The never ending war between the Cybertrons and Destrons
rages on. When Lio Convoy and his unit
on Gaia go missing, the Cybertron Elders call upon “The One Man Army”, Big
Convoy, to train a new generation of young Cybertrons for battle. This untested and hot headed bunch is about
to get the ultimate crash course training as a message from Lio Convoy sends
Big Convoy and the recruits across the galaxy to collect capsules of Angolmois
Energy. Following close behind are a new
and more dangerous breed of Destrons.
Leading them is the mighty Magmatron, who has a personal score to settle
with his old rival, Big Convoy.
A couple weeks back, I took a look at the Anime sequel to
the original Beast Wars series, Beast Wars II: Super Life-Form
Transformers.
Sure it wasn’t as dark and
depressing as the official direct US Sequel, Beast Machines, but Beast Wars II
was still just Beast Wars in name only.
It featured no characters from or connection to the original series and,
much like the trio of Anime projects that followed the end of the 80s
Transformers series, took things in a very Anime Super Robot direction.
Still, the show was successful enough to
spawn a direct sequel, Beast Wars Neo.
While my interest in Beast Wars II was minimal, since this is the only
other Beast Wars Anime I’m aware of, figured I’d take a look at the first
episode.
Does it improve upon Beast Wars
II’s setup or falter further?
Well, it’s
mixed.
The positives first.
I do like the idea of an Optimus Prime type like Big Convoy being a solo
act.
Anyone who remembers the true
Optimus Prime from the original Generation 1 Cartoon knows that the Autobot
leader is the ultimate Transformer bad ass, capable to taking on an entire
Decepticon army single handidly.
Big
Convoy seems capable of the same feats and while he isn’t accustomed to working
with a team, he’s a decent teacher.
There’s also the fact that Big Convoy’s search for Lio Convoy means the
Neo is officially confirmed to be a direct sequel to Beast Wars II.
That kind of connectivity was largely absent
from the 80s Transformers Anime, which all acted as their own stand alone
tales.
Lastly, unlike the Vehicle based
Destrons in Beast Wars II, Magmatron and his new unit actually take on Animal
forms.
Not sure why Magmatron looks like
a slightly larger Galvatron from the previous series, guess all Destron leaders
are made to look alike?
Now the negatives.
If you thought the bumbling antics of Lio Convoy’s team of actual
veterans was bad comedy, boy the Cybertron rookies might be even worse. They’re
either so pumped up for action they might as well be loose cannons or theyre
scared of their own shadows, there isn’t really an inbetween.
Not only that but their Animal designs,
yeesh.
Longrack and Stampy stand out in
particular for their super cartoony and kid friendly Giraffe and Rabbit Beast
Modes respectively.
It adds more to the
kids show centric vibe that made Beast Wars II’s first episode a bit tough to
sit through.
If Big Convoy was being
joined by more seasoned and serious vets, I’d say Neo has a chance.
But as it stands, I’m surprised his class of
rookies even survives their first sortie with the Destrons.
Much like Beast Wars II, Beast Wars Neo might not be for
me.
There’s still that air of making the
Beast Wars Anime exclusively childrens fare as opposed to the all ages friendly
US Beast Wars that rubs me the wrong way.
To be fair though, the first episode of Beast Wars Neo does show promise
with a decent lead in Big Convoy and the promise of a galaxy hoping adventure
to find his old comrades.
I hope that
goes well because if the Destrons don’t get him first, one of his rookies
accidentally pressing the self destruct button on his own ship will.
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