WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Transformers: Beast Wars #9, available now from IDW Publishing.
Like the other parts of the sprawling Transformers franchise, Beast Wars has appeared in various forms of media over the years. While these primal Cybertronians have starred in cartoons, comics and video games, the series got its start as a toyline. Revitalizing the dormant Transformers brand in the mid-90s, Beast Wars would go on to get several multimedia tie-ins. One of these included new toys from fast-food giant McDonald's, resulting in some obscure new robots in disguise.
The McDonald's Transformers were never really used on the Beast Wars animated series, but they've finally made an appearance in IDW's Beast Wars comic books in Transformers: Beast Wars #9, by Erik Burnham, Josh Burcham and Jake M. Wood. This follows a trend of IDW introducing obscure Transformers into their comic books as this incarnation of the Beast Wars universe grows.
How Did the McDonald's Happy Meal Transformers Join Beast Wars?
A flashback in the issue has the Predacon Skold thinking back to her youth on Cybertron. There, she hoped to become an artist, which was a profession filled almost solely by Maximals. Predacons, on the other hand, were relegated to manual labor and violent athletics for jobs. Skold is soon reminded of this when she visits a museum, with a trio of Maximals reminding her that she "had no place" in the arts given that she was a Predacon.
None of the three bullies are named, but their designs should be somewhat familiar to diehard Transformers fans. These three are none other than Rhino, Manta Ray and Panther, who were characters introduced as toys for the McDonald's Happy Meal Beast Wars tie-in line in 1996. This isn't the first time that IDW has used the characters in its larger Transformers stories, but it marks their introduction in this Beast Wars continuity. Although that continuity is still in its early days, this obscure pull shows just how deep into Beast Wars lore this series is pulling from.
What Are The McDonald's Beast Wars Toys?
This trio have their roots in the 1996 Beast Wars/Littlest Pet Shop Happy Meal line, which featured relatively simple Transformers based on concept art for the mainline action figures. For instance, Manta Ray's alternate mode was originally considered as an alternate mode for a new version of Optimus Prime, while Panther was based on a cougar concept for Cheetor from a time when the character was going to be a new version of Prowl.
Though she was male in the Japanese anime continuity, Manta Ray was female in the West, making her one of the few female Transformers who had a toy at that time. Likewise, she was also a Predacon in the old continuity, so her presence her as a Maximal is somewhat surprising, given how faithful the comic book has been so far to the old characterizations.
The characters and their fellow Happy Meal Transformers were never introduced in the wider fiction in any major capacity, likely due to their somewhat simplistic names. While they have appeared in different IDW Transformers comic books and guides, they've almost always been bit players. While the McDonald's Transformers will likely remain mere cameo characters, their presence here still speaks to the fully-fledged embrace of everything Beast Wars, even characters that never made it to the show or the main toyline.