#839 TOYS FROM THE PAST - MUSEUM (II)

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.

#98 TRASH BAG BUNCH – WAVE 1 FIGURES 25 to 36 (1991)

In this last article of the “Trash Bag Bunch” series, we’ll check the last 12 figures of the first wave and we’ll take a look at the second wave. I can’t show pictures of those figures because I don’t own any.

These are the figures 25 to 36:

Figures 35 and 36 were aimed not to be sold directly, but to be hidden in the bags from other figures. There was an extra figure in one bag out of every 24, so if you were lucky enough, you could get two figures for the price of one. If you compare figure #36 with the figures with lower numbers (specially #5 Sterilizor), you’ll realize, that is there were the figure belongs. Incinerator (#36) is therefore a disposer.

As we said before, Galoob had planned to build a second wave of this toy line, but for some reason we don’t know, not every figure was made. In this second wave, some casts were the same of the first, but painted in different colours, and some casts were new designs. 24 new figures were made and sold only in Sweden and Denmark. The reason behind this strange marketing campaign could be that the ecologist approach fits very well in the mentality of north-Europeans. The thing is that these 7 or 8 cms. high, plastic figures can be sold for up to 100 Euros (140 US Dollar).

In the previous images, we can see the prototypes that we don’t know if they were ever produced. The figures marked with the pink diamond were produced, because they are the same that appear in the Swedish/Danish cardback (see below). The ones without the diamond were maybe intended for the American market, or as an extension of the wave, but, as said before, we don’t have a proof that they actually exist.

Trash Bag Bunch II (2nd wave cardback - swedish/danish market)

Additionally to the figures, there were two playsets made: the first one was called “Trash Can Playset” and was some kind of briefcase to transport the figures and to play with them when open. The second one is the “Grip’n Dip Bagger”, a crane to drop the bags in water containers. We don’t know if they were actually manufactured, or if the images that run through the internet are prototypes. From the Grip’n Dip Bagger there are only images of the box to find, not the toy.

NOTE: The text of this article was written by Pablo G. Del Río and myself for the magazine "Figuras en Acción".

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: MUCKOID (#25), STINK BUZZARD (#26), JUNKER (#27), SEWERBAT (#28), FUMINOID (#29), JUNK JACKAL (#30), TRASHER (#31), INFECTOR (#32), WASTOR (#33), SKUZBEAST (#34), SEWEROT (#35) & INCINERATOR (#36).
• Toy Line: Trash Bag Bunch (Wave 1)
• Year: 1991
• Company: Galoob (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: 2½’’ or 6,5 cm

#97 TRASH BAG BUNCH – WAVE 1 FIGURES 13 to 24 (1991)

The figures that finally got to be released and sold came in a bag (that looked like a tras bag, but that was actually made of pressed paper). As you bought the bag in a toy store, you didn’t know which figure would you find inside of it. These bags were marked with a number, with which you could see at the cardback which figure you’ll find in that bag, although that didn’t worked as expected because of the misplace of some figures in that kind of checklist. What are we supposed to do with a trash bag? The idea was simply to drop it in lukewarm water, and wait until the bag disappears in sparkling water. That water would also be stained green and some people also assure that it also stinked! There it was! Your figure.

This toy line consisted of many figures with colourful decoration. There were 36 of them: monsters, robots, mutants, humans. Unfortunately, no TV series was ever made to promote this toy. The package was also a little poor, always the same one, with a short description of the toy concept at the back. This was no obstacle for the figures to be massively sold, and a second wave was designed, produced, and sold, but only in two countries, as we’ll see in the next entry.

As we just said, there were 36 characters in this collection. They were divided in two factions: the “good” ones were called “Disposers”, while the “bad” ones were called “Trashors”. Each figure was about 7 cms high (2,5 inches) and they had not a single articulation point. They were made of PVC, which seems to be a plastic with toxic components (toxic for humans). The same number that was printed in the sticker at the bag was also engraved in the figure, usually at a talon, or leg, so you can control which figures do you already had, and which were still missing.

Disposers habited the planet Garbagio. With the help of Prof. Garboff, they expelled the trashors from that planet, but these creatures arrived to the Earth. Now the Disposers will come and help fighting these toxic terrorists. The Disposers are mostly robots and humans/humanoids, equipped with guns, cannons and lasers. See figures from #1 to #17 plus #36.

