2012 seems to be the Year of the Beast! Since Toy Fair 2010 when we were endlessly delighted to see the very first Battle Beasts figure in decades from Diamond Select Toys, the big question was "what's next?" The roll-out of the Minimates has been slow and steady, giving other companies a shot at making similarly sized and themed figures of their own including Takara Tomy's
Beast Saga which was released in Japan mere days ago. They're roughly the same size as Diamond's line, although much simpler with a significant reduction in articulation and deco. Still, they're pretty dang neat!
When it comes to size, it's really cool to see Takara Tomy's
Beast Saga figures come in at about the same height as Diamond Select Toys' Battle Beasts Minimates. The Onell Design
Glyos Armorvor is by far the largest figure by about a head, while the vintage
Battle Beasts are about a head shorter. While
Rise of the Beasts have yet to make their debut, we're hearing the final toys should be sized similarly to
Beast Saga.
At launch, there are already over 20 figures in the main line plus 4 unpainted promotional unpainted beasts. To the right, you can see a rundown of the sharks with the vintage Sawtooth Shark compared to Killer Shark from the Beast Saga 3-pack and his clear plastic redeco from the blind-boxed line. It's notable that the clear Raioga (Lion) and Killer Shark figures have different weaponry than their 3-pack counterparts, so there are some interesting differences between each version of these characters.
While similar in size and aesthetics, these new beasts are larger. How big? Well, too big to be of much use on a vintage
Battle Beasts Shocking Shark playset in most spots. You can see the dolphin fits in the cell just fine, but the bat and other bulky figures simply will not squeeze in that tight of a space. If you were like me and hoping Takara might dust off these old molds for a reissue, I'm not particularly hopeful it'll happen in the context of Beast Saga.
The biggest change between these and 1980s Battle Beasts would be articulation and a new game element. Long gone is the paper/rock/scissors game and sticker on the chest. These have been replaced by dice and a launcher. Each figure has at least 2 dice, while the blind-packed guys sometimes come with a bonus "chase" yellow die.
The launcher is really nifty, and the same mechanism is in every figure. You can remove the launcher from the chest if you like, but doing so leaves an unsightly hole.
There's no spring-loaded mechanism here-- it's kid power. If you push the plunger all the way in, the hole in the chest is filled but since it's clear plastic, you can see a hole of sorts in the torso. It turns out there's a good reason for this. The rod is cast in clear plastic with a mirror strip in the back, meaning light can shine through the die in the chest and "light up" the logo in the figure's tummy. It's a simple, clever, and really brilliant little design... but that still means your figure has a big nasty mechanism in its chest.
The other new addition is the hip articulation, which honestly doesn't add a heck of a lot. The clear elephant has looser hip joints, and while they usually don't hurt the figure any, the legs can't swing forward on most figures to allow them to fit in other, similarly sized vehicles. It's nice to have the option of moving legs, but they don't bring much to the table here and don't have the range of movement seen on Diamond's figures.
I'm still photographing and opening figures as I write this, but I wanted to show you some early impressions in case you were considering getting these. Each unique beast line has its own pros and cons (not the least of which is customization and availability), but if you've got a few bucks to blow and don't mind dealing with Japanese instructions these are pretty neat. If I were you, I'd suggest hopping on the 3-packs first as they're pretty cool for the price.
Since I can't read Japanese and there aren't many fan sites yet, the Beast Saga name I see for the elephant is Eredoramu. So let's go with that. A distant cousin of Sledgehammer Elephant
of Battle Beasts fame, this new guy has tons of sculpted personality
but loses the nifty, dedicated arm weapon. Oddly, it has an upgrade
lance/spear weapon similar to the old 1980s toy, which I don't think is a
coincidence.
The good news! You can still get the Stealth Armorvor MK II right now for just $8!
The first wave of Beast Saga can probably put Dorfan (if that is his real name) as the single-carded winner. This is the
one that seemed to show up on Japanese blogs and photo sites the most in
those early days, with lots of customs, tributes, and galleries
focusing on what we all call the dolphin. Heck, they probably do too,
as "Dorfan" is just one name I saw around and I have no idea if this is
really the character name. It's pretty dopey if it is.
The second wave of Beast Saga hit in October with not too many new figures, Arudairu
joined Garrison G and a Kingdom of the Sky 3-Pack to add 5 more to the
growing army of battling beasts. I daresay this is a good batch, with
this figure being one of the big highlights of the entire line so far.
This one presoldout quickly online and doesn't seem too easy to get. It
might be $15 or so on eBay, which is a lot, but it's pretty much worth
it.
What's new for Legends of Chima? Brickshelf put up an amazing gallery of new toys which are probably going to start showing up in a store near you at the time I finish typing this sentence.
The third Armorvor to sell out is the clear, unpainted, colorless Stealth Armorvor.
While I personally am not too keen on clear figures, Onell Design
seems to have a plastic that really shines if lit properly. I haven't
seen a lot of discoloration either, so it's (so far, at least) easy to
see this as quality stuff. Many fans buy clear figures not to keep,
but to customize by dying them red or green or some other color and you
can find some really spiffy designs on the October Toys Forums and
elsewhere.
While initial solicitations seemed to indicate the assortment of Beast Saga figures would include unique and new sculpts, this was a lie. So those of us who preordered a case got figures like Dolphin Burst,
a clear redeco of a pretty solid design. Almost completely devoid of
paint (save for the eyes and dice), the Dolphin Burst seems to be cast
in a mix of clear blue and milky white plastics to give it an appearance
that's quite unlike anything I've seen as of late. "Clear white" or
"milky white" is pretty uncommon in toys, and this 2 1/3-inch tall
figure is a nifty one.
From the initial lump of clay to the product being in my house, a mere 3 weeks and change went by and I got a CyberGator
head of my very own. This head was sculpted by Jason Frailey (the guy
who sculpted the Armorvor figure design) as an alternate head for that
figure, but as of right now there are no plans to mass-produce it in
PVC. The GodBeast, a Glyos fan and amazing maker of toy things, cast
the head and is now turning out some high-quality copies of the head,
and the neck peg fits pretty perfectly in the Armorvor body as you can
see. The catch? It comes unpainted, so if you don't have the
equipment, skills, or expertise, it's basically a kit you'll never
complete. Unless you're crafty, in which case it's a great (if not
cheap) add-on to one of the more fun Glyos releases of the year.
While it's a well-known fact that Diamond Select Toys will be cranking out some Toys R Us exclusive Battle Beasts Minimates in a few months, we haven't seen too many of them until Diamond posted a couple of them to Facebook.
Also without a name as of yet for the character, this brown Scorpion will also be exclusive to Toys R Us, with the other version going to comic and specialty shops. It looks pretty fantastic in the up-close shot, and I'm happy to see critter mini-figures at the toy stores that aren't Littlest Pet Shop for once.
The first one sold out quickly, and the Hades Mimic Armorvor
(plus his clear companion) both sold out within minutes of their early
September launch. Much like early Matty Collector figures, Onell Design
has a few releases that basically require you make an appointment to be
online to buy them. At least three more Armorvor figures are promised
this year, so if you missed the ones featured here don't lose hope!
The launcher is really nifty, and the same mechanism is in every figure. You can remove the launcher from the chest if you like, but doing so leaves an unsightly hole.
