#939 COMANSI / YOLANDA - MAZINGER Z MONOCHROMATIC FIGURES (Around 1989)

I haven´t seen many chapters of Mazinger Z on TV. At the time when I watched cartoons, the series was already a bit old, and there were newer, more attractive options. As a result, I never knew much about the characters or the plot. I liked it, no questions about that, but children didn´t comment it anymore, it had not so many merchandising available and they were aired at times where most children were doing other things (that is, either too early or at the time where children used to go out and play outdoors).

Afrodita, Mazinger y Gelbros J3

I bought these figures in different flea markets and got to have the collection almost complete, just missing two figures. They were made by Yolanda in the late 80s (maybe even in the 90s), although there were a previous version in painted plastic. The monochromatic versions of Yolanda are far less attractive than the painted ones, so I decided to sell some monochromatic collections I had and focus on the others. I also sold my monochromatic Super Monstruos a few years ago.

Conde Brocken y Koji Kabuto

The figures made by Yolanda are 9:

• Mazinger Z: Came in two different versions, from which I only have/had one (walking). The second one had its arms up, in a position that resembles the one that the robot used while flying.
• Afrodita / Afrodite A: Female robot, most remembers for being capable to fire its breasts.
• Koji / Kouji Kabuto: The kid that piloted Mazinger Z from its head. Grandson of the creator of Mazinger Z.
• Dr. Infierno / Dr. Hell: Wants to become the new ruler of the world with an army of mechanical monsters. He is a German research scientist who went mad and killed the rest of the researchers except Dr. Kabuto, who fled to build Mazinger Z.
• Barón Ashler / Baron Ashura: An evil character, right-hand person of Dr. Hell. Half man, half woman.
• Conde Brocken / Count Brocken: Another minion of Dr. Hell, ex-Nazi soldier. Not very bright.
• Two robotic creatures/monsters/enemies called Gelbros J3 and Baras K9. These are for me the most attractive for their design.

Doctor Infierno y Baron Ashler

The most interesting part is that the figures are actually promotional. The came in blind bags that were not sold, but could be won when buying some chocolate eggs from the brand “Tombola” (they were similar to Kinder Surprise). The bag looks like this:

Picture courtesy of El Cuartín de Juguete (elcuartindejuguete.blogspot.com)

In the front part it is clearly indicated that each figure is available in four colours, each of them with a particular “meaning”, in an attempt to make children try to get all figures in all colours. My objective was to get one of each cast, no matter which colour.

Back to the colour and their meanings…

• Purple: The Power of the Fist
• Green: The power of the “Lasser”
• Blue: The Power of the Hurricane
• Metal: The Power of the Force

By the way... note that the Count Brocken figure shown in the pictures is red... so there are alternative colours.

In the back we can read that this toy has been manufactured by Comansi, although the figures are marked with Comansi’s second brand Yolanda. Otherwise there is no logo of the company printed in the bag.

They are relatively easy to find.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Names: MAZINGER Z, AFRODITA, KOJI, DR. INFIERNO, BARON ASHLER, CONDE BROCKEN y GELBROS J3
• Toy Line: Mazinger Z (monochromatic version)
• Year: Around 1989
• Company: Yolanda (Spain)
• Size: Around 11 cm

#864 YOLANDA – RUPERTA KEYRING (UN, DOS, TRES) (1991)

 

This is a simple keyring made by Yolanda with the Mascot of the TV show “Un, Dos, Tres”. The name of the pumpkin is Ruperta, and we already know her from a previous entry (#217).

Yolanda/Comansi probably got a license from the TV program to produce merchandising, and they made the funny pumpkin in several sizes and in several forms, and also painted or unpainted. The figures shown in the article in the link are the smallest ones, this keyring is way bigger, maybe around the size of a table tennis ball.

