#923 MEIPY - HÉROES DE LA GALAXIA - ANDROR and TARA (1985)

Last month I joined many other Masters of the Universe fans worldwide to celebrate the 35th anniversary of this great toyline in Spain. A friend of mine with a few other colleagues is writing a book about this topic that will be published soon. The title is "Yo Tengo el Poder: La Historia de los Masters del Universo en España", haven't you heard about it yet? Visit their Facebook site for all information regarding this topic, and don't miss the release!

 

Note that the book "Yo Tengo el Poder" does not only talk about Mattel's Masters, but also about other figures that bootlegged or were inspired by them, I am quite sure they will extensively cover this toyline we are going to talk about today, so if you are interested, you will be able to read more there.

I will start this time with the blister pack, reminiscent of the Star Wars movies, with a Tie-Fighter on the right side and another spaceship on the left, both in front of some unknown planets. The logo of the collection is clearly made after Masters of the Universe. The backcard shows the first 4 figures, although there is a second type of cardback that shows 8 figures, the complete collection.

Note that the figures are clearly inspired by He-Man, Skeletor, Beast Man, Teela, plus other characters that share characteristics with other Masters or characters of other movies. I own two figures, both in their blisterpacks:

Andror (Servidor del Imperio Oscuro) (Ref. 113)

Andror, the server of the Dark Empire is a remarkable character for having a fire sword and some metal armour and mask that gives him a rather menacing look. Among the first four, is the only character that does not have a clear counterpart in the Masters of the Universe world.

Tara (Reina de los Guerreros Zarka) (Ref. 114)

Tara is the only woman in the collection and comes with a sword and is wearing some kind of bikini. Interestingly, this amazon warrior does not appear in its own backcard

All figures come with exchangeable weapons and the blister is fixed to the card with staples.

These figures are very interesting, like all bootlegs are, and not much is currently known about the company. Meipy also made some other plastic figures (like the Meipy-Ñecos) and also other novelty products for kiosks like hairspins. There is an interview with the company owners in the Coleccionismo de Juguetes magazine nr. 13, but I haven't read it. Surely very interesting.

The second type of blister is this one that shows eight figures instead of four. Here we can observe the characters Zarkan (He-Man with longer hair), Serpidor (Skeletor with a reptilian twist) and Lioman (pretty much Beast Man).

Also present are Tara and three more characters. The first of this triplet is Icaron, a winged warrior the reminds me strongly of Pygar, a character in Barbarella (Roger Vadim, 1968). This character is the only one using a firearm.

Finally there are Volcam and Gladiator, two figures very similar to each other that look like a crossing between Man-At-Arms and a Roman gladiator. Volcam has a club as a weapon and Gladiator an axe.

Picture taken from coleccionismo80-90.blogspot.com

I wish I had more of these figures. If you want to see all of them, you can also visit coleccionismo80-90.blogspot.com, where Pablo has collected all blisters except one (but has this figure loose).

In my backcard somebody wrote with a pencil the price of the figure: 200 pesetas (that is 1,20 Euro). I think the price is original (I mean, it was written back in the mid or late 80s). I would say the price is quite high for such a toy, what maybe explains why they were not sold massively and are difficult to find nowadays.

Although I never saw them for sale in the 80s, they were widely available until somebody (or maybe some people) decided to take all of them from the popular auction site where they were available. Now there is none (or at least none complete with its accesory). Maybe they become valuable collectables in the next years, who knows?

Read more about Masters of the Universe in these links!

All Masters of the Universe stuff

Masters of the Universe (vintage collection)

He-Man: New Adventures

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: ANDROR and TARA (Ref. 113 and 114)
• Toy Line: HÉROES DE LA GALAXIA
• Year: 1985
• Company: Meipy (Spain)
• Size of the figures: Around 9 cm

#908 STAR TOYS - BASKETBALL PLAYERS (KELLOGG'S PROMO SPAIN) (1991)

One of the toys I cannot forget from my childhood are three sets of basketball players made by Star Toys. I never had any of them, but still, here´s the story.

In 1991, Kellogg´s, the well known brand for breakfast cereals, decided to launch a new product in Spain. This product was called Chocos, and consisted of cereal crops with chocolate flavour and, more or less, the shape of a half  sphere. I recall perfectly the package as well, all in dark green with the yellow giraffe in basketball outfit that was later replaced by a brown bear. I am not sure if the giraffe is the same giraffe called "Shorty" or if it was a new character designed specifically for launching that product.

