Beast Wars Revisited: Part 1 of 5

I had the good fortune of obtaining some nice vintage Japanese Beast Wars last week so I thought I might be a good idea to do a mini-series on them. There is nothing really spectacular about any of these figures other than the fact they are different from their domestic release counterparts and thus interesting to me.

Part 1: Beast Wars II C-13 Bighorn

In case you hadn't figured it out Japanese transformers almost always come with a number prefix before the name. I believe this is because it makes collecting a series of figures easier and also cuts down on confusion as to exactly which figure you are talking about. Because the good guys are known as Cybertrons in Japan, all of their prefixes start with C. And in this case Big Horn is the thirteenth release in the Beast Wars II series so he gets that lucky number.

I have always had an affinity for the Buffalo which I believe comes from my knowledge and respect of the Native American cultures and religions along with the fact that it is difficult being a Boy Scout and not knowing anything about this majestic creature. So when Bonecrusher was released in America in 1997 I was thrilled at being able to own an actual Buffalo (or Bison if you prefer) Transformer. Unfortunately I never really thought Bonecrusher was a good name since it had originally belonged to a Decepticon and emphasized a destructive personality (crushing bones!) vs what I thought would be more appropriate; a nature lover or a gentle soul. Even his bio follows this line of thinking describing his urges to "engage the enemy violently". So I decided to seek out his counterpart: Bighorn. A completely different character of the Beast Wars II continuity whose personality is a little more in line with what I feel should befit this figure. Bighorn, while destructive on the battlefield, is at heart a nature lover who cherishes all life. In fact I thought it would be more appropriate to have named him Apache instead of the toy who actually got that honor, since the Buffalo are so central to the Native American ways. But apparently a giant mandrill is more like Native Americans than a Buffalo?

So here I present Bighorn, a more appropriate Buffalo in the world of the Transformers.

He is molded in a nice vibrant red, which I like better than Bonecrusher's white.

Unfortunately most of his poses make him look like he either wants to kill someone...

...or is very surprised.

Too bad he doesn't have a 'run' feature since Buffalo are so good at it.

Here you can see the only real difference between the two is the color of the plastic.

And Bighorn's nose and horns are a little darker.

All the Beast Wars II figures come with backgrounds built into the packaging showing the animal's 'habitat'. Bighorn's shows a grassy plain with some trees, which is accurate I guess. It is a neat feature though because it gives you a little more play value than just a plain 'ol box. In fact, it would be very interesting to see all the characters with their respective backgrounds lined up. Hmmm.....

If you would like to read Flywheels' review of this figure, click here