The metallic ring and the short chain that binds it to the plastic figure have a good quality, but I wonder how resistant the plastic ring is, in which the keychain is attached… It looks very very weak.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: RUPERTA LLAVERO
• Toy Line: Un, Dos, Tres (TV Quiz Show)
• Year: 1991
• Company: Yolanda (Spain)
• Size of the figure: Around 4 cm

#840 TOYS FROM THE PAST - MUSEUM (III)

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.

#738 COMANBOYS - EXPERTO DEL FAR-WEST (Ref. 630) and COMANDO DEL ESPACIO (Ref. 810)

Comanboys was another Kubrick figure made after the success of Playmobil in Spain (originally called Famobil for their ditributor Famosa). They are not a knock-off because they are more or less three quarters the size, and the design has several diferences. I have four figures, two loose ones and two new in blister.

The figure was invented by José María Verges and patented in February 1978. You can find the patent of this figure including a nice illustration of the “inside” of the figure in the following page:
http://www.famobil.ekiwi.es/grandes/coman%20boys%20patente.pdf

Today I am presenting two blister packs, which are quite common. I have seen many units of these in the last years, so I guess somebody found a big lot of hundreds of units and is selling everything slowly. I got mine for very little money. The blister packs belong to the two most popular series by the end of life of this toyline: western and space. The Western line was available, at least, since the late 70s, but these blisters are from the late 80s, when the space series came out.

The nice thing about my blisters is that one of then is a factory error and includes the wrong figure. Maybe you noticed it in the first picture. The Western blister should include a cowboy or an indian, but instead it has an astronaut inside. Both astronauts are identical except for the colour of their limbs and helmet and for the red sticker in their chests. The accessories are also different.

The card artwork is very interesting. Both the colours and the main theme with the block letters are very wel chosen. The far-west blistercard has a picture with many figures, including a train, a fort and many figures with and without horses. Really impressive diorama. The back of the far-west card is more boring, with just a few advertising tricks: “very cool!”, “more beautiful”, “smaller, “more movements”, “more accessories”, “funnier”, “to play more and better”, together with the Comansi slogan: “Juguete Completo, Juguete Comansi”.

The back card of the space blister is a picture of a big playset made in cardboard. The diorama, again, is great, and notice the small figures on the ground… that tower must have been very big. Notice also that there were some vehicles and bigger accesories available. Some of the space figures were very inteesting robots in the 70s style... even though they were made already in the 80s.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: COMANBOYS – EXPERTO DEL FAR-WEST (Ref. 630) and COMANDO DEL ESPACIO (Ref. 810) (although Ref. 630 is a FACTORY ERROR)
• Toy Line: Comanboys
• Year: 1988
• Company: Comansi (Spain)
• Size of the figures: Approx. 5 cm

#700 FILMATION GHOSTBUSTERS - FUTURA and FIB FACE (1986)

 

I recently got this two great blistercards: Futura and Fib Face from the Filmation's Ghostbusters toyline. They are my first MOC/MISB ítems so I can comment a bit the packaging. Note that the cards are in Spanish. As you probably know, these figures were distributed by Comansi in Spain, who at the time had brought several Tyco products to the Spanish market with more or less success.

 

Comansi also owns Yolanda, so the deal included the license or the rights to produce this same characters in plastic figure format. These are very common nowadays and are found almost constantly in eBay and similar sites. Some look very similar to the Schaper/Tyco figures and sometimes it takes me a few second to find out if the auction is for one action figure or a plastic one.

 

Back to the package, it is a classic blístercard in dark blue/white (representing a stormy sky at dawn) that came in two designs: the card for the good characters has the three main characters (Jake, Spenser and Tracy) while the card of the evil forces have Prime Evil with Scared Stiff and Brat-a-Rat. The illustrations are quite cool in my opinion.

 

The figure is placed in the left lower corner in a transparent bubble and includes a comic book with a short adventure of the toy characters. The comic is very colourful and nice, similar to the one made for Dino-Riders.

 

Some figures came with accesories, like Futura, that cames with a blue helmet. In this case, the accesories came in the same bubble, but separated from the figure, except for Prime Evil, whose accesory is a cloak, and came over his head.

