For the first time on the Beastformers Blog, due to high expectations, a post about a new project within the world of the Beasts. After many attempts over the past decade(s) none has been able to deliver THE Beasts of the 21st Century, a solid and worthy follow up for our beloved Beasts from the 80´s, until now?!?!
Scroll down past the introduction to go directly to the Interview
Introduction
All of you might know that The Beastformers White Rabbit is, and remains, quite skeptical about any attempt to do Beasts remakes, copies or bootlegs because it´s often that they´ve the potential to do more harm than good. Especially unmarked copies are a huge issue considering the risk of (new) fellow collectors being scammed by buying a fake copy instead of an original item. But this is nothing new and it´s something The White Rabbit will always resist against in order to defend and preserve the original Battle Beasts line. But to many of you this is nothing new.
What is new is this exception, a post about a new project which (for now) is about 3D printed Remastered models in a different size (6 inch / 15.4 cm) by the artist Socreativecat (go and check him out on Instagram). An artist that started posting some quick sketches of potential future new Beasts, to be printed in 3D.
Interesting and always good to see the original Battle Beasts line continues to inspire fans and artists from all over the world to make their own creatures and designs. But at the same time this was not something that stood out directly as it´s been something the BB Community had seen before often resulting in either a period of silence or a disappointing end result.
But not long after this was posted by the artist;
Also here goes that it´s an interesting and promising post but with the 3D programs around for many years now it´s not the first time someone made an attempt to get an original Beasts converted into a 3D digital model. But some interesting slight adjustments were made looking at the sculpt itself and with the preservation radar on guard one of the other first things that´s noted was the absence of the markings (which can also be a good way to make a figure distinct enough from the originals). A post that came with the announcement of a 6¨ Prototype being in the making shortly. And so it happened;
And it didn´t take long before the first 3D printed results came;
Followed by a completely printed 6 inch resin prototype of the Killer Carp Prototype from the Beasts Remastered Project by Socreativecat enough to make the BB Community go wild 😉
Awesome, right? And to prove this was actually a Prototype version a sketch of a very promising ¨Enhanced¨ version got posted shortly after.
Awesome designs like these are what the BB Community has been waiting for all those years, although it´s indeed a Remastered version of the original Carp but if those details can make it into a 3D version as well… Than we´re of to something good. And if this wasn´t enough a maybe even more promising sketch showed up of a mythical Beast of which only older, but very successful attempts by @TheGodBeast of a decade or more ago by now, are known since they never actually made it into a physical model originally; The God Beasts.
… Don´t think it´s to much said if this is something the BB Community is looking out for. With the old custom GodBeast molds worn out this could potentially become a great 21st century follow up.
Time to let the artist speak and explain, an exclusive Interview with Socreativecat about the Beasts Remastered Project.
INTERVIEW
I am self-taught. I had originally studied Computer Science at university and worked in network support and management. I work alone for now, but I am training an apprentice to help with some tasks. I worked as a 3d sculptor, concept artist (For products) and prototype maker. Previous to that, I worked as a carver of gemstones and organic materials. I do have a toy that will premier next year, from a DC comics character, but I am not allowed to talk about it. (Non-disclosure agreement). It’s my first toy release to the broad market.
Interesting, and a teaser at the same time. Reason enough to keep an eye out on your Instagram page or to start following you in order to find out what that ¨secret¨ toy will be.
My nickname is ‘Cat’ and I wanted a username that wasn’t similar to other instagram usernames. Plus I work at home and I consider my two cats (Leo and Cico) to be my workmates.
Ok, so you have two real Beasts as workmates great company to start a Beasts related project!
The Beasts Remastered line what will it be about?
‘Beasts Remastered’ is primarily about the community of Battle Beasts and Laser Beasts lovers, to continue to add to the original line of Beasts with my own designs and also to make larger versions of existing Beasts (‘Generals’, as I call them) in 6″ and larger sizes plus to preserve the designs (The original Beasts) digitally. I had seen a few attempts to re-ignite the Beasts line, but they seemed to want to make them ‘Newer and cooler’ and lacked the charm of the actual beasts. So I am careful to keep my original designs in the same proportions and aesthetics of the original Beasts.
