#842 TOYS FROM THE PAST - MUSEUM (V)

See more of these entries here: http://toysfromthepast.blogspot.com/search/label/TFTP

See you next month!

Important notice: The items on display are NOT for sale.

#832 AIRGAM COMICS – BIRD MAN vs. PYTHON (Ref. 302 and 312) (1985)

 

I’ll continue the last entry with two more Airgam Comics characters, Bird Man and Python, again one member of the Superfantastics and another of the Superdiabolics. In this entry, I love both figures equally, I think the cloak both figures carry (they are different at the front) together twith the piece behind their heads are great great additions.

I’ll start with Python this time, a figure with the classic combination green with yellow and black details and an extremely cool head design, with a snake on the forehead. The boots are also interesting, since they reuse the Airgam Boys gladiator “shoes”. This figure very probably came with the pistol in the picture, although as commented in the previous entry, this information is difficult to confirm.

Bird Man, although similar in colour to Starsman, is in my opinion much better, only the cloak is already a great add-on, also the colour combination, with more blue and less red is better, and the muscles marked on the chest are small details that make this figure better than Starsman. The figure came also with a pistol, and very probably the one depicted in the pictures.

It is important to note, that, in this collection, figures have (or may have) several variants each. In the case of Bird Man, you can find this figure either with red or yellow logo on the chest. In the case of the yellow logo, the pants are mostly blue, although I have already seen a mixture of both versions (that would be a third version) with yellow logo and red pants. There are many examples thoughout the toyline, and I’ll be commenting them when I have the chance.

Bird Man with yellow logoand red pants. Recent addition to my collection.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: BIRD MAN (Ref. 302) and PYTHON (Ref. 312)
• Toy Line: Airgam Comics (Wave 1)
• Year: 1985
• Company: Airgam (Spain)
• Size of the figures: Around 8.5 cm (3.25'')

#831 AIRGAM – STARSMAN vs. DR. DIABOLIC (Ref. 301 and 311) (1985)

I have presented several figures from this toyline, probably my favorite toyline of all times, but very few of these were first wave figures. All figures from wave 2 (all I presented except Piranha) have extra swivel arm articulation as well as knee articulation.

Today I wil present two figures from the first wave, and not just two random figures, but the leaders of each faction: Superfantastics and Superdiabolics.

Starsman is obviously based on Captain America, it is a blue figure with red pants and a blue shield. The references to the American flag are not hidden, just in case you had not noticed it. It is not one of my favorite figures, because I think the figure could have been better, it is rather simple and the colours are plain and seen many times before.

I don’t know anymore which weapons came together with the figure in the blister. The shield is clear, but some carded figures seem to come with the big(ger) cannon, while others don’t.

The second figure is, on the contrary, one of my favorites. Note the colour combination purple and black, the nice pattern in chest, arms and legs and the two-part cloak, including the cool part behind the head with some long “holes”. It is truly a great design. Also the face is greatly designed with the skull on the forehead and some part of it hidden behind a purple mask. I always imagined this character may have had some damage, and that is why he hid himself behind a mask. The figure could be based in Marvel character Dr. Doom (and thus the name Dr. Diabolic). This figure came with one gun: from the three available models, the one which is depicted in his hand.

Sometimes it is quite confusing to match figure and accessories in this toyline. Unfortunately, I keep all in a box, and with the years I forgot which gun or rifle went with which figure. I tried to redo a list, but even with the pictures that can be found on the internet, it is a difficult job. I think the accessories added were most of the times the same ones, but they may vary in some occasions, since the quality control was probably not very exhaustive.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: STARSMAN (Ref. 301) and DR. DIABOLIC (Ref. 311)
• Toy Line: Airgam Comics (Wave 1)
• Year: 1985
• Company: Airgam (Spain)
• Size of the figures: Around 8.5 cm (3.25'')

#586 AIRGAM COMICS - GREEN DEMON and RANK (1986)

Time to return to my favorite action figure line of all times. I could finally take pictures of my figures last summer, and I will now be able to present them in new entries. I´ll start with two figures from wave 2, which are characterized by having articulation on knies and elbows. These are two of my favorite figures in the whole collection, for their great design: Green Demon (Ref. 1111) and Rank (Ref. 1113).

Green Demon is some kind of reptilian creature with spines in head and shoulders, the colour combination green/yellow is simple but very effective. This figure came with an exclusive accesory, which is a golden curved sword with a ruby in its handle.

Rank looks like a robot, with a very big head and spines in head, shoulders and chest. Maybe these spines are intended to give it a more menacing appearance, since it is a Super Diabolic, not a Super Fantastic. Again, the purple colour combined with black is a perfect match for this figure. The figure came with a golden trident, which is exclusive to this figure.