Maybe because of the giraffe, the very first offer they had was a set of five plastic basketball players (to be chosen in one out of three colours/teams) that were made by Star Toys. Maybe this offer was only for Spain, since, I haven´t seen the plastic figures anywhere else.

The figures were standing in different positions, like throwing the ball, in defensive pose or driving the ball with one hand. Out of five figures, three had a basketball in its hands. Also interesting is that there are three white players and two black ones.

All five figures stand in a five-pointed star, with white borders and coloured inside in red, yellow or blue, and carry a sticker in its chest with the text "Kellogg´s Chocos", but this sticker very often missing. The base are marked: "(c) 1991 Kellogg Company" and "Star Toys”.

The colours available were red, yellow and blue. This three inmediatly made me think of Chicago Bulls, L.A. Lakers and Detroit Pistons, three of the biggest teams at that time, although, since there were not marked, they could also be other teams with similar colours... both from the NBA or the ACB (Spanish Pro League), or even National Teams.

I miss a green team, who at the time could have been the Boston Celtics, my favorite team of the early 90s.

Also during the early 90, Yolanda released a short series of "real" NBA players in PVC in a slightly bigger scale. This line is currently very sought-after, and difficult to find complete, since each figure came with a ball that with the time is easily detachable from the figure.

Read a longer article written by myself (in Spanish) in Figuras En Acción Nr. 18.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: BASKETBALL PLAYERS (KELOGG'S PROMO SPAIN)
• Year: 1991
• Company: Star Toys (Spain)
• Size of the figures: Around 7 cm

#900 FAR MEN - GUERREROS DEL ESPACIO (Around 1985)

Here is one of the most interesting MotU "Made in Spain" bootlegs. At this point, most people will already know them, not only in Spain, but also in other countries. They have been easy to find for quite a long time already (since eBay and other platforms became mainstream), but this is starting to change, since each time there are fewer and fewer available.

The Guerreros del Espacio (lit. Space Warriors) is a short series of six figures made around 1986 by the Spanish toymaker Far Men. This company was based in Beniparrell, Valencia. I wrote several years ago a first entry dealing with another famous toy made by this brand, but at the time all information was quite uncertain.

Last year, our friends from La Cueva del Terror Podcast interviewed the founder of the company José Iniesta and his son (Kiko Iniesta, who is a great MotU fan) in one of their podcasts. The interview was focused mostly in this particular toyline, although they also talked about other products and toys. I would recommend you to listen that podcast (if you can understand Spanish) because it is great how father and son explain what they did, how did the factory work and so on.

If you cannot understand Spanish, I will summarize the most important information here:
The toy company was a spin-off of a bigger company specialized in casts (manufacturing and repair), plastic casting and other types of casting called Matrival. This company was founded in 1975 in Valencia as a small casting workshop by José Iniesta and a partner, but it is now a great company producing parts for brands like Peugeot, Mercedes, Ford, Magna…

By the beginning of the 80s the owners decide to expand their business making toys. Their first toy was a cap gun made in metal, but they had to stop production after some legal changes in 1983 following the accidental death of a boy using a similar gun from competitor Redondo. The decision to make metal guns was influenced by their partners Bullycan, since they did not want to directly compete with each other.

After that, they produced only plastic toys, like Bullycan, but initially in different scales or different types. Among the toys they produced were again some guns that shooted plastic caps (similar to bottle caps) and the famous Far-Boys, inspired at the time by the even more famous Airgam Boys.

The Guerreros del Espacio was launched shortly afterwards, around 1985. Far Men decided to make a version of such a successful figure, but with low costs. Most parts of the figure were produced by Far Men themselves, except the body part, which is hollow and needed a plastic blow molding procedure that, at the time, was not available at Far Men, so it was outsourced, just as the cards and bubbles. The figures that are decorated with some paintwork were finished and assembled in a nearby prison (by prisoners) but also in private homes mostly by housewives for an extra income.

The design of the heads is different from the ones used by Mattel. The sculptors were people very especialized in creating wood or plaster models that would later transfer into an injection cast. They were hired for that work, but they were not employees of the company. The company didn’t make any backstory or gave name to the figures.


The inspiration for these figures was clear to Mattel, who sued the company. The trial was won by Far Men, since Mattel had no copyright for their Masters of the Universe at that time in Spain.

For the following two years or so, the company was producing lots of cars, trucks and other vehicles until the concurrence in the toy sector became higher, and Far Men was finally shut down. Their owners focused their efforts in Matrival, which was growing and receiving the first orders for the automobile industry. Far Men was very small compared to the main business.

