>>7062526I feel like Transmetal Cheetor is one of the best example of the beast era. Its not super impressive or anything, but its a solid impression of what Beast wars aesthetics are and is ultimately unique from other eras, even compared to beast Machines. People say they like Transmetals because the beasts are mechanical like G1, but the beast modes are a completely different animal from G1's blocky beasts; these are sleek machines.The robot mode is of course organic influenced. Stampy from beast Wars Neo is basically a reuse of his engineering and is another great figure. While I like the Transmetals, thats a good example of how I wish the engineers would've done more organic beasts with the knowledge from the two years leading up to the transmetals. The transmetals had far less kibble overall, somewhat simpler, but more elegant transformations. IDW also used a reskinned Transmetal Tarantulas as their universe's tarantulas.
Tigerhawk also ranks high up there, but especially the Universe Razorclaw redeco. Going into imports, Big Convoy is great, and I like the Neo Dinosaurs a lot, too, kibbly as they may be.
A lot of the basics are great, especially in that sweet spot of 97-98.Insecticon, Claw Jaw, Razorclaw, Terragator, and Buzzclaw are some of my favorites. In hindsight, the basics held up better than the deluxes.