Additionally to those weapons, each figure included one or more black guns, rifles, but it is difficult to re-order them, since there are not many pictures of carded figures where you can clearly see the accesories. And if you can, sometimes you can see the same figure packed with different accesories. I am working in such a list, but it is difficult. So far, I have seen these two figures with the following accesories:

• Green Demon: Rifle
• Rank: Pistol ("Thompson" type)

There are three types of pistol used for this collection. The first type is kind of futuristic, the second one is the "Thompson" type and the third one has a ball below the cannon. If you are familiar with the collection, you know what I am talking about. In a future entry, I will talk further about accesories.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: GREEN DEMON (Ref. 1111) and RANK (Ref. 1113)
• Toy Line: Airgam Comics (Wave 2)
• Year: 1986
• Company: Airgam (Spain)
• Size of the figures: Around 8.5 cm (3.25'')

#333 AIRGAM COMICS – SUPERDIABOLICS SUB-AQUATIC with PIRANHA (1985)

HISTORY OF AIRGAM and AIRGAM BOYS

This vehicle belongs to the first Airgam Comics series, you can tell the first and second series, because the figures in the second series have swivel arm and articulated knees, while those figures from the first series don’t.

It is important to mention that Airgam is a company with a long history. These figures belonged to the last toyline they produced, since the company declared bankruptcy in 1987 and disappeared. The following text is a summarized history of the company, taken from the great article appeared in rosaspage.com.

The company was founded by two brothers, José and Jorge Magriá Deulofeu. Although the company existed since 1945, the first two years they only produced pieces of wood to make necklaces and armbands.

Those wood pieces were provided by a small family workshop in the town of Torelló (famous for their woodworks), that was property of Pere Vila Soldevilla.

In 1947, the Magriás moved to a bigger workshop (also in Barcelona). The “catalogue” of the company was expanded by producing cloth dolls, leather balls, and small wood toys, although these wooden toys were not produced by themselves, but bought from Mr. Vila from Torelló.

The company kept growing during the next few years, and they were capable of producing more and more toys, even with increasing complexity, like toy guns. Around 1953, the company started casting plastic toys, which, at the time, wasn’t still a very popular material for toys.

In 1954, the Airgam company is officially founded. The name comes from the family name (surname) spelled backwards: Magriá – Airgam.

In 1965 the company moved to Hospitalet de Llobregat, which would be the base of the company until its end in 1987. The new building was much bigger than the previous one, and was equipped with all types of machines.

In 1976, the Airgam Boys toyline is put on sale for the first time. The figures were probably inspired by Geobra’s Playmobil, only a bit larger and more points of articulation. They look more like Play-BIG.

There were a lot of different themes within the Airgam Boys toyline. The most important were: Romans, Cowboys and Indians, Football Players, Soldiers, Astronauts and Aliens, and Circus artists. There was even a female version of this figure for girls called “Miss Airgam”, and many many accessories.

And precisely this same Airgam Boys line evolved into the Airgam Comics that I have shown in this entry (and some previous entries too). The first wave from this figures were simply repainted Airgam Boys to look like superheroes, while for the second wave some new parts were made.

Some of these figures were released as Coman Boys, since the stocks they had when the company shut down, were sold to Comansi. Comansi’s Coman Boys were much smaller figures originally, but I guess to spare the costs of creating new packages for these few figures, they simply packaged them as Coman Boys.

This figure is Piranha, and is based in one of the aliens in the Airgam Boys’ space series, only repainted to look like “Swamp Thing”. The original alien may have been designed after Greedo, the Star Wars character, or at least, the sculpt of Pirahna’s head is similar to Greedo’s head in Kenner’s 3 3/4’’ figure.

As other Airgam Boys, the figure has ball joint in the neck, practicable arms and legs (each leg moves independently, unlike Playmobil’s), and also practicable ankles and wrists.

The figure sold with the vehicle has a significant difference with the figure sold in blister cards, and is that it doesn’t have the piece of black plastic behind its head and without the accessory. I took the pictures with the other figure, since it looks better, but I have both.