The trashors are mostly different kinds of monsters and aliens, with many different colours and looks. Their aim is to pollute as much as they can, and turn the Earth into a filthy, toxic planet. See figures from #18 to #35.

Promotional picture, with prototypes of the figures. Note that there are slight differences in the sculpt and the colours of some figures.

NOTE: The text of this article was written by Pablo G. Del Río and myself for the magazine "Figuras en Acción".

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: D-STAIN (#13), JANITAX (#14), SPARKLER (#15), KAPT. KOLLECTOR (#16), SGT. WASTENOT (#17), SLOBBER (#18), SCUM LIZARD (#19), WILDEYE (#20), GARBEAST (#21), MUCK MASTER (#22), PLUTOR (#23) & LICEPLANT (#24).
• Toy Line: Trash Bag Bunch (Wave 1)
• Year: 1991
• Company: Galoob (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: 2½’’ or 6,5 cm

#96 TRASH BAG BUNCH – WAVE 1 FIGURES 1 to 12 (1991)

The trash bag bunch was a figure line produced by the American toy company Galoob in 1991, and distributed in Spain by Famosa one year later. The toy line repeats the basic schema of good vs. evil, with an ecologic element. It tried to make children aware of the environmental threats to the Earth, and the importance of recycling and caring for our planet. It’s important to remember, that in the early 90s, the ecology get up strength as an idea and the people start thinking about the importance and the necessity of taking care of the envinment, the ozone layer or the water of the oceans.

Almost contemporary of these “Trash Bag Bunch” were the cartoons “Captain Planet and the Planeteers” and the action figures made by Kenner. This series also had an ecologist approach. Both the cartoons and the figures were available in Spain, although they were not very popular at the time, and didn’t sell very well.

We don’t want to forget other American cartoons with the same or similar approach, like Toxic Crusaders, that also had its own series of action figures (made by Playmates, with the inspiration of the famous film “The Toxic Avenger” from 1984), or the Ninja Turtles (also made by Playmates, -Bandai in Spain-), in which we can find many figures that represent mutant monsters living in the sewers surrounded by trash and rats.

The origin of this figures is also quite curious. On one side, Galoob had produced in 1987 a series of cheap plastic figures called the “Magic Diaper Babies”. These figures were babies (and dog’s or cat’s puppies) with diapers that turned blue or pink in contact with water, to find out if the baby/puppy was male or female. These extremely cheap figures (around 30 cents of a dollar each) were sold massively.

On the other side, the designer of this line, Mel Birnkrant saw one year later how the State of New York wanted to build a trash dump in his neighbourhood. At the same time, Mel was thinking how could he develop a similar toy line to the “Magic Diaper Babies”, but this time for boys. Thinking about toys and trash dumps, he imagined which animals and “beings” would be attracted by the dump to his neighbourhood (rats, worms, snakes, mosquitoes,…) , and made one drawing with what it would be the initial concept of the “Trash Bag Bunch”. The original name gave by Mel was “The Garbage Bag Gang”, and built a display stand with empty garbage bags.

Galoob had a series of plastic figures that were already produced and provisionally named “Robots, Aliens and Monsters”, but they hadn’t found yet an eye-catching way to market them. That’s were the two different way converge to create the “Trash Bag Bunch” toy line. The name was changed because “Garbage Bag Bunch” was pretty similar to “Garbage Bag Kids”, the parody of the “Cabbage Patch Kids”. Mel didn’t participate in that project anymore, except for contributing new ideas to extend the line.

To see the more images of these prototypes, concept art, and to know more about Mel Birnkrant , we recommend to visit his website: http://melbirnkrant.com/trash/

NOTE: The text of this article was written by Pablo G. Del Río and myself for the magazine "Figuras en Acción".

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: TRASHBLASTER (#1), VAC-U-ATOR (#2), KLUTCH (#3), BREEZOR (#4), STERILIZOR (#5), SANITIZOR (#6), BIO-DEGRADOR (#7), FUMIGATOR (#8), GRIMESTOPPER (#9), DR. SHEERN (#10), WHITE WASHER (#11) & PROF. GARBOFF (#12).
• Toy Line: Trash Bag Bunch (Wave 1)
• Year: 1991
• Company: Galoob (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: 2½’’ or 6,5 cm