Battle Beasts [Shadow Warriors] (Toyline)

Manufactured by Hasbro
Released in 1987
Via Flickr Site, Toy Archive, Nijirain.com (Italian), Beastformers.Com, Sylvain Heyser's Beastformers page
Wikipedia Entry

This is gonna be a big one. Hold on to your hats!
Battle Beasts were cool to me. I loved rediscovering a toy when I was a kid and I would by scores of these lil' guys from the dollar store.
Most of this post will be info I found at other sites cuz, weirdly enuff, there's a lot of information covering Battle Beasts.
 

Wikipedia looks to tell us Battle Beasts, " ...is a line of small 2" tall action figure toys, in the form of an anthropomorphised animal with body armor and a unique weapon. Several figures have their left hand replaced by a weapon of some kind. Battle Beasts were created by Takara of Japan in 1987. Tomy Co., Ltd., aka K.K. Takara-Tomy, still owns the worldwide rights to the property. The heyday for the toyline came during the period in which it was licensed to Hasbro for distribution outside of Japan when Hasbro marketed the toys in America and many other parts of the world. Although in the Japanese market Takara branded the toys as a spin-off of Transformers and even named the toys "BeastFormers," their tie-in to the Transformers universe was not part of the Hasbro story or marketing. As part of the Takara strategy, many of the Battle Beasts appeared in the episode "Rebellion on Planet Beast" of the Japanese Transformers cartoon series Transformers: The Headmasters."

 

 

 

Toy Archive says, "Battle Beasts were small 1" tall figures released by Hasbro in 1986. Each Beast had heat sensitive sticker on their chest. When rubbed, it would reveal if the Battle Beast was Fire, Wood or Water. Each Beast also carried their own weapon. Vehicles and playsets were also produced, as well as a large assortment of novelty items. Hasbro released more figures to create a total of 76 different Battle Beasts. Starting with a White Lion (#1) and ending with a Orangatang (#76). Following the Battle Beasts were the "Shadowbeasts" or "Laserbeasts" in Japan. The heat sensitive sticker was replaced by a orb that you can see into that would depict which clan the beast belonged to. The new Laser Beasts carried Guns that resembled the creature who held it. The entire new series of 36 Laser Beasts and new vehicles were mainly released in Japan. The lower numbered Lasers were produced in Europe, along with a few unique sleds. North America only received 10 of the new Lasers packaged in Shadowbeast packages." 

Oh, but there's so more! After the first 3 series, they switched it a bit. Wikipedia explains, "The fourth and final Series released was renamed Shadow Warriors, or Laser Beasts in Japan. The heat sensitive sticker was replaced by an orb that could be seen through, depicting which clan the Beast represented.
The Shadow Warriors had a new slogan on the American package that read Fire! Wood! Water!... Only the crystal shield will reveal their strength!. Shadow Warriors carried guns instead of the hand-to-hand weapons that the Battle Beasts had, and each gun resembled the creature which it belonged to."

Did I mention there are vehicles and bases? While I could never find any (nor the Shadow Warriors rebranded toys), I did recently see some Chariots for sale at a local flea market. Too bad I didn't have any Battle Beasts to stick in 'em. Wikipedia says, "A decent amount of vehicles were released throughout the line. For the Battle Beast line, three chariots and three bases were released that looked like animals, each came with one figure that was not unique to the vehicle. The chariots were able to hold up to three figures comfortably and each had its own name: Tearin' Tiger, which looked like a tiger, Big Horn which looked like a ram and Deer Stalker which looked like a deer. All the chariots had a pull-back motion that would spring the vehicle forward when it was released. The three bases were the Blazing Eagle, Shocking Shark and Wood Beetle. Each base had a unique symbol theme that matched the "Fire, Wood, Water" concept that the line was based on. Each base could hold several figures and had a jail-cell with which to hold captured Beasts."

 

Toy Checklist -

Series 1

1. Pirate Lion
2. Deer Stalker
3. Ferocious Tiger
4. Colonel Bird
5. Killer Carp
6. Triple Threat Snake
7. Horny Toad
8. Sledgehammer Elephant
9. Rocky Rhino
10. Roamin' Buffalo
11. Grizzly Bear
12. Blitzkrieg Bat
13. Gargantuan Gorilla
14. Swiny Boar
15. Grusome Gator
16. Sly Fox
17. Hardtop Tortoise
18. Rubberneck Giraffe
19. Prickly Porcupine
20. Sawtooth Shark
21. Danger Dog
22. Hare-Razing Rabbit
23. Sir Sire Horse
24. War Weasel
25. Bloodthirsty Bison
26. Bighorn Sheep
27. Webslinger Spider
28. Crusty Crab

Series 2
29. Icky Iguana
30. Armored Armadillo
31. Jaded Jaguar
32. Humungus Hippo
33. Major Moose
34. Delta Chameleon
35. Kickback Kangaroo
36. Octillian Octopus
37. Wolfgang Walrus
38. Powerhouse Mouse
39. Dragoon Raccoon
40. Antic Anteater
41. Run Amuck Duck
42. Miner Mole
43. Cutthroat Cuttlefish
44. Eager Beaver
45. Slasher Seahorse
46. Knight Owl
47. Hunchback Camel
48. Pillager Polar Bear
49. Squire Squirrel
50. Saber Sword Tiger
51. Bludgeoning Bulldog
52. Pew-trid Skunk

Series 3
53. Panzer Panda
54. Leapin' Lizard
55. Killer Koala
56. Tarsier Tyrany
57. Black Panther
58. Torrential Tapir
59. King Cobra
60. Manic Mandrill
61. Pixelated Pointer
62. Pillager Pig
63. Rowdy Rooster
64. Musky Ox
65. Tangolin' Pangolin
66. Slowpoke Sloth
67. Ardent Aardvark
68. Bodacious Bovine
69. Zealot Zebra
70. Harrier Hawk
71. Diving Duckbill
72. Crooked Crow
73. Frenzied Flamingo
74. Fleet-Footed Antelope
75. Pugnacious Penguin
76. Ossified Orangutan

Series 4 - Shadow Warriors

77. Blue Eagle

78. Spark Shark
79. Sailon
80. Anarchy
81. Tigerburn
82. Condorassin
83. Grand Wolf
84. Fly Sailor
85. Zariganian
86. Rainbow Sam
87. Shool
88. Brain Mouse
89. Brown Lion
90. Grencats
91. Fight Horn
92. Hustlebear
93. Battle Fennec
94. Killer Hound
95. Dragon Seahorn
96. Strong Hurricane
97. Sea Panic
98. Puzzlecolor
99. Mantfrenzy
100. Scoup Cougar
101. Skullgrotess
102. King Buster
103. Slag King
104. Jeerer Monkey
105. Hornhead
106. Monkey Fighter
107. Flying Dragon
108. Kickback
109. Skybat
110. Grin Reefer
111. Salmomanther
112. DinoGator

Chariots
Tearin' Tiger
Deer Stalker
Battling Big Horn

Transports
Shocking Shark
Wood Beetle
Blazing Eagle

Battle Chargers
Battle Eagle
Battle Buzzsaw
Battle Savanna