 

 

The backcard present all 13 characters in two groups, and includes a few lines to introduce the story. Not very good, but at least you could see the other figures and think which one would you like to buy next.

 

Something interesting about this line is that out of 13 figures, 3 are women, which is not a bad percentage for an action figure toyline.

 

The two figures presented here are Futura, a character I like and that is one of the coolest figures in the series. The second figure is Fib Face, one of the evil guys and one of the figures that usually have less supporters. The colours are simple and that is probably what most people dislike about it, but nevertheless I think it is not bad at all.

 

Read other Filmation Ghostbusters entries HERE.

 

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: Futura and Fib Face
• Alternative Names: Dos Caras (Spain)
• Toy Line: Filmation Ghostbusters
• Year: 1986
• Company: Schaper, Tyco (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figure: 15 cm.

#589 YOLANDA - DRAGON BALL (MATUTANO PROMOTIONAL) (1992)

This four figures were give-aways from Matutano in the early 90s. They were available during the summer of 1992, although I got mine later. To get them you had to eat Matutano snacks, and collect 4 stickers that were included in each pack, and then exchange them for one figure.

The collection comprised 14 figures, despite the package stated that there were 10 different ones. Matutano´s figures are made of rubber, and some people used it as a pencil eraser. I am not sure if it was intended as such, because they didn´t work very well.

The figures were manufactured by Yolanda, which is a company we have talked about a few times in this blog. Each figure is marked with "Yolanda" and has the copyright of (c) Toei Studios 1986.

The same figures were also available in the classic Yolanda hard plastic; either monochromatic or hand-painted (like the Supermonstruos). Monochromatic figures had the typical Yolanda colours, like green, gold, purple or grey... I cannot say right now if the figures were sold after or before the Matutano promotion, and I do not have any figures other than these for comparison purposes.

I have never been a great fan of Dragon Ball, even though most people in my age watched the cartoons and read the comics at the time. I remember there was a lot of merchandise to this series, and it was easy to fall for them. Today the cartoons might be considered a bit violent for children. On the other hand, I always loved Matutano chips, in any of their versions, and I still do.

And now, all the four figures again, but this time, the pictures are taken without flash. I think you can see the sculpts better now.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: SON GOKU, KRILIN and SON GOHAN
• Year: 1992
• Company: Yolanda (Spain)
• Size of the figures: Around 7 cm

#443 YOLANDA – G.I. JOE (1991)

 One of the few complete series by Yolanda I have is this set of four G.I.Joe figures from 1991. As a G.I.Joe fan, I guess this was a must for me. Yolanda usually reproduced the most popular figures of its time, whether they were from TV series, toylines, movies or whatever.

In this case, G.I.Joe was the most popular toyline in 1991 in Spain, no doubt about that, so Yolanda simply got a Hasbro license and reproduced 4 characters from the 8th American wave (released 1989), and made them in plastic. It is maybe important to mention that the 8th American wave arrived at least two or three years later in Spain. I got most of my figures from that series in 1992.

The four figures are: Alley Viper, Countdown, Dee-Jay and Scoop.
In Spanish: Vibora de Callejón, Countdown, Deejay and Scoop.

ALLEY VIPER / VIBORA DE CALLEJÓN

COUNTDOWN

DEE-JAY

SCOOP

In previous entries, I showed Hasbro's Countdown #415 and Scoop #416 mint on Spanish card.

All figures include a small ring in their heads, maybe intended to make keyrings out of them. They are all marked: “1991 Hasbro Yolanda CE”

It is very interesting to see how the figures are perfectly decorated with their original weapons and accessories and the real colors. Even the different gestures and postures are quite loyal to the original Hasbro characters.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: ALLEY VIPER, COUNTDOWN, DEE-JAY and SCOOP
• Toy Line: G.I.Joe (A Real American Hero)
• Year: 1991
• Company: Yolanda (Spain)
• Size of the figure: Around 8 cm.