This obviously sounds like music to our ears and the term ¨Generals¨ is an interesting one, probably makes almost all BB lovers go craving to own a General for their collection. Besides the existing Beasts coming up with your own Beasts designs is a very nice idea and based on some of the sketches we´ve seen from you before it´s very promising. It´s great to hear you´re paying attention to the fact that you´ll be careful about similarities to the original Beasts mentioning you´ll make them in other proportions.
Are there any other precaution you will take in order to make the Remastered Beasts distinct enough from the originals other than a possible size difference, will you be adding a socreativecat mark or logo to your creations?
The main precaution for the sculpts based on the originals is that I will not make 2″ (Of the existing designs, like Pirate Leo) pieces available. I will also put lettering in the spaces where the originals were marked, indicating that it’s a recreation of the Beasts Remastered project and the year of production.
That will definitely do, great!
You seem to be coming out of the Blue within the world of Battle Beasts and the BB Community so it´s probably not weird to ask for a little more explanation here.
How come you picked the Battle Beasts line for this project and what´s your own experience/memory to this toy line?
As a child, we never had extra funds for Transformers, Robotech, Battle Beasts, etc, so I generally admired them from afar. I was amazed that the designers could come up with SO many Battle Beasts designs and that each was randomly an element and that one could play out large scale battles with them.
It´s great to hear that even though you´ve not actually had an in hand Beasts experience before they´ve had such an impact on you. But you´re obviously not alone in this because the originals are an amazing and well designed line. Time to revive the line giving them a worthy 21st century continuation. A project like yours the Beasts Remastered line sounds promising…
My main intention is to continue and revive the Beasts lines as close to the original design aesthetic as possible. I plan to produce my own designs (Of animals and insects that were never used, plus maybe tree and fungus…) and to re-create the original designs in 3D (Which is much more labor intensive than to make a new design) and to allow the community to be a part of the project, by making suggestions, requests and sponsorship on Patreon.
Nice, so the BB can actively support you via Patreon to keep things going and stimulate you to make even more 21st century Beasts creations! (More information about the Patreon page below, including a direct link to the Patreon page).
I will release 2 new designs of my own (Sized and made to interact with the 2″ Battle Beasts and interchangeable gear), 1 original Battle Beast re-sculpt (Into 3D, as close as possible to the original) and 1 Laser Beast, per 1.5 months. I will be making 2″ resin casts of my original designs, articulated with magnets at first (To make the parts exchangeable between my new Beasts) and 6″ Battle and Laser Beasts.
No way!!, the Laser Beasts as well, and that in the 6¨ inch size… AND new Beasts every 1,5 month… This might become a problem for the new fans you´ve created because they´ll need a whole lot more space to display. At least they´ve some time now to start looking for extra space knowing the awesomeness that´s about to come.
Tell us a bit more about the production of the 3D Beasts what material are they made of and what can we expect in regards to articulation?
On the larger beasts, my idea is to add articulation (Via slotted rare earth magnets) to the neck, waist, arms and legs, depending on Patreon support. The larger beasts (6″ and up) will be 3D printed and finished (Sanding, etc). 3D printing keeps the weight of the figure down and production costs reasonable, for the meantime, until I can get funding for injection molding and vinyl figure production (I have experience in both of those. I might also do some resin casts in funky colors, but resins are heavy and relatively brittle. For my own designs at the 2″ scale, they will have leg and arm articulation via slotted magnets.
Neck, waist, arms and legs articulation, that´s 6!! points of articulation!? That would be awesome because it´ll finally give BB fans the chance to start posing their figures in ways they´ve never even imagined. Although the limited 2 points (arms) articulation of the original BB are well accepted and do have a huge charm their limited articulation could be considered as a little issue especially in the Instagram era for which Beasts with much more articulation definitely would be a lot of support.
Great ideas and plans, we´re all looking forward to, but let´s get back to the production and a few things about yourself as we´re nearing the end of this interview.
I primarily use Zbrush and Fusion 360. Zbrush is generally good for organic modelling and Fusion 360 is good for ‘hard surface’ modelling (Such as armor and gear, etc).So you are actually using two programs in order to get the Beast feel, result, you wanted that is great and based on the Carp you already shared it shows it´s a successful approach. About that Carp…Why did you decide to start with the Carp, a personal favorite or someone else suggested it?
