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[Beastformers]

-BA- Beastformers Archeology Topic

 

 

Takara originally designed and created all the actual battle beast figures. At first they created 18 battle beasts and then soon expanded their first series to 28 figures. Hasbro soon joined in battle beast production and distribution (after the first 28 battle beasts were created). Hasbro became responsible for creating the bases and the chariots and other novelty items (which they either did themselves or outsourced to other companies like Aladdin (the lunchbox, artwork, other items). This is also why the bases came out later in Japan than they did in the States.
dabbuu (3 September 2007)

 

In our last released topic we´ve discussed the BB Chariot Prototypes and now it is time to look into the BB Playsets; Blazing Eagle, Shocking Shark and Wood Beetle.

 

First of all a big thanks to Dabbuu for sharing info and pics ones these interesting prototypes!

 

Unlike the BB Chariots in our previous topic these Playsets seem to be in a different phase of the design because if we look at the ones shown in the HASBRO 1987 Catalog (US) that can be found in the Original Takara/Hasbro Catalogs topic it is clear that the ones shown there seem to be from another (more early) stage in the design phase. So the ones shown here are somewhere in between those of the catalog and the actually released playsets.

 

 Hasbro Catalog 1987 -6.jpg   84.05K   69 downloads

 

There are a few things we know about these prototypes in general which have been clarified in time such as;

- The material these prototypes are made of is a kind of resin unlike the produced Chariots as we know them being made from Plastic.

- But unlike the proto Chariots who´re made of a clear resin and painted afterwards these are directly resin casted in the right colors.

- Some of these prototypes are slightly different than the actuall produced ones but these differences will be discussed below for each Chariot individual.

- All Stickers shown on these prototypes are handdrawn artwork and laminated.

- Unlike the 3 BB Chariots were the choices for the representative designs for water, fire and wood were questionable things seem to be worked out better for the 3 Playsets of which each is clearly representing one of the known BB symbols and a suitable Beast design is chosen as well. With the Shark representing the Base for the Water Beasts, the Beetle forms the base for the Wood Beasts and the Firebird is representing the Base for the Fire Beasts.

- From these 3 Playsets only the Shark can actually be traced amongst the actuall BB while the Bird could be an option but there´s surely no Beetle around in the designs we know so this has been another move away from the design choices they seem to have made with the Chariots of which each design was clearly traceable to one Beast.

 

At this point it is still unclear whether the Playsets or the Chariots were released at first, based on what we know I tend to say the Chariots were first since that would be in line with the thoughts above and the evolution of the designs as far as we´ve seen. But due to the fact that there´re probably prototypes out of different design phases this might be hard to check and verify with the info we have available. 

 

A few unanswered questions also arose here;

- Each of the 3 Playsets prototypes seem to hold a square to fit a symbol (?), similar to the squares we´ve seen on the BB Chariots.

- Some colors and details have been changed in favor of the production of the actual released playsets.

- As mentioned in the opening of this topic the Playsets as well as the Chariots seem to have been available in the US before they were released in Japan which is a very extraordinairy move that might give away a clue of the relationship between Takara (JP) and Hasbro (US) since it would make sense all releases were fully controlled by Takara IF they´d have higher (the original) rights compared to Hasbro but this thought might´ve to be mirrored for the Chariots and Bases designed by Hasbro. 

 

Now let´s take a look into the 3 Battle Beasts Playsets one by one;

 

 

Wood Beetle

 

 Beetle2.jpg   54.19K   53 downloads

 Beetle.jpg   54.42K   7 downloads  Beetle1.jpg   67.27K   5 downloads  Beetle3.jpg   52.92K   5 downloads  Beetle4.jpg   63.81K   5 downloads

 Beetle5.jpg   76.69K   5 downloads  Beetle6.jpg   61.61K   3 downloads  Beetle7.jpg   58.36K   5 downloads  Beetle8.jpg   64.01K   5 downloads

 Beetle9.jpg   64.14K   5 downloads  Beetle10.jpg   95.39K   4 downloads  Beetle11.jpg   113.88K   8 downloads  Beetle12.jpg   76.75K   9 downloads

 

 

Blazing Eagle

 

 Eagle.jpg   87.38K   7 downloads

 Eagle1.jpg   117.78K   6 downloads  Eagle2.jpg   85.58K   3 downloads  Eagle3.jpg   121.93K   2 downloads  Eagle4.jpg   89.46K   5 downloads

 Eagle5.jpg   86.17K   6 downloads  Eagle6.jpg   124.36K   5 downloads  Eagle7.jpg   102.76K   5 downloads  Eagle8.jpg   113.27K   7 downloads

 Eagle9.jpg   96.53K   5 downloads  Eagle10.jpg   66.96K   6 downloads  Eagle11.jpg   104.2K   5 downloads  Eagle12.jpg   102.44K   5 downloads

 Eagle13.jpg   88.38K   4 downloads

 

 

Shocking Shark

 

 Shark6.jpg   85.79K   7 downloads

 Shark1.jpg   61.87K   7 downloads  Shark2.jpg   69.78K   8 downloads  Shark3.jpg   69.88K   9 downloads  Shark4.jpg   53.42K   9 downloads

 Shark5.jpg   83.89K   7 downloads  Shark7.jpg   79.25K   11 downloads  Shark8.jpg   68.77K   7 downloads  Shark9.jpg   76.66K   8 downloads

 Shark10.jpg   62.76K   7 downloads  Shark11.jpg   63.29K   8 downloads  Shark12.jpg   76.22K   9 downloads  Shark13.jpg   47.49K   8 downloads

 Shark14.jpg   53.49K   8 downloads  Shark15.jpg   56.63K   8 downloads  Shark16.jpg   55.36K   7 downloads  Shark17.jpg   69.73K   8 downloads

 Shark18.jpg   43.3K   7 downloads

 

 

UNDER CONSTRUCTION, this topic is still in progress and will be updated/expanded with the missing info and pics as soon as possible!

 

 

 

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Edited by Beastformers, 02 October 2014 - 02:49 PM.

[CyberBeast]

Does anyone have any arts from boxes of these playsets or scans of boxes in high quality? I need wood playset art or boxscan and water playset. Thanks! 

[bot3ro]

I have a question regarding the Shocking Shark playset. How many guns did it come with? Because i think i'm missing the gun thats supposed to sit on the head of the playset. Got the claw thing and also the 2 guns that is inside of the playset. So i suppose i'm missing one or did it just come with 2 guns and the claw?