TJ Ranks EVERY Beast Wars/Machines Character

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The cast of Beast Wars and Beast Machines is pretty small compared to most Transformer cartoons, but they have some very diverse characters. All the better to rank them!
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Outro Music: Ginger Grant by Derek R. Audette
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
Disclaimer: All videos produced on this channel are intended for adult collectors and hobbyists.

[@martinkredl3794]

The reason that Dinobot has made so little appearances is that writers didnt want to ruin his character

[@zit11owner]

Rhinox is S tier. He deserves recognition just for his mysticism and good episodes. He introduced sparks for primus sake!

[@HiperPivociarz]

He also was one of rhe best villains in both Wars and Machines

[@beastmaster0934]

And he has his CHAINGUNS OF DOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!

[@scourgeneo7834]

TJ: Beast Wars Megatron automatically goes into S tier. Me: Yyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeesssssssss

[@campbellhoffman2627]

Waspinator is S tier, the running gag of him getting blown up all throughout the show is one of the best parts of beast wars

[@animalphax]

I would place Rampage in front of Airazor in B tier column simply for that one beautiful episode where he befriends Transmutate. I think he showed much more character depth within that span of episode than Airazor ever had.

[@crowejagerson3628]

Agreed. Rampage in general should have gotten at least one episode delving into why he is the way he is because no other character is anything like him.

[@animalphax]

@@crowejagerson3628 I agree. So much more to be explored with his character outside of his connection to Depthcharge. His relationship with Transmutate revealed that he’s more than a brute.

[@Tun-Dar]

For the Royalty! I love how manic Inferno was. He was probably Megatron's most effective soldier as well he was a capable fighter.

[@IAmJames_Art]

Inferno is that low? He’s an amazing character! The most fun for me to watch. And he did change some. He was stark loyal at first, just doing the missions and being a raging force. And that raging force played an important role for Megatron to turn the tide at the end of Season 1, and keep power after loosing half his troops at the beginning of season 2. As the series goes on he does become more of the comedic character, getting blown up similarly to Waspinator, and thus becoming less relevant, especially with more powerful characters then in the Predacon ranks. But at this time he seems to become a bit more conscious of his declining role in leadership position, and starts to be more conscious about his decisions and loyalty. At times he was seen vetting out other Predacons to make sure they were loyal, something he saw necessary to do. Then in the last episode Megatron blows him up, leaving his character arc as a tragedy. Killed by the royalty he believed in. This is why I voted for him for the awards.

[@SpaceCase1214]

I'd argue that you're selling Terrorsaur's character short. In the beginning of BW, yes he's the Starscream of the show, but after his second attempt at a coup fails, he ultimately becomes a loyal Predacon, to the point where he even leads a few Predacons later on in season 1. Also, he was probably Waspinator's one true friend, which also helps him out. I know that he's not an A-tier character, but I'd argue that at least he's a low B.

[@Bokobling]

I love terrorsaur. He’s pretty much a really well characterized generic all-purpose predacon goon

[@LanceTheAutobot]

Silverbolt was a very important character to me growing up I would alway try to measure myself to a good code of ethics thanks to him he may not be the brightest in terms of intellect but his soul shines radiantly ( also the main reason why I despise beast machines)

[@NotMyRealName6]

I don't think it's the fact Silverbolt _enjoyed_ hunting the Maximals, as much as it was him being horrified at how much _Jetstorm_ enjoyed it. Silverbolt did a good job at showing the trauma of being forcibly mind controlled really well, to have everything you are suppressed by an artificial personality, and being forced to watch everything that personality does without any way to stop yourself from doing it.

