Imaginext Series 11 Snakeman: A Tribute to 1980s Hasbro Battle Beasts

A few years ago, I started collecting the Imaginext blind bag figures with Series 1.  Although they're distribution has been kind of random, I've managed to pick up most of the ones I've wanted.  They've put out a lot of cool figures, but I'm not a completest when it comes to this line.  I just get figures that I like.  For the most part, I'm not interested in the sports guys or some of the more mundane characters.  I pick up anything monster related and most of the space or robot guys.  With that said, I've picked up at least one figure from almost every series.

When series 11 came out, I picked up every figure.  There were several figures that were made as tributes to old toys from the 1980s.  There's a tribute to the M.U.S.C.L.E. figures (which I've written about HERE) and a tribute to the X-Ray Man from the Fisher-Price Adventure People line. But this post is about the Snake Man figure inspired by the Triple Threat Snake from Hasbro's Battle Beasts!

Battle Beasts were a neat line of figures put out by Takara in Japan that were somehow related to Transformers (they were even in an episode of the Transformers cartoon).  They were licensed by Hasbro to be released here in the USA. Each figure is a different anthropomorphized animal in battle armor.  Each figure also has a black sticker on it's chest.  When you rub the sticker with your finger, it reveals one of three symbols: Fire, Water, or Wood.  The idea is that you take your Battle Beast and pit it against a friend's Battle Beast by rubbing the sticker to see who wins.  It's basically like Rock, Paper, Scissors; Fire beats Wood, Water beats Fire, and of course, Wood beats Water?  Um...ok, sure.  Technically there's supposed to be a fourth symbol as well that beats all of the other three, but I've never seen the fourth one.

Imaginext "Snake Man" from all sides

Battle Beast Triple Threat Snake

The Snake Man from the Imaginext line resembles the Triple Threat Snake character from the Battle Beasts.  He's a "Triple Threat" because his head and both hands are all snake heads.  Even though the Battle Beast figure and the Imaginext figure aren't exactly alike, they are both Snake Men with a green body and snake heads for hands, they are both wearing dark blue armor with red / orange accents, and they both have the black square on their chest (even though the Imaginext's square is just a black square and doesn't reveal anything no matter how long you rub it).

The differences are in the details of the armor and the shade of green for each figure.  Also, their weapons are nothing alike.  My Triple Threat Snake doesn't have his weapon, but if he did, it would look very different from the Imaginext figure's weapon.

Although the Imaginext figures are sold in blind bags, there are codes on the back so that you can determine which figure is in each bag.  I have a list of all of the series 11 codes HERE if you'd like to pick up any of these figures and want to know what you're getting!

Do you collect either Battle Beasts or Imaginext figures?  Which characters are your favorites?  What do you think of the Imaginext figures that pay tribute to toys from the 1980s?  What tributes would you like to see Imaginext create?  Tell me in the comments!

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