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 sub-line of the Takara Transformers: The Headmasters series in 1987, which the following year spun off into its own separate (short-lived) series.
The toyline was developed jointly by Hasbro and Takara; in Hasbro's markets, it was sold as the completely-unrelated-to-Transformers series Battle Beasts in 1986. (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 simple rock-paper-scissors-style battle game. Fire burned Wood, Wood floated on Water, Water put out Fire. (This game would later get a lot more complicated in Takara's post-Transformers Beastformers releases, see below.)
As Beastformers, they were packaged in individual boxes with bio cards; the design of both would change multiple times over the course of the year (detailed below). 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; Beastformers vehicles came with specific pack-in characters, while Battle Beasts simply tossed in a random figure.
Battle Beasts released three assortments of figures, but Beastformers made it to four, with a fairly large showing in the final "Laser Beast" series, though that final assortment would not be under the Transformers banner... but we're including it because it is a direct sequel series.
The Headmasters (1987)
Series 1
The initial assortment of Beastformers were packaged in Transformers-style boxes, with Autobot-allied beasts in red boxes and Decepticon-allied in purple, with the familiar grid pattern below. These boxes are otherwise generic, with no individual names or marking on the packaging whatsoever, with a plastic window to show the beast inside.
Like the other Headmasters toys of the time, each one also came with an individual bio card, with a painted character image on a red or purple grid on the front, and character data and line-art of the toy on the back. The cards were held in black sleeves to keep them hidden while in-package, as there was a chance the card would instead be the rare "Holography Mirror" card instead, with a hologram image Platinum Tiger's toy on the front.
| Individual figures (new) |  |
Series 2
At this point, Beastformers boxes changed to using green behind the grids for both sides, but kept the Autobot/Decepticon markings. The upper-right "flap" of the box also added a "Pack" letter, (C, D, E and F) which appear to tie into rare cards and campaign items, but we're currently fuzzy on those details. As near as can be told, any Beastformer could come in any style of box; the Series 1 Beastformers were also rereleased in this packaging.
The pack-in bio cards also got a redesign at this point. The front of the card replaced the grid background with a forest backdrop framing a yellow sky, with the painted portrait in the middle. The nametags and cardbacks were otherwise the same style as before.
Individual figures (new)
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Series 3
With the third wave release, the line expanded slightly, with a new multi-pack (including exclusive variations of the two leader figures), as well as a transforming "Battle Base" that unfolded into a large playset.
The packaging for this series did not change at all, C D E and F Pack types and all. However, the bio cards did change in one significant way: they no longer used the fully-painted character images, instead using the comic-style line-art used for the Hasbro Battle Beasts checklist-poster. All of the Series 1 and 2 Beastformers were released in this way, with new cards. So no, none of the new Series 3 beasts got that spiffy painted character art. Bummer.
Individual figures (new)
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| Multi-packs
(Black Jaguar, Būpink, Crowmax, Dog Hunter, Dream Eater, Earthhog, Mingo Kid, Muskhorn, Slo, and either Burstsun White Leo or Ghost Alligatron) |
Battle Bases
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Beastformers (w/ Laser Beasts) (1988)
In 1988, Beastformers became its own line, all Transformers branding excised from the packaging, now branded with the tagline "Role Playing Animal Team". All the previous Beastformers were re-released in all-new packaging, showing a map of the Beastformers' world, the two formerly-opposing sides having formed an alliance and splitting the land into thirty-eight kingdoms, each ruled by two Beastformer warriors. These boxes are again generic, now across the entire line. Early versions of the boxes advertised the possibility that the beasts inside could have the rare "Burstsun" symbol, but later (and more common) releases dropped this and added a sticker on the bottom-front with the toy's name on it.
The pack-in cards were similarly reworked. While they still used the line art from Series 3, it was completely recolored to be more accurate to the actual toys, plus some characters who were drawn with incorrect weapons got edited art with the correct ones. The back of these cards have a lot more character information, and details on the powers of their "MVP Weapon" including rules and point values for the new "role playing game" for the line. Pack-in catalogs contained rules for the dice-based battle game... which we have not translated yet, sorry.
At some point in this series, the Beastformers' rubsigns underwent a change. Later samples of the toys (as well as late-run Hasbro Battle Beasts releases) could have rubsigns that revealed full color Fire/Water/Wood illustrations rather than the mood-ring-style black outlines against a multi-hued backdrop. (It does not appear that there was ever a full-color Burstsun symbol.)
The standalone Beastformers line saw a major expansion of available product. The Battle Beasts motorized "Battle Chariots" and remaining two transforming "Transport Stations" were released in Japan as the "Head Hunters" and "Battle Bases" respectively, plus a re-release of the prior Battle Base in this new packaging style. But most importantly, this series also introduced the Laser Beasts (who got the tag line "Role Playing Neo Animal Team"), a new faction of evil warriors who emerged from an underground kingdom when the planet's three elements were out of balance and destroyed their home. Rather than having rubsigns, these beast warriors have clear marbles that would reveal their randomly-installed Fire/Wood/Water element when looked through into a light source. And instead of melee weapons, they came with large rifles. A number of new mini-vehicles and multi-packs were also released for this series. Laser Beast packaging was different, with a shadowy-blue theme and strange alternate versions of the planet's continents shown on the hidden inner box-flaps.
The Laser Beasts were intended to be released in Hasbro's markets as the Shadow Warriors, but they never made it to a wide release, though packaged samples of the toys have been uncovered. Because of this, as well as the somewhat short lifespan of the line at this point, Laser Beasts routinely go for hefty amounts on the secondary market, even in Japan.
Individual figures (new)
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Battlecruisers
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Head Hunters
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Battle Bases
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Multi-packs
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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
