Battle Bear

Battle Bear is an Autobot-allied Beastformer from Generation 1 continuity family.

Godless killing machine? Probably.

Born at Gun Marino Plateau, Battle Bear (バトルベア Batorubea) is one of the many anthropomorphic bears on the planet Beast who lived in happiness with their families until Galvatron and his Decepticons invaded their world, raising an insurgent army of cold-blooded Beastformers. As the Decepticons conquered the planet, Battle Bear joined White Leo's resistance army, becoming a mountains and forest combatant, and in battle he wields the Great Battle MVP Weapon that can cleave even the most giant of rocks. He hates technology and believes in living in harmony with the environment, and seeks to someday create a nation that is one with nature. He also holds the rank of Emperor of Saitan, under King Big Serow, and the two fight particularly well together. It's not known if Battle Bear had a different name before the war, though some do simply call him Bear (ベア Bea).

Fiction

The Headmasters cartoon

Look, just give him the picnic basket, okay?

Battle Bear were a species of Beastformer, part of White Leo's rebels fighting against the Decepticons and their allies, Alligatron and the evil Beasts. Some were forced into labor for the Decepticons, constructing components for Scorponok's transtector.

Some Battle Bear joined in an attack led by Big Serow on the Decepticon stronghold, ultimately being forced into retreat by the superior attacks of the Decepticons. The rebels soon found assistance from the Autobot Transformers, and several Battle Beast were among the group of rebels who welcomed them.

White Leo assembled a force including Battle Bear and launched an assault on the underground slave pits. However, they, including the Battle Bear slaves, were already freed and soon joined up with White Leo forces, in time for them to see the Decepticon invaders leave their planet. A Battle Bear was present to see the Autobots off. Rebellion on Planet Beast

The Headmasters manga

A Battle Bear, among others, was menaced by Predaking and the Sharkticons, led by Alligatron. They were able to escape when Brainstorm and Highbrow distracted the giant combiner. Another Battle Bear joined Kane in rescuing Chrome and Ros from Reprogamma. The Decisive Battle of Planet Beast!

Beastformers manga

Battle Bear attended the funeral of Bluehorse and was among the Beastformers who opposed Rabbit Kid's proposal to use the Hunters against the Laser Beasts. Beastformers VS Laser Beasts

Toys

Transformers: Beastformers

• Battle Bear (Beastformer, 1987)
  • Beast ID number: 11
  • Accessories: Axe

Part of the first series of Takara's Beastformers toys, Battle Bear is an anthropomorphic bear in blue robotic armor. The rubsign on his chest reveals one of three symbols; Fire, Water or Wood.

The Hasbro Battle Beasts release of the figure can vary in the tone of the green paint used on its armor, with some samples being a more desaturated and matte olive; it's uncertain if the Takara version has similar (minor) paint variation.

He was re-released in the subsequent second and third series; while the toy proper was not changed, the packaging and packed-in bio card was. The Series 1 release comes in a generic red-grid "Cybertron Beastformer" box, with a red-grid bio card with a painted character image on the front, though there was a random chance of his card being replaced by the rare "Holography Mirror" card. Series 2 came in a green-grid generic "Cybertron Beastformer" box, with the bio card putting the painted image on a jungle backdrop. Series 3's box was unchanged, but the bio card replaced the painted image with a simpler line-art image, first used in Hasbro's Battle Beasts cast poster. In the green-box releases, depending on the "Pack" he came in, there was a chance of his bio card being replaced with a rare "Secret Photo", "Bewitching Serpent Seal", or "VS Holography Mirror" card.

• Battle Bear (Gahsapon Beastformer, 1987)
  • Beast ID number: 11
  • Accessories: Weapon

Many of the first-series Beastformers were also sold in gashapon capsule machines, Battle Bear included. This version is identical to the regularly-released boxed version, including the randomized rubsign, except the gashapons appear to have randomized weapons (or just crummy quality control).

There is also a rare all-white/cream version of Battle Bear; these rare versions can vary in how white they actually are, and it's uncertain if that's how they started or if some have simply yellowed with age. These white versions tend to be very expensive on the secondary market.

Beastformers

• Battle Bear (Beastformer, 1988)
  • Beast ID number: 11
  • Accessories: "Great Battle" MVP Weapon

Re-released in the Transformers-less Beastformers sequel series, Battle Bear was given a straight re-release with new packaging and a new, more filled-out bio card with corrected coloring. This new card also gave his weapon, now branded an "MVP Weapon", the name "Great Battle" (グレートバトル Gurēto Batoru).

The initial early releases of this series had the chance for any Beastformer to have the rare Burstsun symbol; we'll probably never know if Battle Bear was ever actually one of them. Later in the run, the "mood ring" styled rubsigns were replaced with new rubsigns that revealed full-color Fire/Wood/Water images on black backdrops. (These rubsign variants also happened at the same time in the Hasbro Battle Beast version of the line.)

• Battle Bear (Gashapon/candy-toy Beastformer, 1988)
  • Meiji ID number: 28
  • Accessories: ??? weapon

A small, super-deformed, articulation-free version of Battle Bear was produced by Meiji, and sold both as a gashapon capsule prize and as a candy toy with "chocoballs". The candy toy version came with a bio/data card with its own role-playing rules, using the old Transformers-era painted character art.

This stumpy lil fellow could be found in red, blue or green plastic, representing the Fire, Water and Wood elements (even though he still had a rubsign). All of the Meji Beastformers comes with a different Beastformer's weapon attached to their left shoulder by a snippable sprue, common for inexpensive toys of that nature. However, we do not currently know which weapon Big Serow came with, or who came with his.

Notes

Foreign names

• English: Grizzly Bear, Soldier Bear (Omni Productions dub)