#28 MADELMAN 2050 – DARMAN, BRAN and KARSAN (1988)

This is the last article for now dealing with this wave of the great Madelman 2050. This time we will present the C.O.T.A. Men. Check entries #27 and #28 for the rest of the story.

The C.O.T.A. men have been appointed by the ministry of defence experts to repel the attack of the Zarkons. These men have been trained in the basetron 2050, somewhere in an arctic region. There, they have learnt the most important combat disciplines, the latest technologies and, most important, the magnetron force (antigravitational power and power to unmask the invaders when they are using their “human” faces).Magnetron Power!

Darman (Mechanic and test pilot): Darman has probably the best cast of the four C.O.T.A. men, specially appealing is his bubble helmet and the way it fits his suit. The figure also includes a rifle and a backpack. His artwork is also the best of all four figures, since it depicts the interior of some spaceship. Through the windshield we can see some vehicle that looks like a crossing between Tarantula and Scorpion. Probably this artwork was drawn before the vehicles were actually designed, and they took a prototype as a model. Darman is the Test pilot of the NAVESCAM factory, which has engineered and built the vehicles to fight the Zarkons.

Bran (Bio-time scientific): I always thought he was the commander of the group, because of the emblem in his jacket. This figure has the most simplistic cast of all C.O.T.A. men, and Exin was probably aware of it, because they gave him the most impressive weapon: a flying backpack with two guns at the handles, that is, some kind of mini-vehicle. He is an astronomer and a scientist.

Karsan (Psico-physical instructor): Karsan has somehow the same problem than Bran. It doesn’t look like a hero, not even like a man of action. That’s probably why Exin packed this figure with a spring-loaded missile launcher, to make the figure more attractive. This part was recoloured and reused for (or maybe from) many vehicles (Batrus, Falcon, Sentinel). A helmet and a backpack complete his accessories. Psico-physics seem to be a new science which consists in the physical control of the mind. I guess it had made more sense the opposite way (psychic control of the body), but well, it’s just a toy, it’s not real.

Update: Pictures of loose figures:

DARMAN:

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: DARMAN (Ref. 1501), BRAN (Ref. 1502) & KARSAN (Ref. 1503)
• Toy Line: Madelman 2050 (Wave 1)
• Year: 1988
• Company: Exin (Spain)
• Size of the figures: 3¾’’ or 9,5 cm