Despite producing toys under their own brand, Matrival was also producing casts for other toy companies, like Hasbro’s or M.B. One example is the Action Man toyline from the 90s. This cooperation continued until M.B. closed their Spanish branch in Riba-Roja in 2003.

Far Men sold mostly to distributors Spainwide, who then offered the toys to shops, press kiosk and street vendors who offered toys in fairs, festivals and other popular festivities.

Back to the Guerreros del Espacio, note that the packaging is barely a small cardboard (not printed at the back) that holds the figure inside of a blister bubble. Both parts are attached by means of staples, and the yellow background is actually smaller than it should be, or the figure is bigger than it should (10.5 cm tall), since it is covering the header of the blister with the name of the toyline.
This logo is already quite remarkable: it shows the two main characters, that is, a He-Man and a Skeletor lookalikes. The hero has a headband and the villain carries a horned-helmet.
In the lower part of the card, there is some legal information and the logo of Far Men.

This small card was intended to fit a larger display to be hang in the wall of the shop. Each corner was inserted in one slot, so six toys could hang on the wall while for sale, and be removed individually when sold.

There is a second type of blister, simpler, with a lighter shade of blue as background colour and without the small He-Man and Skeletor on the top corners.


The weapons included (one per figure) are also very imaginative. This one is a copy of an Airgamboys accesory (some kind of harpoon).

The body cast for Guerreros del Espacio was used for a series of American Football players with helmet, ball and a plastic T-shirt. There was even a figure of B.A. Baracus that came with metal chain on his neck. Both are very sought-after nowadays.

Out of the scope of this entry is the other MotU bootleg line with the same name but slightly bigger figures (14 cm tall) that were saled under the brand Guerreros del Universo (Warriors of the Universe). These were similar in construction, but had no waist articulation and were clearly based on MotU casts, without many modifications. My guess after listening to the interview is that the 14 cm figures came earlier than these, and both are made by Far Men (Mr. Iniesta cannot recall very well if this other line was also produced by them or not). These other two toylines were not marked in the blister with the name of the maker, so it is up to this point unclear if it was really Far Men that built them.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: (No Name)
• Toy Line: Guerreros del Espacio
• Year: Around 1985
• Company: Far Men (Spain)
• Size of the figures: Around 10.5 cm

#896 SCALEXTRIC - FERRARI 312 B3 (Ref. 4052) (1975)

Collectables from decades ago are each time more and more difficult to find. It is natural. They end up in hands of collectors, and these keep them for long periods of time.Only in extraordinary events, like the last crisis (from 2008 to 2012 or so), the offer grows and the prices fall. Since 2016 or maybe even slightly before that I have observed that prices are going higher and higher. At some point in the future, the prices will fall, but this is another topic.

With Scalextric I have observed exactly this behaviour, and I haven´t bought many in the last 3 years. This is one of them and the second is a yellow Porsche Carrera that will be shown when I update entry #420.

This is a car that I didn´t have yet in any version, so I was happy to find it. It was not very expensive considering it is complete, but still used and without the original box.

The car was first released in 1975 and discontinued in 1982, although rests could still be found in shops during a few years more.

A Ferrari is always an attractive car, but this model here was also 1975´s World Champion, driven by the young Niki Lauda. In the decals we can read the name of the Austrian pilot or the name of the Swiss pilot Clay Regazzoni, the "first" pilot at the time and the one who recommended Lauda to Ferrari in 1974.

Scalextric represents the model from 1974, using decals with both names, but also 4 different race numbers (RN): 11, 12, 20 and 35. This is also a common practice, since some sets were sold with two identical cars in different colours, and they needed at least two race numbers, and in case of Formula 1 or other famous racing cars, two pilot names.

The car ran the 1974 season with RN 11 (Regazzoni) and RN 12 (Lauda). Scalextric also assigned RN 20 to Lauda and RN 35 to Regazzoni in the alternative decals.

In 1973 and 1975 the same car that took part in some races, although the decoration used at the time may differ a little bit from the one chosen by Scalextric.


By the way, this car was available in red (like the real Ferrari), (dark) green, yellow and blue. So far I have only the green one, but I keep looking for the other three. If I ever get them, I will update this entry to make it more complete. Making cars in different colours was of course cheaper than making them with different casts, and most times, a circuit came with two cars of the same brand, only with different colours. That way the races were tighter, since different cars have different behaviours during the race. This F1, like most F1 is quite flat and has long rear axles, so I guess it is very fast. Green is maybe the less atractive colour, because some details have low contrast with the grey motor part, and also low contrast with the black tracks.

