Posted 23 August 2009 - 12:10 AM
Here is the thing... I like Battle Beasts. I really like them. I also like Mini-mates. Quite a bit actually. I have all the DC MMs and a handful of others from across the MM spectrum. That being said, I do not like this initial glance at the Battle Beast line. Why, you may ask? For some reason this figures seems to fail on both fronts. Like some records, I did not want to dismiss it out of hand. Sometimes you have to listen to things a few times before you get it. So I have spent a lot of time mulling it over and I think I have it figured out.
The figure totally lacks 'charm'. Battle Beasts are loaded with charm. Random animals in armor with weapons. And let's face the fact that they are cute. Some border on adorable. Line up 10 similar size/ type of figures with one BB and ask a non-toy person to pick out the one with the most appeal. I would hazard a guess that the BB is going to be picked. I have found that women are strangely drawn to them. Why? Charm.
Charm also is the driving force behind mini-mates. It hinges on the process of taking a realistic character and transforming it into an abstraction. Once again, a cute abstraction. I find the tiny, cute William DeFoe from Platoon to be an especially good example of this. It is another toy that I have seen non-toy people fall in love with. If you are familiar with the MM brand, this is the strength. I can't actually think of anything that has been Minimate-ified that doesn't fall into that group. Marvel, DC, Movies and TV. It's just a stylistic overcoat applied to a pre-existing, robust fictional universe. That is what makes it work.
Now with our friend Gator Guard, the Mini Mate aesthetic is being applied to a property that already depends on a 'style'. For the most part comic characters, the roots of the MiniMate, are depicted as realistically as possible within the confines of their medium. Most other MMs are based on actual humans. The distortion, the suspension of ones expectation in regard to those characters, is easy to accomplish in these circumstances. With BBs, this is not a viable goal. BBs are loved because they are tiny and cute, not in spite of it. If that was the case all the Macfarlane style 'animal with weapon' figure I have seen in clearance bins in the past decade may have appealed to someone. I would go so far as to say the blanket application of the MM style is actually a step down in terms of aesthetic appeal. Gator Guard isn't horrible. He's not poorly sculpted. He's just bland. He lacks everything that makes BBs great. Even the extra articulation hurts. A BB at rest still looks more dynamic than poor gator guard at his best. Look at him. If you have ever owned a Mini Mate you know that the articulation is merely a formality. Because of his armor I promise you he will not be able to raise his arms, turn his head or be posed with his legs in any other position than the one pictured. I have a LOT of MMs... I know these things to be true. Yet vintage BB with their, count them, 2 whopping points of articulation seem literally poised to leap of the shelf. Dynamic energy is embedded in the sculpt.
I am not against the re-imagining of old beloved properties. I am all for it. However in a case such as this, style can only be evolved not over-ridden. Vintage aesthetics must be the jumping off point and not a footnote. I think the GI Joe 25th line is a great example of updating style. The charm of the vintage line remains intact, yet is embedded in within a distinctly modern identity. Hasbro could have trotted out straight reissues and a lot of consumers would have been pleased as punch. Despite being based on old designs, the figures feel new. But they also feel like the old ones, and most importantly feel right.
With this relaunch of Battle Beasts I don't think anyone who has ever held a BB is going to pick one up and say to themselves, "Now this is a battle Beast!"
And the block thing can be done well. I think the Takara Myclone figures really capture the spirit of Henshin Cyborg/Microman. They retain the charm of the brand while reinterpreting the toys as stylized block figures. I think to properly do a block version of BB you would have to start by engineering a new body type. Even a Quee would be a better platform than the MM type body.
Also, the set is weirdly expensive.
In closing this rant, I do have to point out that people who have never seen or owned a Battle Beast may like these. I can't see why, but they might. And I am sure hardcore MM collectors may like them. However MM collectors seem fickle. I have seen some great MMs sit and warm pegs for many long times, while the 85th version of wolverine or spidey flies out of the store. I am guessing at $30 for 2 figures this set is going to flop. I would bet that MM Battle Beasts are going to follow GI Joe Xtreme into the "things we shouldn't have done" section of toy history. At best we can hope it will at least raise BB up to a new visibility and someone else will take a proper crack at the brand.
I hope you have all enjoyed reading this. My next novel length post will be available in time for Christmas.