Beastformer (species)
Possibly better known as the Battle Beasts. They were another toy line produced by Takara. They never got their own TV show, but they did guest star in an episode or two of Transformers Headmasters, as Takara considered the two part of the same continuity (when Battle Beasts were released in the west, no such connection was given, making the two lines separate).
They were a race of anthropomorphic animals in armour which bore some similarity to Transformer design. Unlike Transformers, they were not capable of transforming, and did not have alt-modes.
Other similarities to the Transformers were that there were two factions, one "good" and one "evil". In the Headmasters show, the "Good" ones were enslaved by the "bad ones", who were working for Galvatron. In a fascinating parallel to Beast Wars, the 'good' Battle Beasts were mostly made up of mammals and birds, while the 'bad' Battle Beasts were mostly made up of reptiles and insects.
Each figure came with their own unique weapon, and a rub sign that would reveal either a fire, water, or wood symbol, which was used as a sort of 'ro-sham-bo' type of game for the figures, with Fire beating Wood, Wood beating Water, and Water beating Fire. Later on, a fourth symbol appeared, called the Sun Burst, which trumped all other symbols, and a special breed of Battle Beasts appeared with light-pipped crystals (similar to the 'spark crystals' in later Beast Wars and Beast Machines figures) in place of the rub signs, known as 'Laser Beasts'.
