It’s the Final day of the year and the final hours are ticking away and with that the Year of the Dragon will come to an end. To summarize this year for the Beastformers Blog you could say there’s only one word that´s applicable; SLOW.
For the first time in years there´ve been very little (visible) Updates to the Blog but that doesn´t mean it’s actually been a slow year because there´s still a whole lot to add and preserve when it comes to our beloved toy line Battle Beasts!
There´s not really one main reason for the fact that there´ve been so little new Post and Pages added but there are a few reasons that have resulted in this outcome. The 3 main ¨problems¨ were; TECHNICAL ISSUES, DELAYS and REPRODUCTIONS… ok and maybe a bit of perfectionism 😉
In this Post The White Rabbit will give a brief insight into these 3 reasons but first and foremost let´s acknowledge that the main goal for this year that´s set for the Beastformers Blog as mentioned in the 2024 YEAR OF THE WOOD DRAGON, namely the completion of the Beastformers Checklist for the COMMON* 112 Beasts (76 Battle Beasts and 36 Laser Beasts) has been ¨successfully¨ completed. If you haven´t checked it out yet go and have a look;
Despite the fact that this Checklist was composed with the utmost care The White Rabbit is still not completely satisfied. It actually bumped into a Grammar Error, Slasher Seahorse was posted without the final E (Seahors). For the Beastformers Blog this has been adjusted but this is (not yet the case for the version that is available via Instagram via #BeastformersChecklist ). All posts there have been posted in correct order but ¨thanks¨ to Instagram’s algorithm and/or changes to no longer display posts in chronological order, the whole main idea of composing an easy so consult Checklist there didn´t work out as expected. This together with the fact that some of the (primarily) White Beasts don´t really show well against the chosen White Background setting makes that some adjustments are required, it´s probably nitpicking and most of you won´t bother or even notice, in the eyes of The White Rabbit it matters.
There´s also an idea to make a Beastformers Checklist poster that´ll be FREE to Download and it might actually be printed in a Limited Number if there´d be any interest in that? But that won´t be done until The White Rabbit is ¨fully¨ (that´ll never happen) satisfied with the result and it´s something that´d also look good within the Beastformers Dungeons because once that´s the case it´ll surely be an addition to any BB Collection.
Although most of the Updates to the Beastformers Checklist have not been visual to the main page there have been Updates there almost every Sunday this year, since there has been one Beast, mostly Laser Beasts the last period, added to the Checklist.
So it might´ve looked slow but you can rest assured that behind the scenes there’s been some activity going on also within the Beastformers Archaeology Project which is where we´ve been discussing all the translations which have been used.
*COMMON: There have been some comments and questions in regards to the usage of the term COMMON within the Beastformers Checklist. The reason why this has been been used is because of the fact that overtime the Beastformers Checklist will evolve into an even more complete Checklist which will also hold other less Common Beasts. With the wide variety of Beasts and their releases worldwide this terminology should help and clarify all collectors so they all know what to look for if they want to go for a full set of all 112 Beasts. Of course the 12 High-End Laser Beasts, the Japanes Exclusives, are not Common in general because they weren’t available anywhere else in the world other than Japan. But once you get to the point that you start looking for them the Beasts you’ll find within the Beastformers Checklist are most likely the ones you’ll find, hence they’re called COMMON. In a lot of countries only Series 1 was released so for collectors in these countries even Series 2 or 3 Beasts are not Common at all. It really depends on the perspective but the main importance is that when you’re looking for Beasts and consult the Beastformers Checklist there’s a high chance the Beast you’re looking for is actually shown there because it’s most COMMON (most produced) version of that specific Beast.
NEW DISCOVERIES
Also in regards to new discoveries 2024 wasn´t slow at all because there have been some rather amazing discoveries as well. Some snippets of this have already been shown by fellow Beast collectors via Social Media, like the so-called ¨Marcia Moll Beasts¨ that were auctioned via Ebay. Marcia Moll was the Assistant Product Manager at HASBRO who was in charge of the Battle Beasts line. So these Beasts will definitely be getting some extra attention on the Beastformers Blog in 2025. This probably was the find of the year although The White Rabbit added something rather Mysterious to the collection as well which might eventually be communicated as well. In both cases the two of earlier mentioned problems namely DELAYS and REPRODUCTIONS… play a key role for the fact that they haven´t made it onto the Beastformers Blog yet.
There are probably quite a few findings and discoveries The White Rabbit forgot to mention but one thing is for sure, even after all those years the Battle Beasts line is able to surprise us with new things that continue to pop up. So also for 2025 goes, keep your eyes open and your ears up!
BATTLE BEASTS CUSTOM CREATIONS
And last but not least 2024 has been a rather amazing and quite active year when it comes to awesome fan made Battle Beasts creations! In completely random order, and without pictures so you´ll be more teased to actually visit the Instagram Accounts, because all are amazing in their own uniqueness;
BATTLE BEASTS REDUX: The Battle Beasts REDUX line by @Battlebeastsredux really captures the spirit of the original Battle Beasts very well and by now already holds 5 amazing Beasts designs that are all definitely worth checking out!
COSMIC BEASTS: Another artist and Battle Beast fan who´s been creating some impressive Beasts in a unique style is @The_Cosmic_Bird_Customs. And not only has he been doing amazing and unique designs but he also had the guts make his version of the Mythical ¨Godbeasts¨ aka Oracles. Guess what that´s not it because together with @Exactobeast he also created the two ¨Lost Beasts¨ the Old Dog Prisoner and Monkey Kid which both appeared in the REBELLION ON PLANET BEAST Episode. Reasons enough to go and check out that Instagram account as well!
