Battle Beasts Minimates Not Quite Dead!

Hey everybody! I had a brief chat with Diamond Select today and they told me that the Minimates Battle Beasts line is NOT dead yet! No new products were shown, but apparently the concept still has some life in it. More as I can find it!

For the curious, no promotional Minimates were distributed at Toy Fair 2011. And not just Battle Beasts-- none at all were handed out this year, not even blank figures.

Review: Diamond Select Battle Beasts Minimates SDCC Gold Alligator

Depending on who you ask, Battle Beasts were either an unforgettable toy line of the 1980s, or cheap rubber trash. I loved the little guys, and I went absolutely nuts when a promotional Minimates Battle Beasts Alligator was given away at Toy Fair 2010-- and another at Comic-Con, and another at C2E2 and yet another with a carry case. So far only this one creature is being released, and according to Diamond Select they sadly have no plans to do any more. It's really a pity, as this little guy is awesome.
[ READ THE FULL REVIEW ]

C2E2 Battle Beasts Minimates

In case you missed the memo-- we did-- there was a black repaint of the aligator figure at C2E2 earlier this year.

It's essentially the same figure with a different (likely repurposed) firearm rather than a melee weapon. Neat! Now who can help us get one?

Minimates Gator To Actually Get Retail Release

The fourth (New York Toy Fair, C2E2, and SDCC) release of this mold will actually be available to buy! The first three Battle Beasts Aligator Minimates figures were exclusive to various shows, but this one according to the Art Asylum blog will see release through the upcoming Minimates carry case. Rejoice!

New Sculpted Battle Beasts Action Figures

Surprisingly, Diamond Select had a series of conceptual, fully-articulated, and supposedly 3 3/4-inch scale Battle Beasts action figures on display at their booth in San Diego this weekend for Comic-Con International 2010. Each figure is a brand new sculpt, lacking in the fire/water/wood game but fully carrying over much of the whimsy of the original line. We were quite pleased with the Iguana, Alligator, and Rhinoceros. The Octopus was a little goofy, and we hated the Ape.

Click here for all the figures via our Flickr feed.

San Diego Comic-Con 2010 Battle Beasts Figure

Here's a quick shot of the figure that was given as a gift-with-purchase at Comic-Con at the Diamond Select Toys booth. It's basically a redeco of the existing Gator, but with an axe rather than a sword. We'll have more on it shortly.

It is also worth noting that from my conversation with Diamond, this may well be the final entry in the line. So we got two figures. There were other Battle Beasts products shown, however.

The Latest: June 2010

The sad news is that very little has happened with Diamond Select's Battle Beasts Minimates line. The playset with the exclusive figure has seemingly been delayed forever, but word on the street has it that there will be a San Diego Comic-Con Exclusive freebie-- a gold redeco of the Alligator figure we featured from New York Toy Fair. Hey, it's something!

More as we have it.