Starscream is the one of these that makes sense. He possessed a random body he happened upon to rejoin the war proper, simple as that. Bonus points for this theory using the toy's deco, he's possessing Skyquake's corpse.

I think having characters like Megatron, Prime, etc in the smallest size is a good idea. Everyone should be able to have a version of their favorite character, even kids who's parents might be in a tough spot, financially. Also, the black-on-black thing, it's SUPPOSED to be subtle, I think? If so, it's actually a brilliant inclusion, IMO. They don't usually go for subtlety, it's refreshing.

This "remembering" series is honestly really cool and give us a lot of nostalgia,a unique toylines like this and robot masters should get a retro toylines just like the headmasters

Machine Wars is great - shoutouts to Skyquake's non-GPS cousin Starscream!

A long time ago I bought this Universe Transformer by the name King Atlas. He was obviously a repaint of Starscream from this series. It was such an oddball compared to everything else we had. It had a feature where you could look into the back engine and it had a direct view of the ground for missile bombardment. I think each side had six missiles you could drop. The scope was a very interesting feature. Now I know where it came from. Transformation was like 3 or 4 steps and poseability was nonexistent as the legs didn't move at all. The arms went up and down and that was it. I'm still glad I got it and I can't wait to bust it out for display again.

The Machine Wars club comic and toys were such a let down. Lets "fix" the toyline by making Starscream smaller than Megatron rather than embracing what makes the line different! Seeing Starscream demoted and rebuilt into a giant enforcer is such a cool concept. Megatron has a dragon seething under its chains and when Starscream breaks those chains it promises to be disatrous. But then again I'm a person who enjoys drastic change in designs so long as it suits the story...and I especially prefer some Transformers to have had drasically different aesthetics back on cybertron (like Tracks and Inferno. )

Machine Wars is my favorite TF toyline just for how different it is. MW Optimus has to be my favorite Optimus design, because it actually feels like it was trying to be something new even if it was just a repaint.

Finally, some Machine Wars appreciation

Mirage stands out for kind of looking like his G1 counterpart. I kinda think the Skywarp is a better Starscream than the actual Starscream, except the yellow head. Soundwave would work for a heavy Decepticon generic in a video game, or as a proper Soundwave in G1 blue

I love Megaplex since he adds an extra threat to megatron since it might not even be him kinda like Faker from He Man

This year does mark the line's 25th anniversary.

That Prime doesn’t look much like Optimus but he’s still on my list since Thunderclash himself is riddled with GPS issues. But overall I actually have a huge soft spot for Machine Wars. Something about it always fascinated me. I couldn’t tell you what it is. Nice video as always TJ. Maybe you can do the Estrella Transformers next. Or the 2010 line that was Generations before Generations.

Machine Wars Soundwave could have been remade using Cybertron Defense Red Alert, along with G1 Stalker. Such a missed opportunity that Stalker never came back from that mold.

There were three stores that I went with my grandmother to to get Transformers when I was a kid: Walmart, Toys R Us, and KB Toys. Target didn't exist back then, and Toys R Us was a half hour's drive away from her house. KB Toys was the closest, and even though it wasn't the most frequent toy store I went to, it is thanks to being so close that I got to experience Machine Wars. Beast Wars was my introduction to Transformers. I was too young to experience G1 or even G2 at the time, even though I knew about them from vhs stores that had the first three episodes and the movie for rent, so this was my first exposure to vehicular Transformers, as well as my first ever Starscream, Soundwave, Prime, and Megatron toys. I had everything from that line besides Skywarp, Thundercracker, and Prowl. Years later I even found the Botcon Machine Wars Sandstorm on ebay going for what is now regular voyager price. Of course I got it immediately. I _had_ to have it. If the Skywarp and Thundercracker from that box set was going for around that much as well I'd probably have gotten them too.

In the mid 00's I remember getting a recolor of the helicopter dude as a kid, a bit weird considering the posability of the other transformers I had then.

This is one of my favorite side lines and I've been slowly collecting the whole set. The Optimus/Thunderclash mold being my current favorite.

I had the Soundwave and Optimus when I was a kid! I loved those so much!

I've recently become slightly obsessed with this line after picking up Prime. Honestly I think the weird colors and character choices are what make it so interesting, especially since there was practically no lore to go along with the line so your imagination fills in the blanks.

