Category Archives: Transformers

‘Beast Wars’ Review #17 – ‘Call of the Wild’

Leave a reply

Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

Today, it’s Bank Holiday Monday in August 2025 in the UK (England, Wales and Northern Ireland to be precise). And it’s time to check out another exciting episode in Season 1 of ‘Beast Wars: Transformers’. Today, we’re checking out ‘Call of the Wild’, an episode that I saw on ‘The Beginning’ Volume 3 VHS release, not on GMTV. 😀 This episode has the Maximals, including Optimus Primal, Cheetor, Rhinox, Dinobot and Rattrap struggling to overcome their beast personas when they’re forced to stay in beast mode after the Predacons attacked their base and stole their rectifier coil, which is meant to shield our heroes from Energon inside the Maximals’ base. Once the Maximals have succumbed to their animal personas, Megatron leads a hunt. Tigatron and Airazor must do all they can to help their Maximal comrades. I’m very pleased I saw this episode on ‘The Beginning’ Volume 3 VHS as well as in the ‘Beast Wars’ 15th anniversary DVD box set, which I purchased for Christmas in December 2011. Continue reading →

‘Beast Wars’ Review #16 – ‘Spider’s Game’

Leave a reply

Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

We’re back to single episodes for a while in Season 1 of ‘Beast Wars: Transformers’. It’s time to check out the second of two episodes that I saw on New Year’s Day in January 1999 in the morning via GMTV. The first episode was ‘The Spark’, which introduced Airazor as a new Maximal character. Today’s episode is ‘Spider’s Game’, which introduces a new Predacon character in the form of Inferno. I didn’t get to record the full episode of ‘Spider’s Game’ on VHS back on New Year’s Day in January 1999, as I recorded only the first half of the episode, having run out of tape. I did get to see the full episode on ‘The Beginning’ Volume 3 VHS and later owned the episode in the ‘Beast Wars’ 15th anniversary DVD box set. This episode showcases Tarantulas and Blackarchnia as the two spider Predacons when they get to team up. Continue reading →

‘Beast Wars’ Review #15 – ‘The Trigger’

Leave a reply

Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

It’s time for a two-part story in Season 1 of ‘Beast Wars: Transformers’. It’s the first one in a long while since the two-part series opener in ‘Beast Wars’ at the beginning of Season 1. Let’s check out ‘The Trigger’, a ‘Beast Wars’ story that I didn’t see on GMTV in the morning in 1998, 1999 nor 2000. I saw this two-parter on ‘The Beginning’ Volume 3 VHS before eventually owning the story in the ‘Beast Wars’ 15th anniversary DVD box set. ‘The Trigger’ focuses on Tigatron, who ends up falling into a cloud that contains a mysterious flying island after being attacked by Terrorsaur and Waspinator. Very soon, the Predacons race to claim the island for themselves, including Blackarachnia and Scorponok. Can Optimus Primal, Rattrap, Tigatron and Airazor stop the Predacons in time from claiming the island? Continue reading →

‘Beast Wars’ Review #14 – ‘The Spark’

Leave a reply

Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

Here we are on the fourteenth story/fifteenth episode of ‘Beast Wars: Transformers’. It’s called ‘The Spark’. I first saw this ‘Beast Wars’ episode on GMTV in the morning on New Year’s Day in January 1999 – which was a Friday. It was the first of two ‘Beast Wars’ episodes I saw on that day. The other episode was ‘Spider’s Game’. I managed to record the episode on VHS back in 1999 before owning it on ‘The Beginning’ Volume 3 VHS and later owning it in the ‘Beast Wars’ 15th anniversary DVD box set. This episode introduces a new ‘Beast Wars’ character, as it involves the plot of a stasis pod crash-landing to the mysterious planet our heroes are on. The Maximals and the Predacons race to get it. Will the new protoform robot inside the stasis pod be a Maximal or a Predacon? Continue reading →

‘Beast Wars’ Review #13 – ‘Double Dinobot’

