You decide to go down this path. Suddenly,a chair comes up behind you, and pushes you forward, like something in those rides at the Ex or Disney World. You wonder anxiously what in the world is going to happen to you this time. Branches slap at you, and squirrels run away from you, chittering and throwing things at you.

Suddenly, you meet Starlight85, who is singing softly to herself. She looks up at you, and then smiles.

"So the Cyberforest brought you to me, eh?" she asks, with a laugh. You nodd.

"I guess I better tell you about the original characters in Beast Wars" Starlight says. "It might help." You nodd again.

"Will you stop nodding?" Starlight asks. You nodd, but then stop.

"Good" she replies. She sits down, and the grass beneath her makes something like a cushion for her.

Optimus Primal Optimus is a natural, although somewhat inexperienced leader. He is compassionate and sacrificing, and can command some of the most annoying people, such as Rattrap and Dinobot. He can fly in robot mode. Now he is a Transmetal and he can fly on a hoverboard in beast mode. He used to be a gorilla. Optimus is good friends with Rhinox, too trusting of Dinobot, protective of Cheetor and good friends with Air Razor and Tigatron. Rattrap annoys him, but Optimus keeps the now Transmetal rat under control.

Silverbolt Silverbolt is a fuzor, part wolf and part eagle. He is very honorable. He won't hit a female, he won't even fight if he thinks it would be unjust. Silverbolt is like a White Knight, he has absolute heroic ideals.He respects and honors Optimus, likes Rattrap, even though they are so different, has a parental fondness for Cheetor and dislikes Dinobot. Silverbolt has a thing going on with Blackarachnia. He thinks he can change her, and make her become good again, and she thinks he is a hot-looking idiot. Or does she? There seems to be some romance coming into play....(okay, in Season 3 there definately IS...BA changes sides and become a Maximal for Silverbolt, so I guess she must love him.)

Rhinox Rhinox is a slow moving rhinoceros. He talks slow and walks slow, but he isn't stupid. On the contrary, he is one of the smartest Maximals. Rhinox is the Maximal's technician. He is solid and trustworthy and would like to be friends with everybody, but he knows that he cannot. He usually doesn't understand Cheetor's face paced nature and slang ridden speech, enjoys the company of Rattrap, acts like a confidante to Optimus, is put off by Dinobot and is one of the strongest Maximals (you gotta love that chain gun...)

Dinobot Dinobot was a velociraptor. He was a Predacon, but after Megatron booted him out he went over to the Maiximals. Dinobot was a warrior who's thoughts were mostly about battle and triumph, and of course honor. Dinobot was honorable, but he was not an honor freak like Silverbolt. He had enough guts to hit a woman! He reallly hated Rattrap, because he was honorable and Rattrap has no honor. They called each other names like "vermin" and "scale-butt." Dinobot respected Optimus but resented his advice, had nothing but contempt for Cheetor, and basically saw the Maximals as a bunch of sentimental fools. Dinobot died an honorable death while saving the human race. He was my favourite character. (If I may quote the Titanic theme song by Celine Dion, " My heart will go on and on! Love can touch us one time and last for a lifetime, and never let go 'till we're gone.......")

Tigatron Tigatron is a white Siberian tiger. Tigatron lost most of his datatracks (memory) when his pod crashed ( he is one of the protoform transformers.) Most of his influence comes from his tiger body. He doesn't live at the base, he likes the wild a lot. Tigatron is a major pacifist, he will only fight the Predacons if they attack him, his friends or his surroundings. Tigatron takes comfort in the outdoors. Rattrap rarely teases him, Optimus finds a peace loving companion in the tiger, Cheetor worships him as mysticaly wise, he and Dinobot barely understand each other.

