#1102 BIKER MICE FROM MARS – VINNIE vs. GREASEPIT (1993)

I presented this toyline with two of the villains, which are the first I managed to complete. In the meantime, I completed these other two figures: another villain, Greasepit, and one of the three main characters: Vinnie in its first version. The mice came with more accesories than the villains, so they are more difficult to get complete. 

They toyline is gaining popularity among collectors today, and it is often mentioned when discussing the action figures which are most sought-after nowadays. Just a few years ago, they were extremely cheap to find, but a nice complete figure is nowadays a bit too expensive for me. The few bits I have were bought some years ago for very low prices. I recall having bought a huge lot of Biker Mice (including Motorbikes) and Action Man because it included just a few bits of older collections such as StarCom for no money. When I received the huge parcel I sorted the Action Man for sale and kept the rest, although I had no Biker Mice yet. I am glad I didn´t sell them at the time, because I wouldn't have got much money for them.

Vinnie is one of the three members of the gang together with Throttle and Modo. In this collection, such as in the Ninja Turtles, all are equally important and there is no character that appears more than the other two in the cartoons. Something interesting is that the mice had an accident in which they lost the sigh (Throttle), an arm and an eye (Modo) and his face got burned off (Vinnie) and that all of them have a dark side (or, at least, darker than in most cartoons). Vinnie sometimes behaves egoistictly, is stubborn and braggs when things go well. The characters are maybe designed for older kids who would appreciate a more elaborated plot, compared to, for example, the Ninja Turtles cartoons (not the comics!)

Greasepit is the classic not-so-intelligent and clumsy bad guy, following the orders of his boss, Lawrence Limburger. It is the only evil figure to have its own motorbike, the Grunge Cycle (a tri-cycle, actually). As all the figures representing evil characters, his face is cartoonish, while the face of good characters are more human-like. For kids in a shop (in 1993), trying to choose which figure to buy, I guess Greasepit would come as number one choice for an evil character.

Opposite to the two figures presented previously on this blog, these two are very well articulated. They can bend knees and elbows/wrists, but the shoulders are articulated by means of a ball-joint, same as the legs. This adds a lot of playability to the toys, mostly considering they have to be poseable enough to sit in and drive a motorbike.

As any quality action figure, they included a series of accesories. The mice always include a helmet (safety first), plus other stuff. Vinnie comes with a claw and a metal bar, which is a choice I do not like very much, but, at least, is something original, rarely seen. Greasepit comes with a more common gun attached to a backpack/can. The cardback also included a filecard that roughly explains the background and the history of the figure.

I still have other figures and vehicles to show, but I´ll let some time pass between two entries dealing with the same toyline.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: VINNIE vs. GREASEPIT
• Toy Line: Biker Mice from Mars
• Year: 1993
• Company: Gaoob (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figure: Around 15 cm

#1021 BIKER MICE FROM MARS – LAWRENCE LIMBURGER and DR. KARBUNKLE (1993)

The Biker Mice from Mars was maybe one of the last great action figure collections of the 90s. Galoob made very good action figures, accesories and vehicles. The toys had a supporting TV series that was also well done, and, in general, had everything they needed to succeed. Unfortunately, it was already 1993 and children were not so interested anymore in action figures. The market was saturated with all kind of action figures, and the videogames were the most desired toys of the day.

Also they started during a time of crisis, that explains why in Spain sold very badly, but in other richer countries they made slightly better, like in France or Germany. Shame! I look at them today and the style looks to me a bit childish, maybe the target children were the same that already had the Ninja Turtles, Bucky O’Hare or Captain Simian and the Space Monkeys.

I was not so young anymore and I do not recall watching the cartoons. I recall vaguely the toys in the lanes of some big commercial center, but they didn’t catch my interest, because I was more interested in other lines and toys.

