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.

Battle of the Planets PRINCESS (and Variant)!

June the Swan Princess - Battle of the Planets Series 1 - Diamond 2002

Battle of the Planets goes by many names.  Suffering a similar fate as other imported Anime (Voltron and Robotech come to mind), the original Japanese Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (1972) was re-edited to become the 1978 US series Battle of the Planets and once again re-edited to become G-Force: Guardians of Space in 1986.  There were a lot of changes between the versions.  Most obvious is the setting.  In Gatchaman, the G-Force team was on Earth (fighting a transgendered/hermaphroditic foe).  In BotP, the adventures took place in space and the main villain was split into two characters (Zoltar: Male; Latroz: Female).  But the consistent heroics of a five-member bird-themed superteam fighting a villainous baddie is what made all iterations successful.  Battle of the Planets had a major nostalgia resurgence in the early 2000s.   They had new comics, DVD releases, and of course, a series of action figures.  Luckily the characters' looks have never changed, so whichever edit you love, these toys will fit the bill.

The Ladies of CAPTAIN SCARLET!

Destiny Angel and Harmony Angel from Vivid Imaginations 1993

Captain Scarlet and Mysterons is a classic British Supermarionation series produced by Gerry Anderson in 1967.  Younger generations are familiar with Supermarionation as the retro-looking puppetwork in movies like Team America: World Police and MTV's Super Adventure Team series.  However, the genre was a well-established sci-fi/adventure artform all throughout the 1960s.  Thunderbirds, Stingray, and Terrahawks were all very popular in their time and featured a similar stylized "puppet" look.  Captain Scarlet, however, featured very humanlike puppets with correct proportions and almost mannequin-like visages.  The series focused on the conflicts between the extra-terrestrial Mysterons and the international defense team Spectrum.  Spectrum's headquarters were an airborne ship called Cloudbase, and protecting Cloudbase were five female pilots (the Angels): Destiny, Harmony, Melody, Rhapsody, and Symphony.  Unfortunately only Destiny and Harmony got the toy treatment.

The Herculoids TARA!

Hanna-Barbera's Herculoids Heroine from Toynami 2003

The Herculoids are quintessential 1960's Hanna-Barbera.  I wasn't exactly born yet when the original episodes aired, but I was around for their reincarnation in 1981.  This early era of Hanna-Barbera adventure titles spawned such classics as Birdman, the Galaxy Trio, Space Ghost, Mighty Mightor, Blue Falcon, Jonny Quest.. the list goes on and on.  I'm rather addicted to these old classic cartoons and pretty much buy every box set they release on warnerarchive.com.  The Herculoids star a family of (seemingly primitive) adventurers on the planet of Amzot and their beastly companions as they defend their world from various threats.  It's simple adventure entertainment at it's best.  Toynami is an amazing toy company.  Every toy I have from them is extremely well made, playable, and perfect likenesses of the characters they are meant to represent.  Some of their brilliant past licenses include: Voltron, Robotech, Thundarr, and of course, Hanna Barbera.  Check out the full review below!

Transformers: Animated DRAG STRIP!

2011 Botcon Exclusive Stunticon from Hasbro 2011

It took me forever to get this fabulous lady into my collection.  The toy collecting world has been plagued with exclusive females in the past few years and it will take me forever to catch up (JoeCon Daina, and SDCC Jinxes are currently high on my list).  This figure of Drag Strip was especially sought after by me because she reuses the Transformers: Animated Arcee mold which is quite possibly my favorite fembot of all time.  The original Drag Strip was a male in a team of 5 Stunticons that could combine to form the giant Menasor.  This BotCon Exclusive Stunticon set did not combine, but instead used clever repaints and retooling of existing Animated figures to create the original members.  Drag Strip was the most shocking of the reveals just because of the gender change, but I didn't hear a single complaint from the fan community because the final product was such a solid figure.  Her colors and application patterns really differentiate her from Arcee and make  a welcome addition to any fembot collection.

Lord of the Rings ARWEN (Coronation Gown)!

Arwen in her Green Coronation Gown from Toy Biz 2004

This second figure of Arwen is not nearly as detailed as the Light Up Evenstar version reviewed earlier this week, but she certainly has her charms.  This figure was released three times in 2004.  Once as a single-packed figure, once in the Elves of Middle Earth Gift Pack and once in the Coronation Gift Pack - all from the Return of the King toy lines.  The pros to this figure are that she is in scale with the rest of the females in the line and also that she is another very good likeness to Liv Tyler.  The cons are (1) really weird slippers, (2) Slightly awkward pose, and (3) inability to stand on her own.  She actually shares an almost identical body to Galadriel (although Galadriel has a sculpted sash coming down the front of her skirts).   Galadriel is barefoot and has gigantic hands in comparison to Arwen, but somehow the body in general is much more natural on Galadriel.  All that aside, this is still a great figure that deserves a place in any LOTR collection.  On to the review!

Lord of the Rings ARWEN!

Middle-Earth's Half-Elven Noble Maiden from Toy Biz 2001

Arwen Undómiel is one of the many characters that were given more prominence in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy than they had in either the books or earlier adaptations.  In the book, she played the minor token "princess-type" role and was written out of the 1978 animated movie altogether.  But Peter Jackson saw the potential in the beautiful Liv Tyler's portrayal of Arwen and elevated her to a major character in the trilogy.  Toy Biz released this action figure right away via a 2001 deluxe box set with her horse, Asfaloth.  This same set was re-released 3 years later in 2004, with a single pack release in-between in 2003 (As a part of Fellowship of the Rings, Series 2)  I think this figure is one of the best of all the Toy Biz Middle-Earth ladies, however she is terribly out-of-scale with everyone else in the line.  The detail of the sculpt (especially her hair and the woven embellishments of her coat) are stunning.  I also don't disapprove of the integration of real cloth skirts... and I'm usually a major cloth-hater.

Lord of the Rings GALADRIEL!

Middle Earth's Lady of Light from Toy Biz 2003
 
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy produced a ton of excellent toys between 2001-2009.  The movies were epic and gave new life to many characters who shockingly had little to no merchandising before this.  I was always aware of Galadriel from the books and animated movie.  I viewed her as a voice of reason and guidance, similar to Sorceress in He-Man.  But when Cate Blanchett stepped into the role, Galadriel instantly became elevated to a goddess-like overseer.  Perhaps that is what Tolkien had intended all along, but it took Peter Jackson and Blanchett to make me see that vision.  I just saw the first installment of the new Hobbit trilogy last Friday and I am so glad to see this role reprised.. I just can't get enough of her.  Toy Biz was a pioneering company in the action figure world.  They picked up on the early success of Kenner and ran with it, pretty much dominating the 1990's and early 2000's.  Near the end of their streak (and shortly before being rebranded as Marvel Toys), they hit a second niche market for movie-based toys.  The Lord of the Rings trilogy seems to have been their most successful venture into this market by far.