Moved house again. Sigh...............
Well, I think I've found the solution to my 'almost finished my collection' problem, Beast Wars! I was fairly young when Beast Wars first came out, but I picked up a few figures, specifically Magnaboss and Tripredacus (mainly I think as I never got a combiner in G1). They were pretty good, but didn't really fit in with my reissue based collection when I got back into collecting properly, and so I later sold them.
However, the first figures I got when I got back into collecting were the (G1) dinobots, which just so happened to be at the same time that a few old Beast Wars molds were being released in the Dinobots/Armada/Universe line (the packaging doesn't mention any particular line) with the G1 names, so when I was searching for said figures, those new ones came up in the searches. A couple of years later I decided to pick them up as they were pretty nifty.
I also decided to get God Neptune as to me at least it seemed like a much better deco of the G1 Seacons and (Metals) Ravage as it looked cool. A few years later Dinobot was released in the Classics/Universe line, naturally I picked up the much better Henkei mold, but then further bought Big Convoy, Magmatron and Magnaboss II (the Korean reissues), and then Archadis and Lio Convoy (as well as prehistoric animals I'm also quite a fan of lions). I then also got the 10th anniversary (Ultra) Megatron, which I think is pretty awesome. I thought about getting Optimus Primal but decided against it.
This coincided with the IDW Beast Wars comics which vindicated my choices since most of those characters make an appearance (Beast Wars Galvatron doesn't). And so for a while I was happy with my dinobot/lionbot collection of Beast Wars toys. Plus the Seacons.
A couple of years ago, rumours started to surface about a Classics/Generations Rhinox which when finally confirmed and eventually pictures emerged looked absolutely awesome. I need that figure, and also Waspinator, but that got me thinking, I'm not the sort of person who can just buy a figure, I need my figures to be in sets and so I decided to watch the cartoon (I'd previously seen the odd episode but not many).
The cartoon is great, essentially because it's a small cast with plenty of character development. I then realised I needed that Primal which I'd previously passed on, there is a smaller one out there but I'm happy with the Ultra. It too is a great figure, I also picked up Henkei Cheetor (good animal mode at least!). Realising I now had 3 Maximal leaders and only 2 Predacon, I realised I also needed Galvatron. Oh, and Tripredacus to balance out having Magnaboss. I have pledged to get the remainder of the cast, possibly not the Fuzors and Transmetals though. Okay, maybe the Fuzors, Quickstrike does look pretty good.........
So far so good, nothing too crazy, but then I started thinking about what I'd buy if money was no object, and concluded that buying the cast of Beast Wars II and Neo would be good (I realise I seem to prefer the Japanese toylines continuations over the US ones, so Masterforce/Victory over G2 and BW II/Neo over Beast Machines). I then had a look at the figures and it went downhill from there.
The 'main cast' from both look like good figures with some interesting altmodes, rabbits, tanukis, giraffes, horses, frogs, penguins. I need them! G2 Megatron and Smokescreen get thrown into BW II, it's all good!!! So, in summary, my Beast Wars collection will be the Beast Wars cast up to the start of season one, the main cast from BWII and Neo plus the Magnaboss team, God Neptune and Blendtrons (Torca is awesome, GPS issues aside). Initial versions, no clones.
Not too fussed on whether I get the actual Japanese version or the US counterparts. I might need to get Ikard as well, as the Tako Tank is the kind of Japanese randomness that I need in my life. Along with Heinlad, with his testicles. Who doesn't need a tranforming alarm clock with testicles in their life? I know I do.