Growing up I was fortunate to get all 8 flip changers and Soundwave and they were some of my favorite post G1 toys. Even with their basic colors the molds were fun. It's nice to see them getting some love after the fact. Plus I agree on the what where they thinking moment when they did Botcon set. In which it focus on Obsidian and Strika as stars of here's their story and were slapping machine wars as their background. I honestly think. Instead of doing lets try to do multiple line homages in their sets which they were doing. It did machine wars, beast wars, G2, and G1 for all toys the club release at the convention. They might have had a better chance of selling this set as a whole. If they did all figures, add more bling to their decos, and focus on here's a machine wars story we never got. It would have work. Have Hoist, Prowl, Starscream, Thundercracker, non teleporting Skywarp as the main set. At show Teleporting Skywarp, Souvenir set 1 Optimus Prime with Hubcap. Souvenir set two SandStorm and Soundwave. With the troop Builder being Megatron, Megaplex, and and Drone of Megatron/megaplex toy. With custom class figure being Custom machine wars seeker or Sound blaster. Go all in. It may have done btter and gotten better support. Oh well I do enjoy military Thundercracker and nice we have canon different color scheme takes on G1 figures. In a world were we filled drowing in their redoing the figure and its classic colors. So thank you for the video and sorry about the rant.

Was so thirsty for transformers when these came out. Bought many of them

Look up Matt Kuphaldt's Machine Wars artwork. It's amazing and opens your imagination to a whole new world to play with these figures in. At one point in the early 2000's I planned a fanfiction novel, using his artwork as inspiration. I emailed him and said I'd credit him and he was gracious and said that wouldn't be necessary

I have a great love of Megaplex, and I do hope we see him once again, some day. I also kinda like what this line tried- redeco is toys and have a whole ass line of redecoes, nothing but redecoes. I love that idea, and would love seeing it more often

I wonder if it would be worth talking about the Device Label series? It wasn't very long, so maybe also add other "Object Crossover Transformers" like the Baseball Caps, Shoes, and G-Shock Watches. Although I remember you touching on the Sports Label shoes before in the Everything [Optimus/Megatron] has Transformed Into videos.

I know another forgotten toyline you could talk about... Go-Bots! And to clarify here I'm not talking about the original Go-Bots that was adapted from Machine Robo. I'm talking about Hasbro's first attempt at a Preschool Transformers toy line before Rescue Bots was a thing. This toy line came around the time of Beast Machines and RID2001 so some of the figures in it were like chibi versions of Optimus Primal and Cheetor from Beast Machines except for some reason they didn't actually call them that and in the cartoon these were actually the same character called Beast Bot. In the cartoon they would scan and take different alt modes in each episode depending on what the mission was. And yes there was a cartoon that is even more forgotten than the toy line because it only had like 6 episodes I think. But everyone seems to forget that there was a Preschool Transformers line LONG before Rescue Bots existed.

The Late G1 (1991-93) Hasbro toys were also sold in Australia and New Zealand. They were NOT exclusive to Europe. Australia also had Machine Wars, although from 1999 as a Kmart exclusive, also with exclusive versus sets. They shelfwarmed super badly. MW was basically a test run to see if the market was still interested in vehicle Transformers during the height of Beast Wars. So yeah, super low risk. The card art for Hoist/Hubcap was original (the only one that was). I would also love to see the Megaplex idea explored further. I've personally repurposed both my MW and eHobby Megaplexes as the Jhiaxus clone of Megatron from the Marvel comics :) You also neglected to mention that MW Optimus Prime *gutted* the awesome rapid-fire missile launching gimmick from Thunder Clash. Mostly likely done to conform with US toy safety laws, since Thunder Clash does have short missiles... but while MW Optimus Prime does visually look nicer than the pastel-coloured Thunder Clash, Thunder Clash is still the more *fun* toy to play with thanks to the rapid-fire mega missile gimmick. MW OP just has two plain spring loaded missile launchers... which works fine, but it's not nearly as fun as Thunder Clash's gimmick. Kenner even sealed the feeding holes on the top of the launchers, but the tower still has the racks where you can load the missiles. Similarly, MW Starscream still has his rotating bomb bays but doesn't come with the missiles that Sky Quake had. Although really, the Turbomasters and Predators all have the same missile type. :) P.S.: The small Turbomasters and Predators (none of which were used in Machine Wars) were also sold in Japan in versus sets. Definitely not "Euro G1" :D :D :D

Started collecting en-masse like a big boy at around 17 when RotF came out. Knew almost zilch about Machine Wars before this, great video!

I loved the 6" Titanium line, I'd love a deep dive on them

Machine Wars is still my favorite. I would love to see a revamp of the line. I've been hounding hasbro to bring the characters back. I need a modern MW Soundwave.

Re: MW Starscream's stickers - Apparently G1 Sunstreaker's stickers came over from the original red Diaclone figure, which is why he has the red shoulders in the first place

I would just like to point out that your random review of machine wars starscream put machine wars in the map for me. That is my first "what the hell is this?" Experience with a transformer

I found all the jets loose but complete at a comic shop for 20. It was in a lot with almost all the G2 jets.

