Rise of the Beasts Update: Gold Lion and New Sculpts

Jon Karis wrote in with some new pictures and info from his Rise of the Beasts toy line!  He writes:

"So, back in the beginning of May, we got some pictures of the sample of the Gold Lion figure. You may or may not have seen them. Needless to say, the sculpting was really close to the original 3D figure, but the head and arms were badly out of proportion. Had they been done right, you would be getting a mailing address request from me right about now. However they weren't. >-<
So, we ended up having the Lion printed at 80mm to send to them as a reference. It arrived today along with a couple others. The Rhino at 60mm and a totally new figure (not shown). They are going to a friend down south this weekend, who is going to make some silicon molds and repro them. We'll use those to make not only an articulated prototype for the Lion to send to the original (80mm) factory in China, but also articulated proto s of the Rhino and his buddy to send to the current factory we are working with. And we will go from there.

At some point (once we get the final gold lion figures from China), if Kickstarter allows it for cancelled projects, I will send out a survey to get shipping addresses from all of you who are due a freebie gold lion. If I can't send the survey, I'll just post an update asking you to email me your info and ship that way.

I'll also be posting an update again, if the pricing with the new factory works out and we can bring you the figures at the same price as before. If it doesn't work out, we will just keep on working with the other options that we have going. There have been a few concerns voiced about not being able to get the same pricing on these figures when they do come out, and let me just say that I feel it is kind of pointless to come to market with these UNLESS we can give you that price point."

There's more!  You can read his info posted to Little Rubber Guys over here and more on Kickstarter over here.

Diamond Select Posts SDCC Battle Beasts Gallery

On the Faces Book, Diamond Select Toys posted a really slick gallery of Vorin vs. Vik, the 2012 Comic-Con exclusives.  To the left, you'll see a delightfully freakish mutation made from mixing the two figures' parts up which begs the question: "Will we get enough parts to cobble together some Wuzzles before 2013 ends?"  Many scientists believe the answer may be "yes."

Surprisingly, this gallery also shows that there's deco UNDER Vorin's armor, and other nice little painted details that I'm going to guess none of us knew were there.  Slick!  Check 'em out.  These may be the first customs from the line.  Maybe.  (You decide.)

Also, some stores will  be selling these outside of the convention like sponsor/employer/advertiser Entertainment Earth, check for pricing and availability.

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 SDCC 2012 Exclusive 2-Pack, $8.99

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The retailer is offering  Battle Beasts SDCC 2012 Exclusive Minimates 2-Pack for $8.99 and the  Battle Beasts #1 SDCC 2012 Exclusive Edition Comic Book for $5.49.

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Saikyo Jump #7 Has More New Beast Saga Figures

The great Sylvain received Saikyo Jump #7, which sports a ton of new figures!  Go to his site for the scoop, and note it's in French. (The picture captions are, of course, in Japanese.)

With these pictures, we're up to about 28 confirmed figures including solid-color/clear color pack-ins, and these guys might have unique deco as well.   They're wasting no time making sure Beast Saga grows into an army!

A bull, a couple of birds, a tanooki, and a few others seem to be on deck so this should be an interesting launch. 

Beast Saga Video with CG Animation

I've received a few emails and noticed a post on Sylvain's site for the new Beast Saga video, which you can see on TakaraTomy.com.  It's not quite a commercial, but it is about a minute long, computer animated, and has English narration.  We now know there are three beast tribes and we can get a peek at what look like a few more future figures.

It's not as memorable (nor as goofy) as Hasbro's original ad, but it does a good job of saying "Here is a new line of figures, also, we enjoyed Dragon Ball Z too."

SDCC 2012 Battle Beasts Exclusives Revealed

Battle Beasts #1 Exclusive SDCC Cover

 Diamond Select Toys sent us an email with their various exclusives, and you can see the whole thing here.  But you're here for the Battle Beasts, so here's what they had to say:

"The first issue of IDW's new Battle Beasts comic book mini-series is here, and SDCC will have its very own cover! Depicting heroic beasts Vorin, Merk and Gruntos about to do battle on the steps of the San Diego Convention Center, this souvenir edition will be available from Diamond Comic Distributors (Booth #2401) and Diamond Select Toys (#2607), as well as numerous retailers on the show floor."

Also!

Battle Beasts Minimates Vorin and Zik 2-Pack

"The first series of Battle Beasts Minimates won't be out until this fall, but Diamond Select Toys is offering fans a preview set that's only at SDCC! The fully painted two-pack of 2-inch Beasts includes the heroic ram Vorin, star of the IDW comic series, and an all-new villainous dragonfly character, Zik! Available from Diamond Comic Distributors (Booth #2401) and Diamond Select Toys (#2607)."

Also exciting was confirmation of a build-a-Minimates station at their booth, although no explicit comments about which brands of parts were made available, nor was pricing on any of these fine items.  Stay tuned for more as we  have it.

New Beast Saga Group Shot from Saikyo Jump #7

Your pal and mine Sylvain from Dragonautes 2010 posted a new image from Saikyo Jump #7, a Japanese publication which seems to be the best (only) source of new data about Takaratomy's upcoming Beast Saga figures.

I grabbed the image and enlarged it in Photoshop, which provides slightly better (but not great) looks at several figures including a few we haven't seen before, like a panda and what may be a cat in some sort of crown.

The first wave of these guys is due in Japan in September, and if I read the dimensions on the solicitation right they're expected to fit in boxes which are around 60 mm tall.   As always, more as we have it!
[ SOURCE: Dragonautes 2010 ]