[@DominoParadox]

For me the one major dud with this list was the placement of beast machines Megatron. I felt that he should've been an S tier because his story was a natural evolution. He starts off in Beast Wars wanting to establish predacon rule and take what's rightfully theirs away from the Maximals but constant failure from his men as well as Maximal intervention drove him down the path we ultimately see him reach. Over time we see his plans becoming more and more twisted and diabolical to the point he's willing to destroy Optimus Prime in stasis and cause a massive timestorm that would erase the maximals. We see him attempt to kill all the protohumans to put a stop to humanity. Megatron always set out for the Predacons to rule Cybertron and in Beast Machines he did just that, he fulfilled his purpose in Beast Wars by having Cybertron ruled by the predacons. Sure he's the only sentient being on Cybertron for most of the time but it's still Predacon rule. Don't forget he had started to fulfill the whole transformers prophecy as well, "Let us all become one". The vehicons were also a brilliant touch because it meant he didn't have to worry about being betrayed and when there was betrayal he saw it comingrom a mile away and prevented it from happening. The stuff about him hating his beast mode did seem a bit strange at first but the beast wars served as the worst moments of his life and his beast mode and the very though of organic matter being allowed to live served as a constant reminder and purging it was his only choice. We see from his murals of his that he wants to erase the very though of him having a beast mode. Plus it's just not practical having a beast mode on Cybertron, on Earth it makes sense but on a mostly mechanical Cyberton it really doesn't have a use

[@Cdr2002]

Very cool analysis

[@GlitchanBlack]

For your discussion on Cheetor, I think the "development as a leader" thing kind of worked for Hot Rod & Hot Shot. For Hot Rod, his turn as a leader was actually built up in the comics, with the G1 comic where Hot Rod & Dark Hot Rod fuse into Rodimus for a brief moment to defeat Shockwave (Rodimus Wars) and Hot Rod being sent into the future by the Matrix to see his future self - Rodimus Prime - defeat Galvatron inside Unicron (I don't know the name of that comic), and for Hot Shot, after Optimus Prime died in an episode of Armada, he ACTUALLY became leader of the Autobots until Prime came back. "I don't think anyone matches Dinobot in character depth." Armada Starscream and Animated Prowl want to have a word.

[@nobodyimportant5140]

The only thing I’m not super keen on with this list is separating the Beast Machines versions from the Beast Wars characters. Optimus Primal becoming more spiritual after his experience with the Oracle makes sense. Things happen to people sometimes and it makes them change. He’s still Optimus Primal through and through. Was it a good thing in terms of story? Entirely debatable, of course. Of course, one can argue that separating some makes sense. I’ll happily agree that Jetstorm and Silverbolt are two completely different people despite being the same spark. On the other hand, I’d even argue the Vehicon general personalities are an extension of their true selves, like a (Jungian) Shadow of sorts. Jetstorm is a better representation of Silverbolt if he wasn’t bound by his code of honor (moreso than how he was depicted after being reformatted, in my opinion), Thrust is what Waspinator wants to be when he’s not being the universe’s punching bag, and Tankor is Rhinox when he is freed from the curse of being smarter than everyone else and can just be (pun intended) a raging rhino that destroys everything in its path. Of course, this is all open to interpretation and I could just be talking out of my ass, overanalyzing characters in a show designed to sell toys. But I do it because I love these shows and these toys so much.

[@RKStrikerJK5]

11:08 I'd argue that, too. What they did with Dinobot was... so impressive.

[@diegodankquixote-wry3242]

Edit: I got it wrong, waspinator was the one who got insecticons voice lines, not scropinok, in the script of the episode Power Surge. It still might explain why he would speak more normally on Occasion. Scorpinok might have got other dialog of his though. Scorpinok random personality was caused because he was supposed to be 2 different characters, Scorpinok and insecticon. We know this to be true because it a few of the original scripts that we have for season one for the beast wars have speaking lines for insecticon that were later given to Scorpinok in the show proper.

[@capootiscrepitoos]

The question is, which personality belonged to who?

[@diegodankquixote-wry3242]

@@capootiscrepitoos I was wrong. It was actually waspinator who got Scorpinok's voicelines.

[@shadowofhawk55]

Me - Sees this tier list Also me - If Dinobot is not S Tier you are doing it wrong

[@JomasterTheSecond]

Sooooo... is there a Tier List for J-Beast Wars characters? I'd love to see where Big Convoy, Starscream, Tasmania Kid, Etcetera would place. :P

[@endlessx2]

Damn it, wish you included Kingdom Beast wars char. Then you can fill the bottom rows more.🤣 Maybe you can do one for the WFC trilogy

[@tiagosales4913]

Or one for the aligned continuity

[@diegodankquixote-wry3242]

@@tiagosales4913 ?

