#580 MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE – METEORBS - ORBEAR (1987)

When the Masters of the Universe fame was decaying, Mattel decided to introduce a series of 10 figures that did not fit the rest of the series. These were 9 animals and one robt that could transform into eggs.

HEROIC METEORBS

• Cometroid – Heroic meteorb with mechanical power.  
• Ty-Grrr – Heroic tiger Meteorb.
• Astro Lion – Heroic lion with amazing brute strength.
• Comet Cat – Heroic panther. The fastest of the Meteorbs.
• Tuskor – Heroic Mammooth who busts force fields with tusks.

EVIL METEORBS

• Dinosorb – Evil brontosaurus who stomps to start quakes.
• Crocobite – Evil crocodile with crushing jaws.
• Rhinorb – Evil rhino with horrible ramming horn.
• Orbear – Evil grizzly who bashes enemies with his claws.
• Gore-illa – Evil ape with monstrous muscle-power.

The story created to fit the Meteorbs into this series was that they were powerful creatures from space that reached Eternia together with Rokkon and Stonedar (two figures from series 5). They appeared in a few comics, catalogues from different countries and also in one chapter of Princess of Power.

The figures are not even a Mattel toy. They were manufactured by Bandai in Japan. They belonged to another toyline called Tamagoras, that reached a certain popularity by the beginning of the 80s. Unfortunately, the Meteorbs didn´t sell very well, and were discontinued after only one wave/ year. The MotU were already in their end phase and the concept was too different. It didn´t work, although transforming toys were some kind of fashion back them.

I own only one of these, Orbear, the bear.

I also have several figures from the Huevox series by Phoskitos. Phoskitos is a biscuit and chocolate dessert intended for children at school. They always have some promotion running with stickers or whatever. In this case you could win these figures. They are from the late 2000s and made in China. One of them is identical to Tuskor the Mammooth, only in another colour.
 

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: ORBEAR (Ref. 1415) + Some HUEVOX
• Toy Line: Masters of the Universe (Wave 6) / Huevox
• Year: 1987 / Around 2008
• Company: Mattel (U.S.A.) / Unknown (Phoskitos promo)
• Size of the figures: 6 cm

#555 JIRAIYA/GIRAYA NINJA - BARON OWL and DOKUSAI (1988)

This series by Bandai was very advertised in 1992 when Bandai arrived to Spain. The Japanese company brought a lot of new toylines, each of it with its own TV ad. Most of them were very small lines (just a few references, like this one) and didn´t have much success. The most successful line was Saint Seiya, while almost all the other toylines are today forgotten (in Spain at least, in Japan most of them are very popular even today). The toys however were manufactured a few years earlier, and introduced earlier as well in other markets, like France in 1989.

I bought two figures the summer of 1992 as some kind of cheap replacement of a real Saint Seiya. The figures are made of a jelly-like sticky plastic, that could be stretched, launched against the wall or the ceiling (where it would stick to), but that is not what caught my attention in the first place... it was the armour, which was, in a way, similar to Saint Seiya´s. The figure also came with some accesories, like swords, bows, knifes, and a figure stand. Even with the armor, it would be difficult to place them in standing position without the stand. The drawback of the armour, is that you cannot really play with the stetch feature... which in the end is the cool thing.

Blistercard Images taken from todocoleccion.net

The collection comprises 5 characters, all of them are actually the same figure with different heads. The main character is Giraya, the hero. Giraya fights together with two other characters: Baron Owl, the "brain" of the organisation and Wild, the young apprentice. On the other side, there is some evil organisation, whose leader is Dokusai. The baddies are only two, being the second one Habrun. As in most good vs. evil stories, the bad guys want to rule the world, and the good guys have a hell of a lot of work stopping them.

Pic: todocoleccion.net

Despite being a nice toy, they are not collectable, because the figures won´t withstand the test of time, and will degradate at some point. So my advice would be not to spend much money on these figures.

In Spain they were sold in blíster cards, like those in the pictures, but in other countries, they were sold boxed.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: DOKUSAI and BARON OWL
• Toy Line: Jiraiya/Giraya Ninja
• Year: 1988
• Company: Bandai (Japan)
• Size of the figure: Around 15 cm