Today they have a base of fans and the prices are rising fast. Also many figures came with lots of accessories, and they are difficult to find, increasing even more the prices. I have very few of these, that I got mostly in big lots together with other toys, and today I am presenting two of the villains in the series. I like the non-mouse characters best, as the heroes are very similar to each other and come in over a dozen versions each.

In this case, I present Lawrence Limburger, the boss of the evil creatures. Coming also from Mars, it is a fish-like monster that disguises itself as a businessman, mafioso or tycoon (or all three at once) and wears a mask to hide its true identity. It came with that mask and also with a trap full of spikes to catch maybe the mice or other characters from the heroes side.

  

The second character is Dr. Karbunkle with his minion Fred, a rendition of the classic mad scientist, with its white overall and a strange cable that connects a bottle in the belt to his brain. Due to the long overall, it is not very poseable, but it looks great althogether.

Fred is some kind of mutant creature with two different feet (one reptilian, one hairy) and one tentacle instead of the second arm. It also has three eyes, and an action feature, that opens the face and the brains pops up.

Both figures are relatively easy to find and cheap to buy.

Next time, hopefully soon, I will present one of the mice maybe even with a motorbike. I have to re-organize my collection of Biker Mice from Mars. Meanwhile, here is this picture of Dr. Karbunkle and Fred and the original German/Italian/Dutch cardback for Lawrence Limburger.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: LAWRENCE LIMBURGER and DR. KARBUNKLE
  
• Toy Line: Biker Mice from Mars
  
• Year: 1993
• Company: Gaoob (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figure: Around 15 cm.

#994 MICRO MACHINES – TRAINS SERIES (1989)

MM’s enthusiast mostly collect cars and trucks. Other kind of vehicles are not so popular, including the trains made between 1989 and 1990, but they are very nice collectables, so colourful and beautifully detailed.

I have five complete sets plus a couple of pieces that make incomplete sets. Today I am presenting there:

• Continental Bullet

• High Speed Bullet

• American Passenger

• Iron Man No.1

• Transcontinental Freight

 

All of them from 1989, when the Trains series was started. Each of the sets included 5 pieces, that is one locomotive and four wagons, or two locomotives and three wagons. The first series consisted of 8 collections, exactly the five above plus the same last three in repainted versions (and with different names:

• Lightning Express (sames as American Passenger, but in grey/yellow/white)
• Cannonball No.9 (Same as Iron Man No.1, but in different colours)
• Western Freight (same as Transcontinental Freight, but in different colours)

Each blister came with 10/12 tracks, which were exactly 8 curves and 2/4 straight tracks, that could be attached to each other forming long rail loops around or through you Micro Machines cities.

In 1990, all train sets were re-released in alternate colours, but without changing the names. Unfortunately, these are very rare to see, as they were only available in some countries and also in low numbers. That same year there were three additional sets with sounds called Power Sound Trains: Steam Train, Passenger Locomotive and Great Plains Diesel. These three are more common than the standard 1990 releases, but still rare. The casts used for these are the same, the paintwork is different, and they produced two sounds when pressing a button located on top of one of the wagons (generally, the biggest one, that also hold a cell battery.

Several playsets were released to be combined with this series, such as 2 different Train Stations, an Engine House, a Trestle (kind of bridge), or the bigger Train Central City (with a big colour playcard, several buildings with Super Micro Light feature and more rails to extend your lines). Some of these included a complete Power Sounds Trains set, others didn’t include any trains.

Noteworthy is the Power Train City, a playset in which the trains could be dragged automatically along the rails with a system that was probably the same used in the different slot tracks released over the years.

There is still a train station, released in 1996 in the “highways and Byways” style with one train set, two cars, tracks and onel building, but the vehicles were previously released (the train is the Transcontinental Freight from 1989).

