Mini Monsters Mystery Solved

For years, these PVC figures I dubbed "The Mini Monsters" by Tomland, had been the source of intrigue to collectors. They'd ask questions like

What does the packaging look like?

How many in the series?

These would all be answered in one fell swoop when a salesman sample appeared on ebay, I was not the lucky winner but fortunately for us, I knew him and he's the sharing type. More after the jump.

Tomland Famous Monsters of Legend Archive Launches

It may seem odd to launch a Monster themed page in December but it's Halloween all year round at my place and it's rare these days that I get this excited, so it simply couldn't wait.

Tomland is probably best known for the Star Raiders, an 8" Mego like line of action figures clearly meant to mimick Star Wars. However, they also produced a very fun line of Monster Action figures and released two sets with what seems like a few year's gap between them.

The first series consisted of four figures, most have seen them as they were readily available across the country in stores such as K-Mart.

However, the second series, produced in 1980 seems to have seen almost no distribution. It consisted of 8 figures, the first four characters from series one (now in "glow in the dark" format) and four new characters which were pretty big names. Namely Frankenstein, Dracula, The Mummy and the Wolfman.

What makes this even sweeter for me is that Tomland seemed to be directly copying the Lincoln Monsters which most would know are my favourite monster toys ever. Sadly, they are also some of the hardest to find.

So I'm especially proud to be able to, for the first time (to my knowledge), present the entire set of Tomland Famous Monsters of Legends figures in their own archive. Got something I don't have and want to share? Email me!

Tomland Famous Monsters of Legend Archive

Other Action Figure Galleries on PlaidStallions

  

  

 

 

Tomland Star Raiders Archive Launches

Tomland (a UK Company who was in the Marx family of companies) marketed these fun and strange 8 inch mego-like action figures under a variety of names but the best known is "Star Raiders" which were obviously meant to cash in on the renewed interest in Sci Fi thanks entirely to "Star Wars" coming on scene.

 Star Raiders hadn't been Tomland's first kick at the knock off can, they got their feet wet with "Famous of Monsters of Legend" an attempt to cash in on the AHI/LIncoln/Mego 8" Monster craze of the mid 1970s and they followed up with "Creatures from other Worlds" which apes the Mego Star Trek Aliens line.

When Star Wars came up, they merely repackaged all of these previous characters, created 8 new, somewhat copyright infringing ones and bundled them as "Star Raiders" and then later "Star Command".

 

What we have here is the beginnings of an archive, which will include every line mentioned. If you have items you'd like to add, please drop me a line. For now enjoy the complete knock off wonder that is the Tomlands Star Raiders Archive on PlaidStallions....

Other Action Figure Galleries on PlaidStallions

  

  

 

Super Joe Gallery

International Bionic People

From the UK I bring you James Austin and Stevie Sommers, the "Don't Sue Us" Bionic couple. These unlicensed wonders were created by Tomland, a company that seemed to get it's kicks from knocking off Star Wars and other films. Their Star Raiders and Famous Monsters line are a both a child's and a lawyer's dream.

Our Bionic Man actually had another life as "Dral" a member of the aforementioned "Star Raiders". Recognize Dral's outfit? That's cause it's a rip off of Mattel's Pulsar outfit. So technically, he's wearing a knockoff off a suit that was in itself a knockoff, kind of makes you dizzy. Tomland knew no shame and we're better for it.

As a palate cleanse, I bring you the completely licensed "El Hombre Nuclear" from a toy company known as BASA in Peru. Lucky Peruvians had themselves a Steve Austin on a Mego body, I cannot tell you how much I love this toy, words have no meaning.

1979 Tomland Toys Catalog

 

Tomland Toys are kind of a mystery to many toy collectors, a member of the Marx family of companies, they were known for producing cheap but fun toys that sometimes kind of skirted copyright laws.

