Hello toy fans.
I’m back again with another interesting review. This time we are reviewing Diamond’s Minimates Battle Beasts. Now before we begin, let me first explain these are not your 1985 Battle Beasts. The Battle Beasts from Minimates are based on the popular IDW comic Battle Beasts.
The Battle Beasts have come across the galaxy, in search of a powerful weapon. The heroes include Merk, a falcon, Orin, a ram, and Gruntos, a walrus. The bad guys are made up of Fenruk, a tarantula, Strictus, a rattlesnake, and Vachonus, a scorpion. Along with 2 human companions, Bliss Reynolds, and her brother Tate Reynolds. You can find all the characters listed above in two packs. Now that we have established the characters let’s get down to the toys.
There are four two packs which can be purchased at your local comic shops, and at diamondselecttoys.com. Diamond also announced there are exclusive packs that can now be purchased at Toys R Us. The figures sold in two packs are as follows:
- Gruntos and Tate Reynolds
- Merk and Fenruk
- Vorin and Vachonus
- Strictus and Bliss Reynolds
Let’s start with Detail.
As I began opening each pack, I noticed the attention to detail of all the Battle Beast characters have. Hooves for feet and tails on some of them. These are very close to being, as I would call it, comic accurate. Comic accurate meaning it seems as if they climbed right out of your comic and onto your shelves. Most of the characters came with 2 weapons except for Vorin, who came with a sword and a shield. Now the attention to detail on the weapons stands out to me because the weapons can be placed together to form a larger weapon. The human characters came with interchangeable arms. Tate comes with a skateboard, hat, and hair. And both came with what I can only assume is the praxis of hope, which looks like a gold glove they can wear that allows them to shield themselves from harm. They also come with battle stands to allow them to stand by themselves.
The packages are unique as well by giving back stories on the characters and why they are on one side or the other. The only downside to packaging I would have to say is no explanation about how the weapons go together, or in the case with the two packs of beasts, whose weapons are whose. Some of the beasts have to be put together as they would not fit in the package whole. Although I found it easy to figure out how to put them together, if you’re buying these for you children I recommend putting them together for them.
When it comes to the details, I would have to say my two favorite are these the walrus Gruntos, because he reminds me a lot of an old school brute warrior, and Strictos, the rattlesnake, because the detail put into the snake body stood out to me because of the attention to the rattle on the tail, as well as I would have thought they would make the tail bendable but they did not and it helps in body support. Do not get me wrong, the rest of the characters are well done as well, but if I had to choose those were my favorite of the bunch.
Next, we will cover articulation.
With multiple points of articulation the play factor is unlimited. Not to mention the fact that many of the body parts are removable giving you the ability to build your own beast with numerous. The fun factor I found was using your imagination to come up with the right combo for a beast never before seen. The other kicker here as well is you’re able to use their human counter parts in this combo as well, so I gave the male character a snake’s tail, and arm claws for a crazy combo. The combos are too numerous to explain everyone that I tried.
Uniqueness
The thing that sets the Battle Beasts apart from other figures is their animal quality, as it has been since the early eighties that we have seen anything close to these types of beasts. They make for an interesting set of figures to display among your collectibles. Again, these are not the same Battle Beasts you grew up with in, fact I’ll go as far as to say they overshadow those by a mile. With multiple weaponry at their disposal, the possibilities and replay factor are endless.
Overall
After opening these and playing around with them for a few days, I found myself going back over and over again, to figure out what combos I could come up with, as well as what poses I could set them up in. The paints the details and the multiple weapons made these characters enjoyable to play with. The only downside I could find on these was several factors that I must touch on.
I opened one pack with the tarantula Fenruk. As soon as I opened the package and pulled him out, one of his legs at a joint fell off. The other issue I had was with the skateboard that came with Tate. The wheels kept falling off and the second set of arms didn’t seem to fit the shoulder joint. Aside from these small issues, these are great figures, and I give them 4 out of 5 stars.
If you’re a fan of the comic, you will want these on your shelves even though you will find yourself wanting to play with them, and come up with your own Battle Beast combos. You can pick these up at your local comic shops or buy the Toys R Us exclusives now at toysrus.com.
Battle on my friends