[@Ranma_Leopard]

As always this is just really enjoyable. Can't wait for more

[@DerrickUltima]

I always love and hate things like this. I get that these kind of lists are subjective, but it always frustrates me when I feel that someone missed the mark. Logically, there's no way you ever could have missed the mark. These are your opinions on these characters and they are completely accurate for you. But how in the world could you have ever kept Rhinox any lower than A-rank? I just don't understand that.

[@DinobotKiryu]

I don't get why most fans say BM Megatron's character change made no sense. I see it as he had ambitions for ruling as much he can, & over the course of Beast Wars, all his followers were either treacherous, turned good, or loyal but stupid. So I believe when Nemesis Part 2 plays out & it's shown Megatron killing Inferno & Quickstrike (which I like to believe he knew they were down there), he was in the mood of severing weak components to his agenda. Then when Dinobot 2 (his veyr own meant to be loyal) creation turns his back on him, foiling his chances in the BW senario forever, that's a point Megatron had snapped. That's why I think when he's seen in Beast Machines, he's less tolerant of not only failure, but heavily reluctant to have any followers possessing free will. And it's seen he KNEW what Rhinox was up to in his scheme of betrayal, but had it play out as it did so that he'd as he put ot "weaved wealths of deceive I would never have conceived". Bottom line, I never believed Megatron's personality in BM to be "out of character".

[@OptimusPhillip]

Ok, but where does the hatred of the organic come from?

[@DinobotKiryu]

@@OptimusPhillip My best guess is organic play a big part in living things with sentience, he may had saw them as more primitive to technological materials, he just flat out didn't care much for organics, that's the most I can think of.

[@KamisamanoOtaku]

@@OptimusPhillip My take on why BM Megatron hates organic life: 1) The Beast Wars are the low point of Megatron's life. Even though he ultimately won, it was in triple overtime, and after almost every underling betrayed him... often while being Saturday morning stupid. 2) Organic life is... messy. Unpredictable. Megatron is a control freak: "machine" life behaves for him, but organic won't. 3) Related to #1, but... farting Rhinox. >.>

[@Majinhero]

The problem is that there was An episode where the was deffenceless and rattrap defended him to prove a Point. And he let's them go. No backstabbing, no plans, nothing.

[@DinobotKiryu]

@@Majinhero That.... I got nothing that wouldn't sound like I'm making stuff up.

[@joshuawade8319]

I enjoyed this. I have to admit, I would have put Tigatron higher, simply because, when he is present in an episode, he plays an important part in the story. Plus, the way they use him as a jack of all trades (warrior, hacker, pacifist, environmentalist, tactician) makes him more dynamic than many characters.

[@ayobrownie]

Been loving all the content lately TJ, been following since Plastic Addict 20! Keep up all the great work.

[@jackytran7818]

Everyone & everybody, Welcome to the evergreen/g1 & G1 continuity family of the transformers world, true believers & the portal masters.

[@stewie17]

I seem to remember rattrap changing his name to revtrap in beast machines . Maybe its a mandella effect

[@bulbafett5787]

I didn't even know that there was a hall of fame vote going on until the live stream

[@Bones-2039]

I always thought Rattraps silly Beast machines design was a call back to his transmetal design with the wheels. I hated what Beast Machines did to a lot of the original Beast Wars cast. Cheetor being the one exception to that. Everyone else just felt flawed and not really the characters we saw grow over Beast Wars.

[@raitaylor]

I don't know why they didn't just let his legs turn into wheels like the toy. That way he could still fight by creating his own weapons.

[@GaryTheNeutral]

Beast Machines Megatron in C-tier is a crime

[@obsessivefanboy7]

Wish we could've heard your explanation for Transmutate and the Transmetal Dinobot

[@TheMahaChannel]

I will respect your opinion on Inferno, but me personally he is S tier and is oddly my favorite Beast Wars Predacon. I kinda like to think he had a mini arc where at his death, he realizes that his “Queen” never cares for him

[@evanhackler9876]

I would like for you to do a separate video on the characters exclusive to the toy line

[@JoshFrisch]

Very interesting list for sure. I definitely don't agree with a lot of the selections, but many of them I do agree with. I'd say Scorpinok should be lower, probably F tier. I'd move BM Rattrap up a little bit either high Cs or low Bs. Rhinox should absolutely be high A tier, maybe even S. Definitely don't think Ravage should be anywhere near the A tier, he's high C at best. Depth Charge could be dropped down to high C tier, too. All in all, it was a fun video to get some of your thoughts on individual characters. Nicely done.