FACTS AND FIGURES

• Name: Micromachines Trains Collections: American Passenger, Continental Bullet, High Speed Bullet, Iron Man No.1, Transcontinental Freight
• Scale: unknown.
• Year: 1989
• Company: Galoob (U.S.A.)
• Size: approx. 2 cm

#935 MICRO MACHINES - PROMOTIONAL PACKS including COLLECTIONS #17 DECADES: THE '80s, #20 HALL OF FAMERS, #32 ROAD CONSTRUCTION and #33 FIRE RESCUE (1995)

In the last year, I found two promotional packs (from different sellers), each of them including two complete collections from the mid 90s.

They come from Germany in a white box with several copyright (1994) and license notices in German (same sticker in both sets, even though one of them does not include cars from the brands that the license indicates: Ferrari, Chevrolet...), and a German address.

 

The first one has two collections of great racing cars: Ferrari, Porsche, Ford, Mercedes... some of the greatest brands of all times are represented.

The second one has a set of firefighters and a public workers, each of them with 3 vehicles and 3 people, where one of the vehicles is a "bigger" one: a long fire truck with ladder or a mobile construction crane.

They are very rare, I have seen them only from one seller each.

 

The sport cars set was offered to me by a seller (not on eBay) and I bought the only two boxes this person had. He told me that they were a present for visitors at a car fair in Vienna by the mid 90s, what I found very interesting. Promotional give-aways are always hard to find.

 

The collections included in this pack are: #17 Decades: The '80s and #20 Hall of Famers, both from 1995.

 

#17 Decades: The '80s in promotional pack

#20 Hall of Famers in promotional pack

The firefighters/public workers set was for sale on eBay and the seller had many of them (I bought three), so I guess there are already many out there in the hands of MM collectors.

 

The collections included are: #32 Road Construction and #33 Fire Rescue, both from 1995.

 

#32 Road Construction in promotional pack

  

 

#33 Fire Rescue in promotional pack

 

FACTS AND FIGURES

• Name:  PROMOTIONAL PACKS including COLLECTIONS #17 DECADES: THE '80s, #20 HALL OF FAMERS, #32 ROAD CONSTRUCTION and #33 FIRE RESCUE
• Scale of the cars: 1:150 aprox.
• Year: 1995
• Company: Galoob (U.S.A.)
• Size: approx. 2 cm

#897 MICRO MACHINES - SHAKE & SNIFF COLLECTIONS #2, #3 and #4 (1992)

And yet another Micro Machines subseries, and maybe one of the most curious ones, the Shake & Sniff.

The series consists on trucks with long trailers, whose main feature is that the trailers have some smell, depending on what is printed on the sides of the trailer. An example: if the truck is carrying bananas, the trailer will have a banana smell. For that purpose, the trailer has some small holes drilled in the back part, but I do not know how does the interior look like, probably has some kind of cardboard or sponge impregnated in some scent.

Another feature is that the trucks come with opening doors and the cabin moves up to reveal the motor of the truck. The trailer have small practicable feet so they stand when they are not attached to the truck. This same feature applies to the "Semi-Truck" series from 1989, from which the Shake and Sniff could be considered a continuation or an improvement. The Semi-Truck collections were also available after the Shake and Sniff was withdrawn form the assortment only one year later (1993).

The collection started (and ended) with 4 collections, with 2 trucks each. I am currently missing collection #1, which could be the most difficult to find since one of the trucks smelled like garbage. Definitely, not the best commercial appeal compared to the other three collections.

Collection #1
Cab- Over with Garbage Load
Streamliner with Pine Load

Collection #2
Streamliner with Rootbeer Load
Cab- Over with Vanille Ice Cream Load

Collection #3
Streamliner with Choc Chip Cookie Load
Super Cab with Bubble Gum Load

Collection #4
Streamliner with Popcorn Load
Super Cab with Banana Load

In Spain, the series was called “Mover y Oler” (Move and Smell).

FACTS AND FIGURES

• Name: Micromachines Shake & Sniff Collections #2, #3 and #4.
• Scale of the cars: 1:150 aprox.
• Year: 1992
• Company: Galoob (U.S.A.)
• Size: approx. 2 cm