Air Razor Air Razor is a falcon. She is one of the protoform transformers. Like Tigatron, she doesn't inhabite the base either. Air Razor likes to fly. She is like a more mature, less hyper and better version of Cheetor ( I think so.) She has a cool demenour, likes to help people, and has a good sense of humor. Air Razor respects Optimus, gets a little nervous around Dinobot, is like a sister to Cheetor, likes Rhinox as an uncle, ignores Rattrap's "dazzling and charming" side and has an oddly close relationship with Tigatron (she loves Tigger, you can tell.....)

Rattrap Rattrap was a giant rat, but now he's a Transmetal. His vehical mode is a small, rat shaped roadster. Rattrap is a theif, a spy, and an unlikely hero. He always makes a lot of jokes and doesn't like situations where he can die (well, almost every situation is a situation where you can die if you're fighting a war, but.....). He doesn't like risking his life for others. He has a street-wise nature. Rattrap annoyes Optimus, constantly picks fights with Dinobot, is best friends with Rhinox for some unknown reason, and flirts with Air Razor.

Cheetor Cheetor is a cheetah, with flight capability, because he has a Transmetal form. His only hobbies are action. He always likes running around and moving, and he tries to impress Optimus. Cheetor is eager and enthusiastic to do anything, sometimes too eager and enthusiastic, which can lead to problems. He is some where around fifteen or sixteen in human years and is trying to prove himself a man. Cheetor is fast paced, talks very quickly, an is somewhat niave. Cheetor respects Optimus, though he resents his moves to protect him, treats Air Razor like a sister, tries to like Dinobot, doesn't get Rattrap's jokes, and worships Tigatron.

Depth Charge is a transmetal manta ray, with a jet vehicle mode. Rampage (the Transmetal crab) destroyed colony Omicron, which Depth Charge was supposed to guard. This made DC go on a hunt for Rampage, which finally ended in him capturing Rampage. DC begged the Cybertronian council to find a way to destroy his spark, but they stupidly didn't, and sent Rampage on the Axalon. Depth Charge chased the Axalon, and ended up on prehistoric Earth, smack dab in the middle of the Beast Wars. He hates Rampage, and constantly fights with him, he is so bent on vengeance. That also means he hates anyone who gets in his way of vengeance. DC has no respect for Optimus, and is one tough chrome-plated cookie to deal with.

The Predacons!

Megatron Megatron is a Transmetal t-rex, and leader of the evil Predacons. His vehicule mode is when two large fans shaped jets stick out of his hips, allowing him to fly. It does not look very fashionable if I may say so. He has a lot of people trying to kill him, and sometimes he lets them carry out their schemes, as a way to keep his mind sharp. He is cool and confident. Megatron will never attack an enemy outright if there's a way to strike them from within. He is not a coward, though. He is smart and commanding, the very essence of evil. He only considers Tarantulus and Blackarachnia real threats, dislikes Waspinator, thinks Terrorsaur is a coward and trusts Inferno, though he does not respect the ant's brain power.

Scorpinok Scorpinok was a giant scorpion. He liked to kill things and enjoyed battle when he was winning. He was Megatron's devoted lackey. Scorpinok was a scientist, however incompitent he was. Scorpinok was not very bright, and I was actually cheering when he fell into that pool of lava, which is how he died.

Inferno Inferno is a giant fire ant. His memory was completely wiped out when his pod fell and he has faulty programming. He serves no one but Megatron, who he has decided is his "Queen." Everybody think's he is an idiot and well, their right.

Blackarachnia Blackarachnia is a giant black widow spider. She is a master of martial arts and is very cool to watch when she is doing battle ( meaning she kicks Maximal butt big time!) She is very smart and cunning. She has a poison which she can inject into a person's system to either kill them or make them go unconcious. Blackarachnia wants to take on the mantle of leadership (don't they all?) and usually plots with Tarantulus on how to steal it from Megatron. She has a love/hate relationship with Tarantulus. She thinks all the other Predacons are idiots, especially Waspinator, but she occasionally finds uses for them. She doesn't really appreciate men. Blackarachnia is one of the protoforms, but she was turned into a Predacon.

