#1092 MONSTERS OF THE GALAXY – FLASH (Art. 8422) (1985)

The Monsters of the Galaxy is an Italian Masters of the Universe knock-off line. It is very rare even in its country of origin, so you may have never heard of it before. I once found a cardboard in a flea market, and later bought this figure with almost all its accesories in an auction in Austria. As you can see, there were nine figures in total plus two beasts. All figures seems to come with a very impressive helmet, and some include unusual accesories like cloth cloaks and cloth boots. They come in different colours as it is common in action figure collections. Some has a minimal background information, such as "Defender of Aeterna", but most of them lack of any reference. Three of them have monstruous heads, while the other 6 have human faces, sometimes hidden unter strange helmets or headwear, so it is left to the kid if the figure is a hero or a villain.

As you can observe in the pictures, the figure is unmistakenbly a MotU copy. The body parts have not been cloned, but they are very very close to the originals from Mattel. I would say the head is inspired by that of Clamp Champ, but if in that case, the year I have seen referred as the release date of the figures (1985) cannot be accurate, as Clamp Champ is a figure from 1986. The accesories are not copied, but pretty much respect the style of the line they are trying to imitate.

This character's name is Flash, and resembles a bit Spikor. It has a similar body colour and, despite missing it's trident-arm, it comes with a helmet with five spikes. Other accesories which my figure still has are a light blue harness and a spiked-shield. Unfortunately, it is missing an axe.

The figure and its accesories are completely unmarked, so many people who came accross them had a hard time identifying them. Now with the reverse search of search machines and AI tools should be easier, but I didn't make the test yet.

 

The manufacturer is Camy, a completely unknown company from Palazzolo sull'Oglio, a locality between Bergamo and Brescia, in the Lombardy. This is a really small town, and the company was probably also a very small business, so the number of figures out there has to be very low. The very few that are for sale on eBay at the time of writing this article cost 250 euro (figure with harness and helmet), 330 (figure with harness) to 950 euro (complete figure with all accesories). Loose accesories go for around 30 euro/piece. Even if you had the money to buy the figures it would cost you a lot of time to wait for all the items (it is 9 figures plus two beasts) to pop-up in that platform or other platforms online.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: FLASH (ART. 8422)
• Toy Line: Monsters of the Galaxy
• Year: 1985
• Company: Camy (Italy)
• Size of the figures: Around 14 cm tall

#1088 STARGATE – COL. O’NEIL (1994)

This Hasbro toy line is based on the 1994 movie Stargate, which was a moderate success at the time. The film tells the story of an interdimensional gate discovered during an archaeological excavation in Egypt. A team of U.S. soldiers and an archaeologist cross the gate and are transported from the 20th century to a distant planet that closely resembles ancient Egypt.

The movie was full of action and special effects, so it was expected to be popular among kids and teenagers. However, the success was smaller than anticipated. By then, teenagers were losing interest in action figures, so the toy line was short-lived.

Figures in the Toy Line

The collection included eight figures:

• Ra

• Anubis

• Horus (Palace Guard)

• Horus (Attack Pilot)

• Skaara, leader of the Shepherd Boys of Abydos

• Daniel Jackson, the archaeologist

• Colonel O’Neil

• Lt. Kawalsky

Vehicles and Creatures

Hasbro also released three other items:

• All-Terrain Cruiser (a military light ATV)

• Mastadge (a beast of burden with a sleigh)

• Winged Glider (an alien fighter jet)

Style and Features

All figures were made in the Kenner style, with 5 points of articulation and several accessories. They had no action features but usually included missile launchers.

For collectors today, the most interesting detail is that many accessories and vehicle parts were reused from the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toy line. Hasbro had absorbed Kenner that same year, which explains the construction style of these figures.

This figure is missing a grey missile launcher and two dark grey missiles.

Character Details

• Ra – The main god of ancient Egypt. The figure came with a pharaoh hood, skirt, staff, missile launcher, and two missiles (from G.I. Joe). The artifact included was a small pyramid.

• Anubis – Came with a hood, skirt, staff, missile launcher with a unique design, two G.I. Joe missiles, and the Winged Glider artifact.

• Horus (Attack Pilot) – Included a hood, skirt, staff, missile launcher with two G.I. Joe missiles, plus the Chariot artifact.

• Horus (Palace Guard) – Came with a hood, skirt, staff, a futuristic missile launcher (not G.I. Joe), two G.I. Joe missiles, and the Sarcophagus artifact.

