From the area that one might consider, "out of left field", comes this looked over piece of SDCC information.
Apparently, on display with the upcoming
minimates (
see photos here) was a single
Battle Beast, one that might remind folks of a certain
Battle Beast called '
Gruesome Gator'.
Minimate Gruesome Gator???
Vintage 80's Gruesome Gator images...
The biggest piece of news to come out of SDCC for Minimate collectors was the acquisition of a new license by DST. 80’s toy line Battle Beasts will be making the transition to Minimate form. An interesting aspect of this acquisition is that DST actually hold ownership of the brand rather than a licensing agreement, which opens the door to what they can do with the property. Expect to see your first Battle Beast in the previously announced Minimate Laboratory play set, due out later this year.
Battle Beasts in the U.S. were not related to Transformers except that they incorporated heat sensitive faction symbols too (wood, water, fire). Released in 1987, these rubber figurines were personified animals with weapons and armor that sided with others from their 'element'. The game you played with them was similar to rock, paper, scissors, with water beating fire, wood beating water, and fire beating wood...
Takara, the creator of these creatures, used Transformers to help promote Battle Beasts (called Beast formers in Japan) when some of these characters appeared on an episode of the G1 series
Transformers Headmasters called,
"Rebellion On The Planet Beast". After seeing this episode, and the relationship of Transformers and Beastformers in Japan, this collector nabbed a few of his favorite warring humanimals to include in his Transformers room.
So is this something of interest to the casual Transformers fan? Probably not. But for the children of the 80's, fans of the Japanese series, and others, this may bring hope that some very unexpected things get re-imagined, and re-created. So for those fans of Visionaries, M.A.S.K., Starriors, Wheeled Warriors, Centurions, C.O.P.s., Thundercats, Silverhawks, etc., don't lose hope, it seems even some of the very niche properties may indeed be making unexpected comebacks in the least likely places.
You can see the minimate SDCC wrap up
here.
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