Beastformers (franchise)
| This article is about the franchise. For the species, see Beastformer. |
Beastformers (ビーストフォーマー Bīsutofōmā) is a toyline developed jointly by Hasbro and Takara. It was released in Hasbro's markets as the completely-unrelated-to-Transformers series Battle Beasts in 1986, and in Takara's markets as a spin-off of the Headmasters series in 1987 (thus this wiki's use of the Japanese series and character names).
Much, much later, various Hasbro licensees tied the Battle Beasts back to Transformers, but they were rarely more than cameos.
Fiction
Beastformers catalogs
The main story of Beastformers was told through text stories included a series of catalogs.
Beastformers comics
While the Beastformers received their most high profile fiction in conjunction with Japanese Transformers productions, they did receive a few comics exclusive to their subline in the pages of the Hero Special magazine. It should be noted that these were fumetti or "photonovel" comics which featured panels assembled from photographs of the actual toys set up in diorama environments.
Toys
Battle Beasts/Beastformers are soft plastic figures of anthropomorphic animals in high-tech armor, each about 1.5 inches tall, with swivel-jointed shoulders and a unique weapon accessory. Each one features a rubsign that shows one of three "elemental powers": Fire, Water or Wood. (A fourth power, Sunburst/Burstsun, was a rare special power introduced later in the line.) Since the symbols were heat-activated, it was (mostly) impossible to determine what each toys' symbol was until they were freed from their packaging.
These rubsigns were key to a battle game in each market. For Hasbro's Battle Beasts, this was a simple game of rock-paper-scissors: Fire burned Wood, Wood floated on Water, Water put out Fire. For Takara's Beastformers though, it's a bit more complicated than that: the line was given the tagline "Role Playing Neo Animal Team", pack-in catalogs contained rules for a dice-based battle game, and each toy's bio card gave individual point values and rules for different attacks. The rules for this game, though, we have not translated yet, sorry.
As Beastformers, they were packaged in individual boxes. The outside boxes were generic, with stickers applied to the front to provide character names and information. Battle Beasts packaged them as two-packs with randomized pairings and no personal information whatsoever, with only a mail-away poster providing names for the beasts once the first three series were released. Both companies also put out multi-packs and larger vehicles.
Battle Beasts released three assortments of figures, but Beastformers made it to four, with a fairly large showing in the final "Laser Beast" series.
Series 1 (1987)
Packaged in Transformers-style boxes, the initial Beastformers were divided between the Autobot and Decepticon factions on the basis of whether their species was an endothermic vertebrate (mammal or bird) or... well, anything else. The one exception was the Decepticon Devilbat.
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Series 2 (1987)
At this point, Beastformers boxes ceased to use the Autobot and Decepticon symbols and faction-coded red and purple backgrounds. They were still divided between Autobot and Decepticon factions, with appropriate faction insignia on the bio cards included in their boxes. The Autobot Beastformers were still exclusively mammals and birds, while the Decepticon Beastformers welcomed owls and a variety of mammals into their ranks.
Individual figures
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Series 3 (1987)
With the third wave release, the rubsigns were reworked so they featured full-color illustrations on black backdrops, rather than the black-on-mood-ring-colors of the old signs. Both previous series were also re-released with the new style of rubsign. Numerous multi-packs — with exclusive variations — were released in Japan as well.
Vehicles were also introduced to the line, motorized "Head Hunter" chariots and transforming "Battle Bases" that unfolded into large playsets.
Individual figures
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Laser Beasts (1988)
An evolution of the gimmick was planned for both sides of the world, replacing the rubsigns with clear marbles that would reveal their element when looked through into a light source. The US/Europe version of these toys, dubbed the Battle Beasts Shadow Warriors, never made it to a wide release, though packaged samples of the toys have been uncovered. In Japan, the entire range made it to retail, under the name Laser Beasts, likely named as such due to the combination of their light-based gimmick, and that the melee weapons of old were replaced with blaster-rifles. However, the Laser Beasts came out after the Beastformers had removed all their ties to Transformers, including the faction ties.
Individual figures
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Multi-packs
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Battlecruisers |
Notes
- At the 2009 Comic-Con, it was announced that Diamond Select, the producer of Minimates, bought the Battle Beasts trademark. [1] In 2012, IDW Publishing released a Battle Beasts miniseries based on the Minimates, completely unrelated to Transformers.
- TakaraTomy's Beast Saga toyline shares many similarities to Beastformers, including being set on Beast and featuring several returning characters, but is not considered a direct continuation of the latter. A manga began serialization in Saikyo Jump in early 2012, and was adapted into an anime in January 2013, though the story is again unrelated to Transformers.
Foreign names
- French: Les Dragonautes, Comba Nimaux (Canada)
- Portuguese: Bestias Combate
