In 1986 Battle Beasts were created in Japan, by the company Takara. Takara had already made a huge name for themselves with fantastic toylines such as Transformers. The American company Hasbro, aquired a license to sell Battle Beast toys outside of Japan. Battle Beasts were two inch tall action figures and each came with a weapon. Each figure had a heat sensitive sticker on its chest which would reveal that figures power- fire, water or wood. Fire beat wood, wood beat water and water beat fire! Later, a fourth symbol was added called the sunburst which beat all other powers! 

Series one, was released in Japan, Europe and North America. Series three was only released in Japan, U.K. and the U.S. The fourth and final series was called Shadow Warriors (or Laser Beasts in Japan). The heat sensitive stickers were replaced with see-through orbs, through which the creatures power could be seen. The Shadow Warriors carried guns instead of hand to hand weapons and the guns resembled the creature that it came with.