The vehicle is also “recycled” from Airgam Boys, and it is some kind of boat/submarine. It has capacity for one figure (driver) which is placed lying down on the cockpit and “fixed” with two small hinges.
Some details which are worth mentioning are the chromed parts, the antenna, the very detailed cockpit and the nice stickers, plus two killer-features: the two spring loaded cannons and the motor to use the toy in water, which was also included in the pack. If not used in water, the vehicle comes with three plastic wheels.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: SUPERDIABOLICS SUB-AQUATIC with PIRANHA
• Toy Line: Airgamcomics (Wave 1)
• Year: 1985
• Company: Airgam (Spain)
• Size of the vehicle: 18 cm
• Size of the figure:  10 cm

#276 AIRGAM COMICS – ACTION-ARM and URUK (Ref. 1204) (1986)

One of my favourite series ever is Airgam Comics. One figure in this collection was my first action figure ever around 1986. This box, however, has been my latest additions to the collection.

I will present this box and I will review all available products from this line. At the end of the article, you’ll find a list of all reference numbers used by Airgam in this line.

This toy-line had two waves, the first one was launched in 1985 and the second one in 1986. The figures and vehicles were based in the older Airgam-Boys, figures which were similar to Playmobil, only a bit larger. These old plastic figures were redecorated in new colours and designs, making them look like superheroes.

It is important to mention, that exactly in 1985, Mattel made a strong bet for the “Secret Wars” line, based in super-heroes, which could have become the trend in the mid 80s. The Secret Wars line was not as successful as expected, being cancelled after only two waves worldwide and a short third wave in Europe.

Box Artwork depicting Action-Arm (Ref. 1204)

That was the beginning of the Airgam Comics line. The end would overcome two years later (1987), when the company declared bankruptcy. The economical situation by the end of the 80s deteriorated, and this fact was reflected in the toy industry. In addition to this, new, international brands entered the Spanish market, a market that had traditionally been controlled by national, small companies. When the competition grew, many toy companies disappeared. Airgam was one of them.

 Action Arm and Uruk Figures

The history of Airgam will be recalled some other time. Now, let’s go to the Airgam Comics toy-line.

The first wave comprised 10 figures, 8 vehicles and 4 accessories. The figures had exactly 5 points of articulation, as the old Airgam figures: head, arms and legs. Feet and hands could be also rotated, so if you count them, then you have 9 points of articulation.

Forgot to mention, that this toy-line is the classic good vs. evil action figure line, with two factions of characters. The good ones are the “Superfantastics” and the evil ones are the “Superdiabolics”.

The figures were a mixture of super-heroes, animals, and monsters, and they were available in single blisterpacks, or in double or triple gift boxes. With this “trick”, Airgam covers the whole price range in their collection, so people buying these products can spend the money they expected. However, the cons of this marketing trick, is that children could often receive doubled figures, or not find the pack that includes exactly the figures he wishes.

If you had a bit more money to spend, you could go for one of the vehicles, which were sold in bigger boxes with one figure each. Almost every vehicle (except the two motorbikes) had at least one spring-loaded missile launcher, and in the box were those missiles and some spare ones included.

Each of these 8 vehicles included a figure (always the same), so, this leaves two figures out: Capt. Laser and Spector. This two figures were available in blister packs with a helicopter backpack. Also in blister packs, two more references included Red Masker and Bad Tiger with parachutes.

 Figures, vehicles and accesories in wave 1. Picture by Raffotek.

The second wave included more sophisticated figures: the old figure described above, came now with articulated knees, elbows and also with swivel arms, so second wave figures are completely pose-able. Another news is that for this series, some special parts were newly casted, these were never used in other Airgam toy-lines before. We could say that the toy-line was in the right direction. It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if Airgam would have “survived” the crisis of the late 80s.

This time, there were 8 figures made, that were, again, available in single blisterpacks, double packs or triple packs. Since 8 is not divisible by 3, in one of the three packs was included a figure of Bird-Man (a figure from wave 1) with the new articulation points explained in the previous paragraph.

 The 8 figures released in wave 2

Again a new series of vehicles was released: 7 vehicles, each one assigned to a different figure, and including again missile launchers, as well as great decorations. The only figure that wasn’t assigned a vehicle was Action-Arm, maybe because the interaction of this figure with the vehicle is not as good as with the other ones (Action-Arm is the only figure with a missile launcher and an arm instead of two arms).

In wave two there were no smaller accessories released, but a huge and beautifully made castle/fortress. This castle was made of plastic and had three floors, including a dungeon, a supercomputer, a trap and also a movable gate. I still have this castle although some parts have disappeared after all these years.

Second wave vehicles and castle (prototype, produced castle is slightly different)

Finally, there were a few gift boxes released that included one or two vehicles plus a few figures and even accessories. There are only a few pictures of these in the internet, but they are pretty impressive. Maybe this was a way to sell out the stocks once it was clear that the company was going to disappear.

