Sea Monkeys SISTER!

Sea Monkeys - Brother and Sister Action Figure Set - Majestic Studios 2004
 
My elusive magical family is complete!  I posted a review of the Sea Monkeys Mother figure back in January.  I mentioned back then how I found these figures to be some of the coolest, yet most elusive, figures I've encountered in my collecting career.  I was happy having the mother figure and never expected to get the rest at a reasonable price.  Then back in May I actually found them... in a store.  Yes, I found all three sets on the pegs of a small toy shop and paid standard retail prices for them.  I love when the unexpected happens in this hobby.  It's one thing to find a toy that you know is expected to be on the shelves, but finding these guys was like that feeling times ten.  For those unaware, these action figures are representations of the misrepresentations displayed on Sea Monkeys products and advertising from the early sixties until present day.  I was among the millions of kids who bought a Sea Monkey tank expecting to grow amazing creatures like in the ads, but was instead greeted with alien-looking little brine shrimp in murky water.  I'm always a sucker.  Let's check out Sister below!

Sea Monkeys MOTHER!

A Brine Shrimp Like No Other - from Majestic Studios 2004

I love a good novelty toy.  Especially a novelty toy based on a novelty toy.   Sea Monkeys were first marketed in 1957 in response to the success of the Ant Farm from a year prior.  In those early days, they were marketed as "Instant Life" and didn't adopt the name Sea Monkeys until 5 years later in 1962.  Then came many many years of comic book advertising.  Harold von Braunhut, the creator of Sea Monkeys, estimated that he bought 3.2 million advertising pages in comic books each year (don't quote me!  It's from Wikipedia!).  I know I found the images of happy anthropomorphic underwater families inescapable throughout my youth in the 80's.  I always wanted them so desperately but my father insisted they were a scam.  Then one year a classmate of mine did an experiment which involved multiple Sea Monkey tanks lined up on my gradeschool classroom windowsill.  I was still enthralled, but I quickly learned that the illustrations that drew me in were a far cry from the gritty reality.