Leave a reply

Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

Let’s check out the thirteenth story/fourteenth episode of ‘Beast Wars: Transformers’ called ‘Double Dinobot’. The first time I saw this episode was after seeing ‘Dark Designs’ on Monday the 28th of December during the Christmas holidays in 1998. I later saw a repeat of ‘Double Dinobot’ over the Christmas holidays in December 1998. The first time I saw the episode, I recorded it on VHS before owning the episode on ‘The Beginning’ Volume 3 VHS and later owning it in the ‘Beast Wars’ 15th anniversary DVD box set. In the episode, Megatron creates an evil clone of Dinobot to infiltrate the Maximals’ base. The only problem is, it can’t transform. Will the Maximals be fooled by the clone Dinobot and its lies? Will the two Dinobots actually meet in the episode? Continue reading →

‘Beast Wars’ Review #12 – ‘Dark Designs’

Leave a reply

Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

We’re now on the twelfth story/thirteenth episode of ‘Beast Wars: Transformers’ called ‘Dark Designs’. I saw this episode along with another one called ‘Double Dinobot’ on Monday the 28th of December during the Christmas holidays in 1998. This is a compelling episode where the Maximal named Rhinox gets reprogrammed into a Predacon by Megatron. But it turns out Megatron may have got ‘a little more than he bargained for’, according to Optimus Primal, as Rhinox starts turning the Predacons’ base upside down once he’s become a Predacon. I recorded this episode on VHS tape back in December 1998 before owning the episode on ‘The Beginning’ Volume 2 VHS and owning it in the 15th anniversary DVD box set of ‘Beast Wars’. Continue reading →

‘Beast Wars’ Review #11 – ‘Victory’

Leave a reply

Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

It’s time to talk about the eleventh story/twelfth episode of ‘Beast Wars: Transformers’. This was the fifth and final episode I saw on the Friday of the half-term week in October 1998 via GMTV, and it’s called ‘Victory’. In the episode, the Maximals assume the Predacons blew themselves up in their base. Therefore, they decide to take what they can from the abandoned base and use it to repair their ship to make the return journey to their home planet Cybertron. Dinobot decides to stay behind on ‘the mysterious planet’ they’re on, but it seems Megatron and the Predacons aren’t as destroyed as Optimus Primal and the Maximals think. I greatly enjoyed this episode when I had it recorded on VHS, and it’s been great to revisit it again after all these years. Continue reading →

‘Beast Wars’ Review #10 – ‘A Better Mousetrap’

Leave a reply

Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

Back in October 1998, I saw the tenth story/eleventh episode of the ‘Beast Wars: Transformers’ TV series on the Thursday of the half-term week via GMTV called ‘A Better Mousetrap’. This is a Rattrap-focused episode where he plays a prank on Dinobot, causing the Maximals’ base’s defence grid called Sentinel to go haywire. Rattrap does all he can to switch off the defence grid before it causes more trouble. Meanwhile, Optimus Primal and Tigatron investigate the mysterious presence of Waspinator, who’s been circling in an area close to the Maximals’ base. It’s been great revisiting this ‘Beast Wars’ episode, especially as I’ve fond memories of it when I first recorded it on VHS back in October 1998. Continue reading →

Convention Report – ‘Bury Comic Con 2025’

Leave a reply

Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

Last weekend, I had a great time attending the ‘Bury Comic Con’ in June 2025. Bury is a market town on the River Irwell in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester, England. I got there from Cardiff via train to Manchester and then via tram to Bury itself. 🙂 Continue reading →

‘Beast Wars’ Review #9 – ‘Gorilla Warfare’

Leave a reply

Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

It’s time to check out ‘Gorilla Warfare’. And no, that’s not the ‘Dad’s Army’ episode of the same name. 😀 It’s the ninth ‘Beast Wars: Transformers’ story as well as the tenth episode in the series. In the episode, Optimus Primal and Dinobot get attacked by Scorponok who fires a Cyberbee on Optimus, which attaches itself to his chest and makes him go berserk like the Incredible Hulk. 😀 I saw this episode in the half-term week of October 1998, but sadly didn’t get to record it on VHS. I later owned the episode in ‘The Beginning’, Volume 2 VHS as well as in the 15th anniversary ‘Beast Wars’ DVD box set. Will the Maximals get to save Optimus in this episode? Continue reading →