ANGRY AXOLOTL: Now how cool does that sound…right? Pretty badass and so is the figure made by @GrimElementals rumors go there´s an Exclusive Drop of these in a Limited Pink Version on January 5th 2025 but you´d have to check out his Instagram Account for more details but they´ll probably become Available via his Shop;Better be fast, good luck!
For all 3 of the above mentioned Artist goes that there will be REVIEWS of various figures coming to the Beastformers Blog. BUT this can only be done properly once they´ve been physically added to the Beastformers Collection. And with that we return to one of the ¨problems¨ DELAYS.
The White Rabbit is out to see the Annual Planet Beasts Fireworks, aka #BeastformersNightSkyNYE, shortly so here´s a brief explanation concerning the 3 earlier mentioned ¨Problems¨ which are to blame for the Lack of Updates on the Beastformers Blog.
The 3 “problems;”
TECHNICAL ISSUES
Not only is The White Rabbit a perfectionist it´s also a creature of habit which that all the editing and designing for the Beastformers Blog has and still is done on the same old laptop since this Blog started 10 years ago, and back in the days it’s already a couple of years old. But with this and the stubbornness of not being willing/eager to change it has resulted in the fact that older Browsers no longer cooperate when doing the editing via WordPress which is where the Beastformers Blog is housed. This is rather frustrating because it means that the editing now has to be done via a smartphone which does change things a little and it’s less convenient. With the previous MOLD PARTNERS post it looks like it turned out quite ok so that´s a positive thing we´ve to look into to keep things going. A real collector will always weigh it´s options before spending money on anything other than Beasts so The White Rabbit might try to push the good old workbeast laptop into 2025 as well 😉
DELAYS
In 2023 the Beastformers Blog celebrated it´s 10th Anniversary but it wasn´t given a whole lot of attention, the idea was to do this in 2024 with 1 year delay but that clearly didn´t work out either. Who knows with a 2 year delay there might be something coming in 2025. A great artist has been working on something that’s finished but still needs some work before it’s completed as the piece it´s planned to become, so yet something else that´s delayed.
And the biggest delay is in the fact that outside of the Beastformers Dungeons there are various ¨Beastformers Hubs¨ around the world where Battle Beasts items are gathered/accumulated to combine multiple items into one bigger package. None of those packages have been sent in 2024 and some even hold items who´re purchased in 2023. Another habit of The White Rabbit, some of you might be familiar with (especially the artists), is that it´s pretty laid back and not really in a rush. This is also the case with those packages so that makes that a lot of things that should´ve been published on the Beastformers Blog by now are delayed because there ¨No Rush”
It´ll come eventually, with some Delay 😉
REPRODUCTIONS…
That´s not even a word that deserves it´s place on the Beastformers Blog because it instantly evokes a feeling of disgust. As some of you might know The White Rabbit is a purist and has always been in the frontline when it comes to calling out so-called ¨Artists¨ who simply Reproduce Battle Beasts or part solely for their own benefits and monetary reasons. It are those kind of people who do a lot of harm to the original line because thanks to those ¨artists¨ fellow collectors get burned by buying a FAKE Stone Cobras (check: The Stone Cobra Scam) or other Beast items that aren´t original but are sold as such or which are completely unmarked which opens up the risk to be sold as being original. When Reproductions show up The White Rabbit is often one of the first to reach out to those creators in order to confront them with the concern and the potential risks which come with it and there´s always one kindly asked request;
Can you please add a marking like a makers mark or a date of production somewhere on the figure/item?
It doens´t matter where it´s placed or positioned as long as it´s on the figure/item so it´s distinct from the original items and it can´t be accidentally mistaken. This sounds like a very reasonable request imho and if you´re proud of what you´re creating a maker mark would make quite some sense as well so fellow collectors know who made it and can reach out to the maker in the future again to purchase more. At least that´s what you´d expect… In reality The White Rabbit has been called out for being a bully and worse for even asking. This is quite frustration because the goal of this Blog is to inform all collectors and to preserve this toy line as good as possible and this also includes protecting not only the original line but also to help fellow collectors from getting burned.
It started with the more desired items like Stone Cobra but in 2024 also a page for Reproduction Battle Beasts weapons showed up, really, what´s next?
Due to these developments The White Rabbit has also become much more careful sharing valuable and delicate information because although they (those Reproduction ¨Artists¨) don´t want to have anything to do with the Beastformers Blog still lurk out here and benefit from all the information that´is freely available. There are a few mysterious finds and topics that´d really be amazing to share here with the BB Community but in order to protect the original line and the collectors within the BB Community against ¨them¨ that´s just not possible (yet(?)). And sadly enough it’s unclear if that´ll ever change…
Unwilling ¨Artists¨ who´re not willing to put any kind of Marking onto a Reproduction are only in it to benefit from fellow BB Collectors because if they actually cared and knew the potential threats they bring into the collecting hobby they would add a marking instantly. Because when doubts and uncertainty enters within a Community of Collectors, when you can no longer tell if something is original or not, they´ll also have no place to sell to any longer… But they probably don´t care and move on to ruin someone else´s hobby. This is something we as the BB Community will have to step up to!
This definitely is a frustration and getting called out while stepping up for the Battle Beasts line and the BB Community isn’t always easy but no worries The White Rabbit has grown and Elephant skin over time and it’ll continue to do what it does best, to Protect and Preserve the Beastformers/Battle Beasts toy line!
Enough technical issues, delays and frustrations up to a new year with hopefully more Updates to the Beastformers Blog because 2024 wasn´t the best year, now you know why.
See you back (somewhere) in January for the Annual Review/Preview Post and for another year of ¨Beasting¨ because the Battle Beasts toy line will also in 2025 continue to amaze so don´t let anything stop you to;
Enjoy the Beasts!
– The White Rabbit –
Beastformers Blog 