However, this collection has in my opinion a great play value. Some of the items listed below or shown in all those pictures are very hard to find. If you want to see one of the vehicles in the second wave or you want more information on this toyline, you can check more entries here. 

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: ACTION-ARM and URUK
• Toy Line: Airgamcomics (Wave 2)
• Year: 1986
• Company: Airgam (Spain)
• Size of the figures: 10 cm

ANNEX: List of produced toys:

 

WAVE 1 (1985)

 

FIGURES:

-Superfantastics-

Ref. 301 – Starsman

Ref. 302 – Bird Man

Ref. 303 – Red Masker

Ref. 304 – Panther Man

Ref. 305 – Capt. Laser

-Superdiabolics-

Ref. 311 – Dr. Diabolic

Ref. 312 – Python

Ref. 313 – Bad Tiger

Ref. 314 – Piranha

Ref. 315 – Spector

 

DOUBLE PACKS: (LIST IS PROBABLY INCOMPLETE, 2 REFs MISSING?)

Ref. 326 – Starsman and Dr. Diabolic

Ref. 327 – Capt. Laser and Python

Ref. 328 – Red Masker and Bad Tiger
Ref. 329 - Bird Man and Spector
Ref. 330 - Panther Man and Piranha

 

TRIPLE PACKS:

Ref. 335 – Capt. Laser, Starsman and Bad Tiger

Ref. 336 – Panther Man, Bird Man and Piranha

Ref. 337 – Red Masker, Dr. Diabolic and Python

 

VEHICLES AND ACTION ACCESSORIES:

Ref. 346 – Starsman with blue motorbike.

Ref. 347 – Dr. Diabolic with black motorbike

Ref. 348 – AquaBoat with Bad Tiger

Ref. 349 – AeroMoto with Red Masker

Ref. 350 – AeroBoat with Panther Man

Ref. 351 – Sub-Aquatic with Pirahna

Ref. 352 – Ultraligero “Ulm” with Bird Man

Ref. 353 – Ultraligero “Ulm” with Python

Ref. 361 – Capt. Laser with blue/yellow helicopter backpack

Ref. 362 – Spector with black/yellow helicopter backpack

Ref. 363 – Red Masker with red parachute

Ref. 364 – Bad Tiger with yellow parachute

 

WAVE 2 (1986)

 

FIGURES:

 

-Superfantastics-

Ref. 1101 – Sirdar

Ref. 1102 – Action Arm

Ref. 1103 – Fly-Man

Ref. 1104 – Megatrón

-Superdiabolics-

Ref. 1111 – Green Demon

Ref. 1112 – Uruk

Ref. 1113 – Rank

Ref. 1114 – Mad Rider

 

 

VEHICLES:

Ref. 1151 – Anfibius with Green Demon

Ref. 1152 – Fly-Man’s Kart with Fly-Man

Ref. 1153 – Turbo-Ski with Megatrón

Ref. 1154 – Flame Kart with Uruk

Ref. 1155 – CrestBoat with Rank

Ref. 1156 – Tri-Runner with Sirdar

Ref. 1157 – Rocket Bike with Mad Rider

 

PLAYSETS:

Ref. 1001 – Castillo Super Diabolic

 

DOUBLE PACKS:

Ref. 1201 – Sirdar + Mad Rider

Ref. 1202 – Megatrón + Rank

Ref. 1203 – Fly-Man + Green Demon

Ref. 1204 – Action Arm + Uruk

 

TRIPLE PACKS:

Ref. 1301 – Fly-Man and Action Arm and Rank

Ref. 1302 – Megatrón, Bird Man (articulated) and Uruk

Ref. 1303 – Sirdar, Green Demon and Mad Rider

 

GIFT BOXES:

Ref. 1251 - Sub-Aquatic with Pirahna + Bad Tiger Parachute version
Ref. 1252 - AeroMoto with Red Masker + Motorbike with Dr. Diabolic
Ref. 1253 – Tri-Runner with Sirdar + Fly-Man’s Kart with Fly-Man

Ref. 1254 – Turbo-Ski with Megatrón + Spector with helicopter backpack + Python (articulated) + Accessories

Ref. 1451 - Flame Kart with Uruk + Motorbike with Mad Rider + Red Masker with Parachute and Action Arm
Ref. 1452 - AquaBoat with Panther Man + Capt. Laser with helicopter backpack + Fly-Man + Uruk
Ref. 1453 – Anfibius with Green Demon + Action Arm + Dr. Diabolic (articulated) + Bird Man (articulated)

Ref. 1454 - Crest Boat with Rank + AeroBoat with Panther Man + Green Demon + Sirdar