• Colonel O’Neil – The main character of the movie, played by Kurt Russell. The figure included a black beret, missile launcher with two missiles (reused from G.I. Joe), and a small Stargate artifact.

• Lt. Kawalsky – Another soldier. He came with a helmet, large machine gun, backpack, missile launcher with two G.I. Joe missiles, and the All-Terrain Cruiser artifact.

• Daniel Jackson – The archaeologist. His figure included a baseball cap, machine gun (same mold as Annihilator, 1989), backpack, missile launcher with two missiles, and a small black pyramid artifact.

• Skaara – The shepherd boy. He came with a rocket-firing launcher and two missiles (identical to those used by G.I. Joe in the 1990s), a head strap, and the trident-style machine gun originally used by Monkeywrench (in a darker gray than the 1987 version). His blister pack also included a small Mastadge artifact.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: COL. O’NEIL
• Toy Line: Stargate
• Year: 1994
• Company: Hasbro (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: Around 3’ or 7.5 cm

#1086 FOREST FAMILIES – MOUSE & RABBIT FAMILIES (Around 1989)

I presented this collection some years ago in entry #1035, where I explained everything I knew and could find about the manufacturer MC Toy and the line itself, while I showed already some figures from my collection.

 

This time, I will limit the extent of this contribution to show two more families: Rabbits and Rats, but first, let´s take a closer look to the leaflets above. It is practical to have at least one of these (they come in several formats) to check if the clothes actually match the figure or not. Maybe these were swapped with those of another figure, and, since I am a completist collector, I want the figures to be complete with all their accesories.

In the leaflet above the second scen shows the Mouse Family, while the fifth and last show the Rabbit Family. Note that the background of the image is different, so I assume the mice were made a bit earlier than the rabbits. The background corresponds to the one used in the Bear family, while the blue background images are probably the extension of the line, as they saw the first figures were selling well. These include some of the "exotic" species, mentioned in the previous entry.

And now, let´s go for the toys!

 

Rabbit family / Familie Hasi

 

Mouse family / Familie Maus

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: MOUSE and RABBIT FAMILIES
• Toy Line: FOREST FAMILIES / BÄRENLAND
• Year: Around 1989
• Company: MC Toy (Macau/ China)
  
• Size of the figures: Around 7-8 cm

#1073 G.I. JOE – COBRA TROOPER and COBRA VIPER (1982 and 1986)

When I deal with the most popular toylines of the major toy companies, my blog receive almost no visits. Of course, everything I could say here about G.I. Joe has already been said somewhere else, or, if you are looking for some information, you have yojoe.com or many other sites to read for hours.

Still, I love to write about lines such as G.I. Joe and taking my figures out for a photo session, so this time I´d like to talk about the main characters of Cobra´s armies: the Cobra Trooper and the Cobra Viper. They are the infantry soldiers of the terrorist organisation, and where always present in the comics and the TV series. First the Cobra Trooper, who was one of the figures in the very first wave in 1982, then updated in 1986 to look less human and more like a sci-fi character. There is a second version of Viper from 1994, but this one is much rarer and I still don´t have it. In any case, the really remarkable ones are these two.

The Cobra Trooper was released, as I just said, in 1982 with straight arms, but then “updated” the following year with swivel arms, which is the version in the pictures. It came with a black machine gun only. It is not to be mistaken by the Cobra Officer, which is a very similar figure, whose more remarkable difference is a silver emblem in the chest. Since we are going today for the “cannon fodder” only, I'll reserve the Cobra Officer for some other day.

 

The Cobra Viper looks much more menacing with its silver visor or helmet and has a much more detailed body sculpt. It seems to be wearing a special jacket (maybe bullet-proof), protective gloves and googles. This other figure came with a grey rifle and a black backpack. The dark blue is the same, as it is the corporate colour of Cobra and suits well for night actions or city guerrilla.

 

Both figures are highly interesting for collectors, as you cannot have only one, you need a bunch of them! In the community in which I used to participate many years ago, there were many advanced collectors who had 10, 50, 100 of each of these two for armybuilding. Crazy! Fortunately, they are not so scarce that they are impossible to find, with some effort (also economical effort), you can find one complete and in good shape. And if, not, they has been cloned and can be bought new, almost indistinguishable of the original ones.

Here is the Spanish fullcard of Viper (Víboras)

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: COBRA TROOPER and VIPER
• Toy Line: G.I. Joe
• Year: 1983 and 1986
• Company: Hasbro (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: 10 cm approx.