They are perhaps most famous for their 1978 line of action figures called "Star Raiders" and it's follow up line "Star Command: Starroid Raiders" both of which seemed to have been inspired by a certain George Lucas film (hint it's not American Grafitti). In 1979, Tomlands lines seem to have been carried in the United States by a company called Calfax, here is their spacey 1979 selection:

Other Space Toy Links

The Tomland Mini Monsters

Happy to showcase these weird little figures, produced in 1979 by a UK company called Tomland (under the umbrella of Marx) these stylin' mini monsters were based on my beloved Lincoln International Monsters. I don't know why and I honestly don't care, I'm just pleased that they were. Tomland made their own 8" versions of the Lincoln Monsters as well. More after the jump 

Tomland: Gazing into the Future

Toyfair 1978- Most collectors know Tomland for their cool Alien and Monster toys, I wish I knew more about the company itself.

Colouring Book Theatre: Monster Gallery

Sean from creepsylvania.com sent me an awesome surprise this month, a colouring book I've actually been looking forward to seeing for years. The Monster Gallery Colouring Book is an early seventies masterpiece illustrated by Mark Savee (with text by Leah Waskey) and each page is a stunning tribute to a famous monster of either screen or legend. A lot like the Bernie Wrightson Monster Colouring Book we reviewed a while back, this is a real cut above the standard fair. It's beautifully put together and honestly if you owned this, I doubt you'd put crayons to it.

Frankenstein here is a great example of this great art in this book but 70s toy dorks like myself have even more interest in this book for a very specific reason:

Some of Savee's designs were swiped and used as packaging illustrations for Tomland/Combex (A UK division of Marx) "Famous Monsters of Legend" Toy Line.

Tomland Morlock has an ascot for some reason, like a cannibal Mr. Furley

The Yeti figure is a little off model to the artwork.

Cyclops, I doubt any royalties were paid to Harryhausen.

Unlike almost every other colouring book I've covered here, this one is too good and too much great artwork to cover here, so I've created a gallery page highlighting all the great artwork in this fun book, just click here to visit The Monster Gallery

Thanks again Sean! This made my week.

Previously reviewed Colouring Books

If you have a colouring book you'd like to guest review, I'd like to hear from you!

SPEAKING OF MONSTERS

Today is the last day to enter in my "Save Frightenstein" contest, I could really use some help here and you could win a cool prize, so click here for details...

Rocket Soaring Sales Builders

The Starroid Raiders look like the love child of Kenner Star Wars and Play Mobile figures, which totally rocks!

Look for more Retro Toy Fair Coverage all Day...

More Lincoln Monsters

I'm real jazzed to have some additions to the Lincoln Monsters section of the site, mostly because I never thought I would get more stuff from this tough to collect 8" line. Above is the Frankensten box, that's right, Frankensten, it seems Lincoln took their proofing as seriously as I do.

The Mummy box also has the same sort of fun design but thankfully with no typo, it'd be hard to take a "Mommy" doll seriously. Speaking of the Mummy, I've also finally gotten off my butt and had the sticker printed.

I already gave some away at the forum but I'll be giving a bunch more away in the very near future, look for an announcement on the weekend.

Starroid Raiders

When it comes to Star Wars rip off figures, there is no more blatant than the wonderful Tomland's Starroid Raiders. These guys usually sold for a buck (far less than a SW figure) and had GREAT names, from left to right we have Zang, Tango, Wahh, Zbu, Aton and Dado. Like a lot of their stuff, these little fellas came on a multitude of different cards sometimes they were "Space Fighters" or "Space Raiders", it all adds to their cheap charm.

Tomlands/Combex did all sorts of fun figures that blatantly skirt licensing and are now highly collectible. The UK based company used others to do their distribution in the states and were actually in the Marx family of companies. According to some UK trades I have, they were doing quite well.

Expect more on this stuff in the near future.

If you're into Starroid Raiders or almost any figure line that is 3 3/4" inches tall then you should really check out the Kevin Lentz's 3 3/4" Archive sometime. He's compiled a ton of child hood favourites from the 70's and 80's into a one fun web site, there are even a few foreign figures that might surprise you.

A double shot of generic Star Wars goodness

I can't get enough Star Wars rip offs and the page above has one of the best, Starroid Raiders action figures by Tomland. The Space Case is another cool "Me too" type product.

Star Raiders were a Mego type varaiation on the theme, also by Tomlands, many of the characters had vaguely familiar looking faces. For more info on them, check out this site.