[@Cdr2002]

I see BM Blackarachnia as being as natural of a shift as a Cheetor. She was a full fledged maximal as marked by her trans metal upgrade’s debut episode in Beast Wars. She had moved beyond being a fetale and that fact made sense to me. There was no reason for her to be the “bad girl” anymore

[@serina3872]

I was on the same view point as TJ for BM Blackarachnia but looking back on it made sense to me (I'd put it on mid to low A Tear). She and the the team almost dying, essentially having a spiritual journey and now the shoe is on the other foot. With her trying to save Silverbolt when it was Blackarachnia originally. To me it just made sense

[@patrickdavidson9545]

my only real problem with this list......is you forgot transmutate! otherwise it's a fine tier list

[@TheProtronic]

I had a fan theory concerning Megatron: The Maximals accidentally returned BW Meg's spark to G1 Meg's body. He still retained the same memories but the spark of G1 Megs influenced his emotions so he started to hate organics. Maybe "Robots in Disguise" Megatron was G1 Megs influenced by BW Megs spark. That could explain why half his crew were Predacons.

[@hebiweaponsguy4842]

RID01 Megatron is a different character from both of them.

[@PlasmaStar87]

Saying one thing I like about each beast wars character here we go Season one cast Optimus Primal: Hehe cool Monke Cheetor:He has a great character development story in the beast era Rhinox: he gave us lore thanks Rhinox! Rattrap: One of the funniest characters Dinobot: Do I need say? Tigertron: I like how he prefers to stay in beast mode and enjoy nature great stuff Airazor: Good character I just wish she stayed longer Megatron: Yessssssssssssssssss Waspinator: I’m glad they gave him a happy ending well at least in this show Tarantulas: Very interesting character and I love it! Terrorsaur: He trys to be starscream and I like that Scorpionox: I like his design Black arachnia: good character development Inferno: He thinks like an ant and that’s great

[@bilal_Hadjlaoui907]

(I'm not even lie) the beast wars megatron is the reason why i love dinos

[@heartlessnobody1143]

*yeees*

[@FinnGreenland]

Hey TJ! I’m confused on weather I should buy an Inferno or Waspinator toy. I cant afford both so I, conflicted. Currently I’m leaning towards Inferno.

[@ayushtiwari2959]

Lmao blackarachnia isnt S tier. Rattrap is the true goat of this show.

[@dylancrossman8502]

I like Dinobot, but I’ve never been as big on him as a lot of fans. He does have an absolutely great character arc, but I have difficulty liking a character whose honor system lets him switch sides depending on who’s winning. So probably A tier for me. The rest, can’t really argue with. Even if I enjoyed some of the more one note characters like Inferno, a great character just being a character quirk does not make.

[@gizmomogwaigaming7904]

Hey there good video opinions. Came across this just by chance. I got a question for ya though. I know it had only one episode but it was a very very deeply impacting character. Why didn’t you include Transmutate

[@TJOmega]

The list I used was made by someone else, it omitted Transmutate and Dinobot 2. I added their ranking at the very end, but for reasoning; Transmutate's a one episode character so it can't go too high, but yes, very impactful and unique, and brought out an interesting side of Rampage.

[@jpuggy6793]

putting inferno in C is criminal... a crime against the royalty!

[@NotMyRealName6]

I would've potentially added the protohumans if there's enough to go by, probably not, and even the Tripredacus Council, but again, there's nothing to work with there. The Vok on the other hand I would have definitely put on the list because of the mystery behind them and how much they influenced events in the series. Their influence never goes away once it starts, even all the way into Beast Machines.

[@MKtheWolf]

Is happy to be shouted out on the KZbin, enjoy the grind you've been doing. Will continue to support however I can

[@THANATOS-PRIME]

I wonder where he would’ve ranked Transmutate or The Vok?