One advantage to this toy line: the euro g1 toys are free of gold plastic. granted the color choice can be boring or bizarre, but they are less likely to self destruct.

Hoist was the only guy I had from this line as a kid. He was a fun little truck.

Honestly? A lot of nostalgia for Machine Wars here. Love the weirder decos, love the Soundwave figure in particular, and it's a little bit of a shame it's forgotten in general. That, and how badly they botched the Botcon set by including Obsidian and Strika and not like Soundwave or Starscream in the set.

I can't explain why, but I love Machine Wars. Maybe just because the line was so small so I was actually able to collect the whole thing? It was just a lot of fun to do it, too. Here were all of these molds that I hadn't really seen much before and they're all a little quirky. I know they're just repaints, but collecting them over a few months a couple years back was a really memorable time for me.

fun fact, the aoe one-step optimus seems to lift engineering from mw hubcap, the transformation is very similar, just flipped around for robot mode

The biggest reason to buy Machine Wars Starscream. He's a Skyquake you can actually play with without him crumbling on you.

That Soundwave was one of the first transformers I had ever owned as a child and holds a special place in my heart. As I got older it fell out of my possession so I ended up purchasing it again last year. Such an awesome design

Being the most famous fogotten tf toyline is pretty funny

i know its only a few years old, but id love to see a retrospective oin transformers adventure, mostly for the repaints of non rid toys

I have a soft spot for Machine Wars. I think you did the whole line a disservice.

I'm at least glad they released a version of the Thunderclash mold without GPS.

Starscream Should've been Megatron also Soundwave's Sidekick is actually Space case i do Believe

The package is like some alternate Universe where there was a show like BW but instead of animals there were random Machines

Oh man I remember seeing these at KB and my excitement that we were getting vehicle Transformers again. Then I looked at the figures. All the smaller Deluxes were an instant pass for me. The larger ones I was back and forth with. I did pick up the Starscream. Made his Machine Wars incarnation in my head canon the new body Unicron had given him

I would love to get my hands on any bot from the same mold as that Obsidian at the end there, I love planes with split hulls like that.

I wish Machine Wars comes back for 2023

They definitely had Grapple and Trailbreaker in mind for MW Hubcap and Hoist's color scheme

MW Starcsream should have a big come back. Starscream's ghost possessing Skyquake's dead body was always good idea for me.

Loving this remembering series TJ, honestly never saw most of these in the wild as a kid even at KB Toys

Machine Wars (my personal headcanon) AUTOBOTS Optimus Prime (repaint of TFCC Toxitron) Mirage (repaint of CW Mirage) Prowl (retool of CW Mirage with a new head) Hoist (repaint of CW First Aid Hubcap (repaint of CW First Aid) Sandstorm (repaint of Selects Sandstorm) Soundwave (yes, you read that correctly; retool of Titans Return Hardhead with a new face for the Headmaster) DECEPTICONS Starscream (heavy retool of Legacy Jhiaxus with new wings, new legs, and a new head) Thundercracker and Skywarp (retools of the FOC Seeker mold) Stalker (repaint of TR Hardhead) Megatron (retool of Beast Hunters Dreadwing) Megaplex (see above)

I forgot all about this line. I had that soundwave.

I really wish we could get a new line of Machine Wars figures. All new designs with modern engineering and articulation.

I'm just thankful that Machine Wars Optimus Prime ACTUALLY swapped out the gold plastic on Thunderclash.

I had the optimus prime, starscream, and soundwave from this line. I think this line was created to retain the name trademarks.

I just realised why it’s called machine wars. BEAST WARS. HOW DID I NOT NOTICE THAT!?!

Loved this episode. Would love to see you talk about the action masters toyline of g1.

I will continue to lobby for Commander MW Starscream.

The starscream one looks like it's the design energon galvatron should've been, you know, a dark evolution of the design rather than the purple recolour we got..

I had the Prowl and I remember that it broke within a week. Couldn’t stay in car mode after a couple days of play.

Machine Wars Starscream has the Decepticon symbol equivalent of ghost flames.

These were KB exclusives with no support of any kind, which is a shame. The smaller figures were good molds. The larger ones were stripped of features, but I need to look for that tampographed graphic on Starscream … I never knew it was there!

While it was definitely a mistake, it does make a funny kind of narrative sense for Megaplex to be the more Megatron-like one in colors, and Megatron to be the one that's less accurate, since Megaplex's bio says that he's a decoy for the real one.