Note that the model has lots of pieces, many more than the average scalextric car. And also that the base or chassis has the same colour than the body. A real beauty.

FACTS AND FIGURES

• Name: FERRARI 312 B3 (Ref. 4052)
• Scale: 1:32
• Year: 1975
• Company: Scalextric Exin (Spain)
• Size: approx. 15 cm

#895 HERACLIO FOURNIER - MASTERS DEL UNIVERSO and HE-MAN (1988 and 1991)

Two of my most favorite decks of cards of all times are these Heraclio Fournier. Of course He-Man and the Masters of the Universe are two of my favorite toylines, so any related article is for me very interesting. But I am also a collector of Heraclio-Fournier card decks, so my interest is double.

The first deck "Masters of the Universe" was released in 1988, followed by the "He-Man" deck in 1991. Both comprise 32 cards, plus the cover card with the instructions printed on the back. Both decks are very similar, with very few differences. Beside the design of the cards, the card back has different colours, (purple or orange), the rules belong to two different games and also the numbering of the cards is different.

Let’s stop at this last difference.

The Masters of the Universe deck has its cards numbered from 1 to 32, and then in the lower part of the card, we can read the name of the character, object or place depicted, plus some text in brackets. The first 12 are “Master Bueno” (or Good Master), the cards numbered 13 to 23 are “Master Malo” (or Bad Master), numbers 24 to 29 are “Horda del Terror” (name given in Spain to the Evil Horde), 30 and 31 are “Vehiculos” (or vehicles), and card 32 is “Varios” (or various). To the rules of the game, the Evil Horde, vehicles and various cards all belong together to a third group, so we may summarize, there are cards belonging to the “good”, “bad” and “others” groups. Note that there are some inconsistencies, like Hordak being marked “bad” instead of “Evil Horde” or Zodac being marked “bad” as well.

The He-Man deck uses the more common division in four families with 8 cards each (for example red 1, red 2, ... up to red 8, then yellow, then green and finally blue). In this case, all red and yellow cards represent characters or vehicles belonging to Skeletor and the bad guys and the blue and green families are showing only characters and vehicles of He-Man’s team.

And now, let’s focus on the illustrations.

The "Masters of the Universe" deck shows very interesting concept art drawings of many characters from waves 1 to 4. These illustrations were unknown at the time, what made it even more interesting. I have seen some of these in comics from Egmont (from the UK) or Ehapa (Germany), but I do not know where do they came from. None of them is taken from the cardbacks (except Zodac). I have checked the “The Art of He-Man and the Masters…” book, but I found none of them… any real expert who can put me on the right track here?

The text that go with each figure are sometimes freely chosen from the appearance of the figure, probably because Heraclio-Fournier did not have much background information about this or that figure. Note for example that the artwork for Stinkor shows the “Stench of Evil” over his head, and it vaguely looks like fire. In the description it is mentioned, that it owns a fire armour that makes him almost unreachable. This is just an example, but there are others.

And now, let's continue with the "He-Man" deck. Note that most cards show a picture of the actual toy, with only a couple of exceptions (both Battle Punch He-Man cards, green 1 and green 3). Note that the figures that represent the actual toy are taken from official Mattel catalogues and promotional leaflets. Interestingly, the cards show even the last figures released in 1992, which were never available in Spain.

This deck has no text, except for the names of the characters or vehicles.


Sorry for the quality in the He-Man deck pictures, they were taken several years before the MotU deck, and I didn't put much care in them.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: MASTERS DEL UNIVERSO and HE-MAN
• Year: 1988 and 1991
• Company: Heraclio-Fournier (Spain)

#889 GUISVAL – MERCEDES 350 SL (1974)

Here are my Mercedes 350 SL made by Guisval. This model is not among my favorites: in my opinion it is quite dull, does not call my attention very much. At the time it was difficult to tell between Mercedes models, because they looked very much like each other, and had boring names, so Mercedes was, also back then, not among my favorite car brands.

Despite this, I had two units of it. A brown one and the purple one, which, needless to say, I liked more. It has Rallye stickers!

The history of this model is the following:

It was premiered in 1974, right away in two versions: standard and police. The police version came in two colours and had a siren in the roof. In 1980, a third version was introduced, with rally stickers and front grill. This version is currently very difficult to find.