[@DarkSilverHedgehog]

Not sure if you made the tier list itself or just used one you found, but the pic for Machines BlackArachnia, looks like Gamora from Guardians of the Galaxy

[@Rattrap007]

Damn right Rattrap is at least A level. Love the guy. My fave.

[@swampert564]

I think Beast Machines Megatron should be higher. He isn't as much fun as Beast Wars Megs but he is still quite effective and legitimately sinister.

[@RoboP]

Inferno deserves to be given a little more credit for what he is. I feel similarly on Dinobot 2 and I feel putting Tigerhawk BELOW BM characters was cruel lol. I would've put Waspinator LOWER, he's a little over-praised comic relief character! Tarantulas up to S, Depth Charge up to A. Dinobot 2 to LOW C Terrorsaur top of D or low end C There is some of my thoughts.

[@serina3872]

I was on the same view point as TJ for BM Blackarachnia but looking back on it made sense to me (I'd put it on mid to low A Tear). She and the the team almost dying, essentially having a spiritual journey and now the shoe is on the other foot. With her trying to save Silverbolt when it was Blackarachnia originally. To me it just made sense For smart Tankor, I agree with TJ although I'd put him abit higher

[@bluebilbo3559]

Why is depth charge only in the B teir

[@ThatsMildlyAdequate]

TigerHawk is what we call wasted potential

[@companylovesmisery1463]

I didn't watch Beast Machines, although I would like to, but I have finally been able to watch the entirety of Beast Wars. That was the version of Transformers I more or less grew up with (I was born in 1990) but I never did watch all of it until the last couple of years. I don't know, Cheetor hardly ever taking his head out of his a** was just obnoxious. I've known several people like him who thought they were so cool no matter how much screwing up of things they did. Blackarachnia's hard-edged ways just ate at my nerves. Even when it's very clear to all of us (including her) that she's not wholly evil, she refuses almost to the end to let go of her 'bad girl' attitude and just let Silverbolt care for her and return his affection. I know Waspinator has a rabid fanbase and was considered a great, funny character, and I guess he was, but that was his only shtick really. His incompetence and legendary resilience were the only traits he ever seemed to display. His best moment was when he stood up for himself and refused to be a part of the Beast Wars any longer, which lasted all of a few seconds. Now, for the characters I did quite like. Rampage had a nice bit of depth to him in the episode 'Transmutate' and he wasn't as psychotic a, well, psychopath, as Tarantulas was. The fact that he had more character despite being essentially a science experiment gone horribly wrong. He was a slavering monster, but still had some good moments and personality, again shown best in 'Transmutate'. I loved Rattrap- talk about character progression. He went from pretty much combining Cheetor's foolishness with Blackarachnia's a**hole-ness to someone who did his best to work with his teammates, and he showed depth right from the start with his developing comradery with Dinobot. In spite of his growing cooperative spirit, he never once lost that sense of irreverence. In my opinion Rattrap had some of the best moments in episodes, and even some of the best episodes, of the show. In reading the bio about Optimus Primal on the tfwiki, it states that while he is a Maximal who exemplifies what the Maximals believe with his honor and care for others, he isn't beyond using aberrant and unexpected methods to do what needs to be done. Just my thoughts on my favorite and least favorite characters from Beast Wars- I hope to see Beast Machines someday and see the final arc in the Generation 1 continuity.

[@romeosanchez3325]

Always loved optimus primal one of my favorite transformer characters ever alongside his ancestor optimus prime

[@markdarc0448]

Rhinox depthcharge and tarantulas are easily S tier imo the rest I kinda agree on and I think while completely against his original character beast machines Optimus is interesting

[@viraticwars]

I despise Beast Machines. I don't know why everyone goes up to bat for it.

[@thwilts]

I think Scorpinoc was supposed to be an idiot savant. He builds bio-weapons but he couldn't be really trusted with forming plans. He was Megatron's Man Friday. I think that the writers just weren't sure how to write that as well as they wanted.

