Beast Wars II refers to the 1998 Japanese Transformers television animated series, and the movie and toyline that resulted from it. While its position in the Transformers continuity has previously been unknown, the IDW Publishing comic book mini-series Beast Wars: The Gathering and comments from Transformers writer Simon Furman have shown it is part of the Beast Wars continuity. The series was preceded by Beast Wars, and was followed by Beast Wars Neo. The series has a much lighter tone and is aimed more towards children, whereas the more accessible Beast Wars was intended for a wider age range. The series also uses conventional animation rather than CGI. With the exceptions of the faction leaders, all of the characters within the series are either re-molds or re-colors of earlier Beast Wars figures or Generation 2/Machine Wars figures. In addition to the 43 episodes, there is also a 50-minute movie, Beast Wars II: Lio Convoy's Close Call!, which takes place sometime between episodes 32 and 38.