Beast Wars II: Super Life-Form Transformers

Lore & Background

Recurring characters include Lio Junior, a clone of Lio Convoy created from Angolmois Energy, who can combine with Skywarp and Santon to form Magnaboss. The Insectrons, former mercenaries, live peacefully in Gaia's Antarctic until tricked by Starscream, then ally with the Maximals. The Jointrons, three brothers who combine into Tripledacus, display an affinity for Mexican culture. The Autorollers, Predacon bodyguards loyal to Galvatron, include Autostinger, Autocrusher, Autojetter, and Autolauncher. Several characters are reformatted by Angolmois Energy: Starscream becomes Hellscream, BB becomes Max B, Dirge becomes Dirgegun. Note: The claim that Unicron possesses Galvatron's body occurs in the Japanese *Beast Wars II* manga, not in the *Beast Wars Neo* anime.

Reader's Guide

Beast Wars II holds significance as a transitional Transformers entry that returned to traditional animation after the CGI of Beast Wars, targeting a younger audience with a lighter tone. It expanded the Beast Wars universe by introducing the Angolmois Energy plot and new characters, many of which were remolds or recolors of earlier toys. The series was broadcast in Korea on SBS and had a manga adaptation localized by Daewon Media. Its legacy includes the movie Lio Convoy's Close Call! and the direct sequel Beast Wars Neo, where Unicron possesses Galvatron's body. The series is notable for its unique character designs and the reformatting of several Predacons into more powerful forms, reflecting the influence of Angolmois Energy on the narrative.

Did You Know?

• The series uses conventional animation rather than the CGI of its predecessor Beast Wars.
• With the exception of faction leaders, all toy-line characters are remolds, reissues, or recolors of earlier Beast Wars or Generation 2/Machine Wars toys.
• The movie Beast Wars II: Lio Convoy's Close Call! takes place between episodes 32 and 38.
• After being killed by Lio Convoy and Lio Junior, Galvatron's body is possessed by Unicron in Beast Wars Neo.

Production & Creative Direction

Beast Wars II: Super Life-Form Transformers marked a notable shift in how the Transformers franchise was produced in Japan. Airing on TV Tokyo from April 1998 through January 1999, the 43-episode series was the first Transformers anime developed under the banner of Nihon Ad Systems, with animation handled by the studio Ashi Productions. This represented a deliberate departure from its predecessor, Beast Wars: Transformers, which relied heavily on computer-generated imagery. Instead, the sequel returned to traditional hand-drawn animation, giving the show a more classic visual texture. The creative team also recalibrated the tone: where the original Beast Wars targeted a broad, multi-generational audience, Beast Wars II leaned into a lighter, more child-friendly register. The accompanying toy line reflected a similar economy of design—beyond the two faction leaders, nearly every figure was a remold, reissue, or recolor drawn from earlier Beast Wars or Generation 2 and Machine Wars product lines, keeping production costs manageable while still delivering a full roster of Maximal and Predacon characters to young collectors.

The Central Conflict & Angolmois Energy

At the heart of Beast Wars II lies a war between two factions on the planet Gaia: Lio Convoy's Maximals, descendants of the Autobots, and Galvatron's Predacons, heirs to the Decepticons. Both sides are drawn into the conflict by Angolmois Energy, a mysterious power source whose strange and unpredictable properties drive much of the series' plot. Lio Convoy, a battle-scarred but fundamentally kind and principled commander of the starship Star Voyager, is lured into a trap by Galvatron and crash-lands on Gaia. There, a white lion rescues him and leads him to a cave saturated with Angolmois Energy, which mends his wounds. In gratitude, Convoy adopts the lion's form as his own alternate mode. Galvatron, by contrast, is an idealistic and fastidious emperor who transforms into a mechanical dragon or an armored drilling vehicle. Despite his grand ambitions to conquer Cybertron and the broader universe, he shows surprising tenderness toward his subordinates. The tension between these two leaders—gentle hero versus ambitious conqueror—anchors every episode.

A Roster of Animal-Formed Warriors

The Maximal and Predacon rosters in Beast Wars II are defined by their diverse animal alternate modes and distinct personalities. On the Maximal side, Apache serves as a cool-headed triple-changer who shifts between a mandrill and a weapon-laden fortress, while Bighorn, a bison who wields the Buffalo Missile gun, has a comical allergy to the color red. Scuba, a squid specialized in underwater combat, is shy and pessimistic, and young Tasmania Kid, a Tasmanian devil armed with the Tasmania Fangs, yearns to be taken seriously as a warrior. Diver, a frog guarding the Niagara base, frequently dodges danger by citing his grandfather's dying wish. On the Predacon side, Galvatron's officers include Megastorm, a tank-mode second-in-command who is also his younger brother; Starscream, a fighter jet with grand ambitions to usurp his emperor; and BB, a large, dutiful triple-changer with limited speech. Dirge pilots a Dassault Rafale jet while his partner Thrust, in an F-22 Raptor, behaves like a stand-up comedian to Dirge's exasperation. This variety of animal forms and comedic dynamics gives the series its lighter, child-friendly charm.

Angolmois Reformatting & Extended Media

Angolmois Energy does more than fuel the war—it physically transforms characters. When Megastorm, growing disloyal to his cautious brother, plunges into a pool of liquid Angolmois Energy, he is reformatted into the towering triple-changer Gigastorm, gaining a theropod-like default form alongside armored base and fortress modes. Starscream and BB suffer similar fates when Gigastorm blasts them into the energy pool: Starscream's hatred reshapes him into the savage Hellscream, a cyborg shark, while BB's resentment forges the ferocious Max B, a cyborg wolf. Dirge and Thrust, seeking greater power, accept transfusions from Gigastorm, emerging as Dirgegun, a cyborg wasp, and Thrustor, a cyborg raptor, respectively. Beyond the 43-episode anime, the story expanded into a 50-minute film, Beast Wars II: Lio Convoy's Close Call!, set between episodes 32 and 38, and a manga by Shōji Imaki serialized in Comic BomBom from July 1998 to February 1999. The series also crossed borders, airing on South Korea's SBS and receiving a manga localization through Daewon Media.