Tarantulus Tarantulus is a giant tarantula (well what else can he be with a name like that. A kookaburra?) He is silent and sneaky and never lets anyone get too close. He wants to lead the Predacons and will stop anyone who gets in his way. He chuckles a lot and he used to have his own lab, until it was burned, but now he has an energon rich cave as his lair. Tarantulus is a bit perverse and he likes to eat things. All the other Predacons stay away from him. Oh yeah, he's a Transmetal. His vehical mode is a motorcycle. After I first saw him in that Transmetal mode, I had nightmares for weeks.

Quickstrike Quickstrike is the Predacon's fuzor. He is part scorpion and part cobra. He talks with a western accent. Quickstrike's one joy in life is killing Maximals. He likes to see anything in pain. He is mean, will never back down from a challenge, cantankerous and just plain ugly. Quickstrike has a crush on Blackarachnia and calls her "Sugar-Bot." He is kind of a loyal drone to Megatron, kind of a loyal drone to Tarantulus.

Waspinator Waspinator is a flighty idiot, he's very confident in his flying ability and tricks. He is a complete airhead in every sense of the word. He rarely does anything smart. Waspinator is most confident when air-born. He likes to fly and to eat sugar. Waspinator is a wasp (no, my mistake he's a kookaburra. Hehehehe, I kill myself!) He constantly complains that he never gets any important jobs. He has a buzz in his voice and speaks in third person. He would love to be leader, but he never will because he's not smart enough. Waspinator thinks he is superior to everyone, but doesn't say it. Waspinator is very hyper, and talks like a three year old.

Terrorsaur Terrorsaur was a giant, red pterodactyl. He thought that he was short changed when Megatron took control. He was smarter, he was faster, he was better than everyone, so he should have ruled. None of this was true, but he was very egotistical, so he belived it. He had a screeching voice and liked to shoot things in the air, when he didn't have to face anyone directly. Terrosaur feined friendship with Waspinator, hated Megatron, was puzzled by the spiders and disliked Inferno. Why did he have to fall in that pool of lava with Scorpinok, why why, why?WHY?

Rampage Rampage's spark cannot be destroyed. He is a Transmetal crab.( But they found him in a swamp, so I don't see how he could possibly be a crab if he was found in a swamp. Some sort of swamp crab? I don't know!) He talks like a sesoned war veteran. He hates both Maximals and Predacons. The only reason he is with the Predacons is because Megatron extracted his spark and now holds it in a container that whenever squeezed can bring Rampage pain. He can feel people's pain and fear and he says that is spark feeds off fear. He is an evil genius, and will do anything to get his spark back. Once he does he'll probably destroy both sides.

Transmutate

Okay, so she was only in one episode, still, it was the saddest episode ever. Except for "Code of a Hero" of course, I mean, no one can replace Dinobot in my perverse little mind. Ahem. Transmutate didn't speak a lot, all she said was "no hurt" "beast mode" "fly" "hurt" "Transmutate" "friend good, friend dark, I am hurt." But it was the way she said them that was so endearing! She was no smarter than a drone and he didn't have a beast mode. Her two friends were Silverbolt and Rampage. She had a human like face, and when she screamed pink light came out of her mouth, and that pink light could form a sheild or an energy ray. Everyone (even the Maximals) wanted to get rid of her, Megatron because he thought Transmutate was usless, the Maximals because they thought she would be a danger to herself and to others. Transmutate died while trying to stop the bullets and missiles of Rampage and Silverbolt, who had been aiming at each other at the time. Transmutate was destroyed because she could not hold his power. Quote Silverbolt "We extinguished it's spark before we ever saw it's true light."

I think that after Reboot, Mainframe and Alliance just had to kill off some one, because they didn't in Reboot. They are so mean. I betcha Air Razor and Tigatron aren't coming back from the aliens either...." Starlight grimbles to herself.

"Well, now you've heard of all the characters, so far, in the Beast Wars." You fall out of your chair. You realize you had been half asleep! You hurry down the path before Starlight85 realizes you weren't listening!