#261 MICRO MACHINES – INSIDERS COLLECTION #1, #3, #6 and #18 (1990 and 1991)

The insiders were first released in 1990. These new Micromachines were slightly larger than Ultrafast Micromachines and their great feature was that they could be “opened” revealing a smaller car in its interior. These small cars are probably some of the smallest toy cars ever made, and they even have 4 independent rolling wheels.

Surprisingly, there were 20 collection made of these, each of them with two different models. In case of Collection #1, the cars were:

• ’55 T-Bird conceals Ultrasmall ’55 T-Bird
• ’55 Vette conceals Ultrasmall ’55 Vette

In some cases the concealing car and the concealed car are the same model, like in collection #1, in other cases, they're different models of cars, or even different types of vehicles.

 

The “Ultrasmall” cars are one half or three quarters the length of an ordinary, ultrafast Micromachine. These are often missing; due to its size they were easily lost. The big cars are marked © 1989 Galoob China, but the small are not marked at all, what makes them also difficult to identify if you’re not a toy expert. Another “weak-point” of the Insiders is that the hinge that opens and closes the car is a bit breakable.

Considering all that, I was very happy to find these two in a flea market. I wasn’t even aware that there were such Micromachines, so when I got home, I was surprised to discover that in their interior there were two more MM! A hidden treasure!.

The Insiders should not be mistaken with the Triplesiders, which were basically the same models, but with one bigger, additional car. That’s a car concealing a car concealing another car. The “middle” and “small” cars in the Triplesiders collections were often the same models that were available as Insiders, even in the same colours. Triplesiders were available in 1990 and 1991, 8 different collections each year.

UPDATE (JAN/2017): Added Collection #3, consisting of:

• ’32 Hot Rod conceals Ultrasmall ’32 Hot Rod
• ’41 Willys conceals Ultrasmall ’41 Willys

UPDATE (Dec/2018): Added Collection #18 consisting of:

• Ford Taurus conceals Ultrasmall E-Type Jaguar
• Bugatti Royale conceals Ultrasmall ’65 Lincoln 

This collection was made one year later, in 1991 and is much more hard to find than the previous ones.

UPDATE (Jun/2023): Added Collection #6 consisting of:

• ’55 T-Bird conceals Shelby Cobra
  
• '56 Ford Pick-up conceals Dodge Funny Car
  

 

 FACTS AND FIGURES

• Name: INSIDERS COLLECTION #1, #3, #6 and #18
• Scale of the cars: 1:150 aprox.
• Year: 1990 and 1991
• Company: Galoob (U.S.A.)
• Size: approx. 2 cm

#260 HE-MAN – BOLAJET and SHUTTLE POD / DREADWING (Refs. 3534 and 3336) (1989)

HE-MAN VEHICLES AND PLAYSETS:

As any other “important” action figure toy-line, He-Man (MOTU-NA) had a short series of vehicles and playsets. I own the two vehicles I am showing in this entry.

Both are still in their boxes, and they have never been opened. They cannot be opened without tearing the cardboard box, since the sides of the box are glued. That’s why I will just show pictures of the boxes. I do not want to open them, although these toys are relatively inexpensive. I got mine from a friend at a “friend-price”.

Bolajet is the smallest vehicle in the 1^st wave and it is a mixture between a flying motorbike and a gun. The toy has a handle and a trigger which activates the two red balls and shoots them at the same time. These ball are tied together with a string, so you can use them as “bolas” (Bolas => Bolajet) to capture enemies. 

The Shuttle Pod belongs to the evil forces and is some kind of small flying object. This vehicle can be attached to the Terrapod as indicated on the back of the box. The nicest detail for me is the “trunk” that has place for several weapons. The wings also move up and down.

And to finish this article, let’s check which vehicles and playsets were released through the different waves of He-Man:

1^st Wave:

• Astrosub (ref. 1986)
• Bolajet (ref. 3534)
• Shuttle Pod / Dreadwing (ref. 3336)
• Starship Eternia (ref. 2133)
• Terrorclaw / Terrapod (ref. 2268)

2^nd Wave:

• Nordor (ref. 3548)

3^rd Wave:

• Battle Bird (ref. 1262)
• Doomcopter / Skull Copter (ref. 9960)
• Terrortread / Dread Tread (ref. 1887)

I leave the battle accessories (Rocket Disk Power Pack and Turbo-Tormentor) as well as the “DeLuxe” figure Sagitar /Tharkus for future entries.

The role playing accessories that were also available do not interest me, and I don’t think they will ever appear in this blog. They were He-Man’s Power Sword, Skeletor’s Skull Staff, plus two wrist accessories that made battle sounds: the Thunder Punch and the Terror Punch.

About the toys, they have sizes  ranging between these two toys (which are the smallest ones) and the huge playsets Starship Eternia and Nordor.

In the first wave, the heroes had a clear advantage over the evil forces because they had one vehicle more than them (the Starship Eternia). With the second wave, the evil forces were provided with the counterpart to S. Eternia: Nordor, which is also a very big playset.

3^rd Wave’s vehicles are quite rare and can be very expensive. I have never seen them as I have never seen wave 4 figures from this collection.