1974-79 (from 1977 on with fast wheels)

• Nr.1 Brown
• Nr.5 Green/White (Policia or Policia Tráfico)

1980-82

• Nr.1 Brown
• Nr.5 Green/White (Policia Tráfico)
• Nr.54 Light Blue with rally decals (Rallye)

1983

• Nr.1 Golden
• Nr.5 Green/White (Policia Tráfico)
• Nr.54 Light Blue with rally decals (Rallye)

After 1983, it is difficult to say what happened next, due to the lack of catalogues. In 1987 catalogue, it is still available both in Campeon series (without stickers, but still with full interior and suspension) and Campeon Rallye series (same with stickers). The car is depicted in both series in black, but it is known to have been released in several colours, including the purple one in the pictures. Stickers varied from one unit to the other. The model was discontinued probably around 1990, for unknown reasons.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: MERCEDES 350 SL
• Scale: 1:64 (approx.)
• Year: 1974 to around 1990
• Company: Guisval (Spain)
• Size: approx. 3’’ or 7 cm

#881 RICO - COCHE "PULGA" (around 1950)

I have been delaying this entry since a very long time. Despite being a very popular toy, there are no resources on the internet about the famous "Pulgas" (Spanish for "fleas") anywhere on the internet.

There are similar toys made by different companies, although in Spain it is the "big two” that made them. In this case, the car shown is made by Rico, and, of course, the other "big company" is Payá Hermanos.

The car is around 5 centimeters long, and hence its name. Although that size is not so small compared with the modern 3 inches models of the H0 scale, at the time, they were seen as very small, compared to the big tin toys that were popular back then. Of course, one of these was much cheaper, just remember that toys at the time (30s, 40s) were luxury goods, not affordable for many families.

The mini-car has a clockwork motor inside that can be loaded by means of a key. The original key is missing, but with similar ones, it could still be loaded.

Despite their popularity, not many of these have survived: the tin body is not as resistant as modern zamak. Those that have survived, often have paint flaws, like mine or even worse.

The car was available in many colours, and some models even came in two colours (like a black/yellow Barcelona taxi cab). There was even a small trailer that could be attached to it, althouh I do not know if this was a especial reference. I have seen some for sale, but they must be very rare.

Here is depicted together with one Schuco model that is probably better known among toy collectors, for size comparison purposes.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: COCHE PULGA
• Scale: 1:64 (approx.)
• Year: Around 1950
• Company: Rico (Spain)
• Size: approx. 3’’ or 7 cm

#878 GUISVAL - PATROL 4x4, DATSUN/ NISSAN 4x4 and RENEGADE 4x4 BIGFOOT (1987)

By the late 80s, Guisval released a series of Bigfoot cars. They were some kind of trend, other die-cast companies also had this type of vehicles, in this same scale (Majorette, Matchbox...) or even in the Micro Machines scale.

Guisval cars were a mixture of 4x4, ordinary cars and trucks: a Nissan Patrol (hardtop), a Datsun Patrol (pick-up with canopy), a Jeep Willys, Seat Ibiza and Kenworth and Peterbilt trucks.

The cars came with chromed plastic base, dark windows and no interior. They came in flashy colours (sometimes even metallic) and "Rally" stickers. They had to be cool, and they actually were, I recall other children having them and playing in sand or stones with them. It was a lot of fun.

Some of these were sold in jewel boxes like this one here, blister packs or loose in polystyrene displays.

From that catalogue I can put the reference numbers here:

Nº 30001 Ibiza 4x4
Nº 30002 Patrol 4x4
Nº 30003 Nissan Motos 4x4 (with 2 small red motorbikes) (see #319)
Nº 30004 Renegade 4x4
Nº 30005 Nissan 4x4 (canopy)

Note that reference 30003 and 30005 are incorrectly labelled both in the box and the base, since it is a Datsun Patrol, not a Nissan.

A later release in the 90s had black bases and "rally" tampographies, or no decoration at all. The Datsun re-release came without canopy for saving even more manufacturing costs. I guess the units that can be seen with chromed based but without stickers were made in between.

This small document has the manufacturer data and the security regulations in four languages.

Later on, already in the 2000s, there was a second batch of bigfeet with much bigger wheels made of rubber. These are different models, with very cool tampographies and the more modern of these, even with somr dirt-effect paint.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: PATROL 4x4, DATSUN 4x4 and JEEP RENEGADE 4x4 BIGFOOT
• Scale: 1:64 (approx.)
• Year: 1987
• Company: Guisval (Spain)
• Size: approx. 3’’ or 7 cm