#1068 BATMAN (TOY BIZ) - BATMAN vs. BOB THE GOON (1989)

Not many entries dealing with Batman in the more than 1.000 reviews that I made so far. And the most important figures of them all were missing... until today.

These were the very first action figures released after the movie directed by Tim Burton and premiered worldwide in 1989. The movie was a huge success, and there were all kinds of merchandising available: t-shirts, promotions, different types of toys and also action figures.

pic: dcinthe80s.com

The collection started with these golden blisters, but there were not many characters available. Beside Batman and Joker, only Bob the Goon was available. An interesting choice, since the character does not have a leading role in the film. Maybe the toymaker thought that Joker needed some companion, as the rest of the initial released included only vehicles and playsets for the hero. The Batcave, the Batmobile and the Batwing could be purchased separately, but Joker only had his fellow companion Bob.

The figures came with some action feature and articulation in the knees, legs, arms and head, as well as some action accesories. They are not very durable, they often show loose limbs, but if they have not been played, they look great and are a good addition to any collection.

Batman figure has the bat-rope hidden in hi belt, that can be extended to “climb” to a higher surface, as well as a batarang, something that resembles a gun and the black cloak made of cloth. Although today might seem a bit crude, the face sculpt is not bad for 1989.

Bob the Goon feature is a kick with one of his legs, The leg can be loaded and stays in “standing” position until a button in the back is pushed, then the leg moves forward and hits whatever it is on its way. The figure includes a black hut, a gun (very similar to G.I.Joe's Shockwave) and a knive. The same can be said about the head sculpt, wich, by the way, was produced in two variants, in which the hair is different.

The line was, of course, later extended with more vehicles: The Batcycle, the Joker cycle, the Joker Van. Also some more DC figures were made and sold under the brand DC Comics Super Heroes still in 1989. This line included Robin, The Penguin. Mr. Freeze and The Riddle, together with Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Hawkman, Two Face and Lex Luthor. This other collection shared the same blister style but was kind of separated from the Batman collection. Still the three figures from Batman appeared also in the blisterpacks of DC Comics Super Heroes from 1991. Many of these characters resemble very much the Super Powers figures made by Kenner some years earlier. I have several of these figures in my collection, as well as other vehicles.

If you consider the two lines as one or prefer to keep them separated is up to you.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: BATMAN and BOB, THE GOON
• Toy Line: BATMAN
• Year: 1989
• Company: Toy Biz (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: 11 cm approx.

#1062 HOOK - SWASHBUCKLING PAN and LOST BOY RUFIO (1991)

Slowly and with great difficulty, I managed to get and complete further figures of the Hook toyline. It is a minor toyline that includes many accessories and small pieces that are very hard to find. Maybe not very expensive but scarce. And with the current shipping costs it “hurts” to pay to get them. I have to wait for certain opportunities and/or combined shipping which only happen rarely.

I'll start with Rufio. This character is one of the lost boys and also one of the coolest figures on the first wave, because it came with a windsurf-skateboard minivehicle, whose sail part can also be used as a delta-wing or something similar. This accesory looks great and is a lot of fun to play with it.

That sail part has a sticker on it which is sometimes damaged. The figurecan be attached to the board by means of pegs that fit in its feet and stays firmly on it, so you can play jumps and other stunts. The figure itself is mostly black, but has nice paintwork details in red.

 

I bought this figure in its blister, but the packaging was in very bad shape. Later I got another figure, complete, in good shape and with its original cardboard, so I decided to resell the blister and keep only the loose figure. This was the blister.

The second figure today and the second figure of Peter Pan that I show in this blog is also quite cool. It carries a green and black outfit, which is not it´s most iconic one, but still looks nice, and includes a sword that the figure handles and sweeps in the air as you twist the body of the figure. That is its action feature. It also includes a scabbard for it (not practicable, it is just a piece of plastic) and a small knife. The accesories were attached to a plastic frame or sprue, although, this one is nicely done and resembles wood. I guess some imaginative children found an use for it after removing the accesories.

  

Both figures belong to the first wave from 1991, which is the only one still affordable and broadly available in second hand markets. Have presented other figures in the past, but I still have more to show. See you next time!

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: SWASHBUCKLING PAN and RUFIO (LOST BOY) (Ref. 2849 & 2818)
• Toy Line: Hook (Wave 1)
• Year: 1991
• Company: Mattel (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: Around 12 cm