If you´re ¨done¨ with your Battle Beasts (BB) collection or simply can´t get enough of the Beasts and are curious to see what more BB like or inspired toy lines there are around than this is the right place. Because there is still a whole world to explore when you decide to go down this Rabbit hole. Since, but even during the 80´s when, the Battle Beasts have been released, there have been quite a few Bootleg, Knock-Off, Revival attempts and other toy lines that seem to have been influenced or inspired by our beloved Beasts. A few of these lines are documented for you here on the Beastformers Blog;
During the 80´s and early 90´s
For a not really successful toy line, considering their relatively short life span and the abrupt ending, like Battle Beasts it´s quite remarkable to see that there have been quite a few Bootleg and Knock-Off lines produced. It´s a known fact that success attracts when it comes to toy lines and smaller toy companies simply wanted to jump in on huge successful toy lines. Coming up with weird Bootlegs or Knock-Off toys which were often different enough to stay out of trouble by violating copyright rules, although most often they didn´t seem to care and took the gamble anyway, but were more than recognizable enough to profit from the promotion that´s done for those lines by big companies like HASBRO. Especially in some countries and regions there seemed to have evolved a whole Bootleg vibe during this period resulting in the weirdest creations. Curious? Have a look here;
Mid 90´s into the early 21st Century
As ¨turbulent¨ as the years during and shortly after the release of the Battle Beasts might have been as silent did it become the years after. The 80´s kids who loved BB were growing up and it were times during which the internet didn´t have a much impact yet.
BUT in 1995 something huge happened and whether it is true or not you just can´t ignore the similarity purely looking at the main concept. Battle Beasts are Animal Warriors with an armor but who fight each other using their Battle Emblems (Symbols); Fire, Wood and Water. In Japan during the mid 90´s a new TV series was released in which Animal like/inspired characters were Battling each other and they´re divided into types; Fire, Grass, Water… A TV series that evolved massively into games, toys, and whatever more. A line we probably all know because it literally conquered the world and it´s still continuing to do so; Pokémon!
Is it just a coincidence that there seems to be a rather strong connection if you compare the BB and Pokémon concepts or might TAKARA´s Beastformers line actually be considered as the ancestors of the biggest success of all times…?
“Gotta catch ’em all!”
More activity and Revival attempts
After the loong period of silence during the twenty-tens the first online activity in regards to the Battle Beasts lines started to flourish with forums, like LRG, becoming more active and BB fans started to unite, discuss and gather information about the line. It was during these times that some important discoveries had been made and most of the weird Bootlegs and Knock-Offs actually were discovered simply because of the fact none had ever seen or heard about them before due to the fact they came from other countries or were available very locally.
In 2012 there suddenly was a huge stir up within the BB Community because TAKARA, which by than was already operating under the Takara Tomy name for years, announced a clearly BB inspired toy line called Beast Saga to be released in Japan!
A much (too long) awaited revival in the eyes of the BB fans resulting in the fact that the expectations for this line might have been unrealistic and based on the ¨success¨ it had in Japan despite all the efforts promoting it this might´ve also been the case for Takara Tomy. Like the BB back in the 80´s the Beast Saga line only lasted a few years and disappeared as sudden as their ancestors did.
Apart from this huge revival attempt by Takara Tomy THE company who designed the Beastformers (Battle Beasts) initially there have also been a few attempts to revive the BB spirit inspired by fans.
In 2014 founder of the LittleRubberGuys.com page came up with a toy line in the spirit of the BB called Rise of the Beasts;
And in 2017 there was an, unconfirmed but most likely BB inspired based on the likeliness of some characters, toy line released by the Italian toy company Diramix Srl called Megantik;
It´s unclear what and IF the next years will bring us another Revival attempt or maybe some hidden treasures from back in the days but if so you´ll find them here.
To be continued…
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