Speak for yourself, that black Hubcap looks great to me!

Holy shit, I never even noticed the decepticon symbol on Starscream. Just grabbed it and yeah, it’s really hard to see. Wow.

The pre-emptive announcement of Relaunched/reissue g1 reminds me that at botcon 2000, a G1 Game was announced, the devs of the Beast wars Games announced it to a group of fans and how they where interested in brining the voice cast back from g1 (and mentioning how thankful they where to get the canadian cast of beast wars onboard for that game) and Nothing ever happened. It's totally unrelated ot the japanese game that would come out a few year later, developed by winkysoft. So a G1, PS1 (or N64 & PC, idk) Game, with (hopefully) a good chunk of the g1 cast just vanished, with no formal announcement from hasbro or anyone else. Idek if there's any information out there about this game besides botcon 2000's VERY small group that got to hear about it.

Alternate Universe Transformers. Yes please.

I also had the whole machine wars transformers toy line and I still have two of the Optimus prime

Hopefully if this is a good subject I would like to see Japan's car robots or r.i.d. 2000

This line may have been lazy but it gives us a way to get the skyquake and thunderclash figures without having to deal with GPS

Beast wars was going on at the same time.." Wait beast wars. Machine waaaaaaaoh my god. I get it.

The Dinobots line was neat

Ah yes, Machine Wars, also known as "that time hasbro allowed official knockoffs to be made"

I'd like see you cover Raksha (that woman in the Transformers community that hated Beast Wars and sympathized with the Decepticons as oppressed by the Autobots).

Starscream and soundwave even had their mega visor gimmick gutted, and did not come with the predator misslie launchers.(don't be said, they where all gold plasict and the entire team had the same gun anyway.)

I feel I had that star scream at some point

I think this was to be a Beast Wars spin off cartoon series. But they passed.

I think the Starscream figure would have worked better for Megatron. And that smaller Megatron mold would have fit Starscream better as well. Of course like what you said it was a rushed line. Hiccups like that were bound to happen.

I miss KB Toys. I was hearing about a comeback a few years ago but that never materialized.

Just like your passion brotha

9:20 Scott McNiel voiced most of the characters in the Dawn of war games

probably funny if Hasbro used the Brave series toys repurposed as Transformers toys.

I think the problems with this line was it was only available in kb stores, then hasbro /kenner cancelled it after only 6 months.... And the Fact the box art from the optimus uses box art from the G2 laser optimus recoloured to match the figures colours didn't help because the optimus wasn't the G2 laser optimus at all but a recoloured thunderclash didn't help either.

Machine Wars Starscream later became the awesome King Atlas figure.

i always thought the tiny Megatron and the giant Starscream were odd choices, but i hoped maybe Starscream finally became badass.... too bad nothing came of it.

Skywarp's head looks little more light green than the yellow Hoist. Sandstorm looks good

This toy line looks like Hasbro saw the cheap knockoff dollar store transformers toy and said, "Let's do that too."

I always thought it was interesting that, despite the tooling not suiting him at all, Hubcap was the one figure in this line that was closest to his G1 original's color scheme. If Hoist had been named Trailbreaker instead, he'd be tied with him for getting it the closest.

I would love to see a video on Beast Wars 2nd. Lio Convoy is my holy grail of transformers collecting, but I’m not too familiar with the line as a whole.

You should do the Animorphs line next lmao

I honestly thought these were bootlegs when i first seen these as a child.

You forgot to mention the laser Optimus Prime that later became Scourge in the robots in Disguise line

That starscream was the first transformer toy and I didn't even know there was transformers that weren't animals at the time(keep in mind i was only 6 at the time)

Personally, I don't think the Botcon 96 panel had anything to do with it. It's not like they couldn't just say "hey, our plans for a G1 revival fell through, we're gonna keep doing beasts for a few more years." No, I think Hasbro just shunted this line out for the sake of name grabbing and getting the TRUKK NOT MUNKY crowd to piss off.

I would love to see you cover Platinum Edition and the forgotten Generations: Cyber series.

I wonder why in the Timelines set for Thundercracker and Skywarp, they decided to use the RoTF Dirge mould. Also, I do recall Megaplex got a repaint from the Prime Dreadwing mould for the set.

I'd love to see a video on the absurdity that was WST, and maybe Action Masters too

Personally, I kind of get the design idea behind the packaging. Create some parity between the Beast Wars and Machine Wars lines (probably where the name "Machine Wars" came from). Execution, however, kind of lackluster.

Parts for them are incredibly hard to find. I've been trying to find Soundwave's radar dish and ICBM.

I always thought MW Prowl’s head was gold or intended as such