I decided to start with Killer Carp, because one of the photos that I saw first when researching my project was @killercarp army of Killer Carp Battle Beasts and I thought that they could use a 6″ tall General.LOL of course it had to be someone within the BB Community, thanks Killercarp. I´m sure you´ll be getting your General soon leaving all the other Beasts Armies craving for theirs. I think we´d all have preferred to see our own favorite straight away because who wouldn´t?!Before we end this interview a final question.What´s your most successful project so far or what´s the project you´re the most proud of?
That I managed to keep two cats alive and well fed 😉Hahaha that´s an achievement indeed, congrats on that but I´m sure the BB fans are hoping for the Beasts Remastered to soon become one of your biggest successes 😉
To finalize…
Patrons will be able to donate a certain amount of money per month and receive perks, such as a selection of 2″ versions of my original designs, in random resin colors, artwork and 6″ and larger versions of the original Beasts.
Patreon will allow me to focus on producing new, shiny figures for the line and to continue the development special projects, like a series of poly-stone versions of the Meiji card art Beasts.
Reasons enough to keep an eye out on your Instagram as well as your Patreon page!
Again thank you for your time answering some questions on behalf of the BB Community, and other fans, as this will definitely help them making up their minds about this new and promising project. Good luck with it and The White Rabbit will definitely keep an eye out and stay in touch to see what´s next.
Enjoy (creating) the Beasts (of the 21st century)!
Patreon
As soon as the Patreon page for the Beasts Remastered Project goes live you can visit it directly by clicking on the header below to check out more of the details about the project or to start supporting!
Points of attention
Enough admiration so far and it is all looking good but there are still issues that need to be tackled or solved, thinking about things like arm and body part connections because right now it´s all glued (because it´s a Prototype stage) but the next step leans towards a magnetic solution which isn´t one that´d be in line with the BB vibe. The magnets have made their way into the custom ideas the past years and they do what they have to do but it´s not the solution that´d work for a successful 21st century BB line.
The material and future production plans because the 3D printing results still require a lot of sanding and priming before the actual result is satisfying enough. This might work for the main production piece which can be used to make molds of in order to start producing them in the more original way but it´s to time consuming to print them all in 3D to make it into a success probably(?).
Paint or no paint? So far some plain white or ¨Carbonite edition¨ Carps are offered but there´ll also be one available that received a custom paint. It´s looking pretty badass but the artists is a sculptor and not a painter so to do the sculpt even more justice maybe other artists who do paint figures like these should be included or leave it up to the BB fans themselves to have their Carp painted by the artist they prefer.
And another thing that sadly enough has to be mentioned, apart from the already impressive production speed, is that throughout the various posts on Instagram the artist mentioned various release moments or drops but none of them were actually realized at those moments… This might be overlooked if the work remains spot on but if a deadline is set and the community is highly alert about that because of the expected awesomeness it can only result into disappointment at some point.
Points of attention for sure but right now not more than that hoping all of them can and will get solved in a way that´ll work out well and the artist will prove us wrong!
21st Century Beasts?!
Whether the Beasts Remastered project will actually result in the 21st century Beasts we are all hoping for remains a question. The potential and ideas are definitely there, hence the reason it received this post on the Beastformers Blog, but time will tell…
One thing is for sure though that the success of the project will depend on the support it´ll receive from the BB Community and other toy(collector) fans word wide because as the artist Socreativecat stated there is a Patreon page in order to show your support and get going. Of course it´s up to everyone for him- or herself to decide whether to back this project but if you´re a fan and might be looking forward to your own Beast General, a 6¨ inch (15,4cm) version of your favorite Beasts it might be an idea to support the artist or at least to keep an eye out to see where things are heading in the future.
For now the future is looking bright and who knows, these might actually become the 21st century Beasts…
If you want to stay up to date go follow the artist on Instagram, Patreon or via the following hashtag for the latest news; #BeastsRemastered
Auction of the Painted Prototype Carp
The latest of the latest news is that the Auction of the Painted version of the Prototype Carp has now gone live for a limited period of time.
SOLD For $75 at auction.
Before closing this post it is important to mention that The White Rabbit nor the Beastformers Blog is in no way connected to this project. The reason why it did receive this post is because of the very promising and impressive results so far and aren´t we in the end all hoping for some awesome new Godbeasts? So far, based on everything known at the moment, The White Rabbit is definitely a backer of the Beasts Remastered Project.
Enjoy the Beasts!
The Beastformers Team
Beastformers Blog 
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