[@Ranma_Leopard]

Personally I would have put Waspinator in s if only because he was the one character that the writers just couldn't get rid of. Then I would have put bm ratrap in f tier

[@saucygoat8287]

Beast machines Rat trap looks a bit like a five nights at Freddy’s villain😂

[@robinthedragonhunter64]

Interesting

[@KingNanoA]

So, what is your reasoning for Transmutate in B? You gave your reasoning for TM2 Dinobot, but not them.

[@francobonazzola5012]

Out of curiosity, where would Transmutate be?

[@takanuinuva]

No tier for Transmutate?

[@chaserichard25]

Trade tarantulas with blackarachnia and we would agree

[@RialVestro]

I would of put Tankor in F... he's the ONE character from Beast Wars that I think Beast Machines RUINED. Predacon Rhinox is very different from Tankor. It just felt very out of character for Rhinox to suddenly betray the Maximals the way he did. I felt like he wasn't actually Rhinox at any point in that series but rather the Tankor programming with Rhinox's intelligence but not his personality. And I actually would of put Tigerhawk a LOT higher. For a character who was only in really two episodes it felt like he was there much longer... maybe because it was clearly just Tigatron (supposedly Tigatron and Airazor combined but I do agree he's more like Tigatron in personality.) so they didn't need to do a lot of character development for him, the character development for Tigatron just carried over into Tigerhawk. Honestly I would of put him right up there with Ravage, like slightly above Ravage because they both were only in the show for two episodes but Tigerhawk feels like he was around longer.

[@kingdareth09]

The vok should of been on the list

[@windows6k603]

Watching this video while sorting my beast wars figures! Also i just broke my bw neo magmatron while doing so and now want to die

[@samuraidrift.]

does anyone else fell like Tyrantulas fells like he should've in the Transformers G1 season 3 not as an main character maybe in the background, Tyrantulas fells like old kind of like Ravage

[@crowejagerson3628]

Beast machines Megatron I'd have in A he was such an overwhelming threat and he really kind of felt like the natural evolution of the character. He had basically won everything. If he hadn't taken that last fight with Primal so personal Megatron ruling Cybertron and being Cybertron is how it would have ended. Also can we all just appreciate the fact waspinator is the only predicon to survive in the end. Even if he is a bug sized thrust wasp hybrid.

[@FairladyZ2005]

Dinobot always belongs at the top. Beast Wars rankings are pretty solid though Airazor is an A for me, even if she had less to do and Quickstike is just annoying, I'd drop him below Scorponok. But BM, just reminds me of why I hate that show so much. Rattrap, Silverbolt, Tankorr/Rhinox, and Waspinator/Thrust and are all fails for me in terms of how they destroyed the characters. And Nightscream might be a fail too as opposed to a low D, but that would require rewatching the show which I won't do. Weirdly, I liked the continued goodness and evolution of Blackarchina in BM and her interaction with teammates beyond just Silverbolt all the time. I would consider her journey on a level with BM Cheetor. Though more of an A than an S, Cheetor is an S. Also where would Transmutate rank?

[@paulsnickles2420]

👍👍

[@geo-fry6372]

In my opinion, Silverbolt and Waspinator should be bottom of S tier or top of a tier. I also think Cheetor should be bottom of c tier, never really been a fan of him. But that’s just my opinion, and I mostly agree with your rankings. Absolutely no disagreement with the top 3 in S tier.

[@ZachBlackforest]

You missed Transmutate.... that makes me sad.

[@JoshFrisch]

He puts her in B tier at the end.

[@diegodankquixote-wry3242]

There's a lack of toy/comic only characters. CLICKBAIT! Drillbit deserves better.

[@vicho-2788]

Lol

[@KnightedSilverWolf]

WORST: Black Arachnia Rat trap Inferno Megatron Silverbolt Waspinator

[@tylersmith9868]

Wtf megatron and inferno are awesome

[@KnightedSilverWolf]

Dino bot in S? what’s wrong with you? Female spider? Seriously she’s more of a clown then the other dino bot

[@princessyokaidoll8357]

you know Blackarachnia was actually a scientist in the original show she did invent quite a few gizmos she should have been the one to build all the gadgets for them instead of rattrap not only would that give her something other than just being in love with silver Bolt but also would have actually made sense for her character