#324 MADELMAN 2050 – TARANTULA (Ref. 1705) (1988)

This vehicle was 1 of the 6 vehicles available during the first wave of Exin’s toyline: Madelman 2050. Since the second wave was only partially released, the vehicles from wave 1 were re-packed and sold in the second wave (similarly to what happened with the figures in the first wave). The new packages looked much more modern as I already explained here.

Now let’s take a look at the box of the toy, and let’s see which other vehicles were available during wave 2.

These illustrations can be found on the back of the box of the Tarantula. It shows the complete assortment of figures and vehicles that were planned to be sold in the second wave of M2050. It was already commented in an older entry, that not all the figures were actually manufactured, but in the case of the vehicles, they were all available in extremely limited releases. I have seen all of them except the Skytron and the Phantox, but the existence of these two has also been confirmed by ex-workers from Exin.

HOMBRES C.O.T.A.
Sentinel (Ref. 1700)
Tarantula (Ref. 1701)
Clonstar (Ref. 1702) - NEW
Skytron (Ref. 1703) - NEW
Defender (Ref. 1750)
Transcom (Ref. 1650) - NEW

ZARKONS
Batrus (Ref. 1726)
Falcon (Ref. 1727)
Montrax (Ref. 1728) - NEW
Scorpion (Ref. 1751)
Dragotrak/Anfitron (Ref. 1760) - NEW
Phantox (Ref. 1670) – NEW

Clonstar and Dragotrak/Anfitron are the most common from the new vehicles, and also the most surprising and innovative ones.
The Clonstar is the first and only vehicle in the toyline to include drivers, but also the first one to include many chromed parts, including the chromed body. The ball has four practicable parts that can be separated: two parts are attached to the backs of the figures, and the other two houses two recon-vehicles.
Dragotrak/Anfitron are two vehicles in one, and it the only one that can be controlled remotely. The vehicle has a quite impressive size.

The other 4 vehicles are much rarer. It is quite interesting that two reference numbers are slightly different from the rest: there are two 16xx references (Transcom and Phantox), which correspond to the smallest vehicles in the range. Maybe Exin had planned a low cost line of vehicles.
Montrax is also a very small vehicle, while the Skytron has a medium size, and reuses parts of the first 6 vehicles. From all new six, is the most likely to have belonged to the first wave.

But back to the Tarantula, this vehicle takes its name from the famous spider. The vehicle, as the spider, has a central body, with two claws and 4 legs (the spiders have 2 fangs and 8 legs). It also has many cables and antennas, similarly to the other vehicle already presented in this blog: Batrus.

These are the claws of the vehicle.

 The body has place for one figure and a small place to store weapons.

 On the rear part of the body, the "spider" has a spring loaded hook, what adds great playability to the toy.
 

This image shows the lower part of the vehicle. Note that the feet are actually (almost) flat pads. The hole in the middle is to fix the toy to the box with the plastic tab below.

This last picture show the contents of the box: additional cables, antennas, unapplied stickers, the quality control sheet and the mini-comic (keep reading).

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: TARANTULA (Ref. 1701)
• Toy Line: Madelman 2050 (Wave 1)
• Year: 1988
• Company: Exin (Spain)
• Size: Around 24 cm long from claws to hook

As an annex, I include here all pages from mini-comic "¡Combate!", second mini-comic out of 5 released. The titles for the comics are:

• LA INVASIÓN DE LOS ZARKON
• ¡COMBATE!
• LA PUERTA DEL VOLCÁN
• BASERTRON 2050 
• EL CUARTEL INFERNAL