Battle Beasts was a toy line consisting of small anthropomorphic animals in body armour; each toy came with its own individual weapon. Released in the mid 1980’s, each Battle Beast would have a heat-sensitive sticker on its chest, which, when rubbed, would reveal the symbol of wood, fire or water. You could then play a rock, scissors, paper-type game using the toys with your friends.
Name: Web Slinger Spider
Line: Battle Beasts
Manufacturer: Hasbro/Takara
Released: 1986
Price: Then – around $5- $10 (estimate) Now – roughly the same loose, more MOSC
Scale: 2 inches in height
Accessories: Blade/sword weapon
I discovered Battle Beasts when I was in primary school. I was in the school library looking through the magazines there and came across a full-page colour ad. Now, this magazine was pretty old and this was the mid 90’s, so there was no way to learn more about these cool-looking toys. I do remember I liked the look of most of the toys, Web Slinger Spider being the best. Fast forward to today, and with the internet, it’s pretty easy to rediscover and find things you remember from your youth. Thanks to Alex Bickmore and Super Toy Archive, I now not only know more about these toys, but I was also able to buy them too.
SCULPTING
Considering the size, the detail on the figure is quite good. They are small in height, but fairly wide little toys. You have some nice detailing on the armour, plenty of grooves, panels etc. Overall, I would say it has a lot of smooth surfaces. The standout features of the figurine are the extra legs sticking out from the back, and the great detail in the Spider’s face.
PAINT
The toy is cast in grey plastic, with paint added for the armour and details on the head. As for the application of the paint, it certainly isn’t a standout presentation; however, it is satisfactory. Apart from a few stray dots of paint, I would say it looks pretty good. One thing to watch out for would be paint being rubbed off on the top of the head or the corners of the armour.
ARTICULATION
Web slinger spider only has two points of articulation, his arms. That’s it. You aren’t going to get him into any dramatic action stances, that’s for sure. But it is possible to get a few nice poses out of him.
ACCESSORIES
Just one accessory for this toy: his bladed weapon. I would describe the sword as very smooth, with no sharp points, and it has a nice shape to it. It fits easily into his hand. Sometimes it will fall out if you’re not careful.
POTENTIAL PROBLEMS
Not really anything to worry about with this toy. Just make sure you don’t lose the weapon, as it is small and a dull grey colour.
PRICE
Buying one of these battle beasts won’t cost you much, unless you want one MOSC, then you’ll have a harder time tracking one down for a reasonable price.
OVERALL
I quite like Web Slinger Spider. Once I finally found out more about these 80’s figures, I wasn’t too disappointed. The print ad from my childhood didn’t set me up for any unrealistic expectations, thankfully. You get to really enjoy these toys more when you have a group of different characters together on a shelf; that’s when they start to look really cool. However, even by itself, Web Slinger Spider is still cool in my book! They will look great mixed in with some Transformers Pretenders or any Transformer post the original Transformers movie. I would recommend giving Battle Beasts a try if you have fond memories of them like I did, or if you are into collecting cool-looking little toys.
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