4 replies to this topic

[lord]

The last Hasbro/Takara wave of Battle Beasts was 24 years ago. 24 years with nothing for the lovers of this small action figures. 24 years later 2012 is the year of the Battle Beasts with no more than 3 new line directly inspired by the vintage beasts.



First we have the "official" one produced by Diamond Select Toys. I said official because DST is the actual owner of the "Battle Beasts" name. Their first promotional figures were a Minimated variation of the old Gruesome Gator and were distributed about 2 years ago. The figures were cool but not so much. A few day before C2E2 the all new Battle Beasts website went live. It revealed the all new way DST has choosen for the line. Finally the sculpts are moving away from the original figures from the 80's which is the best thing DST could have made. The first revealed figure is a new promotional one : Vorin (a ram beast) in a clear red scheme. I don't have it yet so I can't say any more. But I like a lot the new way DST is gonna produced their Battle Beasts figures.



Then we have the new line from Japan named Beast Saga. There isn't a lot of information about this new TAKARA/TOMY figures appart the double side page showing prototypes. The figures look cool. They look like the vintage ones with a new feature instead of the rubsign. The announcement of this new line was made in Japan just a few days before the DST website launch. In fact both happened in the first 2 weeks of the same month! There is nothing more about the Beast Saga at this day.



And finally came the Armovor from Onell Design, Marty Hansen and Jason Frailey. The Armovors are a totally new line of toys inspired by the vintage Battle Beasts. They are fully articulated and made of 17 parts. The Armovors are part of the Glyos universe so you won't be surprised by the fact taht you can swap every part and make your own Armovor version. Like Battle Beasts and Beast Saga the Armovor are not yet in production. I have been lucky enough to get the prototype you can see in pic. I hope that the production of this beauty will happen very soon. I need to get more of them. I need an army of them. I nearly forgot. The Armovor is sold with a robot head for those who don't like the beast head.



In conclusion, 3 new lines that can claim for the Battle Beasts heritage.
The new "Battle Beasts" even if they have the official name are more a new vision of the line than a true successor of the vintage one. That doesn't prevent them to be very good looking figures. To be honnest I already have all 4 promotional gators and I won't stop here. I will buy every single figure DST will produced for its Battle Beasts line if they all look like the newly revealed Vorin.
The new "Beast Saga" from Japan is certainly too young to be totally sure of what to think about. I even don't have a figure yet. The prototypes revealed let me think that those will be great too. A new version of the Beastformer with new features. They look like the vintage ones (same proportion, same articulations, etc) if we can trust the pic. So a new line (with a new name) that is nearly the same thant my beloved Battle Beasts ... I'm in for sure.
And then the Armovors! If the DST's beasts are a new vision, the Tomy/Takara ones reissue then the Armovors are the perfect evolution of the battle Beasts. They are what fans have been waiting for years. In fact they are what I would like have been able to buy in stores in 1989 if the line hadn't been canceled. They are only missing the HASBRO/TAKARA copyright on the back to be full part of the vintage line.

On a side note, if someone know a place where I could sell my childrens ... All this beasts are gonna empty my wallet at the speed of the light.

[Edrixx]

Awesome write-up. Thanks!

[Beastformers]

OK +1 for LORD, thanks for this quick review!

I've to admit that the Armorvors Fox/Wolf like fig is a pretty good try and I would even consider buying it, to bad I looked further into these Armorvors resulting in some less great designs showing up........... please stop with these transparent figs!!! Why? But guess this is a personal taste issue

On that DST Vorin Grey ram beast I can be short, what were they thinking at DST launching such a fig as promotion figure for their great new line. Sorry to say but the way this fig is standing it looks like its severely injured already or at least it doesn't have the most powerfull and impressive appearance........... Hope the Rise of the Beasts line is learning a wise lesson from this one. Because it looks like to many joints could also become an issue.

Let's hope Takara/Tomy still have the right skills as for now the Beast Saga figs look most promising.
If so I'm affraid DST will end up having the original name while Takara is runnin away with another great BB 're-launch' They still have the skills in Japan that's for sure looking at those prototypes!

[FANtomCore]

Rise of the Beasts should be included in this write-up. I would consider theses, but to be honest I think the lion looks like a miniature Thundercats figure and doesn't feel like BB, to me DST's Gator is closer to BB than the ROTB Lion. Also PI's complications with manufacturing and now coupled with the fact that they could be facing multiple competitors makes me wonder if ROTB is really going to move forward under these circumstances. But when the Gold Lion does come out for sale, I would really like to get it because most likely that figure will be a great memorabilia piece that could represent what could of been (or might still become). ANTICIPATING

But yeah the most promising new launch has to be Beast Saga series because its the most closest rendition to the original BB line. But since the line is barely even in the prototyping phase in Japan, it seems most likely we won't see a U.S. release anytime soon much less in 2012, maybe 2013. HOPING

So as of right NOW, DST is about to do a full Battle Beasts launch in the U.S. so to me this is the line to focus on. Do to ease of availability and price. READY

Armorvor is a very new project from the likes of TGB & JF. They are an awesome combination of skills, but because they are independent toy makers, the prices of their stuff is high. Unless they charge at the prices of the Glyos store, then it would be an easy scope up of the entire series thus far. But I never liked the assorted colors or transparencies that much as I prefer an actual checklist of products I can base my collecting on, but the variation variety makes its feel like your not actually collecting an official toyline but rather a custom fan-made one, which seems to be the case, since you can not go to the Glyos store and buy a specific figure with an INTENDED PRIMARY color scheme. So i think Armorvor will become a frustrating series to collect if your a complete-ist because there is no ORIGINAL SET to collect just custom variety. I might try to collect this, if I can order all the figures in a singular color scheme to save me the frustration of having a rainbow set. This is reason why I didnt bother collecting Glyos in general, because there is no way to have a SET collection so to speak. CAUTIOUS

Edited by FANtomCore, 14 April 2012 - 03:30 PM.

[Ghost Lion]

I added a review of the DST Beasts in the DST thread, but thought I'd add a bit on the Armorvor here:
I am a big fan of the Glyos figure system. The playability is just incredible. The figures are so sturdy and you can get very creative with them. The Armorvor is whatever you want to make of it. So far this collaboration by Matt Doughty, Jason Frailey, and Marty TGB Hanson is in the made to order prototype stage. Contact TGB and he will make you one specified to your color choices, or he has some awesome colorways already made. Now these should be considered high dollar prototypes. Matt has hinted in a recent interview that these have gone or will soon go to production in China and will be sold for the standard incredibly affordable Glyos price. That said these prototypes now work very well with the Glyos parts and I have been having a ton of fun with them. Not only that, but the heads you can buy, some sculpted by Jason and some by Marty, are a very affordable $15 and can be used on the Armorvor or any Glyos body. Here's a few new pics I took today:


Ghost Lion:





This one utilizes Spymonkey Creations pieces (Glyos compatible)