Indie Squid Kid

Ten years after Tentakil, Takama/Hasbro added a new cephalopod to the Transformers family. And this one actually resembles a real animal!

Meet Claw Jaw. He was released in 1997 as part of the second wave of the Beast Wars Basic figure assortment. The Beast Wars Transformers franchise was set several hundred years in the future of the Generation 1 continuity. Instead of Autobots versus Decepticons, we have their descendants: Maximals and Predacons. Instead of transforming into vehicles, these robots change into various animals.  In the states, the toy line was supported by a successful cartoon series (1996-1999) and more recently in comics published by IDW.

Despite the fact that most Maximals were mammals (and Predicons were generally reptiles and insects), Claw Jaw is actually one of the good guys. In his beast mode, Claw Jaw has eight arms, two tentacles, and a long, finned mantle. Even though his eyes are in the wrong position, and his beak is oriented the wrong way, it’s not a bad representation of a squid, all things considered. The figure is about 6″ long in squid mode, but only stands about 4″ tall in robot mode. A trigger on his ventral side causes the beak to open and shut.

Unlike the previously discussed Tentakil, Claw Jaw looks pretty cool in both robot and beast modes.

In 1998, a green and yellow repaint was marketed in Europe as a “Transmetal” version.

Although never appearing in the TV series, Claw Jaw did appear in the Beast Wars comics series The Gathering (Feb. 2006) and The Ascending (Nov. 2007). According to these comics, he prefers to spend his time in an underwater layer, and only really gets along with other marine Maximals. Using the suction cups on his tentacles, Claw Jaw can drain energy directly from his enemies. He has a particularly bitter hatred for Predacon crab Razorclaw.

In Japan, this figure was called Scuba, and a repaint of the figure was sold as his cousin Ikard. Both squid-bots were part of the Japanese-only Beast Wars II line.