Page of the traditional Christmas catalogue from Galerías Preciados

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: BOLAJET and SHUTTLE POD / DREADWING
• Toy Line: He-Man (also New Adventures of He-Man) (Wave 1)
• Year: 1989
• Company: Mattel (U.S.A.)
• Size of the vehicles: Around 20 cms long each

#259 TOMICA – VOLKS WAGEN, BLMC MINI COOPER S (MK-III) and VOLKS WAGEN PUTICA DISNEY (Nrs. F20, F8 and PD6) (1977, 1979 and ~1990)

These are the Tomica reproductions of the two most famous and iconic European cars of all times. The German VW 1200 or 1300 (1970s) and the English BLMC Mini Cooper S Mk-III (1969-76).

BLMC comes from British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd.

Some people say Tomica’s Volkswagen is the 1302, because this is the model that Majorette reproduced, and Tomica and Majorette models are very similar.

There is not much to say about these cars, everything has already been said. The toys are specially charming because, even compared with other tomicas, they’re very well detailed. The Mini Cooper because it is made at a slightly bigger scale (1:50) and the Volkswagen because it is the cabrio/convertible version, with a very nice interior, “textile”-roof and visors.

Tomica also released the VW 1200LSE, the “Superbug” and the VW Beetle (all F20), these models are all hardtops. The Superbug has special “custom” wheels.

There are also different colour variations of the Mini Cooper, including one orange version with the British flag on the roof, but they seem to have been released later.

The Cabrio version of the Volkswagen Beetle has also been further released through the years. There are at least two more versions made of this car. In 1983, Tomica released a series of four cars with Jim Henson’s “Muppets” on them: the released models were:

• Kermit the Frog in orange Volks Wagen Convertible 
• Miss Piggy in pink Morgan Super 8 Convertible 
• Animal in red Jeep 
• Fozzie Bear in blue Ford Model T

In that same year, a second series of vehicles with cartoon characters was released. The name of this series is “Disney Putica” and there were 10 different models with Disney characters on them made. I am showing here Minnie Mouse in a pink Volkswagen Convertible, although you can see the rest of the models in the next picture.

Picture taken from: http://www.pockyland.net/viewthread.php?tid=4771

8 of these vehicles are driven by Mickey Mouse, 1 by Donald Duck, and the last one by Minnie Mouse.

It is interesting to note that there have been three versions of these Disney-Tomica models, which can be identified by looking at the chassis only:

• 1^st Release: “Made in Japan” 
• 2^nd Release: “Made in China”  
• 3^rd Release: “Made in China” and “Tomy” logo 

The car in my collection seems to belong to the third (newer) release.

There are more pictures and information (in Chinese) here.

Other die-cast manufacturers also had series with Disney characters riding on their car models, for example, Matchbox or Guisval.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: VOLKS WAGEN, BLMC MINI COOPER S (MK-III) and VOLKS WAGEN PUTICA DISNEY (Nrs. F20, F8 and PD6)
• Scale: 1:60, 1:50 and 1:60
• Year: 1977, 1979 and 1990?
• Company: Tomica (Japan)
• Size: approx. 6 cm

#258 YOLANDA – SUPER-MONSTRUOS (STANDARD SERIES) (I) (1992)

Everything I had to say about Super-Monstruos was already told in entry #123.

This series of figures is identical to the painted one (Serie Especial), but doesn’t have any special name apart from Supermonstruos. That’s why I named this entry “Standard series”.

This type of plastic is slightly harder and less flexible than the one used in “serie especial” figures.

For obvious reasons, this type of figures were cheaper and intended for other uses. For example, these figures have decorated few birthday cakes, they’re more like a cheap toy you could buy instead of candies.

I will simply leave the pictures of the figures I own, and I will sometime expand this article/write a new one with more figures, just like I will if I find more figures from the painted series.

Supermonstruo #1 : Dracula

Supermonstruos #3 and #8 :Yeti and Zombie

Supermonstruos #9 and #5: Hunchback and Mummy

Supermonstruos #12 and #13: Ghost and Pirate

Supermonstruos #16 and #19: Vampire and Jack the Ripper

Supermonstruos #22 and #23: The Fly and Ape from the Planet of the Apes

As you can see in the last picture, some figures have lost their form after being storaged for years in a wrong position. This defect is quite common in some figures, for example in "The Fly".

As a bonus, I paste here again the catalogue that could be found in each bag together with each of these figures:

Supermonstruos 1 to 4

Supermonstruos 5 to 8

Supermonstruos 9 to 12

Supermonstruos 13 to 16

Supermonstruos 17 to 20

Supermonstruos 21 to 24

NOTE: This catalogue scan belongs to the original (monochromatic) series and appears 
in this blog courtesy of Pablo G. del Rio/Saurod. Originally displayed here.

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Names: DRACULA (1), YETI (3), ZOMBIE (8), FANTASMA (12), PIRATA (13), VAMPIRESA (16), JACK EL DESTRIPADOR (19), EL HOMBRE-MOSCA (22) y SIMIO (23).
• Toy Line: Super-Monstruos "Standard Series" (monochromatic version)
• Year: 1992
• Company: Yolanda (Spain)
• Size: Around 11 cm