In 1999, Kenner turned control of Beast Wars Transformers back to Hasbro. The line continued through 1999 to its finale, with the primary focus being Transmetals 2 – partly robotic, partly organic cyborg beasts with gritty, asymmetric designs.
The Transmetals 2 continued to fit into the standard size classes, selling in Basic, Deluxe, and Ultra price points. Hasbro supplemented the line in a way that would become standard practice: redecos of earlier characters. Released in packaging that promoted the Fox Kids network, host of the Beast Wars cartoon, all the main-character Deluxe beasts, and their Transmetals equivalents received bright new color schemes. A few of the Fox Kids spilled over into 2000, overlapping the following series.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the pond, Takara bided more time for the latter portion of the Mainframe Entertainment series to be dubbed by introducing Beast Wars Neo. The series was a monumental effort considering its short-lived release. Featuring nearly all new molds, and supported by its own domestic anime, the series stood on its own until some of its designs were later borrowed for redecos. The Destrons were all extinct creatures, primarily dinosaurs, while the Cybertrons featured a more eclectic mix of primarily extant mammals. The most enduringly weird toy was Heinrad, a mythological depiction of a Japanese tanuki, with a working alarm clock mounted in his chest and wielding a bottle of sake and a promissory note.
Later in the year, Takara caught up to Hasbro by introducing Beast Wars Metals. This portion of the Beast Wars saga featured slightly-modified versions of all the main character toys from the Transmetals period of the Mainframe Entertainment cartoon, and was Takara's final entry in the line. The remaining Mainframe episodes were aired with new dubs, and Takara went on to plan their successor to Beast Wars.
By year's end, though, the Beast Wars story had played out. Hasbro already had its own plans for the successor, building on the huge success that Beast Wars enjoyed in Hasbro markets.
