’ll admit that Armada does have some groovy animation in places and, from what I’ve just seen on youtube, one of the brutalist Prime- Megatron/ Galvatron fights I’ve ever seen.
You should watch Beast Wars II, Simon – there is a subtitled version for the first 13 episodes on the internet. I don’t usually like TF anime, but BWII is my personal favourite Japanese TF show because, watching it is like watching a Transformers parody. That show just doesn’t take itself seriously and has hilarious characters… from the G1 Runamuck/Runabout (Beavis and Butthead) -clone Thrust and Dirge through Scuba, who’s essentially the Transformer version of The Saint (Roger Moore) to the sterotypically mexican party-animal Jointron Brothers. If you have some free time between writing two comic issues, watch it! 🙂
just read the profile book, 1 question where is Majin Zarak??
I’d imagine…no toy…no profile.
Slightly off-topic question Simon, but I felt a need to ak this:
Just picked up the Robot Heroes Decepticon Sneak Attack boxed set from Asda, purely to compliment the ridiculously cute versions of Ravage, Shockers and Grimlock that currently bestride the computer.
My question is: has anyone approached you regarding, or would you consider, the possibility of something along the lines of a back-up strip featuring these SD versions of the Transformers.
Just wondering…
it looks like the jointron brothers have the art for tripredcus characters they look far too menacing and also lio junior has prowls art work judging by the colouring. i hope this all gets sorted out by the trade paperback version.
I guess that Grizzly-1 and Galvatron are Furmanisms!
Okay, here’s what I did in BW Profiles #2: Galvatron, Grimlock, Guiledart, Heinrad, Hydra, Ironhide, Lio Convoy, Magmatron, Manterror. Well done Thunderwing, who pretty much caught them all (with the exception of the Galvatron, who Khan and Ralph both included on their list). Either you guys are damn good or I’m damn predictable. Maybe a bit of both!!
The easiest one to guess, aside from Grimlock, was Ironhide, because of the term “cut and thrust”. I remember you using that phrase (which I don’t think I’ve ever heard before aside from your writing) in an issue of Infiltration at some point.
Maybe it’s the whole reading your Transformers stuff for almost 17 years now, or maybe it’s the fact that I enjoy writing myself, but in any case, keep up the good work, Simon!
Who did write for the first book?!?!
oops, Who did you write for the first book?
well, I got six, but after I went back and checked I wouldve changed one. Im proud of myself considering I’ll only been reading Simon’s writing for since Armada.
Hello!Just a quick note to say how much I’m enjoying the BW profiles books.Us European BW fans got stiffed on the tech specs on the toys,so its nice to have these.The Japanese stuff that’s been included so far is good,but I do hope in later volumes the amalogmos energy and the Japanese storylines will be covered in some depth as I feel I’m missing something here (which is the same feeling i had reading all the Dreamwave comics).Like some other other posts here, I’m finding the inclusion of japanese characters that are physically identical a bit confusing.Are these not just instances where the same toy was issued with a different name?E.g. Skyquake from the 1992 Euro exclusive line also being known as Crash on the continent.I note Coptur’s posted some threads that I will check out, but just thought I would ask!Particularly as some of the Japanese characters look plain bizarre (Moon!Is his special power to bare his behind at the enemy?! 🙂 Sorry, that’s very childish, I know!).
Some catch up answers… coptur, my roll call for issue #1 was Antagony, Bantor, B’Boom, Beetle, Bigmos, Bonecrusher, Cicadacon, DJ, Drill Bit and Drill Nuts.
Simon Hall, most of the Japanese characters that were repaints had distinctly different characters (and, I believe, tech specs) to their US equivalents. Really, we had to treat them as different characters worthy of their own entry in the BW Universe.
Dawfydd, no plans for stories centred around the toys you mention. Too much going on/building up elsewhere.
Coptur, the Pack line-up came about after discussions between myself and Ben Yee (as we were prepping the Sourcebooks). Ben was great at getting characters together who’d either interacted in the past or were linked anyway (like Long Rack and Stampy… or Break, I forget which).