Games - Battle Beasts

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	Games - Battle Beasts

Battle Beasts is the name of a line of small 2" tall action figure toys and were produced by Hasbro and Takara starting in 1984.

History

Battle Beasts were created by Takara of Japan in 1984. In 1986 the toyline was brought to America and other parts of the world by Hasbro. It is believed that the Series was a spinoff or "cousins" of the Transformers, although their tie-in to the Transformer line was minimal and somewhat obscure. Each Beast is a humanoid animal with body armor and several figures have their left hand replaced by a weapon of some kind. Four series were released overall. The first three contain beasts 1 - 76. Each figure has a heat sensitive rub sign on his chest and a hand-to-hand weapon. Three pull back vehicles and three transforming bases were also released. The fourth series had 36 figures and was renamed Laser Beasts, the renaming corresponded with some minor changes to the figures. The entire Laser Beast line was released in Japan, and in small numbers in America and Europe. These figures have orbs in their chest instead of rubs and each came with a gun that resembled the creature who held it. Some small chariots were also released as part of the Laser Beast line in Japan. In addition to these figures some promo figures were also made. These were made of clear plastic and were available only in special sets.

The figures were released in Japan in small boxes of individual figures and in larger multi-packs. In America Series 1, 2 and the 12 Laser Beasts were released on blister cards with two figures per card. Series 3 figures were only available in boxes of eight per package. The vehicles came in boxes and each came with a figure.

Series

Series 1 - 3: Battle Beasts

Battle Beasts came out in the late 80's and like most toys, had a gimmick to help sales. Each Battle Beast had a heat sensitive sticker on his chest which, when rubbed would reveal the warrior's strength. The symbols would represent either fire, wood or water and could be used in a rock, paper, scissors type game. Later a fourth emblem was added, the Sunburst, and it would beat all other types. The Sunburst was extremely rare, only being found in Japan. Each Beast also carried his own distinctive weapon which could be identified to its Beast with the corresponding number.

In the U.S. Battle Beasts came in a packages of two, usually (but not always) in numerical order. It was impossible to tell which figure had a rub of fire, wood, or water until the package was opened. That came in handy with marketing, as their slogan was, Fire! Wood! Or Water!... You'll never know until you own them!. Also listed on the packages starting with Series 2 was the possibility of getting the Sunburst Warrior, although there are no recorded accounts of a Sunburst Warrior from any U.S. packages. There was a total of three series adding up to 76 Battle Beasts beginning with #1, Pirate Lion and ending with #76, Ossified Orangutan.

Series 1 & 2 were released in Japan, Europe and North America while Series 3 was only released in Japan and the U.S.

Series 4: Laser Beasts

The fourth and final Series released was renamed Laser Beasts, or Shadowbeasts in Japan. The heat sensitive sticker was replaced by an orb that could be seen through, depicting which clan the Beast represented.

The Laser Beasts had a new slogan on the American package that read Fire! Wood! Water!... Only the crystal shield will reveal their strength!. Laser Beasts carried guns instead of the hand-to-hand weapons that the Battle Beasts had, and each gun resembled the creature which it belonged to.

The entire new series of 36 Laser Beasts and new vehicles were released mainly in Japan. North America only received 12 of the new Lasers, which were packaged as “Shadow Warriors” in two pack blister cards. Some of the lower numbered Lasers were produced in Europe and a few came with unique shields and sleds that like the guns, resembled the animal it belonged to.

Six of the 12 shields were released only in France; #89 Brown Lion, #92 Hustlebear, #95 Dragon Seahorn, #97 Seapanic, #98 Puzzlecolor and #100 Scope Cougar. While those figures were also released in Japan they did not come with the shields, making the French shields rare and extremely difficult to find for collectors.

Vehicles

A decent amount of vehicles were released throughout the line. For the Battle Beast line, three chariots and three bases were released that looked like animals, each came with one figure that was not unique to the vehicle. The chariots were able to hold up to three figures comfortably and each had its own name: Tearin' Tiger, which looked like a tiger, Big Horn which looked like a ram and Deer Stalker which looked like a deer. All the chariots had a pull-back motion that would spring the vehicle forward when it was released.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Battle Beasts ]