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By Jonathan Klotz
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The 80s were filled with toy companies scrambling to get their piece of the millions that Hasbro pulled in each year from the Transformers. Autobots and fraud were the hottest toys for Christmas, leading to the creation of the Go-bot. Blindfoldrevival Joe’s dogand even the Rock lords. Lost within a gold rush marketing gold were the battle monsters, two inch figures of anthropomorphic animals in power armor, each representing a different element that became complete with signature weapons, vehicles and plays. In Japan, they were identified by a different name, Transformers: BeastsMaking these small animal figures an official part of the Transformers franchise.
The Beasts made their first appearance in the fifth chapter of the anime serialize Transformers: Heads When Galvatron helps the bad Alligatatron take over Planet Beast. The good Beasts, led by Leo White (bad reptiles, good mammals), call on the autobots for help and saves the day, marking the first and only large appearance of the Beasts. As it happens, Headmaster Not brought over west until 2011, and the Toyline was developed by Takara in Japan, and Jab had international rights, which led to renaming: battle monsters.
Reaching shop shelves across North America in 1987, Battle Beasts Failed to include any type of backstage, no fun bio cards as Joe’s dogAnd not even the figures on the packaging. Children called them from their animals, or at least I did, because I was a perfect age to become obsessed with these figures. I didn’t know they were part of the Transformers universe, which would have made me think they were even cooler, but back afterwards, they had an amazing look, and animals in armor power are always amazing (yes, including spinning 90s Marvel on it, Force).
Three waves of battle beasts were released, a total of over 70 figures, or instead, as there are several variations of each figure thanks to the inclusion of activated emblems by touch on the chest of each figure that revealed an element. The thought was that the figures could be used in a game, where water beats fire, waterwater beat, beaten fire, and fourth extremely secretly emblem, the sunbeat, beat everything. It was a rock, paper, scissors with extra steps.
It is a testament to the quality and design of the figures they have been remembered for nearly 40 years although none of the converter ties in makes it out of Japan. Battle monsters have been so popular that they went through a revival in Japan in 2011 with a presentation Beast sagaDid visual design queues and the basic concept of the 80s toy line, but failed to hold on and was quickly forgotten. Not before manga, anime, and a Nintendo A 3DS game was released, but even that was over a decade ago, and nostalgia was king at the moment, so why not bring back the battle monsters?
Through multiple movements across the country, large life milestones, and multiple decades, I’ve kept most of my battle beasts with me. During the past year, I even added to my collection when I found Sawtooth Shark and War Weasel at a local comic shop. While I was there, the owner submitted multiple calls for the battle monsters available, so I know I’m not alone; There are plenty of people like me who are longing for these figures, even if we never learned anything about them as children.
We now live in a time where Roboforce has an animated series, The cyclist mice from Mars come back, and Joe’s dog/Transformer Crossover leaves comics and goes to the big screen, so where is the new Retro-female series about the rebellion on Beast Planet? The Transformers line could use an injection of something new and different, so why not try the small -scale battle beast figures? Maybe this time I will finally get my hands on the Blitzkrieg or Moose Big bat.
